Chapter 3: She who changed my life

I awoke to the sweet smell of flowers, as a cool breeze blew through an open window. I let out a slight sigh, both a sigh of happiness and exhaustion. "I'm not dead, my body hurts too much to be dead, yay, but I have no idea where I am, probably back at school knowing my luck", is what I thought after my sigh. As if to answer my many thoughts, a door on the far side of the room opened. I kept my eyes closed as I heard footsteps approaching. "I'm glad to see that you're awake" said a gentle voice which I didn't recognise, to which I replied "Nope, still dead". There was a brief pause, before I heard a snicker, and then a burst of laughter, which seemed to me like a pretty good sign to open my eyes. I saw, sitting at the end of the large bed I was resting on, a girl with crimson hair, desperately trying to get her laughter under control. I'm talking like deep blood red hair, had me entranced a little. 

"That can't be natural" I said to myself, turns out it was, shit you not. 

"I think I like you already" she managed to push out through her subsiding giggling. 

As I sat up, I retorted, "Calm down love, you haven't even bought me dinner yet". She responded with an even louder burst of laughter, she was clenching her side and her face was turning red, yet she was still really beautiful, not that I inherently let this lower my guard. She was an unknown, and someone who could toss me aside as easily as those at Torch. 

After she finally calmed down, she said to me "I think we're going to get along swimmingly", and gave me a gentle smile, it made me slightly blush, and feel a bit tight in the chest if I'm to be truly honest, no one had smiled at me in 4 years, how was I supposed to feel? 

"Thanks for saving me, I guess, I mean that was you right?" 

"Yes, that was me, and it's no problem. I can't let a child die, what kind of person would that make me" 

I stared at her with wide eyes, which then narrowed to a squint. "What?" she said, clearly noticing my expression. 

"How old do you think I am?" I asked her. 

"Well, I couldn't get a good look at you due to the light being poor last night, but looking at you now, I would say that you're at least fifteen, am I close?", she finished her sentence with a cute smile, which didn't sway my irritation or twitching eye for a second. 

"Fifteen, okay well then, three things, one: not even close, two: fifteen? Okay ouch, fuck you and three. I'm twenty-two. Thank you very much." I glared at her as her eyes widened. She frantically tried to apologize saying 

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry, I it's just I-"

"No no no it's far too late for that, treating me like a child after all that shit last night, I didn't kill that spawner and save that shithole of a school for my legacy to be 'aww look at that fifteen year old boy who did good'".. I was rather surprised by my honesty here, a snarky remark like this would have resulted in Rudy punching the crap out of me. But I had been prepared for death last night, I don't think I cared about the consequences of my actions right now. 

She stared at me for a second, rather stunned. 

"Oh what the hell am I doing" I finally said, after a few seconds of us just staring at each other. "I can't act like the asshole to the girl that saved my life". I went to go get out from underneath the covers, formally introduce myself and apologize, but a stabbing pain in my left leg prevented me from doing so. 

A slew of expletives quickly followed and I darted my left hard to the spot I felt the pain, but as I sat back down in the bed, I felt two hands steady me. One was on my shoulder, and the other on the exact spot where I felt the pain. The girl was now right beside me, her head was inches from mine, I didn't even see her move. She spoke in a calm, yet serious voice.

"Please don't move, you're still not recovered from your injuries, and I don't want to see you get even more hurt than you already are" I dared not move my hand, which rested on the girls, partly because I was terrified she would notice and hit me.

"Gotcha", I said with a slight gulp, to which she replied with a nod. Her hair was swept down across her face, so I was unable to see her expression.

A few minutes later once my raspy breathing had slowed and after the pain subsided a decent bit, the girl moved away from me and back to the end of the bed. She smiled at me but I could tell it was hollow, I knew the question that was on her mind, and knew what was coming next. 

"Can I ask, why were you out there, being chased by all those Wraiths, covered in a layer of goop no less?" I stayed silent for a moment, and let my head fall down to stare at the sheets covering me. They were soft and warm, providing a calming feeling in a sense. I didn't know what it was that made me speak, but there was something in my chest, or maybe a gut feeling, that told me I could believe in this girl, even if only a little. That she wasn't like the rest. 

Maybe I was jumping the gun at the time, I wasn't sure, hell I wasn't sure about anything at that moment. I had no idea where I was, if I was safe, if this girl was going to possibly skin me and eat me alive later, Night Lords style. I just knew that I had survived when I most definitely should not have, I thought I maybe owed this girl at least somewhat of an explanation.

 "Dying" I said simply, as I looked up at the girl with a blank expression. She remained silent for a moment, staring at me, trying to find a deeper meaning in my words perhaps. 

"What, do you mean dying?" she asked slowly. 

"Exactly as it sounds, I was dying, to spell it out, I was going to let those Wraiths kill me." I was met with a slightly horrified silent stare in response, but that was what I expected. I didn't really think I was going to have to explain this, my thoughts and actions to anyone after last night, so I had no idea if I wasn't saying the right things. 

"Are you insane? Why would you do that, don't you want to live?" the girl yelled at me. Her face was flared with rage, she looked genuinely mad at me. This caught me off guard, not in the sense of unfamiliarity mind you. I was used to the student teachers getting mad at me, then proceeding to beat me senseless. But this girl right now was getting mad at me out of concern, not fury, and that stunned me. I stared at her with my mouth slightly agape, as I processed the words over and over. But then my senses returned, I remembered everything, and gave her my honest answer. 

"No I don't think I do" I said plainly. The girl sank back onto the end of the bed and stared at the floor. "What the hell happened to you?" the girl asked in astonishment, as she stared at the floor stunned. 

I didn't so much feel a sense of responsibility for hurting this girl's mood, I had no attachment to her yet, and she was just another possible person that could hurt me. As such, I looked away from the girl, and around the room examining the confines I now found myself in. This prevented me from seeing the girl move from her spot and hug me. I was completely shocked and instinctively pushed the girl away yelling at her to stay back. I thought she was about to hit me and covered my face in fear, waiting for the punch to come. 

When nothing arrived after several moments, I opened my hands to see the girl looking at me with a very concerned face. 

"I know I don't know what happened to you, but nothing like that will ever happen to you again, I promise." She spoke the words softly, and I felt my body lift without realising, calming greatly. 

"Promise on what?" I asked her. 

"How about on my favourite necklace?" she said with a giggle. She tugged on the chain around her neck, revealing the silver snowflake that was concealed beneath her shirt. It wasn't something incredibly unique or stunning, it was just a simple snowflake design. I nodded at her in response, which caused her to smile at me.

After this initial incident, the girl didn't try to raise the topic with me again throughout the week. I say a week as she had confined me to this bed to allow me to rest and heal up. At the end of that time I was itching to get up and about, yet the girl, who still hadn't given me her name, nor had I given her mine for that matter, insisted I stay there until I was fully healed, which she said would take another week. I will say though, that week wasn't exactly terrible. 

Every night the girl would cook for the two of us. She would hand me a tray of whatever she had concocted each night, while she sat on the end of my bed. We would talk for hours, cracking jokes and laughing long after the meal had concluded. The moments we shared were, looking back, the beginning for the two of us. What sparked something special, even if those moments weren't especially so. 

For me however, they were so different I could never forget them. I hadn't been treated like a person in years, and this girl in only a few days, had shown me such kindness and warmth that I felt a little lonesome when she wasn't at the end of my bed. This surprised me quite a lot when I realised this fact, as again, it had only been a week and there was still plenty of time to stab me in the back. 

Even still, my walls and barriers, as well as my instincts to be fearful of people, has lessened somewhat. We would talk about so much of the world, the other cities, the wraiths and weapons that the people of this world had developed. Because of all the time I had spent reading in the library back at Torch, I was very knowledgeable about many of the topics we engaged in. This was good for me, as it gave the impression that I was from Fracture like her. I still hadn't told her anything yet, being Earthborn, no powers, I didn't know how she would react, and I wasn't willing to risk that. Maybe in that short while I had become dependent on this hollow idea of companionship I had built with this girl, my pipeline to normality as it were, that had been closed to me for so long.

However, to the end of that week, I had only two words in my mind to her order, "fuck that". I then, using what strength I had, pulled myself out of the bed, and limping, made my way to my bedroom door. I hadn't explored the rest of the house yet, so I wasn't sure what was in store for me. 

The girl was out, doing whatever it was she did, I hadn't asked yet, I was too afraid. When I opened the door, I was met with a warm little living room, with a couch sitting in front of a fireplace, with a TV mounted above. There was a dining and kitchen area situated around to the right of my door and nice carpets scattered across the wooden floor. 

The whole place had a wonderful cozy feeling that seemed to fill the soul. I looked around a little more as I made my way to the front door, examining the book shelves against the walls to my left, and the entrance to the girl's room. No sign on the door giving away her Identity sadly. 

When I finally did reach the main door, I half expected the girl to open it and stare at me in anger. I waited a couple minutes for that to happen, and when it didn't, I worked up the courage to place my hand around the door knob, twist it, and limp through the open frame. It was like opening a door to paradise. I saw a bustling village right before my eyes, people with smiling faces walking around, carrying baskets of bread, corn, and wheat. Well ya know, that's what I could make out at least, my glasses had been cracked by the Wraiths on that night, and as such, I couldn't see very well at all. 

The girl promised to try and get them fixed as best as she could, but for the moment, I was stuck with a busted pair of specs sitting on the end of my nose, making it damn hard to see. I looked up to see that a majority of the sky was blocked out by trees, the entire village was resting in what appeared to be a sinkhole, embedded into the ground. I began to explore, saying hello to anybody that passed by, all in an effort to not get myself thrown out of this beautiful place. 

I limped about the area best I could, but even still, it was pretty hard to move, yet the wonder of this place spurred me on. My curiosity to see whatever was around the next corner drove me forward. I saw fields of crops, water towers, houses, football (soccer for you muppets) pitches even. Everything just took my breath away, and made me feel both calm and nostalgic in a sense. It felt kinda like home in a way. I then saw the coolest thing I had ever seen in my entire life up to that point. Resting atop an outcropping in the cliff walls, was a giant dragon creature. I immediately started to make my way over to it, fear not even a thought in my mind. 

When I finally reached the open dirt plane near the outcrop, the dragon opened its eyes, lowered its head from the cliff side, down to my level, and stared directly at me. I figured it had sensed my presence long before I had approached. "Hello" I said with a giant grin, "Hello" it said back. "Has anyone told you that you are the coolest fucking thing ever?" I said with a beaming smile. 

"They certainly haven't worded it like that". The dragon let out a slight chuckle, he seemed like a very kind creature, which is a thing I came to rely on in time. "Might I ask your name, young man?" the titanic creature asked. 

"Promise you'll remember it?" 

"Why would I not remember your name?" the dragon said with curiosity. 

I was quiet for a moment, stuck inside my head on how best to even sum up the events of the past year in such a polite manner to this stranger. It didn't feel possible as the moments dragged on, with a sense of guilt starting to build at the thought of dumping a lot of depressing information onto this "person". Eventually I was able to speak, only able to mutter a basic explanation of the isolation I had been forced to bear. 

"That seems like more than a fair enough reason to ask such a question, very well, I promise, that no matter what, I will remember your name, and who you are" I think that my heart grew a little at the sound of those words. In that moment, I introduced myself to the gigantic creature before me, feeling an upwelling of hope in my gut, hoping, pleading that this would be different. 

The dragon spoke my name, and greeted me in return, letting the words hang in the air. I had a feeling he knew how much this moment meant to me right now. After that moment passed, he continued, introducing himself, "My name is Gwihir, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance", (You pronounce it 'G-Why-Here'). 

"Gwihir" I said the name aloud to myself, then laughed before saying "Man, your name is just as cool as you are". 

The dragon blinked at me in surprise. "So it would seem. I must say though," he began after a brief pause, "I'm quite shocked as to the lack of fear that you have towards me, many of the new people that arrive here scream when they first see me, yet you had the complete opposite reaction". 

"Well" I replied, "I saw some people in the village wave in this direction from time to time, which meant that you were kind to them, or else they wouldn't do something like that, and, you seemed far less terrifying than the Wraiths I've fought before, your presence I found you far more awesome than scary" 

The dragon blinked at me with amusement, to which I just grinned back. "Plus, dragons didn't exist where I'm from, so this is also like a dream come true hehehe" I added. The dragon looked at me silently for a moment. 

"Where do you come from, I'm sorry, I don't understand," Gwihir said, confused. 

I slapped my hand over my gob after realizing I had just let my greatest secret slip. Yet Gwihir's calming presence and kindness just made letting it go so easy. And like a dam finally bursting after holding back a flood for so long… I then told him pretty much everything, I spun the dragon the tale of my home and all I had endured since arriving on Fracture. As I explained myself, Gwihir listened intently, never interrupting, the only thing changing was his expression between parts. When I finally finished, I looked eye to eye with the dragon, my mind wiring with thoughts of how I would be judged by the great creature.

"For someone so small, you have endured far too much," he said quietly. 

"I… I mean I don't… I was just trying to focus on one thing at a time…I don't allow myself to think of the full picture most of the time" I said as I felt my eyes begin to well up a little. 

He nodded in understanding. "What is it that you are focused on now, what brought you to this village?" he asked calmly. Before I even had a moment to think I was telling him, not even a chance to hesitate. 

"The red haired girl saved me… or saved me from myself rather". The dragon looked at me silently, looking directly into my eyes. 

"You are stronger than most I have met'' he said slowly. 

"I would argue that greatly'' I said quietly, without realising that a couple tears were rolling down my cheeks now. I wiped them away with my sleeve quickly, as Gwihir continued to stare at me in silence. After a couple seconds where this stillness rolled on, where neither of us said a word and the two of us just looked upon one another, as if to try and shake hands, I reached out with my left arm, and placed my hand against the scales of the dragon, in the middle of its scaly cheek. 

It felt like touching a warm stone, solid and radiant. Before I could take my hand away I felt that radiance wash over me, my whole body felt lighter and everything hurt a lot less than before. Eventually I felt that warmth concentrate in my eyes as they stayed locked with Gwihir's massive one before me. They began to feel more and more funny, with the feeling taking over my entire sense of vision until all was a warm glow for a second. When my sight returned I looked around in confusion, only to realise everything was crystal clear. I took off my glasses and put them in my pocket, as I just stared in awe at my surroundings and the dragon before me, who simply chuckled. Just then, both I and Gwihir heard the sound of a basket dropping to the floor. We turned to see the girl with the red hair, standing there, her mouth agape in wonder, at the sight before her. 

"Holy Shit" she whispered after several seconds, still agasp at the sight before her. And with that, I decided to lean my body against Gwihir's massive head, my body didn't even come up to his eye. 

"Hey you" I said, "Look who I found" looking up at my new friend. 

"So it would seem" said Gwihir in agreement.