"Monsters aren't real."

"Hey, did you hear something?"
Glorious' ears twitched, slightly annoyed from Pomegranate's suddenly speaking. She was just on the verge of falling asleep too...
"No, I didn't," the RainWing replied. "Now let me sleep, okay?"
"You didn't hear it?" the red-purple dragon said. "That can't be right-"
"Some of us are trying to sleep, so maybe that's why they didn't hear anything."
"No, no. I could've sworn that I heard something."
"I'm not saying that you didn't hear anything, rather that we have better things to do than lay awake and jump at the smallest of things."
Pomegranate sighed. "I know, but... I can't help it. It's harder to sleep nowadays."
Glorious opened her eyes, lifting up her head to better see her friend. The two of them were at her hut, resting on the front deck for their daily sun time. High above the ground and nestled into one of the bigger trees, they could have a nice and peaceful sleep while still getting all of the sunlight they needed to stay beautiful.
Though, it's a bit hard to do that when your best friend can barely hold still for a couple moments. Still, she was concerned for Pomegranate. The two have known each other for practically their entire lives. Sure, she was an anxious mess that constantly relied on Glorious to make friends and such, but that was the fun of it.
So, hearing that she wasn't sleeping was a bit worrying.
"Why's that? Is there anything bothering you?"
"No. Well, yes, actually. I'll try to doze off and then... I don't know, I just hear something."
"We live in a rainforest, Pomegranate. There's always something. The bugs, the birds, the bloody screaming monkeys-"
"I know, I know, but just... It's not like that."
"Okay then, what is it?" Glorious asked.
Pomegranate bit her tongue. "I can't describe it, really. It's nothing like anything else I could hear before. Like screaming, but not like one from a dragon or even a monkey. I thought it could be from the wild boars, but even then, it doesn't really sound like a squeal.
"Huh. Weird."
The red RainWing exhaled again. "It's been keeping me up. Sometimes I think it's... them."
"Them- oh. Right..." 
Just about a week ago, their good friend, Amazon, had gone missing. Nobody knows where they went. It's been years since those RainWing disappearances, the ones where they were being kidnapped and such, so having another dragon just disappear randomly was strange to say the least. Pomegranate was the most affected by it all, being really close to them and all.
"It's probably not." Glorious tried to comfort her.
She hesitated. "I don't know. Sometimes, I feel like it is them, you know? I've never really heard them scream, but I feel like if I did, it'd sound exactly like that."
"Maybe it's a nightmare?" she offered. "Perhaps it could be your mind playing tricks or whatever. Isn't that what happens when you overwork yourself and don't get sleep?"
"Sounds about right. I think I heard Parakeet say something like that when he was lecturing me about going out at night."
"That too!" Glorious sat up. "You keep going out at night trying to find them and going days without sleeping."
"I- I know, but... I feel like maybe I can find them one day. If not, maybe I can find the stupid thing that captured her."
The orange-yellow RainWing paused. "The what? You think something kidnapped her or something?"
"W- well, you know the- there could always be some sort of wild animal-"
"We're DRAGONS, Pomegranate. We're bigger than any jaguar or anything that could harm us."
The other dragon lowered her voice. "It- I- I'm just- I don't know I can't-" she stammered.
Glorious snickered. "You seriously thought that?"
"N- no! I was just... saying things! You know how I am with that..."
"Heh, yeah..." She frowned slightly. "Whatever. It's just a random noise. It's probably a screaming monkey or some bird. Happens all the time. Just get to sleep."
"But-"
"Come on, just do it. You need it. Pretend I'm Parakeet for a second." She deepened her voice and shifted her scales to a light green. "Ahem, look, Pomegranate? You are a good dragon, but listen to me for once in your life. I am a doctor. I know what I am doing. Go to sleep or else your brain will fry, alright?"
"I-"
"No buts! I am a doctor and I am always correct!"
The other let out a weak laugh. "Pff, that's... that's a pretty good impression."
Glorious chuckled. "So... yeah. Get to sleep, alright? In an hour or so we have to go with Parakeet and pick fruit. Might as well just nap until then."
"Yeah... I guess so."
"So you'll sleep?"
"Maybe."
Glorious scoffed. "See you then." She rolled back onto her other side, nestling back into a more comfortable position. Closing her eyes and feeling the warm sun against her scales, drowsiness crept across her body, pulling her into a deep slumber.
After what felt like mere minutes, an odd feeling washed over her. A small sense of dread and anxiety crept across her scales. She tried her best to ignore it, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that something was watching her, breathing down her neck.
Finally, after getting sick of it, she opened up. Staring right back were a pair of two golden yellow orbs, practically right in her face.
"AH!" Glorious screamed, falling out of her hammock. As she fell, she heard the sounds of giddy laughter burst out from around her. Scrambling back to her senses, she looked at the intruder.
A pale green RainWing with flecks of golden yellow and fiery orange across his wings and snout, eyes closed as he held his talons to his mouth.
"Parakeet!" she snapped. "You could've given me a heart attack!"
"I'm sorry!" he replied. "I- we tried to wake you up and you wouldn't budge!"
"So you just hovered above me for moons knows how long?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much what he did," Pomegranate said.
Glorious snorted. "My wing..." she quietly hissed. "I could've bruised it."
"Oh, it's no big deal. It'll feel better before you know it."
"Yeah right," she sneered. A couple moments of awkward silence followed before Pomegranate broke it up.
"Anyway, I do believe that it is time to go and pick some fruit for the pie tonight," she said.
"I call dibs on not getting the durians. Moons above, I hate those..." Parakeet chimed in.
"Whatever," Glorious said, raising her wings to lift off. "Last one to the meeting spot is a rotten egg!" She called out, darting for the ledge. She barreled off, allowing for the wind to catch underneath her wings and to carry her away into the rainforest.
It was all very much the same. Gorgeous and brilliant greens in almost every direction you look. Tall trees that stood like obelisks branching off and coiling around one another. The ground was covered in a thick layer of fallen vines and leaves, only sparse patches of mud showing through occasionally. Of course, it was all more of a blur as Glorious passed by. She was already intimate with the forest she lived in. The smell of rainfall and foliage, the ever-present sounds of birds chirping and bugs flying around, everything.
It was slightly predictable in that sense. She lived here her entire life, so of course, she'd be familiar with every little detail of it all. Right where they were heading was the 'heart' of the forest as they liked to call it. An area that was pretty close to a lot of different trees that produced various fruit. Some bore bananas, others pineapples, that sort of thing.
After a couple of minutes, she found it. A large tree with a massive trunk that stood taller than the rest. Vines and roots stretched around its base, twisting around like snakes. It radiated a sense of age and grandeur that most others did not.
The RainWing jumped onto one of the branches and slid down, reaching the bottom in seconds. Moments later, she could hear the sounds of her friends approaching her. Just like that, Parakeet appeared from the leaves, Pomegranate following soon after.
"No fair!" she cried out. "You know I'm not fast!"
"Doesn't matter, you're still a rotten egg." Glorious stuck her tongue out playfully.
"Whatever." The RainWing's scales slowly turned pinker with each passing second.
"So, what's the plan?" Parakeet asked. "Cause' I called dibs on not getting those blasted spikey fruits."
"Yeah yeah, I know," Glorious said. "So, let's say in about... at least two hours we all come back here and go back to the village, sounds like a plan?"
"Sounds good." Pomegranate nodded her head.
"I can take the eastern section, Parakeet can take the western, and you can take the northern part. If we do it then, we'll have everything for the pie. That sound good Parakeet?" Glorious asked.
Parakeet didn't respond. He was looking to his left, his eyes transfixed on something.
"Parakeet?" she repeated.
"Wh- yeah! Sounds great, yeah."
"What were you looking at?" Pomegranate inquired. "There's nothing over there."
"Oh, nothing. I just... thought I saw something move."
Glorious looked over in the same direction, being greeted with nothing more than just the usual sights of the rainforest. "Well, doesn't seem to be anything."
"Yeah, I know. I just... I thought I saw something. Maybe it was just a little dragonet spying on us or some other animal running away."
The group fell silent for a moment, just looking at the area. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just your usual trees and vines.
"Alright, whatever. Come on, let's get a move on!" Glorious clapped her talons. "See you all in a bit!" And with that, she bolted right out of sight, off to collect some tangerines and lemons for their precious desert.
Hours had gone by and now Glorious was heading back to the spot, caught in a balancing act of trying to hold several bits of freshly plucked food without dropping any. It was like she was a performer of some kind, the ones that would juggle and, inevitably, make a fool of themselves by purposefully allowing them to fall onto their head of something.
Still, she persisted. It was getting closer to nightfall and they all needed this pie in order to impress Queen Glory to try and get Parakeet the promotion he wanted.
Eventually, she found the ancient tree once more, Pomegranate pacing around nearby it. Her stash of fruit was collected into a neat pile that rested against the trunk, which she carefully navigated around to talk to her friend.
"Hey, Pom!" Glorious called out.
The oddly pale green RainWing's scales shifted back into a happier and more relieved amber yellow. "Oh thank the moons you're here."
"What? Is something wrong?" she asked.
"I was just- you know you're late by like half an hour, right?"
"I am?" Glorious' eyes went wide. "Sorry about that. Would've stressed you right out." She looked around. "Where's Parakeet."
"That's the thing! He's also missing."
It was as though a spear had been plunged straight through her body at those mere words, yet she tried to ignore it. "Wh- what? That can't be right. He's always early and-"
"Exactly! I- I tried looking for him an- and he's not there and-" Pomegranate trailed off, speaking faster and faster, taking sharp and sporadic breaths in between.
"Shh! Calm down! Deep breaths. It's okay-"
"NO!" she yelled, something the RainWing never did. "We already lost Amazon. I am not losing another friend."
"Easy, easy!" Glorious said. "Maybe he's just a bit slow to come back. If he is, it's all fine. Besides, we really need to get back to work on that pie."
"But-"
"If we don't start now, we won't get it out by tomorrow. If he's taking his sweet time, he'll know he's late and will come straight back to the village. It's going to be okay."
"I- he- he's never- I can't-" she stuttered and stammered, her scales shifting through a rainbow of different colours, all of which proudly displayed her anxiety and paranoia-filled panic attack.
"Hey, hey, look at me. Pomegranate?" Glorious spoke gently. "It's going to be okay. He'll make it back soon enough. If he doesn't, we'll get Glory to send out a search party again."
The dragon before her stared at her, nervousness apparent in every facet of her being. Yet, her breathing slowed. She closed her eyes, and soon enough, she slowly returned to her normal colours.
"Y- you're right..." she muttered. "He would've wanted us to start working even without him. He'll be back, right?"
"Of course!" the other responded. "Now, get your fruit! We got to hurry before it's too late."
Pomegranate nodded in response, quickly grabbing her pile of pineapples and coconuts and rushing ahead of Glorious. She trailed after her friend, excited to start working on it.
But, before she ascended into the treetops, she took one last glance back at the tree. She didn't know why, perhaps she thought that somehow Parakeet would've magically spawned there.
Yet, nothing. Still just the same, usual rainforest. Nothing out of place or unique.
Please be safe... she thought.
----
"You've got all of the fruit diced up?" 
"Yep!" she said. "And the fire's burning?"
"Uh-huh, and it's pretty strong too," Pomegranate replied.
"Alright! Coming through!" Glorious scooped up the pie tin and quickly walked across the room, making sure not to bump into anything. Before her was a large stone fireplace with a small ledge above the cinders and flame. The chimney spiraled upward, pumping the smoke up and out of their hut. The RainWing slid it into the slot, making sure not to touch the extremely hot interior.
"Whew, thank the moons that's done with..." She stepped back, wiping some stray sweat from her head. "Now, we wait for it to bake."
"What fun," Pomegranate said sarcastically. 
Glorious pulled up one of the old wicker ottomans and sat down, taking a moment to breathe. "Hopefully by the time the pie's done he'll be back. I don't think he'd want to miss out on it." She looked to the door, slightly disappointed that Parakeet still wasn't there.
"Yeah... maybe..." The other RainWing hesitated. "I'm really getting worried about him now."
The sunset RainWing didn't respond. She didn't want to argue with her, trying to find some sort of reason or excuse as to why he wasn't there. They'd been working on this pastry for a while now and it's certainly been at least two hours since they were all supposed to meet up again.
Parakeet was never the type to do this, give them all a scare over nothing. He knew Pomegranate wasn't great with her paranoid thoughts and always wanted to be there for her.
Something happened, but what exactly that was remained a mystery still.
The pair stared at the door in silence for a couple of minutes. The distant sounds of the crickets and bugs coming out signaled that the day was soon coming to an end. The sky was turning a stunning range of yellows and oranges, coming together in a vibrant gradient. It looked as though it had been lit aflame, with the pinkish-blue clouds being the smog procured from it.
Twilight was upon them with no sign of things getting better.
"I'm sorry Pomegranate," she apologized. "It's... really tough right now, isn't it?"
"I'm going out there. I have to."
Glorious' heart turned inside out upon hearing those words, her scales shifting to a paler green. "Wh- what?"
"He's out there still, I know it."
"H- hold on, he could just still be-"
"He could still be doing what? Picking fruit?" Pomegranate let out a weak laugh. "Th- that's beyond belief at this point. He's... He can't be dead but-"
"Wait, wait, wait. Slow down. He's not dead. He's probably-"
"I can hear something out there, Glorious. He- he's just... I know he's somewhere. I need to just find him-"
"This doesn't sound like a good idea-"
"He could be stuck somewhere for all we know!" she snapped. "I- I- he could be... I don't know, trapped in some vines or something, calling out for help. I don't know. I- I just..."
Pomegranate hung her head. "I don't want him to go missing too..." she quietly confessed.
"Me neither, but I feel like going out there is just a death wish," Glorious said.
"I know, but I can't shake this feeling. I have to go out there and find them."
The RainWing paused. "Them?" she repeated.
It was quiet for a moment before Pomegranate spoke up. "I... I didn't tell you this because I thought you would've just said I was seeing things. I- I probably was, but..."
"But what? Tell me."
"When I was grabbing some pineapples, I looked over and saw them, Amazon."
The tension in the room grew thicker as it was getting harder and harder for Glorious to breathe. She curled her tail closer to her body as she tried to think clearly.
"It could've just been some other dragon or maybe you looking at the forest in a certain way. She's very green that way-"
"No." The RainWing avoided Glorious' gaze. "It was them. I know it was. They were just... standing there, way off in the distance. They didn't move. They didn't say anything. I would've thought it was just my brain playing tricks, but, their eyes..."
"What? What about them?"
"I don't know. They weren't normal. Th- they looked normal, but... I can't describe it." Her voice began to break, cracking at the very end. Her scales slowly began to shift to a dark purple, with small stripes of orange, blue, and green. "I could've gone over to them. I could've said something. It was them; I know it. I could've brought them with me and they'd be back home, safe and sound."
She held her wings up and hid behind them. "But... I ignored it. I thought I was just seeing things. I- I was this close and..."
Suddenly, she stood up. "I'm going out to look for them. I can't just sit here and wait for them to never come back. The both of them are out there, I just need to help them. I need to find them."
Glorious tried to speak, but she couldn't form the words to stop her friend. Rather she just sat there, stunned and in denial as to what was happening. 
Pomegranate opened the door and paused. "Don't follow after me, okay? If I go missing, just... report me or something. Queen Glory has to come and look if three dragons are gone." She turned around, giving her a shaky smile. "Besides, somebody has to watch the pie... right?"
"Pomegranate..." Glorious whispered. She watched as her best friend just hung her head and disappeared from view, flying off the platform and into the forest, leaving her utterly and entirely alone.
It had been a couple of hours now at this point. Glorious had just taken out the pie and left it out to cool. She was just sitting there, eyes transfixed on the floor below her, caught in a web of her own thoughts. Guilt had consumed her for the past while and she was just left in her own house, unable to sleep or shake off these feelings.
It was fully night now. The sun had set and she was left entirely to herself in the dark rainforest. Sure, there were other dragons around, probably sleeping soundly away in their little huts, blissfully unaware or caring of what was happening to her and the ones she cared about.
Pomegranate wasn't back yet. Any sort of sound of wings flapping around her house brought a false sense of hope and joy, one that would be demolished upon realizing it was either just a stray bird or some other random RainWing trying to get home. She tried to take her mind off of the stress by trying to sleep, yet she wouldn't keep still and the anxieties of it all kept her up.
Isolated and in need of closure, she stared out the window. She was greeted with the same sights of the forest, the tall winding trees and the dangling branches with vines that loosely hung from them. It was hard to see, but her eyes were slowly adjusting more and more to the darkness. It was less inviting and comforting, now knowing that her friends were lost within the thicket. Like staring at an old friend who has grown colder and more unrecognizable from the younger self you always knew them as, being twisted into something strange and intimidating.
A cold breeze blew by, rattling the RainWing to her core. Yet, between the distinct howl of the wind and the constant hum of the bugs, she could've sworn she heard something. A cry of some kind, but not one of the usual sounds she could hear from the forest. No howler monkey, no jaguar, nothing.
It sounded familiar. It was her voice.
Glorious straightened up upon hearing the noise, her heart dropping right down to her talons. She stuck her head out, hoping that maybe she could hear it a bit better.
Nothing.
She shuddered as she looked out, trying to comprehend what she had just heard. It sounded exactly like her, but what tone was indescribable. It drew her more in, curious as to why it had happened. It couldn't have simply just been her hearing things. It was definitely her best friend. She was out there somewhere.
And from the sounds of it, she was in trouble.
She began to climb out of the window, but hesitated for a moment, remembering the promise she made earlier. She wouldn't go after her, even if something bad happened.
But, that would've required her to ignore every impulse, every sense of her intuition. She couldn't just sit idly by, waiting for dawn to rear its head in and bring with it the news that now three dragons were missing. She couldn't allow for that, not after hearing what is so clearly her voice calling out to her.
Besides, she would rather be together with her friends than alone for what could very well be the rest of her life.
She took a deep breath and then pulled herself through, spreading her wings and taking flight into the rainforest. This was it. She was going to find them all.
It was more difficult to glide through the forest it seemed. Glorious was careless and smacking against more branches, which brushed against her wings and left her with minor scrapes. The leaves tickled her scales and left an odd, uncomfortable sensation around her entire body. The dim lights from the RainWing village faded as she flew deeper into the rainforest, distancing herself further and further from civilization and into the wilderness.
She tried to steady her breathing, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to do. There should be nothing to be scared of, right? It's just a forest. She knows this place like the back of her talons. If something goes wrong, she'll know which direction the village is in and she can fly back for help. Even then, what could possibly happen? 
Well, you know, whatever happened to Amazon and possibly Parakeet and Pomegranate. But, Glorious was prepared. She knew what she was doing. There was no possible way for anything wrong to have happened-
BANG!
She clipped into the massive meeting tree, knocking right out of the sky and plummeting to the ground. Seconds later, she hit the dirt, hard. Pain rippled through her body as she was smacked against the forest floor, especially coming from her right wing.
"Ow, ow, ow..." she groaned, laying there for a moment or two. Her head spun as she collected herself once more, quickly analyzing what had happened. She steadied herself and pushed upward, which brought more attention to the terrible ache in her wing. It hurt to move it at all.
She was grounded, her ability to fly suddenly stripped away from her in a fraction of a second; all from being too reckless.
"Three moons..." she cursed, patting down the rest of her to make sure that nothing else was badly injured. "I guess I'll have to do this the hard way now... Great..."
Glorious moved forward, her talons dragging across the dense and relatively untouched bed of leaves below. Mud and soil was splattered across her scales, making her feel even more uncomfortable than she already was. She walked with a slight limp, trying to ignore the throbbing pain all over her.
Already things weren't going very well. Yet, she persisted. She needed to find them. They could be in danger. It was already too late to give up and head back home. She was going to do this now or retreat like a coward. She swallowed her fears and continued onward, trying her best to not think about what could happen to her.
As she continued her journey, more and more did things become more uncanny and unsettling to her. She didn't understand why though. Her surroundings seemed normal, if slightly exaggerated more from the darkness around her. At some points, her overly anxious mind believed that some dangling branches were claws trying to grab at her. But, she couldn't place her claw on what exactly what creating this lingering feeling of terror and panic.
Was it the pitch-black night? That could be making things more uneasy, but it couldn't be the main problem. Perhaps it could be the fear of what happened to her friends happening to her. Maybe, but that still wasn't exactly quite all of it.
Then, it hit her.
She had not seen an animal of any kind this entire time.
She paused, taking in another realization. The rainforest was quiet. She could only hear the sounds of her sharp breathing and her talons crunching the leaves under her. There were no stray predators stalking their prey, no wild pigs strutting around or squeaking in the distance, no birds crying out for a mate, no monkeys squawking or screeching, not even the faint buzzing of flies.
Absolute and complete silence. She was entirely alone.
This can't be right, she thought, the rainforest is never like this. What's going on? 
She pulled her wings closer to her as she continued, looking wildly in every direction to see if there was anything to look at other than trees. Still, nothing.
The forest around her seemed to grow more unsettling as time passed. The frigid wind that consistently blew by was getting colder by the minute. She was beginning to feel more exhausted and tired from the lack of sleep. Every sense of her being wanted to head back and try again tomorrow.
Yet, she persisted. She had to find them. She needed to. She couldn't live with herself if she just stood around and left them to possibly die.
Her breathing grew more erratic and heavier as she continued. Her heart was beating against her chest, feeling as though it was just about to pop right out. Her stomach was tied in knots as fear took hold of her entire being, practically strangling her.
Then, as she was just moving along, she noticed something.
Turning her head to the left, she saw someone. Off in the distance, mostly obscures by the vines and branches blocking the way, stood a dragon. They didn't make a sound as they just stared at her.
Glorious recognized that dragon. Their red and paler accents were hard to see in the dark, but were clearly still there.
It was Pomegranate.
She wanted to run to her, to call out her name and give her a hug, saying that she's safe now and they can all go home.
Yet, her talons were glued to the ground. She didn't move. She didn't want to move. There was something off with her friend.
Her eyes.
They were wide open, unblinking and permanently stuck on her. They almost glowed in the night, giving off an even more disturbing feel. Those eyes were unfamiliar, yet all too similar to Pomegranate.
That wasn't the only thing either. She didn't move. No signs of her breathing, much less walking towards her or anything like that.
The both of them just stared at each other, Glorious being frozen with terror. She had found Pomegranate, right? This had to be her. But, something was wrong. She wouldn't do this sort of thing.
Before she could even have time to react, Pomegranate slowly faded away. Glorious assumed that she walked back out of sight, but there was no sound whatsoever when she moved.
"W– wait!" Glorious called after her, running towards her friend. She stumbled over some exposed roots, nearly falling over a couple of times. Panic and worry encased her. She wasn't going to lose Pomegranate, not when she's right there in sight. This was her only chance.
Something was wrong with her, something she needed to help her with.
Glorious chased the figure, trying to find any sort of indication as to where she went off to. Reaching the spot she once stood in, she found some imprints in the leaves below. Pomegranate's talons.
"For moons sake..." she quietly cursed to herself. She looked down, seeing that the trail continued ahead of her, beckoning the RainWing to follow them.
Not knowing what else to do and fearing what may have happened, Glorious pursued.
The dirt under her talons crunched, being the only thing she could still hear even after all this time. Her heart pounder harder with each step she took. Pain from her wing rippled through her, yet she pressed on.
She was so close. She needed to help them.
Eventually, after what felt like ages, she finally heard something. She stopped upon doing so, her stomach dropping as soon as it happened.
It was that same sound that lured her into the forest earlier. That scream of sorts from Pomegranate. It was calling out to her again. Incomprehensible cries that practically begged for her to come and find her.
"I– I'm coming! Don't worry Pom!" she yelled. She ran to where she heard the noise, hope suddenly surging through her amongst the terror and fear.
Then, she saw something in the distance. A cave. She stopped in her tracks upon seeing it, dumbfounded by what was laying before her.
She had never seen this cave before. She had seen caves in the forest, like those two tunnels that were blocked off recently as per Queen Glory's orders, but she had never seen a cave in this area.
It wasn't too big. It looked like just a mound of soil and gravel, the entrance of the cave leading down below the surface. It was pitch black, making it even more challenging to see.
The sound was coming from inside.
She hesitated, taking a couple moments to just stare in disbelief. Pomegranate and possibly the rest of them are in there, this random cave she's never seen before.
But, she had to. She had to go in. She took a deep breath, then walked into the clearing.
Standing before the entrance, it felt even more unwelcoming. What with the faint crying coming from her best friend and the pure darkness, it combined with the overall tense atmosphere to create possibly one of the most frightening sights of her life. The cave called to her, begging for her to waltz right in and find her friends.
She obeyed. Closing her eyes and walking right through.
The sudden shift in texture with the terrain was immediate. The rocky dirt was dry and hard to grip onto, crumbling right below her any time she tried to move. There was a steep incline that led deeper into the tunnel, which she slid down rather quickly. The walls were close together, barely giving any room for Glorious to walk somewhat comfortably. The faint moonlight from the outside, the light she had barely even noticed, disappeared entirely. Her eyes slowly began to adjust to the absolute blackness around her, though she still couldn't see very well.
Her heart beated inside her ears as she could barely think. All she wanted was to go forward and see what was inside at this point. She made it this far. She was going to find them no matter what.
The sounds grew louder as she crept deeper into the bowels of the cave, until finally... she saw light.
A flame, lighting up the cave walls. It was faint, but she could still see it. Relief rushed through her. At last, she found something. This would be it. Her friends hiding in a cave, surrounded by a campfire.
She ran through the halls, growing closer and closer to it. Turning a couple sharp corners later, she was upon it.
But what she was greeted with was something beyond what she could've predicted.
Pomegranate stood in a large room, standing before a dying fire. Her back was turned to her as she hung her head over the flames. The room was dimmer than what she hoped, still leaving some dark spots and most things obscured.
However, even with that, she could still clearly see it. Her dead body, lying dormant on the floor. It was her, it had to be. Her scales were pale white and, most horrifying of all, her head was missing. It was as though it'd be ripped clean off, her neck resting in a pool of blood that looked to be hours old.
Two other bodies were scattered around the room, their situations being similar to that of Pomegranate's. She couldn't make out their details, but she recognized them just as much.
But, if Pomegranate was dead, why was she standing there, hovering over a fire. Nothing made sense. She wanted to understand it.
Unfortunately, she soon got her wish.
Pomegranate lifted her talons up to her neck, scratching at her scales nearby the point where her head connected to the rest of her body. Then, in a disgusting twist of events, her talons dug into her neck, slipping under her scales like nothing.
Then, in one sharp movement, she tore it off. Glorious felt as though her heart had entirely disappeared at this point, stopping from the pure shock of it all. She stood there, wide eyed in horror.
Then, the strangest thing happened. Upon doing so, the main body began to contort and shift. The RainWing scales seemed to mesh and melt into itself, dissolving away into nothing more but pale grey skin. This thing was frail and skinny, its bones being clearly defined as it stood there, shaking.
What was most distressing was what was happening to its wings and spikes. The bones from in their wings popped and crackled as they folded in on themselves, pushing back into the being as though they'd never existed. It contorted and shrank, but eventually disappeared entirely. The spikes were being pulled back into the grey skin, looking as though they'd had been swallowed by it.
At last, it stopped. This disturbing, malnourished beast was standing before her, holding the head of her best friend.
Glorious tried to hold it back, but she retched. The sound of her gagging was loud, clearly starling the thing. It slowly turned his neck around, revealing that it had no head.
Where its head should have been was nothing more than a black void. A hole in the part of the neck where the head and it connected. Staring at it felt wrong on a whole other level.
She could hear it faintly breathing, staring at her with its nonexistent eyes. It sounded like her, mimicking her friend's voice perfectly.
Then, it stepped forward. One talon in front of the other, landing awkwardly as though it were a hatchling trying to walk for the first time.
Glorious moved back, trying to breath. It was all too much. Her heart was racing faster and faster the longer she looked at it.
It made another step, this one just as uncomfortable to see as the last. Everything about it radiated danger.
Without another moment to spare, she turned and ran.
Ignoring the agony from her legs, she bolted without a second thought. She heard the monster from behind her let out a screech, sounding half like Pomegranate and half like an abominable beast.
She bumped into the walls of the cave, ricocheting off like a ball. Her talons scraped against the stone floor as she kept on running. Her lungs burned. Her heart raced. Her body begged to stop.
She kept going. It was either escaping here or dying to that thing.
Eventually, she found it. The exit. Up above the incline she had come down from just minutes before. She launched at it, scrambling upward and digging her claws into it. She tried to pull herself up, but the dirt was too loose and unstable. She couldn't get a grip on it. Try as she might, she kept sinking her talons into the ground, yet to no avail. She lifted her wings to fly, but her right wing roared in agony at the slightest movement.
Desolation and horror stuck her as the reality of the situation sunk in. She was stuck. She was going to die.
Not a second past before she was knocked against the incline, feeling the sudden presence of the thing upon her. It had lunged at her and was now standing above the RainWing, looking her down. The uncanny and terrifying creature had won.
Before she could let out a scream, a single cry for help, it grabbed onto her horns and reefed on it, letting out a deafening snap.
It was over.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Mature Content
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)
Category:Genre (Horror)
Category:Content (SomePerson9000000)
Category:Genre (Tragedy)
Category:Genre (Short Story)