Calamity

“After Calamity left our world, he returned to his own people. But by leaving before his task was complete, he had disobeyed his orders, and his people were… displeased.
“So he was cast out.”

Somewhere in the distance, over the forest, the sky glows red. Perhaps a promise of sunrise, perhaps something else entirely.

“He ended up here, in Sornieth, when dragonkind was still young. His powers have limits now, cut off from his people as he is, but he is still dangerously powerful.” Megan closes her eyes. “He was made to destroy worlds, and the Eleven could feel it. So they forced him to take draconic form, and handed him over to the Icewarden.”

Sourcefield takes a shaky breath. The red glow on the horizon is definitely getting brighter. “And what about… what about you? And the other Reckoners?” What about me? she doesn’t say. “How are you in Sornieth?”

Megan opens her eyes and cracks a grin. “We don’t know.”

“What?”

The pearlcatcher shrugs. “We all have… pieces of Calamity’s magic, you could say. Our powers belonged to him once, even if they don’t anymore, and so we’re still connected to him on some level.” She looks out at the crimson light above the trees. “Tia thinks that we were, oh, reincarnated, I suppose. That our souls were reborn into this universe somehow, and it’s our proximity to Calamity’s magic that makes us remember our other lives.” She glances at Sourcefield out of the corner of her eye. “Not all of us remembered right away, you know. You might remember, too, if you give it time.”

Sourcefield considers this. She isn’t sure if she wants to remember, with the way some of them look at her.

“What do you think?” she asks Megan softly.

“Tia tends to be right,” Megan replies, just as softly. “But I think there must be more to it than that.
“The ice was never going to be enough to hold Calamity. I think the gods knew that. He’s just too powerful, too… arcane. They needed another solution.

“We’re tied to him, all of us, with the powers we possess. His power is vast, but it is finite in this universe. For every dragon who holds a piece of his power, he gets a little weaker. But he can’t just give his power away to any dragon. His magic is so different from Sornieth’s, and the gods can’t trust just anyone with his kind of power. It makes sense that they would want souls that are already connected to that power, that have wielded that power before and know how to fight its darker side.”

Megan meets Sourcefield’s eyes. “He may have the form of a Gaoler, but he’s not here to keep us jailed. We are here to be his chains.” She glances away and almost smiles. “And, maybe… with David being who he is… maybe we’re here to teach Calamity a little bit of what it means to be human, and what it means to be a dragon.”

“And me?” Sourcefield asks softly. “What do I do?”

“That’s up to you,” Megan says. “You could say no. Refuse your powers, and he’ll take them back. You could go and live a normal life, as a normal dragon, and never know what happened in another world.
“But there’s a place for you here, if you want it. You could stay with us, and we’ll teach you what we know. You don’t have to face your fears. But if you want to, we’ll be here.”

Over the horizon, Calamity rises.