Rydia (Surreal Mix)
She understood.
Standing there, watching their fallen bodies, she understood.
She was not human.
She felt a twinge of pain at the thought. An old pain. A hate. Hatred of... what? Humans? Being different? Being... wild?
Being a monster?
She was different. Strangely tied to the earth. Nature. And still beyond, a realm so far within the earth, so bound to the heart of the earth, that it was...
Separate.
As I am.
The "monsters" had cradled her in their land. Strange, that a girl-- a little girl, ripped from her family, from others like her... Were they like me? ...one who looked human--could find a near-home with the wild things, those unknown, those beyond the boundaries set by...
Humans.
The hate welled in her again. The cries of pain from her old companions blended with the cries of the past, the crackling flames, the earth shaking as her beloved village burned to the ground. The earth shaking.
"I hate you! You killed my mom!"
Titan. Burying those she hated. She could do so again. Now, with this wild energy. Hers. The monsters, the power of the heart of the world... Hers. The dragon.
...Mom.
But...
I forgave them. Didn't I? The humans...?
Maybe she never had. Maybe that hate had remained in her heart, soothing the pain, but all the while burrowing, crawling into her, keeping her from being able to heal. Her betrayal by the humans.
They wanted to kill me.
To let it go...?
Her heart caught suddenly, breath tightening, as she raised her hand to her chest. The impulse to run caught her in its grasp, and she swayed. How could she be with humans, carrying these memories, these dreadful feelings with her? This... betrayal?
Rejected by them, will I reject them? Betrayed, will I betray...?
No. She would not. She could not. She was wild, not... evil. Not without love. And perhaps, not without forgiveness.
Someday, we can learn... that we were wrong.
Strength flared in her heart, filling her with determination. She stepped forward to confront the dark figure standing before her. It was almost an echo of her, flowing with hatred and a painful, fey wildness.
She raised her hands, letting mist pour forth. The dragon. It had been her mother's, and now it passed to her; the heart of the world. Still to share her pain, not to heal it... but...
I will not betray them.
The shadow dispersed and disappeared. She mouthed a few words of comfort to the humans... My companions? Perhaps someday... my friends? ...though she hardly knew what she said.
I am not... like you. I don't know if I can forgive you... The old pain flickered in her heart before fading, gently, as if covered with a blanket of mist.
...yet.
Now, she understood.
