The Dragon of Charred Scales

Crushed Souls

Jacob

Her flames nearly melted the ceiling. Her roar hurt my ears. Yet I felt a measure of calmness. Mother was here, and she is outraged not at me, but at our situation. She cares. Even through watery eyes, I can see she cares.

"Jheecu, what are you doing here?" asked the older dragon with Karomba.

Jheecu stemmed her flames, looking in their direction. "I believed Harogbas wanted good things for dragons, for me. But Neihai and Shenring have shown me how blind I was."

I wanted to cry more. Her tone had changed from furious to sorrowful. We were told she and Harogbas really liked each other. He must have broken her heart by doing what he did, deceiving her.

I know that feeling. Way back when, before I knew I was a dragon, I was dumped by someone I saw as a girlfriend. It hurt a lot, especially when I first realized it. Mother must be going through that, but worse. She knew Harogbas long before I was born.

"Kill him," said the dragon with Karomba.

"I'll help," Oculeera said with the same confidence as earlier.

Me and Karomba stayed silent. Mother looked back and forth between us. "What did he do to you both?" she finally asked.

"Karomba won't openly speak about her abuse," said the other dragon. "It is unspeakable, though."

Jheecu grabbed their bars with her claws, muscles in her paw flexing. "They did not..."

She just nodded. Karomba backed up further into her corner, head down.

"And you two," Mother said, facing us. "He made you try to erupt Alustagal?"

Oculeera nodded. "I realized just in time what we were doing. He wanted us to create a disaster."

The bird landed on the floor between the cells. It looks like the one that flew in a few minutes ago. "He wanted you to kill yourselves while doing it. If you failed, the Turn would kill you anyway," said the bird.

"The prophecy... Harogbas is the shadow," I whispered, finally, truly acknowledging it.

Jheecu moved to grab our bars, again flexing her paw. The bars groaned a bit but did not budge. "That prophecy? The Prophecy of Shadow?"

Oculeera nodded. "We've trained for a long time, and have gotten stronger, but the time for us to act has to be approaching. We now know who the shadow is."

"Not necessarily," said the bird, hopping in the hallway to grab our attention. "You are certainly right about him being evil. Harogbas has always had a twisted mind, but until he transformed, his intentions were not horrible. The transformation gave him access to inverse magic."

"That doesn't make an individual evil, or you and Shenring would not have done what you did," said Mother, weary. Whether from the revelation or from the illness within her, her entire being looks old and tired compared to when I first met her.

"No, it does not," said the bird. "But it opened up possibilities he would have otherwise thrown out. He can kill masses or become a dictator for the entire world. The transformation also gave him abilities to rival Novayar. He knew quickly he would become the subject of the prophecy, and even boasted about it. Harogbas saw a way to gain power and it corrupted him, not the corrupt magic itself, though the magic is the main threat."

"Why did you stick with him then?" Oculeera asked.

"Because otherwise I would be in a prison like you. And unable to help you."