Dragontale: A Chance

Two

Everyone knows about the stories of Mt. Ebott. Those who go to the mountain are never seen again. But Day didn't care, they just wanted to get away from the caretaker, from the bloodied knife, from the orphan who wasn't breathing, from everything. They didn't care anymore, they just wanted to go somewhere safe. Surely the stories weren't completely true, right? There's no way that every single person who has ever gone to the mountain has disappeared without a trace, right?

That mindset is what motivated Day to keep going. It just needed to get away. Before it even knew it, it was suddenly at the mouth of a cave and was out of breath. It took it a moment to catch its breath from running for so long, but it took that time to realize that this cave was part of the mountain. It was large and it was dark inside of the cave, rather intimidating in Day's opinion.

Once they finally caught their breath, they entered the cave, their eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. They tried looking around, but it was impossible to see. Before they knew it, their foot got caught on a vine and they tripped. They expected to hit the ground, but they kept falling. What was happening? What was going on?

And then everything went dark.

-x-

Footsteps crunching on the snow. Violence in the human's eyes. They were not afraid, they were going to end the monsters right here and right now. Just outside of a comfortable-looking town stood a woman. At least, it looked like a woman. Long brown hair, and pale skin, but why is she wearing revealing clothing? It's so cold.

"What are you doing here?" she simply asked, eyes hidden by her hair. "Why are your hands covered in dust?"

They scoffed. "Getting rid of the monsters. They've done nothing but deserve death."

The woman laughed. Before they knew it, a polearm went through their chest and stabbed right through their soul.

"You've done nothing but deserve a painful death. You shall not proceed any further. Your journey ends here."

-x-

It opened its eyes slowly and carefully. It didn't know what time it was or where it was, but it felt something soft beneath it. It slowly turned its head to see what it had landed on. It saw flowers with a comforting yellow for its five petals and the same yellow colour as the petals, pollen stuck to the middle.

Buttercups. They had landed in buttercups. They looked up again to a bright light shining down on them from a large, gaping hole that seemed so far away. Slowly, they sat up and rubbed the sleep away from their eyes. They weren't hurt, but they felt exhausted. Wait, they weren't hurt?

This realization brought Day back to full consciousness and double-checked if that statement was true. Sure enough, no broken bones, no bruises, nothing. It wasn't injured and didn't see anything new. But how though? How was it not injured after falling from a decent height? It made no sense! It should've at least sprained something, right? It didn't know enough about medicine to make that executive decision.

So, Day carefully grabbed their stuffed bear, made sure they still had their notebook and stood up. The area was dark and intimidating, definitely unwelcoming. But it's not like they could go anywhere else, they couldn't even climb back up if they wanted to. So, they pressed forward. It was cold as they walked down the long hallway, even with the sweater they were wearing, but that didn't seem to do a thing.

It went through a doorway that led to a patch of grass and a single buttercup sitting in the middle. Why was there just one buttercup? That's kind of strange. Regardless, it approached the flower and sat in front of it. That's when the flower moved to reveal two eyes and a thin smile. Day screamed and backed away from the flower.