The Hunter, The Dragon And The Smokey Mountain Angel
Chapter 23

Julia quickly rekindled the fire in the fireplace. She wished the new stove had been installed but the new gas fittings didn’t fit her outdated pipes, however, fire is fire. She rushed as she opened the cupboard and found it filled with new pots and pans. In the back of the cabinet sat a teapot. Around it were cups, dishes, urns, coffee, jars of honey and finally tea bags. She took the teapot, filled it with water, set a teabag in it and then placed it in the fire.

She lowered herself into her new rocking chair in front of the fire and smiled. The dragon scale drew upon the light coming from the fireplace and the gems that covered its outer layer glowed in her hand. Then she leaned back in the rocking chair, as her thoughts of Jerry and all those who had blessed her bubbled to the surface of her awareness. Her mind returned toward the object in her hand. She could feel her body responding to it as if she was made of light and it jealously pulled her awareness toward it.

Julia whispered, “So this is the great honor that will–alter me, again…,” she grit her teeth, “I… need to protect Noah.”

The dragon wanted her to mix this with tea. She glanced anxiously at the teapot. The water needed more time to boil.

What is this tea supposed to do to me, she thought then realized that she trusted this creature completely, too much. However, they had shared pain, great pain and loneliness but she knew that he had endured tremendous suffering and for a very long time. All she had seen from his visions had been only a fraction of what he had endured, yet he still wanted to help her.

The kind of pain that he lived through would have driven anyone mad...What if he’s mad?

The thought felt hollow.

Still, suffering like that had to have changed him; drove him mad or... Did it make him stronger...?

She didn’t want to go there, yet.

He had acted rationally, so far and what of this Hunter?

She looked down at the scale. It sparkled in the fire light and she felt connected to him through it.

She suddenly felt ashamed for questioning him. Had he been listening to her thoughts? She didn’t think that he could but he might be able to hear everything with this shard of his now resting in her lap. He had said that distance weakened their connection, but that would change once she drank the tea.

She closed her eyes and listened for his presence but there was nothing. No rumbling, no strained growling voice only the sound of the fire popping. She wanted to call out to Andrew,

What if I’m missing something obvious?

She felt that she was missing something, a great deal of what was happening to her seemed crazy. Everything he wanted her to do was an act of faith and trust on her part. If Andrew knew what she was about to do, would he say she was crazy. But the answer was already in her mind. No, she wasn’t crazy. Something had been guiding her, speaking to her and helping her and now she had seen it and it was a dragon!

A dragon is under the mountain.

The Idea of it felt like it should shake her to her core.

What next, she thought, unicorns and talking dogs?

She turned the scale in her hand and noticed that the scale looked like a dagger. One side was flat and pointed where the other end had a round, more blunted surface. She flipped the scale and traced the lines on its exterior. It wasn’t transparent but it did seem to gather light, hold it then release it slowly. It felt ancient, hard and beautiful; and it felt powerful in her hand. She wondered if the dragon meant to give it to her like this, in the shape of a long knife or had it just happened when he ripped it off his shoulder.

She stood up and retrieved her duffle bag, took out her knife and sat back down in the rocking chair.

She was sure that nothing on Earth, short of an atomic blast could even scratch the exterior of this scale but the underside had fibers. She went into the kitchen, found a cup and spoon and with the knife and began shaving the fibers into the cup.

When the belly of the scale was smooth and all the fibers were in the cup, she poured a little honey over them. Then she took the teapot from the fireplace, poured the hot tea into the cup and stirred. The water shimmered as the hot steam rose.

Moments passed as she looked into the cup. Her son needed her and now this dragon needed her too. She knew that drinking this was a choice that would fundamentally change her just as the lightning and the treatment had done.

If doing this will help them both…

The dark liquid glowed and the effervescent bubbles sparkled as they broke free of the surface. Then she cleared her mind and drank the whole cup. Notes of pine, cinnamon and citrus melted and then it tasted sweet, sweeter than the honey. She could smell clean air, flowers and something else growing, something tart–bitter. She pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth as her lips perked. The dragon tea didn’t taste good but it wasn’t bad either.

She looked around the room but everything looked the same. She felt the same. Then her body began to tingle and her mind opened. Instantly the barrier that held her locked inside her head vanished. She visualized a film, like water drying off the surface of a sheet of glass, releasing her thoughts.

Light Reader lifted his tail and let the blue field slam it back to the ground. He did this again and again with the beating of her heart and she could feel the mountain shaking through the ground.

We are one, Light Reader said.

Suddenly, she saw a lotus flower and she blinked. She could feel her mind adjusting searching for something to compare to what it was seeing. There was a vast darkness all around but then she saw that the darkness was filled with tiny lights in the distance and then the image clicked in her mind. She was seeing the oddest shaped galaxy she had ever beheld and a solar system rested in its center. The vision was at odds with every science journal or astronomy book she had ever read.

Then as if she were sitting on an asteroid that was flying at an unbelievable speed back to the center of its orbital path, she saw the same world from her dreams grow larger. The large planet expanded as she drew near until she knew what it was. She had been to this planet before. She had been on this same journey before. Someone, was it Joshua, yes Joshua, had taken her here once before. Nothing else from the memory came to her mind but she was sure of what she was looking at.

She said, “TOL.”

This world, and its sun, contained the nexus; it was both the beginning and the end of their multiverse.

Then a new idea came to her. The Great Tree that she had seen on TOL, the most beautiful tree she had ever seen, which radiated light and life throughout all time and space, permeating all dimensions– was but one such tree in a Super Cosmic Grove.

As her mental journey took her down into the planet’s atmosphere, she noticed something odd. The Great Tree was in a different location than what Light Reader was showing her. She automatically looked past the place where she saw the Tree and into the distant mountains.

It’s supposed to be there.

Light Reader heard her thoughts and she could feel his heart begin to race. She couldn’t fully recall how she knew where the Great Tree was, no one in all the multi–universe but those who’ve been on TOL would even know about the Tree.

Light Reader whispered,

Joshua.

Then Light Reader’s emotions settled and he continued with his original memory. This is what happened moments before I came to Earth. One day the leader of a strange race of humans sent a messenger to the Red Dragon. They had followed a weak signal to his location. Through Light Reader’s waking dreams, he saw the messenger offer the Red Dragon technology and knowledge about how to use it. The Red Dragon kept the secret from all but his inner circle in exchange for them to collect metals, plants; and animals and this they did. Over the centuries, the Red Dragon Clan had been stealing creatures from all over TOL and imprisoning them deep inside the mountain. Long ago, Light Reader had heard their calls for help. His reply had brought the attention of the Red Dragon down upon him. The Red Dragon handed over many of his captives to the messenger and then offered one more creature, a growing threat that he was ready to get rid of.

Julia saw the inside of a cave. This space had been his prison for so long. Light Reader lay coiled and still broken. His long neck shook as he tried to lift his head when he heard someone walking down a stone passage. From an opening where a great root once grew, an orb shining a white light floated into his cave. A second later, a cat–like being of human proportions walked within striking distance and stared at him.

Light Reader sensed her intentions and instantly knew that she was a bio machine. Billions of tiny robots, like those from ancient times, filled her body.

She approached Light Reader and smiled. She said, “I am called Hunter.”

Her voice had a soft sound to it, he even felt compassion for him coming from her but the machines inside her instantly regulated her emotions, and a moment later she went blank inside.

Light Reader didn’t move or respond. It had been a long time since he had entered the programming of an intelligent machine but he was ready to try. However, he only had enough energy stored up for one move and if he used the energy too soon he would be completely helpless again.

“My master is most interested in you, old one. That is why he sent me.”

Light Reader’s hearts began to beat faster and he realized that the Hunter had sensed it.

“So, you are stronger than you appear. I respect that. I too am stronger than I appear.” Using some of his reserves, he projected his mind and saw what she intended to do. A ship, just large enough for him to fit into the cargo hold, waited just on the outer side of the mountain. She was going to open a passageway directly through the side of the mountain and into his cave prison.

The Hunter tilted her head as a humming noise began to build in intensity just outside the mountain. She said, “The High Lord usually doesn’t negotiate for anything. If he sees need for it he simply takes it but for you he made an exception. And you are an exception, even to those savage lizards above. I sense that you really are as dangerous as the Red Dragon’s underlings fear. What a magnificent creature you are, if only my son could see you.”

Above her, the white light from the orb turned blue and flowed around her. Light reader flicked his tail at her but the orb pulled her body into the air and his tail slid beneath her.

“Good show dragon! But you’re not as peppy as you once were, are you? I’d hoped you wouldn’t go quietly,” she said.

Rocks began to fall from the cave ceiling as the side of the mountain imploded sucking all dust and darkness from Light Reader’s hated cell. He unfolded his wings, pain like lightning shot through his back and Julia winced in empathy. The numb appendages that once bore him upon the winds snapped open! A new cloud of dust filled the cave as tiny projectiles pelted the blue field of energy surrounding the Hunter. Then, with all of his strength, he pumped his wings lifting himself to his feet and he ran for the opening!

The ship he had seen in her mind was waiting in the air with the back door open. He didn’t have enough energy to breathe fire and melt it to a puddle of black alloy but the rage he felt and the rush to freedom boosted his resolve as he cleared the opening and unfurled his wings again and he ignored the intense pain. Then he saw a ray of blue–light beaming from the rear of the black ship. It held debris from the side of the mountain and then released it. Boulders and rocks fell in a stream of dust to the forest below. Before he could blink, another beam of blue energy engulfed him just as he leapt from the hole in the mountainside.

For less than a second the morning sunlight touched his body. The broken bones in his wings and tail made an audible pop as they reformed in their correct place and began to heal. A new surge of energy electrified his body but it wouldn’t be enough to fight, yet. In the moments it would take for him to glide to the jungle below the sunlight would heal his broken bones and damaged organs enough to replace water and then he could fly away or stand and fight.

Like reading the machines of old, a wave of information touched his mind. He saw images coming from somewhere high above and he looked up. A huge ship, big enough to hold hundreds of the ships like the one next to him floated inside TOL’s atmosphere. A powerful mind focused on him and through the link, he knew it was the Hunter’s master. Another moment in the sun and he would take control of that mind. But there was something strange about this thing…This thing looked human, or that was the way it viewed its appearance but it was something very different.

This was a machine living in what had begun as a human body. The idea of it stunned him. The thinking machines, the living analytical minds from his time, beings of light he had once known, minds he loved and interacted with would never violate the biological form and take dominion of it. Some had chosen to share forms, not unlike this Hunter but he had never felt a living thing as cold inside as this one above him. But a few rouge AI’s had tried this once…

This was the greatest of all his fears and why the Great War began. For a moment, he believed that all his efforts, all this pain and imprisonment was for nothing.

The machines have won! He remembered his soul crying out but his assessment was too soon.

The Hunter’s master called itself Sapen, and it realized that Light Reader could read its mind. It quickly began to change its observations into calculations, pointless calculations of distances between stars but between the numbers, Light Reader saw something that gave him hope.

Sapen didn’t understand all the information he had but Light Reader knew what he was seeing. This, thing, had recently come from a realm that existed in the past relative to TOL. His arrival here had been by accident. He had devastated many worlds with his experiments and he had seen many things that hinted at a place that existed at the end of time. Sapen sought the great inventor, he now knew to be John Arora, and he had invested enormous resources and time to replace him through the minds of his counterparts scattered throughout the multiverse.

One of the beings he captured held memories from the Journeyman, Joshua, who had visited him and tried to help him by extending to him the knowledge of multiple lives from their cosmic twins. From these memories, memories that only Light Reader saw and recognized, he beheld an elf.

All the old elves that abided on foreign worlds had traveled to TOL long ago and those that lived now were certainly born on TOL. This Protector was not one of the old ones. Light Reader knew all the elves that had lived in his time. He didn’t feel a Protector on TOL in the moments of his attempted escape. This elf of the future held a pearl–bright staff made from a type of wood found on only one planet in all existence. That wood, which the elf held could have only come from TOL and nothing he knew of could have forged such a thing. This Protector had sent a human, a lesser fractal of himself, on a mission to save the universe from…

Light Reader closed his mind so Sapen could not know this…

He glanced down at the surrounding forest. It had been tens of thousands of years since he felt the sun’s warmth, smelled trees or seen the sky but when a second beam of blue light struck him it all turned blue. The energy filtered out the sunlight and with a final burst of energy, before it fully engulfed him, he cried out a warning to any dragon that could hear, “A new Protector of TOL will be named. The Red Dragon betrayed us!”

A return image came from the Electric Dragon who had fallen into the sea, “We will prepare the way.”

He struggled against the blue light as it slowly pulled him into the cargo hold. He had spent all his energy reserves and each movement drained him further. The light from the sun dimmed as Light Reader craned his neck to see the day– one last time… Then the light faded.

The hunter, surrounded by her blue light, floated past him as he was being drawn into the spacecraft’s cargo hold.

Light Reader clung to consciousness as the ship rose into the air.

Sapen’s voice announced to the armada, “Return to shift proximity. Jump in 3,2,1–”

Light Reader felt the shift from his time and space like a sound vibrating throughout his body. His mind felt the pull of many realms and universes, like spreading webs flashing in his vision.

Julia blinked as the memory raced forward– something had gone wrong. Sapen had ordered another emergency shift but something had exploded just as they slipped into the new universe.

Sapen emergency jumped again.

When they reappeared, the Hunter and Light Reader were alone and in orbit above Earth. Then a crack in the universe, which looked like lightning, struck Light Reader but then the memory stopped. Then the spaceship fell from the sky and crashed into the mountainside even as the same bolt of lightning simultaneously hit Julia as she stood at her computer station.

For a long moment, the image of Joshua, the Journeyman, remained frozen in her vision, as if it were a question for Julia to answer. But as she tried to remember all he had told her, the memory slipped from her mind.

Presently, Julia saw through Light Reader’s eyes. He looked at the image of the computers inside the spaceship that held him captive. A thin red light blinked at the bottom of a column that was mostly black. The power readings were on emergency backup. He lifted his tail then allowed it to slam into the ground. She felt the rumbling through her body as the rocking chair shook. The sensation of her mind being miles away and sensing her body’s reaction at her house felt odd. The computer registered a small drop in power.

He said, I have nearly drained all the ship’s energy reserves. Though it has cost me nearly all the energy I have gained from the artificial lights of this cave and the water the humans have given me.

Why don’t you get the people here to give you more light? Julia asked.

Because of my present condition, it’s very difficult to tap into their minds like this and the energy field blocks the radiation I need. I can only direct people to do what they want to do. Most people don’t want to hurt others, they want to help and do the best they can. But if I push too hard, they start to ask questions. Ultimately, I can’t make them do anything they wouldn’t want to do anyway and I have my own ethical restrictions. I did convince them to turn the artificial lighting to the max and they are rebuilding a skylight above me to let in sunlight but it’s not completed.

He looked up at the ceiling and Julia noticed little figures welding iron supports to a huge sheet of glass. Others, on the outside of the glass carefully removed rocks. A huge, steel door waited at the top of the opening, ready to be raised if needed. Then she looked at the rest of the cave, there were hundreds of people working on a large network of interconnected struts. It looked like the skeleton of a huge dome made of steel support beams that held up the outer shell of the mountain. She guessed that Light Reader’s efforts to free himself had the Air Force worried that the whole mountain might come down on them…

How did you convince them to do that? Julia asked.

They are under the impression that my frail condition is due to a lack of air supply.

Julia felt pride in what the Air Force was doing for Light Reader. Compared to what he had endured for so long, this was a 5 star hotel.

I agree, these humans have been good host. I am grateful and in their debt for this kindness.

Then his mind dove into the ship’s computer database. He gave her a moment to register the time and date stamp and then told her what it meant,

The information in this downloaded file came the moment the lightning struck us. It is what Sapen did to the world he entered when we were separated from the Armada.

Julia began reading. Some boy, living on a world just like her Earth, told his story. The title of the file read, ”The Experiment Zombie Apocalypse."

After the first chapter, she knew who the author was. She had been dreaming about this boy! It was Louis. The same lightning that that hit her and Light Reader had also struck him. Light Reader helped her absorb the information faster than she ever could by simply reading. Something very different had happened to him than what had happened to her. The Journeyman, Joshua, had given him knowledge from many of the different fractal lives of which they were all a part. Even though Lewis couldn’t retain all the memories Joshua had given him, the memories and the experiences he did remember from these other lives helped him survive in impossible situations.

She felt the connection to this kid. Her dreams of late were true... Louis’s world had been devastated and all hope was lost until...

Light Reader ended the data flow and said,

You can read the book later. What is important to understand is this Julia; the Hunter knows who you are. Sapen want’s your type more than he wants me... That thing will stop at nothing to capture you and I and then replace a way to send the coordinates to this world to Sapen.

Who am I? Julia asked.

You are who you create yourself to be. You are who you choose to be right now. Light Reader said.

I just want to be a mother and live a simple life. I didn’t ask for all this. I don’t care about cosmic destiny or insane machine men. But what I mean is, who am I that this, Sapen, wants so badly?

Have you not been paying attention Julia? Such important decisions are rarely made by those who wish to make them. You may not know who you are but there are answers inside you and once the danger has passed, we will discover this together. We’re all, everything that is living; we’re all making choices that affect everyone else. Dr. John Aurora, one of those of your type, invented Aughra. It’s a kind of machine that I have only seen on TOL. Light Reader glanced at the crystal sphere still mounted to the rear wall inside the down space cruiser. He quickly returned his eyes forward and continued, And Aughra is what Sapen is after.

Julia asked,

But I thought Sapen could already jump from one universe into another?

Julia could feel Light Reader nodding his head silently. Then he said,

I’m not sure how he’s able to travel between realms, but I don’t think he can navigate. From what I could tell from the computers in this ship, his jumps between universes are random or at least limited by a broad parameter. By replaceing you, Sapen believes he may be able to replace the machine that can bring him into the universes he chooses. What he does next will be more horrible than what happened to Louis and his world.

Julia took a deep breath and asked,

And who are you? I mean, in the vision you showed me about your prison I saw many other dragons, smaller dragons than you are that Sapen could have taken.

I understand, Light Reader said, I doubt Sapen knew this when he took me. I am not just a dragon from TOL. I am the last of my race that understands analytical artificial computation or can interact with artificial intelligence at their processing speeds. After the great techno war, all knowledge of technology was lost. My guess is that no one on TOL even knows what a computer is anymore.

Julia shook her head,

So you’re not only a fire–breathing dragon from the world that exists at the end of time but you’re also an IT professional?

Light Reader laughed and said,

In my time, when dragons held the high positions there was a balance between technology and what you think of as magic. Dragons and a few others like us are naturally magical,”

Light Reader laughed again to himself,

We are so powerful that for many without technology they feared we might choose to rule rather than protect TOL. Most dragons care not for technology but in our councils, long before I was born, it was decided that some of the most gifted of the dragons needed to understand technology. So, you see, I’m not only a dragon but I also understand technology... Yes, I’m a master of IT. But our time grows short Julia. I must prepare you. You will forget all this but when the time comes. The moment all control is lost and everything that matters seems gone, you will know what to do. For I have watched you over the last year. When I could, I have seen where your mind settled, what is important to you. You are an innocent and you are brave.

I have killed other humans. I am not innocent, Julia said.

Light Reader replied,

You did these things believing that you were protecting your homeland and even your world. I was once naive as your comment implies. I would not take life but there is a time to live and a time to kill, a time to make love and a time for war. Many teach this on your world. Those who would live in peace must create a way so that when the war is over those who love peace can replace a way to live without war. If we are not willing to go to war then others will make all time the time for war. You are innocent because had you known all the facts or had more power you would have found another way to defeat your enemies or not fight at all. However willing we may be, we are limited by what we don’t understand and the powers we possess. I am making it so that you, and I, will have all the knowledge and power we need to stop the Hunter and protect this world. We may have to do things that we hate but, because of what we are about to do, this world will not become as the world Louis lives in.

Julia remained silent though she still didn’t know who she was that such a thing, as Sapen would want her more than a dragon like Light Reader. She didn’t know if Sapen really could come to this world but that didn’t matter right now, something very dangerous is looking for her. She opened her eyes; the heat from the fireplace warmed her face. She thought,

I just told the whole world who and where I am. Why don’t you tell me where my son is then I can go to him and stay there.

I know this is hard. You child is your heart and you would give anything to protect him. That is a mother’s strength and weakness. I have one last thing you must do, one last transformation you must undergo.

Julia thought of the tea she had drank and wondered what he meant by another transformation.

What else did drinking this tea do to me?

Light Reader whispered quietly in her mind,

Do you trust me Julia?

Julia said,

I must trust you. I seem to trust you with not only my life but with my son’s life, the world, my country’s future and the lives of all the people who live in these two cities.

Then don’t ask me again about the wellbeing of your son. If any harm were to come near him, I will let you know. He is safe but you are in danger. We are all in danger as long as the Hunter is out there looking for you.

Julia nodded.

Then Light Reader receded from her mind. The log cabin suddenly felt incredibly small and she had the urge to fly as high and as fast as she could.

She felt the dragon–scale lying in her hands. She was good with knives but she was sure the Hunter would be carrying a blaster or something like that. Then her cell phone buzzed and she floated up, tucked the scale into the long pocket of her pant leg and withdrew her phone.

The text read: You coming to bed or what? Andrew.

Julia smiled and the ground began to shake. She imagined seeing Light Reader’s enormous tail lifting high into the air, straining against the blue light and then crashing into the ground. Soon the ground would stop shaking and a dragon would emerge from that mountain.