Dawn of The Dragon

By Aundriel H Washington

Queen Kalera will become her people's beacon of hope and chance for survival!

The protector of dragons is stranded in the earth realm of her home city, New Orleans. Can she uncover a way back to the Zaylen Realm before both of her worlds are destroyed? Kalera has found a dimension where her heart belongs, so when she's thrown

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aundriel
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781735344010

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Dawn of The Dragon

The Dawn Series | Book Two

Copyright @ 2020 by A.H. Washington

Cover Design by Fiona Jayde

Interior Formatting by Tamara Cribley

Map illustrated by Shelbi James

Developmental Editor: Deborah Nemeth

Copy Editor: Tara Mandarano

Poem by Ivor Steven

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any matter whatsoever without the express permission of the copyrighted owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or article.

This is a work of fiction. Concepts, names, characters, places, events, locales, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBNs:

978-1-7353440-0-3 (Paperback)

978-1-7353440-1-0 (EBook)

Library of Congress Control Number:

2020913957

Published By:

Aundriel’s Press LLC

Atlanta, Georgia

For my husband Will, my children, and my close friends who inspire and continuously support me no matter the odds.

Author’s Note:

Dear Reader,

Thanks for becoming a Dawn (Dawnie)! This means the world that you are willing to follow me on this journey.

The Zaylen Realm Glossary is located at the end of the book.

Now, let out your best roar and be a dragon in the Realm of Zaylen!

Happy Reading,

A.H.

My Dragon, The Revival

By Ivor Steven

My harpooned Dragon, fallen and out of breath

Gazing around, pleading, near death

The Slayer’s spear, protrudes from his scaly vest

And I listen, to his pounding chest

Quickly, I plunge my sword, cutting shard

Removing the spears horrid barb

My Dragon exhales an awesome howl

Eyes bulging, tears flowing down his jowl

In agony, thrashing his spiky tail

Then slowly abating, like a windless sail

Is he dying, lying there loudly groaning?

Nostrils snorting, neither afire nor smoking

Suddenly, his left wing begins flapping

And my Dragon’s head rises, stretching, arching

Green horns twitching, he’s again my mythical reptile

Yellow eyes glowing, like glazed tiles

My Dragon’s revived

And ready to skydive

Prologue

The droplets on Kalera’s face are like a light sprinkle on a cool spring morning as she descends through the clouds on Xavgon’s lumpy, warm, hard back. I’m in need of a saddle, she thinks because of how uncomfortable the ride is. But she is also grateful her body did not plummet nor smash the ground after her leap from the top of the Super Dome.

Her grip on Xavgon’s spiked ivory horns is secure while the cool breeze ruffles her curly hair.

The blue dragon’s roar is shocking when he lands on Sugar Bowl Drive. With a one-hundred-ninety-one-foot wingspan, and standing twenty-five feet in height, his shadow blocks the sun. His breath forces cars, trucks, and semis on their sides.

The chief of police had requested the National Guard.

Kalera rubs her hands along Xavgon’s neck to calm him as she speaks to him in his mind, using telepathy, just like they had communicated in Zaylen, the realm Xavgon is from.

Shh. They are confused and afraid, as am I. At least the confusion part. How did you know I was in trouble? Kalera asks. How did you get here from Zaylen?

Search your soul, Mother. The answers lie within you. And you are correct. They are afraid, but more of you than me. I will kill them if they approach you, Xavgon adds.

No, Kalera replies. Let me speak to them. Please.

She slides down his massive wing as he brings the sides upwards so that she may still hold on. Her feet meet the ground, and she takes her stance in front of Xavgon as he lowers his head and smoke protrudes from his snout. The sight of peering men and women in uniform engulfs her. All she has known from her world is depression, anxiety, stress, and grief—but not today.

Mother! Xavgon says.

If I don’t speak to them, they may fire upon us.

It doesn’t matter. If you approach them they will take you as if you have broken their laws. Because of those laws, they will not let you go. Prison is where you will end up. There, you will wither away as shrubs on a bush. I had one jump to this world to save you.

Kalera turns to Xavgon and places her hands near his nostrils. I have broken the law, she declares, pointing to the Super Dome. I trespassed there.

I must get you back to Zaylen immediately. Something is coming, Xavgon replies.

Ager, I know, and that’s my fault, she says. I should have allowed you to kill him, but I didn’t, and now the former king of the Zaylen Realm may have gained full control again.

Xavgon knows a way home, the Gros Cave. It is the door to Zaylen. They must find it.

Kalera’s assessment of Ager is correct, but she shouldn’t judge herself for having a heart, even for him. Ager took her for granted, just as these humans take her for granted now.

What’s the Gros Cave? Kalera asks.

I will explain, but for now, let’s deal with them, Xavgon says as he turns towards the men and women and snarls.

Just let me talk to them, she repeats.

Reluctantly, he agrees. My breath will echo your voice so all may hear.

I’m ready, Kalera replies as she turns towards the men and women who are pointing guns and bazookas at them.

Introducing herself, she tells of her birth right down the street at what was once Charity Hospital. She loves New Orleans, because it is her home.

She tries to ease their fear and anxiety, but she has to stand firm at the same time.

This great dragon will do anything to protect me. You can’t harm it, and your weapons will only anger it. All you will manage to do is destroy yourselves. The choice is yours. Now stand down!

Stillness fills the air, as the officers and soldiers grip their weapons while sweat drips down their faces.

Xavgon!

I feel it too, Mother!

F/A-18s approach, and without warning, open fire from the sky as the soldiers and officers before Kalera and Xavgon drop like flies. Clearly the chief did not think through his plan. They are firing upon their own just to destroy Xavgon and Kalera. No. She looks on in horror while the blood of innocent people is spilling to the ground. Without knowing if her powers have returned, she swiftly walks towards the blockage as bullets bounce off Xavgon’s tough scales.

Mother!

Quickly, the blue dragon calls upon his Dred power, shifting it into Kalera, which allows her to absorb the remaining shots. Reaching the soldiers and officers, she turns to raise her arms, focusing on the jets. Within seconds they break apart, only allowing enough time for the pilots to eject.

The soldiers and officers who are not harmed rise, looking upon Kalera and Xavgon as if to say thank you as more national guards arrive, guns drawn. Xavgon rises from all of his four legs to his back legs, blowing a mighty wind as Kalera pleads with him not to harm the humans as she focuses on their weapons. Lifting their guns from their hands, she turns the guns towards them.

What you feel right now is true fear, she calls out. The fear of death and the unknown. I pleaded with you, but my dragon has a mind of his own.

Shredding the metal in their faces, she watches the debris fall to the ground as they all run back towards the dome. She focuses on silencing their radios, but it won’t last.

Xavgon takes a breath to release flames upon them.

No. I know their decisions enrage you, but you are no mindless beast. You protect the innocent and the weak, and they are weak and following orders. Killing them will not help us.

They are no different than many in Zaylen who cower behind evil while presenting it as the greater good, or following orders, he responds. But you are right, Mother. Killing them will make us something we are not.

Thank you.

Gros Cave, Mother. We must go.

What is Gros Cave? Kalera asks again.

Let me show you, Xavgon responds.

He takes in a breath and releases it into Kalera’s face. Fog appears and as it clears endless silver glitter, and then white icebergs leading to the side of a glacier mountain. Inside the hollow glacier, crystal-clear water runs from a blue ceiling.

Do you know this place? Xavgon asks.

No, she replies while shivering. But I know someone who might.

Kalera snaps out of it then steps onto Xavgon’s left wing. He lifts it and then turns it forward. She grabs on to the horns protruding his left arm, climbs them as a ladder, and then mounts him.

Where might we find this someone?

My house, Kalera answers him.

Chapter 1

A blue dragon is standing in my neighbor’s front yard! Live, I hope you’re getting this. the guy next door screams.

Helicopters maneuvering up and down and back and forth hover above Kalera’s house. The Army National Guards have now been joined by the Marines, FBI, and the NSA as they evacuate homes and surround at least a three-mile radius.

Kalera and Xavgon stand in front of her house as the police and military have positioned themselves further down, near the corner of her street.

You may not want to raise your voice toward me. Call them off! Kalera commands them loudly.

I have orders, the chief of police yells through a megaphone. And those are to take you and this thing into custody.

Maintaining the scene proves problematic for them, as people are running through the streets with their cell phones filming. The military warns the media circus to stop, but it is too late. By now, America and the entire world’s eyes are fixed on Rocheblave Street in New Orleans.

Staring into the eyes of her dragon, Kalera realizes she must make a move to get Xavgon out of the city. It would be easy to just fly away, but what about her boyfriend, Zaron? She can’t just abandon him.

Deep in her thoughts, Xavgon speaks.

Do you trust me?

Of course, she responds.

Xavgon has a plan he is executing while speaking to Kalera.

The ground begins to rumble, but this time it isn’t Xavgon’s doing. The military has ordered a tank to be brought in. It’s clear there will be no peaceful resolution. They are willing to destroy a neighborhood and possibly kill innocent civilians just in order to contain them.

Do it. Do it now! Kalera screams out loud.

Xavgon takes a deep breath, holding it for ten seconds.

You have until the count of five to surrender, or we will be forced to destroy you and your dragon, the chief of police calls out.

He begins to count as Xavgon opens his ferocious mouth, speaking an incantation.

Five! the chief hollers.

Whistling sounds suddenly erupt as dark clouds roll in, blocking out the sun. Then there is stillness. Everyone and everything in the vicinity is locked in place.

The chief’s mouth is wide open, with his left hand in the air and his right hand holding the megaphone to his face. Officers and soldiers cling to their weapons, which are pointed at Kalera and Xavgon, and neighbors holding cell phones are frozen, with looks of confusion and fear on their faces.

How long do we have? she asks.

I cannot say, but we must get out of here soon.

Zoran! Kalera yells as she runs up the stairs onto the porch, reaching for the doorknob.

Turning it, she enters the house to find him staring out the window.

For a couple of seconds, she just gazes at him. Her attraction to this six-feet-tall, medium build man awakens, but only for a moment.

Then she realizes it’s Jessup she is longing for when Zoran turns to her.

Kalera, what the hell just happened? he yells.

She is relieved that he’s not frozen like the others, but his tone worries Xavgon.

Xavgon wishes for you to lower your voice when speaking to me, Kalera whispers.

Okay, I won’t shout, but I’m pretty sure it won’t stop the gigantic monster from hearing me. Kalera, dragons are myths.

Yet a dragon stands in front of my house, she replies.

Where does it come from? How did you bring it here?

I don’t know if I brought him here.

It, not him, Zoran interrupts.

You will refer to him, my son, using respectable pronouns. she says, in an aggravated tone.

What? Your son? You sound crazy. I watched you for three years in a coma. Your body remained in the bed of the hospital and your bedroom, Zoran hollers.

Kalera matches his tone. Once he was placed in my hands as an egg, I took care of him and protected him. When he hatched, my eyes were the eyes he stared into as he morphed into an adult dragon before me. We bonded, as the Zaylen myth suggested. I became his mother and he my son, so it doesn’t matter. He is real and here at this very moment. The grand proof you need. Now, did you call Musfall?

She has missed Musfall, her most trusted friend. The last time she saw him was the week after her mother’s funeral. He had business to attend to in South Africa. While in her coma, as Zoran calls it, she had no idea if Musfall visited her or not. She decides not to ask Zoran about it.

By now, everyone will have seen Xavgon. He can’t go flying around the country. She has to do something, and Musfall is her only hope because of his ties to voodoo magic. Kalera has witnessed him cast many spells successfully.

Our government will use it and destroy you. Zoran whispers.

Kalera ignores him as she walks over to a familiar plush toy.

Rome.

Zoran watches as she takes the toy into her hands.

Rome must think I abandoned him.

He walks over to her.

I don’t believe he thinks that at all.

So you have spent time thinking about what he might think?

Not exactly. Listen, your dog missed you, but not as much as I’ve missed you, Zoran whispers as he gently takes her hands into his. I don’t care about my doppelganger, Jessup, or this realm you seek. I only care about you. I love you.

Kalera raises her right hand to his face, and then lowers it quickly with no response. Before the police and military arrived, she had a little time to tell Zoran about Jessup and how she had fallen in love with a man who looks exactly like him. She felt it was only right to tell him, but he could hardly bear it as he tried to understand the weirdness of it all. For three years he had no idea if she would ever wake. Doctors and her siblings had given up on her. But he was there.

Three years for him has only been a year and a half for Kalera. Time in Zaylen is calculated by full blue moons. Two weeks on earth is only five moons in Zaylen.

A man is approaching, Mother, Xavgon said.

Musfall is here, she states.

Knock. Knock.

Kalera opens the door and embraces her friend.

Xavgon, he’s a friend.

My girl, everyone is out there. The FBI, NSA, police, military—you name it. I must say, I like the position they are in, he says, then laughs. I take it you saw what happened, she replies while embracing him.

My lovely, it’s on everything—Facebook, Insta, Snapchat. You can’t hide this big guy.

Though voodoo clashes with her Christian faith, she knows what must be done. But before enquiring about Xavgon, she asks a question that is just as important first.

Have you heard of the Gros Cave?

You haven’t changed a bit. Business as usual. I haven’t heard of it. Why do you ask?

My dragon tells me it’s the only way home, she replies.

He gives her a perplexed look. Home?

The Zaylen Realm.

My darling, you are home, but I will help you find this Gros Cave if you wish.

Xavgon showed it to me in a vision. Wherever it’s located, the environment is extremely cold.

So this cave is a portal of some kind, he muses. It will take great magic and skill to find the entrance.

That’s why you’re here.

"And here I thought it was because you