Glorybringer: The Nightmare Within

The Nightmare Within

Glory rushed into the forest as all of the dragons overhead flew in the opposite direction. Honestly, she should probably follow them; they were heading away from the danger. But Glory? She was heading toward her own doom, and unlike Deathbringer, she didn't have a superpowered alien inside of her. Furthermore, she was a substitute dragonet of destiny in a fake prophecy!

And yet, even with all of this in mind, she couldn't bring her legs to stop. All she knew was that Deathbringer was in trouble, and by the moons and the stars, she was going to do something about it! 

And then Carnage dropped from the trees and slid in front of her, staring at Glory with crazed eyes. He spun around, swinging a bladed hand at the queen. She lept over his weapon and ran further into the forest. She couldn't fight him, she knew that, but she should've also known that she couldn't escape him. 

One of his tentacles shot out and latched onto her foot, tripping her and pulling her towards him. She turned, prepared to hose him down with acid, but another tendril darted toward her and clamped her mouth shut.

"Not this time," he growled at her with a smirk. The red liquid slowly enveloped Glory like a  cacoon, leaving just her head uncovered.

"Why are you doing this?!" the queen demanded, hoping she could get out of this with her words, or at the very least buy herself some time.

"I have orders," Carnage said simply. "Of course... I do love to get... Creative at times..."

Glory felt something within the cacoon emerge, slowly point themselves into her body. She struggled and fought, only managing to stab herself deeper.

"You don't have to do this!" the queen told him, trying and failing to keep her heart from racing. "There's still time to turn this around!"

Carnage let out a high-pitched cackle, all the while the spikes within his trap grew longer, penetrating her scales. "And what would I do then?" he mused.

"Live peacefully at a citizen of Pyrrhia," she assured him, working to keep the desperation from her voice. "Y-you don't have to be the bad guy..."

Again, the red klynntaarian cackled. "I like being bad," he assured her with a deranged grin. "It makes me happy..."

The spikes pressed themselves deeper and deeper into Glory, making her scream in pain. Was this how she went out? She recalled a book she read a while back. Back in the day, if dragons didn't like a queen, they'd work together to overthrow her. If the queen was really bad, there was a kind of trap very similar to this one that they would put them in. A kind of coffin which, when closed, would stab the queen with a thousand tiny needles, torturing her until she bled out. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but appreciate the irony of being the first queen of two tribes, arguably the biggest step forward Pyrrhia had gotten recently, and she was going to die like a tyrant from hundreds of years ago...

A warm feeling washed over her, and a howl of pain ripped through the air. The cacoon vanished and she dropped to the floor. "Queen Glory!" a loud, booming voice rang. I know that voice! her mind sang, and sure enough, when she opened her eyes, Whisper was standing there. 

But how did he beat Carnage?! she wondered, looking around and searching for the symbiote. She found him screaming, desperately trying to beat away the flame that had grown near him. He's afraid of fire, she realized, a flicker of hope rising again. 

"You're majesty!" he exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the queen. A million tiny holes littered her flank, bleeding. 

"I'm fine!" she assured him. I'll get a healer later. "Hit him again! Keep blasting him with your fire!"