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2,428 words
edit: please don't mind the messed up color- i tried editing it and it all flipped out
this is open for responding to!!
i would really appreciate it if you attempted to read all of this.
this actually scared me a little.
warning; INTENSE BLOOD/GORE, and other bodily fluids
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There was no doubt in the fact that his nightmares had been getting worse recently. They were no longer once in a while, as they had used to. The nightmares wouldn't stop, and were now happening multiple times a night. Ska'arq hadn't gotten more than three hours of sleep in the past four days, and it was showing in his daily activities. He had become reserved, though some may call it irritable. He hardly went to the border to greet newcomers anymore. He had become afraid of going to sleep, in fear of seeing their faces again. However, Ska'arq was still mortal, and mortals needed sleep to survive. He had been going for another all-nighter, but at some point during the starless night, the dragon had fallen asleep.
Sixteen years ago.
It was a year before his first vial was created. Ska'arq had just stopped conducting his experiments on feral animals. The purple beast had sought out his lost siblings, nothing but his research in mind. He had been expecting them to be at the same place he had left them; their old home. It was exactly where they were. Ska'arq pushed his way out of the bushes, his feet brushing on the stone as he approached the two. One, the eldest, was named Helira. She had been the first to hatch. The other was Jiqari. She had hatched only an hour ahead of him. The two were engaged in conversation. They were smiling. They were laughing- no, giggling. Perhaps they had shared a 'joke'. Jokes were 'funny'. They made people smile and laugh. Giggling was a more inferior version of laughing.
Helira's smile vanished as her chin jerked up. Whipping around to stare at her approaching brother, her eyes narrowed. Jiqari followed her gaze, and her face soured as well. The eldest began to 'sneer'.
"Back so soon?" she scoffed. "Couldn't make it on your own?"
Jiqari laughed, which only increased the smugness on Helira's face.
Ska'arq's face remained blank as he closed the distance between them. The sneers died away as their heads gradually tilted up to look at him. He was taller than them now. No longer was he the smallest in the clutch. The male sat down. "No. I have survived very well on my own. Mother's teachings have served me well." His forked tongue swiped over his jaws. His sisters exchanged a glance. Jiqari piped up.
"Then why are you here?"
Ska'arq blinked. It was visibly forced, but he smiled. "I... wished to see my sisters again. Is that so wrong?" Happiness. He would study happiness. Happiness was caused by pleasantries. To be polite could lead to happiness.
Helira and Jiqari exchanged a glance. They were uncertain about this. For ages they had made fun of their brother for being so different and formal all the time. He was weird.Never before had they heard him use terms like 'want' or 'wish'. They had never seen him smile before, either. Was this some kind of trap?
Ska'arq tilted his head. Perhaps he had said something off-putting. "I do hope you'll allow me to stay with you for a while?"
Jiqari narrowed her eyes at him. Helira whispered something in her ear. "How can we trust you?" the middle child spoke.
Ska'arq offered another smile. "I reassure you that I mean no harm."
If only he had stuck to his promise.
Several weeks later.
He had all of the research he needed. He had no more experiments to conduct- this would be his last one.
It was early in the morning, the stars fading in the sky as the horizon was tinted with a rosy pink. Ska'arq had just awoken from another void of sleep, and was coming out of the cave, his nose twitching at the smell of roasting meat. Helira was prodding the firewood, sparks dancing into the air as Jiqari slowly roasted a carcass on a spit. As the eldest sister noticed him, a broad smile grew on her face. "Ska'arq! There you are, sleepyhead! Jiqari and I have almost finished breakfast. Come have a seat!"
Ska'arq obediently made his way over, sitting down as he stared at the fire. He hardly noticed as a large slab of meat was dropped at his feet. His mind was on other things. "Eat up!" Jiqari chirped, smiling wide. "Today's a big day!" Ska'arq's head tilted to the side, a silent gesture of confusion.
Helira snorted at him, butting his shoulder with her snout. "It's our hatchday today, doofus! Did you forget?" Hatchday. Ska'arq's blank stare fixed on his eldest sister. Hatchday was the day they had broken out of their eggs. Today was hatchday, marking their second year of existence. Without responding, he planted a hand on his meat as he tore a piece off, gulping it down. The purple beast glanced up at Jiqari, who was still smiling cheerfully as she hummed, rotating a large fish on the spit.
"Yes," he responded at last. "It appears to have slipped my mind. I do apologize." Apologies were given when a wrong has been committed. To forget a significant day was considered a wrong. Helira huffed, pulling away as she tended to her own meat.
"Moron," she teased, chewing on her breakfast. Ska'arq polished his off, standing up. Lifting her head, the roasted meat dangled from Helira's jaws as she looked at her brother. "Where y'goin'?" she mumbled. Ska'arq was already walking away, down the stony outcrop and towards the forest.
"To plan," he said, not looking back. "Today is a 'big day', after all. I suppose I must plan accordingly." With that, he vanished into the trees.
Jiqari had just pulled her food off of the spit, eyeing the space Ska'arq had been moments before. "What do you think he's planning?" she wondered aloud. Helira shrugged, head tipping back as she finished her breakfast.
"Probably something weird or stupid. You know him. He's as dense as a slab of steel."
"Yeah, I know, but that's why I'm so curious."
Fear. His remaining research was to be on fear. Ska'arq sat on the grass, staring with empty eyes into the distance. For his other experiments, he had promptly murdered the feral animals he came across. They had screamed out in fear and pain. The fear of pain was the most common fear he was aware of. He would see if fear was different for the sentient than it was for the feral.
Ska'arq returned to the outcrop, his gaze sweeping over the camp. Helira was cleaning up after the fire, but Jiqari was nowhere to be seen. "Where has Jiqari gone?" he asked, surprising his sister.
"Oh, you're back? She went out to plan and get supplies. She has something in mind too, y'know." With her tail, she swept the ashes over the cliff. Ska'arq watched as the wind blew them away. It was a shame. He had planned on conducting his experiment on Jiqari first. Helira would do. He had never seen her afraid before. This would certainly be interesting.
Ska'arq approached the brawny female. "Will you help me with my plan? It will be quite surprising, to say the least." Asking was not forcing. Those who are asked are more willing.
Turning away from the cliff's edge, she looked into her brother's eyes. "Sure thing. Whatcha need?" Ska'arq backed up, heading for the wall of the cliff that held their cave. Looking up at the vertical stone, he heard his sister follow. "You gonna tell me, or-?" Without uttering a word, Ska'arq whipped around, hand slamming into her neck. Helira crumpled to the ground. He stood for a moment. After she didn't move, he set to work.
Nails.
Nails impaled the unconscious dragon's limbs, stuck deep into the stone. Wings, arms, legs, tail- all were nailed to the cliff's wall. Blood streaked vibrantly down the gray stone. Ska'arq watched it slither down the wall.
And then he waited.
It was only minutes later that a shriek erupted from behind him. There it was. Fear. Jiqari had returned.
"What happened? Who did this?" she wailed, racing over. Tears were already streaking down the fragile femme's face. "Helira- Helira! Wake up! We'll help you!" Rearing onto her hind legs, she began pulling at one of the nails. Ska'arq slammed his tail into her side, knocking her away. Jiqari struggled to her feet. "S-stop! She's hurt! Why aren't you helping her?"
Slowly, Ska'arq made a forced smile. "Today's a big day," he said simply. Jiqari was frozen in place, lilac eyes wide with fear. His head tipped to the side. It hadn't occurred to him that she wouldn't sit and watch. It was the fear of pain. She would not want to watch. To get the information he needed, he would have to force her. Ska'arq pounced on his sister, wrangling the smaller reptile to the ground. He had considered roping Helira to the wall, but it hadn't worked out. Instead he used the rope to tie Jiqari's limbs together. She was the weakest out of the three. She would not be able to escape. Dragging her over, he dropped her at Helira's feet.
A loud moan. She had woken up. Head slowly lifting, she blearily looked around. Her eyes suddenly became wide open. Head jerking back, it slammed against the stone as her jaws gaped in a soundless scream. She had attempted to move her limbs.
Ska'arq stared at Helira for a moment, thinking of how he would conduct his fear research. Jiqari was already scared. There was a start. Perhaps his experiment would be on her after all.
Foot planted on Jiqari's head, he forced her to watch as he slowly murdered Helira.
First, he took her wings. Her shrieks tore into the air. Blood had begun to pool on the ground. Then went her tail. The blood pool was expanding. Jiqari was panting heavily. Soon her head was in the pool. At some point she vomited, sides heaving as her eyes squeezed shut. Helira was still screaming- but it had become considerably weaker.
By the time sun went down, Helira had become completely still. She was dead. Jiqari was shaking violently, panting uncontrollably. Reaching down, he untied her limbs. She didn't move.
Ska'arq watched her with a hawklike gaze, soaking in everything he saw. She was horrified into silence. Fascinating. Fear had caused her to expel vomit. That was new.
Hours later, the remaining sibling staggered to her feet. As if in a trance, her eyes were still locked on the mutilated body of Helira, still nailed to the wall. "You killed her." Her voice was a mere murmur.
"Yes," Ska'arq confirmed. Suddenly she was moving, rushing at her brother with surprising speed.
"You killed her!" she shrieked, jaws gaping as she clamped them down on his shoulder. Ska'arq whirled around, clawing at her in an attempt to remove her. She only bit down harder. After a few minutes' tussle, Jiqari's lifeless body was on the ground. Blood trickled down his arm as he stared down at her blankly. Fascinating. Fear had led to anger and sadness- leading her to attempt his murder. She had forgotten about her inferiority, and it had led to her death. Sentient fear wasdifferent from feral fear.
He had been turning to walk away when a voice - no - voices spoke from behind him.
"You killed us."
For the first time in his life, Ska'arq's heartbeat quickened. He slowly turned around. As if in reverse motion, the blood began slithering across the ground, returning to their original bodies, disappearing into the open wounds. There was a sickening noise as Helira ripped her limbs off of the nails. She promptly fell to the ground. Jiqari pushed herself to her feet, her broken neck stuck out at an awkward angle as her head dangled by her chest.
"You killed us."
Jiqari took a slow step toward him, her head jostled by the movement. It slowly twisted around until her blank stare was fixed on him. Helira's dismembered tail lashed on the ground, her wings twitching. The body was walking towards him, her equally lifeless stare fixed on him. Blood began spilling from her wounds again, resuming its place on the ground.
"You killed us."
Ska'arq's eyes were wide. His heart pounded in his chest. It was his turn now. He was scared. He was terrified.
His sisters edged closer, the same eerie whisper filling the air.
"YOU KILLED US."
Ska'arq took a step back. They took two forward. Helira's blood pooled around his feet. "Please stop," he whimpered.
"YOU KILLED US."
They advanced on him, giving him no choice but to move back. His hindleg slipped over the edge of the cliff, and he instinctively looked back. The familiar valley and trees had been replaced with a sea of blood, the sky a black void. The darkness closed in until he could see nothing. His sibling's eyes began to glow. They didn't stop their advance.
"YOU KILLED US."
"S-stop! Please!" he wailed desperately.
"AND NOW WE'LL KILL YOU."
Suddenly, there was nothing. He was falling.
Into the blood he sank, his scream abruptly silenced as the metallic liquid suffocated him.
And then he was awake. A long, horrible shriek tore its way out of Ska'arq's jaws, his claws scraping against the stone floor as he scrambled to his feet. Stumbling backwards, his desk toppled to the floor. He vomited violently, sides heaving. His entire body was shaking. The entire hut was illuminated by the purple glow of his fear.
Almost breaking down his hut door in an attempt to escape, Ska'arq discovered a bottle of vodka. He didn't even think as he struggled to down the liquid, his shaky hands ending with half of it spilling down his face. Wheezing, he stumbled into the forest. As soon as the camp was out of sight, he collapsed. He was having a panic attack, struggling to breathe as his throat seemed to close. It was as if the spirits of his sisters were strangling him, still furious after all of these years. Squeezing his eyes shut, he let out an agonized howl.
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ATTACK IN BOLD #6e65b5 - TAGS - EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD