Surprisingly, I must finally drift to sleep, because the sunlight streaming in through my window wakes me. Yawning, I stretch my arms behind my head, momentarily forgetting about the strange occurrence the night before. When I remember, it almost seems silly to me now. It’s hard to believe in anything strange or scary when the sky outside is so bright and chipper.
But before I can dismiss it as my imagination, I gasp as I’m hit with a searing pain in my chest. Stumbling out of bed, I crouch on the floor with one hand grasping desperately at the burning. After a few moments, the pain subsides, and I have to gasp a few breaths before my racing heart begins to steady.
I struggle to my feet, all my muscles trembling with shock. What just happened to me? Looking down at my chest, my mouth drops open as I see something that wasn’t there before. The shape of a gear has burned itself into the fur on my chest. The strange thing is, it looks so natural that if I hadn’t known for a fact that wasn’t there before, I would have thought I was born with it. The gear sits right over my heart, and as I watch, the pattern of fur shifts so that it looks like the gear is turning very slowly.
“Dante.”
I nearly jump out of my fur in shock when I hear the mysterious voice again, except this time it’s much stronger. I’m tempted to cover my ears and try to block out this strange intruder, but I know that it would be pointless. The voice echoes softly inside my mind, and even if I was deaf, I would have heard it.
“You have been marked by the Clockwork Dragon.” As the voice continues to murmur to me, I feel more confused every second. I’ve never even heard of this Clockwork Dragon before! And what does it mean by marked? The strange gear on my chest seems to be the physical appearance of this mark, but what’s the point of it?
The voice continues, silencing my racing mind. “Inside you, a war will rage. No one can tell you which side is right, and which should win. Only you can decide that for yourself. When the time comes, the Clockwork Heart will be reunited with its body, and at the time of reuniting, the victor shall be forever chosen. The world waits for you with bated breath, Dante.”
“What do you mean?” I whisper in fear and shock. But the voice doesn’t respond, and I don’t feel it inside me anymore. “Wait! Come back! Don’t leave me here alone with all these questions!”
But despite my pleading, the voice refuses to return.
After a moment in which I shiver uncontrollably, I walk over to the mirror and stare at my reflection. The gear on my chest is still turning so subtly that I only notice it if I stare at it long enough. But the strange thing is I can actually feel it move, as if there really is a gear on my chest, or rather, inside it.
I stare at it for a moment longer before I turn away. Grabbing my clothes, I dress myself, making sure to cover the strange gear completely. For some reason, I’m afraid to tell my parents about it. I don’t know how they’ll react, and what would I say anyway? That I’ve been hearing voices and a strange gear burned itself into my chest? They’d probably just think I’m crazy.
I’m startled when there’s a knock on the door. “Come in,” I say as calmly as I can, doing my best not to let my fear show.
Soarin bounces in and exclaims, “Happy birthday little cousin!”
For a moment, with all the strangeness this morning, I had completely forgotten that it’s my birthday. “T-thanks,” I stutter, shutting out my confusing thoughts.
“Your birthday dinner is tonight, so we have the whole day to do whatever you want! So what is it that you want to do?”
I think for a moment. I’m not really sure what there is to do. All my other birthdays were spent on the sea, and all that happened was the crew saying happy birthday and I usually got one present. “Well, I’m not sure,” I tell her honestly.
“That’s fine!” Soarin exclaims, motioning to me to follow her. “You can follow me and I’ll show you around! I have some friends I’d like to introduce you to.”
“Sure,” I say with a shrug, trying to sound nonchalant.
Stretching out her wings, she flaps them to hover above the ground. “You can practice your flying while we’re at it,” she tells me fluttering out of the room.
Stretching out my own wings, I flap hard to take off into the air and shoot after her. I’m glad for the distraction. When I have to focus so hard on keeping myself airborne, and trying to keep up to Soarin, I can block out all my confusing thoughts and emotions.
It takes all my attention to keep behind Soarin that I don’t really notice any of the things we flash past. After a while of shooting through corridors, Soarin slows down and lands.
I’m breathing heavily as I land beside her. “Where are we?” I wheeze, clutching at my chest as I try to catch my breath.
Before she answers my question, she pats my back. “You won’t be so out of breath after a little more practice,” she promises, before continuing, “And we’re here so you can meet my best friend.”
Pushing open the door, Soarin leads me into a hot room filled with smoke and the banging of hammers on metal. “This is the armoury,” she explains over her shoulder as she leads me through the room filled with blacksmiths.
“Is your best friend one of the blacksmiths?” I can’t help but ask.
“No,” my cousin replies. “But he’s usually in here so this is the first place I look for him.”
I feel slightly shy as some of the blacksmiths look up from their work and tell me happy birthday. I simply nod at them and ask Soarin, “Why does he spend so much time in the armoury?”
“Because he likes swords and his grandfather is the captain of the royal guard, Sir Matthew.” Pointing up ahead, she says, “There they are now!”
A man with grey hair and a grey beard is showing a young boy how to properly clean a sword. The boy has spiky blond hair, and he looks to be about Soarin’s age. Although Sir Matthew is clearly starting to get old, his muscles are lean and strong. He obviously doesn’t let his age stop him from being a knight.
“Hi Matthew, hi Ash!” Soarin exclaims as we come up to them.
Sir Matthew looks down at us and smiles. “Why, hello young Princess Soarin. I was wondering if we’d be seeing you today.”
“This is my cousin Dante,” Soarin introduces me. “Dante, this is Ashton and his grandfather Sir Matthew.”
“Everyone just calls me Ash,” the boy replies as he holds out his hand for a handshake.
I shake his hand and attempt to smile, but I’m sure it comes out more as a grimace. Ash seems unfazed.
“Hey Ash, do you want to come with us? I’m going to show Dante around town. He’s never been able to walk freely around a huge city like this before!”
I almost want to interrupt and say that I’d rather if he didn’t come, but I know that would sound extremely rude. Besides, I have to get over my shyness at some point or another if I’m going to be a great pirate like my parents one day.
Ash looks up at his grandfather. “Oh, off you go. We’ll continue this discussion tomorrow,” Sir Matthew replies with a wide smile.
“I’m in!” Ash exclaims. “On one condition; no flying off without me again Soarin! I can’t fly like you can remember.” He raises one eyebrow at her with a smirk and sticks out his tongue jokingly.
Soarin sighs as if promising that is a huge burden for her. “Alright,” she agrees eventually, in a heavy voice. “I won’t fly.” She shoots a quick glance at me. “But Dante is just learning how to fly and I’m teaching him! Can’t we please fly just ahead of you?”
“Not if you want me to come with you,” Ash replies sternly, sounding momentarily like his grandfather. “Your definition of just ahead is my definition of out of sight. What use is it if I come along just to be left behind?”
“I suppose,” Soarin grumbles. “Well, come on then. Let’s get going!”
She turns and leads the way out of the armoury, her swift step almost as fast as her flying. Ash falls in beside me with a laugh. “So Dante, what do you think of your family so far?”
I think for a moment before I respond. “Everyone is a lot cooler than I was expecting,” I tell him honestly after my brief pause for deliberation.
“Even Soarin?” he laughs.
“Especially Soarin,” I tell him with a genuine smile. Ash is pretty cool too I guess.
The young boy sighs as he gazes after the princess. “Yea, that girl is one of a kind.”
I look between him and my cousin, reading Ash’s eyes. With a disgusted gasp I exclaim, “You like her! Gross!”
“Shhh!” Ash hisses, slapping his hand over my mouth as Soarin shoots a curious glance at us from up ahead. “Just some playful boy talk going on back here,” he assures her, and with a shrug she turns around and leads the way.
As Ash lets go of my mouth, and I wipe the dirt from my face, he sighs, “Whew, she didn’t hear you. That was close.”
Talking more quietly now so that he won’t have to cover my mouth again, I grumble, “Liking girls is nasty.”
He shoots a glance down at me. “Look Dante, when you’re a few years older, you’ll like girls too.”
“I doubt it,” I say, shrugging. “I never understand why people like slobbering over each other’s faces. It’s gross.” Thinking for a moment, I ask, “So how old are you and Soarin anyhow?”
“I’m ten. She’s nine.” He stares at her back again for a moment before turning to warn me, “And you better not tell her that I like her. It would ruin our friendship.”
“Why would I tell her and risk seeing you two sucking face?” I ask, fake gagging.
Rolling his eyes, Ash replies, “I said I’m ten, not fifteen! I don’t want to suck her face. I just… really like her. And yea, maybe one day I can see us dating, but right now, I just want to be her friend.”
“You sound way older than ten,” I tell him. “The way you talk, you sound like you know things.”
Ash shrugs and explains, “That’s what happens when your grandfather is captain of the royal guard and your dad is a knight. I instantly get drafted into being a knight too and knights undergo training starting at a young age. It makes us seem older than we are.”
I shrug and we fall silent as we catch up to Soarin in the castle courtyard. The wind is playing with her hair and she takes a deep breath. “Are you sure I can’t fly?” she groans over her shoulder at Ash.
Shaking his head slowly with a smile, he says, “Yes I’m sure. You can go flying later when I’m not around. Or maybe later I’ll see if I can take out one of the griffins and we’ll follow you around.”
“Deal!” Soarin exclaims and runs off towards the city.
Rolling his eyes, Ash takes off after her, and I groan. I have to run as fast as my little legs will carry me just to keep up with them. And I was just starting to catch my breath again too!
Soarin stops as we enter a busy market street. “What should I show him first?” she asks Ash, hardly out of breath. I’m struggling to catch my breath, and I don’t mind if she takes all day to decide. On the ship, I don’t really get to run around much. There’s really not enough space to run around, and I could fall overboard if I’m not careful.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Why not show him the statues?” Ash suggests, gesturing down the street.
“Sure.” Turning to me, Soarin asks, “Have you heard any stories about our parents and grandparents?”
“A few. But my dad isn’t that into story telling, so I probably haven’t heard them all.”
Shrugging, Soarin starts heading down the street. “Well in any case, the statues are cool. You don’t really need to know all the stories behind them.”
It’s hard not to lose Soarin and Ash in the busy tide of people. After all, they know how to navigate through a crowd, but I haven’t spent much time around large groups of people like this before. I don’t complain or ask them to slow down. I want to prove that I’m just as capable at adapting to new situations as any real pirate would be.
The crowd begins to thin as we leave the busy market behind and emerge into a quiet square. There are two statues in the middle of the square. The first is of a courageous dwarf named Gulliver. I remember him vaguely from a story my father had once told me of Saria’s journey. I don’t know all the details behind Saria’s adventures, because my father mostly told me stories of his own adventures.
The other statue is actually part of a fountain. There is a large tree in the very centre, water shooting from the tips of its branches. Two women sit beneath the tree, on opposite sides. On one side, I recognise my Auntie Lizzie, her wings half folded behind her as she leans against the tree. The Lizzie in the statue has many scars, including the one across her eye that had made her go blind years ago. But the other wolf is a stranger to me. Her stone eyes seem to gaze up through the branches of the tree, as if she’s praying.
Unlike the other statue, there are no words naming the two wolves. “Who’s she?” I ask, pointing towards the wolf girl who is gazing at the sky.
“That’s Sookie.” Soarin’s voice is soft with awe and admiration as she gazes at the statue. The name is familiar, but I can’t remember which story I heard it from before. Whoever she is, she must be special if Soarin speaks of her like this. My cousin is usually loud and rambunctious, but her voice is so soft when she speaks, that I can hardly hear her.
“She gave her life to the dragon spirit named Solar so that my mother could live. If it weren’t for her, I never would have been born. My dad never would have come to Lilliath, your dad would have had to choose between being a pirate or a king, and Lilliath would never have learned of its true history.”
I gaze at the woman in the fountain, feeling a shiver run down my spine. I never met this Sookie, but if she hadn’t sacrificed herself, I may never have been born. I know my parents love each other, but my father would have stayed to lead his kingdom, and my mother would never be happy if she wasn’t on the ocean. They might have parted ways if it weren’t for this Sookie.
It’s amazing how one simple, but amazing, act can change so many lives. “I’m sad for her,” I murmur quietly, more to myself than anything. “She gave up her chance at life so we could all have ours….”
Soarin shoots a smile at me. “Don’t worry little cousin. She didn’t lose everything. Mom told me that when she gave up her life willingly, she would be able to live a new life one day. No one knows when, or who she’ll be, or even where. But one day Sookie will be reborn as someone else. None of us will know who she is because she won’t have any of her memories until she dies.” Soarin sighs. “I can understand why, but it’s kinda sad. I could live my whole life right beside her and never know it. I could be her even!”
I shoot a look at Soarin. “Do you think you are?” I ask quietly, studying my cousin.
“No I don’t think so,” Soarin replies after only a brief moment of thought. “I’m sure that if I were Sookie, hearing the stories would have made some of my memories come back, even if just in dreams.”
“But no one knows,” Ash adds jokingly, giving Soarin a friendly nudge.
Soarin rolls her eyes at him. “I wouldn’t want to be Sookie,” she states, her voice gaining some of its fire back. “I mean, yeah she’s amazing and all, but I don’t want to be anyone but me. Even if Sookie is technically the same person living different lives, I wouldn’t like to live a life in the shadow of another.”
“But that’s why she wouldn’t remember,” Ash puts in, thinking seriously about the subject. “If Sookie doesn’t remember her past life, then she can’t live in the shadow of it. She can live a whole life and only remember when she dies.”
Soarin is beginning to look slightly worried.
“Don’t worry about it Soarin,” I tell my cousin. “I’m sure you’re not Sookie.”
Shaking her head as if to clear her mind, my cousin replies, “Of course I’m not! I’m Soarin for now and forever!”
Spreading her wings, Soarin takes off into the air. “Hey!” Ash calls after her. “I said no flying remember!”
Soarin sticks her tongue out at him. “What if you come with me?” she asks teasingly.
“No way!” Ash replies quickly, backing away from her. “There is no way you’re flying with me!”
Soarin dives towards him at the same moment he turns and runs. I can’t help but laugh at the look on Ash’s face as Soarin wraps her arms underneath his and lifts him off the ground.
“Come on Dante!” she calls down to me as she flies just above the rooftops.
I don’t pause to think before I throw myself into the air after her. Flying just gets easier and easier the more I do it, that’s for sure.
I catch up to Soarin easily because she can’t fly as fast while she’s holding on to extra weight. Ash doesn’t dare struggle in case Soarin drops him, but as I reach them, he gives a heavy sigh.
“Please Soarin, I told you I’m afraid of heights!” Ash complains, looking anywhere but down. “It’s hard enough getting off the ground when I’m riding safely on the back of a griffin, never mind dangling precariously from the arms of a girl who’s a year younger than me!”
“Lighten up Ash,” Soarin teases. “I’m an expert flyer. I wouldn’t drop you. Well, at least I’d catch you before you hit the ground anyway.”
Ash suddenly goes pale. “Don’t you dare drop me!” he gasps.
Soarin shoots a mischievous look at me before flapping her wings hard to carry them higher. Rolling my eyes, I follow them, just in case I’m needed to help my evil cousin catch a falling knight-in-training.
“Soarin stop!” Ash cries as the ground quickly disappears below us. “Please! I’m begging you! Let me down!”
“Okay,” Soarin agrees with a wide smile. “I’ll let you down.”
Before he has time to protest, Soarin opens her arms and drops him.
“Soaaaarrrrrriiiiinnnnn!” Ash yells as he falls, his voice a mixture of anger and fear.
Soarin winks at me before shooting into a dive. I quickly follow her, watching closely just in case I’m needed. But we’re still well above the ground when she grabs him by the ankles and opens her wings to catch the air.
For a moment, Ash just dangles there, fear and shock mingling together on his face. Then he crosses his arms and scowls. “I don’t know why I expected anything else,” he grumbles.
Laughing, Soarin flies away towards the castle. Ash catches my eye and gives me a pleading look, still hanging upside down by his ankles. But I just shrug and mouth, “Sorry.” There’s nothing I can do. Besides, before long she’s setting him down on the soft grass in the castle courtyard.
As I land beside them, Ash gets to his feet, growling, “Soarin, if you ever do that again, I will never go anywhere with you.”
“Just wait till you spend a few more weeks training with your Grandpa. You’ll wish you could be hanging upside down by your ankles.”
Ash opens his mouth for a hot retort, but before he can say anything, Soarin turns to me. “So little cuz, you ready for the best party ever?”
I’m a little caught off guard by her question. I had momentarily forgotten all about my birthday party. I’ve never had a proper party before, so I don’t know for sure what to expect. But with a family as awesome as mine, I’m sure it will be great. That is, as long as everything wasn’t planned by Soarin. She may be cool, but I’ve seen first hand just how impulsive she can be. Her definition of the best party ever and my definition are probably completely different.
“I guess so,” I reply with a slight stutter.
“Great!” my cousin exclaims, racing towards the castle at a full tilt sprint.
As Ash and I follow her more slowly, the young knight shoots a glance at me. “Don’t worry Dante,” Ash reassures me. “Soarin wasn’t allowed to plan any of the party. That’s why we took you out into the city today, so the rest of the royal family could plan your party in peace.”
“That’s a relief,” I sigh, only half joking. “Who knows what we would be walking in to otherwise.”
Ash laughs. “Yea, Soarin is a strange one alright.”
We’ve already lost sight of my cousin by the time we enter the castle, but Ash seems to know where to go.
“It was nice meeting you Ash,” I tell him as we walk along. “I don’t meet many kids, and honestly, I didn’t think I was missing much. But I’m going to miss you and Soarin when we leave again.”
“I’ll miss you too kid,” he replies with a wide smile, ruffling my hair with his hand. We walk quietly for a moment, then he murmurs, “You don’t have to leave you know. If you wanted, you could stay here for a few years and decide what you want to do with your life after you grew up a bit.”
I hardly hesitate before I reply, “No. Even though I’ll miss my family, I’ll see them again some day. There’s nowhere else I’d rather grow up than on the ocean. I still can’t believe that most people find it easy to sleep without the floor moving softly beneath them.”
“You’re sure?” Ash presses, one eyebrow raised.
“Yeah,” I assure him, without a trace of doubt. “Besides, I think my parents would miss me too much, and there’s no way they’d be happy if they weren’t at sea.”
“Actually,” he begins, slightly awkward. “It was your parents’ idea. They asked me to bring it up with you. Ya know, guy to guy.”
I stare at him as we walk along, slightly shocked and a little hurt. “Don’t they want me?” I ask, wondering for the first time if my parents even enjoy having me around.
“Of course they want you!” Ash’s reply is swift, reassuring me that’s not the reason. “They were just wondering if growing up at sea surrounded by pirates was the best environment to raise you in. That’s the biggest reason they decided to bring you here.”
“They’re not going to leave me here, are they?” I ask quietly, feeling horror sink in my stomach. “I don’t want them to leave me here…”
Ash gives me a friendly smile. “Don’t worry kid. I’m sure they won’t leave you if they know you’d rather go.”
“Good,” I sigh, taking a deep breath. “Honestly, I don’t know what I would do without them.”
Ash doesn’t respond, because at that moment, we walk through a large pair of doors.
“Happy Birthday!” everyone yells, clapping and cheering as I enter. I can’t help but blush in embarrassment. I’ve never had a welcome quite like this before.
In the middle of the room is a large table, lined with presents. My family is all standing around the table, beaming at me. As I walk over and look with wide eyes at the beautifully wrapped packages, everyone takes turns crowding around me and giving me hugs. When everyone finally steps back, Soarin enters the room, carrying a huge cake.
But as she nears the table, she trips, slamming the cake down on the table a moment before she face plants into it. Bits of cake and icing go flying everywhere, and there’s startled gasps ringing out around me.
I stare at the remnants of what had been the most beautiful cake I had ever seen. A cake that was meant just for me. And now it’s ruined.
“I’m so sorry!” Soarin gasps, her entire upper body covered in cake. “I didn’t mean to!”
A heavy silence falls as I look between Soarin and the ruined cake. Normally I would have laughed at how silly she looks, forgiven her, then proceeded to pick up a fork and dig into the cake. But something is wrong deep inside of me. I can’t force a smile. I can’t force anything to come out of my lips.
Instead, a dark, heavy anger begins bubbling up inside me. The strength of this strange anger scares me. I want nothing more than to squish it out and tell her that it’s okay.
Finally, I do open my mouth, but the words that escape me come out of nowhere. “You ruined it,” I growl softly, glaring at her. Inside, I scream at myself to stop. To let it go. But I can’t. “You ruined my first birthday party.”
“I-I’m sorry,” Soarin stutters. I’ve never seen her look like this. For once, she actually seems serious and sincere. But the anger won’t go away. No matter what I do, the anger restrains me and forces its way forward.
“You. Ruined. It.” My voice forces its way past bared teeth, and my hands start shaking. My words rise to a yell as I shriek, “YOU RUINED IT!” Still under the heavy influence of the impossible anger, I throw myself at her.
In mid-air, time seems to slow for me. I feel something strange happening to my body besides this anger that had come out of nowhere. My bones shift and I feel myself becoming larger. My teeth double in size, and my claws are extended, ready to rip her apart. I feel the gear pattern on my chest spin impossibly fast. I see Soarin close her eyes and cover her face fearfully.
But before I can hurt her, something heavy smacks into my side, pinning me to the ground. I struggle and writhe, my voice coming out as nothing more than wordless snarls and growls.
“Dante!” a voice snaps, and my anger instantly disappears. I lie still, panting heavily, and look up to see Queen Saria in her full wolf form pinning me down. I know it’s her. Her eyes are the same.
Suddenly, I feel horror at what I had just done chill me to my core. Seeing my eyes clear, Saria steps back. I scramble to my paws, crouching low to the ground with my ears pinned flat to my head.
Everyone is staring at me with wide eyes as if they don’t recognise me. I don’t blame them. I don’t recognise myself. I back away slowly, panting heavily in fear. Then I turn tail and flee from the room, racing to the only place I can think to go.
I have trouble opening the door to my room when I have to use paws, but I finally manage to thrust the door open. Dashing inside, I slam it behind me.
For a moment, I do nothing more than crouch cowering on the floor. But after a while, I drag myself to my paws and creep over to the mirror in the corner. I stare at this stranger that I’ve become.
I have a face that looks like a lion’s face, but my teeth are more wolf-like. I have one green eye and one yellow eye. My paws are huge and cat-like, with retractable claws. I have a long tail, but the fur on it is course and thick like wolf fur. The same thick fur rings my neck and runs down my spine, but the fur on the lower part of my body and my face is soft and thinner. My body and wings are still the sandy colour I’m used to, but in this form, I don’t just have a gear on my chest. My entire body is lined with markings of gears and clockwork. It almost looks like I’m made of clockwork. The gears even turn and move when I do, and the one over my heart continues to spin constantly, a little faster than before.
I take deep calming breaths, trying to understand what just happened. As I do, I watch myself change back into the form I’m used to. The gear on my chest is once again the only one on my body.
Turning away from the mirror, I find some clothes to wear. Sitting down on my bed, I rest my head in my hands and whisper, “What’s happening to me?”
Suddenly, the door to my balcony slams open as if by a powerful wind. I stare at it in fear as a man steps in. He seems to be shrouded in shadows and he bears a wicked grin as he looks at me.
“W-who are you?” I ask, my voice shaking in fear.
Instead of responding, he simply gives an evil laugh, and in the next moment, he’s standing by my bed. I try to scream as he wraps his arms around me, and a moment before the shadows close over my eyes, I see my parents burst into my room. They make a move towards us, but then there’s nothing but darkness.
A moment later, the man lets go and I fall to the floor in a strange room. I try to crawl away from him. “Who are you!? Where am I!? I want to go home!”
“You are home,” the man in the shadows whispers, his evil grin growing even wider. “Savour this moment,” he murmurs before continuing, “It will be the last time you ever have these thoughts.”
I struggle to get to my feet so I can scramble away from him, but before I can he grabs me, throws me into a chair and straps me down.
I stare at him in wild fear as he moves closer, pulling what looks like a twig from his robes.
“Say goodbye to your memories,” he breathes, and in the next moment, there’s a flash of light, a burning pain, and then…
Nothing.