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A light as hot as the surface of the sun and more brilliant than anything ever to be discovered struck my mother. It was swift, it was deafening and it was merciless.

I threw my arm over my eyes before falling to the floor from the intensity of the lighting bolt. The world was suddenly a flurry of blinding white light speckled withsmall black dots. The dots expanded larger until all that I could see was pulsating darkness. Then came the realization of my own hearing as the sound of intense buzzing rang throughout my eardrums. It was constant and it was head splitting. I tried to lift my head up but with the combination of my dark vision, the fractured arm, the ringing in my ears, the sprained ankle, and my spinning head I fell back down in defeat.

‘Was I even still alive?’ I thought, straining to hear my own breathing. 

Your parents would be sad if you weren’t alive. A voice in my head whispers.

I laid in the green field gulping for air as I tried to decide whether I was conscious or not. 

When the air finally reached my lungs I laid still feeling the smooth, cool touch of the grass beneath my fingertips. Relief that I was alive washed over me and specks of color slowly returned to my eyes revealing the soft color of gray above my head.

I laid still, calm, and confused as I tried to recollect why I was on the floor, why was my head spinning, and why was my arm in so much pain. My vision cleared and I opened my eyes remembering exactly where I was as I looked up to the ominous shadows in the gray sky. 

The silhouette of the dragons’ wings and slithering body spanned across the vast heavens. Now as I laid upon the floor and the clouds had become thinner I could make out it’s features. I first noticed it’s thin body that resembled a malnourished horse, then I could distinguish it’s long elegant tail that whipped across the stratosphere. The closer I looked the more defined details I could see. I could even see that it’s long wings that spanned a hundred feet were transparent. The corner of its wing dipped below the clouds and I could see the edge of it’s leathery wing was tipped with a white hooked claws. Then the large white head of the beast dipped below the clouds revealing glimmering translucent white scales and sharp ivory teeth that were half my size. Then there was something else just as magical as the dragon that caught my eye. It appeared to be a giant bird with a human body. 

I quickly sorted through the stories of the beast my mother had once told me as I lay motionless in the grass. 

Mother. 

I had forgotten the fact that she was the one who was struck with lighting, not me. I was merely caught in the crossfire. The unforeseen aftermath of the creatures lashing out. 

I turned my head to the side trying to catch a glimpse of my mother but the grass was too tall. I inhaled one large breath as I placed my good arm beneath me and then planted my hand down. I mustered all my strength to push myself up. That was when I noticed the Emperor’s guards rushing through the grass to my left. The edge of the Imperial City in front of me, the Mountain Realm behind me, a fight of mythical creatures above me and my mother to the right of me and then there was I who was in the midst of it all

I held my breath, the ringing in my ears just a bit quieter than before.

I raised myself up onto my knees and then my unsteady feet. The pain in my ankle was gone now as fear clawed at my gut and my stomach churned with whatever bile was trying to escape. I glanced up to the fight now realizing the giant bird definitely had a head in the shape of a human. In fact all of it looked human granted the two wings that flapped with precision.

I stumbled forward, one foot after the other. 

My mother slowly came into view, her still body lying upon the lighting patterned charred floor. 

Before I could decide whether I truly wanted to see if my mother was alive or dead I already found myself rushing across the grass, stumbling with an injured ankle onto the patterned ground that surrounded her. Screams scratched at the back of my throat as I laid a hand upon her lifeless body trying to figure out if I could revive her in some way. It was more than obvious that there was no way I could make her heart beat, not after thousands of volts of electricity had just coursed through her. 

Tears slowly formed, blurring my vision as I stared at the still forest of emerald green that was once her eyes. Evergreen eyes much like my own. Now they were but still mirrors. 

Screams of agony could be heard as I tightly cradled my head, trying to hide the truth of the world around me. It was the sound of death, the scratching painful sound of death as the earth somehow shifted and all its incompatiant inhabitants had to deal with another loss. I screamed the cry of someone who didn’t know what to do, someone who was placed in a situation they had no control over, no knowledge of and all they could do was cry out to the gods or celestials that had created me from scratch.

 I looked toward the creatures above that cowered behind the clouds caught up in their own dilemma as my screams and sobbing grew louder. I watched them gracelessly move farther away.

I screamed to the sky. “She’s dead!” A river of warm tears fell from my eyes landing on the floor beneath me.

The guards jumped off their horses rushing to my mother’s side. 

One gently placed a hand on my shoulder as I spoke in a small feeble voice that was not my own. “She’s dead.” I said not allowing my agony to control my voice. “Those creatures,” I whispered in a new cold voice that seemed to cut the silence. “I hope they die a long painful death.” I cursed through clenched teeth.

This was my one and only hope for the animals who did not recognize the tragedy they had bestowed upon the land’s most beloved Prince.

I could feel the guard’s hand go rigid as he held onto my shoulder. He was unsure what to say, unsure what to do, the Empress had just died while he was on duty no less and a crime like that may be punishable by imprisonment. 

The dragon let out an ear piercing screech deafening the guards as they placed their metal hands over their ears. I felt too weak to cover my own ears as my hands were suddenly heavier than all the gold in the castle.

The huge beast spun in a rigid circle dipping below the clouds head first as it tried to fly but something had caught hold of it and it lashed it’s head and tail in rage. The head was the size of two horses, it’s eyes black and endless like the night sky, It’s white fluorescent skin shimmering like crystals as it caught the light. The nostrils of the beast flared as it screeched again, opening its mouth wide to reveal its shimmering teeth and a silver light in the back of it’s throat.

Lighting a voice in the back of my head whispered. 

The hair on my arms and back grew warm rising up as lightning seeped out of the beast's mouth crackling against the gray sky.

The winged being dived below the clouds stunning us all. It was a boy with wings, meaning he was not a man like we had all assumed. His hair was the color of pitch black, his skin tanned to a caramel tone and although he looked quite tall and strong for his age it was apparent that he couldn’t be more than seventeen as he glanced at us and clenched the side of his white shirt that was stained red.

The boy turned away from us appearing angrier than before and dived at the beast’s eye with a glimmering sword of black. In retaliation the creature whipped it’s large head forcing him to fly above the clouds once again. The dragon flew in a clumsy manner it’s tail whipping wildly as it tried to run away from the small boy who was trying to stab it. In the process of doing so the boy was striked with the base of the tail of the beast. It was so hard that a loud thud echoed as the scaled tail made contact with his back. He fell below the clouds, his large black raven-like wings struggling to straighten as he dived. 

For a moment it seemed he would hit the earth but just as fast as he fell, he rose up following the beast above the clouds and back to the mountains.

A new memory long forgotten returned as I watched the two soar faster than I could imagine. “The strongest Mountaineers are the angels,” my mother smiled by a winter fireplace. “They are servants to the Gods and are long thought to be extinct.”

“Are they?” I asked with sparkling eyes.

My mother had chuckled, flipping through the pictures of a Mountain Realm history book before stopping on the page of an elaborately drawn warrior dressed in gold with magnificent wings. “No,” she smiled, “I don’t think they are.”

The world fell into calm silence as I gasped for warm air. I suddenly felt lifeless, empty as I drifted my tear filled eyes down to my mother’s lifeless body. That was when I felt something in me had collapsed. I sat still unable to move as I sobbed, the tears rolling down my cheeks and onto my knees. I shut my eyes wishing I could move but everything around me felt numb, empty, incomplete, and I suddenly felt listless. 

I could hear the sound of crunching grass as a guard took a step forward trying to comfort a heartbroken child. “Prince?” he asked with a soft voice that seemed almost afraid.  

Horse hooves could be heard in the distance, matching in perfect rhythm with my heart that was begging for this to be some unbelievably vivid nightmare. 

“Stay away from him!” The Healer screamed, coming closer on her own horse.

I didn’t move at all as I heard her horse stop and her calm feet glide across the crunching grass. 

“Veran?” She whispered. 

I said nothing, I simply shut my eyes focusing on my own heartbeat as tears rolled down my cheeks and onto my knuckles. I clenched my fist tighter feeling the tension rise from my chest to my shoulder blades. 

“Veran,” she whimpered while falling beside me. “I’m sorry,” she whispered crying to herself. “I should have watched over her better, protected her like I was supposed to.” Her voice drifted into sobs as we sat side by side in the grass.

The Healer had loved my mother as if she were her own sister. To see her best friend die in this horrific way had torn her heart out. To see me so broken tore her to pieces.

I stared at the ceiling, back in the castle tower and out of my horrific memories. I slowly bat my eyelashes to send the warm tears away. Then I sigh. I sigh a long hollow sound that overtakes the stone room.  

The words, The fearsome behemoth obeys you, return from my memories. I am embarrassed to say the simple words of a childish lie give me strength to sit up and stop being devoted to the events of the past. 

‘She wouldn’t want me to anyways.’ I remind myself.

I release a long yawn that makes my eyes water even more.

I turn my head to the plethora of books and papers that lay neatly stacked in the corner of the room. They are slowly accumulating dust on their rough surfaces. It is about time I read them and get rid of the numerous dust bunnies.