The Dragon and the Fox

It was dawn when Kira collapsed.

She lay there helplessly, her sides heaving, her tongue lolling out of her mouth. She needed water, but she was too exhausted to do anything. She would need food soon as well.

Kira closed her eyes. Then, harnessing her energy like the slowpoke it was, she raised to her feet. She sniffed the air, smelling the different scents. There were some berries not too far away. She could make it.

She stumbled along, tripping over her own tail, trying to shake the flashes of blood and screaming out of her skull. Why had she been able to escape, but everyone else was left to die? Was there something special about her, or was she just lucky?

Kira finally found the berry bush, and sat down heavily on her haunches, devouring every bit of food she could find. She was so delirious, she could barely find the individual bits of fruit.

When she was finally full, she lifted her ears, trying to hear if there was any running water nearby. She thought she heard the faintest trickle, far above her. She looked up, and was surprised to see that she was on the side of a mountain. She must have crawled into the valley, then gone up. According to her senses, the water should be located near the top of the mountain.

Kira sighed, then started her trek upwards. The food had cleared her mind a bit, and given her some energy, but she was still drained. Her paws ached, but only half as much as her heart.

It took hours. The sun was high up, almost at its peak, when Kira reached her destination. A spring of water, cold and clear. She flopped down on the bank and lapped up the water half-heartedly. Then she closed her eyes, drifting off to the nightmares that awaited her. But she could avoid them no longer.

*************

It was night again when Kira finally woke, breathing heavily from the panic of nightmares. She’d expected them, of course, but it was still frightening. Her mind was fuzzy for a moment. Why was she on top of a mountain?

Then it all came tumbling down, back into her mind. The screams. The black Dragon. Her mother, telling her to find the Dragons. An impossible quest.

Kira sobbed. She couldn’t help it. Yesterday, she’d been too shocked to shed tears, and too focused on getting away. But now she remembered her family, doomed to die at a Dragon’s jaws.

She needed somewhere to grieve.

Kira crawled to her feet and saw a promising ledge, overlooking the whole valley. She sat down, letting her sides heave. Her tears would water the ground.

She didn’t know how long she sat there, crying, feeling the stroke of moonlight across her fur, which was dirty and covered in pine needles and leaves.

“Why are you crying?” a voice asked suddenly. It was gentle, with a comforting tone full of compassion and emotion.

Kira whipped around, pinning her ears back. She scanned the trees behind her.

“It’s okay,” the voice said again. “I won’t hurt you.”

A white creature emerged into her vision, and Kira gasped.

It was the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen.

Her eyes were the most startling part about her. They were a thousand different colors, mostly blue, but specks of green and gold shimmered and flickered in and out of them. Directly below them were markings of teal and magenta, outlined thinly with gold. An elegantly curved snout was set slightly below and in between her eyes. Horns, many of them, came out behind her ears and as an extension of her forehead, glimmering gold and pearly white. Her neck curved gently up from her chest, backed by spines that somehow didn’t seem at all threatening—just part of her beauty. Her underbelly was lined with blue and teal.

Her claws didn’t seem threatening, either. They were sharp, of course (and very large, about the length of Kira’s arm), but they were just necessary, not a weapon. Her wings were tucked behind her back, but Kira could see many shades of magenta and royal blue, combined with speckles of gold and dots of teal. Her back was lined with large white spikes, and it arched gently into a tail that stretched behind her, curving gently at the tip.

“Wh...who are you?” Kira whimpered, tail tucked between her legs. This Dragon may look beautiful and harmless, but after her last encounter with Dragons, she figured that she should be careful.

“I’m Deya.” The white Dragon walked closer, making her moves slow. She dipped her head to Kira’s level, tilting it curiously. “Why are you so sad?”

Kira swallowed another wave of sobs, crouching low. “M-m-my family was killed.”

“Oh no,” Deya’s eyes filled with sadness and care. “I’m so sorry.”

Kira nodded, and then burst into tears.

Deya extended her wing to Kira and pulled her into an embrace, curling her tail around Kira protectively.

It was comforting. Kira had never embraced any of her family members, and the feelings expressed through such a simple motion caused her to cry even more. Here was a shoulder she could lean on, an entity she could trust. She felt it with every sob.

“Shhh,” Deya soothed, ducking her head sadly. She blinked, and tears rolled down her cheeks, dropping onto Kira. Feelings of comfort coursed through her, and the little white fox relaxed. A new, peaceful energy filled her heart now, replacing the raw pain she had felt before. She felt the power coursing through her body, and opened her eyes to see bright light outlining her body.

“Whoa,” she breathed. She lifted her paws and saw that they were magenta up to her forearms, with teal, gold and royal blue markings. Deya slowly lifted her embrace, and when Kira stood, she felt something soft on her back. She tried to crane her neck, but couldn’t see it.

Deya chuckled, looking surprised and amused. “You have wings.”

“I do?” Kira turned in circles, trying to see.

“Yes. Beautiful, feathered wings.”

Kira stopped her searching to gaze up at Deya. “Thank you, great Dragon.”

“It’s just Deya.” Deya smiled, and Kira found herself grinning as well.

“How...?” Kira flexed her wings opened and closed, trying to get used to having them.

“Dragon tears,” Deya answered to her question. “They have magical properties—from cleansing to gifting powers.”

“What type of Dragon are you?” Kira asked, her tail wagging. She stared at the kind soul, feeling a sort of bond between them, a friendship that went beyond the fact that this Dragon had offered her condolences to her grief.

“I am a Light Dragon,” Deya answered softly, sitting down and letting her tail curl around her talons.

“Really?” Kira looked at Deya with adoration. “Can you...can you show me?”

Deya smiled again. “Absolutely.”

She swept one wing in an arch towards the stars in the sky, and a gentle glow of color began to form. It rippled and twisted, a shimmering rainbow of colors that spiraled downwards, around Kira and Deya, and then flew up into the sky, weaving back and forth softly.

“Wow,” Kira breathed.

“May I ask what you are doing here, in the outskirts of the Fox Lands?” Deya asked gently. Kira felt the sadness return, and a few small tears slipped through her lids.

“Last night,” she started, trying not to let her voice break, “my pack was attacked. An army of rogue, new creatures invaded our lands—creatures I had never seen before. They were led by a great black Dragon, one who set fire to the forest and wreaked havoc upon all of my fellow foxes and their companions, destroying every last one. I alone escaped, and my mother told me to find the Dragons and tell them what had happened, to convince them to help. She said,” Kira choked back another sob, “she said that she was already doomed, and that the others were, too.”

Deya was silent for a moment, studying Kira, then her talons, then the moon on the horizon.

Kira looked imploringly at her, tears flowing from her eyes.

Then Deya began to sing.

Kira gaped. The sound was ethereal, an otherworldly sound. There were no words, but that didn’t matter—there didn’t need to be. It was all emotions, put into notes and on a tune that made her want to stay there forever. The notes rose and fell, echoing into the night. All noise around them stopped—no crickets, no frogs, no birds chirping. Even the wind stilled, as if everything was listening. It was music.

Deya finally closed her mouth. “I will join you.”

Kira had no words. She merely nodded.

“Come on,” Deya said gently. She nudged Kira with the tip of tail. “Let’s go save Cyalia.”