8 comments/ 8885 views/ 11 favorites Dragons of Arasme Ch. 01 By: GaleintheWind Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to read my story! This is my first submission here on Lit and I hope you enjoy it. This is submitted without an editor but I have done my best to correct things myself. New chapters will be submitted monthly though perhaps quicker if my children decide to actually take naps. Again I hope you enjoy, and without it being said, though there is no sex in this chapter it will come and all participating peoples will be 18 or older. Feel free to leave your comments! Enjoy! **************** I clutched my stomach as I ran, trying in vain to help steady the weight there but as I was nearing the time of birthing my attempts did little to help my flight. I panted heavily as I ran, my breathing short and ragged after running all through the night. The twin suns were rising and their violet and emerald hues were starting to color the horizon in front of me. It meant that my departure would be discovered soon and a search party would be sent for me. I scrambled up a steep incline, the sand of the dune shifting beneath my feet trying to pull me down, but I dug deep with my hands and feet and reached the top. I paused only for a second before starting to travel on top of the dune, I needed to find shelter soon before the suns were too high in the azure sky that they hindered my flight, and I needed to find some place to tend my wound, if I didn't soon it would fester. Hours passed and the suns were nearly directly overhead before I saw shelter, a small cave barely visible over the swirling sands of the dar'ha. I made my way slowly there, the wound in my shoulder slowing me as I shielded my eyes from the storm. Despite the fact that the storm would cover my trail from any hunters that would be set upon me, it was draining what little strength I had left. My waters had ruptured as I had climbed a dune only a few shades of time earlier. Labor was slow too start, but it was progressing steadily now and I found myself more afraid for the child I carried than for my own life now. A mage, the priestess had said, one of the first since the time of the great Are'lisha, when the last great magicians had dueled and defeated each other leaving magic only to the great beasts of our world. She would have been taken from me at birth, and had she not been killed in the battles that would have taken place as different kingdoms sought to add magic to their arsenals, she would have lived a life of suffering as her magic was bled into whatever vessels the alchemists could find that would carry it. I don't know what element she would wield, but I knew she would be a strong mage. I could feel her lending me her strength as I struggled to reach the cave, finally coming to rest out of the stinging swirls of sand a few stride lengths into the opening. I laid heavily on the cool stone floor, allowing the coldness to steep into my warm body, but I didn't linger for too long as the fear of the impending birth invaded my mind. I needed to move further into this cave system to give myself protection from discovery from any of the sand tribes that roamed the dar'ha, the sand storm would keep their movements limited for now. I crept closer to the back of the cave, following the twisting of the tunnel, the air holding moisture and the temperature slowly climbing. A tunnel spurred out from this main branch and I turned to follow it, hoping that I would find the hot spring I was now sure this cave contained. I touched the walls of the tunnel, relieved to find them slick with moisture, I tried to speed up my progress in the hopes that I would make it to the warm waters for the birthing, but another contraction rocked through my body spilling more of the fluids of my womb onto the ground below. Clenching my teeth I struggled to walk further and just as my legs began to give way I stumbled into a giant open cavern. The cavern was magnificent, the walls and ceiling glittering with gemstones that radiated with their own internal light. Bright tourmas as big as the hand of a full grown man shone radiantly besides armarines of equal size. I would have loved to wander towards the walls, gently touching the stones as i explored the room, but another sharp pain brought my mind back to the reality that my daughter was eagerly and impatiently fighting her way into this world, and this cavern, would shelter my newborn Mage. I crept forward towards the pool of water that took of much of the space of the cavern. The bottom itself was alit with jewels reflecting their light back through the water to compete with their land bound counter parts. I hesitated only slight as I began to remove my clothing. Blood flowed anew from the wound in my shoulder, seeping its way into my clothing and to run slowly down my side, my movements in the removal of my garments agitating what fluids and sands had encrusted together to close it. I dropped my clothing where I stood and gently place a foot into the warm water, pausing here and there in my attempt to submerge at least the distended portion of my lower half as a contraction weaved it's way through my body. I did finally come to rest almost halfway into the water, resting lightly on a shelf that supported my weight. I turned to sort through my clothing pulling out the cleanest of my garments, an under shirt and wrap, to cloth and swaddle my daughter with after her birth. Contractions spread up, grabbing my body with their painful waves but I could feel the changes they were making, and the pressure was so great I knew I was close to expelling my daughter into the warmth of this small world that would quickly turn cold. My fingers gripped the ledge as I moved to squat on the shelf, my hips releasing their restriction and with a slight push I felt my daughter's head come through. Using a hand and giving another strong push I looked down as I helped my small daughter breech the surface and take her first breath. Her first cry was strong and brought tears to my eyes. She was beautiful, her skin already holding a dusky glow from my people, her mouth and nose tiny replicas of my own, and as her cries suddenly ceased and her eyes opened I sucked in my breath. Her eyes were magic, their color slowly shifting between blues and greens to every shade between. A water Mage, a healer. Slowly I placed her small body on my clean under garments, swaddling her tightly after I severed the cord between us. She stayed strangely silent and I could feel a tingling numbness run through my body radiating out through my body starting at my wounded shoulder. My vision clouded and I struggled to keep my eyes open and my gaze upon my beautiful daughter, the last thing I heard was my daughter's high pitched wail. This one was different, and as I felt the water closed over my face and strange warmth fill me, I knew that there would be no waking from this sleep. A whispered voice touched my mind "Do not fear, I will keep watch over your youngling. Rest now." Calm filled me and I ceased to struggle as the darkness claimed me. Dragons of Arasme Ch. 02 Hello again everyone, I know I said it might be a month before I posted a new chapter but I decided to go ahead and submit again after I got bit by the inspiration bug and my children took a nap. I hope you all enjoy this and feel free to leave comments or send me a message. If you are interested in perhaps exiting my story please message me as I am looking for someone to help out, there are only so many errors I can catch myself! Anyways, enjoy! There is no sex in the chapter, but when it does happen all peoples involved will be 18 or older. **************** Footsteps pulled me from my deep slumber, my dreamless sleep ruined now by the slight sound. At first I thought it was the people of the dar'ha coming to try and pry the jewels from my scales, or even to try and take my scales themselves, but slowly as my sleep clouded mind cleared I realized it was only a single female. She was heavily pregnant and from the smell of her, she was not far from pushing her child into this world. I raised my head slowly letting the sand that accumulated during my sleep cascade in soundless waves down my spiked neck to pool on either side of my powerful shoulders. I fought the urge to stretch my cramped wings, though I did slowly stretch my tail allowing each bone to settle silently back into place. The woman did not hear any of my movements and when the smell of her blood wafted past my nostrils I understood why. Injured and in the midst of her birthing I could have roared to the heavens and I have doubts she would have heard me. As it was she had yet to notice my large form nestled amongst the rocks. I watched as she removed her clothing, shaking silently in rage as I noticed the marks of her pregnancy on her skin, mixed with the marks of slavery. Bright red gashes marred her back and her legs, some of them reaching around her sides to mingle with the marks left on her body as proof of her pregnancy. My alabaster scales colored brightly and it took much to stop myself from roaring in anger. Her shoulder had been pierced through and I could tell it was from a wound meant to impede her escape from whomever it was that had tormented her. Markings around her ankles, no doubt from manacles, were rubbed raw from the sand and her sweat causing her shuffling gate as she limped in her movements. She slipped into an unknown pool that had not been there during the beginning of my slumber, but as I had been asleep for almost a thousand cycles of the seasons I knew that things were apt to change in the times. My own cavern had changed drastically and I had a fleeting thought as to what the outside world would be like when I ventured forth. My attention quickly focused back on the woman as I heard her try to muffle her cries as she began pushing against the pressure of her child's birth. It was only moments to me before I heard the small scream but it was seconds before that that had my wings opening as I reeled backwards in surprise. I had felt the touch of new magic as it joined the world, seeking out the closest magical presence it could sense...myself. It was difficult to comprehend that such a magical touch, a small caress really, would be coming from a human baby. Craning my long neck towards the source, I looked on as her small face broke the surface of the pool. She was small, but compared to the one dragonet I had birthed, she was tiny. Her miniature nose was pert, and the mouth that was opened in a single wailing cry would one day grow into a set of full and wide lips. Her skin was uncharacteristically light for the tribes I knew to live around the dar'ha and it gave me wonder as to how far her mother might have traveled in her flight. A full head of dark mahogany hair topped her head, her soaked locks were wavy and I had the feeling that her hair would curl wildly. Her eyes opened and as she looked at her mother for the first time, my reptilian features softened. They were the same swirling and changing blue-green as my own late child's, marking her sphere as one of the waves. It had been many, many cycles of seasons since I had felt the slightest care for any of the other creatures who inhabited my realms, but this miniature Mage had my heart within her tiny fingers from the moment those eyes connected with my own. Her magic flowed around her seeking comfort within the folds of my own that I held close and the larger amount I had stored below her, far beneath the pool in which she was born, in a large node just ready to be harnessed. I felt her as she attempted to heal her mother instinctually but the feat quickly drained her, her small magic not up to being used so forcefully, so I gently pushed more towards her to see if her natural instincts would guide her. Her eyes glowed and I could feel her surrounding her mother with a calming touch even as she was placed in clean cloths and swaddled. Her mother was fading and I moved out of my place of watching to stand close to the small Mage. She was starting to sweat with the amount of exertion she was putting forth to heal her mother, and it was working. Even through the water I could see her shoulder wound closing. Dipping a talon lightly into the water I pulled from my stored magic beneath me to enchant the water, and as the mage's mother sunk to the shallow bottom I whispered into her mind, "Do not fear, I will keep watch over your youngling. Rest now." A smile drifted gently across her face and as I felt her go I gently blew across the top of the pool, crystallizing the resting place of the mage's mother. Turning my head and gazing at the now sleeping Mage I called upon magic I had only used twice in my long lifetime. Mists appeared around my feet as I gently called the magic foreword in my mind, it swirled through my limbs, gently lifting in the still air to wrap itself around my body moving slowly to encompass my long tail and neck, and lastly enclosing over my face. I closed my eyes as the mist began to glow and I could feel the effects of the magic on my body now. My tail was quickly gone, absorbed into my body as my bones shifted to become upright. My talons receded and my neck shorted, my snout receded into my face quickly forming into more human features. As the last of the magic was completed, I looked into the crystal to appraise my human form. My hair was much longer than the last time I had performed this spell, and the face a little older, but I was still what most humans would consider attractive. Full lips, the color of the coral from the Amur seas pursed slightly as I surveyed my form. My hair was completely white, a testament to my alabaster scales, and my eyes a pure violet, a gem that held my magic as well as bound itself within my scales. My figure was one to be envied and I could only chuckle at myself as I thought of what a thousand cycles of the seasons without eating would do. Shaking my head at myself I turned my attention to my small charge. I had decided that I would raise her as my own, and when the time came take her to the aerie so that she could find a teacher in her sphere that was more skilled in the magic of the waves, I would be the one to carry her and plead her case. It would be difficult as most of my draconian siblings had turned their back on humanity after the last two great mages who were trained at the aerie turned a petty squabble between them into a war that encompassed the whole realms, effectively killing the magic held within humans. Many would want to kill her on site for the past crimes against my people that were performed by the last mages. Dragons had been enslaved, their magic bled to fuel the wars. Many were killed, even my own child taken from my chamber and bled of her magic right outside of my wards, it was a terrible time until the dragons as a mass began purging the mages who had turned their magic on each other. It was as bloody time, and one I would rather not relive. I bent down to pick up my young Mage, gently brushing her long locks back. Just the touch to her had my magic tingling and reaching for her, and I knew that it was claiming her as its own. Gently I bent down to place a small kiss on her forehead, and as I pulled away I smiled at the faint swirling design that appeared at her temple, winding its way to her shoulder, following her hairline closely. It was a mark that would let everyone who knew it know that she was under my protection, my magic brushing over her skin to help shield her from any harm that would try to come to her. Eventually her own design would start to weave its way in with my mark, combining our magic until a time that my mark faded and her own magic guarded her solely on her own. I whispered softly, giving her a name that would be closely guarded, one that no other mage but myself would be privy to, a name held power and sway over oneself. Should someone learn of her true name it would give them the power to take her magic as her own. "Arasme, you have been entrusted to me, and I pledge my life to you little one." at my simple words my magic flared out around me, encompassing Arasme in a faint purple light which quickly faded on her skin. I looked towards the crystalline structure topping her mother's resting place. "Sleep well mother of Arasme." I felt her approval as I turned to walk out of the cavern, seeking a new life for both myself and my new charge. I failed to notice the slight violet glow emitting from the pool below the crystalline structure, lighting it delicately in the darkness of the cavern as my magic pulled away from its living places in the various jewels around the cavern. It was time for Arasme's journey to truly begin.