Ser Jeowin’s Adventures and Thedragongod (The Society On Da Run #31)
By Nipaporn Baldwin
Published by Geppetto Garten/Nipaporn Baldwin at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 by Nipaporn Baldwin
e-book edition (smashwords edition)
2/19/12 © 2011 licensed CC-BY-NC
Ser Jeowin’s Adventures
The Canary
It was the time of the Ides when King Haptis’s son, Jeowin, witnessed the Reap of Guenivere. King Haptis was part dragon and could freely shift between human and dragon, and such a gift was passed to his sons. Jeowin, however, was a bit more abnormal, and he was partly to blame for the disaster in Guenivere.
Jeowin wandered away from Byron and Delaney, his dragon-protectors, to explore the sleepy town of Guenivere. He went everyday and during his frequent travels, he met Selena, a brunette girl half his age. She didn’t understand much because she suffered from Draconis, the rare sickness that disabled some cognitive function in human-dragon children. Her mother told her to never let the townsfolk see her shift forms, so she was forbidden from expressing her dragony self. Jeowin felt bad for her and often times he would shift forms and take her for a ride amongst the clouds. One of the townsfolk, a teenage boy named Ewin, witnessed Jeowin flying about with Selena. He told his father and they began to monitor Jeowin’s every move. After a week they were able to catch Jeowin switching forms. By law, all human-dragons were to be burned at the stake. The town mayor feared the dragon shifters.
A mob of townsfolk came to the forest where Jeowin and Selena would meet and they hid away until one of them showed up.
Jeowin couldn’t break away from his protectors this time. His father found out that he had been sneaking away and fooling Byron and Delaney with a very good clone.
Selena sweetly called out his name with her little voice. It was the first time she had ever spoken in all the five years she had been living. Jeowin managed to sneak from Byron and Delaney yet again when they argued over last night’s football game. He wandered into Guenivere and saw a crowd congregating around a pyre. The screaming voice sounded too familiar to him. He saw the little red dragon chained by her arms and legs, and he saw how she was forced to endure the hellish flames that burned her body.
“there he is!”
Jeowin wanted to free her, but his own life was in danger. He tried escaping but Ewin grabbed him and tried to throw him onto the burning pyre with Selena. He was seconds from throwing him in when he was engulfed by a burst of flames. Ewin fell to the ground, dropping Jeowin onto the pyre. Byron extinguished the flames with the power of his chilling ice breath, but it was too late to save Selena. She was charred and dead, never to wake again. The townsfolk fled when King Haptis came into the scene, his only intentions on retrieving his son.
After the traumatic events, his father ordered that everyone in Guenivere town be slaughtered and thrown in the town canary. The King’s loyal army of knights marched to the town in broad daylight and with their swords and Black Technology, they cut short the lives of many people.
“Watch, my son. Watch as the traitors are given their rightful punishment.” Said Haptis.
Jeowin did watch, but somewhere inside him he blamed himself for Selena’s death. Her body was buried by the tall oak tree near the Canary, which is where Jeowin’s mother had died so many years ago. He couldn’t take his mind off Selena…
“is there a way I can bring her back?” he asked his father.
“bring who back?”
“Selena. You brought Ma back from the dead, so I know I can bring Selena back.”
Haptis shook his head, “no, my boy. In Selena’s case, it’s different. Her death is finalized.”
Jeowin shook his head as tears streamed down his face, “No! I won’t accept it. I know there’s a way.”
The bodies of the dead townsfolk were dumped into the deep canary. It was a bloody mess, and Jeowin blamed himself for their unfortunate ends.
Thedragongod
Our need is to Him and His alone, for the Creatures are of His own blood and essence. There are some built by sin that wish to abolish this second God, unless he forge them in his own frosty image, becoming one with the flesh of the dragon god and thereby getting closer to the High Divine.
That is how it must remain.
As of those that wish it so, he will only take those with the purest of heart. Our role in the Father King is the continuation of the flying creatures, and to better ourselves in him and the Higher One.
That is our caste within the dragon god. We are to balance out ourselves for the sake of acceptance.
The dragon stood, trying to regain the strength he was quickly losing. His torso ached as the glass within it shifted and dug painfully into his muscle. His right arm snapped in two and he lost his balance, falling onto his own spilled organs. The dragons were in a frenzy as they moved about the cave, trying to gather precious artifacts, books, and language runes so the humans wouldn’t snag them, but all of their attempts were useless. Using the power of the Dragon Lord M’yenkan, these humans slaughtered every ten dragons that passed by.
They had a girl born of the African Dragon’s clutchen.
The Vessel knew this, and he knew his time was ending.
The humans overrun his shrine and were taking the sacred language runes that his sweet Lementia left him. The girl they were using as a tool had been corrupted by the lies that the human tribes were implanting within her. He had to make her see…
But not was not the time.
The last hope for the dragon race to continue was for the new Vessel to awaken. All this time he wanted for the young male’s death. He saw him as a threat to the Draconizica Empire, but now he sees. His son is the only key for filling Draconizica with new blood. As Rodderan the Wise used to say: Out with this Era’s new Blood, in with the Next Era’s fresh blood. His son was escaping through the blood tunnels to avoid the human’s reach.
His left arm gave out and his body fell onto the floor. The remaining pieces of glass had pierced his smooth fur and into his hide. He growled at the pain, but shook it off to deliver his final message to the Empire, via Hynnody telepathy from his heart.
“Children of the Empire, heed my final message.”
At that moment, everything ceased. Human-Dragons and Dragons alike paused to hear the words of their Father. Revy and the others saw the dragons standing still and wondered what was happening.
“They just…stopped.”
He continued, though it ached his head to the brink of wanting to die, “These humans have entered our Sanctum and are trying to destroy what we hold dear. Right now, as I say this, I am dying in my own blood.”
The dragons wailed silently as they heard the news.
“I want you, my children, to feel the new Vessel that will save you. Protect him and give him all you hold inside. Allow him to enter your minds. He is of adolescence, but I know he will do right. Protect him with your lives and take him to Lementia’s Altar. There, she will protect him with her light. Heed these commands, my sweet children, and may the Gods be with you. Farewell.”
And like that their bodies were emptied of his essence. They felt hollow and boundless, but they complied to his final wishes and filled their thoughts of the new Vessel. They mentally searched for him and immediately were filled with this new Vessel’s essence.
The old king is dead. The Gods saved the Prince.
The dragons shifted to defense mode and were no longer caring to save their relics. Revy balked, feeling uneasy as all the creatures turned their attention to her. The blood of their new God was coursing through their veins. Sylfa, the second-in-command in the Vessel’s secret army, telepathically directed the Dragons on how to deal with the humans. The little ones aimed their attention on Revy while the other Dragons went to save their new King.
The old Vessel lowered his head and closed his eyes. He felt his human soul floating in nothingness, until a small light came to him. He knew what it was, it was his beloved Lementia.
“Ashuton…” she spoke.
“Narcissus…when can I come home with you?”
She giggled, “you’re not dead yet. Just hold your horses, I’m coming down to save you.”
“No!” he shouted, “you have to save our son! The humans…”
“The humans? It happened already?” she wondered curiously.
“You knew this would happen?” he asked.
She nodded, “Yes, I anticipated this event. Very well, when you return you will have to find your way out yourself. Where is he?”
“He’s in the tunnel system, heading towards the catacombs. I told them to help him escape to your altar.”
“My altar? Okay, I will lead him there. You will be returned, now. I’ll see you very soon, dear.” She said with a smile before disappearing.
The young dragon tried with all his might to navigate the mushy wastes of the tunnel. His fur was becoming dirtier with every stride he took. It smelled horrid in there, but he knew he had to escape the humans. For the first time in Eons, their power was might.
He slithered himself through the hole and flopped onto the ground. He lay there, resting for a moment and breathing heavily from the exertion of navigating the tunnel maze. He heard the sound of dragon wings and he was quickly on his feet. Landing before him was an old Wyvern. The creature bowed, acknowledging the adolescent’s new title.
“Wh-why are you here?” he asked timidly.
The wyvern didn’t speak, it only beckoned the dragonet to follow. For a long while they walked through the eerily silent catacombs. The Wyvern stopped at the great door and spoke in Hynnody to open it, “Ip en Drazor isst wery en Parnete.”
The door slid open, unveiling the ruins of the battlefield. Apparently the battle had progressed to the site of Lementia’s Altar.
“Do you know how to take flight?” the Wyvern asked without speaking.
The dragonet nodded.
“Now’s your chance!”
The dragonet flapped his wings and was hovering in the air.
“Go to your mother’s altar. She will protect you there. I’ll be right behind you!” said the Wyvern that did not speak.
The dragon flapped his wings as hard as he could to reach the altar before the humans. His heartrate climbed with every flap.
Revy raced up the stairs of the ruins, running past every dragon that didn’t care to notice her. They didn’t intervene; they had a very special dragon waiting for her at the top.
The Dragonet plummeted towards the light and fell in its grasp. It lifted him up and he felt the warm arms of his mother wrap around his abdomen.
I am with you, little one.
Revy looked on as she found out she was too late. The light grew brighter and became blindingly bright. The humans shielded their eyes, but the Dragons looked on. Their eyes had a protective overcoat and they could see through the brightness. Gusts of wind had caressed the trees, calming them into a dance, but the humans had to hold onto something. A few were sent flying into the beyond. When it ceased with a bang the young dragonet came flew out in a different form. He looked exactly like his father, but younger and slimmer. The dragons bowed to their new Emperor, and the taste of his blood had flowed deep within them.
Revy summoned as much energy as she could as the fresh dragon readied himself to battle her. Claws extended, fur puffed up, wings ready to take flight, teeth sharper than the best Elf knife, and he was now in battle mode. Revy dissolved into her dragon form and immediately attacked without hesitation. She managed to bite his wing, and he furiously bit down hard on her neck and flipped himself to twist her. It worked, but it didn’t kill her. She latched onto his chest with her claws and used her inner strength to throw him. As she tried to jump on him, he unleashed a breath of fire and dragonants to bring her to a bloody stop.
She squirmed and screamed as the little dragon insects bit into her hide. This was something new that the Dragons hadn’t seen before. They have never thought of using dragonants as a weapon on their enemies. The young King dragged her to the altar, paying no mind to her feeble struggles. The ants dug into her skin and released eggs into her bloodstream. The queen dragonant bit down into Revy’s brain, becoming one with her and using her brain as a catalyst to control her. Revy stood, no longer being herself, and spoke monotonously, “I am the Queen Dragonant, birthed from the new Vessel’s loins. I am within his enemy and shall stay until the new hive is complete within this body. I follow your every whim and the whim of God.”
The young dragon nodded, “good job, my child”
He spoke to the dragons, both telepathically and aloud, “Attention dragons of Draconizica, as you may know, my father is dead. He left me in his place and I intend to do my duties to rightfully better our Empire.”
Dragons all around started to rejoice at this new revelation. This didn’t replace their love for their old God. They knew he would return and that this dragonet’s place within the Empire was temporary until his Father’s return.