The Dragon King

Chapter 6 - Staying

Anna May

Prince Raiden took me down several curved hallways before we stood in front of an arched doorway. A hint of salty sea breeze swirled in the air around us. It was slightly dark inside, but, when Prince Raiden took his first step into the room, the room lit up immediately. Multiple wall torches lit up with an orange flame. A connected stoa-covered walkway protected a rectangle hearth of water. On the ceiling, I could see sea creatures swimming in the bright azure water outside these walls.

"This place...it takes my breath away," I whispered more to myself than to Prince Raiden.

His eyes scanned the room to find what I was looking at it. For him, he might not see what I see. This was mystical to me.

He placed his hand at the curve of my naked back. My back stiffened upon contact, not because I was disgusted by his touch, but because I was completely affected by it. Goosebumps crawled all over my body.

"Come," he urged, before guiding me to one end of the rectangular hearth of water. There were two steps that led down. He took one, and his feet were immersed in the water.

I followed him down. The end of my skirt clung to my ankles as I did so. As soon as my feet were completely submerged, a picture flickered before me in the water. It was like looking at a reflection.

"You can see and hear your family, but they can't see or hear you," he explained. "And Anna?"

I looked up from the image on the water.

"You have been here for four days. That is four months where your parents are. Time travels faster there than here," he told me before stepping out of the water. "I will wait for you outside this room."

My eyes dropped back to my parents. I sat down on one of the steps and watched. I saw my parents and grandma sitting outside their little cottage. They looked sad, but the look on my father's face brought tears to my eyes.

"It is my fault, Maya. I should have done more. We should have done a ritual." my father whispered, his voice hoarse.

My mother started weeping. Her sobs came out in short hiccups.

"She was our only baby. I wanted to see so much more, Don. I wanted to see her happy with kids. I wanted to hold my grandkids and tell them stories," my mother cried in anguish.

My grandma reached out to pat my mother on the back to comfort her. "It was her time. She had to go, and we all knew it. We knew it was going to happen."

My father's eyes were watering as he glanced at grandma.

"If only..."

"There wasn't anything you could do, Don. We can try altering our destinies but, in the end, it is already set in stone for us. All we can do now is hope she is doing well," Grandma interrupted my father.

He exhaled shakily and covered his face with his hands. For him, it was the hardest thing to show weakness. All my life, I have never seen him cry in front of me. He raised me with a harsh hand, but his heart was as gentle as a feather. I remembered one time, wanting a stuffed baby doll at one of the local markets. I cried and threw a tantrum. He scolded and spanked me right there in front of everyone. It worked, I stopped crying, but couldn't stop sniffling. Every time he looked at me, my lips would quiver. At the end of that week, he came home from work carrying the baby doll in his hand.

I didn't realize it then, but now that I was older, I realized that look in his eyes when he spanked me. It hurt him ten times more than it did me. It ate and tore at his heart. When he scolded me, I can see the hesitation and the urge to give in to what I wanted.