Memory Glitch (Book 2 in the "Glitched" Series)

[THIRTY-ONE - "I Am... Lindsey? Loaded? Loaf- OH WAIT."]

Once he saw how high in the air they were, Vik knew that he was doomed.
The dragon seemed intent on flying to the mountain peaks, though it had difficulty as the harsh wind would sometimes pass through the numerous scratches and holes in it's wings.

"Alright Vik, stay calm...Oh who am I kidding, I'm gonna die!" And with that, he continued his struggles. The dragon let out a low growl at this but seemed to think that it's next meal was too weak to escape, so didn't bother tightening it's claws around the boy.

Bad move.

Suddenly, Vik was in a tumbling freefall above the land. Forgetting everything he's ever been told about air resistance, and that if he ever found himself in such a position that he should spread himself out, the Brit resorted to flailing around and screaming curses that the Sidemen would probably "ground" him for even whispering.

"VIK!" There was a powerful gust of air as the dragon flew under him, and pure instinct forced Vik to cling to it's neck tightly. He didn't seem to realize what he was doing, the teenager just needed to be as safe as he could.

"Lachlan? Lachlan, was that you?!"

There was no response. He'd just imagined the voice of his friend, in a fit of fear and desperation - He'd needed someone there with him.

'W-Why... Why did you, did you kill him?' Vikram choked out after a few minutes, still shaking with his arms wrapped around the dragon's neck. It just snorted, staring straight ahead while it regained it's previous altitude.

Our course it didn't say anything, dragons can't talk. Apart from Salt, but... Well, there were no dragons that could talk. Not anymore.

'Lachlan never- He didn't do anything wrong, he just... Why?'

The wild dragon shuddered, and gave another quiet snort, but did nothing apart from angle it's wings to fly into a spacious plateau-like area. As it landed, it waited until Vik had slid off and pressed himself as far into the stone wall as possible until it turned to the large flat area before it

Then, it began to breathe fire.

The sweltering heat was positioned at the ground, the orange and blue flames charring the ground at an unbearably slow speed. Now, with a mix of stupidity and fear, bravery and curiosity, it's prey slowly edged his way around the alcove in an attempt to get away.

"If I can just move over there, then-" The dragon stopped breathing fire and snapped it's head towards him, the now cerulean blue eyes locking on while it growled and wrapped it's tail around his waist again. "Seriously? why hasn't it eaten me already?"

It went back to breathing the flames, the blackened ground almost looking like - Were those letters? Vik didn't know, but that might have been because he was focusing on not having a panic attack or something.

+++

Ten minutes later, it finally stopped. Manoeuvring it's tail so that Vik was deposited onto the reptile's back, the dragon opened it's wings and soared into the air. Yet again, the Brit had to hold on tightly to the dragon's neck while it circled the area before hovering above the charred ground.

!...

e/\/\

/_eclne/\

'Uh, what? What're you trying to show me? I'm guessing that says "I Am"... You are what? Lindsey? Loaded?' Growling at the teenager's arrogance, the dragon landed again and began to scratch into the untouched stone.

/_

A

[

"...I swear-"

H

/_

"No, there's no way, surely."

/\

N.

That's what it had wanted to say.

Lachlan wasn't dead.

'But- But you're...'

The winged reptilian simply dipped it's head, sitting on it's haunches with it's tail curled neatly around it's body.

No, not "it's."

His.

~~~

'Marina is going to kill us.'

'You have no proof that Lachlan has been killed, alright? There wasn't a body, the only blood there was from Salt, and none of you had heard him. Lachlan screams like a little girl, he's probably fine.'

'How are you a; so sure about this, and b; how do you know about evidence with death?'

'Sometimes being a thriller novel nerd comes in handy, now c'mon. I'm not telling her all this by myself.' Harvey huffed in exasperation. He, Jason, Rob and Jerome had sent Mitch and Preston ahead to find out where Lachlan's mother was, then they would meet up and explain the situation.

(They'd left Kenny behind to babysit Sky, or maybe the other way round.)

It was definitely going to be one of the more... Ahem, interesting interactions he'd had with the blond's mother.

'There they are - Why's Brandon with her?' Sure enough, the slime hybrid was sitting cross-legged on the floor and was leaning against Marina's legs tiredly whilst she held conversation with the boys. Once she noticed them she waved them over, nudging Brandon as if to check he was still awake as she watched them approach.

'Hey boys, what did you need to tell me?'

'Ah, well... It's about Lachlan, and it's not good either.' At this the young woman visibly deflated, and out of the corner of his eye Rob could see Preston kneeling down next to his slimy friend. He seemed worried about him. Weird.

'Well- Ugh, how can we say this-'

'Mrs. Power, what these idiots are trying to say is that they think Lachlan's dead. The found another dragon that had attacked Salt, who later disappeared, and Lachlan was nowhere in sight. According to Jerome, he could also smell human blood.' Jason spoke out bluntly, ignoring the glares that Harvey, Rob and Jerome sent him as he approached the wide-eyed female.

'Marina, when I was younger I would read books about the hybrids. I heard that dragon hybrids could sense when one of their family - One of their Pack, really - had died. Did you feel anything earlier, anything that could have been Lachlan's death?'

She paused, tucking a strand of blonde hair back into it's messy bun before shaking her head. 'I wouldn't be able to tell by that, since I'm not actually a dragon hybrid, but... A trait of the creature I actually am a hybrid of was being able to track living loved ones. I could try that.'

'Please do.' Marina smiled warily and nodded, stepping away from the group as a honey-coloured orb began to form around her. After a few moments it disintegrated, the leftover particles forming a bee-like shape that fluttered in the air for a few seconds before flying North, towards the rocky peaks of the Glitched Mountains.

'...He's alive, but something's wrong. My bee can't tell what, but we should follow it to get there as quickly as possible. Who's coming?'

No hesitation went into the choruses of "Who wouldn't?" "Vik would quite literally kill us." and "Me, duh."

Another voice soon joined in, as their chocobo friend joined them in a flash of violet particles 'I came as soon as Kenny told me what had - Oh, hey Brandon. You're actually outside.'

'I'm so done... Preston, could you explain for me please?'

'Sure.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thoughts on the chappie?

Pete's so done with life it's relatable XD

See you all in the next chapter, and have a great Morning - Afternoon - Evening - Dawn - Dusk - Midnight - Paranormal Timezone!