Hiraeth

The Day The Dragons Came

***Another Challenge: Start with the words "I remember" and see where it goes:" 

I remember.

I remember the day the dragons came. I remember their screaming cries and their hardened hearts. The stones that were flying through the air like bullets with names scripted on their sides. The fire that was ablaze and the screams that tore through the air. The silent wails of the children, lost in the sea of fire and rage. I remember the earth as it was kicked up under my feet. I remember the rain pouring down on us all until I couldn't see. 

I remember the sun, beating down on the remains of the downtrodden. The rotting corpses lying in the paths we'd created to get around our beloved city. I remember the tears in my flesh, the claws that burned under my skin. I remember the heat against my neck, the thumping in my chest. I remember the ones who lost it all. The ones who lived for one second. That's all they were waiting for. The moment to fight and lose their lives in a simple moment of glory. I remember the terror in the eyes of the innocents, I remember the ones who tried to bargain for the right to live. 

I remember the spear whizzing through the air beside me. I remember their spines, twisted and out of shape until you couldn't tell the thing lying in front of you was a human being. I remember the rusted nail polish on the fingers of the dead woman lying in my arms. I remember her grip, her rasping voice telling me not to let her die. Not to let her stay there, alone. I remember her cracked lips and the hoarseness in her throat. My lungs ached for water and air. I remember the earthquakes as they shook the earth, sending towers crumbling at our feet and on top of our heads. I remember the sound of the screeching metal, the white lights that came from the stormy skies. I remember my heart beating in my ears, my feet had gone numb from running.

 I remember the lone child that tried to fight them, one stone in his right hand and the slender stick in his left. I remember his knees trembling like a house of cards about to collapse, his voice quivering when he called out to the beasts of the sky. I remember his mother screaming for someone to help him as he was lost in the blaze. I remember feeling helpless, the thick black smoke clouding my gaze. I remember leaving them all alone to run. I ran. I ran for me. I didn't wait to save anyone else after what I'd seen. There were monsters like we'd never seen, their scaly sides glistening in the sunlight. Their scales were too heavy for a single man to hold, their eyes an inferno of hate and rage. I ran. My feet kicked up dirt behind me as I pounded the earth below me. I ran until my lungs burned and my eyes teared up, and my skin felt like a melting pot of iron. I remember the feeling of stopping, my legs numb, my lungs choking from lack of air.

I remember the ones we left behind. The ones I left behind. I remember the guilt, and the crushing sadness. But a man has got to do what a man has got to do. And your own life is more important than everyone else's when something like that happens. We're all heroes until it's time to change the world. 

~October