Dragon Green: A Vision Unseen

1

VANDER

The bay is blooming, your grace, Hywin said. The oracle is ready to meet with you.

Vander lay in the sand, the sun baking off the drops from his early morning swim. He had nearly drifted off to sleep when the shadow fell across his face. When he opened his eyes, there was the tiny little owl-girl standing over him.

The waters are pink, your highness, she said. That is the sign.

Yes, yes. He knew the sign. He had never met with the oracle himself. This was his first year of rule. But his father had met with her each year for as long as he could remember, and he knew the ritual well.

The bamboo palace that was home to the throne of the Emerald Isle lay adjacent to Crystal Bay, with beautiful water so clear you could see to the sand at the bottom. But once a year, always at a slightly different time, the waters would become pink and cloudy. Just beyond the bay was the giant coral reef, and somewhere within it lived Kira Coralbloom. 

Only the ruler of the Emerald Isle was summoned. The sign would be given. Then Vander, like his father before him, would swim out to the reef, dive, and enter the coral labyrinth. The oracle would guide him through, perhaps imbue him with the power to breathe underwater. At least, that’s what he assumed. His father had never given him any real details. 

All he knew was what everyone else on the island did. Only the king was allowed to enter. Anyone else foolish enough to enter the labyrinth never returned. 

But Vander didn’t particularly want to go. He wanted to relax on the beach under the sun. He wanted to take a little nap. 

She is waiting, your highness, Hywin said. 

Vander groaned. Your highness. He hated the titles and the pretention. He just wanted to relax, to enjoy himself. Was that too much to ask?

He squinted up at Hywin. She had hair so light it was almost white, tied back in a tight bun. Her eyes were abnormally large, the dark brown irises take up so much space there were nearly no whites. She wore the white robes of her order, the sleeves down to her wrists. 

Is she not unbearably warm? Vander thought. 

Are you coming, your grace? she asked, blinking those giant eyes. 

That was a good question. In all the hundreds of years in which the Tanglevine clan had ruled the island, had any ruler ever not gone to meet with the oracle? What would happen if he just closed his eyes and took that little nap?

Likely something bad, he thought. The merfolk sorceress might send a tidal wave or a plague of hermit crabs or something. He chuckled at the mental image of millions of tiny crabs scuttling up the beach.

Is something funny? Hywin asked.

He wanted to tell her that she was actually a little funny, that owls didn’t belong in the jungle or on the beach. But he kept the thought to himself. 

No, he said, grunting as he climbed to his feet and brushed the sand off. He had pulled his green scaled armor down to his waist, exposing his upper body. He grinned as he saw Hywin blush. Then he pulled the top of his skin-tight armor back over his thick chest and arms. 

So she is a woman after all, he thought. He would never in a thousand years try to seduce her, though he did find her reaction interesting. The owls were supposed to be dispassionate advisors, the diplomatic glue that held the world together following decades of bloody wars. Vander had missed all that. He had only known peace and prosperity, and he liked it that way. So he’d never do anything to jeopardize the status quo.

The path of least resistance, that’s what Vander Tanglevine had always followed. His father had always told him he did so to a fault. 

A man needs drive, his father had said. A king even more so. A man with no ambition is no more than a piece of driftwood, letting the waves carry them where they will.

He remembered telling his father that his ambition was to have no ambition. He just wanted to enjoy himself and all life had to offer. The reply had been glib, and Vander felt a pang of guilt for saying it. That had only been weeks before his father’s death, and he wished he could take it back, even if he had meant it.

With his skin-tight armor in place across his body, he stretched. He groaned again at the grains of sand stuck in the small of his back and under his right arm.

What is it? Hywin asked.

Nothing, Vander said. He didn’t have time to wade back into the surf and rinse out his suit. He had what to him was the worst thing a man could have: an obligation. 

The Nightshadows should be arriving soon as well, she said. If you are still meeting with the oracle, I’ll greet them and find them a comfortable place to wait.

The Nightshadows. How could he have forgotten about them? He was to be married to the Nightshadow princess. What was her name? Nevra? He didn’t know much about her, other than that she was a Nightshadow, which was enough. They were the least trusted of the clans. At least she would probably be good to lay with. The wicked ones always were. Though that was a small consolation.

Are the plans not to your liking, your highness? Hywin asked.

No, they most definitely were not. But he was not going to say it out loud.

All is well, he said. Let us go.

 The water in the bay was indeed pink. Three or four dozen of those who lived and worked in the palace had come down to the shore to have a look. The entirety of the bay was a cloudy shade of salmon, the pristine waters now murky and opaque.

Vander stood at the edge of the water, waiting, for what he wasn’t sure. Another sign? Did he really need one? He knew what to do next. He was supposed to dive into the water and swim straight out into the ocean. 

Hywin was looking up at him expectantly. Then Vander realized everyone on the beach was looking at him as well.

They’re waiting for me to dive in, he thought. Of course they are. And then it occurred to him that he might seem afraid or hesitant. He was neither, but the thought of looking so jolted him into action.

He smiled coolly, then crouched down. Might as well give them a bit of a show, he thought. He felt the glow well up inside him, his muscles expanding. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hywin jump back, startled. That made him smile even wider as his mouth changed, the lower part of his face growing long, his jaws filling with razor-sharp teeth.

He felt his armor become his true skin, thick green scales covering his entire body. His wings unfurled behind him. Traditionally, the king would just wade out into the water. But what was the fun in that?

Vander vaulted into the air, beating his great green wings and flying out over the middle of the bay. He had flown over Crystal Bay more times than he could count, but he had never seen it like this, a vast, round sheet of milky pink. 

When he reached the center, he folded back his wings and dove straight down. As he plunged into the warm bay, he transformed back into human form. He couldn’t breathe underwater in either form, but tradition dictated that he meet the oracle as a human.

He had plunged far below the water’s surface, dispersing the pink cloud so that for a brief moment he was in a pocket of clear blue water. But as he began to swim for the surface, the pinkness closed back in, surrounding him. Then a strange thing happened.

Vander stopped swimming, still well below the surface. With the pink cloud all around him, he realized he could now breathe, just as if the water were air. Well, not exactly the same. The water was heavier than the air. But the pink substance made the water flow into his nostrils. His first reaction was to gag. Panic hit him as he realized water was flowing into him without his willing it, as if it were alive. But then he realized he could breathe.

Strange, he thought. But something else was happening as well. The water was murky, but with his eyes still open, Vander saw a bright neon trail lit through the water, leading in the direction of the open ocean.

He took a deep, sluggish breath of pure water, getting used to the sensation. Then he swam in the direction of the glowing line. He followed it, looking back to see that it disappeared behind him. 

Once he was out of the bay, the line descended into an opening in the great reef below. Vander dove, kicking his legs, and entered a cavernous hole in the mountainous formation of pocked white coral. The water was a little less pink here, but he could still only see a few feet in front of him. 

The glowing trail led him through twisting tunnels barely big enough for him to swim through. Sometimes they forked into two or three other passages. He didn’t bother trying to remember the path he took. There was no way he would replicate this journey without the help of the glowing line.

He did begin to grow weary of the whole production, though. Why go to all this trouble? Was it just ceremony, or did the oracle have enemies that all this was meant to keep out? He’d never heard of such a thing, but he supposed it was possible. Still, he felt like some animal one might see in the bazaar, taught to jump through brass hoops and balance balls on his nose. 

He almost thought of turning back, but with the trail disappearing behind him, there was no way he would find his way out of this place. And then what? Would the oracle let him die in here? He didn’t quite know what would happen, but wasn’t curious enough to test the idea.

Finally Vander saw the tunnel ahead widen, a blue glow emitting from a large chamber ahead. The trail disappeared entirely. He had arrived at his destination.

He swam into the spherical chamber, the tunnel the only way in or out. There, hovering in the water before him, was a creature only described to him in tales, and poorly at that.

The oracle was clearly a female, fish from the waist down and human everywhere else. Her skin was a deep turquoise. She was naked, her breasts quite lovely, the large nipples a dark blue. Trailing from her forearms, her head, and her back were long, slender fins like those of the black and red scorpion fish he had seen on many a swim. But her fins were blue with flecks of bright yellow. The scorpion fish were some of the most dangerous animals in the sea, their poison potent and deadly. He wondered if she were poisonous as well.

Her face was beautiful, with bright yellow eyes, a slender nose, and full lips. At the base of her jaws, bright gills flared as she breathed. 

Greetings, king, she said, the sound carrying with a weird echo through the water.

Vander realized he hadn’t tried to speak yet. Greetings, he said, feeling as if he were pushing his voice through the water. The oracle gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, but her face was otherwise an emotionless mask. 

He treaded water before her as she studied him. He was slightly curious about what she had to say, about how all this would go. But mostly he wished he were still lying on the warm beach, taking a nap.

Kira Coralbloom began to move her arms. They undulated like kelp swaying in the tide. Vander noticed a glow from beneath them and looked down to see a giant crusted oyster shell at the bottom of the chamber.  The great hinge was opening, shafts of bright blue light emitting from its lip as it did so. 

The shell swung back slowly, filling the chamber with its weird blue light. Vander squinted, putting up his hand to shield his eyes. Through his fingers he saw a blue orb rising up from the middle of the shell like some huge magical pearl, but he was unable to look directly at it for more than a second or two.

The sphere floated up in front of Kira, who swirled her webbed fingers around it. Thankfully, the glow subsided. Vander lowered his hand and watched as the oracle bent over the orb, peering into it. The surface of the sphere began to swirl with dozens of shapes and colors, and Vander thought he could see events playing out inside it, though he was too far away to make out specifics. He thought about swimming closer, but the oracle had not given him any instructions or permission, so he decided staying put was the best course of action.

Her yellow eyes grew wide, reflecting the actions of whatever was happening inside the orb. Now his curiosity was truly aroused. What was it she saw? The future? The past? Her face still revealed no emotion, but soon enough she spoke.

Every year I meet with the ruler of the isle, she said, still peering into the orb. Each time I see a vision of what is to come for the following year. Yours is more interesting than any I have seen for a long time.

The future, then. He wondered if she had told his father about his death before it had happened. He opened his mouth to ask when she looked up at him.

You must travel far, Vander Tanglevine, she said. To a place beyond this world.

What was she talking about? He didn’t need to travel anywhere. He was happy and relaxed right where he was. 

You must visit the queen of the north, Kira said. You must ask for her help. The trident is hidden on another plane, and you will need it. We all will.

The queen of the north? That was the outlander, wasn’t it? Melinda? Something like that. What did he need with her? Questions were piling up in his mind faster than he could think to ask them, but all he had time to blurt out was the simplest one he could think of.

Why? he asked.

Her brow furrowed, and for the first time he noticed those slender fins across the ridge of her eyebrows. 

A threat is coming, she said, turning her eyes back to the orb. A dark, powerful enemy unlike any our world has seen in a thousand years.

As he watched, the glow of the orb began to fade. An inky blackness began to swirl across its surface. He looked at Kira’s face and saw the first hints of emotion. Whatever she saw made her eyes widen in fear and horror. 

The orb was consumed entirely by the blackness, though a weird glow still came from it, like the fading light from the sun already gone below the horizon. Vander began to feel sick, a roiling nausea welling up in his stomach and rising up into his throat.

Kira opened her mouth. He thought she was going to speak again. Instead, a high-pitched scream emerged. He watched, now horrified himself, as the oracle’s eyes turned an oily black.

Vander kicked his legs to swim backwards, pressing himself against the rough coral wall of the chamber. Kira’s eyes were melting, black ooze running down both cheeks like thick, molten tears. 

Her scream ripped through the water, sending a sharp pain through his skull. He covered his ears with both hands, his teeth aching from the high-pitched cry.

The sphere began to shrink, to collapse in on itself. In a matter of seconds, it was gone. Kira stopped screaming, her shoulders slumping as she drifted backwards. Her eyes were ruined sockets, her cheeks stained with black trails.

Are you there? she said, her voice strained from pain and fright.

For a moment Vander didn’t know if she were talking to him or whatever malevolent force had destroyed her eyes and her magic ball. But the evil was gone from the chamber. He could feel its absence as clearly as he had felt its presence. She was talking to him.

Yes, he said, pushing away from the wall and drifting towards her.

I was just beginning to see, she said. Something stopped me. Something didn’t want me to see it all.

Gods, Vander thought. Whatever it was had to wield incredible power to strike at