Zemblas

"Go! GO! I'll hold him off!" A dark blue dragon shouted to a mulberry colored dragon, presumably his brother, while trying to fight off another black dragon. "Take Rainwater with you!" He shouted again, fear and desperation showing through his tear-filled eyes.

The purple dragon froze, seeming hesistant, but then grasped Rainwater, a blue dragon's hand, turning back to look at his older brother for one last time, but then took of, into the eye of the storm. Still, he was not fast enough to hear his brother's immense shriek of pain, and see his body collapse on to the ground, thrashing and flailing, until he gave a massive shudder, ending in a small twitch of his tail.

The mulberry colored dragon stared, open mouthed, at his dead brother. He had never seen so much blood. Then he shook himself, looking as if he just remembered about his sister, and began flying away again. Horror was still etched upon every line on his face, and his expression was frozen.

A small whisper seemed to jerk him out of his thoughts. "Zemblas? W-Where, are, are we going to, um, go now?" Rainwater's voice shook with grief and strain.

"I don't know, Rainwater." Zemblas whispered back softly. "But we're going. We're going to somewhere safe, somewhere... Somewhere tha-that dragon can't find." He shivered slightly as a image of his brother's corpse flashed brutally, mercilessly into his mind, a dark blue dragon, his mouth hanging half open, blood dribbling out of it, with a slashed, broken throat. Then he shook himself, and continued on flying.

After a few hours of flying, Zemblas's wings dropped slowly down, as if his wings felt sour. Rainwater was panting loudly behind him, and was falling behind. Thunder rumbled above them loudly, and lightning struck down. Suddenly there was a sickening CRACK. As a long jet of lightning shot down, towards where they were flying. Zemblas yelled a alarm and ducked out of the way- But his alarm call was too late. The blinding flash of lightning fell onto Rainwater's aching back, and there was a shriek of pain and panic from Rainwater, a screech of alarm from Zemblas, and a brutal SPLASH of ripples and droplets of water as Rainwater plummeted down, deep, deep, into the ocean below. Zemblas hovered on the spot for a moment, looking dazed, then dived down, into the sea. NOO! His thoughts swirled. She can't be dead... I failed Salt again! His thoughts vanished as cold water misted over his mind.

Bubbles rose from his mouth as he dove farther down, looking for Rainwater. Suddenly he spotted a dark figure, sinking down, into the ocean below. "RAINWATER!" He bellowed, but only a stream of bubbles came out of his mouth, causing him to choke and retch. He struggled for a moment, and knew instantly that he was running out of breath. Grabbing his sister's heavy, sodden body, he shot up, breaking the surface. Choking and gasping, with salt stinging at his eyes, he dragged Rainwater down onto the nearest shore he could find, then collapsed, retching up more water and gasping for air. Then he staggered upright, croaking "R-R-Rainw-water?" and suddenly realized how cold he was.

He stood up, nearly falling down again, and moved towards Rainwater. He listened, and heard no breath rattling at her chest. Distressed, he pushed down on Rainwater's chest. To his surprise and delight, she unhinged her jaws, vomiting out tons of water onto the sand below her. Then, she gasped and rolled over, her breathing shallow and slow. But at least she was alive. Zemblas flopped back down onto the sand with relief, his vision blurring, misting slowly. Finally he let darkness take over his mind.

"Zemblas?" A small quivering voice woke him. Zemblas raised his head "Huh?" He tried to think back, but it made his head pound, hurting more than ever, he collapsed back onto the soft sand. I'm at home... Salt's just waking me... Suddenly a thought jerked him awake. SALT At once all the terrible memories rushed back to his head, and he bolted upright, to find Rainwater curled into a ball on the ground, her back blackened and burnt, raw meat showing through.

Rainwater groaned as she tried to sit back up. Zemblas at once swooped down to assist her, even though he found that this made his head hurt more. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out slowly for a few seconds, and found his head more clear than before. "Are you okay?" He whispered to her.

"I-" She spluttered, coughing for a moment. "I-I'm okay, I think." Zemblas watched her, worried a little. At least she's alive. He thought with a shiver as he imagined what would have happened if he hadn't managed to rescue her.

"I'll go to hunt." Zemblas stood up. His wings felt a little stiff, he didn't know why, maybe it was because he hadn't used them since the storm, so he dragged them along, wincing a bit. Rainwater stared at his wings with a odd expression that made him uncomfortable, so he flew up quickly, just as she opened her jaws to say something.

Just as he started, her felt his right wing aching a bit. He ignored it at first, but then he felt a sharp pain in his wing. He dropped down a little, gasping, but managed to fly up again, but as soon as he started to flap his wings strongly, the pain made him tumble down again. Hissing, he noticed that his right wing seemed to be a bit bended... Was it broken? Before he could say anything, with a yelp, he plummeted down into the ocean below. Shrieking soundlessly, he thrashed around in the water. He lifted his head as ice cold water surged into his mouth and filled his lungs, to see the fading light as darkness slowly crept over his vision. The last thing he thought, as he fought for breath was Rainwater! She needs me...

Zemblas was in complete darkness. It was so peaceful, so calm... there was nothing to be afraid of. He lay down, but just then suddenly he felt a kick in his chest. He surged up, to find the darkness almost at once vanishing and he choked, spluttering and coughing onto the ground. H-How am I still alive? He thought, gasping for air. He turned around to see a snow white dragon with a blue underbelly and wings staring at him. He sat up slowly, stretching his wings, but almost at once shouted "OW!" as his head throbbed and pounded painfully, and pain jabbed at his wing.

Almost at once, his memories, what had happened, began swarming into his head. RAINWATER! a thousand voices inside his thoughts shrieked, making him even more dizzy. "What is it?" The white dragon, a bogsneak, asked.

"R-Rainwater. She's my s-sister." He croaked, "I l-left her on the shore when I went hu-hunting."

The bogsneak seemed to think for a moment, then said "Its too late for us to fetch her again." softly. Zemblas let out a small choked sob, but the bogsneak, seeming determined to change the subject, asked. "Who are you? I'm Frozen, the healer of Clan Duskfall."

Clan Duskfall. Clan Duskfall. Zemblas thought, remembering his old Clan with a throb of pain. I'll never get to be together with them again... Breathing in slowly, he said "I'm Zemblas."

Frozen nodded at him. "Well, welcome to Clan Duskfall."

Art here by aurorawho! https://www.instagram.com/p/B9NUXO0J_qt/