Wings Of Fire (WOF) : A dark family affair

Chapter 27

As she was drifted off to sleep, the half nightwing felt the heat rising all around her. It was the first time she had felt so warm since arriving in this desert. Yet, inexplicably, the air was heavy and almost suffocating. What's more, the ground beneath her feet was softer, unlike her bunk. Nightjar opened her eyes, sweating. It was with surprise and horror that she recognised the place. She was once again in that ring of fire and those heads were decorating the sand in a sinister manner.

Memories of her last dream soon came flooding back. She immediately looked for and saw the scorpion that had decapitated her the first time she had been here. It had returned to its original size. However, she wasn't going to let it grow to a mind-boggling size, unlike the last time when she had chosen to flee cowardly. I'm learning from my mistakes, you stupid insect," she said, addressing the arachnid.

- Really ? he replied, surprising Nightjar, Try me.

- I'd forgotten you could talk surprisingly".

Very quickly and with aplomb, she ran towards the little beast, which tried to escape, but she managed to grab it without difficulty. Strangely, this evil being had not transformed into a giant. Nightjar, having grabbed its tail by the claws, suspended it right in front of her: "The last time we met you were showing off with your grandiloquent speeches, if I'm not mistaken, she mocked.

- And you were crying like a 6-month-old baby dragon. I think you quickly regained your confidence. You're also failing in your duty to be polite.

- Do you really think you're in a position to complain?

- And on top of that, you're being rude to me. What a child you are. Do you even know who you're talking to ?

- No, and I don't care.

- Stop sulking and answer me.

- Or what?

- I'll put you through what you went through last time. I'll grow up and cut your head off again.

- You can't do that," she said.

- But I assure you I can. Even though you're still alive

- I'm convinced I'm living in a lucid dream and, from what I've read about it, I'm able to control this space. So I'm pretty sure you can't do anything without my permission.

- I didn't need your permission to kill you last time.

- I wasn't aware I was in a dream last time, she manipulated him like a pendulum, swinging him from left to right, for her own pleasure, That's the subtlety. Do you know how frightening it is to see something grow up before your very eyes and not understand why ? Especially if it has words. I think you owe me an apology.

- Would you please listen to me instead of swinging my body and acting like an insolent child !"

At these words, NIghtjar's claws tickled her and soon she saw the scorpion change shape in her own hand. She tried to stop it with her thoughts, but nothing helped, and as she let go of the scorpion, which fell to the sand with a thud, she began to lose confidence. She was scared. She didn't want to relive the sensation she had felt when her head had become detached from her body.

The black beast, which had become as big as she was, stopped growing noticeably. Immobile and silent, it began to deform and change colour. In a few moments, before Nightjar's fascinated and terrified eyes, the little insect metamorphosed into a dragon, or more precisely a sandwing. The black carapace of the living exoskeleton changed to pale yellow scales, as did the scorpion's tail, where the sting of a sandwing appeared. Its legs merged with its body, from which four reptile-like legs sprang up. Finally, the dragon's head, which Nightjar thought she recognised, appeared at the end of this process.