Talenvara- A Shape in the Mist

-Chapter 1-

Izara woke on the edge of a small, crystal-clear pond in a tangle of bracken and thornbushes. Her wings and claws ached, and her head throbbed as though she had hit it on a rock. Izara dragged herself over to the pond, staring at her reflection. She had never seen herself so muddy and scratched. Her scales were covered in mud and dark crimson smudges, and her feathers were weighed down by the mud.

Recalling how she had gotten here, Izara stared behind her. A huge, dark tree loomed high above, its branches obscured by the fog that seemed to suck all the moisture out of the air. Izara stifled a hiss of fear, unable to see anything in the mist, the silent white void pressing down on her.

My mother's somewhere in this mist. Izara stood, using her wings to support her legs as she looked around. Glancing back up the tree, Izara had a brief moment of doubt. How am I going to find my mother in this fog? I can't even see more than two tail-lengths ahead of me! Then it came to her. She turned to the huge tree next to her, tensing her legs and leaping into the air, her dark feathered grey wings beating the still air. She grasped the topmost branch with her talons, where she froze in terror.

There, hanging from twisted, limp wings, blood dripping down her head. Her mother. As Izara scrambled backward, tail hanging over the branch and eyes wide in fear and shock, two creatures landed neatly on a branch behind her mother. They looked almost lizard-like, with bright, unnatural green eyes and sleek black and white scales. One had four legs and eight glowing eyes, along with long, blade-like spines protruding from their spine, the other had only the skeleton of wings left, and a mask over their face.

They didn't seem to notice her, as she backed away from them and into the tangle of branches to hide. As she watched them, the masked dragon reached out their long, feathered tail and pulled the spear from her mother's head, sheathing it and turning to the spider-eyed dragon. Izara backed away from the terrifying creatures, her claws slipping and leaving her dangling in midair. She let out a yelp of fear and dropped, into the pool she had woken up by. She resurfaced, leaping out and diving under a bramble bush, just in time to see the masked dragon thud down at the tree's base. Izara suppressed a yelp of fear as the spider-dragon landed nearly on top of Izara's bush. She held her breath as the dragon hissed and pulled their four talons free of the thorns, stepping over to the masked dragon.

"Are you sure you heard something, Dolorem?" the spidery creature asked, their voice low and sinister, yet melodic, in a way. Dolorem, as the spider-dragon had said, nodded, their tail flicking upwards, the blade glistening with Izara's mother's blood. Izara held in a whimper of fear, holding every muscle tense so as to not give away her position.

"Mors," Dolorem hissed, their eyes glinting maliciously, "I hope you trust me to lead us to victory. You'll have to trust in me and my skills if you want to please Sicarius. Our success relies on your trust in me."

Mors, eyes narrowed, claws digging into the earth, nodded, not meeting Dolorem's gaze.

"Now," Dolorem continued, "we search for whatever was watching us. There will be no witnesses to our deeds until we have gained power over at least one of the kingdoms on this miserable continent. You search over there, on the other side of the pond. I'll check over here." Dolorem flicked their tail, still wielding the spear, in the direction of Izara's hiding place.

Panicking, Izara frantically glanced around, searching for a spot to run before Dolorem found her. She spotted a small hole around ten tail-lengths away from her bush, where a rabbit must have dug a tunnel into the earth. She would be able to hide there if she could make it in time.

Izara burst out of her bush, pushing with all her might to reach the rabbit burrow. She could hear Dolorem shouting behind her as she turned in Izara's direction. As Izara neared the burrow, she had a moment of hope that she could make it before the dragons behind her caught up. But as she was about to leap into the hole, Izara felt a burst of flaring pain in her tail, and she was yanked backwards, her talons scrabbling desperately to free herself. Izara glanced back, pain running like cold water up her spine, to see Dolorem's spear stabbed through the base of her tail, pinning her to the ground as Dolorem darted over and Mors caught up, their eight narrowed eyes glittering maliciously. Dolorem, hissing, reached for a dagger sheath on their ankle that Izara only just noticed. She flinched as Dolorem stepped forward, the viciously curved dagger gripped in the tip of their tail. Just as Dolorem flicked the blade towards Izara's throat, Mors stepped forward and grabbed their talon.