Wings of Fire: Looking Back (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 3

We walked past to get to the infirmary. "They can't see us?" I asked. Farsight smiled,"No. They can't. When I died, the first person I wanted to visit was you. I don't know how, but I just ended up in your cave and I saw you. You were sitting there reading a scroll and muttering something about powers. You look like both your father and I."

"So how long can I stay here?" She answered,"A few days." I asked,"What happens after that." She thought about it until she said,"We are still able to watch over our friends and family from our domain in the sky. It is one no living dragon can see. Once you are there, you are truly at peace. I am here to guide you through this journey." I hesitated before asking my next question,"How come I'm not blind anymore?" She said,"It is part of your reward. When you died, your mental and physical problems were gone. Some even say that with this blessing, you are wiser somehow."

We stopped at the door of the infirmary. I heard someone running noisily behind us. When I turned around, I realized that it was Glory. Two RainWing guards and Deathbringer trailed behind her. One of them was Jambu and the other was Granduer. Sunny stepped out of the door and Glory panted,"I came as soon as I got your message! Where is he?!" Sunny looked as if she had cried and pointed to the infirmary door,"He- he's in there." Glory pushed the door so hard that it opened with a loud THUD!

In the infirmary there was Clay, Tsunami, Fatespeaker, Peril (who was trying not to burn anything), Kinkajou, Moon, Winter, Qibli, and Tamarin (who was still recovering from her burns). I saw myself lying on one of the beds. Fatespeaker was slapping me and saying,"Wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP!" Moon and Kinkajou were in tears while Tsunami paced around the room. Winter sat still and looked as if he was in shock. Qibli kept trying to comfort Moon, and Clay was muttering,"He's not dead. He's not dead."

Glory ran up to Fatespeaker and asked,"Has he woken up yet?" Fatespeaker shook her head miserably. "Move over," Glory pushed her out of the way,"Let me try." She grabbed my shoulders and shook me screaming,"STARFLIGHT, WAKE UP!! YOU CAN'T DIE!!" It didn't work. Glory was breathing heavily and starting to panic now,"No, he's not dead. He can't be dead. If he's dead, who will be there to annoy us with random facts?!" Fatespeaker burst into tears. Qibli walked up to me and shook his head,"I'm really sorry, guys. He's dead. I know a dead dragon when I see one." Sunny screamed,"NO!" But I could tell that she knew it. Everyone knew. Everyone was crying now.

I tried to look away because their tears hurt me as well. But I couldn't get away. They were everywhere. I could feel myself beginning to cry as well. Then I thought of something.

I was in the NightWing village with Fatespeaker. "Would you ever want to live here with the NightWings, Starflight?" I shook my head,"No." She said,"Me neither, it doesn't feel right. I'd just wanna be with you." I smiled,"You too."

"What happened?" I asked while I staggered. "That was a memory. It happens when you look back. It shows you your past happy memories. It is a good thing, but when you are consumed by sadness in death, it could be a curse as well. You have to try to be strong and not look back too much, or it'll cause too much sorrow." She was right. The memory was a happy one but when it ended, I had felt even sadder than before. I couldn't just not look back at not feel sadness and regret.

"I'm gonna kill her. A slow death...more pain." Fatespeaker sobbed. I was shocked. Fatespeaker wasn't one to tolerate violence. For the rest of the day, tears were shed. At night, Clay said,"We- we should sleep. We'll do something about this tomorrow. Please, can we move the body? It hurts too much." They all agreed, Qibli and Clay went to put my body somewhere else. Everyone else then went back to their caves and dormitories to try to get a good night sleep.

"We can visit dreams, you know," Farsight said,"You wanna do it?" I nodded,"Yes."