Your Future ~ Clearsight

                                    

                                          
AN: Not a romance
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The events of this story take place in the time of Pantala's origins, 1876 years before the present-day dragon world.
3136 AS
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Clearsight was tired.
Yet even at 128 years of age, it wasn't her aching bones, nor her nearly flightless wings that exhausted her so. It was her brain—the constant tick tick tick of threads flowing through her mind: tangling, interconnecting, and shattering. 
For a dragon that spent so much of her life living in the future, it was bewildering when she realized that the present had finally caught up to her. The threads had gotten thinner and thinner the further up she'd climbed, until she finally lost grip and tumbled back into reality. 
When she had realized her fated end was upon her, confusion, fear, and acceptance had flooded through her body, overwhelming the small part of her consciousness that still resided within the present. 
Ouch. Now she had a headache on top of her exhausted mind and protesting bones.
She couldn't believe the reality that bound her. She couldn't fathom that one future could be inevitable, unable to be bumped onto a different timeline. She couldn't even try to accept that her present ended now—not when she had already lived hundreds of years in the future.
Yet alas, there was nothing left for her to do. No small nudges or bumps could prevent the inescapable darkness that would come to surround her. She had seen this moment before, of course, but it hadn't occurred to her that her vision from over a hundred years ago would become reality so fast.
She sighed, gently flipping back to the start of her book after double-checking her work for what seemed like the thousandth time. The Book of Visions was her last gift to the two tribes; a fragment of her soul that she would leave behind to continue helping the two Pantalan tribes for hundreds of years after her passing.
Again, she scanned across her farewell letter to the dragons of the future. Tears welled up in her eyes—even as she tried to push them back.
Drip, drip
Small, silver droplets cascaded across the aged, stained-wood floor.
Even through her tear-soaked eyes, she could still make out the faint outline of her final farewell to her family.
All my love, 
Clearsight
She hated the bitter-sweetness of those words. It was agonizing to know that she would never see the faces of her great-great-grandchildren with her own two eyes, nor be able to watch as the tribes continue to expand their roots and spread across Pantala for hundreds of years to come. It pained her to admit it, but she was both heart-warmed and envious of their bright futures, which contrasted her forbidding present so heavily.
In the futures she saw early in her life, there was pain, undoubtedly, but also love and contentment. However, in hindsight, she realized that she'd been short-sighted with her interpretations of those visions. The malice-laced sweet-nothings of her first star-crossed love had convinced her to subconsciously overlook the desolation that awaited her in the twilight years of her life. The truth was, countless moons had passed until she'd finally moved onwards from Darkstalker. No one had ever wooed her like that; his hypnotic voice and carefree nature swept away her worries.
"I love Clearsight, the beautiful dragon standing in front of me right here, right now. Please don't take her away from me."
Maybe it's okay to be myself. To live my life wondering what the future holds for me.
A foolish notion. But alas, those were pages from a different chapter of her life. 
Sunstreak, her betrothed, had passed nearly a decade ago. Her children—Commodore, Jewel, Tortoiseshell, and Orange—were almost never at home, swamped by the toils of establishing and maintaining the kingdoms. She had outlived all of her friends and mournfully attended all of their funerals. It pained her to know that none of them would be there for hers.
A light breeze drifted through the house, blowing a couple of old timeline scribbles off of her table. Letting out a soft laugh, she remembered when she had been so possessed by the future. After years and years of frustration, she had finally come to realize that fate prevented her from getting too firm of a grasp on what had yet to come. Thus, in the waning light of her life, when she decided that she had finally given all there was to be given, she chose to live in the present.
Just live in the present... Those words triggered a faint but resounding pang of poignant recognition.
She lifted her head to look out the window, taking in a deep breath of the moist, rainy-season air. The intoxicating floral scent of the forest filled her lungs. She was engulfed by silence, save for the nonstop chirping of crickets and the occasional lullabies of a passing flock of birds. In between the rustling of leaves in the autumn breeze, she could hear the distant screeches of her great grandchildren playing.
She exhaled. 
It's not all that bad, though. She thought. Clearsight was satisfied with the long, eventful life she had lived; she was proud of her accomplishments, and had come to accept her shortcomings.
Darkstalker said the same thing, though...
She shook out her wings, as if forcefully removing the thought from her head. She hadn't thought about her first love this much in years - and when she had, it was only in hindsight to reflect upon her failure as a seer. 
All those years ago, she had made a new life for herself. She knew she could never go back to Pyrrhia after standing on that stage with Darkstalker. It didn't matter to her, though. In this new life, there were new tribes, a new love, and most importantly, a second chance. 
She didn't need to dwell in the past, nor be possessed by her mourning of Eclipse, Shadowhunter, and Fierceclaws.
I saved these two tribes. I kept them on the right paths this time. I had children, and I protected them until the end.
She had done enough. 
Content with her rumination, she rested her head on her front talons, curling up comfortably on the feathered comforter Sunstreak had gotten her for her one-hundredth birthday. 
She was tired. 
Her eyelids felt like stone, slowly drooping and enveloping her in black. At that moment, her life flashed before her eyes. Meeting Sunstreak for the first time, immediately falling in love with their dragonets, sharing mangos with Maple and the other elder LeafWings. 
She smiled.
Clearsight was a dragon who had spent her whole life chasing the future. But alas, reality had finally caught up.
The breeze whistled through the early morning air. A dragon slowly slipped away, and a thread clicked into place.
Time had finally won. 
~
Long time no see!
Just wanted to drop in and fill in one of the missing gaps in the story. I was annoyed that Clearsight didn't get more story time,, so I decided to fill in with my own version of it.
Short and sweet, but it was really satisfying for me to write. Please vote if you enjoyed!
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