Mist Dragon, page 18
part #5 of Dragon Misfits Series
It was something he had taken to doing when needing an illusion. It was the easiest of the illusions he had formed, and it was also one of the more powerful ones because he knew it so well. He could create the illusion, the cold and ice, and the wind.
“Jason?”
He glanced back and saw Sarah and William huddled together.
He shifted the illusion, adding a heavy cloak that would keep them warm. He didn’t need to do anything more than give them a different reality.
He held onto the illusion otherwise and could feel it solidifying around him.
He needed the power of that illusion to hold the dragons. He pulled the iron dragon into it.
Suddenly, the iron dragon was there in front of him. Jason held out his hand, and the iron dragon turned to him, a look passing between them. The iron dragon understood this was an illusion, but he also understood that Jason held him there.
“Where are they?” Jason asked the iron dragon.
“Near,” the iron dragon said.
“I can’t see them,” he said.
Wind continued to swirl, and Jason searched through it, looking for signs of the earth dragons. By holding on to the wind and using the way it swirled around him, Jason could make out a change where the landscape was altered. In the distance, he could make out one of the dragons.
He was smaller than Jason had expected. Here he had thought the dragons he’d seen in the forest were massive, but this didn’t seem all that large. He could feel something from them, a connection to the ground.
Jason summoned even more power, pulling it into the illusion, solidifying it around him. As it fortified him, the snow and ice and everything coalesced. The wind gusted, powerful and sharp. Jason pulled the earth dragon toward him.
There was another, and though he was distantly aware of it, he didn’t see it.
He focused on one only.
Within the illusion, the earth dragon might be able to harm him, but Jason was in control. The ground rumbled, and the dragon tried to thrash at him, but Jason settled the wind around it, creating a bubble of air. The cold was still there, but now the snow drifted with small flakes that fluttered in the air.
He held out his hand. “You don’t have to fight anymore,” he said, holding his hand out to the dragon.
The dragon rumbled, and the ground thrashed again.
Jason simply waited.
“What did you do?” the dragon rumbled, his voice a deep sound, almost as if the earth was speaking to him.
“I didn’t do anything to you. I wanted a chance to talk. I don’t know what Lorren has said to you, but you don’t have to fight us. You don’t have to kill other dragons.”
The dragon thrashed, rumbling, but Jason held the wind around him along with the illusion, giving the dragon only so much space before he was forced to turn back around. It required a considerable pull of power. He didn’t know how long he would be able to hold it. This illusion required more energy than he’d used before.
“You don’t have to fight anymore,” Jason said again.
“You would harm us,” the dragon said.
Jason held out his hand and tried to think of whether there was another way to form the illusion to embrace the power of the earth dragon. He didn’t know if he could. Instead, he focused on the earth dragon, the power within him, and tried to understand him. If he could understand the dragon, a way of connecting to what made them special, he thought he could help.
The earth dragon was bound to the earth. He had to use that somehow.
There was a deep trembling. For a moment, Jason thought the earth dragon tried to fight him and the illusion, but he realized that it came from the dragon and radiated outward. He focused on that trembling and the energy within it.
“You can work with us,” Jason said, attempting to soothe the dragon.
The trembling intensified.
He had to find another approach that would allow the dragon to recognize he wasn’t going to harm him.
First, he had to place this dragon inside another illusion.
He had no idea what was happening outside this illusion, whether the earth dragon had harmed the iron dragon. Within the illusion, he could keep them separate. He created another pocket of illusion, putting this earth dragon inside it and everything else outside it. Within this pocket of illusion, Jason created a vast expanse of snow and ice. He focused on the dragon. Then he turned it. The dragon needed a connection to the earth itself, and a familiarity with his surroundings.
He created a series of tunnels. Within one, the walls of the tunnels surrounded the earth dragon, and Jason stood in front of it. It was dark, but he created a hint of pale yellow light around him that was enough for him to see.
The trembling within the earth dragon shifted again.
Pressure pushed against the illusion, as if the earth dragon tried to test whether he could overpower Jason, but he maintained his hold.
“You don’t have to fight,” Jason said.
“What are you doing to me?” There was more anger in the earth dragon’s voice, and rage filled him.
This wasn’t the right illusion.
Jason shifted it quickly, creating a meadow. There was a forest in the background, and he thought of the forest dragon and the power that existed there. Flowers filled the meadow, and he could practically smell them growing. There was an energy and vibrancy here. Jason embraced that power and the way that it filled him. He turned to the earth dragon and waited, testing whether the earth dragon might fight.
The trembling began to ease.
Jason shifted the illusion slightly. He added a bright sun shining down, warm and comforting. The earth dragon trembled, though it was less of a trembling and more of a shiver.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it?” Jason thought he understood. Lorren forced the earth dragons to move through the earth, but they wanted the sunlight. They wanted the warmth. They wanted to be out in the open.
He looked at the dragon. In addition to his grayish sides, long, slender body, and big, chunky legs, he had strange-looking wings.
“I can help you,” Jason said.
“You would use me,” the dragon rumbled. “You would do the same as the others. He is the only one who has kept us safe.”
Jason shook his head. “You’ve seen what I’ve done with the other dragons.”
He shifted the illusion again, this time adding the iron dragon. He held his hand up, hoping it wasn’t necessary. The iron dragon recognized what Jason did, and could feel the connection between them, and seemed to know just what Jason wanted.
“This is another dragon like yourself. He is powerful, much like you are powerful.”
“He tells me I’m not powerful.”
Jason smiled, holding his hand out. “But you are. I can feel it. The energy within you is incredibly powerful.”
Everything started to tremble. Jason thought it came from the earth dragon attempting to break free of the illusion, but that wasn’t it. He shifted his attention outside the pocket of the illusion and realized where it came from. It was the other earth dragon. It was trying to break through what Jason did, attempting to penetrate this illusion. Were it to do so, the two dragons together might be impossible to slow. He needed to keep them separate to allow himself to communicate with this dragon and stop its attack. He doubted he had much time remaining, as he could feel the energy building.
If he lost his illusion, if it faded, Jason would fail.
He had to hold the meadow, the warm sun, the comfort of everything around him.
He turned his attention back to the earth dragon and smiled. “You are incredibly powerful. Think about what he has asked of you. He has asked you to control dragons he can’t.”
“He says that is the price we must pay,” the earth dragon said.
“The price for what?”
“For our existence.”
Jason frowned, watching him. “Why would he say that?”
“Because we are abominations.”
Jason’s breath caught. More than ever, he hated Lorren and what he did to the dragons. “You are not.”
“We aren’t like the others. That is why he gathers us.”
Jason started toward the dragon, ignoring the trembling rolling through him that came up from the earth. The longer he waited, the more danger he was in. He tried to maintain his connection to this dragon, to find energy within him to hold onto this communication. He could feel his illusion starting to shimmer. It started on the outskirts of the image, enough that he knew he couldn’t maintain it much longer.
He turned the iron dragon and pulled power through him. It was a gamble. The iron dragon was still underground, trapped by these earth dragons. Despite everything he had created within the illusion, the dragon remained held, trapped and possibly suffering. By borrowing power from him, Jason ran the risk of pulling on too much of his energy. Still, the iron dragon pressed back, giving Jason permission. He used that energy to solidify the illusion around them.
“You aren’t an abomination,” Jason said. It was terrible that he even had to say that. “You are different, but so is the iron dragon. So am I. All dragons are different.”
“Not all dragons are different,” the earth dragon said. Power pressed against him, and Jason could feel the illusion slipping. He borrowed even more power, but it was beginning to fail him altogether. He didn’t know how much longer he could hold onto it.
A different thought came to him, one he hadn’t considered before. What if Lorren wasn’t commanding them? He thought Lorren was involved, but perhaps there was something more.
“How much do you do on his behalf?”
“He tells us what we need to do.”
“Why?”
“Because we are different. We must remove the others.”
“But why?” Jason asked.
The ground trembled even more. The illusion shimmered, and Jason solidified it. He could feel that he didn’t have much time.
“You don’t have to fight the other dragons. They are not the enemy,” he said.
“Enemy?”
Jason nodded. “The other dragons aren’t your enemy. They have been used and controlled. All they want is to be free. Why would you need to fight them?”
The dragon trembled. This time, Jason felt the energy within it differently. It wasn’t pushing against the illusion. He held his hand out, resting it on the dragon’s side, feeling the energy within him. The dragon continued to tremble, and Jason smiled at him.
“You could help,” Jason said.
“Why would I help?”
“Because you’re different. You could help those that are different. You could help those who need to be protected like you.”
“The other dragons don’t need to be protected. They’re powerful.”
“And you are powerful,” Jason said. “You destroyed the others. You’re trapping the iron dragon. That is power.”
“He tells us that we—”
The trembling rumbled more powerfully than before. It was enough that Jason lost control over his illusion for a moment. It flickered, and when it did, the earth dragon inside the illusion raged. Power trembled from within it.
Jason turned to the earth dragon. “Please. You don’t have to harm the other dragons.” The effect of the illusion continued to fade. “Just release the iron dragon. He isn’t like the others. He’s different. Much like you.”
Jason didn’t know if it would even work, but he could feel the sense of hesitation within the dragon. He took a chance and used a connection to the iron and ice dragons and created a washing of the two that worked through the earth dragon. As he did, he tried to strip off any influence, but didn’t feel anything there. There was only the sense of the earth dragon’s emotions. Jason twisted the connection he held, trying to add something more so that he could wrap around that energy and tie it to him, but he then started to feel resistance.
Trembling within the earth dragon forced Jason back.
He staggered, the illusion fading.
“Please. Don’t harm the iron dragon. He’s my friend.”
They were the last words Jason said before the illusion shattered.
He stood once more in the clearing. William and Sarah were there, both grabbing for his arms and bracing themselves.
Jason turned to them. “I don’t know if it was enough.”
“What did you do to the dragons?” William asked. “All I saw was snow.”
“I tried to trap one of the earth dragons inside the illusion to give me a chance to talk with him, but…”
It wasn’t enough. Jason hadn’t been able to reach that dragon.
He took a deep breath and focused on the iron dragon. He was there, and the sense of him continued to fade. Jason had borrowed power from him, taking what the iron dragon may have needed, which meant that he might not be able to do anything.
He didn’t know if he had enough strength to shift reality again.
He called to the forest dragon, trying to get more power from her, but she didn’t answer. He tried to call to the ice dragon, but he wouldn’t be able to help, either. Both had lent him as much as they could, and their strength faded. Not only theirs, but his had faded too. It had taken everything within him to form the illusion around the earth dragon and trap him. Now that the illusion had shattered, he couldn’t create any more power.
He would lose the iron dragon.
17
J ason sank to his knees, slamming his fist into the ground. Sarah was there, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her hand on his back.
“It’ll be okay,” she whispered.
He could only shake his head. The energy within the iron dragon glove continued to fade, leaving him with an emptiness. In time, the power would fade completely, and the iron dragon would suffocate. He couldn’t believe the earth dragons would do that.
A memory of the illusion came back to him. Of course he could believe it. He’d seen it already. He’d recognized the anger within the earth dragons, anger that had been stirred up by Lorren. If only there were some way to grant those dragons the same peace he had given the storm dragon.
He realized he might need the power of the storm dragon to combat Lorren. Perhaps he should have gone after that dragon before chasing information about the other misfits. Then he wouldn’t have lost the iron dragon.
He held his hands against the ground, focusing on the iron dragon. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
There came a faint stirring of energy, as if the iron dragon was there and trying to reach him, but Jason couldn’t hear anything. He borrowed from the ice dragon, wanting to send a healing wave through to him, but he couldn’t. The connection was faded and faint. He couldn’t reach his dragon friend.
Jason cried out as anger filled him. The ground started to tremble.
He had failed. Not only had he failed to rescue the Dragon Soul dragons, but he’d failed to rescue the iron dragon. He wasn’t enough.
He pressed his face up against the ground. Tears streamed down his face. He hadn’t lost one of his misfits before. The iron dragon was the second of the misfits, and in many ways was the one Jason was most connected to. He stared at the iron dragon glove, and though it still seemed to glow softly, it wasn’t with nearly as much power.
He cried out again. The flickering energy of the iron dragon glove faded even more. His hand started to go cold.
“Jason?” Sarah whispered.
He couldn’t look up. He pounded on the ground, his hand throbbing uncomfortably. “He’s gone,” he whispered.
He held up the iron dragon glove. The ground trembled faintly. Gradually, he was aware of the earth dragons drifting away. At least they hadn’t tried to attack him, Sarah, and William.
Only, why would they need to? None of them were a threat to the dragons. Only the dragons were a threat. He lingered, resting on the ground, the sense of the iron dragon faded and absent. He didn’t want to move. All he wanted was to break through the ground, to get to the iron dragon to see his remains, to move him.
He had no strength. No power.
Only…
Maybe there was something he could do. Jason glanced at Sarah. “Let me borrow your pearl. There might be something I can still do.”
She reached into her pocket immediately, pulling out a handful of dragon pearls. He knew she had several, but hadn’t realized she had so many. How many dragons was she connected to back in Dragon Haven?
He cupped one of them in his iron dragon glove. He took two more, squeezing them as he held onto them, focusing on the energy of the dragons, letting that flow through him, through the pearls, and into the iron dragon glove. That power filled him. Jason embraced it, letting energy wash through him and through the glove. It began to glow.
“What are you doing?” William whispered.
Jason didn’t look up. “I’m trying to see if I might help the iron dragon still.”
“I thought you said he was gone.”
“The iron dragon is metal. If he can be heated again…”
That was his hope. He had no idea whether or not it would work, but holding on to these pearls, he had to think there was something he could do. He let energy flow through him, building. It filled his hand, and heat washed through him. Jason focused on it and let it flow outward through the iron dragon glove and toward the dragon. He borrowed from the ice dragon flying overhead. There wasn’t much that the ice dragon could offer, as he was exhausted after using as much power as Jason had already drawn from him, but he had some. Jason let it flow through him. He even added a hint of himself. To save the iron dragon, Jason would do whatever it took. Even if that involved forcing as much of himself as he could into the dragon.
He had no idea how far beneath the ground the iron dragon had been dragged, but he tried. Power snaked away from him. Jason continued to force more out, and it slipped into the ground and then deeper and farther down.
There was heat and energy. It connected. For a moment, he felt a flicker.
