I walk around the office taking it all in before sitting down on the cushioned seat by the window. I let good memories flood into my brain, preferring that over the theories Rose put in my head. I was young, no more than four years old, and I curled up in my mother’s lap in this very chair. I can almost feel the way her finger ran through my hair as she petted my head softly. She was reading me a story while my father worked. I open my eyes and come back to reality, I look around the dust ridden office.
No one had been here since my father disappeared. It was too hard for me and no one else dared come here. I hear a knock on the door. I straighten myself and roll my shoulders back so I appear confident. James doesn’t wait for a reply before strolling in lazily. I let out a sigh and let myself slouch again. He was one of the only people I didn’t have to be the unbreakable Alpha King around him. “Hey BiBi Rose told me you may need me, so I came to cheer you up.” He says stopping near the bookshelf to my right.
I sigh and smile softly. “Well besides questioning what in my life didn’t my parents lie to me about.” I ponder miserably. James rocks on his feet before he walks over to my father’s desk, he sits in the large cushioned office chair. “I know it’s hard my friend, but if I know anything, your parents loved you. You don’t have to like the narrative they constructed to keep you safe, but you need to remember that your parents loved you more than anything and that I am sure of.” He says.
I stand up and pace in front of the desk as James starts looking through the drawer's contents, letting silence envelope us for a moment. “How can they love me if they lied to me so much? How can I believe that when everything else in my life they lied about? Tell me Rose is wrong and her theories are crazy. Tell me that she is wrong and that my father is just a normal dragon and not some ancient being from myths we’ve grown up knowing.” I say stomping and slamming my hands down on the desk causing a crack to firm down the center of the desktop.
James doesn’t flinch and raises an eyebrow at me “They lied to you because they love and wanted to protect you. They didn’t think you would have to deal with any of this in your lifetime. And, unfortunately, I cannot agree with you about Rose. Don’t stand there and disrespect your fated, our Luna. Her reasoning is sound and I have never seen another dragon who has the same color blue as you and your father. Yet there is a whole set of armor made from a dragon that was the exact same shade of blue as you. Rose isn’t lying to you and she is trying to help you see the truth. What I don’t understand is why you are so desperate to hold onto the lies anyways.” He stands.
“I’m starting to think that you still haven’t fully opened your eyes and want to remain shielded from the truth. We are at war, Anubis, and you want to pout about your parents lying to you?” He says getting heated, smoke billows from his nostrils. “I am fully aware we are at war.” I reply feeling myself getting heated, there is only a millisecond of hesitation before we are exchanging blows. I growl and fling the heavy wooden desk to the side, James takes that as an opportunity to bring his shin into contact with my ribcage. I grab his leg, twisting it and pulling him to me as my fist comes in contact with the under part of his chin.
After fighting for what must have been ten minutes, we both stand across from each other breathing heavily. “Alright, I concede, we’re not getting anywhere by fighting. You’re right, I want to hold onto the lies, but can you blame me? My whole life has been turned upside down, backwards, and twisted in all sorts of directions, I just want one thing to not be a lie.” I say. James gives me a knowing look before crossing to me and giving me a hug.
“I am your friend, dare I say brother, you have a wonderful woman as your fated and your parents love you. That is the truth, everything else is just hurdles to get over. Let's get over them so that maybe we can begin to enjoy the time we have with our fated, but you gotta pull yourself together brother or we all will fall. It’s not fair, but this is reality.” He says. I hug him back and sigh softly as I take in his words before nodding. “Alright let's get this mess cleaned up.” I say gesturing to the pieces of the broken desk.
James and I begin cleaning in silence, sifting through the contents of the desk and picking up the broken pieces of desk. I look down and find a book with something poking out of it, I pick it up and pull what is a photo from between two pages. It was a very old photo and was worn, with a small tear along the edge. It was of my father, mother and a boy who looked a lot like me but he had a scar that ran through his right eye. The wound had caused the eye to go blind I could just make out the milkiness of the eye, he was slightly shorter than my father and he held himself like an Alpha.
I open the book and find the neat scrawl of my mother's handwriting and I feel a twinge of a mixture of emotions. I put the photo between the cover and the first page and close the book, I’d be going through this later by myself. We finish cleaning the room and not finding any more surprises we leave. I look out one of the hallway’s window at the setting sun, then turn my attention to the field. There’s a large pile of wood in the middle of the field and a couple medium sized piles stacked around the larger pile, someone is pouring accelerant onto the large pile of wood.
There are grills about a yard away from the wood and our cooks are already dishing out food to children and other members that have already gathered. Kids run and play as they wait. A few people are finding spots to sit and setting up blankets or lawn chairs. I turn my attention to the courtyard within the gates and watch as people bustle about, either heading to the bonfire or running things in and out. I am able to find Rose as she winds her way through the crowd. She is wearing the ultramarine armor and carrying a black case. She greets anyone that stops to chat with her and eventually makes it out to the field and goes to speak to the person who had been pouring accelerant moments before. “I gotta go grab something before the festivities if you’ll excuse me.” James says. I pull my attention away from the field and nod to James before he walks away.
I go to my room first. I was planning on just hiding it and then going to join the crowd, but temptation wins me over. I open the book and read the first passage. “Today Rasmus was injured badly by humans, he wouldn’t say who but I am worried. I suspect it has something to do with that man, but I can’t be certain. I told Rasmus and Varanus to stay away from whatever they keep poking their heads into. I’m worried something worse than just being blinded in one eye will happen. I think we need to go to the creator and beg for his help, but those two are so stubborn. Like father, like son, as the saying goes.” I slam the book shut and look down at it like it hurt me and not the words I just read.
I take a few breaths trying to calm myself down, I shake my head and then hide the book away in my desk. I wanted to stay up in this room and read my mothers journal, but there was a party and as Alpha and King I had to make an appearance. Even if I felt like my whole world was crumbling, I slowly make my way through the castle as thoughts tumble through my head. I really had a brother and it was very likely that Rose was wearing what’s left of him as armor. I square my shoulders and hold my head up in pride. I wasn’t about to let the rest of the pack see me falling apart like I was. By the time I make it outside, it’s dark out and I can see the fire from the courtyard. I make my way through the crowd, greeting and shaking anyone's hand that approaches me.
As I get closer to the field, I hear hauntingly beautiful music float through the air. The sounds of a beating drum, bows on strings, spoons, clapping and shouting fill the air. As I stroll through the gates I see figures wearing different forms of shifter armor, some dance around the fire making noises. Two figures play fiddles as they dance. The drummers wears wolf skins and the spoons wear bear and are sat on either side of the fire. The two fiddle players, I realize, are Rose and James. I assume a few of the dancers or the other instrument players are the other members of Rose’s team. I couldn’t begin to guess who’s who. Some of the dancers grab onlookers and bring them into the dance as they circle the fire.
As the song comes to an end, all the people wearing skull helmets remove them and throw them into the fire. I see that Dahlia was playing the spoons, a dragon named Lance was playing the drums, Orchid, Poppy, Anti, Rory, Sevrin, Alice, Lance's brother Lash, Alekos an unleashed, and a shifter named Evelyn were the dancers. I watch as their helmets are replaced with a replicated head of their shifters’ form, Rose looks like her head is a fire and I am astonished. The crowd cheers and shouts their appreciation to the God of War, Orcinus. Rose turns her attention to me and jerks her head to the side in a gesture for me to join them.
“What’s all this?” I ask as I come within hearing range. Poppy comes over and offers me a watch. It's an ultramarine blue with gold accents and on the back are each of The Gardens initials. “Armor upgrades and sacrifices. Well, I was only able to get a few done but I’ll have the rest done before the battle comes to us.” Poppy says. I put the watch on and my head gets covered. I assume it is a replica of my dragon forms head, there is a screen so I can see and a females voice rings in my ears. “Welcome, Anubis. I am Jeri and I will be your AI helper.” the AI says. I look around and then James and Rose lift their instruments again “To the Gods and Goddesses may you hear our music and accept our gifts. Let the dead rest and help us bring peace to all shifters and humans alike.” Rose's voice carries over any noise that the crowd is making.
Rose and James begin playing again and the dancing and a new dance begins. Anti dances and grabs my hand bringing me into the middle. “I don’t know what dances you guys are doing. I was taught ballroom dances, not whatever this is.” I say as Anti makes me dance in a circle. Anti laughs as he lets go and Orchid catches me and continues the dance “You don’t need to know the dance, let the music move your body. Clear your head and only think of what you need from the gods and goddesses. Let the music guide you and let out all that frustration.” Orchid says and spins me out again. This time I’m caught by Rory. They toss me around like this for the whole song. By the end of the song, I am dancing and letting the music move me. I enjoy myself and hoot and holler with everyone else.
When this song is over those that wear shifter armor take their hide shirts off and throw them in the fire. The armor spreads down wrapping around my neck, shoulders, chest, stomach, arms and ends just above my pants like. The armor reflects the light, mine is a mixture of blues, gold, reds, purple and orange. I look at Rose, the rib cage design that twists and turns around her body is green and looks like vines, while the body is a mixture of red and gold. This time the sacrifice is to the goddesses of death Harpactira and they begin the next song. When this one ends, they remove their leg armor. As they do, my own armor wraps around the rest of my body with my legs a mixture of ultramarine blue and gold.
Rose’s armor is a mixture of bright red and gold, the metallic green winding its way down and around her legs. Upon closer inspection there are metallic flowers, an antitritium on her shoulder, a dahlia over her heart, a poppy on her hip and an orchid on her arm and a rose on one of the rib bones. I listen as they make this sacrifice to the creator itself. I look to the sky and send my own prayer up as the next song begins. They do a few more songs sacrificing things as they go: pictures, tech, food, books and so on go in the fire and then they ask for a god or goddess’s protection and guidance. The last song and sacrifice is to the goddess of festivals and party Pogona. Rose and James throw their instruments into the fire as a sacrifice.
When all is said and done it is already the early hours of the morning, Rose stands on one of the tables to address the remaining crowd of people. “You all have come a long way and I would like to say that each and everyone of you have done an exceptional job. We have worked you non stop and have learned to work as one. Next week will be the hardest yet, because next week I will be sending multiple squads out to hit bigger targets. You, all, are ready for this. I am proud to call you comrades and honored to fight alongside each and every one of you. Take this weekend to rest and recuperate. Enjoy your time with those you love as it may be your last, but don’t let that statement deter you. I would not be moving forward if I thought any of you would die. However; sometimes things happen, don't take your time with your loved ones for granted and love them hard. So that they may remember you with happiness.” She says.
For a moment there's silence and then the crowd erupts in cheers, hugs, drunken kisses and gods know what else. Then, people start filing into the courtyard making their way home or into their room within the palace. Lash offers Rose a hand and she takes it as he helps her down from the table. Their helmets look like they melt away as their heads become exposed to the night air. Rose offers Lash a hug and I see her whisper something in his ear, Lash gives her a lopsided grin and nods. He then turns and runs to catch up with his brother “Er Jeri how do I get this thing off?” I ask. As soon as I ask, the metal begins to melt away and within a few seconds I am left in the clothes I was wearing prior and am left with the ultramarine watch.
“Jeri will give you a rundown on how to work everything later when you wake up.” Poppy says. I look over to her and nod “Thanks Poppy, you are a genius, this tech it’s… Well, it's incredible.” I tell her and she gives me an approving nod. I turn my attention back to where Rose was supposed to be, but she has disappeared. “Opps.” Poppy says with a sly smirk, causing me to growl.
