The Little Dragon

3

"Ive changed my mind." I cross my arms as Von glares at me with his eyes still heavy from sleep. "Good news for you, im going to try and talk to it first."

He gawks at me with a dopey half asleep face. "Right. So..." he rubs his eyes. "Let it find you?" he covers his face with his hands. "What a terrible idea. Let Neithar do that."

"Ah, no. go back to sleep, you cant follow me into the spirit realm." I wander into the forest, and he trails behind me. "I'm serious. You also haven't eaten."

"I did, and I know." He jostles his chest plate and tightens his sword belt. "What are you looking for?"

"No. I'm opening a gateway." We turn around and begin to head back the way we came, but the brush gets heavier and the light dims from a golden to a cool white, then blue. The veins of the leaves begin to glow, the trees become white barked and the ground turns to stone.

I glance at Von, who is looking around in wonder. "I..came through? I suppose."

"You shouldn't have. Mortals usually kill themselves in their panic here. Or, find a way out before seeing any entities." The forest is quiet except for the wind rustling the leaves.

A small hill of carpeted white material creeps up on us. We walk onto it, and I sit at its peak. "Sit."

He opens his mouth, but topples onto his hands and knees as the legs of the whale mite come out the bottom and we wobble up. He begins to walk, and Von struggles to sit. "Where is it taking us?"

"Where it thinks we should be." I lean back onto my hands. "Rule of the spirit realm. If it isn't trying to eat you, its smart and wants to help you. There are exceptions, but they are rare and all have their own names."

He doesn't say anything, but his quick breathing and tight grip say enough. We stop at a lake and dismount. I thank the mite, and we walk onto the lake. In the center are two white starlings. Once we get close enough I can see it is Naithar and another.

"What...am I looking at?"

"It's a message. This lake, the stars..." I glance up at the sky. "My kin have sent this lake here. This is what my home looks like, after you have fallen."

The whale comes up to the surface. "Woa!" Von panicks and stumbles back.

"Relax, it's a vision." The two starlings open their eyes. They both run from the whale, one is caught, but Naithar is washed under the surface. The surface of the lake breaks and the sky becomes the surface and we stand on darkness as we watch Naithar fall. He turns a red hue before setting aflame as he plummets for the planet we are on now. He lands inside the volcano and we watch him scream and burn as the seasons around the volcano change until it erupts, and a crystal formation unlike any other, holding the silver power of starling magic plumets into the elven city that is now ashes.

Naithar is all flame and rage. He burns everything around him in a mad rage.

We move to the crystal that shines with visions and memories of the star realm. Without a body for so, so long and with its own consciousness it pieces itself back into a singular form. Still crystal, but conscious and living. It learns about the elves as they place their hands on it. It sees the destruction Naithar causes.

It roots itself to the ground and grows. It becomes so large it connects all magical energy across the continent. But it cannot get its roots to grow in the volcano.

"it... it is Naithar."

"No. this is the spirit realm Von. That is his daughter. He is still whole, but insane from decades of torture. It is another rule, beautiful things are born of pain and suffering. Von's daughter wants me to connect with her." the vision disappears and we return to the lake with the stars twinkling their approval.