One With The Fire

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. There was a time that it was quiet, peaceful, filled with lush vegetation and lively animals. There was a village in the center, and the people were farmers, blacksmiths, merchants, and more. They were happy. They didn't know the horrors that would come when a stranger walked into their midst. She had hair the color of a fires embers, her eyes so dark they were almost black, and she walked as if the world was supposed to bow before her. These are the things I remember about her. These are the things that stood out the most.

The whispers started without hesitation. People huddled together after she passed by, the judgment and confusion evident on their faces. It wasn't long until the rumors started. She was a witch. A devil. A demon walking on the earth. They didn't yet know how close to the truth they were. Truth was, no one knew a thing about her, and she hadn't spoken to a single one of them yet. She never did say anything to them. She never said anything to anyone.

Slowly, her presence became a part of the slow routine of the village. People got used to her walking through the market each day, never saying anything, never buying anything. They didn't question where she came from, what she was doing here, or how she even found the Valley. They just accepted it. That was the mistake that would cost them their lives. Not mine, though. No, I never accepted her presence. Never accepted her. She was an outsider. She never bought anything, she just walked through the cobblestone streets, her dark eyes searching for something we'll never see.

She was there for one month. One slow, agonizing month that I wish I could preserve in my mind to remember 'til my death. It's sad, really, I can barely recall the weather of it, or how my time was spent when I wasn't pondering the mystery about that fire-haired woman. However, I can remember in great clarity how it ended, and how the next month began. The thing that haunts me, that I wish with all my might I could forget.

The morning was quiet. There was no birdsong, no crickets before the sun had fully risen. The animals were all hiding, all feeling the anticipation of what was coming. If anyone thought it suspicious, they didn't say anything. We went about our day as if it was normal for the Valley to be as quiet as death. We had no idea what was coming for us.

They appeared over the ridge like a storm, their roars rattling our bones and shaking the earth beneath us. There were so many of them, I couldn't tell where one ended and another began. Their wings caused a wind that broke branches off of trees and sent up enormous clouds of dust. The villagers had never seen anything like it, had only heard about them in fairytales. But what happened next would never belong in a fairytale.

Panic that followed was inevitable. People started running around, and screams filled the air. Mothers ran with their children, men tried to find anything they could defend themselves with. The panic seemed to excite the dragons further, and then I spotted the woman in the market. She stood still, her face showing no signs of the fear or panic that contorted the villagers' faces. She looked calm, almost like she was at peace. Slowly, she raised one arm into the sky, and the dragons roars were silenced. Quick as lightning, she dropped her arm down, and the dragons descended.

They released hellfire on the village. We didn't stand a chance against it. Against her or her dragons. It was over in a matter of seconds, and what was left was only chaos and death and fire. I watched the woman through the flames, her face never changing. Her hair came alive in the wind, making it seem like it was made of fire. I watched as she turned away from the ashes, and receded into the forest as though nothing happened. I could hear the dragons echoing in the Valley, as they destroyed everything I knew in life.

She never noticed me. She never heard about how they called me a witch as well. Never saw how I could pull burning pans from the fire, untouched by the heat. She never knew the fact that I figured out who she was, and she won't figure out until too late who I am. That witch turned innocent animals into weapons, using them to wreak havoc and create carnage when she so desired. There is one thing she didn't think about, however.

She thought she was untouchable. She thought she had won. She was wrong. I am still alive, and I am going to find her. She will feel what the villagers felt, and then she too will meet the same fate as them. If she discovers me, she'll have to deal with me herself. I am one with the fire, it cannot kill me. Not even dragon fire.