Thorn

Her first memory was filled with pure joy and happiness. She nudged her snout into the cracked shell, taking in the scent of fresh air. As she took a deep breath, she felt a surge of energy. As her head emerged from the eggshell, the brightness of the outside world met her eyes. Two kind eyes peered back at her, and she felt a sense of comfort in this new world. When the face saw her, its soft pink features lit up with a wide smile.

“Hello there,” the face spoke with a soft silken smooth voice. “Here, let me help you” Slowly two large hands moved in and picked the shell from around her. The unknown figure picked her up with something warm and soft picked her up. Rubbing the liquid from her egg on her scales.

“There, you are all cleaned up,” the stranger spoke again. She mewled softly at the stranger, feeling warm, soft and safe in the warms of the stranger. The stranger extended a single hand to her. She sniffed it at first, but then pushed her head into the stranger’s hand and suddenly the stranger was stranger no more.

It filled her head with something, a purpose, and she felt more whole than she would ever imagine she could. She had a word for the stranger’s species that she had not known before; humans, and she had a word for her stranger; Elena.

Her eyes opened to a world gone cold. A place with strange smells and even stranger sounds. She was far from what she grew up, where her rider made her feel safe. Slowly, she moved her head over to a basin filled with water to get the sleep from her eyes. Before she lowered her head into the water, she could see her reflection staring back at her. Her azure blue eyes that were falling back in her skull from the lack of sleep. The shine she once had was gone.

“What is the matter, Aquamorys?” A woman spoke next to her, however when the azure dragon blinked, the women was gone.

“Elena?” Aquamorys called out, looking to her side just to be sure, but the air was disappointingly empty. A growl of disappointment emanated from deep within Aquamorys’ chest before diving her head into the water to watch the morning sleep away. Another terrible night that was gnawing at her already tired mind.

She collected herself by grabbing her notepad from her tail bags to scroll through it and gather her thoughts with the notes she took the day before. Right Information, the town’s vicar had some. With a sigh, she closed her notebook. Today was going to be a long day, and she knew it. She felt it in her bones.

“Cheer up dear, you are a powerful dragon,” Elena’s voice called in her mind. Aquamorys took the words and embraced so far she could.

“It would be better with you here,” she answered, packing the few belongings she still had in the tail-bags for the day.

“Soon we will be reunited,” Elena answered her. Through the connection, Aquamorys felt soon faded again into nothingness. She longed for the moment their minds could freely touch each other. Only the more it motivated her to find her rider.

“Aquamorys!?” Came the call from an ebony skinned woman who was carrying around mugs of ale. The face of the innkeeper was friendly with her whole the azure dragon made walked into the main hall from the corridor that housed the dragon rooms.

“Enga,” Aquamorys said friendly back. “I did not realise it was lunchtime yet. Must have slept in.”

The woman finished her round of gathering beer before making her way over to her. “Yeah, you do that a lot. Me and Myrta are worried about you. Are you alright? I mean, it must not be easy to lose a rider.”

Aquamorys nodded at the words of the human. Taking a soft breath. “I am fine. The vicar told me he could help me. “

Enga slowly walked to Aquamorys and petted her on the leg. “I am sure the vicar will help you. He helped many dragons before.”

Aquamorys felt her heart lighten. Maybe finally, after all these years of searching, she will find her rider again. And with her spirits lifted, she left the tavern to make to the church that was placed on top of a hill at the centre of the town.

There, the church gave a picturesque view of the surrounding landscape. Stone walls have weathered by passaging time and stood as a harmonious blend of stonework and nature. Ancient oaks, their branches outstretched in silent benediction, shaded the church grounds. The surroundings of the church gave a soothing serenity to any who walked under the tree leaves.

As Aquamorys made her wait up the hill, a grand wooden entrance met her, carved with intricate descriptions of entwined vines and leaves. Stepping inside, she could see the sanctuary unfold before her. Stained glass windows adorned the church with vibrant hues. The church was silent for all but the vicar’s voice who talked.

Aquamorys had just concluded attending the morning summons at the church. At the back of the sanctuary, two dragons had settled in, attentively absorbing the vicar’s teachings on the god of the earth and his creation. The vicar preached about achieving peace and unity through worship and caring for each other.

The vicar’s eyes met those of Aquamorys and a mutual understanding of purpose sparked between them. She waited patiently while the Vicar finished his ceremony. He carried himself with grace, talked with a few of the townsfolk and slowly made his way to the azure dragoness. Aquamorys gazed over the crowd. She spotted a woman with a silver pendant. The woman who wore it looked a bit like Elena.

“Elena, really, you over packed. Could you not look in my left backpack to take something out?” Aquamorys complained playfully to her rider at her rider. She couldn’t resist smirking as she thought about how her plan was unfolding.

“Aqua Gem! What have you schemed up this time?” Elena shook her head, a bemused smile on her face, as she walked over to her dragon’s left side. Aquamorys’ eyes followed her, and she could sense the anticipation in the air. Elena dug through the backpack, her hands fumbling until they found the small package wrapped in oily paper. The label read: “For Elena.”

“What is this?” Elena asked, waving the parcel in the air. “Aquamorys! Did you plan this?”

Her rider offered her a stern look, but she simply smirked and nudged the package closer. “It says it’s for you, isn’t it? So why don’t you open?”

Elena shook her head once more and carefully unwrapped the package, revealing a silver necklace with a round pendant. The design, though simple, featured a single azure-coloured scale set into the silver, with words etched around the edge that read ‘for the one who is part of my soul.’

Elena gasped “AQUA! This is beautiful. How on earth did you manage this without tipping me off?” She fastened the necklace around her neck and proudly displayed it to her dragon. “Well, how do I look?,”

“Like a true vision of beauty as always, starlight,” Aquamorys answered with a smile. Elena walked to Aquamorys’ head and hugged with deeply with both arms. “Thank you Aqua…”

“Aquamorys!” the vicar called out cheerfully. “You accepted my offer of help?”

When Aquamorys opened her eyes, she was momentarily confused and disoriented.

“Father Cedric,” she uttered, almost as if to confirm her own reality. “Yes, you told me you could help me find Elena.”

Father Cedric’s face briefly showed a hint of concern. “Yes, though you must first find yourself.” He said, leaning against a nearby bench to relieve his legs. “I think it would really help if you attend the weekly meets for dragons who lost their riders. I think it would help you.”

Aquamorys regarded the vicar with a touch of hesitation. “But how is that going to help me find my rider?”

“Look, Aquamorys, I’ve witnessed this scenario far too many times. We’ve seen many riders separated from their dragons,”

“And they have a help group to find their riders?” Aquamorys asked curiously.

“Yes, in a way,” the vicar said. “Perhaps you should talk with Riverclaw. He has been the most affected and my inspiration for the group. I hope he can help you.”

Aquamorys bit her scaled lip a bit. “This feels nothing new, just another desperate attempt to find any clue about Elena’s whereabouts.”

The vicar looked apologetic to the azure dragon. “I know it is hard. It is always hard to lose someone you love dearly, and no one is more dear than your rider. But there is hope that you can find her.”

“I am sure he will help you find me,” Elena’s voice called from beyond the fringes of her mind

The azure dragon shifted a bit. “Well alright, I bite. Where can I find Riverclaw?”

“This time, he usually meditates above the waterfall. Just try not to disturb him too much.” The vicar said.

The sun was past its peak when Aquamorys broke away from the church and took to the sky. She was pondering the vicar’s words, pondering the idea of attending the weekly gatherings of dragons. Part of her felt an allure to attend them even for one moment.

Distractions. Her mind told her with a fierce power. She had to get back to find her rider. She just needed Hope that she would find her soon. Determination settled in her soul when she flew out to seek Rivenclaw. He could help her. Then she did not have a moment to lose. Her azure scales shimmered in the sunlight when she soared over the treetops, the wind rushing past her.

It was a perfect day to fly. “If only you were here now” Elena felt guilt when she thought about sharing this moment with her rider. This was a moment like many other that she could not share, adding to the list of moments never shared.

It was a brief flight to discover Rivenclaw to sit at a rock at the top of a waterfall. His gaze was tranquil and his body breathing softly. Aqua.morys circled around to land a further down wind not to disturb him too much. Rivenclaw was a formidable dragon with scars etched into his ashen scales. Despites his missing left limb, he carried himself with grace.

Aquamorys slowly approached the dragon, not wanting to spook him. Although he was the first to speak while remaining unmoving.

“Aquamorys, I was wondering when you would approach me,”

Aquamorys stopped dead in her tracks. How did he know it was her? He was still sitting and meditating. “You know my name?”

“I have heard Father Cedric speak about you, and seeing now most dragons leave me alone, I had a gist it was you.” Rivenclaw acknowledged Aquamorys and finally moved. Only to make a spot free on the rock next to him. “Meditate with me, I know you have a troubled soul,”

Aquamorys dared to approach again and took place on Rivenclaw’s flank, sitting but not closing her eyes like the ashen dragon did.

“Father Cedric said you could help me with my rider,” she finally dared to speak after she watched the sun move in the sky.

Rivenclaw opened his eyes and studied the turning waters below them. “Do you know why I come here to meditate here?”

Aquamorys pulled a confused look on her face. “No, but what had that to do with my rider?”

“The pond that feeds the waterfall is clam, but when you see the abyss, the waters turn and become violent. It reminds me of when I lost my rider,” Rivenclaw spoke with a gentle cadence in his voice. “You ask me for help with your rider and I will. It is my duty to do so. The journey will be long and painful for you. It has been long and painful for all of us.”

Aquamorys gazed at the waters below to see what Riverclaw was talking about for herself, but she could not find the meaning in the violent water. It just filled her with dread. She took a deep breath before turning to Riverclaw again.

“How do you know your rider is no longer?” she finally asked. “Did you find a body?”

Riverclaw’s face momentarily contorted in pain, but then was peaceful again. “Even with the wound no longer fresh, it still hurts me deeply. I don’t like to talk about it.”

“Oh sorry, I…forget that I asked, ”Aquamorys quickly apologised, but Riverclaw continued.

“But if my story would help you, I will give it to you freely. I lost my rider years ago, and I feel like he was one of the first to be taken. Eventually I found. People mentioned a building where someone had taken the riders. When I opened the door, death greeted me. Through deep down, I already knew he had passed.” He arched up on his hind legs and with his one good arm, he pointed back to the two and the church.

“I buried him right in the church grounds. He was a worshipper of the god there. It felt only fitting that I do him that honour,”

Aquamorys made herself small when hearing the story. The story pulled on her heart; it made her feel queasy to talk about someone about their death rider. Something was gnawing at her, something big and primordial, something that was every hungry. It fascinated her with the story, the words of the dragon resonating through her.

“How did it feel…no more connection” Aquamorys received a terrifying growl of pain from Rivenclaw. Trough like before, he quickly regained his composure.

“Like a limb ripped from you. The most intense pain one would ever feel. The pain is like a beast, a beast still with me, a beast that wants to devour me any moment I feel weak. Oh Aquamorys, if you only knew what pain you asked about…” He showed her the stump of his missing limb. “This is a reminder of what I lost. It happened after I buried my rider. Stricken with grief, I tore my limb right into the vicar’s church. I should feel ashamed about it, but I can’t…I feel like I was supposed to do. I feel like my body can’t be whole if my soul is not. The vicar calls it my inner demon. I call it my beast. “ Riverclaw finally sighed and let silence fall between the two. The silence was interrupted only by the chirping of birds and the rumble of the waterfall. It was peaceful and tranquil, but painful.

“Just remember Aquamorys, you are not alone,” He finally said. A tear rolling across his muzzle. Aquamorys did not quite know how to react to the story of pain and suffering.

“You are not alone,” she could hear her rider call from the fringes of her mind. It filled her, hoping indeed she would find her rider again.

“Thank you for sharing this with me. It must be painful to do so,” Aquamorys said softly.

“It is, yet I can’t keep this pain locked away.”

The two dragons shared another long, painful silence, both regarding the pain the other felt. Trough Rivenclaw was looking at Aquamorys as if he knew something, something that was troubling him. Slowly, he settled back into the meditation again, but not before speaking once more. “I found my rider due south of here. There is a castle, long abandoned where the hunters took the riders they found. If you are desperate to find answers, you can look there. But Aquamorys, you will only find death there.”

I have a location! Her mind screamed at her. Overwhelmed, she bowed and thanked the dragon. She gave one look at the sky, looking at how the sun was slowly sinking over the horizon. She would go first thing tomorrow! Aquamorys would find her rider. Now she had to prepare.

She flew off after another thanks and headed straight into the city. She took out her coin purse and bought clothes for her rider. Just in case, Aquamorys did not know in what state her rider would be in. With a sigh, she looked at the coins leaving her purse. If this would be a dud, then she would not have much longer before she had to get some more money. That would delay her search a lot. Even if she could borrow some, it would only be a matter of time. With each item carefully packed into her tail-bags, she began her journey back to the tavern where she could finally rest.

At the tavern, she had got a rather large dinner to make sure that she would not need to eat for the flight.

“You look happy,” Enga commented when she brought Aquamorys’ plate of food. “Did the talk with our vicar help?”

Aquamorys nodded “It did!”

Enga took a sigh of relief. “I am glad, Aquamorys. I hope you come to peace soon.”

Following dinner, Aquamorys readied herself for the journey that awaited her on the morrow. She settled into her comfortable nest, preparing for the night’s rest. Whenever she discovered a new clue about her beloved rider, the recurring dream would return, and she felt it would happen again tonight as she fell asleep. Into an uneasy state of anticipation, she finally fell asleep.

Elene stood before Aquamorys in a dreamscape painted with ethereal hues. The surroundings were bathed in soft, soothing light and the air was filled with an otherworldly calm. Elen approached her with pain hidden behind her soft features, pain that showed through now. The façade cracked.

“Aquamorys, my love,” Elene’s voice wavered, a tremor of fear that had gone unnoticed by the dragon. “I know you are worried about me, but trust me, you will be fine.”

Elena’s hand extended once more, tracing the scales on Aquamorys’ neck. She could feel a shiver run down her spine, her scales turning cold, her mouth drying up.

“We are bound you and I,”

“Elene! I am going to find you!” Aquamorys called out to her rider. She looked down to see her rider smile. Aquamorys felt comfort and determination flushing over her. She will find her rider.

Aquamorys awoke with a start, her azure eyes wide and her heart pounding in her chest. The dream had been vivid, as it has always been. The raw emotions it evoked still clung to her like a shroud. She shook herself, trying to dispel the lingering unease that had settled over her.

Moonlight still filtered through the main corridor that linked the caves with the tavern. It cast ethereal patterns on the wooden floor. Aquamorys’ was itchy. She could not linger any longer. In the still early mornings, before anyone was awake, she slipped into the dead of the night and took to the sky to find her rider.

She took a deep breath of the cool morning air, felt alert, and leaped into the sky. The wind rushed part her sides, rustling her scales. She took in the forest’s scent and turned to fly directly south to find the castle she sought.

The flight was longer than expected; she soared through the expanse of the woods for three nights and three days. Trying to find any clues in the land to where the castle was. She passed rugged terrain and dense forests. Each landscape was a blur beneath her.

As the third day neared its end, Aquamorys spotted something on the horizon, a looming castle, ancient and abandoned. Her heart quacked with hope and anticipation. This must be it! She found it. The key to Elena was now within her grasp.

With renewed determination, she angled her wings downwards, descending towards the castle and the answers she had so long sought.

The air surrounding the decrepit building was thick with the suffocating odour of decay and mildew, a tangible testament to the passage of countless years. It had been years since Aquamorys and Elena had last laid eyes on each other, but today was the day that would change.

The castle, constructed from imposing stone walls, stood as a looming sentinel against passaging time. It’s grey weathered oak doors appeared as it could succumb to gravity at any moment.

“Abandoned a long time ago,” Aquamorys mused, her thoughts ringing a hallow feeling that was surprised quickly.

“I know you would find me,” Elena’s mental words responded, a bittersweet melody that played on the edges on Aquamorys’s consciousness. With the cautious push of her scaled paw, she forced the door open to unveil the chamber behind it.

The first sensation that assailed her senses was the nauseating stench of decomposing flesh. The assault on her sensitive nostrils reminded her of war and the battlefield. She tasted bile at the back of her tongue caused by the stench. The second was the sight of riders, their lifeless forms bound to the cold stone, their eyes vacant and devoid of life.

Rats scurried away in fear, an instinctual flight from an imposing intruder on their domain. Aquamorys’ eyes welled with sorrow as she surveyed the room. Taking the grim sight of so many brethren who had lost their riders, their souls forever chained to this wretched place.

A gnawing pit of despair twisted her stomach. She felt the weight of failure pressing down up on her once more. She had embarked on this quest with an unwavering belief that she would free her own rider, but she had found more death and suffering.

“But you found me.” She could hear Elena’s voice in her mind just when Aquamorys’ tried to turn away from the sight of death and decay.

“I did…” she started, but then out of the corner of her eyes, she could see something glittering. It drew her eyes to it. A necklace was hanging around the lifeless, mummified, long-forgotten body. The necklace held a memory of a rider’s love that stood at the ravage of time. Aquamorys’ eyes fixated on the pendant. Her heart ached when she reached to touch it. Her clawed paw trembling.

Time had receded from the body to a brittle, skeletal form, a relic of a time long past. Empty, hollow sockets started back at her, the remnants of eyes that once held hopes and dreams. Aquamorys’ shook in her place, her eyes fixated on the single dull azure scale at the centre of the pendant.

She feels the eco of a soul long since shatter reverberate through her body, following by a flood of emptiness. A profound sense of loss that eclipsed every part of her soul.

Elena stood before Aquamorys in a dreamscape painted with ethereal hues. The surroundings were bathed in soft, soothing light and the air was filled with an otherworldly calm. Elena approached her with pain hidden behind her soft features, pain that showed through now. The façade cracked.

“Aquamorys, my love,” Elene’s voice wavered, a tremor of fear that had gone unnoticed by the dragon. “I know you are worried about me, but trust me, you will be fine.”

Elena’s hand extended once more, tracing the scales on Aquamorys’ neck. She could feel a shiver run down her spine, her scales turning cold, her mouth drying up.

“We are bound you and I, but sometimes even our strong bound can be torn,”

“Elene! I am going to find you!” Aquamorys called out to her rider. She looked down to see her rider smile softly before sudden pain.

Utter and devastating pain that pushed through every inch of her being. She watched in horror as Elena’s form contorted and twisted, a nightmarish transformation that Aquamorys had no words to describe. Her eyes welled with tears and a feeling of utter dread made her feel like her scales were torn from her hide. In her vision, she saw Elena being torn apart in the most brutal way she could realise. Her soul ripped from the ether that was their shared mental space.

It filled the space she left behind with dark, sharp shards. Like a beautiful glass work now shattered, causing pain everlasting. There was only an echo of what once her rider left behind, the echo disappearing into the void that was her soul now.

“Aquamorys, I am sorry. Stay strong my love” Elena’s voice cracked and streamed in agony while her fragmented form shattered into a thousand and once pieces. Her essence rapidly disappearing into the voice.

Leaving Aquamorys alone.

A bone shattering pained roar echoed through the area as the azure dragon wailed her pain out. She had no more tears to cry, her mouth as dry as the desert, her soul deserted from the joy that her rider gave her. Why couldn’t it be here? Why was she left behind in this cold and torturous existence?

Slowly, she took the mummified corpse from the chains and pulled it closer to her scales, the senseless body offering no comfort from her wailing soul. There was only a reminder of the loss that she felt, no hope for comfort in this place. Her heart felt like a thousand arrows were driven through it, and her scales felt like they were torn from her body.

She remained in the chamber for days on end in a suffocating silence. She clung to the lifeless form of her rider. Her once mighty frame was now reduced to a frail and ghostly shadow. Days had turned into an unending night and the weight of her grief pushed her to self-destruction.

Her once-glistering scales had lost their lustre, dulled by the ravages of time and her self-imposed isolation. Her eyes, once vibrant, were hollow and vacant. The agony of death had extinguished the light of hope she once carried.

Starvation had taken its toll on her once-proud body. Her ribs protruded beneath her scales, her wings, once a symbol of strength, drooped with exhaustion. She was little more than skin and bone, a pitiful sight that bore witness to her agony.

And then, as the chamber lay shrouded in darkness, a faint glow appeared in the distance. It was soft with an ethereal radiance, beckoning like a distance star. Aquamorys, lost in her despair, barely registered the presence.

But as the light drew nearer, it took a form, a dragon. Emaciated and frail, a dragon who, like her, suffered loss. The newcomers’ scale was ashen grey, and the dragon stumbled on three legs towards hers. Yet the dragon carried itself with determination. A glimmer in the dragon’s eyes told of the purpose that had driven them to this forsaken place.

The two dragons locked eyes, their silent communication showing a shared understanding of despair. The newcomer’s gaze shifted from Aquamorys to the withered form of Elena, understanding the connection between them.

With a trembling step, the dragon approached Aquamorys, its movements slow and deliberate. It extended a paw, reaching to touch her fragile form. A gesture of compassion, a silent offer of help to the dragon, pushed to the brink of oblivion.

Aquamorys saw a figure taking form behind the dragon. It, too, extended a hand. It was her rider, Elena, in the clothes she wore just before they took Elena from her. Aquamorys opened her mouth to speak, her tongue dry and barely able to move.

As the Rivenclaw held her tight, she could feel her soul being lifted into the comforting embrace of her dead rider’s memory. She grew limp in the dragon’s arms until there was no more movement, no more thought. A last tear rolled from her eyes and her breathing stopped.

“I found you Elena.”