A Vision of Happiness: Rise of Evil (Book 6)

Chapter 12

BRIGHTNESS

Brightness walked down the hallways, empty from anyone. All the students and teachers would be in class.

Stonemover's cave should be marked by a tunnel...Here!

Brightness stopped at a narrow, crumbly tunnel. It looked dark and unwelcoming.

Perfect.

She cautiously tested one talon onto the floor, and when the entire system didn't fall down on top of her, Brightness slowly walked deeper inside. 

After a while of twists and turns, following blood-red arrows pointing towards the correct direction, Brightness finally stopped in front of a cave. A rotting wooden sign at the top read, in Clay's awkward handwriting, 'Stonemover's Cave'.

Without hesitation she stepped inside.

The dragon in the cave completely caught her off-guarded. He had silver star-like patterns on his underwings, just like a NightWing, but his scales were a darkish, cold gray, and looked as if they were crumbling right off him. 

Like stone, Brightness realized. He turned his animus powers into a curse. So it didn't affect his soul, but made his scales turn into rock.

"Hello?" She called. Stonemover opened his eyes.

"Who..." His voice was raspy, as if he hadn't talked in a while. "A...visitor. You're..."

"Brightness," She replied. "Do you know Darkstalker?"

Stonemover blinked, surprise. His expression suddenly twisted into one of pure terror and disbelief.

"No..." He muttered. "I don't...know...him..."

Brightness shrugged. 

I enchant this dragon to tell the truth.

Stonemover's eyes widened, and his mouth opened. "I...knew...him...Are you...an animus?"

"Yes," Brightness said. "Where's Darkstalker now?"

Stonemover coughed. "I...don't...know. He disappeared...after the short...IceWing...NightWing...war at Jade Mountain."

"Who do you think made him disappear?" She asked.

"Probably...the...Jade Winglet." Stonemover let out a deep sigh. Brightness finally realized how thin he was. "Are...they...still...here?"

"Who were there?"

"A NightWing...with silver scales under...her eyes," He whispered. "Mind-reading...And Queen Glacier's nephew...A SandWing with...an amber earring...Bouncy RainWing...And a SeaWing animus."

Moonwatcher and Kinkajou, Brightness guessed. The IceWing prince and earring SandWing...I don't know. But who's the SeaWing animus?

"Animus?" She echoed. 

"Well, not...anymore." Stonemover let out a rasping laugh. "Someone erased...animus magic entirely...You're the first animus...with magic...I've seen in...How long...has it been?"

"Four years?" Brightness guessed. That had been when she and Visioner had hatched.

Stonemover let out another sigh. "Dinner died...a few weeks ago...and without...animus magic I can't get any food...and water...So hungry...Sunny doesn't visit any...more...But why should...she? Her dying...father isn't...so interesting...anymore...without...his animus powers..."

He stared at her intently, and Brightness let his mind into hers.

Let me see into his mind, She thought to her powers. 

'Kill me. Spare me. So painful. So lonely.' She was startled by the waves of agony, the loneliness and longing. 

"Should I?" Brightness looked at her claws, destined to kill yet another dragon.

'Please. Tell Thorn and Sunny that I love them dearly, and I'm sorry for everything.' 

Stonemover let out a final sigh, a hint of a smile on his snout. 'Please let it be quick.'

Brightness nodded. She picked up a sharp rock from the ground.

I enchant this rock to become a dagger.

She tested the dagger's weight, and when Stonemover's mind whispered, 'Now,' she plunged it into his chest. A soft gasp escaped his mouth, and blood gushed out of his hard scales. His breathing stopped almost immediately, but blood kept pulsing out of the wound.

Brightness felt his pulse, and when she was reassured that it was truly gone, she slid his eyelids over his glassy, unseeing eyes.

She hoped that someone found the forgotten NightWing animus before no one could remember him anymore.