A serial tale of a hero/ine whose Manifestation offers hope to an entire mythical species, and gives promise to many awakenings in a sleeping world very much like our own.

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I'm glad the comments have been good so far. I'll try to keep up the good work. Time to introduce a few more characters.

-Arianrhod.
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Of course, I managed to forget that I was naked again, as I had lost my robe when I shapeshifted during battle. Luckily, my family had apparently been hunting the yard sales specifically on my behalf. As they carted the baskets loaded with goodies back downstairs, I noticed that not a few of them were filled with various sizes of girl's clothing.

Sighing, I resigned myself to my fate. If I was going to have to spend some time as a human, then I would have to suffer to allow myself to be ruled by the laws of society. And society said that being naked was bad.

Figuring out just what size I was ended up being a frustrating affair. Eventually, I got frustrated and just threw on the first thing that seemed to sort of kind of fit, and was done with it. I reckoned that if anyone said anything, I could just say that I had just finished going through a late growth spurt -- something which I supposed wasn't even exactly a lie.

At least I was clothed, I decided. The winning option was a light pink t-shirt with some jeans. Everything felt very different, and the clothes hung on me in some pretty strange ways, but I strove to ignore it. I had too much to do.

I had barely completed this outfit, however, before things took a little bit of a turn for the bizarre.

I was making preparations to track down the few faces that I had recognized from the roof, when a strange, lilting voice accosted me from behind.

"You're the dragon that Manifested yesterday, aren't you?"

I turned around and was faced with a strange sight. It appeared to be a girl in her young teens, but her eyes belied an intelligence and a wisdom that did not match up with her physical form. She was shorter than me, and sported long silver-white hair that reached to the small of her back. Her ears stuck out almost six inches at a 90 degree angle from her head. Perhaps most striking of all, however, was her face. It was attractive enough, I supposed, but it seemed to defy every human standard. Sharp and feral, she sported quite possibly the highest cheekbones I had ever seen, and her irises were the same brilliant silver as her hair. This definitely contributed to the overall elvish feel that the girl exuded. At the same time, though, I got the feeling that whatever manner of being she really was, it was vastly more than modern depictions of such beings tended to be. Her outfit was simplistically modern but stylish, consisting of a red blouse and knee-length black skirt, both of which served to set off her ivory complexion and silver eyes and hair.

"Perhaps. Who or what are you, that you would be interested?"

The girl twitched slightly, as if annoyed at the question. "I asked first. Confirm my suspicions, and then I'll give you some information that you might find interesting."

My father had appeared in the doorway and was shaking his head "no," but I ignored him. I focused for a moment, and elf-girl found herself staring at my human-ish form. Unfortunately, it had the annoying side-effect of poking holes in my clothes as my wings, tail, and back spines formed, but it conveyed the desired effect to my visitor: I was definitely the dragon that she was looking for, and I was both in charge of my powers and ready for a fight (although I was certainly bluffing on both accounts).

"I see," she said in her peculiarly dulcet voice. "In that event, as promised, some information. "My name is Llewellyn, but please call me Llew. I Manifested about two months ago, and I've been hiding with my family ever since."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you weren't born with either that name, nor that appearance," I said dryly.

Llew nodded. "I was a pretty boring girl starting my first year of college, with an equally boring name and appearance. But that's in the past." She looked slightly pained, so I let it pass. "What matters now is the future...specifically the Time of Renewal."

At my look, she continued. "I don't have the advantage of an ur-dragon in my brain to help me piece things together," she said. "However, I Manifested into a species that wasn't quite extinct, and that still remembers the old ways. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say that I have a vested interest in ensuring that humanity is not destroying in the upcoming cataclysm. As I suspect that you do."

Well, she wasn't wrong about that, at least. I decided that fishing for more information was probably wise. "Elves and men have had a long association in fiction. Not so with dragons. What makes you think such a thing?"

She frowned when I deemed her an elf, and quickly retorted, "I'm not an elf, I'm a sidhe. As I said, this race was not extinct, and they remember. You're a black dragon, and the blacks were extinguished because of their friendliness to man. There's no reason to expect you to be different, especially since you were one of them a mere two days ago."

"Fair enough. You've got my interest, at least," I admitted. I glanced up and saw that my father was also looking pretty intrigued. I think he was just glad that I wasn't going to be in this alone...there's only so much that he, or the rest of my family, could do.

"Let's go and meet the others, then. They're waiting." She extended her hand, and I hesitated a moment before I accepted it.

Aryllia I called mentally, making sure that she was paying attention. Did you follow all of that?

Yes she replied. It's peculiar. The sidhe were never known to be friends to man, although they never went out of their way to cause humanity problems, either. Something strange is going on here. I'll be paying attention and will be ready at a moment's notice, should we need to fight.

"Conferring with Aryllia, I'm guessing?" Llew asked. I nodded, and accepted her outstretched hand. She turned and looked at my dad, and said, "We'll be back in a couple of hours."

Then we were off.

Apparently Llew was a teleporter, among other things. I had the peculiar sensation of the world falling, and we became surrounded by silver-blue light. When we touched down while it felt like we were moving upward, it was quite possibly one of the strangest feelings I'd ever yet felt.

As the light dissipated, I saw that we were standing in a peculiar circle in the woods. It was dominated by a gigantic tree in the middle of the clearing, and the open space under its branches extended out probably seventy feet or so. It was almost as if the other trees were somehow afraid or unable to come any closer.

About six or seven being similar to Llew were standing near the trunk of the giant tree, and we strode to meet them. Llew was the only one in modern clothing, I noticed. The rest were wearing strangely formal clothing: about half were in armor, and the other half were wearing flowing robes or dresses.

"Ghorder, Rauthor, Tailtiu, Trena, Kaldon, Promely, and Hrulder," Llew introduced them one by one.

"Nice to meet you all," I said somewhat lamely. I realized suddenly that I must be quite a sight in human-ish form with various appendages poking out of my clothing.

"So you're the latest Manifest, eh?" Rauthor stated as much as asked. He was one of the ones wearing armor, and I could tell just by looking at him that he was a warrior.

I nodded. "Apparently I'm not the first," I chuckled. "Aryllia said that the Time was still a ways out, and that more would begin to Manifest the closer we got to it...she didn't say anything about this happening before."

"She probably didn't know," a robed one spoke up. Ghorder, I think Llew had said. "She's been asleep a long time."

I shrugged, then realized that was true. The last time she had been awake had been when I was born, and that had been nearly eighteen years ago. Anything could have happened in the period between, and in fact had, it would seem.

"Alright," I said somewhat briskly. "What would you have me do?" In a flash of insight, I saw that Llew actually wasn't in charge. All of them were looking at either Rauthor, Promely, or Kaldon. I guessed that those three made up a sort of council leadership.

Promely spoke up. A tall, older-appearing woman, she was wearing a long, plain dress. "Would it be possible to speak to Aryllia? It is to her that we would address a few questions."

I shrugged. "I don't see why not."

You get that?

Aryllia didn't bother to respond. I felt another peculiar shift of consciousness, and Aryllia assumed control of my body, transforming it into full dragon form in the process.

"What would you ask me?" Aryllia asked but didn't say. Amazed, I realized that she was using some kind of mass telepathy...yet another trick that I couldn't pull off yet, I thought to myself sourly.

Don't worry, you've only been a dragon for a day and a half, youngling. It will come in time Aryllia thought at me.

Kaldon stepped forward, and knelt respectfully before me/Aryllia. An older male, he was wearing a flowing robe that was not dissimilar to Ghorder's. "Mighty Aryllia, long it has been since the world trembled beneath the beat of your wings," he said formally...and archaically.

Aryllia nodded, acknowledging the flattery -- or perhaps it was merely also a formality. "Long also it has been since the sidhe rose up in defense of anything not their own," she replied. I winced, expecting a harsh reaction...but nothing came.

"True enough, great one. Yet now, we find ourselves in an odd position. The youngest among us, the first new sidhe in nearly four hundred years, has come to us a child of humanity, and we find ourselves drawn into the conflict that is yet to come," he stated. Aryllia understood, and I leeched off of her knowledge. Llew had been human before her Manifestation, of course, and the other sidhe were probably worried about losing her if anything untoward happened to her still-human family and friends.

A younger female sporting light armor dyed blue spoke up. I thought her name was Tailtiu. "We have never been known to be friends of man, Origin. In truth, we know not how. The will is there, aye, but practicality of it is that in this liminal time between now and Then, we must establish a sanctuary for man, if the species is to survive."

"It's not just that, though, is it?" Aryllia noted. "You eight are all that remain of the once formidable sidhe nation, aren't you?"

Kaldon nodded sadly. "The years have not been kind to us, great one."

"I think I can sympathize with you there," Aryllia said dryly. "Still, it is a beginning, as all things must have. I -- and the former human who owns this body -- will stand by you. An alliance to shake the foundations of the world, it would have once been. Now, in this modern era where our magic is dessicated but soon to return, it may instead be our only hope for survival, and humanity's along with it."

The gathered sidhe nodded their heads gravely. "A pact we have, then," Kaldon intoned.

"A pact," Aryllia agreed.

"Now, we must formulate a plan. How far away is the Time, exactly?" he asked. "As an Origin, surely you can sense its approach."

Aryllia nodded. "At this point in time, it awaits us two years hence," she said. "However, I should note that it is not fixed. At various moments in the past, it has been both closer and also further away in time. What rules this, I do not know. I merely sense its presence, I do not pretend to understand its workings."

The sidhe nodded gravely. "Two years..." I heard Llew whisper nervously.

I could feel Aryllia smile mentally, but I don't think that any sign of it showed physically. "Not much time, is it, young one?" she said, not unkindly. Llew looked up and smiled tensely. "I don't know how we can possibly accomplish what would need to be done in two years," she said honestly.

This time, Aryllia actually laughed...a horrible, scraping sound that reminded me of a truck backfiring. "When you are as old am I am, young one, you realize that time is fluid, and anything can be accomplished in any amount of it. Don't worry. We'll protect and save as many as we can, because that's all that we'll be able to do when the Time occurs. There is..."

"Funny that you talk of protecting others, when you won't be able to protect yourself," a voice spat from above.

Aryllia clearly recognized it, though none of the rest of us did, and bellowed "Scatter!"

As the sidhe ducked and dove for cover, and Aryllia took off, a gigantic fireball engulfed the entire glade in flames.

Looking through Aryllia's eyes, I saw a massive red dragon in front of us, hovering over the charred remains of the giant tree. It had to be at least twice as big as Pyrandon was.

Who the hell is that I asked Aryllia uneasily.

"That, youngling, is Maoten, ur-dragon of fire," Aryllia said softly.