Day 2

I have a nightmare on my first night, after I pretend to be a red dragon and hang from the tree.

The sun is out, sending light through the tree that I am sitting in. I feel rather content, which is strange, considering everything that's happened. But still I am calm and delighted to be resting in the cool shadows that are only broken by little dapples of light flickering through the leaves.

Then I feel a presence, something unnatural and strange. It rears up behind me and whispers, Snakes can climb trees.

At first I'm startled and turn my head to see what the thing was. There is nothing to be found. But the presence remains, even though I can't see it, and it collects itself into a putrid, damp darkness that hangs like heavy fog in the air, sucking the color and life out of everything it touches! The tree dies before my very eyes, its bark turning gray and the leaves rotting on their stems and floating as ashes to the ground in a twisted imitation of autumn's leaf-fall.

I only have a second to look down, eyes wide in terror, as the branch twitches and begins to morph. The dead bark crumbles, cracks, and twists itself into scale-shapes that then smooth themselves out, and then each shape grows and grows thinner and longer. My legs feel as though they have melted into the tree and I can't move! I want to scream for help but my mouth has no voice anymore! I can't even feel the flame inside my chest!

The shapes begin changing colors, turning to the most poisonous and vile blood crimsons and corpse grays, sucking the color from the environment and changing the purple of twilight and the life of evergreen into terrifying abominations of themselves! They begin to wriggle as their own bodies and break free of the tree shape, and all at once they rise, turn their heads, and reveal themselves to be snakes! They had been hiding inside the tree the entire time!

I finally find myself and leap from the tree, screaming, Mother! Father! Help me!

The snakes hiss in unison, their voices merging into a furious ocean spray. They shoot out at me, slamming into each other and clumping until they all become one giant snake that slithers before me, raising its head like a mountain above.

Flapping my wings as fast as I can, I jump into the air and fly away! I won't let it catch me! There's no way a dragon can't escape a snake!

All of them seem to growl in aggravation and I look over my shoulder. The snake coils all of its muscles and then snaps into the air, opening a gaping mouth with enormous fangs! I try to fly out of the way, but then a pink appendage twists around my entire body up to my chest, binding my wings! It twirls around me to reveal itself as a long, pinkish snake and it laughs at me, squeezing tighter and tighter until I'm sure I'll burst.

The snake snaps its jaw shut and swallows me whole.

I jolt awake with a yelp and flail, pawing at the air wildly and opening my wings to their full extent. It's only until I realize that I'm upside-down that I remember last night—and the horrible dream that came with it.

Shuddering in the really cold shadow of the tree, I unwrap my tail from it as fast as I can and jog out into the little closed-in field, watching carefully where I step for snakes. The sun is warm on my scales (it's about midday) and reminds me of the everlasting flames the Great Mother keeps in our nest. Hanging my head low, I sit down and hunch over, ears drooping.

What kind of great dragon am I? I can't even sleep without having horrible nightmares. I was scared by a snake bite that didn't even do anything. Mother and father are always treated as the most important dragons, and so that makes me an important dragon, too. I think. But how can I possibly be so important when I'm such a pathetic wreck?

I swing my tail in front of me, looking at the end of it. It's missing a part and it hurts. I know it was important now. I flex it just to make sure that the other half really is gone, but there is no movement from the left side. That special moving wing-like structure that had helped me through all my years had been ripped off at some point. On top of that, my body just feels sore. (I fell from a tall height, so I knew to expect it.)

I'm scared. I hate to admit it. But I can still see the snake bite on my scales, my tail is broken, and there are snakes down here that I fear no matter how much bigger than them I am. I throw my head back and howl for my mother and father, begging them to come and rescue me before I die. There isn't any response and so I climb a tree, thinking the cliffs are blocking my voice with their enormous bulk, and wail until my throat stings every time I breathe.

For a little while I sit around and stare at my surroundings. I concentrate on thinking about how to find a way out. Then I get up and walk around, head bent and tail dragging through the dirt.

I'm slow-going at first, because I just know that it's no use. But then my eye catches on a low-hanging outcropping on the stone wall. It's covered in vines that look super-easy to dig my claws onto, and even better…it has a tree on it! Breaking into a gallop, I run while pumping my wings and then leap up, letting my built-up speed and strength take me up to the cliff.

I slam into it hard, bouncing off of it and nearly falling back onto the ground. But I dig my claws into it and refuse to let go! It hurts horribly and makes them feel like they're about to scrape right out of my paws, but I push them as deep into the leaves as I can and pull myself to the top. I allow myself to stop and catch my breath, and then look up at the tree.

I wonder if there are snakes in it.

The thought is unwelcome, but still brings up a very good point! I creep around the trunk, spines bristling and ears and frills perked, sniffing at it and trying my best to figure out what's in it. But all I can smell is bark, damp leaves and foliage, and old water inside the old thing. There is an incredibly old bird-scent and it makes my teeth unsheathe themselves, but I don't see the little twig nest and doubt it has anything in it.

Once I've circled the tree, I stand on my hind legs and smack it hard, making it rustle and sway. Nothing falls out. Satisfied, I burrow my claws into the soft wood and clamber up at a slow pace, keeping an eye out for evil and dangerous creatures.

When I reach the top I pop my head out of the branches and look around. The view is much higher than before, but it doesn't do anything! When I look straight up all I see is a sheer cliff, the tree roots and crawling leaves around me far out of reach! There is nothing to grab onto, leap towards, or even spot across the pit that I can get to.

The sun is falling down by the time I give up. I had managed to get to the tallest point I could reach, but even the comfort of the height was squashed by the fact that I was still trapped. I glance over at the waterfall and realize that I could probably swim up it if I tried hard enough. Not now, though. It's far too cold with the sun gone.

The stars come out and I stare up at them, wishing with all my fire that they were going to come down and rescue me, led by mother and father, or even better, the Great Mother.

Spreading my wings, I glide down over the lake and settle on the soft grass. I definitely don't want to sleep in a tree again, so I try to call my flame forth to make a warm bed of coals. My throat burns before I even filter all the gas into it, still sore from the hours I had spent yelling my spines off.

Frustrated and a little bit anxious, I just lay down right there and stare out at the lake. I'm hungry, but the daytime prey will have already returned to their burrows and the lake is too dark to see to hunt. My belly moans and vibrates, telling me that I am really hungry. I can't even remember the last time I ate.

I guess I'll have to eat tomorrow. My eyes stray again to the waterfall, and a new hope builds up inside me. Maybe when I'm full and have my strength and fire back, I'll be able to get out of here.

Sorry about how long it took to update. That came from me putting all my time into IHHS.

Also, if a pagebreak is missing, sorry! I can't seem to get them to show up.

Thanks to Greath, saphira and shruikan, Oderin-Kuro, sakiko of soleana, Tanon, and 4077th for your reviews!

Also. please make sure to check out the tumblog and shoot me a message on there! I am getting to them…slowly but surely. As you can see, the questions received have already put an impact on the chapters. Hooray!

Have an excellent day!

~ Rift-Raft