Once All I Ever Wanted

Inspired by the song "The Plagues" from Dreamwork's "The Prince of Egypt."

Nathaniel's eyes flew to the ruddy horizon, and there he saw her.

Tall and proud, head held high, Vaemyri defied every expectation he'd ever had of her, and his heart shuddered for fear. Her long copper hair was aflame in the light of the dying sun at her back, the tendrils of fire lashing through the upset air.Her long crimson robes were billowing and snapping about her ankles, yet the woman paid no heed, completely and utterly focused on the task at hand: the destruction of all that Nathaniel held dear.

Vaemyri lifted her arms into the scorching air, her fingers twining, caressing, sculpting the wind, the ash, the fires at her terrible command. Evil light flashed from the rotten sky, illuminating the fearsome sight in an eerie maroon glow. All around her, thick balls of flame thundered to the ground, pounded the city, obliterated the landscape. The heavens themselves were overrun with the forbidding darkness of choking smoke, hot ash, and the fumes of destruction. The air was filled with a sound that ripped at the fabric of Nathaniel's sanity, the shrieks of sorrow and terror belonging to a city being torn down from on high.

As Nathaniel watched, Vaemyri's long fingers curled into claws, and even from the distance of his palace balcony, the king could see the flicker of doubt that crossed over the woman's features. And then she turned her gaze, ever so deliberately, to stare across the distance of the blazing city, past the flaming trees that were crumbling to ash, through the thickening haze of suffocating smoke, to meet Nathaniel's tortured gaze.

There was a powerful meaning in that look, a silent communication of things that went far deeper than anyone could know. Vaemyri's eyes were glinting in the glow of the destruction she'd caused, and yet, Nathaniel knew, she was begging him for forgiveness, pleading for his surrender. And with a renewed sense of despair, the king realized that no matter how long the time had lapsed between them, there was still a place for him in this terrible woman's heart.

And it was for that reason that Nathaniel was afraid.

As she appealed for his submission, the king felt his resolve strengthen. With a simple shake of his head, a world of thoughts, whispers, feelings, and dreams came crumbling down, dealt their final blow after the attacks of Vaemyri.

At his refusal, the woman's eyes flashed with pain, and she threw her head back in despair. But she was obligated, chained, and with dark purpose, the sorceress lifted her arms once more.

Nathaniel clenched his fists, and awaited the end.

Vaemyri let free her terrible cry.

Author's Note

It's part of a larger story I had planned once but never got around to writing. The song "The Plagues" simply brought to mind this perfect scene of an emotionally distant interaction between ex-lovers who are now at opposite ends of a war.