Deep down, she knew he was right. She knew that she should run before the Dragons decided to attack again. She knew she should get as far away as she could and never look back.
But she couldn't. She knew that this was all too real to be a dream yet deep down she hoped it was. That she'd wake up in bed to the sound of her father returning from the mornings hunt and her mother brewing her tea. This was her home, the only home she ever knew. Her parents were dead, and she knew that. But what was she supposed to do? She had no other family left. The only thing she had left was Zion.
Wipping away her tears, Lyra turned around and ran out of her parents' room and down the stairs, she threw on some shoes, and went out the front door. Despite all the fire, she still felt cold outside in just her blue pajamas, but there was no time to change.
She started running down the crowded cobblestone street, pushing past screaming children, and panicked citizens all fleeing for their lives. Her ears were flat onto her head, and her tail was tucked in close as she turned the corner and came face to face with her worst nightmare, a dragon.
....
....
In the woods behind vallen.
Two figures are crouched around a dim campfire. Three teddy bears were running around the fire, throwing stickers and small stones at it.
"Do you hear that?" One of the figures asked the other, grabbing a teddy bear before it could jump into the fire. His white hair bright against the dark night sky.
"Wywrns?" she wispered, pulling on the hooded cloak and getting up to go investigate. "Let's go, Asher."
"But what about the other two?" Asher asked doubtfully.
"We'll leave Opal here. He can tell them we went to go investigate near vallen," she replied, grabbing her bag and sword from the ground.
"What? But Opals my favorite," Asher mumbled.
"What does it matter anyway? Its not like you'll die just cause you dont have your favorite teddy bear, doll," she retorted.
"Hey I thought we agreed only to call me that on missions" he replied, grabbing his bag and two of the teddy bears. They headed off into the woods leaving Opal alone at their campsite as they made their way towards vallen village.
....
....
Lyra stood there frozen with fear. The dragon tilted its head towards her, it's wine red scales shimmering like gold in the firelight. It was larger than the townsquare and taller than all the buildings in vallen. It's big yellow eyes narrowed as it observed her.
She didn't know what to do. What could she do? If she ran away the dragon would chase after her and she didn't need to be a genius to know she couldn't out run a dragon. But if she just stood there it would surely she would die too.
Just then something flickered in her field of vision. To her right there were some people rushing towards them. Its attention switched to the hoard of adventures rushing forward, their swords raised for battle. This shouldn't be surprising, after all she'd heard of similar things happening in the past. Slaying a dragon brought an unimaginable amount of fame and riches. Yet standing here now, she couldn't help but think of them as foolish.
The drogon raised its claws as the hoard of people came rushing forth. Taking advantage of the commotion she dove into the nearest ally and ran towards zions house. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she rounded the corner and found herself in front of Zions house.
Flames engulfed the building from top to bottom. Everything was on fire. The walls were falling apart and the glass in the windows was shattered.
"No..." she wispered, "This can't be..." her knees felt weak and her body felt like ten times more heavy. She slowy slumped to the floor, tears streaming down her already red cheeks. "NO," she screamed, her scream was so loud it hurt her own ears. She wraped her tail around herself and cried for what felt like an eternity.
She raised her head and looked and at all the chaos happening around her, people screaming and crying like her, without any idea where to go or what to do. She heard a sound and cocked her head back to see. It was him.