The Dragon's Tear
By Christina Rhoads
Young Vairkian children with their round faces, tan or darker skin, slightly pointed ears, and dark hair sit in a semi-circle around the village elder. Her face is wrinkled with laugh lines and her extremely long silver hair is flowing down her back.
“Orla! Orla! Do you have any more stories today?” A blonde haired, dark eyed girl exclaimed as the young village children scramble to sit where they could see Orla.
An even smaller little girl in a purple dress and pigtails toddles over to Orla, “Tory, tory, tory,” Kireen chants unable to pronounce the “s”.
Chuckling, Orla picks up the tiny tot and sets the dark haired girl on her lap. With a little pat on the head, Orla elicits a little giggle, that resembles a tiny bell ringing, of contentment from Kireen.
“Does it have monsters?!”
“Princesses and knights?”
The children start shouting out key items in their favorite stories. Many of the stories Orla told had magic strewn throughout them and spoke of legends.
A set of young adults carrying baskets filled to the brim with potatoes from the nearby fields walk past. The woman was balancing the basket on her head and stops to scold the children.
“Now quiet yourselves, if you are on best behavior Orla will tell her story to you.” With that the children immediately go silent and the pair go on their way towards the town center.
Orla started speaking in a hushed tone, “Once long ago there lived a great dragon.”
The candles surrounding the room began to flicker, the smoke began to curl and circle the area making shapes, eventually forming a dragon. The dragon had deep red scales, and spines running from its back to the tip of its tail in which has flames, from the start of the spines up its neck was flames of gold. The dragon’s head was adorned with ram-like horns, and golden yellow eyes. His wings are bat-like and he has scaled lion-like paws that light on fire with supremely long claws.
All of the children’s eyes shined in wonder and amazement. Some of the adults walking outside stopped to hear the story they all were told when they were little.
“This dragon is known as the Great Fire Dragon, his real name long forgotten to time. He went around the universe bringing life to the different worlds.”
The smoke made dragon floated around orbs of smoke that suddenly grew smoke trees.
“One day, he landed on a planet to rest. This planet was named Zefruna. Zefruna was his final resting place and became the most beautiful world there is. In The Great Fire Dragon’s place he left a special flame. This flame is known as The Dragon’s Flame and has power unknown to mankind.”
The majestic smoke-made dragon moved to a new orb and landed; detailed tulips, roses, bushes and trees sprouted and flourished over the whole orb covering the smokey planet. As Orla stated the planet was beautiful and the dragon vanished into the new world leaving behind a small fire.
Tiny claps were heard from the small girl on Orla’s lap, while the rest of the children stared at the smoke in utter wonder and amazement.
“Now The Great Fire Dragon had a twin sister The Water Dragon.”
Another smoke-made dragon appeared. She was saphire blue and her scales had a silver shine. The scales on her legs resembled armor and she had large fin-like spines on the top of her head and back of her neck. Water seemed to drip from her wings and tail. Her eyes were silver with a shock of blue. Her wings were thin and faded from deep blue to bright green. Her claws were like talons from a bird, and gleamed in the light.
“The Water Dragon had went in search of her brother after he had disappeared. She eventually landed on Zefruna and realised what had happened to her sibling. The beauty in which he gave the planet left her in awe and she cried knowing that she would never see her dearest brother again. Her tears spread over the universe and to the other planets, but the final tear she cried into the lake in which she had formed became magical.”
The new smoke dragon moved to the planet and shed tears. Those tears formed rivers that whisked themselves over to the other planets, and as the last tear fell it began to glow.
“The Dragon’s tear is capable of miracles and has a will of its own. Legend says one day both the Dragon’s Flame and the Dragon’s tear will choose two people to defend our kind against great forces and protect the flame and tear from the evils of the universe.”
As Orla finished her story the children stayed silent and watched the smoke dissipate and the candles relight. Then they heard the sound of a ship fly overhead and land in the center of town. The children ran towards the spacecraft knowing their families had just come back from work. Orla went farther back into her little hut and touched two necklaces, one in the shape of a sun made of gold with a ruby and the other a silver crescent moon and a sapphire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two weeks later, on Kireen's second birthday, the small girl was on a walk with her parents when she saw something. She cocked her head in confusion because she couldn’t identify the object. She stopped walking, pulling her parents to a stop. Her mother looked down to her dark-haired daughter and was about to pick her up until she noticed her little girl staring off into the distance. She looked up to find what in the world her child was so interested in and saw a blob of black and deep blue on the ground under a tree at the end of the Vairk’s territory.
The next area over was home to the hostile Glipnorbs. Glipnorbs are dark in complexion, and the average height of an adult Glipnorb is at least six feet. They train with a weapon from the time they can walk. Depending on what type of weapon a Glipnorb wields depends on their ranking in the hierarchy. No one quite knows the exact ranking system yet but all species knows the weapon chooses its wielder. Glipnorbs have a high temper and have the tendency to attack without warning. As of late, they have been building forts near the Vairk territory for an unexplained reason but many Vairks believe that the forts are for spying or the Glipnorbs are preparing for battle.
Kireen’s mother, Angelique, walked closer to the blob keeping an eye out for any Glipnorbs in case it was a trap. Once she reached the unidentified object, Angelique realized it was but a child. This child could be no older than Kireen, so Angelique carried the unnamed girl in a black cloak and unusual midnight blue hair over to her husband, and daughter.
“Angel, what is-” he cut himself off and his eyes widened. Angelique and her husband Mika looked upon the girl and decided to take her home. She was as pale as the glowing moon and her hair was as blue as a dark night sky. Mika tried moving the hair away from the child’s right eye but a barrier formed blocking his hand. Kireen tugged on her mother’s pant leg.
“Mama! Mama! Friend!”
Kireen started jumping up and down and twirling in a circle.
“Mika we can’t just leave her here, it's dangerous,” Angelique looked to her husband with pleading eyes. He was skeptical but knew he couldn’t withstand the puppy eyes from his one and only.
“She will stay with us until we find her family.”
They arrived at their small cottage and opened the front door to a sitting room with cushy chairs and a couch covered in pillows. Coffee tables made out of dark wood, the floors were hardwood. Onced they placed the small child on the couch they finally noticed her skin tone and her ears. She was as plane as the glowing moon and had the ears of a Vairk. They went to make dinner, hoping the girl would wake up soon and that she could return to her parents.
What they didn’t know is that they would be getting a new family member.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was running through pitch black. Running from what she doesn’t know. All she knows is date and a number.
“Adria.”
She stops running and whips her head around looking for the voice.
“Reniva. Adria Reniva.”
She turns to see a dim light. Slowly, one small foot in front of the other, she moves forward to touch the light. Once she does the light envelopes her and as she is enveloped by the light the voice leaves off with.
“Never forget your name darling.”
Adria sees the light behind her eyelids and slowly opens her eyes. She begins taking in the sight of the strange room. Once she stands up a strange woman walks in with a stew of some sort and startles Adria.
“Oh! Hello there. It’s wonderful to see you awake. Here is some food, you must be starving.”
Adria fell back onto the couch and stared at the new person in wonderment. The woman had long, silky brown hair that flowed down to the center of her back. She had an olive skin tone and chestnut eyes.
“Mika! She’s awake!”
This new person, Mika was his name, walked in from the kitchen across the room and crouched down in front of Adria. Adria cowered back farther onto the couch away from Mika.
“It’s okay. I won’t hurt ya.”
He grabbed the bowl off of the table and tried to get Adria to eat. She stared at the food until she heard little feet pattering on the floor.
“Daddy!”
A blur of blackish brown rushes up to Mika and stops. Kireen crawls onto the couch and stares at Adria. She glances at the bowl of stew and looks back up to Adria with a tilt of her head.
“Eat?” Kireen asked in confusion if Adria had eaten. Adria looked to the wooden bowl in her hands and back up to Kireen.
“Here!” Kireen grabbed the spoon and blew on the piece of meat she scoped up. She then opened her mouth to show Adria what to do. Adria followed suit and opened her mouth allowing Kireen to feed her the food. She slowly chewed and swallowed.
“You try!” Kireen handed Adria the spoon back and sat watching. Adria mimicked the steps Kireen went through and eventually ended up finishing the stew she was given. Mika and Angelique stared in awe at the children. This small girl they had found and their own daughter seemed to click and began to play and talk with each other.
“Kireen Demone,” Kireen pointed to herself than to Adria, “You?”
“Adria Reniva,” Adria spoke for the first time since she has been with the Demone family.
Angelique cut into the conversation, “Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?”
Adria tilted her head in confusion, “Mommy? Daddy?” She looked down to her lap and tried to think. All she knew was her name, a date, and a number. She shook her head back and forth, “Can’t.”
“Can’t What sweety?” Angelique got on her knees in front of Adria. Hot tears streamed down Adria’s face and hell onto her hands.
“Can’t *hick* Can’t r-re-remember.”
Kireen crawled over to Adria and held her arms out. Adria slowly leaned and let Kireen hug her.
“What do you remember?”
“Adria Reniva, Yroth 13, 77X, 3 years old.”
“Yroth 13, 77X? That’s Kireen’s Birthday.”
“Mine too. *Sniffle* Three age.”
“Twins… your twins,” Angelique looked over to Mika as he began to nod.
He glanced at Adria and looked back to his wife,” She will stay with us from now on. What do you think of that Adria?”
Adria wildly shook her head up and down in agreement.
“Orla! Orla! Do you have any more stories today?” A blonde haired, dark eyed girl exclaimed as the young village children scramble to sit where they could see Orla.
An even smaller little girl in a purple dress and pigtails toddles over to Orla, “Tory, tory, tory,” Kireen chants unable to pronounce the “s”.
Chuckling, Orla picks up the tiny tot and sets the dark haired girl on her lap. With a little pat on the head, Orla elicits a little giggle, that resembles a tiny bell ringing, of contentment from Kireen.
“Does it have monsters?!”
“Princesses and knights?”
The children start shouting out key items in their favorite stories. Many of the stories Orla told had magic strewn throughout them and spoke of legends.
A set of young adults carrying baskets filled to the brim with potatoes from the nearby fields walk past. The woman was balancing the basket on her head and stops to scold the children.
“Now quiet yourselves, if you are on best behavior Orla will tell her story to you.” With that the children immediately go silent and the pair go on their way towards the town center.
Orla started speaking in a hushed tone, “Once long ago there lived a great dragon.”
The candles surrounding the room began to flicker, the smoke began to curl and circle the area making shapes, eventually forming a dragon. The dragon had deep red scales, and spines running from its back to the tip of its tail in which has flames, from the start of the spines up its neck was flames of gold. The dragon’s head was adorned with ram-like horns, and golden yellow eyes. His wings are bat-like and he has scaled lion-like paws that light on fire with supremely long claws.
All of the children’s eyes shined in wonder and amazement. Some of the adults walking outside stopped to hear the story they all were told when they were little.
“This dragon is known as the Great Fire Dragon, his real name long forgotten to time. He went around the universe bringing life to the different worlds.”
The smoke made dragon floated around orbs of smoke that suddenly grew smoke trees.
“One day, he landed on a planet to rest. This planet was named Zefruna. Zefruna was his final resting place and became the most beautiful world there is. In The Great Fire Dragon’s place he left a special flame. This flame is known as The Dragon’s Flame and has power unknown to mankind.”
The majestic smoke-made dragon moved to a new orb and landed; detailed tulips, roses, bushes and trees sprouted and flourished over the whole orb covering the smokey planet. As Orla stated the planet was beautiful and the dragon vanished into the new world leaving behind a small fire.
Tiny claps were heard from the small girl on Orla’s lap, while the rest of the children stared at the smoke in utter wonder and amazement.
“Now The Great Fire Dragon had a twin sister The Water Dragon.”
Another smoke-made dragon appeared. She was saphire blue and her scales had a silver shine. The scales on her legs resembled armor and she had large fin-like spines on the top of her head and back of her neck. Water seemed to drip from her wings and tail. Her eyes were silver with a shock of blue. Her wings were thin and faded from deep blue to bright green. Her claws were like talons from a bird, and gleamed in the light.
“The Water Dragon had went in search of her brother after he had disappeared. She eventually landed on Zefruna and realised what had happened to her sibling. The beauty in which he gave the planet left her in awe and she cried knowing that she would never see her dearest brother again. Her tears spread over the universe and to the other planets, but the final tear she cried into the lake in which she had formed became magical.”
The new smoke dragon moved to the planet and shed tears. Those tears formed rivers that whisked themselves over to the other planets, and as the last tear fell it began to glow.
“The Dragon’s tear is capable of miracles and has a will of its own. Legend says one day both the Dragon’s Flame and the Dragon’s tear will choose two people to defend our kind against great forces and protect the flame and tear from the evils of the universe.”
As Orla finished her story the children stayed silent and watched the smoke dissipate and the candles relight. Then they heard the sound of a ship fly overhead and land in the center of town. The children ran towards the spacecraft knowing their families had just come back from work. Orla went farther back into her little hut and touched two necklaces, one in the shape of a sun made of gold with a ruby and the other a silver crescent moon and a sapphire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two weeks later, on Kireen's second birthday, the small girl was on a walk with her parents when she saw something. She cocked her head in confusion because she couldn’t identify the object. She stopped walking, pulling her parents to a stop. Her mother looked down to her dark-haired daughter and was about to pick her up until she noticed her little girl staring off into the distance. She looked up to find what in the world her child was so interested in and saw a blob of black and deep blue on the ground under a tree at the end of the Vairk’s territory.
The next area over was home to the hostile Glipnorbs. Glipnorbs are dark in complexion, and the average height of an adult Glipnorb is at least six feet. They train with a weapon from the time they can walk. Depending on what type of weapon a Glipnorb wields depends on their ranking in the hierarchy. No one quite knows the exact ranking system yet but all species knows the weapon chooses its wielder. Glipnorbs have a high temper and have the tendency to attack without warning. As of late, they have been building forts near the Vairk territory for an unexplained reason but many Vairks believe that the forts are for spying or the Glipnorbs are preparing for battle.
Kireen’s mother, Angelique, walked closer to the blob keeping an eye out for any Glipnorbs in case it was a trap. Once she reached the unidentified object, Angelique realized it was but a child. This child could be no older than Kireen, so Angelique carried the unnamed girl in a black cloak and unusual midnight blue hair over to her husband, and daughter.
“Angel, what is-” he cut himself off and his eyes widened. Angelique and her husband Mika looked upon the girl and decided to take her home. She was as pale as the glowing moon and her hair was as blue as a dark night sky. Mika tried moving the hair away from the child’s right eye but a barrier formed blocking his hand. Kireen tugged on her mother’s pant leg.
“Mama! Mama! Friend!”
Kireen started jumping up and down and twirling in a circle.
“Mika we can’t just leave her here, it's dangerous,” Angelique looked to her husband with pleading eyes. He was skeptical but knew he couldn’t withstand the puppy eyes from his one and only.
“She will stay with us until we find her family.”
They arrived at their small cottage and opened the front door to a sitting room with cushy chairs and a couch covered in pillows. Coffee tables made out of dark wood, the floors were hardwood. Onced they placed the small child on the couch they finally noticed her skin tone and her ears. She was as plane as the glowing moon and had the ears of a Vairk. They went to make dinner, hoping the girl would wake up soon and that she could return to her parents.
What they didn’t know is that they would be getting a new family member.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was running through pitch black. Running from what she doesn’t know. All she knows is date and a number.
“Adria.”
She stops running and whips her head around looking for the voice.
“Reniva. Adria Reniva.”
She turns to see a dim light. Slowly, one small foot in front of the other, she moves forward to touch the light. Once she does the light envelopes her and as she is enveloped by the light the voice leaves off with.
“Never forget your name darling.”
Adria sees the light behind her eyelids and slowly opens her eyes. She begins taking in the sight of the strange room. Once she stands up a strange woman walks in with a stew of some sort and startles Adria.
“Oh! Hello there. It’s wonderful to see you awake. Here is some food, you must be starving.”
Adria fell back onto the couch and stared at the new person in wonderment. The woman had long, silky brown hair that flowed down to the center of her back. She had an olive skin tone and chestnut eyes.
“Mika! She’s awake!”
This new person, Mika was his name, walked in from the kitchen across the room and crouched down in front of Adria. Adria cowered back farther onto the couch away from Mika.
“It’s okay. I won’t hurt ya.”
He grabbed the bowl off of the table and tried to get Adria to eat. She stared at the food until she heard little feet pattering on the floor.
“Daddy!”
A blur of blackish brown rushes up to Mika and stops. Kireen crawls onto the couch and stares at Adria. She glances at the bowl of stew and looks back up to Adria with a tilt of her head.
“Eat?” Kireen asked in confusion if Adria had eaten. Adria looked to the wooden bowl in her hands and back up to Kireen.
“Here!” Kireen grabbed the spoon and blew on the piece of meat she scoped up. She then opened her mouth to show Adria what to do. Adria followed suit and opened her mouth allowing Kireen to feed her the food. She slowly chewed and swallowed.
“You try!” Kireen handed Adria the spoon back and sat watching. Adria mimicked the steps Kireen went through and eventually ended up finishing the stew she was given. Mika and Angelique stared in awe at the children. This small girl they had found and their own daughter seemed to click and began to play and talk with each other.
“Kireen Demone,” Kireen pointed to herself than to Adria, “You?”
“Adria Reniva,” Adria spoke for the first time since she has been with the Demone family.
Angelique cut into the conversation, “Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?”
Adria tilted her head in confusion, “Mommy? Daddy?” She looked down to her lap and tried to think. All she knew was her name, a date, and a number. She shook her head back and forth, “Can’t.”
“Can’t What sweety?” Angelique got on her knees in front of Adria. Hot tears streamed down Adria’s face and hell onto her hands.
“Can’t *hick* Can’t r-re-remember.”
Kireen crawled over to Adria and held her arms out. Adria slowly leaned and let Kireen hug her.
“What do you remember?”
“Adria Reniva, Yroth 13, 77X, 3 years old.”
“Yroth 13, 77X? That’s Kireen’s Birthday.”
“Mine too. *Sniffle* Three age.”
“Twins… your twins,” Angelique looked over to Mika as he began to nod.
He glanced at Adria and looked back to his wife,” She will stay with us from now on. What do you think of that Adria?”
Adria wildly shook her head up and down in agreement.