Smoke and Mirrors

Sapphire Ragna Nightborne

I took my first breath expecting it to be befouled with the stench of blood and rust as what I have been accustomed to the past few days what I did not expect, however, was the fresh familiar scent of pine and honeysuckle to fill my lungs. The sun’s glare caused me to shield my eyes as they were too accustomed to the dingy dimly lit room that I had been locked away in, the discomfort was only temporary, but the relief was not, I let out a laugh as I started to run through the forest. I was finally free.

The wind whipped through my hair as I sprinted through the trees, laughing with happiness before a large log, shifting in mid-air before landing on all fours.

The feeling of grass beneath my paws instead of dirty cold concrete was a welcome change, I howled as I ran deeper into the forest, jumping over large exposed tree roots and boulders. All those days of being cooped up in that small room was just torture, I was never meant to be locked away, that was what my father used to tell the elders when I was a child, he often joked that my future husband would have his hands full due to my wild spirit. When the elders tried to marry me off but that did not bother me now, all the pain of the struggles I faced flew away with the wind that swept past my face as I charged through the forest.

It seemed like an endless journey till I saw a white strip of cloth tied to a branch of a tree lazily fluttering through the air. I stopped and looked closer and it seemed like time stopped with me. I closed my eyes as when I opened them I saw two young girls running through the forest, one laughing while the other kept looking left and right as if she had committed a crime and was about to be caught.

“Lia, you are going to be an old hag by the time we finish exploring this forest.”

“Sapph, are you out of your mind! Do you know how close we are to the pack’s border? We are not even allowed to be this deep in the forest!” The younger girl promptly rolled her eyes at her sister’s rambling and ventured on, a bird’s squawk caused the older one to jump and to cling on to the younger one which earned her another eye roll.

“Fine!”, the younger one relented before tearing a strip off her shirt and tying it on a branch near them, “We can go but next time we find this and continue.” The older one nodded her head frantically before dragging her sister along.

I watch them run off before disappearing, that promise was never kept, Lia was soon swept away to be trained as Alpha Female and I was too busy trying to become someone that no one thought I could be.

That piece of white cloth used to represent to me hope and adventure and now, all it represented was a broken promise. I ran that piece of cloth across my hand, remembering another promise that was broken at the other end of this forest.

I watched as a black wolf was pinned by another, the wolf below frantically gesturing for the little boy that was once on her back to run, I saw the look of pure horror and terror on that boy’s face before he ran, his sobs could be heard as wolves chased him. This cloth in my hand reminded me of my failure and the broken promise to my sister to keep her son safe, I was so absorbed in my memories that I failed to sense a presence behind me.

“Times do change, don’t they Sapphire Nightshade?”

I whirled around with my claws extended and teeth bared, I expected to see Damien or one of his little minions, not a woman with a motherly smile. She looked a few years older than me and was my complete opposite with her soft features and light hair, she wore a simple white gown bound at the waist, its simplicity enhanced the grandeur brought by the gold tiara that set on top of her fair hair.

“Selene, the Moon Goddess.”

She gave a slight dip of her head before locking eyes with me, her silver ones searching through my dark ones.

“By no means of disrespect but I expected you to look more well … silvery.”

She let out a laugh before changing her appearance right before my eyes, her hair now matching her silver eyes and her gold tiara was replaced by a silver circlet. She began to circle me; her eyes looking at me like one would look at a prized animal, examining its potential value.

“You have changed, Rose.”

My eyebrow raised at that did she not just address me as Sapphire, my given name, mere moments ago and now she was addressing me with a name that had absolutely no correlation with mine, in fact, the very opposite, I hated roses, never knew why I had just always hated those red flowers. They just reminded me of the cheapness of love as I had seen many men giving these as an apology after fighting with their mates as though it was some sacred peace offering.

“I came to you in the form of Queen Rose of Avarelia, your past life.”

My eyes widened in disbelief as she went on to tell me this great fairy-tale about Kings and Queens, love and death while I listened dumbfounded and angry.

By the end of it, I could not stop myself from laughing. The absurdity of it all, I hated fairy tales since I was a young child as I thought them impractical and unrealistic, now I, oh the irony, was the main character of one.

“A game! That was all my life was to you and your sister, a game!”

I was no longer angry. Anger was just the tip of the iceberg and did not even begin to describe the fury bubbling inside me. I had believed for years that I was the master of my own fate that it was through my hard work and perseverance that I ended where I am and now, to learn that it was all predestined to lead up to this moment was like a knife being plunged into my heart and with every word she spoke, it was as if someone was twisting the blade.

“Sapphire, I know what you must feel to your mate, what he did to you …”

The motherly tone of her voice had only made me angrier, she spoke to me as one would placate a child who was throwing a tantrum. How dare she, out of all people, speak to me this way, it was her fault that my life was turned upside down, her fault that my family was dead.

“That monster is no mate of mine! Mates are supposed to love each other not torture one till she dies.”

I pointed a finger at her.

“That. Was. What. You. Promised. My. Kind.”

I placed an emphasis on each word I spoke. All these years of being told that the Moon Goddess would always make sure that you would find your ‘perfect match’, the only one in the world that would be perfect for you…the false hope that was being told to children as they dreamed that one day their prince would come. Children would actually pray to her at night, because they believed in her and her sister’s judgement. No one would ever question if it she ever made a mistake, people stayed with their abusive and unfaithful partners because they believed that if they left they would be alone for the rest of their lives.

She looked at me with those soft eyes of hers before continuing.

“Sapphire, people make mistakes and sometimes those mistakes are so hurtful that we can almost never forgive them, which is why sometimes we have to be the ones to take the first step and make the hard decision…”

She trailed off as I started to laugh, I wiped the tears forming in my eyes before walking right up to her.

“No. You of all people don’t get to do this, you don’t get to act all righteous in front of me, not after what you did. I can forgive mistakes, yes, but what I cannot forgive are choices and that is what Damien made, choices, not mistakes. He chose to take the lives of the innocent, he chose to torture me, he chose to kill me.”

I stiffened as the Moon Goddess put a hand on my cheek, staring deeply into my eyes.

“Your eyes have changed so much, Sapphire, they once glowed with the warmth of love and compassion now, they burn with the cold fires of hatred and anger.”

I scoffed as I pulled her hand away from my face, she was the reason why I became who I am today, she is why I am so hell-bent on revenge, all that I am going through, all that is on her.

“I have no idea about who I ‘was’, but I know who I am. My eyes are mine and they became what you made them. Now I want answers, where am I?”

She let out a sigh before answering.

“You are in limbo right now, the thin line between life and death, I came here to give you a choice; stay and move on or return to the land of the living to correct the wrongs that have been made.”

I fell silent as I contemplated the choices that were laid before me. Was there anything to live for anymore? That was what I thought to myself, after all, I had just been told that I was a pawn in someone else’s game and that the route was laid before me even before I was born. I looked over to the Moon Goddess, she had her hand extended towards me, a soft smile on her face that for some reason made me want to claw it off. I saw the glimmer of hope in her eyes, it utterly sickened me that she hoped that I would be a good girl and continue to play her game, well, I was sick of someone else controlling the life that I was given..

I marched in front of her, knocking her outstretched hand aside.

“I will go back, but I am no longer going to be a part of this game of yours, I am going back to show you that no one except me decides my fate.”

She let out a small sigh before waving a hand, my eyes widened as the trees before me twisted and turned to form a small arch.

“Step through and you will return but remember Sapphire Nightshade, I do not normally give second chances.”

I looked her straight in the eye.

“You never gave me a fair one in the first place.”

I almost put one foot through the arch before a thought crossed my mind, without turning back I called out.

“Did you know that this game you made for me would result in this many innocent deaths and more importantly, did you care?”

“I am sorry and yes I did care, they are my children after all.”

Yet you let them die and with that, I walked through.

It felt as though my body was spinning through a vortex, my stomach lurched as I looked down to see I was falling. I could see the roof of Damien’s stronghold, so I squeezed my eyes shut to brace for impact, but I just fell through the stone ceilings before landing back onto the table.

The sound of various machines assaulted my ears as the smell of sterile equipment assaulted my nose, I winced as I felt my body ache with every movement I made to try and sit up. A look of pure horror made its way to my face as I looked down to see my body marred with various wounds. Did the madman try to harm me in my death as he did in life? My head jerked as two hands grabbed either side of my face tilting my head up to stare into a face that I felt nothing but hate for.