I called out to the others, “Hey guys, is it possible for dragon scale to be bleached in any way?” I asked. I hoped to god that I was wrong.
“I don't think so.” Camouflage said, his voice echoing across the room, “Why?”
I felt a lead weight drop into my stomach. “We may have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Jun asked. He came over to me, curious as to what I was talking about. I flashed him the scale. His eyes widened as he came to the same realization I did.
“There may be another dragon in here, but I’m not sure.” I said.
“How do we know it is here?”
“Only one way to find out.” I said. I spread my arms out. “Bio Locus.” A wave of magic spread out like an inflating balloon. As it passed Jun, I could sense his life force. The ball expanded to fill up the room, showing Meta and Camouflage as well. There was no one in the room with us, but the wave kept expanding until I sense another life force. A big life force.
I turned towards the source. I could sense that it was behind the wall, but I couldn’t see an opening from where I stood. That's when I noticed that one of the crags on the cave wall seemed at lot closer than the wall behind it. I moved to the side to see that its position didn't change while the wall's did. There was an opening back there.
I turned back to Jun and motioned for him to be silent and the others as well. He nodded and casually went back over to them. I crept over to the wall and hugged it as I moved closer to the dragon’s hiding spot. Every part of me was screaming to run away, but I had to confirm something. I was about half way there, my adrenaline increasing my senses and my heart pounding in my chest, when I noticed something else was off.
The Voice was silent. I couldn’t hear a whisper of it.
My mind raced through possible explanations and recent memories to find out why it was gone. Did I somehow lift it? Was it a glitch in the system? Or, to my fears, did I do something evil unknowingly? I took another step. Another step. Another step. Each one putting a further sense of dread into me.
After what felt like hours, I made it to the opening. I tried to take another step, but I couldn’t. My body wouldn’t obey me. ‘Come on,’ I thought frantically, ‘Just look around the corner. Maybe whatever’s there is asleep or at least has it’s back turned.’ Slowly, my body obeyed my commands and I peeked around the corner.
There was nothing there. It was just a pitch black empty cave. Confused, I stepped out from my cover. 'The hell? Could’ve sworn there was someth-' I was cut off as a massive form shot out from the darkness and slammed me into the wall. After the shock passed, I got a good look at my assailant.
It was another red dragon, but this one was smaller than the ones from before. He was about as big as I was in my Dragon form. Triangular snout, strong arms, sharp claws, slitted eyes trying to vaporize me, ribbed, leathery wings, and... well, the works. Smoke poured out of his nostrils as he breathed heavily into my face.
I coughed to clear the smoke from my mouth. I never liked smoking. Breathing in the shit of fire sounds nasty and after seeing the pictures of black lung disease...I tried to keep a cigarette at least twenty feet away from me. When the smoke cleared and I could breath easily again, I regained enough sense to panic properly. “Can I help you?” I asked. My mind began to run through the possible scenarios of the situation, calculating the best course of action.
The dragon growled and pressed his face against mine. 'No homo, man.' My mind thought as he spoke. “Yes. You can help by dying.”
“Right,” I said with a strained smile, my arm slowly reaching for my weapons, “I'll do that in abou-” I cut myself off as I drew my prototype saber up, “Lumen Armus!” I watched the saber flicker once and then shatter in my hand. My mind stopped all processes as I took in what just happened. “Of all the times you could break, it had to be now?” I asked coldly to no one in particular. The dragon's snort brought me out of my frustration. I smiled awkwardly at him. 'Fuck my life.' I thought.
The dragon yanked me out of the rock I was embedded in and threw me across the room. I reacted quickly, “Trans Form Harpy.” I spread my new wings and stopped myself before I could hit the wall. Unfortunately, the universe disagreed and I turned around just in time to see the dragon body slam me into the wall again. Why do rocks like my body so much?
I barely notice the others try to attack the dragon holding me down. The dragon brushed off their attacks, sending a spout of flames to scatter them off. “Guys! Run!” I manage to yell out from under the dragon's claws. They stared at me as if I was insane. I usually am. “Go! I got this!” They acknowledged reluctantly and sprinted for the tunnel. I noticed the dragon breathe in, preparing another fireball to send their way. “Depulso!” I yelled aiming my arm at his jaw as best I could. The force of my spell knocked his head aside, sending his fireball way off target.
The dragon recovered and glared at me. I took the moment to hurl a spider silk loogie in his eyes. He recoiled in surprise and brought his claws up to his face to wipe it off, allowing me to escape. I darted over to the other side of the room, trying to make distance between the two of us. I flew up and perched myself on a crag on the wall. I watched the dragon recover himself like a hawk as I planned my next move.
...I had no idea what to do. I could defeat the other dragons by using their bulky bodies against them, even jumping into the female's mouth. But this was different. This dragon was smaller, compact, and a hell of a lot faster. I was willing to bet that the scales would be too hard for bullets to penetrate and shooting the eyes was out of the question with his speed and target size. I had no way of beating him short of collapsing the cave on top of us. My only option was to duke it out and hope I could knock him out. “Fuck my life.” I muttered, “Trans Form Dragon.”
The dragon finally cleaned off the silk from his eyes and searched the cave for me. His eyes locked onto me when I finished transforming. I jumped off my ledge and dove towards him, claws outstretched. He swiftly dodged under me and grabbed my tail as I flew past him. He then swung me over his shoulder into the ground like a hammer, knocking the wind from my lungs. He repeated this motion several times, slinging me around like a rag doll. Once he was done, I could barely move due to the pain that wracked my body. The dragon took the moment to jump on top of me and start whaling punches at any place he could reach. I instinctively went into the defense forms my brother had taught me.
I blocked most of the punches though I was clipped several times. At one point, the dragon tried to choke me and that’s when I struck back. I grabbed his arm and snaked my leg around his, locking him in place. Before he could react, I lifted up with my hips and flipped him over onto his back. I pinned his arms and legs with mine leaving us both unable to attack or defend.
I was about to strike back when I heard a gasp from behind me. I whipped my head around to see a small pink dragon peeking out from behind the corner that hid the side passage. She, I assumed it was a she from the color, seemed to quiver in fear at the sight of us fighting. I wondered why she wasn’t helping him when the dragon below me shouted, “Pearl! I told you to stay hidden!”
“I’m sorry brother, I was worried about you.” She said meekly.
Her words rung in my head. ‘Brother…’ My mind slowly clicked as it processed this information. ‘She said brother so then that means she’s the sister and judging by their size and attitude, she’s younger of the two.’ My eyes darted between the two of them at connections were made. ‘So if these two are siblings, then that means…’ I felt a ton of lead drop in my stomach at the realization, ‘I killed their parents.’
I could hear the Voice cackle in my head, It’s just like before, except this time it WAS your fault.
That was why the Voice was so quiet. I had just orphaned two young dragons out of the self-defense of my crew, not even giving a thought to them.
Police officers walked the scene. I stood on the side, still shell shocked from the event. Some tried to give me warm comforts but I was too numb and cold to feel it. I watched the covered bodies be lifted into the back of the ambulance. I wanted to wake them up, but I knew they would never wake again. It...it's all my fault. I killed them.
As the memories tried to pour back out, I felt my anger rise. “No.” I whispered. The dragon below me gave me a look of confusion. “No.” I said, louder this time. The dragon shrunk back slightly, fearing my new anger. “NO!” I yelled, before bringing my fist back and towards the dragon. The pink one gave a yelp at seeing my fist rocket towards her brother’s head. My fist made contact and the rock below exploded into fragments. I kept pounding away, picturing my target in my head. I didn't stop until I was too exhausted to lift my arm again. I barely noticed that my fists didn't bleed from the beating I just gave them.
I breathed heavily, letting my anger seep out of me. The dragon below eyed my fist which rested right next to his face. He glanced between the fist and me, unsure of what happened. “I’m sorry.” I said softly. I crawled off him and muttered the spell to turn back to Base form. As I shambled away, the pink dragon rushed past me to help her brother.
I was at the entrance to the tunnel when I heard the dragon call me out. “Why did you not kill me?” he asked.
I stopped and gave him a weary look, “Because your sister needs someone to care for her. Your parents can’t do that anymore and you can’t either if you’re dead.”
The dragon blinked in surprise, “But didn’t you come to kill us?”
“No. I came to loot the cave of dead dragons, not annihilate a family. I already did that once and I don’t want to do it again.” I shuddered slightly.
“Why did you kill our parents? What did they ever do to you?” he asked.
“I killed them because they were attacking my ship and crew. I was sailing peacefully until they came along.”
The pink one, I forgot her name, spoke, “So..you weren’t trying to kill us for sport?” her voice laced with confusion.
“What? No. Why would you think that?” I asked.
“Well that’s what that strange creature told us. He said you were going to attack us and destroy our family.”
‘Strange creature?’ I thought. “What did this creature look like?”
The red one spoke, “He was about your size but looked like a bald monkey. His skin was mostly black except for his head and claws. Those were pale white.”
“And he seemed really cold and I mean REALLY cold.” The pink one piped, “The lava in the room seemed to cool when he appeared.”
I stared dumbly at them. I briefly scanned my memory for what I wanted and held up my hand, palm up, “Project Memoria.” An image appeared in my hand. It was Erebus when I met him for the first time, sitting in my room. “Like this?”
“Yes! Exactly like that!” the pink one screamed.
My eye twitched and I crushed the image in my claws. I took a deep breath to calm the rage that was building up inside me. 'Erebus,' I thought, 'You. Are. Dead.'
“Do you know him?” the red one asked.
“Oh, I know him alright.” I said, my voice dropping into a threatening growl, “His name is Erebus and he's been the cause of most of my problems lately. He's the one who sent your parents to their deaths and set me up to take the fall.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don't know, but it's really starting to piss me off.” I took a deep breath and performed the Candle. Once I was relaxed, I could think a whole lot clearer. “Look, we both got off on the crippled foot here. My name is Gunhaver, in case Erebus didn't tell you.”
“Magnus,” the red dragon said, “and this is Pearl, my sister.” he pointed to the pink one.
I bowed my head, “Nice to meet you, though I wish it was under better circumstances.” I said grimly, “I am truly sorry for what I did. I know all too well what it's like to lose someone close to you.”
“Do not be.” Magnus said, “We knew that they would pass away soon. It was only a matter of time before they did.”
I was now intrigued. “What do you mean?”
“Dragons can sense when their time to die will come. Our parents told us this days ago and prepared to turn responsibility of the family over to me when they passed on.”
“I see.” This was fascinating to me. I wondered what else I could learn from dragons. A thought crossed my mind. “If it make things any better, I can show you their bodies. I had kept them from falling into the ocean.”
Both of the dragons lit up. “Yes that would be nice. I thank you for doing that for them. The sea is not a place meant for dragons to rest.” Magnus said.
“Yeah, sure.” I said, glad that I omitted the fact that I had originally kept the bodies so I could do a makeshift autopsy and tear it apart to use as materials for ship repair and future experiments. What they don't know won't hurt me.