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Ravina felt suffocated from being surrounded by people and left Araminta’s house without her knowledge. She knew there was danger outside but she had lived her whole life aware of the risks of leaving the castle walls and being on guard that now when she was among the enemy and was surrounded by the danger she didn’t feel the need to hide. She came here knowing that she could die so she might as well be free before that.

Her feet led her to the cliff again and she sat down at the edge, allowing her legs to hang down, and then stared ahead. She allowed the wind to blow her hair and listened to the river and the birds flying above. She wondered where this place was. All those years, they have been unable to find where dragons hide. Their guess had been that they moved around often to not be found.

The dragons captured and brought to the castle were often caught during attacks or in attempts to rule over humans again. Maybe why she never felt satisfied watching those dragons get killed. They had already taken so many lives by the time they were brought to the castle.

“I will kill them all,” she would tell Bram calmly as she continued to develop her weapons.

At first, she thought that he didn’t take her seriously because she was still young but as she grew she had to ask why he shook his head in disbelief every time she said so.

“Maybe you would be able to kill a dragon in a fight but do you think that if you went to a village with dragons and you saw families with children living their lives that you would be able to kill them?”

She had been taken aback by his question. Families with children?

“I think when you speak of killing them all, you think of all the dragons that you have seen. The ones terrorizing, oppressing, and killing.” Bram said as if he was sure of her way of thinking.

She had ignored his remark back then because she could not imagine his scenario, but now that she saw it she wondered. Would she be able to kill them all now that she had seen more than the terrorizers? If she could breathe fire right now, would she burn down this place?

The fact that the answer was no at the back of her mind disturbed her. After everything she had seen, she would still not do it? If she had the chance to set her people free for once she wouldn’t do it? Then what would she have to go through to be able to do it? What could make people do such things? Those questions also led her to feel equally disturbed if the answer had been yes.

Then she would have to be even more vicious than she was now. Even more hateful and vengeful. More coldhearted. It scared her that the way she was wasn’t enough. She would have to become a complete monster which reminded her of her favorite book. The story of the man who became a monster to kill his enemy.

In the story, the man was mostly in battle with himself. It was a long process where he killed a part of himself each day until there was nothing left of him. When he died, only then could he rise as a monster.

Well, if she died she would not rise because her death would be literal, and right now she was on the brink. She looked down, watching the distance to the water flowing beneath. Who would want to rise to die again? Not her. If she dies once, that was it.

Suddenly she heard the splashing of water and turned her head. She found the old priest trying to carry two pots of water upstairs to the temple. She watched him spill the water as he carefully tried to climb the stairs.

Ravina ignored him and stared ahead but as she heard more water getting spilled, she couldn’t help herself. He would waste all the water before he reached the top or he would fall and get hurt. She stood up and walked over the distance. Then she took the few steps up to where he was still struggling to carry the water.

“Good afternoon,” he greeted as she came to his side. “May I help you?”

“Oh,” he said turning his head surprised. “It is you again.” He chuckled sheepishly. “I am not good with balancing.”

“I can help.” She said reaching for one of the pots.

“Thank you,” he said allowing her to take it, and then she looked ahead. How did he climb all those stairs? Her heart would fail her.

The old man continued to climb the stairs and she followed him. She had only climbed a quarter but she was already panting and feeling like her heart was throbbing in her ears. The old man seemed completely fine and paused to wait for her when he noticed that she was struggling.

“Can’t you shift? Why do you take the stairs?” She asked.

“I will explain why once we have climbed all the way.” He smiled mysteriously.

By the time she was halfway through she could not take it. Her muscles, her lungs, and her heart screamed at her to stop. She just sat down, unable to speak to the priest when he looked back at her.

He just smiled and waited patiently. “I am sorry. I need a moment.” She said when she could finally speak.

Once she could breathe, she continued despite the pain. God, physical activity was not her strong side and she already had a weak body because of lack of nutrition. Once she reached the top, she really felt like her heart would fail her. She was sweating and panting.

“Thank you for your help, young Lady. What should I call you?”

“Rah..vina.” she breathed.

“Ravina. It sounds familiar.” He said.

He probably heard of her.

He went away as she sat on the grey marble floor of the temple. The walls were paintings of beautiful landscapes and at the back, there were slide doors that were open to show the view of the mountains far away ahead. She leaned back against one of the walls and relaxed allowing herself to recover and breathe.

The priest came back with two cups. “Here. Drink some water.” He said nodding at the pot she carried upstairs. She took the cup and poured herself some water, gulping it down at once. So soothing, she thought.

“What do I call you?” She asked.

“Chanan.”

She nodded. “Do you go up these stairs every day?”

“Several times.”

She was impressed. Maybe why he wasn’t the least affected. He was used to it. She had worried for nothing.

“Why?”

He sat down beside her. “It is beneficial for the body and mind. I tell everyone to take the stairs if they want to visit the temple but most of them never listen.” He shook his head. “They come here stressed and leave stressed. It takes all those stairs for people to leave the world down there behind, so once they come up here they have already partially cleared their minds and are more receptive to relaxing.”

She nodded understanding the sentiment.

“What do you worship?” She asked.

“God.”

“But you are not… christian?”

“No.”

“Is your God different?”

He smiled. “I believe we all have the same God.”

“Do you believe in heaven and hell?”

“In a certain sense, yes.”

She looked around. This looked nothing like a church. How did they pray here? The priest watched her curiously.

“Well,” he said standing up at last. “I have to clean this place now. Perhaps you could wait for a little. I will play the flute for you.”

“Uh… I could help, so you finish faster.” She glanced outside, down the mountain. “I can’t be absent for too long.”

He smiled. “I could use some help.”