Prince of Dragons

Chapter Thirty-Two

At first, I felt...weightless; like a feather gently floating along a soft breeze. The world around me then reappeared, but...something was wrong, and out of place. But before I could even begin to determine what it might be that felt off, I was falling. Faster, and faster, until I slammed into a flat surface with such force, I nearly blacked out. I managed to hold on to consciousness as agony wracked my body, and after a moment, I suddenly realized with horror that I was slowly sinking in whatever viscous liquid this was—and thus, I began to panic.

The more I wiggled, and struggled, the deeper and quicker I sank into this liquid, and I realized this was incredibly similar to quicksand.

Thinking quickly, I immediately ceased my movement and inhaled shakily—trailing my eyes around to gage my surroundings.

The reason the world had felt so wrong to me when it reappeared around me, is because it was wrong. It had been daytime when we vanished, with a cloudy, blue sky that wasn't overtly dark...however, this sky was an angry, deep red, and there were occasional flashes of a white hot streak of lightening.

Heart beating rappidely in my chest, I turned my gaze to—what I could only assume was—the shore, and dragged my attention over the dark black sand, barely making out the writhing form of Alaban, as he too appeared to be stuck in this quicksand-like substance.

Narvi, however, stood out like a beacon in this expanse of dark and foreboding land, and thankfully he seemed to have landed on a dark red rock—although he looked dazed and confused, with a very noticeable trail of blood dripping from his nose and corner of his mouth.

"Is everyone alright?" I managed to yell, though it was as if my voice was warped, and off.

Alaban's gaze snapped to me, and even though he was about sixty feet from me, I could see the panic swimming within those golden depths. "I-I'm sinking! It's like quicksand!"

"Quit moving! Hold your arms out, and don't move too much—that's how it drags you under!" I looked towards Narvi, who seemed like he hadn't even heard me, as he continued staring in space. "Narvi! Are you alright?"

Narvi's light eyes finally flickered and lifted as he gazed at me, blinking rapidly before nodding. He then slowly stood up, wobbling on his feet, before he started heading towards us, causing more panic to flood through me.

"Don't come any closer!" Narvi paused. "Alaban and I are in some kind of quicksand, I don't want you to get caught in this too!" I looked over to Alaban. "I know it's a longshot, but is there any spell you know that can get us out?"

"L-Let me think. I-I don't think I..." He ceased talking—looking deep in thought—before he shakily raised a hand and muttered something under his breath.

The next instant, I felt a deep pressure around me, then a pulling sensation before I was dragged out of the quicksand by an unseen force. My heart thumped rapidly in my chest, and I felt like a fish out of water as I floated through the air and was placed gently next to Narvi, who immediately rushed to my side and began inspecting me.

"What about you Alaban? Can you pull yourself out too?" I wondered, gazing towards him worriedly—wincing from the pain still coursing through my body.

"I-I don't know if I can, I-I'm still sinking! Get me out, Drakell!"

I could blatantly hear the raw panic in his voice, and as my heart grew tight, I began searching around for anything that could aid him. When my eyes landed on a large, charred tree branch, I snatched it and went to the edge of the rock—as close as I could get to Alaban without dipping back into the sand—and thrust the branch out towards him, holding on to the other end tightly.

"Narvi, help me," I demanded, and the moon dragon rushed to me and wrapped his arms around my waist—adding more weight, like a living anchor. "Alaban, grab onto the branch and I'll pull you out!"

Alaban, by this point, was now starting to sink below the surface—half of his face submerged—and as the other half slowly slipped further below, his hands gripped the branch tightly, and without a second more, I used all the strength in my body to pull.

Bit by bit, inch by inch, Alaban slowly emerged from the sand, his eyes squeezed shut as I slowly dragged him out. And when he was close enough for me to grab him, I sunk my hands into the sand to grab at his waste, before pulling him the rest of the way out.

He clung to me as if I were his only lifeline, and we sat there for a moment, trying to catch our breaths as we tried to grasp what the hell was happening.

After a moment, I winced and pulled back, looking between my draconic companions. "What the hell happened? Where are we? How did we get here?" I paused and looked around. "Wherever here is."

Alaban pulled away from me, but didn't even glance around before he gripped the front of Narvi's shirt, yanking him towards him. "What the hell were you thinking, Narvi! You don't mess with things you do not understand!"

"Alaban, calm down, I'm sure he didn't mean it—hey, just let him go, ok?" I gently placed my hand over the one gripping Narvi and placed myself in his line of sight. "Calm down."

Alaban's golden gaze flickered over to me, and after a moment he huffed and roughly let go of the other man, before pulling himself to his feet. "Where is that orb you had? Maybe I can figure out how to get us back?"

I looked to Narvi, whose eyes went wide before he shot to his feet and began looking around. Alaban groaned and dragged a hand down his face as I got up and began helping Narvi try to locate the orb, and after a few minutes of searching, we saw a silver glimmer not terribly far off from where we all landed. Thankfully it didn't appear to be near the quicksand, and as we began to head to where it was, something dark darted out and snatched it—catching us all off guard.

A quick look at the creature informed us that this was a being we had never seen before. It was tall, and spindly with skin as black as obsidian. Its eyes were a little large for its face—a deep crimson—and a wide mouth curled into a vicious grin as it stooped down and grabbed the orb and lifted it to its face—seemingly trying to study it.

Then, to our horror, it opened it's large mouth, and swallowed it—taking away our only escape.

It then looked at us, mouth widening before a deep, piercing screech erupted from it, and from the darkness surrounding it, more and more screeches could be heard—meaning the creature wasn't alone.

My heart was racing in my chest, fear all but consuming me as I grabbed my sword—which thankfully had remained on my hip—and held it in front of us.

"What do we do?" I asked with a shaking voice, keeping my eyes trained on the thing in front of us.

More of them seemed to appear into place, their teeth clicking and eyes piercing towards us—some of them going low, as if they were about to make a beeline for us.

"Run!" Was Alaban's response, and I listened. I wasn't about to sit around and wait to see what those things could do to us.

So, with fear coursing through us, we turned tail and ran as fast as we could—away from them, and away from the dreaded quicksand.

A/N: Ooooooh snapppp! Where did they gooooooo? And oh no, now these strange creatures have their orb! Wonder how they're gonna get out of this sticky situationnnnnn

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Lemme know what yall think! I love feedback!