Fire. Fire. Fire.
Time was on fire.
Flames trickled down tree trunks. And the ground was like lava.
The sky was still dark when Tsiho woke me. I fed her and held her till she fell asleep.
...they live...
The words came with the wind. But lingered like a chill. Darkness had yet to subside. I laid Tsiho in her cot and lit a candle.
...you dare replace them...
"Who's there?" I swung the candle round, lighting the corners of our room. But Tsiho and I were the only ones present.
I wouldn't sleep. I didn't dare. But my eyelids weighed heavy. And soon they were falling close.
Purple flames consumed Time's Playground. My eyes snapped open and my gaze fell on the flickering purple flame of the candle.
The breath left my lungs and the candle left my grasp. At once, purple flames consumed the room. My first thought was to grab Tsiho. She didn't wake but she was breathing.
The walls and floor were hidden behind flames. The door as well. I searched for an escape. The flames may have felt like nothing but a warm breeze on my skin but Tsiho wasn't immune to fire like I was.
I wrapped her up in my scarf and made for the balcony door. We plummeted at once. My wings arriving a moment too late. We fell through a pool of rippling space and back into the purple flames.
My bare feet met earth. Time's Playground was on fire. Violet flames climbed trees and crawled across rotting logs, consumed fallen leaves across the forest floor. And destroyed Time's property.
Off in the distance a figure arrived. A human silhouetted against the violet blaze. She carried a sword. A sword with a glowing green gem at its hilt.
"Why," my voice faltered, overwhelmed with anger, confusion, desperation. "Why?!" I resisted the urge to step forward. "Why are you doing this to me? What did they do to deserve this? Why am the only one who has to fight for a family?"
"You poor thing," she cooed. Her voice like ice and feathers, coming at me from all around. "Abandoned by the woman who birthed you. Then those who raised you. Whose to say that child won't leave you next."
I hugged Tsiho close. I wouldn't let her words decieve me, as true as they were to my own thoughts. "I'll never lie to her. She'll know of her parents."
Her figure flickered through the flames, trailing around me. "I see her leaving you. I feel the hate. Even after everything you do for her, she will despise you."
"Then so be it! I still choose to love her." I wouldn't abandon her. No, I'd never.
"You're such a fool." She cackled. "Everyone who has ever loved you have only ever struggled. You bring misfortune and misery. You are a curse to this world!"
I crumbled to my knees. I couldn't believe her words were anything but true. Loving me took sacrifice. Loving me brought pain. I was a curse.
Her small eyelids fluttered open. Her small lips stretched into a smile. Her small fists reached up and caressed my scales. One day she wouldn't look at me like this. But she'd always be my light on the darkest of nights.
I may have escaped Death and Time but I'd never escape Life.
"Pain is only a consequence of life." I searched for her eyes in the darkness. I hoped she met my gaze and felt everything I felt. "I am not a mistake. I was put here for a purpose. I am precious."
YOU ARE READING
Scales and Swords ✓
Fantasy*completed* Born with scales and the ability to breathe fire, Mo spent all her life being bullied and ridiculed. For in the Kingdom of Kreatier her kind are not welcome: Half-breeds or as they are better known, Vuruks. But when she loses her family...
