Lilly stood in a vaulted room of white marble. It was round like the room she was just in and just as massive. However, the bare stone walls here were cracked and chipped. In places, whole sections had crumbled away, leaving jagged tears. She looked up to see the ceiling was a dome that was now shattered and broken. The sky above was a sickly orange with roiling black clouds.
On the floor all around her, was the remains of that once proud dome. Broken blocks and piles of stones littered the floor everywhere. What little of the floor she could see, was once beautiful polished marble but it too was shattered and broken. Not a single tile was intact, and many of them were so badly shattered they blended with the rest of the rubble.
The room had only one exit, a tall arched doorway over four times her height. It had no doors or markings, nothing to indicate where it led. The frame of the arch looked like it had one been intricately carved with delicate lines, now broken and cracked. Beyond was a long hallway that might once have been beautiful. The walls were layered in stones and marble. With ornate white and blue marble columns that reached up to a ceiling that she guessed was nearly ten times her height. It was long gone and lay in piles about the room. The walls were crafted with nooks and alcoves that might once have held statues or artwork.
Here as in the other room, the floor was littered with the remains of the roof, and every single column was toppled and broken. Buried in the rubble where the remains of once beautiful statues. Thought they were terribly broken, she could still see they had been made with great care to detail.
The strange hum she had heard in the temple of the gods was louder here. It pulsed up and down slowly in a sad rhythmic note.
The air smelled of smoke, and glowing embers drifted in a breeze that came through tall empty windows. She could feel a hot wind blowing in from outside as from a great fire that raged somewhere beyond. She could hear the low roar, and cracking noise as wood burned and split.
The whole place was lifeless and dreary. From here, she could see more of the angry sky. It was more of the same, orange clouds mixed with smoke that seemed to roll like water on a pond waving up and down.
She spun around alone and frightened and called out for Gersius. This was not what she was expecting. She realized she should have asked Gersius and Thayle what they had seen and not only what had been said. There was nowhere to go but down the large hall that was wide enough for seven dragons her size to pass. As she struggled over the rubble, she wondered if she should leave her dragon form. She reasoned a human could easily walk in the narrow spaces and slip by. She decided against it. This place felt dangerous, and she wanted her dragon power for what might be waiting.
As she picked her way deeper in and the hall opened up into a giant structure. This room was massive in scale. Large enough for thirty dragons to stand side by side across it. Colossal pillars of stone jutted out of the walls and soared up to a peaked roof that was still intact in some places. One pillar still had a shredded banner hanging from it. It was blue and had a silver and red image on it, but it was badly torn and slightly burned and hung at an odd angle.
She noted the walls of the room were ringed by balconies that were too small for dragons. A space only a human would find comfortable. The walls behind these had tall windows that once contained glass as a few of them still had a tiny bit of the stubborn material in them.
Like the other spaces, rubble was everywhere. Some walls had enormous holes in them, and one gave her a peak of what was outside. She saw a rolling landscape of burning land with black silhouettes that looked like they might once have been trees hidden beneath curtains of fire.
Beyond these out, in the distance, she saw what looked like a mound of jagged blocks and stone. A high wall of it stretched out in both directions as far as her break in the wall would allow her to see.
She looked to her left and the building ended in a pile of rubble where nearly the whole of the building had collapsed. To her right, it went up some steps that only a dragon could use into a half circle area dominated by a white block that stood right in the middle of it.
Lilly wasn't sure, but she could swear she heard crying. It was a sort of mournful sobbing like she remembered doing when her wings had been cut off.
She crept into the ruins of the building marveling at its size and scale as she approached the white stone block.
As she got closer, she understood what she was seeing. It was an altar made of white stone and had panels of blue around its base. It was hard to tell what it was meant to look like because it was heavily cracked and battered as if somebody had taken a hammer to it and beaten it for days.
It was a massive block of stone nearly twice her height and three times her width. As she approached, she heard the sobbing again. It was coming from behind the white block.
Cautiously Lilly walked around the stone, keeping an arm's length from it and being careful not to trip in the rubble around it. There behind the battered alter was a woman. She was much larger than Lilly, perhaps larger than the giants she had battled. She was dressed all in a flowing light blue cloth that looked fine and delicate but was also torn and dirty. Her hair hung down her back to her waist, and had the same silver blue color as her own. She sat there with a hand pressed to her forehead while tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Are you alright?” Lilly asked as she rounded the altar.
The woman looked up at her with glowing blue eyes and smiled. “At last you have come!” she said new tears running down her face.
The woman moved to stand, and Lilly was in awe of her size. She was easily three times Lilly's height, and to her, the alter was but a little thing. Lilly stepped back away from her as the strange woman wiped her eyes and tried to stand proud in her soiled blue robes.
“Who are you?” Lilly asked in a whisper.
“I am Balisha, queen of dragons, and Goddess of the silver moon,” she said in a voice that echoed and sounded like two people speaking.
“Your Balisha?” Lily asked, unable to believe it.
“Yes, child of the scale. I am the fallen Goddess Balisha, and this is my once proud home,” she said gesturing to the ruins around her.
“What happened to it?” Lilly asked, taking another step away from the woman.
“Solesta, the goddess of the sun, attacked my home. She burned my gardens and destroyed my temple.”
“Is this why you are crying?” Lilly asked her.
“My children are all but gone. My faith is ruined, and this building you see here is the greatest of all my temples. This is what remains of my glory. This is the outcome of my love,” she said, holding her hands up again.
“I am still here,” Lilly said to her, looking up into her eyes.
“Precious Azurastra, you have opened your heart, and learned how to love again,” Balisha said.
“Gersius and Thayle helped me,” Lilly replied.
“Yes, I can see how strongly you love them both. I am so very proud of you,” The woman said a delicate smile coming to her face.
“How do you know my name?”
“I know the names of all dragons. I am still a goddess, after all. I can read the truth of your name in your solus.”
“You were expecting me to come here?”
“I have been watching you for a long time child. I didn't dare to believe you would find your way here. So many things had gone wrong. So many plans were ruined. When Gersius lost his faith, I was sure the road had come to its end.”
“Where are we?” Lilly asked.
“You are in my paradise, my home. It is a reflection of the faith people have in me,” she said her smile fading.
“This is a paradise?” Lilly asked, looking around.
“I told you, child, it is a reflection of my dead faith. This one building is all that remains of my gardens and the great city beyond.” She stopped to cry again letting out a long slow wail. “It used to be so beautiful. It is forever locked the way Solesta left it. I do not have the power to restore it.”
“But there are still dragons in the world. You must have some faith, some power? What about Numidel?” Lilly asked.
“Numidel is a prisoner. He dare not leave his temple. The ward placed there with the last of my power is all that keeps his mind free of the curse. He has been there for nearly five thousand years now, waiting for the day you would arrive, and watching over Astikars gift. He does not pray to me as his Goddess. He is there only to safeguard that which was entrusted to him.”
“There must be other dragons that worship you still?”
“There is one. She keeps it a secret, but still calls my name and opens her heart to me when she feels sad.”
“One dragon?” Lilly said, looking upset. “You have one worshiper in the entire land.”
“Indeed child, such is how far I have fallen,” Balisha said.
“What about humans?” Lilly questioned. “You opened your faith to humans. There must be some of them still.”
“Azurastra, there is not a single human in the whole of the land who calls my name. Mankind tore my temples down. They hunted my children, and they erased me from the world.”
“It wasn't their fault,” Lilly said. “The dragons attacked them!”
“I know dear child, but the rage of the humans was complete, I sit here and cry as a result of it.”
Lilly pondered the giant for a moment and had a sad thought.
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
“I have sat here in this shell of a temple for almost six thousand of your years,” Balisha said.
Lilly felt a wave of deep sadness sweep over her heart. She wondered what so many years alone in this place must have been like. Now that she knew love, she found it hard to imagine even a few days alone. Without even realizing it, she began to cry.
“Do not weep for me, child of the scale. I brought my doom on my own head,” Balisha said.
“Why does the path of dragons seem to be littered with such sadness and pain?” Lilly asked.
“That, child, was my doing. I made a terrible mistake, and I paid the price for it as did all my children,” Balisha said.
“What mistake did you make to cause all this pain?”
“When the world was young, it was ruled by dragons. We were the only beings one would call intelligent that inhabited the lands. The divines were all the heads of separate orders of dragon kind. Each had a line descended from their blood. Each had a role to play in the balance of the world. Solesta and I were different back then. We did not have a line of our own; the divines themselves were our children. I am forbidden to tell you of the secrets of those times as to do so will upset the natural order of things.”
Lilly blinked and looked up at her intently. “So where did men come from?”
“Men, like most things, are a creation of the Earth Mother. After what would be called the age of dragons, mankind first began to appear. They were wild and tribal at first. Building but small huts and living in little packs. We didn't pay them much attention at first, but that changed.”
Lilly saw her look away and nod gently as if deciding what to say next.
“As mankind grew, it began to do something we found wondrous, they built, and they created. They set their hands to build anything they could imagine. Mankind did so many wondrous things that the divines quickly took notice of them. Solesta and I took notice of them as well. We were fascinated by how these creatures formed families and communities. We took note of how they shared emotions with one another, and especially of how they loved. Mankind has such a deep capacity to love, and that love makes them powerful vessels for divine power. When we saw this new thing called love, we wanted our dragons to share in it. We searched for a way for our children to learn from humans, but our size and appearance frightened them.”
“It still does,” Lilly said, looking up at her.
“I know it does my child; it always will. Solesta and I searched for a way to solve our problem, and we came to the Goddess Ulustrah. She had a solution, but it was, demanding.” Balisha took a deep breath and glanced down at Lilly. “She showed us how to give our children a human form, but there was a price to be paid.”
“A price?” Lilly asked.
Balisha looked at Lilly with deep sadness in her eyes. “I have a secret, Lilly. One I don’t dare tell you for fear of how your heart might change. Think of the day on the road when you learned that Gersius was indirectly responsible for your wings. Think of how quickly your heart changed. I don’t dare risk you running from me and cursing my name.”
“It’s that bad?” Lilly asked.
“Child, I told you, I made a terrible mistake.”
Lilly only nodded.
“I… we paid the price and our children were given the gift of human form. At first, it worked well. Our children began to interact with humans, began to learn from them. Dragons and humans began to live in the same cities, and they taught one another and prospered. Soon an age of wonders came on the land as the ever-creative humans set to building monuments and buildings unheard of in the times before. Things they could only ever dream of before but could never hope to achieve were now possible because the dragons aided them. Human imagination and dragon strength combined to build things even the gods were jealous of.”
“So, what happened?” Lilly asked.
“Something we did not anticipate, Not I, or Solesta, or Ulustrah, not even the young Astikar who seemed unique in his ability to accurately predict the hearts and moods of men. Dragons began to finally understand love, and they began to share it with the humans.
“Like I am with Gersius and Thayle.”
“Yes, your love for them is exactly what I speak of. We had always wanted dragons to learn of this love, but we never expected them to express it with the humans. We assumed the dragons would bring this knowledge back to their own kind and a new order of dragons would emerge. Instead, all dragons wanted to do was dwell with men. They married and loved one another with open hearts. In many ways, it was beautiful and filled our hearts with even more wonder.”
“It was here that dragons began to teach mankind of us. They taught men about the divine and the order of the heavens. Many of them began to call on us and offer up praise and prayers. This too was new to us for our Dragons did not pray to us. They were more like children to us, but they saw how men spoke to us, and soon they adopted the way.
“This is where our faiths began to emerge. Up until this point, the divines did not maintain proper orders. But as dragons and men began to pray, a new era was born. And soon there were dragons who bore the title of priest or priestess. The other divines took the roles you know them as today. They became the divines of mankind, while Solesta and I became the divines of dragons themselves.”
“But Numidel said that men started to worship you?”
“Indeed child, just as dragons went to the other Gods, so too did humans come to us. It wasn't what we wanted, but for a short while it was as if mankind and dragonkind were one and the same.” Balisha sniffed as she looked away. “Then Solesta changed her mind.”
Lilly took note of the movement and heard the change in the woman’s voice, a dire tone that sounded both angry and sad.
“Solesta saw the love between humans and dragons as wrong. She called it a perversion of the natural order. At first, she only protested, calling on me to help her set dragons right. I should have listened; it would have saved so much death. When I did not heed her calls she instead called her dragons away from mankind, she told her reds to abandon the humans and to travel far out into the wilds away from them and to return to being what she felt was a true dragon.”
“I rebuked her for it. I thought she had lost the vision for what we were doing. I thought this love between human and dragon was a beautiful thing, and so did Ulustrah. She blessed it with open arms, and together we tried to sway Solesta back, but we failed.”
“So what did Solesta do?” Lilly asked.
“Solesta crowned herself the goddess of all dragons and demanded that they return to her regardless of blood or color. Many went, abandoning the human lands, and gathered to her side. Many of my own blue children abandoned me and left, but to Solesta’s great rage, many of her reds abandoned her and stayed behind.”
“I bet she was angry,” Lilly said, not sure at all what to say.
“Solesta flew into a rage, she touched my blue dragons and scorched them turning their scales back as midnight. I touched her red dragons with the blue of my lunar light, and they blended, turning them a golden color. Thus was born the two new races of dragons the gold and the black.”
“There are gold and black dragons?” Lilly gasped.
“Indeed, child, there are. They are extremely rare, and many hide deep away, but they are still there.”
“I do not understand why Solesta changed her mind, though? What made her want to go back to the way things were before?”
Balisha looked extremely sad at Lilly's question and sat up higher on her broken alter.
“It was the cost I… we paid. None of us realized what it was going to do. We thought it was the perfect solution, but it was a trap. I cannot tell you more child, to do so will violate the laws of divine order.”
“What if I want to know?” Lilly asked.
Balisha smiled at her and looked her directly in her eyes.
“Someday, your blood will find my heart, and in doing so, learn the truth. When that day comes, a new order will arise. I look forward to that day very much. The day you finally stop crying.”
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Lilly considered the words a moment but went back to the story. “What happened next?”
Solesta ordered her dragons to descend on the cities of man. She was only trying to destroy our temples, so mankind could not worship us anymore. Then she decided to punish the dragons that had not heeded her call.”
“She attacked the dragons?” Lilly asked in surprise.
Balisha nodded. “Many a city was burned, and many a dragon killed, but this was only the beginning. I and the dragons who learned to love man fought back. Dragons clashed in the skies, and it rained blood on the men below.”
Lilly went wide-eyed with shock at the image of such a terrible thing.
“Eventually it was Astikar who intervened. He used his own dragons to rally mankind, and great armies of men marched out to hunt down Solesta's servants. Solesta saw the danger, and she knew she could not hope to defeat a dragon and human army united. Though it sickened her to do it, she turned to men herself, but she twisted their hearts. She offered them power, riches, sinful delights, and dragon blessings if they would fight in her name. Men's hearts are easily corrupted by such things, and before we even realized it, she had an army to rival our own.”
Balisha cried and had to pause a moment to get it out.
“All the great cities burned. All the wonders humans and dragons had built together were thrown down. Dragons died by the thousands, humans by the hundreds of thousands. As great armies clashed on the ground, dragons fought in the skies. The blue of the heavens was blocked out by the burning clouds of ash. The land reeked with the stench of rotting bodies. So many of my children perished for my mistake.”
Balisha had to stop again to wail for a moment. Lilly felt a terrible sense of loss for this ancient golden age. She wished she could have seen this golden age of men and dragons.
“There was no choice,” Balisha said with a faraway look. “If the war continued, there would be no dragons left. I broke the laws of the Gods. I opened my heavens and challenged Solesta. I challenged her directly for dominion over dragons, and she accepted. We fought here in my heavens. It was a decision I do not regret because it had to be done. She was always the stronger of us, But I had thousands of human worshipers. They prayed and opened their hearts to me, and my heavens were full of the sparks of the dragons lost in this terrible war. The power they gave me here in my home made me stronger. I drew on them using them to fuel my strength, and in a titanic battle, I slew my sister Solesta. I shattered the order of dragons, and I doomed you all.”
“You doomed us?” Lilly asked, shocked. “How did you doom us?”
Balisha shook her head, and her voice wouldn't come. Eventually, all she said was, “Forgive me, Azurastra.”
“Forgive you for what?” Lilly asked.
“Solesta had learned from the men she twisted to her cause. She learned about greed and malice and ruthlessness. With her dying breath, she cursed the dragons hearts to be like those of the men she used. She screamed like men's hearts shall yours be, greedy, wicked, and cruel. I was too weak to stop it. Before I could do anything, the dragons were struck.”
She covered her face now unable to look at Lilly who trembled at the words she was hearing.
“It was so awful! The dragons who still lived forgot who they were, and turned on the ones they loved. Dragons killed and ate their own wives and husbands. The noble dragons of Astikar fell on their own brothers. Mated pairs slew one another as some dragons managed to resist.”
“Some resisted it?” Lilly asked.
“Yes, child. But only those whose hearts were given over to the divines. Those who were deeply committed to one of the lesser gods were not so strongly affected by us. Dragon age also helps. The older a dragon is, the more it was able to resist. Any dragon over eight thousand years would have been able to brush the curse aside. But the younger dragons felt the calling of her curse and the divines worked in a panic to shield as many as they could. In the end, you can count how many they protected on one hand.”
“That’s awful!” Lilly cried.
“It is awful and crippling. I warded that last temple to protect a dragon. I was lucky enough to lure Numidel there and free his mind. But I must maintain the power of the ward. All divines feed on a greater power that I am not at liberty to tell you about. Were I not channeling so much of that power into keeping that protection up. I could have begun to restore my order thousands of years ago.”
“What happened to the dragons that weren't protected?” Lilly asked.
“They tore the already burning world asunder! The horror they inflicted was unbelievable. Mankind raged and so too did the other divines. They accused me of bringing this on the world. I was shunned for breaking the laws of the Gods, and none of them would aid me. Even loving Ulustrah hid her face from me. She wept over the fires that scorched the earth and burned away all her gardens. Astikar had his followers slay his dragons and then begin to hunt the remaining ones. For a hundred years, mankind scoured the lands slaughtering what was left of my children.”
“I am so sorry for you,” Lilly whispered.
“In every town, city, or distant land where I had a temple, it was torn down. The stones cast into rivers and lakes as cursed things. My books were piled in the streets and burned. Mankind called out curses to my name, blamed me for what had happened.”
“Why didn’t you stop them?” Lilly asked.
“Without my dragons and the hearts of man, I was powerless to do anything. To be a god or goddess only means we cannot be killed in normal ways. Only another divine can slay a divine, but without worship to grant me strength, I am just an immortal spirit trapped in this hell that was once my garden. What little strength I gain from the source I use to protect that temple.”
“You need worship to give you strength?” Lilly asked.
“I have things I can do without worship. I can see your true name, and read you from your aura. I can see into the world of man and watch those I want to watch, but I am powerless to so much as cause a drop of rain to fall from the sky or blow a wind strong enough to bend a blade of grass. I am a prisoner here, abandoned by the other Gods and cursed for my role in the destruction of the age of wonders.”
“But you do have one worshiper. You told me she still calls out to you.”
Balisha smiled. “Yes, I have the one, and I suppose Numidel considers me his Goddess as well. They are both dear to me, but neither of them has dared to love as you do.”
“My love is special?”
“Azurastra, you not only love a man, but you love a woman. You share your flesh with those you love, and you share your heart with them. When your heart began to crack, and your love began to show, dear Ulustrah returned to me. She spoke to me again and told me of your love. She told me that Astikar was working to free me. He had sent a man of his order in search of you. This was apparently a great man, a man who could do the impossible. He had a plan to help you break your curse, but it was so risky. There was so much danger and pain on this path. Astikar had tried this once before and failed. He needed a man with a unique heart. A man who would go on even when his very heart was crushed. He knew what he was risking, but he could no longer stand to see me imprisoned in my heaven. When I learned how they planned to help you come to know love, I was shocked. I told them it would never work, that you two would stumble on your path to love. She promised to send a champion of hers to make sure your love continued to grow. She saw a glimpse of what was lost in you, and she dared to try and help it grow.”
“Gersius and Thayle!” Lilly gasped.
Balisha nodded. “You and your loves have shattered an ancient boundary. You have awakened a magic long lost. When you knelt before Gersius and asked him out of love to bind you all the gods turned and took notice. When he then turned and asked you to bind him instead, the heavens themselves shook. That you bound each other is something that hasn't happened in a thousand years, and it carries a magic that you do not yet know. You have turned the eyes of the gods back to me. You have given me new hope for my children, but you must complete the task the first one failed.”
“The first one?” Lilly asked. “What first one?”
“You and Gersius are not the first to bind each other, dragon to man. You are the first to love each other so deeply and the first to bind a woman into your hearts as well. But there was one before you.”
“But Thayle was just bound to us moments ago. Her Goddess did it as a gift, how did you know?”
“I asked Ulustrah to bind her in. I told her that your heart deeply desired to be connected to hers. She was touched by how you felt and impressed by your love. She agreed to bind her to you both for me because I lack the strength to do it. Her champion was more than worthy of such a blessing. she is a rare woman gifted in love and deeply committed to you.”
Lilly shook her head; this was all too much to understand.
“So who was this other?”
“The dragon knight of old. He rose up to be a champion of the land with his companion a great dragon who he managed to convince to help him. They too grew to respect one another and maybe even love, but it was never like yours is now. They tried to aid me and rebuild my order to teach mankind about me again. For a short while, there was hope that power would once again flow to me, but it was suddenly cut short.”
Lilly just stood there watching her, “how?”
“The man was murdered, his work was stopped, and his dragon fled into the night. She hid far away from mankind and secreted away her heart. She is the one who still calls out to me from time to time.”
“So this dragon knight he knew you as well?” Lilly asked.
“Yes, he and his dragon were tasked with stopping a dangerous new threat to the divine order. I hoped to show the other Gods I could restore some of what was lost. I hoped I could rebuild through these champions. With great hope, I watched as they challenged the enemy and overthrew him. I watched as they started to build my first temple in thousands of years. Then he was killed by a secret group who feared my return. I will not share who they are with you now; the knowledge of it will only make your task harder.”
“What task?”
Balisha stood up and towered over Lilly. “I need you to finish what they started. I need you to carry my faith and my love back to mankind and hopefully back to dragon kind. I need you to be my priestess in the world.”
Lilly fell back as the goddess charged her with this task.
“You want me to be a priestess?” Lilly asked, stunned.
“Yes, child of the scale. My priestess for my renewed faith in the world.”
Lilly looked up at the sad goddess and felt her sadness deep in her own heart.
“I don’t know if I can do this! I fear you and those like you. I don’t like the games you divines play with those who follow you. I don’t like that you punish them for loving another.”
“Sweet child, it is because you love that you are here. The very secret of breaking your curse was love. I would not punish you for that.”
“Ulustrah punished Thayle for it, she saved my life out of love, but Ulustrah marked her.”
“Ulustrah has her own rules and methods. Most who break her rules like that are simply abandoned and cast out of her love. The mark exists so Ulustrah can show people that she so loves this one that she did not cast them out, she forgave them instead.”
“Why have the mark at all?” Lilly asked.
“There is a law above us,” Balisha said. “When an attuned being causes disharmony in the vibration of a divine, they are to be cast away. The being is thrown out of the divines spirit. But sometimes as in your case that being does such a thing for a very noble reason. In those cases, the law allows for forgiveness, but a price must be paid. In Ulustrahs case, that price is the mark of forgiveness.”
“So it isn’t a mark of shame?” Lilly asked.
“No child, it is a symbol of great connection to the goddess. It shows that Thayle is so beloved by Ulustrah that she forgave her. But I know others will see the mark and see it as a great failure on her part. But answer me this child, when you see the mark, what do you think?”
“I am reminded of the sacrifice she made for Gersius and I. I am reminded of her love.”
“Exactly!”
Lilly still wasn't satisfied; her heart needed to know more. “Will you promise to be patient with me then? If I make a mistake, you won't treat me harshly?” Lilly asked timidly.
“Child, I am in no position to bargain with you. You could make outrageous demands, and I would have to agree, I need you that badly. But let me answer you the way you need to be answered. I promise never to punish you or the ones you love, even if you greatly offend me. I will deal with you gently and fairly, and always give you a chance to speak to me and tell me why. But never will I lift my hand and harm you in any way.”
Lilly still felt wary in her heart, but she had a promise that felt sincere.
“And what about Gersius?” she dared to ask.
“What of Gersius?”
“I want to share this with him. He has lost his connection to Astikar. I want you to be his Goddess,” Lilly said.
“Child, I must admit something to you. I have been greatly hoping you would say that.”
“You were?” Lilly asked.
“I want to reestablish my order with a new head. A dragon and human, always as a bonded couple, and always a man and a woman. Thus will it begin and forever be. This will be the symbol that dragons and humans can live as they once did, as one people and the age of wonders will return.”
“Thayle is my wife as well, though?”
“You and Gersius will be the head of my faith. Your Thayle has her own Goddess. You three will rebuild the dragon empire, and you will all sit on the throne as one. The marriage of Ulustrahs love into the head of the empire only makes it all the sweeter, and ensures its strength in love.”
Lilly understood, Thayle would bring Ulustrahs power into the fold, but she would not be a priestess of her order.
“Can you do this for me, child of the scale?” Balisha asked.
“I am not as brave as I used to imagine I was. I told myself I never knew what fear was, but I know I have felt it all my life. I am frightened of what helping you means, but I feel you are sincere, and I want to help you. If you promise as you said to be patient with me, I will do everything I can to bring your faith back to the world.”
Balisha shed a flood of new tears and smiled down on Lilly.
“Thank you, child,” she said.
“I want Gersius to be equal to me in all things,” Lilly added.
“Child, your Gersius is so strong of heart and mind; it is you who will need to struggle to keep up. He will teach you how to open your heart to me and how to let the power of the divine flow. I will teach you a song to sing to me to help in making the connection. Thank you, Azurastra, you have given me renewed hope. And for that, I want to give you a gift.”
“A gift?” Lilly said.
“Yes, I have very little power, but I do have the one who prays to me from time to time. I have been collecting the power she gives me for hundreds of years. I have enough to grant you the deep desire of your heart, the one I can see written in your very being.”
“You can grant me my desire?” Lilly said in a whisper.
“I can, dear child. I have granted it before to another. I want you to have this gift as my dear child of the scale.”
Lilly began to tremble, and her legs felt weak. “Thank you!” she cried as tears came to her eyes. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she called over and over again as the tears poured out.
Balisha held out her hand and a small glowing spark of light formed in her palm. Slowly it grew until it was as large as a campfire. “This is all the power I have to give. I give it to you out of my love for you. Take my gift and receive the blessing of your heart.”
Balisha bent lower and held out her hand to Lilly, and as Lilly reached up for it Balisha blew a gentle breeze and the light Scattered in a cloud of golden specks that settled over Lilly, surrounding her with a luminous radiance for a moment and then faded
Lilly trembled as tears continued to fall from her eyes.
“It is done child, but I have one last thing I want you to do for me,” Balisha said.
“Anything,” Lilly whispered back.
“When you tell Gersius, ask him to kneel and open his heart to me. My spirit will come to him, and he will know the story I have told you as if he was here to hear it. He will also hear the song I wish you both to sing, and he will know its power. He will gain access to me as you have, and I will call him my own.”
“I will! I will bring you Gersius, and we will both learn to love you.”
“That is all I can hope for,” Balisha said tenderly.
Lilly looked up at her, and for a moment, both of their blue eyes met.
“What is it you wish to ask?” Balisha said.
Lilly looked over her back at the saddle, and the bags, especially the one Numidel had given her. She suddenly understood what he had meant.
“Can you feed on the magic metals like I can?” Lilly asked her.
Balisha smiled. “Of course child, I am a dragon after all.”
Lilly's jaw curled into a smile. “I would like to offer you something in exchange for a little more help.”
“What is it you want, child?”
Lilly sat up on her hind legs and lifted her head to Balisha. The goddess leaned over, and Lilly whispered in her ear.
“If you really want that, I will grant it,” Balisha said.
Lilly placed the large sack of coins at the Goddess’s feet and stepped away.
Balisha smiled and took a deep breath. The coins at her feet began to come part, and golden light flew around Balisha as she absorbed their power. Gently she blew on Lilly this time. Lilly could feel the chilling kiss of the goddess wash over her, and her world became dark and quiet.
----------------------------------------
“I can feel her again!” Gersius said, suddenly looking up.
“I can too! This binding is so powerful. I can feel her like she is a part of me,” Thayle replied.
“She is so emotional, her heart is racing with joy and sadness,” Gersius added.
They both looked around the room to see it was still empty.
“Lilly?” he called out, but only his echo answered.”
“Where is she?” Thayle asked.
“I do not know. She is not close, not in the room at least. She feels distant and above us.”
Thayle smiled as she too tried to feel out Lilly’s location. “I agree, she is somewhere above us, but she isn’t moving. “
“Let us go back to the cave. There were other tunnels in the rock there. One of them might lead up toward her,” Gersius suggested.
Thayle agreed, and they hurried from the chamber racing back down the hall to the cracked bridge.
“There are two small tunnels on the wall there,” he said as he pointed them out.
“They are both across the bridge again,” Thayle pointed out.
“The bridge is solid, it was built to support a dragon,” Gersius reminded her.
Slowly they crossed over it with Gersius holding her hand until they were both safely on the other side. They made their way to the tunnels whose entrances were nearly side by side.
“These are too small for a dragon. Only a human would use these?” he said as they arrived.
Both Tunnels were man-made carved out of the rock. One led straight back, the other slowly wound its way upward.
“She’s down this one,” Thayle said, pointing to the one that wound up.
Gersius stood in the entrance to the tunnel and could feel a sort of tugging. She was indeed down this one.
Quickly they made their way up the tunnel the dragon sight making it possible to see the bare stone of the chiseled walls clearly as they circled upwards higher and higher. Long minutes passed before they started to see natural light, and they quickened their pace to find the source.
Gersius and Thayle stepped out of the tunnel entrance onto a rough stone balcony. They were high up in the mountain, and not thirty feet away, the stone ended at a sheer drop. The air was cold, and water trickled down from the snow above, making a constant noise like it was raining.
They were so high up the sky could be seen from the side. To the right, it was dark with thunderclouds. From their vantage point, they could see the towering masses of darkness that occasionally flashed with lightning. Black streams reached down from them to the distant ground as they rained on the earth below them. To the left, however, the sky was nearly clear with patches of white drifting over blue.
Right at the very edge of the cliff stood a woman. She had long, silver-blue hair and a thin, tender frame. Her hair blew in the breeze, revealing her naked form to them. Her arms were folded in front of her as she stood at the edge of the cliff, her eyes looking out over the distant storm.
“Lilly?” Gersius called, uncertain.
“Gersius!” she said, turning around. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she saw him, and tears ran down her cheeks.
She ran to them and threw herself into Gersius's arms, kissing him then reached out and pulled Thayle in kissing her as well.
“I am so glad you are both here!” She had tears running down her face, “I wanted to save it for you; I wanted you to see!”
“See what Lilly?” Thayle asked as a tear from Lilly fell on her cheek.
She broke from the embrace and smiled at them both as she started to walk backward away from them. Gersius and Thayle felt uncertain and moved to follower her, but she put up a hand to stop them.
“Stay where you are,” she said, smiling as white mist began to crawl on her skin. The mist suddenly grew in thickness and became a billowing mass that hid her form.
In the distance, lightning flashed, and so did the cloud stinging eyes and making him raise his arm to cover them. He lowered his arm and squinted into the thick mist. They first saw the blue eyes of fire staring out at them. Then the winds tore at the mist and blew it away, revealing the towering form of Azurastra in all her glory. Her blue scales glinted in the light challenging the sky for its beauty. Her head was held high as she towered above them, the sun bright behind her back.
Their hearts caught in their chests as she blotted the sun out by unfolding her great wings. The arms and spines of her wings were a vibrant blue, but the membrane between them was a gossamer white, almost silver like the moon.
“Lilly!” Gersius cried. “You have your wings back!”
“Sweetheart, you're healed!” Thayle added her eyes misting over as she copped her hands over her face
Lilly walked toward them and only then did they notice the saddle sitting to the side.
“Come my loves,” she said, “I have something to show you!”
She picked up the saddle and struggled to get it on pulling the buckle tight herself before laying as low as she could.
“Climb up my lovers, It is time to return.”
Gersius helped Thayle into the saddle then climbed in behind her.
Lilly turned her head around to look them in the face.
“Wrap the ends of the rope around each hand. I don't want you to lose your grip, and don't you lose my wife.”
“Lilly what are you doing?” Thayle asked her as Gersius tightly wrapped his wrists with the rope and locked them around Thayle’s waist.
“We are going to return,” Lilly said, suddenly moving with speed to the edge of the cliff.
“Return to where?” Thayle yelled as the edge of the cliff came racing up.
“The sky!” Lilly roared as they dived over the side, her great wings fanning out and catching the wind.
Thayle screamed as they went over.
Lilly flapped several times to gain speed and started to climb upwards, aiming for the clouds above. With a cry of joy, she broke through the clouds and showed them a whole new world. Everything was around them was the sky. Above them, it was clear blue, below them and to each side was the rolling white of clouds. Ahead them was the golden god of the sun shining as they had never seen it before.
She fanned her wings out and sailed through the world of clouds and golden gods.
“What do you think my loves?” Lilly roared.
“It is amazing!” he yelled back.
“I have never seen anything so beautiful!” Thayle cried.
“Ha!” she laughed, “You have not seen anything yet!”
With a sudden motion, she folded her wings back and dived down, racing through the clouds at a terrible speed. She broke through the underside and fanned her wings back out as the ground came racing up. She sailed over the top of a forest filling their world with white clouds above and green clouds below.
She flew past the forest and carried them out over rocky hills heading for the distant storm. They came over a green meadow filled with grazing deer. She roared as she flew over them, scattering them with great fright. “Ha ha!” she cried for the joy of it as she watched them run.
She lifted her head with tears pouring from her eyes as she beat her wings and went back up to the clouds. With a racing heart, she returned to the place she belonged. to the loving embrace of the sky.
“I am home!” she cried. “I am free again!”
She took them on, flying at the edge of the distant storm, and passing through the rain and still she was not done. United in their binding love she wanted to show them why she had missed her wings so. For hours she flew, her and loves, alone together in the palace of the queen of the sky.
__The End__