Apr 28 2018, 09:36 AM
A loud, moaning cry echoed through Orion.
The sound was distinctly agonized, with a rasping, wet edge to the pain.
It had been only a few days since the young dragon had snatched the bat from the air--and only the briefest contact had been had with the body--yet here he lay, wings folded along his back, tail slowly sweeping in a trembling arc as he suffered.
He hadn't made it to any particular point in Orion--he'd been flying, and then lowered himself to crawl, and then gave up, the pain too great to carry on, for now. Mucus dripped from between his teeth, pooling on the ground beneath. Ember eyes had grown cloudy with pain, and now and again hacking coughs wracked the jet black body, scales shimmering in Orion's light as he writhed. Each time he grasped a racking gasp, the multitude of wounds in his mouth were visible, blood pooled around them. Already his scales clung loosely to a dry body, too, the dehydration deeply apparent.
Should any come close enough, the heat that roiled off him would also be evident: as if, even with his reptilian appearance, the dragon had developed a severe fever.
Nothing made sense--everything hurt. He just wanted it to stop, to go away, but he was stuck in the pain, the sweltering heat, the shivering cold. The fear of choking, of drowning, when his lungs seemed to fill with fluid. Everything was agony.
With another violent cough he slowly lowered himself to lie on the cool stone, head lying on the rock at the end of an extended neck, tail now limp behind him. Trembling slightly, Dread let out another long and echoing moan of pain, as if beseeching someone, anyone, to come and take it from him.