Eclipse of the Moon

Chapter Twelve

Waking up with a grunt, her scales felt weird and... Fake. Cielast rose to her talons, blinking around at the prison cell. The sun was already out, and smoldering down onto her scales. She sneezed and shook her head, glancing over in all directions until she met the door which was swung open.

Creeping out the door, she cautiously looked from left to right. There was roaring outside, out towards where the arena was. Her horns perked up as she tilted her head, slowly slipping towards the entrance.

To her horror, there was a large crowd chanting outside with Waves and Azure both sitting atop thrones at the very end. "Well," Azure shouted through a speaker, "You're just in time, Cielast!" her vision started to become faint, and returned again soon after, but it was strange... It was almost as if it were the surface of the mirror, rippling through her mind.

Two dragons were pacing in front of each other in a large arena... Pyra and Jade. Her eyes widened as she sprinted towards them with a howl of agony, bumping into the bars of a cage. "NO!" she roared furiously up at Azure who was cackling triumphantly with Waves by his side, a proud expression stretched across his face.

"Please no..." Cielast whimpered in a softer tone, her wings drooping to her sides as she held the bars in front of her, pleading to be let out and take Pyra's place. If it were between Jade and Pyra, she'd have to replace her mother, Jade was just a friend... But a dear one...

Her mind swirled around in thought as her eyes narrowed, "Let the fight begin!" Waves roared, standing up and clapping his talons together. Cielast gave him an evil glare and glanced away, but her head was mysteriously getting pulled to watch the fight.

Jade leaped at Pyra, enraged as she tore open her scales, they fell to the ground like puzzle pieces. She shook her head, this couldn't be happening... Cielast gulped, as Pyra slammed Jade down at the ground and dragged her back against the sands.

During the battle, Cielast's vision started to ripple more until she was unable to see ahead of her. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a few deep breaths. She was trying to stay calm, but it was next to impossible. Her mother was alive after all, but she was about to be killed again...

When she opened her eyes next, her vision was like a camera zooming through the clouds all the way from the castle which seemed to be empty at the time.

It swept through the clouds and through the huge trees, swooping left and right through caverns. It went past Flarius' battle field which was littered with dead corpses, and it went to Akurma Mountains.

"Huh?" she questioned, not being able to control where she went. The view zoomed into a strange looking cavern with torches spanning across the walls, as her vision got dimmer. Inside, there was a maze of tunnels which the camera navigated its way through until it met a large room with a dragon who was tied down with various large chains.

The dragon looked weak and tired, even possibly dead... He was a copper colour, similar to how Hydrax was but it was deeper. He was hanging restlessly from the chains, as if he had previously given up. He was so thin, his ribs were bursting from his chest, as if they wanted to escape.

Then, suddenly, the dragon's head tilted upwards to stare straight into the camera and his eyes burst open. They were a deep purple that seemed to swirl, surely they were very convincing eyes.

"Help me," the words slithered from his mouth as everything froze for a few moments before it started to backtrack all the way to the prison once again. Cielast's vision faded to a blinding white before everything was silent.

It was moments before she woke up again, but this time her scales were back to normal and the door was closed shut. Cielast took a few deep breaths before it came to her attention that it was all just a dream.