Drabble 8: Rebirth
Far, far away in the woods is a small fresh-water spring. Water leaves the spring through a small brook that slowly widens out into a roaring, raging river that brings life to the land.
It is here, at this sacred spring, that an ancient spirit sits, waiting. A wispy woman clothed in white, her robes unsullied by neither time nor nature, she perches at the edge of the spring, staring intently at the water.
For ages, nothing meet her eyes, as clear and all-seeing as they were when she was a child, many years ago. Bubbles form and then burst at the surface of the spring. But still, she waits patiently, her eyes intent on a final goal.
At last, an image appears in the water before her. A small smile works its way into the wrinkled corners of .
A dragon with scales that gleam like burnished bronze plunge into the roaring river of the stream’s waters, far away from the original source.
Never the less, the woman casts her hands up in a spell, and suddenly, water begins to rush backwards into the stream.
She settles back with a sigh as the water starts rising in the small pool. Now, all she can do is wait.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
At last, after several days (or has it been weeks?) of waiting, the dragon comes into the spring source. The old woman sits up and admires the dragon as it swims around in the enormous globe of water that now fills the spring source.
She knows that below, the lands, and the people who live there, are suffering greatly. Slowly, slowly, they will begin to move inland toward the spring source. People will die from the sudden lack of water. The land will cry and disintegrate in waves of loss. But this is what her visions have told her, and her visions have never lied. The land must be destroyed, and then born anew. The people must be tested, and then raised on pedestals of glory.
The time of judgment is fast approaching.
 
 
 
 
 
 
At last, after years and years of hard journeying, of suffering and heartbreak beyond imagination, a group of eleven have reached the spring source. They gaze in awe at the enormous globe of water, glistening in the spring light, and the gleaming dragon that swam within.
The woman makes her presence known, and the attention instantly snaps on to her.
“We are here. We are the faithful.”
The woman nods her head regally, and gestures forth with her hand. “I here you, my faithful ones. You have been through much pain. But now, you will be saved. You will be placed in greater glory than you can even imagine.
Your journey is done. It is time to rest now.”
A young boy, his feet cracked and bleeding from arduous travel, stepped forward. “There is nothing else we need to do?”
The woman smiled knowingly at him. “Rest. There is nothing else for you to do here. Yifan will take care of the rest.”
The eleven children blink up at her, and she smiles slightly at the confused expressions on their beautiful faces. “Yifan?”
“You will meet him soon enough.” Suddenly, the old woman feels her age beginning to settle in her bones; she suddenly can’t stand the inquisitive stares of the children before her, and she sends them to sleep with a quick spell.
The moment the boy’s heads hit the ground, the dragon vanished from the water globe, and a young man with dark blond hair and burning copper eyes stood by the edge of the spring.
“You’ve decided so soon?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
Yifan growled at her, and the woman chuckled at the dragon’s antics. “My visions never lie to me. He is the one.” Yifan walked forward to kneel by a small boy with dark red hair and pale skin. Yifan ran his hand down skinny limbs and pressed his fingers into the palm of the boy’s hand. “We will remake the world into a shrine.”
The woman declined to comment, and instead watched him with her luminous silvery eyes. “Is it time, Yifan?”
“It is time.”
“We’ve known each other for so long…it will be strange to say good-bye.”
“This is not farewell forever. Many, many years from now, our children will return and call you down from the stars.”
The woman smiled slightly, and the globe of water began to shrink. “Will I ever see you again, Yifan?”
Yifan turned around, and he was stunned to see a young woman standing by the spring, her pale skin and bronze hair flying in the breeze. He smiled sadly at her.
“Yours is a doomed love.”
“And you are destined for eternal happiness.”
Yifan smiled at her and lifted his hand. “Lift the spell, my lady. They must wake up. There is a world to be remade.”
The young woman smiles and lifts her hands. The eleven boys on the ground wake from their slumber, and the young boy in Yifan’s arms sits bolt upright.
Yifan soothes him by his back and running a gentle hand through his hair. “It’ll be alright.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Yifan.”
“I don’t understand.”
Yifan gently tilted the boy’s head up, and the boy froze in his arms the instant their eyes met.
“You are Suho.” Yifan leaned in closer, until their lips were nearly touching. “You are Suho, the embodiment of water. I am Yifan, the First Dragon. And together, we have a world to re-make.”
Behind the couple, the old woman feels her body vanish, and her soul is sent spiraling into the heavens on beams of starlight.
On Earth below, a young boy and a dragon stare up at the new constellation in the sky. Ten other boys lie around them, slowly coming to awareness, but for now, this moment is just between the two of them.
“Was she…?” Suho sent him a questioning look.
“She was.” Yifan’s hand automatically began running up and down Suho’s spine once more.
“Will she be lonely up there?”
Yifan smiled. It was always his greatest joy, to meet up with the gentle spirit of the embodiment of water at the rebirth of a new world.
“No. She will never be lonely, as long as we stay faithful to her. And then, someday, far, far away…” Yifan trailed off as he stared up into the night sky.
Suho quietly picked up the thought. “Someday, we will return here and call her down from the stars. And the world will be reborn once more.”
Water continued to trickle out of the sphere, down into the brook, filling the dry riverbed of the river, racing out throughout the land, bringing life as magic seeped back into the earth.
And far, far away in the woods at a small fresh-water spring, twelve people prepared to mold the new world into paradise.

a/n: unedited and written in a haze. Comment subscribe upvote if you enjoyed. Feel free to ask questions or leave requests in the comments as well.