MagiStream

This is a story where dragons have been driven away from the planet and disappeared, without leaving anything but the skeleton of their killed king. One day, something strange happens and raises a question in a girl's mind, held long until thirteen years later, when on a warm day the question rises again in her, and changes her life as she goes of on a badly started adventure.



"It simply isn't an adventure worth telling if there aren't any dragons."
- J.R.R. Tolkien

Prologue

It looks like a mountain. But it is not one. It is a fearsome thing, yet lifeless, but still making chill run down the spines of those who lay their eyes upon it. It is the skull of a dragon.

It protrudes from the ground as if it is resting on it, its body buried in the deeps of the planet, covered up by the earth. It rises like a smaller mountain, its long, now timeworn horns like a cliff without a watery body beneath it. There is a hole beneath the horns, from which the vertebrae of its neck swirl downward and into the ground, still holding on, unmovable. Its empty eye sockets still seem to watch over the world the way they used to. The jaw is closed peacefully, but the teeth are bare, without the skin and scales protecting it, and they are threatening and growling silently at the world before it the way they used to. Only its head rises from the ground, the rest of it long gone. Still it looks like a mountain, as well as the skull it is, due to being overgrown by vegetation over time.

The beast had been slain in the previous era, others of its kind disappearing upon its death. It had been the king of the kind, the king of dragons. Humans and other races, united, succeeded in killing it, that way removing the threat from their planet. Once upon a time, the whole of its body was underneath the ground after it had been slain, since the ground had been burnt and melted by its flames, partially a liquid as it fell from the skies.

A mountainous area surrounds it for kilometres around it, the nearest inhabited area being just a small old village barely surviving. There are no forests around, and there are no animals scurrying across the grassy mountainous area. Only a small stream flows near the lifeless skull, passing just in front of it, as if marking a border. But the stream has got no life in it, not a single fish in it.

No one knows where all the dragons have disappeared, but it matters not. For a strong earthquake shakes the whole planet, all the volcanoes erupting, heat rising to the surface, almost burning people's feet.

Chaos has befallen the world. The animals seem to survive, and plants too, but for the humanoid races it is impossible to stand on the ground. They hide in their houses, the heat rising, the planet seemingly on fire, but not burning up in space. The earthquake shattered countless homes of the humanoids, only the strongest still standing, but barely. Countless lives have been lost with merely an earthquake.

Everyone is questioning one another what it is, unaware it is pure wrath of a destructed animal race: the dragons.

***

It has been days since the earthquake, and people are mourning over their recently deceased ones, merely sobbing at the windows, unable to step outside and retrieve the bodies. No one has still got a clue of what has befallen them, the humanoids.

All the humanoid races have gathered up from all the ends of the planet, gathering up in the ruins of the largest nearest city to their home, unless they are there already. It has been a hard trip for them all, crossing the burning soil underneath their feet, but it is better if they are all concentrated in several places, rather than scattered across the world in small parties.

The nine-year-old C Browne curls up on her bed under her covers, even though it is already too hot. Only her scalp covered with shorter, yet wild curly hair the colour of the burning sunset is protruding from underneath.

She is looking at her steampunk dragon figurine, the only thing remaining that reminds them of dragons. People have even stopped telling the old tales of dragons from before. The only thing left are the steampunk, wooden or stone dragon figurines, as well as various drawings and paintings of them. Nowadays they are called Forgotten Wings, originally being called Wings due to being the only winged beings, that being their name before the word dragon. After they disappeared, things changed and eventually birds of all kinds evolved and soared across the skies.

She stretches her arm out and takes the dragon, placing in next to herself, removing the heavy quilt. She plays with the figurine, all of its joints movable, even the jaw. It is very detailed and full of wheels, its tail long and the whole figurine easily movable and realistic. It is easily bent in the ways it would naturally be possible, and looks like a real dragon. It is bronze, golden and dirty reddish and the size of an average cat.

C's pet cat, Meyu, meows and jumps up on the bed, curling up next to the figurine. She, just like every other animal, has no problems with the heat in the air, or the almost burning soil outside. It is as if only humanoids are targeted and affected by it.

If C's theory of the dragons returning is correct, it is they doing it. The last time the soil was burning up and such an earthquake shook the planet to the core was the day the dragon king was slain. The planet almost perished that day, but some of them somehow survived the soil burnt and melted by dragon's breath underneath their feet. The only difference is the world altogether isn't burning this time; only humanoids are affected.

"C!" her mother shouts from the lower storey of their house in the centre of town. Houses are only in the centre, everything outside being tall buildings. C picks up Meyu in one, and the dragon in the other arm, and strolls downstairs, her mother patiently waiting.

C is, in fact, her real name. Her mother wanted to call her Charlotte or Charliana, while her father wanted a name like Ceanna, disliking the "char" in his wife's choices. In the end, they decided upon a one-letter name, which happens to be quite regular at the centre of towns, parents far too often unable to compromise about names, therefore compromising only about the first letter. When asked at a later age what she would like her name to be, C only shrugged, mentioning neither of the three is of her liking, only Charliana coming close to the name Charlie, which she likes. Again, her father fought against it due to the "char" in the name. So, she remained C.

"What is it, mum?" C asks as she reaches the kitchen, her mother standing across it, waiting for the water to boil for lunch. Meyu slithers out of C's grip as she places the dragon on the table. Her mother frowns upon the sight of it, never having liked anything connected to dragons.

"Where is your father?" her mother asks, raising an eyebrow, though knowing the little girl couldn't know such a thing. C shrugs. Her father hasn't been home since the earthquake began, and they are worried whether he's alive and hiding somewhere or dead for a long time. C's mother drums her fingers against the table, a frown on her face, not resembling the girl almost at all. C got most of her looks and personality solely from her father, the vibrant pale blue eyes being the only connection between mother and daughter.

There is no way they could know where he is. Unless, of course, they send Meyu to find him. The cat is a very lazy one, just like any other cat, but she is an exquisite tracker, and she loves C's father almost as much as she loves C herself, so the problem of finding him is even smaller. But the laziness always steps in and Meyu seems to refuse to find him.

Unless, of course, she gets a treat. C slaps her forehead and calls the cat, who immediately answers with a hungry meow and pleading look, within seconds at C's feet. "Meyu, dear," C chirps, grabbing Meyu up in her arms. "Go find dad." Meyu, who actually understands such commands as they have taught her them a time ago, so she meows in protest and growls. C pulls a treat stick out of her pocket, making Meyu slither out of her grip again and sit in front of her, meowing as if she hasn't eaten in weeks. The treat happens to make all cats go crazy over it, so it is easy to bribe them. Very easy. "You'll get this when you find dad." Meyu stops meowing, then meows once more and disappears out the window. "That'll do." Her mother rolls her eyes, but then freezes.

Another earthquake shakes the whole planet for a short time, and after that, the temperatures drop low, to a normal degree.

1

Thirteen years later. Steampunk Town, Tallakhe Kingdom.

C absentmindedly runs her fingers through her burning red hair, playing with the small bouncy curls falling down her shoulder to her bosom. She tends to do that when she concentrates on something interesting. For example, History class. The best part about it is it's the first class on the first day of her third year at university. It is rather early in the morning, but it never bothers C.

Her professor is the strangest man she has ever met - in truth, the strangest person in existence. He looks like he could rip you apart limb by limb without wincing, in addition being bald but with an overgrown black beard and small, stern, light grey eyes. His deep, ever-hoarse voice is intimidating, yet he is a softy, loves to speak and read, and is an imaginative, fun man. Those stern eyes of his dance happily when he speaks in class, showing he loves the rich and fantastic history of their planet. He doesn't look as old as he is, that being about fifty years of age. His inside and outside are complete opposites, one would say, but he is C's favourite adult, and he teaches her favourite subject - history.

And today's class is special because, well, dragons.

"Before it came to a war of sorts between dragons and humanoids, there was a peace and a kind of alliance between the two," her professor speaks. Several students around her nodded off mere minutes after the beginning of class, but she is wide-awake and listening intently. She adjusts the goggles on her head, continuing to play with her curls that just reach above her bosom. "I wish I was born back then. There we many brave men back then. The dragons were pets of sort, but more like companions and friends, and not subordinates. They are...I mean, were intelligent creatures, speaking all of our tongues. It depended where they were born, but all spoke common used for interracial communication. Anyway, what I was saying is there were many brave men. Why did I say that? Because I want to emphasise the fact killing dragons isn't brave, but it is immoral. It is as if you killed your best friend." C cocks her head to the side. There is truth in those words, as dragons were one with their human companions, and all dragons were connected, therefore even the dragon you don't know should be as one with you. "It is also cowardly. The real brave men of the time did not kill dragons when the war began. The brave men rode them." Some of the sleeping beauties jerk awake and stare at their professor. In that war, it must have meant betrayal to their race, siding with dragons.

"How did they end up?" the student next to C asks, frowning. He stares intently at the professor, who stares back.

"They disappeared with the dragons they allied with," he replies. "There and then, this world lost its bravery." The classroom is silent, now every sleeping student awake and looking at the professor. The steam pumps on the outside of the university become louder than usual, replacing the complete silence that is usually never in the classroom.

C can't hear even the pumps over her thoughts. She remembers the days from thirteen years ago, when no one knew what was going on with the earthquake and all the heat rising from the planet's core. She convinced herself it was the dragons, and she still sticks to her opinion. Finally, her professor got to the topic of dragons and their involvement in their history, so she is going to ask him the question after class.

The end of class, truthfully, comes quietly and peacefully. Surprisingly enough, not a single student was asleep during the rest of the class, but rather almost every one of them was sitting there with a blank gaze in their eyes.

C strolls over to the front of the classroom when the bell rings loudly, in normal circumstances awaking the students. They all lifelessly leave the room, C impatiently waiting for the door to close.

"How can I help you, miss C?" her professor asks, holding a large pile of books in his enormous arms. He is a lot taller than her, and she has to crane her neck up to look him in the eye.

"I have a question for you I've been meaning to ask since I figured you're an enthusiast about dragons," she starts, backing off a step to make the looking up less painful.

"Oh, do tell, what is it that has been bothering you for such a long time?" he asks with a small smile on his rough face, definitely not reducing the intimidating presence. He knows he was always obvious about loving dragons since the first class three years ago.

"Do you think what happened thirteen years ago had something to do with the dragons?" she asks, perking her ears up.

"Oh, maybe, but it depends in what way you believe it was connected to them," he frowns ever so slightly.
"In a way that they are to return soon," she says. It has been thirteen whole years since it happened, but she was sure it wasn't easy to get the dragons back to the planet. No one knows where they are, so it could even take centuries for them to reach the planet as their destination. "I mean, I believe it was some sort of a call. We both know who the only dragon, who can make it, is."

"Definitely," the professor nods with a smile. They seem to share the same thought. "One of a kind, that is for sure. But he is dead. The only one on the planet, though, so I understand your...our logic and explanation." C grins.

"Exactly," she says.

"You know, no one has been to the skull for a long time," he says. "A very long time. Not even close to it. Maybe we could check it? Perhaps something changed around there, and that would be material proof for our theory, which sounds so exciting. I would give anything to ally with the dragons. If they are to trust humanoids again, that is."

A small elf girl, stick thin and pale, her long hair weaving behind her, rushes into the classroom, breathing heavily. She looks from C to the professor and back, blinking in confusion.

"Yes?" the professor asks, placing the books down. "Do I have another class now? I must have forgotten..." The girl nods, her face flushed from running. "Please, sit down, relax, you are not late." He smiles warmly, the girl not comforted, though. "You might even be too early." The bell rings, once more piercing everyone's ears. "Or not. Just in time! I am sure others will be here soon." He turns back to C, who is suppressing her laughter at the freshman girl. "Anyway, I am more than happy to go to a field trip if it is with you, miss C. you will be the most interesting companion along the way. No one else wants dragons back."

"That is so true it is kind of sad," C nods. Students swarm into the classroom, all of them being confused freshmen on the first day. They scatter around the classroom from the back of it, where the door is. The desks are placed on different levels, that part of the classroom resembling a theatre's seat arrangement or a grandstand at a sports arena, but far smaller.

"My class shall start soon," the professor chirps happily, more than ready to fill the student's minds with their history. He grabs his hat with goggles and puts it on his head, just like he did the very first time C's class entered the classroom. C attempts to leave, ready to go home, but the professor stops her. "Welcome, class." The class replies with a shy greeting as if they were small kids, despite being already nineteen years old. "My name is professor Akeboshi, and this is my assistant for today, miss C." They all nod, almost at the same time. C gives Akeboshi a look which says "seriously" and then turns to the class, smiling. Fine, she will help. All she will find at home is a hungry cat, a mourning widow and a tacky urn of her father's ash.



C stares at her steampunk dragon figurine. It is a new one, as the old one "accidentally" broke one day when C wasn't at home all day to supervise her crazy mother's actions. She only forgives her because this one is improved, obviously.

"Mum!" she calls, receiving no answer. Meyu appears out of nowhere, meowing. C ignores her and walks upstairs, finding her mother sobbing, again. Meyu found dad the same day she was sent to look, and she even brought his body back. He was burnt alive, and dead. Her mother won't stop crying since then, and it was, a friendly reminder, thirteen years ago. Soon, maybe within a week, it will be his death's anniversary. Then, she will cry even more for a month. Then the daily sobbing will come again until next year. C finds it very annoying.

"Oh, C, honey, sorry," her mother jumps up to her feet, the tears and sobbing immediately gone. She has nothing else to do all day, so she sobs. "What do you want?"

"I am going on a field trip with Akeboshi," C says, drumming her fingers against the doorframe. Her mother nods.

"I don't like that professor of yours, though, watch yourself," her mother wags her finger at her, before sitting back down in front of the tacky urn above the bed's head.

"Yeah," C drawls, "you don't like him because he likes dragons." Her mother shots a death glance at her before turning back to the urn.

"See you later," she says. She doesn't seem to care much for her daughter, she never has. It has always been C's father who took care. "Don't forget the cat."

"I'll just leave her to Mrs. Skiat next-door," C rolls her eyes and leaves, closing the door behind.

Meyu meows in protest, as if she knows what is going to happen. She dislikes the old lady Skiat, but there is no other option. Only Skiat likes cats and lives nearby. All others happen to despise them, and C can't leave Meyu too far away.

In a matter of half an hour she packs her things, consisting of a couple of sandwiches and drinks, as well as a spare combination of clothing, and hangs the bag on her shoulder. It is a large brown messenger bag in steampunk style, and she got it during the summer before she enrolled at university, working a part-time job as a messenger for the town.

She grabs Meyu in her arms and finally leaves the house, dropping the cat off at the next house. She knocks on the door, waiting a whole minute for Mrs. Skiat to appear on the door and squeal at the sight of the cat in C's arms. The cat replies with a desperate meow. The woman is an unusually short one, and bald. Her skin has barely one wrinkle, and she seems to have no changes in skin complexion like age spots.

"Meyu, dear!" she chirps as she gently takes the cat in her arms, the cat watching out not to hurt the old woman with her claws, but shoots a desperate look at C, who just grins.

"Mrs. Skiat, I will need you to take care of her for about a month or so," she says. Mrs. Skiat nods, apparently needing no explanation for it. "I will be away for that long, so, see you later." C hopes the old woman won't die in the meantime, but she seems to be extremely healthy, just like her husband, the two being rich old people. They do live at the centre, and it is, most of the times, implied one is rich. Except for C and her mother, they live on the average wages.

C bids goodbye to Mrs. Skiat and Meyu, and she passes through the town, going towards the eastern gate, for the dragon king lies far east from the western Steampunk Town. He lies in the centre of the continent, but the distance is still large.



The town is rather small, so it takes her less than an hour to reach the gate from the centre, where she lives, the sun now high up in the sky. Stray dogs run around her and try to play with her, stray cats meowing from the distance with hungry looks. People feed them when they have something with them to give them, so they almost never starve, and the majority of these animals is healthy.

Professor Akeboshi is standing at the eastern gate, at its stables, holding the reins of two large and calm pinto stallions. "Finally, here you are!" he says, handing her one of them. They are saddled already and ready to go. The horse licks her hand before she mounts up and settles her bag on the other shoulder over her head, shortening the shoulder strap and adjusting the bag on her lower back.

"Ready to go," she says. The dragon king lies half a month, or more, of riding to the east. Their largest problem will be crossing the almost week-long distance to the dragon king from the nearest village to it.

The horses trot out through the gate, continuing along the dusty dirt path leading away from the town, short grass growing on its sides.

"How did you get a permission to go on a trip, anyway?" C frowns, looking over at her professor.

"Research about history," he replies, grinning. "I am not only a professor, I am a historian, but you surely know that already." She does, indeed.

"Interesting," she shrugs. "I hope my mum doesn't forget to excuse me for the next month or longer."

"You have me," he says, glancing at her. "I signed you up as an assistant, don't worry. Your primary class is History, so they approved."

"Cool, cool," she nods.



Just by the end of the day, a clever idea pops into Akeboshi's head as he glances at his items and sees some swords hanging on the sides of his saddle, having brought them for a reason that eventually slipped from his mind.

"We need protection!" he says, grinning and tossing a sword to C, who readily catches it, though visibly tired. The sun is setting, the sky a burning red.

"What are you talking about? I have never wielded a sword in my life!" she protests.

"I cannot protect the both of us from random bandit attacks," he states, smirking. The sword is a plain one, but not as heavy as C imagined a sword would be. It is quite heavy for simple swinging around, though, and she pouts.

"I highly doubt there will be any bandit attacks," she says, the two sharing a death glare. And right then their horses stop dead in their tracks, their riders turning forward to see the cause of it.

"Hello there," the one on the head of the cavalry of seven horsemen speaks, smirking at them, his pale grey eyes laughing. "Since we have crossed paths, you might as well come with us." The sun descends rapidly, now almost out of sight.

"We have more important things to do," C says with a growl, clenching her fist around the sword. It can do nothing against them and their almost impenetrable, enchanted armour. She provokes them nevertheless. Akeboshi sighs. The cavalry outnumbers them with almost four on one, but even if there was only one, they are all greatly skilled fighters on their own, and C knows it. Her horse neighs and takes a step back, feeling the dark aura coming from the black cavalry. They are men from Seijik Kingdom, Tallakhe's neighbouring kingdom and main rival in most wars.

A horseman from the back of the cavalry appears next to her on his stallion, holding a long jagged dagger blade to her neck. She snorts and raises her hands, letting him take the old, useless sword. Another horseman does the same to Akeboshi. "Fine, then," she mutters, rolling her eyes. They had no chance in the first place.



It has been an uneventful week in captivity. The only ones speaking are C and an unnamed horseman, one of the two youngest of them, both surrounding C, one on the right and one behind her. The one on her right is the only one answering her questions, but he still hasn't given his name.

As they have been travelling strictly towards the north, C figured they would be at the border by now, having been to there and back already, but it was nowhere in sight. Maybe a day longer, or so.

"How much longer?" she groans, looking at the horseman to the right. He is the one who originally held a blade to her throat when they captured them. He hesitates and frowns.

"We are near the border," he replies finally, growling as he always does when talking to her. She already scolded him for being so impolite, and laughed at it. Even though everyone is cramped up in a vague formation of the letter H, the horizontal line being prolonged by two horsemen to the left and right of C and Akeboshi, they don't seem to mind the two conversing. They just ignore them.

"Fine, no need for the growling," she says, poking the horseman, who winces and growls, constantly frowning. "But, where are we going?"

"The capital, if you really have to know," he growls again, making her laugh once more. She thinks for a second, estimating they will be maximally three days more on the trip, the capital of Seijik mere two days of riding from the border with Tallakhe. She read it somewhere in some book during the first year of History at university.

"Okay!" she chirps, grinning to the frowning horseman. Silence ensues for a short moment, the frown slowly disappearing. C smirks and takes in a deep breath. "What is your name, anyway?" the horseman frowns again and gives her a death glare. She stifles a roar of laughter and just grins, that being something just inevitable.

"What is it to you?" he growls, squinting.

"Well, it would be nice to know the name of a new friend, you know," she continues to grin, making him roll his eyes as he looks away from her. "It makes it easier to know the name of your main bodyguard. One feels safer." The horseman rolls his eyes again.

"I am...," he starts, but she interrupts him, knowing what he was about to say:

"Don't deny it. We are now friends and you are my bodyguard, as well. You're the only one who talks to me around here." She grins. Akeboshi has been strangely silent for the whole way, just like all the others. Even when they camped.

"What is your name?" he raises his eyebrow, glaring at her. She taps her chin.

"C," she replies, raising her eyebrow.

"C? What kind of a name is that?" he frowns.

"A name given to a child when its parents can't compromise over a name is a single letter chosen by the first letters of the names suggested by parents," C recites, then frowns. "I am not sure if it is exactly from word to word... Anyway, in Tallakhe, it happens mostly at town and city centres. There aren't many such people, actually there are maybe several of us, but it is not considered strange, as it has happened in the past. Many times in the past. These days, they happen to compromise more."

"There was never such a thing in Seijik. What was your names supposed to be?" the horseman tilts his head, seeming genuinely interested. C frowns.

"Charlotte, Charliana, or Ceanna," she says. "I personally wanted Charlie."

"Isn't Charlie more of a male name?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really, it can be female, too," she shrugs. "Now, what is your respectable name?"

"Kanij," he replies. She nods.

"Nice to meet you, Kanij," she says.

"Sure," he shrugs it off, turning forward. There is no more frown on his face, and C can almost hear the horseman to her left stifle his laughter. She finds it much more comforting with Kanij not being grumpy, his dark, almost black eyes less frightening. C glances around at the other horsemen, noticing every each one of them has hair so dark it is almost black, regardless of it being grey, red, brown, or blue. The real colour is only visible under strong light as a gloss on the surface of it. Only the one on the head of the cavalry has light eyes, as much as she has seen their faces.

They all have strong features, and are grumpy and frightening. It takes a moment for C to decide it is not what all Seijik people look like. Maybe they are in general darker concerning the hair and are pale-skinned, the eyes either really dark or light, but these are seven men handpicked by their king for Rogu. There are always exceptions, though now the exceptions aren't visible on the seven horsemen. Most likely.

They soon reach the protected border and since then, the last two days pass mostly in silence, every so often interrupted by C's quiet humming.



The capital of Seijik is the largest town of the kingdom, pretty much like any capital is to its kingdom.

The outer black walls tower up into the sky, hiding the marvellous black city behind it. The main colour of Seijik Kingdom is black, so most of the things are made of black material. If it isn't naturally black, they paint it black. At night, nothing can be seen, similar to the present time, the sun beginning to set.

As they pass through the city, they receive many frowned stares. It isn't surprising, as they are riding with the black cavalry. The cavalry are Seijik's spies within Tallakhe's borders everyone knows of, even everyone of Tallakhe, but they fail to track them or copy them to get Seijik hostages. The two are easy to recognise as the hostages as they are wearing their everyday steampunk clothing, and the cavalry is clad all in black.

C ignores the stares, only every so often glancing at Akeboshi. He just riding there, deep in thought, gazing into the back of his horse's head. He has been oddly silent during the whole trip to the capital, and remains that way.

They send their horses into gallop towards the citadel on the other end of the long, straight black cobblestone road beneath them.

And a long, silent hour later, they stop in front of the enormous black gate of the citadel.