Fury of the Sun

PART I: 1. The Decade of a Dragon

      PART I
- The Former -

Chapter One
The Decade of a Dragon

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Soundtrack: 04. Dragon Training
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Today is my 20th birthday, I thought as I sat alone in a glade and watched the dragonflies skim across a clear pond to my left. My wings were folded across my back, the sun heating my scaly body. I blinked, a soft chink sound coming from my leathery eyelids as they closed. I rose and wandered across to the water, suddenly filled with longing. It had been lonely, here.

My sky blue eyes shone back in the reflection on the still water. The sun was reflected too, and my gaze flicked to it, a soft growl prepared to come from my throat. Suddenly, darkness enveloped my vision.

. . .

The world around me seemed blurred and too bright. Soft clouds surrounded me, the sun above.

"My child," the suns speaks, in a voice neither male nor female, high nor low, one that fades from memory after hearing it. I preferred however to think of it as a he, like a father who watched over me.

"You have given up when you were so close. I have watched you, and your human spirit still burns inside you. You have wavered from your quest," the sun scolded.

"I'm sorry. I tried so hard... but I never found him," I cried.

"I know, child. However, you have learnt the most important lesson already - you have forgiven the dragons for what they did, and have made peace with your past, present, and future. For that, I will guide you to the one I spoke of many years ago. Get ready to fly, my child..."

. . .

Suddenly, I was awake and in the sky. I dropped a few hundred meters in altitude before I could recover enough to begin flapping my wings furiously. The sun hadn't been kidding when he'd said Get ready to fly. Despite myself, I grinned, toothy and foreign to this body.

I held my course, white clouds below me. After about and hour, my curiosity picked up and I dropped below the clouds. Big mistake. A storm raged, wind and rain battering at my body immediately. I was hurled towards the ground - which turned out to be water.

I scrambled to get myself out of the raging sea, and eventually leapt out explosively, back into the storm. The wind tore at my wings, pulling me first one way, and then another. Salty residue built up on my scales, leaving white crystals on my body.

By the Sun, I cursed, as I fought viciously against the air currents. My energy flagged considerably. Come on, come on! I growled and put one last-ditch effort into gaining height. For a moment, my efforts went in vain - then abruptly, the wind changed and I soared upwards, thanking Odin when I managed to rise above the clouds.

I travelled for a day in this fashion, above the storm that covered the ocean, and in the evening, I dared to drop below the cloud layer once more. I beheld a sight of beauty greater than I had ever seen before. The clouds rose in great orange pillars, lit up by the setting sun. Likewise, the water shone gold, the waves making the colour shimmer and glow.

I slowed my course and was drinking in the sight, when I noticed a dark blotch on the horizon. The sunlight seemed to flare for a moment, and I took that as a sign. My heart swelled with excitement, but also fear and nervousness. Soon enough, I would find the riddle boy, and then I could be human again.