𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃: 𝐄𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲

Chapter 13

The dorm took Amyra's breath away. Intricate gold designs were stretched across the blue turquoise walls. The polished floorboards reflected her delicate figure as she gawked at the spacious dorm.

Never had the healer seen a room so beautiful, so elegant as the sight before her. Two bedrooms with dark oak doors were located across the wide sitting area, each with its own huge arched windows overlooking the bed. The curtains, a shade of teal similar to the armchairs around the fireplace, were drawn open to let the sunlight in.

Her luggage was leaning against the wall separating the kitchenette near the currently empty fireplace. Well, it wasn't completely empty, the leftovers of the last fire still occupied the tiny space.

After realizing that her roommate wasn't present, Amyra crossed the expensive looking faux carpet to her room and jumped onto the bed, wrinkling the aquamarine bed sheets. A satisfying crack of her bones echoed in the room as she stretched like a cat. 

Falling back on the bed, the healer stared at the white roof, the exhaustion of the journey finally catching up. A small chandelier hanging right in the middle of the roof reflected the sunlight, sending rays of rainbows across the room.

Amyra looked at the door that connected her room to the rest of the dorm, thinking about how her roommate will be. Will she be kind? Shy? Humorous? Will she even like Amyra? The only information she got about her roommate was that her name was Luna, and she was a senior year student. Amyra was still considering whether it was lucky of her, out of the whole batch of freshmen, to have a senior roommate. 

The healer tugged on the chain of her silver necklace until the heavy pendant was free from its cage and was resting outside her cardigan. Amyra gently traced the circular broken half of her accessory, a remainder from her forgotten past.

"I hope you are proud of me, mom and dad," Amyra whispered, her voice cracking. 

Reaching into the pocket of her bag which was clasped around her waist, she pulled out a small journal. Its leather cover worn out and its pages yellow with age. The broken half of the pendant was not the only thing that connected Amyra to her past, to her family. 

"How did you do it?" She asked no one in particular, "How did you fight the beasts of the deep with unwavering courage?"

Amyra flipped the yellow pages open, getting lost in the past of her parents' adventures. These stories filled Amyra with a sense of courage, of pride. It made her feel as if she was there, beside her parents as they traveled through the lands of Gaiblostama, meeting different cultures, different religions, and different individuals. Reading about some of the unfortunate people her parents had met on their journeys filled Amyra with everlasting gratitude and gratefulness. She counted it as a blessing, to be taken in by Nasir's family who treated her as their own.

"It was pitch dark and we were wandering in the forest aimlessly," Amyra read out loud, "and then we saw it—a crystal cave glimmering in the moonless night. The way it shone made it clear that the cave belonged to the Alpha dragon. The legends were true..." 

As Amyra continued reading, she felt as if she was there in flesh and blood when her parents encountered the elf clan, the keepers of the Alpha dragon. She felt what her parents felt when they shook hands with the elder elf— excitement and the thrill of adventure. Amyra imagined the majestic beast with blue scales varying from the color of the sky to the color of sea. 

She felt her mother's amazement as the latter described the dragon's eye in the diary; a misty eyed beauty. 

 Her whole life, Amyra was taught that the dragons went extinct when a Metroid hit the earth millions of years ago, but never did anyone imagine a dragon to survive.