The Dragon and the Hybrid

(7) Fire and Ash

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. -

 Norman Cousins

Rogan

Cinder and Ash.

The two words that define my whole life and seemingly what should be my end too. Heat is the law of my world. Fire and flames produce heat that forges strong Draconis as my Dad's family used to say to him. Even in my dreams, they haunt me.

There's a tickling feeling on my skin that wakes me from my sleep. The smell still lingers on my nose to the point that I inhaled some ash. What is burning? I sit up and find out that it's me.

Boom. Boom. Boom

The fireworks for the moon eve illuminated the whole hill. My dress in tatters and filled with soot. I pat the fire down with my hand. I could feel the heat, but there isn't any pain for me at all. Looking around, there was no one with me, no Arius, no Ragor, and no parents. 

But the smell of smoke and fire doesn't smell like my own. It doesn't smell like the candle and lantern here on our small picnic either. It's a different scent, something more potent and more pungent. I could always smell where some flames come from, and this isn't mine at all. 

Jumping to my feet, I saw both the barn and the house was burning. My heart leaps out to my throat, and I feel the cold, cutting fear on my chest. The flames were twice as tall as the buildings they're engulfing—my flames burning inside my veins to a boil at the sight of something so chaotic. 

"Ragor! Mom! Dad!" I hear myself shout from the thrumming of my own blood. My heartbeat in my ears while my flames were consuming me. "Ragor!"

I run towards the house. Taking away the pungent flames and absorbing them into me, it feels like lead, and I know I would come undone if I push myself too much from it. My wild hunt for my brother keeps me from spiraling down that rabbit hole as I scoured the halls and inhaled the smoke. Taking the foreign flames into my body more and more in search of him. 

Ragor is lying on the kitchen floor with his clothes close to being soot. A large beam on top of him. My hand burns to the point that I let out the pungent fire inside of me and quickly burned the beam off his body.

"Ragor," I pull him towards me, his small limp body in my arms. "Ragi? Baby?" 

He's not opening his eyes—my breath hitches.

"Ragi? Please wake up," I whisper in his ear. There is a dry patch of blood on his forehead, and some of his silver hair has turned pink from it. Not know what else to do to wake him up, I take the flames from around us to get to fresh air. 

The pungent flames feel so wrong inside of me. It made my steps hurt, and my muscles continue to cramp. The smoke doesn't really hurt us, but fresh air is better than it. When I've reached the outside with the wet grass, I put him down and looked at his forehead. It's a small wound that even I could stitch up. 

"Ro…gi?" He rasps—eyelids fluttering open to meet mine. 

"Yes, good. You're okay" I breathed out a sigh of relief and kissed his cheek. "Stay here. I'm going to look for Mom and Dad. Keep your eyes open, okay?"

He grunts. "I'll…try."

Some of the flames were escaping the house and reached Rogi's spot, so I consume it and store it in my body even though it feels like my heart would burst and rupture inside of me. 

Running to the barn, my steps feel like I have weights attached to my limbs. The door was blocked, and no matter how much I throw my body to open it. It wasn't budging.

"Dad?! Mom?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Dad?!"

"Here!" I hear Dad's roar. 

"Wait!" I shout back. Inhaling deeply, I let all of the flames in my body out through my hands. The door and whatever was blocking it from the inside turned into ashes, and my body lightens and becomes breathable as I did it. 

The horses were gone and probably ran off as soon as it could get away. The barn looks worse than the house as there is close to nothing inside of it. Dad emerges out of the barn with Mom in his arms. His violet eyes glowing with so much emotion that it feels hard to breathe now. That could only mean one thing.

"Mom?" I moan.

Dad puts her at a safe distance away from the perimeter of the burning barn. Half of her body is covered with welts, and she smells strongly of burnt meat that singes my nose. It's more pungent than those damn flames. Half of her face is burned together, losing one eye. 

"Rogi?" Mom rasps. Her right eye slowly opens, and her sclera is red. She lifts a hand, and I take it. "Where's… Ragi?"

"He's safe," I sob. "We-We have salve in the house. I could just—"

"No," She grabs my hand. It was weak, but I didn't want to move away from her either. Her lower lip burned to the point that it's gone. "My…girl, remember me."

"Ma, you're going to be okay" I lick my lips and gaze into her.

"I'll take Ragor" Dad's voice sounded so detached that it made me cry even harder. It didn't sound like Dad at all. "Stay here with your mother."

"Da—"

"My girl," Mom cuts me off. The fireworks continue to light the sky, which makes me notice how bad her burns are. Almost all of her hair is gone from her head. "My beautiful girl."

"Ma, please, don't do this" I shake my head and choke on my own tears. "I can save you."

"Shh," She coughs. "Remember that everything happens for a—reason. You're going to be fine. You and Ragor are going to be great. Remember that"

"No, we're nothing without you and Dad."

"You're my girl" She squeezes my hand. Her lips tugging to what I think is a smile. "You're going to burn brighter than the sun."

I have no idea what she was saying, but I kept holding her hand and crying into it. My heart breaking into two, and I don't know if I could mend it—my flames burning inside of me like it'll rip my whole body into two.

"Mom," Ragor says from Dad's arms. He looks lucid enough to sit up and scramble to his feet from Dad. "Wh-Why? What's happening? Rogi! Help, mama!"

"There's nothing we can do," Dad slumps beside Ragor. He holds Mom's hand in his, and he looks so cold. At that moment, I already knew that we've lost him too. His fyre has left him to be a shell of who he once was.

Ragor and I are going to lose both parents. 

"My boy," She coughs. "Stick close to your sister, okay? You two are the only ones who can survive it".

"Survive what?" Ragi cries. His tears dropping to the ground. 

"We're not going anywhere," I whisper. 

"You two would have to leave" Mom looks at Dad. "You'll …take them first, right?"

Dad nods. He looks like his soul is leaving his body now. "Yes, then I'll go to you."

"Still…so stubborn," Mom rasps. "Your Dad is impossible, my children."

Then we couldn't hear her heartbeat anymore, just the fireworks that continue to light the sky and drowning out the sounds of our voices and the fire behind us. We stayed beside her till all that's left is tears and sorrow.

The festival was long gone, and the skies slowly turn orange as a new sunset came up, but we're still beside her. I feel like I've been wrung and dried out, Dad is still quiet and still like a statue, and Ragor is clinging to Mom's body like he's asking to sleep beside her for the night. 

At some point, Dad finally stands from his position and looks at both of us. He doesn't look like the Dad I knew anymore. There was no glow or humor in his looks, no glint to it either. 

"Come on," He softly says. "Salvage what you can from the wreck and change into proper clothes. Your capes are made from dragon thread, so that would be enough." 

"Where are we going?" Ragor slowly sits up from Mom's body. 

"Somewhere safe." 

"We're not just going to leave Mom's body like this," I clutch on to her hand. 

"No, I'll bury her on the hill while you two prepare as much as you can. it'll be a long journey from here to where we're going." 

"But Dad," Ragor whines.

"Ragor!" The harsh tone made both of us freeze. My spine going taught as I straightened. Dad has never raised his voice to us like this before. Dad wasn't a yeller. He seems to realize this "I'm sorry, but just listen to me. Go"

"Ragor, it's okay." I pull Ragor's hands and help him up. 

Ragor doesn't fight me. He's too busy fighting the tears that are obviously trying to escape his eyes. He meekly follows me with his hand in mine. 

We go back to the house. The fire had died down at some point, but I was too heartbroken to notice. All that was left was the house's foundations and a few other furniture pieces that look like poking sticks of wood. 

"We could go to your room first" I slightly shake our hands to get his attention. "Or do you want to be alone?"

He shakes his head. Still tightlipped and looking incredibly scared. He tightens his hold on my hand.

"Together then," I smile at him. 

I pull him towards his room. It didn't look the same anymore; the wall's whole side is gone, but the chests we store our clothes in are intact. We each had our own. It's a chest with silver and iron nails and a wooden frame. Two people are needed to carry even one of them. 

"Take a seat there" I point towards what's left of the bed. 

He does what I say without any question, and that breaks my heart too. "Dad didn't mean it, okay?" 

He looks at me and nods.

I open his trunk and looked at the new clothes. "He...lost his fyre, and you know what that means"

"That means he's going to die too," He says.

"Ragor," I quickly take out some of his clothes and a bag to store some of his other garments. "Half...of his soul died"

"Which means he's a shell now." 

"Change into this, and I'll get my clothes." I put the clothes on his lap and squat down to his level. Cupping his cheek as I say, "Whatever happens, whatever our Dad decides to do with his life. We would always have each other"

"You...won't leave me" His eyes fill with tears. 

"Yes," I smile at him. "Never because you and I are a package deal."

Round tears fall from his eyes. "I'll...protect you."

"And I'll protect you too," I kiss his cheeks. "Now, go change and wear your cape."

Without overthinking anything, I hurried on taking my clothes and changing to fresh and clean ones. The pungent smell forever sealed inside my brain, and I won't let myself forget any of these. We were attacked. That much is inevitable because the pungent smell could only mean that someone threw gas or some sort of chemical on our home.

Once I'm done changing, I walk over to Mom and Dad's room, where nothing but the chests can survive. My fist tightens, and I feel like breaking again, but I swallow it all down.

I quickly went through Mom's stuff and took her favorite scarves, especially her mother's necklace. She didn't wear it often since it was precious, and she's scared that it would get stolen at some point. Putting it all in my bag, I also got Dad some fresh clothes and his own cape. 

Without breathing, I walk to Ragor's room and see that he's staring at the outside. In a new set of clothes, he's wearing a white button shirt and a brown vest. He looks so much like Dad now. 

"Let's go?" I say.

He blinks and nods at me. "I'm ready."

Dad was already at the hill with one of our horses. "This one ran towards the woods, and I'm afraid we can't afford to look for the other one."

"Daisy is gone too?" I hear Ragor whisper. 

"say your goodbyes to your mother" Dad pulls Merry down the hill. "I'll tie Merry to the cart."

Ragor trudges towards the small grave by the tree. He sniffs and pats the newly packed dirt. "Ma, we're going to leave now. I'll take care of Rogan..."

I smile—my heart burning in my chest. I squat down and sit on my heels as I pat the dirt. "I'll...take care of Ragor, and wherever Dad would leave us, we'll take care of each other. Just... please help Dad till he can. I know he's trying to stay for both of us."

"We'll keep him safe too," Ragor sobs. 

"Yeah, and once everything is safe. We'll visit" I wipe my tears on one off of her handkerchiefs and passed it to Ragor. "We're leaving, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom" Ragor sniffs and stands.

We meet Dad by the cart. He has already hitched the horse to it and is sitting on the front. I sit beside him while Ragor sits on the back. I don't really know where we're headed, but it's probably better than on that burned house. 

Dad keeps quiet throughout the ride. At some point, Ragor passes out in exhaustion, and he's snoring on the back. Dad and I didn't talk till the next town. I've handed him his clothes, but he just looked at it and then at himself like he just realized what state he was in. His clothes are burnt and caked with dirt at the same time. 

He slows the horse as we're in a village's busy street and draws his hood up to hide his silver hair. "I'll change later. You should rest"

"How about you?" 

"I'm fine, Rogan. I'm trained for this"

"Dad, where are you taking us?"

He sighs. "The capital."

"Why?"

"Rogan, I can't stay with--"

"I know, I'm not selfish enough to ask for you to stay for us. Years ago, you told us that it's impossible for anyone who found their fyres to survive a single week without the other. If you really have to die with Mom, the least that you could tell me is where Ragor and I would end up" I'm not proud at how shaky my voice was

He sighs. "I'll tell you once we get towards the country road."

I nodded.

Dad clearly didn't want to stop in just the next town over our old home. Obviously, he's trying to get away from that horrible accident as he possibly can, and I feel the same. 

Once we're on the country roads, he lets out a sigh and looks at me. "Your Mother and I had an agreement if any of us were to die...You two would return to my family."

"But...they won't accept us."

"They will. You two are all that's left of it. I've heard the news that my brothers and sisters died fighting a war and entering stupid competitions. You're all your grandparents left, and they're more scared of the family dying out than you two being half-human." 

"How sure are you of that?"

"They sent us a letter a year ago. They wanted us to go back to the capital."

"Then why didn't we?"

Dad looks back at the road for a brief moment before looking back at me. "They wanted me to leave your mother and marry someone else."

"Oh," I say. So, we're going to meet our grandparents now. The thought makes me scared because I also know what that means. We're going to be introduced back into Draconi society. 

Dad pulls the horses to the side. The sun is still high, and it's probably in the middle of the day. "Rogan, I'm sorry, but I can't live without your mother. I hoped that if anyone was going to die, it would be me because she would've been able to be with you. She could've survived without me."

"I know Dad," I lean on his shoulder and hold his hand. "I'm not...seriously, I'm not going to ask you to stay for us. If my flames are a part of me, that is how it is with you and Mom. Ragor and I would survive. Both of you raised us to do so."

Dad wraps his arms around me and kisses my head. Making me think that a part of Dad is still here with me. "Little girl, burn like the sun, okay?"

"Dad, this was no accident," I whisper to him.

He shakes his head. "No, it wasn't. The fire didn't smell natural at all."

"I can find out--"

"No, your mother would want you to live and survive and not run a vendetta" He leans back and meets my eyes with a hard stare. "I am not going to let you take on that path."

"Why?" I cry. "They killed Mom, Dad."

"Yes, but I won't let them kill you and Ragor. If you really want to avenge your Mom and me, then live and be happy. That is the only way you'll win."

"How could I just...let this all go?" 

"You have to" Dad kisses my forehead and hugs me again. "You're my little spitfire. So I know that you can do this."

Could I?