The Last Alive

Chapter 13: Nickie

Warmth flooded over me. I groggily opened my eyes. My vision was blurry but I could make out trees a few yards away. My head was in someones lap and I was laying on my stomach. My wings were open and draped over my sides. I tried to sit up but as soon as I moved pain shot through me. I cried out.

Someone held my shoulders down gently,"Try not to move, Nickie. You got hurt pretty badly."

Fralinn put his hand on my head and said something that I couldn't hear because my ears were ringing. I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing. The ringing stopped. A warm breeze swept over me.

"Calidus!  Not so much! Do you want to over heat her!" It was a woman's voice. The voice was smooth and crisp.

A few minutes after the woman spoke a cool breeze swept over me.

"Trust me Frigus, I know what I'm doing. And don't blow too hard or you'll freeze her to death," said a man's voice, warm, deep, and comforting. I figured that was Calidus

"Oh hush now darling we don't want her to wake up," the woman said. Probably Frigus.

I moved my head around, trying to see who was talking but as soon as I moved pain flared through my back again. I gritted my teeth.

"Looks like she's already awake," grumbled Calidus.

"Oh and you think that's my fault?" Frigus snapped back.

"I never said that!" Calidus replied.

"But I know but you were thinking it."

"And how could you possibly kn-"

"Guys!" Fralinn got their attention,"That's not going to help anything!"

Silence. I was dying to see who the voices belonged to. The silence went on and finally I couldn't take it anymore.

I opened my mouth and managed to say,"Who?"

Fralinn gently touched my wing and said,"Nickie don't strain yourself. They'll move into your line of sight."

There was a shuffling sound and a soft thud, thud, thud. I waited impatiently as Calidus and Frigus walked into my sight. When I was able to see them I couldn't believe my eyes.

Two huge dragons were standing in front of me, both bigger than houses. One was a orangey-yellow color. Around it's eyes were red rings and it also had a bit of orange-red on its chest. The other one was a light, powdery blue color. Darker blue rapped around its eyes and trailed down its snout. They both sparkled in the sunlight.

"Hello," said the red dragon,"I am Calidus, dragon of warmth."

"And I," said the blue dragon,"am Frigus, dragon of the cold."

I couldn't stop staring. They were amazing. Their huge wings looked so powerful. Their paws were huge and on each toe was a razor sharp claw. The red dragon, Calidus, was either smiling or snarling. His huge teeth were poking out of his maw and seeing the size and awesome sharpness I was glad they were our friends.

"They said they could help you," Fralinn said.

Calidus nodded and closed his eyes,"We will do what we can."

"What happened?" My voice was barely a whisper.

Fralinn hesitated and I felt his hand start to shake on my head. "I took off and you came out of the cave. You were about to take off when something came out of the woods. I didn't warn you in time. It raked it's claws across your back and slammed you down onto the ground. I dove down on it and clawed it's face. You were just laying there. Then they came," he gestured to Calidus and Frigus." They drove the creature away."

"What?" I croaked.

"It was unlike anything I've ever seen. It was spotted like a jaguar but was bigger than a tiger. It's fur looked like it was covered in dust, the yellow color muted by gray. It had huge fangs and starting at it's head and going all the way down it's back were black spikes. The spikes were at a slight slant. Its tail was scaled like a lizard and at the end was a ball covered in spikes. "

I tried to picture the animal. He said it was huge so how had I not seen it? I replayed what happened in my head but I never saw anything. My wings had blocked my view. I curse myself under my breath. If I had just lowered my wings by a few inches I would've seen it.

"So are you going to help her or not?" Fralinn says, his tone controlled.

Frigus nods,"We are ready. You may want to move."

Fralinn sighs as he gently slides out from under my head. He slowly lowers it down to the ground and I wince as the movement makes my back flare with pain. I can only see his feet as he stands.

"I'm afraid we will need you to go a lot farther away than that. Actually, it would be best if you flew above us," said Frigus.

"Yes," agrees Calidus," That would be best. What we will do is going to not only heal your friend but also awaken every creature in the woods, and a lot of them will come here. Some may not be very friendly."

Fralinn stood completely still and then he sighed and changed form. Before he took off he looked at me sideways in the form of a hawk and then spread his wings and lifted into the air.

Frigus and Calidus started to move immediately after Fralinn was gone. They circled around me, Frigus on one side, Calidus on the other. I could only see Calidus's tail and Frigus's head. They surrounded me with their bodies, laying down, Frigus with her head on Calidus's tail. Then they unfurled their massive, beautiful wings and covered me completely. The only light was a pale blue and orange tinge coming through their bat-like wings. They stayed like that for a few minutes, just laying there, surrounding me. And then something incredible started to happen.

As I stared at Frigus resting her head on Calidus, her scales started changing color. They went from the beautiful, pale blue to a dull grey with patches of green. I continued to watch as Calidus started to change too. Then they seemed to merge together. As I watched I realized what was happening. They were turning to stone. The same stone me and Fralinn had explored in.

The light slowly disappeared until I was finally engulfed in darkness. There wasn't a sound except for my own breathing. The air was stagnant and soon started to get stale.  It was then that the dragons went to work.

It wasn't actually work in the sense that it didn't take much effort. Their work wasn't something any normal creature could do though.

As I laid there, breathing the stale air and listening to nothing, suddenly there was a gust of wind. It came from both sides of the cave and the air that hit my right side was cold and the air hitting my left side was warm.  The wind swirled around me in a whirlwind of hot and cold. The temperature differences took my breath away. I started to feel lightheaded as the air pressure built. I got dizzy and started to see spots. Suddenly the air started to fizzle and pop with energy and little flashes of what looked like lightning flashed through the air, lighting up the cave. These flashes were random at first but soon they seemed to be coming closer and closer to me. Finally, they started hitting me. I cried out as pain surged through my back. The pain was becoming unbearable and my vision started to go black.

The last thing I saw before passing out was a bright flash of light and a blue and orange glow.