Dragon Aster Trilogy

13: WINDY STARS



There was no heartbeat as Cirrus released her from his hands and into the vastness of space and all its stars.

Sybl only felt fear now with the idea that they would freeze and suffocate from where they were, but she could feel Cirrus smile at her. Cirrus...how are we breathing up here?

‘Much better,’ he congratulated her on her immensely improved psi skills. ‘I brought some air along, don’t worry.’

She tried not to as she looked to the world below them. They had flown impossibly high, as she could just make out the shapes and colors of the land and water. I guess taking next to everything out of the picture helps this psi thing?

‘I’ve always found it easier to think up here. No Thread to tie your mind to constant regrets and nothing to hold your thoughts down.’

You have the whole world under your wings, what could you regret?

‘Power only leads to destruction, and I have destroyed much in my life. The regret of doing so is always there, and always closing me into a smaller and smaller place of darkness.’

Yet you’re a dragon and the perfect creature for battle.

‘My kind were meant for more than conquest and death. Even if they have trouble remembering just that.’

I’m totally seeing rescuing damsels in distress without eating them, and space travel so far, Sybl thought back as she looked around. It was fun up here.

‘There’s hardly any meat on you. It would be a waste of good company.’

I see how it is...

Cirrus pushed her a bit further away from him, till she looked down at what might happen if he did have it in him to be mean to her. She quickly took the thought back.

I thought Aster was below Earth?

He looked to where she did as his wind controlled by his wings floated him steady. ‘It is.’

So how are we in space?

‘This is but another perception of Aragmoth’s mind. An image captured and sewn to keep those who would believe it is real bound to the world. This space, stars and even the moon are nothing more than the back of his eyes from the reflection of the sky he sees on Earth.’ He pulled her up higher with him. ‘In the beginning, the Great Dragon was content to sleep with Asil’s dreams forever inside him. A thousand years later she would stir and want to be released as his dreams were not enough to keep her content. So he released her from his grip and opened his eyes, which became the three Aurs of Aster. The Ain Soph Aur, the Estus and Sylvan; life, death and the last eye was so that he could forever watch and ward against Earth should it be bold enough to attack again while he was exposed.’

Again?

‘The first Aster was a world much like this, only Ancients, Eminor and Sylvan could all live separately from each other. The Dragon Moon that Earth sent after it shattered that peace and the first Aster into dust, where after Aragmoth formed and took refuge inside Earth itself. Aragmoth’s blood absorbed the Dragon Moon’s dark soul within him for strength. His scales and tears became the soil, and the waters of this second Aster. Of his wings, spanned the Dragon and Efereal Mountains, and of his back and neck spanned the Kyrie Plains. Of his breath, became the aeri and estus, and of the blood he took from the Dragon Moon, the Keol or blood tears formed.’

So much for writing it off as a dream. But I don’t think my science class is gonna go for this.

‘There are only a few on your world who are aware ours is real. The Sentry cut and control all Threads and memories that would allow us to exist on Earth.’

So you’re saying that whatever brought me here in the physical had the power to go right through this Great Dragon without the use of a Sylvan Light?

‘Yes. Cecil hadn’t finished fixing the Gate in the town of Berion before it was destroyed, yet there’s a good chance it has something to do with how you were brought here.’

None of this answers why anyone would want me here.

‘You have no idea just how important you are.’

Heh, if only that were true, Sybl replied, sadly. So do I get my own Ancient for awesome purposes?

‘You already have one.’

Sybl smiled in a blush as the dragon looked at her with an expression that refused to be cheated out from the topic.

‘Now which one did you want?’ Cirrus asked as he looked about with his head to the stars, as if to calculate just how far every last one was.

I thought you said these aren’t real?

‘Well, I never actually checked up close...’

Do I get any say in where I’m going next?

‘Not until you pick one, because I’m not flying us back down until you do. You’re going to have to be very focused in which one you pick out with your psi as well.’

She couldn’t pick a star—for she feared he would fly straight through to Earth if he went after it for real. She didn’t want to fly right back to it. So she set her focus on the moon. That one.

Cirrus looked to where she did. ‘Hey, I said star. I’m not big enough to carry that one back.’

Who says it’s not a star?

‘The Texts. The simple fact it doesn’t glow by itself...’

Well, if this moon is just a reflection, then everything is a reflection of light up here, including the stars and nothing is glowing entirely by itself or has any weight of its own.

‘You are just as hard to reason with as Cecil is. Alright, well in that case I’ll have to come back for it.’

Don’t think I won’t hold you to it, Sybl teased.

‘I wouldn’t have it any other way,’ Cirrus smiled as he flew over her and pushed her with a gush of wind from his wings back to Aster. But she wouldn’t squeak or cry out as she fell silently, and held out one hand for him to catch her. For her heart knew that it would never have to fall alone again.