Chronicles From the End of an Age

Blinding Light - 21Yrs BTA

Warning, this story contains some rather violent and gory scenes. If you are uncomfortable with this, do not read.

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The constant dripping of water droplets echoed through the cave. A constant tune, each one fading into the other as though it was a loop of time. The cave was illuminated by soft glowing blue crystals, set neatly into the rocky walls, and giving off just enough light to see. The stone ground had been worn by centuries of use, scars and scratches cut into it from the inhabitants that used it.

A sudden scream broke through the silence. Agony resonated from the walls as the cry was cut short, leaving it to fade into the dripping of water. The scream was marked by a snarl of frustration and scuffle of talons against stone. Further into the cave, within a small cavern, were three dragons. Two of them had the dark ebony scales of shadow dragons and were standing over the third dragon.

He was golden yellow in colour, with two gracefully curved horns, long delicate wings, and a tensed tail. What marked this dragon apart however was that instead of scales he was had feathers. They covered his entire body, from the small tightly packed plumage at his snout to the long lustrous feathers of his wings. However, what was once beautiful and pristine was now stained red with blood. Torn out feathers covered the cave floor, leaving patches in the dragon's side left bloody, pale yellow skin. The dragon's breath was coming in ragged gasps, his eyes tightly closed as he struggled desperately against the pain.

"You ready to do what you're told, Bird?" snarled one of the shadow dragons.

"My name... is Kibre," muttered the feathered dragon, his voice barely above a murmur as he opened one eye to look at his assailants.

"What did you say?" the other shadow dragon spoke, her voice cracking with anger.

Kibre closed his eyes and ignored them, bracing himself for what he knew was to come next. The talons that struck him were imbued with darkness, sending cacophonies of pain through his body and forcing another scream to shake him. His head swirled in pain, blocking out all other thoughts. His entire body shivered and squirmed as he felt another trickle of blood worm its way down his side.

"Enough, Sharia," the male of the duo spoke, "We don't want to kill him."

"Well, if he's not going to help us then his is useless to us," snarled the dragoness, "We may as well put him out of his misery."

Kibre tried to laugh, though was cut short by a bout of agonizing coughing. The salty taste of blood flooded his mouth.

"Unless you are ready to tell us the way into your city from here I suggest you shut up," the shadow drake spoke with a snarl, before turning back to the female, "We are so close. Don't let your anger blind you now. We need to be clear-headed."

"Well with his screaming we may already be found out," muttered Sharia.

"We are very deep underground."

"And how are we even sure he knows the way?"

The feathered dragon felt the voices of the two arguing dragons fall into the distance as he allowed himself to drift. The pain was making it surprisingly hard to stay awake. But he wouldn't give them anything, no matter what they wanted. They were evil, and very stupid if they thought they could get away with sneaking into the light dragon kingdom through its underground tunnels.

Still, it stung his pride to find himself in the situation he was in and know that there was very little he could do about it. He had snuck down through these same very caves less than an hour ago. It was something he regularly did in order to escape the complexities of life in the light dragon city. As a rare feathered light dragon, and a hatchling to Lumiane the king of light, there were a lot of responsibilities thrust his way. He loved his life and tried to uphold his title as best he could, but when one was competing against nearly fifty other brothers it was difficult. Of course, he stood out because of his feathers, a fact which he held quite in high regard, but living up to expectations took quite a bit of effort.