“Let’s open that door!” Braith snatches the key from Marco’s hand.
“Wait, we need to be careful. We don’t know what’s behind there,” I warn, but she ignores me and skips into the security room.
“Haze, I’m sorry.” Marco rubs his arm sheepishly.
“It’s fine; you were just trying to protect us.”
“But I should have listened.”
“No, you were right to question it; it could have been a fluke.”
I take his hand and lead him into the other room, entwining my fingers with his. Braith bounces gleefully as we walk in and shoves the key in the lock and flings it open. An unnatural screech echoes from the room, which is pitch black, causing us all to jump backwards in shock. Bluey and Damayanti creep close to the door, growling at the darkness. The screech echoes again, louder this time, which makes them prick their ears and relax their attack positions. With a huff I can only describe as disbelief, Damayanti enters the room and sniffs around, letting out a yelp as she trips over something on the floor.
“Damayanti!” Braith rushes in after her companion, only to start screaming.
“Come on!” Marco yanks me into the dark room, the only light spilling in from the room behind us.
Braith appears from the darkness and slams into me, shaking.
“Braith, what’s wrong?”
“It’s a…” The word catches in her throat.
“A what?”
“A body,” she squeaks, pointing at a mound on the floor.
In front of us is a person hunched over on the floor covered in flies. The room stinks of rotten flesh. The more I stare at it, the more bile rises in my throat and I want to throw up.
“Let’s keep moving,” Marco gulps, doing his best to avoid the body. “Drea, light the way.”
The white dragon steps over the body and ignites her tail, filling the room with light. The screech echoes once more.
“That sounded closer,” Braith mutters.
The dragons flank us as we move through the room. Drea kicks something out of the way every so often as we move forward, and I’m scared to think that it might be more corpses. A green light flashes ahead of us from another door. Drea studies the door and growls softly. This ignites a screech from the other side.
“There’s something behind that door,” Braith squeaks.
“I really hope it’s not more Wyrms,” I mutter.
“We need to open that door,” Marco says, pointing at a screen on the wall.
“How can we do that? We need some sort of key,” I reply, looking at the green flashing screen.
“It looks as if it’s some sort of scanner.”
“So?”
My boyfriend goes silent, looking backwards into the darkness of the room.
“Oh, no, no!” Braith screams, tearing herself away from me to push Marco. “We are not doing that!”
At seeing Braith’s reaction, realisation hits me. Only the scientists could access it, and they are currently in the room with us.
“We can’t.” I shake my head at the thought.
“What else can we do?” Marco pleads.
“I’m not disrespecting the dead!” Braith shouts, spittle flying from her mouth. “We will find another way!”
“Share your suggestions then!”
The two continue to bicker as the screeching from the other side of the door gets louder, the dragons crowding around it curiously. Bluey catches my eye when I spot a golden lightning bolt on his cheek. The red and blue dragon turns towards me, his tongue lolling out.
“You’re electricity, aren’t you? Can you open the door somehow?”
Cocking his head to one side, Bluey approaches the screen and sniffs it. He licks the screen, sending sparks flying. The green screen flicks to a warm blue and the door slides open. Marco and Braith stop arguing to witness the spectacle, mouths agape.
“Well done, Bluey!” Braith wraps her arms around his neck, making him squeal in glee.
Drea goes first into the room, but stops suddenly. As we follow her in, I gasp at the size of the room. It looks like some sort of plane hangar with more scientific equipment and vats scattered everywhere. Above is a glass ceiling that lets in the moonlight. The screech from before fills the room, making us all cower.
“What is that?” Braith murmurs.
Following the direction of the noise, Drea leads us towards a large glass dome, almost half the size of the room. Inside are bowls filled with meat and water with dead leaves and plants scattered everywhere. Parts of the cage are shrouded in darkness, so we can’t see what’s inside. Drea taps on the glass with her tail and growls softly, the other three dragons doing the same. After a few seconds, this convinces whatever is inside to screech once more, the sound so deafening that we have to cover our ears.
“I don’t like this.” Marco grips my hand tighter, our palms filling with sweat.
Two golden eyes approach us from the darkness. Drea coaxes the creature forward to greet it. Once the creature steps into the light, my heart falls to my stomach. The creature is exactly like a dragon except for the fact that it has two wings instead of front legs. Light bounces off its grey scales as it floats towards the dragons.
“What the fuck is that?” Braith backs off several steps, afraid as the creature turns to hiss at her.
There’s no mistaking it. I’ve seen so many drawings of it in school, but they went extinct years and years ago.
“It’s a Wyvern.”
About the Author
I am an author who mainly writes Young Adult Fantasy. However, I am hoping to branch into Sci-Fi, Horror and New Adult. Books got me through my darkest years as a teenager, and I hope that one day mine will inspire young people to keep going. I live in the UK with my two cats, Rocky and Mishka.
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Also by Jessica Turnbull
Read four short stories not available anywhere else…
Elemental Dragons: Short Story Collection
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Read four short stories from the Elemental Dragons universe:
Circles - Russet dreams of being free, but will this ever become a reality again?
Hesitation - Hercules has an opportunity for escape, but is it entering the same world it left?
Passion - Ophelia paints to remind herself of her companion, can she find her inspiration?
Purpose - Moon has been alone ever since his companion died, can four younglings cheer him up?
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Venom and Earth Page 27