Dragonsoul

Chapter 1

In the small cottage that wasn't their own, the little girl named Leonie could hear the commotion of the adults that occupied the tiny space at that precise moment.

Their broken up hushed voices spoke of the truth she refused to accept, they spoke of the pain that her little heart was unable to comprehend.

The bearer of news had come.
It brought the news of death and pain.

She could hear her mother trying to suppress her sobs.

Her little brother kept asking what was wrong.
"Why are you crying, mommy?" His shrill voice of a child asked.

Nald was usually a brave little boy but his mother's sadness made even his voice wobbly and scared.

Never before had they heard their mother so broken up, seen her cry with such fervor and it was unimaginable to a little child what could cause such distress to some as strong as their mother was.

Still, little Leonie stayed in front of the cottage not daring enter the bleak atmosphere radiating from it, so much so that it was like a palpable presence drowning them in despair. She knew that once she was told it would all become real, set in stone.

The undeniable truth will become a reality. The truth that would break her heart and leave her with a broken heart and the soul of one who was unable to comprehend the way Fates worked.
How they could be so cruel?

Before she had the chance to run away from the truth, the old rickety door opened, and she could see her mother's red face with rivers of tears quickly running down it.

"Leonie...your father..." Amitola started saying.

Knowing what her mother was about to say, Leonie started running as fast as a cheetah trying to run away from the pain, from the realization, from the world.

While she ran tears poured out of her eyes clouding her vision but that didn't stop her.
She kept running even when she reached the edge of the forest.

Running deep into the familiar woods, she was finally able to stop and screamed her heart out.

She screamed at the gods, at the Fates at anyone who would listen.
Her sobbing and wailing were so loud and intense that a few rabbits scattered away from the nearby bushes.
Even a few fluttering little pixies flew away unable to bear the power of the little girl's grief.

There was a huge scream building up in her chest, and she let it out only to realize that it didn't make her feel any better.

She could howl, she could rage, but nothing would delete the undeniable truth that her father was dead.
The awful finality of it all was what tore at her heart the most.

Never again to hear his voice comforting her after a terrible nightmare, never again to feel his warm hug and listen to his soothing words, was worse than any nightmare her mind could conjure up.

All she wanted to do in that very moment was to stop existing. Being alive hurt too much.

She wanted to embrace the Great Forest that all went to once their life cycle had ended.

In her heart of hearts, she wished that the measly forest she was in that very moment was the Great Forest of the ones who passed on, who left the everyday world to roam freely as spirits in the Great Forest.

It was her greatest wish to join her father, to hear his laughter and feel happy and loved once again.

But even though she had only seen ten summers go by, she knew that her father would want her to finish the cycle of life before she could shed her current fleshy existence and embrace her spirit form.

Going on with her life was not a choice, it was a necessity.
Failing her father by taking the easy way out which led to perdition wasn't an option.

Her wails of grief subsided as she fell onto her knees and cried her heart out.

It felt like she could cry for an eternity, and she would still have enough tears to shed.
Her broken heart was being cried out in those warm little drops. Soon enough she started breathing even faster and her heart started beating like the one of a shrew.

As she kept slipping further and further into the fear, and after her breathing stopped working properly, she could hear in her own mind the voice of her father.

"Just breathe in deeply, my little doe..." He would say.
She would follow his instructions, and then he would go on.
"Now breathe out." He used to say in his strong calming voice.
After doing that several times she would feel her breath evening out and things would slow down to the normal speed ones again.

Once more she followed the advice of her dead father and was finally able to calm down enough to be able to breathe normally and gather herself a bit. 

Just in time to be able to face her mother who followed her into the woods after taking care of her brother.

"Leonie, I need you to go back to the house and be a brave little girl. Your brother needs you.

Stay with your brother while I make all the necessary arrangements for your father's body to be transferred to our village." Amitola said.

Wiping away the tears, Leonie got up from the ground with determination in her eyes.

Her little brother needed her, and she was ready to do whatever it took to protect him, to help him face the pain of being now a little fatherless boy.

The man of the house they will say, but Leonie had always wondered how could someone so young be the man of the house.

After all, he was only seven years old, he didn't know anything about the world, how cruel it could sometimes be, or what a difficult burden it was to be the man of the house, to be the one in charge of bringing food to the table.

Even their father who was a tall, well-built man had met his final hour during the hunt. No matter how experienced one was, death could await every hunter in the next trace they follow, in the next animal they face.

The strong little girl wasn't about to allow her little brother to be the next one to face the possibility of death and at that moment she made a decision to do everything in her power to protect her brother as much as she could from both the physical and the emotional pain.

There was nothing she could do to make their father's death hurt less, but she could do everything in her power to be there for her brother, to help him get through all the pain and still have a good life that he deserved.

Having made that decision, she hurried back to their grandmother's house, the house where the bad news had found them as they gathered to worry about her father's fate surrounded by family, about the fate of the Great Hunter Rimodar's fate, and that would in her mind forever stay tainted by death and despair.

Once she reached the house he ran towards her and straight into her arms. Hugging him tightly she felt guilty for even considering for a moment leaving her loved ones behind when they needed her to help the most. Nald started sobbing the moment his small hands were gripped tightly around his sister.

"Mummy says we shall never see daddy again." He said. He seemed to have gone back to the way he used to talk when he was much younger because of the shock of what he had heard, of what his poor little mind couldn't comprehend.

"Is mummy wrong?" He asked.

There was hopefulness in his eyes that she found heartbreaking, but she never lied to her brother, and she wasn't planning on starting now that they needed each other the most.

"No, she isn't. Daddy has joined the Final Hunt. He is now part of the Great Forest. Although he loves us very much he can never return to us, but one day when the gods so wish, we shall join him when our time has come. Until then, we have to make our father proud and take care of our mother." Leonie said.

The little guy nodded his head so vigorously that a few strands of his coal-black hair fell into his eyes and Leonie brushed them away in a gesture so familiar that it sent sharp pains into her heart like sharp knives stabbing into it.

That was what father used to do whenever Nald's hair was especially unruly which was most of the time.

"I think we need to go inside and help grandma with the preparations," Leonie said.

The little guy was all too eager to do something, it was obvious that only crying was exhausting and being able to help was just what Leonie knew he needed.