"There weren't always dragons in the Valley." I heard my grandfather's voice. I walked further into the foyer and navigated the familiar pathways until I stood at my grandfather's door. I lowered my head in shame and walked up to my grandfather.
"Please forgive me for what I have done, grandfather, but I have no other choice." Laying my head on the cold stone table, I kept speaking. "I hope you can believe me when I say that I have never done this if there were another way. But I needed the money for Lily. I can't let her die because of me; she is all I have left." The silence was all that greeted me though I didn't expect an answer.
The weight of what I had done had sucked the life out of this place. Not that there was much, to begin with. It had been a while since I had been back home, and the neglect was visible. Usually, my grandfather and I would do our best to repair and clean anything in need. I would fix and clean while grandfather would sit in his favorite chair and direct me. His body wouldn't allow him to do any hard labor in his old age. That meant all the work fell upon me to do; though it was hard work for such a young child, those times were still some of the best days in my life. My grandfather was a great man and had been most of his life.
He worked on a retired war General's farmland as an adolescent boy. The General taught my grandfather all he knew about fighting and caring for the land and animals, as all his sons had died in battle. Later, when that General died, my grandfather inherited the land. He continued to work the fields and sold his surplus of goods to the nearby town of Greylock. And with his knowledge of combat, grandfather decided that instead of going off to battle the Barbarian hordes, he would stay and defend the people of his town from bandits, rogue warriors, or the occasional goblins.
During this time, Grandfather saved a group of travelers and met a girl named CécileHe said it was like love at first sight. He married Cécile soon after. Grandfather had always wanted a big family since he was an only child.
Like the General had done for him, grandfather taught his children how to fight and run the land. Unlike their father, grandfather's sons went off to join the battles and never came back home again. Their deaths devastated grandfather, but he held firm for his wife and daughter. When sickness took grandmother Cécile from him, he still kept going. It wasn't until his daughter, my Mother, Soniya, got married to my Father, Jon, and had a little girl that my grandfather knew it was his time. He handed my mother and father his land and prepared to leave for the mountains. Grandfather had told me that he and my grandmother always talked about going to the mountains when their children grew up. They wanted to spend the rest of their life in the Eternal Flame Grotto.
A cave hidden behind a waterfall held a lush forest within its walls. The cave was said to be magical for several reasons. One being is that even when the harshest of winters hit the lands, the cave temperature never changes. It was like it Spring was trapped in time there. Another was that the magic current was so strong that even a babe could perform the most basic spells. And with these high levels of magic, many folks have spotted some of the most reclusive magical creatures, like the Seelie Fae and wisps. But the main reason it was named the Eternal Flame Grotto was that if a traveler were to get lost on the night of a new moon, they would see a blue flame that would lead them to the cave. Upon entering the cave, the traveler would have the urge to rest there among the trees, and when they awakened, they would find themselves outside of the forest with any injury healed and a pack of supplies. And for those who wished to leave the world peacefully, if the cave deemed them worthy, they could stay within it until their deaths, where their souls will turn to Wisps to live in the cave forever.
Grandmother loved that story and wished to see that magical place in person. So, grandfather determined to make her final wish come true. Before he left, my Mother wanted to make his favorite meal one last time. So, we went to the market in town to gather supplies when the attack happened. Out of the blue, a dragon descended upon our village. It somehow passed the Regiment without them letting us know and made its way into the mainland. The attack was brutal. It killed many people in town before the Regiment caught it and lured it away. Among the casualties were my Mother and father. I was only ten when that happened, but I understood that I would never see my parent again, and it was only my grandfather and me.
