Minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days. Emily walks downwards and ever downwards through ancient pathways and half-rotten stairs. Carrying enough food for days still, and a flask full of water, she’s not scared but determined. The place is damp and smells musty, but there are places where water bubbles through the floors or walls. Fresh, clear, and cold, Emily has filled her flask many times already. Finding the first spring lifted her spirits considerably, as now her only worry is rationing her food. She still has a week left to go downwards. After that, she needs to turn back so she doesn’t run out of food until she reaches the surface again.
Emily makes camp for the day. She puts her backpack on the ground and spreads out her bedroll. Eating just a pinch from her supplies, she lies on her back. Her hands find their way onto her chest, her pendant. She pulls it out and stares at it. A jewel, bright as day, white as fresh snow hangs from a silvery chain. She looks at it and smiles. "My secret.," she says grinning at the pendant. "You are what all the others have lacked. You’re my secret weapon against the machinations of fate." She slides the pendant back under her shirt and pats it gently, then closes her eyes and falls asleep.
Two days later, Emily stops in front of a massive door. She looks at it with her eyes glinting in the dim light of her torch. Her heart beats impossibly fast as she recognizes the three large runes atop the metal door. "This is it! I’m here!," she mutters to herself. With a shaking hand, she touches the door gently, its cold metal surface sending shivers through her hand. She closes her eyes and pushes the door. It makes a sound like someone drawing a long, thin metal rod through a rough part of stone. The sound echoes through the walls and halls.
Deep within the chamber behind the door, an eye opens. An eye that has not seen the light of day for more than an age. An eye that has seen few mortals enter the chamber, and seen none of them leave, ever. An eye that is roughly three times the height of the very frail and defenseless being that is currently pushing open the only barrier between her and certain death. The eye focuses on the door. It opens, and a mortal steps into the dimly lit, almost totally dark chamber. A chamber where none who entered have ever been able to leave, including the bearer of the eye. A massive body shifts in the deep darkness of the chambers. Scales rough out stone and rotting wood as they move. From far above the mortal, a huge head observes.
"WHEREFORE HAST THOU COME TO DISTURB MY SLEEP, MORTAL?" A voice sounds through the chamber. A voice as old as history itself. A voice filled with millennia of knowledge and wisdom. A voice that has not been heard above the ground since the shattering of the world.
"Uhm.. excuse me for trespassing..," Emily says nervously. "I have come to find the Great One, who once dwelled above, on the lands when stars only shone where the sun now sits."
"DOST THOU SEEKETH DEATH, MORTAL?," the voice says. It sounds curious, not threatening, to Emily.
"I do not.," Emily says clearly.
"WHEREFORE ART THOU NOT AFRAID OF ME, MORTAL?," the voice asks, even more curious now than before.
"Seriously? I have worse nightmares about failing the old man’s history lessons…," Emily says. "No, I do not fear you. I’ve come on behalf of Tharenan the Great, a sage of the Old World. I’ve come to demand that the Vows of Binding be given to me, Emily Maple, of Starwood Haven.," she says out loud and clear, then adds under her breath "Why would I fear you, my love? You, who I have loved for so long already…"
"THARENAN?," the old voice says, taken aback. "VOWS OF BINDING? SO THOU HAST COME TO ENSLAVE ME? ME? THE GREAT ONE! A DRAGON OF THE OLD WORLD! WHY DOST THOU THINK THOU ART WORTHY OF SUCH HONOR?"
"Because I hold The Light of the Heavens!," Emily says and pulls out her pendant. The jewel shines like the sun and lights the chamber brightly. Emily squints her eyes from the brightness. The light reveals the massive scaled body of the ancient Wyrm. Its head is the size of Emily’s house, its eye the size of her room. The scales of the dragon glitter in all the colors of the rainbow on a silvery surface. "So beautiful…," Emily whispers. "I’ve waited so long for this moment, my—"
"THARENAN’S STAR!," the voice exclaims loudly and the dragon's face distorts in confusion. "HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?" The dragon’s body shines brightly for a second, then disappears entirely. The massive chamber lies totally empty and echoes bounce along the walls in the distance. From the darkness, emerges another form. A regal woman, not totally unlike Emily. A head taller and clearly more adult than the soft young woman is. The newcomer’s hair is brilliant silver, glittering in all the colors of the rainbow, and her eyes are the deep blue of a bottomless ocean. She has a tiny scar under her left eye, like a claw mark. She walks to Emily and stops a couple of yards in front of her.
"What business do you have here, then, mortal?," she asks. Her voice is full and beautiful. It still carries in it the wisdom of the ages, but now it’s clear and bright.
"The Vows of Binding, Great One" Emily says and stares at her with a straight face.
"You’re still after those?," the dragon asks, irritated. "Did you honestly travel through stone and darkness just to make me your slave?! I can give you treasures untold, or power beyond your wildest imagining! I can make you the envy of all mortal and the target of lust for everyone, men and women alike. Would you not rather take that?"
"The Vows of Binding, Great One" Emily repeats and bites her lip.
"Fine!" The dragon spits out angrily. "If that is all you want! To enslave the oldest being and control the Noble One. I grant you your wish, you can have it. I hereby transfer the Vows of Binding to you, to the object of power you hold in your hands. If you ever let go of it, you will lose everything. The holder of that jewel will forever have the power over the Vows of Binding!," she speaks out in a full, commanding voice. The jewel in Emily’s hand grows impossibly bright and radiates warmth around it.
Emily smiles triumphantly and raises the pendant above herself. "I nearby accept the terms and bind this power within this jewel. Let it be clear that anyone who holds this jewel will command the full power of the Vows of Binding, including the ability to reinforce.. or break them." She says and smiles warmly at the dragon.
"Stupid mortals… even power is not enough for them, all they want is to— what?," she says and takes a step backward. Emily has walked next to her. "Ready to command me…mistress?," the dragon says mockingly.
"Yes, yes I am.," Emily says with a triumphant face. "As my first command, I order you to take this," she says and holds her hand at her.
The dragon tilts her head slightly and raises an eyebrow. "What is.. ‘this’?," she asks. Unable to disobey a direct order though, she holds her hand, palm upwards towards her.
To the great surprise of the dragon, Emily drops the pendant on her hand. Then she closes the dragon’s hand over the jewel and squeezes it close with her own. "For whoever holds this jewel…," she says and looks straight into the eyes of the dragon. "From Emily Maple of Starwood Haven, accept this gift from me. Let it now and forever be yours to do as you wish.," she says and smiles gently at her.
The dragon stares at Emily with her mouth hanging open. The glow from inside her closed hand grows brighter and her hand feels hot to the touch. "THOU… THOU GIVETH TO ME THINE MOST PRECIOUS…?," she asks in a voice that’s a mix of the massive voice of the old dragon and the bright and full voice of the woman she is now. "THOU WOULDST GIVETH TO ME THAT WHAT THOU SO FERVENTLY WISHED…?"
"I never said that was what I wanted, my love," Emily says and smiles at her gently. "You are now freed from the shackles of fate."
"WHY…?," the woman asks. "WHY DOST THOU…? THOU HAST WORKED TEARS AND BLOOD TO REACH THIS PLACE, YET THOU WOULDST GIVETH IT ALL AWAY…?"
"No," Emily says. "I didn’t give away anything that I wanted to keep myself."
"SO WHEREFORE, THEN?," the woman says. "THOU HAST GOTTEN NOTHING OUT OF THIS AND GIVEN ME… EVERYTHING. I AM FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT, but nothing binds me to thee any more."
"No," Emily repeats. She steps forwards and takes the woman’s hands into hers. "I got exactly what I wanted… Ayaka," She says.
The dragon looks at her with shock on her face, her pupils shrink to nothingness and she slumps down onto the floor. As the countless millennia old magics evaporate and a name that no living being has uttered in more than a gross of lifetimes echoes in the old halls, Emily kneels beside her and strokes her hair with her fingers.
"Rest now, my love. You are now free. I’ve done what I can, the rest is up to you
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