Dragon Bound

Chapter 8

Ryoka was running again, this time on foot in a dark alleyway, she was panting as she ran seemingly from nothing but shadows.

A shadow passed by her overhead, another passed by her sideways, another seemingly went through her, she halted in her strides and looked around for a while, searching for signs of the pursuer.

Another shadow passed overhead, or maybe it was the same one but then that was enough for Ryoka to pick up the race once again.

‘Come, this way, through here’ she heard no one say in her mind, she couldn’t decipher whose voice it is, was it her father’s or Damien’s? She really couldn’t tell.

‘Over here, c’mon, quickly' the voice said again more persistent and more clearer, Ryoka obeyed and moved towards the direction the voice told her, although how she knew what direction it was she really couldn’t tell, she just knew.

Suddenly she found herself in a dark room, the room smelled of ashes, like the aftermath of burning, it was so acrid that she had to pinch her nose.

‘Pardon the ashes, they are a part of me’ the voice said again seemingly from all about the room, even though Ryoka couldn’t tell where the room started or ended.

“Who are you? What do you want with me?” Ryoka asked confidently, no matter who or what it was she wasn’t about to go down without a challenge neither was she going to get beaten without a fight from her.

‘Oh please, I bear no ill intent towards you, I can sense your awakening, that is why I have chosen to come to you, hardly do I find my people though my link anymore, they’ve all been cut off from me’ the voice said sadly.

‘As to who I am, just call me mother’ the voice said and as she did, a face appeared in the dark, seeing the face, Ryoka gasped at the intelligence, the beauty and the brilliance of it.

‘What do I want, easy, I want nothing more than the liberation of my people, our people, I need them to stop paying for my shortcomings, it has been too long already and long have they suffered’ Mother said.

“Our people?” Ryoka asked and even as she did, she knew who Mother meant, but still her vision changed and what she saw next took her breath away.

This must definitely be the dragon continent, it was huge and beautiful, lush with greens and vegetation in one part, devoid, barren and dark on another part, steaming and foggy in another, and another part icy and frozen, all aspects blended together and Ryoka could truly see that there is harmony here.

She soared overhead like a bird, no, like a dragon and saw other dragons too, some up in the sky and others on the ground, there were humans on the ground as well, but as she looked on, she discovered they weren’t actually humans because she saw some transform into more dragons.

‘We lived in contentment, we had no bone of contention with anyone, we were a satisfied, blissful people, then They came and because of my trusting nature this happened’ Mother’s voice said and yet again Ryoka’s vision changed.

This time the whole of the beautiful expanse of land was frozen up, the great creatures were like ice sculptures and those still in their human form the same.

‘The very same technology that hid us and kept us safe and separated from the rest of the world was used against us to keep us in a living frozen state’ Mother’s voice continued.

‘My greatest regret is not being amongst them, frozen in time, feeling the pain but unable to react, but maybe some good might still come out of that yet’ she kept saying to Ryoka.

‘I can feel their pain, their suffering, and I can hear their cries of woe, pang and I know of their resignation to hopelessness' Mother’s voice said yet again and this time, Ryoka as well felt all Mother felt, heard all she heard and knew what she knew as well.

These people were in great throes, the state they were in was torture, their minds was being ravaged and all they had to comfort them was the voice of Mother, who has to continually bring hope to them even though most of them had lost all hope, staying like that, frozen in time like that, it was enough to make anyone run mad.

Then the vision closed up once again and Ryoka found herself in the dark room once again, facing the truly beautiful face of Mother.

“What am I to do? Besides I am just only one person” Ryoka asked truly feeling sorry and pity towards, well, her people as Mother had rightly said, whether she chose them or not, whether she chose to believe it or not, whether she has fully gotten to know her other side or not, she is and will only always be an Eldrian descendant.

‘You might be one person, but you have the strength of us all combined, you can call on this strength anytime you need it, search for it deep within you, learn how to call on it and make proper use of it’ Mother reassured and charged Ryoka.

‘Know this also, there are others out there, I can feel them, but someway somehow they are out of my reach, they are not as accessible as you are, but I believe you can bring them in, connect with them and add them to the fold, more importantly free their minds so that I can gain access to them too” Mother enlightened Ryoka.

‘Free us, free us all’ Mother’s desperate voice pleaded with Ryoka and she swallowed hard at the responsibility that had been placed on her shoulders, she had no clue as to how she would do that, and then given the fact that at the moment she is trying hard not to get swept off by the harsh and evil waters of the same evil people in this context.

She was about to give voice to her thoughts when her vision started to change again, she heard Mother plead one last time and then she was back at the alleyway, seated on the floor.

Someone was tugging at her, shaking her, she tried to break free of the shadows clutches, if only she could stand up and run away.

“Stop, C’mon, wake up Ryoka!” she heard clearly this time the voice of Damien and she woke up from her dream state, she wasn’t in a alleyway, she was still on the plane and the shadow holding her down had been the seatbelt.

It was all a dream, she thought to herself as she woke fully, but it had felt real, skin prickling real.

“Welcome back princess, how was the dreamland? And don’t tell me it wasn’t really awesome because I had trouble getting you to back to reality” Damien said with humor.

Ryoka just rolled her eyes “Ha ha ha, very funny” she said in sarcasm to his joke, she looked sideways and saw the reason why he had woken her up though.

“The trolley is here, what would you like to eat?” he asked her and immediately her mouth started to water at the savory snacks on display.

She pointed to the top row and said “One of each!” to which Damien laughed, he knew she was hungry and he actually commended her for not asking for the whole trolley.

He indulged her and got what she wanted for her and without pause she dug into them, stuffing them down and washing it down with a smoothie.

As she eat though, from the corner of her eye, her sight spotted something, she looked out the window at the clouds, she could have sworn that a huge shadow had just passed over it just now, but then it was her peripheral vision so it could have been the light playing on her vision.

Or was it?