[Juneberry]

<--STORY SNIPPETS-->

Meeting the Dragon God -- Dragon Bride

A gentle blue light encompassed the room. Though it wasn’t much lighter than the sky’s lovely hue, it was distinct and easy to separate from the world above, thanks to the dome of sandstone roofing the pillars that made up empty walls of the old architecture. The girl standing on the central pedestal, carved with ornate details and runes she could not yet read, took a few steps back when a thunderous roar echoed up above. Tripping on her own two feet, she stumbled until her rear was on the sandstone floor, feeling her body mold to the grooves of the carvings beneath her.

Another roar echoed in her ears. An enormous breeze created by wings flapping blew the loosely tied ribbons out of her pigtails, her white hair billowing behind her as she covered her ears for the sake of not being overwhelmed by the sound. A loud thud caught her attention, as an enormous beast stood at the opposite end of the open room. Towering over her at a staggering ten meters high, the creature’s long neck and gigantic wings told her immediately what it was.

“D-Dragon…God…?”

Nothing she’d learned in school or religious services taught her how to deal with this. A dragon, a god amongst her people?! She knew the monument was a holy temple, but she’d never heard of anyone actually meeting one of the dragon gods, much less here!

“Child of man,” The dragon roared in human tongue, without once moving its mouth. Confusion was written all over her face. “I am Rodryr-”

“Lord of the Skies!?” The girl would have fallen over again if she’d managed to stand up in the first place, but her legs were weak with anxious energy flooding through them.

“Who are you, child of man?”

“I’m Estelle Fay,” She answered. She hadn’t a desire to admit her name, but she knew all too well that gods could be dangerous if angered, after all. “Most people just call me Stella.”

“Estelle Fay. Are you the one that activated the Temple’s light?”

Stella looked around her. The blue light was slowly fading. “It was an accident! I came here to pray, when that blue light suddenly appeared!”

“That blue light is a holy light,” The dragon, Rodryr, roared. “It was a signal for me to come here. Do you know why?”

“I do not,” Stella replied bluntly. There was no emotion in her voice- it had all but been stolen by her disbelief. A dragon! A real dragon! How was she the one talking to it?

“Prophecy foretells that a dragon’s bride is chosen by the stars,” Rodryr explained. “When the temple’s holy light is activated, it signals that a dragon’s fated partner has found their way there.”

The dragon wrapped its wings around the girl, before lifting her up in his short arms and pointy claws. Jumping and flapping his wings to hover in the still air, he pushed himself off one of the sturdy support beams with his long tail, before flying off towards the sunlight still rising in the east- far away from the girl’s little town and the temple in which fate had brought them together.