The_UltimateWOF_Fan, this story was too big to fit on one message so here it is:
(I like writing violence scenes and sad endings :3)
Outside, the SandWing village was in a frenzy.
But Amber wasn't paying attention to the dragons around her. Or the blood on the ground. Or the smoky air. Just the empty space in her den, and the note pinned to the wall - a single sentence scrawled on it, sparkling crimson in the light. Written in blood.
Poor Dusty's blood.
A guttural shriek fell from Amber's jaws, a million questions racing through her head. DUSTY, WHERE WAS DUSTY? HER DRAGONET DUSTY -
"CACTI!" She yelled, but no reply.
"CACTI?"Amber stuck her head into the room opposite, where Cacti SHOULD have been, and was supposed to be watching her one year old dragonet Dusty. She expected to be greeted by the closed eyes of a slacking, fast asleep SandWing.
Instead, what was left of Cacti's skull glared back at her.
Amber suppressed a retch. Not wanting to stare too long at the gruesome massacre in her den, she returned to the note and tore it off the wall, as if harming it would somehow ease her pain. It didn't.
"Dusty is ours now. If you want him so dearly, come and fight for him. Or watch him fight for you.
~ Queen Scarlet's arena"
Amber didn't stop once to question the address when she found the note, but looking back, she wished she had. Frenzied in panic, she vaulted out of the den and set course directly for the Kingdom of the Sky, oblivious to the shouts and cries of the other SandWings in her village.
She wondered if they killers had got them too. But there was no time to look. Amber crossed her talons by her chest in hope that her friends would survive.
She was minutely aware of something red, dark and flaming behind her, but by the time she'd noticed, it was too late. Razor sharp talons bit into her back, sending her and the SkyWing plummeting down with an unruly shriek. She thrashed wildly to get free, but his grip on her spine was unmovable. She swung her tail desperately towards his underbelly, but too obvious and too late, he caught it neatly and crushed it below strong bones. She screamed, then the SkyWing swung something into the side of her head with a dull thud, and it all went dark.
***
Amber awoke in a dark room. Somewhere unfamiliar, pitch black, and with metal barred windows. There was still a resounding ache in her skull as she limped over to the holes to peer out.
Scarlet's arena. Oh three moons, they were here, and it was all real.
Suddenly there was a sniff from the other side of the room. Dusty! She thought, bounding over. And there he was, hunched and thin in the corner, chains around his ankles and his scales dulled with grey. Amber advanced forwards to sweep him up in a hug, but as she did two armoured SkyWing guards stepped in her way. They were guarding an exit. An exit to the arena, Amber realised.
"You or the dragonet." They said forcefully. Amber froze.
"Wh-what do you mean, me or Dusty for what-"
"You or the dragonet." They said again, with a menacing stare. Amber peered through the bars again, and the blood drained out of her body. A stake, a firepit, a gag.
"I'll do it!" Dusty said hurriedly before she could turn around.
"NO - Dusty, you don't know what you're - ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
"But mama, you looked scared! I'll be brave! I'll do it!" He said with a determined expression.
"DUSTY!" She shrieked. "No no NO, you don't know what you're signing up for here, I'LL DO IT!"
The SkyWing guard shook his head. "The dragonet offered first. He goes." They proceeded to take Dusty's arms and march him out of the cell, leaving Amber groping against the bars to be let out.
"DUSTY! LET ME DO IT, I OFFER, JUST LEAVE MY DRAGONET! PLEASE! DUSTY!" She sank against the bars, letting out a pain-filled scream.
No-one came.
Turning her attention to Scarlet's arena, Amber watched helplessly as her dragonet was marched solemnly to the stake, and the SkyWings shoved a gag on his face. Amber choked on her own tears when Dusty turned to give her a single regretful look, as if realising what he'd done. Her heart broke but there were no more tears to cry, she looked on in pain and mouthed the words to Dusty as they began tying him to the pole.
"I love you."
"Dusty, I love you."
If only he could hear.
The SkyWings took a step back. They inhaled deeply. Amber wanted to squeeze her eyes shut but she couldn't, too paralysed by Dusty's fearful expression. Then a roar of flames erupted at the base of the stake, and Dusty's screams pierced into the night. The flames crawled up his scales rapidly, blackening them as they climbed, blood poured from the wounds and turned to ashes in the heat. Dusty's claws groped for freedom, only to be burnt to a crisp by the fire.
Orange on cream, black on red, an array of colours flashing by Amber's eyes as she helplessly watched her dragonet writhe in pain. He screamed again, one last final howl as the flames lapped up his eyes, the sclera goo running down his cheeks like ghostly tears. Then as the heat overtook his head, the arena fell silent. Dusty's blackened ashes collapsed in a heap by the base.
No matter how hard she sobbed, Amber couldn't bring him back. And when she had managed to quiet her wails, she turned to the SkyWing murderers.
"WHY?! WHY DID YOU NEED TO KILL HIM?! WHAT PURPOSE DID THAT SERVE?!" She howled.
The large red one stared right at her with a cold murderous look in his eyes.
"You're next."
