Chapter 43: Chapter 43
As I come out of my memories from the past I find that I am still confused. I have more than paid my dues for the death of the boy that I love. The day I visited his mother at their estate I can still hardly remember after all this time. I remember telling her about the child as I fought the waves that had surrounded me in a deafening wave. The rest of that night as well as many nights are a blur to me now.
“What am I supposed to do Draco? I do not know what your mother wants from me. I just want to rest and for this torment to end. I am so tired” I plead in the night to the statue of the boy I love.
When I awoke the next morning after visiting his mother, I was in the middle of no where far from home. I laid naked in a field in extreme pain and disoriented. When I rose to stand I put my hands on my stomach only to find it flat. I cried as I realized that somehow I had lost my child. I wanted to return home, but I had no direction to where my home was. I remember walking for days until I found a village. I was welcomed and stayed with an elderly couple. I worked their fields to save money to make the journey home. For a few months life had started to seem somewhat normal even though I missed my father and home greatly.
It all changed one night. I was asked out by a boy in the village. I had been feeling feverish lately but did not want to refuse him. it was so long ago that I do not remember his name. I remember that we walked, and we talked. When we reached his home in the village I only remember his kiss good night and then my mind goes dark again. I was awakened the next morning sore in strange places, far from the town left to wander the world once more. From the pains in my body, I know that I had shared it with someone. I cried that I could not remember the moment. A few weeks late I knew that another life grew inside me.
When I realized that day my excitement grew. I spent the day pampering myself and thinking of the life I would have with the child I carried. Later that night my flushed with a terrible pain and I blacked out. I again woke in a barren land far from which I was.
Over the years I have grown used to wandering the world alone. I became accustomed to the new feelings inside me. After many years I discovered that I was not the only one home in my body. I thought myself crazy and kept it to myself. I grew used to the black outs and learned when to expect them. I never grew use to feeling a life grow inside of me for but a moment only to have it gone after a night I could not remember.
These years have been so hard. Here the end is harder still as I cry beneath the statue. I feel the monster I am swirling in my chest ready to be released to our resting place. Angry tears spring to my eyes at the thought that Kawa is having a last laugh at denying me peace. “Please I beg you. End this. I have fulfilled your wish.” I beg once more.
“Be still dear sister” a male speaks on my left.
I swirl to face him with my fear rising from her abrupt presence. he is surrounded by three others as they stand nearly shrouded in darkness.
“Who are you that speaks to me. For I have no sister or kin” I demand to know standing tall.
As they step into the light I am astounded at their beauty. There are three girls and one boy that all look to my age. They all have some type of magnetism that flows through the air calming me from my defensive stance.
“We are not your siblings born of the same blood but of the same curse. That which has hunted you for one thousand years has also hunted us. We are here where it all began so we may be laid to rest from our eternal hell” the boy from earlier says.
I cock my head at him believing that he is lying. When I look into his eyes I only see the truth as they shimmer. With his tiny legs he steps beside me. When he touches my arm I see his truth in a vision come to light. He is a cursed being also forced to take another shape. As the others come forward and show there truths I am astounded at what I caused. I begin to sob thinking that I have ruined so many lives in my anger.
“Hush now. Our curses were of our own doing. They were at no fault to you. We have all paid the price for our actions. Now we are here to guide you to the forgiveness you seek so that at last we may rest.”
“I want to rest. I truly do. I just do not know who to forgive. I have forgiven the witch for the curse yet here I still stand. I understand why she did what she did.” I bellow.
“Yes, I know. Forgiveness is always hard and never as easy as it seems. We can let one hurt trigger another. Then we layer that new hurt on the old hurt only to bring more pain. Then the process repeats until we face something too big and overwhelming. This is what makes forgiveness impossible.” he says simply.
As I think about his words while the others stare at me. I know this bright beauty speaks the truth. He must have already found his forgiveness like the rest to speak such wise words. I look at the statue of Draco. The energy swims in my chest causing pain as I look at his perfect face. With a deep breath I realize who it is I need to forgive but I hesitate. I look at the kin of my curse before I step toward the statue.
“We are here with you. We will be here until the end as we go to the afterlife together bound for eternity” he assures.
I walk to my love and reread the plaque on the statue “a person may have peace when fate decides it has been earned through pain and forgiveness.” I close my eyes and speak my peace.
“My dear Draco. I have walked this earth for one thousand and eighteen years. I have created life one thousand times and made to lose it the same amount. Afterall these years I finally know the pain your mother suffered to lose a life she carried. However, I know it is not her I must forgive. I was made to walk this earth in eternal torment for the anger I had that cost you your life. I forgave your anger so long ago knowing it was not you who was wrong. I know you loved me and that you chose me. My fear of losing you caused me to rise to anger and in the anger I lost you anyway. I hope you know that I never meant to hurt you. Even still I love you just as much as that very day. I have blamed myself all this time for what I did to you. For the future I stole from you. For losing the life that we made together. I have carried this pain all my life but today I can carry it no longer.”
The truth of my word ring into the air as the calm of the night slowly begins to morph. I huge wave has now surrounded the middle of the town in which we stand surrounded Draco’s statue. With each color rushing into the tidal wave that cuts us off from the word I sense the transformations going on around us. My pain laid bare is bringing us to the final stage of our journey at last. I face my new kin leaning against statue Draco’s side. With the funnel of water surrounding us I feel the winds join. I see the bright blond boy morph into a smaller human with wings adorned in a flower dress as he turns to stone.
“I forgive you Kawa” I yell to the winds.
The night air warms with heat. As a girl with the bluest eyes, I have seen grows a shiny tale and turns to stone.
“I forgive you Draco” I yell like the roar of a burning fire.
With the water, air and heat my sight burst to a beautiful shade of purple as the earth shakes beneath my feet. As the last two girls who look so much alike with their dark beauty smile to each other I watch them take shape and turn to stone. They both take the shapes of two beautiful horses. One that is the shade of the evening tide and one that is pure white with two sets of wings on its back. I sigh in contentment knowing that their curses are finally over. I never knew them until this moment, but I can feel their peace. With my last words I go to find my own.
“I forgive you Io” I shout.
I feel my consciousness float away. I felt the rising of the energy in my chest and thought that I would be experiencing one of my black outs. I gasp as I feel my body transform watching the change through the swirling vortex of colors. My tiny body takes the shape of a giant maroon beast with wings. It has large legs that nearly crush the others who have turned to stone with its talons. As I watch it twin around Draco’s statue in a lovers embrace its large, spiked tail weaves around my cursed kin. I see through its slanted eyes as it opens its large jaw to roar into the night. I feel the fire burn its throat as it spits it into the air happily. As my mind melds with the beast, I hear its rich feminine voice for the first time.
“Thank you for freeing me so our children can live” it says”
“What are we” I ask her.
“We are a dragon. The first of many that will soon grace the earth. Look.” She says looking to the sky. I look through her eyes as our large body begins to turn to stone seeing the stars flare brighter than they ever have. As we fade away, we say a last prayer to our children.
“Live free and love. Forever and always”
THE END