• Tap, tap, breath. Tap, tap, breath.
    It was the beat of a war drum, warning everything in the forest of my existence and maybe hummed of danger other than my own presence. I didn’t dwell on this thought for very long.
    The crisp autumn wind blew across my face; my own punishment for leaving the foster home without more belongings. I was ready at a moment’s notice, but I was still shivering or sweating if the weather wasn’t what I expected.
    It always started like this, running from one city to another, to make sure that he didn’t strike there. If he didn’t, I’d scribble a note, giving my dearest apologizes. Since no one tried to follow me, I would usually guess that they didn’t even notice I was gone.
    In the running adventure that I endured every few months, I was a different person than my usually quiet self. I would constantly lash out at everything that made the smallest of sounds, thinking that he found me. Always yelling out and if the nightmares came that night, I’d start sobbing uncontrollably for days to come, wishing for the old days with Adrian before he was possessed by the demon that was after the Dragistins for generations.
    Well, not exactly generations, I thought, slowing down my pace as I saw a smooth-barked oak tree that I could rest against for a minute if not a couple of seconds.
    It all started when one person from the Dragistins got this demon very, very mad…or something like that. There were different stories circulating around the whole idea, but the one I took faith in was the medieval tale, the one were an ancestor of the Dragistins had a death match with the demon. It went on for weeks on end until the demon resorted by taking over his body and overwhelming his mind. That’s how it started. By merging with that one spirit and mind, that demon who called himself Braeden, meaning ‘of the dark valley’ gained access to the whole Dragistin line.
    That’s where my family came in, the Shionans. Ever since this demon business started, we Shionans started learning defense of the mind and body from the Dragistins, defending ourselves if Braeden decided to take over the Dragistins. Since our race –meaning the Shionans and the Dragistins- was dying out, once we were born, our futures were mapped out by the leader of the Dragistins. We also had enhanced abilities; a gift and a curse from Braeden. The demon
    considered everything as a game, a game where we were the replaceable pawns and he was the mastermind at work. If we were just ordinary humans, the game would not be as entertaining.
    My consciousness faded, a sign that I was drifting to sleep. Instead of meeting black, head-on, I opened my eyes to find a hazy summer day, a day where there was bright light streaming through the tree-branches and the grass was lit up underneath me to an electric green. I shifted my head against the tree, enjoying the dream’s warmth and escaping the harsh reality. If only Adrian was here…
    “Are you thinking about me?”
    I screamed my defenses completely down. Adrian’s head was upside-down, he himself lounging above the tree. His brown eyes twinkled mischievously as he jumped out of the tree and turned to face me.
    “What are you doing here?” I hissed, putting as much maliciousness as I could muster. Even if he was here –the same Adrian I remember- out there, in the real world, he was a demon now, setting out to kill me and exterminate both families.
    Adrian ran his hand through his raven-black tousled hair, the engagement ring gleaming silver on his finger. As if to make sure, I looked down, relaxing and stiffening that my own ring, the gold one with snakes intertwining to the gem was still there. We were set to be married next spring, Adrian 18 and me 16, but then complications arised…
    “Relax; I’m not going to hurt you. If I was,” he leaned down to touch the ruby choker at my neck, “that would burn your skin and yet not burn through it. Am I right?”
    Of course he was, but he was still wrong. It was only set to do that if Braeden himself appeared before me. It might be Adrian I see in front of me, but eventually this dream would reveal its true colours. I decided to see if he was the real deal.
    My thoughts have been written all over my face, for he said in a wise voice, “Oh how you, Chiara, the light of my life, the sunlight streaming through a padded meadow, despise me.”
    I laughed, happy to see that he was really Adrian, and not some fake.
    He grinned, but then his eyes began to sadden.
    “You have to run.”
    Run, run, run, run, run. That very word pushed me out of the dream and woke me up in a shock. I stumbled, getting to my feet and starting running, tears washing my face. In that moment, Adrian’s eyes turned red, and that dream began shifting. If it was really Adrian, he was giving me a message.
    A message that Braeden was on my trail.
    I kept running, branches stabbing my face like stakes and opening cuts that healed months ago. The vines tried wrapping themselves around my arms and the very ground burned like hot coals. The twilight itself was cool and calm, nothing like what I was experiencing. Adrian was gifted with the slight authority of earth, and Braeden, being a demon, had complete dominance of fire.
    Fire plus earth equaled a feeling of running for eternity….
    Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Why don’t you stop running and I’ll make your death a swift one, hmm?
    I ignored this and kept running even faster.
    What about a final goodbye? I’ll allow that.
    Reaching a dead end….
    “Going somewhere?”