When it Rains

Chapter 1- Wanderer in the Woods

Trudge, trudge, slither. Trudge, trudge, slither.
The pattern continued as the red beast made her way through the forest. Crushing twigs and flattening grass under her large talons; she hissed a plume of smoke into the crisp night air. Winter had come early, devouring the warmth of the sun and tearing the leaves from their branches. She smelled the air around her, flicking her forked tongue in and out of her mouth. She was hungry, and because of winters unexpected arrival, she has not gotten the meal she's much needed.

The thorns of worry ensnaring her heart grew tighter when her nose came up empty. The forest looked dead, lifeless. The trees moaned as the icy wind pushed past their thick branches, making them sway almost violently. The red beast lowered her head and drew her wings close to her body as the cold crept its way past her. The cold never bothered her, though. Her thick, red scales always protected her organs from winters frigid teeth. The flame in her belly spread throughout her body and into her lungs as she huffed fire into the air.

The darkness the night had brung reared back in fear as the red flame flickered across its frame, if only for a second. As soon as the warmth left and the flame burnt out, the night crept back in to block her vision all over again. She knew she wouldn't find any prey, she already knew all the animals had left to warmer settings or had dug underground to sleep close to the warm core of the planet. Plus, to make it any worse, she has already missed her opportunity. She hunted during dawn or dusk, the yellows and oranges of the sky hid her red scales well. But the warm colors had faded to blues, blacks, and purples, and with them they took almost every chance at catching anything.

She huffed in defeat and turned to slink back to her so called 'home'. If she was lucky she'd fine something on the route back. Maybe dig up insects or, if she was careful, catch a bird. Nothing that would satisfy her, but something that might help the pains of hunger. Her ribs had started to show no less then three sunrises ago, although it was only a few faint lines, it still worried her. She had expected her fat to last longer than it did; she had developed a thick layer to protect herself from both cold and hunger, but now nothing could help her. She knew it was still a few months before her prey would return and she would not survive until then.

She begrudgingly entered the cave she's slept in for so many years. It used to belong to a chimera, until she drove it out. Thinking back to the memory gave her a faint scent of hope. She wasn't doing well that particular year, either. But she survived it, and then she survived the next one, and the next after that. Something told her that she could live, some strange feeling blowing on the embers in her belly. Telling her something new is about to happen, something different.

Apparently some of the other creatures in the forest felt it as well. The red dragon lifted her head as small mammals woke from their slumber and left their dens. The dens so cleverly dug that she couldn't find a way to dig those little vermin's out, but now they were leaving on their own, crossing right in front of her cave. She didn't even crouch, she just walked up the the entrance and watched them. There were hundreds of them, more and more pouring out of the small holes in the ground. They all ran in what seemed like a thick line; the red beast looked up at the sky, studying the stars and trying to figure out where they were running. East. They were running east. She looked back down at the hundreds and thousands of mice, squirrels, opossum, raccoons, lynx, rats, rabbits, beavers, gophers, martens, ferrets, wolverines, hogs, and more. All were running in a maddened panic almost.

The dragon opened her strong jaws and snapped at the long line of animals, capturing an unlucky beaver. She bit down hard on its midsection and felt its fragile bones crunch. Drool leaked from her mouth and her belly roared at the scent of the rodent's blood. She swallowed it whole and snapped at the stream of animals again. Wolverine, raccoon, another beaver, she tried to move faster, the line was starting die down.

The crowd had passed. She watched it go; leaving her, and the animals she had taken, behind. She licked her now bloodstained lips. She was about to lie down and sleep, full from the feast, until a small rumbling emitted in her ears. She stopped and looked around, just now wondering why all those animals were running. She looked up in the direction they were running from, the sky looked different but other than that she couldn't tell of anything else unusual or threatening. The rumbling came again, this time stronger, managing to shake her body along with the ground around her. She reared on her hind legs and turned her massive body in the opposite direction. She ran toward the crowd, with the crowd, and past it. Four legs of raw muscle pounded the dirt, leaving deep gashes in the soil. The ground jeered from under her talons, throwing her body into the air and back onto the rocky floor. She whined in pain, and picked herself back up.

Her wing hurt, every step she took sent blinding pain all around her shoulder.
She sniffed the the part of the limb that attached to her shoulder, giving a few licks for comfort. She didn't know what the injury was, a broken bone or just a torn ligament, all she knew was she couldn't fly with it. Not that she could fly anyways.. She snorted in anger, she had cursed the gods for spitting on her in such a cruel way. She's seen dragons without certain legs or with no tail, but most of the time it was because they lost them in battle. It was rare she saw a dragon born without limbs they needed.

She limbed on, the ground rumbling beneath her.

She had both wings, but they were mutated horribly. They looked a little funny, a few bumps here and there, though that wasn't the real problem. The webbing, that thin sheet of skin spread out across each wing was dead.

She had to stop walking, the uncomfortable fullness in her belly and the searing pain exhausted her.

Its been dead since she hatched. Like an inborn disease it plagued her for her entire life. When too much weight pressed down on her wing's fragile skin, it tore like parchment. Every time the wind hit them or she flapped to get her large body off the ground the webbing tore more and more. Until the holes were too big to catch any air with.

She smelled something, a burning and charred smell. She looked up to the sky to see shooting stars; had she ever felt this fear before? They were coming down, they would hit the ground and who knows what would happen afterwards. The red dragon looked ahead, limping away from the golden balls of flames although she was already a good 20 miles ahead. Would her forest die? Would the place she hatched burn? And her along with it? The beast shook her head, her blue mane swishing side to side. Keep running, she told herself, if you live maybe you could fix your home afterwards.

Her thoughts were wiped from her mind as the first star hit. Strong wing whipped her body, pushing her foreword despite her massive weight. The ground shook and trembled, throwing her body up again. Dark thunder clouds clouds circled around the land and the dragon realized she wasn't the only one injured and tormented. She could hear the painful screeches of Griffins and the agonizing roars of chimeras. She dug her claws into the soil for grip as bullets of water started to hit her face. The second star landed, even worse that the first; uprooting trees and causing cracks in the forest floor.

The red dragoness stood and ran full speed, ignoring the pain that came with every step. She rain came down harder and thicker, almost blinding her. A crack of thunder boomed at the sides of the large planet, causing the dragon to startle. She ran faster, making her injury worse and cutting her talons on sharp stones. She looked over her winged shoulder to see the third star crash. Everything seemed to trembled with fear. The dragon turned to look ahead of her, only to abruptly stop. She didn't see the canyon.

No matter how sharp her claws were, they phased right through the mud and water. She couldn't stop herself, her speed and her weight combined made in impossible to halt on the slippery ground. Another loud roar of thunder and a whip of golden light blinded her.

Falling. Rolling down the hills rocky face. Hearing your bones snapping. Feeling your flesh rip and tear. The ringing in your ears when your head jeers up and down. Then nothing. That wonderful feeling of black to take the pain away. The beauty of darkness to numb everything. How fantastic it truly was.