Project iDragon

016: Lip of the Storm

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Madi half dragging a limp Mark off the bleachers, and my breath caught in my throat.

The man seemed contented to ignore our existence, like we hadn't just seen him take down two dragons in front of our very eyes. He quickly moved toward the black dragon on the bleachers. The dragon let out a menacing growl and I wasn't aware what I was doing until it was already too late.

I leaped down several tiers, causing the man to take a startled step back. I straightened, blocking his path to the dragon. "Not another step," I stated with more steel that I felt.

My intrusion didn't even seem to faze him. "What do you think you're doing, kid?" He tried to take a step around me but I moved to block his path again.

"I'm not letting you."

His eyes flashed dangerously. "I'll pnly tell you once. Step aside."

I pushed my glasses up my nose and mirrored his stare. "Not gonna happen."

He rolled his eyes, and for a moment appeared to concede, but then in a movement faster than the eye could follow, he jumped up one step and threw me backwards by the shoulders. One moment I was standing, the next I was falling. My hands scrambled for something to latch onto, anything. My heart leaped into my mouth, and I let out a small scream as I felt my legs go over the edge.

"How pathetic." I heard the man state above me.

My hands clawed at bare metal as the rest of my body followed my legs off the edge. I could feel the jagged metal scrape into my skin as gravity took me down. I scramble for something. Anything.

There.

I yelled out in pain as my hands grasped onto the edge of the bleachers. The torn metal sank into my hands and almost instantly I felt the heat of blood flowing down my arms. Don't look down. Don't look downdon'tlookdown...

The ragged edge tore deeper as my palms grew slippery with blood. Suddenly a face peered over the edge and I looked up to find hoodie girl reaching out to grab my wrists. "Get up here." She growled between her teeth and started pulling. With her help, I was able to claw my up upwards. With my other hand, I grabbed onto a support beam, and heaved up my torso, then my legs. For a moment, I just laid there panting as she stood over me.

"Close one," she panted.

"You're telling me."

We both turned to look up to where the man with the wings was standing by the black dragon, who had finally managed to claw his way completely out of the wreckage. The dragon's clubbed tail was wrapped loosely around the man's legs, but he didn't seem worried as he spoke into some sort of microphone he had hooked over his ear.

Suddenly the man paused pulled back his sleeve to reveal a light blue cuff. A picture shot up from the cuff like some sort of hologram screen, and even though I couldn't tell what it was, the man's eyes widened in shock. He swiftly turned toward the dragon, and to my surprise spoke to it before leaping onto its back.

The dragon quickly spread its wings and took to the air. We didn't have time to move, didn't even have time to duck. I was already spread out on my side on the bleachers, but the nameless girl who had pulled back from the edge was standing right in the line of fire. She didn't even have time to scream, much less move or dive out of the way.

It was flying too low.

Too fast.

One of the dragon's claws hooked the back of her hoodie.

She went off the side silently, no screaming, not even a yelp, just a startled flash across her face, her lips forming a perfect O of surprise as she stumbled backwards several steps. And then there was no more bleacher beneath her feet, and she was gone, like a whisper in a hurricane.

"Kiara!"

I watched in horror as the rider disappeared into the clouds. I looked over to where the fallen dragon laid unmoving against the fence, then back to Mark, Madi, and the girl who went over the edge, Kiara. It all began to blur together as I watched the blood flow raw from my hands. Head covering girl screamed somewhere above me for her friend, and somewhere in my mind I registered her running as my head made contact with the cold fall linoleum. 

My vision began blurring.

Ten the sound of her footsteps faded faster than my mind could keep up, so that all I could hear was sound of her calling her friend's name in frantic terror. Kiara. Kiara. Soon the echo of her voice and the beat of my heart were the only sounds I could gauge-- but then the wind took that too.

~

Tern's teeth ground painfully against the inside of his mouth as he rode. The bite was so strong that blood welled on his tongue and threatened to spill over his lips, but he didn't care.

"Faster, Matthias," he gasped. "We have to – "

A/N as usual, thanks everyone for reading! Tern drawing above once again by angelina316. I'm considering the one above the official fanart because it is pretty damn accurate to what I picture with a few things off here and there.

So what do you guy think so far? Kiara, Saida, Madi, Mark, David, are they okay? What made Tern run off in such a hurry? Love hate? Leave your comments below! I miss you all and I love hearing from you.