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The Blood's Fate

Chapter 3: Flames Rekindled

       The silence was unbearable, my heart started racing. "This is absurd," my mind spiraled, "Protecting me from myself? Sure I did some reckless and dangerous things as a child, but hiding something from me?" Father noticed me trying to sort this situation, this statement of life shattering revelation out, "Lea, do you remember why we took your mother's last name rather than keep our own?" "How could I not?" I replied, "The reminder is always there. In my dreams, in my thoughts, even on my neck." I gestured to my birthmark, a claw, a curse passed on through my father's lineage. "It's because of our exiled ancestors that we lost our name," I stated, "we can't keep our last names once we are mated to a female, so we take the dragoness' name. I think you said it was to prevent us from gaining back our honor." Father was silent, "Lea, you'd best get dressed, we are going to discuss this further in the tea room."
      
       I look at father confused, then look down at myself, my shirt, trousers, and undergarments we missing. "Who stripped me of my clothes while I was passed out," I thought, "Wait... Roy's still in the room...." "Eh heh," I choked on my tongue. I forgot Roy hasn't seen me naked before, seems today is just full of firsts. "Don't worry," Roy finally said to me, "There wasn't anything I haven't seen before" "Well that was reassuring, but to be fair, dragons don't have any parts hanging out so there isn't really much to show without clothing." I watch as Roy and father leave me in my room to get dressed. I opened my chest of drawers to get a new shirt and trousers. "Are these clean?" I wondered with a sniff. The trousers smelled of the alley, "Not even close to clean." I checked the other drawers for a pair of trousers to wear, "There we are." I slip the shirt and trousers on, tie the string on my shirt to keep it from sliding, and put my aged leather belt. I made my way out the door and could smell the aroma of the ceremonial tea being brewed. The nutty fragrance warmed my insides, memories of my childhood flickered around me almost as if the house itself were alive with the memories of the past. I couldn't control myself as a single tear rolled from my eye, the nostalgic essence of home and the invigorating aroma of the tea brought back all of the memories I once had.
       It was custom of Eastern dragons to share stories over tea, but not any ordinary tea. The tea used in the ceremony allows for those who consume it to release their aura in ripples much more easily, thus becoming more attuned with the others. By doing so the story can be weaved by simply meditating in the same room as the listeners. I crossed through the living room, and passed mother's sewing room, and found the rice paper door leading to the tea room. With a smooth gliding the door opened before me as I stepped through. Across from me was Father, wearing the traditional garb for story weaving, and to his left was Roy. "Roy you don't have to be here," I said, "I don't expect you to understand the cere- "
      
        "Lea. I have been to story weavings before," Roy cut me off, "I'm well versed in your traditions. In fact, it's not all that different from my culture's ceremonies." I should have kept my mouth shut, I forgot that Roy's family were firm believers in tradition. "Well if you insist, Roy," I said, "I can't stop you." I took my place on the floor across Roy, to the right of Father, clearing his throat, "Now that everyone is here, let's begin the ceremony shall we?" He rang a set of bells that reverberated throughout the room. The chiming made my bones buzz and my scales shiver, it has been so long since I've been in a weaving I forgot the sensation of the ripples we create. As the bells' song faded back to the void, Father poured the tea into four cups. The extra cup was to be left alone as an offering to the spirits of our ancestors, Father told me once. As the last cup was filled the bells rang again, this time without being touched. "Seems we have a guest," Father said acknowledging the spirit.
      
       Most of the candles extinguished, revealing the spirit's corporeal form. It was a rather short figure, serpentine in shape. At first glance I could have sworn it was my reflection, but as my eyes readjusted it was the first patriarch of Father's side of the family, Kumaa'Eld. "We ask to share with us the feud which damned your kin," Father said to the spirit, "Grant my son and his companion the knowledge they lack." The spirit spoke a different language, a familiar language, but it had been too long since I last heard my native tongue. "You have grown much," he said in dragon tongue, "Lea, you remember the day you were born, yes?" What an odd question to ask, "Yes," I replied, nearly butchering the words, "However very foggy, the memories are." The spirit chuckled as he heard my lack of practice, "Very good! Now, the weaving begins."
      
       Then Kumaa'Eld downs his cup of tea, and we follow his lead. The bells chimed three times and the remaining candles were put out. Father, Roy, and me began releasing the ripples of our auras outwards. Soon light gave way to darkness, and the tea room dissolved away and into the void. Despite this, we continued channeling each other's aura, until a single flame formed in the center of where the table was. "It has been so long since I last told my story," Kumaa'Eld said in my mind, "Take the ember, and put it to your chest." I reached out into the void for the tiny light in the dark, the flame flickered some but did not die. I cupped the ember with my outstretched hand, and pulled it close. The flame had enough light to illuminate my hand, I could see my scales, claws, and pads in the orange glow, somehow my hand felt foreign as if it were not my own. As I drew the ember closer to my breast, the flame started pulsing with my heartbeat and grew in intensity and size. Soon my entire hand was engulfed by the flame, but I didn't burn. "Now begins the fun part," Kumaa'Eld said as my heart started glowing through my flesh and bone. I breathed deeply and forced the ember into my heart. Immediately my body writhed in pain as the flames kindled my body, like embers to fresh leaves. "It... hurts," I growled through gritted teeth, "But I-I will endure!" The flames spread quickly, soon my whole body was an ember, and the pain faded away. "Now that went better than I had expected," I laughed. "Good, good," Kumaa'Eld said, "We can now relive my final moments, but I am afraid I'll have to take over."
      
       In an instant the inky black void was filled with a throne room, paper lanterns laced with gold ornaments hung from the ceiling on the rafters, incense burned on an altar in front of me. Or should I say us, as Kumaa'Eld was now in control of my body and I was observing with his eyes. We were wearing armor unlike any I've ever seen, it was obviously smithed for a royal or highly regarded general with the golden etching on the breastplate and pauldrons. Across the room a bloodied messenger barged through the door, "Milord! Milord! House Chi* is attacking; they broke through the outer wall!"
      
       "I knew this day would come," Kumaa'Eld spoke as he stood up, "Go! Evacuate the village, make sure everyone is safe!"
      
       "Yes lord." And the messenger ran off into the village. We moved with blinding speed to the battlefield, jumping, climbing, ducking with agility and grace. We made it to the battle in time to save a soldier from sure death. Our blade, the same blade that came to my aid in the alley pierced the attacker completely. "Get up boy, you are not dead yet," Kumaa'Eld mocked as he lifted the battered warrior up. We then ran into the fray, striking down enemies with one slash as we passed. Blades clashed, blood was in the air, bodies littered the ground, some were soldiers others we innocents who could not escape the cloud of death. We continued our assault, cleaving through the enemy, ignoring the mound of bodies in our way. We reached a clearing, somehow we had breached the phalanx and found the Lord of House Chi. "Yama!" Kumaa'Eld shouted, "How dare you break our truce!" It was then I realized who that dragon was, Yama'Eld, the forsaken brother consumed by his ambition. "Well hello, brother," Hissed Yama'Eld, "I have come to claim what is rightfully mine."
      
       "Yama listen to me, I promised you a position in my cabinet, you as my own flesh and blood deserve nothing less than a roof over your head and your family beside you. And your end of the agreement was that you would side with my House. Have you no shame?"
      
       "Pha! Your idealism is sickening 'brother,' so I believe it is time for you to... DIE!!" The crazed dragon lunged at us with a flaming blade. We dodged the attack and countered with a swift strike to Yama'Eld's off-hand. The attack did little more than anger him even more, "You're soft Kumaa," Yama'Eld mocked, "You are the reason mother and father died, you are the reason your children and mate were murdered. Face it! You are unfit to become an emperor!"
      
       "Your lies won't get you far on the battle field Yama," Kumaa'Eld growled as the two swords clashed, "You hated me from the day I was hatched. You wanted dead so you wouldn't have competition for the throne. You're the one who sabotaged the lift, you were the one who killed Amai as she slept, and destroyed her eggs." The duel continued, each strike being parried, dodged, deflected, and countered. "The evidence is there," Kumaa'Eld continued, "The attacks on my villages were done by your banner, the coin left by the assassin as he left Amai in a bloody mess had your sigil! Tell me of your innocence again, bastard! I dare you!" The two were a flurry of steel and fire, eventually a ring of flame made a boarder around the duel, all the soldiers caught in the fight were either dispatched by the flames or fled for safety and watched as their commanders battled. The flames that enveloped Yama'Eld's sword faded away to reveal a sterling white blade etched with gray and black ripples running along the sides. "I see," Kumaa'Eld said quickstepping backwards, "So you too have a God-Slayer. Born from your ambition from the looks of it. I know what this means, neither of us can kill the other so long as we draw breath."
      
       Yama'Eld laughed, "Are you admitting defeat 'brother'? Or are you trying to achieve something else?" Kumaa'Eld was sullen, he had lost his brother whom he cared so dearly for. All that remains of his family now is an unnamed bastard hatchling, who will never know his father's name. "I'm so sorry," Kumaa'Eld whispered to the pendant that belonged to Shiro, the mother of his only remaining son, "Yama, you didn't kill all my children, I still have one who escaped your grasp."
      
       "What?!"
      
       "The reason you did not know was because I took a mate outside of wedlock, but now she is far from your reach, and will never be within it."
      
       "You lie! You are too virtuous to commit such a sin! I will kill you nonetheless, I will! I will-"
      
       "Your next line is, 'I will find the bastard and flay him along with his whore mother!'"
      
       "-find the bastard and flay him along with his whore mother! What!?" Yama'Eld was shocked that his brother had predicted his words exactly. Noticing this Kumaa'Eld plunged his blade into his own stomach, whispering an incantation into the bloodstone pendant Shiro gave him, "Yama'Eld, Lord of House Chi, with my royal blood I seal you within this stone to the day an exiled descendant of my banner is born under the stars of the Priestess of Light and the Beast of Darkness. Possessing dominion over fire and ice, in harmony with the energies of life, he shall strike you down!" At that moment Yama'Eld turned to dust, being pulled into the sphere with a screech that could shatter diamond. The ritual was completed, Yama'Eld's spirit was sealed within the bloodstone pendant, but at the cost of Kumaa'Eld's life.
      
       Kumaa'Eld knelt there, lifeless. The blood flowing from his wound blackened, turning to ash, his flesh became stone, and his blade vanished into the void. I slowly came back to reality, back to the tea room, as the weaving ended. The candles we all lit, the incense completely burned, and the tea cooled. There we were, all three of us, quiet as death. No one could say a word for almost what seemed to be an hour. I tried to reach for the bell to break the trance, by my arms felt like lead ingots. On queue the bells rang on their own, signaling the departure of Kumaa'Eld, and the end of the ceremony. Everyone stood up at the same time, Roy seemed a bit shaken, Father looks more stressed than he normally would be, as for me I felt like I had to vomit. "Lea," Father said to me, "If you need to you can sit down, you look like you will collapse if you don't." He was right, my head was spinning, the world around me felt like I was swimming in mud, and the creatures in the dark were nibbling at my face. "Perhaps it was the tea?" queried Roy. "No." I answered, "Too much to take in really. Just give me some time"
      
       "Time is not something we have to give," Father said urgently, "We must prepare you for Yama'Eld's return!"
      
       "What if he already has? Remember the shadow dragon we told you about?" Roy pressed.
      
       "If that was him. Then we may be too late. But that doesn't mean that you are ready to face him, Lea."
      
       "I understand, I barely made it out of that encounter alive," I said, trying not to sound overly dramatic.
      
       "Judging from what I know of sealing rituals, and your encounter with the shadow dragon, he still hasn't found a proper body yet."
      
       "That means whatever time we have left to prepare, and find him for that matter..."
      
       "Is much shorter than you think," said a feminine voice behind me. "My name is Raven," the dragoness continued, "It is a pleasure to meet you."
End of Chapter 3
*Chi is pronounced the same as key, however may be pronounced as kai