Dreams ~ Open Wings

Chapter 12

There was a roar, and the fight crashed down from the sky to the ground in an instant, Nerve paralyzed with fear.

"Come on!" Menace shouted.

"I—I don't know what to do," replied the red dragon.

Suddenly, the white and brown dragoness grabbed Nerve's face and forced him to stare at her. "You are here for a reason. You are alive because you are important. And a special green dragoness told me that this little red dragon. . ." She tapped his snout. ". . . is, in fact, chosen. You are part of this for a reason; Dream sees you as a hero." She shoved him in the direction of the fight and roared, "Now go be a hero and fight that dragon!"

Nerve looked back one last time, then ran as fast as he could. He could feel power rushing through him, horns to tail. He almost felt like he could kill his enemy by simply touching him, but he knew that wouldn't ever be true.

Once he reached the area, his power died almost instantly. He felt so small so suddenly, and felt even weaker when he noticed Bitter's struggle. But Nerve should never feel weak. Feeling weak is the only thing that makes a dragon weak. There was no way he could just suddenly die now, though.

Nerve still charged until he landed right in front of the lime dragon. He lashed his tail over his friend, giving him the signal to leave.

Now it was just the red dragon versus the monster. Nerve blasted fire in one of the scarred dragon's eyes, and tried to fly up to him. He ended up clawing at the other dragon's neck to stay atop. His scales were large and rough, quite uncomfortable to try to stay on.

The red dragon managed to claw his way onto the larger dragon's head, and turn his non-burned good eye to a watery reddened pulp.

His enemy, now partly blinded, mindlessly swatted and managed to knock Nerve down.

What happened next was unbelievable, even to those who believed in magic and fate.

The monstrous dragon spat a large flame into the sky, as if he thought that he had won. The fire then turned and fell down, as if it had been any ordinary object. And somehow his scales caught it, and started to burn the dragon's scales.

Nerve backed off, wincing as his enemy flapped off as a burning display for the Shadowmancers. He knew that this was at least partly his fault, and he felt terrible, even if it was for the greater good.

He turned to a lime dragon who was proud of what he had done, and smiling so much he looked insane. "You did it. I knew you were capable." He twined his tail with the red dragon's tail.

"What in the name of Dream just happened?" Menace asked nobody in particular. "Nerve, Dream does favor you! She's on your side, and this proves it!"

"I thought you joined us because your real home is where you belonged," a familiar voice snarled. "Not to defeat the only thing that kept dragons like you away!" Rage flicked her tail, hitting Nerve in the back. "How about you leave, and never come back? Go take your criminal friend, and stay away."

"Lucky for you, this isn't my real home; it never was, and it never will be," were the last words Nerve spoke to his mother, and inside the Shadowmancer Kingdom.

~~~

"You were great!" Bitter said to Nerve again. He looked around. "Where did Joy go?"

"Menace said she swore to never leave the Sunmancer Kingdom again, and just left," replied Nerve. "So I'd assume she's there."

"Are you ever going to go back?" the lime dragon asked.

"Probably." The red dragon sighed. "But not until Drealite is ruled over by peace once again."

Bitter nodded, and they flew back to their territory in silence.

Once they landed, Nerve noticed something in the shadows, deeper in the cave systems. This was a maroon dragon, with glowing sky blue eyes.