| Dreams may represent something different than what it is about, but that is not always the case. -Dragon�s Words; vol. 9, pg. 87 Part 65 [I thought I had. There was a strange being named Garland who stole dragon souls and put them in human bodies. All of these genomes have tails, but he is the only one I�ve seen with wings.] [Wait, wait. Are you telling me that the man who had me destroy Alexandria was a dragon?] [Yes, Sire.] [I see. What is his name?] [Zidane is Ziaden Rexiav IX. Kuja is Ajuk Cecin VI.] [Both are royals . . .] [Evidently it is because they have stronger souls. There were other cases of normal dragons being soulless, but they were hardly mentioned.] [I see. Is this Garland person dead?] [Quite, Sire. Ajuk killed him.] [Good. The last thing I need is to have to deal with human-type dragons talking back to me. I get enough of that already.] [Sire?] [They don�t call me the King of Dragons for nothing.] [Oh!] He spread his wings as wide as he safely could. [I shall see you soon, Kitiane Dranoc III.] With a powerful leap, he was in the air and gone from sight. Zidane rolled his eyes and made a face. � No~o. Don�t talk to me; the gross little hybrid that snaps back at the Dragon King. Geez. Jerk.� I chuckled. [He probably didn�t know you could speak our language.] � Yeah right. So what�s all that about not being called �King of Dragons for nothing�?� I let him slide onto my back, then headed out of Madain Sari at a gentle trot. [Bahamut is called the King of Dragons not only because he is the most powerful of all dragons, but also because he is the father of all dragons.] � Then who�s the mother of all dragons?� [There is none.] � Then he�s a she.� [No. He�s a he.] � Then how can he be the father of all dragons if he didn�t have a mate?� [He did.] � But you just said---� [There is no mother of the dragons,] I interrupted, [just as I have no parents.] � . . . Oh. So is this all a true story or is it just a legend?� [It�s true. For several centuries, Bahamut was alone on what you call the Lost Continent. Then it was the Ice Barrens, though most of it was lush rainforest and there was only a little bit of ice at the northern ends. He�d never felt a need to leave before, so he stayed there. [One morning, he woke to the scent of a strange creature nearby. Of course, he went to check it out. At first he was all show. They got into a fight and the invader came out as the victor. When he actually looked at his opponent, he realized that it was an empress dragon. The most logical assumption is that she was from the Air Barrens--the Forgotten Continent--but that isn�t known for sure.] � So they fell in love and had a clutch and lived relatively happily ever after.� I made a face. [Not even close. They did fall in love and they did have a clutch, but they most certainly did not live �relatively happily ever after�. Bahamut was gone on a quest for food and the empress was watching the eggs. Something attacked her--probably Garland, considering what we know now--and killed her. By the time Bahamut got back, the empress was dead and half of the eggs cracked or broken. He considered killing himself, since he knew he was the only dragon alive now, but there were still eggs there that held life and needed to be kept warm.] � Mister Mother.� [Technically, yes. He gathered all of the intact eggs and moved them to another nest, then curled around them and went into a state of hibernation. When they began to hatch, he woke. From those eggs, about one-hundred-fifty, came the dragons that you see today. Those breeds, at least.] � Even swiftwings?� [Even swiftwings.] � What was the empress like?� [She was a grey. Her name, though not recorded, is thought to be Eniq.] � Cool.� *~~* I was racing through the castle in Swiftwing, though I didn�t know why. [Mother!] It wasn�t Zidane, but I was quite frantic for some reason. I had to find the one who was calling me. [Mother!] That was Zidane. It had come from the same place as the first. I sped up, straining muscles already screaming for rest. [Kitiane!] That was Tiovex. What was going on? Why were they calling me? I finally found the room. Tiovex gave me a welcoming nuzzle and Zidane was knelt by a shadowed figure, looking worriedly between them and me. [Come here. He doesn�t look too good.] I went over and Zidane moved aside. [He was running down the hall yelling for you. He came in here and hasn�t said a word since.] I felt Kuja�s forehead. [The fever returned.] I picked him up and carried him back to his room, laying him gently on his bed. [I�ll stay here with him. Maybe it�ll keep him from nosing around in a frenzy.] Zidane frowned. [Do you think he�ll ever wake up?] I shook my head. [Probably not until the fever breaks. Why?] [I�m just worried. I mean, it�s been a few months since we found him and he hasn�t been conscious once. Can�t you get brain damage or something?] [He�s not one to just give up,] Tiovex said quietly, placing a taloned hand on Zidane�s shoulder. [And he�s a dragon. I think he�ll be just fine.] I looked down at the sleeping Kuja. His wings--the purest white angel-type, like Zidane�s--twitched in a mimic of flight . . . <--Part 64 Part 66--> |