Pyracantha

They first saw it in the gardens.

It was dawn, and the first rays of sunlight were bleeding through the clouds, dyeing the plants in scarlet. The sentries failed to notice it at first, for it was the same deep red as the sky. It was only when they saw it slinking away that they realized they were looking at something...alive.

They glided down from their posts to check. But by then, the creature had disappeared into the undergrowth. It must be said that they were relieved by that. They hadn’t liked the look of the thing, and they hoped they’d seen the last of it.

Those hopes were soon dashed—not in the gardens, but in the workshop, where Fletcher was conducting some experiments. A careless step caused him to stumble, spilling instruments across the floor.

“You had to drop them, didn’t you?”

The voice was acidic, exasperated—but also unfamiliar. Fletcher turned to see who it was.

And he fell flat on his rump when he saw the oozing, sluglike mass rearing up before him. It was nearly as tall as he was! Scarlet eyes blinked along its length, focusing upon him with critical intensity.

At the very top of the “slug”, a pale bulb split crosswise. Fletcher, with another great shock, realized it was a mouth.

“Well? Pick them up and put them back on the workbench!” The creature watched as Fletcher hurried to obey. Its many eyes narrowed. “No, properly. Neatly, I say!”

That was the clan’s introduction to Pyracantha. It soon became apparent that the creature had made its home in the tunnels beneath the lair. Being mostly gelatinous, it was able to squeeze through even the tiniest cracks—much to the chagrin of the researchers, whose work it always had something to say about. It never caused any harm, though it often surprised the dragons as it popped up next to them, muttering about what they ought to do next.

“If only it didn’t whine so much,” the researchers grumbled. “Maybe then we’d actually be happy to hear its advice!”

Naturally, there was much speculation as to where Pyracantha had come from. Even the name was unfamiliar—no one knew who’d come up with it. Or even if it had mentioned it to them at some point.

Had it been created here in the lair, by a dragon who refused to take responsibility? Perhaps a scientist who had long since moved on, leaving this suppurating mess behind?

Pyracantha always curtly dismissed questions about its origins. If its crotchety approach antagonized the dragons, it did not notice. Or perhaps it simply didn’t care.

The only other living things it showed some concern for were the plants in the gardens. Pyracantha would sometimes stay here, quietly contemplating the plants...sometimes for hours on end.

At least until the first beats of sound rang from the workshops, signifying a new day of research. Then the creature would be off again, ready to advise its clanmates—whether they liked it or not.

~ written by Disillusionist (254672)
all edits by other users

* No one can tell you when it first came here, but you will forever rue the day it first saw you.
You had been warned to stay out of the gardens after dark. You should have listened...should have listened...
You remember lifting the lantern higher. Remember looking past the oil-dark leaves towards the scarlet berries of the firethorn tree. You reached out a hand to pluck some particularly large ones evenly spaced along the branches.
Till you realized they were staring at you.
Till you heard that voice...

* At times, at night, as you wait for slumber to take you, you see it.
Its colors blaze, virulently bright, against the insides of your eyelids.
The amorphous, oozing length of it, striated in yellow and scarlet. And those eyes, those pestilent scarlet orbs, glaring at you with unceasing vitriol.
From somewhere in those pus-like depths, a pale coil of tongue emerges. It flickers in the air like a fitful flame, hissing in venomous tones....
Sleep arrives, but the reprieve it grants is brief. You dread the coming days, for you know that you will hear it again. That voice...

* It’s following you, you just know it. You swear you can feel its damp, fetid breath slithering up your spine.
A shudder wells up from the pit of your stomach. You let it ripple through your skin, and the feeling dissipates—but only slightly. There’s no way to completely dispel the sensation of being watched, of feeling all those eyes upon you—
How many of them? Six, a dozen, maybe even more?
“Too many,” you can’t help thinking as you stumble through the halls. “Too many of them...”
No escape from the scarlet orbs that stalk your every move. And no escape from that voice...

* No escape. No refuge.
So many others have said the same thing, but still, you have to try...
You’re running now, your frantic footsteps shaking the corridors. You jostle past lairmates. They trudge on, numb to your anxiety. Or perhaps they’re just resigned.
“After all,” says a dark whisper inside your mind, [/i]“there’s nowhere you can hide.”[/i]
You reach your destination, and you shut the heavy doors. All around you, the workshop is empty. A sigh of relief manages to escape your throat—
And then you hear it.
That whispering, sliding sound.
“Impossible!” you want to say, even when you know that it’s not. Not after what you’ve been told, not after what you’ve experienced so many times before.
You brace yourself for the appearance of that loathsome thing and—

* That voice.
It oozes through the crack round the doorframe: a deep scarlet thread, shot through with lines of sickly yellow. As it flows through, it throbs and breathes, growing broader and taller, swelling ever upwards till it threatens to eclipse you in height. The hateful eyes gaze upon you and the table you’re leaning against.
And then, at last, the dreaded voice comes—
“What’re you cringing like that for? Don’t lean against the table like that; you’ll break it! Now, pick those up and get on with your work...
“What? This set of chemicals again? Balderdash, the lot of it; I’ve already said that there’s too much sulfur! ...There, you see. I told you so. Clean up that mess this instant, or so help me—”

~ written by Disillusionist (254672)
all edits by other users



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