Dawn of Dragons

Chapter 7: Home

When she woke up again, she found herself staring directly up at the sun. The rays of light filtered through the bright green forest, and she found herself enjoying the nature she was surrounded with.

Until she found out where her head was.

"Awake?"

Aria's head jolted up, and she immediately sat up. Not daring to breathe, she slowly turned her head around to see who was behind her.

"Brunner!" She screamed, her face slowly turning bright red. "What were you doing?!"

He looked at her nonchalantly. "What? It's fine. Although you've been sleeping on my lap for like a day now. My legs are asleep." He laughed when a huge yawn interrupted Aria's angry and embarrassed face. "Still tired? You're free to sleep some more. It's not like someone is watching." He patted his lap.

"Hell no!" Aria shouted, half scolding and half laughing at the same time. Brunner laughed again.

"If you say so," he slowly stood up, then winced.

"Are you okay?" Aria said, worried. "Is your leg okay?" Aria noticed that he had changed clothes.

"Nope, I'm fine," he said, then took one step forward and collapsed to the ground.

"Brunner!" Aria felt like she was yelling his name at least five times per day. She dashed to his side to see that he was clutching his leg. "Oh my god, don't try to stand up again, let me see your leg-wait, are you laughing?!"

What Aria had thought were cries of pain were actually snorts of laughter. Brunner laughed so hard he cried.

"What's wrong with you?" Aria scolded him.

"It's nothing," Brunner laughed. "I just wanted to see how you would react. My leg is actually perfectly fine now. Unless you want to see how it is? It's pretty high up my thigh."

Aria's face burned with embarrassment. "What is wrong with you?" She fumed.

Brunner suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. "Don't ever use the powers of darkness again, unless you really need to. Overuse can cause you to be swallowed up by your own powers. I'm so glad you are okay. Promise me. I will never use chaos magic again unless needed."

Aria gasped, startled by his fierce hug. "I will never use chaos magic again unless needed."

"Good." He released her, then gave her a sheepish grin. "I mean, it's incredible. Chaos Dragons are pretty rare, and what's even more amazing is that you have more than one element. Chaos and light. Both are rare. And only select few nobles and the queen have more than one element."

Aria looked at him in shock. "You mean it's not common for a Dragon to have more than one element?"

"Of course. As you know now, I have control over the element earth. And you know-" He swallowed with difficulty. "Skie has the element air. Only the queen and really important nobles had more than one element."

Aria nodded, then looked around at her surroundings. "What is this place? It's totally different than the place I last remember." Instead of sitting in a dense forest, they were sitting right next to a roaring river, with fewer trees but more wildlife.

Brunner grinned. "Ya, I did that. Since I can control earth, I kind of just dug a giant hole, and dug a tunnel to where we are now." He pointed to a giant hole in the ground next to us, and I gaped at it in shock.

"You mean you carried me and the big pack all the way here to where we are now?" Aria couldn't believe it.

"Of course. And I would have carried you through the portal to the Land of Dragons too, but I wanted you to be able to experience going through it yourself." He pointed to the source of the roaring water, and she gasped.

There was a huge waterfall that at stretched upward to god knows where, and the foam and mist threw off spectrums of light and rainbows. Aria ran to the side of the river and gazed upward at the powerful source.

It felt as if it were calling to her, beckoning to her to enter it's mysterious depths. Aria felt a pull, and she murmured. "I need to go there, now."

"Easy," Brunner chuckled. "New Dragons always start out like that. They feel the urge to go and enter. Don't worry, I'll take you there in a moment. But first, I want to show you something." He pulled her face down to the water so she could look ago her reflection.

"What, what happened to me?" She whispered.

Her right eye had turned silver, that's right, silver. While her left eye had stayed a dark ebony, she realized that they had both become slitted.

A reassuring hand squeezed her shoulder. "The Change." Brunner whispered. "Its begun."

Aria wrenched her gaze away from the water and returned her gaze to the waterfall. "Let's go." She hauled up the pack. Brunner sighed, then led the way.

At the base of the waterfall, there was a narrow, winding staircase to the center of the waterfall. Aria suddenly felt excited. They climbed behind the waterfall.

On the wall, there was a carving of a large and ferocious dragon. Its powerful wings spread out throughout the cavern, and its mighty jaws gaped wide.

"How come no ones ever seen this or found it before?" Aria asked.

"Oh, they've found it." Brunner responded. "The only problem is getting into it, and that's something the silly humans can't do. Remember the map that Skie gave you? At the entrance, what did it say?"

"Only one with a Dragons aura may pass through the gate." Aria murmured.

"Correct. And so, only one with a Dragons soul may enter." He knelt on the ground in front of the dragon carving. Its eyes seemed to bore into them.

"My Queen," Brunner solemnly said. "Grant us permission to enter your lands." The earth erupted from underneath him, controlled by his abilities.

A warm feeling coursed through Aria, and a voice seemed to echo in her head. Enter, Dragons.

The dragon carving glowed white, and it rippled. She knew immediately that if she stepped through it, she would be whisked away to the Land of Dragons.

"Let's go home," Brunner said, then held her hand.

Together, they walked forward.

Yay 7th chapter complete!

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