The necklace laid there as a common rock, decorated with an array of polished diamonds. Sometimes I wondered why it was called the dragon stone. Then I observed its appearance changed. All these while, it had just been an ordinary stone, shining majestically as a diamond. But now, now it was a greenish brown rock. The dragon stone; as bold and green as the skin, and red as the blood.
The dragon stone; royal betrothed,
mysterious and all-important as an enormous emerald. I walked closer, taking one small step towards the bed. Just about five more steps and I would reach for the stone. Decide what do do with it.Five.
Eerie voices mumbled and maundered from below, but it sounded like the voices came from my head. They became louder and louder by the minute.
Four.
"Kerik. . . Come." I tried to deny that voice. It wasn't supposed to overcome me this way. All the
"Lily, you should stay here for tonight." She sat still on the bed, I searched for swivet or panic on her face, but nothing seemed to appear on them. She just sat still, as gentle as a dove. When I entered the room, I saw that it was now well kept. The bed was properly laid, the floor was sparkling clean and everywhere was neatly arranged. The room was well tidied to begin with, but it was as if she took her time to rearrange it even further."You don't have to bother your Highness-" She quickly got up from the bed the moment she heard my voice."You called me by my name earlier." I ignored her pathetic regard or honour to the throne. Whatever it was that happened was nothing compared to the throne. It was merely an incident that happened between Kerik and Lily. Nothing more."I- I'm so sorry, your majesty-""I liked it. It didn't feel like I was the Queen, I just felt like- me. Kerik.""But s
"You're right. We don't know anything about her where about." I remembered how I wanted to discuss this with my mother. How I wanted to bring Tara home to her. But now, she was gone. Just like everyone else I'd known. Kedar, Tara. Nila."You'll figure this one out. You always do." Mona comforted."Thanks." I replied her with a smile. When she spoke, it sounded oddly creepy, as I just realized how very similar their voices sounded like. "You know, you remind me so much of Nila.""That was what father used to say.""Father? Old man Ayer?" I remembered how Nila had denied sir Ayer about being her father. But the fact that I never gave her a chance to explain herself bothered me the most."Sir Ayer?" She called the name like it was an odd creature's name, something so unfamiliar. "No. He's not our father. Our father lived here, in Talot. So did Ragnila. You know, we were all happy together. Un
"So you're saying that-""Yes. Exactly." Angelina cuts me off again, just as she'd been doing with each of us for the past thirty minutes or so. The only point I got right was that Lilith is not in a particular place. She resides everywhere, and nowhere. I don't know what that meant too, but that was what we'd learnt.Can you really call it learning, when you still have no bloody meaning what it meant?"But, how can we find-""I already told you." She cuts in again. It was starting to get pretty annoying. "You will have to find her where-""You are not making any sense Angelina. Sorry, but it's true." The expression on her face changed from excitement to a sort of confusion. "We desperately need to find her." She paused in silence for a short while, as if deciding what she wanted to have for dinner. Thankfully, it wasn't going to be us."I can't do or say anything more tha
"So to start the quest, the book is needed?" Lily asked."Of course! How else would she communicate with Lilith." Mona replied instantly."Well then, that's cleared already..."They continued with their discussion and I just remained still on the bed, shuffling the thoughts of the vision I had. The only part encouraging was when Lilith spoke. And that part wasn't even too promising, because it could have just been another demon, using the image of Lilith.Image? I couldn't even call it image, since I never saw the woman that talked to me.I explained every part of the nightmare to them, but left out the scene when I was on a throne, or the scene when I watched myself die."...Kerik!"A voice startled me— Lily's voice apparently. She was already standing in front of me by the time she got my attention. I hadn't even noticed what she was wearing,
Alone now in the woods, it looked ominous and eerily quiet. Even the sound of the horse's foot was silent. All that could be heard was the susurration of the leafs in the gusty winds. The old yellow and brown leafs hustled in the the wind, as the sound of dead, weak trees, creaked at every push the wind gave. The horse neighed as if complaining why we weren't there yet. And he was right. The funniest thing was that, I didn't even know where I was heading to. I halted the horse to a stop, then went under a huge tree with my guide–the magical book, to lead the way. After sitting down on the heaves of leaves that pilled up on the floor, I took out my dagger to feed the book of its food. Blood."Nothing?" I found myself muttered when I saw that the book showed nothing on the page. It just remained blank. At first when I brought out the dagger to cut myself on purpose, it hurt a lot. The process of putting a blade straight through your skin, was de
"I'm a benevolent being.""Wait, benevolent. It means the good spirits right? Grandmother used to tell me about angels and demons." I saw his gaze fell on me as he stood opposite me, then I realized I was supposed to offer him something also. "I can check if there's another apple inside the bag, or something else." I was about to get up when I saw my respond made his nose to wrinkle."Apple, for what?" The look on his face was priceless. With his eyes narrowed, his thick brown brows pulling down and a bit of his almost white teeth exposed, creating a look somewhat between a confused and an irritated one."Food?" He stared as if I was going insane and only rubbish rushed out of my mouth."To eat—food?""Never mind. Tell me, what are you? An ang-""Hold it your majesty. I am, wait, and angel? No. I am not those things. They are demonic creatures and beings, with white tails and su
"I'm a benevolent being.""Wait, benevolent. It means the good spirits right? Grandmother used to tell me about angels and demons." I saw his gaze fell on me as he stood opposite me, then I realized I was supposed to offer him something also. "I can check if there's another apple inside the bag, or something else." I was about to get up when I saw my respond made his nose to wrinkle."Apple, for what?" The look on his face was priceless. With his eyes narrowed, his thick brown brows pulling down and a bit of his almost white teeth exposed, creating a look somewhat between a confused and an irritated one."Food?" He stared as if I was going insane and only rubbish rushed out of my mouth."To eat—food?""Never mind. Tell me, what are you? An ang-""Hold it your majesty. I am, wait, and angel? No. I am not those things. They are demonic creatures and beings, with white
"I'm a benevolent being.""Wait, benevolent. It means the good spirits right? Grandmother used to tell me about angels and demons." I saw his gaze fell on me as he stood opposite me, then I realized I was supposed to offer him something also. "I can check if there's another apple inside the bag, or something else." I was about to get up when I saw my respond made his nose to wrinkle."Apple, for what?" The look on his face was priceless. With his eyes narrowed, his thick brown brows pulling down and a bit of his almost white teeth exposed, creating a look somewhat between a confused and an irritated one."Food?" He stared as if I was going insane and only rubbish rushed out of my mouth."To eat—food?""Never mind. Tell me, what are you? An ang-""Hold it your majesty. I am, wait, and angel? No. I am not those things. They are demonic creatures and beings, with white