In Form

One with Nature

I got off the bus at the same stop I told the bus driver to stop last time, and headed straight for the exact same spot on the road where I had stopped before. I threw my bag under a bush and headed into the woods. I tried to re-play my steps until I found the right spot. I ran up logs and jumped off stumps till I figured out where I was the first time I came into these woods.
I waited. For a sign, a sound, but nothing. I stood akwardly in dead silence . Then a hand grabbed my wrist with a force I've never known before, and pulled me into them.
"Talk about bad timing. Come with me." Dragolya said tugging me towards a tree in the distance.
"Wha- What's going on?" I asked, still shocked from my wrist attack.
"You need to hide. Our territory has been crossed, Mistory is dealing with it right now, but I have to help her, so hurry up and get up there!" she said, motioning towards the tree, obviously in a hurry.
There were no limbs within five feet of me, it was impossible. "There's no way..." I said looking up the tree trunk. "Impossible."
She looked annoyed, I regreted even speaking. "If you don't climb this tree, I will force you." she demanded softly.
"How?" I asked, still looking up the tree trying to figure out a way to climb it.
"Here let me help you." she said in a impatient tone.
She picked me up and threw me up and into the tree.
I landed almost perfectly, in a sitting position, on a high limb. In the city everything was tall, so it wasn't the sickening height that made me grip to the tree like a bear, it was the thought of falling and possibly breaking every bone in my body.
I looked down, Dragolya was looking around, then she ran off in another direction. Like a fox, her foot steps were silent, then she was gone.
I tried to get in a confortable position, which was really hard because I was in a tree. I wasn't the best at climbing trees either, living in the city for the past fifteen years, wasn't really helping.
It was quiet, maybe too quiet. Dragolya said that Mistory was dealing with it, must of not been violent. Just then, I heard a roar of some kind, I stood corrected. I lifted myself to try and see the action. The trees and bushes blocked my way. I could hear the grunts and branches breaking getting closer.
It was frustrating that I couldn't see anything. Then I thought, I could move them, I know how to now, It would be good practice too. I reached out my hands and began to try and separate the brush, and bend the trees apart so I could see. But they wouldn't move. I tried again and one tree recoiled back just enough for me to see. I couldn't believe I actually did it, I moved something without touching it. I kept my hand in place.
I could see Mistory, Dragolya, and a huge black dragon. Mistory was in a tree shooting arrows at the dragon, while Dragolya was on the ground, becoming a dragon. In a wisp of black smoke, Dragolya was a Dragon. She, in dragon form, toward over the large black dragon. The black dragon had horns that swirled striaght up his neck, gold eyes just like Mistory and Dragolya, small spikes ran down its back, and a sharp triangle at the end of its tail. He stood about half as tall as Dragolya, and on four legs, and two wings on his back, obviously a different species than Dragolya.
Mistory shot an arrow into his neck, and he got angry fast. He spun around towards her and made a fierce and angry roar. Dragolya then got the chance to strike and grabbed his neck in her dragon mouth. They thrashed until Dragolya's grip was losened, then the black dragon threw her into a tree, the tree I was trying to hold up. I lost grip and the tree whipped around from being held back so long.
The black dragon turned and caught eye of me. He roared at me and a burst of wind pushed me off my branch, the wind didn't feel natural, like it was on que. I hung on the branch for dear life.
The black dragon walked through the brush, locked on me, his target. I could feel my fingers slipping, If I slipped at least it would be a quick death. Dragolya came out of the brush and nocked the black dragon, against the tree I was in. I lost my grip, and I was falling. I passed all the limbs in the tree, I was looking down at the ground I was about to hit. I raised my hands to my face, palms facing the ground, and yelled out. "No!"
I still had my eyes open to see a tornado of old leaves swirling below me. The leaves formed a large lump, like the pile of leaves you make when raking, but much bigger. I hit the leaves with force, but surprisingly it was as soft as a perfectly fluffed pillow. I bounced In the leaves for a moment, then layed there in awe from what just happened. I just controled those leaves to do that?
The clashing dragons made me snap out of my day dream. There were two of, what looked to be like same kind of dragons fighting the black dragon now. I could help them, with my new powers and all, I could help.
I consitrated really hard. I looked for something big. I noticed that, not a big, but a pretty good sized tree was just in the right spot to hit the black dragon. I stretched my hand out, the tree moved but it didn't fall. I tried again, and still it wouldn't fall.
The black dragon pounded his front feet to the ground and a large burst of wind shot from him and nearly nocked over Mistory and Dragolya. The dragon saw that I was on the ground, and he was now licking his chops. He took a step towards me.
I tried my hardest to focus on the tree, but the flesh eating dragon was pretty distracting. I used both hands this time, it still wouldn't fall. The dragon was walking out of the perfect standing place he was in, I had to act fast.
Dragolya and Mistory shook their heads and also noticed that I was now on the ground. I couldn't read a dragons facial expression but Dragolya's ears perked up, which I think means she was alert. This was frightening and frustrating. I mumbled to myself. I gave up, on this, on my power, and now my life.
I stomped my foot in frustration. To the dragon and my surprise, cracks in the ground crumbled beneath my feet and trailed under the dragon then to the tree that I was trying to pull down. The tree cracked and crumbled, till it was obvious that it was falling.
I couldn't believe it worked, I couldn't help but to say "yes" to myself. I felt releaved that the dragons eyes were no longer looking at me. The dragon turned in awe at the falling tree. He had no time to move, and the tree almost shattered when it landed on his shoulder. I had to jump back away from branches flying my way. The dragon cried out, then fell to the ground. The tree rolled off of him and crushed his right wing, causing him to have more pain and cry out more. He whimpered like a very large wheezing dog.
After his pain, he looked up at me, slumping on his hurt side he growled at me, baring his teeth. He lashed out at me, but I was jerked up at the last second by the back of my shirt. Dragolya held my jacket in between her teeth, and held me above the dragons reach. Mistory scorched the dragon with fire. The dragon finally retreated into the woods, I could hear it running for a long while before I heard no more. I was put back on the ground gently. Dragolya and Mistory stood before me in the form of dragons.
"Uh, thanks..." I said, trying not to stare in awe.
Mistory turned back into human form. She still had her plether jacket on, with jeans, and bare feet. "Yah, sorry about the intrusion. We wern't expecting that, unsettling visit." her soft voice said.
"Was that dragon going to, eat me?" I asked like a small child.
     Dragolya exhaled hardthrough her nose.
"Well, he may have hurt you bad..." Mistory said.
"So is that guy, like you guys?" I asked, gesturing to where the black dragon went.
"Well, kinda, but not the same species." she said, almost unsure.
Dragolya was surrounded by smoke then was a human again. "We are Wyvern, the largest species of all the dragons. That guy was a European dragon, the second largest type of dragon, getting a little over fifteen feet tall. The European is... well... european. Wyvern are an African species, I know were not African, but were generations past down." Dragolya said like a professer.
"We are the only kind of dragons that stand on only two legs." Mistory added.
"So, am I a... Wyvern, too?" I asked.
"We'll see..." Dragolya said under her breath. "But right now we'll work on your power." she said speaking up.
I nodded my head. "I've been practicing, on my own. I been getting really good." I said playing with my hands.
"I know..." Dragolya began. "I saw you, you did better than I thought." she said with a smile. She began to gesture her hands to me. "Well lets see what you got!" she said enthuseised.
I nodded, they both looked eager to see what I could do. So I tried to focus, I listened to the sounds of the forest, the birds, the leaves in the tree blowing in the wind, even Dragolya and Mistory were silent I couldn't even hear them breathing. I didn't know where to start really. I clenched my fists then released, hoping something would actually happen. Bright green grass sprouted from under my feet and spread around me like a spot off paint, then stopped a few yards away. I looked up to see their reactions.
Dragolya was grinning, Mistory was smiling gleefully, then Dragolya started clapping.
"So was it good?" I asked.
"Great! Better than any other begginer I've known!" Mistory said, looking surprised.
I smiled. "What are your powers?" I asked eagerly.
"I have the gift of fire and Dragolya has the uncommon gift of electricity." Mistory said.
"May is see?" I asked eagerly. "If that's okay..." I then sheepishly said.
Dragolya smirked. She put her hands close together but not touching, then gray-blue electricity sparks came from her hands, the eletricity builded untill you could see a ball of sparks forming between her hands. When the ball came to half the size of a volley ball it stopped growing and Dragolya held it out as it floated above her hand. After a few seconds of me gawking at the strange floating ball, she closed her hand and the sparks disapated in the air.
Dragolya just shrugged, then looked at Mistory.
I looked at Mistory too, clueing her on what her power was. She smiled and put her hand up, she rubbed her fingers together like a sign that you make when you wanted money. Sparks flew from her fingers, it was a beautiful sight.
Dragolya looked at her like she could do better. Mistory opened both her hands to her side, then flames came from her palms, then she ceased them.
"So do only Wyvern have those powers?" I asked.
"Oh no, dragons can have any power, despite their species. Usually it's hereditary." Dragolya said.
I looked at my hands, wondering how such power could come from these little hands. If this kind of power is possible, would it be possible that everything else is true too? Myths, legends, folklore, could it all be real? I know now that dragon's are real. But what species was I?
"What am I? I would like to know now, please..." I asked, demanding in a shy way.
Dragolya seemed suddenly upset. "How am I supposed to know? I can smell that your a dragon, but I can't smell your species!" Dragolya's eyes turned gold, with a flash of red.
"Ok ok, we can just skip this lesson for now and work on form instead." Mistory said trying to calm her down.
I thought if I just saw the transformation again, I could do it on my own, without their help. So that would mean to make her even more mad, its a risk I have got to take.
"It's ok Mistory, you don't have calm her down, she can deal with her own anger issues." I said with a smirk Ive been dying to use since, well forever.
Dragolya was fuming now. "Anger issues?" Her eyes turrned a blood red. Black ink like smoke trailed around her and then it disapeared and she was a dragon again. She roared with alot of power, which almost blew me off my feet. Now that I've seen how to change into form, I was terrifyed.
There was no time for Mistory to block her from me, all she could say was "Stop!" Dragolya took one step and opened her mouth, at first a gas passed her mouth then once it hit a certain brown tooth the gas sparked and flames shot out at me. I raised my hands to my face, I didn't feel any pain, any heat, I looked up, the fire was being held off some sort of forcefield. I was blocking the fire with my hands, making some sort of shield.
Dragolya ceased her flames, and I ceased my clear shield. She stood astonished.
"Exactly how much have you practiced?" Dragolya asked, still in form.
"Not that much actually, I've never done that before." I paused and saw no reaction. "Could it be reaflexes?" I asked.
"You made me mad on purpose, didn't you!" Dragolya said, half joking.
I looked at my feet. I couldn't tell if she was really kidding or not, I haven't been around them much, or at all.
She seemed calm now. "Yes, it probably is your reflexes Amber." She paused and glanced at Mistory. "So we need to focus on controling those type of things."
I nodded my head.
Dragolya came back into human form and put one foot back. "Let's what you got. Hit me."
I gave her a confused look, did she really want me to attack her?
She nodded at me.
It was worth a shot.
I closed my eyes and focused on my favorite memories, the ones that made me happy. I threw my hands up and opened my eyes, I pushed an almost invisible force towards Dragolya. Dragolya crossed her arms into an X and blocked the force, which almost pushed her over. She ricashaded the force back at me and I flew back and hit a tree behind me.
My back pulsed with pain. I needed to focus, so I tried to get up, but I couldn't move. It felt like my body was on fire, I looked down at my body. Blue/gray electricty bolts were wrapped around me tightly and connected to the tree. Then they subsided. Electricity, this was Dragolya's doing.
I looked up at Dragolya, who's hands were still up from throwing my own force back at me, she was grinning gleefully. Mistory gave her a scolding look. Dragolya just shrugged her shoulders.
"Dragolya!" Mistory scolded.
"Ok, sorry about that, I just had to break that confedence in you that was saying that you could knock me over." Dragolya gave a smile. "I kind of mixed my power with the force that you pushed me with when I threw it back at you. Electricity, it can be very powerful." She looked at Mistory. "Alright then, your turn Mistory."
Mistory was stepping up to the plate to throw some sort of fire magic at me, I figured this would be a challenge. She closed her eyes and paused for a moment, then when she opened them she stepped back and threw one hand up. Red fire shot straight out of her hand, and straight at me.
With no time to think I moved my hands up trying to block my face, hoping that something would happen, then leaves moved up in a wall in front of me. On contact, the dry leaves obsorbed the flames and caught on fire. The flames grew huge with glorious colors, it never seemed to want to stop burning in its place. With the snap of Mistorys fingers the fire ceased instantly.
"You have great reflexes in power, so while your leaf wall was up, Dragolya went and hid somewhere where you couldn't see her." Mistory said. I looked around, confused and afraid of where Dragolya might be hiding, ready to pounce. "Using your reflexes, you can block yourself from her attacks, which might save your life. I will be hiding too, but we go one at a time in power attacks, so it's a lot easier for you." Then Mistory ran into the woods to where I couldn't see her anymore.
"Uh... I don't know about this guys..." I whispered. They seemed to be wanting me to excel faster thuan I wanted or could catch up on, like they expect me to already know all this stuff. I looked around, trying not to think of the situation, and how I might get seriously injured from any of there attacks. I tried to listen to anything around me, the sound of nature was the most beautiful sound. Birds, crickets, wind through the trees, the rustaling of leaves.
There was something out of order though, the sound of ticking and clicking.
Electricity.
I spun around and slid my foot on the ground like a ninja, wiping away the eletric line that was headed for me. It felt awesome. How did I do that move? I didn't even mean to do that.
I still didn't see Dragolya.
I heard flames behind me, a fire ball was headed straight for my face. I held my hands out, once it hit my hands the flames disinagrated. I waited for the next attack. Then they fired all at once, the one thing they promised not to do, or at least Mistory promised.
Flames on one side and an eletric bolt on the other, heading striaght for me, I just did what I did last time with Mistorys fire, I made it disinagrate. But Dragolyas electric bolt wouldn't desinagrate, with no more time to act the bolt hit me, pain rushed through me. I cried out.
I could feel my heart beating at a very fast rate, so much I thought it would burst inside of me. It was frustrating that I couldn't move. Then suddenly the burning electricity stopped and I fell to the ground, I felt helpless as I laid there.
In dragon form, Dragolya stood before me. I could tell it was her because of the fuzzy end of her tail. The soft looking hair on the end of her tail frizzed up like she just rubbed a balloon on it, that's when I could see blue/gray sparks come from her tail. I was frieghtened and started to back up while I was still on the ground. My muscles strained to move.
She walked up to me, I couldn't back up fast enough as she gently put her foot on me to pin me down. She lowered her head, as if inspecting me with her large golden eyes. She was breathing from her nose, it felt like wind from the depths of a volcano, it made my hair blow along the ground. She parted her lips revealing sharp teeth, there had to be at least fifty teeth in her mouth. I didn't know what would happen next, where was Mistory when I needed her. She lifted her head and her foot, it felt releaving, I exhaled hard and just layed there happy that I was still alive.
"You didn't even try to save yourself, you need help." Dragolya said, still in form. Her mouth didn't move when she spoke so it looked funny with her head bobbing and making grunting noises.
"I couldn't focus!" I barked back, still frustrated and shaken.
Dragolya was surprised by my out burst of an answer.
Mistory ran over to us and nelt down beside me. "It's ok Amber, I think this was a little to much for you." She looked up at Dragolya, then back at me. "We were supposed to go one at a time..." She said gradually raising her voice. "You should be getting home now." She looked up at Dragolya and glared at her. "What were you thinking? Do you want us to get in trouble with the council? Again?" Mistory yelled.
Dragolya looked indesisive, then tried not to look regretfull, but it obvoiusly showed. "What is the council going to do about?" Dragolya fought back. At this point I was looking back and forth between them. "Nothing! They can't do anything!"
Mistory wasn't finished. "If something really bad happened to her, that would catch the attention-" She cut short her sentence and replaced her words. "-of unwanted people." She rolled her eyes and turned toward me. "It's time for you to go home." I didn't realize Mistory could talk in such a tone of voice.