PART 25

The squeezing sensation tore at every fiber of his being. When will it end? It has to end!
“This is only the beginning.” He heard a soothing voice tell him. It was not Ardent’s voice, nor his own. It was a woman’s voice. He recognized it, but couldn’t tell who it was through searing in his temples.
“Let go. You have to surrender to yourself Dresden. You have not been a Dragon, and when you complete this merging, you will be like no other Dragon that has ever been before.” Her voice was throaty, but melodious. It calmed him. He breathed in, then out, doing his best to relax as he felt like his body would explode from within. Each of his organs were churning, his heart pounding, his brain throbbing, his skin burning. If he could open his eyes he would expect to see his body on fire, even though he knew it wasn’t.
“Remember Numa, Dresden. The several suns, the purple sky, the verdant valleys. Go there now and remember who you are.” Her voice faded away as images flooded his mind. The pain was subsiding as vast landscapes appeared below him. He was flying! He knew that Ardent was still working on his wings. Was this his memory? He knew the past well. He knew Numa, no matter how long it had been. He would never forget his homeworld. He allowed the images to melt into him, to become one with them. He felt a jarring, sharpness in his head, like a switch flipping. He opened his eyes to see the mountain before him. Ardent was curled up at the cliff edge like a cat, just watching him. Dresden was laying down too, but hadn’t remembered getting into the position. He stood up immediately and looked around. The sharpness of his vision, the clarity in his hearing, the strength in his body. He had not felt that when he transformed before the battle. He flexed his claws, balled his fists and then opened them again, admiring every inch of himself. He pulled his tail closely to his chest and stroked it. The feeling was indescribable. He was one with this body again. His mind, he realized, had stopped churning with thoughts that mixed dangerously with his emotions. He stood perfectly still. He could feel his thoughts in a way he hadn’t remembered being able to do. They were not emotions, but rational angles. They were set up like a chess board with strategies and positions. He could see them all categorized there like a massive tome of information the likes of which no human being could comprehend. Then he heard his sword humming gently from within the yurt. The yurt, it was so very small now while he was in Dragon form. So insignificant. He could crush it with one giant clawed hand. He felt something on the periphery of his thinking so he followed the trail to a place he had not remembered knowing. The Star Seeded information of the Universe. The mysteries that only Dragons knew. As a man he knew of it, but he had forgotten what was hidden there in his mind until now. He traversed in, bathed in it, breathed it in deeply while Ardent watched lazily. Dresden could feel the order of the Universe within him. He allowed the sensations to flow through him, such freedom. He thought of his exile and how he had squandered so much time drowning in his pain that he’d shut himself off to the knowledge he held within.
He suddenly jerked forward involuntarily. The feeling shook him. He jerked again, and felt like he might wretch. He didn’t fight this sensation, but simply observed it with curiosity. Ardent made no movement towards him. He too just waited as Dresden regained his Draconian mind. Pieces of puzzles he had pondered as a man began fitting together in ways he hadn’t thought of. Almost two hundred years of experiences were now viewed from a different perspective. The shame left him, the anger temporarily quelled, and what was left was a clarity of the likes he had not experienced since the last time he had truly been a Dragon.