THE SURVIVING

A haunting melody filled the sky as the wind whistled past her tired wings. The Moon’s reflection below her, in the distance, caught her eye and she finally began her descent towards the ground. Dirt and pebbles went flying as she crashed to the shore of the lake. Every fiber of her being ached as her joints and muscles screamed in pain. Her head rose limply from the ground and her eyes became lost in the darkness beyond the stars. She wondered for a moment if she could go there and become a part of that deep black endlessness. If she would be able to just exist there, feeling nothing, being nothing. Memories repeatedly buried poked through the surface of her thoughts, and she clamped down on the aching wound inside of her. The agony that bled from it caused her jaw to unclench and echo the pain. The ground shook, the trees nearest her trembled and leaned away. Any curious creature that may have been near retreated to safety from the demons that accompanied her scream. She took no comfort from the eerie silence that followed. Throat raw she snaked her long neck towards the lake and let her head sink beneath the still surface. The Engels grinned nastily at her from its dark depths but immediately fled when she returned the sentiment. She drank. With each pull of the cool water, she allowed her mind to become empty, her pain to become quiet and her heart to go dark. When the need for air became a whine in her head she stayed longer, the edges of her vision began to darken, before she finally resurfaced. Numbly taking in her surroundings, she noted there were no clear trails to the lake from the dense trees, she would go unbothered here for the night. It was the first clearing she had noticed since she had begun her flight over the Verbode Woud. She knew she would not be followed once she reached this ancient forest. She was safe here. Ignoring the unwanted whispers of relief and a sudden growling of hunger she made herself marginally comfortable on the dark pebbled beach of the lake. Curling her serpent like neck and tail around her body she allowed herself rest for the first time in days. She fell into a death like slumber where images filled with pain and heartbreak awaited her.

She awoke with a start suddenly alert and on her feet. The loud beating of her heart filled her whole body and for a moment it was all she could hear. The scream sounded again, and she stared incredulously at the small black Voel that emitted such a terrifying sound. It cocked its head, blinking its multiple eyes at her, then preened its feathered body with its sharp little beak before taking off with leathered wings to the other side of the lake. She snorted at herself before stretching her long body and shaking out her wings while looking around. The clearing was actually quite beautiful in the light of day. Everything emitted a soft iridescent sheen making the whole clearing appear to glow in the sunlight. The boulders, rocks and pebbles were various shades of dark blue, and the algae had a florescent green hue. Even the grass leading up to the pebbled beach was a vibrant green with a rich brown dirt underneath. The lake was vast and deep, the water was clear and reflected the color of the dark blue pebbles at its bottom. She spotted schools of small black fish darting here and there past schools of larger sparkling orange fish. Impatient Engels sprung up from the lake’s bottom catching fish with their webbed fingers tipped with deadly claws. The long glowing fins trailing from their backs like wings, fluttered as their powerful tails propelled them back to the bottom as quickly as they brought them up. Looking further down, she watched slightly amused as the small black fish ventured near the glowing balls hanging from the heads of the Engels hidden in the pale green weeds that matched their coloring. They quickly met their ends in the Engels many fanged mouths that darted out from their hair that floated around their heads, concealing their faces. This prompted her stomach to remind her that she had been punishing it. Her neck snapped forward and she swallowed a mouth full of the larger orange fish. They made a good treat, but she would need more to sustain her on her journey. Although she did not know where to go. She could never show her face in Hemel again. The idea of returning to her Mate, Mikael, empty handed made her nauseous with shame. The Sky Caves could no longer be her home. Catching her reflection, she looked nothing like she felt. A fierce, snake-like pearlescent jewel of the sky, the Dracon had always held her family in high esteem. But that no longer mattered. I may not be able to see all the cracks, but I am truly broken. She shut her eyes against her reflection and glided into the lake. She decided to wait just under the surface of the water for her next prey. It was a trick her father had taught her when she was a dragonling. Her kin’s coloring could reflect their surroundings when they decided to become one with it, so she became completely still and waited. Allowing her nostrils to ever so slightly slip above the surface for air, after a while, she smelled them. A herd of Deerem cautiously made their way past the safety of the tree line and into the clearing. They had three eyes, round and empty of intelligence, on each side of their long angular heads going from their snout to ears. The female Deerem had large sharply pointed antlers on their heads the color of bone to protect their young. Short nude colored fur covered the bodies of the four-legged creatures whose feet resembled the hands of humans, but shorter and wider. Their finger like toes gripped the ground silently as they walked. She waited, undetected, for the males to come forward. Their long-haired tails swished lazily behind them to ward off flies. They crowded the water, pushing the ones in the front deeper into the lake. Watching the snouts of the Deerem under the water she prepared herself to strike. Her powerful jaw enveloped the nearest males head before swiftly and silently pulling him under. She watched from the middle of the lake as the Deerem stared at the space their companion had been, while she devoured him, before going back to quenching their thirst. She slowly moved back into position after getting more air. After taking two more, the Deerem became restless as uneasiness took over their senses. She considered giving chase for fun as her belly was now full, but then they became calm and the Deerem in front of her parted suddenly. She watched in utter shock as a small child in a dirty white night gown walked forward. The little girl dropped to a squat her round knees poking out on either side of her and cupped water to drink from her small hands. Looking closer she could see the girl was barely much older than a babe, filled with curiosity she wanted to rake an even closer look. The girl looked past her cupped hands and directly into her eyes. Surprised, she thoughtlessly rose her head out of the water causing the Deerem to panic and scatter, bleating their fear. Their sudden dash for safety disturbed a tree full of Voel’s and their deafening screams filled the air. All the while the little girl stared up at her, water dripping from her still cupped hands, seemingly unfazed. Her eyes are the same as mine.

The little girl slowly stood and with a curious expression asked quietly “Who are you?”

“I am Auriel.” Auriel answered in a daze.

“Okay.” the little girl said with a shy smile.

Auriel looked at her in confusion. “Are you not afraid child?”

The little girl shook her head her eyes unblinking. Auriel brought her head slightly closer to the small girl and studied her. The child did not flinch or shy away but merely studied her in return. She was pale almost bloodless and her hair long, waist length hair shimmered an array of colors as it reflected the sunlight. She could not pinpoint the exact color. Is it also white? Her long lashes and lips were slightly darker than her skin, she had a round little nose and her round cheeks sat high on her face, right under her monolid eyes. The eyes were what marked her as inhuman. They were completely black with three connecting white dots that bled into a line down the center. They were the exact replica of Auriel’s. She was utterly bewildered by that.

“What are you?” Auriel pondered mostly to herself.

The little girl blinked up at her before looking away. Auriel felt disquiet bloom in her chest before the girl responded in a voice just as small as the rest of her “I don’t know.”

“Where are your mother and father?” This time Auriel reared her head back as pain replaced the feeling of disquiet. The child watched her movements with wary eyes and Auriel felt an uneasiness she could not explain. It seemed that her questions were triggering her inner wound.

“T-they took them away.” the girl said after a while, her voice trembling with tears.

“What, who?” Auriel gasped reeling as the pain doubled.

“The men with bad magic they took them away.”

Auriel stared as understanding seized her muscles. The urge to be rid of the child suddenly overwhelmed her. This small girl represented everything she was running from, everything she wished to leave behind. Auriel knew how she looked. Her line was considered the most beautiful among the Dracon. With their pearlescent scales, serpent like bodies and eight translucent wings. But to all other creatures she was a thing of nightmares. The child would not reach the size of her largest fang, until adulthood. Her claws were just as large and lethal, and she could easily create a clearing in the dense trees with a swish of her spiked tail. She had been feared her whole life, killed men with her appearance alone and made other predators turn tail as soon as they sensed her mere presence. Drawing herself up to her fullest height she bent her neck towards the child bringing her head within biting distance and smiled her lipless smile filled with overlapping fangs. She wanted her gone.

The girl merely stared into her eyes. She did not tremble, run, scream or cry. She stared deeply into Auriel’s eyes until it was she who began to tremble. She felt the child looking beyond her appearance and felt a gentle brush against that wound deep within her. She could not move. All she could do was watch those white dots as they pulsated in time with the rapid pace of her own heart. The girl reached out placing her impossibly small hand on Auriel’s fang.

“We are the same?” the girl asked, with a tear trekking down her chubby cheek. It was as if a dam broke within Auriel’s heart. She launched herself into the sky with a roar. Looking down towards the girl she released the blue flames within her freezing every inch of the clearing below. The lake, the algae covered rocks even the surrounding trees. She poured out every ounce of her fear, pain, loss, hatred and frustration until her belly grew warm and her frost sputtered out. Then she let herself fall. As she went crashing to the ground, she allowed herself to picture her young ones fresh from their eggs, wobbling and crying out for her, their wings still damp. Her last memory of them right before... The air left her body as Auriel hit the ground. Before her vision succumbed to darkness she watched as the blurry image of the little girl ran up towards her. I guess I missed.

A nagging feeling of concern grated on Auriel. It started off as small buzzing in her unconscious until it grew so strong it propelled her into a wakened state. She opened her eyes to a dark and glittery place. For a moment she wondered if she had been granted her wish and had joined the darkness between the stars. Then she became aware of every ache in her body and snorted at her stupidity. As if I deserve peace. Auriel heard a small voice wail. Her eyes widened as she felt relief bubble up inside of her like the witches’ cauldrons of old before the Mages wiped them out. She stared warily at the small blubbering child who clung to her fangs as if they were a source of comfort instead of obvious danger. She didn’t understand the girl. She couldn’t be less than three years of age. She was not young enough to not know better. Even with her mother and father gone she should know to be frightened of her kind. There were very few that were not. Very few. It was then Auriel realized what she was blubbering. She snapped her neck away causing the child to stumble, slipping on the icy ground.

“Why are you begging for forgiveness girl?” She watched closely as the child started to wring her hands in her dirty night gown, something she clearly had been doing for a while. Auriel could see the blotchy blue stains and tear tracks on her cheeks and watched as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. All the while the small girl avoided her eyes. Shame settled like a rock in Auriel’s stomach, but there was only one thing she was truly ashamed of. Things slowly started to dawn on her. “What have you done?” she hissed. The girl cringed in shame. It was she who was ashamed of herself, and Auriel knew it was due to her current state. She thought back on all the overwhelming feelings that had been assaulting her since she met the child. They had felt like foreign invasions. She thought about how the girl’s eyes matched her own with no clear difference and how for a moment she had felt as if the girl had reached inside of her with them. Auriel came to her feet in one swift motion. It can’t be. She had thought them to be extinct. Wiped out by the mages centuries ago. But this child...

“Speak, who are your kin?” she hissed. Auriel felt fear, pain then relief in quick succession. She could now easily feel the difference between her emotions and the child’s. The girl let go of her garment and balled her little hands into fist and opened her mouth. Auriel froze. Out of the girls fanged mouth rose a short, light but firm note she had only heard repeated to her as a young dragon by her mother. How had she not noticed that the girl had communicated with her as her kin did? Only dragons spoke mind to mind. This was the first time the girl had opened her mouth, displaying fangs similar to her own. The Empatie. Auriel fought her body’s natural instincts to run. The Empatie were nothing but cautionary tales by the time she was a dragonling. They had many gifts that even the Dracon were not privy to, but what made them feared above all other creatures was their ability to make you destroy yourself. They could draw out, amplify and create your emotions. Send you merrily off a cliff through your own volition or make you go mad with the buried pain, anger or shame of your past traumas. “They only need be aware of your presence to steal your eyes from your head and bury themselves into the secrets of your soul. Then they become you and you Auriel will be no more.” Auriel could still hear the finality in her sire’s voice, the look of witnessing something truly terrifying in his eyes. She stared and stared into the girl’s eyes that were her own.

“How did the Mages get to you?” Auriel ignored the foreign pain that gripped her heart. Her own pain was still buried within her.

“They took me from bed and held me in front of Maman and Papa one held my head.”

Auriel closed her eyes. “And what happened next?”

“Maman told me to close my eyes b-but I was too scared.”

Auriel felt her insides quake. “What did your Mother and Father do?”

“They held their hands out and said to t-take them instead”

Auriel looked up at the stars her voice escaping her. The little girl continued as if she could no longer hold the words in. Her little voice trembling with tears.

“Then the bad man put out his hand and they turned to ash and I Awoke and they screamed and s-screamed they fell to the ground. I sat with Maman and Papa but they didn’t come back. I wanted to go home. I think about here Maman liked it here and then I was here. The furry bones came and took care of me and then today I found you. But I hurt you! Can Auriel forgive me?” she cried.

She continued her voice breaking as she sobbed. “I want Maman… and Papa, the b-bad men… to f-f-forgive me… b-but they’re… Can A-Auriel forgive me?”

Auriel felt a bone deep chill and she shivered as the stars blurred with visions of what the girl spoke of except, she was the mother, and the girl was her own dragonlings. Visions so similar, yet not the same. Auriel’s eyes returned to the child. She was reminded of how young she was as she stood there looking up at her gripping the font of her gown with her tiny hands. Her lips and cheeks were blue, and she trembled and cried the fat tears that only babes could produce. Eyes that were the same as her own, the same as her dragonlings looked up at her imploringly. She became aware of an almost painful ache of hope in her chest. She could not discern if it was the child’s or her own.

She was so small. A baby girl given the chance of life by a mother and sire who did what Auriel could not. A scared little girl like her own son and daughter had been. A surviving victim of the Mages just as she herself was. How could she pass judgement on this child for simply existing? For lacking guidance and control when she had been left alone to fend for herself. How could she look at her as if she were anything but what she was. A little girl in need of a mother. A lost child, the last of the Empatie. She let her pride, anger and fear get in the way of saving her own children. This is her second chance. Auriel made her way over to the child whose eyes mirrored her own. She curled herself around the little girl and snaked her head level with her small body.

“What is your name child?”

The little girl opened her fanged mouth and emitted a fluttery and soothing note.

Auriel chuckled causing the girl to give her a cautious smile.

“I am sorry little one, but I do not speak your language.”

The little girl stared up at her. “Can I also be Auriel?”

Auriel reminded herself that the child was innocent and ignored her father’s echoing words.

“No child, you are you and I am myself.”

The little girl nodded and looked down at her feet as she wiped her eyes.

Auriel watched the child and considered her attributes. “I will call you Ramiel.”

The little girl looked up with wide eyes.

“It’s pretty like yours.” she said with a bright smile.

Auriel smiled down at Ramiel whose smile only grew brighter.

“Ramiel, I forgive you. It was not your fault. You cannot continue to blame yourself.” The words echoed in Auriel’s head.

The child’s smile wobbled, and Auriel felt her body begin to thaw. “I will protect you, Ramiel.”

Ramiel climbed onto her tail, nestled between two spikes and curled up against her warm belly, Auriel felt the girl’s fear and uncertainty rise in her chest.

“From the bad men?” she whispered.

Auriel looked down at the small child curled up against her, she could see now eight small translucent wings starting to grow just above the top of her gown. She felt a primal urge wash over her and knew the feeling was her own. She is mine to protect. She looked into Ramiel’s eyes. Eyes that were her own.

“Soon we will right their wrongs.” Auriel promised her child.