She was in that familiar dreamscape once again, the one she’d been having for the last ten years, with slowly decreasing frequency.
She was back in the village that she had grown up in, and it seemed as though the entire world was on fire. The buildings around her were burning, and there were bodies littered everywhere. Their faces a mask of tormented agony, a visage frozen there from the moment of death. All of them had died in a manner most horrid, and the sword used to slay them still hung from her hand, her fingers frozen about the hilt with an icy grip.
The loud howling had finally abandoned her mind, leaving her thoughts as her own once more. The beast that had so thrust her aside, and taken control of her body retreated back into the darkest corners of her mind.
She was covered with blood and substances best left unnamed, and her skin crawled with the feeling of the substance upon it. Her mind was in a state of shock. Had she really just killed all these people?
The sword finally dropped from her fingers, landing with a metallic clatter upon the ground beside her.
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As the sword struck the ground beside her, Feather awoke with a start, the sound still ringing in her ears, tears flowing unbidden from the corners of her eyes. The dream brought forth memories best left in the dark recesses of her mind. It had been the night her family died, almost ten years ago, but in the light of tormented memory, it seemed as though it had only been yesterday.
From the warn fire in the fireplace, a loud chirp came, and the shadows of half light danced about as the creature moved about within the flames. She rolled over onto her side, peering into the flames; the worried looking dancing sapphire orbs of the little down covered baby phoenix peered back at her.
She rolled out of the bed, and moved upon silent feet to kneel down beside the fireplace, and scooped the little bird out of the fireplace with the forge mitt she’d left there for just that propose. The little bird continued to peer worriedly at her as she hugged the little creature to her chest.
“It’s alright, little one. I just had that nightmare again. It’s nothing to worry about.â€