Through The Storm
Chapter 9 Out of the darkness

“Agnes, I grew tired of this place.” A young man addressed Rowida as he laid on a four-poster bed languidly. “Let’s go back to England.”

“But I still want to stay another week, I love the mountain air, Richard.” Rowida jumped next to him and kissed him.

“England has mountains, plenty of mountains.” Richard looked wide-eyed at Rowida’s reclining form.

“Well, they are not as high as it is in here, it is good for my constitution, and for our future baby,” Rowida purred next to his ear.

“You always have the best arguments.” He sighed. “Fine, one last week in this place, then we are off towards home.”

“Of course, darling.” She nibbled at his neck for a moment then jumped out of bed.

“Richard, I will go for a walk, you rest till I return.” She ran to the door. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” He waved desperately after her.

It had been three years since Rowida managed to break her Deal with Violet, three years of having to suffer her foolish husband and his urges. The worst part was, her all good, yet very slanderous husband couldn’t sire children, not that he lacked the aptitude to try, he was a well-known figure in every brothel and house of ill repute across Europe.

Rowida didn’t know whether this was Violet’s last revenge on her, or was it a grand mistake of her late magical leach, what this led to, was that she chased after Arcanos all across the continent. And she did replace her share, but the worthiest of them came only five months ago, the seeker’s arrowhead, an Arcanos that could replace other Arcanos, and anything of enough magical potential.

This was when she decided to test the last advice Violet gave her, to seek the lost dragon and bind it to her will.

She managed to convince her husband to come to Walachia, and for the last two months, the seeker’s arrow was leading her all over the place. She found four more Arcanos, which was not bad, she reasoned there must be a portal nearby if she could replace this many Arcanos in such a limited area.

The night before, the arrowhead pointed her to the base of a mountain, but it was late, and she didn’t want to lose her husband’s financial support until she was ready to leave the surface and all its wretchedness.

Today she headed to the base of the mountain. She must replace something worthwhile, at least something to allow her to continue her journey of retaliation against all who did her wrong.

She walked swiftly towards the mountain base, sure-footed as any surface dweller.

She smiled. During those eleven years, she grew taller and wider, seemed the food and sun of this place allowed her to utilize her body better, even though back in Agartha, she stopped growing like most girls, at the age of fifteen. She still was short for most women here but was considered normal short, nothing like her old stature when she first arrived in Woolpit, as she learned over time, they thought of her then to be a maximum ten years of age child, or maybe even eight.

Mariah’s gift also helped her immensely. At thirty years of age, she looked more like she was nineteen than her actual age.

She woke from her contemplations as she reached the base of the mountain, and something was definitely there. A corner of one of the rocks gave a familiar shimmering glow. She touched the rock, and suddenly, a cave opened in front of her.

Slowly, Rowida ventured inside, using one of the Arcanos she found last year, on her eyes. It gave her true sight, darkness, and illusions would not stand in the lens-shaped Arcanos’ way.

The walls were lined by veins of gold and copper, two minerals which lent dragons protection against spiritual attacks, she was in the right place.

“Stop,” a voice bounced in her head. “Don’t come any nearer.”

“I come in peace,” Rowida said in her native tongue as she licked her lips to soften their dryness. “I mean you no harm, majestic one.”

“Ah, an Agarthan.” The owner of the voice laughed. “A long way from home, or are you lost like me?”

“Banished, in fact.” Rowida took a small step deeper into the cave.

“You must have been very wicked to deserve that.”

Something big moved in the distance, slithering over the cave floor, or was it the roof?

“Yes, I was.” Rowida took another tentative step. “But I have changed, a six-year-old boy changed me.

“No, you have not.” The voice laughed, and the slithering sound came nearer. “You need to have a soul to mend, and you almost have none.”

Rowida stopped. “Then help me have a soul, to make amends.”

She bowed and sighed.

In another second, the hot belly of the dragon was almost touching her head.

“Give me some of your blood, to help me decide.” The dragon’s voice resonated in Rowida’s head to the rhythmic breathing of the huge belly above her.

Rowida drew a small knife from her belt, punctured her thumb with it, and raised her hand above her head.

The belly retreated, and something hot and wet engulfed her hand for a moment then released it. Rowida smiled in relief when the dragon’s tongue left her hand.

“You were a green,” the voice said. “And a consort to one of the Others.” the voice laughed. “And a tool of destiny all along.”

Rowida knew from extensive studies of the lore of Agartha dragons were not just magical creatures, they were nature’s spirits, the manifestation of nature’s magical powers over all her domain, as such, even though they had massive, majestic, and terrible bodies, they didn’t need them to exist.

What she was asking the dragon was to let its spirit inhabit her body for a time, a replacement of her lost soul, until she can get a new one. According to lore, this had been done only once before, Malachi the terrible did it. This was as far as Rowida knew of dragons inhabiting human bodies. And if she was really fated for great things, the dragon would comply, as lore dictated dragons always wanted to be in the middle of life-changing events, or that they also were vehicles of fate and destiny.

“You ask a lot, green child.” The dragon laughed, and the entire cave rumbled and shook to its mirth, dust, and small rubble fell over Rowida from all directions.

“I know, but if I am really as you say, destiny’s tool.” Rowida moved from her bowing posture to stand straight, looking directly at the head of the dragon hidden in the darkness at the top of the cave. “Then, I am just asking enough.”

“You are, and this is the interesting thing.” The dragon’s head suddenly went down from the roof of the cave to a few inches away from Rowida’s face. “I have been waiting for you for millennia, Rowida, the soulless.”

Rowida trembled with anticipation, but she also knew she had to give something to the dragon in exchange for having its immense power, and it was almost always something that mattered only to the supplicant for dragon power.

“I will join your soulless body, Rowida,” the dragon breathed down on Rowida’s head. “In exchange for your heart, and from this point, you will cease to be Rowida the soulless, and become Rowida the heartless.”

“I accept, let it be done.” Rowida opened her arms wide.

“This might burn you, a lot.” The dragon chuckled as it breathed fire at Rowida, engulfing her whole.

The world didn’t change much since I went to sleep in my cave, the dragon’s voice played in Rowida’s mind.

But it did, majestically, humans have taken over everything. Rowida thought this, even though she didn’t want to, all her thoughts were accessible to the dragon, and the dragon’s to her.

Interesting, humans have splintered so far, the dragon’s thought floated in Rowida’s mind. Now, Rowida, the heartless, what is next?

We replace an entrance to Agartha and wage war. Rowida turned to walk away from the cave.

Always wanted to see another war, the dragon’s thought ran in circles. The best in people show only in the fire of war.

Part 2 - War in Agartha