"---ey! HEY!"
Blackness hung firmly over the shapeshifter's vision and weighed heavily on his body. Everything was buzzing with what felt like lightning-charged firecrackers, and whatever voice that was sounded far off.
"COME ON, SCALES, WAKE YOUR SMOKING BUTT UP- THIS IS IMPORTANT!!"
With the feeling of someone grabbing his horns and aggressively shaking his head side to side, the dragon finally came to with a pained groan. His mind spun and each breath fizzed through his chest like a dull electric surge. Right now he couldn't seem to get his limbs to move while the darkness slowly cleared from his sight.
When his eyes shifted to see where the voice was coming from he saw the familiar childlike anonymous kneeled beside his head. Even with her empty eye sockets he could see panic and urgency fixed into her expression along with the touch of annoyance in her tone. "It's about time!"
Lian grimaced as he tried to move again. "What happened..? What....what are you doing here...?" Good god, even his teeth were buzzing...
As he struggled to sit up the anonymous levetated a small distance off the ground to get out of his way. No sense in getting stupidly crushed by one of his wings if he toppled over. "You tell me! Do you realize how long I've been trying to snap you out of it since I found you like this? A really REALLY long time! Where the heck has everyone gone off to- there's nothing but negative energy around here!" Sure, it was something of a plus that she could feed off of it since she hasn't caused hardly any trouble herself lately, but that meant something was SERIOUSLY messed up. And that knowledge made her feel sick.
"... ...Gone..?" He could hardly process half of what she was saying as he shook his head from the dizziness.
"Yes, gone," she said with her brows furrowed and her hands on her hips. "Are you a parrot, or are your ears not working either?"
Lian's gaze shifted from one area to another in confusion as he got a look at his surroundings. The ground beneath him and the nearby foliage was all burned, singed, and charred... And it looked like a few trees were still glowing from the superheated embers.
How did I get here..? he thought slowly.
Running a talon over his face, he did his best to think straight. "The last thing I remember...." It was...keeping an eye on the crablings, wasn't it? Then...wouldn't he have been in the lair?
The anonymous floated a bit closer. "...Well, what is it?" she asked somewhat nervously.
His memory was coming in flickers, and he could only guess. "I...think I was watching the kids... And I heard a noise?" He recalled stepping just outside the entrance to investigate... "Something was sneaking around the lair and...I..." As the images became clearer his gaze narrowed, and he processed them slower as if he couldn't quite believe it. "... ...I was..."
Ambushed.
Now he could just smell the stinging scent of an electrical fire on his talons and spine... Only small pieces of the aftereffect of being knocked unconscious by electrocution.
The dragon's eyes shot open wide. A sharp gasp escaped him as he jumped to his talons, panic quickly setting in as his scales began to give off a high pitched rattle of distress.
Where was the lair?! Which way?!?!
Whirling around, he saw the outer wall of the shell cave just on the other side of the burning ring of plant life. The anonymous was right. It was FAR too quiet, and it only added to his growing sense alarm.
Ignoring the buzzing in his limbs he launched out of the clearing, scattering ashes and debris as he raced for the lair and roared at the top of his lungs.
"TAONGA!! HUAKA!!!"
( @glamorous-revenge )