Dragon Clans Bk. 02 Pt. 03

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The continuing story of Michael Dane.
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Part 28 of the 33 part series

Updated 10/23/2022
Created 09/15/2008
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Vjax
Vjax
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Chapter 3

Time seemed to stand still as Aoife embraced Michael. Standing there, wrapped in a golden leathery cocoon, Michael was tense, his muscles flexing, ready to endure what was to come.

Aoife felt the tension coming off Michael in waves.

"Be calm Michael, there is nothing painful in this. It will be a sensation the likes of which you have never known, but it does not cause pain."

Aoife's calm, safe tone reassured Michael. He relaxed into her embrace, still pensive but resolute with his decision and more open because of her reassurance.

As he relaxed Michael took in the sensation of being so close to Aoife. Her scent spicy and warm, as if walking through some exotic tropical market within which the humidity and raucous smells mingled together to form a musk that was almost a physical presence.

Then there was her heat. It radiated from her like a furnace. Not so hot to be intolerable but several degrees higher than the surrounding air. Enshrouding him in a warmth that ebbed and flowed around him as her chest rose and fell with each deep breath she took.

Reaching out a tentative hand, Michael gently touched the wings that surrounded him.

A small shudder rolled through and over Aoife at the touch.

Her skin was warm but surprisingly soft, it reminded Michael of the supple heat and texture of sun warmed leather.

Michael closed his eyes, relaxing into this moment of change and discovery.

"Good young one, that is good, relax. It is a simple thing that we do, simple but meaningful. You know me on a genetic level already Michael. You carry my essence within you. I am going to open myself to you now, we will share a connection deeper than lovers, deeper than mother and child. All of my experience, love, pain, fear, loss, joy will mingle with your own, as yours shall mingle with me. We will become more than we are in this moment. You will have my memories, as well as all those who came before you. It is a solemn and ancient sharing, a gift of unaccountable worth, for us both."

Aoife's words faded in Michael's mind as her soul, her essence, her energy and light engulfed his mind.

The images and feelings began to flash by at enormous speed. Michael immediately tensed, sensing bits and pieces of knowledge but having no perspective of the whole. He cried out both physically and mentally at the loss of those pieces he could not perceive as they came too quickly.

"Shhh, once the knowledge is given Michael, once it is a part of you, then you will assimilate it, nothing is being lost, all of it is yours. It resides within you, waiting until it is needed or summoned." Aoife comforted him once again as the transfer continued.

On and on it went, centuries of history, an ancient life given freely, born and made new once again in the sharing.

Tears streamed down Michaels face at the onslaught of emotion. The spectrum of feeling playing across his heart only to repeat again, over and over. Michael slowly slipped to his knees, Aoife's wings providing gentle support as he bowed under the weight of the responsibility he was being gifted. For that is what it was, a gift of such magnitude, encompassing millennia of experience Michael had no choice but to simply allow it all to flow into him. And in that moment of releasing the need to understand, of simply allowing it to happen, he was overcome by a comforting calm and yet the process still continued, Aoife's life becoming his life, as his becoming hers.

The rich tapestry of her life and his unfolding for each of them. Demanding that they live and breath and understand each of their evolutionary moments.

The warmth of a mothers wings embracing him...

Fear crystallized in the moment of first flight before the wind captured and held her in its cool embrace...

Rage from the betrayal of an ancient lover whose name...slipped by too quickly...but the after image of it's passing burned....

Unimaginable pain as talons rip through flesh...

Depthless loss as your kind wither and fade from the face of the world...

Joy unbounded found communing with a new race...

Untold deaths....

Untold births...

The unfolding and flowering of a new race...

All of it, everything in her long history played out for him, through him, became him.

For Aoife the impact was even greater.

While her life encompassed much of known history, it's length also subdued the emotions. Where her long life was punctuated by moments of great pain and promise, the experience of Michael's short frenetic life took Aoife's very breath away.

Simple joy as bright paper is ripped away to reveal the treasures of childhood...

The soft brush of lips, the warm moist sensual heat of newly discovered connection...

Adrenaline coursing as a hand moves over a wild creature born of another realm in the early dawn...

Excited congratulations for the first big bid awarded...

Overwhelming comfort waking up in a warm bed, a lover curled around you...

Unending anguish trying to pry open a casket lid for one last look at love...

So much pain, so much passion, so much life lived in such a short time. Aoife wept along with Michael as their lives intertwined, mixed and became something so much more than they were before.

Time passed slowly on the small stone landing beneath Nogardshire Castle. The world moved on above, people loved and lost, found joy and sorrow. But at the same moment, time had stopped below their feet as an ancient life and a compact life became something very unique.

"How do you feel Michael?"

Aoife's voice was gentle as she slowly pulled her wings up and away to set lightly on her back.

"I feel...whole Aoife."

Michael stood, arms stretching above his head, muscles slowly loosening from the tension of becoming.

"You have lived an amazing life my friend. Thank you for the gift of your memories and wisdom. I was so afraid to take this on Aoife, so fearful that I would not be up to the challenge. But I understand now."

"I know that I have already accepted, but I want to reaffirm that to you Aoife. I vow to do what is best for the clan, to stop those who try to create a world filled with chaos and pain."

Michael's voice was quiet as he spoke to Aoife. There was no need for great volume between them now. For as he spoke, his passion and commitment to her and to the clan were also effortlessly communicated.

"It will take you some time Michael, to understand the gifts that come with being a chosen, the responsibilities. Do not rush, time may be short, but there is time enough to learn. Give yourself the time Michael, rely on those close to you for support and guidance as you grow into your new place in the world."

"Will you stay here, now that I have become?" Michael asked, as he looked up into her golden eyes. His fear of the answer mirrored back to her from his own eyes.

Aoife shifted on the stone for a moment and then took flight. Completing a lazy circle around the cavern she came to a light landing on the island before answering him.

"I will stay here for a time Michael. Always you and I shall be close. Our physical proximity will always be shifting, as it was with Ian and those who came before him. But we are now linked in a deeper more tangible way than any physical interaction could bind us. I will always be with you Michael."

Her words eased him. The idea of losing her, of not having that which he shared with her now was something simply intolerable to consider.

Aoife regarded him for a long moment before what passed for a laugh escaped her mouth.

"Go now young one, the die is cast. Walk into the world for the first time as a chosen, find your mates, begin your journey. You have but to call and I shall be there for you." Her excitement was contagious.

With a last long look at her golden countenance Michael turned and sprinted up the stairs. Eager, as she had said, to begin.

............

"Michael went into the crypt, Ian's legacy is assured." Millie said to Nigel. She sat down across from him, the barracks now his make shift command center.

Nigel sat back in his chair. A look of relief passing over his face. Focusing on Millie he stood up. He looked tired as he came limping around the desk to stand next to her. They had shared so much, lived such an uncommon life all thanks to the fates bringing them into Ian's life.

"And what of us Millie, where do you and I figure into this now that Ian is gone and the torch has passed?" There was resignation in his tone that Millie had never heard from Nigel before. Millie's hand moved to his where it lay on her shoulder. She didn't know what to tell her oldest friend about their future. So much of their lives had been lived on the run, putting out this or that fire. Now that their magnetic north had left them here, she had the same question as he. What now for us?

Before she could speak they were interrupted.

"What I hope the future will hold is that both of you choose to stay close, I have much to learn and understand, you two are...uniquely qualified to help me with that." Michael's tone was honest and strong, this, coupled with his lopsided grin put them both at ease.

"We need to put off the trip a day. Valerie and I need to go to Oxford tomorrow to tie up our loose ends. Tera has some things to take care of as well."

Nigel and Millie both smiled inwardly at his easy but forceful tone. There was no question in his inflection, he was not asking if they could, he was simply stating that's the way it is. It was both a happy and sorrowful moment for the pair. With one sentence Michael had replaced Ian as leader of the clan.

"Of course. That will actually work out better for me, give me more time to plan the itinerary, put assets in place." Nigel said. He had been sweating leaving in the morning with so much of the planning still up in the air.

"I'll want to spend some time with both of you this evening and tomorrow. There is a lot I need to be brought up to speed on and I am afraid we will have no where near the time needed." Michael said as he turned making for the door. Before getting two steps he stopped and turned back.

"Nigel, I would like Sims and Elise to come with us, wherever the hell it is we are going. Do you see any problems with that?"

Nigel thought for a moment. Sims would be no issue, he had planned on having him accompany them. Nigel hadn't counted on Elise.

"Sims is not a problem, he was going anyway. As for Elise, I'm not sure if..." Nigel trailed off as Michael interrupted him.

"Get Elise a passport and whatever other documents she'll need. I will talk to Sims and then Elise. I don't think there will be a problem, let me handle it." Michael said.

He had already turned and started walking away before finishing his sentence. Moving on to the next thing on his list.

Nigel and Millie smiled as they watched him walk away.

"So much like Ian," they both said, regarding each other with smiles as they turned back to the desk to work on the travel plans.

Michael took the stairs two at a time to the second floor. He couldn't remember feeling more energetic, feeling so good.

Walking through the door to his room Michael came up short as he found a tearful Tera lying on the bed.

Every muscle in Michael's body coiled like a snake ready to strike at seeing one of his mates in such a state.

"What happened, whats wrong?" Michael almost growled as he crossed the room and scooped Tera into his arms.

.........

The cool afternoon air felt good as Tera ran down the old cart path. Billowy white clouds paced her as Tera's long purposeful gait carried her across the low hills to the south of the castle.

Valerie had jumped into planning mode as soon as Michael left, leaving Tera to her own devices. Michael's revelations about who he was and what it meant for all of them still hadn't sunk in. She needed some time alone to come to grips with what those changes would mean and find a balance with them.

'Spending eternity with Michael and Valerie, there are worse fates.' Tera thought as she ran hard into an ancient stand of oaks, following the time worn path deeper into their shadowed depths.

Tera's life had always been something defined by moments of action and moments of waiting until the next action was required. There was never any great thought or energy put toward the long term of her life. A home, a family, growing old with someone.

'Well, at least I don't have to worry about the growing old part now,' Tera chuckled to herself.

The path she was on widened, opening onto a small glade set at the middle of the copse of oaks. Dappled light filtered in through breaks in the trees providing a calming balm to Tera's whirling emotions.

Breaking from her run, Tera walked around slowly, hands on her hips as the pace she had been setting finally caught up with her. Taking deep gulps of air she moved toward the single stone at the center of the glade.

The stone was out of place, a rough hewn boulder of black obsidian that had no place in the heart of the English countryside. Tera was surprised to find a small bubbling pool at it's base, a natural spring that she was pleased to find as she had forgotten to bring water with her.

Dipping her hands into the cool liquid she brought them to her face, enjoying the cold against her heated skin. Dipping her hands in again she brought the water to her lips, taking a deep drink. The water was almost ice cold and sweet, it made her feel instantly refreshed and calm.

Moving to the side of the small pool Tera sat down with her back to the stone. As she had been taught in moments of turmoil, when balance and clarity eluded her, she crossed her legs, lay her hands on her knees and closed her eyes. Turning off her mental switches she opened her other senses, hoping to define her place in the grand scheme of a universe that had just been turned upside down.

The scents were what came to her first. The sweetness of the water balanced by the earthy damp of moss. These mingled with the dry bark of the trees, carried by the gentle breeze that that now caressed her skin. The feeling of the hard stone at her back, the tip of something that ran much deeper whose long journey over eons from below was followed by the water.

Tera's breath caught the flavor of the breeze, the bitterness of wheat and oat spore brought forth on the wind from the now fallow fields after the harvest. The salty taste of her own sweat, the remembered flavor of Michaels lips, of Valerie's flesh.

Her senses deepened, her connection to the land and the sky, the wood and wind carrying her beyond the shaded glade. The castle, it's foundations rooted in the same stone that lay hard against her spine. The fields holding the after image of countless centuries of their gifts given and the promise of bounty yet to be to sewn and reaped.

Tera had taken such journeys before.

The rocky promontory in South Africa before the roiling power of Cape of Good Hope after a bloody ambush which left three of her six member team dead. Finding the connection with the unbridled power of the sea an experience that would strengthen her own force of will.

A mist shrouded plateau in the Himalayas shown to her by the monks she had been sent to rescue from extremists. The simple vastness of the place and connecting to it had provided her with a unique compass for navigating her own limitless internal landscape.

Sitting within the canopy of a south American rain forest, the battle not yet joined in which she would take the lives of guerrillas hoping to kidnap students from the only school within 200 miles. Tera found and connected with the wellspring of life, felt it's throbbing presence, was engulfed by it and therein found the overwhelming power and presence and wonder of her own life.

Down through the years, in places often never trod by another living soul, Tera found her own connection to life. Found the balance of being a creature of the universe. Found the comfort of being connected to the world within which she walked.

As she began the process of pulling back into herself, of releasing the sensory connection to the world around her. Something new pulled at her consciousness.

Never before in this state had something made it's presence felt. Always it had been a floating open allowing that whatever is...simply is. Following the tendril of emotion she felt the subtle change in her awareness. She felt her emotions begin to build, break through the calm plane of her balanced mind.

Rage, untenable, endless rage washed over Tera. She felt every ounce of it, felt it consume her, she was afraid that it would simply be too much for her to handle, that its end would only come with hers.

As quickly as it came it was replaced by sorrow so deep and abiding that it was as if no other emotion had ever or could ever exist. Tears poured from her sightless eyes as she sat in the glade, its quiet shattered by wail of untold and unrelenting sadness.

A barren wasteland of nothingness swept away the sorrow, leaving a void within which Tera could find no compass point, no star, no light with which to chart a course across it's expanse. Never in her life had she felt so completely alone and hopeless.

Images came with the next tumult of emotions.

A hand placing a phone back on its cradle.

Lips lifting to a smile on a face which wore the the freshly cut lines of new emotions fought and bested.

The flash of an Asian woman, her body slumping in a seat.

Valerie's auburn hair caught for a moment by the sun in such a way that it glowed as if afire.

The curve of her own thigh as a hand lovingly traced its form.

Love

Joy

Completion

Ecstasy

Fear

All of them mixed and melded into one common emotion that encompassed and surpassed them all.

New tears sprang forth as Tera pulled back to her body, her essence, her soul finding foundational purchase once again within living vibrant heart of her.

Her hands covered her eyes as the tears continued unabated. It had been Michael she had touched.

His loss of Sasha

His Rage

His Sorrow

His emptiness

A new path found, a new reason for living, for loving, for moving forward.

He killed to protect himself out of instinct.

He loved her and Valerie with such overwhelming passion.

Desired them with such forceful intent.

Needs them as he needs air and sun.

Rising, Tera started off in a dead run for the castle. Her only thought to find him, to try and make him understand that everything he felt for her and for Valerie was returned ten fold. That he was not alone in his love, his desire and his desperate need to be with them.

She knew the night of their joining that he loved her. But in the instant she shared his emotions, unencumbered by the trappings of body and mind, that his love was so far beyond what she had ever conceived.

And in this understanding she found her own true love for him and for Valerie.

Found the undiscovered fathoms of emotion that now made her complete because they were now part of her.

...

"I couldn't....couldn't find you."

Tera said as she lept from the bed and into Michael's arms.

Confused, Michael simply held her. This was not like Tera, something must be terribly wrong.

"What is it Tera, has someone done something to hurt you? Tell me what's happened."

Michael's own emotions were kicking in. Before the change he was very protective of his family, that trait had only increased with his ascension.

She could feel his muscles tensing around her, hear the cadence of his heart jump with every passing second.

Pulling back from him Tera looked into his eyes. What she found there was a seething rage wishing to be unleashed, and it was for her. This power, this energy, thirsted to be loosed against whatever it was that had caused her the harm he perceived.

Vjax
Vjax
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