Aretha was startled by this but her reaction could not be seen. If anything she seemed to be calculating the rose held to her. She just said to give her time and barely a few moments had passed and he basically offers himself to her. Under normal circumstances in which someone would do this, she should have outrightly said no. But the word wasn't anywhere near her mind nor mouth. 'Yes', tickled her tongue shamelessly, she could feel the sound of it build in her voice. But would her parents even approve? What of the people who looked up to the royal family and saw this? Most would think she had tainted her families name.
A rattled sigh passes her lips and she swallowed. This would be her choice and hers alone, nothing and no one would dictate her. She gingerly took the rose, brushing her hand against the smooth stem and thorns and raised her eyes to answer him.
She found she couldn't breathe for the second time that day. She felt herself fall, but somehow it wasn't falling. It honestly is a difficult concept to understand, and she herself didn't know why she was being dragged into an eternal darkness. Fear raged in her and she wanted to cry out, but no sound could be heard. Finally she stopped. Being as to where she stopped was all to confusing for her. She looked to herself, just as a precaution and ... nothing. Her body wasn't there but a mere shape of light of what used to be her arm. She brushed out a hand, gasping to her surprise. She just passed though herself!
If only she had something to grasp onto maybe her heart, or if she even had a heart, would stop pounding it's ridiculous beats. This was when she looked around and saw that she wasn't anywhere. It was a simple murky, black that clutched the space around her. Nothingness.
At first she thought herself to be in a nightmare of some sort, but a voice shook her. The words she couldn't comprehend nor was it a language she knew of. It seemed so ancient and fathomless, forcing her into a spike of wakefulness. She felt like a child who wanted to run beneath their bed and curl into a ball, pretending that the monster who lurked in their bedroom would go away after nor finding her.
She thought it was over after the voice ceased. But a brightness that could never be explained filled her vision and made her ache in pain. Stars, so many stars. The same light the assisted the moons as night would fall open her homeland. The same light she would gaze up at, in a wonder only she could feel. Then the sun made it's grand entrance. Radiance that glowed and heated the day, heightened the path of hidden planets she could never see in starlight. Seventeen of which she was taught in long classes with her siblings, teachers who looked bored and uninterested in the subjects they spoke of. But she squinted, spotting two she never thought would exist.
Glancing through the spinning orbs of different colors and sizes, she fell upon her own, covered in the depths of deep waters. She marveled at the blue gem, that shimmered distinguished among the others. She observed Fital, her home rise from the oceans and form itself into a beauty that only so few would ever see. A mountains peak, groaned as it awakened from it's earth, stretching for the heavens themselves. This was Ethlberg, in it's cleanest and purest form. She then came to realize the land was immense in it's size. Stretching so far, she lost sight of it's end. But the side of her world, where no land existed was pitch dark and only sea. She shivered, now knowing that it would be easy for vast oceans to wipe so many of the nations out.
A loud crash, that rotated in its anger made her turn to the two lonely planets now crushing into the second sun. A sun, she had not noted before until too late. When the explosion had faded away, as if it never existed, the three moons she had made stories about during her childhood floated above her planet. The second sun was no more but the sadness that filled her dispersed when she caught glance of twelve dragons that fell to Fital from the first and remaining sun. She was pulled against her own will, unsure of what was to come. Funny thing about humans, fear tends to hold them back. When the dragons made contact with land, a black egg, with green inscribed flames burst through the ground. She concluded that this was the first dragon egg, but somehow she felt a pinch of something familiar about it. The egg had been surrounded by humanoid forms, but no voice could they claim except the alarmed cries of seeing the larger dragons, and they fled to the mountains for protection.
Dragons, the twelve of various colors and sizes, circled the egg, making her think of them as a cat targeting a mouse. But instead of a taloned claw striking, they laid their noses upon the hard shell. The egg seemed to rumble and shake as if alive, and it cracked open. Aretha watched, seeing nothing happen but a tiny, black, six fingered claw shot out covered in slime. She would have grimaced, but her curiosity kept her from such. Another claw poked out and the peak of the egg made a final last shattering crack before a head appeared, still so very similar to her memory.
A fine handsome black male Dragon with green eyes looked around at his masters and continued to push himself from his confinements.. He wriggled free, huge scaly wings spreading open of their slime followed by his small but powerful scaly body, and his three separate tails. He cried at his family and they hissed to him, making him hiss back. Already he was at least nine feet long and had a wingspan seven feet across. He lay there struggling with his body when on one accord the twelve Dragons inhaled and together blew the First Fire onto him.
What emerged was Hama, naked though his groin was now hidden, his scales slowly became skin. His wings pulled into his back and his tails vanished becoming his hair. He looked at his family and smiled speaking in the Dragon tongue, hugging each of them. The Dragons turned to one another, speaking in their language. Something was decided and he changed back and they flew off.
So now she watched the other races, separated from the dragons be born and thrive, finding ways to complement their talents. The dark elves took upon the magic of the skies and mountains, putting effort and focus in pools of water that resided in the rolling hills, due to the sun that scorches their skin. Their opposite counterparts, the light elves had became one with the forests and nature around them. They learned above all the nations how to survive off of the magnitude and plenty the ground brought forth. The dwarfs tinkering and possessed skills in heart and rock, making their homes of such material as they enjoyed the scent and feel. Orcs found caves and dark spaces, making them their own, often butting head with the dwarfs who made claims on the same lands as they.The Amgi found they could control creation itself, a gift craved and envied by many. And the humans, simple in their ways, bred and spread. The found the mount soon to be called Ethlberg, beginning to climb it, to dig into it, fighting the land itself to submit it to their will. And the Twelve and Hama found a mountain range far beyond the reach of the other nations and began to have eggs, thousands of eggs in fact. Hama then served as their farmer breeding their herds soon providing them with endless herds of bovines of every sort, deer and all their relations, goats, sheep, and all sorts of other prey species. Then when that became too dull for them he bred predator species. He and the Twelve hunted and fed and found themselves pleased by the thrills of attacking prey, and the eggs began to hatch. For the most part the hatchlings behaved, hunting their own food and staying in their own portion of the world but many did fly forth to explore. And this was when Hama become the First Souled, dragons who could take on two forms, though he was the only to have been born a Dragon and attain his second form.
The wars between the Dragons and the other races were ghastly. Many Dragons had simply been out exploring and had grown hungry. It was shown clearly that no Dragon below a hundred years had ever been involved in the eating of any herd, and had rarely even been seen by the other nations, for a number of reasons. The chief of which was that these Dragons were simply massive. Hama himself had grown into a truly massive dragon though he could compact himself into his familiar form. To be fair to the other races some attacks and wars were against angry or bored Dragons, or those who had gone mad. The worst though were when a single hatchling or young Dragon was killed and the whole family would emerge for revenge. Dragons, thrown from their rightful homes and land, sometimes lives dwindling in a balance of power. They fought for themselves and their homes, but were pushed back into the dirt as the other nations tried to put them under control. Soon it seemed as if they lost the will to fight and separated themselves to live in solitude. The world seem to hold a mist of death over it, like the fog hanging over a lake.
This is when the Souled became the lores of legends and myths. They would seek out the wronged parties and bring peace, or at least try. This was how many became Souled in the first place but Hama did not take part in these. His actions were far different as he helped each nation write the books of Fital. He and the Twelve used the gifts they received to create the Ethlberg Embassy, the chest, and so many other pieces of magic solely for their purpose and use.
While she saw this she saw the birth of the Rezda again. Gratefully, she was pulled from the past and pulled to it's nearer future, only for her to want to hide under a rock. She saw the birth of the Rezda. Flowing in massive waves onto land, killing so many more. No one stood a chance. Bodies were torn limb, and she then saw the world become unglier with the hatred and greed stored for so many years as the Reda grew. War traveled deep and far into the most desolate of places of the desert and blood seem to be the only thing to quench the thirst of dusted sand. Families were torn from each other and angishing pain filled her being, unable to handle such grief. Bile rose in her throat, choking her at the sights before her. Some Rezda even displayed body parts and organs as prizes over successful victories. They slaughtered villages and killed the innocent with no thought and she could see why any creature could hold disdain for them.
However these killings triggered a reaction. A meeting of all the nations was taking place near the edge of the desert. Hama, of course was present. But during the meeting, the Rezda arrived without warning and slaughtered all but Hama. He fought like a demon ripping them apart in both forms but he was beginning to become overrun by the murderous creature. Then the thunder arrived, thousands upon thousands of dragons. They burned their way across the desert and drove the Rezda into the sea and into the arms of a thousand civilizations that could not defend themselves. The Dragons leapt to give aid, evacuating them, calling upon the water Dragons, their younger and rather strange cousins, to help as well. They formed a pair of wedges and drove them together thinking they had crushed the Rezda and their converted Rezdi.Yet the slaughter was immense but not whole. The Rezda and Rezdi escaped in small numbers and spread across the ocean floors and used the hidden waters and passages to spread their numbers.
While Aretha learned that the Dragons had created a hidden pocket universe and similarly protected Embassy, and saw how while neither side was wholly innocent, it was true that for the most part the Dragons had been hunted, murdered, and harassed far beyond their limit into fighting back making a number of supposed justified attacks on the Dragons naught but lies, including many by her own ancestors. And through it all there was Hama, never a key figure never to be remembered but always present. She also saw the first two High Prophets a dwarf woman named Veli, and an elf of both races name Bish. She saw how their bloodlines had been traced down all the way through to her own family and thus into Kurtis from both sides. Surprised by the fact, really.
White. A white light went around her and everything was gone. The past that had become so recall and terrifying in it's abundance. She was sure it was now over, but the white remained. She now looked for something, anything that could be a last step and her eyes fell upon a small child. A small girl, whose size could be guessed as three years of age. She wore a beautiful gown, adorned in fragments of rare jewels and fabric, just like a dress she had forgotten about. A dress her mother would force upon her when she stubbornly refused to put clothing on. Her hair was like Aretha's and Nila's, she moved with a grace so much like Aretha's that the princess for a moment believed she was seeing herself. Aretha approached the girl, seeing her play with a toy that the firm kept moving, and she couldn't grasp a clear look at it. The child suddenly looked up and Aretha was left, stilled. Her face and structure was of that of a miniture Aretha, doll-like and beautiful. Yet, that was not what left Aretha in a chilled state. The girl had vivid eyes of expression, human in almost everyday excusing the pupils that had a pointed edge about them, reminding her of a lizard. Green were her eyes, emeralds that shined in a wonderful happiness. Green as the haunting flame Hama expelled. Green as the eyes of her father.
Her nephews voice echoed through the world making it rumble.
"Behold shall the daughter of the Gold and Red assume the crown when both fall to the scythe of death. She shall be known as the Queen of Dragons and shall bear a child unknown to history. Her rule shall mark the coming of a Golden Age and the joining of the races of Fital into one Great Nation."
Breath found her lungs as the vision finally came to it's close, her tired soul slipping back into place, healing itself and in the process making her loose account of much of what she had experienced, though the images were still rooted in the unconscious part of her, hidden away. She though, had a giddy leap in her heart. She still recalled her child, non, their child. Her hand clutched and she winced, looking down at her hand. She saw that she had grasped the flower's thorns to hard and they had pierced her flesh. Blood began to trickle and she quickly hid the rose behind her.
"I can love someone that isn't like me. I can love someone who my people might reject me for. I can love you..." Her words were shaken, but held a fierce confidence.
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