Wings of fire: A Legend of Time (fan fiction)

Chapter twenty three-The Old One

Chapter twenty three- The old one

The room fell silent, all dragons staring at the SunWing who had brought the news in shock.

"What?" Marble managed to squeak out. "In the room, that dead thing. It was just lying there, and then it started to move" said the SunWing. "Where's the other guard I sent with you?" Eventide spoke up. The SunWing told them that he had been behind, and the other SunWing had already gone up too far ahead.

"What did the dead thing do?" Marble asked. The SunWing paused for a minute, as if not wanting to go on. But finally, with a sigh, he told. "It was a dragon. That much I could tell. It had wings, and a tail, and scales, maybe? Hard to see. It was all rotted. Anyways, it...stood up. It barely had any legs, well, I couldn't tell which were legs. But it started to walk towards me, and I backed up. As soon as I left that room, it collapsed again. Then I took a step back in, to see what would happen. It got back up again, and stood as tall as at least two BloodWings. Then, it bent down and ripped a piece of skin, or whatever it was, off of its tail and ate it. With that I turned and ran, and I could hear it muttering something very old sounding. It said: Hrail dracenmoragin, ashkove er muy. Mu vyl detrore yia, griov dra." The SunWing finished, and Marble noticed something light in Scorches eye.

"What is it?" She asked. "Can you understand it?" Marble knew that Scorch could understand the language if the glowing dragons, this sounded similar. Scorch nodded, looking flustered. "It said: Great NightWing, hail to me. I will destroy you, give up" he translated. "SunWing, tell us exactly what it looked like, everything" ordered Stedna hurriedly, surprising Marble, who had forgotten she was there. So the SunWing started to describe the dragon.

"It was pitch black, almost like a NightWing. It's wings were all torn, but come to think of it, I may have seen stars on them. But it was very big, and half rotted away. It's chest was open and I could see ribs and blood, lots of blood. But around the skin was green where the wounds were, like poison. Bones were visible everywhere, and it smelled gross. Being around it made the air seem weird, too. Heavy, not right, dark" by the time the SunWing had finished, the glow dragons were all wearing grave expressions.

'What is it?" Artica asked them. "It was the NightWing, the one who stole the pearl. He hadn't always been rotted, but we cast a distance spell on him. The accuracy of those kinds of spells aren't very good, but it seems as though it got him. We cursed him, made him rot slowly. We didn't think he'd survive. Especially since it was so long ago. He should be dead" Hrailen explained. "But he was dead" said the SunWing. "Then he came back" said Hrailen sadly, then Stedna added: "The old one has returned".

The air grew thick and heavy, the atmosphere darkened considerably. Something had changed. In the hall, a sick slithering-dragging sound echoed off the cold, bare walls.
Everyone froze in fear, as the dragging became louder and louder, closer and closer.
Stedna ordered something quietly in their language, and all the glow-dragons shifted into battle stances, ready for an attack. Marble, Scorch and Artica quickly followed their example. So did the remaining SunWings (including Eventide) and TimeWings.

A midnight black, half dead, rotted to the bone dragon staggered out into the room. The smell of rotten flesh was intoxicating, Marble tried not to breath it in. Someone nudged her in the side, it was Scorch. She stared briefly into his deeply glowing orange eyes, and saw her own fear reflected back at her. He gave a reassuring look, although Marble thought he was probably trying to reassure himself too.

"Nix. Brare" Stedna said firmly. Then Scorch translated it quietly so she could understand. "Nix, leave".
"Nra" the rotten dragon, Nix, hissed. "No" Scorch filled her in.

"Ste haw yia sertre" demanded Hrailen. "Why have you returned".

The old one growled, a deep, ugly, gurgling sound.

"Answer us, Nix! You owe us that much" Stedna ordered, out of their language. Nix must have been able to understand, he was, or had been, a NightWing once.
"Ssssssssssssssss. I woke up in a hall. I was dead for yearsssss" he moaned.

'Why on earth would he be here, of all places?' Marble wondered.

"This is the Stone Kingdom. You have no business here, or anywhere in Grinnen" Hrailen said.
Nix let loose a roar, that visibly shook his bones, and rattled in Marbles ears.

"I do not know why I am anywhere" he hissed.
The room was silent for a brief moment. The stench of rotten flesh still hung heavily in the air, seemingly clinging to the dragons' noses. Nix's attention turned to Marble, his sea blue eyes still twinkled mildly with longing, probably to be freed from his rotting self. He used to be alive, really alive. Not half dead. Then his eyes filled with something else, curiosity, then greed.

Then Marble went blind. Completely blind. She couldn't see the tip of her snout. She heard nothing, too. Not a thing. She had no idea what happened to Scorch or Artica, or Stedna or Hrailen, or Eventide...or anyone.
She couldn't tell if she was standing, or if she'd fallen over. She tried to call for help, knowing it'd be useless. She couldn't seem to be able to open her mouth, though. She could do nothing.

Then she felt her consciousness slip from her mind, and lapsed into nothingness.