The Game of Life

5. Missing

𝕸𝖆𝖞𝖇𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖉 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜, 𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖎𝖗 𝖊𝖞𝖊𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖙 𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖙,

𝕾𝖊𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖍𝖎𝖌𝖍 𝖇𝖊𝖆𝖒𝖘 𝖔𝖋 𝖆 𝖒𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖌𝖆𝖑𝖆𝖝𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖋𝖑𝖎𝖈𝖐 𝖔𝖓

𝕬𝖙 𝖙𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙. 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖊𝖓𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖘 𝖋𝖑𝖆𝖗𝖊, 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖓𝖘

𝕹𝖔𝖙 𝖑𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖚𝖕, 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖟𝖞 𝖔𝖋 𝖇𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖌. 𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖙 𝖙𝖔 𝖇𝖊

~ "𝓜𝔂 𝓖𝓸𝓭, 𝓘𝓽'𝓼 𝓕𝓾𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓯 𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓼," 𝓣𝓻𝓪𝓬𝔂 𝓚. 𝓢𝓶𝓲𝓽𝓱

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"I'd like to tell you about the weird things happening lately in the forests at night."

As soon as she heard that, Kagayaku's head began to swarm with questions. What? Where? When? Why? She couldn't even think straight. 'Why was she acting like this?' You may ask, well, the answer is simple: She was in the forest at night. Not just any night, however. Last night, specifically. She stopped sipping her slush at once, and leaned forward, intrigued to learn more. The cashier giggled. "Interested?" She asked, cocking her head to the side slightly. Kagayaku simply replied with a little nod. "Haha, alright then. I'll tell you more."

"So. Dragons have noticed that trees, flowers, and many other plants have popped up so suddenly. Plants don't grow that fast. Something is going on, we don't know what, but anyone who's tried to get involved, get lost in the forest. When they finally get out, they are in such a state of shock they didn't talk for weeks." The cashier explained, looking slightly worried. Plants growing at abnormally fast speeds? Wait a second, that seemed oddly... Familiar, to the young hybrid. "Makoto." Kagayaku muttered, eyes widened. "Hmm? Sorry, I didn't quite catch what you said there." The cashier said, not taking her eyes off of Kaga.

"I was just saying," Kagayaku started, looking the SkyWing-SandWing hybrid dead in the eye, "that Makoto could be behind this." The cashier suddenly was really interested in the window pane. "You have a good point, there. It isn't spring, so it can't be Toko, and as far as I'm concerned, Cyrus can only grow things at a certain pace." She placed a talon on her temples as she turned back to face the young hybrid. "Well, we'll figure it out eventually." She laughed. Kagayaku smiled at her and started to sip at her slushy again. "Now, you run along now. Don't go into the forests if you don't wanna get lost!" The SandWing-IceWing hybrid nodded at her. "I won't. Bye!" She waved as she made her way to the doorway. The cashier waved back, before going to clean some dishes.

As soon as she had left the cafe, Kagayaku took flight, heading straight for home. Her mind kept on replaying what the cashier had said, about the flowers growing. Her home wasn't too far from where she just was, so it only really took a couple of minutes to arrive there. She landed outside of her house, which basically looked like any old house- except the door was a bright sky blue, with flowers and butterflies painted on it. Letting out a sigh, the hybrid grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, pushing her way inside the house. To her surprise, her sister, Ace, was awake.

"Hello, Ace." Kagayaku said, sending a wave off in her sister's direction. "Hey." She responded, waving back as the young hybrid headed off to her room, as usual. She went into her room, closed the door behind her, and flopped on her bed, burying her face in the pillows. Whatever are you hiding, Makoto? She thought, staring wistfully up at the ceiling while wondering to herself.

What if I go back? Would I see her again?

Either she didn't see Makoto, and got lost in the forest, like the cashier said, or she saw the strange dragon again, and talked to her more. Although it was an extremely risky plan, she was willing to go back. She wanted, and needed more answers. The dark and unnatural was too interesting to miss.

Kagayaku knew what she was doing: wake up at midnight, get out through the window, and go to the forest. It was simple, really. The only issue was... How on earth would she get there? Last night, she couldn't see a thing, and totally by chance, she tripped and got to the place she met Makoto. Oh well, she was willing to take the risk. For now, though, she'd just have to carry on with the rest of the day and make her move by night.

⇡ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇ ᴏꜰ ʜᴏᴜʀꜱ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ... ⇣

"Kagayaku! Time for bed! Don't go out again. It's dangerous." Her mother, Boreal announced, poking her snout into the hybrid's room. "Yes mother." She growled, rolling her eyes, acting as if she were bored. In reality, no, she wasn't. She was excited for her little trip back to the forest at night. As soon as her mother left and turned the lights out, Kagayaku set her alarm to "00:00", bang on midnight. She let out a little laugh.

She lay down and covered herself with her duvet covers, repeating the same thing over and over in her head.

Go to sleep, Kagayaku. You will see her soon.