The sky was dark and the sun was gone. The sea shone blue and black, there was no one around but Aggro. She half-knew she was dreaming, but at the same time half of her thought it was real. It felt so real.
She was back on her own island, on one of the yellow and white dotted rocks, climbing it. She felt strange, she felt smaller and younger. It was not a dream, it was a memory, a nightmare memory. That's why it was so real.
Aggro remembered tumbling down the rocks, her small baby dragon wings flailing. Then falling with a thump on her side into a patch of shaded, even darker trees and bushes. She had gotten up and shaken the dust off her claws, not aware of the danger at all.
Then they came. Lightfurys. The fabled servants of BoulderDeath. Red, yellow, pink, and blue eyes shining ferociously in the dark, ready to pounce.
A white shape had slithered out from the bushes as smooth as a snake. He had gleaming blood-red eyes and the same color dapples on his wings. There was an unusually shaped scar on his right shoulder, as if it had been carved into his scales on purpose.
"Huh?" Baby Aggro looked up at him. She let out a small growl, trying to look fierce but the Lightfury didn't seem to mind.
She really was terrified but she didn't want to show it. She had never seen a dragon like this one before. He looked down at her and slowly walked towards her, making her go back against the rock she had fallen from.
More pure-white dragons were coming, the same mark in this shoulder, the same glittering evil eyes. They had picked their prey.
A shining young white female with sparkling blue eyes and no mark on her shoulder pushed forward. She had looked at Baby Aggro with pity in her eyes and whispered something to the first red-eyed dragon, but he pushed her away.
Baby Aggro felt something she never felt before spark in her chest. A deep swell of worry, fear, anxiety and panic. She felt alarmingly weak. Her breath quickened as she recognized that mark. That was the mark of BoulderDeath.
She had remembered the stories told about the "Servants". Her mother had said they were nothing to be worried about and just scaredy dragon's trying to act like they had a terrifying dragon backing them up despite never meeting BoulderDeath herself.
However now in the moment it all felt real. It all was real. These dragons meant business. And that business was probably killing any dragon or dragonling that stumbled upon them.
Not speaking a word the first Lightfury advanced forward more, the rest hanging back. It's teeth were bared now and it's claws looked sharper up close. It's eyes glowed red, ominous and terrifying.
Baby Aggro didn't yet know that this was her first of many panic attacks. A strange phenomenon that one year later had suddenly stopped and not resurfaced again. Until now.
Aggro awoke suddenly just as the Lightfury's deadly claws were reaching silently towards her. She wished she had forgotten that memory, but it was still there. Like a haunting ghost hovering always in the back of her mind. Coming out into the open whenever something reminded her of the awful experience.
She instinctively looked over at Cutter, who was sleeping on the stone right above her nest. It oddly calmed her down to know he was right there. She had to admit they both had gotten close...
The small swell of panic in her chest was easing down know and she breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't want anyone thinking she was weak, even thought it was in the middle of the night. She didn't want to wake everyone up and cause a scene.
Aggro glanced at Parrot, who was twitching violently in his sleep. His large claws kept moving and his wings kept flapping silently. He looked like he was having a real nightmare.
She turned away and laid her head back on her front claws, her tail twitching in her hay nest. Her mind went over what she had remembered, the Lightfurys moving towards her, ready to kill. But what about the one with no mark on her shoulder, who was she?
Aggro shook her head and tried to fall back asleep but her mind wouldn't stop buzzing with worry. She started to get a little annoyed, clawing at her nest in frustration, but the memory wouldn't go away.
Finally her eyes closed once more and she drifted off into a deep, dark, dreamless sleep.
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Winger yawned and opened his eyes. He stretched his wings and glanced over at all the rest of the dragons. Summer was slumbering peacefully and Burple was snoring rather quietly.
Cutter and asleep as well and Aggro was curled up in a little ball, she looked like she was trying to hide her face in her wings.
Winger looked at Parrot, but the large green and light blue Deadly Nadder was no where to be seen. He had vanished.
"Guys, wake up!" Winger called. Summer rubbed her eyes and yawned, looking up at him.
"So early..." Burple moaned and rolled onto his back.
Cutter stretched his back and got up, his eyes droopy.
Aggro looked up suddenly, slightly startled.
"Parrot's not here." Winger explained. All the other dragons looked around and nodded.
"I'll go wake Dak and Leyla, everyone else can look outside." He continued and flew up through the hatch door. He flapped up to Dak's room and prodded his rider awake.
"What?" Dak rolled over and looked up at Winger.
"Parrot's missing." He said.
"Great." Dak yawned and got up.
Winger went over to Leyla's room and woke her up as well. He then explained to her and flew up out of the roost. He soared high, but there was no sign of Parrot.
"Oh no," Winger muttered to himself, "He really is gone!"
