The flames picked up all around her, consuming everything in its path. The massive destruction of the nearby buildings gave rise to massive stacks of smoke. Underneath her, huge cracks began to appear on the ground, snaking their way around her.
Her feet moved on their own as she ran with all her might towards the center of the destruction.
It didn't take long for her to reach her predetermined destination. She breathed hard as she watched the scene unravel before her.
The figure stood in the middle of it all. Her tiny shoulders seemed to be shouldering all the heavy weight of the world as she hugged herself. From her green eyes fell droplets of crystal clear tears.
"Diana!" Roxane felt her mouth open inside her dream, but no sound could come out.
"Diana!" She tried again, but to no avail.
The breeze raged on around the two women, picking up the debris in its path. Her hair whipped around her face as she began to run again towards Diana. She needed to get her friend out of there. She needed to save her from the incoming danger.
"Diana!" She lunged to grab her friend's hand. The unresponsive Diana backed away from her touch, as if she had been shocked. When Diana turned her head towards Roxane she fell back in disbelief.
Her green eyes were nowhere to be seen, replaced by white orbs that peered straight into her soul.
"Diana?" She gasped, overcome with sadness. "What have you done?"
The Diana in her dreams opened her mouth to tell her, but before she could get a single word out, she started crumbling into ashes right before Roxane's eyes. "Diana!"
She got on all hands and knees, trying to sweep up the ashes into her hands. Her heart twisted in the most painful way that she thought she was the one dying.
"Come back Diana! I'm sorry! I should have been there! I should have saved you!" She sobbed into her hands as the ashes started to float away from her.
"I'm sorry… Please come back." She became hollow. Her hands dropped to her side as she was left with nothing as her friend's ashes floated away. Her tear stained face held no hope for the future. She was only left with the anguish and the regret of things she didn't do.
"Ah!" Roxane awoke with a jolt, her whole body rose up from her bed. The first thing she did was to look around the darkened room, breathing heavily.
It was a new dream. One that she had never seen before.
She shakily poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher that was on her bedside table. Roxane gulped it down without a second to waste. It was as if her throat was scratched raw from the inside. It felt inexplicably dry.
Roxane placed the now empty glass on the bedside table. Golden eyes open wide, she still felt the fear she did when she was asleep. All her anguish and all her regrets still felt really real to her. Desperation nipped at her and she had the fervent idea to grab Diana from her room and run away into the mountains with her.
She hugged her knees to her chest and promised she would go straight to Diana as soon as her trembling stopped.
It wasn't until the light from outside steamed into her room when her trembling stopped. Even when she realized she had stopped, she hesitated to uncurl from her position on top of her bed. The fear was still there, at the front of her brain, ringing warning bells that something was about to go very wrong.
"The wedding." Roxane slowly uncurled herself. "I need to stop the wedding."
It was apparent to her the cause of her dreams. It was that damned wedding. That was the only explanation she could come up with as to why she had that strange dream about Diana.
Dragons were sensitive to many things, from the changing climate of the seasons to the tiniest traces of magic. It was rumored their dreams could prophesize the future but Roxane had never experienced it firsthand. That was, until now.
She needed to stop her friend's arranged marriage. Roxane needed to do it quick, before it spelt the beginning to her friend's demise.
Her friend was hard to track down that day. Diana was constantly being pulled from one place of the temple to another. When Roxane would think she finally found her, she would be taken away from her by the other priestesses.
She wanted to give up but she remembered the dream she had and her resolve would flare up yet again. She would do anything so that the things from her dreams would never come into fruition.
Her desperation to find her friend left her utterly vulnerable. She realized this when she felt the harsh pull from a man's force as he suffocating held on to her.
"Thought you could get away?" She heard the terrible voice of the prince as he breathed into her ear from behind. His grip on her was enough to bruise any normal woman.
Roxane was so surprised that she couldn't mask her annoyance in time.
"Don't you think this ploy of playing hard to get has run its length?" He said with a smug grin on his face.
"I don't know what you are referring to your Highness, but I really must be on my way again. I have so much to do today." She tried to free herself from his clutches using just enough strength that would be considered normal for any woman.
Her attempts only made the prince's grip around her tighten more.
Something within Roxane snapped. Her patience had long since been on its last legs and as the prince blindly rained kisses on her neck, she felt herself give in to her primal instincts.
She didn't know what caused the prince to stop his barrage of kisses, whether it was the sudden plunge of temperature around the two or the way her golden eyes seemed to glow with a murderous intent. Roxane was in that moment thinking about how easy it would be to snap his neck.
She felt her fingers flex out at the thought as she coldly stared down at the prince. It didn't matter to her if the whole kingdom went on a national manhunt to slay her, as long as she killed the prince then all of their worries would disappear.
By reflex alone, the prince immediately released his hold on her. He seemed confused as to why he had the urge to suddenly flee to protect his life. It wasn't as if he was suddenly turned into prey. He had always been the predator.
"Roxane, there you are!" The sudden introduction of Diana's voice made Roxane snap out of her treasonous thoughts. Both her and the prince's heads whipped to the side where Diana stood nervously. She wrung her hands as she ran to Roxane's side.
"Diana…" Roxane heard herself saying.
"Roxane what are you doing here? The High Priest explicitly told you to help in the preparations. You will get punished for slacking off." She wore the best expression of being angry with her as she could but it didn't fool Roxane.
"I so do apologize my prince." She curtsied to the prince. "I hope Priestess Roxane hasn't offended the prince too much. If you permit me, I will be sure to scold her properly."
Diana was waiting for his reply, but the prince must have been still perturbed by the sight he had just seen, that he simply nodded. Straightening out his attire, he excused himself and swiftly fled from the scene.
"What were you thinking?" Diana asked her in a grave voice.
Roxane grunted as she angrily placed her hands on top of the bannister. Her hands curled up into fists.
"I was thinking about how I could easily rip that f*cking idiot to shreds."
"Roxane!" Diana exclaimed, appearing by her side.
"You would be killed on the spot!" Diana put a hand on her arm. "I told you not to do anything. There's no need to put yourself at risk like that. It's enough for me that I can bring you along. I don't dare wish for anything else."
"There's no need?" Roxane shrugged off her hand, whipping around to face her friend straight on.
"Diana do you really want to marry that pig of a man? No, he is far worse than a pig!" She heard herself yelling and tried to lower her voice.
"I don't see why," she swallowed the rising emotion that was making its way up her throat, "why you need to marry him."
Diana sighed at her friend's outburst.
"Roxane you might not be able to accept this, but normal people don't always get the luxury of marrying out of love. Not everything works the same as when you were with your people. We can't freely pick just anyone, regardless of their position and status, and live happily ever after."
As Diana talked, Roxane felt her brows scrunch up together.
"Bullsh*t. What makes you so special?" Fiercely, she said. "You are just another priestess from this temple. What could possibly be the reason for you to suddenly be engaged to the Crown Prince?"
Roxane's face morphed into disbelief as soon as she saw the look hidden within Diana's emerald green eyes.
"You know, don't you? You know the reason why the royal family wants you so bad." She threw the accusatory questions at Diana. Her friend only turned her face to the other side.
"Roxane, I am so tired." Her small voice made Roxane's heart painfully squeeze inside her chest. "Please just once, listen to me. Don't do anything. Please."
"We could run away." Roxane put herself in front of her friend, her desperation had reached its limit. She pleaded as she grabbed a hold of her friend's cold, pale hands in hers. "We could run so very far away. I don't care about the reason why. You don't have to ever tell me, but please let me do this for you. Aren't I your friend?" She bit her lip as she waited for Diana's response.
"I, I can't."
Roxane's hands fell to her side as Diana slipped away. She was left staring at the now empty place in front of her as her friend walked away, the space in between them had never been so wide before and it seemed as it was getting bigger with every step that Diana took.