Nightmare

Author's note:

You've been pretty quiet lately, I've had almost no feedback on the new pacing of the story and no opinion on where the story is going. Do not hesitate to give me your opinion, I partly modified my way of writing to correspond to your request but since it is total silence. It still makes me question whether or not I'm doing things right.

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It was in this nightmarish vision that the being in front of me ended up turning his head, my eyes followed his gaze.

The birds that chased me and almost killed me are all on the ground. Now that I am no longer locked in this gaze my senses calm down and come back to me. The incessant and deafening roar of the flames reaches me again, the suffocating heat and the cries of agonies of the birds are also back to me...

The nightmare is standing leaning against my side, facing the birds of doom and has a hand resting on my side that shines with a light I know all too well. It gives me energy...

My eyes rest on my body and I see cracked and bloody scales there, in any other moment the vision of my magnificent scales destroyed would have triggered my fury.

There is also a layer of soot which covers me and which tarnishes the purely black color of my scales whose pure black is usually profaned only by the mauve reflection which curiously sublimates the perfection of my scales.

The annoying cries of these sparrows attract my attention again. They are all on the ground gathered a few meters from the nightmare. They smoke…literally! It seems that I underestimated the heat of these hellish flames. Being a dragon, you could say that fire is a bit my element even if in my case, I would choose air without hesitation.

I note that these birds tolerate ambient heat much less well. Now that this thought comes to mind I realize that the body of the nightmare is not only naked but he too is almost entirely covered in soot, these clothes seem to have melted and the soot on him is smoking a blackish smoke all around him.

This vision further reinforces the nightmarish picture. A being covered in black and shrouded in smoke that continuously escapes from its silhouette, covering it like an aura. Only his intense and luminous green eyes make a strange contrast in this vision of black and red.

The agony of one of my torturers seems to be coming to an end. As he is about to be freed from his torment, the nightmare sets in and what happens instead sends a violent shiver of dread through me. The nightmare extends its other hand towards the bird and that same usual faint light indicating an intense gathering of energy within it manifests itself. He takes care of it!

The bird's cries die out for a few moments before resuming after a brief respite.

Shit… How many times has he tortured them already? How many times did he bring them to the gates of death, letting them see the hope of liberation before shattering this hope by treating them to start playing the executioner again?

It can't be my brother… He's deeply uncomfortable killing these supposedly innocent beings to feed me. He always killed them as quickly and cleanly as possible. The nightmare seems to delight in their torments.

My uncomfortable position half resting on my front paws reminds me and when I put them down to resume a more comfortable position, the nightmare stares at me again.

The same phenomenon is repeated and the tremors of my limbs start again. Fear suffocates me again and I lower my head in a pitiful squeal while maintaining eye contact. I am totally unable to take his eyes off of his. It involves remaining blind to a possible mood swing. Those eyes seem dead behind the fury they display. I haven't seen him blink once, haven't seen the slightest fluctuation of emotion in his gaze since I regained consciousness.

When he sees that I don't intend to move, he turns away and resumes his torture game with the birds. The calm again returns to a level that allows me to reflect once he no longer has his attention on me. What level of energy is needed to bring about this kind of apocalypse panorama? My brother has never shown the shadow of the power he is displaying right now. I'm aware of its strength but the…it just doesn't compare.

The cycle of bird cries and silences follow one another without my daring to move a claw. After some thought, the only solution is to wait for it to run out. At this precise moment, I could finish off these birds because the variety of tortures they inflict on them and the treacherous imagination of such practices far exceeds what I could have imagined doing in revenge. I now frankly pity them.

Once his energy is completely drained, I should be able to bring him back to our nest, praying that he finds his senses and that I find my brother.

Time flies and seems endless. I have lost count of the number of tortures he inflicted on the spirit birds. After a while I turned my head away unable to bear the sight.

If the heat from the flames weren't so hot it made soot smoke on my scales and the visceral fear I feel didn't gnaw at my insides, I'd swear this damn moment could only be a nightmare, let my brother take revenge on me for one of the pranks I put on him. That he went a little too hard on his magic and that it was his magic that would have caused this realistic nightmare. This rickety theory seems to me much more credible than what is happening now.

I lost track of time mentally fleeing the scene, eyes closed and mind focused on something other than the reality of the moment. I was in a daze when I could feel the brightness increase through my closed eyelids.

Confused, I open my eyes to be shocked once again. What I see only adds an argument to prove that it can't be real! I refuse to believe what I see!

The day is dawning… THE DAY IS DRAWING ??? IT WAS DARK ???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!!!!!!!!!

I could have sworn it was daylight! The sky was lit, it was day! It can't be the flames lighting up the sky, it can't be!

How far do its flames reach to illuminate the part of the sky visible through this curtain of hellfire?

I refuse to believe it! He doesn't have the energy to create this cataclysm! I watched him train forever, I followed his progress. His energy level now far exceeds mine with his hard training because just like me, his strength grows day by day if he trains enough. But even he can't do that!

It was too much for me, I mentally stalled, it's got to be a nightmare even though I know it's real, it's too absurd for me to accept.

Totally drained, I ignored the world, ignored the nightmare and my anesthetized mind fled this delirium. The cries of the birds woke me up several times but I didn't open my eyes and my mind slipped as many times as needed.

This time when I wake up, things seem calmer, the flames are less dense, less high and it is less hot. The birds still suffer the hell of the fury of the nightmare. When my eyes land on him, my heart sinks. He is sickly pale, his features drawn, his face emaciated, his eyes dull and lifeless, and his face smeared with dried blood. He seems on the verge of death, his appearance has become skeletal.

In my panic, which this time is provoked by my concern for him, I begin to move and then his face turns towards me.

The same terror strikes me, even if it is of a much lower intensity, I still have this feeling of imminent death.

'Brother please stop, you're dying!'

…

No reaction, then I resign myself to go back to bed to escape his attention and the danger that accompanies it. When he resumes his work, I probe our bond and the fear that compresses my throat is strong when I don't feel…. Nothing, absolutely nothing, it's total emptiness.

The link is well accessible, his mind is now completely open, but it is empty, he has not the slightest reaction, not the slightest emotion when I probe his mind.

Tears that I didn't know I could create flow from my eyes, my brother is dead… The nightmare has completely emptied him. I have a faint, very faint hope, but his spirit seems to be shattered.

If I have any hope it's because he's still moving and still unleashing his fury, proof that his spirit is still there but how weak is it or how deep is it concealed so as not to be perceptible even when I probe it?

An additional day and night had to pass before the flames went out completely and the nightmare fell from exhaustion. Finally able to get up, I'm careful not to let the skeleton resting against my side fall. He became so light...

The birds are not dead but in a much more pitiful state they now lie on the ground on a dune of their own ash, unable to move or cry. It had been a while since the nightmare destroyed their minds. Even though their bodies are functional and technically alive, they are just an empty shell. The nightmare continued to take its toll on their remains but he had been alone in this morbid labor for a while and not a scream could be heard.

Not being able to put it on my back so I decide to take it in my front claws with all the delicacy of which I am capable. That wasn't enough to stop several of his bones from breaking when I tightened my claws to hold him down. The sound of his bones breaking made me shiver with horror and disgust. His bones can barely withstand a touch.

Taking flight, to bring it to safety as quickly as possible. I had the last shock in what will surely remain one of the worst if not, I hope the worst memory of my life.

From the air, I was able to see the extent of the damage...

The fury of the flames left only ashes. I can only see ashes for several tens of kilometers!

Not the shadow of a tree remains, not the shadow of a form of life, everything has been engulfed in a uniform and perfectly smooth carpet of ashes in all directions for ten kilometers...

It is on this ultimate and powerful thrill that I take a last look at this apocalyptic landscape caused by the fury of my little protector.