Night Fury's Wrath

Chapter 99: Fear [Part 2]

-Apologies for the very late chapter. My old laptop kicked the bucket after nearly a decade, and I had to resort to my phone to finish this. I haven't had to write a story with my phone since the very beginning of Night Fury's Venom, so this was a bit nostalgic... but it also reminded me of how much I hate typing on a phone screen, hehe. 

The good news is my laptop is finally being fixed. Of course, the repair people won't tell me exactly what went bad, but I suspect it was something related to the main board, as that was the only thing I hadn't tried to fix myself. It should be mailed back to me in the next week or two, according to them, so I can finally get back to writing without my phone (thank god, because my hands keep cramping)! Hopefully, all my data will still be usable, but I have backups, just in case.

Anywho, enough of my rambling. Let me know what you think, and enjoy!

-NFD

~~~

My... everything hurt. However, it was a new kind of hurt, one I was entirely unfamiliar with. It almost felt like I was being pulled and stretched in different directions, like my body was hardly solid anymore. I couldn't even tell the difference between up and down.

I groaned and fell back onto my instincts to sort things out, as it was clear my senses were tangled and unreliable, but maybe ignoring my other senses would make things easier. Unsurprisingly, being male, they made finding Nibbler and ensuring her safety their highest priority, which made me suppress an eyeroll. I should've expected as much.

Still, I didn't fight it. After some effort, I woozily lifted my head and tried to look around, but quickly abandoned that idea once my swimming vision nearly made me vomit. I resorted to locating her using our bond, which, fortunately, was unaffected by whatever plagued the rest of my body. My head snapped to the left, then I dragged myself closer to her, the ground feeling gritty and tough under my scales, quite unlike the softer dirt of our den.

Nibbler's side of the bond was a tangle of confusion, fatigue, and various pains. Apparently, she was more disoriented than I was, and she hadn't figured out how to overcome it yet. She was nearby, at least, which kept me calm, though I couldn't completely stamp down my gnawing worry.

My nose brushed against warm scales, feeling Nibbler stiffen, then relax with a relieved sigh. I blindly traced my nose up from her side to her neck, trying to soothe her. Faint annoyance at my constant worrying trickled through our bond, but I could tell that she appreciated my concern anyway.

I wanted to ask the obvious questions: Where were we? What happened? But no words came out. In fact, I couldn't speak at all! It felt like my voice had been stolen, as I still had a mouth, and my muscles moved when I tried to talk, but nothing happened.

A faint sense of calm entered my being. I'd recognize Nibbler's emotions anywhere, so I knew it came from her. It seemed like she knew what was wrong, judging by the familiarity mixed into the flow. My confusion intermingled with her emotions, which were surprisingly no longer knotted and confused. Was this supposed to happen?

Nibbler rolled just enough to brush her throat against my nose, letting me feel linear scars across it. I was abruptly aware of a pulsing pain in my own neck, faint enough to be missed. Was... Was I suddenly mute? Like Nibbler once was?

Panic welled up within me, but Nibbler sidled up close and kept me reigned in, at least for the most part. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself, with little success. I'd never been unable to talk before, not like this, and it felt like I'd lost an important part of myself.