Dream of the Guardians I-1: Rising

Chapter 6 - The Girl Inside the Flame

Hanna, the girl with long dark hair, shy, stutters whenever she talks to people, her long-sleeved blouse outfit and pants, giving a conservative appearance, her hair hiding much of her face and reaching up to her waist, no matter if she is standing, sitting or walking, always inspires insecurity. From Chris's perspective, from what he has come to observe, she is an introverted, insecure and even unstable person, but that doesn't matter to him at all.

What Chris sees in her is a spark, one that can ignite a very bright future, while she clearly grabs determination from anywhere Chris just accepts anything she is going to pronounce with her little mouth. After the ritual of preparing to talk so long that you could cook a full meal, she starts talking:

"As a child I was normal, I attended school, I got together with other children, I always helped my parents with household chores. Nothing out of the ordinary, until I awakened my elemental power. I always had a lot more elemental power than the other kids, so much so that the teachers at the school constantly talked to my parents about training me to greatness... My mother always refused. She defended me from all the bullying and my father told me to do things at my own pace, to take it easy.

I really felt safe at home and eventually stopped attending school and my parents didn't care about it, on the contrary, they felt safer with me inside. But one day it was all over, the Lord of that time came to the door and tried to convince them and again they refused. My parents were all night arguing about what they were going to do, eventually the Lord was going to take me by force, and they were going to end up suffering.

Being so young and in that environment, I ended up falling asleep and had nightmares and by the time I woke up the house was engulfed in flames. The more I was upset and scared, the more the flames were fanned, my parents came into my room and sheltered me, and then I lost consciousness. By the time I woke up I was covered in bandages and the healers told me that my parents saved me from the fire. They sacrificed for me; the fire was so intense that their elemental power was not enough to make it out alive."

She, with her right hand trembling, showing that her heart beats quite hard and fast, discovers her face in its entirety, showing scarred skin in little more than the right half of her face and with the light of the campfire it is clearly seen that her right hand and neck are also in those conditions.

Chris maintains his composure, while listening carefully only the almost certain possibility that this state extends through the entire right half of his body passes through his mind. Meanwhile, Hanna, gradually filling herself with a lump in her throat, begins to speak more fluently:

"Ever since, I went to live with my grandfather and no one tried to approach me again, the children treated me very badly, saying that I killed my parents, the only person besides my grandfather who treated me as a person was Lillian, she wanted to help me heal my scars, but she never could. But I do appreciate that she treats me well for so long.

She doesn't even care about my appearance, for she was born blind. Even after gaining the leadership of the nation, he continued to improve his skills to heal my scars and makes time to be with me. He truly is the best person I have ever met."

Chris stood his ground and asks her to stop, that she doesn't have to force herself so hard. He just puts a hand on her shoulder and tells her it's enough, she doesn't have to say more. She begins to let go in tears and he ends up comforting her for a long time, until she fell asleep.

While Hanna sleeps, Chris keeps looking at her face, calmer than the forest where he surprised her and begins to shudder a little, clearly having a bad dream. Chris just puts one hand on her forehead and calms her down a bit, and gradually wakes up. It's barely dawning and she's a mess, and he just gives her a faint carefree smile.