The Game of Life

16. Awake

𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖗 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 𝖌𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖒𝖊

𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖓𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖆𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝖘𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉

𝖎𝖓 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖔𝖋 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖒𝖞 𝖑𝖎𝖋𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖒𝖞 𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖉𝖗𝖊𝖓'𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖘 𝖒𝖆𝖞 𝖇𝖊,

𝕴 𝖌𝖔 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖑𝖎𝖊 𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖓 𝖜𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖉𝖗𝖆𝖐𝖊

~ 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓟𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓦𝓲𝓵𝓭 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼, 𝓫𝔂 𝓦𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓑𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂

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Everything was blurry.

It felt as if the real world was still out of reach, but as everything became clearer and the excited screeches of other dragons could be heard, Kagayaku knew she was back in the warm embrace of the real world.

"Kagayaku?! KAGAYAKU?!" Came a female voice that sounded familiar, not to mention the fact it was louder than the others voices she could hear. Then, she swore she could feel someone nudging her slightly. The hybrid groaned and her head moved sideways.

The images became clearer, she could now see two SandWings, one being drowned in jewellery, an IceWing and another hybrid just like her, as well as two SkyWings.

Mepuru, Dromedary, Boreal, Ace and two doctors, to be precise.

"Kagayaku!" Mepuru cried with excitement, wrapping her warm, scaly arms around the hybrid, who smiled weakly. "Hey Mepuru." She uttered, doing her best to awkwardly hug her back, although she didn't seem to get far. Mepuru let go quickly and stood back, smiling warmly as her parents and sister stepped up and began embracing her.

"My baby! You're okay!" Boreal screamed, tears streaming out of her eyes.

"Kagayaku! Honey! I knew you could make it through!" Dromedary exclaimed.

"Nice to have ya back." Ace said, not getting too big on contact but giving her a quick hug before pulling away quickly.

Boreal and Dromedary stepped back and then turned their attention to the two SkyWing doctors who were treating Kagayaku. "How long is she going to have to stay here?" The IceWing asked.

"Not too long, I hope." Dromedary hurriedly added onto his wife's sentence.

The two SkyWings shared a look. "She'll have to stay here for about a week more." One of them said. "She had lots of other injuries that still need to heal as well."

Boreal drew a shaky breath. "Okay... That's not too bad, that's fine." She mumbled as she looked at Kagayaku from the corner of her eye, smiling, and then turning back to the doctors and chattering with them while Mepuru kneeled down to look at Kagayaku and grabbed her hand. "I will not leave you again." She mumbled, looking ashamed. Kagayaku's ears drooped. "Don't feel bad, it wasn't your fault." The hybrid uttered to her, giving a smile of reassurance.

Mepuru smiled back, gripping her hand tighter. "Thanks for caring." She said, but their reunion was interrupted suddenly.

"That's visiting hours over, guys." One of the SkyWing doctors said. Mepuru sighed at this and let go of the hybrid's hand, standing up and stepping back. "Sorry. Gotta go. Man, everything's going to be so boring without you." She said, sadness present in her tone and facial expression as the doctors led her family and friend out of the room.

Suddenly, Kagayaku had never felt so alone.

A week agonisingly passed, and Kagayaku felt like she was suffering every single second of the week, and she hated it.

Soon enough, she fell back into normal life, going to school every day and dodging the curse, though every single time it got worse and everything became harder to dodge. She was hospitalised several times, only to go back and get hospitalised again. It was a cycle of despair Kagayaku couldn't climb out of. Most days, the hybrid dragonet wanted to break down and screech out to the deities above in anguish.

Enough was enough, it was time she set things right again.

Waking up at 11 PM one rainy night, she grabbed her school satchel and replaced the items inside of it with weapons, medical equipment and other items that she deemed to be useful on her trek back to the forest that's caused her so much trouble.

She draped the bag over her neck and snuck out of her room, opening the window she'd climbed out of many times before and silently crawling outside, shutting it behind her as she began running towards the dark shapes of trees in the distance, claws digging into the ground and tearing up the grass, dirtying her paws. But that didn't bother the dragonet, her mind was solely set on one thing only.

Justice.

As she entered the trail and the fog started rolling in, she grabbed her flashlight and shone it around, finding her way through the forest path. She wouldn't let any clouds on the ground stop her quest now.

She picked up her pace, running through the woods, hearing the twigs snapping and the ground crunching underneath her talons. She could hear crickets chirping and the trees rustling in the constant breeze that the forest had. Her spines clattered against each other as she ran, shining her flashlight around and swerving to the right, remembering back to the night that she'd annoyed Makoto in the first place.

And that peculiar bridge.

I need to find that bridge. Kagayaku thought to herself as she continued running onwards, skidding to a stop suddenly as she looked around. This area was familiar to her, as this was where Makoto put her when she'd been saved from falling to her death. She then looked in front of her, and there it was, the bridge, the exact one she'd fallen off. Yet it was completely intact, which confused her slightly, but she quickly pushed it out of her mind and took a deep breath, taking one step forwards and nearer the bridge.

This is it. Makoto, I am coming for you. You cannot run, and you cannot hide. I will get my revenge.