Chapter Eighteen: A Hidden Memory
Sora looked outside of her window at the garden below; her hair billowed in the gentle breeze. A phoenix screeched proudly as it soared into the air creating fantastic aerial maneuvers. Its fiery feathers flowed gracefully with the breeze, creating thin trails of light smoke as it flew. It was a beautiful sight to watch, and she savored every minute of it. The blue sky spanned countless miles around the phoenix, unbroken except by a few stray clouds. The sun shone proudly above them, its light filling the world with an endless array of colors. Steady footsteps could be heard in the hall, without thinking she guessed that her father had come to talk to her.
Sora turned around and faced the Dragon King. "Hello Sora," he greeted her kindly, "Sakura said that you seemed pretty quiet today so I thought that I should come and talk to you. Is there something bothering you?"
"No I'm fine, nothing's bothering me." She told him. Thoughts whirled in her mind and she desperately hoped that Sakura hadn't told her father what she had heard. There were things that were meant to be kept a secret and what she told Sakura was one of those things.
"Are you sure?" her father asked in a worried tone. "You do seem quite quiet, and you really haven't talked much today or yesterday."
"No I'm fine; I assure you nothing is wrong with me." Her rising voice signaled to her father that it was her wish that she would be left alone.
"As you wish Sora, I'll leave then." With a troubled expression he silently walked away. Sora looked outside and frowned, the phoenix had left and everything was dark. Looking up towards the sky she saw the cause of the sudden darkness, a large black storm cloud covered the sky stretching as far as the eye could see and even further. Though she did not know it, the cloud blanketed the entire earth and people in the human world were puzzling over it. Lighting flashed across the sky, bolts of electricity that illuminated both heaven and earth a great lantern that glowed with powerful light when all was dark.
The wind whistled dark warnings about the possible futures of the world, all of them dark and forbidding. Sora shivered with the great fear that had enveloped all who were present, a soft whistle behind her made her turn around. A phoenix looked up at her with sad ruby eyes, its feathers were covered with a delicate layer of ice and frost, their fiery glow subdued to dull lifeless reds and yellows. "Oh you poor thing," Sora cried sympathetically, "here I'll close the window so that you can't get any colder!" She shut the windows and watched as the phoenix tried hard to warm itself by breathing fire all over its frozen body. The ice and frost slowly trickled to the floor in the form of small wet water droplets, the phoenix screeched in searing pain that was caused by the water. The ordeal seemed to last a lifetime and finally it stopped; the phoenix stopped breathing fire over itself. Its sad ruby eyes seemed to plead for mercy in a time of great darkness. He sensed fear, as Sora could clearly see, and felt it himself. These times only meant trouble for his kind and others. They were peace-loving creatures, the only weapons with which they could arm themselves with was their wisdom. They both knew that it would not be enough to protect the vast cities of great beauty from which the phoenixes inhabited.
Forever lost to the world would be books of great learning, never again would their rich flowing script be read to others they would appear nothing more that great mountains of coal black ash. The wisdom and wit hidden inside their creamy pages would be gone, forever gone the great libraries of the phoenixes. Their wisdom that had spanned countless centuries shattered in a million fragments that would be impossible to put back together. To other creatures they would be worthless piles of dust and ash, though to the phoenixes they were the ancient wisdom of many years forever gone. They would weep over this loss; no one phoenix could bear such great a grief. They would mourn, their tears forming endless rivers from which new dragons could sprout and inhabit.
From within his sad eyes, laden with many years of wisdom, the phoenix told a story. "I know," Sora managed to whisper, "I too would weep if that were to happen; I too would fight to protect such things. They are the jewels of the world, others see nothing but books, pages filled with darkened words. Though I see stories and the wisdom of countless ages of experiments and observations, stories filled to the brim with great adventures and travels." The phoenix screeched in approval, its eyes clear and lucid. A moment of understanding had passed, a moment of agreement from both sides phoenix and dragon.
Their eyes shined with an abnormal light, their joy in finding something that both loved and understood clear from the happy countenances on their faces. Sakura unconsciously interrupted it when she entered the room, closely followed by Hikari and Chihiro. Sora quickly managed her usual scowl of disapproval when they entered; it was her wish that her weaknesses be hidden from the rest of the world. Though she had many who called themselves her friends, only a few chosen knew her secrets and why she acted the way she did. Sakura and the phoenix were one of them; she hoped desperately that Sakura hadn't told ether Hikari or Chihiro.
"Oh Sakura, why did we have to come here," Hikari screamed, hiding the true reasons why they had come well, "I don't want to spend time with Sora! I know enough about her already, she's a mean, snobby, and stupid dragon that doesn't have any feelings, that's why she likes to hurt others! I don't want to spend time with her; she can go into the final abyss of death for all I care!" Sora felt hurt, though she hid it well, her feelings were shattered and inside she felt like crying. Though she looked like she didn't care what was being said about her, her lips wobbled a bit and her eyes quickly filled with tears.
Oh Hikari, you have gone too far. Chihiro thought to herself as she looked at Sora. Sakura thought the same thing when she too looked at Sora. Hikari looked at Sora sympathetically and whispered, "I'm sorry Sora; I really didn't mean that."
"Leave me alone!" Sora screamed angrily a few tears fell out of her eyes and onto the floor. "Just leave me alone, all of you! Just get out right now." Hikari, Chihiro, and Sakura bowed and left. The phoenix looked at Sora and followed the trio out her room. Tears streamed out of her eyes, creating a pool of water around her. Their crystal clarity caught the lamplight in every way, shimmering like a thousand stars trapped deep within. Though few knew it, Sora hadn't always been this way; she was once a carefree child with little worries. Then one day it changed, her mind wandered back to that day as she buried her head deep within her soft white pillow and wept.
Sora was chasing after her brothers in a game of tag, she was it. "Come on Sora you'll have to be faster than that if you want to catch us!" Haku encouraged her. Yoshiro nodded, Sora laughed her emerald eyes sparkling with childhood happiness.
"Oh I'm just getting started!" She said.
"Oh I'm just getting started!" Yoshiro mocked her. Within that very second, Sora used her supernatural speed to catch up with her brother, punching him in his arm.
"You should have heeded my warning Yoshiro, now you're it!" Sora happily screeched and ran away from her gaping brother as fast as she could.
"Sora's right Yoshiro; catch us if you can." Haku shouted. Sora's giggling quickly turned into happy laughter as Yoshiro ran to catch up with her. No one noticed a dark shadow that was creeping ever closer. Sora quickly stopped and Yoshiro lightly touched her, the wind had shifted to the east in the direction of the danger that was fast approaching.
"Sora, you're it." He happily shouted and ran away. Sora didn't hear her brother and ran towards a large oak tree, a dark dragon shot out of the bushes and quickly tried to bite her. Haku noticed and ran towards his sister. Yoshiro too ran towards his brethren, the dark dragons' ruby eyes flickered with an evil light. He charged towards the siblings.
"You are too easy." He hissed at the frightened children. His eyes closed, Haku unconsciously summoned a wall of flowing water to protect them. It surprised him that he had this ability, it was the first time he had ever used magic.
He reacted quickly though, "Run!" Yoshiro and Sora followed his instructions immediately.
"Fool," the dark dragon laughed, "you think that you will be able to defend your siblings by yourself. You won't last a second against a great and powerful dragon like me. Killing you will be both an easy task and a pleasure." Hissing loudly he broke through the barrier and flew straight at Haku, his menacing fangs gleaming with an unnatural bloody light. Again he summoned water to protect himself against the attack, but the dark dragon was right as it was not enough to defeat him. Swiftly he shoved Haku into the ground laughing at his screams for mercy. Shouting, Sora ran towards her fallen brother, clear blue tears freely falling out of his eyes.
"Sora no, don't do it!" Yoshiro screamed and tried to restrain his sister, but to no avail. Sora ran towards Haku and blocked the dark dragon's path.
"If you want to get to my brother you'll have to get through me first!" She screamed boldly.
"No Sora, please listen to Yoshiro." Haku weakly murmured.
"Your brother is right," the dark dragon smirked, its claws flexing as if getting ready for a kill, "the current situation is too dangerous for you. You should just run along and play with your friends; this is no place for a little girl like you."
"Don't you dare offend me, and while you kill my brothers? Not a chance, I will protect them while I still have to ability to fight!" Sora's eyes blazed with an angry light, it grew and soon a brilliant emerald surrounded her.
Haku watched his sister's sudden transformation with great worry, "Don't do this Sora, you don't know what you're getting yourself into."
"Hmm this shall be interesting and I know exactly how to defeat you young one." The dark dragon's eyes blazed with excitement, its ruby mane gently flowed with the breeze snapping like a thousand whips. Sora watched carefully for her opponent's first move, when it didn't come she started to relax a bit. Then it begun, a great pain exploded in her mind. She was blinded by a great red flame that had suddenly appeared in front of her; she shut her eyes to avoid being blinded and instantly regretted it.
It was as if she had stepped into another world, but it was a world of darkness and hate. All light that had ever existed was gone, death was present everywhere. Haku lay in front of her, weak and unable to move. A long bloody scratch along his left cheek, he screamed in great pain as a silvery light shrouded him. She tried to run towards him and ease his pain, but she found that she could not move only watch. A silvery tear slid down her cheeks. "No Haku, please be all right." She cried, though no sound came out. The world swirled and she found herself in another place and time. In front of her stood Haku and Yoshiro, both had severe injuries running along the length of their arms and legs. Weakened by the lack of blood and energy they were barely able to stand. Yet they fought with all of their strength to defeat the dark opponent that stood in front of them, but defeat was inevitable and they knew it. Both fainted at the same time, and were killed by a large energy blast that sprouted from their opponents hands.
Blood trickled out of their mouths to create small streams of red liquid. Sora again tried to run towards them and found that she could. Then she faced the dark opponent, but to her great surprise they had disappeared, and so had her brothers. She was alone in a dark world; there was no light and no one to help her. A harsh voice addressed her, "So Sora you have seen what I can do. Do you still choose to stand by your brothers in this time of war?"
"Of course I do, they're my brothers and I stand by them no matter what!" Sora snapped angrily.
A laugh emerged from behind her, "Then your brothers will be the first to leave this world of life and enter the world of death. Your fate too will be the same, unless you join me in this fight. Come to my side as queen, your powers are both impressive and powerful. Fight with me and your brothers will be spared."
"You wouldn't dare kill them; they are the greatest dragons ever to live. Show your face you coward."
"That I can not do, but there is something that I can do. That is to kill your brothers now and leave you to mourn them for the rest of your pitiful life, or you can join me and they shall not be harm in the upcoming war."
Sora considered it for a moment and quickly decided upon a plan, "I don't care what happens to the; kill them if you wish or leave them alone if you wish."
"Hmm I see; then I shall kill them." The dark voice replied.
Sora hesitated for a moment before replying, "Fine then…"
"Though I will come back to see if you really do care about them, prove me wrong and I shall take you as queen by force and kill your brothers." Sora opened her eyes to find the dark dragon gone; Haku had managed to stand up and was looking at Sora strangely. As she stared into his emerald eyes, a decision was quickly made on how to protect her brothers.
"Sora are you okay? You look a bit sick." He told her.
"Yah fine whatever." Sora replied crossly.
"Then what about we continue our game of tag, you're it." Yoshiro said, grinning.
"No, why would I want to play tag with you guys? After all I'd probably get myself dirty from the way that you guys play."
Yoshiro and Haku looked at each other, puzzling over the strange behavior of their sister. "Sora, are you sure you're okay?" Haku asked her.
"Yah fine just leave me alone okay!" She screamed.
"Okay jeez you don't have to be so mean!" Yoshiro told her and parted to let her leave. Haku and Yoshiro looked at her one more time, trying to figure out what had made her this way.
Sora shuddered inwardly as the memory flooded back to her. The horror of seeing her brothers dead, and the horror of Haku's injuries were just too real for her to relive. Then the thought of their current condition made her cry even more. No one knew about that day except for her, everyone else present had been mind wiped as so they would not be able to remember what happened. She alone carried the burden of the memory, and it had forever maimed her in a way that could not be seen.
Sora heard footsteps approach and supposed that they ether belonged to Sakura or her father. The footsteps passed by her room and she sighed with relief. Whoever had just passed by weren't looking for her. She walked outside the hallway, and quickly noticed something strange on the floor. It was a note written on snowy white paper, Sora wondered who had left or dropped it there. She bent to pick it up to see that it wasn't addressed to any particular person. Though when she tried to read what it said, she found that she couldn't see any words. It was apparent that this letter was magically protected to prevent unwelcome eyes from gazing onto the important message it held. Grimacing she headed off in the direction of the central chamber where she was sure her father was. She didn't notice a dark dragon quickly slip into the shadows so that it would not be spotted, nor did she notice the glowing red eyes that were watching and anticipating her every move.