Chapter 4

Grandma

I've looked after Destiny for years, and never once did I hear about a dream like this. My granddaughter was growing up, and I couldn't stop her. Nor did I want to. With all the punishments she gets around, I'm surprised she didn't leave the nest sooner.

I pondered my granddaughter's dream. I'll admit, it was suspicious, but then again, so is Destiny. She's special, despite her parents' hatred. I just don't understand those two. So what if their daughter was born mortal or magicless, as people call it these days. She was still their child. Honestly, I'll never understand their reasoning.

***

Destiny

I did as my grandmother instructed and ate some bread with fruits. I yawned and went to bed. I was exhausted not only from my chores but also cause of the nightmare I had. I just hope I can sleep soundly this time. I drifted into a deep sleep, only it wasn't so deep.

I woke up in a field, the grass was green, and the trees were filled with blooming flowers that only blossomed in the breezing wind that passed by. The sun was shining over the horizon giving the sky a light orange to its hazing blue. I walked over to one of the trees and picked a flower from its branches. The petals were a delicate pink. I rubbed my fingers through its petals; the peak was so fragile.

Suddenly, the flower turned to ash and fell through my hands. The ground turned black, and the trees were deep black with fire on their branches. The sky was a fiery red, and the breeze was filled with smoke.

I heard a thud behind me. I slowly turned around to see a shadow with red eyes. I ran as fast as I could, not even looking back. The more I ran, the closer I felt the shadow was getting to me. I kept running until I tripped. My hands were stained with the green grass that was now ash. I looked behind me to see what I tripped over. I scooted back when I saw a skeleton. To my horror, it was a human skeleton.

I felt something cold grab my hand; I turned to see a skeleton holding my hand. I fought to get my hand free. I was successful, but only to have more come for me. I ran again. As fast as my legs could carry me. The more I ran, the more I realized I was on a battlefield. The cannons, swords, staffs, this was clearly a war.

The skeletons continued to chase me. I looked around for a safe place to hide, but everything was destroyed. I found a dirt trench and jumped in. I stayed low and quiet, waiting for the skeletons to leave. Thankfully, they didn't notice me. I was safe, for now. When the coast was clear, I got out of the trench, but the moment I came out, the hairs on the back of my neck stood. I felt a deadly chill up my spine. I turned once more to see the shadow from earlier. I backed away slowly. Its red eyes stared at me.

ROOOOOAAARR!!

I wanted to scream, but my voice was gone. I tripped once more, this time unable to stand. They all moved a step closer to me, then stood before me. It let out a final roar before lunging at me. With my bit of strength, I screamed.

"AHHHHH!"

I woke up covered in sweat and my heart racing. "What-what the heck was that?" My breathing was heavy. It…I was about to die, for real. I lowered my head and tried to calm down. My heart wouldn't slow down; I felt it pounding against my chest more and more. I took a deep breath to calm down. It helped very little.

"Destiny!" I jumped at the sound of my mom's voice.

"C-coming!" I shouted. I got out of bed but fell because of my weak legs. They were shaking like they were scared stiff. I heard my mother call me again, but this time with more anger. I mustered all my strength to stand and walk downstairs. I used the wall and railing for support. When I reached the living room, I found grandma in her chair and mom and dad on the couch. Axel was the only one who wasn't there, so I assumed he was in his room.

"Yes, mother," I said with one hand on the wall.

"Go make dinner! The sun went down hours ago; you should've been making dinner!"

"Yes, mother. I'll make it right away."

"Good, and remember your father, and I will be going to town tomorrow morning, so I expect all the chores to be done."

"Yes, mother." With those final words, I left to get dinner ready.

I tried not to let my weakness show, but someone had already caught onto it. "Why are you holding onto the wall?" Axel asked with suspicion.

"Why can't I?" I replied. Suspicion was written all over his face. I knew the only way to escape his doubt was to let go of the wall. I carefully let my hand fall to my side, but my legs were shaking still. I put on a smile and walked away. However, to my hatred, Axel followed me.

I did my best to walk as normally as possible, but Axel kept his eye on me. When we reached the kitchen, I felt my legs ready to give up. "Satisfied?" I asked.

He looked at me straight in the face and answered, "No."

I was so confused. I walked all the way here; clearly, I was fine.

"Destiny, you can't fool me. What happened?"

Axel's eyes showed worry; there was no point in lying to him. "Can I tell you after dinner? Mom and dad will get mad if I stop to tell you."

"Alright."

Axel helped me to prepare dinner. We barely spoke, both while we were making and eating dinner. He even helped me clean up, despite mom's objectives. When everything was clean, we went upstairs. No one questioned where we were going since it was late. We entered my room and sat on the bed.

"Now that we're alone," he said as he sat on my bed, "tell me what's wrong with your legs."

I sighed and told him about my dream, which made him worry even more. "Destiny, that's two nights in a row. Why do you have these nightmares?"

"I don't know, and this one was so scary that my legs…."

Axel comforted me with a hug, "You're sleeping in my room tonight."

I broke the hug and looked at him, "What?"

"You heard me. With all these nightmares, I should keep an eye on you. Besides, the only one who's supposed to give you nightmares around here is me."

I laughed a bit. My brother was clearly trying to cheer me up. With a smile, I agreed to his terms. "Good sister, wash up and get changed. I'll be in my room," he said as he left.

"K." I washed up and changed at my brother's request, then I went to his room. Of course, I brought my pillow with me. When I got there, Axel was waiting for me. The right side of his bed was against the wall, so I laid down on that side. Axel laid next to me; I felt safe.

"Night, you little weirdo."

"Night, moron."

After our insults, we went to sleep. For a while, it slept peacefully, but it was not meant to last.

***

I awoke on a cold, stone floor. As I stood, my eyes tried to find the light. Unfortunately, it was too dark. Suddenly, torch lights lit up the area, which turned out to be a hall. The hall was paved with tapestries. They were so beautiful, they bore such detail, and they told a story. Each one was in a specific order, from the beginning to the middle, to the end.

From where I was, it was apparent I was at the beginning. The first one was of dragons, then of humans, the next was of the Duine Naga War, and after was a man with yellow slit eyes and fiery red hair. I stopped and looked at his picture.

"Only one person has ever had eyes like this." That's when I realized what story these tapestries told. "This is the story of the Dragon Tamer." My curiosity got the best of me as I continued on.

The following embroidery showed the humans and dragons with the Dragon Tamer in-between. Succeeding showed the Dragon Tamer with a dragon; I assumed it was Otamd. The last tapestry was the Dragon Tamer dead in a glass coffin. The tapestries came to an end after his death. I went back to look at his picture and got lost in his eyes. I broke out when the hall turned dark. I felt a cold gust of wind rush by me…I kept still.

The torches' flames returned, and I saw a slit tapestry. It was the one that showed the Tamer's death. The embroidery was ripped by what looked like claws; I hated to say it, but they were dragon claws. I reached out to touch it when the tapestry caught on fire and burned before my eyes. All of them did, except one. One of the Tamer himself remained unharmed. I walked over and looked at it. The eyes glowed, causing me to be entranced. As I reached for the picture, I woke up.

The first thing I saw was Axel drooling and snoring. I looked out the window and saw it was sunrise, which meant mom and dad were out. I got up to bathe first. When I was done, I changed into my chore/normal clothes. I washed my face, relieving it from all the dirt and grease. I dried my face off with the towel, but I could wish I was still dreaming when I looked in the mirror.

I pinched and slapped myself, hoping it was a dream, but it wasn't. My eyes were…yellow?!

"AHHHHHHH!"