Heir of the Dragon

Like Dragons

That was it. I'd had enough of being alone. Once I'd embraced that fact, I wasn't sure why or how I had ever managed to keep myself away from him. My bare feet took me through the forest almost of their own accord to where I could see his figure standing in a warm summer clearing. Shadaii turned to look at me as I stepped onto the soft grass and into the sunlight, his eyes warm and beautiful like amber and sunsets. The chill of winter melted from me as I stared at the  vision he was. 

I ran to him and fell into his arms. The familiar smell of his blood and the prickle of his skin against mine as he held me was all that existed. For ages, we stood that way, me unable and unwilling to let it end. He was comforting me, his lips kissing my hair, and his silence was his forgiveness. I wasn't my fault that we'd had to be apart. We were together again now, it said. I felt myself forgetting the bad dream it had been to exist where he wasn't beside me.

Finally, he broke our embrace, and instead slid his burning fingers into mine. We began to walk from the clearing--  no destination, but somewhere important to be. I stopped, suddenly overcome. He turned and I gazed up into his eyes. 

"I -- I cannot live a life without you," I said, the truth flowing earnestly from my lips.

He smiled.

My next words turned into a sharp breath as the trees around us suddenly rotted, and his eyes filled with black. Her presence was suddenly everywhere, oozing from the sky and the ground, and the forest. The shell of Shadaii was swept away, and the forest became a barren field around me, icy and cold. 

Out of the oblivion slithered a huge black snake, its head as big as my whole body. It coiled it's massive body, and stared down at me with Her eyes. Black tongue flicking, her voice filled the endless space.

"You are mine." It said.

I shot upright on the cot, breathing hard and sweating. The windows were still black with night, and the room was quiet, only the faint sounds of my comrades' breathing interrupted the silence. I threw the blanket off and padded out into the hall, heart beating in my ears. even as I made for the throne room, I pulled at my core, pushing it into my veins. The sounds of my flesh echoed against the stone, and I stumbled as I fell onto all fours. My run became a gallop, and I tore around corners. Finally, I burst from the huge double doors, scaring the life out of the two guards that stood watch outside them. I leapt into the air and climbed, each stroke of my wings bringing me closer to the top of the wall. Dropping onto it, I held my breath as I looked across the valley. Even in the darkness of night I could see that the other side of it was full of ghere. They were in organized ranks, advancing ever so slowly across the huge valley. No torches, no light, just endless black lines of half-men, Armor glinting in the pale light of the moon. 

And She was there.

It had begun.

My breath fogged in the cold winter air as the horns sounded behind me. There was shouting, and the fires blazed to life on either side, dotting the length of the wall.

There was movement below me, and I peeled my eyes from the sight of the oncoming army to the foot of the wall far beneath. Ezra was there, astride his horse, directing the outward flow of armored bodies and weapons. I could hear Murrak's booming commands coming from somewhere I couldn't see. 

I closed my eyes, and pushed away the sounds, forcing the vision of Shadaii in a summer meadow into my mind. The scene brought on others -- the Ingryds crowded around a game of dice and cards, the elven children running through the green tents in the glinting light of the woods, the giants hard at work in a field of yellow grass, the dwarves arm wrestling in a makeshift stone tavern.