Anelle woke up standing on a plateau.
The wind danced like a knife against her skin. The sky was cut in a jagged line. Peaks divided the world into north and south. Sister mountains reached height into the sky around her.
Anelle blinked. Her mind was hazy. Where was she? How…? She tried to look around but her body wouldn't move. She could see other mountains reaching up towards the sky with clouds drifting between the peaks. Trees that rivaled the mountains in size grew between the spires of stone.
Last year two gentlemen explorers visited her home. Anelle had spent hours questioning them about their travels. She longed to one day leave the county and explore the world like these brave men. They told her about climbing the Narite mountains, painting a picture of the rolling hills below and the great Skiy ocean behind. Anelle wanted to laugh at her naivety but her lips refused to move. She had been away from home for one day and was relying on the help of strangers to survive. She was no explorer, just a lost child with no home to return too.
Sorrow crashed into her chest. She fell to her knees. Someone dear to her was dead. No. Anelle had no recollection of this person but she knew the pain of loss. Her family were gone. Anelle never thought she would be grateful for her older sisters, Alyse and Lea, abandoning her in the dead of night years ago. The image of them living safe and free gave her a small amount of hope.
Tears spilled from her eyes. Her head gently nuzzled against something.
The grief that flooded through her wasn't her own. She was experiencing someone else's moment in time. Was this a dream? Anelle gave over to it and became a silent passenger.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I should have stopped them, I…"
The object beneath her head shifted. She looked up. Anelle jumped although her body remained still. A single giant reptilian eye with swirling blue depths regarded her. She stared into the eye trying to remember every detail before he left her too. She could see the pain he held at bay. Her tears flowed with new vigour.
"No child." The deep voice laboured though each word. "Throwing your life away would have been for nothing." The creature took another strained breath. Warm air brushed against her cheeks.
Anelle was able to see the entirety of the creature lying before her. White scales that refracted the light in iridescent colours started small covering its long nose and face, travelling down its long body all the way to its tail. It was a dragon. Two bloody stumps were the only proof this creature once flew across the sky in all its magnetic glory. Its stomach was stuffed with swords like a pin cushion. With every heavy breath the blades moved, slicing deeper, spilling more dark blue blood. Two more of these swords stuck out the creature's neck. The woman's eyes focused on the creature's back. A flag pole, cast in steel, had been thrust through the creature's body and into the ground below. At its peak hung a red flag with a coat of arms in the centre. A circle of gold branches with three white flowers at the bottom and a stag's skull in the centre. Fury bubbled up as she took in the coat of arms, burning the image into her mind.
"Child," the word was softer than a whisper. She looked down into his eye, only a tiny spark of life remained. "I will give you the power you seek… but only if you promise something in return."
She nodded. She would promise anything. "I know you too well to ask you not to seek vengeance." His breath caught in his throat as he tried to laugh. The two swords sliced deeper. "So I won't ask it of you. But you must seek your own happiness with the same determination. Please. Promise me this."
All she could do was nod.
"Good… good." A glint in his eyes. "I hope you know what you just agreed to." She looked up with a confused expression. "I give to you the last of my life and strength."
With his words the last spark of life was extinguished. His body went limp and the white scales dulled to grey.
A small orb of light rose from the jaws of the dead dragon and flew towards her. The orb was made of a white flame continually circling within itself. She held out her hands. The fire didn't burn her. She could feel his laugh and kindness within the flames, she felt so alone.
She raised the orb to her mouth and swallowed the flames. The warmth radiated throughout her body moving of its own accord. The flames became hot, burning. She collapsed to the ground curled in the fetal position, holding her head in her hands. The inferno broke and rebuilt her body in agonising slowness. The fire spilled from her gaping mouth and danced upon her skin. First the flames were orange then blue before finally becoming a majestic white. She burned. The pain felt like her skin was being ripped apart and melted back together over and over. The heat radiated from her rib cage like a monster stuck in a cage thrashing to get out.