Satin

Blearily, Satin came too; her attention shifting around the active den.
There was a searing pain down her back and the sharp taste of acrid blood in her maw, confusion washing over her striped features. Her maw tries to open slowly, tries to ask what is happening but the only noise to grace the air around the Pearlcatcher was a pained whimper.

Distress was building as awareness to the commotion around her grew.
Satin would only just see the broken and shredded corpses of unborn hatchlings at the edge of her vision; their eggs lay split apart with claw marks scraping the shells that should have protected them and kept them safe.

Daunting realization settled upon satin; she recognized these eggs. They had been among the many that she had grown up in the company of within this den and had been so eager to meet in the days to come.

Her eyes stretch further, trying to move as her awareness filtered back to her current situation. Not only were there claw marks similar to that across the broken and mauled eggs raking the nest itself but they also stretched the cavern wall close by and the area around it. They were small but so numerous that it was as if a beast had worked its way into the hatchery and attempted to eat the eggs where they rested.

‘What happened?’

The simple thought was deafening in her own skull and the immediate answer that called to her hazy mind was terrifying. A first attempt to move was taken though her attention then shifted to the task; her body was heavy and the pain only flashed further over her form, wings pinned and limbs unmoveable. Her gaze shifted upwards and met that of a Wildclaw guard that had her pinned underneath her weight. There was nothing short of horror and disgust wrote across the dragons face, an Imperial lurked close; voice dropped to a low murmur in hushed but urgent conversation.


Then there was the state of her own body--
The blood that she could so keenly taste in her maw, dirt and grime coated her form as well as tiny but visible shards of a broken egg shell.

Tears began welling fast in her eyes as panic rose and Satin’s heart began to race wildly; her breath stolen from her lungs and the Pearlcatchers gaze dartling wildly around the den for any form of solace or aid.
The only thing that greeted the poor dragon was contempt, anger and fear.

“Please…” Finally, she manages to speak though her voice is naught but a weak croak against the turbulent uproar of commotion. A second attempt to move was made, small claws digging into the soil beneath her but another harsh press to the back answered her feeble endeavor.

The added pressure of another seeking to contain her only further added to Satin’s growing panic at the situation. Never was it enough to crush the hatchling but it certainly prevented her from moving in most any ways. Did they truly fear her enough to prevent her attempting any sort of movement?

Satin’s eyes began to burn as further tears rolled down her cheeks, defeat accepted quickly as her form slumped beneath the iron grasp of the guards talons that held her securely imprisoned beneath.

Why would they do this? What did she do? She wasn’t bad!
Satin’s mind raced with questions that she did not want the answers to in fear of already knowing.

What had happened?

Once again, goat-like eyes scan the den and there, in the crowding mob that was barely held at bay, her parents linger at the edge and Satin could feel her heart drop in dread. They both don the same look of terror and alarm as that of the guards…

What... had she done?

Not a single thing.
Satin could not recall a single thing that had occurred. She could not recall waking to a monster nor could she recall being the monster!
Her mind reels for answers and all that the Pearlcatcher can summon forth is the blurry visage of someone, a stranger, before her nest and then… nothing.

The next she could remember, she had awoken to this horrific scene with no recollection of what had transpired and everyone was treating her with unease and horror; even her own parents wore that same mask of fright. There had been no invader and now, Satin was the very monster that she feared lurked in the darkness. Moreover, she had no memory of the atrocities that she had committed...

Though as the days ticked by and as the clan that she was birthed unto came to exile her for those crimes, she grew to learn the very nature of this curse that had been so cruelly bestowed upon her. There was no controlling it, no permitting anyone close or daring to have hatchlings of her own; never could she risk harming another or passing this disease on to any of her own children--

For every hour of every day that Satin did not remember, an hour of her life vanishes and the lives of those that dare to stay close by are forfeit. The grasp on her own mind is lost and the clawing darkness settles into her skin like a second home, the vibrancy seeping out of those once soft earthen eyes; room for the madness has been made and there, it takes root.

Soon comes the time where blood will stain the dirt and the voices grow from their gibbering whispers to maddening howls so see your hatchlings kept safe and guard your dens well for there is no stopping the encroaching grasp of Satin’s lost sanity.
By: Pipirii

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