Taelryx

With another ragged breath, Taelryx slammed a broken, bloody talon into the tower, and heaved. Green trails flowed down its foreclaws, dripping to oblivion after ricocheting off its flanks. Throughout the climb, its left eye had grown numb and dim, until all vision was lost. No sound came from any direction. Only its interminable struggle to climb reminded it to continue.

Around its torso, a black mist constricted, burning deep into its impenetrable flesh. Already its wings had withered and fallen away, lost to the void. A gargantuan wingless lizard now, Taelryx fumbled clumsily upward, seeking respite from its pain and fatigue.

Again its claw slammed, but something changed. Taelryx immediately felt weightless, its body slowly drifting from the tower. Vertigo set in. If it had eaten anything in the last eternity, it would have retched. Scrabbling for purchase, it clung with weak, tattered claws.

Unnerved, Taelryx watched as the mist slipped from its torso to encircle the tower above it. Black even against the void and around the tower, the mist sizzled into the material as the dragon felt the tower begin bucking and vibrating. Chunks began to float away as the intensity increased. Looking below, Taelryx saw the same dissolution occur. Something sought to excise it from the tower.

What further madness must I endure? It wondered. Flailing its tail for momentum, Taelryx managed to bring its lower body to align with its upper, and bunched its limbs. Surging upward beyond the mist it watched the portion of the tower it had just occupied fragment and fly apart. The dragon was spun about, carried by its own momentum away from the tower. As it drifted away, it saw two purple lights appear on the tower, wrapped in dark mist. The piteous wreck of limbs that remained of its wings flailed in useless panic, trying to right itself.

A man appeared, far larger than one should be unless Taelryx had shrunk in this nightmare. Gravity resumed, but where down had been an abstract concept at the base of the tower, now it centered on the tower itself. Taelryx plummeted to a crashing halt, plowing a considerable furrow in the tower’s surface. Its forelimbs snapped trying to brace against the impact, and Taelryx bellowed shakily, its energy already mostly drained.

The man approached, and the dragon saw that it was not a man in any usual sense. More shadow than man, the purple lights were orbs of subtle flame in its “head,” somehow giving it life. Mist swirled about, creating only a vague form, one that bent down to caress Taelryx’s head as it moaned in torturous agony.

“At last you are here, old friend,” the being said, a disembodied susurration of seductive malice. “Are you ready to begin?”

Recognizing its peril, Taelryx reverted to instinct, enduring the pain of pushing up with its shattered limbs, opening its jaws wide to unleash a fiery blast. No fire came, but the malignant darkness that swirled down its throat chilled the dragon to its bones.

***

Michelle

“Why’s mommy sleeping?” Michelle heard her daughter ask, ironically awakening her from her slumber. On her face an oxygen mask fogged in rhythm with her weak breathing. Machines beeped nearby, monitoring her vital signs. Her eyes cracked open just a slit. John and Miranda were next to her, Miranda peering up over the edge of her bed, while John sat in a chair holding her hand and brushing her sweaty hair away from her face. The lethargy throughout her body kept her from replying.

“She’s just very tired, bug,” came John’s reply. She could tell he’d been crying, his voice rasped. “More tired than she should be. The doctors are trying to help.” A very rudimentary explanation, but adequate she supposed. She could feel the cancer. Should she? She couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep - not really - and Michelle knew she wouldn’t last long. Death was a release from this, but she didn’t want to go, not yet.

John leaned in close. “Keep fighting babe, so we can go home.” Had he seen her eyes move ever so slightly under her eyelids? His hand squeezed ever so gently more.

:Don’t leave me, mommy.: What? Miranda spoke inside her mind. How was that possible? Reason abandoned her, and nearly consciousness as well while tears leaked out. That was too much for her.

Don’t be sad, please! I can’t take it anymore. Two subtle flaming orbs appeared at the foot of her bed, startling her. Her eyes snapped open and a machine nearby pierced more rapidly to match her pulse.

“Is that what you seek, Malika? It’s a simple thing, to make them mourn you not.” That voice snaked into her ear, and she noticed that neither John nor Miranda seemed to hear. “All I seek is your consent.”

Mist began to leak from her body where an IV penetrated her flesh, swirling to form a vague man-shaped body around those eye-like orbs. Michelle could only stare in horror as her eyes widened. Could no one see this?

“Honey? Honey what is it? Michelle, tell me what’s wrong!” John’s concern came to her from far away now. All she could see or experience narrowed into this mist being. “Nurse! Nurse! Come quick,” he yelled. “Something’s wrong!”

“He can yell all he wants to,” the being said. The mist came forward like a ghost, passing through her and the bed with ease until the orbs floated above her waist, looking down at her. Leaning forward, mist body “braced” its arms next to her head as the orbs came down to her face. Michelle could feel the mist thrumming inside her now, and it felt obscene. “Give in to me, Malika.”

All strength fled her as the being penetrated her body, cold creeping up her legs to her torso. Her arms went numb. Michelle could no longer feel John’s hand. Weakly, she looked at Miranda. Please don’t remember me this way! She pleaded, terrified.

:I won’t, mommy.: Miranda’s reply reminded her of an emotionless robot.

“Naughty, naughty, don’t do that,” the mist said. Miranda’s eyes went wide, and she hugged her father with all her strength. Michelle noticed that the being’s gaze momentarily went to Miranda before focusing on her again. “Very well, I grant your wish.”

A black fist of mist raised, then forced itself through her breast. Something constricted, and unimaginable pain came in stark contrast to the numbness that had just been. Michelle screamed, her back arching away from the bed. When she had nothing left to give, she collapsed, her auburn hair mussed and sticky with sweat.

“Go back to your duties, Malika,” the mist whispered.

The rapid beeps steadied to a continuous, ominous tone. John wept, holding Miranda tightly. A nurse silenced the machine.

***

Taelryx

The dragon choked on the mist, gagging and snarling. Its throat convulsed, trying to expel the intrusion, to no avail. Taelryx felt itself diminishing, growing smaller. The furrow in the tower became a canyon, and soon the purple eyed mist-man stood above him, as if Taelryx were no more than a large dog.

“Your imprisonment has made you weak, my friend.” The mist-man knelt, caressing the dragon’s jaw and tilting it up to face him. Taelryx swiped with its broken talon, but the attempt passed right through. “Pathetic. You know who I am and what I must do?”

Taelryx struggled in the mist-man’s grip. :Yes,: it replied.

“Why do you resist?”

:You are unnatural.: The mist-man laughed back.

“That’s rich, coming from a being whose life has exceeded that of the stars in the sky,” he rebuked. “There is definitely nothing natural in that.”

:I am the father of fire itself, I…: Yanking up sharply, the mist-man’s flaming purple orbs stared down at the dragon.

“You are? That’s how you still see yourself? This isn’t your realm but mine, Taelryx. You are exactly what I allow you to be. That stunt a little while ago, the flaming dragon trick? Illusory. It has been interesting to observe how you see yourself.”

“Look at you now. A broken, wretched lizard. You serve no purpose.” To prove his point, he grasped one wing-limb and ripped it from Taelryx’s shoulder, throwing it to the ground. Green ichor gushed forth. The dragon bellowed with pain.

:HOW DARE YOU: slammed the thoughts into the mist-man’s mind, but he laughed and backhanded the dragon, causing it to tumble and slide backwards.

“You are an anachronism.” He punched the dragon in the ribs. Bones shattered. His foot pinned the dragon’s head to the ground while he wrenched the remaining wing-limb from the dragon’s body. “A flightless, biteless bird.” Using the limb as a weapon, it pummeled the dragon with unrelenting savagery until only the faintest whimper came. “Look how easy it is to beat you, mongrel.”

Taelryx lay there motionless, bleeding profusely. It could not breathe, could barely think. Nothing made sense in this world. The dragon knew its adversary, but could not remember who it was. A nameless face. A nameless face with no face. A faceless name with no name.

Was this real life, or just a terrible fiction? Caught as the canyon walls began to crumble, cascading down to bury the dragon, Taelryx could not evade the reality that confronted it. Wind preceded the landslide from every direction, but it did not matter to Taelryx.

The mist-man blew away, giving Taelryx no hope for vengeance. As the end at last tumbled down upon the dragon, it saw a guttering flame.