Down to Earth~ Sequel to Peter Pan's Dragon Girl

Chapter 23

Elias, Reine, and their newest addition had spent the night warily together in their cave, tossing death threats like ping pong balls back and forth until they fell asleep and left Elias in peaceful silence. He mostly tried to heal his wing further so they could leave the island quicker and find Snow and the others. They must be worried sick about the two of them, and he knew they needed him as their protector from the monsters of their world.

Morning broke in a wild vibrance of color to offset the monstrosity the world has become. He slithered out of the cave to stretch his legs and cramping muscles in the morning rays. Elias took in a deep breath and froze when a new scent caught his keen senses, a scent that reeked of danger to them all. He turned in a quick circle to find the direction that the smell was coming from and followed it along the banks of the water to his right cautiously.

He found the source of the danger by midmorning on the other side of the medium sized island. As he travelled he discovered that the island was split down the middle by a sharp rise of rocks like a natural wall. On this side of the island the trees were no longer the soft and beautiful green color but a dull brown with blandly yellow grass that cut at his legs.

He crouched in the thicket of thorns and peered through the vines into a camp of humans. He didn't understand why he was sensing danger from them, they seemed perfectly normal to him. That was until noon when it was the typical lunch hour. First the women brought out drinks for the recently returned hunters of the tribe. Then out came the banquet they prepared. At first it was the normal looking things like bacon or slices of ham or rounds of meat like hamburger patties and the humans are to their heart's content. It wasn't until they brought out the so called delicacies did it finally click on his mind.

On wooden platters they brought them, heads and hands and internal organs piled together like a mountain of blood and intestines and fingers. The top of each plate was the head placed, the looks of horror and fear still forever frozen on their faces. These humans were dining and gorging themselves on other humans just like the Jabbers were doing. They had turned on their own kind like ravenous wolves. This was a cannibal island.

"That's just plain disgusting, humans eating humans. It isn't how nature works." A cold blade pressed into the back of his neck at the connection of his skull and spine, making him freeze where he hid. He had been caught. The captor pushed him through the thorns and out into the clearing with the other cannibals.

"Lookie who stumbled in for a feast!" The male voice caught the attention of everyone and they turned to see why they were being disrupted during their meal. Intestines hung from mouths like noodles and fingers were gnawed by children and adults alike as all eyes locked on Elias hungrily, each person mentally cutting him apart and deciding what parts of his body would be the prime pieces to have. It idea that they were silently butchering him and planning exactly how they would serve him for dinner was enough to cause his stomach to turn and for him to lose his appetite for all eternity.

"And to think mother loved this species. They're disgusting, the lot of them." He grumbled as the apparent leader of the cannibals stepped through the throng with a heart in his hand, nuts and pieces missing to imply that he had been snacking on it before the interruption.

"Who is this?"

"I'm not sure, but I found him hiding in the thorns spying on us. Do you think he could be from the other side of the wall?"

"Nonsense, nothing lives over there. I say we just missed a bit of prey on our hunt. Take him to the Falls and put him with the others for later." He was shoved down a set of carved stairs into an underground spring where the excess water from above spilled down in small streams from the ceiling. Elias could almost see how this used to be a great drop of water but now its glory was gone and it was nothing but a ghost of its mighty past. A square cage was off to the side build into the ledge of earth that stuck out over the expanse far enough for a few people to fit together of they were careful. He waited until the person stepped closer to him to unlock the gate before he attacked, using his tail to wrap around their throat and lift them up to close off their air supply before he used his claws to stab them through the heart and tossing the boy over the edge of the drop off.

"Elias!" He snapped around at the voice of Reine at the entrance to the underground prison.

"Why are you here? How did you even get here?"

"That's not the point here, we need to leave this place right now." The cocking of a gun made them freeze and Elias glanced up over her shoulder to see the leader had returned with a silvery pistol aimed directly at them both. Elias pushed Reine behind him protectively and he growled loudly at the man with bared fangs.

"Well well it looks like we got two for the effort of one. The females are always the tastiest in my opinion."

"Don't come near her, I'll rip your head off with my bare hands if you even try it." Elias growls out angrily as he spotted a thin bridge of earth crossing the drop that lead to a tunnel that might lead them out of the place from hell. He slowly lifted his broken wing and stretched it out in preparations to fly, lightly grimacing at the pain that shot down the bone and into his shoulder blade like fire under his skin.

"All I have to do is shoot you and that threat will be wasted. Goodbye, winged freak." He took aim and Elias took his opportunity. He snapped around and grabbed Reine around the waist before he pushed upwards into the air, forcing his pained wings to carry them both to the bridge before they collapsed to his sides with tremors of agony.

"Reine, run and don't you dare look back."

"What about you?" Elias softly smirked and it clicked on her brain what he was going to do.

"Someone has to slow them down, love." She fiercely shook her head no and held his shirt in a death grip to ensure he came with her.

"We can both make it."

"You know we can't. Even if we really wanted to. Tell Snow I'm sorry, yeah?" He leaned down and kissed her full on the mouth as his final goodbye. "Never be afraid, my love." And with those words he shoved her off the bridge and turned to face the oncoming leader of the cannibals, rage and protection burning in his neon blue eyes as he drew his swords and swung them gracefully in a wide arc.

"Bringing a sword to a gun fight? This'll be the easiest meal I've ever caught." Elias smirked a devilish smirk and tilted his head in mock innocence.

"Then come and get it." The cannibalistic man smiled darkly and stepped out into the short bridge, wanting to shoot Elias point blank through the heart before he cuts it out to bite into it. Elias waited until he had the muzzle of the gun pressed into his heart before he swung his blades downwards to bury into the rock then roughly twisted to push the earth further from itself until it snapped away and began to crumble.

"Elias!" He looked over his shoulder as he started to fall with the bridge and the man. Reine was watching in horror as the bridge collapsed under the boy, tears gathering in her eyes as they locked gazes. He opened his mouth to speak but the world fell away and Elias Peter Ren vanished from her sight into the blackness below. Her voice ripped from her lungs and throat to ring and bounce around the cavern, possibly to be a heard for eons to come.

"ELIAS!"
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I am extremely sorry if this makes absolutely no sense it has been written and published at almost 1 in the morning.

Vote and comment as you please!

Stay crazy my little demons!

Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease!