Tate woke up with a start. Night had fallen and he rubbed his eyes. The faint lingering feelings of a dream drifted away from him. He had woken up feeling happy and comfortable.
As soon as he sat up he longed to be back in that dream, whatever it was. His body hurt less but it still ached.
"You okay?" The unexpected voice of Wyen came from the darkness.
"Yes, better."
Once his eyes adjusted he could see the dragon shrouded in shadows. Faint moonlight was able to filter through the trees, chasing away absolute darkness. Instead, the forest was alive with shadows. The male dragon seemed like one of those shadows with his back propped against a tree.
He must have been on watch.
Tate glanced around and saw that Lou was lying close to him and the female dragon, Wyla, was a few feet away, seemingly asleep as well.
"What is it like?" Wyen asked.
"What do you mean?"
"The other side of the barrier, what's it like? What are we dragons like over there?"
Tate thought about it, he'd never had to put into words something that just "was" before. "Humm, Dragons are partners. Together humans and dragons create one great weapon."
Wyen was silent for a long time. "You see it as a partnership?" He sounded dubious.
Tate nodded even though he wasn't sure he could see him. "Of course, what else would we consider such a bond? A dragon hatches to one rider. That one human takes care of them until they are fully grown. We share a link of the mind." The dragon's eyes widened at that, Tate could tell because the white of his eyes shone so brightly. He continued. "A human and a dragon put their entire trust in one another. When a dragon is old enough to bear his rider they train as a unit day and night for years. Once they are ready they take to the skies as one being to protect the Empire." He knew he was spouting romantic nonsense. It was what Dragon Riding was in the minds of the Empire's people. It was the ideology he and others clung to. However, they all knew that this thinking left out the flaws, but the flaws of sacrificing your life and the life of your best friend on the altar of duty was overshadowed by their national pride and hubris. "When a human partner dies the dragon in the partnership dies the same day. When a dragon dies the human in the partnership is forever cursed to live on the ground. What else is that but not a partnership."
Wyen had his head cocked to the side and he seemed to be thinking deeply about something. In a strange voice, he finally asked. "What is appealing about two beings being bound so closely together that when one dies the other is cursed in some way?"
Tate had never thought of it like that and he really didn't have an answer. He decided it couldn't hurt to tell a little bit of the truth he'd found in his life. "My partner is dead, I'm cursed to never go into the sky again. She was with me most of my life. I can't really explain it in words but I don't regret one second of our life together, of when we shared a mind. I want to fly again more than anything, it's all I think about some days. I think that it is proper that I can't. How could I dare to let myself enjoy something when she is not here to enjoy it too? Wouldn't that be disrespectful to her memory?"
Wylen made a sound in the back of his throat. "That sounds terribly depressing if you ask me. Why would that be disrespectful, was this dragon you were bonded to a shrew? Did she ask you never to fly again? If what you're saying is true and the bond you make with those dragons is a good thing, or at least seen that way, then wouldn't that dragon want you to be happy? What if it was reversed? What if when you died she stayed alive, would you be happy to know she was miserable?"
Tate shook his head, "of course not. I-" He trailed off. "How could I ask a dragon not to fly, don't you think that's against nature?" He smiled ruefully.
"Well of course it is, but although it's against nature to fly I'd also think it's cruel to show another creature the glories of the sky and then it be ripped away from them forever. I pity you human, I really do. You were shown the domain of a dragon and now you cannot go back, it's really sad. I mean it." It was too odd to hear Wyen sound genuinely disturbed.
"Why do those dragons bond with you, have you ever asked?"
"How would they know? To my knowledge, even a dragon does not know why it hatches. Is it different for wild dragons? Come to think of it, how does a wild dragon hatch? In my world a human is practically required?"
"Blasphemy," Wyen muttered but then he went on to answer the question. "A dragonling hatches when its parents have given it enough mana and fire. Typically it takes between ten and fifteen years for an egg to hatch."
"Mana and fire? Then how do our eggs on the other side of the veil hatch? We have neither of those things, well dragon fire I guess but I've never heard of a dragon female giving her egg fire, how would she even do that? Not to mention female dragons have no interest in their eggs."
"The dragons you speak of sound strange, how could a female not care for her egg, it something wrong with them? Who takes care of the eggs if not the female?"
"We do, my family in particular. We have a vault at our home that we keep all the eggs in from the oldest to the years newest they are all kept there until it is time to see if the dragonling will pick a human."
Wyen looked very confused and slightly disgusted. "Well, that sounds like an abomination of everything a dragon is. How old is the oldest egg?"
"The oldest one we had until a few years ago was eight hundred years old."
Wyen stood. "What! That-that shouldn't be possible, a dragonling should not be in an egg that long. They would be unstable when they are hatched."
"Why? It's not that uncommon."
"It is in the wild. An egg that has gone on for over three hundred years is considered a dud. In our history dragonlings who hatch from such eggs are not in their right minds. They spent to much time in the aura scape."
"The aura scape? What is that?"
"A dragonling in an egg is fully formed. Their minds are active just like yours and mind. It is not uncommon for a dragon to recover their memories in their egg when they reach the third awakening." Tate assumed this was the same as the third ascension. "Basically there was a life of dreaming, that is what is going on in the aura scape. It's a very instinctual place, many of the dreams, when remembered, had to do with a dragon's base instincts, to hunt, kill, and dominate those weaker than it. That is why eggs usually only stay in that state for ten to fifteen years it's considered the ideal time for a dragon to develop instincts without becoming uncontainable when they reach their adult awakening."
"I've never heard of a dragon recalling their memories in the egg. I've also never known a dragon to go out of control."
"Hummm, this is interesting human. Bizzare, but intersting. I've always wondered what my kind on the other side were like. I had an idea based on the ones that returned, but what you've said makes me more curious than ever."
"Wyen, hush. Don't say more than you should." Wyla was apparently not asleep. Tate had to wonder what exactly she was getting onto him about. Was the dragons of the human realm a taboo subject in the wilds? He also had to wonder what Wyen had meant by the "ones that returned" but didn't feel like he would find out right now since Wyla was awake.
"So I suppose, it is true that all dragons came from here originally. Were dragons native to the human realm before the veil, I mean barrier, was put in place?"
"They were, but dragons are native everywhere. We are the original owners of all land after all." Wyla said with a snap in her voice. "Go back to sleep, human. If you don't then I'm going to assume you are ready to begin travel again. This time we won't stop even if you pull what you did last time."
Tate sighed and gingerly laid back down. "Fine, just a few more minutes." His eyes started to close in sleep not long after but just before he lost consciousness he did hear her whisper to her brother.
"Hold your tongue, Wyen. If he doesn't know why the barrier exists it's not our place to tell him. I don't want to deal with the repercussions. Next time think before you speak."