The Tenth Dragon: Death Of A Youngling

Chapter 21: The Truth Of Life

“I am the goddess Gaia, sister of Luna, and the first god to come to this planet.  I . . . .”

“Ya, ya I heard all this shit back in the flying kingdom.  I . . .”

“You have probably heard many version and many stories haven’t you?  From Origin, Nicholas, and the proud king of the beasts?  None of them really add up do they?  Leaves you with a lot of confusion.”

Even as he heard her voice, the woman’s lips never moved.  Jesse starred at her blankly, not really sure what to say.  It was true that when he thought about the stories all together, he got more questions then answers.  Origin called them generals, Nicholas called them god dragons.  Nicholas had told them that Exodus had taken him from the family, but Jesse’s memories revealed that, that was a lie.  Everyone had been lying to him.  Thousands of stories with similarities but none of it actually matched up.

“So why has everyone been lying to me?” he asked coldly.

“I told them too.  I needed you to get here, to this place.”

“Where is here?  What’s the point of this? Are you . .  .”

Suddenly Jesse grew angry as he came to a drastic realization.

“You’ve been using me, manipulating me.  All the shit that I’ve gone through has been because of you,” he snapped.

Gaia starred at him but said nothing.   There was panic and pain in her eyes.  Jesse couldn’t tell if she regretted doing it to him, or that he realized it.  She hid her arms behind her back and turned away from him.  Still saying nothing she strolled through the field a few feet before stopping and turning back to him.

“Yes.” she answered simply.

Jesse’s rage snapped and he lunged forward, his Aura exploding from his left arm.  He swung wildly but she quickly dodged him and rested her back against his.  Her hair danced in his face as she giggled softly.  He growled and swung his elbow around, narrowly missing her again.  She moved fluently and easily around him like the wind.  His every swing, his every move, she was able to calculate and avoid.  Even as he swung his feet at her legs she leapt up and glided over him, inches from his face.  A big smile plastered on her face as she licked his nose.  She landed on her feet and flipped back a few times.  Jesse face was burning as he growled again.  Scales sprouted around the jewel on his arm and spread until they were covering not only his entire arm, but his left pectoral, and the left side of his face and neck.  

“My, my, even your scales have changed back.”

“What?”

He looked down at his arm and saw that she was right.  Instead of his silver scales, they were now sky blue.  The jewel on his arm had also changed colors to match the scales.

“What the hell is going on!” he shouted at Gaia.

She giggled at him but said nothing still.  Instead she tilted her head and winked at him.  Jesse roared and bolted at her with Aura charged up in his hands.  He stopped inches away from her an thrusted his right hand at her and blasted the Aura.  Without hesitating she dodged it as swiftly as his other attacks.  Angrily Jesse swung over and over again, releasing blasts of Aura with every swing.  Gaia dodged not only the Aura but his fists as well, as if she was dancing with him.  She ducked, twirled, and swiveled to the beat of music only she could hear; the entire time her arms never left her back.  Jesse brought up his leg and thrust it at her chest, but he missed.  Much to his surprise though she landed on on his outstretched leg.

“If you continue this fight, then you will only Overmax sooner.”

Still growling Jesse flung her off his leg and set it slowly on the ground.  He calmed himself enough to focus but his scales didn’t recede.