Dragon Aster Trilogy

11: DRAGGED FOR A CAUSE



Gwa was still half asleep when he realized that Sybl was dragging him down the halls of the Atrum by his foot. “Um…Sybl? Have you gotten stronger? Cause I have to be heavier than you…”

“We’re going hunting,” she replied, without so much as looking back at him.

“Wha…? I can’t go hunting with the phelan and dragons—they’ll eat me!” Gwa prepared his pride to cry if necessary to get out of this one.

“No,” Sybl said, setting his foot down at the stairs so he could sit up, “they won’t.”

“Why do you want to go? It’s dangerous, and you remember the last time—?”

“It’s important. Please, Gwa.”

Gwa melted into a puddle of goo when she pleaded with him, before resorting to the obvious excuse to get him out of this. “Why don’t you just ask Cirrus to take you?”

“This is something I have to do without him, and I need your wings to do it.”

Gwa got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his butt from being dragged along the floor. “Alright, whatever, you’re the boss. But if your dragon kills me for doing this, I’m coming back to haunt you for like—forever.”

“Deal.”

Sybl smiled and it had the effect of making him even more uncertain. He led the way downstairs and outside, before somning into his griffin form. Gwa crouched down so that she could climb on, but instead she just stared at him.

Gwa looked himself over on all sides, fearing he was missing some feathers somewhere. When he was sure that he looked like he always did, he brought his face closer to her and tried to figure out what her eyes saw. It was when he tilted his head on not seeing what Sybl was thinking that she moved again. Gwa was getting concerned by how she was acting and pondered calling her Bond for her. But it was hard enough to spend some time with his favorite friend because of the dragon, so he decided to take full advantage of the time given to him.

She climbed up behind his neck and in front of his wings, and he spread them and took to the air, before the phelan guards could stop them.

“This Hunt isn’t going to include any bears this time, I hope?”

“No bears. At least, I don’t think there will be any bears.”

Gwa flicked an ear in worry. “So are you going to at least tell me what this is about?”

“When I was born, and just before they sent me to Earth, they took a bunch of my memories from me. But they didn’t just break them, as they would have healed by now. They tied the Threads to someone else.”

“And you think the kyrie has these Threads?” Gwa asked.

“It won’t come to me because it’s trying to keep those memories from me. But at the same time it has to, because it’s the only way it has been able to manage the Aeger it’s infected with. So if it is completely infected with the Aeger, that gives us a chance to snag him.”

“So we catch him, get the festra and memories back and go home, right?”

“And there is the plan.”

“Alright, Beautiful.”



Gwa flew a few miles more before setting them down on a solid sheet of ice. “I should have brought a blanket.”

Sybl climbed down from him and patted his neck, and he puffed out like a giant feather duster.

“Aren’t you cold?” he asked in worry, before sitting his chest feathers down on her like she was an egg.

She giggled and then sneezed from the fluff of white feathers she was now covered in. “I’m great, really. But stop looking at me and find Sial.”

“Right right,” he said and began to scan the snowy landscape for their target, turning his head like an owl might in search of a mouse. “Soooo…is everything between you and Cirrus okay?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“Just curious. I can’t help but get the feeling that these missing memories might have something to do with him.”

“The last thing Asil remembered was Moon killing her. In case these memories are just that, I don’t want to be near Cirrus in case I lose it for a moment.”

“What if these memories are all your warring qualities? You won’t kill me, will you?”

“No, Gwa. I couldn’t kill you if I tried. Asil had a weakness for cute, too.”

Gwa puffed up even more and continued his scan for the kyrie with more enthusiasm. “Okay, but Sial is avoiding giving these memories back for a reason. He’s what? Three hundred years old plus his previous existence on the first Aster? That’s old enough for an Ancient to grasp common sense.”

“I think they’re memories of Damek.”

“Good memories I’m assuming?”

“I won’t change my mind,” Sybl assured him. “He has to be stopped, regardless of my past with him.”

“Well, Sial is here. I’ll be higher up while you lure him in for the tackle.” Gwa quickly checked the sharpness of his talons, before springing into the air.

Sybl looked around and it was clear that Gwa’s eyesight was ten times better than her own, as it took a few minutes for the kyrie to be visible to her through the snowdrifts. Sial was limping, and she walked towards him at the same time. When they were within meters of each other, she could see that Sial had become something out of nightmares. His skin sagged around his purple eyes. On other parts of his body, his flesh was missing right down to his bones. Sybl held her mouth to stifle a scream. Sial suddenly lunged forward, only to collapse to his knees in the snow as his blood spread around him.

Gwa didn’t descend to attack the creature and landed next to her in disbelief of the same sight. “I’ve never seen an Aeger like this.”

The kyrie collapsed to its side, breathing irregularly through lungs that just barely held any air within.

“Sial.”

“Must…not remember. It is…what Damek wants. It…is what he needs.”

“I don’t understand. Sial, what of memory are you keeping from me?”

“Must…not remember.” Sial closed his eyes then, and his breathing stopped.

“You sure you still want to do this?” Gwa asked in worry.

“There is nothing that can change my mind about Damek.” Sybl went over to Sial and touched the festra of his horn, before pulling it free in one swift movement.

Gwa looked more closely at her.

“See? Nothing to worry about,” Sybl said, as she didn’t feel or remember anything new.

He looked back at the kyrie. “Poor bugger. So this means I win the Hunt, right? What do I win, anyways?”

“I have no idea. The Caelestis for a day, I guess?”

“Accepted.” Gwa watched as she tucked the festra in her white sash behind her. He crouched down so she could climb onto his back. Then he clutched the kyrie in his talons to carry it back. “It won’t hurt my bragging rights if I look like I caught this.” Then Gwa sprung into the air to fly back to the Atrum.