Bryan Davis: Eye of the Oracle

Bonnie soon met Ashley Stalworth, the daughter of Makaidos and Thigocia. With the help of Ashley’s technological genius, Billy and Bonnie rescued Barlow, Edward, and the other loyal knights from the candlestone, and the destruction of that prison allowed Merlin to escape, as well. Edward reclaimed the name of Edmund, finally honoring his father with his heroic efforts in a great battle against Devin that followed the candlestone’s demise.

Then, guided back to England by Professor Hamilton, Billy and Bonnie ventured into the portal in Patrick’s ancient chamber. Bonnie found Shiloh in the sixth circle of Hades, where she had lived for forty years without aging a day. Shiloh survived because the seed Sapphira had planted sprouted and produced a fruit every morning, keeping her from starving. During her rescue, the spirit of Clefspeare was cast into the abyss and absorbed into Dragons’ Rest through the Great Key, the gem in her pendant, causing it to change from white to red again.

Billy and Bonnie reunited Shiloh with her father, Patrick, though their efforts brought about the release of Samyaza and his demonic followers. In the seventh circle, Billy discovered the bones of the dragons who had turned human, those who were murdered by Devin after their transformation. He revived them, restoring their dragon bodies, and they all burst out of Hades to battle Samyaza.

When the viewport revealed Billy as the new dragon king, the rapid succession of scenes finally slowed. He and Bonnie prepared to enter Dragons’ Rest through the gem in Shiloh’s pendant. Professor Hamilton held Excalibur, making ready to slash its disintegrating beam through the two dimensional travelers so they could enter the rubellite.

Sapphira stood and drew close to the screen. She hovered her fingers over the images, awed by the miraculous way everything had fallen into place. The prophecy the Eye of the Oracle revealed to Makaidos so long ago had finally come to pass. Now it was time for an oracle of fire to open the portal and allow the king entry into the domain of dead dragons.

While focusing her mind on the pendant’s gem, Sapphira laid her hand on the screen. “Collapse!” she ordered. The screen rolled up into a column. She jumped in and grabbed a stream of swirling light. Instantly, every image around her shattered, and a new scene took shape, empty crystalline walls flushed with scarlet hues. In front of her, veiled in red by a glassy screen, Professor Hamilton pulled back the sword. She gulped. Obviously the portal had transported her inside the gem, just as she had hoped, but what should she do now?

“Hurry, Sapphira!”

Sapphira spun around. A man holding a foot-tall hourglass stood in the midst of a red fog, but even the dense mist couldn’t hide his identity. She clasped her hands and smiled. “Master Mer ”

“Ignite your fire,” Merlin shouted, “and command the portal to open!”

Sapphira raised her arms. “Give me light!” A raging flame sprouted in her palm and swallowed her hand with fire. “How do I command it to open?”

Merlin pointed at the red glass leading to the outer world. “Lay your hand on the wall of the rubellite and shout, ‘Ephphatha.’ Give it all you’ve got.”

Sapphira pressed her palm on the glass. Just as Professor Hamilton began to swing the blade, she shouted as loud as she could, “Ephphatha!”

The flames spread out in a wide circle, fading the red glass to pink, then to white. Professor Hamilton sliced the beam through Billy and Bonnie, and the sword’s shaft of light wrapped around their bodies. The two teenagers dissolved into sparkling silhouettes that meshed together and swirled toward the screen like a silvery ribbon.

Sapphira pulled back her hand. The white hole continued to widen, and the energy swirls poured through.

Breathing a sigh, Merlin set his hourglass on the gem’s floor. “You did it!”

Sapphira whispered to the fire. “That’s enough.” When the flames died away, she laid her hand on her chest. “Whew! That was close!”

Still recognizable in their energy form, Billy and Bonnie stood in the midst of the red gem, blinking rapidly as though they couldn’t see anything.

Merlin nodded at Sapphira. “Excuse me for a moment.” He reached for Billy’s hand and laid a ring in his palm. The ring dissolved into the boy’s sparks. “Take this,” Merlin said, “you will need it later.” The prophet leaned closer and whispered something else to Billy, but Sapphira couldn’t hear his muffled words.

Billy and Bonnie passed through another screen on the opposite side of their entry point and disappeared.

Merlin wiped his brow. “The dragon messiah has now entered Dragons’ Rest.”

Sapphira pointed at each side of the gem. “So the way they came in leads to the land of the living, and the way they left leads to Dragons’ Rest?”

“Your powers of observation are right on the mark!” Merlin bowed. “I am glad to finally meet you formally, Sapphira Adi.”

Sapphira dipped her knee. “And I’m glad to finally meet you, Master Merlin.”

Merlin’s aged face flashed a proud smile. “You recognized me!”

She straightened and grinned. “I’ve been spying on you.”

Merlin laughed. “Apparently we’ve been watching each other.” He pointed at their window to the living world. “Here comes the other witness!”

A new swirl of radiance streamed through the same hole Billy and Bonnie had entered and coalesced into the shape of a boy with two flapping canopies on his back.

Sapphira clapped her hands. “It’s Gabriel!”

As the sparkling shape thickened, its glow faded. Within seconds, Gabriel appeared, looking the same age and wearing the same clothes as the day he stood to face his executioners at Patrick’s estate. He raised each leg in turn. “I feel like I weigh a ton!”

“You’re solid again!” Sapphira lunged and wrapped her arms around his torso. “I’m so glad to see you!”

Merlin embraced both of them in his long arms. “In a few moments, Billy will lead the faithful dragons out of Dragons’ Rest and into this rubellite.” He pulled back and pointed at Sapphira and Gabriel. “You two have been chosen to bear witness to a covenant the dragons must make in order to pass through to the other side. As they enter, Gabriel will try to identify his father. If Makaidos doesn’t come, Gabriel will enter Dragons’ Rest and search for him there. But he will have to make haste. According to Enoch, that dimension’s annihilation will be swift and complete.”

Sapphira stepped up to the glass leading to Dragons’ Rest and peered inside. “So you don’t know who’s in there?”

“Only a few that I recognized from the outside. My window to their world is quite limited.”

“Should we do anything while we’re waiting?” Gabriel asked.

“No.” Merlin picked up the hourglass and gazed at the trickling sand. “Time is passing far more quickly in Dragons’ Rest than it is in here, so Billy will finish his work shortly.”

Gabriel huffed on the glass and wiped it with his sleeve. “Is that him coming this way?”

Merlin waved them back. “I must speak to him alone. Ponder what you have heard, and I will return in a few moments.”

Sapphira and Gabriel strolled to the glass wall on the other side of the gem, the barrier that separated them from the land of the living. Sapphira leaned against it and nodded toward the opposite wall, now veiled by a curtain of red mist. “Did someone tell you to look for your father in Dragons’ Rest?”

“Yes. Merlin says he’s not in heaven, hell, or any of the circles of seven.” Gabriel shrugged. “We couldn’t think of anywhere else to look.”

Sapphira rubbed his arm tenderly. “If he’s in there, he’ll follow Billy. Don’t worry about that.”