Chapter 27

There was no mistaking the sound of Viper's nimble footsteps moving closer to him.

The way her claws clicked against the dark floor of the dreamscape.

The way her tail whistled as she whipped her barb from side to side.

The way her glare made his scar burn his snout more and more.

"You seem to like feeling me rip you to shreds while you sleep, Flame," she sneered, as he raised his snout to look at her. "If you keep this up, soon there'll be nothing left for me break," she hissed giving him a toothy smile.

For the first time during these nightmares, Flames actually took the time to properly see her. Her words, whilst cutting, didn't stop him from looking.

The SandWing was now nothing more than a shadow, her curves and edges accurate but not defined. Her eyes were a mix of yellow and white, and were alive and burning, despite him being unable to read anything within them.

The shadow of his former friend took another dangerous step towards him.

"She's not really here!" His mind howled. "She's gone. Just get rid of her! You don't need her messing your head anymore!"

Viper sneered, seemingly at his thoughts, as she spread her wings. "Well, well, Flame. It's seems you're finally ready." A pause, as his dread quietly turned into frustration. "You're finally ready to fight me. To finish what we started back on that wretched island."

Flame felt his claws tingling. His throat burned hot. His tail lashed at the thought of freedom from these nightmares, and his wings spread at the idea of a fight.

But he also knew something.

He knew what he wanted.

And he knew what he didn't.

He saw the NightWing Island, the lava pit materializing behind her once more. He saw how easy it could be to get rid of his thoughts, his nightmare... his enemy.

But the tingling in his claws was gone.

He knew who his enemy was, now.

"No."

The dreamscape around him pulsed as Viper's eyes flared brighter.

"No?," she hissed, her scales ablaze. "You can't deny your feelings to me, Flame. I can feel your anger, your fury! Come on!" She blazed, appearing to grow in size. "I want to feel your pain drain out from under my claws!"

Flame felt himself get less stable, as the SandWing's words he spoke came out charged with an emotion that wasn't fear, anger, or both.

And strangely, his reply reflected those emotions exactly, too.

"I won't fight you, Viper," He declared, flaring his wings right back at her.

"Pathetic. You think you can get rid of me by ignoring me? By pretending I don't exist!" She snarled.

"No," he breathed. The SkyWing felt his heart pulse louder in his skull. He felt his webs pulsing, as his mind grew louder.

"Everyone wants me to fight this. To fight her. Everyone... I just don't care. I'm done."

Flame breathed, and then let go.

"I spent so much time feeling furious at the dragons who'd hurt or taken things from me..." the SkyWing said, closing his wings and curling his tail over his talons, "that hate... it turned my claws into my only voice."

"Seems like the appropriate reaction, you smoke-breather," Viper snarled, "we are dragons, after all."

"I thought so too," he replied, "but I felt nothing but fury and rage and vengeance. Those feelings- they burned me from the inside out."

Flame turned his glance towards the distant nothingness. He didn't see Viper's reactions to his words.

"I don't like feeling sadness, loneliness... grief. I thought I had to hide those parts of me." He said, slowly, as he thought of Avalanche and her wings wrapped around him. "I thought winning these battles would have made me a better dragon. And I knew I would have to fight you here eventually... but now I know what I want to do."

The world around Flame was slowing down, disappearing, until the only thing he felt was his heartbeat.

"I'm done with fighting all of this."

As quiet "thump-thump"s filled his ears, Flame let himself feel everything else.

He smelled the smoke from the SkyWing fort, ablaze from NightWing's fire.

He heard Viper's shriek as she disappeared with anguish into the lava.

He saw Darkstalker's eyes, as he offered him a cure shrouded with shadows and lies.

He tasted the blood in his mouth as he attacked Stonemover with vicious malice.

And he felt his scar, his talons, his wings, along with his own heartbeat once again.

He focused, looking at Viper as he also felt tears streaming down his snout.

"Viper... I'm sorry. But this isn't you," he breathed through the tears.

Stillness. Silence. A baffled look from SandWing to SkyWing.

"And what if I wasn't?" she hissed, lowering her tail for the first time, her voice a mix of confusion and surprise. "Why are you apologizing to me?" she demanded.

"Because you... she, shouldn't have died like that... she didn't deserve it," the SkyWing said, all at once, perhaps not with the right words. "She was never given a chance to become anything more than the kill-or-be-killed dragon that war made us become.

The SandWing cracked a laugh, as the shadows shook their head. "What tells you I would have changed, even if I had had a chance? Some dragons actually like fighting, Flame," Viper's voice hissed.

Flame could imagine that. He'd seen and met some of those dragons. He'd probably been that dragon at one point, too,

"Yes, some dragons do. I know it did," he replied, "but Viper? I remember how much she liked finding little treasure and colorful rocks to hide from us. I remember how she fell asleep humming in our tent after carving symbols into stone tablets."

"And!?" The shadow snarled, their wings outstretched. The SkyWing could almost see the shadow's eyes blazing in the darkness.

But he continued, the words faltering from emotion but coming easily, too. "I also remember how she and Adder would have fought the entire desert if it meant keeping each other safe - and not because they simply enjoyed bloodshed."

The SandWing shadow halted in their tracks, their jaws opening and closing.

"Viper... I don't know what she could have been. But she was my friend once. I think. And even if we both did things we wish we didn't... I wish she were still here."

The shadow's tail drooped. "You don't mean that. We were never friends. None of us were. We merely lived together, clawing for survival..." she faltered, "and look where that got us".

Flame felt his heart sink as his tears ran dry. He knew this was true, whether it came from Viper or the shadow. Those words spoke messages that didn't have to be said out loud. They screamed "you're alive, and I'm not. I was expendable, and you weren't."

"You're right," he said, sitting down. "Even if we weren't friends... a part of me died when she fell. I don't know why. Out of all the dragons who I lost or hated or loved, she's the only one I dreamt about. You're the only one who kept coming back to me. I just don't know why."

The shadow's eyes widened from anger to surprise. As Flame's gaze dropped, he heard them sit down at a wing's distance from him, their whole form folding into itself.

A long moment passed,

"I don't understand..." they breathed after a while.

"Don't you hate me? Don't you want to fight me?"

The SkyWing felt powerless. Ardor, Treen, Rail... they might have known. But he had no clue. He shook his snout, and look at his own claws.

"Weak," Viper's voice spat, the voice cutting and sharp.

They remained in silence as everything slowed and calmed.

He didn't know what he wanted to do. If Viper was truly there, then maybe he'd enjoy this brawl.

But this wasn't Viper.

There was only one dragon in this dreamscape.

And suddenly, the shadow, the dreams - they all focus into focus. He knew who he facing.

"Viper isn't here."

And then, perhaps, the truth.

"You're... me," Flame breathed.

At once, the shadow in front of him seemed to shift. The 'SandWing' in he was facing didn't look like any one tribe anymore. It had the talons of a NightWing, the tail of a SandWing... and his snout.

"We're the only dragon here," his dream echoed. It used his voice.

"Why did you... why did I do this?" the SkyWing wondered, his eyes aching from the tears.

The shadow shrugged.

"Was I using my anger against myself?" He puzzled out loud.

"Likely," the shadow sneered, "you came back here every night after Viper died. And then it became rarer. But I was always here, you kept summoning me. You kept telling yourself that you wanted me to hurt you."

"I was the one I was hurting. That's where my pain came from. All those dragon that hurt me... I kept asking myself to feel that pain again. To hurt over and over, so I wouldn't forget," he pressed a talon over his scar. "I was never going to heal. Not from this."

"That scar won't disappear," the shadow croaked, "we can't heal that with smiles or medicine. And you tried magic. Look where that got us."

"I know."

He'd never said that before. He'd never been ok with keeping his scar. Maybe as a weapon, to scare others, to keep them at bay.

But as a part of himself?

"I'm not this scar," he said, his shadow flickering as their eyes met, "but it is a part of me. A part of me I will live with."

"Good luck," the shadow hissed, "the stares will always be there. The hurt will never go away."

"Maybe not now. But it might," Flame said, his wings  feeling something behind him. Wind?

"Hope, how funny," the figure in front of him laughed, "in the meantime, enjoy all of this. Keep trying to hate yourself. Stay here, I dare you."

Flame considered it. But he felt the wind. He felt his heart tug him upwards.

He might not have been a good dragon, or a good friend, but he felt the sky clearing up for him. He had a second chance. He was still alive.

"My...  my friends are waiting for me. I want to be with them. My future is changing. I'm changing. But I'll fix what I've broken. Not my scar - but this magic. I can heal that. I want to."

He faced his shadow. He faced himself. And he understood it.

"I've stayed here long enough, don't you think?" He asked, his fire burning hot, as his shadow gazed at him challengingly.

His wings shot open, as he caught the wind and propelled himself upwards.

He felt all the hurt. The fear. The regret. And yes, even the hate.

"Race you the clouds!" He called, as his eyes grew wet again, as he disappeared into the darkness of his dream.

Crying.

Smiling.

Free.

And finally, maybe, healing.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top