This is the first chapter of the novel Dracopolis. It is the 7th book in the “Evolutions of the Souls” series. Book One is “Soul of the Dinosaurs” followed by “Fangore- Rise of the Mammals”, “Atlantis-the promise unfulfilled”, “Dragonquest- Search for a King”, “Dragonquest- Search For the Queen”, “Futureps- the Future is Theirs” and then “Dracopolis.”

These books have all been written as both a fun and a learning tool with much of what is not allowed by us to be put into texts but that can be understood in context or between the lines. They will be published most likely only on the internet, but who knows; you might find them in paperbacks available at Amazon.com. Stay tuned as the first completed one is due out early next year with chapters appearing on our site on a regular basis. Every 6 months or so months another will follow the next in the series. This first part is the “unedited version” of chapter one.

Dracopolis- City of Light


Chapter One: A trip to Haven

Was I awake in a vision or asleep and dreaming? My last memory was of resting on top of my bed and gazing out the window at the city laid out several hundred feet below my ridgetop home. Then it got a little fuzzy. But the next thing perceived was that I was stumbling upwards in a long corridor of a tunnel. It was very dark and I immediately felt some fear of where I might be and so I stopped.

Of course all tunnels, no matter how long, must come to an end. And just then and right ahead a glow of light became visable. Well, light is almost always bretter than dark so let’s see what we have here. The closer I got the brighter it became until it was as bright as the dark had been black.

As my consciousness approached this light, the fear and whatever had transpired in the darkness and long tunnel suddenly meant nothing. My eyes started to get used to the brightness and before long I could see some.

This light was omnidirectional and almost had a physical quality to it. It was like a strong wind pushing against me and holding me back from moving forward. My body struggled to go forward into this light, which was now calling to me subvocally. I could sense particles of it going deep into my body, even to the cellular level. And as this light or force went into me there was some resistance and some pain.

Stubornly I pushed deeper into this now blinding light. It now felt like pushing against thick warm electric mud. I tried to look around me as the feeling was that someone was watching and directing this opposition but could see nothing.
This struggle to move forward intensified the further in I pushed. My senses told me that progress was being made slowly and in my mind the feeling was that of being surrounded by a massive rock wall. Some kind of entry or gateway was being forced open by my actions of moving into this light. A veritable hurricane of light was trying to force me back, but I continued painfully forward because this felt like the right thing to do. My body was on fire as if being struck by a lightning bolt.

The pain was almost too much and I thought of just giving up. But all of a sudden I heard many voices calling to me. In my mind world I now saw every companion animal, pet, charge, or animal friend that I had known during my life. Each was calling to me. Cats and dogs, tigers and wolves.

In particular were the many, many snakes and lizards, birds and even some mounted fossilized dinosaur bones that I had studied or put back together in my career as a herpetologist or zoo keeper. It was as if they were on the sidelines cheering me on. There were a lot of them and I was surprised to recognize each and every one of the thousands of them encountered during my 50 years of life.

Finally, as if I had passed some test the guardians of this doorway apparently accepted my minimum qualifications or right to enter at this point and all the resistance faded instantly.

So suddenly did the pressure ease that I stumbling forward and barely caught my balance without falling onto the hard rock floor. Taking a couple of deep breaths and slowing my laboring heart allowed me to look around my surroundings. Astonishment froze me. The carved tunnel walls, noticed vaguely earlier, had looked just like rock. But now they appeared very much like primitive dwellings carved into stone, but with no depth to them. And carved into this same stone in, around, and flying above them appeared reptiles of many types. Looking to see if there was any humans or other types caused me to slow down. Only reptiles were in these friezes. How odd.

Stopping for a moment and looking around in a complete circle it became apparent that the tunnel walls were receding. Now that the intense light was gone it was hard to actually see much except the wall closest to me, and that barely. Where was I and what was I doing here? Better yet, where was I going. This felt like a dream but somehow seemed too real.
Not knowing what to else do I went in the direction that seemed to be forward, this time with no restance from the light. The dwellings carved into the rock walls seemed to become more exotic and more refined as I proceeded.

I looked at them with interest as it was apparent this was a history of sophisticated reptiles. There dwellings appeared to be going from the past into a more sophisticated and artistic time. And everywhere were dinosaurs, reptiles, and what could only be characterized as dragon like beings. But it didn’t really tell me where I was or where I was going.
Trying to analyze these incredible carvings caused me to completely lose track of time. But I continued walking forward and up as the light increased slightly in that direction.

Suddenly I had walked out of the tunnel and a dusky and starless sky was above me. But even more startling, just below me and spread out as far as the eye could see was an exotic and fantastic world. It was so strange that I couldn’t exactly comprehend what I was actually looking at.

Before I could even start to make any sense of this incredible and almost unimaginable spectacle a voice just to my right spoke up.

“Greetings.”

I jumped backwards and looked over by what looked to be a niche carved into this fantastic rock that had been with me from the dimly remembered start of this journey. I now beheld what looked like a young, clearly female dragon carved out of some fantastic faceted stone. It wasn’t until she shifted her head slightly and her blazing red eyes showed that I knew she wasn’t just another carving.

She was stunning to look at with her kaleidoscope of colors that immediately reminded me of a large piece of copper peacock ore. Facets of blues, greens, and purple sparkled in multiple glittering hues.

In size her body was not much bigger than a horse, though with her long flexible tail and neck she appeared to be much larger. Her head was definitely long and reptilian in origin with a hint of bird, but it had a riff of horns around it somewhat like a baby triceratops. It was like only the hint of a shield and many sharp edges and horns that would likely lengthen with age. Her large feet had five claws on them and each was like a bright crystal. She was unmistakably what we would call a Western Dragon.

“She said you might make a try to pass through the Gate of the Earth, but no one believed it except me.” this fantastigorical creature said. “Welcome, I am of course Rhillianna.” She seemed to purr in a voice like warm syrup strained through stereo speakers. Her mouth moved slightly but the voice was clearly inside my head so telepathy was the mode of communication wherever here was.

My eyes widened as suddenly this all made some sense. It could be no other than she whos voice had been coming into my dreams for several months now. This truly exotic creature was exactly as I would have painted her if I was an artist like Hildebrandt or Frazetta.

My fuzzy memory told me that she was said to be the daughter of my teacher Nafia the White. As one of my teachers Nafia was called “The Bridge,” but she would never tell me why. I had experienced these teachers only the last few years as I had accidently stumbled over one of them while studing legends about them.

One dragon led to two and then three and finally Nafia who had helped me break through in my difficult studies of the real history of reptiles. But I had never actually seen this young dragon Rhilli in any of my dream visions and so her stunning beauty caught me by surprise.

“My lady, are you to be my guide here? And what place is this,” I asked looking around again. At that time I did not know that this dragon was the veritable Chatty Kathy of her race or I would not have ask so may questions.

“Why surely you recognize Haven, city of Dragons,” she replied. “This is your reward and your heritage and you were summoned by the council. But no one has come through this gate in meliniums and we were not sure what had happened when you never arrived. And while some of your kinds advanced souls have visited us here our kind has waited long and long for one such as you to enter with merit and honor through the only direct gate from Earth.

It had been prophesized that this eventwould happen some time before the great change, but I did not know it would be you whom I know of because you are a student of my Mother and of course the Great Teacher herself. The honored Celenae recently told me to come look at this gate as she feltas stirring of the forces here. She is your first teacher and I suspect she put you on this path and then simply sent me here knowing you would need a guide if you actually made it through. But I still find it hard to believe that it was really someone who I knew. You are the one who is to be on my team I know, but you are also the chosen one of our legends. ”

Stunned and with tears of wonder and joy streaming down my cheeks there was nothing I could do but stare in amazement at her and this city of the Dragon’s. It had existed only in hints from teachers and bits of old lore and legends up to now for me.

But now against all odds I was actually there. And it really existed. My wife had felt that it was so, but in my heart I guess I didn’t want to be disappointed, so didn’t want to believe in it. This was the sanctuary or utopia where the dragons went when most left the Earth for good at the start of the Piscean Age two thousand years ago.

Haven was reputed to have one of only two branches of the Galactic Library where all knowledge from all times and realities was gathered. It is supposed to exist outside space and time and no one can come here unless invited or has the genetic heritage to have the right to enter. Even the angels are said to have to ask permission to enter Haven.

And my very own teachers had felt that I would be the first human and so had sent Rhillianna the princess of dragons to watch for me. Now I knew what Celenae meant by always telling me to accept my sovernty and enter the kingdom. Only a true king could enter the Dragon’s Haven she had told me. I had wanted to see this legendary heaven of the dragonkind, but never thought I had progressed far enough in my studies with her to actually be qualified to even try. Wait until my beloved wife hears about this.

It is hard to put into words what I saw there at the end of the tunnel. Haven was not designed for humans but rather for beings of much greater magnitude. Because of this hard to accept fact, the proportions seemed way too big and it was difficult to tell scale. And no light came from the sky like on Earth. Instead light seemed to diffuse out from everything. Rocks, buildings, water, everything gave off its own light.

The first thing I actually noticed when my eyes and brain sorted it out was that as far as I could see there was a soft undulating rock landscape. It looked like sandstone or some such but it appeared to be somehow carved into every imaginable shape natural and not quite natural. And scattered in and throughout this soft rockscape were many park like settings with what appeared to be emerald green grass and trees. Later I was to learn that all the vegetation was actually crystalline in nature like the dragons themselves. Water in the form of streams and lakes with waterfalls cascading down everywhere completed my first impression.

In fact we were now standing just barely above a large green park-like enclave. Immediately to the front and slightly off to my left was a large shallow lake with enormous tree-like sculptures stretching impossibly high into the air. They could easily have been a thousand feet high.

And just like a scene in the Jurassic Park movie there was a large dinosaurian looking creature striding magnificently out of the water. Water cascaded off of him/her like many thousands of living jewels falling toward the ground. And as they fell they caught the very intense light that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere in the city. Diamonds falling in the early morning twilight would have looked like this.

When I turned to ask about this my young royal guide quickly said, “This should be no surprise to you. Just as you believe that your mammal-kind evolved up to your present exalted human state, with only a little intervention from the Creative Father and his consort the Mother of All, so too the Dragonkind evolved up from reptile stock. And some of what you call dinosaurs were self aware and were absolutely what you would call dragons and are our physical ancestors. You will start to remember all this the more time you spend here with us.m And for you to even be here you would also have to have reptile or dragon blood in you.”

That of course answered many questions and opened up several new lines of questioning. But first I just wanted to take in this incredible vista.

Besides the unusual rock formations, and the parks with water features abounding, the next thing I noticed was the many natural arches and bridgeways that appeared to be going everywhere. It was as if everything was cut out of rock or created to look like it anyway.

And then after focusing my eyes to the scale involved it became clear that there were many hills, cliffs, canyons, monuments, rocks walls and such from a hundred feet high to what may have been a mile up in all directions and all connected by these bridges and arches up high and the running water cascading off them and falling into streams and pools down below.
It immediately reminded me of Arches National Monument in the state of Utah. By focusing my eyes and squinting it became apparent that there were windows and openings from small to large in these natural looking landscaping. They were definetly buildings or dwellings set in a natural landscape.

And most wondrous of all was that there appeared to be fantastic crystal castles on top of some of these large rock structures.

“Those belong to the many clans and are often used for gatherings and such.” She was clearly watching me closely to anticipate my reaction to the many wonders spread out before me. “But now it is time to take you to where you must really see. It is truly our destiny my new friend,” she finished.

I looked at her in confusion and she chuckled. The sound was like deep coughs from inside a cave.

“You are about to become my first, and I suspect the first for any dragon in a millennium,“ she said innocently while looking intently at me.

My confusion only deepened and I imagine I looked like a school boy on his first day to kindergarten. “What do you mean my lady?”

As she stepped out of her stone niche she sat back onto her back legs and reared high in the air while pivoting in a circle. I took an involuntary step backwards, not knowing what was happening. Who wouldn’t be confused when faced with a thousand pounds of dragon now towering easily twice their height above them. She came down on all fours right beside me and as her head turned to look me in the eyes she said “Climb aboard sirah, it’s time for your first dragon flight.”

For the first time I got a good look at her. Her head was, as I mentioned before, an exotic mix of reptile and fierce bird. Draconic is the only word that comes to mind. The eyes were large and had pupils stretching vertically from bottom to top. It very much seemed like a nocturnal cats eye with an amber color overall and a blue to green pupil with flecks of gold in it. But the overall color was somehow red as if this was a light that was coming out of her being.

There was a series of scales, nodules, bumps, and small horn like appurtances throughout the rather long and sharp head. But the overall impression was of jewelry and decorations rather than the sinister or menacing look often shown by artists who have never really seen a dragon. And the head was definetly feminine with expressive eye ridges that looked much like eyebrows and they framed eyes that looked intelligent and soft.

Naturally, ones eyes went to the wings folded onto the back and disappearing out toward the tail. They didn’t terminate, they just sort of faded out. I was going to ask about them but instead continued to look over my reptilian and soon to be mount, maybe.

The next thing my eyes went to was the front legs. They appeared to be heavily armored with scales, as was the chest area around them. These individual scales were of different sizes ranging from the size of an apple down to a silver dollar. And the scales had different shapes too. But the predominate shape seemed to be as if each scale had a small mountain range running down the middle that divided the scale in half and was higher in the middle than at the edges. In other wards they were keeled. Later I was to find out why when we talked about dragon evolution.

The back legs were more robust than the front and were similurely scaled. The rest of the body had a different look to it. While there were scales like on the legs there were also different shapes from ones that looked like starbursts to very rounded ones. But what really stood out was that the scales seemed to be in ordered rows around the neck and body. And this order seemed to be circular as in rings running symmetrically around the neck and torso in rows that were from a couple inches wide to several inches. Again there seemed to be a similarity to feathers in birds only these were scales.

The tail was gracile and very active. In length I would say it was equivalent to her entire body and neck, or in this case maybe ten to twelve feet. It was naturally thicker near the body and was perhaps a foot thick and tapering to a sharp tip of only an inch or less. The effect was much like an armored whip and it proved to be very mobil, much like an additional appendage.

If a dragon can smile and preen, she was doing so while I looked her up and down and sized her up. Finally she said, “There are handholds and foot braces up on my back that I have been growing for you and this very occasion. Climb aboard and you will see what I mean.”

As she said this into my mind with her gentle purr she dropped her right front leg down as a platform for me to mount up on. Okay, I’m game. But care must be taken when getting onto a dragon, at least this dragon. There are lots of fairly sharp and protruding points and in great abundance.

“Be careful, but I have intentionally dulled myself in case this encounter ever happened,” she murmured softly as if slightly scared at this prospect now that it was upon us. “You will be able to climb up just as I have seen in your memories you climbed rocks years ago.” With that she spread her wings back and away so that I wouldn’t have to deal with them.

Put like that it all made sense. So in a few more moments I found myself around her shoulders and on a saddle shaped depression in her scales. Sure enough, there were what looked like two molded in handles looking much like the ones in my old VW bus I drove as a student. Easing into this area and grabbing hold I also felt around just down her sides until my feet found an indented area much like stirrups of a saddle only snugger.

“Okay Rhillianna, what next.”

“I’m a little concerned about how we are going to do this so let’s talk about this for a moment,” she answered. “Normally when I fly I just leap into the sky and fly. But it is somewhat of a violent maneuver when one thinks of it in terms of having a passenger. We have talked about this in school and have worked out what we believe will work. But it hasn’t been tested in actuality.”

“You have a school that teaches flying with humans,” I asked incredulously.

Her head swiveled back to look at me and here eyes got very large and it seemed like white light came out of them. “Oh my,” I heard and then I was in the midst of a dragonquake and had to hold on for life.
But I wasn’t prepared for this and so started to lose my grip and slide down her back toward her tail. But before anything could happened the shaking stopped and I was surrounded by a ridged rope or something and kept from slipping any further.

“I am so sorry,” she said while looking intently at me. “I didn’t mean to laugh so hard, but you are quite funny you know.”

Looking down I saw that I was being held and propped up by her tail and so quickly squirmed back into my dragon saddle. “What did I say,” I demanded in an injured tone?”

There was a much milder version of the dragon laughter quake and it was quickly suppressed. “Flying with humans school,” she replied and I clearly heard the mirth in my mind.

Apparently you can convey emotions with thoughts and not just by words. I had understood clearly that she thought the concept funny indeed even without the physical demonstration.

“Isn’t that what you said,” I asked clearly confused.

She paused and looked up in what I was to learn passed for a dragons look of interspection or thinking. “I guess you could take it that way. But really it was just an exercise in what if that we were talking about in case this event happened. It was written long ago in the Galactic Library that someday we dragons would again interact with humans of worth and nobility when both races were again ready. This was just kind of like thinking out loud about something that might happen way in the future. Oh, I forgot to mention that our time flow is quite different from yours.”

“What do you mean, my lady”

“Time is a concept that has completely different meanings in the different realms. In fact time is really a concept rather than an actuality. This isn’t a physical realm like where you came from. We used to be in the physical realm too and understand it well. But here time moves much slower than your home reality,” she finished with what I took as some confusion.

“Celenae said that Haven operates on more of what we would call magic than physical laws,” I put in.

“Yes, the great teacher has a better grasp of this than I do,” the blue-green dragon stated. “I do know that magic is generated primarily by two methods here, and at your realm as well. The magic of love generated by two learning to become one, and the magic of devotion to the cause of light such as divine love and doing divine will. No other form of magic exists that we are aware of. And that directly impacts on where we are going as magic is very weak there and it will be very difficult to fly us that far.”

“Then we better get going,” I said. She looked pensive but slowly spread her wings out behind her. For the first time I got a good look at them. They came from what looked like a complicated structure that incorporated both her front legs and her clavicle or collar bone. It was clearly an evolutionary adaptation that allowed both front and rear legs as well as wings which connected to the front leg mechanism in some way. As it was these wings sprouted a bit behind the front legs and from the outer part of the back. They clearly did not connect to the spine which ran between them. It would be as if humans had wings coming from their shoulder blades.

Where I sat was several feet in front and just before the neck curved up from the main torso. These wings were membranous and almost see through and were attached to a larger bone running from the shoulder to the very sharp tip. In addition there were struts of bones at intervals through the wings that hinged and allowed for the wings to fold but be strong at the same time.

The effect was almost like a series of kites that were connected together and of differing sizes getting smaller out to the tip of the wing.

But the one thing that bothered me was that they just didn’t look like they could hold the weight of a dragon up in the air, and I mentioned that.

“I really never thought about it much, I guess.” was her reply. “But remember, magic takes the place of much of what you would call physics here. And so I don’t think the same rules would apply. I do know that when our kind was on Earth we mostly couldn’t fly except when the magic was strong and wings were said to be much different then as well.”

Okay, lets see if it works. She flexed her wings above her head and then started to experimentally work them in a rowing motion up to down and back. when she was satisfies that they were not going to hit me she suddenly reared back like a horse on muscular hind legs, said hold on, and jumped into the air.

Her wings make loud swooshing sounds that ended in a crack like a bullwhip makes as she gained about twenty feet up. And then she came back down to the ground on her hind legs while still beating her wings to keep her balance. “This isn’t going to work like we thought,” she muttered.

Dropping to all fours she walked over to the edge ledge at the cave mouth where I had so recently entered and continued another fifty feet to the other side. She looked back over her shoulder at me and the words formed in my mind, “I think we are going to have to use the jump and glide method to get airborne. Your weight and positioning makes it hard for me to take off in the manner I am accustomed to.”

I looked over the edge and down the hundred feet to the park-like area below us and then back at her somewhat dubiously. “I just hope you know what your doing.” With that I gripped her tightly and said “Hiho Silver, Away.”

She looked at me in puzzlement but then shook her head and leaped off the cliff with her wings spread wide. Surprisingly, while we went down we also went outward in a long glide. More confident now she started beating her wings in a sort of scooping motion and shortly we were gaining altitude and speed.

It didn’t take very long before we were well out into the dragon city and gaining altitude. Looking down I had a somewhat better view than from where I emerged. The entire area looked very much like a combination of the Grand Canyon and the Red Rock area of Arizona and Utah, except that there was much more green and lots more water. I could also see the occasional reptilian or draconic figure walking across one of the many natural looking bridges or in the water. There were no other dragons in the air and I commented on it.

“Oh, the adult dragons have a very difficult time flying because of their size, and even though many are very strong in magic they do not like to use it for such a mundane thing as transport.”

I let it drop for now but decided we would revisit this and a thousand other questions at a future date. “Where exactly are we going Rhillianna?”

She turned her head back and her mesmerizing eyes looked directly into mine, “At the asking of the Council we go to the place where our destiny lies and the reason you came here. And too, we go to meet two friends.” She would say no more so I just held on and enjoyed the view.

The dragon city finally just petered out and the landscape was mostly featureless without the naturalistic buildings. There were still some canyons and rivers, but they seemed flat and lacked the light that we were leaving behind. And added to the difficulty of making much out was the fact that there really wasn’t any light from above to speak of. It was always a sort of twilight, beautiful but making it difficult to see any distance. But like a tourist I looked this way and that for something of notable interest, but without seeing or comprehending much around me.

We must have gone on many miles at a fairly rapid speed. It appeared that we were a couple of thousand feet or more above the landscape and I had no clue as to direction. We also appeared to be gaining height gradually. The steady motion of her wings and the dim light caused me to get somewhat drowsy after maybe another 30 minutes of flying.

“It is getting much harder to fly so I am going to go into a long glide now,” she said startling me out of my daze. “The magic is much weaker this far out and I can’t keep up the flying without much effort.”

“What would you like me to do, my lady,” I asked somewhat puzzled.

“Lean forward and become more aerodynamic so that I can glide better and you won’t have so much wind resistance.”
Happy to oblige my fantastic mount I leaned forward and peered around her neck and head. We were much higher than I though, maybe a mile or more above the surface. Rhilli had her wings folded like a jet fighter’s and was starting down at a shallow angle. We picked up speed rapidly and it became apparent that if I was sitting straight up I might have a hard time holding on.

After a few more minutes the speed was tremendous and it seemed to me that we were going to cover as much ground in the next ten minutes as we had done getting to here. The glide went on for about fifteen or so minutes as we slowly lost altitude. My eyes we watering but I was afraid to let go of her build in handle/scales to wipe them dry.

Now she started to shudder and sway side to side some. Looking out I noticed that her wings were now angled downward some and this was apparently slowing us while causing some sideslipping. After another five minutes we were much slower and lower and I could start to pick out the landscape again. We were clearly headed for what looked like a crater frontward of our direction in flight.

Finally we had slowed considerably and she was banking up to and around the top of the crater. Now I got my first look at the inside as she shed speed around the rim by following it around and just above the rim.

The first thing I noticed was that the inside was about a thousand feet below and mostly filled with an unusually colored but clearly shades of blue water. And more or less in the center was an island. In addition there were several waterfalls cascading over the rim and into the crater lake far below. I could count seven rivers either entering or exiting the crater.

Our speed was now greatly diminished and my multicolored dragon mount started circling the side and spiralling downward below the rim. I could see some caves and opening in the material on the wall which looked identical to the material that I saw back in the dragon city. In color it was again shades of reds, tans, and browns.

Looking down at the island it was now possible to tell that the blue hewed colors had to do with depth. Around most of the island, which looked to be maybe a mile across, was a turquoise blue. But off one end it was clearly much deeper and a deep blue in color. There was not much on the island but sand, gravel, and a few rocks and boulders. No vegetation at all.
Rhillianna stated beating her wings fiercely as we headed for the sandy island shore. She was really streigning and I guess it was the lack of magic here that made it so hard for her. We landed part in the shallow water and part on the beach and it was jarring. I almost lost my hold but managed to keep my dignity as much as she did.

“Well, any landing you walk away from is a good landing,” I quipped. She just looked at me and blinked her eyes several times.

“We will have to work on your Earthbound colloquialisms,” she replied in return. “But I guess if that means we made it, then yes.”

I climbed down off her as she settled into the sand. It was much brighter down here then above and I was about to ask her why when she suddenly looked up and said “Right on time.”

From the angle of her gaze it was apparent she was watching something above and near the wall. At first I didn’t see anything, but then suddenly it became apparent that there were two dragons or something gliding toward the island. As they rapidly came near it was apparent that these were not dragons.

As they approached it became clear that they were two completely and different creatures and unrelated to dragons. They circled once inland and then both landed about fifty feet away with a flurry of beating wings. They started walking toward us while folding up their wings.

Slightly in the front was an enormous silver wolf with a slightly blue tint and huge feathered wings of a pearl white that were folding into place on her back. She was easily five or six hundred pounds or more than double the largest wolf likely to have lived on Earth.

And right behind her was an even more incredible sight. A golden hued cat creature with a white tufted maine and long tail with huge fangs curling downward from her massive jaws. This magnificent creature was about the size of the dragon Rhillianna or near a thousand pounds. Her wings were also feathered like the wolf but held above and behind her as she approached making her look even larger.

A sideways glance at Rhilli showed her to be staring intently at the two exotic creatures approaching us. Suddenly the dragon let out a roar that scared me with its deep hollow sound and reared up on her muscular hind legs. At the same time an equally load roar came from the fang cat and she bounded forward and raised up on her hind legs. The two creatures came together and I had to look way above my head to see them mesh their large paws together and then start pushing on each other as if trying to throw the other to the ground.

As I was anxiously watching these two wrestling the wolf came over and sat beside me. I noticed that even sitting on her haunches this creature came almost level with my eyes and I needed only to look down slightly to see these golden eyes staring deeply into mine.

“They always have to go through these silly dominance games” came into my mind with tolerant humor clearly flavoring the comment.

I held my arms wide and the wolf eased herself into my embrace. “Hello Tashita, it’s been a long time my love,” I whispered into her great pointed hairy ear as I chewed gently on it.

“Not quite as long as you remember it, but from your perspective I believe it may seem so,” she replied.

Suddenly we heard a loud splash and turned to see the cat rising out of the water and the dragon making a mad dash inland. The cat started after her nemesis but stopped after a few feet and started to furiously lick her golden pelt. She looked at us and I felt the wolf bristle and stand to face her.

“You won’t survive the attempt, and if you do I will torture you with song for the next week,” came from the wolf in a threat directed to the excited fang cat.

The cat considered it for a few seconds and then turned back to her furious licking while staring in the general direction the dragon had taken. Even very large exotic flying cats apparently obeyed the universal first law of cats. When it doubt, bathe. “She knows I don’t like to get wet,” came from the now pensive creature.

“Next time don’t let her bait you at the waters edge. Even cats should be smarter than that,” Tasha Tashita said.

The cat folded her surprisingly delicate ears back flat against her head for an instant and then hung her head and said, “I don’t know how she always manages to trick me. Rhillidragon has no shame or dignity.”

Now she stared intently at me and started walking towards us gracefully as only a cat can. When she reached us the wolf took a discrete step back and the cat looked me directly in the eye as the wolf had done. All I saw in her beautiful Siamese blue eyes was love and affection. She thrust her gigantic head forward and I put mine forward as well. We did the ages old cat greeting and gently butted heads before rubbing the sides of our faces against each other. First one and then the other side were rubbed and then we pulled back and looked at each other again.

“Mellisan Fangore, I greet you with love and light lady,” I mouthed out loud and was naturally heard by all in the mind speech that was the true speech of all kinds. “Had I not already seen both you and Tasha in my dreams I would never have recognized you.”

“And yet you are about the same. How could that be,” she asked.

A deeper voice than mine broke in from behind us and said “Each is as one wishes in the soul to be. And he is here in what is to him a dream and so the form must fit the reality he still spends most of his time in.” The dragon was back. The cat narrowed her eyes for a second and I thought the play-fight might start again. But instead she relaxed and seemed to accept the explanation. But now questions bubbled to the surface in my mind.

“I am still confused by all this,” I said while sweeping my arms around expansively indicating all. “Why exactly am I here, why are you all here, and what is the purpose of this?”

“Sit down and I will give you a quick explanation,” said Rhillianna, daughter of Nafia the White and a princess of the royal blood of the house of the Speakers. A quick answer from her would of course be unusual.

“Havan is of course what you would call Dragon heaven. It is where most, though not all, souls of advanced reptiles gather when they have evolved to the point where this is now their best option. This is similar to human souls who may also end up in your own versionb of heaven, but as I have not been there I am not sure if this is a completely accurate explanation. And too, you seem to have many versions of heaven that I believe all exsist. Your concept of reality is actually quite out of date and very inaccurate. But that is for another time. So few have ever come here of the humans.

This not discrimination, simply interest. A bird would not likely enjoy a fishes concept of heaven might be an example although both of those are simply an intermediary stage of evolution of a soul. A bird might have once been a fish and may some day become a dragon. It is a little confusing and you would do best to ask someone better learned than me for the details.

But be that as it may you are now in Dragon heaven. And the reason you are here is that you have more than a little bit of dragon in you. I can not fully explain it but you have been interested from your earliest memories in reptiles in all our myriad forms. Is that not correct?”

I nodded my head and remembered that dinosaurs and living reptiles had come quickly to the top of my interest chart.
She continued, “You are not the only human soul who is interested in reptiles or dragons. You have just been the first to evolve your understanding and through hard work earned the right of entering here on merit and of course your celestial heritage. Plus you have created with your lifelong interest the ability to focus into our reality. Few or none have done this yet.

And of course you sent your former companions here to meet you although you may not actually realize that you had done so. They came of their own free will and will stay and help you just as long as you need them and their interest stays high in what we now have to do here.

What you may not know is that you and actually quite a few other humans ancesters were not the monkies but the reptiles. And at that there are several lines of reptiles in this universe. Some are what you term of The Family of Light and some are of the Family of Dark. And the dark has ruled your world for the last age. But now we hope that you humans will throw off your hidden masters and learn to take your place in the universe as has been foretold.”

“Okay, I mostly knew that from your mother. But what exactly is it that you keep saying we are going to do here,” I asked still thoroughly puzzled.

“Why, we are to design and build a city where dragons, angels, humans, and other beings of the Family of Light can meet. You are to be the leader of the team you have assembled specifically to put together right here on this spot “Dracopolis-City of Light. And your entire race will depend on our efforts here before the change in 2012 of your time.”