[Fireheart]: 318.Short Stories.Tal-Inri.Tal-Inri Part II

I stirred in my sleep. I felt myself floating up, up, up… out of the murky depths of the deepest recesses of my mind. And then I could feel a warm, soft light against my eyelids and engulfing my whole body; I felt as though I were enveloped in sunlight. My entire body was relaxed and comfortable in the radiating heat; I didn’t want to wake up, so I kept my eyes closed, slowly surfacing. I became aware of the bumpy, scratchy surface upon which I lay, sprawled on my stomach. 
My eyes fluttered open, to view the meadow spread out before me. The rain still fell in a steady shower, and I was, as I had suspected, still completely dry. I did not know how much time had passed since I had fallen asleep. 
I recalled the pain, the lavender light, and my sudden sleepiness; I glanced up, not lifting my head, and saw the symbol still carved in the tree. I knew the little purple light had probably been a side effect of the oncoming slumber. 
I grew uncomfortably aware of roots poking into my ribcage, and I began to wonder where the light and heat were coming from. I decided to investigate. I hauled myself to my feet, and found my head in among the tall branches of the mighty oak. Confused, I looked down and almost fainted.
The body that stretched out beneath me, hind legs firmly planted on the ground, was most certainly not my own; in fact, it was something out of myth and legend- something magical, unheard of. However, it responded to every command that my brain issued to it. Craning a sinuous neck around, I disbelievingly surveyed my altered self.
Scales of brilliant crimson were dusted lightly with a powdered gold that gave them an iridescent sheen; armor-like golden scales plated my underside from beneath my chin to the tip of a long, winding tail. Gold spikes ran from the tip of a scaled, reptilian nose to the end of my tail along my spine; the well-muscled haunches and forelegs ended in slim, hand-like paws that were tipped with deadly looking gold claws. 
Muscles rippled beneath my armored skin; the muscles were heaviest at the bases of the massive crimson wings, which sprang from my shoulders and were folded tight against a long, lithe body. Studying my shadow, I noticed an angular head, with long horns sprouting from my skull and small, tattered, wing-like ears; I saw the curving triangles of several formidable, dagger-like fangs protruding past my bottom jaw. 
Most curious of all, I realized it was my body releasing both the heat and the glow. Slowly, I lowered myself to all fours. I found this a far more comfortable position to be in than on two legs. I slunk like a starving dog out from under the tree, into the rain, and sat back on my haunches to think rationally about my situation, scales steaming.
My first thought of course had been that I must be dreaming. However; things felt far too real for a dream. Maybe I was delusional and something had hit me on the head while I slept, causing me some issues. But I ruled that out. Having no more rational solutions, I blamed everything on the tree. There was nothing else to blame. So I glowered at the tree for a moment, and I suspected that if the tree had been capable of emotion it would have been cowering in fear. 
As I finally began to settle into this new body, I realized something. Not only had I become a beautiful creature, I was also a formidable one- and big, at that. I estimated myself at fifteen feet tall, and perhaps twenty-five feet long, not counting my tail, which seemed to be one and a half times longer than my body. Oh yes; had I wanted to, I could’ve shown that tree who was boss.
But one word kept coming to my mind, one that I couldn’t let myself give in to, but found myself repeating over and over to myself; dragon. Yes, that was what I was. As a human I had always been fascinated by books about dragons; they were by far my favorite magical creature. And now, I found myself impersonating one. I almost laughed. 
Instead, I turned away from the tree and opened my mouth to sigh, thinking about how I would approach my mother- or anyone else in the world for that matter. I was something out of a faery tale, for goodness sake. With that tiny sigh of exasperation, I somehow managed to scorch a furrow deep in the earth from my feet to halfway across the field. 
A colorful and diverse array of words streamed from my mouth as I leapt awkwardly to stamp out the flames, still growing accustomed to the way this new
body moved. Apparently, I had lost none of my capability for human speech. But I had also forgotten about that one little fact of life that came with being a dragon- you could kill practically anything with one breath.
The rain helped immensely and I quickly managed to halt the smoking fire. As I turned back to the oak tree, I froze, for beneath it was another creature from legend, looking at me silently, as if sizing me up. The unicorn stallion that studied me was quite obviously the creature I had read about in stories- yet, at the same time, he was far different from what I expected.
To my great surprise, he came forward a few steps, carefully bowed down so he was kneeling on his front knees, and touched his two-foot radiant gold horn to the ground. I was quite at a loss of what to do. So I just stood there and admired him, forgetting my own appearance for the moment.
He was strikingly similar in color to me- his coat was red, grizzled with golden hairs. He was massive, maybe eight hands taller than a Clydesdale, and his iron corded muscles rippled beneath his coat. His snarled mane and tail were a deep purple-red streaked with gold, and he bore feathers like a draft horse around his huge, coal-black cloven hooves. His eyes were molten gold, surrounded by long, strikingly purple lashes. He raised his head slightly from the ground and addressed me; fortunately by now, I expected nothing less.
Daughter of Flame, Mother of Flame, you are not of our world. The Ageless Tree saw a Lesson yet to be learned in you; it sent you here. I heard the Ageless Tree call me to your aid, as we are of the same element; I will guide you to your kind, so you may discover the path to your Lesson. Once you have learned your Lesson, you will be permitted to return to your world.  For now, you abide by our laws. 
I blinked. The unicorn had not opened his mouth to speak at all; the words had appeared inside my head. I opened my mouth to speak, but thought better of it; instead, I thought at the unicorn.
Alright, well I have some questions then. Since it seems that I’m not dreaming. First of all, if you’re going to be guiding me, I’d love to know your name. Second, where am I? Third, what exactly are your laws?
The unicorn smiled. Almost. Actually, the corners of his eyes crinkled in obvious amusement. So many questions! he thought at me. My name is Flamedancer. I am Leader of the Fire Clan in my herd. And this is no dream; this is Tal- Inri. This is an entire world. It bears resemblance to yours; some places more than others. The meadow you entered is part of both your world and ours. 
Flamedancer. Tal-Inri. I tasted both words thoughtfully. Both seemed to hold a certain power, a deeper meaning. My name was plain and meaningless in comparison.
Flamedancer continued. In this world, there are many races of creatures you have probably heard of in stories; humans who have encountered the Ageless Tree return from their lessons with fantastical stories from our world, and many humans have crossed into Tal-Inri. Here, we are ruled by the race you now find yourself part of, the mightiest of all; the dragons. For all time, the dragons have ruled us as a republic, the Elemental dragons, such as yourself, presiding and maintaining order and fairness. Recently however, the Black Ones, dragons of Darkness, have been intervening with the order and peace; they hope to rule over Tal-Inri as a dictatorship. War is fast approaching for dragonkind. None of us lesser races support the Black Ones, but we will do the Elementals no good in battle; the Elementals are fair rulers, but dragons are not a force to be reckoned with. So we must sit back and pray that your kind wins. 
I drew a breath. I was apparently already in over my head. What do I have to do with all of this? I asked.
Here, you are royalty. But you are yet a fledgling in our politics, and you know nothing of your race nor the other races of this world. Truthfully, I know not what your Lesson will be; but it is my job to familiarize you with the world, in order to prepare you to meet the others of your kind. For now, I believe you must meet my herd. They will treat you as royalty; but accept the treatment without question. None of them but my clan are able to see your true human vulnerability as I do, and they will understand. As we are of the same element, our hearts are closer. This concept will begin to make more sense to you the more time you spend in Tal-Inri. But come now. I am growing a beard waiting for your questions to end.
He motioned for me to follow him with that long, spiraling horn, and turned to walk lightly into the woods. I caught up to him, gangly as a newborn colt, and we wandered into the forest on the other side of the oak tree. The rain fell on us as we walked into the heart of the forest. I began to see just how amazing Tal-Inri was.