iris and airala. an oc writing contest entry. part two

Instructions

No, I reminded myself. We have the same eyes. My mind went back to when I was little older than a hatching and my mother had taken me and my siblings to this very cavern to see the Gem of Existence. It was the very thing that kept dragons alive. It was dying then, but it was a dismal sight now. Mother had told us of the prophecy. She told us of the one who would save the dragons. Crossing over to a crack in the floor, I pulled out the scroll. Luckily, Iris knew how to read from some of the books she’d bought on the rare occasions she’d made her way to the villages. I crossed over and dropped it at her feet. “Airala, what’s going on?” She asked, taking a step back. I used my eyes and pleaded with her to trust me. Warily, she bent down and picked up the scroll. As she read, I couldn’t help but notice the tears trailing down her face. Tears of my own slipped out, but they weren’t necessarily sad. Of course, I was sad for her family and friends who’d passed before me, but now I was filled with hope. A hope that better things are coming. Iris looked up from the scroll, her eyes meeting mine. “What do you mean I’m the Savior of the Dragons?” Iris My head spun at this revelation. My heart pounded in my chest. I felt as though I were going to laugh with glee and burst into tears all at the same time. Two words kept forming a question in my mind over and over. Why now? It had been just Airala and me for six years. If I were truly the Savior of the Dragons, why wouldn’t she have told me about this sooner? I crumpled to my knees, squeezing the scroll to my chest. Airala came to my side, resting her chin on my knee. She chittered softly, as though apologizing. “What am I supposed to do?” My words were choked in my throat. “I’m…only a simple elf girl. There’s nothing special about me.” Airala got up and marched toward the magnificent gem in the middle. It was the same blue as Airi’s eyes and about the size of myself. It slightly glowed, as though it was trying to shine as bright as the sun but forgot how. It was oval shaped and standing upwards, but it wasn’t smooth. The edges were jagged and pointed. Airi pointed at it with her horns. She wanted me to..touch it? “Okay,” I stood and took a step toward the gem. Something felt wrong about all of this, but Airala wouldn’t lead me into danger. With all the courage in me, I let my fingers trail over the gem. Dozens of images flashed through my mind at a rapid speed and I couldn’t keep up. Most of them were of dragons, but some of them were of elves. The images were happy ones. Elves and their families, dragons and their families, dragon eggs hatching and newborn elves in their mothers arms. Gradually, the images turned sad. Elves dy!ng, dragons babies being stolen or hunted. Wars, death and destruction. Another image. Me. It was an image of me and Airala. I’d never seen such a clear image of myself at all. The only times I’d seen myself was in the slight reflection the creek gave. But this picture…this was really me, with Airala by my side. One more image came, this one sticking in my brain. It was me in front of a crowd of dragons. They all bowed to me, as though I were their queen. My hands formed a ball of what appeared to be something glowing the same color blue as my eyes, but I wasn’t sure what it was. My brown hair cascaded down my shoulders, and on my head I wore a silver circlet with a blue jewel in the middle. I wore a blue dress, fringed with gold. So much blue, I thought to myself. And then a word flashed through my mind. A word the ball of blue that was settled in my hands in the picture. One word, but that was all I needed. I gasped, opening my eyes to find I was back in the cave Airala sitting patiently next to me. I knelt, wrapping my arms around her neck. I couldn’t keep the tears at bay. For a long time, Airi and I sat there crying together. The word ringing through my mind kept begging me to say it aloud. “Magic,” I stated, my voice thick. “I’m the Savior of the Dragons. I… am magic.”