The Rogue Rider (An Inheritance Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: Hidden Memories Part 1

It was late that night when Akaysha stirred, opening one yellow oval eye. She felt around with her mind, and felt nothing. Frightened, she moved in closer to the warm body at her side, softly mewling her fear. Beside her, the man that was her rider stirred, but didn't wake, his hand lightly placed on her back.

Still afraid, the small dragon tasted the air with her tongue. The tangy salty taste of dried blood filled the room, both from the dagger and the shirt Ragin had left on the floor. A thin trail of smoke wafted from each of the torchers in the room, which over the course of the night had begun to slightly constrict the room, making it a little harder to breath. The strange cold taste of metal touched her tongue as well, sending shivers through her spine.

Once again she peeped, a little frightened, trying to find the comfort of her rider's mind. Nothing. She looked at the human to her side, then at the hand he had rested on her scales. There was a glint of metal in the firelight and her eyes instantly focused on the ring on Ragin's hand. She instantly knew that it was the cause of her problems.

Moving slowly, so as not to alert her rider, she gently gripped the ring in her jaws and pulled. It was difficult at first, but with a little help from her talons and tail she slowly began to slide the ring from the finger. She let out a snort of victory as she freed the ring, and gleefully leapt into her rider's now visible thoughts.

It was the first time she had caught him without his mental barriers, and she relished as she embraced his mind and everything in it. At first she only saw his thoughts, what he was dreaming. A rather interesting dream about a man with a bold head and a large inhuman smile, but she quickly dove deeper and deeper, into the memories of the past. The information quickly overwhelmed the young dragoness as she quickly got lost in the depths of his mind.

Sorting herself out she slowly began to sift through the memories, finding it difficult as each one was so different from the last, she could not make any sense out of them. Eventually she figured out a far easier way to do so. Feeling rather proud of herself, she quickly dove into one memory, a significant one, that seemed like the beginning of everything her rider had experienced so far.

Her first view into Ragin's world was a boy, crying. She could not see him, nor smell him, but she could hear him, his anguished wails echoing through the cobblestone streets of Illirea. There was also fear, unrelenting and driving fear. Fear of loss. Fear of death. She felt strange as well, as certain colours that she was unaccustomed to danced across her vision. Vibrant yellows and reds. And there was heat, an infallible heat that scorched her bare skin and eyes.

It took the young dragon but a moment to realise that she wasn't herself, but rather looking through the eyes of the boy she heard wailing. Feeling what he was feeling. Experiencing what he was experiencing. For a moment she considered pulling away from the memory, but the curiosity was too much, and she decided it was well worth the effort to see what had made this boy cry.

In front of her, or him, was a three story building, burning with what she felt was the embers of a thousand suns. It pained the boy immensely, but he refused to move. The fire licked the air, reaching out to grab onto something else that it could burn. It lit the night sky like a beacon. It cracked and growled and roared. The building shuddered, before part of it fell to the cobblestone streets below. The boy flinched, but still refused to move backwards, any thought of self-preservation devoid from his mind.

Still crying, the boy fell to his knees, bruising them on the cobblestone pathway, but he didn't seem to care. He reached out his hand, still weeping uncontrollably as the fire devoured everything in its path, slowly spreading to other structures. People were running around madly, cursing and yelling, trying to help put out the inferno, but while Akaysha heard them, the boy only had eyes for the inferno.