Chapter 3

‘Magic is a fundamental part of the world, but it can be obtained in many ways. Wizards and artificers can learn it, sorcerers are born with it, paladins and clerics receive it from their gods for their devoted service, rangers and druids get it from nature itself, and warlocks can borrow it from a powerful being for a price.’

– A history of magic, Merlin Ambrosius of Britain

Anakin and Hathi ate their breakfast in Anakin’s apartment with Sugar sitting on the adjacent chair at the table. Sugar never jumped on the table when there was food on it, she knew better. She just liked to watch them eat for some reason. It had been a day since the undead horde was destroyed and the two friends were waiting for their families to pick them up to go to the temple.

Anakin received a text on his phone, signaling that their families were outside. The two finished their breakfast, gave Sugar some chin scratches, and went down to the lobby. Two male spitfire drakes were waiting for them along with an older pair of forest kobolds, one male and the other female. One of the Spitfire drakes had a sling around his chest which contained three eggs.

“Oh, where’s Mira? Is she not coming?” Anakin asked his brother Grunglao.

“I’m afraid that my mate has to work, she sends her love,” Grunglao replied. Grunglao looked exactly like Anakin but his scales were more orange than red. Fenari had much deeper red scales and his underbelly was orange instead of yellow.

Anakin put his hands on Grunglao’s shoulders, Grunglao put his hands on his brother’s and Anakin repeated the action with Fenari. A normal display of affection among dragons, kind of like a hug with humans. Hathi did the same action with her parents, Nao and Agamor. The group walked out of the building and took a tram to the temple.

The temple was a massive stone building, covered in sculptures of dragons, angels, and demons, and stained glass windows depicting important moments in Draconic myth and history. The temple was the oldest building in Hrahshurr Crux. One of the stained glass windows depicted Father Bahamut and Mother Tiamat confronting the gods who were locked in endless battle, another depicted St. Roynaih¹ healing the sick during the Plague of Justinian, and another depicted the battle between St. Ocht Tahn² and Moloch.

Anakin paused and stared at the stained glass window. He remembered that story, one of the first his dad told him when he was a hatchling. St. Ocht Tahn died in that battle, but he prevented Moloch from killing more of the innocent and raising them as the dead. Moloch disappeared for a time after that, only to reappear a century later during the Crimean War.

Anakin wondered if that would be him one day, someone dedicated with a mural or a stained glass window on a temple somewhere if he fought and died by the ancient lich’s hands. ‘If I do have to fight Moloch and I fall, may I die saving many innocents,’ he thought to himself. He then noticed that the temple gargoyles were all looking down at him from their roosts. They had large eyes, stony gray scales, short horns, leathery wings, and sharp little teeth. They were looking at him with big curious eyes. Anakin felt a little awkward getting stared at by the gargoyles and put his head down to not make eye contact with them.

Anakin walked up the stone stairs and passed by the arch priest of the temple, who was a massive and imposing figure. His name is Father Orellian and he is a Thundercracker dragon. A titan of a dragon with silvery gray scales, stormy gray feathers, huge ram-like horns, a thick snout, a short, but heavy muscular tail, green eyes, broad feathered wings and towered over most dragons.

He was wearing garb similar to Anakin’s cleric robes except he was wearing a golden stole draped around his shoulder, a blue, gold and silver cloak and a sash around his waist as well as a more decorative hood than Anakin’s. His hands were firmly clasped around a long silver and gold staff. If you just looked at Father Orellian, you would think he was a stern and vicious creature from how massive and imposing he was. At least until you looked him in the eyes. They were soft and kind.

Father Orellian gave Anakin a nod as he walked through the door, he had known Anakin a long time and was a part of his training as a cleric. Anakin walked into the temple and sat down next to his family. There were many rows of pews in the temple. There were a few large pools of water for the sea serpents and longs to have a place to enter or exit the building.

It took a few minutes for the temple to fill. Dragons of every size entered the temple. Some dragons were as small as a human child, others were about human sized and some were tall enough to look an elephant in the eye. Some of the dragons flew up into the rafters to watch from above and perched like colorful, scaled birds, others huddled in the pools but many took their places on the pews.

There was a beautiful stained glass window behind the podium that depicted Father Bahamut and Mother Tiamat. Father Bahamut had massive wings made of beautiful starlight and silvery scales. Mother Tiamat had golden scales that blazed like the sun and a powerful fin for a tail. Anakin stared at the stained glass window while Father Orellian gave his sermon. He stared into the eyes of his gods, their eyes bore deep into his very soul. It’s as if they knew what he was up against and felt a deep sadness. He began drifting away into deep thought. So deep, that by the time he came back down to Earth, the sermon was over. Everyone was starting to get up and getting ready to leave, Anakin was about to leave until Father Orellian spoke up.

“Anakin, don’t go just yet,” he said, “I need to talk to you.” Anakin gestured to his family to hold up for a moment and walked over to Father Orellian.

The older dragon looked down at the younger with sympathy. “Tell me, my son, you seemed really distracted during my sermon, is everything alright?” Father Orellian asked kindly.

Anakin thought for a moment, “A day ago, the DOA fought off a bunch of undead and we found a ritual circle with a dead body . . .,” Anakin replied.

Father Orellian showed a bit of surprise at this, “But that’s not what’s bothering you?” he asked with a knowing look.

Anakin shook his head no, “”We found the mark of Moloch afterward.”

Father Orellian took a step back in shock, this knowledge hadn’t been released to the public yet. Anakin wasn’t technically supposed to tell anyone yet but Father Orellian was one of the reasons he wanted to be a cleric. Father Orellian was one of the wisest and most compassionate dragons that Anakin knew, he always knew what to say.

“No wonder you’re so troubled. Is there anything you want to discuss?” asked Father Orellian sympathetically.

Anakin took a deep breath, “I am terrified. I’m not terrified of Death, but I am scared of what is to come. Moloch hasn’t been seen in a long time and she has had a lot of time to plan. Last night, I had a nightmare. I saw the world bathed in the undead. I saw many of the faces of the undead up close, and I recognized them. They were the faces of friends, family, people I held dear.”

He continued, “I was petrified because I knew the reason it happened. It was because I wasn’t strong enough. That’s what scares me more than anything. That I’m not strong enough to face the evil lurking in the shadows.”

Anakin was trying not to cry, the faces of Hathi, his brothers and dad were burned into his mind. He was trembling like a leaf in the wind, the nightmare from the night before was still fresh in his mind. He was shaken by the sight of his brothers, his dad, friends, and colleagues all turned into the undead. Their rotting faces were burned into his mind. The thought of seeing the people he loved turned into such unholy abominations scared him more than anything and the worst part was that dragons weren’t supposed to be afraid. Dragons did not feel fear.

Anakin felt a feathered wing wrap around him and bring him close to a massive form. Anakin looked up to see Father Orellian’s kind eyes and reassuring smile. “Anakin… I know that you think that you shouldn’t be afraid since you are a dragon. But let me tell you something that many of our kind seem to forget. Nothing on this planet is immune to fear, not even dragons.”

“Sure, there aren’t a lot of things that can or are foolish enough to challenge a dragon,” Father Orellian raised his taloned hand and allowed magic to form in his hand. “But we do feel fear. However, it is quite rare for something to cause us to be afraid. Moloch is one of the few beings in known history to cause dragons to feel fear.”

Father Orellian caused an illusion to form, the translucent figures of Anakin’s brothers Fenari and Grunglao appeared first, then Hathi, and next was Anakin’s father, his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and other extended family. The illusions of his family all had reassuring looks on their faces.

“I understand that you’re scared, Moloch hasn’t been seen in person for over a century and the only time anyone has heard anything of her, it was her followers causing damage. Every time she reappears, Death follows,” Father Orellian pulled Anakin into his wings, creating a canopy of feathers and causing the illusions to disappear.

“You. Are. Strong. So very strong. Why? Because you have people who love you deeply and you return that love in kind. IF and this is a very big if, you have to fight Moloch, I know in the deepest pit of my heart that you can and will come out victorious,” Father Orellian released Anakin from his feathery cocoon and put both hands on Anakin’s shoulders.

He bent down to look Anakin in the eyes, “Fear is a part of life, fear is an important emotion that keeps us from danger. The future is never set in stone and nightmares are not prophecies. However, if you believe that this nightmare will come true, then it will come true. Do not allow fear to control you.”

Anakin smiled, Father Orellian’s words made him feel like he could fight an entire army by himself. “Thank you, Father Orellian. I needed to hear that,” Anakin said calmly.

Anakin walked out of the temple towards his family, turned back, and waved to Father Orellian who returned the wave. Anakin went back to his family as Father Orellian used magic to shut the temple doors. No one would see Father Orellian pause for a moment, and look up towards the stained glass window of St. Ocht Tahn.

“Please, Father Bahamut, Mother Tiamat, protect us all. Please, St. Ocht Tahn, give all of us strength for the darkness ahead,” he whispered to the divine.

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