Seraphine Monologue

“A Menrie, one from a group of three, will save thee. As the sun’s rays hits but the top of the horizon will the beast be only drifting harmlessly in the sea,” announced the noble as he was standing over a foot-deep hole.
The crowd immediately glanced in Seraphine’s direction as she offered them a blindingly white smile in return (how she was able to make her teeth so white, I had no idea) with her chest puffed up in adoring pride. Not one soul dared to spare but a mere glimpse at me save for an infant, who seemed to only look at me because I was so stick-thin that it must of frightened him. At least, that’s what Seraphine had told me later on. Though it didn’t matter what Seraphine had told me, because the infant tore his gaze away from me and instead giggled childly laughter at Seraphine as if she were

the sun rays that which the prophecy spoke of.
“Amelia! Your coworkers at the tavern are you calling you, dear. Something about dishes, I’m lead to believe,” called a frail, old woman with weary hazel eyes and a maroon shawl draped over her hunched shoulders. A pained sigh escaped past my lips. Well, what was I doing here anyway? It’s not like I, Amelia Menrie, was destined to slay the dreaded, feared beast, whom had terrorized the village for some decades when I could barely jog a few hundred meters without panting heavily. The prospect of that occurring was about as likely as horses learning how to cease their infernal pleading about how much they’d wish for just one more glossy, blood-red apple that tasted like ambrosia, the food that the gods themselves ate.
“Alright, I’ll be there as quick as I can, Grammy,” I replied already making my way around the now tight crowd, pushing against me with all their might to just touch their soon-to-be savior. After five minutes (or an hour, I couldn’t be sure with all the constant shoving), I was finally away from the crowd and spotted the tavern.
The tavern was anything but robust. It had managed to stand its ground longer than the dragon had been alive, and the evidence of that was obvious: the cedar wood was decaying, the windows were encrusted with rust so thick that only a speck of light could bleed through from within, and the door was holding on for dear life as it hung precariously from its hinges at a most queer angle.
For reasons unknown, I gazed upward to the huge expanse of a sky, blanketed with thick clouds like a cover had been draped over the sun to conceal its indefinite beauty and glow to which what remained was a bitter chill, willing to bite at just a mere slice of flesh. I shivered. I knew from experience as I had more frost bites than I’d care to admit. On the other hand, Seraphine had skin made from steel, for she had only one frostbite in the seventeen years she’s lived - and that was when she was an infant, albeit that was the least of her accomplishments. She could sprint a mile and only complain that she’d whole-heartedly wished the terrain to be more difficult. Seraphine could complete her chores in an hour and polish the vases with the excess time she had just because she ‘felt like it.’ She could gain one’s charisma with the snap of a finger, and she had brown eyes, whereas I had dull, gray ones. Gray eyes meant for bad luck: They signified for a clouded future - or something that could not be foreseen which generally meant something negative. And we already had one too many negatives in our town.
***
After I had scrubbed the dishes until I thought they’d melt through my hands, I bade everyone at the tavern goodbye. As I stepped from within the tavern, I realized I had worked for a few hours - if not more when the bell in the town square chimed four times: four o’clock.
I breathed in the chilly, dry air and shivered in my near threadbare shawl that only managed to keep my shoulders from shaking violently. I pulled it tighter around me, and I started my walk back home, excitement coursing in my veins as the thought of cooping myself up next to the fireplace with a book in hand arose in my mind, which would undoubtedly be empty of Seraphine’s presence as the town would wish to prepare her for the battle against the dragon she will have to face at sunrise.
How the dragon appeared in this world and what it was doing here was only slightly less ludicrous than the prospect of me slaying it. It was roughly half a century ago when a sorcerer by the name of Galman had wanted to create a potion that provided the consumer with courage, but the outcome was an ice-breathing dragon that extended the winters and delayed the summers. Despite the sorcerer being quite powerful, the spell had taken a great deal of life out of him, and with his dying movements, he wrote a prophecy for the supposed savior to slay his creation on a clay tablet. Unfortunately, the grave digger was very much against ones who possessed magic and thought the tablet was some sort of sorcery that must be hidden with his body which was never marked. And the secret as to where Galman was buried died with him some short time after.
Suddenly, the small, box-like cottage I came to find comfort in with fairly clean windows and bare trees surrounding the premises came into view. I rushed inside, tossing aside the shawl on a nearby chair.
“Hey, Grammy, I’m home!” I shouted, slamming the wooden door behind me as the wind eagerly attempted to hold my company a moment longer. I heard something fall or knocked over before Grammy came rushing in, her eyes wide.
“Thank goodness, Amelia! I was so worried you wouldn’t come in time!”
“What do you mean? What for?” I inquired, bewildered. Grammy’s eyes grew serious.
“The dragon will not be slain at sunrise. It will be at sunset! They misinterpreted the prophecy! And most of all, it was not Seraphine in the first place!”
“Ha ha, very funny, Grammy. Now, did you buy the vegetables from the market?” Grammy jabbed her frail fist into my shoulder which surprisingly hurt and try as I might, I couldn’t conceal my ever so quiet “ow!”
“Be serious for a moment, child!” she cried.
“Okay…,” I whimpered, tenderly rubbing my shoulder. Her face a softened.
“I’m sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but no one is listening to me!” she yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “It is you, Amelia Menrie, who is destined to slay the dragon! I know this, because the sorcerer said so himself! I remember the day as if it were yesterday… I was coming home from the market with some more goats’ milk for your mother,” her eyes became misty for a moment before resuming, “and what I thought to be a madman grabbed onto my arm, his eyes wild. ‘It is the other one!’ he cried. ‘Do not let them make the same mistake as I! I have seen the consequences!’ That was all he said to me before running off to the psychiatric ward, I was sure.
I hadn’t the faintest idea as to what he was yapping about at the time. It was only when you left for the tavern did I realize what he meant. And it makes sense. Your mother, I recall, was acting quite strange the day Seraphine was born, and with my suspicions, I had discovered Seraphine is not a Menrie. She is a Yeniet - Marie’s child. However, Marie did not live to even hold the child in her arms. Your mother was her friend and decided she would raise her as her own. I did not want to tell you this at your age, but it must be told.” I gaped at her. But with everything that Seraphine did and could do… it somehow made sense. However, my being able to defeat the dragon would still deem the effort as futile.
“But how can I even defeat the dragon when all I do is sleep, eat, read, and work at the tavern? I don’t even have the right physique for combat.”
“Then you must get ready for your battle. Time is of the essence as you will have to defeat it at sunset! Grab a sword from beside you. I will teach you the art of swordplay,” Grammy declared with a sense of confidence I haven’t heard until that once when she had won a bet against an old friend. I chuckled, grabbing a wooden sword I hadn’t noticed when I entered and handed one to her.
“Grammy, all due respect, but how am I going to win a battle with an undefeatable dragon with you as my trainer?” Within the blink of an eye, Grammy had butted my knee with the hilt of her sword, making me wince, as I got down on my good one.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she said, holding out her hand. “Now get up. We only have a few hours before the fate of this town will be set upon your shoulders.”
***
I had lost all feeling in the fingers of my left hand ever since I had reached the foot of the mountain, but the leather gloves Grammy had given me before letting me go forth into battle was all that was protecting my right hand - my dominant hand that which was holding the sword. It wasn’t even a good sword with all its rust, displaying its former glory.
A resounding roar snapped my attention back to the task at hand. Before I could leap to a rock that would conceal my presence from the dragon, it glanced over towards where I was shivering in my shawl with a mediocre piece of metal. Well, I’ll just have to get through this without the element of surprise on my side.
I leaped to the side seconds before ice that emanated from the mouth of the dragon could impale me.

The dragon was large in size, and it’s white scales glinted brilliantly in the minimal amount of sunlight that peaked through. Lethal spikes lined the spine of the dragon up to the crown of its head, and its wild, sapphire blue eyes gazed hungrily at me as I pathetically raised my sword. The dragon spewed ice once again, and I skidded to the side. I have to do something. I can’t just be dodging icicles! Just as the beast spewed a set of icicles, I swung the sword at its head. Though it bounced harmlessly off its scales, it growled at me in white rage. It raced after me, and I bolted forward to the edge of the tip of the mountain. Where was its weak spot? I risked a glimpse behind me and noticed that its heart was not guarded by any protection whatsoever. I grinned. But as I was about to whirl around to end the battle and the dreaded beast, it knocked my sword out of reach on the other side of the platform. The dragon pinned me down with its hulking mass of a foot, and immediately, I could feel its merciless chill freeze my futile attempts to escape its

clutches.
Tears stung my eyes. Perhaps Grammy wasn’t right after all, and it was Seraphine’s fate as it had been planned since this morning. All I was after all was a feeble, useless girl who worked at the tavern. How did I ever think I was going to be able to slay this beast? Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a tuft of white hair at the other end of the platform, and in within the blink of an eye something glimmered in the air. The next thing I knew, the sword had returned to my grasp once again, and I plunged the sword into the dragon, who shrieked and fell backwards, its wings flapping uselessly before it stopped altogether. Grammy reached over toward me.
“I also might’ve thought I should supervise you, considering this is the first time you’ve ever handled a sword,” she said, winking.
I glanced upward as the first ounce of sunlight I had ever felt rained down upon me like a welcoming embrace.