Unforgiving Tears

I was running. Running past tree after tree, bush after bush. A sharp sting across my right cheek, from a stray branch, only spurred me on to go faster. Hot tears fell from my eyes, stinging my newly acquired cut and leaving a trail of blood in its wake. I’ve already nearly fallen multiple times, but I have to keep going. I cannot stop, for her; I will survive and live to accomplish her final wish. I will not let that monster get away with what they had done. I can still hear their screams echo throughout my mind. The memories will haunt me for the rest of my existence. I will never be the same after today.

            It had started off as any normal day. The sky was clear blue with many clouds littering it. The birds were especially noisy today. I woke up, ate a small breakfast, and helped my mother by delivering medicine, and going out to collect herbs and other ingredients out in the woods. That normal day quickly turned into a living nightmare.

            I was in the entrance of the woods, out on the edge of the village looking for the herbs my mother requested. I was just bending down to retrieve one, when suddenly a humongous shadow passed over me. It was by the time I got over my shock, that I noticed it was already gone. Soon afterwards, when the incident of the shadow was quickly forgotten, I heard an ear-splitting roar come from the village followed by terrified screams. I stood frozen in shock. My clear blue eyes wide with fear as my, somewhat longer than normal, black hair fell a bit in my eyes. I was quick to snap out of it when I recalled something. My mother, I have to find and help her. I don’t know what it is, but anything that can frighten my whole village in under a minute must be bad, right?

            I swiftly dropped the basket I was previously holding to rush into the village. I shortly arrived in the village only to come to a halt. Red, red was everywhere. It was on the ground, on people, and on nearby homes. The heat coming from these homes was intense. Sweat glistened on my temple as I absorbed the sight before me. Fire, there’s so much fire. How could this happen? I soon processed the sounds of children crying and parents calling for their kids. I saw a young man helping his wounded friend get to safety. The stench of burning bodies and blood flooded my nostrils and was unbearable. It was out of the corner of my eye, that I saw a scene that would haunt many of my nightmares to come.

            A young girl, around five or six, was next to the body of a woman who slightly resembled the child. The girl was shaking the women, whom he assumed to be her mother, as if it would somehow wake her up. However, he knew it was pointless. She was covered in severe looking burns and wasn’t breathing. She was dead.

            This is unimaginable. What on earth could cause all this destruction in the span of a few minutes!? It was at that moment, almost as if it had heard my question that a load deafening roar sounded throughout the village from up above. I slowly and fearfully looked up to see total darkness. Except it wasn’t darkness that I saw, but a large black dragon with the biggest claws and sharpest teeth. It was the eyes that had me mesmerized. The eyes shone like the sun with a golden hue, like that of a reptile.

            “What, how is this possible?! I thought all of the dragons were extinct…” A very familiar voice shouted from right behind me. I turned around to see Lucas Adler, my childhood best friend and brother figure. His long shaggy brown hair was messy and coated with blood on one side. He stood, frozen with shock, staring at the dragon.

            “Luke, are you okay? There’s blood…” I trailed off, unsure how to continue. So much has happened to me today that I just don’t know how to react anymore. Lucas was four years older than me at twenty one. He has always acted like an older brother to me, always protecting and teaching me in ways my mother was unable to.

“Oh, yeah I’m alright. It’s not mine…” He replied, clearly upset at remembering what he must have recently gone through.

            “Lucas, we need to go! I have to find my mother. She could be hurt or worse. I’m scared.” I admitted. “She’s all that I have.”

He looked shocked at seeing me act so openly about my feelings. It was of no shock to everyone that my mom and I only had each other. My mother would tell me that her and my father used to travel around together. She said that he eventually had to leave to protect us. He supposedly upset the wrong people and to protect us left my mother, not knowing that she was pregnant with me. My mother eventually wondered into Altomonte, the village that we currently live in. It was here that I was born. Seeing me supposedly look delicate, seemed to cause Lucas to be even more protective of me. He really was the older brother in our friendship.

            “Don’t worry Damian, I know where she is. Lillian and Marcus’ little girl took ill and sent for Rose, so she should still be at their house tending to her.” I never quite realized how relieved I was, until it was suddenly snatched away from me upon realizing that she was in the middle of the village where most of the damage was.

            “Lucas, we have to hurry! She could already be dead for all we know!” I shouted in panic. I saw realization slowly creep into his eyes as fear took hold in his face.

“Oh God.” He whispered in horror. We both turned and sprinted towards the center of town. Fear serving as a source of our adrenalin. We both knew that we would have to hurry if we even wanted a chance to save her.

            The dragon was already long gone by the time we got to where my mother was supposed to be. The house was crushed with debris littering the ground that we walked on. I felt my heart stop and blood run cold.

            There she was. She was buried under the debris with blood pooling around her. She was barely breathing, almost as if it was hurting her to do so. Her once dark brown hair was now matted with blood and dirt. Her skin a sickly pale, almost as if she was already dead. I quickly found the source of the bleeding to be from her stomach, where a wooden beam had went straight through her stomach and can be seen exiting through her back. By this point she was gasping for air with tears running down her cheek.

            “Mother!” I never even realized that I was shouting and begging. I didn’t notice the fact that I ran past the crushed and bloodied bodies of the family that had originally lived in what used to be a house. All I had processed was that my mother was dying. My mother was dying. She was going to leave me all on my own.

Oh god, she’s really dying. No, no, no. This can’t be happening. Please God, let this be a dream.

            “You’re going to be all right. Everything will be okay, I promise.” I gasped out. “This can’t be happening. Please, don’t leave me.” I begged.

“D-Damian… My baby boy.” She rasped, “Please…go.”

I stared down at her defiantly. “No, I’m not leaving you.”

She gazed at me with sadness in her eyes. “Please… Just listen to me…This one t-time.” She stuttered. I stared at her with tears running down my cheeks as if the dam had finally broken.

“I can’t.” I sobbed, “Please. If it was something else, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Ask me anything, but please don’t make me leave you.” I begged.

            She continued to stare at me for what felt like hours, but was only a few seconds. “You need… to promise me something.” She said.

“I’ll do anything.” I replied without any hesitation. “Forget… forget all of this. Move on and… c-continue living your life t-to the fullest.” She pleaded.

“No, mother. Please don’t make me do this.” I began to openly sob, snot making its way down my nose without my acknowledgment.

            “Promise me, Damian. Promise me!” She shouted as loud as she could, gasping from the pain it caused her.

“I… I promise.” I whispered.

“Good… I love you.” She said, as she took her final breaths. Her body soon lay still as she closed her eyes with a smile on her face.

            I felt a hand close on my shoulder as I mechanically turned around to see Lucas, whom I forgot was there, with tears in his eyes, because Rose was like a mother to him.

“We can heal her. We can find the fairies. They have magical healing abilities. They can save her!” I gradually got louder the more I pleaded with him. He only shook his head.

“You know that’s not possible. She’s already stopped breathing. They can’t heal what’s already dead.” He continued, even as I began sobbing. “Physical wounds, yes, but it’s impossible if her spirit has already moved on.”

            “What do I do now?” I whispered, tears still falling from my eyes.

“We live.” He held out his hand for me to take. I stared up at his hand before looking into his eyes. There was so much pain yet a strong determination held within his eyes. I slowly reached up and grasped his hand in mine as he helped me up. We both stood in the center of what used to be Altomonte. Bodies now litter the ground as the fires have started to die down. Lucas and I were the sole survivors that day. Everyone else died and left us behind.

            I will live, and I will kill the dragon that did this to me. I don’t care how long it takes, but I will not give up. I will promise this to you mother, I will avenge you.   

            The memory fades when I come to a halt behind Lucas. We stood in a large clearing.

“Luke, why did we stop?” We had been running from the destruction of our village for what must have been hours, but I would have thought that we would continue till we reach our neighboring village.

“It’s getting dark, we’d get lost if we continue like this. This is also as good a place as any to stop.” He said.

“Why?” I asked. I was genuinely curious. Why was this place so special?

“There is a lake not too far from here to get water and fish if needed.” As expected, Lucas always was the voice of reason back in the village.

            The village, I can still hear the screams and cries of the women and children. The shouts of the men echoed in my ears as they tried to save everyone. Why, why did this have to happen to me? Why did this happen to us? All of our friend and family died in the flames.

            “Dami…Damian!” I snap back to reality as I hear Lucas call me.

“Yeah?” I reply, as I see Lucas standing in my face. He backed off, seeing me supposedly alright.

“Are you okay? You kind of zoned out for a bit.” He asked concern evident in his voice.

            “I’m fine…” He stared at me with disbelief in his eyes.

“Damian, please, I’ve been with you since you were but a baby. I know when you’re lying. Trust me; you’re not the only one who lost someone today.” He gazed down sadly with a tear falling from his right eye, down his cheek. Realization struck me like sword.

            “No, she’s not…Luke, please don’t tell me…” He nodded slowly. “She died in my arms. The house was burning to the ground and part of the roof caved in and crushed her. Diana died as I pulled her out. My baby sister, whom I promised to protect, is dead.”  He broke down into sobs as I remembered when I first saw him today. I remember asking about the blood in his hair. ‘It’s not mine…” He told me, now I clearly know whose it was.

            “Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked. He’s my best friend and he didn’t even think to tell me. Did he not trust me, was I not a good enough friend for him to confide in?

            “It’s not that I didn’t trust you, Dami…” He replied as if reading my thoughts, “It’s just that we were busy trying to find your mom and we were both still recovering from the shock of what attacked us. In a way, the shock of it all, it sort of numbed the pain.”

            “I’m sorry Luke, I was only thinking of myself. I’m sorry.” I apologized. He’s my best friend and I didn’t even bother to ask how he was doing. The thought didn’t even come to me.

            As night fell on the clearing, both boy and man thought of what they had lost that day. One: a mother, whom loved and cared for him. She reprimanded and listened to him when he needed it. The other: a younger sister whom he protected and cherished. She was far too young and innocent to have died the way she did.

            Both men lost everything that day. They lost their home and the people whom they loved more than anything in this cruel world. Family and friends, lost to the fire, but after today, a new journey will begin. One of heartache and joy, of new allies and enemies. This is a journey of vengeance.