Timeless Ones

There is a mountain that reaches up into the sky, where clouds gather and are the dress of the peak. White and calm or dark and stormy, but the mountain never changes. Winter or summer, spring or fall, grass and tree and warm temperatures cover the lone mountain, surrounded by hills and rivers and a lake to the east. A heard of deer stand by the river, close to the mouth of the lake. Two pairs of eyes watched them, hungry eyes. Desperate eyes.
From the trees burst the large dark red creature, roaring with anger and grief, the deer panic as Selana spreads her wings in the sky and then  tucked the thin bones and skin in to dive down upon them. She was the size of ten deer together and they ran away from the small dragon into the fast claw of Rajah, who burst from the lake, snapping one into his mouth and felling three others with swift movements. The rest of the deer ran to the forest after Selana used their confusion to pounce upon two fat doe. Wordlessly they ate the meal.

Selana could not eat as much and took breaks between bites as her mate powered through three deer effortlessly. He was thrice Selana's size and not the largest dragon either. No, that was the Timeless Ones, ancient dragons of the First Eggs. With thick long necks that are comparable to small rivers, scales length of boulders and eyes without color because they see into the heart of magic. They were the immortal and wise ones, they were the deities, in a way, of the dragon race. Once in their lifetime a dragon will make the journey to the mountain of Iconous where the Timeless Ones rest. With black, vile egg wrapped in animal skins and tucked between rocks the mates would see the Timeless ones, but for Selana time was slipping away.

"Let's make the flight," she said, licking blood from her jaw and grabbing the wrapped up egg, she sat on her scalely haunches and stretched her neck upwards, looking into the clouds. An orange tail wrapped tightly around her own.

"We can not make it," Rajah said, "Our wings are weak and our bellies are heavy and full. In the morning-"

"It has taken us two weeks to come here because of snow and ice!" Selana shrieked, biting at the tail, not enough to hurt him in any way other than his feelings, "I will never forgive you if we do not return in time! Never!" Rajah lowered his head and looked at the bloody remains of his meal.

"You will die if you do not wait until morning."

"Let us at least fly to the base, climb up as high as we can until then, please, Rajah, please," she pulled away. Rajah looked up at the swirling clouds and gave the dragon equivalent of a sigh. It sounded more like a demonic and dissatisfied purr. Together they flew right up to the base of the mountain and climbed through the night up the mountain of Iconous. The moment the light of dawn slipped over the vista they flew upwards in large spirals until they broke through the clouds and settled on the peak of the mountain.

A heavy silence was all they found. Rajah shifted, nervous, confused, the sound of grating rocks disturbing the peace of the high peak. Then they heard the long and throaty sound of air being pushed beneath wings in the distance. The clouds billowed as great and ancient dragon heads emerged from the mist and froth of the sky and rose up and above the peak. Their eyes were white and their scales all gleamed with gold lining and faded colors they had been born with.

"Why have you come?" the Timeless Ones said in unison, seven dragons that Rajah and Selana could see but the gravel voices of a thousand lives met their ears. In awe and fear Selana unraveled the skins and showed the black egg, lackluster and with a chalky texture. The dragons were immobile but their white eyes seemed to move.

"When was it laid?" they asked, Rajah felt cold.

"Two weeks tomorrow," he said in a low, meek voice. One massive gold rimmed head came forward, the size of Rajah's midsection and dead eyes as large as his head. This Timeless One had once been blue but it was faded, bleached and lined with gold. The cold breath of the Timeless Ones blew over them as it examined the mates.

"In that time," they said, "One of the Timeless Ones died. You are cursed, and so is that egg." The dragon lifted it's head away, "We will free you of the burden if you free us of ours."

"What do I have to do?" Selana asked quickly, stepping forward, hopeless and full of sorrow.

"Return here in five summers, you will know then." The tip of a long tail suddenly lashed out and grabbed the egg and disappeared. "Until then." and the Timeless Ones were gone. Rajah swept his wings upward and jumped, diving into the clouds and pulling up below them. Wondering where the great beings had come from and gone. All he could see were the rolling hills and the lake. Then, from the clouds, something fell, dragging a short trail of cloud behind it as the black ball dropped. Perhaps it was shattered, perhaps it fell into the depths of the lake, perhaps the remains would be lapped up by a wolf. Selana did not care, she was already flying fast home to her cave, but it disturbed Rajah and he vowed to look for any hint when they returned in five summers.

--

The egg did fall into the lake, causing a splash the sprinkled the deer remains and hitting the lake floor. The egg cracked and something silver oozed out and filled the spaces, as it floated back towards the surface the silver liquid solidified, reacting with the water, and sealed the egg once again. It floated and went unnoticed for a time, other dragons not seeing the object on their quest to see the Timeless Ones. The only reason the egg had a shine was from the water that covered it. After a week, when Rajah and Selana would have returned to their cave, the egg was picked up, out of the water. Not by a dragon. By a girl. A human girl.

Author's Note

Enjoy

Reviews

[DelsieD]

This whole story is wrapped in a layer of mystery and has a sort of enchanting feel to it. I can't really put my finger on it, but there is something about it that draws the reader in. It's beautifully written and unlike anything I have ever read before.

[ShadowFaux]

thank you!

[Lupus]

The mystery feeling given to the Timeless Ones is given off really well and the dialogue from Rajah is superb. No particular errors that I can see for how you write or other things, so all-in-all it's a pretty awesome story.

[Hester Vane]

Your description in the first paragraph is excellent. Very engaing and it sets the scene beautifully. This is a great follow on from the first chapter. You also manage to make the dialouge natural even though it is about a completely fantasical subject! Brilliant.

[ShadowFaux]

Thank you, i'll admit i kind of borrowed this sort of style from a series of books i read, cant remember the name, though.