“Ah, you're here,”
Hisster said as he watched Zoltar walk into the throne room the next morning.
“Yes sir,” Zoltar yawned, rubbing his eyes. Last night had
been terrible. Every time he’d closed his eyes the Exltron had been there,
haunting his dreams with its glowing red eyes. Screams and shouts had echoed in
his ears the whole night and at one point Zoltar had thought that he’d been
back in that forest with the beast.
“ZOLTAR!” Hisster roared, snapping Zoltar out of his daze,
“Stand up straight for suffering serpents’ sake and stop yawning. Honestly! I
know that you’re not doing too well, but that’s no excuse to slouch around.”
Zoltar remand silent. He was starting to wonder if he'd jumped straight from one nightmare into another.
After seeing that Zoltar wasn’t going to answer, Hisster
rolled his eyes and padded out the room. Zoltar slowly followed the larger Shadow
Talon up the tunnel, his wings drooping and his tail trailing limply behind him
like a dead snake. He just didn’t know how to feel. Emotions were bombarding
him from all directions. One second his insides felt like they were boiling,
then the next second they seemed to have wilted like dry plants. Endless thoughts filled his head, but they made no sense. They just felt like white noise.
The sun hit them full in the face as they left the darkness
of the tunnels, but Zoltar didn’t even flinch. It felt like he was floating
through nothingness and there was no end in sight.
Hisster spread wide his wings as they billowed like the
clouds of dark ash streaming from the volcano behind them. He looked back at
Zoltar and another look of slight irritation flashed across his face as he raised his eye brows and rolled his eyes. He muttering
to himself as he lifted into the air, his wings tossing up clouds of dust.
Zoltar unfurled his wings and leapt into the air. The sun
was a burning scarlet behind the black ash and smoke choking the sky. The wind
tossed painful red sparks and smouldering hot embers against Zoltar scales, but
he didn’t care if they burnt him. Life was dead to him and everything around
him just felt numb.
After about an hour of flying through harsh plumes of ash,
they finely reached the Forbidden Hills. The land below them was bare, with
only the skeleton like remains of once lush spring green trees. Not a breath of
wind was in the air and thick black ash choked the burnt earth. There wasn't a
green bush or tree for as far as the eye could see.
Zoltar swallowed the lump building in his throat. 'What had happened here and
how could the Howler Dragons live here? What did they eat in this barren
wasteland?'
Zoltar took in a deep lungful the air, searching for signs
of danger. He was sent into a loud coughing fit
as harsh ash and bitter smoke filled his lungs. He
slapped a paw over his snout, hoping it would muffle the sound of his horse coughs.
Hisster shot him a glare and mouthed the words shut up.
Zoltar nodded and continued to scan the ground below. A rabbit warren of gaping
holes littered the vast land and thick yellow smoke streamed from dark
entrances. The only sound was a faint rumbling echoing from below Zoltar,
making his scales tingle with nerves. Every minute seemed to last for an
eternity and the feeling of small ants creeping over his scales crossed over
him, causing to him to shiver in fear. He wanted to get out of this silent
desert and away from the evil feeling pulsing from the ground below.
Suddenly a blood-curdling howl filled the air around them.
Zoltar flinched and missed a wing beat, faltering in the air for a few seconds
before righting himself.
“What was that?” Zoltar asked in panic, his heart pounding
like a drum. It sounded way too similar to the Exltron’s awful roars.
“Those are the Howler Dragons. We are close,” Hisster
replied, who didn’t seem to be rattled by the unearthly calls at all.
Suddenly, Hisster tucked his wings and swooped into a dive
much like a peregrine falcon. Zoltar folded his wings and plunged down after
Hisster. The wind battered his face and pulled at his wings as if telling him
to turn back as the black earth rush towards him. At the last second Hisster
and Zoltar snapped open their wings and landed gently on the ground.
The earth was soft with soot under Zoltar’s paws as he
followed Hisster up a deserted hill. His nerves on a razors edge, Zoltar strained his
ears to hear anything other than the sound of his own footsteps. Nothing, just
cold, dead silence met his ears. He cringed, realizing that the rumbling had
stopped. Zoltar flexed his claws, ready to fight if he had to.
When they had neared to top of the slope a strange
whooshing sound swept over the top like the sound of small wings flapping.
Hisster carried on over the peak unconcerned. There was a shout and a loud
thwack. Zoltar stiffened and only just had enough time to see a huge black
dragon leap over the hill before it smacked him over the head with its hard
tail. Everything went black.
Let's jump in...
I'm interested to see his future role in the story.
Points: 481
Reviews: 117
Donate