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The sheer power of it brought me to my knees.
Images suddenly danced over the slate walls like apparitions from the past, showing everything that I had experienced and that made me who I was. More importantly, everything that brought me here.
Moments I knew all too well because I had lived through them… or in spite of them.
Mom’s arms wrapped around me in the next ghostly image, rocking me in a desperate attempt to calm me during one of my episodes. Screams ripped out of me as my skin mysteriously bruised and sliced open, blood staining my legs. My pain was matched only by my mother’s as she silently cried with me, unable to make it stop.
My eyes stung as I watched us. I must have been only two or three years old back then, but it was such a vivid memory that I doubted I would ever be able to let it go.
Dad’s smiling face followed, tiny lines creasing the corners of his eyes as he laughed with us. We jumped from chair to sofa, to coffee table, to the cushions spread all over the floor to make it to Mom—the princess in need of saving. At the time, I thought it nothing but silly games—the floor is lava mixed with a seriousLightsaberbattle. Still, our game always played out the exact same way. One path to save the princess, and the same swordplay—strike by strike—until it was ingrained in me.
In retrospect, I should have known he was preparing me for something important, but it just felt like love and Sunday afternoons playing with my parents.
One by one, the scenes changed in the darkness, playing out the happy days and the turbulent ones for the Dragons to witness. It felt as though they were searching through my soul, learning everything I had been through in my life, trying to see if I was worthy.
Recognizing that as true, I relaxed, opening myself to them and letting them in fully. I had nothing to hide.
When my first visit to the honeycombs played before us all, coming full circle, the flashes all over the cavern went dark.
A new set of memories ignited—each sent to me by the remarkable beings surrounding me. Before I could even gasp, I was witnessing the birth of Caelisium. Except, I wasn’t just watching it… I was somehow part of it.
TheElementi Caelestesappeared from a burst of light, their forms so magnificent, powerful, and intimidating that it robbed me of breath. The Dragons in the lairs were ants compared totheCelestials, Gods in their own rights.
My vision zoomed in with the scene, and as they flew over the nothingness, each God spread their essence over the darkness, creating a realm of Fire, Water, Earth, and Ice.
AsIgnis, Aqua, Terra, and Glaciesadvanced, their majestic wings and tails spread over the land, creating the seven territories—theIcelands, Desertlands, Greenlands, Wetlands, Woodlands, Highlands,and theOutlands. Seas and lakes formed, trees sprouted, flowers bloomed, grass rushed over the vast, brown soil, and then mountains and volcanoes shot from the earth.
A paradise was born, and with it, a rainbow of Dragons emerged.
The flashing memories continued, one image superseding the next, playing so urgently that I shouldn’t have been able to witness it all… but I did. Clear as day I saw the creation of the Soulris, followed by the choosing of the most honorable and worthy family, the Devenish.
OncetheCelestialsgifted them magic, a new kingdom rose, one which men and Dragons nourished and protected together.
My breath caught when the next images showed young man after young man, all kneeling like I was now, within a ring of Dragons. My ancestors. The one known then as Xavier Devenish appeared last, eyes glowing golden while his Wizard magic swept over each creature, connecting him to them.
Startled, I realized this was a ceremony. An initiation for the Devenish Princes, one I was experiencing right now. Raithian had witnessed the same memories I just had, felt what I felt, and then betrayed the Dragons by using his power to kill his father and steal the throne. It was a shame he had lost his link to them because of his pursuit for greed and power.
This kind of connection to the Dragons, the level of power I felt right now, was nothing he would have been able to feel though. Only I could, as Wizard and Dragon. Only I had true access to them, their energy, their healing… through our shared blood. That was something Raithian would never be able to recreate. No matter how hard he tried.
His natural magic was tainted by death and cruelty too, no longer pure and golden like it had been once.
As mine now was.
Pure Devenish magic.
His ragged cry tore through the realm in the next image, the ancient connection ripped away from the now Warlock King as the Dragons rose to the sky during the Uprising, forever leaving his side.
Serpents of fog suddenly sneaked through the lands in the vision, and a greyish-white mountain, unlike anything I had ever seen in the realm, punctured the clouds. Its prominence reminded me a bit of Mount Everest, but unlike the rest of the memories, the sight dissolved too fast for me to fully grasp it.
Only a glimpse was allowed.
I wondered in which of the seven territories it might be located—probably theIcelands.
A demon of lava and fire rose from the depths of a massive volcano once the scene changed, flying around its wide base. His stunning form gleamed silver under the sun while he made his way over the river of lava encircling the volcano, calling it into his core. The molten magma rushed under his metallic-looking scales, making his huge frame glow a deep and dangerous red. The same hue illuminated his eyes as he flew straight towards me, a rider on his back.
As abruptly as they began, the memories stopped, leaving me once more in the darkened cavern. The silhouette of the creature of lava and fire vanished, giving way to Tharion’s form.
Throbbing with magic one last time, the ring of light shot back into me, releasing all those surrounding me from its hold.
