United Paths

Season One: Chapter One

Chomp’s POV

The blood. The roars. It was the nightmare again. It was as if I was being punished by my own mind for not being strong enough. The bodies of everyone I knew littered the ground. I had failed them. I should’ve been better. It was MY fault. Their corpses were ravaged and drained of color, their eyes still and lifeless. Nibble’s crushed egg sat in front of me. The embryo was shriveled up in the center. I couldn’t even move. I was paralyzed with shock and horror.

And then I woke up.

I jolted awake, which woke up Sylvia to.

“You ok honey?” She asked sleepily.

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. When I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out.

“Was it the nightmare again?”

I nodded.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

I shook my head.

“Can you go back to sleep?”

I nodded slightly.

“Ok, well I’m right here if you need me.”

I laid back down, letting Sylvia’s body curl around mine. But I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t. When I closed my eyes, all I saw was the massacre. So I stayed awake. I saw the sunrise, which admittedly calmed my nerves. After a while, Sylvia woke up.

“Did you fall back asleep?” She asked.

I shook my head. It was day so I could see her better. Her dark black scales almost made my dark orange ones seem vibrant by comparison. Even her under scales was pitch dark, unlike my cloud white ones. We had been moved to a different pen than Beetle and Nettle, but not too far. We were still in the same area of the Allo section, so we still got to see them on occasion.

“Well, let’s just hope you don’t have it again tomorrow.” She said. And at that, we began our day.