Ember of Hope

“Is she freaking out?” Raegan asked Nina who was just coming out of Sarah’s room.

“Well I’ll just say you handled it way better” Nina winked.

“Where’s Damien?”

“Oh don’t ask me. It was almost impossible to budge him from outside her door. He was standing there like a freaking sentry. He is acting like a cave man. If he could have his way, he would’ve thrown her over his shoulder and taken her to his lair already”. Nina rolled her eyes making Raegan laugh.

“Don’t worry I’ll talk to him”.

“Yeah good luck with that” Nina grumbled. “Go freshen up and come down for dinner” She yelled over her shoulder while hurrying down the corridor.

“Hey, how you doin’ honey?” She asked Sarah in a soothing voice who almost jumped from bed on hearing her voice.

“Where were you?” Sarah snapped at her.

“Sorry I was with Val, we were just catching up. You tell me how was it with Damien? You were ok? Did you fly then? Did you like flying?” Raegan asked in a single breath.

“Well I was scared of course, at the idea of flying on a dragon. So I told him that I was just going to walk with him. But that damn dragon didn’t budge. Said that you had entrusted my safety with him and he wasn’t taking any chances. So, either I sit on his back or he’d just have to grab me in his claws and fly”.

“Paws”.

“What?”

“Animals have paws that further have claws on them”. Raegan explained.

“Well thank you for dragon 101. Sure I was worried about learning their anatomy a thousand feet above ground” Sarah snapped.

“Hey, calm down. It’s not like he was going to have you for dinner Sarah. I knew what I was doing when I left you with him. You were totally safe. What happened then? What did you do? Tell me everything”.

“What else? Off course I climbed on his back. I wasn’t going to let him grab me in his damned foot now, was I?”

Raegan tried to disguise her laughter in a cough, “Come on. It’s not that bad. You have to agree, the flying experience is quite addictive, right?”

“Well, sorry to disappoint you but I was so busy in screaming my head off that I didn’t quite enjoy my voyage through the open air”. This time Raegan couldn’t stop her laughter and after glaring at her failingly, Sarah joined in too.

“Don’t worry, next time will be fun. Now let’s go eat. I’m starving”.

“There won’t be a next time” she cut a hand through the air severely, “Are we going to eat with them too?” Sarah was still apprehensive.

“Well, if you want to, then that could be arranged. But I was just going to take you to the kitchens to eat with Nina”.

Sarah smacked her on the head.

“I still can’t believe my eyes. Dragons and portals to a whole new world – whoa. Who knows how many other worlds are out there and maybe one of them has unicorns in it. Do you think when we go back home we can try to find other portals? To other worlds?”

“Sure Columbus. At least now you know I wasn’t just a raving lunatic” Raegan laughed. “Isn’t it like a dream come true? It’s not just fantasy anymore – its real Sarah. All of it is real”.

“Yeah but like everything else this can’t last forever. One day, we’ll be going back to our own world, where this all will be fantasy once again. And that’s gonna suck big time”. She sighed.

“Why can’t we live here forever? What if you find your soul-mate here? Don’t you think that may be your fate brought you here?”

They were almost at the doors of the kitchens when Sarah halted mid stride and turned to her friend. “Raegan, Snap out of it. Are you crazy? They are not humans. They are not like us. It was one thing if they could shift into humans. But they can’t even do that. How can a girl even think about having one of them as her ‘soul-mate’? That witch ruined it for them. She made sure of it. They look like they are made to eat you, not love you”.

“You don’t know anything about them yet Sarah. You’ll see when you spend some time here. They might have lost their human body but that’s just it. Everything else is the same. Their hearts, minds and souls… it’s all still in them… it’s all like us… like humans. Just don’t judge them on their outlook”.

After their talk, dinner went rather quietly and they both retired to their rooms soon.

………………………………………………………

“Come to me, my love” he extended a hand to beckon her towards him. A brilliant smile played on his beautiful lips. Blue eyes shone bright like sparkling sapphires. His black hair were a bit long, morning wind playing with the strands. He was so beautiful; she couldn’t take her eyes off his face. He was walking backwards; smiling – beckoning her over. She took a step towards him… then another… and another”.

Raegan’s eyes flew open. Her dream had changed. She never walked towards him before.

There was no doubt that fate had brought her here in the first place and then brought her back. And these dreams… she had no doubt that it was Valiance. And the unthinkable had happened… she had fallen for him… an unattainable creature. But she knew one thing… she wouldn’t be able to leave him again. Maybe fate had chosen her to end his misery… chosen her for HIM. And she wasn’t one to question fate.

In that moment she knew that she had to tell him. She needed to talk to him… and she needed to do it now. She needed to at least give it a shot. No need in delaying what was bound to happen.

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