Clearsight's Choice

Chapter 6. Whiteout. The Night Kingdom.

        Whiteout threw out her wings, trying to slow herself as she fell. Her eyes were closing, and she kept trying to open them again. The lightning bolt had shocked her, and she had never been in so much pain before. She couldn't think now, couldn't breathe. The world flashed by in a blur. One, because she was spiraling down at a very fast rate. And two, because her vision had been blurred by pain.

        Thunder roared above and around her, clouding her mind and echoing through her ears. Whiteout tried to take a deep breath of air- she felt like she couldn't breathe. Panic overcame her when she couldn't feel the breathe she had taken, and she tried to move in the air. The Night Kingdom came closer and closer. Whiteout stretched out her claws, as if trying to grab the air. Her mind seemed to be whirling around in her skull.

        She flapped her wings, and she slowed just a little bit. Whiteout didn't think she would survive this fall. She tried to scream, but all she could muster was: "H-h". Help.... She thought. If she could actually think straight, she would have known that she wasn't screaming out loud. But she couldn't think straight. Not right now, anyway. As Whiteout tried so hard to fly, the ground spiraled closer, and Whiteout imagined herself hitting it. She also imagined herself being as flat as the board game she had played with Thoughtful earlier.

        Searing pain seemed to echo through her, as if she had fallen and crashed into the ocean- but she had landed on her stomach, hit spikes, and then was shocked by a million electric eels. She shuddered and tried once more to fly. She awkwardly stretched out her wings, and they flailed in the wings uselessly. Now she was really starting to panic. As the ground became much larger and closer, Whiteout still couldn't fly correctly. She tried to hover, to do anything at all. Nothing.

        Whiteout gave up and watched the ground come closer. She waited. She started to try imagining how much impact was going to hurt. Maybe, just maybe, she'd pass out before she felt anything. But that was a lot of hope for something so rare. Whiteout braced herself for impact. She closed her eyes and spread her wings as far as they could go. Pain was still flaring through her back as she stretched out her wings, and she tried her best to ignore it.

        But she couldn't. It felt like she was on fire. Maybe she was, and that was why she was felt as if her scales were melting. But she couldn't check her back to see. She was too exhausted to move her neck. The ground continued to climb toward her, and she closed her eyes once more. Why.... She thought.

        Suddenly, the ground struck her. Or she struck the ground. The impact seemed to break all of her bones, paralyzing her. It was just a flash of pain, though. She hoped she wouldn't die. Her life flashed before her eyes, something stabbed into her, and she lost consciousness.