Intermission
Lighting’s War
A volcano usually never woke her up, nor did its rumble, for often then not, it actually helped her fall asleep. Whether because she knew that she was a dragon and had immunity or the fact that they are so common and active, that it would be a born custom to get used to them. But that is not what woke her, as the boom that quaked, was different.
Opening her violet eyes, Eliyinsa heard the unmistakable sound of thunder, which had followed after the flash of lightning.
“Monsoon season already,” Her mate asked as she too rose up from her slumber, seemingly the first to have awakened.
Eliyinsa tried to recall the season and sure enough, the tides had changed. There were only a few rare times a year when it would storm around the DragonLands, but this one seemed different. The timing was off by a few weeks.
Something felt different but nothing too alarming. Choosing to take the time to enjoy it while it lasted, both mothers rose up, followed by their sleeping daughter. Eliyinsa licked her daughter awake, receiving a yawning ‘Aroo?’ from her.
“It’s time to rise, my sweet Seraphina. We have something wonderful to show you.”
Still groggy and unable to fully get up on her own, the hatchling yawned widely but made no real motion to rise, remains curled and trying to remain asleep Tittering, her mother gently grasped her with claws and walked out of their cave, which got a mewling cry of annoyance to leave the hatchling.
Sure enough, the sun was not present but morning had arrived and with it, storming clouds had arrived over the lands. Hot and humid rain followed as heavy droplets fell from the skies. They remained inside watching it happen, though Eliyinsa gently placed her daughter near the exit to enjoy the delights of murky water and thundering lights across the sky.
If there was any hope and the volcanic activity was strong enough, they may even get the greatest of gifts that come from the volcanic eruptions mixed with the rain!
The droplets fell near the Saphira colored hatchling, causing her eyes to sparkle in fascination. Tiny claws reached out, trying to catch each droplet that seemed to fall from the heavens above. She cooed as the warm water harmlessly bounced off her scales and made the feeling alien, unlike lava which was hot and thick. The water was thin in comparison, but also slick, as it slid easily off her scales. She continued to try and catch the droplets, though she slightly grumbled as they began to bounce off her face and eyes.
“Arrrawr!” Seraphina whined as the water continued to fall faster and strike her. While this happened, Eliyinsa noticed that while lightning was indeed striking in the sky, it was near towards the ocean, more specifically over one of the isles.
Her mind briefly surged as she scanned the area with her mind and saw that while dragons were remaining in their caves, only one was actively out and about. The rain never bothered dragons as it was used as an excuse to remain within their dwellings.
The one dragon who liked to remain active and drink in the storm’s presence was currently out and about. She turned to her mate. “I’ll return.”
Zynthia said nothing, merely nodding as she understood her mate’s wordless mission. She pulled a protective paw over their daughter, as Eliyinsa opened her wings and took flight south.
She flew low to the ground, to avoid any strikes from the lightning. A strike from a lightning bolt wouldn’t kill a dragon but it would stun them enough to cease all motor controls, hence if you were flying in higher altitudes, the drops would definitely kill. Sticking low was a safer option, though she had always wondered what that feeling may be like.
Not wanting today to be the chance, she made her way towards the south of the lands, near the edge where the ocean met high rocks and cliffs. From here, she saw that while the lightning strikes were happening, they hit at a certain spot on a spotted island. Nothing else on that rock… except a single, lone dragon. One who was taking in the lighting strikes without falter or damage. In silent awe, Eliyinsa watched as the dragon seemed to enjoy the powerful strikes, each one causing them to move in a sort of trance like dance, from fours to twos, wings spread and tail lashing. The golden yellow body scales that covered them head to tail, the way electricity made the body glow and vibrant. Jagged horns on top of their head continuously arched electricity between one another, while the wings spread out and generated/absorbed the lightning around them.
The closing of her approach, seemed to amplify the flashing, the booms and the electrical disturbances in the air. If she had fur or hair of any kind, they would be static and send chills up her spine. If she were a mewling little creature, she would be hiding and cowering as the powerful strikes ruptured around her. If she were anything less than a dragon, she would not be flying closer towards her target. Yet, she held no fear, for she was a mighty dragon!
And then, a terrible silence around her, as it all ceased.
She paused mid-flight, thinking that perhaps, she had been struck but was not aware of it. Remaining in a hover near the small island, she saw that the lightning storm had seemingly had silenced itself, the storm overhead but not near her, remaining above high in the clouds. A cover, a top of itself in perpetual motion in stabled altitude but seemingly quieter with distant rumbles.
Her violet eyes grew wide as she realized that it was the dragon’s doing and she was now looking at her.
Her… the dragoness, the Storm Maker, was Blitzkrieg. A gifted dragon.
Unaverred, the dragoness called her out. “You may approach me, Elder Eliyinsa.” Despite her powerful dominion over a very fabric of nature itself, her voice was calm and easily tamed, like a storm far off in the distance waiting for its approach. Her status was just that of another dragon compared to the Elder after all and she held no power against her.
Eliyinsa seemed to consider reading her mind but rested on pure communication, rather than invasion of privacy. She approached the dragoness on her peak, taking in the calm look, albeit seemingly lowering her head as if shame took place. Or perhaps that was her bowing to her presence. She lands on the open space of the small island, folded wings and witnessing the dragoness fully turn to her.
“Elder Eliyinsa.” She lowered her head further as she approached.
Said Elder gave a small nod in turn.
“Blitzkrieg.” She acknowledged evenly without a tone of indifference, spite, malice or any other negative emotion.
The yellow dragoness rose her head and looked at the even heighted elder. “Am I in trouble?” Was her first question, rather than an obvious, ‘What brings you here, Elder?’ In truth, all that are gifted or enhanced that warrant a visit from an elder always ask these questions first.
Today, the question was unnecessary.
“No, Blitzkrieg. I am actually here because… I wished to fully see your ‘abilities’ at work. While I have observed them from a distance, I have never seen them so…”
“Wild?” Blitzkrieg provided.
“Powerful.” Eliyinsa answered truthfully. Even now, the air still danced with electricity, high above where the storm perpetually moved over them. Not silent but not blaring either.
The dragoness gave a brief flash of a smile before looking up. “When the ‘monsoon’ season approaches, it is the only time where I feel pperfect. Where I do not have to hide or shy my powers. I can let loose all the electrical prowess I have stored in the year or absorb what I need to go on.”
Eliyinsa once more considered checking to see her mind, yet…
“Your mind is fuzzy, distorted,” Blitzkrieg suddenly pondered, before her piercing eyes locked onto her own. “Just like my own to you.”
Baffled but not far off the mark, the elder queried, “How did you know?”
A small glint of a smile worked its way on the yellow dragoness. “I-I cannot read your mind but your intentions are based on the natural ‘electrical field’ all living organisms have. Other dragons, other creatures, living, have some sort of ‘electricity’ running through them and I… I can feel it.” She paused and looked past her to the dragons and beyond the lands. “Millions of lives, an entire ecosystem of the world, and the world itself. Generating some form of an ‘electrical output’ that most cannot comprehend. Yet I know that my mind is scattering and wild, perhaps why neither of us can fully read each other.”
Eliyinsa, in the height of her form, unbounded and unchained, could comprehend a fraction of this, as the minds of those around her could be read. Perhaps if she were amplified in any way, she could see beyond that.
Remaining stoic upon the grandeur of the idea, she refocused on Blitzkrieg, refocusing on the topic. “I know that you have spoken with my son and Shadescale,” A brief electrical disturbance of annoyance and perhaps light malice was picked up by the electric dragoness, “-about how you were the only that may have considered being more open with your abilities.” The emotions changed to curious and more inline with Spike’s and Shadescale’s queries of herself. “Is this perhaps one of the reasons you fear revealing them?” Her movements calmer, her body surging with little energy of physical action but her mind firing billions of neurons with ease at how to view or take in all this.
For a moment, Blitzkrieg felt like she could release her true power in front of the Elder, but she chose to settle that until she could trust her.
“Do you trust… that other dragons would accept others like us yet?” She asked Eliyinsa, curiously neutral. “That Spike and Shadescale can bring out the best of us?”
Eliyinsa gave her a look that a mother would give about any of their young, “I trust… in my son. I trust that he is the best of what is hopefully a brighter future for not just those like us,” Emphasizing on her also being ‘gifted’, “But for dragons in general. You have seen the change he has brought us, yes?” A nod from Blitzkrieg. “Then you know that I trust in his judgment and that he will make it so that you and I can freely roam without fear or ridicule.”
There was a surge of hope in her voice, something that she wished to partake in. But doubt and some fear lingered in the back corner of her mind. Blitzkrieg was still afraid. She turned away from the Elder.
“The hope you have for him is not what holds me down, Elder.” The black dragoness blinked hearing her voice dip, her emotions lowering. A small spark of electricity surged between her horns. “I am afraid of losing control. I am afraid of becoming… like the exile who made us go into hiding.”
The silence between was ever tempered by the still lingering storm above, with calm winds and distant rumbles above. Lightning and flashes could still be seen but muffled through the calm, dampening clouds above… or perhaps it was under the command of Blitzkrieg herself. A tempered tempest always brewing and ready to strike but fearful of inaction or negative access to what could be unleashed.
It was hard to tell where anger and understanding stood, as few would dare bring up the past revolving around that exile, and the damage she had caused. For almost a century now, those with ‘gifts’ were told to remain in hiding, to shy or withhold their powers, as any surges could cause another wave of fear and panic to rise from another power hungry dragon. It was something that shook the dragons to their core and would have been forever a brand to be ashamed of being ‘enhanced’ if not for her son.
If not for the drake with perhaps the biggest ‘gift’ of all, his heart. His devotion to finding the best in those around him. Those born of evil or raised by it, could be redeemed and transformed into something better. No dragon born with powers or gifts were naturally evil, they were just nurtured into something that could be potentially evil. Perhaps it was that which really held most of them back.
But it shouldn’t and now in a time when dragons welcomed peace and ponies, they should no longer fear the past or themselves.
Lightning’s War internal, Blitzkrieg, shouldn’t have to fear this. None of them do.
Taking in the moment, Eliyinsa turned to a more, reassuring and more empathic nature. “After we exiled her,” She began, looking up at the storm above and making Blitzkrieg turn to her. “I too, was afraid. I was… terrified that I would be like her. That I would become like her and lose control, which is why I allowed my bracers,” She lifted her tail up to show them for emphasis. “-to be placed on me. I felt my powers dampen, my mood lower and my life changed for… what I thought was better circumstances.”
Blitzkrieg felt the emotions that radiated off her, never to experience this side of an elder, let alone a dragon as powerful as her. This was disturbingly new and an odd insight of what she went through, perhaps worse then the others.
“I hid, I stayed silent and I knew that I was always monitored. Torch, Dereain, and Zynthia, they held me accountable in some way for the ‘exile’s behavior’ and although the actions were all of her own, I still dealt with the aftermath. All the mind's I had to assure I was not like her, all the lives she destroyed that I had to recreate and all the pain I have had to endure to allow those affected to be able to sleep.” A terrible sigh left her. “And I did it because I felt responsible. I felt… that in order for us to live, we must be held accountable for our actions.”
She frowned then finally looked down and to the other dragoness. “But that shouldn’t have meant that those with powers would do the same as her. That dragons like you, with such amazing gifts, should be held prisoner because of what the exile did. I allowed that and my anger to punish those who didn’t deserve it, by making all of us be ashamed or hide their abilities. Now… Now I feel as though that after a century, we should be allowed to be free. To assure the others that we ‘gifted’ are not to be feared.”
She then turned her head back to her home. “I have a mate who understands what I went through, but she chose to love me for me and see past what the exile had done and not what I hadn’t done, which was to cause harm. I was spared of her hate and given love instead. The others followed suit but I regret not trying to reach out to the others like us and give them a chance to show what we could offer.” A smile graced her maw as she thought of those in her heart. “The family I have created now, is more of a blessing than I dared hope I deserved. Every Time I feel like the past is coming up to haunt me, they are there to assure me that I am beyond that part of my life now, that I am stronger, smarter and hold no fault for it. My wonderful son who brought a new sense of joy in my life, a beautiful role as a mother and now a mission to change the Dragon Lands, has me hoping that we can create a better future for us.”
Blitzkrieg never found herself bombarded with such emotions, both from another dragon and herself, as everything that had been fired at her was as strong as any lighting strike. The Elder before her strongly believes Spike would do best for them all, not just regular dragons but all dragons and other species as well. What high hopes were there for Eliyinsa being the one to convince her of the change, were dashed and stolen by the son who she loves unconditionally and trusts with her very life. To bring forth a better age of enlightenment and peace between the dragons, was undisturbed and unquestionable.
Perhaps his role as a Dragon Guardian was irrefutable.
For the first time since she arrived, a genuine smile worked its way to the lightning dragoness. Feeling the change, she did however have to bring up one important question that has pondered many dragons here.
“Is-Is Spike… ‘gifted’ as well?” She asked the mother in question.
A small nod, her smile unwavering and ever proud. “In more than one way, but yes. Though, I am sure it is his heart that is the most gifted thing about him.”
The titter that left her was involuntary but most welcomed as she felt her whole body relax. “Then… perhaps on his return, I will take him up on that offer. If he can change the minds of the Elders and other dragons, perhaps he can truly change us all for the better.”
“I am glad that he helped you,” She then looked up once more. “So, will you allow the weather to continue, now that you are free to control it?”
Blitzkrieg looked up at the swirling cloud above at the muffled storm. “I… I have never been able to fully control it, just use it when it's available. I cannot summon a storm… At least I don’t think so. But when it comes here, I feel like it's within my power to do… whatever I wish with it.”
Eliyinsa heard the glowing embers or rather, the large spark of hope rise within her. “Then do so. Do with it, as you wish, but know this,” Her turned slightly serious in tone, causing a great pause in the lightning dragoness. “Know. Your. Limits. Understanding what you can and can’t control takes time and measurement on how far your power extends. A power such as yours or mine, must take into account that you can hurt others if you are not careful. Practice, be safe and most of all, Be Responsible. As all great power should come.”
A nod of understanding left the lighting dragoness, taking great heed in those words. A message to all with such ‘gifts’.
“Then… by your leave?” She asked, wondering if she was well and truly free to explore her powers.
A nod was given in turn. “Yes. Be free from fear, Blitzkrieg.”
Lightning once more resumed, the storm brewed overhead and the world seemed to have resumed its natural course, as the dragoness once more looked up to the skies and opened her wings. Electricity surged up and down her body, invoking a wonderful glow of power and show. As she began to rise, her wings not flapping, her body creating a powerful electrical field around, suddenly…
A bolt of lightning struck her and she was zapped by it. Eliyinsa shut her eyes as it happened in front of her, the sound and sight briefly dampening her senses. The next moment, she opened her eyes and saw that Blitzkrieg was no longer with her. Blinking her eyes, she looked around her, then looked up to see that the storm once more hovered above before a single lightning bolt flew across the sights at high speeds and disappeared with the storm.
The storm then continued but far more tame, with lighting flashing overhead and the booms echoing after. Understanding that perhaps she had discovered a new form of her ability, she gave a brief scan of her environment to show that, indeed she had not perished but had just adjusted to something natural to herself.
‘Let’s see what you are capable of, Blitzkrieg.’
Content, she opened her wings and flew back home, hoping that the dragoness would find something wonderful with her abilities. To move across the skies with ease and at the speed of lightning, would make her the fastest creature alive!
Imagine that!
With the smile graced on her maw, she approached back to her cave just in time to see it began to rain. However, something else stirred in the air and it was… toxic. Which was great!
Landing just at the cave, she witnesses her daughter and mate happily enjoying themselves as the clouds mixed with the hazardous sulfuric smoke and ash in the air, blending a tonic of harsh chemicals. While dragons stayed in for the rain, they resurfaced for what came hopefully after. She joined them in their festivals as it began to pour nature’s greatest and perhaps harshest disaster, a joyful rare occasion for the dragons as they all opened their mouths to enjoy its toxic waters.