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Remaining silent, we turned and entered the dormitories, everyone going to their assigned spaces. When I sat on my bed, my hand reached for the jeans I had brought with me from the human world. As I lifted them to the carved shelves in my side of the rock wall, something fell out of them.
The sight of the letter made my throat swell, and I picked up the envelope given to me by Sarah as part of my mom’s belongings. I didn’t think I would ever forget losing my mother, but for a split second, I had forgotten about that envelope.
My thumb caressed the writing just outside…
“To my son, Brax.”
Mom’s cursive handwriting indented the surface of the paper, and my lips tilted into a small smile even when a burning ache spread through my chest. I had always loved her loopy handwriting.
A part of me wanted to open the letter, to find out what she meant to say that had to wait until her passing. The other part of me, however, was too broken to even attempt reading it.
I lifted the mattress and slipped the envelope under it, saving her words for another day. A day when I could actually admit to myself that I would never see her again, without having my insides tear open.
It wasn’t long before everyone else fell deeply asleep, the sounds of the quiet night filtering through the window at the end of the room, but I was unable to find rest. Standing, I slipped my feet into the leather sandals, and stepped out of the dormitory in the linen pajamas I had been given.
Only a few torches remained lit along the way as I travelled down the stairs, not really knowing where I was headed. There was this feeling in my chest. Something called to me, pulling me forwards, so I walked and walked until I stepped outside of the castle, reaching the magical city I had seen from the window above. I had no idea how I even got there, but it didn’t matter. I just needed to keep going.
My feet steadily took me through the market as though I had been there before, and part of me glanced at the open stalls with confusion. All the goods were still laid on the tables, hanging from the walls or beams on the ceiling, as though it was the middle of the day and they were waiting for customers to arrive. Weren’t they scared someone would steal their creations?
The thought disappeared into the back of my mind as swiftly as it formed, and something else called my attention. A shop of elaborate mirrors twinkled in the night, reacting to the flames that illuminated the path, and the sliver of moonlight that spilled in from somewhere above me. One of the bejeweled frames caught my attention, and I stepped closer, only to have the air knocked out of me.
My reflection appeared in the looking glass, and I realized my left eye was glowing. Except, unlike the other times that happened, no pain accompanied it. And yet, that wasn’t what took my breath away. It was what lay behind the golden glow that left me speechless…
Blinking, I watched my iris transform, revealing a slitted Dragon eye.
