The Dragon Rider's Chronicles

Ardra suddenly realized something. "We should be heading back to camp now. The others are probably wondering where we are and we need to get some sleep." She pushed herself up to a sitting position, stretching her limbs slightly. It was time to face the others. She also had a feeling that they all needed to pool intel together and figure out what course of action to take.


----


Iris shook her head. "I sensed Neera returning to camp, but Ardra and Kenzo have disappeared. I'm not going to worry about those two, though. They are fully capable of taking care of each other." Her silver eyes flickered to Matthais' face. "....have you looked into a reflective surface recently?" A slight smile crossed her face. "There's something different about you."


Indeed there was something different about Matthais. Something within that last fight had awakened the first seal in his body and this was reflected by the solar symbol that now decorated his forehead. Her lunar symbol had shown up a long time ago and it was a reminder of the job that she had to do.


In her sleep, Neera's face also changed slightly as a voice whispered softly in her head. Your spirit is weary, so I will lend you mine. A moment later, the spirit symbol appeared on her forehead like a tattoo.


-----


Solar Symobl


28.png



Lunar Symbol


lunar_elf_symbol_by_zune164-d4erraw.jpg



Spirit Symbol


trinity5.gif



Death Symbol


power-symbol-13.png



War Symbol


300px-Rebel_Alliance_logo.svg.png



Chaos Symbol


images
 
Kenzo's demeanor snapped back to professional seriousness as he rose to his feet, lending his hand to Ardra to help her stand. "Agreed. Follow me." He led her through the forest, attempting to retrace his steps. They past gigantic trees, tiny ferns, thorny brushes, moss-covered rocks, small ponds, and even the waterfall from earlier. If they had not been in such a seriously dire situation they may have taken the time to admire the beautiful scenery.


After about thirty minutes of wandering Kenzo found himself next to a rather familiar oak with a boulder twice his size not three feet from the trunk. "...................I have no idea where we are," Kenzo finally admitted quietly. It was embarrassing how utterly lost he was. Why couldn't he just get back to camp? It couldn't be THAT hard!
 
"Umm... no, I haven't. But I can wash my face tomorrow. Lets go get some sleep. I built a fire while people were out here." Matthais and Iris walked back to the beach and Matthais sat back down against a log next to the fire. He warmed his hands against it before he rested his head against it and looked up at the stars.
 
Iris saw Neera and smiled softly at her mark. Shaking her head, she called Verspab to her so that she could talk to him as she looked up at the moon. Verspab flew out of the water, shaking off water as he made his way to the beach. He landed next to her, sitting down in dog-like manner.


They don't know. And I can't tell them. Even Draconas I think knows what is going to happen.


You can't influence the past too much, Iris. Verspab looked at her with knowing eyes. If you attempt to sway them too much, then the end prophecy will not come to pass and we will never find peace for the humans.


Then where do we go from here? Iris asked.


....We have to go to the homeland, Iris. We have to go to Darastrix.


----


Ardra sighed. "Well, there's a simple way to do this. Just call our dragons and we can go back to the beach via not walking." Ardra looked down at her feet and sighed. "....or, we could wait till morning and stay out here all night." She winked at this last part, signalling that she had some mischievous ideas about what they could do.
 
Kenzo had absolutely no idea how to answer this question. He decided to phone a friend; that is, he turned from Ardra and messaged Bane.


I have no idea what to do, he sent in a very slight panic.


I'm so surprised, Bane replied sarcastically. You're alone with Ardra, are you not? What do you want? The others are settling in for the night and we all need our rest, myself included.


Ardra... he hesitated for a moment but pressed on. She...offered two options. First to contact you and Majeir to retrieve us, but the second was for the two of us to remain where we are and wait until morning to attempt to find our way back.


So? Bane said curiously.


She...seems to be hoping for the latter option, but I could be very very wrong. I have no idea where we are, I am ashamed to say, so I request you come and take us back to c-


No, Bane interrupted.


...What? What do you mean, 'no'?! Kenzo sent, taken aback.


Have fun, you infuriatingly innocent man, you, Bane said, not even acknowledging the question, and the communication link was dropped. She was now actively blocking him out.


"Dammit..." Kenzo muttered to himself before turning back to Ardra. "Er..." he began, desperately trying to keep his composure but unable to look Ardra in the eye, "You...correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem as if you have something in mind. I will agree to whichever choice you decide on, so...what do you want to do?"


He worded that last phrase very carefully. He did not ask what she thought was best, or what was most rational, or which was the safest decision. He asked her what she WANTED to do.
 
"I think...." Ardra turned Kenzo's face so that he was looking her in the eye. "I want to spend tonight with you without any worries about tomorrow. I just want to stay here and say f*** you world for a bit. Tonight..." She kissed him lightly before continuing. "I want to feel like you and I are the only people in the world. Like there are no problems to deal with tomorrow. Like we have no worries."
 
Did that really just happen?


Kenzo's mind was totally blank for the first few seconds immediately after Ardra kissed him. His mind could barely acknowledge what she was saying. No worries, she said...? He turned on his heel and started walking, gesturing silently for Ardra to follow. He led her through the forest for a few minutes in silence, only slowing to pick up the occasional fallen stick. He had a sizable bundle of tinder by the time they finally arriving at the destination: a small clearing where the moonlight shone down in all it's glory. They'd passed by this place a few times before Kenzo had admitted he was lost. He gave Ardra a look to stay put at the edge of the clearing, and strode to its center. He then began focusing his power until it was all concentrated in his right foot. Finally, he stomped it on the ground, sending shockwaves of earth magic coursing into the earth beneath him.


Stone sheared through the earth below, rising up above the heads of Kenzo and Ardra. The very soil churned as the sheer slabs of rock contorted to his will, and in a few minutes time they'd formed a respectable shelter, not unlike a cave, large enough to cover the two of them very comfortably. He arranged the tinder at the one entrance to the stone shelter, and after some effort got a small fire going. "I have but one worry on this night," he finally broke the silence as he led Ardra over to the warmth of the embers, sitting her down beside him, "and it is that the sun will rise all to quickly for either or our likings."
 
"....don't think about it, love...." Ardra smiled at his words. "No worrying, remember? It's only us, you and me, tonight." Her lips caressed his cheek softly and her arms slipped around his chest. Her eyes stared up at him, the purple flickering in the firelight. For the first time in a long time, she felt free. No longer was she under any orders. No longer did she have something to prove to anyone else. All that she wanted was right here; all that she needed tonight was her Kenzo.
 
Unfortunately for both of them, Kenzo had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation. He knew it, too, and that irritated him. Come on, Kenzo, you can kill a man with the air itself, he thought to himself in his frustration with his own immaturity towards handling his emotions and being with a woman. Never have you second-guessed your actions. You've never shown any sort of fear or hesitation. You have unwavering resolve and didn't even flinch when you witnessed your own father's execution. Yet now, when alone with the one person your heart had begun opening up for, who was allowing you to feel again, NOW you're at a loss for action?!


"...I'm sorry, Ardra," he whispered, "I...don't know what to do. To be honest with you, I have no idea what I should do in this situation." He put his arms around her waist. "I don't even properly know how I feel. I've...never dealt with emotions in all this time. Now, with you, I can feel...well, I can feel, period. That is a change in itself. You and you alone opened my heart, Ardra." He paused, gathering his thoughts as best he could. "Remember what I said before, about feeling happy...I don't know how. That applies to all emotion. I...hate to impose this upon you but...I humbly request...no, beg you...to help me understand."
 
"....what do you want to understand, exactly?" Ardra herself didn't really have a total idea of what she was doing. There was always the things she had seen her sisters do with their boy toys but Ardra didn't view Kenzo in that way. "....I don't know entirely myself...." She touched the side of his face lovingly, sitting up straight so she could look him in the eye. "...I'm just going with what I feel, with my instincts...." She gave a soft smile as she kissed him again.
 
There it was again!


Kenzo's mind snapped back into full control and he realized that when Ardra kissed him this time, he'd leaned into it slightly, and his eyes had nearly closed for the brief moment of connection. "What was that...?" he muttered in confusion. "When you...when you kissed me...I shifted forward. But it was not a distinctly conscious action, I just...did it," he struggled to rationally explain his actions.


A new spark had lit in the back of Kenzo's crimson eyes, and he looked at Ardra in a way he'd never done before. It was almost a hungry look. "I don't know why. I don't understand it...but maybe I will with more." He took a deep breath. "...More..." he said and started to lean towards Ardra. "...More..." he said more softly, bringing one arm off of her waist and up to her cheek, gently holding it in his hand. "...More..." he breathed just before planting his lips to hers and his eyes shut completely.
 
Ardra felt the connection and acted on it. While applying more pressure for a more intense, focused kiss, she moved up into his lap, sitting with her legs hanging off to one side. If he wanted more, she was certainly willing to comply with that request. Her finger slipped through his hair, adding new sensations to the experience. "....is this what you wanted?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Is this....'more'?"
 
Kenzo pulled away for only enough time to mutter "yes" and then he was back to her lips. He pulled her close to him, one hand on her back and the other on her hip. After a bit he pulled back to breathe, opening his eyes and staring at Ardra with an unfathomably deep love showing in his smoldering gaze. "I think...I may be starting to understand," he whispered. "...Ardra, I love you. Did you know that?"


To anyone else it was obvious, but Kenzo wanted to leave no doubt that his opening heart and soul belonged entirely to her.
 
"I know." Her lips hit his with a hungry passion that they had never known before. Her body moved instinctively, like it wanted to be closer to him than it already was. Making a quick adjustment, she pulled her legs around so that they were wrapped around his waist, pulling her as close to him as she could get. "And you know what?" A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I love you too."
 
Those four words had a profound effect on Kenzo, one that he didn't notice for a few seconds. He positioned to kiss Ardra again, but just before their lips met he felt something on his face, on his cheek to be exact. It was wet. Was it rain? He looked up. No, it was a perfect night. Moreover, the wetness was warm, not cool as rain typically was. Yet, he felt another wetness on his opposite cheek. It was getting more wet, too.


Kenzo brought a few fingers up to his face and found that he was crying. "...Eh?" he vocalized, confused. "What...is this? Tears?" he looked to Ardra, confusion and a bit of worry in his eyes. "Why? I don't...I don't think I am sad." Yet, the tears came, gently rolling down from his eyes and to the sides of his chin, dropping off to the ground below.
 
"Happy tears." Ardra grinned, wiping the salty water away from his face only to have more appear. "You're re-discovering emotions, love. Sometimes they're so powerful that we don't fully understand how to express them and they come out as something odd. Tears of joy, for instance." Her fingers caressed the sides of his face lovingly as she kissed his forehead a few times. He needed the time to come to grips with these emotions that were coursing inside of him and she was going to give him all the time that he needed.
 
"Tears...of joy?" Kenzo repeated. "So...joy...joy is like happiness, correct? Then I am happy..." He broke eye contact as he thought. "Wait...but I know this feeling, this lightness...so this lightness is what 'happy' is..."


He resumed eye contact with Ardra. "So this lightness, this feeling I experience whenever I am with you, whenever I talk to you...this feeling I get from you. That is happiness?" He thought long and hard about this revelation. Finally, Kenzo...actually smiled.


Kenzo was really smiling. He seemed to swell with joy. His handsome features lit up with unrelenting glee, and he embraced Ardra, more warmly than ever before. "I always did think it was a good feeling. Thank you, Ardra," he muttered appreciatively in her ear.
 
Ardra smiled back. "You're welcome love..." Her eyes turned mischievous as she ran her fingers through his hair again. "Now, I do believe that we were in the middle of something." Her soft laughter carried off into the night and the two ignored the fire dying beside of them as they enjoyed just one night together before everything fell to pieces.


----


Morning broke on the beach and Draconas was the first one awake. He hadn't really gotten much sleep the night before and now he had to figure out the course he could take now. Of course, they would go to Koda by way of Strykai and the Miralune River. But after that, where could they go? They would be hunted down and killed. Draconas understood that Iris' purpose here was to, by the prophecy, guide them to the land of dragons. But did the child even understand what that meant? No one had been to that realm in many, many years.
 
The peace of the morning was broken by a crash on the beach. Auntyrmarun had not so much 'landed' on the sand as he had simply stopped flying and collided with it upon all fours. His gaze shot from end of the beach to the other, his eyes wide with panic. Finally he found his target, and ran over to where Neera was peacefully sleeping with Eldran


Princess!


PRINCESS!


Auntyrmarun hadn't really spoken much with others mentally, so the connection was rough and unrefined. It would have been like a sledgehammer on the edge of Neera's subconscious
 
Neera rolled over sleepily. "....five more minutes....please...." It was then that she noticed that it was a voice that she didn't recognize. In her head. With a start, she jolted to her feet like a hound with its tail on fire. "What the.....dragons above....since when can you talk to me through my head Auntrymarun?!?!"
 
Broken--broken!


The words being sent were shaky, and accompanied by images of rockslides. Whatever Auntyrmarun was trying to say was lost between trying to talk to someone other than Sanz, combined with the fact the psychic dragon was very clearly panicked. He knelt down enough so that the perch between his wings was reachable by the young woman


Quickly--Quickly!
 
Neera was on Auntyrmarun's back quickly. "Rockslide? Broken? Sanz was in a rock slide and something is broken?" She was trying to piece together what she was saying from what information that she had. That seemed to be the most likely outcome given those words.
 
Auntyramrun shot off from the beach, quickly flying over the forest and landing with the same lack of grace as he had on the beach. They were in the middle of a rocking clearing, right next to a cliff. Every single spare bit of rock had been shorn off, and it looked like chunks of the cliff had broken off. Gravel was everywhere, likely debris from Sanz's rampage. Just beside the cliff, Sanz was lying on his back. His sword lay discarded a few inches from his outstretched right arm, while his left was held over his chest. His breathing seemed to be ragged, though he was unconscious. Neera was once again assaulted with images, but this time they were slightly more cohesive.


A boulder off the cliff.


Sanz's blade not breaking through.


The boulder shattering into a thousand pieces and Auntyrmarun started to panic.
 
Where am I?


As he slowly awoke, Kenzo let his eyes remain closed while he used his four other senses to ascertain his surroundings. The scent of soil, grass, and the occasional flower. The sounds of birds singing amongst the gentle rustling of leaves in the wind and the rare snap of a twig as a creature moved unseen in the forest. He could faintly taste the smoke of a campfire from the past night, its embers long dead.


Kenzo let out a small moan; he was in the wilderness of Ventenadana, likely not far from the coast. Still in exile as the last Soromine, never to appear more than temporarily among others, lest he be hunted by those who took his family. As his eyes gradually opened, he briefly felt a tinge of sadness. The dreams he'd had were vivid and varied; he'd seen a great fire dragon become his mount...a psychotic rider and her own dragon bat him aside, sending him crashing into the ocean...he had even slept together with the princess of Ventenadana herself, Ardra Dulanos. He sighed. He'd enjoyed her company, and cried tears of joy at her words of affection. Such folly...he would never be allowed such luxuries, least of with her highness. His stomach reminded him that he needed breakfast, and he decided to go hunt for food in an effort to shake off the sorrow of waking from a wonderful dream into the harsh reality. He only hesitated from rising from his 'bed' of rock because he could feel somebody's hand on his bare chest, and he would hate to disturb their sleep. Surely he could wait a few more m-


Wait, what?


Kenzo blinked, snapping back into focus from his daydreaming. Why was he shirtless? Who's hand was on his chest? He looked to his side to see Ardra, sound asleep. The hand belonged to her, and Kenzo couldn't believe his eyes. Was he still dreaming? He pinched himself on the arm and winced as he found out no, he was not. Gently and slowly he shifted himself out from under Ardra's fingertips, and after putting his shirt and sugegasa on, he departed from his stone-wrought shelter and into the forest, on the hunt for wild game with a smile on his face.


-----


Almost an hour later saw Kenzo with a new fire built where the old one had died, roasting a pair of wild rabbits, nuts, and berries that he'd acquired in his excursion. He sat in silence as he carefully observed the meal for two he was cooking, occasionally stealing a glance to see if Ardra had awakened yet. He was also still reeling from the night's past events, and the fact that he had not dreamt any of it, that it had actually happened...he couldn't keep a smile off his face because of that.
 
Neera tried to get the dragon to calm down. "Go back and get Iris. We'll probably need her healing techniques." She jumped off of the dragon's back, not bothering to have him land. "Just go and get Iris already!" Kneeling down next to Sanz, she gently began examining his arms and torso, looking for possible broken bones. Her eyes were filled with intense worry as she tried to get him to wake up. "Sanz?" Her voice was not too loud because she had no idea what state his subconsciousness was in at the moment. "Sanz?"


----


Ardra slowly came into consciousness, her long white hair covering her eyes. She pushed it away from her face and smoothed it back. It wasn't braided anymore and it fell down in waist-length waves. As she stood, she stretched her arms and legs out and felt the soft smoothness of her skin. The few rays of sun that came through the doorway of the earthen structure illuminated her black skin beautifully and she smiled at that feeling. It was then that she noticed Kenzo.


"Good morning." Her smile grew broader as she turned to face him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 6 (members: 0, guests: 6)
Back
Top