Generations: Broken Prophesy Story

Chapter 21

     Nyota breaches the fluffy white clouds like a seadragon would the surf.  The joyous exclamations of “Woo Hoo!!!” from the two-leg atop her back brings a grin to her face.  ‘Are you alright, love?’

    “What?  Yes!  This is amazing!”  Chaser grows more somber for a moment, “I’ve only been a two-leg for a couple of days, and I’ve already begun to forget the feeling of flight…”  Chaser falls silent as his keen eyes scan the horizon.  “There!!”  He shouts, pointing in the direction of the setting sun.  In the distance a thick bank of clouds merge seamlessly with the dense fog below, to create a nearly impenetrable wall of grey.  From the heart of the cloud-wall rises a spire of glowing stone.  The heart of an ancient volcano throws smoke and cinders skyward.

    ‘I see it.’  Nyota replies.  ‘There must be someone there.  I can’t imagine an Alpha so powerful that it would claim every dragon in a pack.  Even Ahadi never had all of us loyal to his command…  Intimidated, yes.  Broken…  some.’

    “This nest alone had hundreds of dragons living here, after the Queen was killed.  I even had family here.”

    ‘Are you sure you are okay up there?  You weigh almost nothing, I’m afraid you are going to fall off and I’d never know it.’

    “Well…  If I do fall off, then I guess we will find out if I can swim.”  Chaser feels his mate slowing, “Honestly.  This isn’t much different than when Mom and Dad would take my sisters and I out for a flight.  We would ride their backs, just like this…  Well, not ‘just like’ but close enough.”

    ‘Hmm…’  She looks back at him, her eyes narrow, but she seems mollified.  ‘What was the rest of your family like?’

    “They were all very different.”  Chaser pauses to think, “There was Ember, Volcus and Cinder.  Ember was my mother’s blood cousin, Volcus is her life mate and Cinder is their first hatchling.”

    ‘They don’t sound like Shadewing names.’

    “No…  When Loki last visited, he changed all of the two-legs my mothers age into dragons, like he did her.  Each took a different form.  Ember is a Flametongue…”  Chaser goes on and describes each of his extended families.  Nyota would have balked at the idea of anyone changing into a dragon had she not witnessed the very opposite.  “We are almost there!”

    Nyota glances about, as the wall of fog seems to lessen as they grow closer to the island.  Following Chaser’s guiding hand, she lands lightly upon the black pebbled beach.  With an almost happy purr, she clenches her paws, feeling the smooth stones between her claws.  ‘This place is barren, but still holds a beauty of its own.’

    Sliding off her back, Chaser looks around the abandoned beach.  “I…  I didn’t really think…”  A frown forms on his face as the excitement of flight wears off.  “I thought they were mistaken, or at the very least exaggerating, but there is no one here.  This beach is usually filled with dragon families.  The waters are shallow enough even hatchlings can play in the surf safely…”  Looking about, he spies the ancient cavern opening further along the beach.  Pointing it out, “That is the shield wall that collapsed when the Queen broke free of the magma cave.  There might be someone inside…”

    Nyota can clearly smell the desperation rolling off her mate, as much as she can hear it in his voice.  ‘Chaser…  There isn’t anyone here.  I know you want there to be, but I don’t smell any dragons.’

    “No!!  There has to be someone…  Anyone…”  Taking off at a sprint, Chaser’s sudden flight takes Nyota by surprise.  It is no effort for the young female to catch up to her running partner.  

Her pace is almost leisurely by comparison, but she slowly finds herself becoming winded by the run.  Glancing down to the barely visible bulge of her growing egg, ‘Chaser, I need to rest.’

“Nyota?”  Chaser slows, kicking up gravel in his wake.  His eyes slip down to where she is looking, “Oh!!  I wasn’t thinking…  Are you alright?”  His small hands reach out and begin rubbing along her jaw, his movements mimicking those he saw his grandmother use.  Once her breathing slows, Nyota’s smile returns.  His hand slides along the smooth warmth of her side, until he steps down toward her belly.  His hands begin rubbing circles around the growing egg.  “Should you be this large already?”

She chuckles, ‘This isn’t large…  Not really.  But I am a bit thinner than most, so it just looks big.’

A quiet clatter of stones falling against stone catches Chaser’s attention.  Squinting, he tries to peer into the great maw that is the tunnel leading into the volcano’s heart.

‘Umm…  GOOOOoooo AAAWWAAYyyyy.’  Echoes a strange voice howls from inside the cave.

‘You call that scary?!  That’s pathetic.’

‘It’s better than your idea!’

‘My idea was to throw rocks at them.’

‘Like I said it is a stupid idea.  Just like you!’

‘I’m not stupid, you’re stupid!’

“Hello?  We can hear you…”  Chaser calls back into the cave.   Behind a large boulder, he can just make out movement.  His heartbeat quickens at the sound of two distinct voices.  “I knew there had to be dragons still here.”  He whispers to Nyota.

‘Hiccup?’  a distinctly male voice questions.

‘It can’t be Hiccup.  Kari hasn’t been around for months’

‘No!  I mean it is Hiccup-Hiccup.  Not Kari-Hiccup.’

‘You’re crazy!’

‘Don’t call me crazy.’

‘You’re right, you aren’t crazy.  You’re just stupid!’

Chaser had quietly approached the cave opening while the two dragons argued amongst themselves.  Once he silently slips around the massive boulder he is surprised to find not two dragons arguing, but a single Twin-soul literally butting heads against themselves.  Chaser’s worried expression dissolves into relief as he recognises the green-yellow dragon.  “Ruff-Tuff?!”