Dragons of War - Rising Storm

Chapter 3 (2/3)

"It's cleaner now," my voice raised to a pitch, I tried to sound positive.

He cleared his throat and turned to his desk to dig through the papers piled there.

"What's going on Lewis? This isn't like you not to talk." I walked up next to him. There was a bright lamp in the corner of the desk and it shone down on the scattered pile of papers. They had drawings and printed words on them but it wasn't the words my eyes were drawn to, but the drawings.

Huge wings like bats, some with four. Scales like a snake and tails twice as long as their bodies. Heads with spears adorning them and claws sharper than knives. They came in every hue of the rainbow, not a single one looked alike.

The Dragon Warriors.

My heart almost stopped as I looked around at the hundreds of papers on that table alone. At first, I thought they were fake but then I read over the text, utilizing the very skill Lewis had taught me, and I realized that they were very real. They were documents of the Dragon Warriors and their stats.

The ones who had died.

My head swiveled around the room and horror grew in me as I noticed every single paper there was different, but they were all labeled 'deceased'.

I was standing in a documented grave. There were more papers there than the living in that Cavern.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Lewis asked. He glanced up at me from the corner of his eye.

I wasn't sure whether he was talking about the achievements or the deaths but I wasn't going to ask. Maybe it was both.

"Is it true?" I looked over to him and I watched his head drop down to the papers below him.

"I'm sure you already know the answer to that one, or you wouldn't be here." He sighed and sat back in his chair.

"What are you going to do?" I questioned. I felt the world around me fade with my hope for the future.

"There's nothing I can do Jaya, the project is a failure. I was a fool to think it would work." He snapped. I stepped back and he jumped from his seat and paced the room. He stopped next to his machine and leaned against it, resting his head against the metal.

"My failure isn't just mine either. Thousands have died for this dumb quest." He continued softly, his face hidden in his hand.

I glanced around at the papers, proof of his words.

"I don't understand, it works?" I tried to reason. Seeing him like that made my heart drop. Was that really it?

"Then why haven't we won the war yet?" He lifted his head and looked at me.

I had no answer for him and looked to the ground again. He leaned his back against the machine and slid to the floor.

"That's what the Order wants. A won war. They're fools too." He mumbled to himself, his gaze lost in time.

I realized then, why he was here. He wasn't working, he was hiding.

I looked again at the many papers scattered throughout the room and again I was filled with awe.

So many incredible creatures had been born from that single project.

"You know Lewis, if we weren't at war, then what you created here would have changed the world. It would have been something fun, or at least groundbreaking." I said. "You're like an artist giving people new forms."

He was watching me now. Despite my words not helping, I knew he appreciated the effort.

"Once upon a time that was the point." He spoke finally and I looked up from the floor. "I had a dream. This is what the war turned that dream into." He continued.

"Then what was the original?" I asked.

"Hm, well, my dream was to give a form to what was inside a person. For me, that form was a dragon and so that is what I pitched to the Order, oh so long ago." He replied.

"Maybe that's why it's failing," I mumbled under my breath and looked back down to the papers.

I wondered what I would have looked like had I ever become one and with those thoughts my heart soared again. How I dreamed for that to be. With wings so strong, and claws so sharp, I could do anything I wanted.

Lewis laughed and I looked back at him to see a smiling face.

"You're probably right. This entire time I have been wasting away what I have left on that original dream. Might as well right?" He dropped his head to look at his hands.

"If this project is shut down, then what will I have left to dream about?" I tried again to raise his spirits.

"Oh Jaya, if only you knew the horror you aspire for." He mumbled.

In the back of my mind, I thought of the papers that surrounded me but my heart wouldn't listen to that.

"What fuels it?" He suddenly asked and looked up at me.

"My dream?" I questioned.

"Yes." He replied.

I knew instantly why but the words made me tremble.

"I think you know why." I looked around at the papers around me more, avoiding his gaze.

"I want you to tell me." He said. I looked over and met his gaze.

The words were so clear in my mind but I didn't want to speak them. I was afraid.

"I want to have the power to take away from them, what they took from me." I finally said it. The air around me felt cold.

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(Author's Note:)

Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this please leave me a comment or rate <3<3 As usual the last part for chpt. three will be out on Friday.