Dragon Frost (5 page)

Nafury had almost resorted to tying up and dragging Ubi to her given room that night. Pulling her away from Xirel had been one challenge. Getting her to go to sleep was a different one entirely. He got fed up watching her toss and turn and went over to her bedside. Nafury sat down next to her and she lay on her back and looked at him. They stared at one another in content silence for a while before she looked at his necklace.

Nafury removed his silver chain and its gold fairy, and began to wave it back and forth over her eyes. The only thing he hadn't tried yet was hypnotizing her to sleep.

"What is that?" Ubi asked. "It looks like a girl's."

"Once upon a time it belonged to Gei, who gave one to Serena and Alexia, before it was passed to me and Cirrus. From there, I gave mine to your mother when I Dreamwalked and saw her, and this one once belonged to my best friend. The gold retains all of the memories they shared. The Threads of gold can't be erased or changed."

Ubi reached out and took it from him, then looked it over. "How do I turn it on?"

"You have to be able to read Thread," Nafury said. "Fortunately, your venison and myself are the second and third best teachers on Aster."

Ubi giggled as Xirel peeked in from the doorway on having been referred to as meat.

"Second to who?" Xirel challenged.

"To the wolf that had you hanging in his meat locker," Nafury replied. Surprisingly, Xirel didn't retort. Nafury would have to find the rare and elusive ego that the Awls were supposed to be such masters over. He took the necklace and fairy pendant back for a moment from Ubi before tying it around her neck. "There," he said and set it straight between her collar bones. "That way if Sybl's spirit reaches out to us, you will be able to feel her."

Ubi smiled, pleased with the gift. "Thank you."

"I wish I could give you the castle that was taken from me instead of a mere trinket of your mother's memory."

"Xirel said that it's like a giant white crystal--is that true?" Ubi asked, as her excitement continued to climb.

Nafury smiled and nodded. "You will see it, I promise."

"That should prove interesting," Xirel added. "Are you going to try and take it by force?"

"Toria is rightfully mine now. I killed Simera, and I am still his Queen's son."

"Alexia killed Simera," Xirel corrected. "And while you may be Serena's son, to the dragons, you killed your sister who was their Caelestis."

"While I was possessed," Nafury added.

"The dragons do not care about such details. Sybl was important to them as well."

Nafury let out a long sigh. "Kenshe hasn't announced his failed takeover of the Efereal Mountains to the masses yet, so the Order won't be looking for us. With some luck, we might be able to get to Toria and have our say on the matter before the rumours reach it."

"There is no luck, Fallen Prince, only Fate." Xirel left the room at that.

Nafury looked back at Ubi who was still wide awake.

"Is that true? That Fate rules Aster?" Ubi asked.

"I can't agree with everything the Great Dragon does, but most of the time it's for the better. The Animus Thread is his weaving. He holds all the strings, guards all the doors, rotates the Aurs, cycles all the living and dead, changes all the weather. Aster is very different from Earth. On Earth, everything is more chaotic."

"When I was in your shift, I saw a blond-haired man. He seemed important to you," Ubi said.

"He was my best friend, and Sybl's Bond in this life. Do you hate him for that?"

"No," Ubi said as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "It looked like he cared about you a lot. I think he would have been good to my mother, too."

Nafury pulled his white cloak off and wrapped it around her to add to the warmth of the blanket on her already. "He loved me, but to him, Sybl was everything. They both loved me enough to do the impossible and lose their lives to tear Daath from me. They should have just left me to Hino's wrath."

Ubi scanned his eyes, trying to understand the entirety of what he seemed unable to explain all in words. "It must be nice to have those who care about you that much. I wish I had family and friends like that."

"I don't know of your life on Earth, but you will never have to worry about that again. Xirel and I will always watch out for you."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Nafury said. "Besides, you're like a niece to me in this life which is rather neat. Family sticks together."

Ubi giggled as she pondered the idea of having an uncle. "I want to see more of your friend, Cirrus. If he was important to you, then I want him to be important to me as well. Maybe it will help draw my mom's spirit closer, if anything."

Nafury nodded and reached out a hand to touch her face. He closed his eyes, as she gave no resistance to letting him merge his thoughts with her own. He lay down next to her as they fell into deep sleep, where he could Dream them both into the past.

NINE

There were too many memories of Cirrus that Nafury had to choose from. It was hard for him to pick one on the spot as something that would make Ubi see Cirrus the same way he had. He thought back into his past, to a time before he was controlled by Daath. He looked up and ahead to find himself leaning against the Fay Wall. He didn't know what he was thinking about back then, other than the only thing he wanted. A miracle. An answer. Something. But nothing had come to him in his Visions. The Novaists whose beautiful voices echoed from inside the Fay Wall gave little comfort. Nafury didn't see in the past that Cirrus was standing at the end of the Halls of Aragmoth watching him. He only saw him now. His friend was a piece of the miracle that he needed. Ubi stood near him, examining the memory with interest. She saw Cirrus moments after he did.

"That's him?" Ubi asked.

"Yes," Nafury replied.

"He's beautiful," Ubi thought aloud. Everything in this Dream of the past would be heard from her thoughts either way.

Cirrus had helped Nafury obtain his shift at the bottom of the Eternal Waters. It was a horribly deformed and a wretched form of a brownish-black dragon. It hurt Nafury to see his best friend shift out of his beautiful, human-like appearance and into his white dragon form. He tried to will Cirrus to not shift without saying  it to him as their eyes met. It seemed to work. Cirrus' Curse of being trapped since birth in the form of a dragon was broken. It saddened Nafury that he only knew now that it had never been a Curse, but Alexia containing him. Years later to date of this memory, Cirrus was still catching up on all the cues and human habits that came with being a dragoon. But it was the untamed form of him that was his truth, and the one Nafury preferred to look at. The dragon and not the human-like dragoon he was trying so hard to be.

Today Cirrus seemed to try even harder, as he straightened up and withdrew his staring at the Prince. Maybe he had seen something that Nafury couldn't. This was just a memory, as it was impossible to change it to make it possible for Cirrus to see Ubi as he could. All he could do is re-enact it all in hopes of seeing something that he missed before. He feared the hidden hate that Ubi likely held for Cirrus, and he wanted it resolved now. While there was still time. She blamed Cirrus for taking her mother from Kas' side, and he had to change that. Cirrus was dead now, but how he was remembered also mattered the world to Nafury. "Can you see it?"

"See what?" Cirrus asked as he walked closer.

"Our kind has struggled for centuries to gain the blessing of Aragmoth, yet he has done nothing but ignore our prayers. Even his wing tries to fold its touch away from us."

"You're tired and need to rest," Cirrus replied.

"If we brought the Asterian Caelestis here, he would not be able to ignore us any longer. This can be the only reason why I was made to look like this. It's all a test."

"You are still beautiful, Nafury. Stop talking like you're different."

"I am not beautiful, and you can hide your soul within your shift all you want. You insult me by thinking I can't see your intent to try and make me feel better."

"That's not true," Cirrus replied.

"We are all beautiful in the eyes of those who love us, and I can feel your love for me more than anyone else's. But if I had her love, then there would be no need for anyone to pity me. I would have everything I could ever need. Only fools look down on those blessed by Aragmoth, and she can set me free. Help me bring her here, Cirrus."

"The only way to her is the Gate in Mer City and she would die from the pressure."

"Not if inside one of our shifts. But she would never see past this deformed monstrosity I have been made into to give my love for her a chance. I can't do it alone," Nafury pleaded.

"Nafury, just stop! It's too dangerous, and I can't--I won't do this."

"Then you are no different from the rest of them!" Nafury snapped angrily back at him. He brought his teeth together in a clash of unevenness and pain. It angered him that this memory was not the perfect one he needed now. "You claim to love and care for me, yet you hide under the shadow of doubt my father casts over everyone! You are nothing but a lie!" It was then that Nafury lost control of his body in his rage and charged straight at him. He struck Cirrus with his dragon claws hard enough to shatter his body against a pillar.

Nafury had completely forgotten for that critical moment that he was in his dragon form in this memory. When Cirrus fell to the ground, Nafury fell with him and out of his shift, praying that he hadn't killed him. Nafury remembered not understanding how he had been able to hit him at all. The Laws of Aragmoth didn't allow shifts to attack souls. Not unless they were an immediate threat.

Nafury lifted Cirrus head from the pillar. Several pieces of white stone fell to the ground near them. Blood stained Cirrus' long, blond hair and now Nafury's hand. Cirrus started to come around and immediately pulled Nafury against his chest. He was alive, and just as broken and confused. "Cirrus, I'm sorry--!"

"This is just a mistake. I must have been too angry or something."

Nafury knew that he should have been the one paralyzed in pain. That was the minor punishment for doing something like this. But he couldn't feel Aragmoth's wrath. He knew then that he was not like Cirrus. He was something else entirely. He just didn't know then that he was a half human, half demon capable of turning Aster into a frozen wasteland.

"Are you alright?" Cirrus asked.

Nafury shuddered at the question. Cirrus was worried about him when he had nearly killed him. "Just a mistake." Nafury shuddered again, before the realization that the back of his shirt was wet. The wounds that Nafury's father had whipped into his back had reopened and now bled.

Cirrus used his aeri to heal them as he had dozens of times before. It was as if Cirrus blamed himself for every wound on Nafury, many of which opened without warning. Dreamwalking was dangerous and deadly. The Sentry of Earth took no prisoners from the souls from Aster who dared to walk across their world. But it was the only way Nafury could see the Caelestis, and he didn't care what it cost. Except every time that Cirrus touched him. Nafury had paid for his Dreamwalking by means of Simera's punishment more times than he could remember. The scars on his back never completely healed. Nafury pulled away from Cirrus and got to his feet. "I'll be at the wind tunnels."

"I'll escort you back," Cirrus said and got up.

He needs to be remembered,
Nafury thought as he waited until Cirrus was gone. He looked then to where Ubi continued to watch in silence. "That's not a memory I wanted you to see." He lowered his head then in shame. He couldn't tell what she was thinking with his own thoughts everywhere.

"No memory is perfect," she replied, and looked away from Nafury and to the floor. She walked over to him and set a hand on his back. The wounds from the whip Simera had inflicted on him still hurt. "I suppose I should be grateful he never hit me."

Nafury looked away from her and to where Cirrus had left down the hall. "He thought of Cirrus as a second son, when all along he was the real one. I can't help but wonder if Simera knew."

Ubi looked to where Nafury did and pondered on it with him. "He never mentioned him. Yet he never mentioned anyone on Aster. It didn't take a genius to tell that Simera was an alien. Despite that, he was content to keep the existence of Aster a secret from me entirely."

Nafury felt a dark shadow drift past the Threads between them and looked back at her. She was a good liar, but she wasn't perfect. "How far does your hate stretch on this world?"

Ubi looked up at him as his unexpected change in tone frightened her. "What do you mean?"

"You were cast out of the first Aster. Theoretically, you should hate this one just as much."

Ubi lowered her gaze to the stone floor. "I hate a lot of things. I regret even more. What Xirel said is right but he's also wrong about one important thing."

Nafury waited for her to continue.

"I already remember everything. I remember every time the Sentry killed me all the way back to my father bringing me to Earth and leaving me there."

"Do you deceive Xirel and me then?"

Ubi shook her head. "It's all so exhausting. Holding onto all that hate and fear all the time. But with you and Xirel, I'm less scared. I don't know if I can ever belong on this world, but I want to stay with you. If only to see what life can be like when you're not going through it alone. I can't guarantee that I will always be like this. I might even become some vengeful destroyer of a monster one day, but it won't be today."

Nafury kissed her forehead, then brushed some of her dark bangs from her eyes. "I definitely have to recommend avoiding the monster route. Destroying the world can leave you rather lonely."

Ubi shook her head as he tried to cheer her up by making fun of it. "I can feel your love for Cirrus, even though none of it belongs to me," she said and pressed her fists to her chest. She rested her head against him, trying to decipher the code from his heartbeat. "Do you think Cirrus would have liked me?"