Among Dragons (Editing)

Chapter 16

Even though I couldn't directly feel it in my body or settle onto my skin, I knew it was cold. I could feel it in the way that my fingers stiffened and refused to bend, or the way that a heavy stillness weighed down onto my skin and made me feel hollow.

My breaths curled visibly into the air in puffs before they dissipated into nothing. Soft tufts of snow bumped against my body and rolled off to continue their descent to the ground below.

It looked like I was in a small clearing, the trees surrounding me covered in at least an inch of snow already. With everything covered so pristinely I felt a heavy sense of loneliness. The silence of the air was deafening.

"Hello?" My voice warbled in the dead air.

The sound of crunching footsteps answered my call. I turned slightly to my left to see the figure emerging from the blurred land that laid beyond the the clearing.

His hair was a rich, dark brown, contrasting sharply with the white of the landscape. The tips of his hair looked like they had been dipped in a frost.

"Seer," Polaris's smile was wide and as white as the pristine snow that fell around us.  "It's such a pleasure to meet you."

I nodded to him. "As I, you."

His eyes studied my face as if he was looking for something, and to remain respectful, I kept his gaze. His eyes were such a clear ice blue that the color looked like polished gems. The snow that swirled down reflected back into his eyes to make the color seem to swirl with snow as well.

"You're so young," He noted softly. "It's an amazing feat for such a beginner to be able to talk to all the dragons. Tell me, was it difficult?"

"It's not difficult for me to get in to their minds, but pulling myself out always seems to be the most challenging to get ahold of."

"I can imagine." A bemused smirk slid onto his face. To me, Polaris looked to be in his early twenties. I wasn't surprised, seeing how the oldest dragon only looked like she was in her mid thirties. The dragons had to have aged much slower than just regular humans.

Polaris leaned against the dark trunk of a tree. It made me shiver to see his bare arm touching the frost covered surface, even though I knew the cold had no affect on him. "Shall we get to what you've come here for?"

I nodded. "Yes, of course. There was a prophecy that has been in King Fletcher's possession for a long time now. In it, it states that the most powerful dragon will attack all of the others. We believe that Rhaegos will be the one that will attack, in order to defeat every dragon."

"To create an empire of his own, I presume?" Polaris's gaze had narrowed in scepticism. "How do you know for sure that it is him?"

My brain grasped around for something, anything that I could use to ease his suspicion and believe me. He wasn't the first dragon to doubt the truth we were trying to prove.

Polaris shook his head after I failed to respond. "As I thought. I don't doubt that you yourself have good intentions, Seer, but I do doubt the authority behind you. I apologize, but I will not involve my people in such a dangerous battle. Not if I don't even know who my true allies are." He pushed his body off of the trunk of the tree, little bits of its bark still sticking to his gray shirt.

I nodded solemnly. "Of course, I understand. It is your decision to make but I thank you for giving me time."

"Who have you gotten on board already? I'm assuming that I'm one of the last you've visited."

"Phoenix, Nereus, and Aurelia have agreed to help us so far." His face sharpened with respect at the mention of Phoenix's name.

"I'm surprised that Phoenix joined you. She's not the greatest when it comes to teamwork. Not that I'm so surprised she would be eager to rid of Rhaegos, though. Too much competition against her power, I guess."