concentric ripples of magical fire that washed over the draconic congregation. She blinked. This heat was more spiritual than physical, a thawing of places and capabilities she had not imagined might exist within a person, and the flame-dragonet danced within her, inhabiting her mind and heart simultaneously.
Sapphurion the Dragon Elder led a bugling, joyous chorus of approbation, which rang back and forth in the great bowl of the caldera until it seemed that the Island-World itself raised its voice in song, and the little Human could not withhold the tears pouring down her cheeks, and steaming on the rocks beside her feet. She did not care. Glorious! Exultant! Every hair on the nape of her neck tingled separately. Now, the Dragonsong split into a hundred harmonies.
From the outside, she felt an interloper, one of small understanding gazing in on the spectacle of Dragon worship, an unworthy eyewitness to the greatest event of this age. Never had she imagined … the raw sensation … the spine-tingling glory! Wonder gripped her, multiplying until Lia became dizzy, intoxicated, and had to grip the boulder in front of her as a reminder of solid, physical reality.
Now, pure white flame began to issue from the cracks between the obsidian slabs of Amaryllion’s scales, lighting the boneyard, the spines and ribs and skulls of the Dragons of yore now seared in glorious light. A Dragon took shape above his recumbent body, an image of a fiery light so unadulterated it seared Lia’s eyes to look upon, for he shone like starlight. Majesty. Incomparable beauty. Amaryllion’s fire-soul filled the space between the assembled Lesser Dragons, a majestic bewinged emblem of draconic power. His brethren had raised the Islands. They had shaped and breathed life into the world she knew.
Amaryllion roared, I MUST FLY!
The shock-wave of his declaration punched Hualiama’s eardrums. She knew that this was the moment. She must speak, but the pain in her chest rendered her mute. Dragon fear sealed her throat. Yet a word swelled within her. It blazed with irresistible force, summoned by an inaudible command. She meant only to whisper his secret name.
Instead, the word boomed forth so powerfully that Hualiama flew backward. BEZALDIOR!
She cracked her head on a granite outcropping behind her.
As Lia glanced up, wincing at the ache in her skull, she saw Sapphurion’s quizzical gaze directed at her hiding-place. Mercy! May he lack the power … but the huge Blue Dragon did not appear to detect her presence. Instead, he and all the thousands of Lesser Dragons, from the smallest to the greatest, directed geysers of Dragon fire at Amaryllion’s body. Stifling waves of heat rolled up the cliffs. Brighter and brighter blazed the inferno, now emanating from within the Ancient Dragon’s vast body. Dragonsong swelled, the elegiac harmonies attaining complexities almost incomprehensible to the Human ear, the magic and music and heat building to a crescendo, the radiance of Amaryllion’s Dragon soul surpassing even the twin suns, and though Hualiama’s heart thundered in her ears, the magnificent farewell seemed to reach through her nerves and ears and pores to pluck notes upon her soul’s own strings.
KAAAABOOM!
Though her eyes were shuttered, Hualiama saw through her eyelids the Ancient Dragon’s fire-soul rocket skyward like a comet in reverse–or did she perceive his departure with the eyes of her spirit?
Then, a fragment of starlight detached from the Dragon’s soul and shot back toward her. Lia had barely registered its descent before it detonated within her chest. She could not scream, for her lungs seized up. She could not see for flames filling her vision. Hualiama knew only a scorching so sweet it was indistinguishable from pain.
Before she could articulate a single thought, darkness engulfed the light.
* * * *
Waking was a slow surfacing from a faraway place, as though her soul had slumbered in the depths of the Cloudlands. There
Sapphurion the Dragon Elder led a bugling, joyous chorus of approbation, which rang back and forth in the great bowl of the caldera until it seemed that the Island-World itself raised its voice in song, and the little Human could not withhold the tears pouring down her cheeks, and steaming on the rocks beside her feet. She did not care. Glorious! Exultant! Every hair on the nape of her neck tingled separately. Now, the Dragonsong split into a hundred harmonies.
From the outside, she felt an interloper, one of small understanding gazing in on the spectacle of Dragon worship, an unworthy eyewitness to the greatest event of this age. Never had she imagined … the raw sensation … the spine-tingling glory! Wonder gripped her, multiplying until Lia became dizzy, intoxicated, and had to grip the boulder in front of her as a reminder of solid, physical reality.
Now, pure white flame began to issue from the cracks between the obsidian slabs of Amaryllion’s scales, lighting the boneyard, the spines and ribs and skulls of the Dragons of yore now seared in glorious light. A Dragon took shape above his recumbent body, an image of a fiery light so unadulterated it seared Lia’s eyes to look upon, for he shone like starlight. Majesty. Incomparable beauty. Amaryllion’s fire-soul filled the space between the assembled Lesser Dragons, a majestic bewinged emblem of draconic power. His brethren had raised the Islands. They had shaped and breathed life into the world she knew.
Amaryllion roared, I MUST FLY!
The shock-wave of his declaration punched Hualiama’s eardrums. She knew that this was the moment. She must speak, but the pain in her chest rendered her mute. Dragon fear sealed her throat. Yet a word swelled within her. It blazed with irresistible force, summoned by an inaudible command. She meant only to whisper his secret name.
Instead, the word boomed forth so powerfully that Hualiama flew backward. BEZALDIOR!
She cracked her head on a granite outcropping behind her.
As Lia glanced up, wincing at the ache in her skull, she saw Sapphurion’s quizzical gaze directed at her hiding-place. Mercy! May he lack the power … but the huge Blue Dragon did not appear to detect her presence. Instead, he and all the thousands of Lesser Dragons, from the smallest to the greatest, directed geysers of Dragon fire at Amaryllion’s body. Stifling waves of heat rolled up the cliffs. Brighter and brighter blazed the inferno, now emanating from within the Ancient Dragon’s vast body. Dragonsong swelled, the elegiac harmonies attaining complexities almost incomprehensible to the Human ear, the magic and music and heat building to a crescendo, the radiance of Amaryllion’s Dragon soul surpassing even the twin suns, and though Hualiama’s heart thundered in her ears, the magnificent farewell seemed to reach through her nerves and ears and pores to pluck notes upon her soul’s own strings.
KAAAABOOM!
Though her eyes were shuttered, Hualiama saw through her eyelids the Ancient Dragon’s fire-soul rocket skyward like a comet in reverse–or did she perceive his departure with the eyes of her spirit?
Then, a fragment of starlight detached from the Dragon’s soul and shot back toward her. Lia had barely registered its descent before it detonated within her chest. She could not scream, for her lungs seized up. She could not see for flames filling her vision. Hualiama knew only a scorching so sweet it was indistinguishable from pain.
Before she could articulate a single thought, darkness engulfed the light.
* * * *
Waking was a slow surfacing from a faraway place, as though her soul had slumbered in the depths of the Cloudlands. There
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