Kingdoms of Ohm: The Dark Inferno #2

A Stormy Night

Current Day - 10,000 AK (After Kantar)

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Limp.

Drag.

Stomp.

...

Limp.

Drag.

Stomp.

I was not sure how much more of this I could take.

The anguish, the insecurities, these many wounds, even my untamed sorrow was welling up beneath my broiled scales like a ticking volcano, and I could not stop it. They rattled my spirit just as they rattled my heart, burning away any will to fight until nothing remained. Nothing but torment over the monstrosities I've created. Pain, if you will. But this was only the surface pressure, and not everything broken tied to myself.

A vicious storm was brewing in the west. Jorryn was burning in the east. Werewolves, young and old, whined over the death of their home, and vampires fell quiet in mourning for their losses.

Ullok was dead. Luna was dying. Lykaios was silenced, and so was I. Only Vulkar kept his sanity alive, but for how long nobody knew. It seems that my mere existence has brought misfortune into everybody's lives. All the more reason for me to believe that I am the cause of Ohm's downfall. But for now, all I can do is shed a tear, snort, and keep moving forward.

Limp.

Drag.

Stomp.

The chill of an early spring breeze made things no better. We couldn't help but shiver and buck at the touch of the night. Without a place to call home, stomachs quaked and hearts sank. The only hope remaining fell upon me, the injured blue storm dragon hopelessly leading them up the treacherous scalp of a silenced Az'hark. To where (and when), nobody knew.

Limp.

Drag.

Stomp.

Vulkar kept a steady eye on me and Luna through it all. One of his three eyes fixed upon the flexing wound at my underbelly; the blood was still fresh from the shadow who ripped into me hours earlier, and my odd pattern of walking was well worth his concern. The other two remained on Luna; Vulkar was grateful the young, silver feline was still breathing on my back. But he feared (just as I did) that she wouldn't last as promised. Sedatives can only hold a sleeping creature's pain for so long. She was helpless without medicine. We all were.

Limp.

Drag.

...

Both legs suddenly buckled; my claws shot out before gravity had the chance to claim me. I quickly sheltered in a breath, coiling my talons into the earth and growled, feeling the livewire rushed through me. Turning my scales into a flame. Ringing my skull like a bell. Breaking me until I wept like a hapless hatchling, and I could not control it. A shudder followed me, then a groan; the wretched metallic stench of my blood soon flooded the air like the heads of death. I figured it'd capture Vulkar's attention... and I was right.

"Awwrr..." I whimpered, squeezing my eyes shut. "Hrr..."

"What is it?"

I shook my horned head, forcing myself to limp it off. "It's just pain."