Neko Dragon Princess in Second Life

He woke up sobbing, the sound pouring forth from some deep nameless place inside his scaley soul. As his vision cleared, he scented the air. All around him the night lay dull and strangely silent.

Was it a dream, or had the fires already begun? Why would they go so far as to burn this ancient forest? He shook his head involuntarily.

A twig snapped and she was there, a pale white shadow at his side. The heat of her tiny hand on his neck caused a tremor down his spine like music across a long forgotten instrument. Even in the dark he knew her face was streaked with tears, the faint smell of salt giving her emotions away. A deep sigh sent a tendril of smoke lifting to the ceiling of his cave like a slow warning finger. “It is true, then…”

“You must go now, while it is still dark, my love.”

He did not move, did not open his eyes, beseeching time to halt. It was just as the old legends had foretold: rumor would overshadow history, fear would become stronger than dragons, and centuries of peace would soon be forgotten.

“Come. Please.” She withdrew her staff from the folds of her dress, exposing its pale glow. “It is time.”

Together they emerged from his cave. She startled, and then relaxed, not accustomed to the sound of a large dejected tail dragging behind them in the dirt.

Even before he smelled the smoke, he felt it in his bones… waves of fear eddying through the very fiber of the forest. And then he saw it… the faint glow, its sickly orange color steadily gathering strength behind them.

“So this, then… this is the end? You and I… we will never see each other again?” His old eyes gazed down sorrowfully into hers, where the flicker of advancing flames danced on the edge of her face.

“Your life means more to me than my own.”

His large head turned slowly, gazing back one last time on what had been his home for centuries. He felt her hand lay gently over his heart, noting distractedly how warm her palm had become.

“I will live here, always.”

Shoulder muscles grew taut as he pushed up into the warming air, wings lifting his great body up with steady whumps against the trembling earth. A great keening sound tore from his heart as he disappeared above the growl of approaching flames.

In her hand, a dragon’s tear slowly hardened into stone.

Above and below: Neko ears and tail by Dreams; Neko eyes by Riddle; Hair by Truth; Magic staff, belt, and armbands all part of the Emo-tions “Luminis” outfit