Dawn of a Second Life by Kathrayne (distant reading .txt) 📕

have returned to where you belong.” She leans forward and kisses my forehead. “I am Mother Earth.”
The little women on the shoulder makes a impatient sound, a glow around her turning red. Mother Earth laughs. “And this is Ivy.”
“Ivy? What is she?” I look closer and Ivy kicks me in the nose. I jerk back, stumbling into the table.
“Ivy, you will behave yourself.” Mother Earth commands. “She is a fairy, Emerald, and quite a rude one at that. Ivy, do you have any notion on who you just kicked?”
The fairy shakes her head and Mother Earth whispers something in her ear. When finished, Ivy looks astounded. She silently gets up, her little wings flittering. She disappears out the door. As I watch her leave, I catch the eye of the other three people that stood behind Mother Earth. It is a young mother heavy with child, her grey eyes weary and a hand on her bulging belly. In her other is a little girl with blonde braids and bright sky blue eyes. She beams at me, happy, and the looks to the man. He is gazing at me, a knowing smile on his lips. He picks up the little girl and they both wave.
“Who are they?” I ask the brunette woman. She turns, her dress swirling around her ankles.
“You released them.” She says. When I just look at her, she nods gently. “They have been trapped here for seventeen years.”
Trapped? Like ghosts? I think back to how many bodies had been lying there. Three, two adults and a child.
“Come. Let us walk.” She says and I follow as she walks outside. Everything seems to brighten where she steps, livening up. Butterflies of all shades fly around us, some landing in her hair while others stay aloft. “Do you know where you are, child?”
“No, ma’am. I do not.” I reply. She smiles, and then it fades. “This used to be your home.”
“My home?” I ask, looking around. I see more houses like the first one, a temple with a statue out in front that looks like Mother Earth, and then I see a great wall. I run towards it, bracing myself for anything. I run through the doorway and come to an immediate stop.
Everything is burned black. The ground beneath my feet is still charred, unable to grow new grass. Stone houses lay in crumbled heaps, gardens are burned. Everywhere old blood stains the ground and homes. The scent of death still lies thick in the air. The great wooden door to the once grand castle is broken into heaping piles of burned logs.
I feel Mother Earth as she walks up behind me. As she lays a hand on my shoulder, I realize that I am shaking. “What happened?” I manage to ask.
“War.” she says, nodding her head.
“War?” I repeat, still looking about. “Over what?”
“No one truly knows, daughter. The Darkness will fight just to fight. They see it as sport.” She pushes me forward slightly, motioning me to go into the castle.
We walk in through the torn doorway and enter a great foyer. The floor is black, but where her step the soot and dust moves to show white marble. Two grand A grand staircase adorns the middle of the room leading up to a balcony that wraps around the whole foyer. There are doors to both the left and right, as well as to each side of the stairs.
I go up to the banister of the stairs, running my fingers along the engraved wood. Dust rubs off on my fingers and lifts into the air. “How long ago was this?” I ask.
“Seventeen years ago, a week after you were born.” Tears fall from my eyes as she speaks those words. I walk up the stairs, taking them slowly to test their weight. With luck, they hold and I make it to the top.
A great banner lies there, with the symbol of the nation on it. A hallway leads from the banner and I take the one to the left. The walls are all scratched and stained, with bones and weapons lying everywhere. The walls seem to be a warm golden brown. Some areas are blackened and burned, others orange from blood. All the doors to this floor have been broken, the windows smashed to bits and pieces. At the end of the hallway, a great entrance fills the whole wall which is badly burned. Hesitantly, I step inside, and stop dead in my tracks.
It is like an image from a dream, which is what you can very aptly put it as. Everything in here is burned, the drapes torn halfway up. A shattered vanity leaves shards of mirror on the floor, but from the looks there is no bloodshed, no weapons. No matter the looks, I still know whose room this was.
“Your parents fought bravely, and they made a great sacrifice.” Mother Nature’s feature were blurry as I ran passed her, down the stairs, and out of the castle grounds. I did not stop until I was back at the first home I visited. Tears burned in the back of my throat, but none had fallen during my run. I did not have to know when the woman returned. I was sitting amidst the flowers, playing with the small ants that lived there. I was back to normal.
“I am afraid that I have to go, Emerald. You should hurry as well, I believe that they have found you dragon.” she says, turning towards the family. Just a few seconds later, Rage’s roar fills the forest and building, sending everything into vibration. I turn quickly, sheathing my sword.
“Wait, Emerald. You will not get there in time.” I turn my head to Mother Earth who gestures outside the door where a glittering white light shines. “Take Aurora.”
Aurora turned out to be a huge horse with an iridescent coat, star white mane, and a spiral horn make of opal protruding from her forehead. I have heard of these sacred creatures before. They were unicorns. Without hesitation, I leap onto Aurora’s back, gripping her main with my fingers. She bounds forward towards the forest just as the figures dissolve into nothingness.


As we race through the forest, I realized how far I had actually traveled. We dodge trees and bushes, all the while animals rush to get out our way. Another of Rage’s growls stain the air.
“I’m coming, Rage!” I scream to the wind. I can hear men shouting now, telling people to throw spears. Others are screaming for others to get ropes or to get out the way. Aurora runs even faster, bursting through the last remaining trees.


______________________________________________________

TRANSLATIONS

Cé go bhfuil tú: means, who are you.
D'iarr mé ceist agat: means, I asked you a question.

Imprint

Publication Date: 05-11-2010

All Rights Reserved