Chapter 59: Paths
Before the fall…
The little girl danced and in the pure darkness of a tunnel, three pairs of glowing eyes navigated their way towards the dimly lit room. Each of those pairs of eyes glowed a different color, red, green, and golden. The eyes, of course, belonged to the three dragon princesses of the royal draconic lineage.
Closer and closer they reached the room, and as they watched the little girl spin and fly through the sea of wooden poles, a flood of memories drowned each princess in their own respective stupor.
Within the mind of the red haired, golden eyed girl, was a scene not unlike this one. The difference however, was that Yela danced underground within an enclosed area, while Kaerys danced upon the sky platform right above a volcano.
On the ground of that platform were burning hot coals, and instead of the wooden poles that Yela was dancing on, Kaerys danced on red pillars made of solid, living fire. As the golden girl spun in the skies, the passing clouds that obstructed her view would be blown away by the sheer force that was the tornado of her strikes and steps.
Cheers and smiles surrounded the girl as numerous officials, nobles, and royals of other houses and lineages congratulated the king for their talented daughter. The king preciously held a beautiful woman in his arms, and on his face was a rare, genuine smile of pure joy and content. Kaerys' mother leaned her head in towards the man’s chest. Feeling the warm embrace, they held each other dearly while looking at their smiling daughter.
Within Renna’s mind was a similar scene. Although, she was not as talented nor as celebrated as the golden eyed girl, so she garnered less of a crowd and less cheers in comparison. Still however, the auburn haired girl was smiling at the attention she brought, and on the sidelines of the sea of fiery beams, was her mother’s family who looked at her with pride and expectation.
Suddenly, on the three hundredth motion of the dance, Renna lost control, wobbled, then toppled over. Falling face first on the hot burning coals, the little girl who was just ten at the time started to cry and whimper.
Immediately he mother’s family rushed to her aid, although bursting in laughter. As they reached the girl they made sure she was alright, before her mother and grandfather proceeded to educate the girl on what the demeanor of a draconic princess should look like, and similarly how she should behave herself in times of embarrassment and stress.
Renna heard the lecture, and although disheartened, her innocent, big googly eyes stared at them and nodded obediently.
Within Aela’s mind, the scene blurred as day became night. The festivities and consequent crowd disappeared as the blazing rays of sunshine were replaced by soft and gentle moonlight. The sun previously hovered over, giving energy to the bustling activity of day but now, the moon would give the night a restful and serene calm.
Yet…this night was anything but restful or tranquil.
THUD!
The body of a little girl fell to the ground. On the flip side the coals were no longer hot, but on the downside this was now the twentieth time that the girl fell from the skies and injured her body. There were numerous cuts and bruises all over her, yet this fall in particular sprained her ankle, and it was painful to even place pressure on that foot. Tears fell from her eyes, Aela wished to stop this but in the end, her unwillingness did not matter.
An adult woman with glowing red eyes hounded the girl. Her vicious remarks and the spit that fizzled out of her mouth was like a rain of both acid and poison.
“Get up! I said, get up! Right now!”
“You did not even reach the two hundredth motion! The daughter of that whore reached the four hundredth and you cannot even reach half of what she has accomplished!?”
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“You made me look like a fool to our family and to that man!”
“You useless child! For what reason did I give birth to you if you were to be this useless!?”
“Get up! Prove to me that you even have a single shred of worth!”
Pain was coursing through her body. Both physical pain from the falls, and the emotional pain from being treated like dirt. Yet through all that pain Aela endured, and proceeded to climb back towards the top of one of the poles.
The living fire was sentient, and seeing the pitiful girl it even grew tiny platforms to help the girl raise herself to the top. The gesture was kind…yet futile. Aela fell to the coals once again, the pain from her ankle made it so that she did not even reach half the amount of motions she previously did.
In the corner of her eye as she fell, she saw a lone boy who was also practicing the dance. The boy was alone, unlike her, but in the brief moment of her plummet she felt a numb, apathetic clarity come over her. A thought passed through her mind, wondering if being lonely was better than the treatment that she was receiving.
THUD!
“GET UP! NOW YOU USELESS BITCH!”
Aela did as she was told, and for the whole night, Balon and Aela practiced the dance until the sun rose and both collapsed in exhaustion. Aela’s mother dragged the broken body of her daughter across the floor while completely ignoring Balon for the servants to catch attention to three days later…It was a good thing the bodies of dragons were naturally strong.
Aela snapped out of her trauma, and in the next moment a mean sneer came over her face.
As loud as she could she yelled, “Balon! You’re here aren’t you?”
THUD!
Aela got what she wanted as the little girl fell towards the rocks. Yet, she did not know that Yela was going to fall at that exact moment anyways.
Yela’s fragile body laid limp on the jagged stones. This time, she landed in a way that was worse than the rest of her falls. Perhaps it was fate, but the injury that Yela suffered was just like the sprain that Aela suffered when she was a child, though a bit more grave.
Blood furiously pumped through Balon’s veins. That call from the tunnel had distracted him at the last moment, turning his gaze away from his student and towards the three sisters. Now his plans of observing that mysterious gleam in her eyes and possibly fixing his student’s problem were all but spoiled.
Seeing Balon’s furiousness, Aela gloated over the situation with a smile on her face.
‘Hah.’ she scoffed.
‘Doesn't this mean…’
The bitter young lady watched in sick anticipation, waiting for Balon to make the pitiful little girl climb on to the wooden poles once again. She looked forward to the weak, helpless child practicing until she collapsed from injury or exhaustion just like she had.
“Yela!”
The sisters watched on.
Breathing out, he said the rest of his words.
“Go and…rest.”
‘...What!?’
A scowl appeared on Aela’s face, before Balon turned around to look at her and it disappeared.
“What. Are. You. Here. For.”
…
Yela groaned as she pushed herself off of the debris. In the background she heard the conversations between Balon and the three random girls, the way that they shouted and yelled at one another yet oddly enough never held any actual malice towards each other. Well, except between Aela and Kaerys.
The words that were exchanged between them should have raised a ton of questions for the little girl. Why were they talking about dragons? Why were these seemingly average girls talking on equal footing with such a powerful person? Did one of them just call themselves a princess?
If Yela were actually listening to their conversation, these were the kinds of questions she would be asking herself. Yet instead, the girl was seemingly deaf to it all, as she limped towards a flat section of the stone floor to rest. Yela zoned out on random jagged rock. A blank and absent look appeared on her face and it was obvious her mind was somewhere else.
Yet something caught her attention. Renna was shouting at the rest of the three and Yela heard her say something along the lines of “family.” And like a pebble that was dropped on a tranquil pond, the ripples of that small stone blurred the reflection of the water, and the same thing happened within Yela’s mind.
The forty-fourth step. Within that dream-like trance, Yela found herself reliving various moments of her life. The forty-fourth step found her reliving the moment when their father died right in front of them. The man took his axe that only knew the flesh of wood, and intercepted the raiding soldiers so that their mother could take the children and run away. Upon an overlook of the town, their mother searched frantically for their father. Kara pointed out with her small little hands the scene of him fighting off the few soldiers that saw them, but when Yela and Vivian gazed over, they saw…the scene of that gentle, loving man being beheaded.
The fifty-fifth step detailed the first time Yela was revealed to their mother’s suffering. Tears came out like a flooding sea from her eyes when she found out their loving guardian had to sell her body to make sure that they were not sold off to slavery. Though, of course, there were bad and lying men out there, and in the end the worst thing came true for them.
The sixty-sixth step. This happened recently. The stones that were thrown at her and her sister, and the words that hurt even worse than those stones.
The seventy-seventh step. The fight to protect herself and the boy she grew to love. The meaning of strength and the corresponding offer from the powerful, towering figure with menacing eyes.
Yet, through that entire scene of fighting and struggling, a single abstract emotion buried itself within her very reality. Two forces spilled out of her, fighting against each other in what seemed like an eternal dance. One force was an infinite radiance that strived to share its light with all who would accept it, and the other force was an endless darkness that forcefully plundered and seized everything it could from those around it. The single abstract emotion within the divine and demonic dragon god dance, was directly asking the little girl which path she would choose to take.