The world came back slowly.
A soft buzzing sounded from somewhere nearby, almost too quiet to hear. While it wasn't exactly silent, the only noises were far off or faint. Sometimes, it was a soft clatter. Other times, a steady humming noise that came and went quickly. All of it faded in and out of existence in waves of half sleep.
Eclipse was aware first only of the white light trying to pierce her eyelids. It was followed shortly by a ringing in her ears, gradually growing louder. This eventually brought with it a throbbing headache, which worsened as the ringing increased. The combination of things began pulling her closer and closer to full consciousness and soon, she could feel the horribly uncomfortable vibrating reverberating slightly through her skull. All of it tugged at her still groggy mind and at the same time, left a terrible brain fog in its wake.
What really brought her back to the present though, was the resurfacing of the awful pain that engulfed nearly her entire body. She wondered, only half awake, what had happened that had resulted so unpleasantly, and as she forced her dragging mind closer to full consciousness, she tried unsuccessfully to remember. She remembered the Rainforest and the cave. The buzzing seemed more to her like the countless insects that dwelled there, and the hard floor beneath her could have been the stone ground of the rock cleft. As her brain slowly recollected itself, a somewhat conscious replay of the days before flowed through her mind.
Sunspot and the Nightwings came first, followed by her mostly uneventful trip through the strange tunnel. Going back to the desert and keeping watch while the Solarwing slept. She remembered flying through the stars and her mission to attack the Scorpion Den, only to be attacked by Neoma.
The more of the recount came, the faster it progressed, and Eclipse heaved a deep breath and shifted with a groan. The movement brought with it another wave of pain, and the buzzing in her head became more apparent. She lay there for a long moment before she opened her eyes.
Part of her still expected to see the pitch dark walls of the rainforest cave. Another part thought she would be on the cliff face, on the island in the middle of an indigo sea. But instead, sharp unnatural white light sliced her vision, making the pain in her head increase more. She groaned again and then opened her eyes more slowly this time. Her vision blurred as she fought to keep it focused. In front of her, iron bars ran parallel to each other, welded at the bottom to an iron floor and then to the metal roof above her. Beyond that, bland symmetrical buildings encircled the area. accompanied by large posts which held the blinding lights.
Three moons... what-
And then it all came back to her.
The human. The Nightwings. The battle.
She scrambled upright, panic bursting through her veins, bringing a surge of adrenaline with it. The movement made her head hurt even more and she fell sideways, landing against more iron bars. She looked up, her head swaying as she tried to find her bearings. Across the stone clearing, several other cages were set, most of them with dragons in them. In the one closest to her, she could make out the light reflecting off silver scales. She let her gaze travel across all the enclosures, still leaning against the bars of her own somewhat awkwardly. Further away, she could see the little shimmering golden shape of Sunspot, and on the complete other side of the area, a mass of blood red scales that she assumed was Helios. She didn't recognize any of the other dragons there. Most of them were shades of red, orange, and gold. There was one Seawing that she could see and another dragon that had solid white feathers, as well as two or more Nightwings and maybe even one Icewing. Although the last one could very well be a Rainwing, Cloudwing, or Seawing. It was hard to tell.
Eclipse slowly pushed herself off of the side of the cage, swaying slightly on her talons before sliding toward the edge of the small space. She was much more aware now of the buzzing in her skull and she reached up to feel her head. Her talon brushed against something hard and cold over her snout, and she immediately tried to grab ahold of it and tug it off. She felt the buzzing penetrate through her claws and down into her arm, taking some of the vibration off her head for a moment. She felt around the obnoxious clasp, trying to get her talons beneath it to pry it off, but it stayed put. Trying desperately to ignore the painful vibrating emanating from the band, she focused intently on the scales beneath her eyes and around her horns, urging her warping to appear, and soon, she could see the light reflecting off the silver liquid. But... was it just her, or was the buzzing getting worse? She closed her eyes and focused harder, imagining the liquid silver turning into two needle-thin blades. Maybe to pick the lock on the band, or break it all together. Then maybe the door.
Three moons that HURTS
Eclipse let out a muffled yelp of pain as the vibrating intensified to an almost electrical buzzing, making her headache throb harder. It was definitely getting worse. She clutched her head, ignoring the pain the best she could, and opened her eyes again, intently staring at the warping. Two needles, she thought fiercely. Two needles... two needles... come ON. The pain was unbearable now. The warping fizzed and trembled almost in sync with the vibrating. Eclipse watched dejectedly as the two globs of metal slowly sunk to the ground and dissolved into a fizzing mess.
She stood like that unmoving for a long moment. The vibrating slowly eased, but her headache remained--a stark reminder of what apparently happened when she tried to use her warping here. Eclipse felt for her weapons, unsurprised to find all of the pouches and sheaths missing. She let out a long discouraged breath and settled down onto the floor of the cage, staring up at the sky.
Sickly orange and white light spewed into the sky from the civilization beyond the ring of buildings. Most of the stars were gone, suffocated beneath the greedy, unnatural light that blurred the sky. Only a few brave lights showed timidly from behind the haze. But above it all, undaunted and immovable as ever, Imperial hung low in the sky. The moon's silver light was drowned by the humming white posts that circled the courtyard, and it seemed somewhat smaller now, further away.
And it was completely full.
Eclipse reached up out of habit to touch her silver neckband and froze. Her claws landed against empty scales.
Of course. She should have guessed. The band was priceless--pure silver embedded with perfectly shaped diamonds, and an onyx nearly the size of a small human's head. The greedy little creatures would have to be blind or flat-out stupid not to take and steal such a valuable piece.
And they call dragons treasure hoarders, she thought with a small growl. But despite her rage and hatred, she couldn't suppress a tear from running down the side of her face. She rested her chin on her talons with a long shuddery breath, staring at the starless sky, and the lonely moon that watched above it all. The sounds of the Scorpion Den echoed in the small courtyard and Eclipse lay there for a long moment before closing her eyes. Maybe, if she pretended hard enough, the sounds of the vehicles roaring by could be the crashing of waves. And the loud bright lights could be the sounds of mid-spring buds waking up to such a warm night. The iron floor beneath her could be the cool surface of a cliff stone, and her aches and pains were just a reminiscence of a battle she fought and won.
She folded her wings over her head, her mind curling inward into this safe little world. She wished it was real. She wished she had never turned back for Sunspot when the Nightwings came. Never confronted Helios. Never been attacked by Neoma. Never saved Sunspot. Never found the tunnel. As if somehow by wishing hard enough, it would all go away. But no wishing or pretending could let her ignore the absence of the cold soft scales that she could be feeling. The strong wings folding over her, protecting her, even when she didn't need it. A feeling she might never feel again.
And in the silent courtyard, certain no one else could hear, Eclipse tucked her head beneath her wings and cried.
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