The Dragon Morpher

The Dragon Morpher

The day had started off simple enough. I was collecting firewood with Father to bring back to the cave and I was riding on his back as he soared through the air towards the cave that we call home.

My Father, Mother, and I were all Dragon morphers.

Being Dragon morphers meant that we were able to shapeshift back and forth between human and dragon form. Due to the sudden death of a different Dragon morpher, my family made sure to keep a low profile. In order to keep suspicions low in case I accidentally morphed during the day in the village, my Father used his knowledge in restriction charms to make necklaces for me that would resist my morphing magic. All my restriction charms were in either the form of necklaces or bracelets or anklets, the anklets because I didn’t wear sandals. The years of growing up outside had toughened my feet. My Father spent countless nights with me, teaching me what herbs to use in case I became lost I the forest.

Mother taught me how to sew so that I could make myself clothes in the forest. She also taught me what to do in case I was flying in midair and suddenly I morph back human. A shoulder roll is the technique to use in case of mid-air crisis. Of course, another resolve is looking for a tree and angling your body so that you land in the tree instead of the ground but the shoulder roll seemed easier.

It wasn’t.

Five dislocated shoulders later, I finally succeeded the stupid technique. That night we had charred deer and slightly burned blueberry mini-cakes. Regardless of the fact that everything was a little burnt, the dinner was great.

The wind rustled my brown hair and Father dipped and swirled a little bit. I love it when he does this. I literally am shaking at the effort of not yelling with joy. Father`s sides heave and that tells me that he’s laughing. We land in front of the cave I call home. The cave has three rooms. My room has a little sleeping mat set out with my toy Pegasus and a little bookshelf along with a rug set out. The room next to mine was the dining room, which had a table and three chairs. A rug covered the entire floor and the dining room had little paintings of birds flying through the air. I`ve never seen my parents` bedroom.

Mother welcomes us back with a smile because she is in human form and beckons us inside. I leapt off father`s back and run inside, carrying the firewood. I morph my wings, a skill which took a loooong time to perfect. My wins are the color of scarlet with purple. At dinner we eat fresh pineapple and melon, wild boar, and chicken.

We all give a word of thanks to Esmerelldaa, the first female sorcerer who gave the dragons morphing magic. She is the one who gave my kind this wondrous power. My name Elria in old dragon tongue means sunset and is also meant to be a sort-of copy of Esmerelldaa`s name.

We all ate our dinner in a content silence when father broke the silence. “Elria, I need you to take the cart full of this week`s catch to the butcher and trade the rest of the extras to people who will give you more clothes.” I nodded and forked a hunk of boar meat into my mouth. 

After dinner I headed to my room and slipped on the baggy dress that served as my nightclothes. Father and mother came in and kissed me night and as they left my room I pulled my Pegasus toy towards me and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

I woke up the next morning writhing in agony. A deep, pounding pain in my head caused me to flinch when I woke and I realized that I had a major headache. I walked out of my sleeping chamber and ate my breakfast, which consisted of blueberries and strawberries with a little bit of honey to help sooth my aching head. Mother and father were still asleep so I crept back into my room and pulled on a faded blue sundress and slipped on my seashell necklace charm. I hopped to the entrance ad leapt outside. I morphed both of my hands into dragon claws and grabbed each side of the cart. We had no horses so I carried around the cart.  Both of the pegs that allowed me to grip the cart were covered in shark skin so that I could toughen my hands and so that I had more traction on the pegs. Turning the cart towards the road, I started off and the quit hum of the forest silence and the occasional swish of the wind through the trees was a pleasant sound. The rosy peak of dawn was only just showing when the peace of nature was broken by a horse`s whinny. I quickly morphed every part of my hands back to human except for the palms and prayed to Esmerelldaa that this person not notice my palms.

I turned my head and saw a youth about my age riding on horseback. The guy had sandy hair and blue eyes along with a smile that would no doubt melt the hearts of most of the girls in the village. I turned back around and suddenly had a vision of a different man in the same armor the boy was wearing but this man wore a malicious smile and carried a spear that was slicked with blue blood. It took me a moment to realize that the blood on this man`s spear was dragon`s blood and the thought of this man being a dragon slayer chilled me to my core. I shivered despite the warm temperature.  

The youth caught up with me despite my best efforts to outpace his horse, which wasn’t very easy considering that I was carrying a cart full of dead game.

“Hello,” greeted the person with a smile. I stared at him with a blank expression. It probably looked like I was bored but in my head, well, my mind me was on her knees and was hoping that this annoyance would go away. “My name is Daryl and I`m looking for a Sheolan Town around here. Do you know where it is?” My mind me was devastated that he would probably be accompanying me to town and sat on her knees, resembling a very mad pixie. I offered a small smile and replied: “Yes, I know where that is. It`s where I`m heading. If you like, you can accompany me.” He slapped me across the face and I tried as best I could to drop the cart slowly as possible as I tumbled to the ground. “When addressing a dragon killer, one does not end a sentence without ‘sir’.” He said coolly as he slid of his horse and offered a hand. Tears stung my eyes from the slap and I faced him with a look so fierce that he backed off. I stood up, brushed off my dress, picked up the cart, and surged forward. “Wait! You were going to escort me to Sheolan Town!” called Daryl. I whirled around to face him, even though he was a few yards behind me. “Find it yourself!” I spat and stalked off, taking the poor cart with me.

When I reached the town, the sun was fully in the sky and the girls were gossiping as the children played in the streets. A few of the shopkeepers called out greetings to me and I smiled in reply. I was walking towards the butcher district when a thought finally occurred to me. What was a dragon killer doing heading to Sheolan Town? I heard collective sighs from the gaggle of girls behind me and turned to see what it was they were looking at. It was the annoying Daryl, A.K.A, the ‘dragon slayer’. I growled and continued my journey towards the butcher’s district but not until Daryl saw me. I cursed softly as I heard him jump off his horse and run to me. “Hello again, maiden,” said Daryl, matching my pace. “What is your name? I didn’t ask earlier.” I looked pointedly ahead but answered nonetheless. “Elria.” Daryl ran in front of me and I had to stop quickly so that I wouldn’t hit him. “Are you mad?!” I hissed at him. “I could’ve run you over!” He smiled and reached out a hand to touch my cheek. The cheek which still stung from the slap. I slapped his hand away and moved around him to, once again, the butcher`s district. But before I left him alone completely, I had to get an answer. “Why are you here, anyway?” I called. “There be a report from a shepherd that there are a family of dragons living here.” I thought that my blood literally froze upon hearing this. But I needed to know another thing. “Will more of you be coming here?” I asked in a shaky voice.

“Oh yes. Half of the army. I was just sent as a scout to see where the town is.”

Daryl turned to face me, which caused many protests from the ladies he was flirting with. “Why are you so curious anyway?” he asked. “Do you know where these beasts are?” I shook my head “No,” I said purposely not saying ‘sir’. I turned a corner before he could realize this.  

 After collecting the coins and clothes from selling the dead game I headed home. To save time, I morphed full dragon form and dodged trees like a pro. I left the cart hidden behind some bushes.  I looked up and saw the smoke that showed me where home was. I grinned and ran full speed towards the smoke. I skidded to a halt and realized with horror that I wasn’t home. In fact, I had stumbled into an area far, far worse.

 I had arrived into a camp area and every one of those soldiers had swords or spears. To make it worse, they were all staring at me.

A squeak of alarm slipped out as I charged backwards and succeeded in ramming my body into a tree. The entire area erupted in a collection of yelling and drawing weapons. Suddenly, every man in that clearing was charging towards me in the intent of killing me. I yelped openly this time, the noise reverberating for miles. I wheeled around and headed back towards the other smoke line. I ran faster than all of the men and glided through the air as I leapt away. By the time I had arrived at home I had left the men lost in the forest. I flung open the door as I ran to warn mother and father of the threat. “Mother! Father! Get ready for battle!” I yelled as I ran into their sleeping chamber. My mother opened one eye and was about to scold me until she saw the fear in my eyes. Mother quickly shook awake father and told him what was happening. He jumped out of bed and immediately morphed full dragon. Mother did the same. I quickly jumped onto mother`s back and we all thundered outside. Mother`s green and gold scales gleamed in the sunlight, as did father`s deep blue and red scales. My own scales were purple and scarlet. After hopping off mother`s back I stood in between her and father.

I looked at my father. A fierce expression had taken over his face. The same with Mother.

The yelling was the first sign that the soldiers had come. My necklace clattered against my scales and scared me. 

When the first soldier was in sight Mother plucked me off the ground and used an ancient dragon incantation to force me to turn back human. It felt horrid being forced to morph back. Mother looked into my eyes. “Elria, go into the house and take that ancient book off the pedestal and place it up here, along with your sleeping mat and blanket.” Whispered my mother fiercely. I opened my mouth to protest but she shushed me with a claw. Mother tucked a strand of hair behind my head and hugged me tightly. She then let go and whispered something to me: I love you. My eyes teared up as father roared the same thing. Mother tipped backwards, allowing the wind to let her drift down. I shimmied down the hole in our roof where the sun came in and grabbed the book and stuffed it into my bag, along with some food, my sleeping mat, blanket, and my waterskin. I clawed my way back up and found Daryl standing there. 

I allowed a small eep and started back down the hole when he grabbed my hand and pulled me up. “Come on!” he yelled over the chaos. “We have to leave while they kill the monsters!” My face paled at the thought of my parents being killed and then I shook off the thought. I peeked over the edge just as a stray arrow caught my father right in the heart. He unleashed a deafening scream and fell to the ground with a great thump.

“Noooooooooo!!!” I screamed. Father looked at me, managed a weak smile and mouthed I love you. Mother saw my father fall and gave a deep, raw cry of anguish and sadness. She looked at my face and mouthed the same thing my father had moments before his demise. Daryl was yelling with excitement and dragged me down the roof. Mother looked at me with those deep blue eyes and I knew what she was going to do. I shook my head as hard as I could but she mouthed it once more: I love you, and flew off, the soldiers and their shouts following. Daryl was dragging me farther away from my father’s body and I thrashed and fought back. “Let go of me! Get away from me!” I screeched as he continued dragging me backwards. I kicked his shin hard and he slackened his grip to nurse his leg. Tears were streaming down my face as I flung myself on my father`s body. A second cry choked through the air and I knew instinctively that mother was dead.  Tears were running down my cheeks even more and I howled into the air a mourning cry. When I had finally calmed down enough, I took one of Father`s beautiful scales and placed it in my tunic pocket. I delivered Father a farewell kiss on his sulfur smelling snout and faced Daryl. The young dragon knight grabbed me by my arm and hauled me off to go and see the ‘dead beast’ as Daryl says.  

We reached Mother`s body in an estimation of 10 minutes and by the time we arrived, I had already started crying again. One of Mother`s beautiful green wings was flopped over at an unnatural angle and a trickle of blood trailed from her mouth as she stared silently at nothing. Another strangled cry forced itself out of me and I thrust my arms outwards, forcing me out of Daryl`s grip.

I cradled Mother`s head on my lap and did the same mourning cry that I did with Father. I placed a kiss on her scaled head and took a scale from her and put it in my pocket as well. Strong arms hauled me up and something bashed me in the back of the head. The world faded in and out until finally, everything went black.

When I woke I found myself in a lavishly decorated room. There was a painting of the same man I had seen in my strange vision. And I was under the sheets of a soft bed. I threw off the covers and started running towards the painting when a wave of nausea struck me.

The world spun as I fumbled for something to grab hold on. I finally found a chair edge and steadied myself. The world swam in front of my eyes until gradually my sight finally returned to normal. I made myself aware of my surroundings and heard music coming from somewhere in the room.

Then I remembered.

I remembered being hauled off to this room and being left here. Mother and Father were now dead, our home almost undoubtedly destroyed. 

And I was undoubtedly in the home of the ones who killed my parents. I finally found the place where the music was coming from and turned a notch to turn it off. My mouth moved but no words came out.

Then the dam holding back my rage broke.

I whirled to the bed where I was laying earlier and tore at the sheets until they were ripped strips of silk. I then attacked one of the bedposts and clawed at it like I was a cat. I then kicked the stupid thing several times, enough to almost make it break completely and walked over to the vanity table.

After a second of staring at my reflection, I grabbed one of the table legs and heaved it across the room in my mad rampage. It was only then I realized that this probably wasn’t the best idea because I might accidentally morph while in this state. After considering this, I picked up a china vase, examined it, and then threw it against the door as hard as I could.

As I walked over to the painting I had seen, I tried to push al thoughts about Mother and Father away for the moment to stop myself from going mad with sorrow and grief. I reached the painting and looked at the caption underneath it.

“’Sir Aso Guordi, The great dragon slayer’.” I read aloud. “Heh. Hardly great that he’s a dragon slayer.”

I walked back to the bed ad promptly demolished it with a smile. I placed my hands on my hips and stuck my tongue out at the painting, then threw a perfume bottle at it. It broke on contact with the painting, filling the room with a sweet fragrance. I took one sniff of the air and almost died it smelled so bad. I faked gasping for air as I walked on over to the chair and sat down in it.

I sighed and punched the wall and managed to knock one block out of place.

After this I walked over to a bookshelf (which I didn’t know was there) and randomly picked a book off the shelf. “Ancient history of Eryia,” I sad aloud. I thumbed through the book and found that it was boring. The results were also the same on the next book and the next and the next etc.

On the last book I sighed with annoyance and threw it against the wall.

“Is there anything good to read in here?!”

I heard the soft tsk-tsk-tsk sound of disapproval as someone entered the room.

It was the man from the painting, the dragon killer.

I could feel the blood fall from my face and as soon as he opened his mouth to say something, I whisked myself out of that room and away from that man. As I ran I morphed my legs and ran faster as I tried to escape the place that that man dwelled in. This must have been a very poorly guarded castle because I whisked myself out of there before they could even sound the alarm.

AS I reached the forest I started to look for trees that I could stay in. Nope, too skinny. Definitely no, much too old and rotten. The rage that had been burning brightly a few minutes ago was now replaced with the jittery feeling of escape.

Finally I found a tree not too far from the castle area and that was strong and healthy enough to support my weight. I positioned myself for ambush from the trees because I wanted to send a message to the castle. MY message was that you shouldn’t annihilate a family just because you think it’s dangerous. My other message was that I wasn’t afraid to kill. My last message was practically a declaration of war.   

I was going to hold Daryl hostage the first chance I was given.

The chatter of a night patrol filled the air around my tree. Suddenly I was nervous. How would I take out so many men? How can I know if I can knock someone out if I haven’t even caught a squirrel? The answer was suddenly very clear: Father and Mother would do that same thing for me.

I gritted my teeth and gave the mother of all roars. I morphed my wings and morphed my legs and hands. As I dropped from the tree, I knocked out one man with a blow to the back of the head and another by doing the same. Soon the area around me had four men unconscious on the ground and the only one still standing was Daryl, not because he was an amazing fighter but because I needed him to see what I was capable of. He had his sword drawn and he was shaking as well.

I smiled and batted the sword from his grip like it was a ball of yarn. I quickly knocked him out with a swift hit to the back of his head and found a rope on his person. Stupid guy, I thought to myself with a smirk.

Now all I needed was someone to tell Sir Aso Gourdi about Daryl. . .