Spellbinder Notes (Day 9)

Species (according to Ursa):

9) SoulEaters

- Creepy name

- They specialize in binding the souls of other creatures

o Do so to make people do their bidding, for protection, or for love (?)

§ Is it really love if you bind their soul?

- In their culture, traditional soul binding is only done for survival and protection

o SoulEaters parents will bind their children's souls

o or one of a couple will bind a partner's soul

o

- Outside of their community

o Have served the larger community by sealing the souls of great evils that would hurt the realm. It is also common for

o have been known to be hired to bind souls of creatures for slavery and then give the souls to the slave's owners.

§ was common to hire SoulEaters to bind Spellbinders.

o Some SoulEaters have also been known to collect souls for they say each soul is unique

§ Note: collectors are not viewed well by the SoulEater communities

- Not all souls can be bound

o 1. A soul cannot be bound if it is in deep love.

§ This means that you love someone so with your soul, not your heart

· meaning that your soul no longer belongs to you

· you have given your soul to the one you love

§ Where the idea of true love's kiss came from

§ Long time ago was popular way of testing love for someone.

· lovers would seek out a SoulEater to try and bind one of their souls.

· If they couldn't, then it supposedly proved you had found the ultimate love.

o 2. a soul cannot be bound is because the soul is so large, it cannot be trapped or it cannot be trapped for long

§ it is about the age of the soul.

§ Souls have their own ages, separate to their bodies' ages.

· if a soul is very old, it could be too large to be contained.

§ Think of reincarnation.

· ? – have I been reincarnated?

· ? – how old is my soul?

o 3. a soul cannot be bound is because it has already been bound by someone or something else

§ cannot rebind a soul that someone else has bound

§ your soul can be bound and you know not it.

§ can bind a soul but not have it submit

§ They can allow the person to walk around and live normally.

§ Sometimes the bound soul doesn't even know it's bound until the sealer calls upon the seal

o 4. a soul cannot be bound is that the body does not have a soul

§ Not all creatures have souls (creepy…)

· SecondDeaths (scary name and Ursa says we will discuss them later ☹)

§ Some do but not on this plane of existence.

· Ex: MagicTellers have souls that exist on the spiritual plane, which is one reason they are able to see that plane

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Gabby and Chenoa woke a period later than they planned. Both were confused about why they had been sleeping and why they had been allowed to miss a period. The nurse also seemed off as if she was overly tired herself for some reason. Worst of all, Gabby couldn't remember even falling asleep. She recalled walking into the nurse's office and then waking up.

Chenoa and Gabby talked about the strangeness as they headed to their second to last class. Shaking it off, they decided that worrying wouldn't do any good. Luckily, the last leg of the day seemed to fly by. Once home Chenoa entered her house to drop off her backpack before heading out to the fields. Papa Bear stood in the kitchen chopping vegetables for a salad.

"Hi, Papa Bear," she said cheerfully, hoping he was talking to her again.

Papa Bear said nothing as his knife diced up two carrots.

"Are you speaking to me?" she persisted.

"Are you still going to go through with this Spellbinder nonsense?" he inquired flatly.

"Papa Bear, I have to."

"No, you don't. You have to breathe. You have to eat. You do not have to be a Spellbinder."

"It is who I am."

"Until last night you didn't even know about it. How can you claim it is who you are?"

"I can feel it in my heart…I know it is what I am. It feels right and Mom would want me to be who I am."

Slamming the knife down on the counter, Papa Bear caused Chenoa to jump. Swiveling around, he glared at his daughter for a moment as if he wanted to say something and then thought better of it. He left the room and threw the door of his work room closed behind him. Shaking for a moment, Chenoa fought back tears. Couldn't her father see that she was scared? Believing that she had to be a Spellbinder made all the strange things, Tristan, Cor and Ursa, make sense. If it wasn't true, then she was just crazy.

Closing her eyes, Chenoa took a few deep breaths before leaving the house for the fields. Ursa stood waiting next to the remains of the angel oak. Once again, she had altered her size, and stood as large as a cart horse. Bowing her head slightly, Ursa gave what Chenoa believed was a smile, the colors of her galaxy eyes bright and luminescent.

"Welcome to your first day of training," Ursa greeted Chenoa. "We have a great deal to catch up on. To start with, do you have any questions?"

"I have a lot of questions," Chenoa said honestly.

The reptilian smile broadened.

"Please ask them."

"Okay, well to start, why is being a Spellbinder such a big deal?"

"Spellbinders are a rare breed. As mentioned before, they have been killed over thousands of years due to fear, jealousy, and greed. Sometimes they were hunted down and killed, like the witches of Salem. Others consumed them, believing it would give the consumer the Spellbinder's power."

"Does that work?"

Fear trickled into Chenoa's stomach. She didn't want to be eaten by some monster for her supposed power.

"No. Spellbinder power cannot be gained through consumption. Their power comes from their will power and once a Spellbinder is dead that will is gone back into the universe."

"Oh…okay…"

"Some people figured this out though and captured Spellbinders, either for their own personal use or to sell as high-priced slaves."

"If Spellbinders are so strong, how could that happen?"

"There are methods to suppress the Spellbinders' wills."

"How?"

Ursa shifted uncomfortably. Her eye color flattened, and her scales tinged gray. A rough grinding noise sounded, and Chenoa realized Ursa was clearing her throat. Compulsively, Ursa scored the ground with her front claws.

"They aren't pleasant, Chenoa."

Swallowing hard, Chenoa held the dragon's gaze. She wanted to be a Spellbinder, Chenoa reasoned, she has to be ready for the good and the bad,

"I need to know in case someone tries to use them on me."

A blue tinge edged Ursa's eyes as her scales flickered to fur and back.

"If you insist."

Taking one of her large front claws, Ursa drew a large circle in the earth. She then ran her tail tip in the fresh groove before blowing frigid air onto the circle. A crystalline surface filled the etched circle. Sprouting out of the circle were glass figures, sexless, but detailed. One of the figures, smaller than the others, stepped forward, glowing a soft golden color. Immediately Chenoa knew that this figure was supposed to be a Spellbinder. Nodding, Ursa began speaking again.

"The first and most primitive is pain," Ursa said.

Two of the faceless figures grabbed the Spellbinder figure as a third began to torture it. Despite being silent, the pain and agony on the glass Spellbinder made Chenoa's skin prickle in fear.

"When the body is in extreme amounts of pain, the mind cannot focus on its own will. Only desire for the pain to stop occurs," Ursa explained.

"Desire and will aren't the same?"

"No. I may desire that stone to made of gold, but I cannot will it to be."

Rolling a stone over with one of her claws, Ursa showed how the plain gray rock was still just a plain gray rock. The glass figures froze with the Spellbinder's form arched in pain.

"There is no limit to any creature's desires, but wills are far more limited. While Spellbinders do have stronger wills than most other creatures, there are still limits. Pain does not allow will, at least not strong will, to take place."

The glass Spellbinder crumbled to shards as the other figures watched it. Clearing her throat, Chenoa suddenly felt parched.

"Sadly, that makes sense. What are the other methods?" Chenoa asked.

"Hypnosis or certain poisons or concoctions can ensnare the minds turning Spellbinders into mental slaves," Ursa continued.

A new glass Spellbinder materialized, this time glowing a soft red. Another glass figure appeared, standing in front of the new glass Spellbinder. It grabbed the glass Spellbinder and forced a bottle to its lips. The glass Spellbinder shuddered, then became stone still.

"This method can be difficult because the potions eventually wear off so a Spellbinder must continue to ingest them," Ursa explained.

The glass Spellbinder sprung back to life and pushed it's poisoner away, waving its hands as if calling on a spell. A second figure approached the glass Spellbinder. It was taller and seemed to possess three eyes.

"Hypnosis can only be successfully done by few breeds. Humans think they can but it's not the same as true hypnosis, which strips creatures of their independent thought."

A bright flash came from the second figure's third eye and the glass Spellbinder's shoulders slumped and its body swayed. The second figure walked around the crystal circle with the glass Spellbinder following in tow.

"That's scary."

"It is, but it's a rare ability to find nowadays."

"Okay, so pain, medication and hypnosis…anything else."

"Good old-fashioned blackmail, such as threatening families, etc."

Another glass figure glowed a soft purple as a fourth figure approached dragging behind it a small glass child. Grimacing, Chenoa didn't need to see more. Letting out a slow breath, Ursa melted all the glass figures but two. One glowed a soft green and the other was tinted dark gray.

"The final way is by soul binding, which again is a rare gift that really only can be done by SoulEaters."

"Soul binding? SoulEaters?"

Chenoa's mind felt as if it was already being weighed down by all the information.

"In the other realm there are many magical creatures. While it really comes down to wills, their abilities vary so much that no one truly understands how it works. Even I cannot claim to understand how their will power over narration works. Anyway, SoulEaters are a type of, let's say magical for a lack of a better word, creatures. They specialize in binding the souls of other creatures. They do not actually eat the souls as their name suggests, but rather use the bound people to do their bidding."

The dark gray figure put its hand in the air and then began making pulling motions as if it were pulling on a heavy rope. The green Spellbinder shuddered then its green light broke free from its form and floated to the dark gray figure's hand. There the light flickered.

"That's creepy…"

"You must remember when entering our realm that just because their culture is different doesn't mean it's wrong. While you find binding someone's soul as a crime against their freedom, SoulEaters do not see it that way. According to their traditional custom, soul binding is only done for survival and protection."

"What do you mean?"

"If your tribe is being threatened by someone or some group, you bind their soul so they can't harm your family or yourself. You are hunting and you come across an animal, so you bind its soul so that it can die peacefully and without harm to its physical body. It is truly a more humane way of hunting than the way humans do.

"SoulEaters have also served the larger community by sealing the souls of great evils that would hurt the realm. It is also common for SoulEaters parents to bind their children's souls or for one of a couple to bind a partner's soul."

"What? How could they do that?"

"To them it is the ultimate way to protect those they love. When a soul is bound, it cannot leave its body, therefore it cannot die. Now this is not a permanent solution, and their bindings can be broken, but, in their culture, it can be a true sign of love."

"I guess I get that, but you were saying that SoulEaters have been used to control Spellbinders."

Glancing at the dark gray figure, Chenoa felt deep revulsion at the sight of the green light in its hand. The Spellbinder figure look hollow and transparent now.

"Yes, back to that. No form of life is free of those who abuse their powers. SoulEaters have been known to be hired to bind souls of creatures for slavery and then give the souls to the slave's owners. It was common to hire SoulEaters to bind Spellbinders. Some SoulEaters have also been known to collect souls for they say each soul is unique."

"They sound like serial killers."

"Again I don't think they see it that way, but collectors are not viewed well by the SoulEater communities. Of course, you should know that not everyone's soul can be bound."

"What do you mean?"

"There are some circumstances where no matter the strength of the SoulEaters, a soul cannot be bound."

Ursa's tail slashed through the figures and they instantly disintegrated. The crystal circle dissolved more slowly until the earth returned to normal. Walking around, Ursa rolled around her massive shoulders.

"Let us walk for a bit," Ursa sighed. "I am still stiff from my stay in the tree. We can continue talking as we walk."

Starting at her head, Ursa shook her whole body, all the way down to the tip of her tail. Her form shrank to the size of a large dog and she waited for Chenoa to reach her. Together they began walking.

"What are those circumstances?" Chenoa pushed.

"There are four possible reasons a soul cannot be bound, but realize, even if they sound easy, they aren't."

"Okay, but what are they?"

Flickering her tongue like a lizard, Ursa thought for a long moment.

"The first one is the most romantic," Ursa said, sounding almost disgusted at the idea. "A soul cannot be bound if it is in deep love. Not a love that just reaches the heart. No, the person must love another with his/her whole soul. You humans have adopted this idea in your stories of true love's kiss and other such nonsense."

"So, it is possible then? To love someone that much?"

Guiltily, Chenoa's mind flickered to Tristan. Immediately, she scolded herself and forced herself to focus on Ursa. Ursa smirked, her expression clearing stating that she did not truly believe what she was saying.

"Yes, but you must literally love with all your soul, meaning that your soul no longer belongs to you. Whether you know it or not, you have given your soul to the one you love. Such love is very rare. I have never met anyone who truly achieved it."

"But you met people who thought they had?"

"Oh yes. For a while it was popular way of testing your love for someone. You and your lover would seek out a SoulEater to try and bind your soul. If they couldn't, then it supposedly proved you had found the ultimate love. Of course, many people were disappointed in the results too."

Chenoa couldn't believe people would test their love like that. It was a lot of pressure and just because you didn't love someone with your whole soul didn't mean you didn't love them, right?

"The second reason a soul cannot be bound is because the soul is so large, it cannot be trapped or it cannot be trapped for long," Ursa said.

She stopped and smelled some wildflowers that grew at the edge of the woods and the fields. They had reached the end of the fields and stood momentarily as Ursa enjoyed the scents.

"How can a soul be that large? Is it about the power level?" Chenoa asked.

"Oh no…it is about the age of the soul. Souls have their own ages, separate to their bodies' ages. Think of reincarnation. So, if a soul is very old, it could be too large to be contained. Again, this is very rare. At some point most souls stop returning to the worlds. Only Luoja knows why."

"Luoja?"

"That is what we call God or the Great Creator."

"Is he the same God as we have?"

"I am not a theologist and I do not pretend to understand the ways of God or gods. That is a subject that we best not discuss since I would be of no use in it. And ultimately, it comes down to what you believe in, not what I believe in. Just know that there were gods, with a little g, for thousands of years. They claimed to serve Luoja, but they were far from perfect themselves."

Bitterness edged Ursa's voice as she spoke. Chenoa saw a green and red tinge enter her dragon's fur as her eyes darkened.

"Thankfully they are gone for now."

Turning abruptly, Ursa began working her way back towards the Angel Oak's remains. Trotting to catch up, Chenoa wondered if Ursa had known the gods personally. If she had, it was clear that Ursa did not have a good experience with them.

"The third reason a soul cannot be bound is because it has already been bound by someone or something else," Ursa said, continuing their earlier discussion. "You cannot rebind a soul that someone else has bound."

"Do you know when your soul is bound? Can you feel it or can they do it without you knowing?" Chenoa inquired worriedly.

"Yes, your soul can be bound and you know not it. SoulEaters and the few that have acquired the ancient rituals can bind a soul but not have it submit. They can allow the person to walk around and live normally. Sometimes the bound soul doesn't even know it's bound until the sealer calls upon the seal."

Tugging on her ear as she did when she was nervous, Chenoa stared at the large dragon. The idea that someone could do something so violating and she would never know scared Chenoa. Maybe her father had been right. Maybe this was too dangerous and she didn't have to do this. Sensing the change in Chenoa, Ursa stopped and looked at the girl. Her eyes softened as she stepped close, placing her soft fur-lined muzzle against Chenoa's nose.

"I know this is overwhelming, but it is important you understand all of this," Ursa said calmly. "Just because you don't know about it, doesn't mean it can't happen. Ignorance is not power or a defense. It is a vulnerability. Do you understand that?"

"Y..yes…I think I do."

"I know we are throwing a lot at you, but we wouldn't if we didn't think it was necessary."

"I know."

Snuffling Chenoa's hair with her muzzle, Ursa breathed in the girl. Soft scents of fear, confusion, and worry wafted off her, but Ursa knew that was only natural. It hurt Ursa to force Chenoa back into this life, but Ursa knew better than most that a person couldn't ignore his/her destiny. That only called for terrible things.

"The fourth and final reason a soul cannot be bound is that the body does not have a soul," Ursa said.

Her eyes wavered slightly as they gained pastel blue tones. Chenoa, wrapped up in her own thoughts, missed the dragon's expression.

"Is that possible? To not have a soul?" Chenoa asked.

Chenoa knew that some people believed animals and plants didn't have souls, but Chenoa had always thought that was human egotism.

"Not all creatures have souls. Well, they do but not on this plane of existence. MagicTellers have souls that exist on the spiritual plane, which is one reason they are able to see that plane," Ursa explained.

Holding her hands to her head, Chenoa felt a massive headache coming on. Separate plane of existence? Why did she feel like she was in some bizarre, highly advanced science class talking about the different planes of existence or like she was trying to understand time travel?

"Ursa, this little much for me. I don't know if I can absorb all this at once."

"I know. We will call it a day after this, okay?"

Groaning, Chenoa agreed. As patiently as she could Ursa explained how all creatures have some form of soul. Some had their souls on separate planes of existence; others kept their soul in their bodies, like humans and dragons, but others housed their souls in elements, like nymphs, whose souls existed in plants. Only one creature possessed absolutely no soul, SecondDeaths.

"SecondDeaths are those who have been resurrected," Ursa informed Chenoa.

"Zombies!"

"No, no…Zombies don't exist. That's just a myth that was born out of fear of SecondDeaths. SecondDeaths are those who have passed away but have been called back by Pipers. You have heard the story of the Pied Piper?"

"Yes?"

"The Pied Piper was an actual Piper. Those children he stole or kidnapped from the village were already dead due to the Black Death. He rose them up again for the village in exchange for payment. Rats are the front guard of the gates of Death, so when a Piper raises someone from the dead, rats flee. When the village refused to pay for the return of their children, the Piper merely took them with him."

"But if SecondDeaths are people who already died, what happened to their souls?"

"I wish I could tell you, but very little is known about SecondDeaths. Pipers generally don't talk to anyone and they certainly do not share their secrets or methods. Pipers are…they are different and often solitary. They are almost as rare as Spellbinders."

"Have you ever met one?"

Hesitating, Ursa looked up into the sky. A breeze rubbed against Chenoa and Ursa, making Chenoa smile, but Ursa frown. Clearing her throat, Ursa spoke again.

"I have met one, twice. It is not something I wish to do a third time."

"Was he…she…it…uh…"

"He."

"Was he scary or something?"

"No. Not scary. Painful, soul-wrenchingly sad."

Falling into deep contemplation, Ursa did not speak for a long moment. A cold silence lay between them and Chenoa wondered how terrible a creature the Piper had to have been to affect Ursa that way. Maybe Chenoa didn't want to meet a Piper.

"Have you lived a long time, Ursa? Is that why you have seen so many things? Pipers? Gods?" Chenoa whispered.

"For a human, I have lived a life longer than you can imagine. Yet to my people, I am just a babe. I just have seen a lot more than I should have because of rash choices and deadly faults of my own."

"Deadly faults? What do you mean?"

Eyes hardening, Ursa grew to the size of a suburban and trotted away. Stunned, Chenoa didn't know if she should follow her or not. It must have been rude to ask Ursa what her deadly faults were, but Ursa had been the one to bring it up. Deciding she should follow, Chenoa dashed after Ursa. The conversation was clearly closed, but they enjoyed each other's company for a while longer.

When night came, Chenoa slept, having vivid dreams of everything she had learned. Realizing that she could not hold off this information in, Chenoa brought a notebook with her the next day after school, so she could write everything Ursa told her down. It felt like a second school day, but the information seemed less overwhelming when written down and less seemed to plague her dreams at night.

Something things Ursa refused to talk about, specifically her past and how she came to be in the tree. She also would not talk of the Piper, other dragons, or the gods. Cor helped with some of the lessons, but mostly he appeared at bed time to curl up at the foot of Chenoa's bed as a large winged wolf.

After a week or two, Ursa deemed Chenoa ready with the basic history and understanding of Spellbinders to begin honing her skills. It was hard at first, because, as Chenoa learned, even inanimate objects had strong wills. Ursa started Chenoa off easy by having Chenoa say her spells out loud to gain extra will power. It still took over a week to get anything to happen.

"You are afraid of your powers and forcing your will on other things," Ursa sighed on the fourth day of trying. "That is not a bad thing because it means you aren't likely to abuse your power, but you will never get it if you don't accept that you have this power for a reason. You are meant to use it."

Chenoa agreed but it felt wrong to force her will onto someone or something else. As a result, it took four more days until she was able to move rocks and leaves around her. Once she started it became much easier. On the twelfth day Chenoa had managed a neat trick where she gave life to a stick. It had a stick body with thin twigs for its arms and legs, looking almost like a large stick bug, but without antennas and bug eyes. Its eyes were two notches near the top of the stick. A crack in the bark became a mouth, though it could only whistle.

"Giving a creation the ability to talk is extremely difficult," Ursa explained to Chenoa when she asked why the stick whistled. "And even if you end up able to give a voice to a creation, I don't recommend it. Anything you create is infused with your power and giving it a real voice can backfire on you. There is nothing more dangerous than your own creation."

Thus, Ursa made Chenoa practice again and again creating and destroying the stick creature until she could do it with ease. Ursa always emphasized that Chenoa needed to know how to do both the creation and destruction.

"You must never create a spell that you cannot reverse. Those are the ones that are always a mistake."

"Okay…no spells I can't reverse or destroy. Got it."

It was one of many rules she had learned as well as some of the magical creatures that existed and the history of the realms. The creatures that she remembered in particular were Pipers, SecondDeaths, TruthSeekers, Firedwellers, MagicTellers, SoulEaters, Tamerens and Morgrifs. From the first discussion, Chenoa knew that Pipers were people with the ability to call back the dead with the use of instruments and those dead were called SecondDeaths. That same night she had learned that SoulEaters were creatures who could bind or capture souls in sealable containers like jars.

Since then Chenoa learned that Firedwellers were what humans used to think were fire demons. They were creature that lived in fiery places such as volcanos, hot springs, and other similar locations. They needed fire to keep their bodies from freezing and stiffening. They lacked an internal heating and cooling system. Their bodies supposedly looked like humans made of out red clay that was cracked by veins of hot light. However, it was the Firedwellers who first discovered smelting metals from rocks and taught it to humans.

TruthSeekers were pretty self-explanatory. Their bodies released a natural chemical that compelled people to tell the truth when inhaled or ingested. There was no way to avoid it and the truly powerful TruthSeekers had the capability to peer into people's minds to see the truth without using their hormones. The idea that someone could peer into her mind freaked Chenoa out a lot.

"So, they can cast spells to look into your mind?" Chenoa had gasped when she first heard this information.

"No…I know it can be confusing but not everything that seems magical is a spell. Spells can only be done by a few powerful creatures, though never to the extent of a Spellbinder, but creatures do have natural abilities, like the TruthSeekers. It is just in their DNA. It's not magic. It's survival of the fittest and evolution. While it seems like magic to humans, it is just a natural ability in the other realm just like how dogs can follow a scent for days or owls can turn their head almost three hundred and sixty degrees."

Chenoa did her best to understand it and on some level it made sense. But it was still confusing and overwhelming. Luckily, while creatures like TruthSeekers seemed very foreign to her, others sounded like people she would find in the human world, like MagicTellers. MagicTellers, according to Ursa, sounded like gypsies. They traveled around in large caravans, putting on shows to entertain and sometimes swindle customers. They told fortunes, read the future, and convened with the dead. Of course, they actually did this. It wasn't just a show for customers. Ursa said that they had a third eye that allowed them to see the spirit world which exists in the same world but a different plane. Chenoa didn't bother to ask what that meant because she already knew it would give her a headache. She did find it fascinating that their third eye also allowed the MagicTellers to see the past and future of whomever they choose by physical contact. So, if a MagicTeller touched Chenoa, the third eye would see Chenoa's past and future, as best as the future can be seen, which would also indicate her power level.

For every interesting creature, however, there were ones who terrified Chenoa, like the Tamerens and the Morgrifs. Until those creatures, Chenoa had thought most of the magical creatures sounded interesting, with potential to be good or bad just like people. However, Tamerens and Morgrifs sounded plain evil.

"The original Tamerens were born from the spilt blood of an innocent and pure person. After that they repopulated among themselves and with other creatures. Their lineage is passed through the women so whether a female Tameren has a child with another Tameren or a different creature, the child will inherit her abilities. If a male has a child with another creature, the chances are lessened, or the child may only inherit some of his abilities."

"So, they feast on blood like vampires?"

"Humans got the idea from Vampires from Tamerens. Since Tamerens are born from blood, they have no blood of their own. Their bodies are made of blood that was transformed into flesh. Blood of other creatures helps rejuvenate their bodies, kind of like how you humans get facials. It removes the old dead cells and replaces them.

"Not only that but blood carries the powers of all creatures, so by drinking the blood of another creature, Tamerens can momentarily absorb these powers. Now this doesn't last long usually. Some claim that Tamerens don't receive the power but rather the knowledge of how the power occurs, so they can copy it at any time in the future. I have never seen that personally. If the second method is true, I am guessing it must be only Tamerens with heightened intelligence."

"They sound horrible, Ursa."

"They are. Some can behave and be sociable when the situation requires, so there is no reason to be rude to one. Tamerens are ridiculously proud and vain. They believe in proper manners and edict. If you do not act properly and respectfully, they will become insulted and it will get ugly fast."

"Monsters with manners…"

"Normally, I would tell you not to use the M word, but they truly are monsters that wear gentlemen's clothes."

Morgrifs were worse in way. They were large, bestial demons who could hold human form. Ursa said that Morgrifs were created by humans before the realms split. They were animals or animal entities that were raised to the level of pagan gods. The Morgrifs fed off the fear, worship, and sacrifices of the humans until they became gigantic demonic creatures with incredible powers of shape shifting, basic elemental control (water, fire, earth, and wind), strength, and speed. Most Morgrifs were males, but there were a few females. They preferred breeding with non-Morgrifs; the lineage being passed through the males. The few female Morgrifs had to conceive at least one child with another Morgrif to ensure their lines since a child conceived from a female Morgrif and a non-Morgrif would create a very powerful creature, but it would not be an actual Morgrif.

"Despite their shapeshifting abilities, Morgrifs can never hide their tails. It's a sign of their true bestial nature. I personally think they chose not to lose their tales because they are proud of their nature. It is important to remember, no matter how human they seem, they are beasts underneath and they are motivated by basic instincts and desires. They do have high cognitive abilities, but they only use them to further their natural instincts. Most Morgrif children are conceived from rape."

"That's awful. How can they do that?"

"To them it's not rape. It's a man taking a woman as his. They find it very natural, just as a dog mounts a female in heat. The females tend to seduce men to conceive. Yet like animals they become very territorial over their mates. They may have several mates but their mates belong to them alone. The name Morgrif comes from what they do…they create more grief."

Suppressing a shiver, Chenoa wished they could talk about something else. It was just too horrible to think about. She would never forget those creatures and she hoped she would never have to meet one. Unfortunately, the odds were not in her favor. Over the long period of history, many creatures in the other realm had crossbred. While they, like ignorant humans, had been afraid of breeding across races, they eventually discovered the benefits. Their children were genetically superior, inheriting a lot of the abilities from all their ancestors. This made their offspring stronger and more powerful.

"Very few in the other realm are pure breeds. Sure, you have the few that hold out on the idea of pure being the right way, but most have interbred with so many creatures that it is not uncommon for people to be at least two different heritages."

"Kind of like me."

"Exactly. Cross breeding just makes common sense."

"Do dragons cross breed then?"

"Uh…some have."

"I thought you said it was common sense. But you don't sound pleased with it."

"It's not common and it's very difficult for dragons. We aren't the same as the other creatures. See our king grants us a special ability of our choice when we reach our Alter age."

"Alter age?"

"It's like a coming of age ceremony. Dragons have been around so long and have so many natural abilities that special abilities are more of a treat then a real gift. Our breed has a built-in universal knowledge. Whatever has been learned and whatever will be learned is sent to all dragons as it happens. Yet our king is the most blessed in knowledge. Thus, at our Alter age we can ask one gift of him. It does not have to be an ability, but sometimes it is. Occasionally dragons do wish to experience the world in a different form to better add to the collective knowledge. A dragon's true desire is to add to the wealth of knowledge we have. We are eternal scholars.

"So, some choose their gift to be able to shape shift or obtain human form. This has led to crossbreeding. Dragonriders are our descendants from dragon-non-dragon couples. Yet if a dragon does choose to couple with a non-dragon and bring a life to being, he must commit to his choice and never return to dragon form again until his death."

"Wow…so they must choose their true form or their love?"

"It is a serious matter, Chenoa, and if they did not have to make the choice, we would have young dragons coupling and then abandoning their non-dragon partners on whims. They would not take the relationships seriously. We outlive most creatures. What is lifetime to some is a swish of our tails."

"I guess that makes sense. Just sounds harsh."

"You are young and human, so it would."

Bristling, Chenoa bit her tongue. She wasn't sure if it was a dragon thing or an Ursa thing, but sometimes Ursa sounded very pompous and superior to Chenoa. It annoyed Chenoa to no end.

"You mentioned that dragons have a king?" Chenoa said to change the subject.

"Yes, the fearsome, honorable King Solon."

Something tingled in the back of Chenoa's mind. A man's face flickered in her mind. He was dark and brooding with long onyx hair that seemed like a great mane. His eyes were deep, bright red with vertical diamond pupils like cat's. His face was lineless as if he never smiled or frowned, a perfect poker face.

"King Solon…is he a dragon?"

"Yes, the greatest one since the originals. He was blessed with great knowledge from our ancestors and a young god."

"Can he transform into a human?"

Ursa gave Chenoa a quizzical look but nodded slowly.

"Yes, he does have that ability. He chooses to be in that form off and on for long periods. He claims it makes reading the sacred texts easier since they are so delicate."

"I bet he is lonely…"

Chenoa was startled by her own statement as Ursa blinked in surprise. Ursa looked up at the sky as the stars started to appear.

"Yes…I would guess he is."