I looked up at the sky while a feeling of both dread and amazement took hold of me. I felt the burning tears of pain and betrayal leaving a trail down my cheeks. I ignored the aching sensation in my legs, and continued to push forward.
There, at the center of the sky, flew twelve magnificent dragons. Each had a different color of scales and each had their own unique powers. One dragon, out of them all immediately caught my eye. She had a arrayment of turquoise, blue, and green scales. Her wings beat loudly as she flew away with her other comrades, not caring to even glance back at her only child.
That child was me.
Now the tears were flowing more rapidly, more quicker. They couldn't be stopped. I could feel my legs starting to give out from under me but I kept going, for fear that I would never see her again.
"Sapphira!" My throat was burning from the tears that I was shedding but I didn't care. I called out to her again. "SAPPHIRA!" This time I knew I wouldn't have the strength to say her name. Or even the strength to keep on running.
Nonetheless I kept running.
And I kept calling to her.
"Sapp-!" I choked back as my tears took over and my legs finally couldn't go much longer. I tripped and fell down hard on my knees, onto the rocky ground beneath me. I wanted to scream in pain, but my throat wouldn't allow me.
Everything hurt. Everything burned. Not that much on the outside, but internally.
Why would Sapphira leave me? After all these years of taking care of me, of making sure I was safe, and teaching me the art of Dragon Slayer magic, of comforting me when I didn't feel well…. How could she?!
I looked down at my knees and saw a trickle of blood running down my right knee. It splattered onto the gray rock beneath me. My eyes widened slightly as I saw a little of the crimson liquid soak into the light blue knee length dress I was wearing. I squinted my eyes in pain and bit back a cry.
"Hello."
I tensed, due to instinct, and slowly forced myself to open my eyes.
There stood a beautiful girl with straight black hair, and dark eyes. Her hair was tied back in two loose ponytails, and she wore a long purple robe. She looked at me thoughtfully for a second, her eyes taking in every inch of me. "Are you hurt?"
I narrowed my brown eyes suspiciously and didn't reply. The girl looked to be two or three years older than myself. Sapphira always told me to always be careful when trusting people. "You should never turn your back on anyone you don't know," she had warned me with her gold eyes glinting with menace.
The woman continued to stare at me. "My name is Ultear. What is yours?" She held out her hand for me to pull myself up.
I flinched and looked away from the the pretty girl, Ultear, and let a curtain of my hair block my face from her view. Once again I didn't answer her.
Ultear leaned down on her knees and brushed my jet black hair away from my face. She gave me a comfortingly smile. "There's no need to be afraid. Now, tell me, what is your name?"
I gulped as I felt the tears returning to my eyes. "W- why do you care?!" My voice was scratchy, but I made it as loud and clear as I could so that Ultear could hear me.
She looked at me sympathetically for a moment. "You're a Dragon Slayer, aren't you?"
My eyes widened, and my heart began to thump loudly in my chest. "H… how… how did you know?" My voice was quavering now in fear. This girl… she couldn't be trusted. Her scent even felt weird to my Dragon senses.
I fought back more tears and forced my tired legs to stand up. I swayed for a moment on my feet, but this only made me slump down on the ground once more. I let out a moan, as my bloody knee struck the ground once more.
I felt a gentle hand rest on my leg for a moment.
I looked up into Ultear's dark eyes. Anger, as well as pain, was depicted plainly on my face. "Don't touch me!" I growled softly. All of a sudden though, I felt the aching pain in my knee start to ease. I looked down at my leg to see a light blue aura-like magic coming from Ultear's hand.
For a second, I just gazed down at her hand dumbfounded. It was then that I realized that she was healing me.
Ultear took back her hand and stood up. "There. Does that feel better?"
I looked at her with a questioning look in my eyes. "W… why would you help me? You don't even know who I am!" At that moment, my throat didn't seem very scratchy at all. It seemed that Ultear may have healed my voice as well.
Ultear only smiled. She then stood up, and began to walk away.
"H- hey! Where are you going?" Although I didn't fully trust this girl, it was still kind of her to heal me like that. And after Sapphira's mysterious departure, I didn't have anyone else to keep me company. Then again it wasn't as if anyone else could make me as happy as Sapphira had.
Had?!
No! Sapphira will come back to me! I knew she would! She had to! Sapphira would never leave me alone and defenseless like this. This wasn't like her. She never left me alone for more than an hour. And she would always tell me where she was going, and why, beforehand.
I felt wet tears caressing my cheek once again. This time, I wiped them with the back of my hand, instead of letting them flow by themselves. "U… Ultear?" I asked with a hint of desperation in my voice.
The girl stopped walking and turned to look at me, her long black hair blowing in the wind. "What is it?"
I gulped as my nerves started to kick in. "Could… could I come with you?"
She looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, studying me with her dark eyes once more. "Tell me. Do you always stutter when you speak?"
My eyes widened slightly in disbelief. "W… what?!"
Ultear let out a soft chuckle. "I'm just joking! Of course you can come with me." She smiled at me.
For the first time, in what seemed like a lifetime, I smiled back, with tears trailing restlessly down my cheeks.
Without any second thoughts, I ran to her, with my bare feet pattering against the ground. I wrapped my arms around Ultear and stood still. "Thank you," I breathed gratefully into her robe.
At first, I didn't feel any arms enveloping me back. Instead I felt as if my arms were around a statue, because of how stiff Ultear's figure had become when I hugged her. Suddenly, I felt her body begin to relax. Soon enough, one of her arms wrapped itself around me, while the other brushed a strand of my hair away from my face.
After some time, I gently pulled away from her. "Thank you…" I repeated.
Ultear grinned. "Now before we set off-"
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see in a bit. First, why don't you tell me your name? That is, unless you want me to call you, "little girl" all the time."
I pouted. "But you're little too! You're not an a… a... " I trailed off as I awkwardly tried to say the word, "adult".
"Adult?" Ultear laughed.
"Yes." I nodded. "Anyway… my name is Afia. Afia Araluen."
Ultear nodded. "That's a pretty name. Now, 'Afia Araluen,' hold my hand."
I looked at her slender hand for a second. Deciding whether I really wanted to go through with this or not.
I looked into Ultear's kind dark eyes once more. "Alright," I smiled, and took hold of her hand in mine.
Before I knew it, I felt the air being sucked slowly out of my lungs. A pressure was being pushed onto me, making me unable to pull away from Ultear. I looked at her with alarm, tears streaming down my face.
Her face was calm and neutral, it looked as though she felt nothing of which that was happening to me.
Suddenly, there was a loud pop, and I looked around me to see that our surroundings had changed.
Ultear smiled. "Welcome to your new home."
