Dragonsoul

Chapter 4

The warm embrace of her father's presence in the dream world was like a drop of water to a beautiful flower dying in the summer heat. Leonie tried to hold on to the fleeting threads of her dream, but they kept slipping through her fingers. Holding on to dreams was like trying to catch snowflakes on a cold wintry day, one touch of a hand would melt them away and all one is left with is the remembrance of its beauty. Waking world claimed her as its own before she was ready to say farewell to her father's comforting companionship.

She tried to clutch to her pleasant dreams the way she used to hold on to her father's warm hand when she felt the poison of fear slowly consuming her body, making her a heaving mess. His strength was a river giving life to the ones who were lucky enough to live near it and now it felt like the river had dried up and its empty bed stared at her with vacant eyes empty of life, of joy.

She felt as her father was one certainty in her life, his guiding hand helping her conquer all the traps life put in her way, to overcome all her fears. He was so many things to her. A protector. An advisor. Her darling father. 

Even though she loves her mother with boundless tenderness and fervor, they never shared the special connection that she had with her father. Their souls understood each other on a much deeper level. The same special bond burned brightly between her little brother and her mother.

Upon slowly rousing from her slumber, her drowsy eyes started lazily scouring her surroundings, sleep still heavy on her eyelashes. Barely holding them up, Leonie noticed something odd about the rock that witnessed her night-long slumber.

Suddenly her eyes flew open in shock once her barely awoken brain managed to soak in the wonder her eyes beheld. Wiping away the morning dust from her eyes she took another closer look, thinking it might all be a part of another dream.

The warm entity that proved itself not to be a stone was the most enchanting sight her eyes had ever been graced to encounter. It took her a moment to discern what her eyes were seeing. It was a huge, green-patterned egg that glistened brightly in the gentle light of the morning sun. 

Being a hunter's daughter bears with it a vast knowledge of prey and predators as well as the untouchables, that woods gracious provided a home for. Untouchables should never be harmed in any way or else a great misfortune would befall the one whose hand dared cause any pain to them.

Right there, facing her, was an egg of an untouchable, the one who was the most powerful and gracious of them all, the Green Scaled Dragon. It was the rarest and the most sacred type of dragons that was respected by everyone in her village and beyond. Though that was true, there were stories of hunters slaughtering the majestic creatures, but Leonie refused to believe that anyone's heart could be so cold as to kill the creature which represented light and warmth.

The sad thing about the way of the world was that though they were revered and respected by the other creatures, Green Scaled Dragons were oftentimes rejected by their own mothers. They were left out in the cold in the hopes that they would perish and spare the mother dragon from having to endure a presence that was so different from her own that she could not withstand it. The Green Scales were seen as the runts of the litter although their beauty and power often surpassed that of their mothers.

Sitting there listening to the beating pulse of an unborn heart, Leonie could not help but hope. She could still hope that the legends about the Green Scales were filled with falsities, that they were not shunned and abandoned by their elders. That they were not forced to try to fend for themselves even before their eyes were able to see the light of day for the first time if they even accomplished surviving long enough for that. Lacking one parent was hard enough, as Leonie could attest to, but being without both parents was the worst cruelty Leonie could think of.