The Chosen One- Book One (Editing)

Chapter 14- Mountain Dangers

Silverfang took a large white bag out of her pack. It was labeled: CHO14. Icetail barked, "Okay, everyone, put on the armor and combat shoes. You'll need them on the mountain roads." Silverfang raised a claw. "But aren't we going around the mountains?" Icetail nodded. "Yup. But those roads are full of monsters and usually have no paths." Silverfang nodded. She pulled out a pair of combat shoes. They had metal spikes sticking out of the sole of the shoes. The armor was thick and sturdy, but also lightweight. Silverfang slid on her claw armor and tail armor. The armor covered her claws and tail, and were accustomed to her shape. Her wing armor protected the thin membrane between the bones, and they were light enough so she could fly without a problem. Finally, she slid on her helmet, flipping the visor down so she could see. Icetail took the lead again, her shoes crunching in the rock.

Silverfang walked alongside Frozenclaw, chatting idly. Her shoes left holes in the rock while she walked. Up ahead, Icetail stopped suddenly. "Shh..." she hissed. "Incoming monster." A huge lumbering beast sniffed up ahead. It was a large humanoid creature, about seven or eight feet tall. It was hairy and had huge fangs that jutted out of its mouth. The creature drooled, dripping a puddle on the floor. The stench it emitted was rank and foul. It growled, turning to the group of heavily armored dragons. Icetail growled. "Troll." Silverfang unsheathed her extended claws, whipping her spiked tail in the air. Suddenly, the troll lunged with incredible speed. She darted to the side, and the creature slammed into the earth. Silverfang bared her fangs, but the troll quickly dodged her attack and leaped onto her. A force slammed it sideways and it fell to the ground again. Silverfang tried to conjure a ball of electricity, but her magic attacks didn't work in her armored suit. Then I'll have to go claw-to-claw, she thought, leaping onto the creature and raking her claws down its back. It roared, lifting itself from the ground with Silverfang still on its back. She clung on tightly, digging into the troll's back. It lifted her into the air and slammed her into the ground. Silverfang extended her wings last minute and cushioned the fall, but not before taking some damage on her right wing. She whirled around, slung her pack over her shoulder, and tried to fly. Silverfang took into the air for a moment, but then leaned to the right and crashed into the ground. She leaped up the troll's leg, leaving deep scratches down its calves. Frozenclaw leaped into battle, using her tail to boost herself up to the troll's face. "Did you order a knuckle sandwich?" she asked, slamming her armored fist into the troll's eye. Purple liquid dripped from the troll's wounds, but they patched up quickly and disappeared. The hairy creature bared its fangs, dripping with troll venom. It tried to bite down on Silverfang's tail, but she whipped it away and smacked his face. Behind the troll, Icetail motioned to her. She nodded. Silverfang leaped onto the troll's face, claws closing around his ears. She raked her claws down its face and bit its hand when it tried to knock her off. From behind, Icetail, Frozenclaw, and Flashscar lifted their helmets, beams of ice and electricity shooting from their jaws. From the side, Venomwing spit a pool of murky yellow acid. It hissed when it met the troll's skin. From the other side, Scorchtail and Steamblade breathed streams of fire at the troll's most sensitive spot- his ears. Silverfang leaped off the creature's face as the fire scorched its ear. The creature roared in pain and lumbered away, holding its ears.

Silverfang inspected her wing, extending it gently. It was twisted. It must've happened when she crashed to the ground. She took out the first aid kit from her bag, smeared some healing cream onto the bone, and wrapped it in white bandages. She flexed it and ate a piece of a painkiller called arosia. It tasted like honey and too much could kill you. But it was effective and kept the pain from coming back. Silverfang nodded at the rest of the group, and they continued down the mountain road. Clouds slowly obscured the sun, throwing the mountainside into darkness. After a short while, rain began to fall. Silverfang trudged on, her metal-clad shoes now making it harder for her to walk. The rain dripped through her armor and chilled her to the bone. The rain wet the bandage that was wrapped around her wing and diluted the effects of the healing cream. "We should find a place to rest for the night. According to the HoloMap, there should be a small cave somewhere near here. They turned a corner and were greeted by a large cave. From the outside, it seemed as if there was no way in. But the group found a passageway close to the entrace and it lead to a large rocky area. A few rocks were scattered around the place, along with several small flecks of sapphire in the corner. Silverfang pulled out a stick from her pack. She was about to light it when Icetail said, "Wait. We can't light anything on fire because the smoke can't get out easily." Silverfang nodded and put the torch away. She picked up a rock and concentrated. It began to glow, but Silverfang felt a bit drained. She pulled out her bedding, Steamblade's blanket, and Serpentis before nibbling on some berries and curling up to go to sleep.

The next morning, the group gathered what remained of their supplies and exited the cave. Silverfang felt slightly drowsy. The sun was too bright, and the world was too sharp in color. Steamblade sensed her discomfort and tried to help, but didn't succeed. "It would be great if you could help, Steamblade," Silverfang said. "But I don't really think that it'll go away. I'll just have to deal with it." Steamblade frowned but left Silverfang alone. The entire day dragged itself out. The dragons just walked and walked, stopping every two hours or so to take a rest break or eat a snack. Silverfang ate her first bar of DragoChocolate, which was part of the extra food supply that the group would need if they couldn't hunt. Serpentis was trying to stay cool, as the scorching heat dried his scales. Silverfang fed the creature a bit of DragoChocolate and let it drink from her canteen. But the dragons' water supply was slowly dwindling. Dragons like Steamblade, Venomwing, and Scorchtail could handle the heat, but Silverfang, Flashscar, Icetail, and Frozenclaw constantly needed water. Steamblade tried to summon fresh water, but that sapped the mana that he would need for battles. Silverfang tried her conversion power again on a rock, but only managed to fill her own canteen. Finally, Icetail pointed at the sky and suggested that the group should rest somewhere for the night. Unfortunately, there was no cave that the crew could take shelter in, and sleeping out in the open was not an option. Venomwing flew up and found a large cave-like ledge twenty yards from the ground. The dragons could rest there, but there was no real protection and they could be spotted easily. Silverfang suggested that the dragons could take shifts while the others rested and they would wake each other up when their shifts were done. Steamblade volunteered to take the first shift. Nobody objected as they were all very tired, and Icetail helped decide who would take what shifts after that. Silverfang volunteered for the fifth shift. She set up her bedding, placed Serpentis in his place, and collapsed onto the soft bedding. Right before she fell asleep, Silverfang felt that strange feeling again. The one that meant that she was going to have another nightmare. Silverfang tried to fight the feeling, but she wasn't at her strongest point at the time. She croaked, "Nightmare," before slipping into the dreamworld.

This time, she was in a blank white room. There was no exit anywhere. Silverfang got up, looking around, but there was nothing to look at. When she blinked, the walls slowly grew smaller, trapping her in a box. Silverfang scraped at them franticly, but they were resistant to dragon claws. An evil cackle came from all different angles of the room. It was a mix between a shriek and claws on a chalkboard. Silverfang tried to pull out of the dream, and miraculously, this time she succeeded.

Silverfang bolted upright, gasping for air. Icetail was sharpening her claws on a rock. "Your shift is next. How was the nightmare?" Silverfang calmed down, shrugging. "Better than normal. I managed to pull out of it." She explained what the nightmare was about. "Strange. We've actually come to one of the places where the Dark One is not as powerful due to the fact that there are several troll tribes and their magicians here. Their magic should make sure that you don't get any dreams at all. Unless the Dark One was related to you, which I'm pretty sure he isn't, he shouldn't be able to penetrate the troll magicians. Or maybe the Dark One has grown a lot stronger than I thought. Hmm..." The dragon excused herself and sat in a corner to ponder on the situation. Silverfang struggled to remember something about her past, but nothing resurfaced. After concentrating and finding no results, Silverfang urged the group leader to go to sleep. She sat on a rock and looked up at the midnight sky. The full moon glowed from its place in the sky. The glowing rock helped Silverfang remember something. It was a long time ago, but it had happened. Silverfang was just a hatchling back then. Silverfang had went with her parents, but she couldn't remember what they looked like. She just remembered clutching her father's claw as they watched the first group of dragon astronauts fly off in a sleek rocket into space. They were planning to see if there was any other life forms that existed on the planet after they discovered the Kryptotics. They were six-legged creatures with crab-like pincers and bugged-out eyes. Silverfang didn't remember if the dragons succeeded, but probably not because there weren't any living on the moon. Silverfang tried hard to remember something else, but except for the launching, she couldn't seem to pull another memory out. When the moon had drifted toward the 2-o'clock section, she roused Scorchtail and went back to sleep.