The Game of Life

6. Meet

𝖉𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖗𝖞. 𝕴'𝖛𝖊 𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖉 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍

𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖋𝖊𝖜 𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖘 𝖑𝖊𝖋𝖙.

𝕾𝖚𝖈𝖍 𝖎𝖘 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖞 — 𝖘𝖔 𝖗𝖆𝖗𝖊

~"𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓽𝔂," 𝓚𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓷 𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰

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The sound of the alarm going off signalled the start of a new quest. Kagayaku shot up, and shut off the machine before any of her family heard and came to investigate what was going on. Yawning, she stretched out her limbs, before giving her room one last look over. No dragonbite vipers, no bombs, no stalkers. No nothing. She thought, eyes gliding over every single detail in the room. The hybrid smiled, and then nodded, turning towards the window. Placing her talons on the latch and pulling it down, she opened the window and crawled out with caution, making sure not to make too much noise as to keep her family sleeping.

She hopped out onto the grass, closing the window behind her as to make it not too obvious that she hopped straight out of there again. If her family found out, she's definitely going to have a punishment in store for her, which is what she's trying to avoid. The landscape around her was extremely dark- just like the other night, she could barely see a thing. Just keep moving forward. You'll get there. She told herself before letting out a sigh. She took one shaky step forward, and then another, and another. Soon enough, she found herself running towards what looked like trees in the dark.

When she entered through the woodland trail, fog had begun to show up, and the hybrid had a feeling of dread deep in her stomach. She had this feeling- a feeling that she didn't belong, that nature didn't want her here. Something was telling her to turn back NOW, and not go through the forest to find Makoto, but she had to see her again. She wanted to talk to her about... Everything. For some reason, Kagayaku found that the forest wasn't as pitch black as it was the other night, even with the fog, she could kind of see where she was going. GO BACK! DON'T GO THROUGH THE FOREST! A voice in her head was screaming, but Kagayaku was vigilant. She wanted to go through with this.

The next couple of minutes she spent wandering around, trying to find where she fell last time. The more she progressed through the forest, the thicker the fog grew, and the stronger the feeling of dread became. TURN BACK! The voice cried, getting louder and louder each step the young hybrid took. DO- Shut up! Kagayaku growled, desperately trying to fight the voice in her head frantically trying to get her out of the forest. "Makoto?" Kagayaku called weakly, barely able to see because of the fog. Taking a couple of steps forward, she soon stepped on what seemed like a... Bridge? That's weird, there was never a bridge on the woodland trail.

"Makoto? Makoto where are you?"

That was several minutes of calling proven unsuccessful. The fog was insanely thick by now, and it was getting harder and harder to fight the voice in her head. This bridge goes on forever! Kagayaku thought, anger slightly mixing with the dread that sit stubbornly in her stomach. "Mako-" She started, but was abruptly cut off by a massive gust of wind, shaking the bridge violently and snapping one of the ropes that connected it to the other side. "Oh no." Whispered Kagayaku quietly, desperately clinging onto the side as the other rope snapped, causing the bridge to tip like a sinking ship.

Now, Kagayaku would've used her wings, like a normal dragon would have, but for some really weird reason, she couldn't move them, as if they were paralysed, so she was basically land-locked. "Help!" She shrieked, hopelessly trying to move her wings, but they were so stiff- incapable of flight. Why is this happening to me? She whimpered, trying to call for help a couple of more times. My wings don't work, and nobody is answering my calls... Is this really the end for me? The young hybrid began to cry, her grip on the rope starting to falter. I have so much to live for! I don't wanna die here!

"Help me! Makoto! Someone! Please!" She kept on crying, becoming more and more desperate. She kept on trying to cling onto the rope of the broken bridge, yet, the rope would continue to snap with her weight, and eventually, she'd bring the entire thing down. Another burst of wind came at her, causing her to lose hold of the bridge and plummet towards the foggy abyss below. Her wings were still as stiff as ever. This is it. I'm dead. Closing her eyes, she decided to come to terms with her demise as she fell towards certain death.

Suddenly, she felt the familiar feeling of the cold grass on her body, and the gentle breeze as it swept over the scales. Opening her eyes slightly, she was met with the same old foggy forest. "Huh?" She sat up, looking around. "Am I dead?" Straight after she asked that, she heard a laugh beside her. "No." Alarmed, she turned her head towards the source of the noise, and was met by a certain someone sitting next to her.

Makoto turned her head to look at Kagayaku, a smile on her face. "Hello!" She chirped, giggling slightly. The hybrid's worried expression turned into a smile. "Makoto! I've been looking for you!" She started to laugh as well, before stopping to try out her wings. They were still as stiff as a rusted metal door. Kaga groaned. "Oh. Wait, lemme look at that." The other IceWing said, edging ever so slightly closer. "Try moving your wings again?" She asked, staring at them like they were an artefact in a museum. The hybrid complied, trying and struggling to try and spread them out or tuck them in. "Ohh okay. Your wings are just... Well, stiff. Some dragons are born with it, unfortunately." She said, looking up at Kagayaku again. "You mean I'll have stiff wings the rest of my life?!" The hybrid exclaimed, her face back to being a worried expression.

"No no! I just meant that some dragons get stiff wings sometimes. It goes away, then comes back. The majority of dragons don't get it, though. It normally takes... What? 2 to 3 days to go away."

"2 TO 3 DAYS?!"

"Woah woah! Calm down!" Makoto cried, moving away from her. "I'll get rid of it for you. It'll come back, though." She said, reaching out to touch her wing. As soon as she felt her friend touch her wing, almost immediately, it felt better. "Try moving it now?" The IceWing asked, cocking her head. Kagayaku nodded and spread her wings with no difficulty at all. "Woah! How did you do that?" The hybrid chirped, bouncing around in excitement. "Just... Stuff." Makoto replied, looking off to the side. "My friend Russell gets this all the time, don't worry about it." After she said that, Kagayaku stopped bouncing around and sat down, a smirk creeping onto her face. "You mean the God of Autumn?"

Makoto had opened her mouth to say something, but then she closed it, eyes widened. "What-" She started, but was cut off by the young hybrid. "Don't worry. I already know. You're Makoto, the goddess of life and death." She laughed as the IceWing trembled a little. "N-No I'm not. I'm a mortal, just like you! I like to get lost in forests, and fall off bridges, and-" She tried, but Kagayaku cut her off, yet again. "Come on. Don't lie. The horns, the patterns, the powers? You said you weren't an animus, and your name is literally Makoto."

"I am not a goddess. Stop making such silly assumptions."

"Really?"

"YES!"

"I don't believe you for one second."

Kagayaku was left laughing, but Makoto looked as if someone sawed her tail off. It didn't take much time for the hybrid to notice this and stop laughing. "Haha- wait, what's with the face?" She asked, curling her tail over her talons and binding her wings tightly to her sides. "I'm leaving." The IceWing said as she started getting up and turning to leave. "Wait! Makoto!" Kaga cried, chasing after her. "You hurt my feelings." She said, almost in a semi dramatic way. "Come on now, we all know your a goddess." The young hybrid laughed, trotting beside the abnormally tall IceWing. "You-!" Growled Makoto, turning to face the young hybrid with a look blazing hot FURY painted on her face. Kagayaku found herself alarmed by this.

"Alright! I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" The dragonet cried, frantically scrambling to get away from the "goddess", who simply snorted and flew over where the bridge was, disappearing into the fog. Kagayaku spend most of her time running, paying no mind to where she was going, but when she stopped, and looked around, she finally figured something out.

She was lost. In a foggy forest at midnight.