10Age of Fire and Ice
Summary: The world is stirring, and Alice's visions grow dim with the encroaching approach of ancient immortals that all Vampire kind had thought to be killed off by the Volturi's ambitious bid for dominance of this world.
It only began with Bella's return to Forks from the disastrous encounter with James back in Phoenix, Arizona…
Alice and Jasper were sitting in the hotel, the shades drawn. Bella was sitting on the phone talking to Edward, and Jasper was focused on the world outside trying to check to see if James had found their bolt-hole yet.
Alice was pacing back and forth, feeling odd. Something was causing her gift to feel like it was working through molasses in order for her to see properly and it was aggravating her. She didn't feel anything like this except when she was close to the werewolves of La Push back in Washington. But this was Arizona! There are no werewolves here! Well, there shouldn't be…so it must be something else causing her gift to be disrupted. It was getting harder and harder to see the future, especially Bella's future.
Finally, she snapped. The sun had dipped below the horizon, and so her skin wouldn't shine like the many facets of a diamond. She turned to look at Jasper, who was looking towards Bella's bedroom, an curious expression on his face.
"Jasper, it's time to get going; Edward's flight will be coming in soon, and we need to meet him there with Bella."
"Right. Bella, it's time to go." Bella came out of the bedroom, and didn't meet their eyes as she handed back the phone, "Are you ready, Bella?"
The girl quietly nodded her head, and murmured a "Yeah, let's go."
"She's planning something, love." Jasper murmured, Alice frowned. She hadn't seen anything from Bella… Something was fogging up her gift. This wasn't good.
Several hours later, there was the incident in the dance studio. Bella's broken and bleeding body lay in a pool of her own blood. Edward and Carlisle were fighting to save her, and James's body was rapidly disappearing into a pile of ash. Carlisle kept glancing off to his right, further south, feeling an oddly familiar pressure of steady heat pushing against him similar to a blast furnace. He shook his head, shrugging it off as the fire burning right behind himself.
Later, as he recalled the sensation, he realized the fire had been burning behind himself, instead of to his right, where the sensation had been coming from. But midway to Forks, Washington and stuck on an airplane, there wasn't an easy way to just turn around and go back without serious repercussions.
Some miles away, further out in the wild and flat landscape of Arizona, in the center of a great mesa, a creature stirred fitfully in its sleep. There was something it had to do, it must wake up, and finish its task. It had been dreaming, and such dreams it was having! There had been such peace and knowledge in that place of dreams, and it really wanted to stay, but wait! What was that feeling? It was encroaching! Such cold, it shivered and curled tighter. More cold! It was so cold! More of those cold entities, causing it to twist and turn, and dig deeper towards the World of Dreams they so wanted to return to.
A more rational side of its brain kicked awake, and began the slow process of waking up. It recognized the cold entities as the vital threat it had been programmed over the course of its life to keep watch for. It finished with its long task of gathering the necessary data needed to bring forward into the Waking World, and file it away for usage later, outside of the Wei Dream.
Now, the creature was ready to actually awaken.
Deep maroon eyes opened slowly as the creature they belonged to registered with slight apprehension the essence of the Cold Ones she so abhorred. She shifted slightly in her snug cave deep beneath the desert sands that had hidden her from unwanted eyes.
"They have found me, then." She thought gravely.
She waited until the Cold Ones found her lair, and when a small period of time passed, perhaps another half-year or two years in her sleepy state, (time drifted by quickly) and nothing happened, she felt a small measure of surprise. They hadn't stayed, and dug into her haven. She had slept here for God knows how long, and only woke when she felt the slippery icy cold reach down at her, and touched the marrow of her bones. She shuddered with the memory of it all, wanting to forget the horrors she had witnessed at the hands of the vile coven known to her only as the Volturi.
~*Two Hundred Years Ago*~
Selenay had been naught but a young dragonet then, with her mother frantically herding her siblings and her up to the Aerie-tower to make their escape from the cliff-side mountain hold of her father's research base. It was called Lyterna, but it was home for her and the community of dragons that lived there. Her mother was a Sea-King, but as Selenay and her siblings were the first clutch by her parents, her father being a Sky-King, and no one was certain whether the hatchlings would have vestigial wings like the Sea-Kings or the strong and expansive wings of a Sky-King. Wistalia and Vraellan pushed open the enormous door to the open platform of the landing bay for the resident Sky-Kings. Irenia hurried the other two hatchlings through the door, and then bolted it shut from the outside, she turned on her hatchlings with sad eyes.
"Alright, we need to begin opening you to the skies now younglings. Wistalia, come here."
The child complied, and her mother brought her massive head down on the young female and tore open her daughter's wing-cases with quick efficiency. Vraellan came next, and his wings turned out to be vestigial like his mothers' wings. Selenay was after Vraellan, being third-hatched and the closest in resemblance to her father's form. Her wings were large, able to enclose her whole body if she were to sit up straight and wrap them around her. Out of the clutch of seven, only four had the wing-structure of a Sky-King.
Wistalia thrummed nervously, and weaved her head from side to side as she glanced out at the ocean so close to them, and yet so far. Her wings were vestigial, and it was going to be difficult for her to fly, as small as they were. She also looked the most like a Sea-King, she had a long fin-like frill traveling down from her ears to her tail-tip, and had the small and light form of a Sea-King as well, where as her sister Selenay was bigger, and more bulky-looking with all of the compact muscle that designated her to be a creature born for the skies.
Lady Irenia herself would probably fall to her death if she tried to make the jump for the ocean, Sea-Kings were created to be so fragile. She gazed sadly down at her little hatchlings.
"You must jump for the skies, try my little loves! You must try your best to escape this!" When the children crooned and whined and wrapped themselves around her legs, she growled and grasped one of her Sky-King hatchlings in her jaws and gave the child a brisk toss out into the skies, the hatchling shrieked in terror and righted itself, flapping her wings as she fought to stay aloft.
"Fly for the ocean, my love! I shall try to meet you there!"
She tossed more into the air, and Selenay was briskly flung out, her piteous cried ignored, even as large fat tears began to roll down Irenia's eyes. The three Sea-King hatchlings with her, clutched their mothers' legs and tail, and she looked down at them, and tried to think of a way to get them to the ocean. Sea-Kings would be impossible to catch once they were in the ocean, and these fellows would be no exception. Vraellan looked up at his mother, and tried to put on a brave face.
"Mother, are we going to die?" Irenia's heart broke at the question. Her child's first words as a dragon, instead of a drakka, and he asked if they were going to die.
"I hope not, little love. Come, let's try to make it to the Sea-Caves."
A startled cry of pain and terror shattered the calm, and Irenia swung her head around to see her young dragons falling to the ground, crumpling in pain from an unknown source. She blanched.
"My babies!" She screamed, her eyes growing dark with fury and fear. She spun around and yanked open the door, tearing it off the hinges and rushing down the stairs, her babies clinging to her tail as she rapidly raced through the wide corridors and passageways. At a cross-passage leading downwards, she paused to drop her hatchlings on the ground and usher them towards the Sea-Caves, Vraellan took charge like the little grown-up he was and ordered his siblings down with gruff command in his young voice. Irenia did not wait to see them past the first bend, she continued her mad dash to save her other hatchlings.
Upon reaching the outside, just below the tower, she was met with the sight of several vampires arriving in the courtyard, their hands covered in the blood of countless dragons and Alectors. With a cry of rage, she rushed them and they jumped back, as only vampires could do. One diminutive vampire stood off to the side, her gaze on the young dragons thrashing on the ground in agony.
Irenia didn't know what the child was doing, all she saw was a turned back that was unguarded. She lashed at the vampire child, and the child flitted out of reach and turned her gaze on the livid mother dragon-queen.
Irenia had fought in countless battles with countless beings, fought with other dragons for dominance. But never in her life had she been so injured as to compare with the terrible agony that was in the child's gaze. Now, as she writhed on the ground, her tail lashing every which way, she understood why her own hatchlings crumpled in the skies as they tried to escape. As she struggled and writhed on the ground, she could not even open her eyes, could not find the strength of will or thought to pull up her shields, or use her own Talent to retaliate against the vampire child.
The wild-magic faded, and Irenia stopped writhing to tremble on the ground, easy prey for the cold claws that were suddenly tearing at her body. She screamed until someone came towards her neck and tore off one of her armor-plates on her neck, revealing her tender skin underneath, with torn flesh where the armor-plate had been attached. A cold hand lashed downwards and silenced her forever.
Farther away, Selenay lifted her head blearily to see her mother come rushing out into the courtyard, she was dazed and blinked furiously to get her vision back and struggled to regain her breath that had been ripped from her body when she landed heavily on the ground. She watched unable to cry a warning as her mother attacked the small vampire girl, watched in horrified fascination as the girl turned her cheerful smile onto her mother and her mother went from an unstoppable and furious force to a thrashing and writhing blue-green form on the ground, those beautiful orange-red eyes closed in pain. The child stopped after a time, and turned her gaze back on Selenay and her siblings, and her jaw dropped when she saw Selenay had lifted her head and was watching her.
When the other vampires in the courtyard fell upon her mother and began tearing her limb from limb even while the beautiful and loving creature still lived and breathed and cried, Selenay felt rage well up from her as she stood up on shaky limbs and screamed her own cry of despair.
Where was Carlisle? Where was her father, Duarch Noomoack?
As she spotted an all too familiar red shape further outside of the courtyard, she had her answer; her father had not been able to escape Voltaire with Carlisle, and the vampires had met her father here, and murdered him before he had been able to shout the alarms.
The mind-numbing pain wrenched through her, but it paled in comparison to having witnessed the death of her mother, and spotting the body of her own father, along with countless other dragons and Alectors. Though the bodies of the Alectors had quickly turned to dust and faded away, leaving nothing but their Life-force imbued shimmersilk garments behind.
Selenay struggled to turn over her body, and crawl away from the girl and towards the safety of the water. She would be safe in the water. She heard the vampire soldiers moving towards her and her siblings, and she hissed blindly as she crawled away, trying to ward the vampires away from her helpless form. She heard her brother and sister's screams being cut short as they were butchered by the vampires, and it made her blood run cold.
Why? Why were we attacked? Why did the Volturi attack us like this? Destroy us, and kill us? Were they afraid? Afraid of what we could do?
Where they jealous? We could live, breathe, have families, and were still so long-lived as to be considered immortal… That could be cause to jealousy.
Thoughts like this coursed through her mind, she had reached the cliff edge, and she could hear the waves crashing against the sheer rock far down below. Footsteps were growing closer now, almost lazy as they moved with languid confidence.
I'll show you confidence. She thought savagely, when I escape… if I escape… I will grow strong, and kill all of you! I vow this day, that someday I shall have my revenge, and none shall mourn your passing!
With that last thought, she dropped over the edge of the cliff, and hit the water with a dull roar. With relief, she felt barely conscious as the water covered her form and brought her out of direct visible range of the vampire child up there. The magic-induced agony faded from her skin as if it never were, and Selenay swam further down under the surface and started swimming away from the coast and straight out to sea.
Her siblings had all died back there. She didn't know if there were any others. Still, she knew they searched the waters for her.
The small girl looked out at the vast ocean, where the beast had managed to escape her, and her eyes saw no sign of the small red demon. She snarled in frustration, knowing Aro would not be pleased with her failure. No matter, the creature was not meant to survive in the ocean, and would probably die from her wounds anyways. Or a shark would find her; the thought delighted her, to imagine that demon killed off by a mere fish! She giggled softly, but did not waver from her watch for the small red head. Eventually, a heavy hand lined with veins placed itself on her shoulder, and Jane was unsurprised to see Aro looking down at her, his expression unreadable.
"It escaped you, then?"
Her eyes darkened, and she looked down, shame would have colored her cheeks if she had any blood left in her body. She gave a small nod, remorse emanated from her entire being.
Aro sighed, "It cannot be helped. Worry not, little dove. She is dead out there anyways. Everyone knows a Sky-King cannot swim…"
They both turned away then and her twin shadowed her movement beside her, with the troop of vampires behind them, looking for the world like a daughter and son walking dutifully next to their grandfather, with her twin close beside her. They left the carnage of what they had wrought in flames behind them, removing all traces of the beasts that had once lived there in the mountainside.
~*S*~
Selenay spent her time at sea hunting the fish, and travelling west. It took many weeks, and her body healed quickly in the pure ocean waters, helped along by the small blue fish that so thoughtfully cleaned out her wounds as she swam along at a lazy pace near reefs she happened across as she travelled. She was not a full Sky-King; only half, she was also half Sea-Dragon, one of the more lithe and slender breeds whereas the Sky-Kings were the more larger and more regal-looking. But she swam the seas just as well, knowing that doing so would strengthen her tenfold what she was now. Someday, she thought, her size would match that of a small hill, but her burnished shiny red scales certainly made her look out of place in a set of hills. She was a dusty ruby red color, with a deep gold underbelly and the spitting image of her father, Duarch Noomoack.
Selenay felt herself the perfect blend of the species between her Sea-faring mother, and Sky-faring father. She had her father's large and expansive wings, long wedge shaped head, and her father's sharply-angled overlapping scales that could cut through many hard substances in the world, she could breathe fire like her father, as well. It made her a favorite among her siblings to have inherited his own particular trait rather than her mother's affinity for the rain. On the other hand, she had her mother's lithe and long body, the swan-like graceful neck, the sloping shoulders, and the fluted long ears and frills around her jaw, to counter her mother's ability to call the rain, she was able to summon a wind to change direction.
She had been traveling for two more days when a massive shadow she had been watching for the past ten minutes shifted as she had come closer to it. Curiosity got the better of her and she ducked her head under the water and nearly shrieked. Just five feet beneath the surface was a massive creature. She had happened to be staring at its tail end, hence why the shadow she had seen had not seemed to move as they seemed to be swimming the same direction. It had a massive horizontal tail-fin, and two fins coming out of the beast's sides. It was blue-black in color, with a white under-side.
As she watched, she saw a smaller version of the same creature swimming next to it, under its "wing" and Selenay realized it must be a mother and its baby. Alarm filled her; usually the mother creatures she knew of on land were extremely protective of their babies, and were known to be highly aggressive.
She swam closer to the creature anyways; it hadn't attacked her yet, and she had been unwittingly following it for several leagues now. It probably wasn't going to attack her yet. The closer she came to the creature, the more aware she was of how very little she actually was. This creature had to be about 20 meters in length, and was easily one hundred and thirty-six tons. Selenay herself was only a little bigger than a Clydesdale, a massive horse from Europe.
She slowly and cautiously swam closer, and drew level with one eye. As the large dark orb rolled over to look at her, a long keening song echoed through the water, and Selenay's eyes unfocused for a time to translate as her Sea-King blood kicked in.
"What are you doing here? Sky-Kings don't swim."
As the message sank in, Selenay answered in kind. "I am Selenay, daughter of Irenia."
"IRENIA? How is she?"
Selenay felt a great pain lance through her, "She is dead, attacked by vampires who turned hostile on us."
"And your father?"
"Also dead." She answered, full of bitterness
"My greatest sorrows…Selenay" The creature's eye stayed on her for a time, as if reading her feelings, and looking so anguished and sad.
For a time, Selenay just swam beside the great creature in silence as she fought to regain her own composure. Then she spoke up again.
"Excuse me, but what are you?"
"I am a whale… called Darlana, this is my calf Faola."
"A whale? You're very big, Darlana! Are you the only kind of whale?"
"No, little one, I am one of many kinds. I am a Bowhead Whale. We're very few, Selenay. Many fish, smaller than I am I be afraid, hunt and eat us. Especially my calf. Helpless."
Selenay frowned, she liked Darlana and Darlana knew her mother once. She looked down at the calf, and as if feeling her gaze, the baby whale hurriedly swam to hide behind his mother's fin. Selenay smiled, and came to a decision.
"I will protect you! I won't let any fish take your baby, Darlana!"
"Really? You are kind of small, for a dragon."
Selenay bristled, "I am young, I will grow and then I'll be bigger than you!"
Now the eyes were laughing at her, she was teasing her!
"Alright, alright. Why are you traveling this far out to see? And away from land, no less…"
"I am traveling to get away from the vampires, Father said that there was two separate landmasses on this planet, one smaller than the other. So he landed on the larger one. After much prying, Father learned that no one knew about the second landmass, so I am traveling to it. I think there won't be anyone there, and thus no vampires, so I'll be safe."
"How logical of you, then. I can take you close to it, I travel near to it on my way to the feeding grounds for the summer."
"So you could take me?"
"Yes, I could. It would be very easy to carry you."
"Carry me? What do you mean?"
"Carry you. Climb upon my back, mind the claws, and I keep you out of the water. Keep you dry, and you can sleep without fear."
"Oh, wow, that would be so nice for a change! I have been getting so tired because I could only nap for ten minutes at a time while I traveled before having to go back up for air. I am so lucky I found you, Darlana!"
Selenay swam close to the surface right next to Darlana, who submerged herself completely, the shifting water rushed Selenay directly over the large whale's back and then Selenay reached down and clutched Darlana's back as the great whale emerged from the water again. The water washing away from Darlana's back nearly swept Selenay back off into the water except for the claws she had firmly entrenched into Darlana's thick skin.
Selenay shook her head, and hastily unlatched herself from Darlana's back. It felt so good to be out of the water! She collapsed seconds later, and spread out her wings to dry, falling asleep within the space of her eyelids closing and her gusty sigh.
When Selenay woke up, the sky was dark and the water even darker. She shifted her wings and cried out in surprise and pain as her back had finally scabbed over from the wounds her mother had inflicted in order to open her wings.
Selenay gingerly folded her wings back and fell back asleep.
"Selenay! Wake up, we've got trouble coming!"
Selenay startled awake, and jumped up. Her head weaved from side to side as she tried to spot the danger.
"It's below us, two tiger-sharks."
"I'm on it." Was all Selenay replied with before she ran to the edge of Darlana's back and dived down into the dark water.
Underneath the surface, the sandy-brown and striped sharks were easy to spot. They abruptly went into hunter-formation as they appraised this strange red threat to their hunt.
Selenay growled, and spread her wings, appearing much bigger than she had before. The trick worked, the sharks scattered out of their hunter formation in surprise and targeted Selenay instead in curiosity. When one got too close Selenay showed her teeth, and the creature reflexively lashed out at her with lightning speed.
It caught Selenay on a foreleg, and tried to bite down through the scales. Selenay shook him off, and twisted her leg back to scratch him. The creature soundlessly flinched and moved away, three long gouges had appeared down its side, dangerously close to its gills.
As if impelled by a magnet, the other shark turned on its fellow and attacked it. Selenay watched, dumbfounded as the shark bit down and tore through the other shark's back, the other shark struggled briefly and then died as soundlessly as ever. When the shark was finished eating, it swam away back the way it had come. Selenay turned away, deeply disturbed by what had transpired.
"Darlana, why did the shark attack it's partner like that?"
"It was instinctive, as soon as it smells blood the beast will go into a feeding frenzy and devour whatever the blood came from."
"Kind of like vampires…"
"Yes, like vampires."
Selenay's lips curled in a silent snarl, "That makes the vampires little more than beasts then!"
"Some are. Some aren't."
Selenay was reminded again of Carlisle, and his kind smile and golden eyes, so reminiscent of a dragon's orangey-red to golden orbs. She wondered if he survived, or if he was still imprisoned in Voltaire. She hadn't seen him since she was young.
Days passed with Selenay guarding Darlana and Faola from sharks and other predatory sea-creatures. She battled them well, and with renewed strength as she was able to sleep out of the water whenever she was tired. As word passed among the lesser fish that the Bowhead Whale traveled with a dragon the dangerous fish, and the sea-wolves known as Orcas, soon avoided Darlana almost as soon as she was spotted.
She spotted land on the third week of travel; she roughly counted out the days by the edge of a scale she cut into with the tip of a claw. Now that her destination was in sight, she felt a new surge of hope fill her, and she surged upward into the air, and kicked with all her might with her hind legs, she threw her wings up into the skies, and gave a mighty heave.
She wheeled in the air as soon as she was stable, and turned back towards Darlana's vast form, seeing the vast size of the whale from the air was no less daunting than from the water. She hovered carefully in front of Darlana's massive head, a trick she had mastered while hunting fish from the air as she traveled with the great whale.
"Oh Darlana! Is that it?"
"Yes, child, this is where our paths fork. I need to continue on my way now, thank you for keeping me and my baby safe for as long as you did. You have a good heart, youngling."
"Thank you, Darlana! I couldn't have made it this far without you, thank you!" Selenay's eyes filled with tears at the warmth and love coming from the whale's eyes.
"No worries, child. Good bye now!"
"Good bye!"
With that, she wheeled back towards the shore and set her sights on a destination.
Her eyes shining, she gave mighty strokes and brushed the wind, demanding permission to ride upon it's back, and the wind gleefully picked her up, and Selenay gave a mighty roar in delight of her freedom, the cry echoed off the water and shot off in all directions, but was soon altered and lost by the wind, and people far away mistook it for just another wave crashing against the rocks.
She passed over the shores, and massive pines, and reveled in the openness of it all, she felt no presence of the dreaded Cold Ones here, and she felt great peace wash over her, and also profound exhaustion as her body finally realized it was no longer over the endless ocean and she no longer had to fight so hard just to make it as quickly as possible. Her weeks of travel finally caught up to her and now she was exhausted. She spotted an open field, and angled herself down for a landing, she suddenly realized that this one going to be a very rough landing, since this was the first time she had flown. She back-stroked, fighting to slow herself down, as she had seen her father do countless times, and managed an adequate, if clumsy, landing.
Dirt clods and chunks of grass flew as she skidded across the field a small ways before finally coming to a stop. She gave a sigh of relief, and flopped down where she landed. Not caring that she was in broad daylight, she hadn't spotted anyone around for miles while she was in the air. She settled down for a good sleep, and was soon lost to the world.
The next day she woke up alert and ravenously thirsty. She stretched her head up and sniffed out the nearest source of fresh water. Weeks of catching droplets of rainwater in her open mouth, and trying to filter out seawater into freshwater had kept her alive, along with her Sea-King blood, but what she craved right now was a lake, or a river. Something deep enough to submerge in, and drink as much fresh water as she could until she thought she might be sick.
There! Just to the south of her, she smelled fresh water, and lots of it! Delicious!
She scrambled to her feet and started dog-trotting through the underbrush, she hadn't used her legs to run in so long, it felt just amazing to simply run. Now she felt heavy again, as she had gotten used to being in the ocean for so long, and her legs were unaccustomed to the shift in weight. But it felt good! Her legs strode forward with poise and grace, and she was not concerned. Everything felt right!
Abruptly, she tore past the last few trees and was rewarded with a wide expanse of open grass before the rocky shore of a small lake. She crowed her delight and ran across the lawn, her ears pricked forwards as she dragon-dashed towards the water.
When she made it to the water, her nostrils flared in appreciation for the clarity and lovely green-blue tint of the water. She blinked, it reminded her of her mother, and she was faced again with the horrific image of her mother's body being torn apart before her very eyes.
She shook her head and waded into the lake. She buried her snout into the water and began guzzling with great concentration. The feel of the fresh cool water washing over her tongue and soaking her mouth and throat was like no other sensation she had experienced in a long time.
After she drank her fill, she waded in the rest of the way and washed her body and each individual scale clean of the salt that had slowly caked her scales. When she stepped out, she felt loads better, so much cleaner, and feeling so much more fresh!
She plopped onto the grass and laid out her wings to dry, there she dozed and basked in the sun until she was completely dry before getting up to hunt. This would be her first time hunting land animals!
She rose up into the skies, and weaved her head about, seeking out prey. She spotted a large deer grazing with a few other does. Perfect! She gave two more strong beats before launching herself at the grazing deer.
Abruptly, the deer looked up and scattered. Selenay growled in frustration as the does all bounded away before she was close enough to dive on them. She tracked down another doe, and tried again. There too she failed, and she snarled and tore down trees in her frustration and hunger.
Finally, on her last try, she made sure to come in downwind, with the sun hiding her passage. She landed on the deer, who at the last second looked up and blanched and tried to run. Selenay killed it swiftly and cut its' throat before tearing open the belly to feed.
Selenay devoured everything, even splitting the bones to get at the marrow inside. All that was left were the shattered remains of the bones, the skull, and the ears, Selenay having found them too tough to eat.
Licking her lips, Selenay spotted a human settlement through the trees, deciding this really was not the place to live, Selenay took to the skies, and winged her way further west.
She passed through a vast plains, full of massive slow-moving buffalo that were too stupid to run from her. She ate well and grew quickly, she found herself often rubbing against rocky outcroppings and scraping off old scales, their clattering and clacking to the ground was simply delightful to her ears, and the mixture of pain and relief she felt with scraping against the hard stone was also.
Eventually, she passed through a true desert, and she marked the locations of several places she might go into her Wei Sleep, large mesas where tunneling would be a simple matter.
Later that week, Selenay breathed her first true flame, and her fire-bladder became fully mature. At this time, she would have been eligible for marriage, though it probably would have been a very long engagement until Selenay grew to her full height. Many of the eligible males in the colony were much older, and would have be able to catch Selenay with barely any contest.
Though she was no longer a small dragon, in the weeks after opening her wings her body had nearly tripled in weight and wingspan, she was slightly more lithe than a fully-blooded Sky-King.
When she reached the western coast, she turned north. Where the weather would be colder, and the days cloudier. She didn't like the heat so much; though it was comfortable at times, there was a such thing as too much.
Days later, she reached a pine forest far below, a strange scent in her nose had been bugging at her for quite a time. Kind of like wolf, but different. She couldn't place it. After settling in a clearing, she curled up for the night and fell asleep. Feeling confident that anything that arrived would surely not know what to do with her.
She awoke in the darkness, smelling and sensing another's presence. As she shifted slightly, betraying her alertness, deep growling issued, and Selenay opened her eyes slowly to see a large wolf crouched in front of her, his savage eyes held an intelligence she had not expected. She blinked and lifted her head slowly, hoping not to alarm him more than her presence already had. She heard deeper growling, and saw three other wolves standing to either side of their leader.
She regarded them carefully; she was a stranger to this land, and knew not the rules for engagement. They all had that look of intelligence, and it made her slightly nervous, their eyes were watching her apprehensively, much as she now watched them and she was aware of the control they had, these weren't normal wolves. That much was obvious, these things were the size of a large horse, for one, and the fire that blazed in their eyes was not that of a crazed werewolf, it was intelligence. Tentatively, she pushed her mind against the lead wolf, attempting to communicate her intentions of good will, and harmlessness.
What she did not expect was the hive like mind she brushed against. Their voices were all one, and at the same time, they were all different. Their minds were all linked by thought and they communicated like that to each other with flawless perfection. Not werewolves indeed. Feeling slightly excited, she pushed against their minds again, and then spoke carefully.
"Greetings, good wolves." She began, and the hive mind reacted like a bunch of angry bees, and began to speak all at once, panic and surprise evident in their thoughts and on their canine faces.
"It can hear us! Black, what are we to do?" –"It speaks!" –"It's dangerous, we should drive it away! If it can hear our thoughts it can…oh. Shit!" –"Stop, all of you. BE SILENT. I shall decide what to do with it. It possesses intelligence enough to speak like we do, it has not harmed us. We shall hear this creature's explanation for itself."
Selenay shook her head at the blurring thought-words these wolves shared, and jumped slightly when she heard them suggest they drive her away. However, she nearly gave a sigh of relief when she heard the cold and steady voice of the Alpha wolf override the others. Even she felt a slight compulsion to obey and be silent, but not as strong as the other wolves, who lowered themselves to their bellies in submission to their leader and whined softly.
She raised her head, and looked at the Alpha and he dipped his head cautiously to her, inviting her to continue. She was assuming that this was Black they had mentioned, but he was not a black wolf. He was a deep brown, with a lighter red belly, and amber eyes.
"Greetings, good wolves." She said again, the wolves dipped their heads slightly, acknowledging the greeting, this was strange to her; her people sensibly opened and closed their nostrils when they were affirming or refuting anything. She drove on past that painful reminder and continued, "I am a stranger to this land, I came from across the ocean and have traveled far in my escape from my pursuers. I seek no quarrel with you, and indeed, I seek to pass through here as quickly as I can in order to find a place more suitable for myself. I flee from the monsters known as the Cold Ones, and my kind have long fought beside them. However, they have turned on us, and my family was butchered in their cave, I myself barely escaped with my life. I seek a new beginning."
As she spoke, she sent them images of the Cold Ones, and the carnage they wrought on her ancestral lands. Even as it pained her, her mind conjured up her father, his body rent by those cruel, unfeeling hands. His proud face disfigured by the claws marks through his temple, and the wolves growled at this atrocity. When she replayed the scene of herself escaping from the young vampire child, their eyes widened in terror as her own fear of the Cold Ones leaked across the connection. They backed away from the red dragon, then. Their eyes filled with understanding, and sorrow. They knew of these creatures, and hunted them, also.
"What shall we call you? For we have never seen your kind before."
"I am Selenay, seventh daughter of Duarch Noomoack, the wisest dragon that ever lived. I am of the Sky-King tribe, masters of the skies."
"Welcome then, Selenay, to our land. For the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Selenay was welcomed into the tribe of wolves, her polite nature was akin to that of the wolves, and they saw her as a strange lost and scaly cousin. She took to them immediately, their body temperatures were very high, like that of a dragon's, though their hive mind took some getting used to. She was as fascinated by them as they were of her. They led her to their tribe, and families, and she was surprised they had human forms, as well.
As she struggled with her own transformations, they laughingly coaxed her along, but she never managed to transform into her own humanoid form, though it was grueling practice trying. The women marveled at her red and gold scales, and she did not glitter in the sunlight like the Cold Ones, which appeased everyone, but glowed as if a great fire raged within her. A healthy radiance that was, itself, breath-taking. But despite her obvious differences, she was accepted by the Quileute tribe.
She stayed with them for a number of years, and they were unfazed by the fact that she didn't seem to age. She learned about all the wild plants and which ones were safe to eat, and others that were good at healing wounds, in turn, she taught them about expanding their will into spears of thought to direct them towards another mind, like what she had done to contact them in the first place.
Life was good for her, the Quileutes were her allies and they welcomed the red dragon among them with love and adoration. She grew into a large dragon, feeding on the kills she shared with the wolves during her hunts, and a strong flier able to withstand even the most brutal storms tossed her way. The wild weather patterns of this land shaped her into an instrument of destruction.
She spent quite a bit of time playing with the wolves, sparing with them and teaching the wolves to fight and lunge with a dragon-like intensity against the vampires. One particularly intense fight left the wolves wounded and cut, and Selenay worked with a guilty conscience to help ease their pain as she worriedly lapped at their wounds. As her saliva mixed with theirs, the wounds were able to close up and heal. Mystified, the wolves all clamored to have her heal them, too. And soon all of their wounds were healing flawlessly.
Mystified, Selenay decided that the ability was in her blood and so with the help of one of the wives she made a good-sized cut in one claw and began squeezing the blood into a bowl Selenay had that same wife prepare. She convinced a wolf to drink the blood, and he reluctantly gave it a few laps. He fell asleep almost immediately afterwards, and when he woke up again he was feeling younger and happier and moved more vigorously and more quickly than before.
But best of all, they healed quickly. Selenay soon had all of the wolves drinking her blood, after she had a rest and a chance to recover from blood-loss.
It was when she reached her 100th birthday, and had grown into a powerful adversary, the wolves of the pack had increased in size by one-fourth; they were sleeker and faster than before. No longer were they the lumbering large beasts that Selenay had met before. Weeks after celebrating her birthday, a coven of Cold Ones arrived.
They came with the dawn, and Selenay shivered. She wasn't cold, however, and realization struck her as she heard the strange beings stepping through the forest to the edge of her village. The village elders all rose up, growling, and their sons stood and shifted into the mighty wolves before words had been spoken. The vampires walked slowly towards the group, their arms spread wide as if in truce, and their eyes glued towards the ground. Selenay stood near her adoptive father, Chief Black, and she nervously blew out hot breath in the foggy cool air.
The lead vampire spoke up first, his gaze drifting over all of the waiting and irate villagers and settling on Selenay with avid curiosity, it was obvious to everyone she was not of the tribe, with her being a dragon among wolves and all. The vampire suddenly froze, and his eyes widened in shock, and recognition? Selenay was confused, he looked familiar, but her memories before the…incident were rather fuzzy… she felt like she should know him. Had she met him before? How odd…
Selenay almost cursed; all of the vampires were gazing on her now, of course they would notice her! She stood out like a sore thumb among these russet skinned natives!
"We are but humble travelers, seeking peace between my family," he gestured toward his two companions behind him, who bowed their heads slowly, "and your kind. We mean you no harm."
Chief Black stepped forward, his scowl evident to Selenay from where she stood off to his side. "How are you any different than the other blood-drinkers you resemble. You're all as bad as the rest of them!"
"No! Please listen, humans are in no danger from us, we abhor the need of our bodies to sup on the flesh and blood of innocent humans, and we have found a better way, a way that is not harmful to humankind. We feed on the blood of animals, and we would wish to pledge our good will to you, if you will let us live here in peace, we shall not bite a human."
The brothers and sisters of the Quileute tribe whispered harshly among themselves, all of them concerned at the Cold One's words. Selenay could not believe what she was hearing, it sounded so impossible; the Cold Ones she knew reveled in the bloodshed of humans. They were malicious, and unrepentant of their natures, believing that it was right to feed on humans as the natural order of things, that was the way of the Volturi.
Her eyes flashed up again towards the vampire standing there, his arms held out beseechingly.
She formed a spear of thought and jabbed it savagely at the blond man before her, she faintly heard him gasp in sudden agony, but she no longer cared. She was inside his mind now, sifting through his thoughts and… She pulled up and out sharply. Stunned at what she found in his head, she withdrew completely, and returned to her own body. She sat down hard on the grassy ground, and released her held breath in awe.
Everyone glanced down at her, wondering what had just occurred. The wolves got the impression of what had happened, and were now eager to hear what she had learned to make her react that way. Were his thoughts so evil?
He had never bitten a single human, and the compassion this man had for all living beings stretched out even to her on the grass, who had invaded his thoughts only moments ago so savagely. All at once she felt a terrible feeling of sorrow rise up inside of her. This man had done her no harm; he was not of the same Cold Ones who had delivered such wanton destruction on her home.
And she knew this man, it had been more than fifty years since she had seen him, but she most definitely knew him. She felt so suddenly happy that he had escaped, that he was still in existence and looking so well fed, and his eyes were those burnished gold she remembered. Speaking of which, so were the eyes of the other two behind him.
Carlisle.
She slowly raised her head towards the man, Carlisle, and stood up carefully. She stepped toward him, and placed her nose reluctantly on his shoulder, ignoring the hisses and growls emanating from both sides. She knew no harm could come to her from him, or from his company. She regarded the expression in his eyes, and knew that he recognized her for who she was. Understanding lit up his expression.
"You are…Selenay …but how is that possible? Aro had killed the last one twenty-two years ago…" Carlisle faltered, and his hand reached up, and tentatively brushed his hand on her cheek, just like he used to do. "I never knew, I fought so hard, and never knew…I thought I had failed. My lady, how can you ever forgive one such as I? You are his daughter, correct?"
Selenay nodded her head slowly, the concept that a vampire, even one, had remained loyal to her father was astonishing. But she knew it for truth; she had seen it in his thoughts.
"You must promise me you will speak of my existence to no one. Absolutely no one. My continued survival depends on it." She pleaded softly, with that, she turned her back on him, and strode towards Chief Black.
"Father, you can trust these. I know them well, and my father knew Sir Carlisle well. I have examined his mind, and I have found his words to be true. I think you should accept his offer of peace. I would not like to see you tear each other apart in a bitter battle to the death."
Chief Black's eyes narrowed and his heart felt heavy with emotion. "Alright, my daughter. I shall give them a chance."
Selenay beamed at her adoptive father and looked back at Carlisle with merry eyes. "Come, we have much to discuss."
Carlisle walked forward and placed his hand on Selenay's shoulder, she butted him with her head and he obliged by vaulting up onto her back. Together, they turned toward the skies and Selenay took to the air, Carlisle crouched on her back and clinging tightly to her neck spikes.
He whooped for joy, and laughed as Selenay and he corkscrewed through the air. She gave a savage roar and went into a slow back flip, she flipped once and pointed her nose to the earth. They free-fell and Selenay released another savage growl before leveling out and snapping open her wings, halting their downward fall, and knocking Carlisle out of his seat on her back to go sliding down towards her tail.
Her eyes widened in alarm, she didn't mean to throw him! She lashed her tail up, and tossed him back towards her neck. It worked; he was flung forward and landed back in his seat on her back. He clung more tightly to her then and yelled in her ear,
"Be careful, Selenay! I'm not glued here, and I don't have any saddle, remember?"
Sorry, Carlisle! This is just the flight we would have had had we bonded together.
She said into his mind, and his arms tightened around her neck in understanding. She had loved him, adored the vampire, and had followed him through the passageways for days while he went about his various tasks as he studied more forms of medicine and surgery.
After a time, they returned to earth and Carlisle immediately had to change his pants as his had been torn to shreds by Selenay's scales. He made quite a sight, and his fellow vampires laughed at him until Selenay game them a healthy glare, allowing a tendril of flame to slip out of her mouth like a bright tongue.
They were up late talking, Selenay had young wolf children sleeping peacefully in the coils of her tail and folded in her wings. Carlisle was laying in her lap, scratching Selenay's ridges above her eyes as she purred in contentment.
"Selenay…would it still be possible to enact the bond? Could I still become your rider in truth?"
Selenay was silent for a time, her eyes were closed and she appeared to be sleeping.
"I don't know, right now I know I can't. I need to enter my Wei Sleep for awhile, to do that, I need to find a safe place to sleep. I'll try to learn if I can still enact the bond there. If I can, I'll recover the other information pertinent to you becoming my rider, as well. If it works, you may be… Different."
"I see, don't worry too much, if we can't then we can't. I will be content with being as I am… I just never wanted to be a vampire, if I could have had myself any other way, I would have wished to be something else." He sounded downcast. It was well-known to Selenay how Carlisle had had such self loathing for so long after he had been changed. Her father had known it too, which had been why he had welcomed the brilliant and compassionate vampire into his Aerie, Lyterna.
"I will try, Carlisle! I promise you this!"
"Thank you, Selenay. Just hearing that you would try means a lot to me. If it could happen, I would adore you for as long as I lived, and I would never leave you alone again." Carlisle said fervently. They settled down to sleep then, at least Selenay did. Carlisle merely wrapped his arms around Selenay's neck and let his thoughts drift until day break.
That morning, Selenay announced her intentions to Chief Black. "I need to leave, Black, there are things I must do as a dragon that I am long overdue for. I bid you all a very fond farewell, and I hope to come back someday to see how you are doing. Good bye everyone!"
Selenay gave a special hug to Carlisle, and fondly licked him on the face. Her tongue rasped across his skin like steel scraping steel, and Carlisle giggled at the sensation, clutching his face after her draconic kiss.
Chief Black was sad, and he hugged the massive red dragon closely, "Be good, Black and be brave. Don't fear to love, because it will make you strong." She didn't lick him; if she tried, it would rip the skin right off his bones in his current shape.
Black just smiled up at her.
The light of his people was leaving them. But he knew she would not stay forever, "be all as it may, daughter. I shall heed your words, you are a wise dragon. I wish I could have known your father, all that you told me of him made my wild heart sing. Live freely, Selenay."
"Love well, Black." Selenay whispered under her breath, knowing he would hear her. She turned away then, and strode away from the gathering of wolves and vampires.
With her scales glittering in the morning sun, she again turned her head toward the skies. Her wide frilled ears were angled elegantly away from her skull, and the spines that grew from her back shined pearly white, and dazzled softly. Her wings were folded up, and when she opened them, they were a deep yellowy-red. The thin hollow bones that framed the six fingered wings were outlined in deep russet red, like maple leaves in the fall. Like Fire.
Carlisle had a small memory well up in his mind of a small little hatchling, still wet from the egg, growling in mock battle as she played with his fingers, and he couldn't help but smile gently. Her large amber eyes had shined so much like his own, and her lithe lizard-like body burned in his hand with the heat of the fire growing inside her.
Her wings had yet to grow from her back. He had been anxious of the day her back would swell up with twin hard sacs, and then the wings break free from her back with the help of a parent or good friend. All that was need was a set of good sharp teeth. It was a rare ritual between vampires and dragons to join in eternal companionship by the opening of a dragon's wings, but the dragon naturally had to choose the vampire. He was the one who had been meant to open her to the skies, and be her friend. She had chose him. He felt warm with the thought.
But that had been the day Aro and his troop had come. Aro had been enraged that Duarch Noomoack had not given him the honor, and decided that if Princess Selenay would not receive his fangs, then she and all her family would pay with never embracing the skies again.
With the approaching enemy, Selenay and her mother had been desperate to find a way of escaping, of being able to escape. Selenay's mother had torn open her wings herself, and then had fairly thrown Selenay into the air, followed closely by her brothers and sisters.
Carlisle pushed the memory from his mind, finding it too raw and painful to remember. Now, he embraced the glorious scene as it played out in front of them all as Selenay, beautiful Selenay, gracefully arched her neck and surged up into the air. She was the embodiment of fire, and grace.
With one last glorious roar of triumph, Selenay turned westward, and disappeared from sight. That was the last anyone had seen of the glorious Sky-King, who from up high in the skies, many humans had thought in awe that they witnessed the legendary fire-bird arcing across the skies into the unknown.
~*Present Time—Estimation Three Years After the Incident in Arizona*~
Selenay sighed, and decided that the time had come, she was bound to be discovered soon, anyways. There were more vampires in this land, and some would still be old enough to recognize the burning sensation under their feet as an indication there was a dragon beneath them. She twisted, and turned carefully in the cave, and slowly began digging her way up and out of her den. It was time to take a visit to her old Wolves.
Okay! So you guys probably saw the mishap earlier. I've replaced the chapter, so you won't see that, (obviously). I am terribly sorry, I had forgotten about that particular incident, and forgot o delete it off. Whatever, it's no longer a problem, now. I'll be more careful with what I'm loading onto the Doc-Manager in future. Enjoy, and please review. I like to hear what you have to saw, any problems you saw in grammar or in syntax. Any ways I can improve my work as I progress through the story.