Welcome to Gaia! ::

Draega felt herself go numb...despite the pain. Gone, everything she had had was gone. What Kain had given her, the powers she had found for herself. They were all of them gone. She was normal. And to her, that meant she was weak and as powerless as a newborn. The thought was not only shocking but devastating. With effort she managed to raise herself enough to sip from the glass Kain offered her though she hardly see it, drawn to it only by the smell. The second it hit the back of her throat Draega almost choked, tears falling freely as she realized that this element slipping down her throat had once been as much apart of her as the hair on her head. So she cried and weakly she curled up and slipped back into unconsciousness where she dreamed.

It was odd at first the landscape something she was unfamiliar with, very much like a fairy-tale garden drawn of pastels. There was a lake that reflected a pale moon like glass and a single swan was swimming out upon it. Long soft grass flowed gently in the wind and a single bench lay at the water's edge carved of elegant white marble, calling to her like a siren...like the reed's and willow leaves which swayed beside it. And Draega went to it, unsure as to why, her feet leaving no sound and as she stepped she was aware that a light skirt flowed about her feet as soft as the feathers of the swan that watched her with bright blue eyes.

As Draega walked along the lake she could see her reflection as if looking in a mirror. Her hair shined like snow, her eyes the color of a frozen sky...and the dress she wore looked to her as if it were made of snowflakes made to lace as soft as down. And then at last Draega was sitting upon the marble bench, watching the swan as it watched her, it's blue eyes darker than her own, like the color of the open ocean. And then as Draega watched the swan swam toward her, and as it did it slowly changed it's form from a bird into a beautiful woman her hair as red as flame, her skin pale like milk and dotted with freckles. Her face was heart-shaped and soft, almost like a china-doll, her long red-hair flowing in waves to her elbows. The woman wore a short dress, like a greek-goddess made of thin white linen and a pair of sandals which wove up to her knees, and were winged at the ankles like Hermes.

Upon her shoulders however the woman wore a light blue cloak embroidered in gold and reminded Draega very much of old fairytale stories about fairy godmothers. And as Draega went to look at her eyes she found herself staring into a blue mask the swan's ocean-blue eyes staring out at her as if knowing everything and nothing. And then the woman extended a hand both small and elegant, a gold gauntlet around her wrist winged like the gold sandals around her feet and the belt around her waist. And through a small and full mouth the woman spoke to her with a smile. "Dear child...what dream would you have me fulfill?" she asked, her voice ageless and sweet like the voice of a nightingale.

She wanted to ask the woman who she was but instead found herself answering the woman's query. "I want peace. For myself and this world." And that woman, still smiling that gentle smile came and took Draega's shaking hands and stared at her in a way Draega wished her mother had all her life." And why can you not fulfill this wish yourself?" she asked gently and Draega found herself looking away, as if ashamed. "Each time I think I have come to see my wish fulfilled it is shattered. I am beginning to think it is impossible. And there are so many people...so many obstacles standing in my way."

The woman gently turned Draega's chin so that she was staring at her once more. "I know that feeling dear child. But do not despair so easily. Not once can you afford to falter or cast aside your convictions. You are so very strong...you need only realize it. Do not let yourself believe that things are impossible or inevitable. Fate can be fought...can be changed. Powerful forces move around and against you...so what will you decide? Do you want to see your wish granted? Or will you end it here?" she asked her with that same guiding smile.

And at length, so long so that Draega was sure the sun had risen, Draega smiled as well and stared up at the woman who held her hands with determination. "I will fulfill my dream. I've come to far to see it fail." And at that the woman's smile brightened and she hugged her like a mother holds a daughter before releasing her and placing a small blue butterfly key in her grasp. "Then you will come..." the woman whispered happily kissing her forehead gently, "...you will find the guardian and you will find me. And then I shall give you that which will help you see your wish come true. Take this and open the door to Uriel's hidden flame. And take care sweet child...after all...Richard would never forgive me if I let his precious great-grandchild suffer."

And then the woman was gone and Draega was left alone with the key as she watched her swan fly away to join it's flock it's beauty and their own melding like a swirling mist from which Draega awoke. She turned her head into Kain's hand and smiled gently, however, as she reached out to him she heard and felt something fall from her grasp with the delicate tinkling of silver hitting earth. A blue butterfly key landing at Kain's feet which Draega stared at in both wonder and awe.

Draega giggled a bit at Kain, letting herself fall back onto whatever it was she was laying on and smiling absently as she reached out to gentle touch his arm, just to know he was there...he was real. "I had a dream...it wasn't like anything I've ever seen before Kain. The scenery was like a painting from a fairy-tale book...and there was this beautiful swan who changed into a woman...She said she'd help me fulfill my dream and gave me that key. She told me ' You will find the guardian and you will find me. Take this and open the door to Uriel's hidden flame." And then Draega's smile fell and she took on a contemplative look, her eyes trailing this way and that as if unsure to keep looking at this blob of color or that. "She mentioned having known my great-grandfather ...and she was so beautiful...and so strange. She wore a mask and kept calling me 'child'. Kain...how can that key be real? She gave it to me in a dream...dreams can't become real."

{gah! So short! I feel ashamed! ><}