The Ritual

His life saved, Chris now must undergo the Ritual of joining. His soul to be merged with that of a dragon, and his bond with Jessica made eternal.

Jessica was totally drained. Keeping Chris alive had taken every ounce of her strength, and the act of syphoning off her own life force to sustain him had only served to also drain the soul of the dragon which resided within.

Chris had carried her into the bedroom and deposited her on his bed where she has succumbed to sleep almost instantly. He then lay on the bed next to her and he too drifted off to sleep.

While the pair slept, Silka the great black dragon stood guard over them both. Her power had been almost totally drained as well. She had had to move to her last resort in order to save him. Drawing the life force from him into herself and allowing it to mingle with her own, creating layer upon layer of force until it had become protected enough and strong enough to be returned to his own body. The concentration had been so great that she had simply been unable, no, incapable of informing Jessica of what was about to happen, and it had nearly broken her heart to watch the poor girl collapse in such anguish. The only comfort had been that she had known that the ends would justify it.

She watched as the pair slept fully clothed next to each other. Even she didn’t know what was to become of Chris as far as his powers would go. Each host and dragon created a unique combination, both triggering parts of the other that lie dormant, incomplete. It was the joining of them that unlocked these latent energies causing them both to evolve into something greater.

She had thought it strange that Jessica had become a golden Dragon as they were extremely rare, even in times when dragons were plentiful. What usually ended up happening was that the golds would evolve into another colour, almost like birds who shed their baby down and become the vivid colours of their species.

Jessica had always been an enigma amongst the dragons. Syreena her dragon had always been golden in colour but knew within her that she was a different colour, but her instincts never quite pointed to any one colour in particular.

Several hours passed and Jessica was the first to stir from her slumber. Silka watched as she turned to her side and opened her eyes to see Chris lying next to her. For an old dragon who had lived for countless millennia, even Silka who had seen just about everything there was to see couldn’t help but have her heart warmed by the size of the smile that Jessica beamed upon seeing Chris lying next to her.

Jessica had no wish to leave him. She simply rolled over, placed her arm over his chest, tangled her fingers into his hair and rested her head on his chest, breathing out a big sigh as she did so.

Even a blind man could have seen the love she had for him. Silka knew many things, her long life had taught her much, but if there was one thing that she knew without any doubt, it was that these two were truly meant to be together.

Chris began to stir, he felt Jessica's presence before he had even opened his eyes and instinctively rolled over to face her, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closer to him.

After a couple of minutes of this affection, Silka spoke in the gentlest tone she could muster.

“OK you two. There'll be plenty of time for all that later on. Right now, we have more pressing matters that must be attended to.” With that she made the room around the three of them vanish and they found themselves in a chamber which was decorated very much in the same manner as the council chamber in Syreena's vision had been, the table however was missing, and the room itself was not nearly as large. In it stood a single table which in turn stood in the centre of a large glyph like symbol on the floor.

Upon the table was a large scroll marked in the same script that Chris had seen on the banners in the vision. Silka scrolled through the script until she found the section she was looking for and then spoke to the other two.

“I know this all seems rather rushed and that your mind has still got an awful lot to take in and process, but the joining must take place now. There is little time to lose.”

“I understand.” Chris nodded, still quite unaware of the enormity of what he was taking on.

“Jessica. I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave for the ritual. It can be dangerous to be here and I cannot protect you.” Silka said to the girl.

“NO!” she shouted. “I will NOT leave his side and whatever happens, I will take care of myself.” she said taking a step toward the Black dragon.

Even though it went against every tradition, every lore, every convention, and even as hardened as Silka was from leading the dragons in her position as their queen, the great black dragon simply could not muster the heart to separate the two of them. They had been through so much to get this far and she knew just how determined Jessica could be when she got something into her head.

“Very well.” she said in a measured tone “You may stay Jessica.”

Silka prepared the table, bringing out a silver goblet and a medallion with a silver dragon emblazoned upon it and placed it around her neck. Also brought out was a purple sash which she placed also around her neck and allowed to dangle on either side. She spread her massive black wings to full stretch which came inches short of touching the walls on either side of the room and took a deep breath and in a deep rumbling voice spoke the words.

“Xi shi letu'mish a'xi!”

As the reverberation of her voice dissipated a pair of large wooden doors opened and through them strode a large sapphire blue dragon who stood before the later in front of Silka, head bowed respectfully.

“Brother. Your time of joining has arrived,” Silka began. “Are you willing to accept your charge, to teach him, to merge with him so you both may become one, greater than either of you have ever been before?”

“Yes, I do, my Queen” he replied solemnly.

“Do you undertake the task of teaching him of our ways, lore and customs, to protect him with your very life and to share with him all of your thoughts and experiences?

“I do, my Queen” the blue dragon replied.

“Chris,” Silka beckoned over the human male. “Please step forward.”

Chris did as asked. Although he was a little bit apprehensive, the reassuring look in Jessica's eyes and his longing to be with her drove his feet forward until he too stood side by side with the blue dragon at the table before the queen.

“Chris, Son of Kenneth. Do you undertake to merge with this dragon. To learn our ways, to share our goals and mission and to share your thoughts with your Dragon and to teach him your ways?”

Chris was not quite sure how he should reply. He paused for the briefest of moments before speaking in a clear, confident voice “Yes your majesty, I do.”

“Chris,” she spoke in a more warm tone, “I would like to introduce to you Syrll” she paused for a moment, and Chris could have sworn he saw her features visibly soften before she added, “My brother.”

The first thought through his mind was 'So I am now some kind of royalty?' but he quickly dismissed it. There were greater places his concentration needed to be so he simply smiled and nodded to the large blue dragon beside him who looked down on him and regarded him with something that very much resembled indifference.

“Now that you both have undertaken the oath, the true joining may now take place.” Silka continued.

Silka drew one claw and with no hesitation pierced the right talon of Syrll drawing the dragons blood which ran down his palm and dripped into the goblet which was on the table. She withdrew her claw and the wound on Syrll's talon closed immediately as if my some force of magic and appeared as though it had never been there.

Silka held the goblet up before her and spoke.

“Xi shi, muru'xi shi leti, shi mora'xi shen'i be'xu shuru me or'zi”

Behind him he could hear Jessica translating Silka's words to his own tongue "May this, the blood of the dragon join you both that you may become one with each other."

She then offered the goblet to Chris saying “Drink it.”

He took the goblet from the great black dragon and placed it to his lips. The scent coming from it was powerful, intoxicating and unlike anything he had ever smelled before. He had no idea what was going to happen once he ingested it but he remembered the look of reassurance on Jessica's face and also noted the same look on the face of Silka so he took the blood into his mouth and swallowed it before then preceding to drain the cup of the blue dragon’s essence.

He placed the cup upon the table and his head immediately began to spin. He only barely managed to maintain his balance as he felt his thoughts being invaded by thoughts that were completely unfamiliar to him. Certainly not his own thoughts. The logical part of his mind told him it was Syrll and from the corner of his eye he could also see the large blue dragon also appearing uneasy on his own feet, almost in torture as what must have been a similar process must have been occurring to him simultaneously.

The blue dragon let forth a roar. It sounded as though he were in pain as a glowing white energy enveloped them both, becoming so bright that both Silka and Jessica had to shield their eyes from it or surely it would have blinded them.

Slowly the form of Syrll and the form of Chris merged into one. The brightness of the light faded and the only one who was left standing there was Chris. Syrll had disappeared, he had been absorbed into Chris. The merging had been completed.

Silka smiled down on him and lowered her head and whispered into Chris's ear. “You take good care of my brother now. He's a pain in the a*s, but I love him.” She drew her head back slightly before lowering it to his ear once again. “And if you don't... You'll have ME to answer to. Understood?”

She returned to her upright position and smiled down at Chris, a slight twinkle in her eye. Chris looked up to her and simply responded with a warm smile of his own and two simple words. “Of course.”

Jessica no longer able to contain herself ran up to him and practically leapt into his arms, covering his face in kisses and hugging him tightly. If her smile had been any larger, her skull would have popped out of her mouth. She had never felt such elation, such happiness. Finally, the one part of her destiny that her human side cared the most about had been fulfilled. They were truly together.