III Darkness was always there; it was never born

Our dragon neighbours that surrounded me would visit to my house to see Yllen as the days passed.

Since Yllen entered my life—or should I say our lives—the colourful sky has been breathtaking.

The weather cleared up, and the dark storm clouds vanished. Our community knew who Yllen was, and we all began to believe again and have hope.

That clean breeze reminded me of my birth, and it gave me hope for a new day. Everything was moving with that breeze, and everything wonderful returned to my thoughts. I constantly want to return to that same time, but I don’t have to do that anymore because Yllen unexpectedly brought all those emotions into me.

The clean weather had returned to our lives, and nature had rejuvenated the lost time. Everything was different now—our lives, our dreams, our beliefs—everything.

We dragons were inspired by the fact that the stories of our ancestors had been revived. 

Yllen enjoyed interacting with our neighbours, especially when she was able to play with their wings. The older dragons told Yllen many stories, one of which was about their experiences with humans. There have been both positive and unpleasant encounters.

When Yllen questioned the elders about the good people, they replied that there were certain kind-hearted people who always pretended to understand dragons and communicated with them, but in reality, only dragons could comprehend one another. It was kind of funny that some beautiful humans would do that just to be part of us.

The elders were surprised when Yllen suddenly started speaking to them in our dialect, and they started telling Yllen about those awful memories, those unpleasant experiences that left physical scars on us.

It was difficult to see Yllen as a child, Yllen was the chosen one, Yllen was our saviour.

Young humans would occasionally band together, hide in the woods, and try to mount any little dragons they might locate. The young people were not terrified of our older dragons because they were armed. I was the one of their victims, the dragon without an eye.

I could recall that day like it was yesterday. When my sister, Xiorc, and I were playing in the woods, a strange sound began to emerge. As a young dragon, Xiorc had a lot of curiosity. Suddenly, Xiorc started to run and I followed her as she raced in the direction of the noise.

The humans suddenly mounted on me, and I looked Xiorc; I extracted the strength that I didn’t yet have; I begged my god for wisdom; and suddenly, I was able to get rid of them by flying in different directions, like this; I crushed the humans. I shouted as they hit my sister, but then one of them abruptly stuck a stick in my eye!

Xiorc struggled mightily before approaching me, grabbing me, and dragging me away.

I was taken to the doctor by our parents, and when the stick was removed, my eye was also removed. I stayed at home for months, and Xiorc just felt horrible.

The elders had many more stories like mine; they were curious about Yllen’s marks and her origins on Earth. How did she come here?

Yllen didn’t speak about it, but she did share a lot of her wisdom with them. She emphasised repeatedly the need of being genuine and looking for perfection in our mistakes as the key to our success.

The elders were often amazed by Yllen’s knowledge at such a young age, especially the dragon tongue she spoke.

Yllen would frequently remain silent while seated in the middle of everyone else, transmitting everything through the air.

She made me wonder what kind of vision my neighbours would have.

Nobody anticipated Yllen would arrive at the age she did.

My good friends Rama and Yzarc came to see me every day.

They both used to visit us at home and always kept us safe from unfamiliar creatures. They frequently had an excessive amount of suspicion for everyone.

I had great confidence in Rama and Yzarc because they knew so much about the planet, its people, and its different beliefs.

Since my best friends and I grew up together, I have always known that I can rely on them.

We were in the kitchen, drinking and eating as usual, discussing and debating those ancient stories of our ancestors.

All of a sudden, the neighbours left and Yllen came over to us and sat down to eat her favourite dish, what we called “vegetable orange.”

And with great care, she continued to keep an eye on us and listen to the stories we had always told each other since we were young.

Like that story of the woman who went for a walk at midnight while everyone was sleeping, but there was actually nobody there; it was simply a myth.

Or that house that no one ever went to because it was rumoured that a murder had occurred there and the victims—a mother and her son—remained as a ghosts. No one wanted to enter; those ghosts wanted to connect; and we dragons never wanted to be a part of the human circus. We always assumed it was a silly rumour.

Yllen listened attentively while she ate with excitement.

When Yzarc brought up the name, Oebama, I asked him not to, but Yllen replied in a gentle voice: keep going

Yzarc said that his great-grandfather had always told him stories about how, whether or not Oebama chose to be, he was the chosen one of evil. 

None of the elders called him evil; only the chosen of evil.

Rama questioned why there was only one and why he was the chosen one of the cruel darkness, but Yllen claimed that Oebama had no option because he was not chosen; he always existed and would always behave evilly.

I was shocked, along with Rama and Yzarc. For many eras and millennia, we had believed that Oebama was the one that the dark forces had chosen.

Rama and Yzarc witnessed Yllen’s magnificence when she started interacting with them in dragon tongue. She addressed them as the woman I saw in a dream the first time I met her. Although neither of us could open our eyes, Yllen understood each of our hearts well enough to reveal her brilliance and part of the existence of the evil world.

We saw Oebama positioned on a pedestal and surrounded by members of the dark, evil forces in the vision. They were malformed, and the amount of wickedness was so overwhelming that we were powerless. I briefly believed that my skin would start to come off.

Oebama was never a stranger since he always existed. He was never far away, but he was made human so he could come to the planet and finish the mission he had previously begun but never finished.

Oebama brought a lot of individuals with him who are now evil angels, and he wants to bring  more people into his world and keep building a kingdom of darkness.

When we opened our eyes, everything seemed strange. Things became more understandable and clearer. That was like a mystery that couldn’t be solved for generations.

Yllen had returned to being that vulnerable creature. We began to play, and when it was time for her to go to bed, she begged Rama to tell her the horse story.

The history of the horse was an important aspect of our town’s history. When we were little, the story went that the horse would visit us on our birthdays and bring us a book that would teach us about our abilities.

Many of us have lost our powers due to our fear of vanishing.

The fear was created by Oebama; Yllen was correct; Oebama has existed since before our great-grandparents were alive.

Yllen held Rama’s face in her hands and thanked her for the reading, and said;

 Good night, Rama; you have nothing to be afraid of.