I walk slowly through the massive caves, my hands clasped before me. The only sound is that of my robes as they swish with my gait.
In the background… a low harmonic hum, a deep vibrating resonance, but this isn’t something that is audible. It is emanating from a different space entirely.
The path before me is pitch black, yet I see everything, and I know this place well though I have never been here before. It was prepared eons ago by the Lady Queen Gaia. Designed to provide a safe resting and quiet waiting space for one of my own.
Slowly a white light appears ahead of me and I know I have arrived at my destination. The path ends as I enter the cave proper. It’s an enormous chamber and even with the light shining from above I cannot see the ceiling or where the cave ends, I can only sense the boundaries of the rock around me.
I stand in the opening and am, but a speck lightly illuminated by the witch’s light. I do not move any further as I don’t want to disturb this sacred cradle.
The single beam of light pierces through the cave like a spear from God. Yet I know this light isn’t from the Sun, Moon or any star. Rather it is coming from a completely different Source. It rests on a single gigantic spire tilted at an angle in the center of the room.
Standing in silence a moment longer I know the time has come. I take a deep breath and begin to hum and add the power of my voice to the resonance that has been breathing in the background. Slowly the vibration begins to build, moving, filling the entire space around me. Breath is no longer needed as the hum continues from my center, harmonizing perfectly with the hum that exists in the deeper space.
Everything around me begins to shake and rumble as the vibration permeates the rock, going straight to the core of the planet. It is in that moment I know He has heard the call. Despite the cacophony my field remains undisturbed as the illuminated ground in front of me begins to tremble. Cracks and fissures appearing in the once pristine floor.
The spire in the middle of the space begins to move…
It starts slowly moving in circles when a second equally large spire emerges from the earth and joins the first at a perfectly complimentary angle. The spires rise up getting longer and longer and are joined by many smaller ones. A smile forms on my lips for I know what is coming.
A moment later what the spires are attached to finally frees itself from Lady Gaias loving embrace. A powerful neck and a gigantic head breaches the ground, cranes up and lets out a long, undulating, deafening roar that echoes through the walls and into the heavens.
Tears of Truth and joy stream down my cheeks as I fall into the bellow and let it wash over me. Rejoicing in the feeling and acknowledging the love and longing that resides within it. It is a sound I know well; it is one I have made myself countless times since Existence began.
The Draconis before me leans to one side and brings a powerfully muscled arm, hand and claw up and out of the earth. Something akin to an earthquake rolls through the space as it comes crashing down onto the ground. His giant claw digging into the ground in effort as a short moment later He pulls His other arm free.
Heaving Himself out of the ground His massive chest is brought to bear. His leathery wings finally coming free and with a whip like crack he opens them to their full span, letting the detritus and debris fall from them like raindrops. With a final straining push He is out of the crater. His gargantuan hind legs and long tail coming into view. He rears up and lets out another long joy filled bellow. This time landing softly, gently on His forelegs and folds His wings down the length of His body.
He turns his massive head toward me, and I feel his piercing blue eyes come to rest on my being.
We take each other in… the heart of His scales are the color of charcoal but as the color comes to the edges of the scales it takes on an incredibly brilliant sheen like a knifes edge. He takes a moment to flex His scales and I bask in His beauty as the light ripples and reflects as the wave passes over his body. He is at once strong and sinuous, powerful and sensuous. For such are they that they embody both in one form.
Before me in all his glory stands Vahgoneth, brother of Bhaal Goreth.
Bowing my head, right hand over my heart I extend my left arm palm facing out in greeting. He lowers His neck and brings His head forward until the very tip of His snout meets my palm.
We take a moment to breath in unison, reunited again after so many millennia part. A shudder runs through me in an outpouring of emotion and gratitude for this moment.
I look up at Him and say softly, “Come my brother… there is work to be done.”
An undulating joyous rumble emanates from his chest in response. His eyes flick to the cave entrance through which I have come and with a single bound He is through the opening moving like lightening towards the entrance. I turn to watch him go, reveling in his energy.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath in. At the end of my next exhale I am gone from the space, like I was never there. The Gathering has begun.