Murphy and Nalani

Chapter Three: Reflections

Murphy:
During the time that I had spent with Alara, I had gained confidence in myself again; she showed me all her tricks to how she survived being half-blind. "The key is to use your other senses, use your sense of smell to track down everywhere that you are." Alara explained firmly, "If you close your eyes and listen to your surroundings; that will also help you."
I took a deep breath and I closed my eyes, I felt something in the ground; they were vibrations that got stronger the closer they got. I used my ears, I heard the sound of paws running toward me— I jumped up before the creature could run me over.
"Good job Murphy, you felt the vibrations with your feet, and you heard me running from behind." Alara exclaimed proudly, "That was an easy one, let's try that again but this time I won't make it so obvious."
For two months I spent with Alara, and the more we trained the better my skills became; before long I learned how to hunt with my new eyes. Alara taught me how to track, and navigate from the forest to the ocean; eventually, I knew how to travel the whole island as I had lived there. For an older dragon, she knew a great deal of knowledge, she had wisdom beyond her years, and if I hadn't been such a need to fix my eyes— she would've let me live on the island with her. It was nice to have a friend who understood me, she went her whole life being half-blind; I don't know how she did it— she was stronger than me in more ways. Unfortunately, in the two months, I spent with Alara; I noticed that she seemed sick. From the hard, shallow breathing, to the occasional coughing fits she'd have, and with each day they were more frequent.
In training the vibrations from her paws were faint, and her feet shuffled as she pushed herself to run faster. During meals, she didn't eat as much, and she'd go to bed earlier than she usually did; one day I confronted her about it. We were in the den eating our seafood dinner, Alara ate one whole fish and she was done for the night; I took one of mine as I offered it to her. She just smiled and kindly declined it, "I thank you Murphy, but I ate more than I could eat." She pushed the fish back to me, "But please, you eat the fish; you are young and need all your strength."
"What's wrong Alara? You've not been acting like yourself," I asked with concern.
Alara looked at me and sighed with tiredness, she took a deep breath as she thought about what she was going to say; "I suppose that it's harder to hide now, I could've gotten away with it."
"What are you talking about?" I questioned with slight confusion. "Get away with what Alara?"
"My dear, it's time that I've been honest with you; as my loving friend you deserve to know the truth," Alara began firmly. "I am sick Murphy, and for the last few years I was able to brush the pain aside— but the illness has finally caught up with me."
"Is there something I can do? Maybe make you some medicine, my aunt was a healer and she showed me how to—" Alara signaled me to stop talking with her paw, and I kindly stayed quiet as she continued to speak.
"I appreciate your concern, but all the medicines I've tried don't work anymore; I honestly don't think my body could withstand them any longer," Alara remarked with a yawn. "Murphy, this sickness will kill me and it will happen fairly soon; I want you to know this."
I'm not sure what came over me that day, but I felt the tears build up in my eyes; I didn't know Alara for long but she was my closest friend. She cared for me and I cared for her, together we helped each other survive in those two months, and I wouldn't have become the strong hunter I became without her. I know I needed to get to the Hidden World, but I didn't want to leave Alara alone; she needed me. She used the tip of her wing to wipe the tears off my face, and she used it to lift my head; we were face to face with one another. "Don't cry for me my child, death is nothing to fear, and I've lived the best life," Alara said with encouragement, "And spending these couple of months with you, I was blessed to have found you."
"Alara, don't talk like that, you can do this, you can fight it!" I remarked with determination, "I can help you feel better, just like you helped me a while back."
"Murphy, there's nothing you can do to help me now; it's time for me to let nature take its course," Alara stated firmly. "And you need to get to the Hidden World, you need to get your eyes healed."
"I'm not going to leave you here, I will stay with you until, until..." I couldn't bring myself to finish the word in the sentence, just the mere thought scared me; she needed to have someone beside her. More tears streamed down my face, Alara wrapped her wing around me as she pressed her head against mine; I felt her softly purr.
"It's okay my child, I'm ready for this— I can see this beautiful light in the brightest sky; the clouds are so fluffy that they feel like the wool of a sheep." Alara sighed with relief, she sounded so relaxed and at peace with herself; "I love you, Murphy."
I close my eyes and I felt the heavy sensation, I wasn't ready for her to go; I wished I could've given her some of my health so that she'd live longer. I heard her breath grow harder and slower, "I love you too Alara."
She curled up to fall asleep, "Thank you for being my best friend." She replied with the softest voice I had ever heard from her, one breath in and one breath out, and just like that she was gone. For the first hour I spent crying, the next I collected myself as I prepared a proper grave for Alara; once that was done— I decided to collect some supplies from the cave. Alara spent some time with humans in the past, she met a young teenager who she befriended; unfortunately, they didn't stay friends for long. But she seemed to obtain a lot of human items, I took the satchel that she adjusted for a dragon's size; then I filled the satchel will food, medicine, and other supplies.
Just before I was about to leave the cave, I saw the small container she had with her face paint in it; she told me it was an old Night Fury tradition. Older clans in the past used to wear face paint to determine who were the best warriors, and for festivals and events we'd have in the packs. Some Night Fury tribes lost the interest to wear the paint, so most just quit using it; in some like mine, clans thought the warrior paint was meaningless. Alara had green markings on her ears and tail fins, she loved it and she said that paint when worn long enough; it would stay on their faces for life. I decided to paint markings onto my face as well, in honor of my dearest friend.
I walked over to her grave one more time, I placed a small bouquet of wildflowers onto it; "I'll miss you Alara, thank you for being my friend too." I remarked with a soft smile, after that I took off into the sky, and I was once again on my quest for the Hidden World; except for this time I was better prepared with a new sense of purpose.
Rane:
It's been eighteen years since I was banished from my home, a lot has happened in the almost twenty years I've been gone; for one thing, I have reunited with my long-lost son Stormstrike. I was so proud of him when I found out that he became the King of all dragons, and I was then introduced to his mate and my grandchildren. I was surprised to find that he had married a Light Fury, but considering how rare a Night Fury is; I kindly brushed it off. Luna is a fine mate to my son, she treats him well, and she provided my son with three beautiful children. Seren is their oldest daughter, she is in line to become the next Queen of the Hidden World, Stormstrike has been training her since she was a young dragon; she's beautiful with her soft blue eyes. Most wouldn't be able to tell that she had Light Fury blood in her, she looks so much like her father, but what separates her is that she can camouflage as Light Furies do with her plasma blast— that could come in handy for a future Queen.
There's the youngest daughter, Haru and she looks like Luna with her white scales, only she has green eyes like her father. Haru is a gifted healer like her mother before her, she possesses a kind heart, and she loves to make others laugh— it's a noble trait of hers. Lastly, there's my grandson Lightless, he looks like a Night Fury with Light Fury features, and he has white markings on his body; his eyes are different as well— one blue and one green. He's young and he's like the omega of a wolf pack, he'd never be a king because he's the youngest amongst his older sisters; and the only way he'd ever become someone of that stature—- well he'd have to fight his father or sister for the throne. But my biggest concern is of my oldest granddaughter and her choice of a mate, Ezra is a Storm Fury who was welcomed with his grandfather Winston; how my son even thought it was okay to allow traitors into his home.
Seren claims that she loves this Ezra, but she is young and doesn't know a thing about love yet; she must not know about the history of Storm Furies. We have gotten into arguments about the whole thing before, she defends the boy like he's even fit to be a King; "You know nothing about Erza, perhaps if you got to know him you'd find out that he's a good dragon with a good heart." Seren remarked defensively, "I love Ezra, and most importantly he loves me; for a "wise" dragon you seem to be blind to the obvious!"
She stormed off after that, that Seren has quite the temper and if she doesn't keep that in check; that will consume her making her a less than desirable Queen. I only think this from my personal experience, I wasn't the best Queen myself; I know that I was nothing more than an abusive leader. But of course, that's what they'd see wouldn't it, they'd never see that all I did was to protect them; I killed our sworn enemy Blackbear to make sure no dragon or human would follow us. I was a good Queen for that, I won't apologize for protecting my subjects from being slaughtered; we were the last Night Fury pack alive— what was I supposed to do?
"Are you trying to justify your wrongdoings right now?" A familiar voice emerges from the silence, I open my eyes to see the parasite has returned its ugly face to me again; she calls herself "Whisper."
"What do you want?!" I lowly growl at the dragon before me, " I thought I told you to leave me alone."
"Oh my sweet Rane, you know I love being in your presence; we are the best of friends you and I." Whisper chuckles casually, and she offers a smile for added measure.
"You and I are not friends, I wouldn't be caught dead associating myself with the likes of you!" I remark crossly.
"And yet here we are, we both know that I'm the only person you have left; your own family wants nothing to do with you." Whisper sits next to me, as she wraps her cold wing around me— like we were close sisters or something. I shove her off, and she just laughs at me.
"I fail to see what's so funny, you're nothing but a soul-sucking leech, nobody asked you to be here!" I sneer with aggression.
"But you don't seem to mind my company now do you?" Whisper states with a soft tone in her voice, "You and I have been together for years Rane, and we both know that I'm not going anywhere."
I try my best to ignore her, I notice the puddle of water that is before me as I lean over to take a few swigs. It is cold, it burns as it goes down my throat, and it leaves me feeling empty inside— Whisper places her head near mine. "Rane, no matter what substance you use I'll always be here, don't forget you need me."
"I don't need you Whisper, I can live my life without you just as easily as I've lived my life with you," I scoff.
"Are you sure about that Rane, it seems that you come to me when you lose?" Whisper speaks casually, "The sooner you accept you're a waste of space, the sooner this can all be over, you'd be doing everyone a favor."
"You would like that wouldn't you Demon, if I give up to you, then you'd just win and I'd rather live my life suffering; than to give you that satisfaction!" I bark loudly.
Several dragons shift their attention to me, most of them are unhappy that I was disturbing their good time; I have to remind myself to not be so loud. "Temper, Temper, Buzzkill, we don't need a riot on our hands; they may see you as a drunken fool— but only I know that you're completely sober." Whisper chuckles deviously.
"Rot in hell you demon!" I exclaim firmly.
"I'll see you there Rane, and I'll make sure they know that you're coming when I get there," Whisper laughs with a wink.
I decide to leave the dark and depressing saloon, Stormstrike says it's a place where dragons go to get wasted; a red Sun Fury named Mars. He hung around humans who ran an alcohol ship, they were like this traveling tavern for Vikings; and in his time spent with humans, he learned how to make it with the different ingredients in the archipelagos. With these ingredients he's transformed simple puddles of water into a substance older dragons can get drunk off of; he set an age restriction to eighteen so young dragons wouldn't get in trouble with their parents. He calls it the Fire Tavern, and I've found myself inside of these isolated caves; I'm not proud of it— if my brother or my mate saw me like this. Well they wouldn't approve of it, Whisper came into my life the day River died; I don't know if I was going crazy or if it was me keeping myself sane.
I used Whisper to keep myself going, my children never knew this, and they were so young at the time—but I was close to ending my life that day. River was dead and my son was taken away from me to be— only Thor knew what trauma those hunters put my son through. Others would've thought it as cowardice to leave my child for dead, but I had to get my other children to safety— I thought they'd just kill Stormstrike. But then I come to the Hidden World to find he's been alive all this time, and I hated myself for years because I left my brother's only son,  to survive this world alone— Stormstrike doesn't consider me as his actual mother and I don't blame him. He had two dragons named Daylight and Scarla raise him, and in his adolescent years he met a human named Hiccup; he lived among humans until he met Luna.
Stormstrike mentioned he went by the name "Toothless" during his time with humans, and his best friend Hiccup sacrificed so much, so that Stormstrike could be free with his kind. Hiccup sounds amazing from what I've heard about him, and even Seren has a human friend of her own; Lexa is Hiccup's offspring. Seren and Lexa became best friends trying to stop a man named Augustus, and Seren met Ezra during all of that as well. They fought for each other Seren and Ezra did, just like River and I would have; perhaps judging the boy off of my impression of Blackbear— is a bit unfair.
"Do you honestly believe you can be forgiven?" Whisper remarks with a sarcastic tone, "After all of that you've done, all those you hurt from your bad decisions, do you think they'd ever forgive you Rane?"
"Enough of this Whisper, I'm done listening to you!" I exclaim resolutely, "Your words won't get the better of me, I know what sins I've committed, and I sure don't need you to remind me of that!"
"You can't run away from it Rane, you can lie to yourself, or do whatever you need to sway your mind that you did differently." Whisper roars, "Your children are damaged because of you, your grandchildren suffer because any ounce of happiness they could have; you must stomp on it like it doesn't matter!"
"I know I was a horrible mother, and I'm a poor excuse of a grandmother to add onto that; what else do you want to say that I don't already know?!" I can hear the anger inside me grow stronger, this shadow that I've had lingering around me has done nothing but drag me under.
"Do you remember the first day that we met, you were sitting alone wallowing over your lost "River", and your daughter came to comfort you." Whisper began to speak, and I know exactly where she's going with this.
"Don't you dare bring this up, I don't want to hear it..." Whisper interrupts me and she isn't going to let me talk.
"Moondust saw that you were upset, little did you know that she had blamed herself for what happened to her father," Whisper got into my brain, I remembered the day so vividly and I don't want to see this day. "What was it that you said to her?"
"Please, I don't want to deal with this right now." I sighed with disappointment, I feel the tears form in my eyes; I said things to my daughter that I regret— and I know that I can never take those words back. Whisper shows me a memory of me facing a young Moondust, I tried to turn away, but I couldn't look away. "Stay away from me, River would still be alive if it wasn't for you!" I yelled with so much rage in my voice, all I can see was how terrified Moondust looked; I can't believe I was so angry with her.
"No... I didn't mean to... I didn't think that..." Moondust replied as she choked up on her tears.
"That's right you didn't think, perhaps if you were smarter and behaved like the good girl you're supposed to be; then none of this would've happened would it Daughter?!" I looked at this horrid memory, I can't believe I was so harsh to my daughter; she was a young dragon— I didn't even realize what I had done until after the fact. Moondust ran away with tears running down her face, accidentally bumping into Artemis in the process; I closed my eyes as tears came bursting out of my eyes.
"You blamed that poor child for the death of her father, when you didn't do anything to save River yourself; how can you call yourself her mother after that?" Whisper speaks in a serious tone, "You broke your daughter's entire world, but you didn't care enough to correct your bad behavior."
" I didn't mean it... I was just upset at myself... I never meant to hurt her," I stammer on my words, for once in my life I was without words; I was as horrible as people have said. I promised to be a good Queen to my clan, but I was no better than Starlight; she was right I was nothing like my parents or my brother. I was so devastated after River, that I lost myself in my grief— Whisper came along and I guess I allowed her to influence my decisions. But that is no excuse, "Leave me be Whisper, I will put you to an end, just you wait!"
"My Dear Rane, as long as you live I'll be with you, and it doesn't matter to me whether you live or die— I'll always win." Whisper remarks softly."
I look at my reflection inside one of the crystal spikes in front of me, I see myself with a one-blind eye, and the tears that are in my eyes; I look horrible. I feel the plasma blast build inside me as I shoot my reflection, and shards of crystal spray in every direction; one small piece grazes across my cheek as it leaves a mark. It begins to drip of blood, I can feel the weight of many dragon eyes fixate on me; I feel my lungs breathe heavily. "Odin please help me."
"You can tell yourself you're going to change, but I know you better than you know yourself Rane." Whisper remarks with a pleasant smirk, "But I know you'll always be the same, and the sooner you accept that— you'll spend less time fighting yourself."