Her Story - Delilah

A Dance with Dragons.

Chapter 3: A Dance with Dragons

After our meeting I skipped happily to the 1st floor. I was finally going to have my own floor. That I was going to have complete control over. I couldn’t wait. I finally could prove my usefulness to every one. I would guard the entrance with my life. No one that entered would ever leave as per my Master’s orders. I had never been responsible for anything but my self, we know how well that has turned out for me. I couldn’t help the smile that was on my lips, I didn’t even care that my cheeks were hurting from the pressure. I felt this need to tell someone, Claire..Ryzor..but I couldn’t get to their floors. I was banished from them for one and couldn’t even find them for two. I guess that is what it means to be banished...and to have no one to call friend. On my way, I ran right into Daliah and she had this look on her face I didn’t even recognize. She was smiling. Not the smirk she always has but an actual smile. It looked very off on her. “Hello Daliah.” I was careful not to upset her, I had learned that she will go straight back to Master and tell him everything. “Hello weakling.” Yup and there it was. She never used my name much. I hesitated for a moment. “Did you need something?” It was respectful to ask. “You are almost to the first floor...and I wouldn’t miss it for all the world.” I was still in my elated state of euphoria, I didn’t catch the evil under tone and I had started ignoring her tones because they were all evil in some form or another. But I should have listened to it then. “Thank you...?” This was it. My hand stretched out towards the door, finding the locking mechanism, I twisted and pushed.

The light that shined through the door was blinding and I almost gasped thinking that he had given me something that looked as the outside did. I could smell the grass and the trees. Hear the birds chirping. Smell the breeze! My elation tripled, my heart pounded so wildly, I was actually going to be the guardian of the outside realm. I rushed through the door without even a second look back. I regret that now, if I had looked back I would have seen the sneer on her face. But I didn’t want to have anything to do with her or the rest of the cave. I heard the door latch and lock behind me. I still didn’t care. I may not have been free, but this was the next best thing and for just a moment, I thought Master had actually cared. I felt a warm liquid running down the front of my body, it started around my breasts and trickled to my belly. I was so enthralled with my atmosphere that I didn’t even look. But I moved my hand across my stomach and lift it within eye site. It was red. Odd color. My heart was pumping so quickly, my eyes grew weak and with them, the mirage I had made with my own hopes and dreams. I was dying. My vision blurred, but for a moment I saw my killer and then there was nothing but black. My eyes closed and my body dropped to the ground. I knew it was too good to be true. Master never cared except in the beginning, before the book.

My eyes drifted open to the sounds of footsteps. They were soft and agile. I wondered if Claire had come to save me, or at least heal me again. I think I whispered her name but couldn’t remember if there was sound that came from my lips or if I had just thought her name. The footsteps drew closer and then stopped suddenly. I could feel the presence of someone, many in fact, how was I feeling so many around me? It must have been something he added to the floor? Wait. Am I dead? Did I die and go to the after life? No wonder I feel so many around me. I’m in... I didn’t even want to know where I would go. I did kill some one after all, doesn’t matter that I wasn’t...in my right mind, it was still my hands that did it. I felt a tear slide down from my eye, and something sniffed me? I just laid there for a little longer, listening to the area around me, maybe I could pin point where I was. Closing off the ability to use one of your senses brought the others out more. I shivered feeling a cold breeze, what ever I was laying on was hard and had absolutely no give in its structure, and I could hear the slightest clicking in the distance; almost like nails clicking on something. The cold breeze blew harder, I curled up to keep warm as I shivered. The clicking became louder as soon as I moved, I could sense a presence coming closer and closer, as it did; the atmosphere around me grew colder and colder. I couldn't take it any longer, my eyes shot open and my upper body rose as I turned in the direction of it all. I froze...instantly. This was going to get irritating, quickly.

I learned rather quickly that I had to trick my surroundings in order to survive. After about my 11th death was when I realized this. Also that I started every life there after in the den of my killer. It was after my 50th death that I learned who or what my killer was and how many I had to deal with. It was around my 52nd death that I ran into one. A white dragon. I was still young in my ways. So I wanted to be-friend them. I rounded a corner and there was one sleeping. So I approached, thinking they were like Claire and Ryzor. Kind. I got close enough for it to smell me, not that it couldn’t smell me from anywhere in the cave or on the floor. But this one was within actual distance of his nostrils. I could see how big it was. Compared to me, it was towering. A good 250 feet above me. Even sleeping. I walked right up to it, laying there asleep, and curled up against it. Even though it should have been cold, it was remarkably warm and the heat was so inviting. I fell instantly to sleep. I was woke a few minutes later to the prickles of ice across my skin. I shivered. But it brought me aware of my surroundings. I knew this feeling. It was one that I had many times over. My attention was suddenly aware and my eyes popped open quickly. That was when I saw it. Red glowing eyes. I remembered this from my first death. I stayed very still. It was so close. Close enough that I could make out the features of the face, you wouldn’t believe my shock and utter surprise when it dawned on me just who my killer was..and I had walked right into their hands. A low growl echoed around the small compartment. It was the first time I had actually heard one. I didn’t move. There was no way it would blast its brethren. Again, I was so wrong. The prickles of ice grew more and more, I could see my own breath as I shivered. That's when I saw it, this wasn’t another white dragon. It was the very same dragon I was laying against for warmth and safety. I mentally rolled my eyes, dragons and faes my butt. The ice cold air came seeping from its mouth, right as I was about to leave, it blew its breath weapon and I froze...once again.

I learned to avoid them after that. When I woke, I would quickly disappear and reappear some where else in the cave.. I learned I could survive longer by doing this. Disappear when they were around and reappear some where away from them all. I had lived through my first full day. I was astounded that I did, and by using my wits. Well, my magic. The only reason I knew it was a full day was because my magic was depleted for just a moment, and then it was returned. That was the only way I could tell a day had passed. ‘So that works.’ I thought in my head and devised a plan to continue to use my magic. I would have to use it sparingly, so not to run it out before I had time to recuperate. After about the 7th day of me using my spells, I woke the next day feeling a presence close by. I waited until it was so close I could feel the cold swelling the atmosphere, tried my disappearing act.. Nothing. Tried it again. Nothing. Crap! He shut off my powers! Well, that’s what I was thinking. The more I sat there, backed into a corner, the closer it grew. My hand began to glow red, that was when I knew he didn’t stop my magic, just that one. I waited until I could see its face, shot a fireball right into its eye and flew out between its legs while it got over the shock. Unfortunately, I could pull my disappearing act a lot more than shoot a fireball at them, I say them because there was way more than just one. So I would have to use it only when I had no choice, like backed into a corner. Which didn’t happen as often as you would think. There was always another way out. I believe, from what I have found, there was only 4 actual compartments in the whole floor. I don’t know if I have travelled the entire floor yet, but that is what I have found.

I always stayed in the compartment that was furthest from the mass of the presences I could feel, when they all had stopped moving and stayed in one place is when I knew it was safe to lay down and sleep. Even if just for a moment. I didn’t have any sign to go by, so I mapped the area in my head, using structures as land markings to know where I was. By the 150th day, I had it all mapped out in my head and could avoid them easily. I had lulled myself into my own false sense of security. I had been alive using the tactics I devised for over a month now. When I woke the next day, I could feel presences but they weren’t on any of the corridors I had in the map in my mind, it was like they were in the wall and getting incredibly close, closer than I had been letting them get. I got up, prepared to use my fireball and fly when they were distracted, but my hand wasn’t glowing and my wings refused to move. I froze. Not literally, well...not yet. But my body locked up. I had nothing I could use to defend myself, everything had changed, and that was when it hit me. This was my ultimate punishment. It wasn’t my gift. It was his gift to himself and to Daliah, they were sitting somewhere laughing at me. How could someone be so cruel? I had done nothing to either of them. I dropped to my knees, wrapped my arms around my legs and sobbed. I don’t mean any random cry, this was a sob from my very soul, I could feel it. The presence grew closer and closer but I didn’t even care anymore. I had given up. Let it come, let it kill me, I welcomed death now.

I had come to the conclusion that he was trying to make me as mad as him. I lived, or better yet died in that hell hole for over a thousand deaths. I actually think it was more, I just lost count some where around 1050. Every time, I pictured them on the 7th floor watching and laughing, getting amusement from the torture I had been subjected to. I tried to use my life, when I was alive, wisely. Thinking if there was ever anything I had done so wrong to deserve this. It’s funny, I think about it now, my biggest sin...I was too good. Which is horrible when you think about it, I’m lawful neutral, and that was too good. I mean, I could have changed, renounced who I was completely. But that would have made my fate the same as his and I knew one day, he was going to meet that fate. I just hoped I was around to see it, even if it meant that I would meet the same fate.

I stopped mapping the cave in my mind, it did me no good. I stopped caring if I lived or died and just gave in to the hell I was being forced to suffer through day in and day out. I don’t know when it happened, but at some time either in the middle of the night or during one of the moments I drifted off, I meld into the floor or was it a wall? All I know is when I came to, I was encased in stone. I didn’t fight it, hell I didn’t even look for a way out. I was alive, I didn’t have to live in fear of dying, I didn’t have to suffer through anymore of my hell. So I stayed there, in the wall, and rest. I could feel the presence of the dragons as they passed by me, not caring or even not seeing me at all. I waited for the first one to blast me again, but it didn’t. So that was when I learned they couldn’t see or smell me. They didn’t even know I was there, I could hide away from it all. The dragons, the world, the only one I couldn’t hide from was my Master nor Daliah.

 I spent what I thought were days in the wall, resting. My arms and legs began to grow stiff, almost as though they were becoming one with the stone. My breathing had shallowed as well, and my heart was beating slower than normal. My brain started to shut down and I was slightly okay with it. I didn’t picture the end of my life in a wall, but it was better than having to live the way I was. I gladly gave into it. I allowed it to take me, I just relaxed more and as I did, I could no longer feel my toes or fingers. They were turning to stone. For a brief moment my heart broke, I would never see the outside world again, I would never feel the breeze or the sun’s rays on my skin. A tear released my eye and slid down my face, I drew in a deep breath and blew it out. Relaxing completely. Closing my eyes for the last and final time, I smiled as I drift away.

I felt the sun on my skin, its rays warmed my very soul. The breeze smelled of the trees and the flowers, the grass and the outside. My eyes sprang open. Was I dreaming? Then I saw him, my God. He pulled me close, wrapping me in the sun. “Dear sweet child.” Even his voice was warm. I cried, openly. My god had cared enough to collect me himself. That meant something, to me at least. “Poor little thing.” He held me as my tears came out in waves that I didn’t think would ever end. He stroked my hair ever so softly, I clung to him. His shirt was made of the colors of the dawn, he wore the crest of his faith on his shoulder as all his followers. It was the sun rising over the fields and meadows. I would know him from anywhere. His face glowed like the suns rays, as did the rest of his body. I had never felt so free or so safe ever. Even that little grasp of him, even if I was going to be doomed for the rest of my life in the underworld, my god cared. “Don’t cry.” His voice echoed in my ears. “I can’t help it..” I spoke out through the sobs that shook my body. He sat there for a moment, allowed me to grieve as though I had lost everything in the world that was dear to me all at once. Technically, I had. But he just held me in his arms so softly as though he would break what shred of me was left. I felt so fragile. I curled up there, never wanting to leave and drifted off into a deep slumber.

When I awoke, I was still there in his arms. Still warmed by his sun. “Lathandar?” My voice seemed so small in the presence of him. He just turned to me and smiled. His face wasn’t old, it didn’t have the weight of the world on his features, I envied him so much at that moment. “Yes my child?” He whispered. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask in that moment. Like why was I subjected to live in that hell, why he had come for me, why had he let me endure any or all of that, why he had collected me himself. Just why. All of those questions but only, “Why?” came from my mouth. I thought the smile on his face was going to fade with the riddles of questions in my head but it didn’t. It never faltered. “Why..” He repeated my question. “Why did I let you endure all of what you have endured, why have I allowed you to be subjected to that hell, why did I come for you myself, all of those questions yet the only one you asked of me was why. I can answer them all in one answer. Delilah, you were born on my holy day. At dawn, the time that all of my followers kneel to pray to me. You have followed me through all of your trials and heart aches. You clung to your faith as though it never faltered even with living through the hell forced upon you. If I didn’t come to those that held me in the highest, how could I expect anyone to worship me?” He didn’t answer my questions but he did in his own way. “How long may I stay?” I didn’t want to leave, ever, but I knew he couldn’t keep me here with him forever either. “Not much longer.” Was his response. I just nodded as I knew I would be sent back to face what ever they had planned for me. “What is it that you ask of me?” His head tilted to the side as my question came from my lips. “Live Delilah, live, help others and never lose faith.” I didn’t understand what he meant. I mean even through it all, I had never lost faith that one day I would leave the hell on earth I was doomed to, either by death or by someone coming and setting me free. I had given up on someone coming, but now, I’d give up on death setting me free. As I nodded I awoke back on the cave. Crap..it was only a dream. But dreams don’t give gifts.

 “Hey?” My ears picked up on the slight whisper. The dragons didn’t speak to me, they couldn’t, they were too feral. No, this was a male voice and not my Master’s either. I lift my head and looked around, there in the corner was a short wood elf. He was stocky, very muscular, and dressed simply. Forest colored tunic and britches, long black hair that flowed down his back. “Can you help me find the guardian of this floor little one?” Wait, was he serious? How did he even get up here? I felt heat radiating from him and I knew how he had been able to escape all the other floors. I lift up on my palms, and just nodded to him. Now I know, Master said do not allow anyone to leave, but I couldn’t let anyone else live in this hell that was created for me. I alone would endure it. Because I alone was forced to. I picked myself up off the floor. Brushed off my clothes, looked around...wait...I could see in the dark. I gave a silent prayer thanking him for giving me the ability to see in the dark and began to navigate the corridors. I found the door with ease, it glows with magic properties. Inched my way towards it and held my breath. I brought my hand up and touched the door, it began to crack instantly and light came surging through the openings. “Go, now.” I told him. He turned and looked at me, extending his hand. “Come with me.” The gesture alone brought a smile to my face, but I knew I could not. I knew I had to stay here, living this life. No matter where I went or what I did, he could find me, summon me back to him and then I would be forced to endure the iron cage again. I stepped back and watched as the door began to seal again, the stranger disappearing from my sight.