Dragon Aster Trilogy

24: LOKI'S CASTLE



Loki was left feeling weird and a little dizzy, as he didn’t expect his Ancient to pull Sybl into his somn as easily as Lintrance had done. He set her down on a small bench inside his castle and wrapped his black cloak tighter around her. It was an older defense to be able to protect one’s mate or child. He could only guess that his genuine concern for his uncle’s rage was enough to pull it off.

The makeshift stone fort was his favorite place, as he had built it up to look much like an old castle from Earth since he had passed his Trial of Somn. It was his own personal trophy for having found his dragon form after his third try, even if he had yet to stop being lazy and finish it.

But today was a whole list of new firsts for it, as he never had a Princess visit. If Fevre was right, she wasn’t just any ordinary Princess. Sybl was a Fay Princess, and somewhere deep within her humanity were the timeless memories that led back to the Great Dragon. Possibly, the very beginning of the world.

Loki sat down beside her as the idea of so much knowledge fell heavy on his mind in turn. He lifted the light-brown, wavy bangs out of her eyes and pondered just how much she could hold within her small-self without a somn to help her. He would show her everything and help her remember, just as he had led her to dance when she didn’t know she could. Then he would take the throne of Toria and bring the Line of Moon back with her help. The only thing that could stand in his way now was love, as she wouldn’t let him hide behind a mask forever.

He had to remember she was human and that humans followed different rules, including those with love. The highest in power, strongest, most beautiful and intelligent drew the attention of daorans. He knew so little of what could capture the heart of a human girl. All he had was his mother’s stories and fairy tales that Crystal had brought back from Earth with her to go by.

A loud thumping struck the outside of his roofless castle, and he left the room to investigate. He jumped up on the wall after somning and peered down to the bushes below. But no one was there. Of course no one was. The only one who cared to visit him was his mother, and she was dead. He sat down and continued to scan the woods for the source of the ruckus that would dare to try and wake his Princess up.

Loki thought about all the stories Crystal had told him about her travels, all of them impossible but very real. She had flown to the Falls, seen the far corners of the ocean and even spent some time on Earth. The other daorans called her over-eccentric and even dangerous. Crystal’s way of venturing into danger as if she were a dragoon was different, to say the least, but it had fashioned her into the best story teller there ever was. All by impossible experiences.

When she was forbidden to share her stories in the Caverns and Toria, she would fly here, till he eventually built this castle out of inspiration from one of her fairy tales. He remembered sensing his mother’s fear that he might grow out of wanting to hear of knights slaying dragons and rescuing damsels in distress. The idea of a human slaying a dragon in their somn was a rather hard story to believe as he got older. But what held his attention to it was the idea that dragons could venture across Earth in their somns at all—without having the aeri Threads in them burn to ashes by the sunlight.

Loki remembered how excited he had been at the idea of having a baby sister, and how his mother had told him before anyone else. His father had come back to Crystal and left Yri standing in shame for stealing him. Estar did love Crystal more, and he no longer hated his father as much as he once did. Aside from the sympathy he had for how Estar was killed in a raid on a Falls camp. It was a brave death and in service to the High Guard. He would always be remembered, and those memories would reach the Great Dragon. Estar was now with his mother and baby sister that the Fay Wall had crushed.

It will need a new name, he thought. It was called such as only a Fay had the power to command the Great Dragon and his elements. Aragmoth only answered to the Fay, but the Wall was only a piece of his bone. A reference to a Fay he didn’t have back, until now.

He wanted answers to why he was to be punished when he had never done anything wrong in his life. He wasn’t as fast as Cirrus or as smart as Cecil, or as cunning as his older brother. He didn’t have any strength in any Art, least of all in weapons, but he had his talents. Every dragoon had something that made them special. If his talents were as insignificant to the world as his stone castle that lay far away from where anyone would care to look at it, then he would simply continue to build it taller.

He wouldn’t cry. Not now. His mother wanted him to be strong and when his death would come looking for him, he would see them again, and he would be strong enough to keep anyone from hurting them. But for now, he’d look for the answers to why it had to be them to die first and not himself. He wanted to forgive Aragmoth before he needed to pass into the realm of death.

The drumming sounded again. He looked to the other side of the main hall as dirt and debris was shaken off of the stone wall from the strikes. He climbed down and peeked in on his Fay before heading to and climbing up the other wall that was now under attack. He found the culprit when two purple eyes glowed back up at him under the cover of night and foliage. It was an unusually large kyrie.

Loki wasn’t hungry, so he decided to leave it be. That was until it started kicking his fortress again with its back legs. “Shoo before I eat you!”

But the beast didn’t let up and continued to kick his fortress, as if determined to try and bring it down. He ignited the aeri in his mouth and caught several Threads between his teeth, before snapping them away from him. The falling Threads hit the beast in a flare of fire. It burned the bushes and leaves around the creature and scorched its mane and back, but it only stood still in defiance.

“Okay, now I kill you,” Loki threatened as he narrowed his orange eyes and folded his wings tightly to his sides. But before he could drop onto the kyrie, he stopped and looked back into the castle as Sybl’s voice cried out.