The Game of Life

2. Mystery

𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔡𝔬𝔲𝔟𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔪𝔞𝔶 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔰𝔪𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔫

𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔨 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢'𝔰 𝔫𝔬 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔶𝔬𝔲, 𝔰𝔬𝔫?

𝔚𝔥𝔶, 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔟𝔬𝔬𝔨𝔰 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢𝔫'𝔱 𝔟𝔢𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔫,

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔯𝔞𝔠𝔢 𝔥𝔞𝔰𝔫'𝔱 𝔟𝔢𝔢𝔫 𝔯𝔲𝔫,

~𝓞𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓾𝓷𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓫𝔂 𝓑𝓮𝓻𝓽𝓸𝓷 𝓑𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓮𝔂

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A dragonbite viper. Large, and dangerous. It stared at Kagayaku with dead cold eyes, and slowly, it struggled towards her, with bloodthirsty intentions. The hybrid took no time. She pushed the window open and launched herself out into the bitter night. She scrambled to her feet, and ran, towards the forest, towards the unknown.

She kept running for who knows how long. But, when she finally stopped, she found herself in an unfamiliar environment. Lost, scared and frightened, she looked around the dark woodland area with petrified eyes. How would she get out of here? Was she safe? She could barely see her way around, and she only got further, and further from home as she moved through the trees, bumping into several things along the way.

Covered in scratches, she trips, and falls down a steep hill.

Could anything go more wrong? She thinks to herself as she groans and picks herself up from the ground once more. She appeared to have found what looked like some sort of a clearing. She shook her head and looked around, taking careful steps forward in case something was here, something that would want to tear her apart and eat her. Suddenly, she hears a sound, of a twig snapping. Oh GREAT. Kagayaku growled and whipped her head around to where she thought the sound was coming from. She brandished her tail barb in a defensive manner, staring unblinkingly at the dark patch of woodland in front of her.

Am I just hearing things? Is it just because I'm so paranoid? Or is this just another one of my silly dreams, a stupid old scene that my mind conjured up on low energy?

But... I was just dreaming before... About the hospital, and the RainWing... No, this is real, I'm sure of it.

I'll just fight off whatever dares show it's face.

Her mind buzzing with thoughts, she continued to stare at the dark patch of wood, convinced that something was moving around in there. In a flash, an IceWing jumped out of the bushes. Her movements were graceful as she moved around the forest. Her tail didn't drag behind her, and the grass seemed to grow with each step she took. She was... Marvelous, to say the least. Kagayaku lowered her tail barb as she watched the IceWing, charmed by her elegance and purity. Abruptly, she stopped. Kagayaku saw this as a chance to go and talk to her.

"Hi! I've never seen you before!" The other IceWing turned around in alarm, staring at the hybrid with widened eyes. She looked shocked, as if Kaga wasn't supposed to be here. "I like your patterns!" She smiled, trying to show that she is friendly and not a threat. "...Thanks." The IceWing said, her voice with quite quiet, but refined. "What's your name?" Kagayaku asked, cocking her head. I can imagine that she has a really nice name, because she's such a nice dragon. The IceWing was silent for a moment, before she sat down and answered her question. "Makoto..." The hybrid noticed a small smile from the other dragon.

"That's really nice! My name's Kagayaku." She couldn't stop staring at her, I mean, she knew it was weird, and rude, but she couldn't hold herself back. "Thanks... I like your's too.." She let out a little giggle, but it was cut off when she noticed the grass around where she was sitting was growing too long. She got up and groaned, before lifting her talons off of the ground and stamping them back down onto the grass. Then, it all caught fire, and burnt down to the soil. She then grew it all back, to cover up the dirt.

"How do you do that? That's super cool!" Kagayaku wagged her tail like an excited puppy. Makoto looked back up at the hybrid. "Oh, this? It's um... Nothing..." She shuffled nervously. "Are you an animus?" Kaga asked, getting super curious. "A what?" Makoto looked really confused.

"Wait, you don't know what an animus is?

"No?"

"Oh, well..."

Kagayaku then went on to explain about animus magic and dragons to Makoto, who listened to everything that came out of her snout.

"That's really interesting, are you one of them?" Makoto asked, cocking her head in curiosity. Kagayaku laughed. "Haha, no, but I wish!" The hybrid enjoyed this time with her new friend, but this was abruptly cut off by wingbeats. The pair were alarmed, turning their heads up towards the sky. Suddenly, Makoto began to back away, and then, she broke into a run. Back into the dark patch of woodland, where she first appeared. "Wait!" Kagayaku cried after her, reaching out her talon. But, she was too far gone.

The hybrid turned her attention back to the sky, where two dragons were in sight. They noticed her and gasped, diving down for the ground. They landed in front of her, their faces of pure relief. It was her older sister, Ace, and her mother, Boreal. "Kagayaku!" Ace cried, running up to hug her. "We were so worried!" "We caught that dragonbite viper, but we were shocked to find you'd vanished." Boreal said, gazing down at her two daughters with the same old calm expression on her face. "Let's go home." Ace said, grabbing her younger sisters hand and dragging her into the air. "Wait- but I-" Kagayaku started, reaching out her talon to the dark patch of woodland in which Makoto disappeared into.

"You can tell us about what you saw in the forest later, hun, but for now, let's go home." Boreal said, before turning to fly off into the night, with Kagayaku in tow.