Nightmare

Belongs to @CrazyChaos




Nightmare swung hard at the dummy, hearing the blades scrape the floor after the blow. She hit faster and faster, harder and harder, anything to get their giggles out of her mind.
She knew that she shouldn’t be bothered. After all, they were just children. Hatchlings joked about anything and everything that could even be found slightly funny. But still, how was she funny? Just because she preferred to spend most of her days alone in the area, and lived happily like that
didn’t mean that she was the village oddball. Right?
“ARGH!” She yelled, and with a final blow sliced the head clean off of the training dummy. Satisfied with her performance, she turned and began to pack up her equipment, tucking each piece gently in its velvet lined case.
Just then she heard a voice behind her. “Hello there, Nightmare.”
She turned to see the dragon she least wanted to. Her lip began to shrivel up in disgust.
“Hello there, Maize.” She scowled as his bright ivory feathers glistened in the sunlight. Like his billowing ego.
“I never thought I’d see you here.” He said, slowly sauntering around Nightmare. “Not after the fiasco you put yourself in last time.”
She felt the steam begin to stream out of her ears. “It was not a fiasco.” She said, trying to contain her rage. “I just... froze up, that’s all.”
“Oh really!” Maize smirked. “Then how do you explain starting to fight, but then collapsing in the middle of the area, for absolutely no reason at all?”
Nightmare gritted her teeth. The truth was, she didn’t freeze up. She was about to throw the final blow on her opponent when she began to hear their voices again. The giggles, the whispers, the stares and the pointing. She could see them, during the fight, staring at her from the stands. She couldn’t take it anymore.
She shuddered from the memory, and then turned back to Maize. “I might have had a moment of second guessing, but I’m here now and ready to fight.” She said, choosing her words carefully.
But, all Maize seemed to hear was her admittance. “You hear that?!” He yelled. “Nightmare admitted it. She’s a weakling!”
He turned to her and began to laugh, over the top and mocking.
Something inside of Nightmare snapped. She quickly pulled the swords out of their cases and let loose a guttural scream. Then, she charged towards Maize, swinging her blades with a ferocity unknown to dragonkind.
For a moment, Maize stood, scared at what he had done. But, he then pulled his blades out in return, and the two of them began to fight.
Metal flew every which way, with clashing and yells following. Maize began to see how the years Nightmare had spend at the training area had payed off, and began to let a few of her swings slip pst his defenses.
In the end, Nightmare stood victorious over Maize, holding one of her prized blades to his throat.
“I am not a weakling.” She growled. “Understand?”
“Yes, Nightmare.” Maize squeaked, shuddering ever so slightly at the cold touch of the blade to his feathers.
“Fine then.” She released him, and he scurried out of the arena, his glistening tail following close behind.
Nightmare smiled and ran her claws over the blades. So what do the hatchlings and dragons of the village thought that she was different? She was happy with herself and the things she had accomplished. That was all that mattered.
Besides, fighting Maize in the arena was pretty fun. She smirked as she thought of his face, scared out of his wits, looking like he was about to wet himself. She giggled at the thought as she walked out fo the arena, clutching her weapons close to her chest, with a smile on her face.


Art by: EevyernDracaneon