Ashen Dreams
Summary: Every rattle of the explosion broke loose another fragment of Sunny's burdened heart. (Takes place during Moon Rising)
Boom!
For an eternity, the floor quivered—like prey beneath the drooling maw of its predator. Vibrations echoed through the walls, and Sunny was sure the rock surrounding her would fragment, collapse even.
It didn't; even as her teeth chattered, as if she was standing in the midst of an enormous blizzard. And that's how Sunny felt. Cold. Like a solitary blight in a vast expanse of ice.
The frost nipped at the sole flame flickering in her heart, gnawing at her raw bones. She felt cold-like pestilence spoiling her heart, drowning her in its murky depths.
And that solitary note of dread was all-consuming. The numbing chill absolute.
Slowly, she stood, knocked off her talons by the blast. A plume of rock powder, a roiling miasma of black, puffed out from her feeble lungs. A cloud of smoke stung her eyes, tears welling in their corners. Soot clung to her scales like death to the living.
Sunny grit her teeth, wincing as a ring resounded through her skull. A cacophony of screams howled through the dark void inundating her, like specters in a dream.
She took one wobbly step forward, down the narrow hall of infinite ash. Dark figures were scorched into the walls, scorching themselves in her retinas. Implanting themselves in her dreams, tears, and heart.
Another figure was up ahead, towering over a dragon of midnight scales. The lone stain of white, his figure obscured by smog, screamed something in the void, violently howling in the dark one's muzzle.
Any other day, Sunny would break them up, teach them the importance of acceptance, of love… but honestly, she just felt numb. She slowly dragged herself forward, unblinking and mute. Toward the door. Toward the history room, where fire still licked at the entrance.
Webs…
She envisioned his face, those solitary fragments of joy that'd survived the war, buried deep in his core. She'd worked so hard to unbury those shards; now she'd commit them to the earth. He was dead, consigned to oblivion.
My students…
All their expressions—of excitement, of love, of anger, of boredom, all equally precious—emerged through the shadows plaguing her mind. But then the smoke consumed them too, and Sunny was left alone.
My dreams…
Suddenly, the idea of peace may as well have been a solitary flake of gold in a sandstorm eclipsing the world.
She stepped forward again, looking inside the agape entrance, burning like everything else. Her eyes gazed deep into the dancing flames, and the first tears fell, carving canyons in the ash sullying her muzzle.
After an eternity, another set of scales brushed up against hers, the figure peering into the hellish cave. Sniffles and tears followed, and the student held onto Sunny, as if out of reflex.
Sunny hugged her too, clinging onto her only friend in the storm, letting that bookish, Mudwing muzzle drape over her shoulder and cry.
Their tears washed over one another, cascading down their scales, clearing the thick sediment of ash—like drops of purity in a thunderstorm.
Author's Note: I'll be updating this daily with brief stories, ranging from five hundred to a thousand words. Some will be better than others, but I'll try to keep a standard of quality. Follow and leave a review if you'd like; I always enjoy feedback. As always, have a phenomenal day everybody!