Nightmares - Adventures of The Three Wings (#1)

Janar

There was nothing more beautiful in the world than being in the sky, surrounded by multicoloured clouds bathed in the light of a sunset. My wings spread wide as I glided through the air, my purple scales reflecting the warm oranges and pinks of the light. I took in a deep breath and sighed.

"Nothing can ruin this moment."

"You still haven't hunted anything!"

My muscles tensed up for a moment, and I groaned internally. Of course, I couldn't have enjoyed the moment for too long, The Lord of All Dragons just had to go and ruin it for me.

"My lord, it's a beautiful moment to be enjoyed," I tried to reason.

"You can't enjoy it if you die from hunger. Flying takes energy," My lord scolded me.

"Fine!" I snarled into the air, looking back down to the ground. The national park was spread out underneath me, and my eyes were instantly drawn to a limping antelope. It was surrounded by its herd, protecting it from predators. Unfortunately, these herbivores were only looking out for predators on the periphery, not from above.

I dove, my massive weight bringing me down to the ground in a staggeringly short amount of time. At the last minute, I flared my wings and stretched my hind legs out. My claws wrapped around the injured antelope's body, and then held it there as my full weight pressed it down into the ground, crushing its bones and killing it before it even knew what had happened.

The other antelopes scattered, but I ignored them, already flapping my wings to get back into the air, dead antelope in claws. Once back in the air, I transferred the carcass to my front legs and leaned over so I could eat while flying.

I'd gotten used to the taste of antelope over the years, overcoming my initial apprehension. Not like I'd had much of a choice, The Lord of All Dragons had previously forced my hand. Each time I heard the sounds of bones being crushed under my weight, and tasted the earthy and dry flesh of the antelope, I was reminded of that first time, that first kill.

My maw was salivating intensely, with flames running along the potent saliva to roast the meat while I ate it. Each drip of saliva was a risk, not that I was supposed to care if a globule of my spit set the savannah on fire. But I did care, making sure not to let any of my combustible saliva escape.

I flew over the city after I'd finished my meal. It was night, so my eyes were treated to the glittering lights of the city, which only served to confuse and irritate me somewhat. I was both a daytime and nighttime predator, so I was used to being able to see clearly at night, but the streetlights and other human-made sources of lights only confused me, making everything appear dull. My eyes were struggling to decide how much light to let in, so they kinda settled into a middle point.

Still, I scanned the ground for any signs of trouble. Part of my job as the only member of the Three Wings with said wings was looking around for trouble. Sure, Jacob could move fast, but I could glide around for hours and see a lot more at the same time. Even from so high up, even with the artificial light interference, all the details stood out. It was a routine, a very dull one.

But it had its moments. A movement caught my eye, and a strange reflection too. Focussing on the source of the reflection, I spotted a mirror being held up, aimed. The strangest part is that the mirror was aimed right at me.

"How strange."

I narrowed in on the location of the mirror and began to descend, all the while the person holding the mirror perfectly tracked me through the sky. Perhaps it was a fan, though I didn't have many of those. And I honestly preferred meeting villains than my own fans, at least the villains feared what I could do.

As I got closer, the mirror disappeared and the figure took off running. My instincts rose inside me, and I swooped down, heart racing at the promise of a chase. I saw flashes of movement in the dark streets below, and could make out the details perfectly. A long coat, a purple gas. It stood out to me clear as day, clearer since this guy was running through a place that had few human-made lights. Yet I could not see who the individual was.

But then the figure ran into an empty parking lot, head covered in a cloak and mask, surrounded by purple gas. I swooped down and landed in front of him. The wind from my landed caused him to stumble backwards, and he let out a curse.

"What are you doing out here in the dead of night?" I questioned, keeping my tone as neutral as possible to avoid scaring him off.

There was no verbal response, as the individual threw something at me. Expecting it to be a stone, I turned my head, since it was easier to deal with the draconic rage if I turned my cheek. You did not want to be the person who hit my snout with a stone.

But when the object hit my scales, it did not bounce off like I expected, instead bursting into thick purple fumes. I found myself coughing, and shaking my head to get rid of the gas. After some moments, I looked back at the parking lot, but the guy who'd thrown the gas bomb had disappeared. My vision was slightly blurry, which confused me, but I didn't have time to worry about that. Fighting the blur, I looked around for the guy. All I saw was the empty lot, and the empty buildings around.

Then I spotted him, lurking at the edge of the car park. As soon as he saw I'd noticed him, he ducked into the streets beyond. My instincts flared once more with a desire to give chase, and so I lumbered forward like a horse, tucking my wings carefully alongside my body.

There was just one thing that bothered me about the situation. The man had been wearing a cloak and a mask, and was built tall and lanky. But the person I was following, was not the exact same. He wore a tight shirt, cargo trousers. Sure, he had a similar build, but his face was uncovered. I hadn't gotten a good look at it, but it reminded me vaguely of myself, my human form, that was.

"Perhaps this is a fan..."

I decided I needed to play it safe, so I began to speak, hoping that Cain's invention wouldn't let me down. The little sunflower seed sized earpiece in my ear activated, at least, I hoped it did.

"I've encountered a strange situation, and could use some backup just in-case. Are you guys free?" I called through the earpiece.

<Sure,> Joshua replied soon after, his little voice in my ear. It was harsh, but I ignored how the sound hurt, <Where are you anyway?>

"Honestly, I don't know," I confessed.

<The earpiece has shared your location,> Cain informed us. He sounded tired and grumpy. Perhaps he'd lost a game of chess, or an invention was not turning out like expected. Such things happened from time to time.

"Cool, I'll keep moving then. See you in a bit."

The standard responses came in, and I shifted my focus entirely on the figure running away from me.