Jayn
Legacy Name: Jayn

A Girl Out of Time

I was born in the early summer of the year 800 AD. You would refer to those days as "Medieval Times". I was a precocious child who knew my own mind and often sought out adventure in the vast halls of the castle where I was born. I am noble born, my parents being the Lord and Lady Turnkey. My father was Chamberlain to the King and my mother Lady in Waiting to the Queen. I of course was then meant to one day become the lady in waiting to the young princess. I had other plans. I dreamed of adventure and of one day becoming a knight. My pleas fell upon deaf ears. It was not only wholly inappropriate for a noble woman to become a knight it was quite frankly seemingly impossible considering I was a girl and not a boy. So I found a wooden practice sword and practiced in secret. Fortunately for me when I was ten years old, a particular dragon took actions that resulted in my being able to curry a favor with the King and thus pursue my greatest desire of becoming a knight. Dragon, as he preferred being called, and I became the greatest of friends. He often tried helping me with my knight training, with varying and sometimes humorous results. We would soar through the sky, patrolling the kingdom and having adventures together. I in turn helped dragon in his pursuit of finding others of his kind. Over 300 years ago when he was born there were no parents to greet him. He was all alone. He searched the land far and wide for so many years, never finding anything. Now, what you might not know is that not only is dragon quite large, has the ability to fly and breathe fire, only eats plants, vegetables, fruits, and grains, but he also talks. A great deal. You would think creatures such as him would be hard to miss. While his kind was known of within the kingdom no one knew what had happened to them. All we did know was that at one time dragons were being hunted and slain using the same swords dragons had forged with their human companions, the swords being the only thing that could easily pierce a dragon’s thick hide.

Many years passed, much happened, though those stories are for a different time. At the age of twenty one I was finally knighted. It was also the year the troubles began. Our king was a kind man. Sometimes foolish, but at other times he showed a great capacity for understanding and forgiveness. He surrounded himself with good and wise councilors. I always tried to keep dragon on his best behavior and when he happened to knock over a wall at the castle we always repaired it better than before. We never caused much of a stir outside of the kingdom. But the year I was knighted all of that changed. We came under the notice of the High king and not only him but of the general of his armies as well. The general was a cruel man with a reputation of violence, in war and out. He propositioned me with intent of marriage, offered a position for myself and dragon within his armies. He frightened me. I knew well of his reputation concerning women and what often happened to them when he was through with them. I never feared anyone so much in my life as I did him. I believe he could tell. I denied him. He threatened my home. So dragon and I left. We fled from the general’s armies and hired mercenaries. We hid in caves and feared for our lives. But we would not leave England. Before fleeing our home we had come upon an old and faded scroll describing a people called the Avalon’s. It described their coming to our realm from the ancient and magical realm called Avalon from which they took their name from. With them they brought dragons. Talking dragons. Over 300 years ago an illness spread amongst the dragons. The people of the land became scared and hunted them believing that the dragons would infect their livestock and families. Some were able to flee to a place called the Valley of the Avalon’s but many did not. We knew a general direction and location so we headed there, always trying to stay out of reach of our pursuers. After several weeks of being harried we finally came to the area where we believed the valley to be. We flew into the valley and landed before a large manor house. It was empty. No one was there. Then we heard the horns. Our time had run out. Dragon and I looked at each other. We had come so far, lost so much. There was no hope. We were worn and tired; dragon had not eaten properly for several days and would not be able to fly much longer. So I drew my sword, a dragon forged sword gifted to me by Dragon so many years ago and took the long familiar stance to prepare for battle. Dragon did likewise and together we stood as the blares of the horns grew closer. Only moments passed and a thick fog began to roll in around us. All sound was muffled, we could not see far beyond us. Then she appeared. She called herself the Lady of Avalon, known by many names but this one fit her purposes this day. She told us of a promise made to the ancient dragons of Avalon hundreds of years ago. The immortal dragons had wished to come into the realm of man and experience mortality for themselves. Two dragons had been sent with the Lady’s most trusted servant from the realm of Avalon and brought them to this valley and made it their home. As dragons were born they left the valley and ventured out into the world. At the end of their mortal lives the Lady granted them a Dragon’s Death and they returned to the realm of Avalon. Avalon magic is ancient and has many rules and a will of its own. Before this time the Lady could not interfere with Dragon and could not guide us to knowledge of his kind in any way. But things had changed. Our fates had become known, a brutal death imminent. The magic and the Lady did not wish this for us so a choice was given, a way prepared. The Avalon’s from our time had all died, there were none left who could protect us. So the Lady searched beyond our time and found one person. One man in all of time who could protect us and provide for us life and freedom. We would leave all we ever knew behind us. The very world would not be the same. Everyone we had ever known would have been gone. For centuries. We chose to trust the Lady. We chose to live. The mist swelled and swirled around us, enfolding us. I clung to Dragon. The world rushed around us, shapes and colors blurring too fast to make out properly. When the world became still and the mist faded away Dragon and I looked around us. The sky was clear and bright, the grass beneath us dark and green and standing before us was a man. He was tall with very pale hair and clear grey eyes. He looked to be not much older than myself. Clutched in one hand was a sword that looked a great deal like my own but slightly larger and shining with a hidden power. Upon his shoulder sat a large and beautiful red bird with steady, intelligent eyes. The man sighed heavily then spoke. “I hope I’m not going to regret this.”

Credits: Profile design and content by: Ringo ~ Jayn character art by bunnies | Dragon art by Vegvisir