Chronicle Pt. IV
Slowly, but certain she stepped forward.
Her legs felt heavy, her wings inert, her mind numb.
Never before had she been in such a vulnerable state.
None of that mattered.
Her inner fire had burned out and she sensed the end coming near.
Tears traced a path behind her.
Earth yielded to Sky as she reached the end of the cliff.
She fell to the ground, her strength to stand gone.
Rock crumbled into the depths beneath her.
Her claws clenched into the earth and left marks.
Her last words on this world.
She gazed up from the earth.
The sun had completed her journey, mountain peaks casting shadows across the valley.
Her valley… the one she had protected with her life.
The one where she created and lost life.
Taken and given.
Her thoughts stilled as she reached inwards.
Sorrow sapped her from her last strength.
Grief took her last will.
And despair dwindled her flame.
She gave in to death, embracing it without fear.
Her head rested on her front leg, claws no longer dug into rock.
She gazed at the Sun.
A faint smile formed before she sighed and closed her eyes.
Darkness.
But death did not claim her. It wasn’t her fate.
She was granted life.
Before her stood eight of her kin.
Each in their own color, but none hers.
One stepped forth.
“Your fate awaits here, but not yet.
Return to your world and come back when your journey is complete.”
She did the one thing she had never done before.
She bowed her head.
Not in submission, but in recognition.
Though her future was known, her past had yet to be written.
Closing her eyes, she awakened.
Her eyes caught the sun.
Moons had replaced her.
Answering the night’s call, her flame reignited.
Energy surged through her, invigorating her cold muscles.
Rising to her feet, head bowed, she understood.
The moons followed their celestial course.
She traced the marks etched in the stone, recognizing the word she carved.
With her past written, she would return in the future.
She peered into Her valley.
A shiver crept up her tail through her spine and she shook her head.
The silence weighed heavily upon her.
Silence that demanded to be shattered.
Eyes narrowing and muscles tensed up,
she dug her claws into the cliff’s edge.
Her wings spread wide open.
She drew in a deep breath and unleashed a roar.
It reverberated through the mountains.
Echoing into the depths of Her valley.
It was a roar of strength, of new life.
A testament to a life that would endure beyond her body.
As the echoes faded into silence once more, she settled,
content in the knowledge that her legacy would not fade with her passing.