Chapter Text
She blinked. Burning charcoal and smoke choked at her throat and eye. She gasped for air, the crisp air of fall stung her throat and she stumbled forwards.
“Where am I?” Was the first and probably most important thought. As she scavenged through her memories, she released , she didn’t have much. Her name? Dart. She knew that, anything else? She couldn’t think of nothing.
But where was she? That thought entered her mind, she should be more scared, terrified, but she couldn’t bring herself to be. It was strange, yes. What else was new? Well everything. But that didn’t matter. It was dark. The sky glinted the same as ever, infinite stars dusted the night sky. Right? No. Something was off. There were less stars. Much less stars. They didn’t dust the sky, they spotted the sky.
“The trees are thinner too, less of em, and they’re thinner.” She thought. Eventually she broke free from the leaves and found the sun was on the ground. No. That’s not the sun. But, it’s just as bright as the sun. Actually, now that she was looking at it, it wasn’t AS bright, just, bright. Very. Very bright.
She flew towards the strange light, like a moth to a flame she flew towards it. But it wasn’t getting very close, stars, it looked like a mountain with how little it was moving. But by the moon, she was going to get there.
And get there she did, three hours and tired wings later, she landed on one of the tall logs, made out of rocks, cliffs(?) that made the strange light. There were many of these structures. They reminded her of the castles or battle towers, yet, there was no weapon’s, and it clearly wasn’t a castle. But what did she know.
She scanned the tree line of buildings, some even grazed the clouds, damn, just how tall- a rain drop.
How? When? She didn’t smell the humidity, it smelled as dry as the desert this can’t- another rain drop. Oh what did she know. She looked again, just now looking for shelter, she didn’t want to be drenched.
Ah! There, cover, rather large at that, zooming monsters that were way to loud ran overhead. But shelter, was shelter, and the creatures that just reeked, weren’t moving off of the ledge, so she felt it was safe.
She stretched against the crumbly rock and laid down, uncomfortable, but it will do. She began to drift off into the nothingness of sleep, a temporary death a- “Are you homeless?” God damnit.
“Wait that was rude, sorry. It’s just you’re sleeping under a road-bridge, actually I don’t know what it’s called. But if you are I work at a homeless shelter and you could stay there.” The voice rambled, she turned her head to get a look at this strange dragon, who’s language she didn’t even recognize, yet understood. And was met, with some strange horse bird wolf dragon thing.
“My names Dingo what’s yours?” Dingo asked. What was a “dingo?”
“Dart.” She answered cautiously.
“Dart? That’s a strange name. But if you fallow meee, I can take you to the shelter.” Dingo responded, her name sounded strange on the horse dragons tongue. She decided to bite the stick and ask, “What are you?” That was rude, she shouldn’t have asked it like that wow.
“OMG I was going to ask the same thing, you look straaaange. I, am a Rockrunner!” She answered, she sounded proud, “But since you asskkked, nowwww, you have to tell me what YOU are.”
“Dart.” She answered, in all honesty she didn’t really know, she was gray for stars sake, she had pink stripes down her back like some kind of frog what even was she.
…
“That doesn’t answer anything.” Dingo spoke, almost annoyed sounding.
“In all honesty, I don’t really know.” She confessed.
“Like you’re having an identity crisis?” Dingo asked.
“No like I don’t remember.” She answered, it was getting easier to speak to this “Rockrunner.” Stars she didn’t even notice that she was fallowing this dragon until just now.
“Oh.” Dingo replied, dumbly. The rain was getting worse, it was going to pour soon.
“Well we’re hear, the homeless shelter!” Dingo exclaimed.
—
She slowly walked down the ally, she heard screaming, normally, she wouldn’t go down a strange ally if she heard screaming, but, actually she didn’t have an excuse.
KLUMP
She fell to the ground, her head screaming at her, tears prickled at her eyes.
She felt a sharp, stinging pain, than another, ten times worse, as she bled freely onto the ground.
A muffled voice spoke, impossible to decipher with her head pounding like that. Something about anger, disappointment, saving, it was all muffled, like covered by a blanket. All of a sudden, she was being carried. She wanted to scream, but she was too weak to do so.
…
She was slammed into the floor, a clawed hand pinned her by her throat.
“Do you know why you’re here?” A voice asked.
“NO! NO NO NO DONT PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE ILL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT PLEASE NO! IM SORRY IM SORRY I DIDNT I- I-“ she stumbled over her words.
“You’re here because you offended the Great Scorcher.” The dragon answered. Out of everything, that was not what she expected. He leaned in, putting all of his weight on her throat, it felt like she was going to have her head pressed off.
“If we do not save you, you will be murdered by the Great Scorcher, killed over and over again, condemned to a fate worse than death. You don’t want that right?” He asked, speaking like what he was saying wasn’t insane, the great scorcher died eight hundred years ago, they were never seen again what does he MEAN she’ll be killed by them?
“How.” She wheezed out, “Am I offending them?”
“You look just like them, curved horns, gray body, stripes down your back, broken horn, Whiptail? Damn near a replica.” He answered, lifting his hand just brought for her to breath proper again.
“Than how do you know I’m not her?” She didn’t know what “saving her” was, but she knew it wasn’t going to be good, it’s best to stall.
“Your blood is red.” He responded like that was a normal thing to say.
“Why are you answering my questions, isn’t this privet?” She asked, maybe not the best idea but she was thirteen, cut her some slack.
“Because a dead dragon can’t tell a secret.” He answered.
Before she could even get a word out her death ricocheted off the walls, echoing, forever lost, never to be heard again.
He turned the guns safety back on.
Her name was Kate.