“It’s so much,” I whispered in awe. “It’s all so much, oh my gods, if you could only see how much this is—”
But everything else faded when Vadoma stepped in front of me, hand raised in front of her, palm up. Her eyes were dark and deep, and when she spoke, it came in crisp and clear, as if we were the only people left in the world.
She said, “I’m sorry for what it is I am about to show you.”
Then she pursed her lips and exhaled sharply. Her breath hit a pile of lavender powder in the palm of her hand. It covered my face, and I inhaled in surprise, a low gasp. The granules hit my nose and mouth and tongue, and I was breathing, I was breathing, I was—
Chapter 9: The Vision
IT WAS night. The stars above were shining, brighter than I’d ever seen them before. I could see the Lightning-Struck Man. The Pegasus. Vhan’s Fury. David’s Dragon.
And it was this last that was the brightest of them all.
I knew the story that came with the constellation. How David had found the dragon as a hatchling. How he raised it as his own. How they leaned on each other. How they loved each other, inseparable for all their days.
And how David was taken from the dragon by death. It was said the dragon mourned so loudly that the stars trembled above until they changed into a dragon, permanently etched into the heavens to scour the skies for his lost friend.
Like most legends, there was a romantic notion to it. A bittersweet longing. Whether it was true or not, I didn’t know. I’d never really considered it before.
Now? Now I could believe.
I could believe because the stars began to move.
The dragon began to move.
It was slow at first, as if awaking from a great slumber.
It stretched its wings, the tips brushing against Vhan’s Fury, causing it to pulse.
The dragon began to move across the sky, and it—
It fell.
I cried out as the star dragon plummeted toward the earth, wings folded at its sides. At first it was just made of stars, but as it fell, lightning began to arc between them, outlining just how massive this dragon truly was. The dragon itself didn’t make a sound as it hurtled downward, but the lightning snapped off it in loud cracks, burning the air around it.
It was coming straight for me.
I took a step back. And then another. But I couldn’t run. I couldn’t make myself look away.
Right before the dragon would have crashed into the earth, it spread its wings, catching an updraft that slowed its descent. The ground shook beneath my feet as it landed, its lightning claws digging into the forest floor and— No. Not the forest.
Sand.
The trees were gone. The grass was gone. Beneath my feet lay red sand, heavy and thick. Sand dunes rose as high as mountains all around me. I was in a valley of sorts, alone with David’s Dragon. There was a lone tree, bone-white and stunted, growing off to my left. The moon caused its shadow to stretch long across the desert floor, the branches reaching out like spindly fingers.
Then the dragon spoke.
“Sorceress,” it said.
And that wasn’t right. I wasn’t a woman, I wasn’t a—
“Dragon,” I said in response, but it wasn’t my own voice.
It was one only recently made known to me.
I wasn’t Sam of Wilds.
I was Vadoma Tshilaba.
No. No, no nononono—
“Why have you summoned me?” I asked, my accent thick on my tongue.
“I have felt it,” the dragon rumbled. “Deep within the heart of this world. The blight. The cancer. It festers. He will come and consume everything he touches.”
“Who?” I asked, and my voice trembled. Like I was scared.
“The dark one.” The dragon crouched down until its chin almost rested on the ground. The sand swirled as its nostrils flared. “The burning man. A plague of locusts. Once he betrayed those that loved him more than life itself. He was exorcised from this world, trapped in a realm of shadows, as they could not find the strength within to end his life, even at the cost of their own souls. But a door will be cracked open, and he’ll crawl from the depths to devour everything he sees.”
“Why do I hear this?” I asked, my heart heavy in my chest. “Why have you chosen me?”
The star dragon shifted, raising its head toward the night sky above. I looked up, following its gaze. The stars were moving, dancing in the dark. They rushed toward each other, molding until they made the shape of a man and a woman. The man had his arm wrapped around the woman’s shoulders. His other hand was resting on her swollen belly, and they were smiling, they were smiling, and it was made of starlight, and I (Sam and Vadoma and others?) felt my throat thicken at the sight.
“A child will be born,” the dragon said. “He will be yours by blood, birthed by those you have banished. He will be kind and brave. And foolish. Headstrong. His heart will be lightning-struck and marked as if scarred. There will be goodness in him, and a power unlike the world has ever seen.” The man and woman made of stars suddenly exploded, flashing brightly. The dragon sighed as he looked back down at me. “If only he can control it. There will be temptation. The path to the light is always shadowed by the dark. But for none more so than him. It will whisper to him. And he must resist.”
My hands were shaking. “My grandson?” I whispered.
“Yes,” the star dragon said. “When the time comes, he will call upon my brethren five. He will allow their voices to be heard. The white. The fire. The two-snow.” The dragon wrinkled its nose in disgust. “The… Kevin.”
“The… Kevin?” I repeated.
The star dragon sighed, wings drooping. “It’s best if you don’t ask too many questions on that one.”
“O… kay?”
“Trust me when I say it wasn’t my idea to include him. Fate’s a strange thing with a sense of humor most can’t understand.”
“But—”
The dragon reared back, wings spread wide. “The boy must be protected until the time comes when all will be revealed. He must gather my brethren five at his side. Then and only then will he be capable of fighting back the darkness.”
“And who is this darkness?” I asked.
The dragon said, “One who is known.”
I sighed. “Specifics?”
The star dragon shrugged. “It’s a prophecy. It’s supposed to be vague.”
I frowned. “I do not like you. I do not like most magical creatures.”
“Trust me. You weren’t my first choice either. There was this nice man in a village to the north, but he accidentally turned himself into a ghoul and now spends his time eating rotting flesh. I could have gone to your daughter, but the magic in your blood skipped a generation. So here I am.”
“I’m your last choice.”
“Precisely.”
“Useless,” I said. “Just like the rest of your kin.”
“Oh, so you’ve met many dragons, have you?”
“I don’t need to have met many to know you’re useless.”