The Breaking

Anguish and the Nymphs

What is it about the sunrise that makes it so bright? Especially when it gets right in your eyes. It really can wake you up from your sleep. Except for a magical dragon elf hybrid who is hung over on whatever beverage the elves were drinking.

I wiped my face and grimaced when my hand landed in the drool that seeped out of my mouth while I slept. My head had been laying in Greers stomach, and his stomach was a wet mess.

I had drooled all over his nice black shirt. I jumped in surprise.

My sudden burst of motion caused him to jump up and look around. His eyes were groggy as they fell on Anguish sitting at the waters edge. His mouth open and snapping shut as the nymphs messed with him. His tail was swishing slightly in both enjoyment and anticipation.

"Anguish!" The pups head snapped from the water. "Don't play there. Get back here." Greer called.

Just as he finished saying that an arm shot out and grabbed my pup by the neck. With a yelp and a splash Anguish was pulled under the surface.

"No!" I didn't even think. I bolted across the grass as fast as my legs could get me there. I stopped at the waters edge, I was afraid. I was afraid I wouldn't be coming back.

No.

Anguish was family now. And I was going to save him. Swallowing my fear I dove into the mirror like surface.

The shock of the cold was jarring. But I reached out to the dragons blood and my body began to become warmer. I opened my eyes and saw nymphs swarming me. There were more than I originally thought. I couldn't make out details they were swimming so quickly. But I caught a glimpse of my wolfs shining fur down in the depths. I tried swimming down, but the nymphs kept swiping at me. So much they began to draw blood. I heard their laughter even through the water. It was shrill and blood curdling. I covered my ears and closed my eyes to block it out, which only made them laugh louder. These nymphs are sick.

I let out the air from my lungs in order to dive deeper. When they came to swipe I held out my hand to grab some part of their body and burn it. Their cries of pain were actually better to hear than their laughter. Less curdling of blood.

It was getting hard to hold my breath. I could feel my lungs burning for air. My body even tried to swim up for a taste of that sweet release, but I kept swimming downwards.

But I couldn't. I felt myself weaken significantly; the nymphs didn't hesitate. They swarmed in and grabbed me, carful to avoid my hands. I was thrashing, but it didn't do much good. I wanted air. I needed air.

The nymphs were dragging me down. And just as I was about to give in to my body's wishes, I felt the nymphs let go. I dared to peak from my tightly shut eyes and I saw Greer. He grabbed my face gently and brought his mouth to mine.

His mouth opened mine so that I could breath in his air. I'd only seen people do this in movies and I never thought it would actually work, but it did.

Meld yourself with Anguish weirdo.

Greer said in my mind. I almost smacked him

I can't-damn it. I hadn't thought about that. But I can't talk. Perhaps I can reach out with my mind.

Anguish, I summon you.

I felt the the wolf begin to merge with me. The light consumed me and gave me back some strength. The nymphs yipped and whined at the loss of the wolf. I made a mental reminder to ask Greer what they do once they've dragged you down. But for now, we still needed air, and I was running quickly out. I grabbed Greers shirt and tugged as a symbol of, "let's leave."

We both began to swim upward, but were caught by nymphs. I reached down and burned their arms and they fled, screaming in pain. Greer grabbed hold of my waist and propelled us forward.

At the rate we hit the surface I was almost ashamed that I hadn't swam down deeper. Upon breaking the surface I lapped at the air like it was water. Ironic. I was trying to breathe so much I didn't realize that we were now flying high above the lake.

Greer and I were both panting there in the sky. My legs dangling above the sour faced nymphs that were weirdly screeching at us.

"Are they speaking?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. They're saying some nasty things too."

"You can understand them?" I was baffled. But in a way, it made sense.

"Sure can. Oo, that one just called you a half wolf whore. How rude." I flicked his head. "Ow! Now that-that is rude." He flicked mine back. I realized we were both still panting. I let out a large breath and breathed a sigh of relief.

I looked at Greer and we both stopped. Then we started laughing. Hysterically. We laughed so much that Greer began to waiver and almost dropped me.

"If you drop me I'll never forgive you." I was still laughing, so it didn't seem like a good threat.

"If I dropped you, you know I'd dive head first for you." I giggled a bit but ended up stopping and looking into his grassy green eyes. They looked like a calm grassy plain. Like one of the ones that would have a single tree and a gentle breeze blowing through it.

"Well I'm sick of this place. Why don't we try to find our hero?" I said, suddenly awkward.

"Our hero. Yes. Let's. And where, pray tell, might we find this hero?" I pursed my lips at him.

"You know. You're adorable when you pout as a wolf." He even had the nerve to scratch my ear. It felt good, but that wasn't the point. I batted his hand away. "And even if you're part dog, you're also part cat. You are one strange girl."

"Yes, yes, we all know just how strange I am. Now can we leave. I've had my fill of this place." He smiled brightly at me.

"Same here. Oh, and I never said it was a bad strange." I purses my lips again at him.

We began our fly away from the oasis. But before we left I could have sworn I saw blue hair and orange yellow eyes staring at me through the canopy of trees.