ബഐബഐബഐ H.K. ബഐബഐബഐ
Breath in...
....and out...
Breath in...
...and out...
I opened my eyes and sighed. In my anger with Twilight I had ignited several small grass fires around me. With a practiced ease I snuffed out the fires. Ever since I was revived my control of my emotions and my magic was getting worse... Something that no one could afford. If I lost control at just the wrong time or the wrong way while in Hourglass City I could set off the very thing I'm trying to stop.
I raised my gaze to the south and to Terra Hourglass, barely visible in the twilight before dawn. But there was more then just my emotions and magic spiraling out of control, I was dealing with Spike and his friends... If the situation wasn't so dire I would probably laugh at my circumstances. Hopefully, Smaug gets here soon before...
I shook my head to dismiss my darkening thoughts. It would not help to go there as it would distract me from the work I still had to do and I had enough distractions to deal with. With a heavy sigh I began the long, grueling flight back to Hourglass.
Two weeks ago...
"And I must ask for forgiveness as well..."
I tried several times to form anything but I found my self unable to make a coherent sound. This was contrary to everything I understood about The Voice, essentially a god to all dragons. Why would he need to ask me for forgiveness it made no sense. And the shame in those words...
"I am responsible for you parents death."
"Hu... da... buh..." I sputtered in disbelief. "Wh... What!? Why would you say that? It, it doesn't make any sense. It was an accidental cascade cause by a natural instability in uncut glowstones!"
"Only partially correct..." The Voice sighed as he turned away from me, "In simplistic terms thousands of years ago my anchor to this plane, the leyonic pole over Terra Hourglass, was suddenly damaged. Something that had happened before, but, this time, it was so bad that I could no longer use it... Your parent's hoard was the only alternate that able to keep me anchored... but it couldn't handle the flow of my essence and over time... it became... unstable..."
My eyes narrowed as I looked up at my 'father' my mind already guessing when, why, and how his anchor was damaged. "When did this happen?"
"Just before your birth ten thousand years ago..."
At that, I shook as my vision redden. I knew exactly what had happened and who as truly to blame. "If I ever find a way into the Pastureland I will drag every..."
HarMoNIOus kniGHt!
My rage become as ice as I flattened myself in fear.
"Have you forgotten what it means to be a Dragon warrior?"
"...No..."
I took a long cleansing breath as I reached out to feel the ley lines swirl around me from on top of the Spiral Spire. With practiced ease I checked one by one every single one of the hundreds of ley lines that swirled up from below. To my cautious relief, by the time I had examined the last one I had found no changes to any of the ley lines. Not that it was a reason for celebration as there was still well over thirty ley lines that were strained at or near the breaking point. Worse still the exact tipping point was unknown even to me. It was possible it would take a massive spell on the level of raising or lowering the celestial bodies or it could be a simple raising of a quill using magic.
I slowly opened my eyes, sighing hard. I was still at a lost on what I could do. If it was only one ley line I could ease it back from the break but I was dealing ley lines surrounded by hundreds of others and given their close proximity any change in one ley line could ripple into the ones around them. If only I had a schematic of what the ley lines used to look like or any information on how ley lines work when at this concentration. That should have been easy but the library was in complete chaos. I have a suspicion that Discord had messed with the library after the disaster that killed his entire race
As I was thinking on this I looked down to Spike's gang. Twixt'd and Garble were currently sparing against Spike. Something they had been doing everyday since their arrival. Silver, who was still dealing with the injuries he received, was resting against a wall of a building, watching. I hide a smile as Twixt'd suddenly picked up Spike and gave him a noogie much to Spike annoyment that only grew when Garble also gave him one. With an angry growl Spike squirmed out of Twixt'd's hold. But I could see Spike mouth slightly upturn as he turned away from them.
I was so proud of not only Garble but of Spike as well. If they weren't endangering themselves needless along with the planet I would be down there, helping, though my fighting skill was well beyond Spike's capability right now. But then I knew that what he wanted my help for I couldn't help him with. I don't trust myself near him right now. Neverind he had to deal with his feelings that are developing for his hoard basically on his own otherwise he would never truly be able to discover what his hoard was. It was just like a pony trying find his or her cutiemark. Then, there is the war that is wrapped up in that...
I told Twilight exactly how to deal with both but it's clear from our talk last night that I should have spelled it out a bit more. At least when it came to the gem around Spike's neck. But, at the time, with what I knew, I was not going to risk even a second more then I did. Now... well, that's the irony of hindsight...
It was at that moment that I noticed that Twixt'd was gazing back at me. I was too far away to read his face but I could guess what he was thinking. It wasn't very long before Garble and Spike noticed Twixt'd's staring and looked up in my direction. Both jerked in surprise at seeing me before Garble's expression turned a bit more neutral and unreadable and Spike's darken. I knew how bitter he was...
I held their gazes for a moment longer before I let myself be the first to blink as I slowly turned away. I didn't want them to see that I was fighting back tears, not now. I remember long ago conversation I had with a griffon commander. It boiled down that is was easy to lead a war while parenting was comparatively harder, but doing both were nigh on impossible. It was only a broad stroke on the truth but it was one of rare times that someone from a mortal race truly surprised me with the depth of their wisdom. Of course, it was one of the reasons for my bending over backwards to allow Twilight to raise Spike. For all the good that did...
As I turned to walk down the Spiral Spire, so I didn't activate Hourglass' defenses, I noticed a speck in the distance. It couldn't be a bird as there were no birds native to the Untamed Wilds that could fly above Terra Hourglass so that only left a few options. I squinted to get a better look and saw that the speck was purple. Smaug... I sighed in relief. With that I rushed down the spire and headed off the intercept Smaug before he got too close.