The Lost Life of Laraine

Chapter 30

"Lara it's time for the strategy meeting," Harken muttered in my ear. 

I didn't even realize I dosed off, until I felt Harken gently tap my shoulder. 

Ever since coming back from the scouting mission it felt like time was whizzing by and I was left in the dust. And at some point when I fell asleep, Harken laid me on the bed and threw a blanket on top of me. 

Over my bloody and dirt covered clothes. 

"Oh," I sat up, feeling a throbbing pain in the front of my forehead. It felt like my brain my burning. "I-I'll be there in a moment." 

"Flontina has already relayed what happened to the village," Harken added, "So you're welcome to skip the meeting." 

"No I have important information," I groaned, sitting up slowly. I felt so strangely refreshed, my body felt incredibly light and my mind had felt so clear. Rubbing the fatigue from my face, I finally looked at Harken and his eyes widened. 

"Whoa, your eyes," he pointed, gaping at whatever he's seeing. 

"What?" I leaned over to the nightstand, taking out the complementary hand mirror and taking a good look at the glowing orbs staring back at me. "What on earth?" 

My eyes were glowing. 

My eyes were glowing. 

Why are my eyes glowing. 

They were like small moons staring back at me. 

"I'm sure its nothing to be concerned about," Harken chuckled nervously, pulling out his personal inventory and going for a mask. One that looked like the one from my childhood. "Here wear this." 

A mask that I've let go a long time ago. 

"What is that?" I pushed his hand away, "Why do you even have that on hand?" 

"Uh," he looked down at the mask, searching for anything to say to me that would appease me. 

"Never mind," I sighed, rubbing my eyes roughly, like I could smudge away this abnormality, "How do I look?" I asked, unamused. 

"Surprisingly your eyes are back to normal," he replies, picking up my mirror and showing me my face which did not have bright spheres anymore. 

"Great lets go to that meeting," I slapped my cheeks violently, trying to shake off the fatigue and get some color back. My eyes are back to normal but I still look like a corpse. 

The thought of death makes my stomach churn. 

"Are you okay?" Harken walked in front of me to open the door, "Do you need anything?" 

"Mhm," I pondered, feeling like there was a constant stream of sand going down my throat, "Just water." 

"Right," he waited till I was in the hallway before rushing to the nearest pitcher and handing it to me, watching with wide eyes as I chugged the entire liter. "Better?" 

"I could use some more," I coughed, "But I have important information." 

Harken nodded solemnly, and he followed me to the massive war room with overlapping chatter that seemed to fall silent as we both walked in. 

"Lara," Parter acknowledged. He was at the end of the large oblong table. It was donut-like, with the frosting of this particular donut being various maps, books, and parchments. 

All research for the dragon. 

"You should rest," Flontina mouthed to me, a worried look written all over her face. 

"Hello all," I greeted, walking straight up to the table and pushed a few books off the large marked up map, "This was the village that Flontina and I went to. It was completely destroyed," I swallowed hard, "No survivors." 

There was a cold silence in the room from the despair, but we were going to have to move on. 

"I had a vision," I admitted, "The dragon was headed due East." 

"A vision?" A few questioned, muttering amongst themselves. 

"Why did the dragon attack the village?" Parter asked, like there was going to be a reasonable motive. 

"To kill," I answered, feeling tightness in my chest, the feeling of the blood of that child still lingering on my fingers. I'm sure some of it is still under my fingertips. "It seems like it's intent is to kill for the sake of killing an-" 

"How would you know?" Sephla piped up, and I could feel Harken's burning gaze on her. He looked like he wanted blood. 

"Pardon?" I tilted my head, unsure what she was insinuating. 

"You had a 'vision,'" she finger quoted, "And knows its 'intent.'" 

Ah, I see. 

I sound like a nutjob. 

"Please if I can," I pointed a large blue gem, a memory stone. A very expensive magic tool that reads the memory of the user and presents it to various display stones that lined the table so that a large image will appear in the center for everyone to see. 

This particular stone cannot be tampered with, so whatever is displayed is what was truly seen with the user's eyes. 

And holding that gem to my forehead made me feel like my body was on fire. Usually using this stone has no affects, but reliving that moment, feeling myself being crushed to death over and over again until everyone in the room was stunned. 

"Oh," Sephla mumbled, staring at the darkened screen, the last moment I could remember, reliving that child's death. 

"How is this possible?" Parter vocalized what many were probably thinking in this room, "You can see the visions of the dead?" 

"I-" I shrugged, "I don't know how I did it, I just can." 

Seemingly to accept my response, Parter led the room into discussing the next steps and I felt Harken's gentle touch on my shoulder, giving me a soft smile to tell me a job well done. 

Letting out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding, I gave him my best smile, trying to hide the fact that I want to puke on his face. 

Maybe I do need some rest.