Zenora, The Dragon's Fury

Emily’s point of view:

“If you have to choose between your life or that of your children, which one would you pick?” The man in white asked me.

“Always my children.” I replied.

“And if you have to choose between one of your sons, who would you pick?” He asked again.

“Then I would say to take my life, in order for them to both live on.”

These are easy questions, but why are they asking these questions? What did I do wrong? I was about to die just a few moments ago, and now I’m here, answering these stupid questions!

“What would you choose, losing one of your powers, or losing the lives of that of thousands of people within your kingdom?”

“The lives of the many, are worth more than any power I may posses. How hard that decision may be.” I answered.

The questions are getting harder, but I am resolute about my mind. It will always be another, I will always try to keep people safe.

“Hmm, always try to keep people safe, you say?” He asked me now, clearly, he read my mind.

“Yes, I will always try and keep people safe, the good ones at least. And if they have done bad things, then I will try to turn them first.”

“So, what about Markus then? Did you give him a chance?”

“Plenty, he could have answered our questions, stopped what he was doing, I even begged him to stop. But he made the choice to continue my torture, to be silent with the questions and in the end, he chose to try and kill someone I love. So, eventually, I killed him.”

I was getting annoyed by these questions, again why am I on trial here?

The man asked me several other questions about my powers and which one I would like to give up to help others, or what powers I should use in different situations, and so on.

“What would you do, if you wanted to kill a woman of which you knew was pregnant?” He suddenly asked me.

“Ask the Moonlight Goddess.”

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Just as I said, you should ask the Goddess about that, as that situation has occurred exactly. She knows how I acted upon it, she knows what happened.” I stated with my arms across my chest, done with these questions.

“Could you at least explain to me, why I am being questioned here? If you are deciding whether or not to send me back, then it was easier for you to just leave me there!” I asked irritated, while he whispered to one of the people that stood beside him. The other man quickly ran away, up to do the task the man asked him to do.

The man sighed.

“Emily, you are to become the next Queen of Terralon, a vast Kingdom that covers a large amount of land on the world of Zenora, and thus, you have a lot of people who you may call your citizens. You are someone with massive ancient powers, and we have to know for sure that you won’t use them for your own gain. To abuse the powers to get what you want.”

“Norim! You should know that I wouldn’t! I gave up my druid’s powers to safe your daughter, I gave up my dragon’s power to safe Ayinthur, and at last I was happy that I lost my mage and warrior, as I found it too much to bear for one person! You know who I am, I am furious that you would think otherwise of me!” I screamed at him.

Yes, it was Norim who was asking me all these questions, I am with the Elven Elders right now. In fact, Norim has chosen to stay here, as a ruling Elder, and I am his first trial to engage into. But the reason of which I was questioned, wasn’t answered until now.

Cirilya stood next to me as well, angry at her father, not only for the trial he put me through, but also for lying to her. He had promised her that he would return to Zenora, before becoming a Guardian here with the Elders. But he has been given the opportunity to become an Elder instantly, instead of a ‘simple’ Guardian first.

The man who Norim send away for a task, returned from it. He whispered with Norim, and with each word the man spoke, Norim’s eyes grew wider and wider. When the man was finally done talking, Norim cleared his throat and wanted to talk to me again. He didn’t know where to start, so he opened his mouth a few times, only to shut it again.

“Did you speak to the Goddess?” I asked him, getting him out of his train of thoughts.

“Well no, we can’t. Only Cirilya can summon her, and clearly you have been the only one to have spoken to her in a long time. But we do keep records of her actions.” He reluctantly said. “Please don’t ask about it.” He continued, and sighed.

I nodded in reply, not wanting to discuss what the reason was, about why they should have records about her.

“Did you really ask for that baby to be born?” He finally asked me.

He was talking about the baby of Victoria and her Orc partner. The first mage of its kind. This was after we rescued Ayinthur and I had asked everyone to leave the cave. I wanted the Goddess alone for a moment, because I know that not everyone would agree upon my question. Not everyone would agree to let an Orc be born, let alone the first Orc mage.

I could see Cirilya frowning next to me, no one knew about this secret. Not even Cirilya, even though she is one of my closest friends. I wanted to wait for the boy to come of age first, before asking or searching for him.

“Yes, no matter where a person is born, what the race is, and whatever the upbringing is of that person, there still is a chance that someone could choose to be good. To do good with its powers. And besides that, even though Orcs killed my mother and my precious Dolly, and even though they might have a barbaric way of living, I still have hope for our kind to get along in the end. It might take years, decades or centuries even, but someone has to take the first step, and I hope it is this one. I hope he can be taught both our ways, so he can see that we in fact, are not that different at all.”

I had asked the Goddess to take the boy to a person who was not biased by whether someone is Human, Elf or Orc. Hoping that he wouldn’t be mindset upon one single race, but being able to look at the character instead of the colour of the skin.

Several other men and women, Elders I suppose, came into the room when they heard that I asked to save an Orc baby. They heard my statement and frowned upon it.

“You can’t be sure if he will be the person to mediate between the races.” One of them suddenly said.

“And you can’t be sure that he wouldn’t.” I replied to the female Elder, at which he scoffed.

“Besides that, I know that the Goddess has chosen me to infuse the human race with the ancient powers, but so far, I have also managed to enhance the Elven race with a druid, and apparently I just gave birth to a dragon girl. So, all there is left, is a mage for the Orcs, and then everyone has been given their share.” I said.

“Yes, or should I summon the Goddess here? To ask her to take away my druid’s powers? To ask her opinion about this?” Cirilya said behind me.

“NO! No, that won’t be necessary.” Another Elder quickly said.

“No? It is not difficult, I have done it several times, all I have to do is....” Cirilya put her hands in the air, forming a bowl with her hands and the bright white light started to fill her hands.

“Cirilya! Don’t!” Norim yelled at her.

“Oh, really dad? You don’t want her to know how selfish the Elders are? How stupid it is, that somehow you think you are the judges of what happens in the world? That you can decide what should be wrong or right?” Cirilya pointed at all the Elders around her, as she should.

Cirilya was totally correct about her statement. Elders should be here to guide and inform, not to judge and decide. They are not the government of Zenora, they are not the ones to keep the balance. The reaction of the Elders only confirms that, as they don’t want Cirilya to call for the Goddess.

“Ciri, please understand...” Norim started to speak.

“No dad, we are done here. Just bring us back to the castle, after you healed Emily’s body of course.” Cirilya said, while pointing to the floor, where my body laid.

This was a strange feeling though, my body was on the ground and I was hovering above it. Being a white whisp feels so free, soft and light. I thought that with one sigh of wind I would be blown away, but floating here, completely in control of my movements, was really fun. I couldn’t fly up in the air though, just hovering at head’s height, going forward, backwards, left or right. Being a whisp is not like you can go anywhere you want, there has to be Elven magic near you too.

They had to do this though, keeping my body in a sleeping state, for it to stop bleeding. But during that time, they couldn’t talk to me, so they temporary pulled my mind out of my body, to turn it into a white whisp.

So, one moment I was about to die in a bed, and the other I was here, getting healed and being questioned. Everything that happens to me, is confusing and overwhelming. I didn’t feel special at all. I didn’t feel worthy enough to be the ‘Chosen one’, as I wasn’t strong enough to keep everyone around me safe.

In a way, I was ready to die. But I guess it wasn’t my time yet, as I was floating around as a white whisp right now.

White is the colour of serenity, purity and in the Elven hierarchy used in the highest ranks. So, somehow I felt honoured that they turned me into a white whisp.

“Don’t flatter yourself honey, as though I would have chosen you to turn into a white whisp, because I like your spirit, the colour of the whisp is based upon the character and wisdom of the soul.” A kind faced female Elder said to me.

Instantly I blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed by my own wrong thinking, but also because I didn’t feel myself so wise now.

The female Elder chuckled. “I’m Noliyah, Cirilya’s great-aunt.”

All I could do is nod at her, thanking her for not embarrassing me any further.