The Ruins

Try again

RAMAL

Ishloche insisted that Ramal be calm and tap into her powers. “I don’t know what you are talking about!” She snapped at him again.

“You need to remember your mother and the way she moved, the way she thought, and the way she spoke.” He circled around her. He told her “Remember.”

Ramal closed her eyes and sighed. She stood against the breeze that blew her hair back. She smelled the fresh air and felt the wind on her face. She looked into herself. There were swirling leaves in the air at the farm. Her mother moved gracefully. She spoke softly and poetically. Her hair was flowing wildly down her back. She twirled her skirts in the dirt as she rearranged her apron to gather vegetables. She was beautiful. She was so calm. There was an aura around her that glowed with the rainbow. Ramal had never seen it before. Of course, she hadn’t been looking.

“My daughter, come and feel the dirts between your fingers and toes.” She almost purred to her. Ramal saw herself, around six years of age. She rushed to her mother’s side. Both were bare foot. Ramal smiled up at her mother and laughed as the dirt tickled her feet. She bent down to caress the ground and dig in with her fingertips.

“It’s cold.” Ramal told her mom.

“Yes daughter, but so much more. Feel it.” Ravania told her. “There is magic everywhere. Feel the rocks and the sand. See the difference and what it does.“ She scooped up a handful of dirt and sifted it with her fingers. “Here is soil. Here is sand. This is precious stones. The stones provided a filter and give off heat to the roots. The roots separate around the rocks. The soil helps to grow and the sand traps the water. They all have a job.”

“Mother was so wise.” Ramal told her dragon. She kept her eyes closed. She loved hearing her mother’s voice and seeing when they were happy and at peace.

“Ramal! Where are ya girl? You need to feed your horse!” Her father echoed across the field. Her siblings ran from him to their mother.

“Feel your surroundings Ramal.” Her mother told her as she left her side.

“Coming Papa.” Ramal replied to her father. She saw herself run and felt the wind in her hair. She felt the breeze as she released the dirt from her fingers a little at a time. ….

“Ishloche. I have forgotten.” Ramal told him. “Thank you for helping me remember.” Ramal smiled at him.

Ishloche nodded. “We have work to do. It won’t be long before you are discovered.” He laid down. “You must reconnect with yourself. You must look within and feel,” he breathed a deep relaxing breath, searching for the right words, “what your surroundings are telling you. Close your eyes. Sit down and try again.”

She obeyed. She cleared her mind, and went into a trance. Sitting cross legged on the ground, with the trees around her. She dug her fingers into and out of the earth. She rocked back and forth willing herself to feel.

Ramal didn’t even hear the fairies return. Ishloche motioned for them to be quiet. They watched in giddy silence.

Leaves swirled around her. The breeze was toying with her hair. She heard an internal mantra “Wind, Earth, Water, Fire.” She saw the elements come together in the forefront of her mind. She began to feel moisture at her palms, and heat in her bosom. She saw her mother there. Playing with the breeze and willing water to come from nowhere. She thought back at how she had lit the villages on fire. She had found matches yet she didn’t remember striking them.

Her eyes flew open and glowed a brilliant azure blue. “Ishloche! My mother was a witch!” Her conclusion surprised her. The next one even more so. She saw a glow from her fingers. “I am a witch too!”

Ishloche smiled at her. “Very good Ramal.” He breathed out a hot breath. “Now you need to come to terms with it and learn how to use it.” He moved closer to her. “Magic can be very dangerous in the hands of the inexperienced.”

The fairies purred softly in agreement. “Ramal, Ramal, daughter of us all.” They chimed. “Together is better, powerful and strong, we are all connected, like the sounds in a song.”

“Show me.” Ramal told them. “I am ready. I was born for this.”

ORCS

A line up of two and three Orcs moved quickly down the hillside from their cave. They only paid attention to the way ahead of them. They felt invincible. Their knuckles drug the ground. They grunted and made ugly heaving sounds as they moved. The line went almost half a mile backward. The cave would be almost empty, making around 300 going to slaughter the humans that defied them. The grass was being torn down with their weight and swinging arms. They looked like bare silverback gorillas as they moved forward, making a perfect trail to follow back.

“This is bullshit!” They all swore to each other. “The humans are not a threat to us anymore. “ They bellowed.

“But think of the fresh meat we get first!” Said another. “Gnork has to wait for it in the cave.” He smiled to himself at the thought.

“If we save him any.” Came a shout from further back.”

They quickened their pace. They were hungry. They ran like boulders in an avalanche, taking down anything in their path.