“It can’t be…”

  As if hearing a familiar beat, Aunt Teresa’s gaze looked past the window. A winged shadow flew past the window.

  Aunt Teresa’s breath stopped. She took a step back as she gazed at the owner of the shadow who barged inside the room. A sleek black falcon, with feathers dark as the abyss, stood in front of her. Its piercing blue eyes locked onto her, gleaming with intelligence far beyond that of any ordinary spirit beast.

  “You…”

  The bird did not move at first. Then, with a slow but precise movement, it spread its wings. Under its wings were white feathers that undulated a pulse - like a ripple distorting the surrounding space.

  Aunt Teresa staggered slightly. An invisible force pressed against her head. Her eyes widened, her breath paused, and her fingers curled against her trembling palms.

  Then, after a moment, the sensation vanished as the falcon folded its wings. It tilted its head as if waiting for a response. Aunt Teresa exhaled slowly, her grip on the baby tightened.

  “...I see,” she murmured beneath her breath.

  But before she could open her mouth, Aston’s view shifted once again.

  The somber room was replaced with an artificial glow of a fluorescent bulb. The sharp scent of antiseptic filled the air. Machines beep in a slow, irregular beat.

  Aston, while looking down at Aunt Teresa laying down on her deathbed, felt a strange emotion.

  This is the moment when auntie died…

  A voice, younger than his own, echoed in the room, “Auntie…”

  Teresa’s breath came in shallow gasps. Her once-strong hands, now becoming frail, squeezed the ten year-old Aston’s hands. With great effort, she turned her head, with clouded eyes filled with warmth.

  “Aston, my dear.” She said weakly, “You’ve grown so much.”

  Her trembling hands reached out to wipe his tears in his cheeks.

  “Do not forget, whatever you may find… You were loved.”

  The hand that touched his cheeks limped and fell. The heart monitor let out a long, unbroken tone.

  Aston’s breath caught in his throat.

  It had been years, yet the weight of that day still clung to him like a scar that never fully healed. He had held onto her hand as if, if he just gripped hard enough, she wouldn’t leave. But she did. And he had been alone ever since.

  The door burst open, nurses rushing in. A flurry of movement, muffled voices, the cold weight of reality pressing down on him.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The lights flickered. Then… darkness. A deafening silence rang through the void. Then, a roar tore through the void - ancient, all-consuming, and draconic. A repellant pressure forced against Aston’s chest. He felt a presence looming in the void, coiling, watching, and waiting.

  Then, the void cracked.

  All of a sudden, Aston’s eyes snapped open. His body involuntarily jerked as if being rescued from drowning. His chest heaved, his lungs gasping for air. The room around him was dim, bathed with darkness of the night. The once sterile air of the hospital was replaced by the stale air of his house.

  For a moment, he just laid there. His body, stiff. His mind caught between the past and the present. The echoes of Aunt Teresa’s last words still rang in his ears.

  Do not forget, whatever you may find… You were loved.

  His bloodied hand reached to his pendant. The surface felt like cold metal.

  Was it a dream?

  He once again felt the sting in his palm. The dried blood had already clotted over the small wounds, yet the pain is still there. The scenes of the dream flashed once again before his mind.

  I was seeing the dream in the eyes of the pendant. But the pendant does not have eyes. Or does it?

  Aston picked up the pendant and examined it. It was supposed to be a cuboid shape he had known all his life. But as his fingers traced along its edges, something felt different.

  The edges have softened and curved, as if the metal had been melted and reformed. His fingers brushed and felt an equal, yet jagged ridges on his fingertips. He looked at the pendant.

  A metallic sheen gleamed into the night. It looked like a snake but more ferocious, an oriental dragon. The pendant has transformed from a cuboid piece of metal into a dragon. Its serpentine body exudes with elegance, as its tail wrapped around itself. The dragon head rested atop, with details carved in exquisite detail.

  Aston gasped. This… wasn’t his old pendant anymore. It has transformed.

  Although he was shocked, he found the shape of the pendant quite familiar. Aston racked his brains until he remembered his dream. His breath came in short, uneven gasps. His mind raced as he turned the pendant around. He pictured it without the details and found the shape extremely familiar. Wasn’t this shape the same as the indentation that Aunt Teresa’s box had?

  His eyes widened.

  The box!

  He scrambled to his feet, nearly stumbling himself. He ran to his aunt’s old bedroom. The wooden floor creaked under his hurried steps. He yanked open the drawers, rummaging through the old belongings of his aunt. He desperately looked for it.

  Where is it?! It has to be here!

  Then his hand stilled.

  A dusty wooden box was tucked beneath an old pile of clothes. It laid at the bottom-most drawer. His fingers trembled, pulling it out, as memories flooded his mind. It was years ago, when he was around five or six, when he found the box below his aunt’s bed while playing. Despite being smoothed by wear, by the time he opened the lid, it won’t move.

  No matter how much he pulled, twisted, or even slammed it against the floor, it never broke. Despite being made of wood, it was tougher than steel. Begrudgingly he asked his aunt about it.

  “What’s inside, auntie?” his childish eyes gleamed with curiosity as he looked at the box.

  She only smiled, her wrinkled hands ruffled through his beige, wavy hair.

  “We’ll open it when the time comes.”

  His throat tightened.

  Is this it? Is this the moment that she meant?

  He found an indentation below the box. The hollow is exactly shaped like the pendant. Aston removed the pendant in his neck and inserted it in the groove. With a click, the box opened.