Pandora

• Chapter 12 •

Bria’s body shivered as she stepped back slowly, her eyes flicking across the cave. ‘What is it? What is all of this?’

Her mind buzzed with dozens of questions, her tail thrashing back and forth. The creature's eyes all stared into her like trapped souls begging for freedom. She exhaled slowly through her mouth, taking a deep breath and trying to shove away the confusion.

‘This cave has never been here– I couldn't have not seen it before. How–‘

She twisted her neck and looked up and around at every drawing, her eyebrows furrowing and the light of the moon shining down. As she turned in a full circle she was startled to see black scribblings circling all around the tunnel entrance she came from, nearly covering the whole wall. It was like the shadows of Wyverns, all gazing at her as she stood alone in the moonlit center of the cavern.

She let out a small growl from her throat and moved, going forward and back through the tunnelway, leaving the drawings without a second glance. She nearly stepped on a small centipede as she went and stopped, letting it crawl past and into a small crack in the wall.

A flashed image of a talon crushing down on one. The dead body with its legs curled up on the ground.

She walked back through the pitch black tunnel at a fast pace, refusing to believe any of this was really happening. She didn’t understand.

When she came back out into the den, she looked over at the tunnel opening and covered it up with blankets and other objects from her den, blocking the way till she could only see the top half of the darkened maw. Backing away, she went back into the main room, passing the pens on the ground and the drawing she’d set down earlier. She came out and called Pandora’s name.

She wasn't there. Bria shook her head and jumped up to her ledge, quickly lying down and staring ahead, her brain dull and confused. She dragged the side of her wings’ talon over her face with a small sigh, closing her eyes.

Her mind went back to the two times she’d seen the creatures flying overhead. Then the drawing on the wall. The thing in the middle of everything, it’s mouth wide and screeching at the sky. She hissed, stuck with no idea of what it could possibly be.

“Pandora, where are you?” She whispered angrily.

She kept her eyes closed, letting her face slowly relax. Eventually she fell under the cover of sleep, her strained body getting its short bit of rest.

“C’mon, Bri!!”

A gray and mint Wyvern twirled around with his daughter. It was a clouded and rainy day, water drizzling from the skyhole and outside the entrance. Outside, one could be sure that the Fire, Ice and Poison Wyverns were all tucked away in their homes and dens across the kingdom. The Lightning Wyverns, however, were all in celebration of the beautiful sight of a rainstorm.

The little hatchling was smiling, trying to dance along with her father as he moved around in a circle whilst singing aloud. His tail moved happily back and forth across the ground. Bria jumped up and down around him, her wings and claws tapping against the floor.

Raindrops fell at a steady pace outside, lines of glittering water streaming down and soaking the land. Right by the doorway to their den, the Wyverns' second daughter was sitting down and watching the storming weather with her head resting on her arms. “Pandora, come dance with us,” Their father called.

The sound of rain pattering against the stone was all Pandora could hear. One of her claws were scratching the ground, going around and around in the form of a specific shape. Something like the skeleton of a creature.

“I’m not very good at this,” Bria was saying, her voice young and high-pitched.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Father said, turning his head to her. “Dancing isn’t something you have to be good at. Just have fun while you do it.”

He looked back once more at Pandora, his eyes glistening in worry and confusion. The rain went on.

Bria woke up and lifted her head abruptly, her heart beating and her insides ice cold.

The mobs are flying away from it.

She looked down at the empty ledge below her.

‘Pandora drew it.’

‘How does she know?’

‘How could she know?’

Her eyes moved down to the floor, her pupils trembling back and forth.

‘Why do I feel like I should know?’

‘What is it?’

‘Why would I know?’

‘WHY DON’T I KNOW?’

In the monotone sky, clouds began to form and gather above her home. They covered the stars and moon and a gust of wind blew through the kingdom. Bria folded her wings around herself in a hug, panting quietly. She stuffed her head into her wings. But it just seemed to get even colder. ‘Something’s coming, somethings happening. What’s going to happen?’

By now she wasn’t sure what to think or do, the sound of her own breathing sounding foreign and louder than she could handle in the silent den.

She tried to still her thoughts and focus. She did know one thing.

She wasn’t going to say anything to Pandora.

A voice spoke softly in her head. It was hers, but there was someone else in there, the voice of her father.

‘You’ll figure this out, Bria. You have to. Stay strong, please.’

She lifted her snout from under her wings, and just then there was a mass of screeching and bellowing from above her den. She inhaled sharply and pulled herself up and ran. She didn’t bother going through the entrance. Flying up to the roof and skyhole and clinging to the rocks with her wings, she shoved herself through, ignoring the stone that scraped hard and painfully against her body. She then looked up, a hostile glare in her purple eyes. The groups of fleeing Pterosaurs went past just as fast as the ones before. ‘Great Vardiland.m

This was the third one now.

The creatures continued to fly on through the midnight sky, and Bria continued to watch them without ever letting them leave her gaze. She watched them the whole time until every last one of them were gone.

‘Figure it out, Bria.’

She didn’t get any sleep for the rest of the night.