“But you have this whole world. Mostly to yourself, or so it seems!” Caden turned in a tight circle to encompass the whole of the Spirit Realm. “Everybody is in their lairs, happily joined with their humans, enjoying their joint existences.”
Happily? Happily joined? You mean CHAINED! The Behemoth roared at him.
Seven pairs of eyes glowed at him with fury.
“No, no, no! You don’t get to blame that on us,” Caden said, even as he felt guilty at what he had discovered the Spirits had to give up. But he had to respect their decisions, too. “That is a choice they make.”
Because they think they will be free in the material realm with all those humans and their things that you so go on about! The Behemoth retorted. But they are not. They are shown who holds the control. Who chains them?
“Whoa! Wait a minute there, too!” Caden shook his head and held up his hands as if physically warding off those words. “First, Spirits choose to bond with humans. They enter human bodies and exist in the material world that way. Humans don’t get to choose this.”
But they do! They agree--
“Every single story I’ve heard about--including my own--when a Spirit bonds with a human is in a time of distress. Seeing someone else attacked. Watching your brother killed before your eyes. Seeing your granddaughter poisoned. Getting revenge on a village that rejected you. And stopping a bomb from going off and killing countless people,” Caden added his own experience last. He hoped it would pluck at Iolaire. The White Dragon Spirit was listening. “That’s not a real choice. Nobody is thinking straight at that moment. I can tell you that the Spirits don’t say: oh, I’m going to bond with you and you’ll have to fight me for control of your own body from here on out! No, they say: I’ll give you the power to do this thing or stop that thing or whatever it is in that moment your heart and mind and soul desires.”
Iolaire, my heart and mind and soul desires YOU. Please join with me again. Fight the Behemoth! Caden begged the White Dragon Spirit.
Iolaire’s ears twitched and its head turned a little bit more around.
Behemoth’s eyes narrowed. So you are blaming the Spirits?
Caden blinked, but then refocused again on his own argument, “What I’m saying is that you’re portraying the Spirits as some kind innocents who have no idea what they were getting into is… well, bullshit.” Caden shook his head. “Maybe the first Spirit didn’t, but every Spirit after that one did. This isn’t news that they could bond with someone--a person they choose, by the way, and so have plenty of time to observe--who would not treat them as an equal partner.”
Iolaire, you always treated me like a treasure. You chose me, even though I didn’t and don’t deserve you, Caden said. I’ll do everything I can to treat you just as well. We’re equals. My life is yours.
More ear flutters. Caden didn’t doubt that Iolaire already knew these things within its heart as it knew his deepest thoughts without him saying them, but he wanted to remind Iolaire about what it was fighting for.
You think then that humans have the right to abuse their Spirits? The Behemoth’s mouths all cracked open and various miasmas of magic boiled behind sharp teeth.
“No, of course not! And now that I know what the Spirits must give up here, I’ll be even more mindful than ever of Iolaire’s needs and wants,” Caden assured the Behemoth as if the monster’s opinion mattered, as it would change its mind even if it did believe him.
We’re going to make sure that you and Raziel get plenty of flight time, mountain time, cuddle time, whatever you guys need, Caden promised. Raziel is right here, too, Iolaire. But Raziel’s in trouble. I’m in trouble. I can’t do this on my own.
Voice slightly cracking with emotion, Caden got out, “None of us knew until I got here that the Dragons stayed in their lairs once they bonded with us. They hid this from us so we wouldn’t worry about them.”
Or perhaps you were too stupid to figure it out. Too blind. Too selfish, the Behemoth scoffed.
“Maybe. Maybe we should have asked, should have thought of it,” Caden admitted.
There are going to be no secrets between us after this, Iolaire. Open books, both of us.
A touch of honesty! How rare! The Behemoth mocked.
“Then how about a touch more. You, of all people, should be grateful they did though, because your little plan wouldn’t have gotten so far if they had been minding these skies,” Caden reminded it.
Iolaire, you can break free. I know you can. You’re the ninth Dragon. You’re the White Dragon. You can take even Mephous out of the air, Caden cooed to his Spirit.
Little plan? The Behemoth tilted all of its controlled heads to the side.
Caden’s gaze slid to Iolaire. The White Dragon’s head was fully turned to the side, but looking down now, as if depressed.
No, no, no! Iolaire, we can stop the Behemoth. You and me and Raziel! But I need you to break free! Caden cried.
The head did not lift though and Caden felt nothing of their bond.
Oh, no, oh, please no. Iolaire, I can’t do this without you. I can’t live without you, Caden said the last without intending to, but he realized he meant it as soon as it was out of his mouth. I can’t be without you, Iolaire. Please come back to me.
“Big plan. Whatever. It is a bad plan for everyone involved,” Caden told it.
