Chapter 53: Alexander: Source of Ever Burning Hate
“If we are so different, Danica, then why do you fight?” Alexander growls at me, his anger almost scalding me.
“I fight because I want to protect my friends and family!” I yell, furiously swinging my sword at his head, which he effortlessly leaps away from, and lands a few feet out of my reach.
“So then, what do you think I fight for? Or are you so naïve you cannot understand me?”
I growl, irritated by his pointless questions.
“I think you are a worthless piece of trash who only fights just to fight, you don’t have a reason to fight at all!”
He closes his eyes, and for a moment, is still.
“You’re wrong.” He says quietly as my mother and Drasmere come running.
“Danica! Are you alright we…” Mother yells, then comes to a halt when she sees Alexander.
He opens his eyes and looks at her, then Drasmere, and then me.
“You cannot begin to understand yourself until you know your enemy. And you cannot understand your enemy without first knowing yourself.” He says in a low voice.
“Pardon?” I growl.
His intense gaze focuses on me.
“If you cannot understand for yourself, then I will make you understand me. If you cannot yet comprehend my suffering, then I shall make you see it for yourself.” He raises his hand towards me, and then speaks some strange spell, and everything goes dark.
When I wake up, I am in a bloodstained field.
“Where… where is this?” Drasmere and my mother wonder aloud.
You are in my memories. Travel to the source of all rage, and then, and only then will you understand.
Fairies and Dragonlings alike are engaging in a violent battle all around us, but they seem blurred out slightly.
“This… was the battle of Qunisati. The place where… oh no.” Mother’s voice rings with recognition.
“Where Noble Team died… Alexander’s closest friends…” I whisper.
Suddenly, before us, ten armored dragonlings stand in front of us, and I recognize one of them immediately.
Alexander stands in the midst of Noble Team, full assembled as they were never dead. They all raise their weapons, ready to attack. Me and Mother decide not to let them, and attack first. For every one that dies, their actual death plays in my mind, threatening to make me vomit, their deaths so gruesome and tragic. Finally, only Alexander remains.
He simply walks away, and disappears, a black portal appears where he disappeared.
We all look at one another, and decide to leave the burning fields of the past, and head into wherever the portal is to take us.
We appear in yet another battlefield, this time in the midst of an entire city.
First my friends. Screams of dying dragonlings fills my mind and flashes of their deaths fill my vision.
And then… my world was taken from me. My home was taken from me, and I lived fearing that I would never see my world again.
Then, we were reunited.
A image of a shadowy figure, one that seemed feminine flashed in my mind, holding hands with Alexander.
No… it can’t be… My thoughts scream with horror.
And then… like our children… my wife, my only reason for even existing… was murdered. Here, at Sunneroria. Or what WAS Sunneroria.
Do you understand now? My WIFE WAS MURDERED… RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES! MY CHILDREN LAID DEAD IN THEIR OWN BLOOD, WHO SPILT MY CHILDREN’S BLOOD?
Your grandfather himself.
A terrible scene suddenly unfolded in my consciousness, Alexander and the woman, now fully detailed, stand back to back, their weapons drawn. The woman has long, flowing metallic silver hair, beautiful blue eyes, fair skin, and despite the death and destruction everywhere, is smiling bravely at her friend, no, her HUSBAND, Alexander. She turns to her side of their defenses, and screams a bloodcurdling scream as a Warden, one of the monstrous draconic turtle things I encountered back at the Dragonling Isles, beheads her just as Alexander turns and sees it slaughter the only thing left he cared about.
For a moment, there is silence, then…
Alexander cries out her name, and the sound of his anguish and rage stabs me in the heart, more painful than any mortal wound:
“WINTRESS!!!” He screams, and I notice something happen.
Lightning begins to arc from his body, wind bellows in a tight tornado around him. The Warden only has a second to react before Alexander sends a lightning bolt straight through its heart.
What purpose does a man have when everything worth living for is taken away? You always had someone. Even when your brother died, true, it left a great void in your heart. But the truth is, someone was always there to make it better for you. Someone to help shelter your heart from your suffering. In time, you healed, because you still had someone left in your life.
However… I have been alone these whole past 12 years! I have not healed, the wound has yet to close, and now… the only release… will be death.
What I fight for… is not revenge. I fight… BECAUSE IF I DO NOT, I WILL BE LEFT WITH NOTHING! IT IS ALL THAT I HAVE LEFT!
My friends… my children… my home… my wife…
Because of you… they are dead.
The storm of energy around Alexander envelops him like a cacoon, and he seems to begin to change, and suddenly, he rises up into the sky, becoming a giant metallic sort of dragon, the clouds gathering into a massive storm, and an eye wall forms around the Alexander turned dragon.
What you behold… is the birth of the Year of Storms…
And what will be… the annihilation of your entire nation. I should have finished you all off last time. I will not make that same mistake ever again. I will leave no child, no family alive!
And only then… RELEASE.
YOU ARE READING
Dragon Tide Chronicles: Dawn Rising
FantasyThis book is co written by Blake D. Price (Me) and Kamari (On booksie). Around ten years ago, war ravaged the blessed world Aladoria. Fairys and Dragonlings engaged in a violent war that left a great portion of the continent desolate and barren. The...
