Dragon Aster Trilogy (60 page)

“I told everyone that she was there, but no one would hear it. No one would believe me. To think all the while I was blaming Aragmoth, when it was my own kind who had betrayed me the most. So what are my options now? Exile or be killed as a war criminal?”

Nafury’s sapphire eyes looked at Kenshe with all the sadness they held. He had the same eyes as Sybl, and that alone was what spared him now. “Sybl and Cirrus saved you for a reason, and I want to believe that it was for something they saw that we didn’t. So no, I’m not going to kill you,” Kenshe said. “But I can’t guarantee that no one else will do it for me.” He left Nafury there as he went to help elsewhere.

Nafury lifted the fairy pendant in his hand, remembering how he had watched Sybl try to find a world of dragons through it. But as it swung back and forth, only the Sylvan Aur that glimmered off of it remained of the Fay and not a single memory. His wish had cost him everything, and saved a world that didn’t want him.

Fields of what were once endless ice and snow had already begun to melt and Nafury looked around the world he didn’t remember leaving as such return to its previous state. He entered the house where Cirrus was and went upstairs. Nafury feared that his friend might never wake up again. They had gone through so much pain, and all because of him. A pain that he would be forced to answer for, without any of his own memories to say it actually happened. Nafury forced the tears out of his eyes as he now wished that he had died back on Earth. That the sunlight had killed him. But the humanity in him from his mother had saved him from being burned to nothingness.

“You have some nerve coming back here after everything you’ve done,” the griffin somnus said from where he stood on the other side of Cirrus’ bed.

Nafury hung his fairy pendant from Cirrus’ hand. Now was a sound time to start praying and restoring his faith in Aragmoth, for only the Great Dragon could bring Cirrus and Sybl back now.

The fairy began to spin slowly, and Nafury looked at his friend’s face with the hope that Cirrus had regained consciousness. He caught the pendant in its spin and held it to his palm. It was the last moment that he would feel his pulse, for Cirrus had found where his fairy was now.

“My very birth was the Prophecy that was to lead to the Caelestis’ return to Aster and save Aragmoth himself. It would be my death that would curse it all back to the very beginning of hate between the immortal memories of caels. Memories that had not been healed by Time. Forgiveness, it would seem, is more of a mortal belief where life is too short to waste it on bitterness.

“We ruled the skies for two years after Cirrus pulled me to the surface of the Eternal Waters on the day of my Trial of Somn. Of his memory, I know I was dead for the twenty minutes that it took him to do so. Or at least, it felt like death when I woke up on another world. A world so much more advanced than ours. It felt like a Dream that I didn’t want to wake from, but when I did, Cirrus was right there beside me just as he promised.

“I had surfaced from my Trial of Somn baptized in death, to bring death. The phelan of the Atrum’s Army had begun to call Cirrus the White Death soon after that day, for wherever we went we brought devastation and a cold, suffocating death. We drove the griffin camps off of the Torian Continent and destroyed one Gate after the other, sending the phelan and griffins fleeing for their lives on every turn. Soon our mere presence was enough to send their armies crying into the hills.

“I became a monster of the skies, and in doing so I was now my father’s most cherished son. No longer was I a useless child. I was the Prince reigning in a new era for our kind with the horrendously deformed and ugly somnus of a dragon form that had been given to me. The era that would see the whole world die by our blades and wings of winter.

“For every life that we took, I could feel a part of my soul die. If Cirrus had let me give up, I might have died within that first year. But in continuing to live and kill, I didn’t care what glory it brought my father’s name or mine. I only did it to see her on Earth in what time I could steal to Dreamwalk. Cirrus seemed to define his own existence by the number of lives he was able to snuff out. If my sacrifice brought them purpose, I would feel happiness from them.

“The more I fought the longer I was able to sleep and fall away from the reality of nightmares into the world of Dreams where she would always be there waiting for me. Humans who were victims to despair were fragile, brittle creatures. I could only bring her words to keep her from shattering so I could have more time to find a way to reach her. If I had learned of how to stay on her world, I could have protected her forever.

“I felt trapped on Aster, like a mer damned to roam the sea floor despite the light and endless free air well above its eyes. I would always wake up here. I could not die, for death would not allow me to.

“Then I found a way, by the claws of a thousand plumas that were able to cut me free from my somn. Now Daath needed to find a way to free me from Aragmoth so I would be his slave forever. The Atrum had their own Prophecy; that the Cael Daath would return to Aster and lead them in their conquest of Aster and Earth alike. But it would be a conquest fueled by Daath’s need for revenge.

“Now that I’ve finally broken free of the dark prison I was in, I feel as if everything has gone on without me, leaving only fragments of a nightmare in place of the time I have lost. Cirrus and Sybl were waiting for me, and now both of their Fates have taken the place of my own. I was too late to save them.

“They could have destroyed me or left me to my nightmare forever. Friends, it would seem, are something that defies the simplicity of life, death and reasoning.”

There is a Heaven for each of us, and you have both left me so very alone in yours.
Nafury looked at his mother’s grave, and then at Sybl’s and Cirrus’ that lay next to it. He felt lost without anything or anyone to guide him to where he should go next.

“If you could save the world by saving one person, wouldn’t it be worth it to try?”

Nafury stood up and looked back. When he didn’t see anyone, he held his breath and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again into a trance.

Sybl stood there, smiling as she waved her hand playfully at him. “
Cirrus was right, you are really good with Threads. Even when you aren’t possessed by an evil force and trying to take over the world.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, not knowing what else he could say.

She shook her head.
“It’s already forgotten. Soon everyone else will forget and move on as well.”

“What am I to do now without you both?”

“You have lots of wishes left in you, you just have to remember the better ones. I left you one of my own as well to give you a head start.”
She spun around to leave, but then turned back to face him again.
“Oh, and do me and Cirrus a favor—don’t drop it.”

Nafury blinked, and in the moment that it took him to do so, she had vanished from sight with his trance.
Drop it?
He walked out onto the ledge of the cave in the Bedlam Waterway as he tried to figure out the riddle.
Prophecy…
He remembered how Cirrus had teased him about dropping the ‘Prophecy’ that was Sybl before Daath brought her to Aster. She could only mean something that he could hold. Maybe even
someone
.

“You look as if you just saw a ghost,” Cecil said, landing next to Nafury on the ledge.

“I did,” he replied.

“What did it say?” the blue dragon asked curiously, as Nafury had always had Serena’s ability as a Seer.

“I think there’s another Fay.”

Aeger
—When the three Aurs existed, the Sylvan Aur was the equilibrium for the aeri and estus Aurs, creating a balance of life and death energy over the world of Aster. When the Sylvan Aur was destroyed at the end of the Last War, this balance was lost, and the estus energy began to spread uncontrollably across the world. The Aeger is a sickness caused by being overwhelmed by estus energy and its related emotions. Those with the Aeger usually lose their minds before they die of starvation, injuries as they don’t feel pain, or they are destroyed.

Aeri
—Light energy channelled easiest through Animus Threads by positive emotions such as love, happiness and contentment. Used best as a restorative healing energy, but can be channelled into an intense, pure fire that is most effective against those infused with estus energy.

Aleste
—A mermaid who was Lintrance’s first love.

Alexia
—A human woman from Earth who Dyaus caught after venturing through a Gate from Mer City to Earth. She later becomes Cirrus’ mother and Dyaus’ Bond. Loved and remembered for her beauty, foresight and singing voice.

Aliyr
—Twins on the first Aster were born as a Mei (shield) and an Aliyr (sword). Usually it was the male of the twins if one is a boy and the other a girl. In the case of Bonds on the new Aster, it is usually the male.

Animus
—Also known as ‘Thread,’ it serves as connecting lines for telepathy, somning, and can be manipulated by estus and aeri energies to heal or destroy amongst many things. It’s an endless weave of spiritual links that can only be seen in a trance, by trained Novaists or Callers, Awls, or by those who are connected to the inner realm of death and Aragmoth.

Aragmoth
—The immense, living essence that supports the world of Aster. The first Aster was destroyed by a moon-size monster of energy, known as the Dragon Moon, that was sent by Earth. After the destruction of their world, the Eminor spirits combined their energies and Aragmoth was formed. Aragmoth defeated the Dragon Moon and absorbed its dark energy into itself and hurled the Dragon Moon’s light essence back to Earth. It then tracked down and absorbed into itself the lost souls of the Sylvans and Ancients. From Aragmoth, the second Aster was recreated within Earth, and the Sylvans, Ancients and Eminor were later reborn onto it.

Asil
—The female Fay twin born to Asteria and Daath on the first Aster. She was an airy spirit who could command all six elements. Aragmoth releases her onto the new Aster without her Sylvan energy in her body, making her more of a physical creature. She is killed by Moon before the end of the Last War and then later reincarnated as Sybl.

Aster
—A spiritual and physical world existing inside Earth by means of a Great Dragon known as Aragmoth.

Asteria
—While most Sylvan on the first Aster were born as twins, Asteria was born as a Sylph—a treasured rarity that was able to exist by itself without a twin. The spirit of aeri energy was chosen as the leader of the first Aster by the Sylvan kind. Aster was also named after her. Her Bond would later be Daath.

Atrum
—A black, tower-like castle, on the center of the Suzerain Continent. It serves as the base of the estus Aur, the death energy from the Great Dragon. It provides a heavier light accompanied by rain and haze and it amplifies negative emotions. It is ruled by Vanir.

Atrum City
—The city surrounding the Atrum. It has industrialized a great deal over the last ten years due to continued relations with the Falls.

Aur
—Concentrated estus or aeri energy, usually from the Soph Aur of Toria or the estus Aur of the Atrum. They lighten and darken most of the atmosphere of Aster when they rise individually.

Awls
—A creature or somnus possessed by a Sentry who has chosen to ‘fall’ to Aster and live out their existence. They are natural fortune tellers who can read the Animus Threads connected to one’s Fate. Dangerous if angered or insulted, Awls can utilize Thread to their needs, but cannot alter the Threads of gold. Most prefer to live quiet, solitary lives, which also helps them in avoiding Aragmoth’s wrath. Considered immortal, dark angels and demons by many. They hide in their human-like appearances that are merely an illusion over their true form, which resembles a dark, winged demon when it touches the Animus Threads of Aster.

Ayame
—A female phelan somnus.

Berion
—A town of phelan on the Torian Continent that is not controlled by the Atrum. Jasper and his Bond, Ishtar, are its leaders. Named after Master Berion who is Jasper’s father.

Bond
—Another word for mate.

Cael/Caelestis
—The Asterian words for god/goddess.

Caller
—An ayame capable of creating a Nova which is a powerful song that affects Animus Thread. Ayame are the leaders of their Packs for this reason, as their mastery over the Thread allows them to control their Packs and avoid conflict where possible. In battle, it is often the most powerful ayame Caller who determines the victorious Pack. Similar rules apply to daoran Novaists, with the exception being that they are all connected to the High Priestess as assistants, instead of being individual leaders like female phelan somnus.