Dragons of Terragon: The Light of Night

Chapter Four: Dreams really Do come True

            "Hey! What was that for?!"

            "Up!" Rougeoyer weased.

           They both looked above them to find a dragon much larger than themselves. The dragon had a white underbelly with purple scales across its back. It had no front claws but instead powerful wings. Its head and tail had flame coloured frills, a clear indicator of the species: this was a Caelum, a dragon that was in fact not a predator to Flos and but instead many larger creatures. Still, it was funny to think that a dragon they could talk to could just as easily eat Amaryllis. The Caelum turned its head down to the dragonets and blasted a bright flame at them. As a result its frill began to loose colour, indicating how much fire it could spit at a time. Rougeoyer nudged Amaryllis forward and together they raced off. The Caelum, though, was quick to follow, using its powerful wings to easily keep up. The only reason why the predator didn't pounce on them yet was because its size meant a harder time weaving through the trees, unlike the graceful natives.

             The leaves grew in thickness, as did the branches. Rougeoyer used the opportunity to swipe Amaryllis from flight to hide. He focused intensely to dim his scales so he didn't give them away. The Caelum whisked above them but it wouldn't take long to realize it had lost the dragonets. After the Caelum made some distance, the duo made a hasty conversation.

            "What do we do? Caelums never go this far from the mountains!" Amaryllis exclaimed, hissing to keep her voice down.

            "I know, I know," Rougeoyer responded, still focusing on staying light-less, "maybe it's desperate or something-"

            "Not helping!"

            "I'm aware, Amar! Okay, we need to find somewhere where we can hide with more ease..." Rougeoyer looked around them, peeking through the branches. He then spotted a clearing with a vine-covered tree, the sparkle of blue flowers reflecting off of the moonlight. He chuckled softly.

            "Wanna hit two macaws with one stone?"

             "Literally?"

            "What? No, just follow me."

            With that said, Rougeoyer's feelers perked up. He could sense the vibration of the Caelum's wingbeats, meaning that they should get going. He slowly made his way down to the forest floor, followed by Amaryllis who slightly struggled to climb down the tree. Once on the forest floor they bolted off on foot, trying to keep as quiet as they could. Rougeoyer slowed down multiple times as he struggled to remain dim while running. Amaryllis would understand and offer to carry him. He would usually respond with some joke on how he's so much bigger than her.

              During one of Rougeoyer's slower moments, the Caelum bursted through the treetops, resulting in Rougeoyer losing focus. Then again, being dark wouldn't help them at this point. The dragon in pursuit sent a burst of flames in their direction once more, draining the colour from its frills. Rougeoyer and Amaryllis swiftly dodged it and continued towards the tree. The starflower tree.

             They closed in on their objective, leaping into the leaves of the tree once In proximity. The Caelum was far too big to join them unless it turned its bones into tree sap. It couldn't burn down the tree yet, as it had only the slightest amount of colour left in its frill. Its next attack had to count or else they would have to wait to recharge their flames in the sunlight. But the Caelum was getting impatient and was done with being outsmarted by dragonets. Rougeoyer was prepared. He tucked his legs underneath himself, ready to leap at the attacker even though Amaryllis was shaking her head, worried.

             When the Caelum turned to them, Rougeoyer pounced. He rolled in mid air, placing his front paws on its head and bringing his back legs close. His tail swirled with his rolling body and Rougeoyer used all of his strength to slam it down. His plan was to hit the ground and temporarily blind the dragon - instead he hit the dragon's snout as its eyes opened wide in surprise. A huge flash was released upon contact, blinding anyone within a range of its glow. It would take a long time to recover from that.

             The Caelum roared in pain, blasting the last of its flames in random directions. Although Rougeoyer had never been blinded by a Luminbrille tail flashbang, he knew it was described as the equivalent to putting one's eyeball on the sun. And that was if the blast was a tail length from a dragon's eyes! In other words, this attack might have resulted in permanent damage. Rougeoyer pushed off of the frightened dragon as fast as he could, scurrying off to the safety of the starflower tree.

            The Caelum stumbled around in the air, slamming into the trunk of a tree before fleeing through the branches, damaging itself even more as it retreated. Rougeoyer and Amaryllis were stiff with fear before slowly crawling out of the branches. They turned to each other with similar thoughts. The dream, from weeks ago, was real. This moment proved it so. The position of their stance, when and how they were attacked, and how they escaped. They had to tell someone about it. And Largeur just happened to be the best interpreting candidate they had.