A loud roar seared through the silent hills and jolted Branch and Raven awake. They quickly discovered, to their relief, that the call wasn't meant for them, as when Raven swirled his head around him in panic, there wasn't a single firewinder in sight.
The duo quickly donned their bags and rolled up their beds. Raven hopped forward with renewed energy, while Branch quietly stalked behind him, his head never stationary for more than a moment.
"C'mon Branch, we gotta see what's going on with the migration. Maybe one of the firewinders went wild or something."
"Is that supposed to convince me to stick my head down there? Because if so, you're doing a terrible job."
"They're not gonna kill us, Branch. They don't even know we're here."
Branch sighed loudly. "It's too early for this... Fine."
Cautiously, Branch joined Raven in looking down at the herd of firewinders. The dozens of lizards were wound within and around each other, but few of them moved with any urgency. Occasionally, a claw or tail would surface from amidst the tightly knit blanket of firewinders, but for the most part, the herd was still in the slow, agonizing process of waking up.
All except for one.
Another roar shook sand from the ravine's peak, causing some of the firewinders to become bathed in it. Raven covered his ears in pain. As the echo of the creature's roar began to fade, the sound of dozens of firewinders struggling to wake up slowly floated from the ravine's floor. Snouts opened wide as the great beasts yawned and growled in consternation.
Branch and Raven looked farther down the ravine. Seperated from the great sheet of scales, a single firewinder slithered back and forth. It's hide was a spectrum of grays, occasionally broken by a glittering scarlet scale that shone like a blood red gem amongst a rolling hill of ash and coal. It's neck glowed in stipes of brilliant orange from the fire that seemed to constantly linger in its throat, ready to loose at a second's notice.
However, these were trivial details compared to the dragon's two most noticeable features. The first were its eyes. They were red, almost too red, so red that it was painful to look at them directly. Those red eyes watched the lazy mass of lizards with an anger that almost felt aware. It huffed a great flower of smoke from its thin nose, and its wings stretched in annoyance. It flapped them indignantly, and great clouds of sand were flown into the weary eyes and gaping mouths of its scaly brethren.
Its wings, speckled with stars of bright crimson and fashioned with brilliant black and white scales, filled the entire ravine.
"Woah," Branch gaped, "Is that a firewinder? That thing's not like any firewinder I've ever seen before."
"I don't know if that thing's even a firewinder to begin with. I mean, look at that thing."
The great beast turned its head, and Branch quickly ducked out of view. The monster made no move, keeping its attention wholly focused on the rest of the migration. At this point, many of the other firewinders were wide awake and ready to keep moving. A few of them hacked loudly as they tried to rid their mouths of sand while others scratched at their irritated eyes. The winged firewinder's throat glowed brighter for a moment, and Raven couldn't discern if it stemmed from its annoyance
at its troupe's laziness, or pleasure at the other lizards' discomfort.
It didn't matter, as after a moment passed, the winged lizard, clad in its shining metal hide, tucked its wings to its sides, loosed one last blossom of smoke, and slithered its way down the ravine. The other firewinders took the hint, as did the ponies, and they continued their trek towards the mountains.
"Wow, I mean... wow," Raven doted, "Did you see that thing? Never in all my life did I ever expect to see something like that!"
"It concerns me how infatuated you are with that thing. That's the one firewinder that can reach us up here, and if we're not carefuly, probably will."
"Oh absolutely, we'll definitely need to be more careful."
"Then I really think we should just stay away from the ravine now, Raven."
"Y-... yeah, alright."
"Oh thank goodness," Branch breathed a sigh of relief. "I was not prepared to fight over this."
"Yeah. That thing's definitely too dangerous to hang around, especially when we're out in the open with nowhere to run."
"Exactly."
Branch wrapped Raven in a strong but brief hug. The bug pony stared towards the mountains, looking for a path that would hide them from the ravine, and subsequently, the winged firewinder's gaze. With an acceptant "ah", he marched towards a particularly large dune that was several hundred feet from the ravine's edge.
Raven followed behind, watching the ravine become smaller and smaller behind him. They were just beginning to climb the dune when Raven noticed something odd. Many firewinders had gathered from all across the wastes to participate in the migration. As such, countless lines had been formed all across the dunes from their travelling. They travelled north, east, south west, wound in circles and zigzags. They were isolated or came in groups, but all of them eventually led to the ravine's entrance. One trail came from the opposite direction of the ravine, like many others, but this trail didn't follow its peers. Instead, the trail stopped only a couple meters away from the couple.
Raven stopped walking for a moment and stared at the anomalous trail. Another detail that seperated this firewinder track from its kin was the sharpness of its edges. The sand that had been disturbed by the trail's creation was clumpy and rough. This opposed the other firewinder trails, which had rounded out from countless days of windblown erosion.
Raven kept his eye on the trail, but resumed following branch up the dune. As he reached the dune's peak, the trail hadn't moved one bit. He chuckled to himself. Maybe the dunes really were driving him craz-
The subtle sound of shifting sound rang in Raven's ears with unmatched clarity. He snapped his head back towards the trail. It was now halfway up the dune.
Raven's heart beat like a frantic drum in his chest. His breathing shallowed in depth and quickened in pace as adrenaline flowed through his blood. His eyes stung from the wind, and he blinked for the first time in a long moment. The trail hadn't moved any further, so Raven tried his hardest to keep his pace slow and even. He prayed that the firewinder couldn't feel his shaking hooves in the sand.
Branch slid down the hill with a simple grace. He was getting the hang of navigating the wastes. That was good. Raven wouldn't have to worry about him keeping up when they were going to have to run for their lives.
Branch, unconcerned with the death machine that stalked just a hundred feet from then, turned to his partner with the cutest smile. "I'm getting the hang of this sliding... thing... Raven, are you alright hun?"
"Branch," Raven muttered through gritted teeth, "I need you to be calm, and not to panic."
"I'm not panicking, why would I be-" The insecticorn stiffened as he caught on. "Where is it?"
"On the other side of the hill, under the sand. I don't think it knows I've seen it, but it knows we're here."
Branch walked over to Raven, his hoofsteps slow and deliberate. "Ok, what should we do?"
"We need to make distance somehow."
"How do we do that? There's nowhere we can go-"
The sound of shifting sand returned, louder this time. From the top of the hill, small strings of sand rolled their way down and landed at the ponies' hooves. The two stared up at the hill's peak, and it now sported a large depression. A low rumbling began to surface from somewhere within the hill's innards. It shook sand loose and made Raven feel as if his heart might seize. The rumbling caused his legs to wobble more, and against his best efforts, he collapsed onto the sand.
Branch quickly rushed to his aid. "Raven! Are you alright?"
He was barely able to finish his sentence before they were both enveloped in a thick cloud of dust. Raven tumbled further down the dune as the force of the explosion threw him and Branch away from each other. Raven quickly closed his eyes and tried to cover his mouth. He could hear Branch coughing, and tried to pinpoint its direction. Getting up was difficult, and his hooves still wobbled, but he had to. He had to keep Branch safe, but his partner was silent. With no other options, Raven lightly opened his eyes, keeping his gaze as nothing more than a squint. He could see patches of shadow from within the sand, all varying shades of yellow and orange. Flapping curtains of dull color surrounded his vision, only confusing him more.
From somewhere in the cloud, Branch shouted. "Raven! Raven! Where are you?"
"Branch," Raven's shout was muffled behind his hoof, and he desperately hoped that Branch could hear it. "Stay where you are, I'll come to you!"
The cloud slowly began to clear, and with its dissipation, Raven could see a shadow standing still amongst the windswept sands. Two small, sapphire gems glowed from within the dusty depths, and Raven dashed towards them. He ran for a short moment, but only made it a couple feet before he crashed into something and fell hard onto the sand. His head spun, and he tried to rub the sand out of his eyes, to little avail.
Finally, with enough effort, Raven was able to open his eyes again. The cloud had dissipated significantly, but Branch was nowhere to be seen. Raven hoisted himself upright, and looked to where he had seen the glow of Branch's eyes. But instead of two soft blue orbs, there were lines of bright orange lights organized into several thin rows. Another low growl shook the ground around him, and before he knew it, he was surrounded on all sides by a wall of pearly white scales marked with countless scars. Raven was clouded in shadow as a long, pointed snout engulfed the sun. The warm glow of the firewinder's scales was soon complimented by a newer, dull grey sun who's cloudy white center focused on nothing in particular.
Raven's heart thrashed wildly in his chest, and his eyes began to blur. His hooves were locked firmly in place, rooted to the sand below him even as a single snowy claw reached out towards him and entrapped him in its grasp. He could feel the wind rush past his face as he was hoisted high up into the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Branch trying in vain to fight against the lizard's titanium grip.
Thin strings of lava poured from the creature's gaping mouth like drool. It's chest expanded as it heaved a mighty breath, and its fiery stripes glowed brighter from the fresh supply of oxygen. The beast's eyes turned towards Raven's direction, and after what felt like years, it roared a strained, aged roar that, despite the lizard's obvious age, was still painfully loud, and shook Raven's very core.
Raven tried to scream, but the second he did, a titanic thumb covered his face, muting him immediately. The dragon inhaled again, its breath a thunderous whirlwind unlike anything Raven had ever seen before. With its dead, glassy eyes pointed at him, and its lungs full of fresh air, the beast heaved again. But this time, Raven noticed something odd about its breath. It thinned, focused, warbled and shook. It was almost as if it was... talking.
The firewinder's voice flowed with all the clarity brackish water. "Huhhhh.... huhhh... Hussssshhhhhhh... Li... luh... leh... tul..."
Raven's jaw dropped. Branch quit his thrashing, and from behind the cover of the firewinder's hand, Raven heard him gasp.
"Husssshhhh... Lit... tull... puh... puh... pohhh... niessss... I'm hh... hhherrrrre... to hhhhhhelllllp..."