Day: 1230
Days Left: 4250
Lives Saved: 6
"That's everyone!" shouted Jules, rushing over as he assisted Oscar in carrying the last of the injured to the outskirts of the camp to be treated. After taking them to a makeshift bed and left to be tended to by Ivette and Rita, Oscar turned to see Princess Alfreda by Calixte's side, the man still unconscious, his amphibian mask near his face, ready to be put on as soon as he awakens to ease his staggered and water-clogged breathing.
"Any updates?" Oscar asked softly, approaching nervously. He rarely saw Princess Alfreda as she spent most of her days in her tent; it was odd to see so much of her, to see the woman he had been employed by before he had lost his memories.
The fire demon's eyes darted up at him; she appeared to have been in deep thought. Then she glanced away when she saw it was Oscar. "He is still breathing..." She cleared her throat, her voice gravelly, and then she scowled, looking over to the tent which supposedly led down to the Land of the Lost. "What is taking them so long? How troublesome is a baby dragon?"
As soon as she said these words, the ground shook and quaked, rattling the tents, and they collapsed into disorganised piles.
"Earthquake!" shouted Jules. "Everyone keep calm and-"
The centre of the camp split open and collapsed in on itself as an enormous dragon emerged to the surface. It roared in victory upon seeing the light outside, then batted away more clunks of earth, widening the hole.
"Ah, fuck..." Rin breathed, clutching her torso as the dragon's shadow swallowed the entire camp, the scaled monstrosity as tall as a skyscraper.
The seven imps cowered and clung to the nearby adults, three of them hiding behind Princess Alfreda.
The fire demon gazed at the beast, realising that...
"Where is every one..." she mumbled.
Lili and Calanthe were down there. What happened to them? What about Corinna and-
"We need to get everyone out of here!" yelled Jules, hauling people to their feet. "Get the injured and-"
"We can't carry everyone!" cried Rin. "There's too many of them! They'll-"
"Carry as many as you can!" Jules screamed, fumbling to pick up a nearby fallen, his eyes unable to break away from the dragon. "We have to get them all out of here!"
"Rin's right," mumbled Oscar. He sucked in a breath and repeated louder, "Rin's right! We won't make it in time! We can't save everyone-"
"I'm not leaving anyone behind!" growled Jules.
"We won't!" Oscar clenched his fists. "But I can buy us some more time-"
"No! Oscar!" Sumit grabbed his shoulder. "You can't do this-"
"I can slow it down! I can ensure that all of you get out safely-"
"And what about you!"
"It's either that or..." Oscar looked around at the injured. "We can't leave them behind. If we want them to make it, we need to stall." Oscar glanced back at the dragon, seeing it attempting to haul itself out of the hole, collapsing the earth around it. "And the others," continued Oscar. "We need to stall the dragon if any of them are still down there and..." Oscar's voice trailed away as he saw Sumit's face, that expression, his eyes watering, lip trembling and unable to look at Oscar directly.
"Hey..." Oscar caressed Sumit's cheek. Sumit initially shrunk away, eventually melting into it, clutching Oscar's hand with his own.
"He won't be alone," said Princess Alfreda, standing up and rolling back her shoulders. She glanced around at those who were too injured to stand up, let alone run away, and then she turned to the unconscious ones, dry blood blotched at their scalp, their memories likely damaged or perhaps entirely wiped from the fire demon's strength. And then Alfreda finally looked down at Calixte, hearing the faint rasps of breath coming from the unconscious man's mouth. "I shall aid in buying time."
"As will I!" said Ivette raising her hand, receiving a round of gasps of shock.
"Ivette..." Rin hushed. "It's a dragon-"
"And without my wheelchair, I will just be another person you all to carry," huffed Ivette. "But with my mask, I can-"
"You can't control yourself in your monster form."
Ivette scolded Rin for interrupting with a disapproving frown, silencing the young woman. "I will be fine- you will be fine," she corrected herself, addressing Oscar and Princess Alfreda. "The dragon is large enough that you two can stay away from me and not be harmed."
Princess Alfreda scoffed. "I doubt you will be much trouble, old woman-"
Ivette grabbed her dinosaur-claw stick. "Talk to me in such a tone, madam, and you will see how much trouble you will be in!"
"You need to go, Sumit," said Oscar softly, taking his hand away from Sumit's cheek slowly but still holding onto his hand loosely. "Get everyone to safety."
Sumit glanced at the dragon in the distance, then to Rin, Kai, Jules, Rachel, Rita, and the other non-combatant mask owners beginning to haul the injured away; Kai, in his goblin form, was able to pick up multiple at a time.
"Sumit?"
Sumit let a long sigh, then squeezed Oscar's hand. "Okay," he breathed, finally letting go. He carefully scooped up Calixte into his arms, along with the amphibian mask and followed the rest of the group heading to the forest for safety. He glanced back, seeing Oscar, Ivette, and Princess Alfreda don their masks, all focused on the dragon in the distance.
"Just make sure you come back..." Sumit hushed under his breath, forcing himself to move and leave the trio to stall for time.
*
The dragon released a long breath in relief, moving its head from side to side, stretching all of its muscles as it gazed up at the sky, then grinned as it saw how far away it was from the ground.
All of them... all of them are insects.
What once was her home, her tent that she slept in, was now something she could pick up with two fingers, so small her castle used to be, and now look at what she had now.
All the treasure was hers now, her horde; everything was in her control, as it always had been.
But there are still a few more insects to squash...
The dragon looked to the forest, seeing small dots running away, carrying the injured. It laughed.
How foolish! They would stand a better chance if they left them all behind.
The Land of the Lost was hers, but to be safe... she had to ensure that every last threat was dealt with.
No one will take my treasure away from me. It's mine. All mine...
Any risk or threat to that had to be destroyed...
The dragon paused, finally noticing three figures standing down below, so far down, how small they all looked;
A little red and white spotted toadstool humanoid, its eyes like black pinpricks akin to a cartoon...
A naga, the bottom half of a snake, the top half of an elderly woman with hallowed out eyes...
And a fire demon, skin like molten rock, horns twisted back, and a spiked tail flickered from her red dress.
The dragon glanced over to the group that had run into the forest. It would catch up with them eventually, but first, it had to deal with these three insects...
The dragon eyed the closest one, the red toadstool creature hobbling closer, its mushroom cap wobbling. Smirking, the dragon raised one of its paws and then smacked it to the ground, swatting the toadstool like you would a fly, causing the earth to shake, and the pit cracked wider.
The fire demon watched from the sides in silence.
Eventually, the dragon lifted its paws, about to turn its attention to the naga that was slithering towards it, when the dragon noticed that the mushroom was missing with no corpse on the ground.
Where did it go?
The dragon looked at its palm, finding the mushroom stuck and flattened to its hand. After a moment, the mushroom squeaked in fear and popped off, reinflating itself and clinging desperately to the dragon's paw as it was numerous feet high. A small mushroom bulb was left in the middle of the dragon's palm, barely a spec compared to the giant monstrosity. Mildly annoyed by the toadstool climbing along its arm, the dragon attempted to shake it off. Still, the mushroom monster only just managed to stay on, its squishy body enduring all of the great force the dragon could muster, leaving a trail of tiny mushrooms growing along the dragon's scales.
Finding the toadstool monster to be harmless and puny, the dragon finally returned its attention to the naga and the fire demon, their physical appearance seeming to be more intimidating. However, no monster could now compare to the dragon's size and power.
With no one anywhere near its underbelly, the dragon no longer felt so vulnerable, so it took a long and deep breath, the green glow returning to its stomach, illuminating through the skin of its underbelly. The naga and the fire demon continued to run towards it, the naga hissing and snarling, slithering at incredible speeds despite being blind.
How pointless... the dragon thought, as the green light inside its stomach rose to its throat, the heat fired up and released emerald flames in a burst, igniting the grassland. But the naga continued to brave the fire, not even missing a beat as it slithered straight through the other side of the wall of fire, too quick to be burned.
The demon slowly walked through the fire casually as if to mock the dragon. She cackled, her hands reaching out like she was caressing the emerald flames.
"Oh, pet," she purred. "I do hope you have more tricks than that."
The dragon's eyes widened, the pupil thinning, enraged as it released the remnants of the fire from its belly, pouring down on the demon.
"Really?" The fire demon sighed. "Why would you ever think that would work?" She rolled back her shoulders, laughing as the dragon raised its paw, and the shadow swallowed her in darkness before slamming down with such force it left a sizable crater.
"Slow and predictable," said the fire demon, with underlying boredom as she inspected her claws, standing calmly next to the dragon's paw. "Maybe you were more of a threat when you were smaller."
The dragon swiped its paw to the side, but the fire demon deftly evaded, jumping onto the paw.
"You certainly haven't gotten any smarter as a dragon," said the fire demon.
Once again, the dragon attempted to get this new insect off, shaking and propelling its body from side to side, but the fire demon fixed her claws between the dragon's scales, climbing up the dragon's arm.
Before the demon could climb up, the dragon attempted to brush her with its other paw, but its movements were too slow for the quick demon, and she reached its back, holding onto one of the spikes on its spine where the toadstool was; the mushroom creature walking around the dragon's back and leaving a trail of tiny fungus spores.
Small insignificant pests!
A puff of smoke huffed out of the dragon's nostrils.
So weak and tiny! I am above them! They are insects on my back! There is nothing they can do!
The dragon gazed down at the naga that had finally reached its stomach, hissing and snarling with its long snake tongue. However, it appeared to have both the ferocity and the sense of a wild animal as she did not aim for the obviously weaker underbelly where there were no scales but the side where tough scales barred the way. Instead, the naga seemed satisfied to attack anything nearby, slashing with her long nails and biting her sharp teeth at the scales, stubborn to remain at that spot instead of anywhere else.
So pathetic.
Why am I so worried?
No mask can compete with me now.
No one can take my treasure away.
It is mine.
It was always mine.
I was being generous when I shared.
And yet they spat on that generosity and betrayed me!
Chose strangers over me.
In the end, the only person you can rely on is yourself.
We are all fighting to survive.
It is the battle of the strongest.
Perhaps I may spare a couple if they beg for forgiveness?
The dragon gazed up at the sky, where a portal would open directly above it and rain food.
She had complete control of the Land of the Lost and the Food Drop-Off.
There was no one to compete, and yet...
And yet she would still be trapped down here. There was still someone else in control that could take everything away from her again. They could take all of her power away...
The dragon grunted as it felt the two insects on its back move around, more of an annoyance, like a slight unnerving tingle of when a spider is crawling around your arm. The toadstool continued to spread more tiny mushrooms, though still not enough to barely cover a single patch of scales due to the dragon's immense scale. Meanwhile, the fire demon attempted to pierce in between the dragon's scales; it was like being pricked by a cactus or a needle, barely breaching the surface.
Whilst the dragon felt no threat from any of the three insects, pests had to be exterminated. The dragon knocked away more of the earth in the hole it sat in, and the clumps fell into the underground cavern of the Land of the Lost. More of its body was free; it was difficult to discern if it was still growing with nothing else to compare it to; everything else was so small.
It looked up at the sky again.
Even with all this power, it was too big to fit through any portal. If it could not gain total power and control, complete freedom, then at the very least, it could get rid of these little pests.
The fire demon climbed her way up the dragon's spine, nearing its face. Though the paint partially blinded the dragon, most of the blankets had fallen off or were now too small to cover its eyes. Whilst nothing could stop the dragon now; the monster still wanted to be able to see. It was likely the fire demon's plan to aim for its eyes and blind it.
Really? Who's the predictable one now?
The dragon's wings burst out from its side, aching from underuse, stretching out wide with such force that it created a gust of wind that sliced through the air, rattling the trees in the nearby forest. The fire demon and the toadstool monster barely held on, almost blown away.
With a groan of relief after stretching, the dragon flapped its wings again, sending another powerful force of wind, and then, again and again, continued to flap its wings.
Below, the naga was pushed back, knocked into a bundle of tents, unable to ground itself with its snake body.
Meanwhile, the fire demon clung desperately, digging her claws between the scales. Fighting through the relentless gale, she climbed down the dragon's face, inching closer to its eyes and-
The dragon swung its head violently to the side, and the fire demon's claws snapped from the force, her body blown back by the wings, hurling through the sky and crashing down to the ground, cracks splitting in her rock-like body.