Wings of Fire: The Hidden Key

~Chapter Four~

Running. Screaming. Dying. Falling. Burning. Flying.

 Nothing but absolute panic and chaos. And she was utterly alone. Hundreds of colorful dragons raged in battle around her, their silent screams piercing her ears. She saw nothing but death around her, nothing but blood and warfare. 

 The land crumbled beneath her feet, the Earth beginning to shake violently. A white dragon lunged at her; teeth bared. She tried to run, but she couldn't move. Her talons were suddenly glued to the ground. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing but silence came out. Her entire body was frozen in place, and even her heartbeat seemed to stop. The dragon's blood-stained teeth closed around her throat, and her vision plummeted into darkness.

 "AH!"

 Reed jolted awake, blinking rapidly. Her heart hammered against her chest, still seeing the vicious white dragon in her eyes. What was that...? Oh, thank the moons. It was just a nightmare... She sighed with relief, dropping her head back on the floor, hoping that she hadn't woken up Mother.

 Wait a second... She jerked her head back up, realizing that she was still in the room Eel had left her in. She felt tears pricking at her eyes again, feeling like the pitch-black darkness was closing in on her. "Rggghhh! Stop being an idiot, Reed!" She flashed her SeaWing scales, illuminating the shadowy room once again.

 Shivering slightly, she got to her feet, still shaking from her dream. What was that? It didn't seem like any of the nightmares she had gone through before. Her nightmares mostly involved Kelp and her parents dying, even though one of them was already dead. She exhaled, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

 Alright, Reed. Calm down. She counted to ten in her mind, still breathing slowly. Kelp had taught her this trick when she got scared as a younger dragonet. It made her smile a little bit, despite the aching pain at losing him. Snap out of it! You don't know if-if he's yet...

 But some part of her kept worrying that something terrible had happened to her half-brother. and she wasn't sure whether she should ignore it or not. 

 She leaned down, still keeping her scales bright, and picked up the old scroll. Maybe it has a secret code hidden on it... it's worth a shot. She squinted down at the messy writing, still not comprehending the strange symbols on the parchment. Frustrated tears began to drip down her snout, but she angrily wiped them off and examined the scroll harder.

   Her vision began to blur from how hard she was squinting, and soon she got so frustrated that she eventually gave up. "AGGHHH!" She shouted, hurling the scroll at a wall. 

 Stupid Reed! You can't even read a freaking scroll! How are you supposed to get out of this NOW? AND STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF! She inwardly facetaloned, growling. Talking to herself seemed to be a way to calm down, although now it was just making her really annoyed.

 She turned in a circle, trying to see if there was any possible way to get out of the room. It seemed like Eel had trapped her in here on purpose, and not on accident. Maybe this was her new cell; a cell filled with dead SeaWings. She shuddered when she remembered the bodies surrounding her.

 Her tail brushed against something cold and wet, and she nearly fainted when she realized it was one of the dead dragons. She grabbed her tail and frantically scrubbed it with her wing, desperately hoping it didn't leave any gross stuff on it.

 Shuddering again, she cautiously took another step, before she rammed her head into something hard. "Ack!" She rubbed her forehead, glaring at what she assumed was a wall. Stupid wall. Wait... walls could mean a possible exit!... I hope.

 She reached out and felt along the wall, hoping for any sign of a way out. Come on... come on... Her hope began to quickly deflate after two minutes of absolutely nothing. She kicked the wall, before yelling in pain as her toe hit something hard. She heard a crunch, and blood began to drip on the floor. She winced, lifting up her right foot, eyes widening when she saw that one of her talons had nearly been wrenched off. 

 Hold on a minute... what did I hit my foot on? She leaned down to where she had kicked the wall, and gently placed her claws on whatever it was. She felt some sort of lever, and without hesitating, pulled it. 

 A loud, metallic clank echoed through the room, and Reed went completely still in anticipation. Nothing happened for a moment, until she heard another creaking noise. A small hatch had opened up in the wall, flooding the room with dim, dusty light. She nearly cried with relief, scrambling to poke her head through the hatch.

 It was big enough for a full-grown dragon, and it almost was the size of an actual door, just not... shaped like a door. Taking a deep breath, Reed easily slipped through the hatch. She found herself in a long hallway, almost exactly the same as the one Salmon had brought her through.

 The lights flickered ominously, and she felt a growing sense of dread inside her stomach. She turned around and saw that she had come through a wall, that didn't seem to belong to anything. It was just a wall... Although it seemed really suspicious to her. How was that room hidden so well...? Ugh, you have worse things to deal with than a mysterious room! He probably just designed it well. Now I need to find a way to get out of here before anyone catches me...

 She padded down the gigantic hall and noticed the number of doors carved into the walls. How many rooms does this place need? This seems kinda ridiculous... Curiosity made her peek her head into one of the doors, but immediately backed out when she saw two scraggly SeaWings sleeping on a cot, their bodies sick and starving.

 She shivered, wondering why there were so many SeaWings in this place. And then she began to wonder what this place was used for, and why she had been brought here in the first place. Eel said he needed something from me... But what?

 As she pondered the mystery surrounding her kidnapping, Reed failed to notice the footsteps that were following close behind her. She continued down the dark halls, examining everything so close she didn't even see the metal thing that smashed into her head at the last moment.

 She screamed, louder than she had ever screamed before. The pain in her head was unbearable, and it got even worse when something whacked her on the head AGAIN. She was almost in shock when she still hadn't passed out from the pain. She struggled to keep walking, but her vision was dancing in circles and her legs soon gave out. She crumpled to the floor, silently sobbing with pain, but couldn't do anything but lay there and catch her breath.

 The pain in her head faded a little bit, but her emotions spiked with panic when she realized who had attacked her.

 A SandWing loomed over her, fangs bared, and its tail barb was pointed directly at her throat.