I was woken by a strong pain in my leg. Wanting the pain to stop, and continue my slumber I began to run my hand up and down my leg, trying to find the source of the pain. Seconds later, I came into contact with someone’s foot. There toenail was poking my leg causing me a slight amount of pain. I moved the foot away and got settled again, only to seconds later have the foot press back against me. Deciding I wasn’t going to stop the foot from poking me, I sat up and yawned. The sunlight coming through the paper door gave off a warming feel through the entire room. Smiling, I stood and stretched some more. Once I finished my stretching, I glanced around the room. There were at least 40 others in here. The sleeping bags were tucked tightly against one another in order to make room for everyone. Sighing deeply, I slowly began to make my way to the door that led to the balcony, which was harder than it looked due to the massive amount of people sleeping in the room. After nearly tripping on some people, and stepping on others, I made it to the door where I slowly slid it open, stepped outside, and slid the door shut.
Smiling at myself for overcoming the issue without waking anyone, I walked to the guard rail and leaned over it, resting my cheek on my arm. Everything seemed to look so beautiful from up here. The trees looked to be nothing more than sprouts, and the flowers looked like red and blue stains on a green carpet. There always seemed to be a constant breeze at this height, which didn’t bother me any. The wind brought different scents to my nose, and made me feel calm.
“What a weird day yesterday was.” I stated to myself, smiling at the fact that I had over come it. My thoughts then went to the dragon Cira, and how Ren was supposedly her mate, but she didn’t know. I felt sorry for them and wanted to help, but knew that there was nothing I could do. Its sad knowing that the 4 little ones of Ren would never know who there father was. Suddenly the sound of a small thud to my left caught my attention. I glanced over to see Ren whom was standing beside me with a smile on his face.
“Morning.” he whispered.
“Same to you.” I replied with a smile.
“Well, I take since your still alive that Gertrude didn’t find out you were the spirit?” he whispered, looking over the railing I was laying against.
“Yeah, but Cross knew what I was.” I replied.
“We’ll talk later. So are you ready?” he asked, a devious smile appearing on his face.
“Ready for whAAAAAAAAAA!” I shouted as he threw me over the railing and into the air only to seconds later catch me in his powerful grasp.
“If you bite me again ill let you fall ok.” he stated with a laugh. I only managed to reply with a whimper which caused him to smile even more. I have never flown before, well besides the incident the other night, but I found it to be fun. Time seemed to slow, and although I was at the mercy of Ren, I felt calm in his arms. We flew for what seemed like hours, but in reality was mere minutes to where I had appeared at. The river that I had been swimming in when I came here was dried up and now was a large meadow. Ren circled the area for a few minutes, then flew to the ground where he made an easy and graceful landing. He stood on his hind legs until he released me, then he dropped to all fours.
“I suspect you know what this place is?” he questioned.
“Yeah. This is where you abducted me.” I replied, shooting him an angry look. He stayed silent, and I began to walk down a hill to where the river used to be. Ren stood at the top of the hill for a few minutes before following.
“Where did it go?” I asked, curious about how a river could just disappear like that.
“It dries when it senses evil. The spirit that dwells within its depths is said to be one of the greatest.” he replied as he starred blankly at where it used to be.
“What about the spirit? Where did it go?” I asked as I stepped to the small drop off that I had slipped on.
“Into the soil to hide until the evil passes.” he replied, his gaze was that of guilt.
“What’s wrong Ren?” I asked, stepping to his side. He looked to me with a confused look before replying.
“Well, I’m not what you think I am.”
“What do you mean?” I questioned, placing a hand on his right flank.
He quickly moved away so that I no longer touched him. “I’ve done some evil things in my past, and I just want to do right for a change. But it seems that when I try to do the right thing, I get labeled as a killer, a monster who wants nothing but pain brought into the world.” he replied, dropping his gaze to the ground.
“Like the Demon Razgreez.” I replied with a grin.
“That old tale huh?” he replied with a smile before looking to the sky. As he did so something caught my attention. On his back near his left wing was a blue and gold Yin-Yang with a hand in the middle.
“Where did you get that?” I asked, my suspicion growing to a new high for I had seen the mark before, but the memory was still blurry.
“It…..it serves as a reminder.” he finally whispered after a few minutes, before folding his wings against his body which hid it from my view.
“Of what?” I asked as I walked to his side.
“Of what I used to be. Of what was taken from me.” he replied before dropping his gaze back to the ground.
“Well, what did you used to be?” I stated before sitting beside him. He didn’t reply, instead he stared at the ground as if lost in thought.
“You miss them don’t you?” I said before rubbing his neck.
“I miss them with all of my being, but ill never be able to see them again.” he replied, I could see the beginning of a tear start to form. Seconds later the tear fell, but did not disappear into the grass. Instead it sat on the blade of grass, shining like a stone, which was what it had become. His tear had turned to a small diamond.
“I cant even shed a tear without being reminded of my life!” he roared before standing and letting lose a large jet of flame off in anger.
“Curse this life! Curse what I have become!” he shouted as he let lose another jet of flame, this one stronger than the first. He then allowed his head to drop to the ground as he panted wildly. Once his panting had settled, the sound of thunder in the distance caught our attention. We both glanced up to see a black cloud rolling toward the bathhouse, the rain was clearly visible as it rushed toward our direction.
“Come on. We need to get you back before everyone gets suspicious.” Ren Silently stated before wrapping me in his grasp and taking to the air. We both stayed silent as the rain began to pour down over us. Ren kept me dry as much as possible as we flew back to the bathhouse, which now seemed like a glowing blob in the middle of a night like storm. I couldn’t help of think about what he had been talking about. What did he used to do that made him feel so bad, and why would Gertrude erase Cira and there children’s memories of him. I was cut from my thoughts as we came to the lower door of the bathhouse. Ren let me go and used his wing to keep me dry as we walked into the lower door. Ren closed the door as I took my shoes off and picked them up to take back to my room. Ren watched me closely. I could see the sorrow in his eyes, but sorrow quickly changed to confusion as his eyes grew wide. Immediately noticing my mistake, I tried to stand in front of him and stop him from entering the egg chamber, but he simply pushed me to the side and continued into the room. When he entered, he froze with joy and excitement. His limbs were shaking and his voice was even more so.
“Mommy!” one of the small hatchlings stated in fear. That was quickly followed by a threatening growl as Cira appeared from the side of the room and attacked Ren. She quickly knocked him onto his back and pinned him down, growling at him while doing so.
“Ci……..Cira?” Ren asked, his voice shaking heavily.
“Who are you!” she commanded.
“Cira its me. It’s Ren.” he replied, a smile growing across his face.
“I thought you were dead!” he stated happily, but his happy tone went back to a sorrowful one as Cira roared at him.
“How do you know me!” she commanded.
“Cira, we grew up together, were mates!” he replied, his gaze was pleading for her to believe him, but she was showing no sign’s of doing so.
“I don’t have a mate!” she quickly replied, her angry gaze was beginning to fade to sorrow as well.
“What! Then how did you have them!” Ren shouted as he pointed to the 4 small dragons huddled safely away from the fight.
“Shadow, Cypher, Nina, Faline, its me. It’s Daddy.” Ren pleaded to them, but they did not move. Sorrel seemed shocked that he knew her children’s names, but kept him pinned down.
“Leave here and never return!” Cira commanded Ren before letting him up.
“Leave? Cira, listen to me! I’m not here to harm you or our children. I just want you to remember me, please Cira.” Ren begged. His eyes told a story of shame and happiness.
“I’ve never seen you before, and yet you say we grew up together? I don’t know who you are or what sick game your trying to play, but I just want you gone!” Cira shouted causing Ren to slowly walk to the door.
As he reached it, he stopped and turned to her. “Please Cira. Try to remember.” he said before leaving.
“How dare you endanger my children like that!” Cira spat at me after Ren had disappeared.
“Cira, he’s telling the truth. Gertrude wiped your memory of him when he left here, or at least that’s what Sorrel told me.” I replied, trying to calm her down. Suddenly the sound of the elevator coming to life caught our attention.
“Oh no, if I’m caught down here I’m dead!” I stated in a fearful tone. Cira suddenly grabbed me in one paw and took me to where the 4 little hatchlings were laying, still huddled against each other. She put me down beside them and quickly lay in front of us, hiding us from the view of everyone.
“Little girl, if what you say is true, were going to have a long talk after this.” she whispered as the sounds of the elevator stopped.