(A note from the Author:
GEEZ this is OLD. If you wanna read this you can, but its trashy and the pacing is horrible. I promise I'm a better writer now please believe me '-w-)
Axolotl wandered the pearlescent hallways of the summer palace sleepily. The sound of the 'class over' bell chiming in that cramped room still rung in her ears, stubborn to go away. It was way too early for that much thinking. She yawned, her vision blurring in the moment. The gentle but striking sound of her talons 'Clik Clak'ing against the floor drowned out whatever hazy thoughts drifted through her mind. Distant sounds of dragons laughing and talking echoed through the palace, the smoothed walls carrying the merriments like a feather on a breeze.
Axolotls face turned sour.
What was that awful sound? The haziness of her mind cleared, and she tilted her ear towards the noise.
Screaming.
Screaming, Loud and clear from the main halls of the magnificent palace, Terrified, blood-curdling screams of injured and panicked dragons. In a moment of shock, she stood in the nearly luminescent hallways, now not so relaxing as they were threatening, like candlelight on some long buried horror. She soon realized that in her sleepy state of mind, her wandering had gotten her lost. Queen Coral herself, was she always this idiotic!? She chose a direction and ran with it. Down a long hallway she ran, until she reached the largest room in the castle. Immediately as she entered, she was greeted with falling flames. It seemed like the sky itself was spitting balls of fire, until she saw the outlines of orange and red dragons.
‘SkyWings.’ She thought. But why? Why today, of all days? She turned her head downwards to the scene in front of her. Panicked seawings, some painted with crimson, some burning, some scorched. A dragon suddenly tore past her, shrieking loudly as he jumped into the water, extinguishing his previously burning wing. Part of it crumbled away as ash into the water. He sobbed hysterically as he watched.
Amidst the terror in her mind at this scene, one thought rang clear suddenly in her head, like a wing tearing through dense fog.
‘I have to fight.’
She shot into the air, and immediately stopped in a poorly-timed realization of her idiotic decision. ‘What are you doing? You’ve never fought a real fight in your life!’ an angry yet reasonable voice shouted at her. She shook her head, clearing it and calming herself. ‘Okay, okay. You've done this before. You know how to use your claws, right?’ She touched one talon to the underside of her stomach, feeling one of the scars. Her eyes went glassy.
In a split second, a searing pain tore through her as a large SkyWing slashed her left hind leg. She spun around, roaring in a mix of pain and pure rage. The dragon darted beneath her, clearly aiming for her stomach as it shot up. She barreled to the right, and back to slam the SkyWing into a large pillar as she remembered she once had in a fit of panic during a training session. Rudimentary, but effective. An audible crack rang from the SkyWing’s Shoulder as it fell to the ground. She landed, finally able to size up the other dragon. It was at least double her size, and clearly angry. It shot a blast of searing fire towards her, but it was obviously disorientated as the fire only grazed her flank. Still, enough to leave a nasty sting.
“You think you can fight me! TRY ME, SLUG-BRAIN!” It shouted angrily, Shaking its head, attempting to get up despite its clearly injured shoulder. Axolotl froze, nerves taking hold of her. The dragon lunged again, pinning her on the ground and roaring with fury. She writhed and wriggled, loosening her attacker, but didn't prevent him from slashing four long stripes down her stomach. She panicked, kicking him once in the snout, and once more, hard, in the chest. He flew back in the air, skidding and falling. The dragon quickly shot up again, spitting a tooth from his maw. She calmed her frantic nerves, focusing on the fight ahead. The dragon was much larger, but appeared lacking in muscle. A well timed slam with her tail.. Another lunge-slash from the red dragon. She jumped back, but not quickly enough. Plasma oozed slowly but steadily from the fresh mark down her side. He was so focused on attacking, he didn't seem to pay attention to what she was actually doing at all. Axolotl crouched down, this time anticipating as he tried to slash another gash into her side. She whirled around quickly, slamming him with any strength she could find within her being. He flew back into a wall, and fell, clearly stunned. She stood back up. He hissed, and tried to get up again. It was clear the broken shoulder she had issued earlier was taking its toll, but this dragon was bloodthirsty. He brought himself to his feet again. She panicked, and with a quick lunge, and she ended it. She removed her claws from his neck, tugging furiously, now terrified of what she had just done. The vein was spurting blood. He lifted a claw to it, but he was paling fast. One last futile reach of an attack, and he slumped. She jumped back, hyperventilating and shaking. She swirled around, looking at the chaos erupting around her. Her vision began to double, and her legs shook. Pain in her leg and stomach became agonizing and overwhelming. Just as she began to fall, a strong arm heaved her onto its back. She screamed, thrashing wildly. A comforting voice suddenly consoled her.
“Axolotl, You’re fine. Calm down.” She recognized it, coming down from her panicked daze. Familiar sky blue scales came clear into her vision as she saw her mother, Seahorse.
“Mom.. I have to fight! The SkyWings, the bombs, Dad could still be out there!” She began to wriggle again, but less violently. She was clearly delirious. Seahorse's shoulder was now slick with warm blood from Axolotl's stomach wound.
“Axolotl, no. I can’t lose you, You’ll die out there! Listen, find your father. Meet me and Rockfish at the spiral, and we leave. No arguments.” She said, setting Axolotl down.
"Three moons, your stomach.." Seahorse said. She paled, finally noticing the crimson liquid slathered on her shoulder
"We have to move quickly. Your father will know what to do... he can help you. I love you Axolotl." She shot off into the air, flapping fast. Axolotl stood for a moment, thought even for a second about lunging into the battle again, but her mother’s words rang clear in the fuzz of her head ‘You’ll die out there!’
She crumpled back, then turned tail and ran, wind stinging at her eyes. She noticed for the first time the crimson liquid on her talons and scales. Whether it was her own, she didn’t know. Cowardly. She was being so cowardly, and she knew it. But she continued to run. Had her mother not found her as she fell, she would have died. Even if she hadn't fainted, Moons know she couldn't have taken another trained soldier. So lucky. She didn't deserve to live while all these innocent dragons fell.
She ran through the halls until she finally found her father. On his shoulder he supported a limping SeaWing who’s leg had been blown into unrecognizable pieces that hardly bore resemblance to a limb. Her father looked up and noticed her finally, clear relief sweeping over his face.
“Axolotl, thank the moons! Where is your mother? Rockfish? Are they safe?” He instantly switched into worried parent mode, anxiety bubbling over, making it clear where Axolotl had gotten hers.
“Mom is fine, and I’m fairly certain that Rockfish is with her-” She was cut off by a moan from the injured SeaWing, which was clearly fading fast.
“Oh, Seal! Hang on, please! We’re nearly to the healing bay, just listen to my voice okay?” Her father turned his attention to him before gesturing to Axolotl to get on his other side. She quickly slid under the SeaWing- Seal’s other wing, holding him up best she could as they walked slowly to the healing bay, her father still babbling to the other SeaWing. Occasionally, another dragon would come reeling past, screaming in terror. Not one stopped to help. When they finally reached the healing bay, it was already filled with dragons, screaming dragonets, worried mothers. It was terrifying, a scene from a war scroll. Healers scrambled to keep up with the overflow of dragons into the bay. Finally, as Seal was taken away, her father took notice of the wound on her underbelly.
"Axolotl! Your stomach! Lie down. Ill find a free healer." He obviously struggled to keep his composure, running off quickly. She watched him go, dark spots edging her vision. She fought to stay conscious, thinking of her mother, brother, friends. They'd need to evacuate, there was no doubt. The attacking forces wouldn't let the healing bay remain in tact for long. Could she fly like this? Swim even? At least her chest wasn't injured...
"That looks deep. There are so many dragons, All I cam do right now is bandage it. At the deep palace, They can do more. Stitches, cleaning. You need to leave." A seafoam-green dragon spoke quickly to her father, wrapping seaweed bandages haphazardly around her midsection. The pressure helped the bleeding, and her strength returned in increments, but they couldn't wait, they had to go, now. Her leg and side were irrelevant.
"Dad, Mom said to meet her at the spiral. We have to go, staying here is a death sentence." She spoke, finally, fighting with her injuries to get up.
"Axolot, you're wounded-" He started, but was interrupted by the seafoam dragon.
"Manatee, she's right. We need to evacuate everyone, as quickly as possible." The dragon said resolutely. He sighed, but quickly moved to support Axolotl, nodding stiffly to urge her onward. They ran awkwardly, like a panicked seven-legged race. More screaming dragons. Corpses. Explosions sounded from different areas of the palace. Axolotl prayed the healing bay was still safe. She heaved her crippled body up the stairs of the spiral, leaning heavily on Manatee. He looked at her briefly every few moments, concern showing on his face. His resolve was crumbling quickly, but they ushered on. Finally, they reached the top of the spiral. Seahorse rushed to her other side, looking to a stunned Rockfish. Manatee broke the silence.
"They're evacuating. They say the deep palace is safe, healers are gathering there now. Its safe there, they can't bomb underwater."
Seahorse seemed too shocked to speak, but managed a quick nod. She looked over to Rockfish, who did the same.
"Axolotl, can you swim?" Her mother asked. She nodded sharply, trying to prove her strength as to herself as her family. This seemed to calm them, and they exchanged one last glance before they jumped into the water below, one at a time. Axolotl jumped last, holding a talon to her tender wound to brace for the impact of the water.
~~~
The two characters that have a page from this are