Dark Beginnings

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. The Kalikrine warriors who took the Valley as their home were unaware of what was about to unfold, but the same could not be said of the woman approaching the dragons. She walked deliberately toward her old home, her eyes fixed on the 20-person tall, black twin statues positioned at each side of the entrance to the Valley. It had been ten long years since she was forced from her home. A decade since she had last laid eyes on the dragons.

Things had changed. She had changed. She remembered how the road leading to the Valley’s entrance used to be lined with local artisans selling their craft in makeshift huts. She remembered how their voices would echo and stay in the air, only to be overtaken by another voice, and then another. She remembered the sense of community that filled the area. Now there was no one. There were no echoing voices. Now at the entrance to the Valley stood only the Kalikrine’s dragons.

The woman stopped at the foot of one of the statues. She’d never lost faith that she’d return, but even so, it felt surreal now that she had finally made it back. She knew what she had to do. She’d known it since the moment she first fled the Valley. But before it had only been a fantasy in her mind. A promise she made to herself to help her get from one day to the next. Except now she was finally in a position to fulfill her promise. Now it was no longer a fantasy. She was different now, and she had made it home.

Eyes still fixed on the dragons, the woman didn’t notice the Kalikrine family walking into the Valley until they were almost passed her. The parents were maybe thirty, just a few years her senior. With them were two children, a boy and a girl. They were running behind their parents, playing and laughing with one another. She couldn’t help but think of how similar they seemed to her own family. Full of joy. Full of love. Full of innocence. But none of that mattered.

The family stopped to look at the woman before entering the Valley. It was clear to them that she did not belong. She certainly didn’t look like a Kalikrine with her dark skin and braided hair, but she made sure to not let them see her Ubikutin markings. That would bring trouble. Trouble she could deal with, but it was still too early for that. She smiled politely at the parents who nodded their heads and did the same. As hard as the past few years had been, producing that smile was hard for her. The woman barely knew the people she hated, but she knew her hate was justified. They were the reason she was exiled. The reason she had been completely alone for the better part of a decade. The reason she had no home. The reason she had no real family.

As a child, the woman used to dream of a different life. A life where the Kalikrine warriors never invaded. A life spent with family and friends. A simple life. Now a young adult, finally standing at the foot of the dragons, she no longer thought of how different her life could have been. Rather, she thought of the future. Not her future though. She thought about what the future would look like for the Kalikrine. Would her actions lead another down a similar path? She didn’t think so. This wouldn’t be like what happened to her. She wasn’t planning on leaving any survivors.