FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Through the eyes of the Midnight Blue Dragon Chapter 11: The Silver Dragon

**********

I awoke, alone on the grass, and looked around. There was no sign of either Avyn or Zathari, which was a relief to me. I had no idea how to deal with the both of them now and it seemed like everything was getting more and more out of hand. I slowly got up off the grass and stretched my wings. I decided against flying back to the city, I felt like walking instead. Walking would give me a chance to think about everything that I had got myself into.

The only path back to the city was long and windy, so I took my time, walking slowly as I was in no rush. The fresh air felt cool against my scales and I relaxed for the first time in a while. I cleared my mind of all things and just thought about the walk and the beauty of the forest that surrounded me. I came across a small clearing just off the side of the path. The clearing had a slight hill in the middle of it and it seemed like a good spot to take a bit of a rest and meditate on my current situation.

I sat down on the top of the hill, closed my eyes and spread my wings, clearing my mind of all thoughts. Images of past times rushed past my eyes but I payed them little heed. The images seemed to be getting more and more intense as they came from further back in my life. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and I began to see some images that were not mine. I focused my mind on these and identified them as Stormsun's memories.

I saw myself running through a large corridor, fear flooding though my body. I came across a pair of doors. One was marked "Do Not Enter" and the other "Please Use Other Door". This was a test, nothing more. I knew that if I chose the wrong door, death lay on the other side. I pulled in my powers and tried to determine what lay behind each door. All I could sense was a void and nothingness. This shocked me to the core.

How could there be a void here? He is not this powerful! Maybe the Aresyvin were right about him. The thought struck me and I realised that I was still nothing but a passenger in Stormsun's memories. All my actions were not my own, they were his.

The doors seemed to be extruding pure evil and each seemed to be demanding to be chosen. The thought of entering the wrong one and suffering a painful death entered my... Stormsun's mind and it made the fear double in strength.

Knowing Him as well as I do, I know that the answer would have something to do with lies and deception. He is a master of both and has twisted everyone's opinions of me. Even if it is the last thing I do, I will see Him dead! Stormsun's mind was flooded with fear and anger.

This being that he hunts or is hunted by must be very powerful indeed! I do not like this. Sharing a body with the memories of Stormsun was not something I had planned on doing. I thought to myself.

I felt one hand raise and point at the large space in between the two ominous doors. Stormsun muttered a few words that seemed to be a spell of some kind and I felt power flow through our body. The space in between the doors became a haze and another, smaller, door appeared. Stormsun grinned and stepped through the new door.

We stepped through the door and into a large, circular chamber. At the very back of the chamber was a giant pillar that looked as if it was made out of molten rock, and there was a throne just in front of it.

Hang on a second! This is the Hornet's Nest! The Gateway to the Inner Sanctum! I realised as soon as I saw the pillar.

On the throne was seated a large silver dragon. The same one that had been plaguing my dreams and visions. He slowly stood up and stared at us.

'Stormsun, my dear friend! It is so good to see you looking so well!' He said.

I felt our muzzle begin to twitch and I knew that this was the dragon that Stormsun had referred to as "Him".

'Bloodwulf you bastard! I swear on everything I hold dear, that you shall pay for all that you have done!' Stormsun growled at him.

The silver dragon, Bloodwulf, just stared and started laughing. 'What I've done? What I've done? No, Stormsun, the dragons of the world all think that you have done all these terrible deeds. I merely encouraged the thought and used it to my advantage. Every dragon in Lizan and most of the world thinks that you attempted to murder the king, that you committed mass murder in order to gain the knowledge of the Aresyvin. That amulet around your neck, Star's Bane, is more than you possibly could imagine. As far as every dragon is concerned, I don't even exist.'

We just stood there, staring at Bloodwulf and trying to make sense of what he was saying. For the first time, I noticed what it was that was around our neck. It was an amulet in the shape of a crescent moon with the little notches cut out of the edge. It was hanging on a fine gold chain.

That's Star's Bane! I wonder what it really is. I thought to myself.

I swear I will be the one to kill him! How dare he accuse me of not knowing what this amulet truly is! How dare he destroy my life, forge letters to my mate and then kill her! How dare he weave tales about me trying to transfer my soul into another's body in the event that I die! Taking the life of another just to continue on living is something that was banned a long time ago. On her grave, I swear that your life shall be terminated Bloodwulf! Stormsun's thoughts seemed to be emanating pure rage.

I shuddered, trapped inside Stormsun's memory, as I realised that Stormsun was not the one who should have been blamed for all the things that he apparently did. This Bloodwulf had just admitted to doing them all and laying the blame on Stormsun. While, yes, it did seem that Stormsun commanded an evil power similar to the one that ran though my veins, there was also something else... something familiar. I knew that it had something to do with Star's Bane and I decided to learn more about it. If Bloodwulf and Stormsun could understand what it was and what it did, then so could I.

Bloodwulf glared at us and suddenly grinned. 'Oh, and Darkstar, get out of his mind while you still can. And know this; I am coming for you, my little dragon. You shall not live to see the dawning of the new year!'

I opened my eyes and stared at the sky above me. I was back in my own body, on that grassy hill in the forest. Bloodwulf had somehow seen me inside Stormsun's body! It seemed impossible, seeing as I was watching his memories only. I jumped to my feet, spread my wings and flew back to the city as fast as I could.

I landed in the courtyard of the Kermani Mansion and ran up the steps to the door. I opened the door and jumped inside, only to come face-to-face with Rasani. She had an angry look on her face and I realised that she had no idea where I had been for the past day and a bit and I quickly made up a cover story that was as close to the truth as possible.

'Look, Rasani, before you go and yell at me for disappearing like that, at least hear me out. I have been out in the forest, trying to understand some of the things that have been happening to me. You know about Stormsun and his evil deeds, right? Well that is one of the things I now understand, why he did it and who else made him. I know now that Stormsun is not able to transfer his soul into my body, neither that of the dark silver dragon either. The silver dragon is a bigger threat than Stormsun ever could have been. I now know that I have a greater power source than I first realised and I will use that for the good of the dragons in this city. If need be, I will topple both the Crusaders and the Black Guardians!' I said rather quickly.

Rasani stared into my eyes, obviously trying to tell whether I was lying or not. I kept my face set in a look of realisation and pride and hoped that she would fall for it. She suddenly wrapped both her arms around me and held me close. I felt my shoulder getting wet, looked down and saw that she was crying.

'Oh, Darkstar, I thought that we may have lost you! I thought that you had been captured again!' She sobbed into my shoulder.

I put my arms around her and held her close. I noticed that Bertain had walked into the room and was staring at the two of us. He looked a lot happier than he had earlier and he winked at me.

'Bertain, I am going to need every book you have on Stormsun and Star's Bane please. Also, if you find any, I would like books on someone called "Bloodwulf".' I asked him, smiling. He nodded and walked out of the room.

Rasani dropped her arms from around me and stepped back. 'I hope that you find what you are looking for, as you are going to be in for a lot of reading now.'

I smiled at her and watched her walk slowly away, swinging her hips at me suggestively. I grinned to myself and then frowned. How could I ever have betrayed her like this? Why did I keep betraying her once we were married? I tried to clear my head and slowly walked towards the library.

By the time I got to the library, Bertain had already gathered around twelve books on Stormsun and Star's Bane. He approached me with one small book held in his claws.

'This is the only book I could find on Bloodwulf. I don't think that you are going to like what it contains.' He said with a frown on his face.

I took the book out of his hands and sat down at the table with the other books. I spent hours with my nose buried in those books. Rasani came in twice to check up on me and I spoke slowly and carefully, trying not to lose my concentration. I was learning so little about Star's Bane and so much about Stormsun's crimes. I knew that most of these crimes would have been done by Bloodwulf and blamed on Stormsun, but I could not uncover the truth of Star's Bane or its connection to Stormsun.

Rasani walked into the library with a worried look on her face.

'Darkstar, you can not read all these books in one day. Please come with me and share a meal with your family.' She almost begged me.

I turned to her and looked her in the eye. 'Just as soon as I have finished here, love.' I replied.

She glared at me and took a step forward. 'You are coming now and that is final! I will not have my husband sitting here, reading all night, while there are people out there who want to talk to him.' She growled at me.

'I need more time!' I half-shouted at her.

Suddenly, my mind reeled and my vision went slightly purple as I felt a burst of power rush out of me. Rasani just stood there, glaring at me and I turned back to my book. There was a really deep sound coming from behind me and I turned around. Rasani was still staring at me but I noticed that her mouth was moving very slowly, as if she was trying to form words. The sound appeared to be coming from her. I shook my head in frustration and the translucent purple haze disappeared. Rasani started talking normally again and that made me wonder what had happened.

'... n't treat us like that!' She said.

I just looked at her with a puzzled expression on my face. I did not know what had just happened.

'I'm sorry, what did you just say?' I asked her.

'I said that it won't do you any good to speak to me like that and that you shouldn't treat us like that!' She said angrily.

'I am sorry, it will not happen again. My anger and frustration at these books just got the better of me.' I explained, putting the book down and following her out of the room.

I sat in silence, musing over the memories of Stormsun, wondering how they got into my head in the first place. I knew now that Stormsun had not planned to take over the body of another so all worry that stemmed from that disappeared from my mind. There was no way that I could be Stormsun, yet his memories were buried at the back of my head.

'What is wrong Darkstar?' Cynda asked me with a worried look on her face.

'Oh, I am not worrying about anything really. I am just worried about a lot of things that seem to be happening all at once. I am most worried about the blood that covered my body yesterday. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to find out what happened.' I replied.

Later that evening, I was sitting once again in the library when a sudden thought struck me. I walked along the aisles, looking for a particular book. When I found it, I grabbed it off the shelf and brought it back to the table. I blew the dust off of the cover and looked at it carefully. The title read; "Advanced Dragon Magic and Manipulative Abilities". I opened the book and scanned the contents page. Finding what I was after, I turned to page three hundred and four.

_Time Manipulation.

In history, there have been a few dragons with the mysterious ability to warp time around their bodies, allowing them to either speed up or slow down time. Dracos, the fourth king of Lizan, recorded the effects and feel of the ability. Thus he wrote;

"It felt like I was moving through water, everything was seen through a purple haze and my movements were slightly sluggish. You would first discover this mysterious ability when you are doing something important and running out of time. The first time I stumbled across it I was busy trying to build a certain object for a friend and my father walked in and tried to get me to stop and help him with some of his paperwork. I refused and started yelling about time being too short. A large wave of power rocked through my body and everything suddenly slowed down to an almost stop."

Dracos goes on about his uses of this ability and why he did what he did.

If you are gifted and able, the way to use this mysterious ability seems simply to be to concentrate on how much time you want to manipulate and whether you want it sped up or slowed down and then yell something about time. If you are not one of the few gifted ones who are able to do this, then we warn you not to even try. It seems that those who are not able to manipulate time suddenly find time manipulating them when they attempt to use the ability._

I read the page twice, closed the book and returned it to its spot on the shelf.

Time Manipulation, hey? Well this is going to be interesting. I wonder if I can use it right now.

I concentrated on slowing down time as much as possible and was about to yell out "I hate time" when power roped through my body and a purple haze settled over my eyes.

Hmm, maybe you only need to think "time slow down" and it works. I mused.

I walked back to the table and sat down. I noticed that as soon as I got within a certain range of objects, they seemed to pass through some barrier and enter my time-flow. I wondered how many seconds in my time made up one second in real time, but I had no way to test it at the moment so I just went back to reading my books.

I have no memory of ever falling to sleep, but I must have since I woke up to find that I had entered the normal time-flow again and that Rasani was standing in front of the table, glaring at me.