Üā Sūt Cktüis (How to be Dragon)

by Rammy

Chapter 21 Ieüšējās Taļās (Into The Innermost Parts)

Who is able to be trusted with a dragon's hoard? ~ Ancient Dragon Riddle

---

Not-Spike opened his eyes. A deep blackness surrounded him, an yet, he somehow could see that he was standing on a large boulder within that darkness... that beautiful blackness... It called to him like a moth to a flame. The dragon took a single step, then another... he wants... he needs... to touch it.

"No no no..." NO! A pair of light, amber brown eyes suddenly appeared before Not-Spike, slightly breaking the spell on him. "Do not look at the" [VOID] "Or you will end up like Spike..."

Must...

"Focus on me." The voice commanded as a feathery wall of light sky-blue rose up, finally snapping Not-Spike out of the trance he had been in. The dragon blinked as he realized that he was muzzle to snout with an alicorn stallion who had his wings surrounding him like a cocoon. "That's it... focus on me only."

A moment later the wing cocoon than came down and Not-Spike blinked. They were no longer in that vast black whatever but a dead forest that looked like a devastating wild fire had recently swept through. Not a bit of green was left on the ground or tree and even the sky looked grey from all the ash that floated through the air.

What the fuck was that?! Not-Spike shivered as tried to get the feeling of wrongness of that black nothing out of his head. While Šihzra Vairozs had warned him of the dangers of using the ritual circle to enter a soul he had never told him about anything remotely like whatever that was! If he had known about whatever that was, he would have thought twice about using the ritual circle...

"By the Voice!" Not-Spike stared blankly at the pony in front of him as said pony continued to yell at him. "What were you thinking!?" The pony sounded just like Šihzra Vairozs but he did not look like Šihzra Vairozs, like not at all.

The Šihzra that he knew was a dark midnight blue pony... dragon hybrid(?) with a grey and white mane (which was apparently black before his health declined some ten years ago), reptilian forelegs, leathery wings, and two black horns. But, here in front of him, was a lanky light sky blue alicorn with a single white spiral horn peeking through a spiked dark blue, teal, and red striped mane that faded to near white at the tips. The wings on the stallion were feathered like a pegasus or griffon. All-in-all this being was fully pony without a hint of dragon.

"Šihzra... Vairozs?" [Cipher... Shield] Not-Spike snapped his head around as he heard an echo of what he knew to be Šihzra Vairozs' name in Modern Equestrian.

"Yeah, I suppose I do look a bit strange..." Šihzra chuckled, pulling Not-Spike back to the... pony. If it hadn't been for the voice coming from the pony mouth Not-Spike would have not believed what he eyes was seeing. "I haven't looked like this since I was ninety-six."

Since he was ninety-six?? What?! Not-Spike had thought that Šihzra was born as whatever he was, not as a pony. Maybe I did the ritual circle wrong or something...

"Wait...wait, stop." Šihzra grumbled, raising a hoof and breaking Not-Spike from his astonishment. "Forget what I look like. What are you doing here?!"

"I needed to know..." Not-Spike answered distractedly, still struggling to reconcile Šihzra with the pony in front of him. How did he go from a pony to half pony dragon? That is if he was even half dragon and was not using his pony magic to make him look half dragon.

"You needed to know?!" Šihzra grumbled as he rubbed a hoof over his forehead. "At best my death would have dragged you to the Voice before your time, and at worst... well, you nearly had the worst happen. What possible thing did you need to know that you'd risk your very existence over!?"

Not-Spike tapped his claws nervously before he hesitantly asked. "How did you know?"

Šihzra silently stared, his head tilting a bit before he finally responded. "How did I know what?"

"Do not fucking toy with me Šihzra Vairozs." [Cipher Shield] Not-Spike growled, ignoring the echo. "My name, Šihzra Vairozs," [Cipher Shield] "you know my name."

Šihzra blinked several times before he opened his mouth with a sharp breath almost like he was about to speak only to close it before uttering a single word. This went on for a few moments before he finally swore. "Es thezithu tavu vārtu." [I do not know your name.]

"But those books..." Now it was Not-Spike's turn to struggle to speak. "The books you gave me... On them are the words The Journals of Harmonious Knight!"

"That's because they are the journals of Harmonious Knight, the original journals, the very ones that he penned with his own horn, not the translated and edited journals I originally gave Spike." Šihzra sighed, "Of course, when I gave them to Spike to read I had said that they were written by an alicorn by the name of Harmony, as that was how Harmonious Knight preferred to be referred to as, but... that still doesn't... explain..."

Šihzra words died and he sat down, hard, onto his haunches, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Not-Spike, too, felt like he was a goldfish, as he had never seen Šihzra so thoroughly stunned. For the second time, he wondered if he even did the ritual circle correct or not.

"Your name... are you..." Šihzra finally choked out, looking like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. "Are you saying that you and Spike Chose my sire's name?!"

Not-Spike could only shrug. He had no idea how else to respond as things were rapidly becoming more and more surreal. This was not the Šihzra he knew who before now had always came off as a smug bastard that effortless knew.

Suddenly a long, pained roar echoed out. To Not-Spike it sounded like a young drake, but the only beings that should be here would be himself and Šihzra, so what was another dragon doing here? But then again, Šihzra did look fully pony... Adding to his confusion was that at the same time as the roar, Šihzra had thrown up a lot of blood. As Not-Spike thought that this place was just a representation of the soul or spirit he didn't think that was possible. (Although given he was taught this by Šihzra...)

"You need to leave..." Šihzra panted out, waving away Not-Spike with a hoof that, to the dragon's shock, was partially transparent.

"Who or what was that?" Not-Spike asked, deciding to ignore the alicorn's semitransparent hoof for now.

"My friend please..." Šihzra begged. "It's difficult enough to hold back the flames..."

As if to accentuate Šihzra's statement, a loud boom suddenly echoed across the forest, the ground shaking. Not-Spike narrowed his eyes towards Šihzra who spat out a glob of blood as the shaking ended. He was not going to be fooled by the convenient demonstration as he remembered his own sufferings caused by Spike. It was very possible that this Šihzra in front of him was merely the pony part of him and that somehow this part had done something to his dragon part.

"No."

Šihzra rubbed a hoof over his muzzle then sighed. "Of course, and because you emulated him..."

Not-Spike growled lowly. While he was sure Šihzra wasn't trying to be insulting it annoyed him to be so flippant about his name. He choose that name because he was inspired by the pony because he truly felt kinship to what the pony strived to achieve. It was what deep down he wanted more than anything else... But then again, if Šihzra was speaking the truth, then he could see the alicorn being a bit exasperated at the reminder of his sire...

"Even after all these years gone..." Šihzra muttered as he shook his head. "Very well."

Once again Šihzra's wings rose up around Not-Spike and when they snapped down Not-Spike could see that they were now somewhere else. Instead of a dead forest they were now standing on a rocky crag, and in the distance, behind the alicorn, he could make out a large black dragon lying on its side, its back facing towards them them. As Not-Spike took a step to the side to get a better look he nearly tripped over his tail as he stumbled back in shock. The dragon was horribly disfigured with a myriad of cuts and missing scales, some still bleeding, and the wings, the wings on the dragon's back were torn and shredded to the point of uselessness. What happened to this dragon?!

Not-Spike reflexively clenched and unclenched his paws as the dragon groaned and slowly got onto its feet. The dragon was far worse then what the back had revealed. As expected the rest of the body was covered in cuts and missing scales but it was the drake's two front feet and lower half of the muzzle missing that really made Not-Spike blood to boil. This was beyond torture. And as the drake looked down at them with pain and misery in his blood red eyes, which seemed to be begging for oblivion, it finally spurred Not-Spike into action.

Stop.

How dare...

"You... you... hypocrite!" Not-Spike spat, unable to say anything else in his rage. Why was he ordering him to stop? Was all this time was he being manipulated and lied to? And for what? A twisted form of pleasure? Or a sanctimonious sense of guilt? What?!

"There is" [VOID], "a chasm between us and Vorac..." As Šihzra spoke a blast of air and ash shot up between them and the dragon. "Not only that, Vorac will burn your soul to" [VOID] "if you touch him."

Lies! Not-Spike internally roared as he made to swipe at the pony. To think he ever even cared for this monster!

"Vorac and I are not like you and Spike." The pony said as he calmly sidestepped the enraged dragon.

"Of course not!" Not-Spike roared small flumes of green flames leaking from his mouth. "Spike didn't know I was there... suffering... but you, YOU KNOW!"

"Are you going to be like my sire that would think and do what he and every other alicorn was taught, like a good little alicorn, or are you going to be like he was when his eyes were open?" The alicorn questioned, calmly leaning into Not-Spike like he wasn't scared of what the pissed off dragon could do.

Those words cut to the core for the dragon and although he was still angry he stepped back and relaxed ever so slightly. He would hear the alicorn out, but if he didn't get a satisfying answer...

"Do not assume that I don't share in his suffering..." The alicorn softly spoke as he backed away.

"Bullshit! You didn't just stand there and allow Spike to continue in his destruction of me. Why are you allowing it to happen to Vorac?!"

"A dragon spirit is likened to that of a flame. And how does one start a flame?" The alicorn questioned before leaning over and whispering the answer. "With a spark."

Not-Spike rolled his eyes as he already knew this. What did that have to do with...

"Wait..." Not-Spike sputtered out as he suddenly realized that Šihzra Vairozs was a name in Ancient Draconian and if so that meant that... "If you have a name in Ancient Draconian then..."

"If I was born a dragon, yes. But I was not..." The pony's voice faded as he looked up to Vorac, who was in turn looking down at the alicorn not in hate or fear or resignation but in genuine hope and love. "As you know, a dragon is born with a piece of their spirit that is suppose to... kindle the rest in a flash at the Choosing..."

"A non-dragon soul, however, doesn't have that, and if you try to transmute a non-dragon soul into a dragon spirit, the soul will burn to" [VOID] "...unless that soul is tempered. Which is done by inserting an artificial piece or shell of a dragon spirit and then petitioning The Voice to fuse them as one..." Šihzra sighed deeply before turning back to Not-Spike. The dragon looked down in shame unwilling to look at his mentor as he now understood exactly who and what Vorac was and that he had foolishly jumped to the wrong conclusion. "It was that failure when they attempted to petitioned The Voice that led my parents to the discovery that the dragon's connection to The Voice had been severed. And thus, it left Vorac and I to suffer for millennia..."

Not-Spike blinked. How could Šihzra say The Voice severed from the dragons? He remember the voices... the whispers the day he Chose. He knew that Šihzra knew he was hearing The Voice speaking to him when it told him to tell him those five words: Tu esi izvēlēts sūt CktüisLežothīzs Did he somehow forget?

"But Šihzra that's not true... The Voice spoke to me on the day I Chose, remember? 'Tu esi izvēlēts sūt CktüisLežothīzs.'" [You are chosen to be DragonWyrm.]

For the second time in a very short time Not-Spike had stunned Šihzra speechless. He could even see the black dragon, Vorac, looking at him in disbelief. This was really starting to creep him out, even more than that black... void.

"Can't see the hoard through the bed of gems..." Šihzra sighed as he dragged a hoof down his face. "It's seems to becoming a pattern with me as of late... Especially whenever it comes to you..."

Not-Spike found himself rolling his eyes and grumbling. Šihzra's guilt over his perceived failures when it came to him was getting really old and had been for nearly the entire five years they had been mentor and protégé.

"It is possible that..." Šihzra muttered as he started to pace, "but it's been so long... possibly too long... and as we don't have access to my library..."

"However..." The alicorn stopped, stomping a hoof twice, and, in a wave outward from him, appeared glowing gold runes along the ground stretching far beyond sight. Even with his limited knowledge of them it was clear to Not-Spike that many of the runes were cracked or nearly worn away. "Even though the ward was shattered ten years ago there are still echoes of it imprinted on my soul. The ward was designed to help facilitate the adoption if ever the connection to the Voice returned..."

Adoption? Not-Spike wondered what adoption had anything to do... No, nope. Not asking... He was not going to try and figure whatever that meant. He just knew it was not worth the headache that he knew would come if he asked.

"That being said..." Šihzra said as he took a few steps before pausing and looking back at Not-Spike. "I will not have you sacrifice your short life that has only just begun for mine. From here on out, if I tell you to leave, for any reason, you will leave, immediately, and without question. Do you understand?"

Not-Spike gulped at the look that Šihzra was giving him but nodded nonetheless. Šihzra looked him over as if unsure if he had been truthful or not. But when the alicorn turned away a thought came to dragon. "Wait..."

"What is it? We do not have a lot of time left." As if to emphasize his point, Šihzra lifted the up a now nearly see through leg for Not-Spike to see.

On some instinctual level Not-Spike understood what it meant for Šihzra to give him his name, but could he do the reverse? Should he? He thought about everything that Šihzra had done over the years and the sacrifices he made to help Not-Spike to his own detriment. Especially with the giving up his remaining time of life just to give up some of his hoard that, while he was sure would be helpful, he knew meant nearly everything to Šihzra. It seemed more like an action of one who was more like a friend then a mentor. And now, here Not-Spike was risking his own existence to help him in turn... and he felt... that it wasn't because he felt obligated as his former protégé or because of his name... it was almost as if he in turn was a friend to Šihzra...

"My name is Harlothisüa Lruthithieüs." [Harmonious Knight]

Author's Note:

As promised the second half of the chapter I had to split into two...

I wonder how many of you all (that didn't read the Keeper Trilogy, yeah cheaters ) saw Vorac coming.

And yes, eiggengrau had it right in not trusting that Sizra was not dead... yet... Yeah, yeah, don't get too smug that you were right, I left lovely cliffhanger for you to chew on MWAHAHAHAAA (I am still miffed there is no evil twi emote...)

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Names have power, they lock access to historical existance so such an entity cant just fade away.

A man still lives whose name is still spoken.

GNU Pratchett.

[Rammy]

11725190 Given that, the way [VOID] is spoken should make you shat your pants

[Booster Spice]

11725197

I learnt Wall Of Ignorance due to something similar to that many years ago. As in the same sort of way you learn not to touch brigtly coloured frogs though watching associates try licking them and dropping to the ground, foaming then exploding.

[Rammy]

11725201Well at least they only exploded once... right? ...right!?

[Booster Spice]

11725204

Ive never seen anyone levitate in quite that fasion before.

And I never want to ever again.

[eiggengrau]

Dizzy now. Trust me, 'calling' that Sizy wasn't quite gone gives me no sense of triumph.

[Rammy]

11725309

Dizzy now.

To be fair this is my dooziest chapter yet between the reveals of Vorac and [VOID] along with Not-Spike's actual name being finally made known... I just hope that you can recover soon to give your usual thoughts... and tell me about all the times homophones tripped me up.

Trust me, 'calling' that Sizy wasn't quite gone gives me no sense of triumph.

Yeah I suppose for you its more of an "ugh I hate it when i'm right..." kind of a thing