The Call of Dragons

8

Raiya

Speaker Julian was sitting at his usual table, several books and parchments spread out before him. He appeared to be peering over a map, tracing the western ocean, and mumbling to himself.

“Good afternoon, Speaker Julian. What are you doing?” Raiya greeted him waiting patiently for his acknowledgement.

He glanced up surprised. “Raiya, good afternoon child! Is it already time to meet? I was just doing some light research,” he said, hastily rolling up the map and tucking it away. “Do you remember what we learned about last week by the chance?”

“We talked about what the different colors of the dragons represented and the different roles they have in the fortresses,” Raiya responded dutifully.

He gestured for her to sit, and she did so before he said, “Very good yes. And so, can you tell me the specifics about each of the dragons? Are you able to easily identify them?”

Raiya thought back to the lesson, frowning in concentration. “Um, well, the Queens are usually shades of gold, right? But some can be shades of white and silver. They are the biggest out of all genders, usually an average of seventy feet. But there were records of larger ones though they are now lost to us. Also, for some reason, not just the Queens but all dragons have been growing smaller and smaller over the years. Most Queens in this generation are lucky to reach up to eighty or ninety feet long. Well, the few that are born.”

“Very good Raiya. Indeed, the Queens of this generation are smaller than those of their ancestors, but they are still formidable. From what we’ve gathered, the shortage of Queens eggs being laid is tied to the shortage of dragons in general. Smaller clutches spread far in between reduce the chances of a Queen or a Prince egg being laid. We don’t yet know why this is the case, but we hope to fix this soon.” He removed his glasses, using the soft cloth of his robes to clean them. “Don’t tell Emeline I do this; she’ll have a fit knowing I was using her creation as a tool to clean my glasses with.”

“My lips are sealed,” Raiya assured him, giggling.

“Very good, very good. Now, then,” he said, putting back on his glasses and steepling his fingers, peering at the girl seated before him. “Since you’ve started with the female dragons, can you tell me about the others aside from the Queen?”

“Well, the next biggest female dragon is the WarFury. Though they are smaller than their male counterparts, they are faster and more agile. Because they often breathe fire and are in combat, they can’t lay eggs like the Queens. They come in light pastel colors, usually green or purple. There are a few other shades, but they are rarer, like pink.”

Raiya was quite proud of her ability to recite what she learned flawlessly, and she always enjoyed the praise Julian would shower her with when she did so. Like now where he gently patted her head and smiled that smile, she had come to love to see.

“Yes, quite so! Some will argue and say that the dragons in the War category were designed for battle purposes only and therefore not designed to conceive, but how can the WarMasters mate with the Queens then? No, only the WarFuries seemed to suffer under this constraint and the reason being is this.” From under the table, he produced a shimmering clear, white crystal, its shards snaking off in different directions. “Do you know what this is?” he asked the girl, taking note of the wonder on her face.

“That’s what Sibilla fed Shegil at the Hatching Ceremony. It’s some sort of crystal right?” she said hesitantly.

“Yes, it is a crystal. Not very pretty compared to the beautiful gems and other crystals we’ve recreated or found on this planet though, right?”

“It’s very plain,” she agreed with him. “But that’s how the dragons breathe fire, right?” As she peered closer at the crystal, she couldn’t help but wonder how this tiny thing allowed the dragons to breathe their destructive flames.

“Yes, as you witnessed at the Hatching Ceremony."

Raiya nodded her head, remembering the large bucket filled with the same white crystals.

“It’s called a piezoelectric quartz crystal,” he explained, handing it to her so she could feel and examine it closely. “When under pressure, it produces a spark that, when mixed with flammable chemicals, can produce fire.”

“So, dragons produce those chemicals when they eat them?”

“Yes, dragons naturally have methane in their stomachs. When they eat the crystals, they regurgitate the methane and produce fire. You could almost say that dragons breathe fire by vomiting.” He smiled wryly at her disgusted expression. “Science is complicated. Biology even more so. That’s simply how they were modified. Do you know that how they breathe fire is different from the native Gerian dragons?” When she nodded her head, he looked a bit surprised. “Sibilla must have told you then. So, you already know the details on how the original dragons could breathe fire without the help of humans. This difference is one of a few major key changes. Perhaps this was our ancestors’ attempt to muzzle such a destructive weapon by forcing it to only produce the fire at their own discretion. The more pushed explanation is that we simply needed to design the dragons to have larger flight bladders. Larger flight bladders equal more methane production equals bigger, hotter bursts of flame. Especially important during the times of war when a dragon’s fire was the only thing that could sear the deadliest weapon ever faced by our ancestors.”

“So, then, wouldn’t they want as many female dragons as possible to produce eggs? To create more dragons?” she asked curious. It made no sense to her to limit the creation of more dragons, especially as they were now suffering for it currently.

“Well Raiya, you see, if we did have the option to produce that many dragons, how could we take care of them? How would there be a balance to this world? That’s too many weapons easily created and easily used. The destruction of the Age of Calamity would have been far more catastrophic, extinction would not have been out of the question. No, it’s better to have each of the dragons fall into a specific category with specific jobs. Queens are meant to lay the eggs, the War dragons are meant to fight the threats fortresses face, and Specialists have their jobs throughout the fortress. That is what they were modified into so to speak by our own ancestors. It’s hard to tell you the exact details naturally because we ourselves don’t know, not unless we can recover the data they left behind unfortunately. All we know is that the dragons were each uniquely designed for their specific purposes. It’s impossible for WarFuries and female Specialists to lay eggs, they don’t have the capacity to do so. Do you understand?”

“I want to say I do, but I don’t think so,” she confessed truthfully. “How is that possible? The Queens breathe fire after all.”

"Yes, it is true the Queens can breathe fire if they ingest these crystals. But they are not allowed to do so when they are pregnant. It is not the fire-breathing or these crystals, but the dragons themselves. WarFuries and female Specialists are sterile. They do not possess a reproduction system. If I could just find anything on the tools, the science, and the knowledge our ancestors had access to that allowed them to do this or even properly explained what they had done, it would be easier for all of us to understand. All I know of them, aside from their advanced tools and knowledge, was that they were able to travel to different planets, colonize them, and create foundations such as the ones we are currently abiding on. You could say they became like gods, even creating new life and changing old ones. It's all something we have lost over the centuries. Much of it was simply hidden by them and the rest destroyed during all the wars, especially during the Calamity. It's truly unfortunate. I’d love to just get my hands on one journal written by those geneticists and see why they chose to design these marvelous creatures this way in comparison to the native dragons!”

Raiya found this newfound news to be horrible. Swallowing her disgust at the mutilation of the noble creatures, she asked, “Where might they have hidden it that no one has discovered it after all this time?”

He spread his hands, shrugging. “Obviously somewhere well-hidden. But the true likelihood is that they were destroyed alongside the majority of other texts. Unless someone had already placed them within a hidden, extremely protective vault safe from fire or prying eyes… Or perhaps we are just looking for the wrong thing, maybe what we seek is not a paper-bound book but something else they recorded the information on. Maybe it’s coded on some intricate tapestry that’s hanging in lord’s hall. But now it’s time for us to talk about the male dragons.”

“Well, they come in darker colors, mostly blues, browns, and reds. A ruling Queen at a fortress is called an ‘Empress,’ and the ruling Queen’s mate is known as the ‘Emperor.’ Only WarMasters and Princes can mate with a Queen and obtain that title. WarMasters are larger and stronger than their female counterparts and have more stamina but are slower and less agile in the air. Male Specialists are similar in size and speed to female ones. Lastly, you have the Princes, the rarest of all dragons. They say there have only ever been three in our entire history, four now with Nymerik’s birth. Why do they exist by the way?” she asked him, tilting her head. “What purpose do the Princes serve and why are they treated as highly as the Queens if not higher?”

“Nature is tricky, very tricky indeed. These genetically modified dragons of ours still contain the DNA of the native Gerian dragons. Very rarely, a dragon is born that hasn’t been tampered with so to speak. Yet what’s even stranger is that it only is a male and comes in one color, onyx black with hints of midnight blue.”

“Wait, wait,” Raiya began, putting her hands on the table while forcing away her excitement. “Are you saying Princes are natural dragons? Like the native ones that lived here before. The gods of this world? How can you tell?”

“Yes and no. If you believe dragons are gods, than yes, the native dragons and all the Princes would be considered as such. But yes, the Princes are unmodified dragons much to the surprise of everyone. As for how you can tell, well, the simplest answer is that Nymerik can breathe fire without needing any crystals. That is a trait only the native dragons are able to do. I'm sure there are other telling traits, but we ourselves don't have much to compare him with. How is this possible, you might then ask? We don’t know. If they ever wrote it down, it’s also lost to history. You can now see why they are the rarest of dragons and the most coveted by the fortresses. How would it feel to have a ‘god’ in your possession?” He put up a hand to stop the emerging question from spilling forth. “But we are not going to talk further about this today, we’ve already distracted ourselves enough. Tell me about the roles of the dragons, quickly.”

“Queens are to lay eggs and be a figurehead for the fortresses. WarMasters and WarFuries are combat-oriented dragons and the ones that are found in the squads located in the barracks of each fortress. Specialists are dragons that provide helpful services, such as transportation, construction, agriculture, and so forth. Princes… I’m still not entirely sure. They are combat-oriented dragons that serve as another figurehead for fortresses, I guess.”

“Well, Raiya, congratulations are in order. You now have a good basic grasp on the hierarchy of the dragons and their physiology. You’ve already learned about their telepathic capabilities, but did you know about their telekinetic ones? No?” he said as she shook her head. “Excellent. And so, we start our lesson for this afternoon. Dragons. Amazing creatures really. You see, scientifically speaking, these dragons would not be able to fly. Not with their huge size, it’s impossible even with their flight bladders! No, instead they subconsciously use telekinesis to help keep themselves afloat. Fun fact, Specialists have the highest capability for telekinesis, able to move objects about with a great degree of control.”

“Specialists are certainly special,” she said and then broke out into giggles at her own joke. Julian laughed, clapping his hands, and then wincing at the stern look a scholar cast their way, unappreciative of the noise they were making.

“Sorry,” he mouthed at him, before turning back to Raiya. “We’re sure all of these dragons are capable of more. We just don’t know the full details of their modifications.”

“I wonder if we will ever gain back the knowledge we lost,” she said, placing her chin in her hand.

“I believe in time we can. If we can find even a single one of those lost texts, if any survived, shoved into libraries or dusty archives, we will be leagues closer.”

“Well, I want to help in finding out about them too. I’m interested in them because of you now,” she said shyly.

“Maybe you will be luckier than I in the task. Now, we’ll end our lesson here today because I have an announcement to share with you and then take care of. First, the reason I tested you just now is because the date has been set for your official announcement and testing to become an acolyte. Speakers and their own acolytes will be arriving from the guild and fortresses within the fortnight for the event.”

Raiya sat up immediately in shock. “Wait, so soon? But I’m not ready!”

“Did you not hear yourself earlier? I consider you ready and it’ll open more doors for you. Besides, we have to confirm your standing as an acolyte quickly or what we’re doing here is technically illegal.”

“You’re not supposed to be teaching me?” she asked, surprised. “What happens if they find out?”

“Nothing bad. It’s just my standing within the community will be irrevocably damaged beyond repair and I’ll spend the rest of my days scorned by my fellow Speakers and perhaps stripped of my position.” His jovial smile did not at all fit the words he just spoke.

“Why would you risk all that for me? Couldn’t we have waited?!” she cried out, rising to her feet in protest.

“Sit down child, before that scholarly gentleman decides to come over here and politely kick us both out for causing a ruckus. If I waited, would you have been ready for the tests? I think not. Let me be frank here, Raiya. They are coming for an entire week, and, during that entire week, you will be examined, monitored, and tested in every way. If you prove yourself acceptable enough, they will vote for you. Should you fail to impress, votes will be cast against, and your background does you no favors. Normally, regardless of what you do, the fact that you have the ability to speak with dragons would automatically have them vote for you. You face more of a hurdle than others because they will not want someone from the lower-class to rise high. They will look down on you, be harsh with you, and try to trip you up thinking you are uneducated and belong at the bottom. It’ll be anything but fair so, why should we play fair ourselves?”

She sat down again, feeling icy cold. “Then, is there a point to even trying? Won’t they just fail me regardless?”

Julian hummed thoughtfully before saying, “I can understand why you might think this. Under normal circumstances, you would have been announced upon discovery immediately and then tested later. Normal circumstances implying you were from the upper or middle-class. But don’t worry, I’ve pulled a few strings myself to ensure we give you the fairest trial possible. The main Speaker presiding over this is the least biased one out there considering he is the Guild Master. He may give you a hard time, but his judgement will be fair and unbiased. That’s why I’m preparing you so that you have even more of a chance. Before I let you go now, I want you to study the leaders of all the fortresses. You must know both their and their dragons’ names. Bonus points if you can list a few of the previous ones.”

“At least I don’t have to list the people on the Council,” she sighed gratefully.

“On second thought, with your amazing memory, add those in too.”

Raiya wanted to smack herself for even saying anything at all. She groaned and stood up. “I’ll just get going then,” she mumbled, hasty to leave before he added more work.

“Bring me a list of them in four days!” he called out behind her retreating form. “Geria’s blessings be upon you child!”

She scowled, resisting the urge to turn around and shake her fist at the man or stick out her tongue. The adults had been right, becoming a Speaker was a lot more work than she’d have liked it to be.