Kingdom Dawning

Chapter Two

 I had the same dream about the guards and the man with the blurry faced man but this time the walls engulfed in radiant flames. The fire was so hot that I was convinced I was about to melt if the guards didn't get me first. I kept expecting my brother to call out to me again, to save me from my impending doom. I would've given anything to hear his voice. Paid any price, gone to any length to listen to my sweet brother.

 Sadly it wasn't my brother what woke me up before the gloved hand touched my face. The hallway began to shake; it shook so hard that the glossy marble floor began to shake and fall apart. The floor and guards fell into a deep dark abyss. Cracks grew more abundant and closer until they formed a circle around me. I fell so fast I barely had a moment to comprehend I was slipping into the dark void until all I saw was darkness. 

I woke up gasping for air and leillan kneeling over me, hands on my shoulders and wide blue eyes deep with worry. I tried to move, but she kept pressing me down; She was surprisingly strong. It didn't help that my body felt like it was falling apart and my throat stung intensely just to breath 

"leillan, please let me go!" I whined at her. The pain worsened when I talked. My voice came out raspy and almost inaudibly quiet. 

"You promised me you would come back okay Cyra! But you didn't, did you? I found you unconscious on the ground almost surrounded by burning buildings barely breathing!" her eyes filled with tears I hope from relief that I wasn't dead. I felt my heart fill with guilt.

"leillan I didn't mean to get attacked like that. I thought I would get Ef-" My eyes went wide when it finally hit me.

The fire.

Efrain in the house that went up in flame.

I tried to speak, to say anything instead of just staring blankly up at leillan but I felt my throat closing up as if I was being choked once again. I felt hot tears stream down my now ice cold skin. I saw leillan's eyes grow even wider as she witnessed me cry in complete silence. She slides off of me.

"Cyra what happened out there" leillan whispered gently as she brushed the hair out of my face. She was trying to comfort me, I know that, but I didn't deserve her kindness. So I turned away from her. I looked away from her, and toward the bed, I had been laying on. Pink ruffled sheets on a large soft bed that laid in the middle of a large baby pink room 

"leillan where are we" my voice still just as weak as the first time I attempted to speak.

 "Certax's most of the colony had been burned or robbed of any supplies" leillan took a deep breath "including both our houses went up in flames." The sadness in her voice made her turn around. Her dark eyes were swimming in tears that were seeking a way to escape. Her tears were for a different reason than mine, but that didn't make them any less validated. I pushed myself up, so I was facing her and wrapped my arms around her. The moment I pulled her close I felt the shoulder of my dress get damp, I used that as permission to let my tears go. 

I couldn't say how long we sat in that pink room and cried. leillan was done before me but didn't say anything. She just sat there and stroked my hair as I sobbed. I wept until my heartfelt too weak and tired to go on, and my throat felt raw and as if hard needles were piercing it. It almost felt like my body had nothing else to give. 

" I am sorry Leillain" she just continued to stroke my hair not saying a word. " I failed him leillan" this got her to stop moving. 

"Failed who?" I pulled away so I could look up at her.

"Efrain...I failed to get him out, and now he is-" leillan stopped me by putting a finger up against my lips. 

" Do you believe Efrain to be dead?" my lips were still being held hostage by her finger, so I slowly nodded. What did she mean by "believe," I saw our house burn. I know he died and it was because I wasn't quick enough to save him. leillan's face brightened up, and she slides out of bed. I stayed put as she ran out the door so fast I could barely comprehend what was going on "yeah this is the moment when you follow me." I heard her yell from down the hallway. I slid out of the silky blankets and attempted to stand firmly on the ground. Though I quickly learned standing would be a lot harder than I originally planned since my legs felt like frail twigs about to snap. I gripped the wooden posts that supported the bed as security in case I feel; which felt likely. I shuffled my way out of the pink room and out into the familiar hallway which I have traveled down countless time yet now it felt...foreign. As if these walls were strangers to me. Leaning against walls and railings, I finally was able to make it downstairs where I was met with leillan's bright smiling face.