A Vision of Happiness: The Cursed Dragonet (Book 3)

Chapter 14

VISIONER

Visioner felt his brain whirling back to life, and immediately regretted it. Pain scorched his body like fire- no, he was on fire. The hot flames burst from his body, and every breath made his ribs spark with pain. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw the walls of the cave he had spent his entire life in. 

I'm back, He thought dizzily. Visioner's ears rang, and he couldn't hear very well, but he could definitely hear the voice of Anemone.

"Why don't you leave him alone?" Anemone snapped. "And what are you doing, tying me up like this! I'm Queen Coral's daughter! And Mink is Queen Snowfall's sister!"

"What will they do about it?"  The familiar voice of Destroyer made Visioner want to shiver. "In a few days, all of you will be dead, like this pathetic, cursed dragonet."

A strong talon rested on Visioner's neck, and he felt a flash of pain as it pressed down hard. His sight wavered. 

"Stop that!" Tamarin cried. "Visioner's already dead!"

"Oh, and you'll stop me!" Visioner heard Destroyer laugh. "I'm so terrified!"

Visioner tried to stand up, but his muscles screamed in protest. The cave walls were blurry, and his eyes were starting to close.

The last thing he heard before blacking out was a beautiful, melodious voice.

"Leave him alone."

BRIGHTNESS

Brightness watched as the rock lifted from the ground. It made its way towards Destroyer, and when it was directly on top of his head, the rock slammed down, hard. Destroyer let out a roar of agony. The rock lifted up, and crashed down onto his head. It continued to smash into Destroyer's skull, along with the pebbles that punched down into his scales. Brightness saw spurts of blood painting the stone the color of anger.

At last, after a few moments, Destroyer collapsed, his eyes cloudy. Brightness waved a talon, and the rocks settled down to the ground. She picked up a sharp stick.

"Untie the ropes," Brightness ordered, and it cut through the ropes that were around Anemone, Tamarin, and Mink.

"Brightness," Tamarin choked. "You can speak."

"You're an animus," Anemone breathed. "But- but animus magic doesn't work anymore! And how can you speak? Were you lying to us the entire time?"

Brightness shook her head, and remembered that she could talk now. "No. I enchanted myself to be able to talk."

"Brightness," Mink said. "If you're an animus, can you- can you save Visioner?"

Brightness hesitated. She'd tried the spell before. She'd tried to make a dead mouse that had been killed by Destroyer come back to life, but it hadn't worked. 

"Animus magic doesn't work that way," Anemone explained ruefully. "Nothing can revive a dead dragon."

"We should at least bury Visioner," Tamarin suggested quietly. "It's the least we can do."

Brightness gently lifted Visioner in her claws, and saw that his eyes were closed. No heartbeat. Her kind, gentle, nervous brother was truly dead. 

She cast a final look at Destroyer. He didn't move. His broken wings were splayed limply across the floor.

But his lifeless amber eyes were still full of hatred.