The Crimson Dawn

Atlas stared out at the roost from the balcony of the guest bedroom, she and Altair had been placed in. Atlas was ignoring him. It was childish, she knew that, but she didn’t know what to say to him. What could she say to an Elvish Prince? She barely knew what to say to him when he was just Altair. So, she stared out at the Roost, the impressive dragons didn’t catch her attention though she certainly looked at them from time to time. No, she stared at the spot she knew Ikarus was, the Dust-colored dragon from before. She caught brief glimpses of him, but she was only really staring at the stable he was being held in. Such a poor creature.

Atlas heard the sounds of Altair sharpening his sword and if anything from their previous conversation or Atlas’s refusal to talk to him now bothered him at all he didn’t show it. Atlas sort of wanted to scream at him to show some kind of emotion but even if he did, she still wouldn’t know what to say. She doubted Ikarus would either, seeing as he had never spoken to a Human let alone an Elf… was he able to speak with the other Dragons? Just how isolated was the creature from everything around him? Could he really be so destructive? His sadness seemed to tame him; it wasn’t a raging fire but instead a bottomless sea that swallowed everything beneath the calm waves. Atlas wished her anger could be like that. Maybe she wouldn’t say so many stupid things when she was upset.

Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn’t notice the sound of the whetstone against the sword was gone. She looked back only to see Altair behind her, staring at her. He had moved from the bed and had come to stand beside her. Atlas was still silent as she looked back to the Roost.

“You cannot ignore me forever,” Altair spoke his voice firm but soft in a way. Atlas continued to silently stare, she desperately wished to speak but then came the question again. What would she say? She didn’t want to say anything stupid. Then she heard words she never thought would come from Altair’s mouth. “Please… Atlas, please talk to me.”

She looked at him, wide eyes and gaping mouth and all. Finally, she answered in her own quiet tone. “What am I supposed to say? You’re intimidating enough without being a prince.”

He chuckles, a light smile on his face. “You didn’t care about how intimidating I was before that information came to light.”

Atlas hummed. “Hmm, true. But I also don’t know if I should be mad at you, because why wouldn’t you tell me and why should you tell me?”

“I have an answer for both. I didn’t tell you because I thought you knew and I should tell you because we’re traveling together, we need to trust one another. And talk.”

“Why would you assume I would know who you are?” Atlas paused before grinning, “A little arrogant of you.” She teased and he smiled back, she never thought anyone would be happy about her jabs.

“Because everyone usually does. Didn’t you know that Zale was a Prince? Royal families are usually known,” Altair pointed out and Atlas’s cheeks burned.

“Runo was really boring, so I didn’t pay much attention,” she chuckled, and Altair’s face lit up as his smile grew.

“Of course, you didn’t,” he chuckled again.

✧

Dinner was awkward. Atlas had never experienced a family dinner before but the ones in Kestva seemed cheerier and more familial than this one. It was weird to Atlas that they had been invited to dinner, she’d rather just have her plate thrown at her and eaten in a dark corner like a mongrel instead of experiencing this. Jaswyn, a little girl with curly brown hair and dark brown skin, looked at Atlas like she was the strangest thing in the room. The girl couldn’t have been older than 13 and ate slowly as she seemed to pull Atlas apart and put her back together in her head. She made a soft ticking sound every now and again before her mind went elsewhere once again.

Jaswyn sat next to her parents, Lord Kadyn and Lady Eliss, both of them awkwardly polite towards one another. They sat in front of Atlas and Altair, looking up at the two of them now and again, if they caught one another’s gaze then small, embarrassed smiles would be given. Altair seemed just as itchy to get out of there as Atlas was, but King Velor and Queen Galea were the worst pair at the table.

While their son and daughter, Zale and Frey pretended not to notice as they quietly ate and chatted with each other, their parents were tense and exchanged glares often. The slighted sound or movement would cause them to look at each other. It was like each person was in their own little world while in the same vicinity, it was nothing like the dinners in Kestva at all, they would talk, fight, laugh, joke, and on the rare occasions a food fight would break out, but it was all harmless fun. A family. Atlas was glad to not be a part of this one.

Zale cleared his throat, and all eyes went to him as he looked at his father. “I wanted to speak of Atlas, My King. It is simply too peculiar. Too coincidental. We have a Dragon without a Royal, and then this girl comes, and she can speak to them. She has our blood, I know it.” Velor tensed and Atlas could see his veins bulge in his neck and forehead. Atlas clutched onto her red undershirt, looking between Zale and Velor with her mouth slightly open.

“I told you not to bring this up again, Zale,” Velor growled out through clenched teeth and his balled-up fist hit the table, causing the whole table to recoil. Atlas noticed that Queen Galea was now staring at her with icy eyes, her frown deep and prominent and she only looked away when Kadyn cleared his throat.

“We can’t bury it again, Velor,” Kadyn tells him, his voice surprisingly firm. Velor looked at Kadyn with perhaps a softer expression before looking away, frustrated.

“It was the best decision for you, Kadyn, mom, and dad knew it, I know it-”

“No! It was never about what was good for me, it was about what was good for our reputation. So, I couldn’t bring shame to this family! She’s mine… She was my-” Kadyn stops; his throat tight as he looks at Velor with a pleading look. Kadyn then stood up, returning his attention to Atlas and she could see the glistening in his eyes. “You’re my daughter.”

“Kadyn!” Velor scolds, sliding his chair back so hard it falls over. The whole table erupts into chaos. Jaswyn starts crying as Velor and Galea both yell unintelligible words at Kadyn who argues back just as fiercely. Zale and Frey try to comfort their cousin as Eliss tries to drag Kadyn away, whispering words to him, her long fingers clutching his arm.

Atlas stares in absolute horror at the fiasco before her, her mind drowning in so much she doesn’t even know what she is thinking. Altair wrapped his arm around her as she sat there, pale and numb, he helped her to her feet and dragged her out and to their room. Atlas sat at the end of her bed as Altair threw off his coat that he had been redressed in.

“Stuffy thing,” he muttered, working at the buttons tightened all the way to his neck. “Humans have such ridiculous notions of fashion.” He continued before he stopped and looked at Atlas, his words for her to hear now. “Are you okay?”

“I’m a Dragon-Blood! I mean- how does that even work? I thought- I don’t know what I thought. Aren’t Royal families supposed to be meticulous about their bloodlines or something?”

Altair sighs and sits next to her, tentatively putting a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly. “I have no idea how human culture works, Atlas.” He laughs, stopping almost as soon as he starts and Atlas leans against him slightly.

“You and me both, apparently,” Atlas wipes at her eyes, pushing the overwhelming thoughts from her mind. She didn’t have time to have a mental crisis. Destroying the Blood Sorcerers was what mattered but with no leads her mind couldn’t focus on it.

“For Elves… we are given choices between mates. Life partners. Status and blood factor into it but it also factors in compatibility,” he whispers, almost like it was a secret. “So… a scandal such as this is… mostly unheard of.”

“Well, it happens for humans much often, yet it is a thing to be ashamed of,” Atlas scoffs, looking away as she wipes at her nose. “I am something to be ashamed of. I would have rather found out I was an Orphan, not something hidden to save their- my family’s reputation.”

Altair hesitated for a moment. “Atlas- just. Get some rest, okay? We’ll talk with clearer heads in the morning.” Atlas nodded but as the lights went out, she just sat there for a long time. Staring into the darkness and feeling as if it could watch back.

✧

An iron chain pulled Atlas out of the black thick water, and it placed her on the stone pillar above it all. Atlas coughed and sputtered on her hands and knees before looking up with tears in her eyes at Grim. He looked down at her and she could almost feel the indifference coming from his void sockets.

“You need to get a better system,” she croaked out, clearing her throat before she spoke again. “It isn’t fun waking up in that goop.”

“You’re taking longer to adjust than you should,” The Grim Wolf stared at her curiously, it reminded her of Jaswyn’s stare, pulling her apart and putting her back together. “You don’t remember our conversations in the Mortal Realm but here… you remember it all.”

Atlas’s mind swam through all her memories, she did remember but she also knew that she had no recollection of any of it when she was awake. Just her mind trying to grasp it desperately.

“You haven’t accepted me, World-Bearer, you’re fighting against me,” The Grim wolf growled, prowling towards her with burning sockets. “No… that’s not it… you’re fighting against yourself.”

“I’m not giving myself black eyes here, Grim.”

If he had eyes, Atlas knew he would’ve rolled them at her stupidity. “Mentally not physically. Atlas… you are not abandoning yourself or your loved ones by becoming mine. You do not have to abandon your Lord of Time, nor your allies just because you have come into my service.” The God of Death must’ve seen that his speech did nothing to reassure as he snapped his mouth open gently grabbed her by the arm and threw her onto his back as she screamed. “Quiet down, World Bearer.” She instantly shut her mouth and Grim did the same, his voice still in her head. “Death is not evil nor is it good. Death is a duty and the end of everything.” The Grim Wolf walked across the Black Goop and from where Atlas sat on his back it looked like obsidian.

When Atlas blinked they were somewhere else, the trees were a golden color and the grass vibrant and beautiful. Then the sky sang with the song of birds and was the most beautiful cerulean blue that Atlas had ever seen. As the Grim Wolf began walking, her grip on his bloodied fur tightened and she listened to his quiet humming as he walked. “You were raised to be a guardian of Time and you believe serving me means you must turn your back on all you are and believe in. You are a Guardian.”

“People will see me as a Killer, a soldier. Not a protector,” Atlas argued and she felt him rumble underneath her. “Should I not care how others perceive me, then?”

“It certainly helps if they perceive you as a good thing,” Grim nodded, not answering her question, but instead laying on the ground and shaking her off. She landed on the ground with a groan and she rubbed her arm which took the brunt of the fall. She glared at him as she stood and brushed herself off but Grim only laughed. “Look over there,” He motioned with his head. “What do you see?”

Atlas looked over and she had to blink a couple of times to make sure she was seeing it right. A group of mourners stood around a pyre, their faces tear-stained but it was the men’s eyes that caught her attention, they were bright gold. “We’re in Lethoris?”

“Irrelevant. What do you see?”

She looked at Grim with a disapproving frown but he was scarier so she looked back at the group. “Mourners. They’re about to light the body. The elder woman is crying heavily into the elder man’s shoulder. There’s a little girl whose cheeks are dry, she didn’t know the person.”

“What else?” The Grim Wolf snarled and she felt his breath against her whole body and she shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself as she squinted at the group, trying to see what he was seeing.

Atlas shook her head and blinked several times to rest her strained eyes after a minute of constant staring. She felt like an intrusion upon them and she shifted on her feet before she tried again.

“You shouldn’t have to try so hard, relax. This is who you are, like talking to the Dragons, this is in your blood,” Grim assured her and his breath was comfortable now.

Atlas took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Hearing Dragons was like hearing people, Atlas didn’t even know what Grim was trying to make her see or hear or speak to. Atlas was trying too hard, it was hard not to when she didn’t know what she was trying to do. Dragons and people are tangible and real, she could see them and feel them but whatever Grim was trying to make her figure it out wasn’t. Atlas was about to give up when she heard a voice in the middle of yelling she hadn’t heard before. Her eyes shot open and she spotted a man, his eyes gold, his skin greenish pale, and his teeth rotted and yellow. His skin was rotting and cracked and the more she looked at him the more he looked dead.

Atlas looked up at Grim only to see his smug expression. “I’ve been trying to get his soul for days but he keeps refusing and running away. I hate it when spirits become so self-aware. Bring his soul to me, convince him, drag him, I do not care how you do it.”

Atlas saw no point in arguing with him so she walked silently over to the Aureus, the group of them still sobbing except for the man, who was in front of the older couple and screaming at them to look at him. Atlas cleared her throat once she stood behind him and he stopped yelling and whipped around to face her, his face dropping when she stared right at him. “Are you dead too?”

“I am Atlas of Kestva.”

The man jolted a bit and drew his brows together. “A human? What are you- What?”

“You’re dead. You need to go with the Grim Wolf,” she told him, trying to be as gentle as she could. She wouldn’t want some random telling her that she was dead and that she needed to go with the giant, eyeless, and bloody wolf. It seemed more like a bad idea than a good one.

“I didn’t think that the God of death had servants.” The man looked me up and down and up and down like I was some novelty and suddenly Atlas didn’t care to be nice any longer.

“And I thought the Golden-Eyed were supposed to be some wisdom-filled, magical people. I guess we were both wrong,” Atlas frowned and she thought she could hear Grim snicker. The man glowered down at her with gold and then pointed at the burning body.

“That is mine,” he points at the elderly couple, “These are my parents. This is where my family has come to mourn and you have come to take me from them.”

“You are already gone,” Atlas said simply and he looked to the ground as if this was the moment he just realized it. “To stay here will only cause them greater pain.” It felt like Atlas was telling him to climb into Grim’s jaws and willingly get eaten… That’s exactly what she was telling him.

The man looked behind him to his mother as she cried and wailed about her baby boy as her eyes reflected his burning corpse. The man kissed his mother’s graying hair before his feet led him to wear the Grim Wolf waited with a twisted smile and Atlas almost regretted convincing the man to go to him. Grim snatched the man up into his jaws and she blinked and he was gone and Grim sat there with a satisfied smile. How can a wolf smile?

“If that is not the beginning of accepting me I don’t know what is. You’ll be able to speak to the dead and much more if you just let yourself,” Grim assures and he takes her back into his jaws to throw her onto his back. Atlas still screamed. Grim laughed and began walking again, away from the mourners. “Humans and Aureus fight against death, always, they must make me chase them cause they cannot accept it. Elves accept it, Death is a part of nature in their minds. You fought against it.”

“Well, in my defense I was very disoriented,” Atlas huffed and for some reason, she felt embarrassed about it. Atlas felt the rumble of another laugh before she woke to the bright sun in her eyes. Atlas was back. And she remembered. She was the Death God’s Champion and she had helped him eat a soul. Gods… was there any way it was just a weird dream?