Memories

The light that enveloped us receded and a picture came into view. We were in an opulent room with a sombre mood set by candlelight and drawn curtains. Five individuals stood around a bed. They had no distinctive shape. Similar to the way people in a dream look. They were there but served the role of a representative for an individual or an idea. Faces came into focus when the memory required it, and out when no longer needed.

“Father is dying. While he still draws breath, we must have him sign the will,” said a woman, the eldest daughter.

“So long as I get my fair share, I don’t care what papers he signs,” said a man, the eldest son.

A young man stepped forward, his face coming briefly into focus. He had gentle features and troubled eyes. “Should we not let Father rest? The will can wait until tomorrow.”

“No, he must sign it now,” said a man, the middle son.

The dying man in the bed stirred, his breath rattling. A new figure walked behind the bed to adjust his pillows, but the middle son waved him away impatiently.

“Clerk, finish with the will and have Father sign it. I grow impatient,” said the middle son.

One daughter, the youngest, showed genuine sorrow and wept silently by herself.

Was this the dragon’s memory? What role were we to play in this? I looked over my shoulder to Luna and Marisa for guidance.

“What is this madness? Can you not see that your father is not fit to sign any paper?” Marisa said.

The five faces turned to glare at us. Were we active participants in place of the dragon?

“Who are you to talk about this?” snapped the eldest daughter.

“You never cared about father or the estate before, and now you’ve grown a conscience?” said the middle son.

Did the five siblings mistake us for the dragon? The divine coin grew warm. I reached into my pocket and clasped my hand around it. No visions of correct or best—vague notions they were—came to me, but a burning sense that I had to say what I felt to be right.

“At least let your father decide for himself how he wishes to divide his estate,” I said.

“Typical Michon”—Tsk—“You leave for years on end, only to reappear when it suits you most. Meanwhile, we’ve been caring for Father this whole time. But don’t worry, you’ll get your share,” said the oldest son.

The memory began to fade, the background merged into a hazy mass, and the beings present blended into one. The feelings of unfulfilled longings and regret were draped over our minds.

My heart was racing and an unsettling lump formed in my chest. Marisa, whose hand I still held, squeezed my hand and in that moment I felt her pulse like it was my own.

I blinked and the deathbed was gone, the room was gone, and so were the five siblings. We stood over a ringed city. Primitive walls surrounded it. In the middle was a woman with blue robes riding on a chariot pulled by a horse. A crescent moon adorned her headpiece. The memory broke from its stasis and we descended down into the city, falling fast but without the actual sensation of falling.

We landed in the middle of the city. The buildings withdrew and the space around us expanded into a large plaza. A lake sprung up next to us with swans. The woman on the chariot approached us, waving as she passed by. Her smile and gesture filled us with warm desires and ambitions, an endless well of energy. Then in the next moment the city was ablaze.

“What happened here?” Marisa asked.

A creature ran towards us, shouting, “Run! Run! The Dark King has come! He brings fire and sword! Doom and gloom!”

“We need to help these people,” I said.

“How? Why?” asked Luna.

“What do you mean ‘why’?”

“I mean, this is a memory; therefore, we cannot change the outcome of what has already passed. We are spectators but don’t know how much of the memory can affect us, or us it.”

She had a point. There was no use rushing off to danger when we didn’t know if we could get hurt.

A man on horseback rode through the city carrying a large club. He didn’t have a face. He was more of an amalgamation of colours in the form of a man: red, pink, blue, yellow, and orange. He would swing his club and beings would appear before him, only to be turned to stardust when the club connected with them.

I heard a wooden cage jostling on the ground. There was a cat inside it. I looked back behind my shoulder to make sure Luna hadn’t been captured by the memory, but she was safe. The cat hissed and cried. There was a fiery passion to its wails. It wanted out. It wanted to confront the man on horseback. I bent down and freed the cat, but instead of running towards the man, it ran away.

Wiping away the scenery, a wave of light moved across the entire world. In the next instance we were aboard a ship on the high seas. Months of travel passed in seconds and soon we were ashore.

“I sense a deep longing for love unrequited,” said Marisa. “Yet, it is not romantic. It is a solemn and lost being that searches for purpose.”

We heard hoofs trod on dirt ground and a being on a horse rode up next to us, holding a giant coin under his arms. It wasn't the same one that had attacked the city. He stared at the horizon and moved his horse forward. The horse obeyed. Then the man stopped the horse and had it walk backwards to the spot he had just been. He repeated this process several times.

“What ails you?” Marisa asked.

The being on the horse never looked at us, for he continued to stare ahead. I looked to where his eyes went and saw a city wall with turquoise, glass domes rolling over the battlements. The man turned his horse around and rode away.

“Let’s follow him,” I said. I couldn’t explain it but I knew that we were meant to follow him.

“Has the dream given us leave to follow him?”

“If you want to follow him, I’d suggest you hurry up, Ferdinand, ‘cause he’s getting away.”

The man on the horse, for having only left a moment ago, was now far gone. I chased after him, pulling Marisa along with me. Yet, we couldn’t catch him. Every step we took towards him he moved an equal distance away.

“Wait!” I shouted in vain, but the rider kept on going.

And then he stopped suddenly. He was near the horizon, but then in the next moment we were right next to him. Above us clouds gathered low to the ground, swirling in irregular patterns. Through the clouds, an angelic light broke, and shined upon the man. Horse and rider merged together into a long beast that slithered on the ground, clawing desperately at the dirt to hide from the light’s judgment.

“Stop! Leave him alone!”

The light ignored my pleas and continued to castigate the beast, which swelled in size the more it dug. Caught up in the moment, I hadn’t noticed the divine objects reacting to these events. I undid my belt and let the divine sword fall to the ground. I took the coin and cup out of my pockets, dropping them out of pain and shock as they burned my hands upon contact.

Marisa knelt to grab them but I stopped her. “Don’t. They’re burning hot.”

The beast paid no mind to us, and neither did the light and the clouds. We needed to get rid of the light that was assaulting the beast.

“Marisa, Luna, help me grab the beast’s tail and pull him out from the hole he’s dug.”

“Why must we halt his escape?” Marisa asked but she was at the side of the beast and pulling on his tail as she said this. “Luna, help us too.”

“My Lady, we are interfering with powers we don’t understand.”

“Luna, we need to believe in what Ferdinand says and help him.”

All three of us pulled on the beasts tail, and slowly he was pulled out of his hole. He fought against us, but we continued to drag him. We dragged him back to the city and stood before its gates with the beast. The clouds had given chase but it was no longer shining a light on the beast. The clouds swarmed and swirled around us, expanding and contracting. Then, they squeezed together and formed into a shape. The grey of the clouds disappeared as the form materialized into a tangible object: a staff. I grabbed hold of the staff and struck the beast and it was transformed. Horse and rider separated but they still clung to each other. I struck again and the memory ended.