Memory of Lies

Road to Recovery

Phil sat in the mouth of the cave, staring out at the pouring rain. Occasionally, he'd pull a foot back from a water splash, or move, but for the most part he didn't move. Outside, a heard of cows had walked past, headed towards the trees for cover. One had gotten to close to the cave. Phil had piled it's bones with the rest in the back. 

Leaning back against the cold rock wall, Phil kept his eyes closed thinking. Thinking of the past, of memories, of anything he could to leave that dim cave behind. The memories burst to life with a golden light around them. He smiled to himself from reminiscing. 

Colin played behind the house, laughing as Jonas ran after him. He jumped in the pond at the edge of the forest. It had taken Phil and Jonas two days to make, and much longer to keep it hidden from Colin for his birthday three days later. He was so curious the whole time as to where those new bushes had come from. 

He was so happy. 

Phil sighed and opened his eyes. He thought about how they were now, still at the castle. Maybe they were being put through the same thing he was. Phil shook his head, trying not to think about that possibility. It wasn't likely, they were kids. They didn't know anything. They couldn't get anything out of them, even if they tried.

But Kye and Endra didn't know that. And they hadn't been too nice to anyone while he was there. As if in emphasis, Phil scratched at a healing cut on his side. It hurt still, and he knew it would scar. It was too deep not to. 

A noise from the forest made him perk up again. It wasn't a cow, too big, but it was still coming this way. He stood up quickly, backing into a crevice in the wall. A tree outside cracked and fell down. A flurry of startled mooing sounded, and a hissing sound rose up above it. Phil kept silent, trying his best to stay still. 

The faint amount of light streaming into the cave was blocked out for a moment as a larger creature walked in. Steam filled the cave and Phil fought the urge to cover his nose as the smell of burnt scales and fur wafted towards him.

The beast walked past him, straight towards the back of the cave. Phil carefully poked his head out to watch. He only got a glimpse of it when it walked past. It was big, black and smelled like an ender. But it was too big to be another enderman, and too small to be Endra. Phil watched the tail turn around the corner. It was stumped, like it had been cut at the end. Phil's eyes narrowed and he followed it. 

the light in the back of the cave was dim, but there was just enough for Phil to see whatever it was leaning of the rest of the cow carcass, noisily crunching through the bones. To Phil's surprise, it was a dragon. A smaller ender dragon, sure, but a dragon none the less. Steam still rose from it's back and neck, looking like it'd been in the rain long. And Phil noticed the tail was cut off, like he thought before. Half way up it's length, it looked like a clean blow had taken it off. It was nothing but a nub at the end. 

Phil smirked and leaned against the wall, watching the small, hungry dragon search among the pile of bones for anything else. The cow was gone entirely, not even bones were left. Phil cleared his throat loudly, arms crossed over his chest. The dragon went still and slowly turned it's head around. surprised, Phil took a step back. 

"Who are you?" The dragon asked, turning around entirely. It was much smaller than the darkness around it made it look. And one of it's purple eyes was scarred over. Phil almost laughed. Almost. 

"The one who caught the cow" Phil replied. He smirked at the little dragon. "Where did you come from?" He asked, walking closer.

The dragon growled and back up into the bones. "Stay back or I'll bite" he threatened. Phil chuckled, but stopped advancing.