Mercenaries of the Gods: Chronicle One - Stories

The Resolve of Dragons

The sun peaks through the entrance of the cave. The storm is passed and, riding on the rays of light, the delightful music of the birds enters the cave. The calm is very enjoyable, yet my mind can't help but worry about my friends Gui and Kathshema. Arashi still sleeps and I let her remain in the peace. I sit and ponder the events of the last few days. And then I think about the conversation with Kathshema about the eruption before the chaos found us. My logic says that time was not long ago, but somehow it seemed eons removed. In an attempt to relax my mind, I close my eyes and listen to the present. The sound of the wild fills the air and I reach a state of meditation and peace, something I needed on that morning. Breaking the moment is a strange sound, like muffled talking, starting to fill the cave. Arashi's and my eyes pop open at the same moment and she freezes. She points to the grass pile she fell asleep on as she mouths the words "The seeing stones." Slowly, and with great care, she rolls off of them and the voices become much clearer. 

The despicable Sinlurot shouts "...dare you speak to me in such a matter prisoner!" 

The voice of the mighty Bahamut blasts back "While I may be stuck here, my might is so powerful, I am beyond the pain of this realm! Your foolish grand plan backfired, you maggot! Without the seeing stone I hold; you have no hope of ascending!" 

Arashi and I stay silent. With great anger, Sinlurot retorts "Silence whelp! I will soon hold the seven stones! When my might does, their powers will remake me into the God I deserve to be! Then, you will bow to me like the insect you are just before I end your life!" 

Things click in my head. Countering the arrogance of Sinlurot with his own, Bahamut shouts a retort. "You lack three of the stones weakling! The stones of the Mit and Yot clans are dark, and I hold the stone of the Uli clan!" 

Sinlurot's anger can be felt through the seeing stone. "I said silence! The Yot clan is no more! After my will caused your sad shack to fall from the sky, I put in power a young dragoness and my faithful servant Tiamat! The Yot clan has been reborn as the Tia clan! And, like the Yot clan before it, the Tia clan works for me!" 

The voice of Bahamut shakes the cave. "The names and rulers of the clans matters not slug! You still lack the stones of three! Without them you cannot transcend to the seven-colored beast of myth! Your plan fails, you foolish hatchling!" 

Arashi and I look at each other for a moment. We now both understand the importance of the stones we hold. The stones abruptly fall silent. Arashi looks afraid to speak or even breath as she slowly sits up. I ease her fears. "You can speak. The stones have no power of transmission unless held." 

With a nod, she exhales the large breath she was holding in. We both sit for a moment in silence. My mind goes over this new information as I wonder how things could get more complex. Suddenly, Arashi asks "What is the seven-colored beast of myth?" 

My mind dives through its extensive knowledge but finds little on this subject. "I know only bits of old legends. But if the legends are true, it spells the doom of our kind. You should know more about it as you were a royal prime." 

As she places a hand on one of her wounds, Arashi thinks for a moment. "I vaguely remember my father mentioning something about a dragon with all seven colors of the primes. When the clans unite, their powers will raise one dragon to the status of a God. That dragon will have the colors of all seven remaining prime clans and powers that eclipse that of Bahamut and the greatest of all the Dragons of Gaia. But I was very young and thought it nothing more than a pleasant bedtime story." 

"Perhaps that's why he sent you for the seeing stone." I scratch my chin causing sparks to fly from it. "Maybe he wanted the power of the stones." 

"Enough to sacrifice his only daughter!" Her harsh words boom with thunder. "May his rotting corpse be picked apart by bird and crab on that beach and may his bones turn to dust under the scorching sun!"