The Weight of Shadows

Chapter Five: let's run for cover

She stared at the painting before her, gazing at the figure clad in black scales with red eyes which burned. They weren't any ordinary red eyes though. No, she knew the sight they cut so very well. The iris a crimson red, holding within three ash black markings which spun. Only they weren't meant to belong to a dragon. They were meant to belong to—

"Sister!" Golden hair flared out behind her as the little girl spun, silver eyes holding a depth of mirth and mischievousness to them. "Sister, can you keep a secret?"

"Well I have not told our parents about your climbing of Laurelin, have I?" she said, smiling fondly at the childish form of her little sister. She was still so young – so full of life. "That should speak volumes of my ability to hold my tongue."

Her sister smiled then, wide and brilliant, and then her eyes spun crimson, three ash black markings spinning in their depths. "Still think my eyes are pretty?" she asked, a somewhat more hesitant smile overtaking her lips as those terrifying eyes spun.

Blinking, she reached for her little sister, staring in wonder as those red eyes spun and spun, the markings within them changing into a new pattern. "Telpeniel... what are they?"

Her sister smiled, red fading into brilliant silver once more, but it wasn't one of her usual smiles. Instead, this one was tired. Oh so very tired yet lined with hope. For what, she couldn't figure out. "They are the eyes which evolve the more trauma one is exposed to... but tell me sister, whenever could I have experienced such violence when ever since my birth I have known naught but peace?"

Fingers reached out, brushing against the painted canvas, capturing the image which haunted her. "You always did enjoy speaking in riddles," she murmured then, tears biting at the corners of her eyes, begging to be released. "Oh little sister, what have you done?"

::

Life #7000

True to her suspicions, it was almost pathetically easy to find the dragon they hunted. It held not even a fraction of her former power. Though admittedly Sakura could hardly use her full might – what with her wish to blend in with the edain, and with her desire to live for a few more years at least. She could already feel the cracks starting to set in under the surface of her skin, and all too soon she would crumble to ash. Such was her fate, and though there were ways to prolong her end it was a final fate which was inevitable. She had already tried in Life Number Five Thousand to rebind her fate with that of Arda's, but whatever higher power had decided to make her incarnate so many times clearly wasn't about to let her escape so easily.

Closing her eyes, Sakura sighed, pulling herself out of her reminiscing about her numerous past lives. Was it so wrong of her to want everything to stop already? She smiled then, a snort of laughter leaving her lips then. It was undoubtedly her penance for Life Number Two-Thousand.

Yells made her eyes snap back open, a scowl soon painting her lips as a long, limber tail swung out, battering one warrior after another out of the way. Sharp teeth flashed, and Sakura could only curse at the yelp of pain which followed. Her eyes flashed over to where her chieftain stood, eyeing the ongoing struggle before him. No doubt he was waiting for the right opportunity to strike, and Sakura just needed to ensure nothing untoward happened to him. That was her self-assigned mission for that life – along with her ongoing help the free peoples of Arda as much as possible shenanigans she was running there.

Thunder rumbled in the skies above, heavy, looming clouds promising a storm upon them. Cursing, Sakura eyed the heavens warily, praying a deluge wouldn't be upon them before the dragon had been dealt with. Really it should have been going smoother, but she supposed she hadn't really managed to get into the thicket of dragon slaying action unfolding before her, and that was where she tended to shine. Well, at least she had in her last cycle there.