Obsidian Embers

  Obsidian Embers

  The Beginning of Dragons

  Jadyn Chase

  Copyright © 2018 by Jadyn Chase

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  More from Jadyn

  Sapphire Embers Preview

  Jadyn’s Exclusive Club

  1

  May, 2030

  At a secret location in Antarctica

  On a quiet night deep below the ice-locked surface of Antarctica, Olivia Montgomery sat in the dimly lit Cavern of The Three Jewels and studied her dragon. His name was The Obsidian, and Olivia never thought of him as anything else.

  Two other women did the same with their dragons. Inside the enormous cavern were three huge caves with transparent, unbreakable windows covering the entire front opening. Watching The Sapphire was Dr. Cara Winborne, and gazing at The Diamond was Dr. Rose Morgan.

  At the shadowed center of the Cavern – which was larger than the largest airplane hangar – was a sprawling collection of tables, shelves, cabinets, and computer monitors. A number of men and women sat at those workstations, watching their screens and typing up their notes and calculations.

  All of them were well accustomed to the three women who were so fond of watching their particular dragons. They paid no attention to anything but those screens.

  And likewise, Olivia had eyes for nothing else but the beautiful creature called The Obsidian.

  He was indeed a dragon, just like something out of the oldest legends . . . but he, like the other two in the cavern, as well as their many clones kept as Fleet Dragons in another cavern, had been genetically engineered to be perfect weapons. Weapons that could be sent out to rain fire and destruction on enemies who would never see them coming because they could fly at one foot as easily as they could at fifty thousand feet.

  Weapons that would keep any other men from dying in combat.

  But The Obsidian himself was safe from that, as were the other two dragons in this cavern. The task of The Three Jewels was solely to live: to occasionally fly outside for exercise and food, and to be observed and studied round the clock – and to provide cells for cloning more Fleet Dragons.

  And they all wore heavy collars around their necks enabling their remote operators to control them in any way they wished.

  Olivia had a small tablet with her for making notes if she wished, but it rested unnoticed beside her on the stone floor. She'd watched him for so long that she was certain she'd recognize the slightest change in him, no matter what it was.

  Right now he lay, as he so often did, curled up near the back of his large, high-ceilinged cave. It was difficult to tell since he was in the shadows, but The Obsidian – just like all the dragons – was easily the size of a very large fighter-bomber aircraft.

  The low lights, -dimmed to approximate a twelve-hour day-night schedule even here at the bottom of the world- gleamed softly on the dragon's glassy scales and gave them a deep green cast in some spots. His strongest feature was probably the long, black mane that grew down his neck and back.

  His eyes were closed. Olivia knew very well that those eyes were as black and gleaming as his scales were, yet still had a sharply human look to them.

  Olivia played with her own long, straight dark hair as she watched him sleep. She had always felt a bond with The Obsidian, as though she was one of his own kind and belonged with him more than she did with humans.

  She was not dragonkind, of course, but for now she would settle for being his closest observer. I would rather be here with you, like this, than with any other man, in any other way.

  "Still here?"

  Looking up, Olivia saw Zachary who was one of the technicians standing a few feet away. "Yes, Zach, I'm still here," she said, a little annoyed. "I am always here, in the Cavern of the Three Jewels. There is nowhere else that I'd rather be."

  "Yes, I know. Don't you think that's a little strange?"

  "Don't you think that's none of your concern?"

  He sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But – still – "

  "Still what?"

  "Maybe you ought to spend a little time with the humans once in a while."

  She snorted. "I'm with them all the time."

  "That's not what I meant, Sheila."

  "I know it wasn't. And my name is Olivia."

  Zach frowned. "I've seen your name on plenty of emails. It's always listed as 'Sheila Montgomery.'"

  "It is. But – you see, a long time ago my little sister always called me 'Olivia'. I liked that better and I kept it."

  "Sure." Zach walked a few steps closer, and sat down facing the huge transparent wall. "I guess I'm not sure what you see in him."

  She turned back to the gazing at the dragon, and smiled faintly. I'm sure you don't.

  "Maybe it's his eyes," she said. "His eyes look human to me. Not birdlike, like The Sapphire's or The Diamond's."

  "They all look the same to me."

  I'm sure they do. "His eyes should look more human. The Obsidian is the only one with no falcon genes. He is entirely human and dragon."

  "But the majority of his genes are dragon. From the Lizards. He is – "

  Olivia glared at him. "They are mere animals. He is nothing like them."

  "But he is," Zach insisted. "Those 'Lizards' are so ancient that we can only guess at how old they really are, or how long they'd been hibernating in their Antarctic cave before we found them."

  She shook her head, knowing she was never going to be able to get him to see things from her perspective. "Doesn't matter. What does matter is that those ancient, primitive little dragons contributed their genes to create a real beauty like The Obsidian. He has the strength of a dragon and the wisdom of a human."

  "No. He doesn't,” Zach scoffed. “He's an animal, too. He's dangerous. They all are."

  "Of course he's dangerous! But I'm not afraid of him. I feel sorry for you, if you are."

  Zach sighed and shook his head. Far in the back of the cave, The Obsidian stirred, slowly raised his long neck, and then turned his head to look at them. As always, Olivia felt that his face was more like that of a man than that of a beast. And of course, his eyes . . . his deeply shining, black-as-night eyes . . .

  "Olivia, I know him as well as you do – "

  "No. You don't know him like I do! You know the others. The clones. The Fleet Dragons. You fly them by their implants. You don't know him."

  "Okay. I've never flown him. But he was never intended to be flown. He was the first of the Glassies and we keep him here to keep him safe. I sure do know the others, though. They're smart. They're fast. They're as clever as dinosaurs and just as treacherous."

  "The treachery is the human side of them."

  He made a noise of frustration. "Sure. Maybe it is. Maybe you're right about that. But whatever the reason, Olivia, I think you're – I think – "

  "You think what?"

  "Some of us are worried about you. You spend so much time here just hanging around outside his cave."
<
br />   "I'm studying him. It's part of my job."

  "There's studying, and there's obsessing."

  She sat up straight at that, and glared at him fiercely. From the corner of her eye she could see The Obsidian moving slowly across the cave towards the transparent wall. "Sure, I come down here. I study him, and I sit with him. But why not?"She glanced at the dragon again. "He's never allowed to be with his own kind. Or with anyone. I'm all the company he has."

  "Please promise me something," Zach said. "Please promise me you won't ever go in there with him."

  Olivia caught her breath at that, and involuntarily glanced up at the heavy door in the cave wall right beside her. "You know that's not allowed," she growled. How did he know she had thought about it? "It would be grounds to send me away from here for good if I ever did that. You know I won't risk it."

  "Okay," he said, sounding somewhat relieved. "I wouldn't want you to go away, either."

  "Besides – look at those two!" she hissed, waving her hand forward and backward towards the other two caves. "How are they any different from me?

  Dr. Winborne sits with The Sapphire all the time, even though he's more like a big blue parakeet than a dragon. He's so tame, he's got feathers on his wings."

  Zach shrugged. "He's got a lot of falcon genes, in addition to human and dragon. That makes him – "

  "And Dr. Morgan," she went on, nodding toward The Diamond's cave, "Morgan watches The Diamond almost as much as I watch The Obsidian. She thinks The Diamond is beautiful. I don't."

  Zach nodded. "I'll agree with you on that. I think he's even more dangerous than this one. He's just as hard and cold and unfeeling as he looks, with scales made of diamond sheets."

  "Exactly. I think he's just as transparent and empty as his name. He has no soul . . . so brilliant, but so cold. And Morgan doesn't see it."

  "Just as you don't see the flaws with your precious Obsidian."

  Her irritation continued to rise, but this time, Olivia kept silent.

  Then Zach suddenly stood up, startled, and took a step back. The Obsidian was right against the transparent wall with his head up, lifting his dark glassy wings.

  "You romanticize all of this, Olivia," Zach said, keeping his eyes on the dragon. "This is not the 'cave of three jewels.' It's a blasted-out hole in the rock where we guard monsters, along with millions of dollars in computer equipment. Those creatures are not jewels. They're deadly weapons that we built. Nothing more."

  In one swift move Olivia leaped to her feet. The Obsidian raised his wings and opened his mouth.

  "These are miracles that we created! They are the future!" Olivia cried.

  "They are monsters that we keep as weapons! Olivia, please – come with me. Just get out of here and let's go and sit down and drink a coffee together. We'll talk about anything except this place – we'll talk about anything that's human!"

  "Human! The dragons were created so that no more humans would have to die in battle. Don't you think we owe them something for that?"

  "Olivia, please! Just – "

  Both of them jumped back as The Obsidian stood up tall and roared at the transparent wall. They could hear the muffled sound even through the supposedly soundproof barrier. Instantly the other two dragons became agitated as well and The Diamond began to roar, too.

  "If he was on magnesium, he'd have blasted fire right at us," whispered Zach, taking another step back.

  "That's why we don't allow them near seawater when they go out!” Olivia snapped, putting her hands on her hips. “Now, get out of here, Zach. He'll never calm down until you do!"

  Zach threw up his hands, turned around, and left. Olivia caught a glimpse of the men and women who'd been working at the desks in the dimly lit center of the cavern, all standing up and looking worried. She shot them a cold look as if daring them to approach, and was satisfied to see them sit down again before she turned back to The Obsidian.

  She placed her hand flat against the transparent wall, and leaned her head against the thick, cold surface. "He doesn't understand," she murmured, as though the creature could hear her. "None of them understand. But I do. I was there when you were first created. I was there when you first hatched. I'm like your mother. Or your sister. Or your – "

  Olivia fell silent, looking up into the deep black eyes of the magnificent creature who looked straight back into her own. There was more to him than just an animal, as everyone else thought. She could not explain it, but she knew it.

  She knew.

  2

  Two days later, with the afternoon sun glaring down on the ice and snow outside, Olivia walked through the base's endless underground corridors to the cavern where the Fleet Dragons were kept. She walked into the control room and found Zach sitting at his station, along with the thirty-two other controllers each sitting in their own places. One for each Glassy.

  Three of the controllers on duty at the moment were female, and the other twenty-nine were male. Of course, there were others, so that every dragon had more than one.

  One station was dark and unused. The very first time that different types of dragons had been allowed to fly together – in this case, Obsidian clones and the Diamond clones – there was a vicious fight and two of the dragons ended up falling into the icy sea. Their bodies were never recovered, and never again were any of the Fleets allowed to mix. The empty station, belonging to that lost Obsidian dragon, was kept as a reminder.

  There were great panel windows up above the control stations, with a walkway in front of them. Occasionally Olivia could see the dragons circling and diving outside as they raced by, but for the most part, she stood just over Zach's shoulder and intently watched his screen.

  He used a combination of a keyboard and a joystick to communicate with his Glassy, who was officially Obsidian Twenty-Seven or O27 but whom Zach liked to call Speedy. The screen showed a photographic view of the ice and the sea outside, with the dragon – Speedy – showing as a small black graphic with head, tail, and wings.

  "I think he likes you," said Olivia, watching as Speedy flew and circled and dove wherever Zach sent him. "You don't over-control him, like some of them do."

  "Well, I can only imagine what it's like to have a chip in your spine that makes you do whatever somebody like me tells you to do. I don't think it's painful – they don't act like it is – but still – hey, now, none of that!"

  Zach moved quickly to force Speedy out of his dive towards the choppy ocean with its scattered whitecaps.

  Olivia shook her head. "They sure like drinking that seawater, don't they?"

  "They sure do. Magnesium is what lets a dragon breathe fire, and seawater is full of magnesium chloride."

  "The Lizards drink it, too, but their flames are much smaller. Just little flares compared to the fireballs the big boys are capable of. Nice job with that, Zach."

  He flashed her a quick grin before returning to concentrate on the screen. "Thanks."

  Olivia walked away, heading up towards the viewing platform. Zach was a nice guy and not bad looking, and she knew he was just trying to make friends out here in this isolated place. In other circumstances, things might have been different between them . . . but now . . .

  Pulling her large, dark sunglasses down over her eyes, Olivia climbed the stairs and approached the window. It was made of the same thick transparent material as the walls in the Cavern of Three Jewels, and so once again she looked through the heavy barrier and watched her dragons.

  Thirty-two of the Glassies – some at least three years of age and therefore fully grown, and others only a year or two old and not quite as large – dove and circled and flew out over the ice and the ocean, all of it blinding white in the glare of the sun. From their lizard genes, the dragons all had eyes that could handle it, but humans needed good eye protection any time they dared to look outside in the light of day.

  She watched as all of the creatures turned and began to fly in formation, under the orders of their controllers on the floor below h
er and then, after a short time, began working individually again.

  The Obsidian was beautiful enough even in his cave, but when he – or any of these other Glassies – flew outside in the sunlight, they shone and gleamed so brilliantly that it was almost like watching a glaring black hole in the sea and sky. Only their long, straight black manes, flowing down from their necks and backs, broke up the illusion.

  As she so often did at The Obsidian's cave, Olivia placed her hand on the window and leaned her head against the barrier. It was as close as she could get to him – to his children.

  All of them – all of the dragons, whether Sapphire, Obsidian, or Diamond – were male. The males were thought to make the best and most aggressive fighters, and since they were all created through cloning, there was no need for any females.

  To Olivia, that meant, in a very real sense that she was the only female The Obsidian would ever have. It was oddly gratifying in one sense, but still incredibly sad and frustrating that there could never be anything more than that.

  All she could do was stand here with her hand on the glass, and watch his children fly.

  3

  Two years went by. The dragons flew their routines almost every day, and they and their controllers became more adept all the time. Once in a while, the creatures were allowed to drink the seawater that they craved, and the controllers learned to fly them, aim them, and cause them to breathe fire wherever and whenever their controllers wished.

  The Dragon Fleet was proving to be some of the most formidable weapons in the world, easily able to fly underwater or under the radar. They were entirely controllable, and if one should be lost, no billions of dollars would be required to replace it. All that was needed was to clone another and wait a couple of years, at minimal relative cost.