Lost Lighte

Chapter 7 (part 2)

Tilya’s dream that night was a new one, and not a nightmare this time.

This time, she was riding on a white, spotted mare through a valley of rolling green hills, contrasted by the saturated blue of the sky above. Her path had been marked not just by the hooves of horse’s past, but also by a wind that only seemed to be blowing uniformly down the pathway.

It came from behind her, sending her hair flailing wildly around her as she trotted along with a man at her side, on a horse of his own. When she looked at him, she couldn’t see his face from behind the vibrant green cloak he wore, the hood of which was pulled up far over his head. Though she couldn’t know for certain who it was, she did somehow know they were well acquainted.

The two of them strode down the wind-blown path, until finally cresting one of the many hills in the valley, and off in the distance Tilya saw the most gorgeous sight she would probably ever see.

There, over a landscape of grassy slopes, was a city of pure crystal. Each of its countless buildings, though different heights, were all very tall and slender, and all had elongated spires atop them. The biggest building of all was located at the farthest part of the city, its grand structure putting to shame all others. A castle of crystal and sunlight.

The sun, which was setting from behind the buildings, fanned its rays through and around the crystalline structures, casting rainbows in her vision. Tilya longed to be standing in the center of that city, to see the colors shining all around her in a dance of light and translucent watercolors as the sun finished its journey past the horizon.

She and the hooded man glanced at each other, and together they raced for the city, not even caring to stick to the path set out for them by the wind at their backs.

They commanded the wind.

As her horse sprinted for the city, her very soul itself seemed to shatter into a million pieces, allowing in that nearly-palpable, mesmerizing light. She could feel the light dancing around each soul shard, surrounding and entering them, imbuing their essence into each one, before the shards came together and became whole, once again, inside her. Whatever was shackling her to the life she knew before was gone.

Her every pore felt wide open, drinking in the magic of the world around her. Her very center was filled with an incredible warmth she never thought she’d experience; light and love made into something solely meant for her body.

She was alive, not just existing.

She was free.

She was home.