The land was charred and bleak. Dragon Oregon flew far and wide looking for signs of life, but there was nothing but raging volcanos spitting out lava globules. Majestic the cat was sitting in front of her book of spells trying to find the power for demons that cannot be banished, not even with the most powerful spell. Her piercing eyes were looking within the magical pages whilst the full moon shone bright through the tiny window panes. Gradually she began to remember a spell from long ago, back from her first life on planet Reath. It was there that she had lived with a magician who was the one who gave her, her name.
Thigl had been a masterful yet mysterious magician that had always felt comfortable in darkness. His eyes that were silver and cobalt blue, darted around always alert, yet afraid that the inevitable would happen. He would sit at his window overlooking the ancient hills carved from tropical reefs millions of years ago, as the winter light faded from a misty, silver blue to a warm glow of amber and magenta, breaking through low lying mist.
"In times of peace" Thigl the magician said thoughtfully "is when you must prepare for what may come in times of turbulence... and maybe even war". Thigl winked at her, who meowed and stretched so that her ebony fur rippled like swathes of velvet ebbing into night.
"You do look majestic"! exclaimed Thigl "In fact, that is what I will call you...Majestic"! She turned to him, her amber eyes shining brightly in the flickering candle light just like a tiger in the night. She meowed and purred as Thigl stroked her soft fur tinged with a bluey silver from the glistening moonlight. "Majestic...yes, this has to be your name"!
Majestic sat poised under the same moonlight, yet older and wiser now in her 9th life, thinking about all those many eons ago. So much had happened since those peaceful times, when grass grew lush and green; when children played wild and free within families filled with hope for the future. Times had indeed changed. The darkness had crept at first so slowly that it was hardly noticeable and then suddenly ever so quickly that it could not be stopped. Majestic peered back into her spell-book trying to remember Thigl's words. His magic words that were so powerful that they could even drive demons that couldn't be banished away.
Oregon's fire could warm and protect, but it could also burn and destroy. Around him were demons who refused to go underground. They had been unearthed by humans that had given in to their greed, making them more powerful, so that through human selfishness they could crawl overground and begin to divide and rule. Oregon scoured the land looking for these wretched creatures that had been unearthed ready to scorch them in their path. His whelps, the young dragons, were being taken from their roost, hardly ever reaching fledglings age. Without Oregon's offspring surviving, they were not able to continue the dragon line and were in danger of all but disappearing and becoming extinct. The whelps protected the new born eggs whilst Oregon flew across the ruined land leaving his young dragons in constant danger to the demons who were becoming more powerful as greed had become insatiable.
Majestic turned to see Oregon, the dragon's silhouette fly across the moon. Time is running out she thought. Peering into the masks of time, she summons Oregon's fire. Oregon hears Majestic's call, he circles back round to her castle where she sits in the tower. Perched upon the high stone walls, his scaly red tail sweeps round and knocks against Majestic's window pane. She turns and unlocks the latch with her paw, letting in the crisp night air.
"You calllllled"? Oregon's voice is deep and soothing, echoing into her chamber. Majestic silently pads back to the spell book, letting the pages rustle in the wind, she turn back to Oregon.
"Ah...do you need fire, my feline friend"? Oregon's deep dulcet tones inquire, whilst balancing upon the fort of her castle.
"It is only with the dragon's flame that I can summon a forgotten spell from the mists of time" Majestic purrs.
"Very well" Oregon is almost laughing as he breathes out fire, not that burns and destroys, but that of warmth and protection, into her chamber and gently onto the pages of the flickering spell book. Majestic's amber eyes release a golden shield to protect the pages from burning mixing with Orgeon's warm fire turning the air into stardust and light, so that she can peer back through the mists of time. Majestic is taken back to that time with Thigl the Magician, before all the greed began to take hold and where peace hung fragile like a pearly shell in a strong hand.
Thigl lights another candle as the winter darkness sets in. "They'll be a frost tonight" Thigl ponders aloud to Majestic who joins him by the window overlooking the land.
"See over there in that forest. There lay whispering winds and powerful allies. We'll need them tonight my feline friend." Majestic tilts her head and looks at him quizzically.
"You know not what I speak of? I speak of fairy tales and dreams, damsels in distress and heros looking for a fight. These are what dreams are made of yet, wisdom can reach further, beyond these cliches. How can we find that wisdom Majestic, where does it belong"? Majestic licks her paws and looks up to Thigl purring and closing her eyes shut and open again, listening. "The wisdom we need is embodied in a creature of the night. An animal that lives in darkness" Majestic meows. "Yes like you my feline friend, she sees what us humans cannot see, where we may never go, but with your help, we can transition into the unknown". Majestic brushes up against Thigl. "Now I may look like just an old man" he smiles stroking her "but many types of magic have passed through these fingers. This may be the last, but the most important of them all". Magician Thigl stifles a cough. Burying his hands into his pockets, he pulls out a lilac handkerchief smelling of lavender, to cover his worn mouth. "my days are nearly over my friend, but you have many lives and they will go on. Now watch very carefully".
Suddenly Thigl flings open the window and lets his cough that changes to a whistle and a song that ripples out across the night into the forest. Deep into the wood two large, bright eyes open wide and his head turns 360 degrees around to see where the call is coming from. The owl turns upon his perch high in the tree tops and alights into flight in the ebbing night.
Thigl pushes another small pane wide open just as the owl glides in "That was a close one, wasn't it Majestic" Thigl steps back, watching the owl settle upon a crooked wooden perch, closing its tremendous wings into a flurry of feathers. "Now Majestic, since ancient times, our friend here the owl helps us to uncover hidden truths, the unknown and even the underworld" Tigl picks up his book full of spells and approaches the attentive owl tilting his head over to one side, watching him cross the room. "Times may be peaceful now, but there will come a time, when only confusion and darkness lays over the land and it is in that very moment, when all hope is seemingly lost, that you Majestic, must conjure the powers that will give rise to the hidden truth and to see the unseen within the ubiquitous darkness".
To be continued....
To be continued....
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