A Dream of Ash

[bimblesnip 122]

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

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I remember the gates; vast arches of stone beneath an ashen sky, looming in silent watch.

 

At their feet I found myself, sitting upon the warped cobblestones.

 

Soon thereafter came the memory of the ride, a friend in tow as we traversed the ashlands.

 

Then, I remember the man, if so he was one. Brazen digits wrapped around my torso, hoisting me aloft as I watched the pale mist bleed from my core, flowing into that bastard of fate. 

 

A hammer was placed on my forehead, raised and held there for a moment. 

 

He looked at me, much like one might a disobedient child.

 

Then, the hammer came down upon my brow - my hat cast unto the ashen stone.

 

I awoke

 

 

Knowing not how, I awoke in foreign fields - much like the ashlands, but much different.

 

The ground fractured, revealing chasms of bubbling magma. 

 

The surroundings were flat, eerily so. For some miles they spread so, until the sight of mountains broke the view.

 

A host of mountains, all interlocked, formed the edge of a massive basin, in which I stood unknowing.

 

Above all, I felt that they watched me, judged me, attempted to ascertain my worth.

 

I turned, searching for something familiar, but the horizon bent strangely in the distance as though the world itself curved wrong. Mountains now floated upside down above me. Rivers  of magma now climbed upward into the heavens. Shadows now moved where no living thing stood. 

 

“Little keeper”

 

A voice - from where, I knew not.

 

Again I would turn back to where I originally faced.

 

This time, a mausoleum of sorts faced me, some ten paces away.

 

“Little keeper” 

 

The voice would repeat, beckoning me.

 

As bid, I began to move forth, my boots pressing into the arid dust.

 

After ten paces, I had not yet arrived.

 

The grand scale of the mausoleum had rendered me naive.

 

Nonetheless, I walked.

 

And thus, did I eventually arrive. Two stone pillars twisted up. At their apex, the image of a dragon wrapped around was present. At their feet, the image of a flame engulfed the pillar.

 

I walked deeper.

 

From outside, the doorway revealed no secrets. It was cast in tenebrous shadow, and I was naive to the fact’s abnormality. 

 

As I passed the precipice, the darkness opened. A tunnel breathing out a dim embered glow.

 

I turned.

 

My head cast a glance over my left shoulder.

 

Nothing.

 

The grand opening was no more.

 

No light shone behind me. Indeed, I  was not sure if there was truly anything behind me.

 

So, I moved further.

 

I descended down, guided by the effervescent glow of unwavering firelight, hoisted sconces posted every ten paces.

 

 

I descended for days, it felt. Though, in sooth, I had no time.

 

Though, I did not tire.

 

My gaze remained affixed forwards, my pace constant.

 

I was being tested, it would seem. Tested of what, I was not sure. My perseverance perhaps? No, otherwise I would not have been granted the untireable legs. My trust.

 

Thus far, I had merely heard four words - the same two cast twice upon my ears.

 

And yet, I had sunken down that tunnel for however long, trusting in whatever lay at its end.

 

So, I was glad to see those familiar torches halt.

 

The tunnel opened up - a grand hall was revealed before me, wider and taller than any I had seen before. It could fit cities within, I would imagine.

 

Empty - it would seem.

 

I paced forth,

 

A rumble soon befell my ears, a guttural chant - the voice once more.

 

Its voice, gentle but grand; its great treble vibrating my core.

 

“Little keeper”

 

It would say once more.

 

I swivelled around one heel, my knees bending as I sought to ‘catch’ whatever had hidden their presence thus far.

I turned but I did somehow not.

 

My rear now became the front. I turned to face back towards the tunnel, but it was not there. The hall was, and the tunnel was still to my rear.

This time, however, it was not empty.

 

A colossal skeleton filled the hall - the ribs forming grand archways as the spine led into the tail. The entire thing was curled up, as if in perpetual slumber.

Within a socket, vibrant amber shone - fading into yellow as the whole thing was bisected by a serpentine pupil.

 

 

The eye was affixed on me.

 

Soon, their gaze dropped, to my midsection perhaps.

 

At some point, the egg had made its way into my hands, and now, I cradled it.

 

She regarded us for a long time, and I stood still, regarding it.

 

“You hear it too.”

 

She would say, her long-dead chest rising and falling as she spoke, though her jaw remained still.

 

I tried to speak, but my throat refused.

 

The air itself felt too heavy to breathe.

 

Her form unravelled, the dark ash from the floor rose up, like filings around a magnet. They covered her, clothed her, before falling away.

 

What remained was no skeleton.

 

What remained was a dragon.

 

She began circling me slowly, bare feet gliding across the black sands without sound. Wherever she stepped, embers bloomed in her wake before fading moments later. 

 

“You are afraid?”

 

She murmured, though it was not much of a question. 

 

“I…”

My voice cracked painfully - too arid, it would seem.

 

“What is this place?” 

“A dream.”

 

She tilted her head, slowing her canter for but a moment.

 

“A memory.”

Another step.

 

“A possibility.”

 

The hall began to tremble, it began to warp.

 

The ground opened up. Cracks propagated through that once sand. From within them, molten aurum began to flow.

 

Each step she took sent embers spiralling upwards, her scales shifted strangely beneath the dim glow, black at one moment, crimson at the next, and verdant green at the next.

 

Yet no colour remained constant upon her for long.

 

Soon, did the egg begin to stir. 

 

The weight inside began to shift.

 

Not violently

Not fearfully

 

Like recognition.

 

The dragon’s gaze lowered towards it once more.

 

Then to me.

 

“You carried it through fear.”

 

Her voice no longer seemed to come from her, but instead reverberated through my very being.

 

“You bled for it, you crossed the threshold willingly.”

 

Her head lowered unto mine. Though her size was beyond reason, her movements were imbued with grace. Heat rolled in waves from her nostrils, casting over me like a veil.

 

I could see myself in her eye.

 

Small,

 

Fragile,

 

Mortal.

 

“What are you?”

I forced myself to ask.

 

A low rumble escaped her - not quite laughter, yet nor far from it.

 

For the first time, she seemed amused.

 

“I am but a dream, I have told you so.”

 

A pause, as the dragon set in motion once more, swirling around me, feet no longer bound to the ground as it seemed to glide.

 

“I am-”

 

The word warped as it was received, resolving a low harmonic rumble where the name should have been.

 

Only when the word subsided did hearing return.

 

“I am ash. As are you.”

 

The hall darkened.

 

The molten cracks brightened.

 

Far above, beyond the unseen ceiling, I heard thousands of wings, all floating in tandem.

 

Their beats shook dust from the walls, dust from the ceilings.

 

The words would have frightened me, yet they did not.

 

For within her gaze there was no cruelty.

 

Only certainty.

 

The egg pulsed suddenly with warmth.

 

A crack spread faintly across its verdant shell.

 

The wings ceased, and so too did the voice.

 

Silence befell all things.

 

Then, a sound.

 

Small.

 

Weak.

 

A heartbeat.

 

The dragon closed her eyes - recognition

 

“When the child emerges,”

she whispered,

“Your path shall close forever behind you.”

 

Another crack spread across the shell.

 

“What path?”

I asked.

 

But the world had already begun to unravel.

 

The sanctum began to collapse.

 

The dragon’s skin began to fall off once more, returning to powdered ash.

 

Yet, her piercing eye of amber remained, watching even as she faded.

 

Then came her final words.

 

“Wake, little keeper.”

 

The eye closed.

 

Darkness swallowed all things - only the beats remaining.

 

And I awoke, gasping hoarsely.

 

 

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Spoiler

Thank you to @Mouminsfor giving me the opportunity to RP this and also for proof-reading!

This vision was brought about by the “Praan” incantation, see [✓] [Rewrite] [Feat + Magic Lore] Heralds of Azdromoth for relevant redlines.