Misti and the Dragon Egg

Misti awoke the following day to the smell of bread and honey. She opened her eyes and stretched her body in the bed she’d been given. She remembered exactly where she was, and that alert feeling of danger had not faded away. Still, she’d slept like a kitten nonetheless. Strange... Misti felt some sort of peace here. The birds were singing outside. The wind whistled gently through the tree leaves. And the smell of bread was irresistible.

Misti’s stomach growled. She collected the piece of coconut that had fallen to the ground. She wanted to eat it, but it had dried up and smelled a little. She placed it on the windowsill and looked outside. All she could see were thick trees under a clear blue sky. The sun shone brightly, the air was hot, the jungle was loud, but it was cool and quiet inside these walls. Misti looked below, she had a direct view of the tower’s entrance. Virgil sat on the steps by the front door. Near him was Carrot who munched some grass. Virgil was fiddling with something she couldn’t see.

“Virgil!” Misti called.

He looked up. Now, she could see what was in his hands. It was some sort of...bird. Virgil released it.

A crow flew past her window and into the sky. It looked so out of place among the green and blue.

Virgil was still looking at her, but she couldn’t see the expression on his face. From her point of view, he looked sad.

How very strange.

Misti took a few steps back, frowning, then turned around to leave the room. She’d get some food first, then ask Virgil about the crow. She didn’t forget her backpack when she left the room.

Outside her room was a small platform in an open space leading to stairs that coiled up and down. Misti was on the fifth floor of the tower, and the stairs would immediately lead her down to where she’d been only yesterday, the entrance hall. She followed the steps until she was back on the ground floor. She slowed down right by the last steps because she’d smelled him among the scent of freshly baked bread. The sithrax stood there, in his monk’s robe, further into the large hall. Misti looked in his direction and noticed he stood by a large altar.

He turned around once she got off the stairs.

“Good morning,” he said calmly. “Did you sleep well?” His lips stretched into that ugly smile again.

“Good...morning,” Misti stuttered anxiously. “I... Yes.”

He walked towards her. “I have bread and honey for your breakfast. I hope it’s enough.” His Common was perfect, even if it had a slight hiss to it.

The lizardman led her to an archway right beneath the stairs. The path led to a collection of rooms with no doors. A pantry, a kitchen, a prayer room. It ended in a large hall with stone benches and tables in perfect rows.

“My name is Juniu,” the sithrax said as they walked. “The human tells me your name is Misti?”

Misti nodded. She wanted to ask him why he was here and what in the gods’ names a sithrax was doing in the oldest sindur temple. She wanted answers. Now. “Who are you? Why are you here?”

Juniu led Misti to a table before answering, “I follow the Path. The Path has led me here. And it seems that it’s what has brought you here too.”

The Path was the sindur’s way of calling one’s journey to fulfillment. Sindurs were driven towards achieving fulfillment by relinquishing pain. They strived towards the absence of suffering. A life must be lived to seek fulfillment and make peace with one’s own death. Regeneration was a way for sindur to prepare for when true death came. Juniu was sithrax. Fulfillment should mean nothing to him.

And yet, it seemed to.

Juniu served the girl-cat a clay plate of toasted bread covered in delicious-smelling honey. She thanked him with a bow of the head, and he took a seat opposite her. Misti wasn’t sure if she should start eating. Maybe he’d poisoned the honey.

“I can assure you, you are safe here,” he said, almost like he’d read her mind. “You have nothing to fear, especially not from me or from my bees.”

His bees? Misti was too hungry to let her fear control her. She took a bite of honey toast and instantly melted from the taste. It was the best honey she’d ever tasted.

“I was a clan’s general before I came here,” Juniu began. His tone was turning wistful by the words. “I fought wars and whatnot. I owned slaves.”

Misti almost spat her toast upon hearing the word slave. Had she even heard it correctly? Fear rushed through her blood but was quickly replaced by strange, vindictive anger. Her gaze went cold.

Juniu took a deep breath. “There’s no good pretending to be something I’m not. I acknowledge what I’ve done. Now, I must follow the Path to fulfillment.” Misti realized Juniu wasn’t wistful. It was guilt she heard through his words. “I left my old life behind when I came here. I studied everything there was to study in this ancient place. The wisdom kept within these walls is liberating.”

Misti’s anger dimmed. The more Juniu spoke, the more she wanted to listen. A sithrax following the sindur ways. How...unfathomable.

“You have come here for this,” Juniu said, pointing at Misti’s backpack with a motion of the hand. “This is proof of all I’ve tried to understand.”

The girl-cat frowned slightly. “Proof?” What did the lizard mean by proof?

“That it’s all true,” he said. “Finish your breakfast, little one. Then come to the altar. I have so many things to show you.”

Misi carried her backpack by the handle all the way to the altar. Surrounding the altar were walls carved with very detailed artwork, scriptures, and schematics of some sort. It created a stone matrix that told the entire history of the Holy Beacon, from its construction to its worship. After briefly examining the art, Misti looked at Juniu expectantly. Was he finally going to shed some light on why the voice had led her here?

“You are one of the Wistful Sisters, correct?” Juniu asked. He continued after Misti nodded. “Your convent was tasked with protecting the sindur legacy. Part of this legacy is, as you know, the Siyliq, the gift you were given by the gods.”

“How do you know about all this?” Misti asked.

“This was once your home,” Juniu said with a soft hiss. “The Wistful Sisters used to walk this place before—”

“Before you came,” Misi interrupted, almost hissing herself. “Before the sithrax banished us. Before you exterminated us.” She paused, breathing loudly. “Will you finally tell me why I’m here?”

Misti’s teachings were about compassion and calm, but charity was no longer part of her after what she’d seen in the capital. Why would the voice in her dreams have led her to this place if this filthy lizardman was here?

“I was going to ask you the same question,” Juniu said.

“I thought you knew!” Misti shouted. “You said the egg was proof of something.” The lizardman wasn’t saying anything. “Well, what is it proof of?”

“It’s proof that Ailura can be saved,” Juniu declared.

“That’s why I’m here! To bring it back so the gods can return. You’re not telling me anything new.”

Juniu leaned on the altar, silent. His gaze wandered the carvings on this square block of solid clay. Then, he swept some of the dust off the altar.

“Take a look,” he said softly.

Misti was angry and curious at the same time. She walked to the altar and glanced at where Juniu was looking.

“What do you see?” he asked.

“A god.”

Juniu shook his head. “Well, yes and no. It’s also something else.”

“What is it then?”

“A Birdman.”