Shade

Tengu Caller

Familiar

Sent by their clans to seek and bring home their fallen flock lost to madness and confusion, these dusk-traveling bounty hunters seem to be losing their own battle with darkness.

2750

The Fodder Games: 9th winner

Shade stood on the podium of the Fodder Games arena. She was nervous and looked around. The other dragons seemed as nervous as she was, but when she locked eyes with her brother he smiled reassuringly at her. Shade hoped she and Shadow would both get out of this alive, but she knew that would be impossible. Shade looked at the cornucopia in front of her, trying to decide if it would be worth it to try and get something. As the horn sounds, she made her decision and ran towards the forest behind her. Shade, out of the corner of her eye, saw her brother get into a fight with two red Bogsneaks. For a moment she stopped, turning to help her brother, but it was too late. One of the Bogsneaks ran away as the other one swiftly killed him. Shade watched as her brother fell to the ground and stopped moving. Shade couldn't believe that her brother, the dragon that had basically raised her, was dead, just like that. She snapped out of her trance as she saw a brown Pearlcatcher run towards her. She fled into the forest and only stopped when she was sure there was nobody following her and she was alone.

For the first time since her parents left, she felt empty. Shadow had taken care of her and their younger brother for so long. And now he was gone, Shade was alone. She couldn't keep thinking about that though, she wanted to win and make her brother proud. If he didn't manage to win then Shade will do it for the both of them. She heard footsteps coming closer, along with chattering and laughing. Shade ducked behind some bushes and watched as a group of four dragons, a green Guardian, a blue Pearlcatcher, a blue Spiral and the Bogsneak that had killed her brother walked past. "Haha! You should have seen his face, for a guy that tough he really didn't put up a fight. He even begged me to spare his life!" the red Bogsneak laughed. Shade felt hatred towards the red dragon. She wished she had a weapon so she could kill him, but she stayed hidden. "He had a sister though, right? Maybe you should look out. She might be out there, looking to avenge her brother." the younger looking Spiral said. She didn't hear the Bogsneaks response, as they were too far away now, but the Spiral was right, Shade was out for revenge. The sound of something hitting the floor softly startled her and she whirled around to see what it was. A hatchet had been bound to a small parachute and was laying on the floor in front of her. Shade smiled as she picked up the weapon and knew exactly what she would do with it. She just had to find the Bogsneak when he was alone.

Shade took off and searched for the dragon that had taken the most important thing from her. Hatchet in her belt, she walked around the arena. As she turned to the right, she stood face to face with the blue Spiral from before. He was alone. Shade swung her hatchet, trying to hit him, but he kept dodging. "Please, stop! I didn't do anything." he begged her as she jumped onto him and pinned the Spiral to the ground. "I am sorry for your brother, but I didn't to it!". Shade looked down at his pleading eyes and sighed. She got off of him and turned to walk away. "Thank you for sparing me!" she heard the Spiral say before he ran into the forest, away from her. She looked in the direction he had vanished, wondering if it had been a good idea to let him go. In the distance Shade heard someone screaming for help, but decided to stay away from whoever it was. Instead, she looked around for a safe place to sleep. When she found a hollow tree, she squeezed herself inside of it to sleep.

Shade woke up the next morning. The thought of her brother still in her mind and it felt like her heart was shattered. But still, she got up and, with her hatchet in her belt, she walked into the forest to look for the Bogsneak. After walking for an hour or so she found him. He was sitting close to a small campfire. Shade got ready to jump and kill him, but someone else was faster. A colorful Spiral ran towards him and threw what looked like a trident towards him. The Bogsneak didn't even have time to react before the weapon hit him in the back and he fell forwards. The Spiral looked around his improvised camp, took everything that could be valuable and left. Shade stood there, shocked. She just watched as more and more blood pooled beneath the already red body. She snapped out of her shock as a small bottle on a parachute landed before her. Carefully, she picked it up and tried to figure out what it was. When she saw the small cloth sticking out of it she realised that it was a molotov cocktail. She put it into her belt next to the pouch she carried and went back into the forest. As she was walking she heard an explosion going off in the distance, followed by someone nearby screaming. Shade looked around, but didn't see anyone. Although she did catch a glimpse of purple in one of the bushes.

She walked towards the bushes, she had seen the purple in and sure enough, there was a purple Skydancer trying to hide. The Skydancer looked up at Shade with a hint of fear in her eyes. "Hi, you're not going to kill me, right?" the Skydancer asked quietly. Shade shook her head and smiled. "I'm Somebody by the way!" the Skydancer told Shade as she stood up from the bushes. "That's an interesting name. I'm Shade." she told Somebody as they walked side by side. It wasn't long before they ran into a greyish brown Pearlcatcher, who introduced herself as Talos. The three of them sat down around a small fire. "So, what do you guys think about all of this? The game I mean?" the young Skydancer asked. Shade looked down, remembering her brother. "The 'game' is a nightmare, but I'll do whatever I have to do to win this." Talos said, looking down at the pearl laying in front of her. "I don't think I would be able to kill someone." Somebody said quietly. Shade could tell that she was afraid and that she probably wouldn't make it out of here alive. "I have to win this. For my brother." Shade whispered. "Oh yeah, your brother. He was the one that died at the start because of the Bogsneak twins, right?" Talos asked, a pitiful look in his eyes. Shade simply nodded. "What do you think will happen tomorrow?" Somebody asked, it was obvious that she was scared to death of everything that had happened so far. "More deaths, most likely, I will leave you guys and be on my own again." was Talos' answer. Somebody seemed shocked that Talos would leave and looked over to me. Shade avoided her gaze, but told her that she would be leaving as well. Somebody stayed quiet and so the conversation died down and they went to sleep one after another. Shade was the last one awake and looked up at the stars. The last thought before she fell asleep was of Shadow.

Shade woke up as someone tapped her shoulder. "Hey, I'm leaving. Do you want to come with me?" Talos asked her. She looked over to Somebody, who was still sleeping. "She wouldn't make it far anyway. She'd hold us back, now come on, we are going hunting." Talos said and started walking into the forest. Shade stood up and, taking one last look at the Skydancer they were leaving behind, followed Talos into the forest. They ran into a blue Ridgeback and the Spiral that Shade had attacked before. "Are you guys hunting for Tributes?" Talos asked loudly. "Yeah, you too?" the Spiral yelled back. "Want to join us instead of killing each other?" the Ridgeback asked before Shade or Talos could answer the Spiral's question. Talos agreed and the four of them started walking around, searching for other Tributes. "So, how ar-" the Spiral started but was interrupted by the Ridgeback. "Fitcher, stop talking so much for once in your life." she said and the Spiral stayed quiet. After a while of walking and not finding anyone, Shade decided to leave the group and said goodbye to them. Fitcher was missing from the group, but Shade didn't care much. She was alone again and felt safer, now that she could hear the things around her again and not just the chatter of the two dragons she had been hunting with.

In the distance Shade could hear a child screaming for help and decides to go in the opposite direction. It was dangerous to make that much noise, as someone who was out hunting could hear it and come for you. She walked for a while, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a purple lump lying in the grass a few meters in front of her. She cautiously walked towards it and realised that it was Somebody, dead on the ground in front of her. Judging by the bruises on her neck, she had been strangled to death. "Oh gods, what happened?!" Shade whirled around as she heard someone yelling behind her. Three dragons were staring at her, a blue Pearlcatcher, a very young Ridgeback and a red and green Fae. The Pearlcatcher came over to Shade. "It's okay, come on. We have a fire and it's safer to be in a group." the Pearlcatcher said and wiped away the tears on Shade's face. She hadn't even realised that she started crying. It was just too much for her. Her brother died because she was too much of a coward and ran away from the cornucopia instead of being there and helping him, and now Somebody was dead because she had left her alone even though Shade knew how scared she had been. The other three dragons introduced themselves and sat around a small fire.

"There was a young dragon, he wanted to impress his friends by going into one of the old ruins in the Shadow territory. He was about your age, Mothman." the Fae, who introduced herself as OmNomNom, said, looking at the young Ridgeback. "So he went to one of the ruins and his friends were just behind him. A bit afraid of the ruins and the myths that come with them, but he just shrugged at them and went inside. At first he didn't see anything out of the ordinary and just thought all of the myths were lies told by the elders to keep the hatchlings out of the ruins. But as he turned a corner, he saw a light. Thinking that it must just be another exit, he walked towards it, but stopped suddenly as he saw that it wasn't an exit at all. It was a giant room lit by hundrets of candles. In the middle of it was a small bottle and as he got closer he saw that there was a small black fuzz in there. He got curious and opened the bottle, but blacked out before he could really see what the black thing was. When he woke up again he was outside of the ruins, covered in blood and the bodies of his friends were lying around him. A black, slightly transparent Guardian stood in front of him. And the last thing the young dragon ever heard was "I thank you for freeing me of my prison, foolish mortal" "

The four dragons continued to tell scary stories to each other before deciding to sleep. In the morning Shade noticed that she was alone with the young Ridgeback and decided to wake him up. They walked for a bit without saying much, but then Mothman stopped walking and faced Shade. "I got into a fight with the Skydancer you were crying over yesterday. I didn't kill her though, but maybe she would have survived if I hadn't injured her." he said quietly, looking at the ground. Shade was shocked. He had injured Somebody, even though she hadn't done anything to deserve it. In that moment Shade stopped thinking and reached for her Molotov. Mothman saw her hand move to the bottle in her belt and started backing away from the Pearlcatcher. Just as he started running, Shade threw the bottle and set the young Ridgeback on fire. He screamed in pain behing her as she simply turned around and left him to die.

Shade walked through the forest quietly, looking at the ground. "Hey, Shade! Are you alright?" she heard OmNomNom's voice yell from her right. She looked up and saw the red Fae and the young Nocturne that was with her. "Hey, OmNomNom. I'm... I guess I'm alright." Shade answered as she walked over to the two dragons. "This is Shoelace." the red Fae told her as they walked at each others sides through the forest. Shade knew that they wouldn't trust her anymore if she told them about what happened with Mothman, so she kept quiet as they walked towards a small improvised camp. They decide to sleep in shifts and Shade volunteered to take the first guard shift, so the other two could sleep. She sat near a tree and watched the two small dragons sleep. Her brother was dead, a friend died as well and she had killed a hatchling. Shade wasn't sure if everything she had done was right, but she knew, now more than ever, that she had to win this and get out alive, so that the things she had done wouldn't be for nothing. After a few hours she stood up and woke the red Fae up, then went to sleep herself.

Shade woke up as the sun rose and when she looked around, she saw Shoelace was gone and OmNomNom was making a spear out of a fallen branch. She stood up and said farewell before walking into the forest again. It was raining slightly and the sound of the raindrops drowned out most other sounds. For the first time since the game began, Shade felt peaceful. She stood there, in the rain, facing the sky. Simply feeling the raindrops hit her scales and she imagined that she was still home, outside of her den. Her brother still alive inside, taking care of their younger brother. Somebody wasn't dead and she didn't kill Mothman. But her imaginary world was erased from her mind as she heard crying from next to her. As she looked down, she saw a young Skydancer, probably even younger than Shoelace. The hatchling had a broken wing and a large cut on his leg. "I can't do this anymore, please, kill me!" the hatchling spoke. Shade was unsure of what to do. This kid had just begged her to kill him. A hatchling, barely old enough to fly. "Please." the Skydancer pleaded again, slumping down to the ground. Shade sighed sadly, took the hatchet from her belt and raised it above the hatchlings head. She took one last look at his face, expecting to find fear or sadness, but he looked content, almost happy, and so she killed him. Shade left the body behind and was left alone with her thoughts again. It had stopped raining, but she could still occasionally hear water drops fall from the leafs, it sounded peaceful.

About an hour later she was fairly close to the cornucopia, so she turned around. She didn't want to go there after what happened. When she turned she saw Shoelace walking in the distance. Shade trotted towards him. "Oh, hey Shade!" the young Nocturne smiled as he saw her. "Hey Shoelace, how have you been?" Shade asked him, smiling. They talk for a while and built a small campfire. "So, who do you think will win this?" Shade asked him as they watched the fire grow. "No idea, I'm pretty sure that neither me, nor Plexiglass or Mothman will win..." he said, smiling up at Shade sadly. "Who is Plexiglass?" Shade asked, even though she had a feeling who it might be. "A young Skydancer, I met him yesterday. He is pretty nice, but I don't think he could win." he told her. "Oh... Mothman and Plexiglass are dead, I'm sorry Shoelace." Shade said quietly, "I killed Mothman before you and OmNomNom found me. And Plexiglass begged me to kill him this morning..". "Oh..." Shoelace whispered. "To answer your question though, I think the Imperial might win. Or OmNomNom, he is a pretty smart Fae." the Nocturne added quietly. The conversation had died down and the two dragons decided to sleep.

Shoelace woke Shade the next morning by tapping her shoulder. "Hey, Shade! Wake up! We need to leave, there is a feast at the cornucopia and we are too close to it." he said as he started to walk to the forest. "Actually, I think I am going there... I don't have much food left." she said, checking her remaining food. Shoelace simply nodded and vanished into the forest. Shade went into the direction of the cornucopia, feeling uneasy. She stopped at the edge of the forest and looked onto the field. She saw Fitcher slowly walking towards the cornucopia, looking around for others. Suddenly Shade heard an explosion and Fitcher was gone, in his place was a small crater. He had stepped on one of the landmines. Shade stayed hidden a little longer before she went towards the large structure, looking for food. She grabbed a piece of bread, but hid behind a crate as she heard yelling. The white Imperial was fighting with an orange Skydancer. Shade was sure that he would win, but the Skydancer picked up a sword from one of the crates and decapitated the taller dragon. Shade turned to leave but saw a piece of meat sitting on one of the taller crates. She ran towards it to take it, but a Guardian was there before her. Shade jumped onto the pastel dragon but she was thrown aside. The dragon before her was too strong for her to kill in a fair fight, so Shade decided to make a run for it.

She stopped running after she was sure that the Guardian hadn't followed her. At least Shade had been able to get a bread. It should be enough for a day or two. Thunder cracked and rain started to pour down. Shade put up the hood of her cloak and started to look for a dry place to stay. The rain thundered lowdly all around her, she was unable to hear anything except for the drumming of the rain drops around her. Without a warning she was thrown to the ground, the blue Ridgeback pinned her to the ground beneath her. "How could you kill Plexiglass?!" she shouted. "He begged me to do it!" Shade yelled back as another crackle of thunder sounded above them. The Ridgebacks grip on Shades throat tightened and Shade became panicked. She couldn't breathe anymore and struggeled to get her hatchet out of her belt. "He was a hatchling!" the Ridgeback cried. Shade finally managed to loosen the hatched and swung it at the blue dragon's head. Shade hit the Ridgeback with the side of the hatchet and as she struggeled to keep her balance, Shade got up and ran, only stopping when she reached a small pond. She cought her breath and looked around, she couldn't see very far due to the pouring rain, but she was sure that she was safe now. Shade curled up under a large tree, at least slightly sheltered from the cold water and fell asleep.

Shade awoke as a loud crack, followed by a scream filled the air. She looked around confused, it sounded like a branch snapped but she couldn't see anything. As Shade reached for her hatchet, though, she noticed that it was broken and her bread was gone. Someone had come and destroyed her supplies, but spared her. She looked around for signs of who it could have been, but she found nothing. Shade stood up and picked up the things that were not broken or stolen, which was an apple and a few berries, she had found a while back, and started walking, looking for a safer place.

Shade decided to rest under a small tree, after she had walked for a while. She didn't even sit there for ten minutes, when a small basket attached to a parachute dropped in front of her. She opened it and found a few slices of bread, a piece of cooked chicken and a few apples. She ate the chicken right away, before putting the rest into her pouch. Shade stood up again and started to look for a safe place to spend the night. "Shade! Could you help me?" she heard a voice call. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. "Over here! Please." the voice called again. Shade looked around, searching for the source of it and the realization hit her. It was the Ridgeback, a stick pierced her shoulder. "You tried to kill me, why should I help you?" Shade asked the blue dragon calmly, keeping her distance just in case. She didn't have her hatchet anymore, as it had been destroyed and she wouldn't be able to beat the taller dragon in a fight. "Please, I am so sorry about that and about destroying your stuff... I was just angry that you killed a hatchling." she said and Shade cautiously walked over to her. "Alright, I'll help you with your shoulder, but then I am leaving. " Shade told her as she gripped the stick. She pulled as hard as she could and the other dragon's shoulder started bleeding as the stick came loose. Shade ripped a piece off of her coat and used it as a band-aid. "Thank you Shade." she said as Shade started to leave. She turned around to nod at the Ridgeback before leaving her once more.

It had been awfully quiet the last hours and Shade felt uneasy due to that. She had eaten the bread slices and one of the apples, as she looked for a safe place. A rustling sound from above startled Shade and she looked up. At first she saw nothing, but then the leaves rustled once more and a hatchet, attached to a parachute floated to the ground next to her. She picked it up and put it into her belt where the last hatchet had been. She felt safer now that she had a weapon again and began thinking about what she might have to do to win the game. She knew she would probably have to kill OmNomNom and the Coatl, but the bigger problem was the Ridgeback. Shade wondered if she would be able to kill a dragon of that size. A screech pulled her from her thoughts. As she looked into the direction of the sound she saw a squirrel.

It started running towards her and she cut it in half with her hatchet. The squirrel looked like it came out of a nightmare, glowing red eyes and giant canine like teeth. Shade ran towards the cornucopia, killing squirrels on her way. She got bit by a few of them but she didn't care, Shade just wanted to get to the cornucopia and find something to protect herself. She found a few molotov cocktails on one of the crates. An idea popped into her head and so Shade opened the bottles and poured the fluid onto the ground, forming a circle around her. As she saw a pack of the squirrels leave the forest and sprint towards her she lit the fluid on fire and surrounded herself with a circle of fire. The squirrels stopped and ran around the flames but did not jump through. Covered in blood, Shade waited inside of that small ring of flames, while the squirrels ran around her. Then, all of a sudden, everything stopped. The squirrels dropped dead and everything went silent. She had won the game. Shade had survived the Fodder Games.