“Alright. I can’t wait to get some sleep. How far are we from home exactly?” I asked as Mr. Marson started leading up to the car. 

“Not too far. Only twenty minutes or so. You can sleep in the car if you want.” Mr. Marson replied. As he said this, he opened the backseat car door for me. I said a quick “Thank you” and slid into the other side. Alec slid in the back seat as well and scooched over to sit next to me. I thought it was a little weird because I took him for the type to fight over the front seat. Oh well I thought, his shoulder will just have to be sacrificed as a head rest. Laying my head on his shoulder, I closed my eyes, smiling to myself as I felt him stiffen in shock. Just a little payback for the years of irritation he caused me. My body started to feel heavy and I let myself fall asleep. 

It was strange. As I opened my eyes, I was in a large meadow. Tall trees with millions of branches surrounded the meadow I was standing in. Thirty feet away, in the middle of the meadow stood a towering Weeping Willow. I quietly walked over to the tree and moved its branches to the side. I saw Jerusalem sage and white trillium growing near the tree trunk. I walked the ten feet over to the flowers and knelt beside them to get a better look at the beautiful plants. Suddenly the silence was disturbed by the branches above me moving, but there was no wind.

“Is someone there?!” I called out. With the beckoning of my voice, a dragon jumped from the branches and landed before me. The dragon was at least 30 feet tall and was covered in white and silver scales, with a few black scales scattered throughout her shiny body. There was a large black spot on the dragon's head in the shape of a diamond. She had a scar on her right eye. Her pure golden eyes shone in the dim light.

“My name is Alora, it is nice to formally meet you Amaya.” The dragon said.

“Um… Nice to meet you. So… Are you my dragon, or something?” I asked with uncertainty. “You look a lot like how Alec described me when I was in my dragon form.”

“That is correct.” Alora responded looking pleased.

“How does that work exactly? Did you just show up one day? If so, how?” I asked.

“It will be easier to understand if I start at the beginning. There was once a war between the dragons and the humans. Despite the power of a dragon greatly outweighing that of a humans’, humans had technology on their side. With the loss of thousands of dragons, billions of humans, and centuries of bloodshed, both sides came to realize that war was not the answer to their problems. To solve this problem, an idea was proposed. All the kings and queens of the many lands in the human realm would bond with a noble dragon. This was not done randomly however. If a human was paired with the wrong dragon, both could die as they would share a single body. Only four of thirteen pairs were able to succeed in this peace agreement. Five of the thirteen decided that the cost was too great. The other three died because the humans were full of greed and were killed by their dragon side. After the four pairs were made, they were joined together in marriage.” Alora explained.

“Wait, so, all four of them were married together?” I asked in confusion.

“No,” Alora said with a slight chuckle, “there were two kings and two queens, making the marriage part quite easy.”

“That makes a lot more sense.” I mumbled, feeling silly for having to ask.

“It is not silly to ask. I am willing to answer any questions you may have.” Alora said.

“Um… Did I say that out loud?” I asked, stunned.

“No you didn’t.” Alora said, amused. “A dragon and human pair share more than just a body. They share thoughts, emotions, and memories. This is another reason that the dragon pair peace treaty worked so well. Both the dragon and the human got to see the other side of the story.”

“I have a question. I have no memories before the age of ten. Is it the same for you or do you remember that time span?”

“I remember it well. Do you wish to see what happened then? I am warning you now, if you say yes, I won’t hide any of the bad parts.”

“I would like to know. But, how long would it take to see all ten years?” 

Alora contemplated my question for a moment before answering. “Would you be okay with me just showing you the most important events for now?”

“I think that would work well.” I agreed.

“Alrighty then, close your eyes, wait two seconds, and then open them again.” Alora instructed. Doing as she said, I closed my eyes, waited a long moment, and opened them. Standing in a long hallway, I took in my surroundings. Alora stood next to me, watching the scene in front of us. Looking forward, I saw a man and a woman. The man’s black hair had blood plastering strands of hair onto his head. He stood at 6’7’’ with gold eyes contrasted with his black skin. The woman was 6’1’’ with hair that flowed down to her knees like a white waterfall. Her eyes were a bright silver that matched her pale skin. The four of us stood in a massive hallway that was painted with streaks of red. It took me a long moment to realize that the red was blood. The window to the right of us was shattered leaving glass scattered all over the bloodied floor. 

Walking to the window I saw something that belonged in nightmares. Buildings were torn apart, some on fire casting shadows that covered the shredded bodies of the dragons littering the ground. Giant icicles pierced the bodies of many of the fallen dragons. The smoke from the fires rose to join the battle in the sky. 

“They are our mother and father.” Alora said, looking at the man and woman. 

“Why aren't they moving?” I asked.

“I froze the memory so you could get an understanding of what is happening. This memory takes place during the last battle for the fight over the throne. The Firebreaker, also known as the bad guys, are trying to take the throne from your family.” Alora paused looking at the floor with a sad expression on her face.

“Why are they trying to take the throne?”

Alora sighed in frustration. “The idiot Firebreakers think that Father is weak for caring about what happens to the poor. Or I guess, was. The Firebreakers believed that the weak should perish and the strong should survive. They decided to take over the throne so they could rule the way they saw fit.”

“Wait, so if they took the throne, would that mean that they would rule the whole dragon world? That seems like a bad system, doesn’t it?” I questioned.

“Remember how I mentioned that in the first Human and dragon pairs were made with noble dragons?” I nodded my head. “It is true that there is one main ruler for the whole of Mystic Falls, however there is more than one person as that would be far too much pressure on any one person. Just like how some humans are stronger than others, there are stronger and weaker dragons as well. The strongest dragons tend to be what we call ‘noble dragons’. The nobles have a set territory for them to rule over and report to the King/Queen. The King/Queen would often visit each territory to make sure that the reports they were given were true.”

“I think that is enough history for now, I believe it is important that you see what happened.” Alora said. Following her lead, I turned my head back to look at our mother and father. Just as I did so, everything started moving. The dragons in the air resumed their battle, filling the air with cries of pain and anger.

“Enzo! Please!” My mother, Lily, cried.

“Trust me Lilly.” Enzo, my father said. “Get Amaya to safety. I will protect you both, I swear it on my life. Now Go!” A large door that burst open the moment he finished and he turned as he shifted into a massive pure black dragon. The dragons outside the door retreated in fear and Enzo chased them. Lily turned around and ran down the hall with her white hair wiping in the air. 

Following our mother, we ran past some gruesome sights. Trying to only look at Lily’s white hair, I found myself standing in a vaguely familiar room. Thousands of soft colors covered the walls, the ceiling was so high Alora could stand tall without having to bend her neck. In the middle of the room was a wooden cradle with a baby lying in it. Lily quickly and gently picked up the baby and ran towards a large window. Opening the window she stepped onto the ledge, and just as she was about to jump, I saw the baby’s face. She had black eyes with slivers of gold, white hair and tiny scales on her chubby cheeks. 

“I’m guessing that the baby is me?” I asked Alora.

“Yes.” Alora said in a tight voice.

Lily jumped from the window and shifted into a ginormous dragon. Spreading her silver and white wings, she beat her wings to gain altitude. In her arms, baby me looked calm.

“Lily!” I heard my fathers voice shout. Looking in his direction I saw him diving towards a red dragon that was flying towards Mom. The dragon opened its mouth and spat fire, hitting moms left wing. I wanted in horror as she fell from the sky with a cry of pain. As she fell from the sky she turned onto her back. I gasped as she landed on the rocks below her. The rock pierced through her back and popped out of her chest. Blood seeped from the wound, turning  her beautiful scales from silver to a sickening red coat.

“Alora, if you can hear me, please, please take care of Amaya.” Lily said in a weak voice. “Please hide this from her until she is ready to handle it. I know it will still be hard for her. Let her know that I love her very much. Thank you for choosing my daughter.”

Suddenly, Enzo roared with rage and agony. He tackled the red dragon mid air and ripped its head from its body. His chest rubles with a growl as he spat the lifeless head out of his mouth. The red dragon’s body twitched as it fell from the sky. Ezno dived again, this time to Lily and baby me, and landed hard on the ground beside her.

“Lilly! Lilly! Are you okay?! Where is Amaya?! Stay with me please!” Enzo shouted, panicked.

“She’s here.” Lilly said in a weak voice, opening her arms. Baby me was shaking in her arms, quietly whimpering. “She is unharmed, just scared. Take her to the human world. Keep her safe. Hide her from those that seek to hurt her. I love you both so much. I love you. I-'' Lily's eyes glazed over, her arms falling from our daughter limply. 

The tears in my fathers eyes spilled over the rims as he silently cried. As he gently closed her eyes, mine snapped open as I woke up.

I quickly sat up, shocked and panting in fear. I looked around myself frantically, finding myself in my room with my bed covers in a tangled mess at my feet. Movement caught my eye and I turned to see Alec watching me looking concerned. I let out a breath of relief at his familiar face and pulled him into a hug for comfort. Memories of the dream started coming to mind again and tears fell from my eyes once more. Alec rubbed my back slowly, trying to comfort me. Eventually exhausted from crying, I fell back asleep. This time, no dreams came.