— Chapter 17 —
What is going on!? Luna's thoughts raged as this whole interaction just happened.
"Lizard, what have I told you about performing certain gestures?" Cottonmouth grunted.
"I dunno, I forgot, because I truly don't care!" Lizard replied, shaking her head and looking proud of the fact.
"You're utterly insufferable, and you should always be ashamed of yourself," Cottonmouth said with a huff, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, you basically tell me that every other day," the dragonet said without a care, impatiently hopping on Luna's back.
"Aren't you that little dragon we saw? What happened to you?" Pineapple asked gently, making Lizard look at him.
"That guy over there happened. But just to put it in simple terms for you, I am second in charge here, the princess you could say,"
"She's no princess," Cottonmouth quickly interrupted, but Lizard ignored him.
"So I expect you to respect me or do as I say just as much or more than you'd do with him, after all, I am a dragon too," she finished.
"She's not close at all to my own importance or power, so you will not do that," Cottonmouth ordered.
"Anyway, you said that you're done with them right now, so that's all and they should come with me next," she replied with an eye roll.
Cottonmouth didn't say anything else, just glaring at Lizard with an unpleasant expression, while she tapped Luna's back with her talons. "Okay, go go go while we still can, the main door's open now," Lizard ordered, and while Luna didn't understand any of this, she started walking while carrying the small dragon, her friends following with weird looks.
And Luna was certain that she saw Qibli give a long look at Lizard and look thoughtful for a moment.
They left the throne room, and walking back through the hallway, Luna saw a very large door that seemed to lead outside, but she felt very sure that the door wasn't there before.
They stepped outside, and Luna immediately stopped in place, the view ahead could only be called… Uncanny.
First of all, the palace was quite literally drifting in a big, floating chunk of land. Second, looking down the edge only revealed a literal black void beneath. And third of all, while straight ahead and above looked like a normal yet endless sky, the farther she looked, the more hazy and just "wrong" it looked as if it was outright stopping to exist over there.
"Three moons, this is what your home looks like?" Pineapple asked, looking startled.
"Any issues with the place can be brought straight to Cottonmouth, with the risk of being kicked out of the mindspace," Lizard stated in a bored tone. "Of course this place looks dumb, he made it, because there's just nooo better way to show you're great and superior and so above everything than having your castle in the sky."
"And what's going on with the actual sky? Why does it look like that?" Lynx asked next, pointing to the horizon.
"Hard to imagine something actually endless without it looking shabby at spots," Lizard replied with a shrug, then hopped off Luna's back and landed on the ground, looking extremely small down there and next to everyone else, so Luna finally decided to ask a question she was wondering about.
"How did you touch me? I tried to, huh, touch Cottonmouth and it didn't really work out at all," she said, and Lizard actually laughed at this.
"You tried to attack him in here? Oh I wish I was there to see it. I assume when we felt that invasion into someone's mind? I can only imagine how much self restraint he's trying to have to not immediately eject you," she said, bursting into giggles for a few moments before calming down. "Anyway, all of you ask far too many questions, but I guess I could answer this one too."
"This whole deal with the plant, and us interacting now, it means all of our consciousnesses are linked together, yes? But you don't see every other dragon in this mindspace, that's because yours have been brought much closer to mine and his. So if either of us two wanted, we can move them even closer so our minds basically touch, you get it? So like that, we can transmit sensations between them and make your minds feel like you've been touched… Or hurt, even if physically you're actually fine."
Luna's head was spinning a bit after that whole explanation, but she eventually gave a short nod after processing it, and so did the others. Qibli just looked even more perplexed and she assumed he was trying his best to think about the situation as a whole.
"Anyway, enough questions from your side, you keep asking stuff, and I still didn't get to say what I want!" Lizard said in a more firm tone, staring up at the group.
"Sure, ask away, and at least I'll try to answer what I can, won't speak for the others though," Qibli nodded.
"... Depends…" Bullfrog muttered with uncertainty.
The others voiced either their agreement or qualms as well, and Lizard impatiently sat through their words.
"Ugh, it's not like I'm even going to ask for much, and also not like there's a whole lot of things for you either, considering you'll be part of us forever," she said with an eye roll. "I just want to know: since nearly every single one of you is clearly from a whole other place, did you have an interesting life before coming here? Because if you do, all I ask from you is your memories."
The Silkwing once more felt baffled and caught off guard by the tiny dragonet. Did she really just ask for memories?
"Our memories? How and why do you even expect us to give those?" Lynx questioned in a surprised tone.
"Why? Because literally why not? And how? You just give me your talons, and specifically allow my mind to take memories to see."
"Is that safe?" Pineapple asked with worry. "Are you going to take our memories away from us?"
""Oh my gosh, it's absolutely SAFE, it's just letting me see and experience them too, but they won't literally leave your minds!" Lizard exclaimed.
"And what exactly do you plan to do with those?" Qibli was the next one to ask, and Lizard outright stomped the ground with her small talons.
"So. Many. Questions! I just want to see something. My life is the most boring thing ever! All I get to do is sit here, see Cottonmouth gloat, and see through our servants either almost nothing or how your group kicks our tails. I want to see more drama! Fights! Surely your memories have those!"
Luna's group looked to each other in uncertainty, to her personally, the thought of just giving her memories to a dragon literally partly in charge of the plant they're fighting against sounded unnerving.
"Hm, I think my friends and I would really need to at least discuss this before anything, could you let us have some space?" Qibli asked in a nice tone, but even his expression looked confused.
Lizard huffed annoyed, but she turned to the opposite direction and walked a good distance away from them, her tail dragging on the ground.
"Okay, there's a lot we need to talk about," Qibli said, turning to the rest, his expression turned serious.
"Yeaaaah, a lot has been going on ever since we entered that castle," Lynx nodded.
"We learned a lot. Cottonmouth operates through this whole mental place here, now he knows everyone else is at the caverns too," Qibli's voice cracked slightly when mentioning that part. "And it can't slip past us that he has some sort of unknown "surprise" for us. And lastly, a dragon like we've never seen before is right here too."
"... Who wants our… Memories…" Bullfrog muttered.
"Right, a whole topic on itself. Right away she seems at least not as bad as Cottonmouth, but we can't really be sure, if she's also in charge of this as she said, then I guess her goals would still align with his, despite the bickering?" Qibli said in confusion.
"I can't imagine these two ever getting along, not even a moment and he already insulted her," Lynx said, then thought for a moment. "Actually, I can't really be a judge on that matter."
"Icewing friend?" Qibli asked with a smirk.
"Icewing friend," she said with a grin of her own.
"So, what do we do about her request? We turn her down? Would it be worse?" Pineapple asked as he tilted his head.
"Tough choice, it might give her a better opinion of us and that might help, but she could also just use that knowledge for the worse. Would this give her every single memory of ours? And if that happens, there's a really big issue," Qibli said and lowered his voice. "The map."
Luna knew where he was going with this, looking at Qibli. "She could see where to go to reach Pyrrhia!"
"Yeah, we can't allow that, that's the last thing we need, for the issue to spread between both continents," Lynx agreed.
Luna tried to think about this to contribute, this was a double edged sword. Lizard was willing to explain things to them and considered herself the second in command, getting on her good side (if she had one amongst the grumpiness) would be great. But was it worth the risk?
However, she suddenly remembered a little detail that might change things, maybe.}
"I didn't look at the map," she suddenly mentioned.
Qibli tilted his head and looked at her, and she was sure he was thinking of the possibilities with just what she said.
"That's true, now that I think about it, so what you're gonna say is…?"
"I… Have a lot of memories, and surely there's important things in there, but considering that I've mostly lived in Pantala, there's not as much she could learn from the other continent, right? So perhaps if there's the chance to use our memories as leverage, I could offer mine."
"Are you sure? We don't know just how deep she could dig, maybe she finds some very embarrassing moments," Lynx asked.
Luna already felt embarrassed now that this point was brought up, but she reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, it's not like we're able to do anything else, right? So whatever might help in any form…"
"Nobody showed the map to me earlier," Pineapple added in a helpful tone. "And I have nothing to hide about my life, so if we need more, then I could help too."
She gave a grateful nod to the Rainwing. It's silly, but in a way it felt better for her to think she wasn't going to be alone in literally letting someone else invade her whole life.
"I think that really only you, Tsunami and Sundew looked at that map, right?" Lynx asked Qibli, who nodded.
"Yeah, I believe so, but still, just because someone hasn't seen it, that doesn't mean you must feel pressured for this, okay?"
After a couple nods from everyone, Luna let out a sigh. "So, all settled? Should we go find her now?"
The whole group stood up and started to walk to the direction they last saw Lizard grumpily go to, which ended up being the opposite extreme of the floating platform, with her sitting down with an impatient expression, but she must've heard them as she turned her head to look.
"So, have you finally decided? Are you going to be helpful or not?" She questioned.
Luna stepped forward to be in front of the group, and gave her a nod. "I decided that I could share my memories with you, if you really wan-"
"YES!" Lizard suddenly shouted, standing upright. "FINALLY! Do you know just how much I've waited? For the plant to finally be able to take over dragons so at least one could share some memories? Years. Thousands of years. And Cottonmouth often said that nobody would want to do it, so here's this! In his face!"
Of course, Luna wasn't sure on how to react to all this. On one talon, the dragoned had awaited a development like this with the plant for thousands of years, and that wasn't a good look. But on the other talon, Luna couldn't help but to think about how Lizard might be feeling extremely lonely too, living in this strange realm with a single other living being, who's also a jerk.
"So what do I have to do exactly?" Luna asked, getting closer to the strange dragon.
"Take my talons," Lizard instructed, sitting down and offering her two front talons.
Still feeling wary about this whole thing, but hopeful that it could help them in the long, or even better, short run, Luna complied and held the small talons.
"Now, open your mind, let your memories flow through, and think of directing them to me. Our minds are literally as close as they can be, so memories can pass over from one to the other," the dragonet then explained.
Luna closed her eyes and tried to focus, on her mind, on her thoughts, her memories. She felt something very strange, like if something was poking right into her brain, attempting to get through, and she let it in.
And then she let out a gasp, her eyes widening, as the craziest thing happened. She literally felt her whole life flash in front of her eyes, all of her experiences and memories, she saw them flowing at such a fast pace that she was starting to feel a headache. Then, just as sudden as it began, it stopped.
"I… I got them…" Lizard said with fascination. "I have your memories! Reminiscing of someone else's life…"
For how either grumpy or impatient she'd been looking a lot of the time so far, Lizard right now actually had an expression filled with glee as she closed her eyes, clearly seeing the new additions to her mind.
"Oooh, now, I want to see!" The dragonet shouted, and their surroundings suddenly started to shift and change in a second.
"Woah woah woah, wait, what are you-!?" Luna exclaimed, hoping it's not what she thinks it is.
"I just saw one of your cooler memories, so let's actually be there to experience it!"
Before Luna could say another word, she heard the sounds of rain and of a strong wind blowing through, and she heard shouting, including her own, she just heard herself in third person!
She only needed a quick look around to immediately realize where this was taking place, and she covered her face with her talons for a moment with a groan. "Oh no, not heeere!"
"You're okay?" Pineapple asked gently.
"Only wishing we didn't have to look at this, it's completely embarrassing," she grumbled, looking further up, where the action was actually happening.
A group of Hivewings were swarming one particular spot in the sky, where Luna saw… Luna and Swordtail desperately attempting to fend them off, but they got easily cornered, just barely managing to dodge their jabs and sharp stingers.
Out of nowhere, Sundew appeared to the side of the group of Hivewings, crashing into one, clawing another that was right next to her, and then punching the same one she had just crashed onto on the head.
"Sundew's not too bad," Lizard said, pleased with the scene. "Always kicking tails, and no other living dragon has annoyed and angered Cottonmouth as much, it's great to see and I gotta respect the craft."
Swordtail let out a defiant yell and charged forward while the Hivewings were distracted by Sundew's sudden appearance and attacked a soldier as well, but while he managed to land one or two decent hits, it was rather short lived because the soldier clearly outmatched him anyway, claws scratched forward, and Swordtail yelped in pain as he received a cut on the side.
This made the Luna from her memories stop her currently defensive stance to instead point her talons forward to the group. "You'll pay for that one, and for everything else!" She exclaimed in a determined tone, and Luna remembered her emotions during that moment, the need to help out Swordtail, the drive to finally get to strike back against those who kept bossing and looking down to her.
But of course, what could have been something incredible and satisfying like true justice, only ended up making her feel completely embarrassed.
Flamesilk shot out from her wrists, pointed to the nearest soldier, ready to incinerate them! But instead, due to the very strong storm happening right now, coupled with also very strong winds, her plan very literally backfired, the silk was blown back and towards her direction instead before she could react, her own silk entangled, ensnared and weaved around her body.
And just like that, forming an odd, silky makeshift sail by accident with it, she was taken by the wind and blown towards the sea.
Everyone in the mindspace was "moved" alongside the memory Luna, the environment around them going along her in real time as she was making an approach to the sea and then… SPLASH.
"So this is how you ended… There," Qibli said in a whisper while close to Luna, and she nodded slightly.
Luna saw herself desperately moving on the water, trying her hardest to keep her snout above the surface, eyes wide open in panic while the wind kept moving her fateful sail forward.
That's when Luna looked to the side, and saw Lizard closing her eyes, seemingly focusing on something before opening them again, and yet another weird thing happened. She heard her own voice, but neither version of her was currently talking or opening her mouth, and it sounded a bit echoed.
N… No! I… Can't die here, not now…! I still have… To fight…!
The whole group looked around in confusion for the new voice that came out of nowhere, but after hearing it, Luna had a sense of dread, she just realized what was happening.
"This isn't only my memories, you're showing my thoughts too!" She accused Lizard, who just shrugged.
Luna was almost speechless from this, one thing was to give her memories to the dragonet, a whole other thing was Lizard showing off her memories and personal thoughts to everyone present.
"After this, we'll have to change the terms around this whole thing if possible," Qibli quickly whispered to her, and she nodded.
I just reunited back with them! She heard her own past thoughts protesting. Blue needs me, and Swordtail will go crazy, I need to go back…!
But no matter how much she struggled, the sea was still stronger, and her struggling only caused her body to get tired, and salt water entered her mouth and made her cough up. So she had to give up on her fight, letting herself be taken by the sea.
I'm lost… There's no way I can come back from this, I don't even know in what direction Pantala is. Goodbye everybody…
And clearly to end in some dramatic tone, reality shifted back to what it was before with the castle, with Lizard looking contemplative of something, while Luna just felt a bit sick from remembering one of her lowest moments.
"... Sad…" Bullfrog said, shaking his head.
"Hey, Lizard," Luna weakly called out to her, but the odd dragon just appeared too focused on her own thoughts, staring at the spot where a moment ago, Luna was getting washed over by the sea, then she let out a sigh.
"Wish I could go through something like that," she said, not seemingly aimed at anybody but herself. "You're here, so it's obvious you survived, and you brought all these dragons, so clearly you got to that other continent… Meanwhile I'm stuck here. At least if the sea took me away, whatever outcome happens, I'd be somewhere better."
She froze, that was the only reaction that Luna could possibly manage after hearing these words. This dragonet… Her mood really seems to shift on a whim, at any time, from impatient, to angry, to excited, to… This, seemingly wishing death? Just how much was in her head?
Lizard shook her head, starting to look grumpy again. "Ugh, what was that about? I guess getting a whole extra life in my head makes somebody act a bit sappy," she grunted with an eyeroll. "Ignore whatever I just said!"
After this followed a rather awkward silence for about a minute or two, with Lizard refusing to look at anyone, and Luna and her group looking at each other in silence and being clearly unsure of what to even say at this point.
Finally, unsurprisingly Qibli was the one to break this silence by approaching Lizard while she was still turned away.
"I know you just said to ignore all that, and you must be tired of questions, but there's a part I'd like to ask about," he said, and immediately earned a glare from Lizard. "And nope, it's not about any of the "sappy" stuff as you call it."
Lizard let out a looooong winded sigh, grumbling to herself while side-eyeing Qibli. "What is it this time?"
"You mentioned "that other continent" just then, so you're directly aware of it?" Qibli followed, and she looked at him for a second.
"Well, duh, of course, it's part of our oldest memories, his specifically. I saw a few dragons with features like yours in these, although not quite the same."
Qibli turned to look at the rest of the Pyrrhians, who looked back at him. Luna thought that Pineapple didn't look like he really got it, but the rest seemed to be on the same page as Qibli at least. She wished she knew what exactly they were on about.
"I think," Qibli started to talk again. "We should try asking Cottonmouth a few questions, risky as it might be, or at the very least I'll go ask him now."