Acari

Chapter Twelve

There was blood everywhere.

It felt as though Acari had something in her ears; there was not a single sound in the whole stadium. It seemed like every dragon there shared one single emotion: astonishment. That was when Acari noticed that she had her body back, that she could feel herself again. Tears she didn't know were there streamed down her face like water, and she let them. She wanted dragons to know that she didn't only just feel hatred inside. She wanted them to know that she could cry too.

After so much silence, the cheering startled her, if not to mention the celebration afterwards. She watched in awe as Ragnar broke free of the guards' grips and flew down towards Acari, sweeping her up into a wonderful hug. Then all of a sudden Papaya appeared and joined in on it, then Aphid, and then all of her family was hugging her contently. Tears were flooding her face, but at this point, she couldn't have cared less.

Later, Aphid said that usually the new queen would be awarded her crown the following week, but before that they'd have a celebration. Even after Aphid had told her that, Acari was still surprised when Aphid and everyone she cared about threw a party for her right in front of their home. There were gifts, food, even a banner that said, "We love our queen!" Acari could never have believed this was real if Ragnar hadn't prodded her to say something.

"I don't- I don't know what to say..." Acari stammered. "This is all so surreal to me. I cannot express the amount of thanks..."

"No, no, we should be thanking you!" Aphid said, talons on her chest. "If it weren't for you, we would probably be on our last piece of bread by now!"

"Bread?" Acari echoed, curiously. "What kind of food is that? Vegetable? Fruit?"

Aphid, Java, and Silica all shared a glance before all three of them burst out laughing.

"What? Did I say something?"

Aphid wiped a tear and said, "Oh yeah, we forgot that you were from one of the Distant Islands. Bread isn't just something you grow y'know. There's a whole process involving farming..." Acari noticed Java start to mock Aphid beside her and she stifled a laugh.

Acari really did try to listen to what Aphid was trying to say, but her focus was constantly redirected by something far in the distance. Before she could even recall thinking about it, she was running towards it. As she got closer she noticed that it was a strange glowing dragon, sitting on top of that same hill that she'd first gotten those strange dreams. She could hear muffled yells of her name behind her and telling by the voice it was probably Papaya chasing after her.

When Acari got close to the top of the hill, she could feel those same sharp icicles stab into her chest and skull, and she knew who she was approaching. That didn't sway her, though, as she followed the not-so-mysterious dragon all the way to a cave, down at the base of the hill. Papaya was still following close behind.

As Acari stepped inside the cave, she finally made an effort to slow down. Suddenly, she watched as Collembola was sucked into a bottle, a bottle held by two talons too familiar to take her eyes off of...

"Galaxy!" Papaya cried, hugging him with tears sparkling in her eyes.

Acari smiled for a moment, remembering how lost Papaya said she felt without Galaxy. Her heart pounded sadly for her—it definitely must've been hard to simply look at Ragnar for Papaya, to remember Galaxy every time she looked at him. Acari only ever realized this now, when Papaya finally looked happy since the time she'd found Acari.

"Follow me," Galaxy said, letting go of Papaya and continuing deeper into the cave before anyone could protest.

Papaya looked back at Acari, but she just shrugged. As they walked through the dark cave, Acari began to feel jittery and odd, like she was back in the Night Kingdom and there were ashes stuck to her scales again. However, knowing Papaya felt the same way did not help to make her feel any less on edge.

Finally, they made it to the end of the cave, where nothing lay waiting for them. Galaxy turned to them expectantly, like he was hoping for them to break out in song and start harmonizing about how great this wall was.

"Uhh?" Acari said after a few moments.

"Walk into it," answered Galaxy ominously. Papaya and Acari exchanged a very confused glance before Papaya hopped in and Acari followed close behind her.

She didn't expect a wall to take her anywhere except death. Let's just say she wasn't too far off...

TO BE CONTINUED...