by Galaxytale » Wed Oct 25, 2023 3:25 pm
Username: Galaxytale
ID: #646813
Nightmare 🦇:
It all starts back at his childhood home. He's not a plateling again, though. No, he's still fully grown. He's visiting with his dad when an emergency alert comes on the television screen. The reporter's words are garbled, but the meaning is clear. A storm is headed their way, and it's not any sort of natural storm either. There are no clouds, the sun will still shine down on them, but it will rain. Not water, no, arrows. Spectral, black arrows will rain from the sky, but only in small bunches at once. Where they land, though, a circle of corruption will form and begin to expand outward. The reporter says that no living creature should come into contact with the corruption.
As the report finishes, the Plate Dragon and his dad hear a series of thunks in the roof above them. They realize the storm is already upon them. A small blackened circle appears where, he assumes, each arrow has lodged itself in their roof. The black spots begin to expand, and they expand at a concerning rate. He and his dad pack up what they can quickly and make their way outside, where they can see dark, yet glowing, circles forming on the ground in random spots around them. They watch for a moment, unsure what the circles mean. Within a few seconds though, the spectral arrows rain from the sky in the area. The Plate Dragon is struck for a second by how much the phenomena reminds him of some kind of AOE Attack from a video game. This doesn't last long as the black color begins to spread. His dad yells for him to hurry to their car, they're going to try and get out of the storm. Maybe even try to outrun it if they can.
He climbs in the driver's side, taking responsibility for getting them both out of this alive. He pulls out of their driveway and maneuvers around the infrequent circles as they appear around them. The going is slow and careful. Slow enough that the Plate Dragon sees a plateling from down the street outside. The little one is running from something, but he's clearly either too scared to pay attention to where he's going or he doesn't know the danger of the spots because he runs straight into a large corrupted area. The moment his paw touches the ground, it begins to turn black and he crumples. He tries to crawl his way away but his body is changing, twisting, becoming strange, bulbous and blackened. What used to be a neighborhood boy is still. Until it is not. The blackened mass that remains begins to twitch and writhe on the ground, until it stands up on two misshapen limbs. Behind it, two more things, things that used to be people, shamble into sight. Somehow, the abominations seem to sense the Plate Dragon and his father, and they begin to move towards their vehicle.
He puts the car in gear and gets going. Now they know why they can't get caught by the arrows or set foot in the corruption that they bring. As he drives the circles, and the arrows that follow, begin to appear on the ground faster and faster. The storm is intensifying around them. He picks up speed to match. They're racing down empty country roads and highways trying to outrun the storm but it is always on their heels. As if it speeds up the exact same amount that they do. As if it knows they're there, and it's trying to chase them down.
Eventually though, the car runs out of gas and it coasts to a stop. They can either get out of the vehicle and try to make it away on foot, or they can stay in the car and hope it can somehow protect them. Hope that the storm changes direction, or that some higher power intervenes and saves them. As he and his father debate on what to do, there comes a loud series of thunks in the roof. Arrows are sticking down through the roof, their tips dangling in front of his and his father's faces. As the black spots appear and begin to spread, they realize that their choice has been made for them. It spreads too quickly, and the Plate Dragon's father is the first one to be corrupted. He watches as his father meets the same fate as that neighborhood boy did. He watches, knowing that soon it will be his turn. Before the corruption can touch him, though, the dream ends. Leaving him awake, and with a desperate need to call and check on his dad.
FUNFACT: This is based on a dream I really had as a child! Many child unfriendly details were omitted though.
