dust brought his sister to explore the woods next to their house like their dad always does, but this time they were alone, they needed to take care of some things and left them here, dust was already old enough to watch over his young sibling.
the energetic dragonet bounced up and down next to him the whole way to the clearing smiling as they reached the spot Dust wanted to take her to, it was a hollow tree he knew she could fit inside and pretend it was a fortress, and knowing her that was the first thing she thought of, he joined pretending to be a monster attacking her castle, he flopped to the side in defeat after the battle making his sister chuckle.
he took her to the creek nearby as she asked him to and that was his day, taking her from one place in the woods to another going along with whatever adventure cosmos would come up with, most dragons wouldn't like to watch over a young dragonet but he enjoyed the company.
at the end of the afternoon, he could see she was getting tired and after a lot of convincing and a lot of bargaining they settled on an agreement, he would make her favorite lunch right after they arrived home.
so they went on their way, dust had to slow down his walking his tired sister struggling to keep up with him, he sets one of his wings around the dragonet keeping her close not wanting her to fall accidentally, cosmos leaned against him and he stops walking ''want a ride home?''he says smiling as his sister looked up at him and lifted her arms to be picked up, he picks her up and places her on his back carefully so she wouldn't fall and nuzzles into his neck, once he's sure she won't fall on the ground he continues walking, the soft earth below his paws giving way leaving a trail of paw prints behind as he walked home, he hummed a song for cosmos to hear while they walked, it didn't take long until they arrived home, he walked to the door gently opening it as to not make much noise, he picks up his sister and sets her on the ground ''go and sit on the couch, ill bring you your food, mom and dad should be back soon to put you to bed'' cosmos nodded and hugged him before walking in the house and going to the living room, the old floorboards of the house creaking as she walked, he looked behind himself to check until he saw the trail- trails that led to the house, right along his there were another one that followed them, he brushed it off as they might be out.
''anything else princess?'' dust said making his sister chuckle ''As your royal sister I want you to bring me a glass of water''
dust nodded '''ll be right back your Majesty '' he said patting her head before walking out of the living room and down the hallway into the kitchen, the floorboards creaking beneath his paws, he made his way to the counter and grabbed a glass filling it with water,but the glass was only filled half way when a single grain of ash landed on his paw and right before he could process it he smelled something burning, as if the whole place had just caught on fire he imeadtly spun around thinking of his sister, he had left her alone and thats when he saw it.
with one of their paws leaning on the counter lay what looked like a dragon but something felt off, the skin looked glued to the bone and melting off in some places, the paw leaning on the counter was pure bone and rotten flesh, their claws looked longer as the part hidden under the skin are now exposed, this dragon is dead, and has been for a long time, they raised their other paw from the ground slightly shifting almoust all their weight to the paw leaning on counter as the dragon stood,it lifted its head but not like a normal dragon, first with its shoulders then with its neck, their neck bending in unatural ways, he could hear bone cracking and flesh ripping as the creature lifted its head to look at him, their skin seemed to be sliding off their body in patches, the half of their head that was hidden now showing, the skin on it had completely melted off during decomposition and the same seemed to be happening to the other side but slower, the frail skin semmed to rip as the dragon moved but it didnt seem to care, he felt its eyeless gaze burn throught him, dust froze in place before he felt the water in the glass boil burning his paws making him scream and drop it cutting himself
''a-are you ok?'' cosmos came running when she heard the scream and dust didnt know what to say ''y-yes i just dropped the glass im fine''
