Stella

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She stalked through the ancient hallways, her yellow eyes like raging orbs of fire. She hissed fiendishly, extending her claws as she slinked down the cold stone walls. Each step she took echoed in the shadows.

With a growl, she twisted her neck around. She was hunting, hunting for something.

What, exactly? That was a question that was soon to be answered.

She was no longer a dragon, merely a shade, a reflection of her past self. Whatever joy, whatever happiness, whatever peace that had made her who she had been had vanished, replaced with nothing but a brutal, merciless beast. A creature with no greater desire than to steal the light of life from others in the very way it had been stolen for her.

Suddenly, the pearlcatcher stopped, her nostrils twitching. Her tail flicked and pointed towards a turn in the hallway. Someone had come.

A young mirror, blue with green eyes, and darker blue wings, cowered in the hallway. His eyes flashed bravely. "Y-you don't scare me." He said in a shaky voice.

The pearlcatcher laughed cruelly, the sound of her dark amusement bouncing down the walls. "You should be." She hissed finally, leveling her eyes at him. They were the essence of darkness, of death itself.

The mirror shook his head, although he was quivering from head to tail. "Don't you see? You're nothing but an executioner, fed dragons opposing the leaders in order to soothe your raging hunger. You are nothing but a monster. You need not live this way."

The pearlcatcher smiled, her sharp teeth reflecting in the dim light. "You are right, I need not live this way.
But I do."

Suddenly, she disappeared. The mirror paced back in shock, drawing his wings in tightly. He looked around, his eyes wide with fear.

All of a sudden he saw a blinding flash of golden light. The dragon slammed into his side as fast as a lightning strike, her gleaming fangs sinking into his neck. He cried in pain, but his voice seemed to fall silent. Blood burbled from his neck as he collapsed in the wall, the world blurring out of focus. His vision blurred but cleared one final time to see the smaller dragon looming over him, blood splattering her body. "Why?" He gasped, his sides heaving as he struggled for breath and his nerves screamed in pain. "Why?"

His question went unanswered as she attacked him again, ripping the life out of him. The dragon's head sagged and he collapsed to the floor as she began to feast on the carnage, tearing it from his body and licking her jaws.

Finally she was satisfied, and kicked the corpse into the corner. She wiped her reddened mouth over her tail and continued further down the hallways, until she emerged by a glistening pool. She knelt by the sparkling water, for right over the underground lake a hole had opened to show the moon, as thin as a claw, shining down. She dipped herself in the waves and washed herself, relishing in the red stains that drifted from her body.

That was when she stopped. For a moment, it was nothing but a glimpse. Another dragon stood there, his head tilted towards her in a smile. A crown of flowers hung on his head. He was a cool blue imperial, with deep blue eyes like the mysterious ocean. She cried out suddenly in rage, leaping in the water and slashing her claws across the reflection until it scattered, spraying herself in water. She pulled back and sat on the water's edge, panting. "Why?" She said quietly, dipping her head. She buried her claws in a cleft by a rock beside the lake and pulled out a small figure of an imperial dragon, carved in wood.

"Why?" She whispered hoarsely, closing her eyes. "Why did you kill our son?" She still saw his wide eyes filled with terror, his rushed breaths, his mangled body. Just then burning rage seared through her. She screamed at the moon. "I will find you!!!" She roared. "I will find you, and you will pay! You will regret ever betraying me! You will!"

Her words fell silent, as the beast took control of her emotion again. Dipping her head, she suddenly hurled the carved figure into the water, and then turned and continued her silent trek. Her mate had betrayed her, when he thought he could no longer be seen with her. He'd murdered their son and thought he'd gotten away with it. She remembered how helpless she had felt watching him slaughtered, and that moment changed her forever.

Forever she was gone. For forever she had become what she was now, a cold-blooded killer, as if it would bring her son back.

But she knew, deep in her heart, it never would.

She shook her head and bared her teeth, readying her claws once again as the shadows wrapped themselves around her, continuing once more on her grim hunt for blood.
-by WingsOfDestiny