Dancing Embers

Trigger warning: contains blood and death

Vision blurry…

Every muscle throbbing in pain…

The scent of fire, blood, and death…

Helen tried to catch her breath and get back on her feet, but both actions were nearly impossible for her; the oxygen had been replaced with thick smoke, and her mangled armor was like a heavy weight on her back. 

“Mother!” Helen cried out, but the only answer that returned her call was the booming roar of the monstrous dragon that flew overhead. 

Finally, Helen forced herself to her knees; the vision in her right eye was still obscured, but her left eye’s sight had returned…however, the scene before her made Helen wish she was blind. 

The bodies of dozens of soldiers–men and women who had dedicated their lives to protect the kingdom just like Helen had– were scattered around the field, some torn apart and others burned to a crisp by the Dragon’s deadly fire. 

“Mother…?” Helen tried again, a growing lump in her throat nearly silencing her.  

Labored breathing to the right of her caught her attention, and she whipped around. Her mother, the Captain of the kingdom’s army, stared up at her with half of her face brutally burned. 

“F…fight, Helen. Fight,” Those were the Captain's last words before she joined the rest of the army.  

Helen shook her head as tears flowed freely down her soot-covered cheeks. “No, please, Mother. Please, I need you!” She wept, placing her forehead on her Mother’s limp arm. 

Everything was gone: the kingdom she swore to protect and most of its citizens were in flames. A powerful beast had taken the lives of her family and friends, and soon it would come for her to finish her off. 

Helen picked up her Mother’s sword and cradled the blood-stained blade close to her chest. 

The warm breeze picked up into a gust, warning Helen that the Dragon was on its way to make her its next victim. 

For a moment, she didn’t care; why should she? An entire army had failed to slay the beast, so how could she–a lone rookie soldier–have any chance against it? However,  the Captain’s last words came to mind. 

“Fight…” 

Helen wiped away the last tear on her face and pushed herself onto her feet, ignoring the rubber-like feeling in her knees.  Her Mother… her comrades…everyone had been scared to face the Dragon. It had already ravaged several other kingdoms. However, they lined up on the battlefield and put on a brave face anyway…because it was their duty to fight until their last breath. 

She raised her good eye upward and watched as the Dragon drew closer and opened its mouth to blast another wave of fire. 

Locating a shield on the dirt, Helen placed it over her free hand and got into position just as the orange flames began to descend. 

Diving out of the way, Helen used the shield to block any embers that bounced off the ground before locking her sights back on the Dragon. Its massive form had drawn close to the surface, but the beast swooped back up before it could hit the ground. 

However, this was when the Dragon was vulnerable and Helen took the opportunity. Spotting a weak spot in the wing, she jumped and plunged the Captain’s blade into the wing’s softer flesh. 

The Dragon let out a mighty roar as she yanked the sword out, but the beast was quick to counter, and before Helen could duck out of the way, she was hit by a thick, scaly tail. 

Her body pumping with adrenaline, Helen barely felt the impact, but as soon as she got back to her feet, she was driven back to the dirt as her monstrous opponent slammed its claws down on her body. 

Once again, everything seemed lost: her sword was out of reach and she would surely be crushed by the weight of the Dragon. 

As more weight was pressed on her chest, Helen’s armor began to crack,  and she found herself trying to breathe. All she got, though, was a thin stream of oxygen. Sure it would be her last…It wasn’t. 

A rock was thrown at the Dragon’s head, and though it wasn’t hurt by it, the beast’s attention was turned elsewhere, releasing Helen from its clutches. 

She used one more surge of strength to roll away, and she let out several sharp coughs that stung her already burning lungs. Turning her good eye toward where the Dragon was staring, Helen spotted a group of kids standing on a nearby hill and throwing rocks at the lizard-like creature. 

They were all covered in soot and their clothes were burned and dirty; they were survivors of the city fire. They must have found a way out through the back gates. 

Helen couldn’t help but smile through her exhaustion and pain; those kids were fighters and survivors, much braver than her and the entire army. 

The Dragon began to stalk toward the group of kids, but Helen was back on her feet in a flash, and she retrieved the sword and sliced at its legs and underbelly effectively drawing the Dragon’s attention back to her. 

As the beast stumbled back on its hind legs in pain, Helen tried to take a moment to catch her breath; her exhaustion was catching up and her body was becoming immune to the numbing effects of adrenaline.  

The surviving kids had retreated behind the hill after throwing a couple more rocks, leaving the fight to continue. 

With the Dragon still distracted, Helen readjusted her grip on the sword’s hit and ran up its injured wing. Once on the beast’s back, she navigated her to the base of the neck where another weak spot waited. 

Helen lifted her Mother’s sword for the finishing strike, but a white-hot pain exploded in her chest, and she found herself frozen as blood crept up her throat and entered her mouth. 

The tip of the  Dragon’s tail, which had a reputation for being sharper than any sword, was bloodily protruding from her chest, having sliced through her armor like butter. 

However,  the grip on her sword only grew tighter, and with a spine-chilling cry, Helen plunged it into the Dragon’s neck. “For my home and you, Mother…” she muttered through the blood in her mouth. 

She slumped to her knees as the sword sunk deeper into the Dragon’s flesh.  The beast let out another cry but it was strained. Upon letting go of the sword’s hilt, Helen was tossed off the beast’s back, and she watched from the dirt as the Dragon let out one last cry before collapsing to the dirt some feet away…it was dead. 

Silence fell over the battlefield; the fires were dancing still but they would soon be burned out, and the sun was beginning to rise. 

Helen lay flatly on her back, blood dribbling from her mouth; she forced a hand to cover her chest wound but knew she had limited time. 

The surviving kids rushed to her side, and Helen could hear them trying to figure out what to do through the growing ringing in her ears. 

“Thank you,” she mumbled, grabbing the kids’ attention. Helen felt her hand grab onto one of the kids’ hands, a teen boy who seemed to be the oldest. “Leave this place…and keep…keep fighting…keep surviving.” She repeated her mother’s words before succumbing to her exhaustion. 

Her body went limp and numb and the kids faded away as her vision was replaced by white light. 

She may have died that day…but was it really a defeat if her opponent had fallen also? 

In the end, Helen didn’t feel defeated and as she passed on, she felt her Mother’s and fallen friends’ embrace. In the end, she felt a joyful peace.