Crumbled Ideals - World of Atonement

Promise

Spiral wisps of ember polluted the twilight sky. Ash stuck to the ground in place of snow during this winter solstice. Fresh blood covered many parts of the burning land. In the middle of the undeniable hell, a sole child with copper skin and black hair with a patch of white on the left side stood tied to a pole. Barely 11, his skin was wounded deeply with rope burns, and his tattered clothes grew black with the suffocating mist. The child's emotionless grey eyes reflected the soot filled sky as he stared longingly. Endless scarlet flames howled continuously throughout the settlement, drowning out the approaching footsteps. The acute stench of burning flesh permeated amongst the remnants of houses and tents. Anger and regret were the only emotions left in the air.

Motherly cries of concern fell on deaf ears as the approaching footsteps stopped in front of the chained child. A small militia of men in leather armor came within view of the child's grey eyes. Small whispers lingered amongst the mob. "You made sure not to wear metal, right?" one voice stated. "Of course. We all know what he did to that dragon all those years ago." The commotion died down as their leader stepped forward. He was a burly man blind in his left eye. His aged white beard contrasted his dark brown hair and good eye. He stood taller than most of the men, and his undeniable presence brought the child back to reality. "Do you know why things turned out like this, child?" The child stared at the charcoal ground in response. "To have ignored the cries of your fallen brethren for so long, that is understandable." The leader then punched the child in the face. He then squeezed his slim cheeks together and looked directly into his grey eyes. "However to betray a fighting brethren by stabbing him from behind, now that is despicable." Angry shouts mixed in with violent threats came from the mob. Their voices overcame the crackling building from behind them.

"It was a mistake rescuing you while you were an infant!" a heckler cried out. Cheers followed suit almost immediately. The leader released his grip from the child's mouth then walked up to the heckler. Raging flames once again became the only thing audible as he snapped their neck.

"You must never speak something like that again!" he threatened. The mob cowered at the words. "Though he has betrayed us, Drac is still one of our family! He will remain alive in order to do what is best for us." With a quick gesture of his hand, the leader caused the earth to move up in abdomen length columns. They each contained a few rocks about the size of a child's fist.

"Jason..." Drac weakly cried out. His voice was dry and hoarse. The surrounding heat had taken its toll on the young child. Unable to move or cry, Drac just cried out to the leader. "Jason, I thought of you as a father. Gabe, Hugh, Izzy, Al, Tyler..." His list went on to include everyone that faced him. "You were all my irreplaceable family. The orange sky slowly became painted a dark blue. The dying flames kept the burning town lit, revealing doubt on some of the men's faces. In the next moment however, a stone was thrown at Drac's head. Fresh crimson blood poured out from the wound, leading a trail down his right eye. Drac looked up to see that it was Jason, the leader and the man that he considered his father who threw the first stone.

"As expected of you, Drac," Jason complimented with an empty tone. "You were able to create doubt with just a few words." He threw another rock that landed on Drac's shoulder. "We all care for you deeply, but this is just to remind you were you stand, brat." The remaining men reluctantly threw their rocks at the child. While some missed, others hit in vital spots such as Drac's good eye and his small body.

A deep rage grew from deep within the child. Sensing the sudden bloodlust, the motherly voice tried to plead with Drac. "Drac, calm down!"

The child's rage was too great for the voice to contain. "You're all just scared of me!" Drac exclaimed. A sudden lightning bolt crashed into the pile of rubble behind him. A pillar of fire erupted, making the dying flames seem irrelevant in its wake. Drac began chanting an unknown incantation. "A sole streak of lightning in the midnight sky reflects over the crystalline surface of still water..." The smoke filled sky became wrapped in a distortion, revealing an infinite black with an innumerable amount of stars.

"Drac please stop!" the motherly voice pleaded. It was sobbing for the rage filled child that was ignoring the constant pain.

"Cease everything at once!" Jason commanded. His eyes were fixated on the distorted sky above him. The rest stared in shock as they dropped the rocks. Jason looked back at Drac to find the child still glaring at everyone.

"The thunder burdened with infinite burdens, eradicates the storm itself!" Drac exclaimed. Like the sky, the charcoaled ground slowly became wrapped in a distortion, echoing out the sound of crashing waves through the settlement.

"Drac, look they've stopped!" the motherly voice stated. "You can stop this now; there's no need to go any further!" However, her concern was all for nothing when a massive boulder rammed into Drac's small frame. Barely alive, he coughed up blood on the brown rock. He looked out to see that Jason, who had kept a calm demeanor up until now, was overcome with fear in his good eye.

"Everyone!" he stated while stifling his obvious fear. "Kill him! There is no longer any need to keep this child alive!" The men picked up the stones once more and began to throw them frantically.

"Rever..." Drac attempted to finish the incantation, but his vision had grown a deep crimson, matching the anger that he had portrayed earlier. His consciousness finally fading, a large thunderclap shook the ground violently. All vision became obscured by a blinding light that emerged from the distortions. Suddenly, the sky and ocean disappeared, causing an explosion that left nothing but shadows of Jason and his men, leaving a majority of the scene from hell untouched, including Drac.

The night had passed before Drac regained consciousness. Untouched snow replaced the ash from the previous night as he noticed the remnants of destruction. He forced himself off the ground to find that his fallen blood had iced up. Shivering, he looked around frantically. "Iridim?" he asked. Snot falling from his nose, Drac desperately looked around for the origin of the motherly voice. Moments passed before he heard the majestic beating of wings in the distance. In the distance a small dragon with four wings carried a midnight blue scarf over to where Drac was. Her top wings were larger than her bottom wings, and her silvery blue scales reflected the morning sunlight. Her dazzling image brought Drac to his knees crying. "Iridim," he stated in a broken voice. Sniffling, he tried to voice out his regrets, but was unable to say anything. The pain that he had felt the previous night came out at once in the form of his tears. Betrayed by the one he honored as his father, and nearly killed by the ones that he loved as family, Drac felt that he could only cry out his unstable emotions.

"It's alright Drac," Iridim stated. She put the scarf over the crying child before landing on his crouched back. Her four legs rested gently on top of the small back, slowly descending in a resting position before she put her long neck down. "Just let it all out." Tears fell down Drac's face incessantly until he forced himself to get up. Iridim flew from his back onto the top of his head before he stood up completely. When she looked to see the child's face, she was surprised to find that his overflowing emotions up to that point had just disappeared. Drac's eyes were still red and swollen from crying, but his face appeared as if he had just killed off all emotion.  His hollow orbs reflected the snow covered wasteland like a mirror.

"Iridim," Drac stated in a hollow voice. "Will you be with me forever?" The feeling of regret lingered greatly in his question. He didn't look at Iridim as he waited for an answer.

Iridim, shocked by the sudden question remained silent for a moment. She knew that it would be impossible for the both of them to be with each other forever, but couldn't bring herself to say so to the child. After pondering for a few moments more, Iridim finally responded. "I promise that I'll be with you until the very end."

Satisfied with the answer, Drac petted Iridim on the head once she moved from his head to his shoulder. Her smooth scales felt warm on his chilled hands. As he was gently stroking her, more tears fell down Drac's face. His emotions came back as he struggled to keep the tears from falling. "Iridim, why does it feel even heavier than usual?" His regret over the previous night poured out of his eyes as his body fell back into the powdery snow.