Dawn Will Come

Chapter Two

Her hair was as white as the snow that fell around us and something about the way it had been styled reminded me of the dragon I had just bared witness too. Her eyes were the colours of radiant ambers.

"This is not your battle to fight," said the woman, her body dressed in what I could only believe to be powerful armour. To me, she appeared as though she were ready to fight the battle.

"We have to help them," I blurted.

"You would help no one by losing your life. A life you have only just received and started to live, child born of the rift," she replied.

"We can't just leave them!" I insisted.

"They have already escaped what used to be their home," said the woman as the ground shook once again. I turned as yet another avalanche buried the town, coating it in a blanket of white.

The ground continued to shake as two large claws grabbed my body and lifted me from the ground. My heart seemed to pause for a moment, as I looked up to the sky and bore witness to the magnificent red dragon that carried me. Something about the beast brought me an unusual sense of safety.

Even though I felt unusual comfort and safety in the dragons grip, I knew better than to trust such a beast as I began to struggle against its grip but it proved to be of little use. The mark on my hand began to glow and as it did so, an agonising pain ripped through my body.

Suddenly, my blood felt as though it were boiling, scolding my veins and burning through my muscles. A thousand needles felt as though they were piercing every inch of my skin as the waves of agony continued to spread through my body, spreading from the mark upon my hand. My heart thumbed violently in my chest as an agonised scream escaped my lips.

The cold wind brought little comfort to me as the pain continued to spread until it became a struggle to continue clinging to consciousness. Another scream escaped my lips as the glow grew brighter and more radiant until a large rift formed in the sky but only for a moment.

The rift flickered open and seemed to strain but only long enough for the dragon to pass through it before it closed behind us and as it closed, I finally lost the battle that had taken place in my body.

Everything around me fade as the world grew cold and dark. I attempted one last time to cling to consciousness but it seemed futile as I lost touch with the world.

***

The soft snow touched the palm of my hand as I slowly grew aware of the world once again. The gentle embrace of warmth flickered to my right as I lay there. Behind my eyelids, I could see the flicker of light which I could only have guessed to have been the flicker of a flame. A fire.

I could smell the burning of wood and hear the very light breathing of a person clearly not too far from me. I listened for a moment longer, afraid that whoever it was that awaited my awakening.

As I listened, I became aware of a second presence, much further away than the first however their breathing sounded ragged.

I continued to listen carefully but I was unable to hear anything more than the breathing I had heard before. Only two people were in my presence. Only two people waited for me to wake.

“You need not pretend to sleep around me child. You are safe,” said a familiar voice and immediately, I remembered the woman who had spoken to me whilst the small town had been under attack. It was her voice. She was one of the two who waited for me.

Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and saw the woman sat on the opposite side to the fire to where I lay. My gaze met her amber eyes as she watched me, something about the way she looked at me told me of the curiosity she felt towards me.

“You never told me your name,” I mumbled as I sat up and gazed upon the unusual blue markings that wrapped around my hand and wrist.

“You never told me yours, either,” replied the woman. I motioned to speak before pausing as I tried to remember my name, but I was unable too. Several minutes passed as I thought, fought to remember but it was futile.

“I don’t know my name,” I stuttered.

“I thought not, child born of the rift,”

“Do you have a name?”

“I go by many names but you may call me Flemeth,” said the woman with a comforting, soft smile but something about it almost appeared mischievous if not menacing.

“Do you know my name? Do you know who I am?” I asked, silently hoping and wishing to receive some sort of answers.

“I am sorry but I do not hold the answers you seek, child,”

I sat there in silence as my hopes and wishes were scattered to the wind. The woman, Flemeth, knew no more about me than I did. Flemeth stood and approached me before she knelt by my side and took my hand in hers to look at the markings.

“You hold great power, child,” she said, her voice as soft and light as a feather, “a power you hold no control over but you must learn to control it,” she pulled me to my feet before she continued speaking, “to learn control, you must practise. Come with me,”

She pulled me away from the warmth of the fire, the feathers that were attached onto her right shoulder, danced in the wind of the light storm. I followed her without question and the further from the fire we became, the louder the rasped breathing became.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and what my gaze fell upon caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on ends as the icy breeze carried the whispers to my ears. I wanted to cover them and drown out the sound but it seemed impossible to hide from the voices that whispered to my soul.