Swordfish screamed as Rattlesnake's eyes became dark and hollow. She raised her venomous tail to stab him. Swordfish just barely rolled off the bed before it pierced through the cot he had been resting on. The medicinal leaves fell off of Swordfish's cut and the stinging became worse as the wound was exposed to the open air. "RATTLESNAKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He asked in a panicked yell, but Rattlesnake simply stared at him with those hollow eyes. She suddenly advanced on him, in straggly, weird steps. Like she wasn't in control of herself. She swiped at him with her claws and caught on the hole Cedar tore in his wing, and ripped it open more. Swordfish screamed in pain.

Swordfish managed to hobble out of the healing center with Rattlesnake shambling behind him. He looked back and slammed the door shut. He heard her banging on it. Swordfish collapsed to the floor and looked down at the raw, healing cut he had gotten from Cedar. I have to go get help. Swordfish realized. He got up and began calling out. "Help! Something's wrong with Rattlesnake!"

But instead of a friendly face, Boto, an older Rainwing student, appeared around the corner. His eyes hollow and his steps slow. Swordfish yelled at him. "HEY! WHAT IS GOING ON?" But Boto kept marching toward him, his black eyes trained on Swordfish. Swordfish got up and ran in the opposite direction, coming face to face with Vulture, his eyes blacked out too. Vulture tried to bite Swordfish but Swordfish reacted faster and pulled away. Swordfish looked around and dove into a nearby cave.

After a quick look at his surroundings, Swordfish realized he was in Clay's "weapons cave." Swordfish turned around to see Vulture lurching towards him, no emotion on his face. Swordfish ducked from Vulture's wing and grabbed the nearest weapon, a big stick. There was no time to waste. He whirled around and bashed the side of Vulture's head with the stick. Vulture dropped to the ground, a shallow wound on his cheek. Swordfish felt Vulture's chest for a pulse and was relieved to find that he didn't kill his friend.

But what was going on?

Swordfish was examining the small bit of blood that was now on the end of the big stick, which was heavy so he put it down. Suddenly, a high-pitched ringing began to echo through Swordfish's ears. It was louder than anything else, but Swordfish wasn't focused on how loud it was, he was focused on the sound itself.

Swordfish flashed back to flying away from Stonemover's cave with Rainfall and the others, and hearing the intense, high-pitched ringing. Right before that thing came and killed Rainfall. The same ringing that sounded when he, Rattlesnake and Cedar had walked out of the open doors to the academy, only to see the thing bearing down on them.

It was here. It's coming for me. The noise suddenly stopped.

Swordfish tried to run away. He couldn't fly because of his wing. Swordfish ran as fast as his injuries allowed him, ducking into rooms whenever a dragon would pass by. Swordfish watched with horror as Starflight shambled by, walking like the others, but not even needing to run a claw along the wall. It's like he can see. Swordfish realized. But then again, nothing made sense anymore. He waited until Starflight had passed, and then ran in the opposite direction, towards the main entrance. He had to get away from Jade Mountain and get help somewhere else. Maybe he could go back home. Maybe he could go to the Rainforest and get help from Queen Glory.

Swordfish looked forward and saw Blizzard standing at the end of the hallway, her eyes not hollow. She was fiddling with her ear, like trying to feel something there. "Blizzard!" He cried out, but she looked at him and then ran off with speed Swordfish didn't know she had. Swordfish tried to follow her, when a voice echoed through his head. "Give up, Swordfish." The world began to spin, and Swordfish crumpled to the ground. Swordfish felt like an invisible boulder was pinning him down, and he could only watch in horror as rips began to tear in the very world itself, and a dark figure walked out of one of the tears.

It was completely black, like something made out of shadows. Its eyes were the only thing not pitch black, they were white balls of light, sunken deep into the thing's head. It had the figure of a scavenger, yet it spoke without a mouth. "I'm making a logical choice to kill you off, right here, and right now." It said with a voice unlike anything Swordfish had ever heard. It had an accent that he had never heard before. It was like a whisper, but felt like someone was whispering into both of Swordfish's ears at the same time. The thing reached out with its scavenger-like paw, except the tips of the paw were sharp like a claw. Swordfish couldn't move, couldn't talk. All he could do was watch as the thing reached for him. Swordfish could barely comprehend what was happening.

"Stop, Cassriel." Another voice said. Not weird and unnatural like the shadow being.

Another strange figure walked out of another tear. Beyond this tear, Swordfish could see a desert. Like it was a gate to somewhere else. The new figure had a scavenger-like shape too, but was dressed in robes and a hood that covered its face. "What do you want Abyss? Shouldn't you be somewhere that needs you? I can handle a dragonet on my own, he's not even canonical." The shadow thing apparently named Cassriel said. Swordfish had no idea what was going on. But the one named Abyss looked down at Swordfish, and then turned to Cassriel again. "That's my point." Abyss said. "Don't waste energy on him at all, just continue to make the world itself kill him as it collapses." Abyss picked up a rock off the floor of the academy and watched it crumble and turn into another small tear. "Besides, the King wants your experiments to stop being so large and extravagant." Cassriel looked at Abyss for a second. "What do you know about the King? Of all people, you should have the least knowledge about his plans." "Shh! don't talk like that next to him!" Abyss said urgently, gesturing to Swordfish, was still pinned to the ground, his head trying to decipher what was going on. The King? Experiments? People? "Yes, I apologize. The less he knows, the better." Cassriel said in his snake-like voice. He turned around, and where his mouth should have been split open, making a strange, mouth-like hole. And it was smiling. A grin of insane joy.

"Goodbye, main character." Cassriel whispered to Swordfish, and then walked back through the rip he came out of. It closed behind him.

Abyss turned to your viewpoint. "And the less YOU know the better, as well. And yes, I am talking to you." He walked back into the tear leading into the desert, also closing his behind himself.

Swordish gasped when he was able to breathe again, and he stood up, his mind reeling from what he had just saw. He hardly had time to process it when Starflight appeared behind him. He had turned back and was now shambling forward like a drunk, his claw reaching for Swordfish. Swordfish got up, and headed in the direction he saw Blizzard run off to. At first, he ran, but as his wounds began to hurt again, he fell to the floor, gasping for air. He watched, uncomprehending as more little tears into an inky blackness began to show themselves. What… is…going…on? He thought to himself, asking nobody in particular, because he knew nobody would answer.

Swordfish crawled forward, gritting his teeth with pain as the cut on his chest dragged on the floor. He had to escape Jade Mountain before the other dragons here killed him. Then he could go and try to figure out what exactly was going on. Swordfish was rounding a corner, when he felt talons grab him from the behind. He twisted around to see Starflight had caught up with him. He tried to struggle away but Starflight dug his claws into Swordfish's flesh. Swordfish yelled out in pain. "BLIZZARD! I SAW YOU THERE! HELP ME!"

Starflight slashed at Swordfish's face and Swordfish could immediately taste the blood, but Starflight was very slow. Whatever was making the dragons do this made them slow, shambling, dark-eyed monsters. Swordfish acted without thinking, and through the piercing pain he slashed at Starflight's throat. He felt Starflight's grip loosen on him as he fell to the ground, dropping Swordfish with him. He watched with horror as he saw Starflight's body stop moving. I… killed Starflight. He thought to himself, but the horror took on a new shape as the body deteriorated into more rips and tears in the world, looking less and less like Starflight and more like a blob of blackness, until it was gone completely.

Swordfish limped slowly back towards the direction of Blizzard once again, calling out faintly. "Blizzard? I just saw you… please help…" Nothing answered. There were no sounds of other students emanating out from the cavern walls, no music being played in the music cave, not even a sound. You could hear a mouse die in the silence. Swordfish began to think in the silence. "The less he knows the better"… Are those things, Cassriel and Abyss, are they divine beings? Have I gotten to close to figuring out something mortals shouldn't know? Am I about to die here, with this world collapsing on me like Abyss said? And who else did he talk to?

Who else is here with me?

Swordfish rounded a corner, struggling to stand upright, and walked into the prey center, which was swarmed with dragons. Only none of them had eyes. Swordfish screamed as a Skywing student whirled around and grabbed him. "NO! NO! NO!" He shrieked as the Skywing held him in place as all the other dragons there came for him. No expressions on their faces. There was Darkseer, Vulture, Frigid, Delta, Clay, Kinkajou, Turtle, and many other dragons from the school, all with dead looks and no eyes.

The Skywing, which Swordfish had now identified as Flame, held him there, digging his claws into Swordfish's chest. Swordfish could hardly breathe. He suddenly felt a pain on his tail, as another dragon started clawing at the scales on it. Swordfish was going to die, right now. All the other injuries were there already, and Darkseer already was biting the tip of Swordfish's wing. I… HAVE… TO… GET… AWAY… Swordfish used one last burst of energy to take off, into the air.

The dragons didn't follow him, just stared with their blank, dark eyes. Like they had forgotten how to do anything except breathe, walk, and kill Swordfish. Swordfish flew as much as his wing injury would allow him. He flew up, and then fell down, tilting to the left. He just narrowly missed falling right into Clay's outstretched arms, before flying up again.

Swordfish was bleeding profusely now, and he could feel his life force draining along with his energy. He could feel the weight of everything pushing him down, his vision blurring, but fear of the dragons below was the only thing keeping him up at this point. The tears in the world were becoming more frequent, and Swordfish had to dodge them, for he did not know what would happen if he flew into one.

Swordfish was looking for the evacuation route where he had revealed Cedar, and hope washed over his body when he saw it. Swordfish began to fly at a downward angle. If I can just make it to that tunnel, I can get out of here. When Tsunami suddenly sprang up.

She didn't fly, but she jumped high enough to take her claws and slice Swordfish's back left talon off. Swordfish screamed and crashed into the entrance to the tunnel, pain arcing from the wound. The pain was not even centralized there, all the wounds hurt. Even his mysterious scars felt fresh. Swordfish stared at the bleeding wrist with horror. This was very, very bad. Swordfish could have sworn he heard a distressed voice call out his name, but he was too dizzy to comprehend. But the eyeless dragons kept shambling after him, their black eyes not showing any signs of empathy.

Swordfish crawled away, not using his back claw. He no longer knew what was pushing him forward. He knew he would probably die before getting help. Either from his wounds or from the Jade Mountain dragons. But he kept trying to escape. Was it the longing for the truth about everything? Was it the hope that he would be able to rescue Rattlesnake and everyone else from whatever had done this? Was it a need to do something worthwhile to prove himself to his family and everyone else back home that he could not remember?

But when Swordfish had crawled to about halfway through the tunnel, on the path running alongside the abyss, he completely collapsed. He could not move on any longer. He could not see himself saving Rattlesnake. He could not see himself ever returning home a hero as his brother Starfish had. Swordfish could only stare at a small rip in the world ahead of him. He remembered Blizzard's words to him. "Don't go digging too deep." That's exactly what Swordfish had done. Those things, Cassriel and Abyss, had come to kill him for getting too close to whatever this world was hiding. There was no future, he couldn't see one. All there was, was the black emptiness Swordfish saw in the tear ahead of him.

But Swordfish made one last decision. He was not going to let Cassriel and Abyss kill him. This was something of his own choice. Swordfish could hear the dragons without eyes coming from the other end of the tunnel, but they were not going to kill him. Swordfish felt his vision start to go black. He heard the voice of an old dragon in his head, telling him to stop, and to keep going. Telling him to combat the bad thoughts.

Swordfish rolled off the edge of the abyss, the air whistling through the hole in his wing. Cassriel was not going to take him alive.

Huh. Guess I'll end up freed with Cedar anyway.

Well, that was the end. I told you this was a dark story. I normally planned for there to be way more chapters but I decided for a short, clean ending. Yeah, there's a lot of questions still left unanswered, but whatever.

Thanks for reading!