Forgotten
This is a remake of Shattered Dementions. This is far better with a better plot, pacing, and even writing style. If any of you have a better name, feel free to suggest
Her eyes flew open as fiery orange orbs searched the surroundings. Plants grew through the numerous cracks in the concrete walls. The sun was bright. Raising sky-blue claw, she managed to block most of the light. The crafty sphere in the sky would shift soon, though. The first attempt to get up was fruitless. Same with the second. And the third. Eventually she just fell down with a loud 'thump'. The echo led her to investigating where she was lying.
She was lying on a thin, decaying blanket. Much too small for her, she wondered why it was there. Maybe it was all she could gather? On that subject, she realized that she was asking a lot of questions. Holding her head, her thoughts began to focus more and more. First question; where the heck was she?
Judging from the cracked walls and low ceiling, she deduced that it was indeed....a room. What kind of room was next. It was completely clear; no accessories, furniture, not even a window in sight. The sun was the only source of light. The second time she looked, her eyes caught a small coiled up bronze figure in the corner.
Managing to sit up, she took a look at her body. A thin layer of dust covered her scales. Whilst brushing it off, she saw that she was thin...far too thin. Her ribs were showing under the silver-white underbelly. Even her arms were boney.
Standing up on two legs, she took one tentative step forward before falling flat on her face. Another echo. Crawling would suffice for now. Right claw out, pull, extend the left...it was a lot easier than expected. In about two minutes and twenty three seconds, the destination had been reached. Now able to see what it was, she recognized the shape of the statue to be that of a snake. Fins grew out from the back of the head. A spine ran down its back.
Unable to fight the urge anymore, her claws grasped the statue. Almost immediately it began glowing. A bright white light forced her eyes shut. There were a few squirms under her claw.
"Kayla?" a voice rang in her head. Cracking her eye open a bit, she saw that the statue had turned into a white scaled snake that was staring at her with yellow eyes. The voice was male. The fins and spine were a brighter yellow color. Black dots covered his back.
Kayla...right, how could she forget her name? And how much she hated the la part of it. "It's Kay only!" she growled back.
The snake suddenly rubbed his head against hers. "Oh Kay, it is you! I feared you would never wake up!"
The name for this magical beast floating in front of her rushed into her head. "Vormund...?" Kay reached out her claw to stroke the snake's face. "Where...where are we?" she flipped onto her back to see better. No improvement.
"I don't know...stay here, I'll go check." Vormund, defying all that was logical, floated above her. At this moment, she didn't care that a snake could now fly. There, she realized that Vormund had grown to about the size of her body.
Kay raised an eyebrow when Vormund literally stuck his head through the wall. Three seconds later, he retracted and flew back. "It looks like an abandoned building. There are plants everywhere as well as a pool. There is a hidden door where I just phased through, actually."
"Problem...I can't move too well..." Kay mumbled. Vormund was immediately at her side, going through the ground and gently pushing her to her claws. Oversized black wings hung limply. Kay placed her claw on Vormund. Strength flowed through her body; strength to at least walk.
Heading over to the wall, they stopped. "Point me to where I should press...I'm too weak," Kay whispered, unable to talk normally. She was so hungry she could eat just about every plant in here; even if they were all poisonous. Kay would punch the poisons in the face if that were the case. If they had faces. Kay may have scared herself with that thought.
Vormund slowly extended his body until his muzzle hit the wall at about eye level. There was a faint pop and the wall smoothly slid open. Kay half expected it to make a loud obnoxious noise. Maybe things would get better from here.
Once the wall was out of her way, Kay's mouth watered. Littered in front of her were grapes. Lots and lots of grapes. Oranges too. Vormund somehow read her mind and brought her over. With renewed energy, Kay snatched the nearest fruit and stuffed it into her mouth. She must have done it at least several times before calming down.
Never before had oranges and grapes tasted better in her life. Every juicy bite...it was so invigorating! It quenched her hunger and thirst at the same time! A smile crept onto her muzzle, searching the area for the supposed pool. It wouldn't hurt to wash herself after being in that room for who knows long.
It was like an open garden. A gigantic glass window, which would have covered the botanical, lay shattered all around. Kay had to be careful not to step on any pieces. The place was multi-leveled, destroyed staircases being the only way up. At least, for beings without wings. Her wings didn't want to work right now, so hopefully the stairs wouldn't give out.
The pool was in the dead center. The water was so clear that Kay could see her reflection. Oddly, Vormund didn't have one. A giant tree grew in the middle of the water, stretching all the way past the top floor. Sunlight shone down on them, but dark clouds were approaching.
Kay was a light blue Anthro dragoness. Her silvery horns went up and jutted towards her muzzle. A spine, the same color of her horns, ran from her head all the way down to her obsidian colored tail blade. Her white talons leapt to the left side of her chest; a half circle scar stuck out like a sore wing.
Testing the waters, she found it to be comfortable; not too hot, not too cold. Holding her breath, she let go of Vormund and fell in. All of the dust floated off of her; even the clever little ones that hid under her scales. Thankfully, she had the strength to swim back up. Not like it was deep, though. Maybe chest high.
"So Vormund, do you have any idea at all?" Kay shook her head. Water dripped from her horns onto her muzzle. It felt nice, but it was annoying because her eyes kept tracking the drops.
"I want to say we are in a rundown greenhouse." Vormund floated up a bit. "There are about three floors and multiple doors. Also, I have a question for you."
"Yeah?" Kay rubbed water onto her muzzle.
"Since when have you called me by my full name? You used to just call me Vor." Vor came back down, coiled at the edge of the pond, extending his head to drink.
"I did?" Tilting her head, Kay struggled to remember. Nothing surfaced. "I'm sorry...I can't remember."
Vor took a long look at her. It almost made her uncomfortable. "Kay, what is the last thing you remember?" he asked.
"Not much, to be honest." Kay walked out of the water, shaking herself dry. "Just fragments. I mean, I didn't freak at the sight of you because I felt like I have known you for quite some time. Plus you led me to grapes and oranges, which are quite possibly the best things in existence."
A chuckle emerged from the snake. "Yes, I suppose they are. However, I must insist that you tell me what fragments you remember. It is vital."
Kay sat down, closed her eyes, and held a claw under her chin. Gathering the fragments, a vision formed in her head.
--
Kay knelt in front of a shadowy figure. In fact, everything was in shadows. The sky was a dull grey, while the ground felt warped and unnatural. Kay couldn't even make out details on her body. The only thing that was certain was that she was injured.
For at least three minutes, nothing happened. That was until the being in front of her raised a scythe. Kay was, for whatever reason, able to make out the shape. A word spoken; "Zyrnoth."
Then, the scythe struck her chest.
--
Letting out a gasp, Kay grabbed the scar on her chest again. Beads of sweat ran down her scales. Vor slithered over with a concerned expression. "What did you remember?"
Kay told him in detail. Vor visibly winced at the part with the scythe. "Zyrnoth...that name is familiar," he stated.
"That was a name?" Kay raised an eyebrow. What kind of name was that?
"Indeed it is. Where have I heard it...? Vor starred off into space for about eleven seconds. "We can figure it out later. For now, I suggest we explore."
She had to agree. Maybe after wandering around for a while the answers would flow in. Standing up, Kay walked over to the stairs, careful to avoid any thorns, glass, or sharp rock. The stairs didn't go up that far but with every step the stone felt like it was going to just give out. Tiny pieces broke off. Thankfully Vormund was right behind her to catch her if she fell. Her wings were still deadish.
The urge to count her steps and yell when she reached one hundred was almost overpowering. Once she reached the top, she felt...sad. Faded claw marks dug into walls, the ground, and even the ceiling. The hall turned about three hundred yards down, but before that, half destroyed doors and plants coated the walls. Out of curiosity, Kay approached a door, weakly tugging the knob. Locked.
Vor stuck his head through. "There is nothing in here other than crumpled papers."
Moving on, Kay tried the next door. It creaked open. Her claw went to her mouth, her eyes widening. There in the corner, the bones of a reptile lay. The claws were nailed into the wall. No life existed in this room. It was completely black as well. Two seconds later, Kay slammed the door shut.
Her mind tried to shut out what she saw, but now that she had seen it, she began to notice more bones. It was almost enough to make her break down and cry. Yet, the urge to figure out what in the world happened here drove her on. A nagging doubt in her mind said that finding out may not be the best idea.
The next few doors were locked and Vor confirmed more bodies. Just about to give up, Kay found another open door. No bodies existed, so Kay rushed in and closed the door. Slowly sliding down the wall, she clutched her face. Was there anyone to call to get her out of this place?
"Vor...what did we wake up to?" Kay whimpered, raising her head. Vor was floating in front of a gigantic screen. Wires connected from other large pieces of machinery into the back of the screen. Walking up to it, Kay noted that it had letters engraved into the metal. At least, Kay thought it was; she tapped it just to make sure.
A button on one of the metal pillars caught her attention. It was shiny. Very, very shiny. It made her forget just about everything she saw as her eyes and mouth widened. She wanted it. Touching it, something weird happened.
A noise came from the device. The monitor turned on, reading 'Welcome to Vineheart Industries. Please enter your username and password.' A small box with two bars appeared. The top said 'username' while the bottom read 'password'.
The keys were lit up, so Kay did the logical thing; she typed in her name: Kayla Pridewing. As for the password... "Vor, what's a password?"
"Sort of a code." He was just as transfixed as she was with this thing.
"I see." Kay typed in Vormund's name into the password area. A large error popped up. So Kay did it again. And again. And again.
Eventually, Kay just gave up. "Ok, I'm stumped. What do we do now?"
"You can explain who you are."
--
Illthian didn't understand how anyone could sit down and watch this television thing for more than thirty minutes. His brain was trying to do geometry while working on the purple metal glove on his left claw. He had long grown bored of watching these obviously fake dracidons trying to do a reality based program. He counted five inconstancies in five minutes between the setting, tone, and even some things they wore.
So now here he was, hunched over a diamond work desk, twisting his black leaf-like tailblade to get under the metal plating. Someone said something about a mate, but it was lost in the cloud of uncaring that he felt towards the show. At least the background noise prevented him from going insane. Finally getting underneath the armor, Illthian took out a small cylinder core and crushed it. Reaching over with his green claw, he took snatched another. It was radiating a bright blue color. Replacing the old core, he flexed his claw.
Sighing, Illthian placed the plate back on and swirled around to take a look at his room. A purple-gold cushion lay in the corner. It quite messy, having various pieces of machines to tinker with when he couldn't sleep. The television was facing the bedding. A giant window replaced the west and north wall. It was one sided, so anyone going by couldn't see him.
Walking over to it, he caught his reflection. He was a green scaled dragon with obsidian colored underbelly, wing membrane, and claws. His ram-like horns were of the same shade. A bushy spine ran down his back all the way to his tail. Illthian was a bit larger than normal with a flyer's body, making him quite handsome. Two things stood out the most, though.
On his left shoulder, a Venus flytrap grew. It stood stiffer than wood, mouth open, waiting for a tiny insect to fly by. The other part that others frequently noted about him was that his eyes were different. They were bright green, but the right eye had a pupil; the left lacked one and glowed.
The city below was illuminated by blue-green crystals. Buildings stretched on as far as the eye could see. The occasional park gave his eyes a break from the silver scheme of the skyscrapers. Bored, he watched a train pull up below him and unload precious metal. His expression lit up; the Thorium was here! About time, as well. He needed new casings for the cores.
Whirling around, his face fell. There stood a black Anthro dragon in a white lab coat. He had green horns, a poisonous barb at the end of his tail, and hazel eyes. His right eye was green while the left was blue. Like Illthian's left eye, they were bioluminescent. He also appeared very frail.
"Xavis please don't tell me you're here for business." Illthian held his claw to his head.
"Business." Xavis gave a cruel grin.
"I said don't tell me."
"Well, you are the head of your company, so you should expect it." Xavis placed his claws behind his back, "Jirmen has sent to me to retrieve the chain. Serthal has...ah...acted out as anticipated.
"Who?" just as Xavis was about to reply, Illthian held up his claw, "Oh yeah, him. Alright, I have the chain. One moment."
Illthian rushed over to his table, pressing the palm of the metal claw. Fake scales grew over the claw. Tapping the middle, left, and top right part of the desk, a small compartment opened. Inside, a silvery chain glowed in an almost unnatural light. Grasping it, he noted that it was fairly large. At least two yards. Then again, this dragon in question was taller than most.
Giving Xavis the chain, he almost freaked when an assistant walked in. "Honestly, if this is something minor, you're fired."
"Mr. Vineheart, a computer just turned on in one of the abandoned laboratories." The assistant bowed respectfully. Illthian narrowed his gaze.
"Which one?" he asked.
"Number seven, sir."
Illthian's eyes widened. His body went numb; he couldn't even think straight. It wasn't until the assistant cleared his throat did he return to normal. Shaking his head, Illthian started to move. However, Xavis stood in the way.
"I'm not done. Your situation can wait." Xavis folded his arms, "Jirmen has also told me to ask about the armor he gave you years ago."
Illthian growled but answered. "It is almost done. However, the armor is completely DNA bonded to Aurgal and attacks any cell not of his."
"Hmm...what about my mutation? Please tell me you have the next model done." Something shifted under Xavis's coat.
"I do. You!" Illthian pointed at the assistant, "Take Xavis to the lab and grab the vial off the third table marked 'Xavis'. I need to investigate who turned on the computer..."
Xavis and the assistant left, leaving Illthian alone. When the door shut, numbers lit up on it. Illthian pressed a combination, fully locking the door this time. Why he didn't do it before, it was likely because he forgot. At the same time, the television changed into a computer. No keyboard formed.
"Search laboratory seven for any active computers." He told the screen, sitting down in front of it. Lab seven had been out of commission for ten years after an...accident. What could have caused a computer to turn on? Was it some punk who decided it was time to fool around? If so, he would personally pay a visit.
Finding the computer, he heard voices from the screen.
"Ok, I'm stumped; what do we do now?" Although he couldn't see, he could tell that this was a female. The picture slowly came in. However, he didn't wait.
"You can explain who you are." Illthian's voice was almost robotic.
"Umm...why is this thing talking?" the female's question made Illthian's eyebrow rise. Who didn't know what a computer was now?
"It is talking because-." the female was revealed to be an undernourished yet attractive blue dragoness. "Because you are very attractive-err, because I built it. Just who are you and why are you there?"
She indicated to a giant floating snake that almost defied all the laws of physics. How could a snake be floating? It made no sense! "Umm...my name is Kay, and this is Vormund. As for why I got here, I don't know! I just woke up and there are skeletons and plants everywhere! Can you get me out of here?"
Illthian began to doubt the sleep thing, but something in her orange eyes compelled him to believe her. Even so, she would need to be removed from the area. Who knew when gang would come down and do things to her in her weakened state? Plus, as he shamelessly let slip, she was quite attractive. That was almost good enough reason to get her out.
"Yes, I do suppose I could get you out of there. I need a few moments, but I will personally escort you off the premises. Can you give me your full name, though?"
"Okay. My name is Kayla Pridewing. Although I'd prefer if you just call me Kay." She stood ridged. Illthian couldn't help but smile unconsciously while hoping that Xavis had not left.
"Well Kay, just hang tight. I will be there in less than ten minutes. Don't move from that room." Illthian shut off the screen, hastily running down the corridors.
His mind raced at her last name. Pridewing...that name had supposedly gone extinct in this timeline about a thousand years ago. Kay had a lot of questions to answer when he met her. Frantically rushing down the corridors to his lab, he ran into Xavis just about to step through a swirling black portal. Xavis had also changed in appearance.
He now had four light green tentacles growing off his back, a sickly green spine tearing through his lab coat, and veins of poison coursing through his body. He also appeared bulkier than normal.
"XAVIS, WAIT!" Illthian shouted. Luckily, the dragon faced him.
"What now?" Xavis growled, "I am quite pressed for time."
"When you get back, tell Jirmen that I found a Pridewing!"
Xavis's eyes went wide but nodded, stepping through the portal. Illthian let out a sigh of relief before pulling a hidden lever behind a bundle of schematics. The wall slid open, revealing an open passage that would lead outdoors.
Time to find an alibi as to why he was gone. It was always the most difficult part when planning on escaping. Perhaps going out to grab a date would do. Yes, he would roll with that if there were any questions. After all, it was half true.
Xavis is a character from my book series and this story starts halfway through the main plot of the book. The references are made to that, but I hope they don't distract you. Let me know your feedback.
Yes I was satiring TV with what I said about it.