Young Writers Society

"Alright Fabian," he started, mulling over what to say to help him, "there are four more people in your situation down the hall. You might not like getting friendly with strangers, but in this instance, your survival depends on it."

Gordon started slinking toward where he had left his companions, pushing down the dread at seeing the spector again.

"I'm truly sorry that you've found yourself here." he murmered, almost inaudibly.

"Where's 'here'?" Fabian asked tentatively, following Gordon.

"This is a realm of the Underworld commonly called Limbo," he said, "good news is, if you're here, you're still alive." He refrained from adding the 'for now', focusing instead on leading the young cat to his fellow guests. It seemed like they had finally made it to the dining room.

His eyes widened as he followed. "What about the ones chasing me? Are they here too?"

Damascus looked back at the other cat. They were right beside the dining room door, but he stopped to address his concern.

"I'm not sure who was chasing you, but if they aren't in this hotel, they're either truley dead or still in the Land of the Living- in those cases you are safe here."

Mothman had spent the last few minutes awkwardly waiting in his chair, watching as Jersey had eagerly dug into the meal that was laid out on the table in front of them. He personally couldn't relate to the excitement. He was too busy worrying about how he had gotten to this strange place in the first place. Even if he hadn't been so worried, he would have still be hesitant to start eating - there were two empty seats left at the table, and to eat before they arrived might have been considered rude by the newcomers.

But just as he was about to go out into the hallway again, he heard movement from outside the dining room door. He looked over in the direction. After a moment of hesitation, he got to his feet and started to make his way over.

Fabian seems relieved, his tension level dropping before there's a hellish sound from downstairs - a crash, followed by something between a yowl, a screech, and a roar as a dragon that's about 15 feet tall at the shoulder comes bashing in through the doors. It's jet black and its eyes are silver, the slit pupils giving it a reptilian look in contrast to the avian feathers - scales? - covering its body and dorsal side of the wings. It has a surprising amount of traction on the tile due to serrated claws and thickly padded paws and fore-talons made to run on ice. A curious marking is on the base of his neck: a symbol, etched in silver, that is reminiscent of a draconic eye and wing around it.

The beast snarls and whips its head around, sniffing and opening its turqoise maw to taste the air, searching. Frost falls off its body and chills the room.

Fabian's tail became twice its former size before the feline bolted, racing ahead of Gordon and going through the nearest door, darting through the feet of those within with no regard for personal space.

Jersey immediately pushed his chair back when he heard the strange series of noises coming from outside. He tried running through the list of cryptids he had yet to find in his head, but he was tired. He couldn't think straight, and he certainly couldn't recall if any place in the world had a cryptid that would sound like that.

He pushed past Mothman and the cat that had just darted into the room, bursting out into hallway and then rushing to the source of the noise. When he arrived, he found himself staring a gigantic dragon. Definitely not what he had expected to see, but at least that explained the noise.

"Hey, guys?" he shouted. "Don't freak out, but there's a dragon in the hotel. I'm thinking of calling him Bob if there's no objections!"

The dragon's eyes fall on Jersey and it utters a long, low growl, peeling back its lips to reveal long, slender teeth - and a few rows of them. It does, however, seem to be missing its canines, which is rather curious.

Downstairs, Jane's voice greeted the newcomer who had demolished the hotel enterance. She remained professionally monotone, only breaking character with a sigh.

"Please excuse us for a moment while we undergo minor maintenance," she added to the usual greeting, "we apologize for the inconvenience." this last bit was delivered with the slightest sarcastic undertone.

Invisible hands made quick work of the door and surrounding wall. When everything was restored, a tablet aggressively swooped down for the dragon.

"To register for your stay, press the screen."



Damascus jumped a little at the commotion from the lobby. It seemed that one of the stranger sorts of guests had just checked in. Unconcerned, he strolled into the Dining Room after Fabian. Whoever the guest was, it would join them presently- there was no need to get his whiskers in a twist.

He looked up at the Spector, who was sitting patiently off to one side, and spat a little, making a point of moving toward the opposite side of the room.



Sevy stood at the noise, knocking his chair over loudly. Earthquake was his first thought- but earthquakes didn't usually roar. Jersey shouted something about a dragon downstairs. He barely registered an unfamiliar cat darting into the room- he would introduce himself to it later- and looked toward the ceiling, where he had gotten used to thinking of as Jane's position.

"Uh, Jane, should we be concerned?"

"Wonderful question." she answered drily.

The dragon-bird-thing completely ignored the tablet as it bounded up the stairs, using its wing to try to knock Jersey to the side as it pursued whatever it was hunting with a smooth, slithering gait.

Jersey slipped his hands into his pockets and easily got out of the dragon's way before he could be knocked over. "Bob's heading down the hallway!" he announced, casually following the dragon as it headed to wherever it was going. It looked it was intent on finding something or someone. It was just a matter of figuring out what.

Meanwhile, Mothman had slipped out into the hallway to get a better look at the dragon heading their way. He was still getting used to the fact that he wasn't the only strange thing out there, and a dragon wasn't exactly a normal thing he saw on a daily basis. So he stared at it, much in the same way that he had stared at Elisa.

Fabian the cat was desperately looking for a way out, and, unable to find any exit except the main one, took to hiding under a piece of furniture instead.

The dragon stopped in the hallway, sniffing the air and trying to identify the direction of his target.

The tablet continued to nudge the dragon, screeching it's commands now. Sevy and Tamika were both in the hallway, observing this commotion.

Back in the dining room, Damascus peeked under the chair that Fabian was hiding under curiously.

"Do you happen to know that dragon, by any chance?" He asked calmly. His fur bristled slightly in anticipation- it was possible that he would have to intervene on this younger cat's behalf.

"I think he wants to kill me," Fabian says, eyes wide with fear. "Or he's going t-t-to take me back to...to...to her."

The beast froze, head dropping to the ground as he caught Fabian's scent. He crouched and his tail hissed as it ran across the tile floor, too focused on the hunt to heed the tablet's shrieking as he stopped in front of the door, the ground beginning to freeze over.