"The jewels." I said sternly as he approached, my eyes half-lidded with black spots under them, I hadn't slept since sunset.
He sighed. "I figured you would ask about those, they were a gift from the Nightwing Queen to my mother, before I was born."
"What's a Nightwing?" I asked, straining my voice with each word and enunciation.
"The Nightwings are dragons able to tell prophecies and read minds, they're an extremely mysterious tribe of dragons."
"And the Teardrops?"
Smolder lowered his voice to a whisper. "They're marks of mindreaders, at least that's what the legends in scrolls say, that they can be a mindreader or a seer."
"Are you saying I'm some type of mindreader or seer?" That would explain the night before.
"Wait, why would you-"
I point to the tear shaped marks below my eyes, faintly visible on my face due to the bags on my eyes.
"... No... that's not possible... you'd... you'd have to be part Nightwing."
"No. Absolutely not. I am not part dragon. How would that even work?"
"You're probably right... however you have to have some relations to Nightwings, that's the only way to explain it." He shrugs.
I groan while putting my hands to hold my face to keep it from falling. "So I guess if I want more answers, I'd have to talk to the Nightwings about it?"
"Yeah, though, considering you belong to Burn now..." He trailed off.
"Why keep me alive?"
"My guess, the other one she caught a year ago."
"I heard the women say that to me as well..." I thought aloud.
"Women?" She asked.
"Your scavenger." I sighed, dumbing things down, annoyed I have to draw this conversation further due to the pain in my throat. "Who's the other one?" I asked while crossing my arms.
"I don't know, but he looked like you, same color, even the teardrops, he could even breathe fire."
I scoff and roll my eyes. "I assure you, us 'scavengers' can not breathe fire, at least none I ever heard of."
"Well I was there, and I saw it, I can confirm that it shot fire at Burn.
"Oh yeah? Show me."
"Very well." he said as he grabbed my cage with his talons and started to walk down the hallway where I was met with the sight of several stuffed dragon corpses, the limbs not of webbed Seawings and seven claws with no owners, weird and deformed claws and wings, a two-headed stuffed lizard, a bright red but cracked egg, what looked to be the hybrid of a ice and sand dragon, a giant insect wing, the skin of a titanoboa, an aquarium filled weird and exotic creatures and of course, at the end of it all, in a small cage compared to the rest, even smaller than the insect wing, was the body of a pale human, a large cut sewn back together on his stomach seen by his torn shirt, a uniform I had seen on those of Sunset's Watch, the goggles on the top of his head, wearing something called a vest, a second shirt like cloth filled with several pockets, and hanging out of one of them was a small slip of paper, and in his hands was a large silver object mixed with pieces of wood, a hole in one end. The guy himself, from what I saw other than being pale, looked relatively normal, well fed, someone who had been inside the invincible city but with the brand of exile marked on his left palm, and on his face was...
My breath hitched. "Another Teardrop." I muttered loud enough for Smolder to hear me.
He sighed. "Alright, don't tell Burn but..." he trailed off as he unlocked the cage and angled it to allow me to jump inside the human's cage.
"Thank you." I said before jumping inside, matching his skin with mine, he was a little more tan but sure enough, we were both abnormal. "Maybe Sunset's Watch will have more answers for me." I muttered as I then carefully took the piece of crumpled paper, carefully unfolding it as I then scanned the images and words in front of me.
Entry #186
The new chamber design I've toyed around with seems to have the most promising results, if my calculations are right then in my next attempt, I won't need the rod no longer and will be closer to assuming my role, my destiny, my prophecy, however, the path has been split, one where I accomplish my mission, the other where I fail, so I must pass this down in the worst case.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
If you're reading this, then you must be a clairvoyant, that's the only way you've made it this far. I've written all my important plans and knowledge in here, to give you a headstart, hopefully you won't need it, but if you're seeing this then... The map will lead you to Sunset's Watch, you can find help there, don't bother with Eclipse, those fools will just slow you down, and most importantly, remember the prophecy.
The fate of these lands is baked in fire,
You must be united to face something so dire,
The Scorching has left it's mark,
It's time for you to begin a new start,
The Gold Lord has failed and revoked his power,
But that doesn't mean you should all cower,
The Eye of Tears will open,
And the ones who open must be chosen,
The Sun is a lie,
The Sun is an ally,
Imperial is fast,
Oracle's will last,
Perception is beautiful,
But her agents are dutiful,
The Watcher will follow you,
The Watcher also doesn't know what's true
The jewel are a gift,
The jewels are a curse,
It's for you to lift,
For you to end the long era of hurt,
Defeat,
Victory,
Choose,
Save this world,
Or start anew
In flames,
Either way.
Good luck to whoever needs this, and let it be known that my name is Pyro, please do not let people forget me, let me have a legacy, goodbye.
My eyes blinked a couple of times as I processed the words. "What... the absolute fu-" I thought aloud before my eyes focused on the blueprint, my hands tracing over as I looked at the diagram, a device that could be able to fire pieces of metal with a small explosion, capable of piercing a dragon's scale right through, it would almost seem like the human was breathing fire from a stick. But my eyes turned to a bunch of failed equations of symbols I didn't understand.
KNO + Charcoal + Carbon?
I scratched my head as I looked back at the poem, could this actually be... this is just... what the...
I took the paper and folded it securely against my belt since I didn't have any pockets before going to grab the, 'BOOMSTICK!!!,' as Pyro had called it, until...
"PLEASE NO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH! PLEASE STOP! I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME! PLEASE STOOOOOOOPPPPPPP!" I heard Scarlet scream in the distance, I couldn't help but wince at her pain, I knew she may have been an evil monster in the past, but was she even the same person after the fall, it wasn't like I could do anything to help her, besides, this was karma... at least... I guess, maybe I'd feel better if I knew what she did? If I knew she deserved this? But... all I really knew is what I was told, sure she killed people, but didn't all dragons? Aren't they all monsters? But Smolder wasn't a monster, he even let me do this, and he's trembling so violently right now, wait a minute-
"We should go, that means Burn's gotten back early." Smolder quickly yelped as he grabbed me before I could get the weapon and threw me in the cage before beating his wings as hard as could to get back to my pedestal. I let out a grunt as he placed the cage, hard, as I was then placed back to the center of the pillar as if I had never moved.
"Alrightgoodluckbye!" Smolder said in a rush of words before bolting out of there, leaving me alone to hear Scarlet's screams, and Burn's guttural laughter.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, just waiting for the laughter and the screams to finally die down, when I opened my eyes, her pitch black eyes were staring back, her jaws still bloody, along with her talons and barb.
Drip!
Drip!
Drip!
I looked down and in one of her bloody talons and saw a teardrop jewel in her talons, one of the ones that I recognized on Scarlet's face as well, I grimaced at the thought. "You really are a monster." I snarl before spitting in her face.
She only let out a deep laugh before slamming the cage with her tail, forcing me to hang on as it fell of the pillar and onto the ground, my body sent flinging against the bars before crashing against the bars on the floor hard, I let out a yell of pain as my leg cracked and bent into an awkward and unnatural shape. "You bitch!" I yell at her but she suddenly stabs her tail right through the metal and into my stomach to the side of any major organs, right above my intestines and not deep enough to go all the way through.
"The only reason you are still alive little, pathetic, scavenger-"
"I'm human!"
"Not here you aren't now, shut up or I'll rip your face off and and use the rest of your body as a stew, I already have one albino, why do I need another!?" She roared.
I glared at her but kept my mouth closed.
"Good, because you're only still here cause I find you amusing, so understand, as soon as you aren't amusing anymore..." She starts to salivate. "It'll be so fun, the things I'll be doing to you... I wonder how you will sound as I separate a paw from the rest of your arm... or better yet..." she trailed off as she looked to her tail barb.
"What are you..."
I then had to fall to my knees before feeling as warm bile rose up from my throat before I finally expelled it, in the remains were hints of red and black.
My eyes widened in horror. "Three moons-" I started as spittle and more blood and the venom dripped from my mouth, before vomiting it back up again as I struggled to keep my eyes open.
"You see what happens when you disobey me?" She said as she took her barb out, leaving the gaping hole in my stomach to quickly fill as it spilled my blood and some more of her venom.
"Now... tell me..." She said with a grin as she noticed me starting to sweat and shake profusely, I couldn't even lift my arms, everything felt as if it was on fire inside of my body, but instead, all I could do was let out a whimper and shed a few tears to the floor. "Tell me... will you be a good boy now?" she chuckled while using one of her claws to lift my head up to look back in her eyes, her claw the size of my entire body, probably bigger, I couldn't really tell as my vision started to blur and split as I saw five pitch black eyes staring back at me. "Q-queen B-Burn..." I whimpered as I shed more and more tears... starting to sob.
"Yes... my dear... my pathetic... little scavenger?"
"S-someone l-like m-me... a-a pathetic... l-little... weak... w-worthless... scavenger..." I sobbed.
"Yes-"
"Is going to kill you, Burn!" I suddenly shouted at her through the tears and pain, her eyes widened in surprise. "Just like... t-they killed your m-mother..."
Her eyes narrowed. "What did you just say to me, you little shit?!" She roared.
"I said..." I coughed before my eyes closed and I felt myself falling forward, and everything went black.