PDARPG MISC: Decra Drain - silicone and scales - 1262 words

Chapter 1: Decra Drain - silicone and scales - 1262 words

Prompt #3 - Rootways; Draw or write about your character investigating the root tunnels below the city.

 

Arcus slid her hand gently across a root in the wall. She could feel the surface texture's roughness as vibrations in the ball joints in her fingers. She came to a stop, and tapped the root with her claws. A sudden, high-pitched screech turned her on her heels, and instinctively, she grasped for her firearm strapped onto her back.

 

Icarus joined the Flamemane's deep sigh, as the two wyfexes exhaled in unison. Arcus lowered her arm. There was no need for weapons. Both of them were getting really fed up with the silver dragon's childish behavior, since it had been going for... well, at least Arcus stopped counting at five minutes. Caspian tried to find an opening to help Nathaniel up from the dirty puddle, but the dragon's angry flailing made it difficult. A mixture of confused desperation painted the eternal's face, framed with a thin line of annoyance. Arcus crossed her arms, and turned to Icarus, who mirrored her demeanor by doing the same.

"Karmen again?" She didn't really expect an answer, as the masked wyfex rolled his fake eyes, and scratched the back of his neck with his claws.

"Karmen again," Icarus finally huffed. It was clear that the group wasn't formed by its participants. While the Athos and the dragon were like two peas in a pod, the other two weren't too keen on each other's company.

"Explains," Arcus mused, as her vision sensor watched Caspian finally getting a grip on Nathaniel's wrist. The eternal pulled the angrily hissing serpent of a man up, carefully making sure he wouldn't fall again within the next three seconds. Nathaniel dusted himself off, even though it didn't do much, as the mud and vibrantly green moss weren't so easy to get rid of - especially when they clung to his sharp scales. Icarus tilted his head.

"Need a hand?" The wyfex's inquiry was in no manner ill-willed, but not surprising to anyone, it tipped Nathaniel's volatile temper. He took determined steps towards the two creatures.

"I WILL SHOW YOU A HAND, YOU CURSED BEING OF-"

"Natinatinatinatinatistopstopstopstopstop," Caspian pleaded the dragon incoherently, his tone radiating a rueful amount of experience from such situations, its underlying taste bitter distress. He wrapped his arms around the spitfire's slender figure, and embraced him firmly.

"Breathe," Caspian encouraged him, but it didn't help. Nathaniel continued to struggle in his grasp - but the eternal wasn't willing to let him wreak havoc. He squeezed the dragon tighter in his arms, and the pale man let out a short, squeaky wheeze.

"I said," Caspian inhaled dramatically, as his lips receded, and he bared his teeth in provoked aggravation.

"Breathe."

 

Shades of melancholy cut through Nathaniel's face, as he turned his eyes away from the eternal with gnashed teeth. He hated being the underdog, desperately pushing against a hurricane with no chances to rise victorious. Caspian wasn't only more attractive than him, stronger than him, faster than him - but he was taller. Six inches was as high as a skyscraper for his mutilated self-image, and the Athos had the tendency to tease him about... many things. It wasn't malicious, he knew it wasn't - but it would've felt the same if the eternal had just pushed yet another one of the dragon's teeth in with every playful jest. As if he didn't hate himself enough as is - and as an insult to injury, words weren't his forte, either. They weren't such for either of them.

 

Arcus scoffed softly, amusement framing her metallic tone. She turned her nonexistent eyes to Icarus next to her.

"How did they even get you to join forces with Caspian, anyway?" She could hear the masked wyfex growling at her question. His sharp teeth ground against each other.

"Karmen only mentioned three others. Not you or him by name." Icarus turned to Arcus slowly, the whole movement tense with pent-up rage. A pair of pixelated, red eyebrows popped into Arcus' face screen, their expression doubtful.

"Don't you brow me," Icarus seethed at her, "you know all well how they're like."

Arcus turned around, and faced forward again. She chuckled, but didn't reply, as she began to tread the treacherously uneven tunnel of roots. Hearing an angry huffing behind her, it was clear that the two beanpoles had made up, and followed behind the wyfexes.

 

The tunnel felt endless. It curved and bent in almost identical intervals, but it never branched. It was odd, to say the least. Nathaniel groaned.

"Can we just-"

"Shh!" Arcus' painfully sharp, mechanical hush made Icarus yelp, as it invaded his artificial eardrums, Caspian attempting to shield his sensitive hearing with his hands. The Flamemane halted, and knocked on a few roots that made the tunnel's curved walls. She grabbed a knife from her belt. Icarus tilted his head curiously, as he noticed the multiple blades around her waist. He thought it was definitely an overkill to carry so many tools for bloodshed around with her, but Arcus took lessons learned the hard way to heart. That slimy elf, Qilen, had shown her that relying on only one thing to keep you afloat was just simply stupid. Although, essentially, she did have two things to rely on in the Eventide Ring - her shotgun, and her knife. Annoyingly, her firearm was confiscated from the get-go as she portaled in, and the knife she shattered herself in a fit of fury - which was all Qilen's fault. She got the shotgun back as she left, but a firearm under a lock she didn't have a key to didn't really help - especially when there was a pack of howling beasts closing in, ready to devour her.

 

Arcus swiftly cut a root, and it started to bleed. It wept a glowing, light blue secretion, that had the consistency of overly watery gruel. She turned to Icarus, as her tail playfully whisked the air.

"Go on," the words lit up on her face in a threatening shade of red, "lick it. You have a tongue, don't you?"

"Make the twinks do it, twat!" The masked wyfex shouted at her, pointing at Caspian and Nathaniel behind them. The eternal blocked the dragon's charged approach with a stretched out arm in front of him. Arcus snickered at Icarus, but instantly tensed up as the passage started to tremble. A rumbling sound washed over the group. Following its wave, the roots creating the sett lit up in the same shade and intensity of azure as their wounded comrade's draining life force.

 

Arcus sprung into a sprint, shouting at the others to keep up with her. Icarus traversed over the bumpy roots and corms near-effortlessly, dashing after the fiery wyfex. While Caspian could've probably done the same, he couldn't leave Nathaniel behind. Dragging the dragon along, the eternal desperately tried to keep up with the two wyfexes. Whenever he glanced behind him, Nathaniel's expression cut through his scaled hide like a tanning knife. The silver dragon was ashamed of his clumsiness in the moment. He was a burden to Caspian and the others, and they'd be faster without him weighing them down.

 

As if slamming into a brick wall, Caspian stumbled into a halt. His eyes darted on the root-made walls erratically, his strenuous breathing filling the space with its heavy sound. Nathaniel cautiously moved to stand next to him, finally seeing the reason for the abrupt standstill.

 

The passageway branched into three separate tunnels in front of them, and the wyfexes were nowhere to be seen. Caspian grit his teeth, as Nathaniel pressed himself against the eternal's side.

 

"Where the fuck did they go?"

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Comments

  • Feb 13, 2023, 3:23:10 AM UTC
    Is that a cliffhanger? Will there be more?? :OOO

    This was so fun to read! I love seeing all of them together solving/causing problems (especially knowing that they don't usually hang out like pals - these spiky character dynamics oohooo) ^v^
    • Feb 13, 2023, 11:16:35 AM UTC
      i don't think i'll be writing more for this one, sorry for the cliffhanger 😂 thank you so much! ♥