“There is no greater curse than raising the dead.”

IX

  Pristine green waves, that harbored foaming froth and corpses, lapped beneath them, reflecting avenues of blinding light skyward. The sky was a bright brilliant blue with a few wandering puffs of clouds. Salt was swept into the air. An irritation that clung between their scales rubbing away at the flesh beneath. They flew against the sharp gales of the Ellar Sea. Every wing beat was a small challenge. In this upcoming battle, they would be at a disadvantage. 

 ‘Ryku!’ Yipped Ceircy. She was a pale orange Dragon of fire, half his size. She angled her wings to the side so that she could fly close and above him. Her golden claws scraped against his horns, She laughed softly and tucked her wings in, fell a few feet, so she that was flying beneath him. ‘Why do you look so gloomy?’

 Ryku looked down at her. He let himself fly lower so that he could return the favor. He pushed her down. She gave a quick yelp and glared up at him. He sent her a wry half-grin and answered. ‘Cause we’re about to go into battle. You’re a bit young. Why are you here?’

 ‘You know why! Cause I was born with too much fire. I can even burn Dragonhide. I can cook the Doryu in their armor!’ The small nimble dragon’s hide glowed. Slowly turning from a pale orange to a blistering red as each scale was lit with a tiny flame. 

 The air became irritatedly hot, even for Ryku. The Light Dragon angled himself, so he was now flying a little further away. Ceircy’s flames ceased. Her scales once more became orange. She gave Ryku a large toothy smile, one that he gladly returned. Through the cloud break, he could see other Dragons flying. Every group in pairs. Even though the distance separating him from the other Dragons. He could sense the shattering unease in the air. 

 Doryu- They would be fighting Doryu, Dragon Slayers. Men and women who had stolen his comrades magic. They wore Dragonhide as armor so that they could walk through Dragonfire unaffected. They bore weapons made of Dragonbone, so they could slice dragon scales with ease. He wondered if he would recognize any of his fallen friends. If any of them had become armor. In the distance, they could see the armada. Fleets of ships from Sardu, Salk, Forak, and a few from Tairrsen- over a hundred ships. 

 Each ship had a huge crossbow mounted to either its hull or stern. A crossbow that required four men, two on either side, to maneuver and aim it, and a fifth to fire. Some ships even had cannons. Ryku looked back at Ceircy, wandering for her safety.

 He heard shouts and explosions. Ships caught flame and burned in the distance. Mages and Bards on the ships worked they’re magic to keep the flames at bay. Dragons were swooping in, snatching sailors while spitting fire.  

 The first of the ships were now beneath them. Ryku folded his wings in and swooped down. Twisted to avoid sails, ropes, and masts. The creatures ducked and shouted. They fired arrows, which bounced harmlessly off; feeling like rain. He kept his talons outstretched. A human found his claws. He fastened his grip and flew upward. The human screamed and wiggled in his clawed hand. He continued flying upward till he was above the clouds, and back with Ceircy. 

 Ceircy watched him with a tilted head, her green eyes amused. ‘Keeping a pet, Ryku?’ The creature kept squealing. Ryku let him go. They watched the human fall, it was just a dot when it hit the sea. 

 For a moment they watched the partly burning armada. Blood swirled in the green waves. Broken fragments of ships floated, along with the bloated corpse of a red dragon. 

 Ryku faltered in a wingbeat. Pain exploded. The marrow in his bones went cold, and his claws numb. Wetness and warmth flowed down his side. Dripping and catching between his scales. His wings…. he couldn't move them. ‘Ryku!’ He was falling. Falling toward the ships. One of the iron crossbow bolts jutted out from beneath his ribcage- impaling him in the gut. He urged his wings to work. But a fiery biting numbness that crawled along his spine, held his wings useless. 

 He plummeted into the sea. Pain enveloped him, as cold water shot up from beneath and over him. His eyes burned, while his vision blurred. Light cascaded through reddening water. 

 He clawed upward. His talons were scraping for the heavens. Ryku's wound screamed as saltwater purged it. He broke the surface, thrashing, and fighting to stay above. His wings weighed him down and caught the current dragging him deeper. He gasped for air, as bile saltwater sloshed into his mouth and forced itself down his throat. Extinguishing his fire. 

 There were shouts and screams and the hissing of the waves all around him. His claws caught the timbers of a ship. He yanked himself up. Adrenaline ransacked his trembling body. His hind feet clawed at the sodden belly of the ship, while his foreclaws searched for purchase. The railing proved a hard barrier. His talons hooked in between the balusters. They splintered from his weight. He fell back. Barely saving himself by latching onto the deck. The ship dangerously rocked to the side, dismantled by his weight. 

 Salt burned all of him. It was in his wounds, between each scale, in his nostrils, eyes, throat, and was foaming in his mouth. He could smell blood, tar, wood, sweat, and salt. All of it was a blow to his senses. 

 Ryku was hanging for his life on the side of a Salkrain Carvel. A highly maneuverable ship with two masts and lateen sails, that were made of sliced and sewed Dragon wings. 

  The Dragon of Light felt and heard a loud pop. Everything went dark. He screamed as he felt an iron barb enter his skull. Painful torment came to life, blossoming beneath his flesh and skull, as it wove; knotting into a burning ache beneath each temple. Blood mixed with sprayed saltwater flowed down his snout and into his mouth. In his peripheral vision, he saw a feathered wooden shaft protrude from the other side of his snout. 

 His right eye, ruptured by a lucky sailor’s arrow. 

 He flailed about as pain shuddered down his neck and spine. His tail thrashed and beat the sea behind him. Water sprayed up, raining down upon everyone. His front claws slipped. The water continued swirling in bemused laughter beneath him, urging him to let go. To let his body float and rot, to become a bloated soggy home to tiny sea creatures.  All before it either exploded or got dragged to shore by the Rivft-kain, to be gutted and used. 

 And what could he say or think of this battle; that he a Great Dragon killed only one human before he perished. When he was expected to take down at least one ship. Expected too by his Great Lord Ejdair himself- expected too by Ceircy. 

 Still half in the water, he yanked himself further upon the ship. Ryku’s jaws clamped around a sailor. His maws shattered the man's brittle ribs and spine, his fangs broke through the irritating layer of cloth and then the creature's soft swollen flesh. A bitter metallic taste filled Ryku’s mouth, as the skin burst, streamed down his lower jaw and burned his throat. Then the taste turned soothing. It was sweet and thick like honey. Rivft-kain blood and it returned his fire. A bloody moan escaped the Rivft-kain, as it turned limp and ceased screaming. A wave came from behind and sloshed against Ryku’s back and over the crest of his white horns. He let the creature go. It was swallowed by the roaring waves. 

 Ryku released his magic. His iridescent scales and white wings burned with blinding light. The humans shouted and fell, covering their eyes. He spat a ball of white fire onto the deck. It caught the tar-coated ropes, they went up in ablaze. Ryku tried to pull himself further aboard, but the iron inside him was leaching away his strength. So he was stuck clinging to the side of the burning Carvel. 

 A bard pranced along the deck of the ship, singing a song in Foraikain, while plucking at the strings of her lyre. She wore the sawed-off horns and wings of a massacred fae. Her voice rang in an annoying tune that encouraged the humans. Ryku sneered at the annoyance. A Great Dragon such as himself will not be bested by a mortal bard. He coughed a ball of fire. She screamed as the white fire ate her alive. A black charred skeleton clanked against the deck, as flames ate the deck. 

 Something thudded into Ryku. He felt a sharp implement between his scales. Something that only a human’s rapier, would be able to achieve. He violently shook, trying to shake the being off. He felt the blade go deeper into his flesh. Then it burned. Searing. He thudded hard against the side of the ship. The pain shot through his chest. Ryku looked down. A thin glowing red hole in his chest. 

 Fear penetrated Ryku, It was something only a Doryu would be able to do. 

 He pulled in all his magic. With the piercing of the Doryu’s Rapier, was another blast. As he prepared to release all of his magic, a vehement wind surged against him. It cut deep slashes through his scales and ate the muscle beneath. It caught into his wings, shredding them. 

 He looked up, as a human leaped onto his head and snout. Another Doryu. Another piercing blast from behind him. 

 The Doryu on top of him was dressed in Dragon scale mail. Overlaid with a red tabard and purple sash tying it close to her body. Those were Salkrain colors. She had dark brown hair that was whipping in the wind and blazing blue eyes. She lifted her dragonbone ax and brought it down on his head. The ax perforated his flesh, striking his skull, and stuck there. 

 Ryku roared. Closed his eyes. And released all of his power. 

 His strength gone, he slipped into the waves. Beneath the hazy red water, he saw the entire ship burn and take in water.

  Something wrenched him from the waves. Soon the ocean and ships fell away, replaced by clouds. He was limp in its grasp. Weakly he looked up. Another Dragon was carrying him away so that his body wouldn't be used. He looked down at his curled grey claws, now grey scaled paws, and limp forearms. His vision faded. 

 Ryku was dead. 

~

First, there was a burning pain, followed by a dull throbbing. Then there was an ache and soreness in his bones. A soreness that left his marrow cold. The first sound he heard was his heart pounding, and blood rushing in his ears. He opened his eyes. His face was inches away from a cold damp ceiling of dirt. Ryku clawed at the surface, oddly far weaker than normal- it was almost humanly weak.

Light embraced him as he crawled from the earthen womb. He squinted in the broad daylight, as he wiped the dirt from his face. Grains of it was stuck beneath his claws. Everything was so much larger. Oaks and pines, drenched in melting snow, seemed towering. The ground was so much closer. He looked down, surprised to see human hands and muscular pale human arms supporting him. He wiggled his dirt-covered fingers. ‘How what… what is this… the last thing that happened… Ceircy..’

 He took a deep breath. The damp smell of rain was on the breeze along with the scent of budding leaves, dirt, moss, death, decay, and the putrid aroma of magic. 

 Ryku looked up. 

 A boy was in front of him; he was maybe twelve. His skin was paperwhite, and his ruley hair was the same color. A crown made of bones was perched upon his head. He wore long-sleeve, knee-length white robes, held closed by a white belt with an amber buckle. His baggy white pants were tucked into white leather boots. His eyes were far too large for his smirking face. A set blazing orange Dragon eyes looked down looking at Ryku. 

 “Who are you!” Snarled Ryku. He leaped up to grab the boy by the collar and demand what was happening, But instead, he slipped and fell into the mud. 

 “You really don't recognize me, Ryku Dragon of Light?” Mused the boy. Taping his chin with a white-gloved finger. Ryku glared. The more he pondered it the more the human smelled familiar. 

 Ryku gasped. 

 “My Lord… Ejdair... Forgive me..” Slowly muttered Ryku, unused to how this human mouth felt. 

 Ejdair stepped back. A pale girl in a black shirt and pants stepped forward. Her cream-white hair was pulled back and tied with a piece of leather. Her face and grey eyes were emotionless. She held a bundle of dull colored clothes. 

 “It's alright, Ryku,” Smiled Ejdair; he turned to the girl. “Don't hand those to him yet, Reeda.” The girl, Reeda, nodded. 

 Before Ryku could ask why, he felt his stomach twist and churn. He was plunged into a sudden swirling vertigo. Trembling as his knees buckled, the world blurred into a mirage of green and blue. Ryku fell to his knees, hard. He puked onto the grass and dirt. Dead maggots and worms laid writhing in his bile. Disgusted with himself, he puked two more times. 

 A look of sour disgust on her face, Reeda handed him the clothes. ‘Right…. Humans wear cloth..’ Ryku struggled in slipping it on.

 “Your shirt is backwards.” Pointed out Reeda. Ryku muttered a curse as he struggled to fix it.  

 “Reeda, help him walk. He’ll be unsteady for a little bit," Yawned Ejdair, "Ryku, we're gonna go back to my castle. Where Regina will answer all of your questions.” The Dragon King turned on his heel heel and walked away.

 Reeda moved up beside Ryku, slinging his arm over her shoulder. ‘Regina..? The Dragon of Fear…? How many of us did he bring back?’