Shattering Reality - COLLAB WITH @AtomicDaDragon

Chapter 26

Ella's Perspective

I look at her body, her broken body, lifeless.

Oh, Serafina.

The spell over me breaks. I nearly pass out from grief. I kneel on the snow and cry into my hands. Blood trickles down her neck. Her hair is fanned out around her head. Her eyes are no longer filled with life, with spirit. Tears are frozen on her face, tears that will never fall. I stopped them, forever.

Serafina Andromedella Bystrom, Queen of the Water Dragons and the Sea, Mother of the Deep Blue, is dead. I killed her. Elyssia. She shall pay for this crime. Nothing she has done can top this.

I know Atomic will kill me if she finds me like this. As I think that, she, Apollo and Tzarr come up from the hole. Atomic looks at me. Her face is emotionless. Apollo, however, is torn. He runs to Sera's body and holds it, crying openly. He rocks back and forth on his knees, sobbing. Her long hair falls to the ground as he cradles her head. I cannot move. I only look to the ground in fear and shame. Coward, I think to myself. You are a coward!

Atomic looks at me, I feel it. I look up. My eyes are heartrendingly vulnerable. Her eyes have no mercy. I stand up. They do not look at me. But when they all do again, I fall backwards into the flame, feeling no pain except my aching heart.

Atomic's Perspective

Her graveyard dress was deep blue sea silk.

We gave her a proper burial. By the sea.

The grave was just a small blue marble slab on the cliff where her village had been.

All survivors of the battle were gathered to watch. I toss the first earth onto the grave, then Apollo, then Tzarr. Rikka and Alex follow, then everyone else. I hear the sea itself sing sorrowful hymns. It is the Water Dragons. Even some mer gather to watch. Above her simple gravestone hangs a blue banner, saying Serafina, Daughter of Raz'cof. A loving friend, strong, smart queen and warrior.

For she was. A brave, loyal friend.

Apollo says nothing to us. Tzarr just supports me. How could Sera, so strong, kind and brave, just die? It being Ella that killed her hurts even more.

All the humans and elves turned to good after I killed Elyssia. They begged for mercy, and we granted them mercy, following one of Serafina's laws. The elves sailed out on ships with black sails and crimson hydras. Their true queen, Arya, stood tall and proud at the hull of the biggest ship. Her molten silver-blonde colored hair gleamed in the sunlight. They all sung songs of joy, for Elyssia's spells over their people had vanished when she died.

**********

I'm crying, something I've done maybe never. Rikka howls, though she never knew Sera very well. We just sit in a metal warehouse. It's our shelter ever since the battle. I feel like I'm in depression. We all are, but none more that Apollo and I. Especially Apollo.

He just sits cross-legged on the bed, staring blankly at the wall, never blinking, flinching, or showing signs of life. He is just skin and bones, for he will not eat or drink. He will not feel the sun upon his wings, nor look at grass and stars. He will not touch ice, though he is from the Arctic Empire. Love is in his eyes, but rarely. He really loved her. His behavior has put Tzarr on edge.

"I'm not going anywhere, you oaf." I say jokingly to Tzarr. he still seems worried. "You may die. What if Ella comes back for you? It could've been a ruse."

"Tzarr, we pulled her out of the fire ourselves. No creature could've survived those burns." What I say echoes in my mind. No one could've survived those burns. I am the only one out of the three left. I thought the Separation Effect was bad in the sim. Now, I am empty. Just a shell. Tzarr is all I have. Tzarr, Apollo, and a few dragons that live around here.

Apparently, the war damaged the humans as bad as it did us. We had to wipe all their memories. It took forever, but all that heard or saw now have no memory of the war, the Riders, the elves, any of it. The Riders hit some human cities pretty hard. I was even shocked at their damage. The humans all were made to think it was a natural disaster, but they must know better. No thing of nature could create the damage done. Orphans, childless parents, skyscrapers ripped from their roots completely. Limbs and blood in the streets. Floods and fires, death and destruction. The human population went down two-tenths. We will call it The War of Fire and Blood. Some call it the Ice Fire War. I call it Emptiness. A life-wrecker. Death and sorrow.

A dragon, Alya, who lives close to here, in these woods, has brought us dinner. Steak for me and Tzarr, a salad for Apollo. No only has he lost Serafina, but also his mom and dad.

The sun sets, leaving the room in a chill. I shiver, and pull my grey hoodie over my head. I am not hungry, so I crawl onto the bed and fall asleep.

**********

There is a plate of scrambled eggs in front of me when I wake. The other two are sleeping, so I put on a grey tank top and skinny jeans. My wings droop, trailing the ground behind me. My stomach rumbles. I have not eaten in three days, and dragon strength depletes faster than human strength.

The trees seem to reach for me. All around, there are signs of the war. A small, ruined farmhouse. Corpses. Weapons scattered. Cut down trees. Flood lines.

**********

The night sky is clear, and wolves howl as we all sit outside at a small campfire. It crackles and burns. The Milky Way shines above us all.

Apollo wears a white, second-hand Miami Heat T-shirt and jeans. We don't even watch basketball. For the first time in days, I smile as I watch the sky. But as I watch, something odd happens. Stars, all previously still, slowly, with increasing speed, gather together. It takes me a moment, but eventually, I figure out they are forming something. A half-dragon silhouette, with long hair and glittering wings. I think of Sera. Apollo is touched as well. But something then happened none of us foresaw.

The figure stepped out of the heavens in a swirling cloud of mist. Her small, gentle feet touch the soft grass. Her long hair, a deep blue-turquoise ombre, blows in the gentle breeze. Her wings have ever-changing, swirling galaxy patterns on them, as does her tail. Her eyes are a blue galaxy. Her wings also have a slight, feathery edge to them, colored silver-white, like an angel's. Everything is shades of deep blue, purple, white and silver. Her dress looks like it is crafted from moonbeams. Though she is very different in almost every way, I know who she is.

Sera.