Meghan's Dragon

Meghan paused the mumbled incantation long enough to reach for the stone bottle and take a sip of watery beer for her parched throat. Most mages could get magical results without vocalizing their wishes, but despite years of practicing in secrecy, she still needed to shape and expel the words to get any action.

"Show me a dragon. Show me a dragon."

The bronze relic gripped in Meghan's left hand was her most precious possession, but it was so worn from handling that only the closest examination would reveal the outline of a dragon in flight. Once the emblem had stood out in proud relief from the surrounding metal and could be pressed into hot wax to create a seal. Now, worn around her neck on a leather cord, the medallion served a more important purpose as a lens and a reservoir for magic. Every day she worked with it for hours, using it to focus her search, while at the same time storing up her excess magical energy for what would be the turning point of her young life.

"Show me a dragon. Show me a dragon."

Her mind soared above Dark Earth like a bird of prey,watching for a hint of the pattern that would trigger an all-or-nothing effort. When she had embarked on the quest for a dragon in her fifteenth year of life, each outing had required nearly an hour of preparatory meditation to sharpen her concentration and awaken her senses. After two years of practice, Meghan was able to launch into the extra-dimensional search like slipping on an old dress, which, coincidentally, was the only sort of dress she owned.

"Show me a dragon. Show me a dragon."

The dragon pendant began to glow softly and vibrate in her hand, like a crystal that was tuning a sympathetic source of energy. Horrific scenes of battle and villainy danced before the girl's tightly shut eyes as she allowed every intense emotion rising from Dark Earth to sift through her consciousness. Before too long she'd have to break off and leave for work, but there was just enough time left to investigate the brightest death vision she had ever encountered.

"Send me a dragon. Bring me the dragon!"

For the first time in more astral outings than she could count, everything fell into alignment. With a muffled cry that expressed more pain than triumph, Meghan opened the floodgates and allowed her stored up magical energy to begin coursing from the relic clenched in her left hand, through her slight body, and into her outstretched right arm and hand.

"You must come with me. NOW!"