A/N: This was my submission for the 2015 Serebii Yuletide exchange, written based off a prompt given to me by Cutlerine. Enjoy!
My earliest memory is the death of my mother.
I was only a hatchling when the Blue Spirit came. I have never felt cold like that which the Blue Spirit summons. It screamed down from the high peaks and beset our aerie. I remember watching in awe as my mother took the sky with a single mighty flap of her crimson wings, roaring out a challenge. Young as I was, I thought her indomitable. I was wrong.
Though fire poured from her maw, the Blue Spirit proved too nimble for her. The great beast dove and swooped, finally gaining the upper hand and unleashing an icy blast that took her by surprise. The Blue Spirit grounded her and proceeded to assail her with more gusts of icy wind. Finally, when my mother lay still, it flew back to its roost on the Great Mountain. It did not even deign to eat her, only killing her for sport.
I crawled over the rocky slope to my mother’s side and sought the warmth I so often felt when I curled against her in the frigid mountain nights. She was colder than the stone she lay on. My earliest memory was loss, sorrow and death. My second memory was swearing an oath of vengeance.
The days of my youth were harsh. I was hungry more often than not. Though I am loathe to admit, I scavenged. I hunted what prey I could, and ate the carcasses I could find, but my body was not made for such things. It would be several years before I grew into my full hunting prowess.
Day after day, I would try to fly, a difficult task when one lacks wings. My skull hardened from many brutal landings, and after my first year, my hide was a tapestry of scar tissue. I was hungry, I was savage and I was desperate. Though I knew I would be no match for the Blue Spirit should it return, I longed for it. I wished to die honorably, to die fighting as my mother did.
In midwinter, I was driven to the lower slopes. I had yet to develop my inner fire, and I could not keep myself warm. My very blood ran cold in my veins. I huddled in small caverns, hoping I would happen upon something to fill my aching stomach. On a day when the wind had let up, I was wandering the slopes, desperate and delirious, when I found Her.
I was aware of humans, in a vague sense. Sometimes one would pass by on the mountain trails, though I took pains to avoid being seen by them. I did know that humans generally carried food, so I took a gamble with my life, which I felt was a fairly cheap bargain at the time. I attacked Her, only to be set upon by her traveling companions. A russet canine and a yellow biped pursued me through the crags. I was so hungry I could barely stand, let alone run, so I was quickly cornered and feared for my life. Fire crackled at the canine’s jaws, and the yellow creature spun its arms in rapid circles, generating crackling electricity. It seemed unfair that I had endured so much to survive the Blue Spirit, only to be killed here.
She intervened, called off her protectors. I was on the verge of collapse, and barely recall what happened next. She held up a strange circle. There was a flash of light, and then everything was dark for a time. I came to consciousness in one of the humans’ wooden caves. The smell of food awakened me, and I was able to eat my fill. Another human tried to tend to my wounds, but I resisted them and went unconscious again after they used a needle to inject something into me. When I awoke the second time, I was more docile, and it was explained to me that I had been captured by this human and brought here in critical condition to be treated. I learned that She was young, by human standards. Her companions were a Growlithe named Charles and an Elekid named Blitz. Little did I know then what those names would come to mean to me. They remained with me in the wood cave, which I now know is called a house, until I was well again.
When I had my strength back, She gave me the opportunity to go free again, but I declined. With her, I was far more likely to be fed, and I knew that the humans traveled with the intention to become stronger. With Her, I saw my best course to be able to defeat the Blue Spirit. I gave myself into Her care, and She named me Bjorn.
We traveled far from my mountain home, scouring the land in search of small metal trinkets that She called “badges”. Apparently to humans, these were tokens worthy of great admiration. She had two badges already when I was caught, which I thought meant that She was quite powerful. Charles quickly disabused me of this notion, informing me that to be worthy of acclaim, a human needed at least eight of these badges. He and Blitz were determined to achieve greatness themselves by way of helping Her. In Her quest for glory, I would be able to fight many powerful opponents to prepare myself for what would be my ultimate foe.
Blitz was the first of our number to undergo the Change. He became taller, stronger, faster, capable of using far more powerful techniques. It hardly seemed fair that Charles, who had been with Her for longer, was overtaken. But it was a credit to Her good heart that even though Blitz had surpassed us in strength, She did not lavish any more attention on him than She already did.
She had called me Ironside when I was small, owing no doubt to the many scars that marked my hide. It took some time, as we fought to obtain her fifth badge, before I fully earned that name in truth. Finally, the Change came upon me, and my flanks hardened like the stones of my mountain home. Just beneath the shell, I could feel my body undergoing further changes, though it would be some time yet before they were made manifest.
Though She caught other companions, it was Charles, Blitz and I that formed the core of our group. The three of us pushed each other, forced each other to become stronger for Her sake. I remember fondly working with Charles to master our inner fires, and much later, with Blitz, making the very earth itself quake when we focused our wills. We were, or so we thought, indomitable. There was no challenge we could not overcome with enough discipline and training. It was a result of this drive to continually improve that I finally underwent my second Change. Shortly before earning Her eighth token, the changes that my body had been enduring beneath my rocky carapace worked through their course, and in a burst of light and vigor, I fully came into my own.
The shell that had for so long encumbered my movement sloughed away, revealing me in all my glory. My wings, as crimson as my mother’s before me, unfurled in the sunlight for the first time. Power surged through my veins, and I could feel the fire that I had tempered for so long burst to life within me. I allowed Her to climb onto my back, and for the first time, we took off into the sky.
The wind roared around us, whipping Her hair back. Though it grew colder the higher we flew, my newly awakened inner fire and the warmth of the sun kept us from caring. Her arms tightened around my neck, and I felt a swell of pride. I could never have climbed to these heights without Her.
It is said that dragons such as myself are difficult to tame. That is, to a point, correct. And yet, what many of those would-be dragon tamers fail to grasp is that dragons give unto them what is received. She loved me, and in turn, I loved Her. Her faith in me gave me my strength.
For the first time, I believed that I could truly fight the Blue Spirit.
By this time, Charles had become and Arcanine and Blitz an Electivire. When She went for her eighth token, the three of us easily carried the victory. Truly, our sparring matches among ourselves gave us more difficulty. With her eight tokens, She was able to enter a laddered contest among other human trainers, in an attempt to prove who was the greatest. Of course, the three of us were determined not to let Her down. We were certain we would be able to stand among the strongest in history, to tower above the region’s best.
Fate had other plans.
We lost.
It was a hard-fought battle. We climbed to what She called the semi-finals. As far as we were concerned, only two opponents stood in our way. But a far older man with far older partners took the stage. Though they had perhaps not trained harder, they had trained longer. Charles was the first to fall. Blitz was next. Then two more of our companions. I swept through three of his partners, but alas. I was bested by a hulking Mamoswine that shot jagged stones through my wings and grounded me. Though I attempted to bake it my flames, the bastard was tenacious, and it managed to counter me and use its icy powers to drive me into submission. Another of our companions fell before it, and She was eliminated from the tournament.
We grieved with Her, of course. Everything we had striven for was wrenched from us in an instant.
But the world is vast. There are other arenas in which one can pit one’s strength. When our wounds from the disastrous contest had mended, we set off again in search of glory, ranging far beyond the sea. She collected another eight tokens, and we were granted the opportunity to fight against many new opponents. I was forced to adapt to new ways of combat, new paradigms and mores. The land of my birth was unspeakably distant, and yet the Blue Spirit still haunted my nightmares. Though I had grown strong, I knew that I was not yet strong enough.
After losing yet another contest in pursuit of greatness, this time in the finals, She gave up on earning tokens. She gave Her partners the choice to remain with Her and see more of the world, to retire comfortably on her parents’ farm, or to seek their fortunes in the wild once more. To Her credit, no one left, though many retired. But I would never leave Her side, so of course I stayed, as did my two comrades. The four of us ranged far afield in those years, not seeking glory or acclaim, but we chased the horizon relentlessly.
This world is full of wonders. I have soared above the highest peaks, trespassed into the deepest of forest glens, stood among the ruins of civilizations older than living memory. And though I have seen marvelous things, I best recollect the way She looked upon them. No matter how many incredible things we saw, She approached it with the same sense of awe as the first time we flew together. The way Her face would light up, the way that only human faces can, will always fill me with a sense of unbridled joy. Her love of the world made my love for Her still deeper, however impossible that may seem.
The world is vast, and we saw much of it. But all adventures come to an end at some point. After years of travelling, She could no longer move as quickly as She used to. My companions’ fur began to show signs of silver. Our battle scars were numerous, and our stories of past triumphs still more so. But it was time for us to find our roots.
She bought her own farm, and in time married. I raised three broods of my own over the years, keeping close eye on them as they too strove for the sky. Perhaps it was a paternalistic instinct or perhaps, as She joked, I was simply jealous of my title. If my children never bore my scars, none of them could inherit the name Ironside. She too raised Her young and sent them off on journeys of their own. Though She aged gracefully, the years were not kind to my dear human. I remember with a pang the days that She could scramble up rocky slopes and pelt across open fields, Her companions straining to catch up. But as the years passed, Her legs weakened, the result of some terrible disease. When we parted, She was confined to a wheeled chair, and the rare occasions that She did walk was with the aid of a cane.
I always knew that I would outlive Her. The lives of dragons span many more years than humans, and the Blue Spirit lived even longer than my own kind. Though I knew our clash would come one day, I had thought that I would wait until She passed to where I could not yet follow.
I was sunning myself in the pasture when She and my two comrades came to me. There was a melancholy to Her, and I immediately knew something was amiss. She beckoned me closer and took my head between Her hands. “You must go now,” she said. “I’ve always known that you would need to fly free one day. That time has come.”
I protested, but She fixed me with Her steady gaze. “I don’t have much longer. I’ve always known that you would keep going even when I could not. You’re still so young, Bjorn. Don’t let us hold you back. You shouldn’t stay here just so you can watch us fade away.” There were tears in Her eyes.
Oh, how unfair it is that we dragons lack the ability to weep!
Blitz and Charles assured me that they would care for Her in her last days. I knew that they would not be long in following Her. Their hearts would not be able to bear Her absence, but how could they think that the burden on mine would be any easier?
“We’ve come so far together, my Ironside,” She said softly. “But you have so much further to go. I wish we could go with you, but…” She trailed off and wrapped Her thin arms around my neck, Her tears dripping onto my scales. She reached down into Her lap and brought out the orb She had caught me in so many years ago. She pressed a button on it, and the ball turned gray. She held it up to me. “You see, Bjorn? You’re free now. You are beholden to no one but yourself.”
As though I could ever not be beholden to Her. I did not care what the human magic decreed. I would always be Her Ironside, and She would always be my human.
She embraced me again, and when She pushed her chair away, Blitz and Charles said their goodbyes. They assured me they would care for her in her final days, told me that they would wait for me if I chose to come back. But I knew that by the time I had confronted the Blue Spirit, if I still lived, it would be too late. I bade my companions farewell and spread my wings, flying as quickly as I could to the east.
It took me eight days to reach the place of my birth, and I flew to exhaustion each day, sleeping only for a few hours when it became too dark for me to proceed. When I arrived at the mountains that were once my home, I took shelter in a secluded cavern, allowing myself to rest before I fought the Blue Spirit. When I woke, I soared to the top of the second highest mountain in the range and roared out a challenge, knowing that it would echo through the peaks and bring the demon that had haunted my nightmares to me.
When I heard its answering cry, I braced myself for the battle that I trained my entire life for. My claws dug into the craggy stone, and I surveyed the peaks laid out before me under a wide azure bowl. I saw the Blue Spirit pass beneath me, unaware of where I stood, and I launched myself off the peak, descending it like a thunderbolt.
I took the devil by surprise and we grappled, spinning through the air, its talons against my claws. When we pulled away, it launched a blast of icy cold, thinking to incapacitate me. I was gladdened to see that my claws had drawn three red gashes across the pristine white feathers on its breast. I plummeted through the air, daring the Blue Spirit to follow. When it gave chase, I unleashed a stream of brilliant flame, though my aim was off. I merely seared one of its wingtips, but the beast shrieked in indignation. It pulled its wings closer to its sides and dove after me, moving faster than I thought possible, and drove its claws into my flanks. I tried to beat it off, and though it gripped me tightly, in my thrashing I was unable to extricate myself. I twisted my head around and unleashed a stream of flame, enough to startle the Blue Spirit and force it into a retreat. I spiraled back up into the air, ascending higher than the Blue Spirit to where the atmosphere was thinner and the cloud cover would hide me.
The air noticeably chilled as the Blue Spirit gave chase, and an icy wind began to howl through the peaks. Ice began to form on my wings, weighting me down. I shot another torrent of fire to lure the Blue Spirit in closer, only to rise up still higher to plan an ambush. I thought back to the times Charles and I trained together, tempering our inner fires to become hotter and brighter. Charles had always claimed that his inner fire flared brighter when he took a moment to fill his lungs with air. When I saw the shadow of the Blue Spirit pass beneath me, I inhaled, feeling the thin air burn my lungs. I attacked with a roar, driving it down several hundred feet with a column of flame. The acrid scent of burning feathers and seared flesh reached my nostrils, and I allowed myself a brief flare of satisfaction before swooping after it to give chase.
I dropped like a stone, soon drawing level with the beast. It attacked me with talons coated in ice, but I battered its strikes away and sank my claws into its chest, eliciting an enraged scream. The Blue Spirit attacked me with a concentrated stream of cold air, strong enough to send me reeling backwards head over tail. I was bleeding from several wounds, and the ice coating my wings was making it difficult to fly. I came at the Blue Spirit again with a roar, slashing and biting while its beak plunged towards my eyes. I recalled sparring with Blitz, working to combat an opponent whose body and appendages were so different from my own. He always managed to best me when he used his tails.
Taking a cue from my old companion, I wrenched my body around in the air and slammed my muscular tail against the Blue Spirit’s breast and heard at least one of its ribs crack. The Blue Spirit retreated into the fog, but I gave chase, using my inner fire to melt the ice from my limbs and shrouding me in a cloud of steam.
I lost sight of my foe as we dove through a deep gorge that wound its way between two of the mountains. I beat my way up out of the canyon and scanned the sky to no avail. The Blue Spirit’s iridescent feathers camouflaged it in the fog and flying ice crystals. I began a long spiraling loop when I felt a small pressure on the small of my back, the very same gesture that She and I had developed in our aerial training to signal me to descend. Instinctively, I folded my wings to my sides and fell deep into the gorge as the Blue Spirit came screaming from the mist, unleashing a blast of icy cold far more potent than any it had flung at me thus far. I pulled out of my dive and immediately retaliated with a blast of the hottest flames I could muster. My fire hit the Blue Spirit’s ice and the two attacks consumed each other, neutralizing both attacks in a rush of hot steam.
The fires must have disoriented the Blue Spirit, and I used the opportunity to soar through the curtain of steam and counterattack, spiraling in the air and whipping my tail around, cracking two more of the Blue Spirit’s ribs. As the monster dropped into the gorge in a desperate bid to escape, I gave chase and caught it in my claws. Its talons gouged at my chest, but I am not called Ironside lightly. I expelled a burst of flame, though the Blue Spirit managed to score a lucky blow and push me away. As it fled back up to the peaks, it slashed a gash in the membrane of my wing, making my pursuit more sluggish than I would have liked.
When we both landed on a flat plateau amid the howling winter winds, we glared at each other, our bloody breasts heaving with exertion. The snow was stained with red and the scars of our battle marked the mountains all around us. I wanted to collapse, but to do that would be to let the Blue Spirit finish what it had started so long ago. Fueled by my hatred, I rushed forward, fire pooling around my jaws. The Blue Spirit tried to leap into the air to escape, but it too was weakened by our battle. My fangs sank home into its neck and its warm blood filled my mouth. I shook my head violently from side to side until I heard its neck snap and the Blue Spirit stopped struggling.
The corpse fell from my jaws and I stepped back two paces, the gravity of what I had done setting in. I had avenged my mother, and completed the one task that had given my life purpose. I collapsed in the snow, my legs giving way beneath me. The Blue Spirit had been the strongest adversary I would ever face and now…
But no.
No, it wasn’t.
The delusion of a terrified child had turned the Blue Spirit into a spectral monster that commanded the fury of the north wind and could sweep entire mountains aside if it chose. But the Blue Spirit was merely a creature of flesh and blood like I was, a mighty creature certainly, but one that lived and died and could be defeated by another who had a natural disadvantage. I had fought more difficult battles, many more. But at the time, I had stood shoulder to shoulder with my comrades, and She had stood behind us, urging us on.
Perhaps that was why this victory felt so hollow.
I admitted to myself that when I had dreamed of confronting the Blue Spirit, She would be there with me, to embrace me when I emerged victorious and took my place as king of the mountains. But here I was, the apex predator, and with no one to share my glory. I wanted Her back.
I dragged my wounded and broken body up and flared my wings. Navigating by instinct, I located the cave where I was born and entered. It was so much smaller than I remembered. I curled into myself and I slept.
When I awoke several days later, hunger gnawed at the pit of my stomach. I hunted and ate my fill, and glided on my aching wings to the highest peak in the range. The sun emerged from behind the heavy cloud cover and I gazed back towards the direction I had come. If I left now, perhaps I could arrive back in time to…
No.
She was gone. Even if She still lived, I could not return looking as I did. When I left, I was triumphant, Her Ironside in all of his glory. To limp back home now, victorious but bleeding and weak, would be to shame her memory of me. Better that She and my comrades remember me as I was in their last days, strong in defiance of the passage of years, roaring into the endless blue sky as I winged away.
I watched the sun rise over the peaks and let its rays warm my body. Perhaps there were other humans I could travel with. Even if I never found a companion as worthy as She had been, I had seen with my own eyes that the world was vast. I had claimed the mountains as my own, but there might come a time when I yearned for more. For taller mountains. For stronger foes.
For now, I would heal and grow strong again. I would grieve the loss of my friends and mourn their passing. But my life will be long. I will have more comrades someday.
I rested my head on my claws and reclined in the sun. The slopes below me began to awaken, smaller dark shapes crawling across the rocks and contemplating a life where the Blue Spirit had died and a new Spirit ruled the mountain, a Spirit of fire, not one of wind and ice. It was the dawn of a new age, but I was not ready to let go of the old one yet.
I closed my eyes and imagined I felt Her arms encircling my neck again.
My earliest memory is the death of my mother.
I was only a hatchling when the Blue Spirit came. I have never felt cold like that which the Blue Spirit summons. It screamed down from the high peaks and beset our aerie. I remember watching in awe as my mother took the sky with a single mighty flap of her crimson wings, roaring out a challenge. Young as I was, I thought her indomitable. I was wrong.
Though fire poured from her maw, the Blue Spirit proved too nimble for her. The great beast dove and swooped, finally gaining the upper hand and unleashing an icy blast that took her by surprise. The Blue Spirit grounded her and proceeded to assail her with more gusts of icy wind. Finally, when my mother lay still, it flew back to its roost on the Great Mountain. It did not even deign to eat her, only killing her for sport.
I crawled over the rocky slope to my mother’s side and sought the warmth I so often felt when I curled against her in the frigid mountain nights. She was colder than the stone she lay on. My earliest memory was loss, sorrow and death. My second memory was swearing an oath of vengeance.
The days of my youth were harsh. I was hungry more often than not. Though I am loathe to admit, I scavenged. I hunted what prey I could, and ate the carcasses I could find, but my body was not made for such things. It would be several years before I grew into my full hunting prowess.
Day after day, I would try to fly, a difficult task when one lacks wings. My skull hardened from many brutal landings, and after my first year, my hide was a tapestry of scar tissue. I was hungry, I was savage and I was desperate. Though I knew I would be no match for the Blue Spirit should it return, I longed for it. I wished to die honorably, to die fighting as my mother did.
In midwinter, I was driven to the lower slopes. I had yet to develop my inner fire, and I could not keep myself warm. My very blood ran cold in my veins. I huddled in small caverns, hoping I would happen upon something to fill my aching stomach. On a day when the wind had let up, I was wandering the slopes, desperate and delirious, when I found Her.
I was aware of humans, in a vague sense. Sometimes one would pass by on the mountain trails, though I took pains to avoid being seen by them. I did know that humans generally carried food, so I took a gamble with my life, which I felt was a fairly cheap bargain at the time. I attacked Her, only to be set upon by her traveling companions. A russet canine and a yellow biped pursued me through the crags. I was so hungry I could barely stand, let alone run, so I was quickly cornered and feared for my life. Fire crackled at the canine’s jaws, and the yellow creature spun its arms in rapid circles, generating crackling electricity. It seemed unfair that I had endured so much to survive the Blue Spirit, only to be killed here.
She intervened, called off her protectors. I was on the verge of collapse, and barely recall what happened next. She held up a strange circle. There was a flash of light, and then everything was dark for a time. I came to consciousness in one of the humans’ wooden caves. The smell of food awakened me, and I was able to eat my fill. Another human tried to tend to my wounds, but I resisted them and went unconscious again after they used a needle to inject something into me. When I awoke the second time, I was more docile, and it was explained to me that I had been captured by this human and brought here in critical condition to be treated. I learned that She was young, by human standards. Her companions were a Growlithe named Charles and an Elekid named Blitz. Little did I know then what those names would come to mean to me. They remained with me in the wood cave, which I now know is called a house, until I was well again.
When I had my strength back, She gave me the opportunity to go free again, but I declined. With her, I was far more likely to be fed, and I knew that the humans traveled with the intention to become stronger. With Her, I saw my best course to be able to defeat the Blue Spirit. I gave myself into Her care, and She named me Bjorn.
We traveled far from my mountain home, scouring the land in search of small metal trinkets that She called “badges”. Apparently to humans, these were tokens worthy of great admiration. She had two badges already when I was caught, which I thought meant that She was quite powerful. Charles quickly disabused me of this notion, informing me that to be worthy of acclaim, a human needed at least eight of these badges. He and Blitz were determined to achieve greatness themselves by way of helping Her. In Her quest for glory, I would be able to fight many powerful opponents to prepare myself for what would be my ultimate foe.
Blitz was the first of our number to undergo the Change. He became taller, stronger, faster, capable of using far more powerful techniques. It hardly seemed fair that Charles, who had been with Her for longer, was overtaken. But it was a credit to Her good heart that even though Blitz had surpassed us in strength, She did not lavish any more attention on him than She already did.
She had called me Ironside when I was small, owing no doubt to the many scars that marked my hide. It took some time, as we fought to obtain her fifth badge, before I fully earned that name in truth. Finally, the Change came upon me, and my flanks hardened like the stones of my mountain home. Just beneath the shell, I could feel my body undergoing further changes, though it would be some time yet before they were made manifest.
Though She caught other companions, it was Charles, Blitz and I that formed the core of our group. The three of us pushed each other, forced each other to become stronger for Her sake. I remember fondly working with Charles to master our inner fires, and much later, with Blitz, making the very earth itself quake when we focused our wills. We were, or so we thought, indomitable. There was no challenge we could not overcome with enough discipline and training. It was a result of this drive to continually improve that I finally underwent my second Change. Shortly before earning Her eighth token, the changes that my body had been enduring beneath my rocky carapace worked through their course, and in a burst of light and vigor, I fully came into my own.
The shell that had for so long encumbered my movement sloughed away, revealing me in all my glory. My wings, as crimson as my mother’s before me, unfurled in the sunlight for the first time. Power surged through my veins, and I could feel the fire that I had tempered for so long burst to life within me. I allowed Her to climb onto my back, and for the first time, we took off into the sky.
The wind roared around us, whipping Her hair back. Though it grew colder the higher we flew, my newly awakened inner fire and the warmth of the sun kept us from caring. Her arms tightened around my neck, and I felt a swell of pride. I could never have climbed to these heights without Her.
It is said that dragons such as myself are difficult to tame. That is, to a point, correct. And yet, what many of those would-be dragon tamers fail to grasp is that dragons give unto them what is received. She loved me, and in turn, I loved Her. Her faith in me gave me my strength.
For the first time, I believed that I could truly fight the Blue Spirit.
By this time, Charles had become and Arcanine and Blitz an Electivire. When She went for her eighth token, the three of us easily carried the victory. Truly, our sparring matches among ourselves gave us more difficulty. With her eight tokens, She was able to enter a laddered contest among other human trainers, in an attempt to prove who was the greatest. Of course, the three of us were determined not to let Her down. We were certain we would be able to stand among the strongest in history, to tower above the region’s best.
Fate had other plans.
We lost.
It was a hard-fought battle. We climbed to what She called the semi-finals. As far as we were concerned, only two opponents stood in our way. But a far older man with far older partners took the stage. Though they had perhaps not trained harder, they had trained longer. Charles was the first to fall. Blitz was next. Then two more of our companions. I swept through three of his partners, but alas. I was bested by a hulking Mamoswine that shot jagged stones through my wings and grounded me. Though I attempted to bake it my flames, the bastard was tenacious, and it managed to counter me and use its icy powers to drive me into submission. Another of our companions fell before it, and She was eliminated from the tournament.
We grieved with Her, of course. Everything we had striven for was wrenched from us in an instant.
But the world is vast. There are other arenas in which one can pit one’s strength. When our wounds from the disastrous contest had mended, we set off again in search of glory, ranging far beyond the sea. She collected another eight tokens, and we were granted the opportunity to fight against many new opponents. I was forced to adapt to new ways of combat, new paradigms and mores. The land of my birth was unspeakably distant, and yet the Blue Spirit still haunted my nightmares. Though I had grown strong, I knew that I was not yet strong enough.
After losing yet another contest in pursuit of greatness, this time in the finals, She gave up on earning tokens. She gave Her partners the choice to remain with Her and see more of the world, to retire comfortably on her parents’ farm, or to seek their fortunes in the wild once more. To Her credit, no one left, though many retired. But I would never leave Her side, so of course I stayed, as did my two comrades. The four of us ranged far afield in those years, not seeking glory or acclaim, but we chased the horizon relentlessly.
This world is full of wonders. I have soared above the highest peaks, trespassed into the deepest of forest glens, stood among the ruins of civilizations older than living memory. And though I have seen marvelous things, I best recollect the way She looked upon them. No matter how many incredible things we saw, She approached it with the same sense of awe as the first time we flew together. The way Her face would light up, the way that only human faces can, will always fill me with a sense of unbridled joy. Her love of the world made my love for Her still deeper, however impossible that may seem.
The world is vast, and we saw much of it. But all adventures come to an end at some point. After years of travelling, She could no longer move as quickly as She used to. My companions’ fur began to show signs of silver. Our battle scars were numerous, and our stories of past triumphs still more so. But it was time for us to find our roots.
She bought her own farm, and in time married. I raised three broods of my own over the years, keeping close eye on them as they too strove for the sky. Perhaps it was a paternalistic instinct or perhaps, as She joked, I was simply jealous of my title. If my children never bore my scars, none of them could inherit the name Ironside. She too raised Her young and sent them off on journeys of their own. Though She aged gracefully, the years were not kind to my dear human. I remember with a pang the days that She could scramble up rocky slopes and pelt across open fields, Her companions straining to catch up. But as the years passed, Her legs weakened, the result of some terrible disease. When we parted, She was confined to a wheeled chair, and the rare occasions that She did walk was with the aid of a cane.
I always knew that I would outlive Her. The lives of dragons span many more years than humans, and the Blue Spirit lived even longer than my own kind. Though I knew our clash would come one day, I had thought that I would wait until She passed to where I could not yet follow.
I was sunning myself in the pasture when She and my two comrades came to me. There was a melancholy to Her, and I immediately knew something was amiss. She beckoned me closer and took my head between Her hands. “You must go now,” she said. “I’ve always known that you would need to fly free one day. That time has come.”
I protested, but She fixed me with Her steady gaze. “I don’t have much longer. I’ve always known that you would keep going even when I could not. You’re still so young, Bjorn. Don’t let us hold you back. You shouldn’t stay here just so you can watch us fade away.” There were tears in Her eyes.
Oh, how unfair it is that we dragons lack the ability to weep!
Blitz and Charles assured me that they would care for Her in her last days. I knew that they would not be long in following Her. Their hearts would not be able to bear Her absence, but how could they think that the burden on mine would be any easier?
“We’ve come so far together, my Ironside,” She said softly. “But you have so much further to go. I wish we could go with you, but…” She trailed off and wrapped Her thin arms around my neck, Her tears dripping onto my scales. She reached down into Her lap and brought out the orb She had caught me in so many years ago. She pressed a button on it, and the ball turned gray. She held it up to me. “You see, Bjorn? You’re free now. You are beholden to no one but yourself.”
As though I could ever not be beholden to Her. I did not care what the human magic decreed. I would always be Her Ironside, and She would always be my human.
She embraced me again, and when She pushed her chair away, Blitz and Charles said their goodbyes. They assured me they would care for her in her final days, told me that they would wait for me if I chose to come back. But I knew that by the time I had confronted the Blue Spirit, if I still lived, it would be too late. I bade my companions farewell and spread my wings, flying as quickly as I could to the east.
It took me eight days to reach the place of my birth, and I flew to exhaustion each day, sleeping only for a few hours when it became too dark for me to proceed. When I arrived at the mountains that were once my home, I took shelter in a secluded cavern, allowing myself to rest before I fought the Blue Spirit. When I woke, I soared to the top of the second highest mountain in the range and roared out a challenge, knowing that it would echo through the peaks and bring the demon that had haunted my nightmares to me.
When I heard its answering cry, I braced myself for the battle that I trained my entire life for. My claws dug into the craggy stone, and I surveyed the peaks laid out before me under a wide azure bowl. I saw the Blue Spirit pass beneath me, unaware of where I stood, and I launched myself off the peak, descending it like a thunderbolt.
I took the devil by surprise and we grappled, spinning through the air, its talons against my claws. When we pulled away, it launched a blast of icy cold, thinking to incapacitate me. I was gladdened to see that my claws had drawn three red gashes across the pristine white feathers on its breast. I plummeted through the air, daring the Blue Spirit to follow. When it gave chase, I unleashed a stream of brilliant flame, though my aim was off. I merely seared one of its wingtips, but the beast shrieked in indignation. It pulled its wings closer to its sides and dove after me, moving faster than I thought possible, and drove its claws into my flanks. I tried to beat it off, and though it gripped me tightly, in my thrashing I was unable to extricate myself. I twisted my head around and unleashed a stream of flame, enough to startle the Blue Spirit and force it into a retreat. I spiraled back up into the air, ascending higher than the Blue Spirit to where the atmosphere was thinner and the cloud cover would hide me.
The air noticeably chilled as the Blue Spirit gave chase, and an icy wind began to howl through the peaks. Ice began to form on my wings, weighting me down. I shot another torrent of fire to lure the Blue Spirit in closer, only to rise up still higher to plan an ambush. I thought back to the times Charles and I trained together, tempering our inner fires to become hotter and brighter. Charles had always claimed that his inner fire flared brighter when he took a moment to fill his lungs with air. When I saw the shadow of the Blue Spirit pass beneath me, I inhaled, feeling the thin air burn my lungs. I attacked with a roar, driving it down several hundred feet with a column of flame. The acrid scent of burning feathers and seared flesh reached my nostrils, and I allowed myself a brief flare of satisfaction before swooping after it to give chase.
I dropped like a stone, soon drawing level with the beast. It attacked me with talons coated in ice, but I battered its strikes away and sank my claws into its chest, eliciting an enraged scream. The Blue Spirit attacked me with a concentrated stream of cold air, strong enough to send me reeling backwards head over tail. I was bleeding from several wounds, and the ice coating my wings was making it difficult to fly. I came at the Blue Spirit again with a roar, slashing and biting while its beak plunged towards my eyes. I recalled sparring with Blitz, working to combat an opponent whose body and appendages were so different from my own. He always managed to best me when he used his tails.
Taking a cue from my old companion, I wrenched my body around in the air and slammed my muscular tail against the Blue Spirit’s breast and heard at least one of its ribs crack. The Blue Spirit retreated into the fog, but I gave chase, using my inner fire to melt the ice from my limbs and shrouding me in a cloud of steam.
I lost sight of my foe as we dove through a deep gorge that wound its way between two of the mountains. I beat my way up out of the canyon and scanned the sky to no avail. The Blue Spirit’s iridescent feathers camouflaged it in the fog and flying ice crystals. I began a long spiraling loop when I felt a small pressure on the small of my back, the very same gesture that She and I had developed in our aerial training to signal me to descend. Instinctively, I folded my wings to my sides and fell deep into the gorge as the Blue Spirit came screaming from the mist, unleashing a blast of icy cold far more potent than any it had flung at me thus far. I pulled out of my dive and immediately retaliated with a blast of the hottest flames I could muster. My fire hit the Blue Spirit’s ice and the two attacks consumed each other, neutralizing both attacks in a rush of hot steam.
The fires must have disoriented the Blue Spirit, and I used the opportunity to soar through the curtain of steam and counterattack, spiraling in the air and whipping my tail around, cracking two more of the Blue Spirit’s ribs. As the monster dropped into the gorge in a desperate bid to escape, I gave chase and caught it in my claws. Its talons gouged at my chest, but I am not called Ironside lightly. I expelled a burst of flame, though the Blue Spirit managed to score a lucky blow and push me away. As it fled back up to the peaks, it slashed a gash in the membrane of my wing, making my pursuit more sluggish than I would have liked.
When we both landed on a flat plateau amid the howling winter winds, we glared at each other, our bloody breasts heaving with exertion. The snow was stained with red and the scars of our battle marked the mountains all around us. I wanted to collapse, but to do that would be to let the Blue Spirit finish what it had started so long ago. Fueled by my hatred, I rushed forward, fire pooling around my jaws. The Blue Spirit tried to leap into the air to escape, but it too was weakened by our battle. My fangs sank home into its neck and its warm blood filled my mouth. I shook my head violently from side to side until I heard its neck snap and the Blue Spirit stopped struggling.
The corpse fell from my jaws and I stepped back two paces, the gravity of what I had done setting in. I had avenged my mother, and completed the one task that had given my life purpose. I collapsed in the snow, my legs giving way beneath me. The Blue Spirit had been the strongest adversary I would ever face and now…
But no.
No, it wasn’t.
The delusion of a terrified child had turned the Blue Spirit into a spectral monster that commanded the fury of the north wind and could sweep entire mountains aside if it chose. But the Blue Spirit was merely a creature of flesh and blood like I was, a mighty creature certainly, but one that lived and died and could be defeated by another who had a natural disadvantage. I had fought more difficult battles, many more. But at the time, I had stood shoulder to shoulder with my comrades, and She had stood behind us, urging us on.
Perhaps that was why this victory felt so hollow.
I admitted to myself that when I had dreamed of confronting the Blue Spirit, She would be there with me, to embrace me when I emerged victorious and took my place as king of the mountains. But here I was, the apex predator, and with no one to share my glory. I wanted Her back.
I dragged my wounded and broken body up and flared my wings. Navigating by instinct, I located the cave where I was born and entered. It was so much smaller than I remembered. I curled into myself and I slept.
When I awoke several days later, hunger gnawed at the pit of my stomach. I hunted and ate my fill, and glided on my aching wings to the highest peak in the range. The sun emerged from behind the heavy cloud cover and I gazed back towards the direction I had come. If I left now, perhaps I could arrive back in time to…
No.
She was gone. Even if She still lived, I could not return looking as I did. When I left, I was triumphant, Her Ironside in all of his glory. To limp back home now, victorious but bleeding and weak, would be to shame her memory of me. Better that She and my comrades remember me as I was in their last days, strong in defiance of the passage of years, roaring into the endless blue sky as I winged away.
I watched the sun rise over the peaks and let its rays warm my body. Perhaps there were other humans I could travel with. Even if I never found a companion as worthy as She had been, I had seen with my own eyes that the world was vast. I had claimed the mountains as my own, but there might come a time when I yearned for more. For taller mountains. For stronger foes.
For now, I would heal and grow strong again. I would grieve the loss of my friends and mourn their passing. But my life will be long. I will have more comrades someday.
I rested my head on my claws and reclined in the sun. The slopes below me began to awaken, smaller dark shapes crawling across the rocks and contemplating a life where the Blue Spirit had died and a new Spirit ruled the mountain, a Spirit of fire, not one of wind and ice. It was the dawn of a new age, but I was not ready to let go of the old one yet.
I closed my eyes and imagined I felt Her arms encircling my neck again.
![[Imaginative]:[Clockwork]](/data/avatars/m/192/192875.jpg?1525616141){kind=avatar}