Eclipse of the Moon

Chapter Two

Meanwhile, back in the cage that was dangling above the arena, Cielast was watching down below with her eyes filled with terror. She whimpered and swung herself around, as the wire above squeaked and created some kind of a metal tune. She wasn't the only one above the arena, there were cages littered all over the place, some were hidden in the darkness and some were in the blinding sunlight.

Then, Azure appeared at the doorway as he marched his way back to Waves' throne, and sat beside it with a sly grin in the corners of his mouth. Cielast kept watch at the doorway, hoping her mother would arise and come, saving her from this nightmare but she never came.

Nights passed, and there was no sign of her mother, Cielast often refused to eat but that didn't make a difference at all. She watched battle after battle, night after night but there was no sign of Pyra anywhere, and Cielast just eventually gave up.

She sighed and ran her talons against the steel bars of the cage, and swung it back and forth, discovering that it would inch down a little. She gasped, this could be useful for her to escape.

Cielast carefully watched as Waves laughed triumphantly as dragons died down below in his arena, their blood splattering across the golden sands as she frowned. Why did dragons like death so much? That was the real question.

One thing she'd never forget was the piercing crack of Pyra's victim beneath her talons, Cielast couldn't kill another of her kin. She swore on her life that she'd never harm another dragon for someone's amusement.

She whimpered silently and pushed against the cage wall, and a screech was heard as the cage slowly inched downwards. Nobody noticed so she pushed again, and again. The cage slid down the metal bar with sparks crackling above on the steel wire.

She didn't notice, but Waves was glaring up at her with his battle-scarred eyes, flickering his tongue in and out of his mouth. His blood curdling laugh was scarred deep into her memories and he often appeared in her nightmares. He was truly nightmare fuel.

Cielast then suddenly slammed her whole body against the side of the cave and it slid down and down towards a pillar that was holding the cages up. All of the dragons' attentions veered towards her as the metal wire screeched. She fluttered her wings and stared at the pillar, determined to get herself out of this mess.

"Come on..." she muttered to herself, preparing to launch out of the cage and fly away. Waves was now flapping his wings as he raced up towards her, his talons extended. She shook the bars desperately until the door swung open.

Cielast spread her wings and bolted out of the cage as fast as she could, heading towards the trees. Her heart was pounding, she could feel Waves' hot breath on her neck which sent chills down her spine.

"What do you think you're doing!?" he hissed and dove straight down towards the hatchling. She whimpered and swung herself out of his reach and into a tree. The leaves tickled her snout as she tried not to sneeze.

Waves and two guards landed on the ground, searching around for her, rummaging past rocks furiously. "You imbecile!" he bellowed and stormed past the rocks, kicking them out of his way.

She was careful to keep still, hiding in the tree the best she could as she held her breath. The guards growled and stabbed the bushes with their spears, only catching berry juice that splattered onto the tips.

Cielast wrapped her wings around herself and huffed, keeping close against the trunk of the tree so she wouldn't get caught. Her heart was thundering against her chest as she breathed deeply, trying her best to be as quiet as possible.

"Well," mumbled one of the guards, swinging himself around to look at Waves. "It's just one hatchling, we can live without it." The king slammed his spear into the ground and muttered something to himself, and then he bolted out of the woodlands and headed back to his kingdom, followed by the guards who were close behind.

Cielast took a relieving sigh and put her snout down, breathing loudly as she glanced from side to side. Her wings drooped as she carefully crawled down the trunk, her eyes still stained with tears from losing her mother.

It was possible that Pyra was still alive, but the chances were very slim. That little bit of hope in Cielast glittered brightly in her heart, but in her mind it had vanished long ago.

She was alone, it was her biggest fear that she had ever encountered, and she was always so close to her mother that she thought that she'd never have to be alone.

Her father, Adrian, was a menacing fellow with orange eyes like a cat, he'd always been very mysterious around Pyra and Cielast never got to know him very well. Her mother hid her from Adrian the best she could, because apparently he was the reason they only had one hatchling.

She dawdled through the forest on her little talons, being cautious to avoid any animals bigger than her. Her wings were tucked closely against her sides to prevent them from snagging on the strange bushes that were on both sides of her.

Cielast yawned and approached a nearby cave, flopping down on her stomach. She tucked her talons in close and draped her wings over herself, snuggling close to a rock. The wind howled from outside, trees waving their branches through the breeze.

She shivered and swished her tail from side to side, purring and thinking of a lullaby her mother used to sing when she was taking care of the eggs. It soothed her as Cielast's vision got blurrier and she slowly started to drift off into a deep slumber.

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