The day my mother died I watched her from the high window. Sitting there in the calm made me wonder if this was how the guards felt, pure boredom.

I glanced down to look at their crimson armor that shifted. They were always ready to shoot an arrow at anyone that dared tried to even approach the Empress.

Back then many wondered why the Empress had so much freedom outside of the castle. She was the mother of the entire Empire afterall. Although who could blame these skeptics very few knew it was not necessary to protect her at all. My mother was a skilled warrior. She was far past average when it came to the use of her dual daggers. There was no doubt in my mind that her enemy would be on the ground before they even had a chance to touch her.

That day a small overcast came and my mother slowly made her way back to the castle. Then something astounding had occured. Bright lighting flashed across the vast sky and thunder boomed in large rumbles that shook me to the core. My mother flinched at the sound then turned as fast as the wind in realization of something. She gazed at the gray clouds in almost awe or maybe it was confusion.

Something peculiar was happening as my heart clenched and my body moved on its own account. Pure instinct was controlling me that day. I found myself running down the ancient tower’s long polished stone stairs while glancing out every small window that was placed ten feet away from the last. I must have been too focused on the windows for I accidentally tripped down half a flight of stairs. 

I remember the pain of a newly sprained ankle, a scratch on my head and a pounding sensation as I stumbled back up to my feet. It came as a shock when I leapt up and nearly crumbled from my ankles. At the time I was hoping that the damage was no more than a bad bruise. I inhaled a deep breath before I ran even faster, faster than I thought my nine year old body could take me. I sped down the busy corridors eventually spotting an open second story window where a servant was shaking out a rug. 

“Move aside!” I screamed jumping out the window and onto the castle’s ancient wall. 

I fell forward landing below the window. Pain shot from my ankle to my hip in sharp hot knives, making me wonder if my bones had split. I bit my lip realizing there wasn’t a second to lose as another bolt of lightning crackled in the clouds sending warm goosebumps across my arms and down my back. Electricity of a different kind was pulsating through the air, warm, full of danger and of an unknown power. It was exhilarating and horrifying. 

I drew in a breath as I forced myself to my feet and continued to run along the smooth, gray stone wall, attracting the curious eyes of the guards that were on post.

“Crown Prince,” one of them screamed in surprise. 

“You’re limping,” another said from far behind. 

I ignored them all, focusing on the deathly gray clouds that were stirring high above. 

There was something terribly strange about the clouds that loomed in the sky. They weren’t your average dark rain clouds that gently drifted across the blue canvas. No these clouds were different, they spun in a circle like a vortex and they sent swirling gusts of hot air against my face. 

A pulse of electricity raced down my spine and made my hair stand on end. By then I was sure that something very bad was about to happen

I looked up to the clouds and squinted my eyes. I watched as they swirled denser with one another turning the sky darker and darker. It was a sinister atmosphere now.

Lighting streaked behind the overcast and from it I could spot the faintest outline of a dark shape that swirled and moved in utter silence. My mind and heart were sent racing after one another as I tried to make out the strange shape of a large beast that was the size of a dozen houses. 

‘Nothing in all the Seven Realms could possibly be the size of this beast.’ I thought as I jumped off the stone wall and onto the stables roofs. 

Leaping onto the roof was a mistake as pain erupted up my leg making me stumble face first into the tin and wooden roof. I forced myself back up as a sound other than my blood rushed to my ears. At first it was easy to assume someone was merely shaking out a rug but then the sound grew louder.

Fwoop-Fwoop.

I screamed, slamming my hand down as I pushed myself back up and rushed to the edge of the roof where I grabbed hold of the dirty gutters. I took a quick glance at a nearby window before swinging down into the shadowy stables and stumbled again. This time I was unsure I could even stand but I hastily grabbed hold of the wooden banister and pulled myself up.

“Horse!” I screamed to servants who were in a flurry trying to calm the horses. 

“What is that?” One whisphered looking through the stable doors to the sky. 

“I need a horse now!” I demanded limping down the ladder. 

A servant quickly broke free from their shock and brought me a black stallion who was without a doubt twice my height. I quickly swung my legs from the ladder onto it’s back.

“Wait, what about a saddle, Your Highness!” One called but I was already galloping out of the stables and to the castle’s back gate. 

“Open!” I demanded as the guards rushed around in a flurry. “Open now!” I yelled again “NOW!” they bickered whether they should let their little Prince out but promptly realised that I would most definitely not slow down. 

The gates were opened and the horse was barely able to squeeze under as the shriek of the beast echoed across the plains. 

Eeeeeek!!! It screamed from above. 

I now knew exactly what it was as the horse galloped across the Plains. Every foot falling in sync with my pittering heart.

A creature as ancient as the Terra. My mother's voice gleams with joy.

Given to humans when the God’s went to war. She told me at a hearth one night.

A creature who can become the greatest ally or worst enemy. The fire of the hearth reflected in her eyes.

I gulped as the stories my mother had told me came rushing back to my head.

It’s wings can span the distance of a valley.

It has immense power over the elements.  

It’s wisdom is incomparable.

I watched as my mother came into view, her face stern, almost angry in fact as she held both hands to the sky screaming something incomprehensible in Mountaineer.

Only the Gods can stop this creature from wreaking havoc.

Another bolt of lighting rippled across the sky, bright and vibrant as if it were a fast growing tree of light. I sent the horse into a rapid gallop that turned her attention to me. 

She locked eyes with me now and it was obvious that panic was crawling onto her desperate face as she kept her graceful hands up to the sky. Maybe there was something more than panic in those evergreen eyes. Maybe there was also confidence hidden behind the strong endless fear. The memory of those moments still feel as fresh as the ones I had just minutes before. 

She glanced back to the sky, licking her lips. There was a careful decision formulating as she furrowed her eyebrows in concentration. A careful decision I would never understand. She pointed an elegant finger to me, her eyes not meeting mine as she kept her attention on the sky. Her lips slowly moved as she whispered words I couldn’t hear, or maybe I just didn’t understand. 

The horse stopped galloping at once, coming to such a hard stop that I was thrown off the large animal’s back like a rag doll. 

I screamed out in pain as my body landed on my arm making me realize that my ankle was about to be the least of my problems. 

My mother lifted both hands back to the sky as she stared at me, seeming to say, You will be okay. 

Another shriek came rising out from the monster’s throat diverting her attention back to the sky. She was absolutely mortified as she came to the realization that the sky was thrown into complete chaos. Her long strands of hair that were like sunshine whipped behind her as she continued to scream at the sky in a language I no longer understood. 

She moved her hands slower now the sound of the wings following her movements. 

“Arsbr!” She screamed to the sky. “Tib!”

Those were words I did understand, Leave, run. 

“Jr eoaa loaa upi!”

He will kill you!

I slowly stood up, her focus turning back to me as I grabbed my arm. My arm that had now fractured from my less than graceful fall. 

She looked at me with sympathetic eyes as she raised a hand high above her head. She brought it down in one swift slicing motion that sent a gust of wind plowing through the clouds. On the other side of the gray was a soft blue sky and the monster’s shimmering white tail.

This beast is called a dragon.

The words echoed cool and calm in my mind as the dragon screeched again, sending the clouds swirling over the gap my mother had just cut through. 

Indeed she was a Mountaineer but why, and how was she exhibiting the powers of an elemental. Elementals were always said to be full blooded and my mother was only half Mountaineer, so how was she controlling the air? 

A new idea came to me in that split second as I watched her close her eyes focusing on the dragon above. ‘Could I be one?’

Lighting rippled across the sky, more vibrant and more erratic as the blinding light reached the farthest parts of the overcast. I gulped looking back at my mother who was less than two hundred feet away. 

 I reached my hand out to her and hobbled just an inch. “Mom!” I screamed as the lighting brightened the sky. 

Her eyes opened at that moment and met my own. The panic that had been there before now dissipated replaced with a hint of sadness. It was a simple stare that seemed to hold more than my young mind could comprehend. 

I wish I could comprehend it even now.