Katya sat up and looked around. She hadn't noticed that she had fallen asleep, not until she woke up anyway. She saw Casimir still sleeping soundly. Katya was glad at that thought. She knew that after countless hours of searching for a way out Casimir deserved a good sleep. She sighed as she saw the familiar scene of the room Casimir had been stuck in for what felt like the whole day. Katya's stomach rumbled and she wished, as she already had countless times, that she and Casimir were far away. Perhaps on Kyria.
Katya gazed at the walls but there were no windows. even if there had been she doubted that it would be over 9 feet tall. The ceiling was high enough for Katya to fly, but she didn't think she would be able to keep herself I n the air. Not when she was THIS hungry.
The only way out was through the tall, thick metal doors that the humans had locked. "I hate to say this but-" Casimir's voice startled Katya and she jumped. Casimir laughed, but quickly turned back into serious mode. "seriously, Katya we need to find a way out. we can only last another day or two without food and water."
Katya hated to admit it but she thought that Casimir had a pretty good point. But she wasn't just about to give up hope. "Come on let's try just once more- the doors I bet- we have to be able to break the lock."
Casimir looked at her but didn't argue, for he knew that Katya didn't want to accept that they would just die in here. Katya walked over to the doors with Casimir following her.
Katya leaned against the door, and as if they had done this a million times, (they had) Casimir leaned on the other side and at the same time, both of them pushed with all their might against the doors. But this time something finally happened. Something inside the door clicked and they swung open, both Casimir and Katya were sent spiraling into the corridor behind the door.
Casimir laughed and hugged Katya, "It worked! we are free! well, almost..." Casimir trailed off as he noticed that they were not yet free.
"We need to find a way out of here!" Katya yelled from over her shoulder, and she was already pulling away from Casimir and running in the other direction. Casimir tried to follow her.
As the two of them ran through the building Katya noticed just how strange (and lucky) it was that there were no humans. Her mind told her that they were just gone because of her and Casimir incident but it still felt pretty wrong to her.
"AHA!" Katya yelled as she ran through a door and into some sort of yard.
Casimir ran into her from behind, he flopped onto the ground, panting. "K-Kat-Katya walk slow don't ya?"
Katya hit him with her tail, "never mind that look around! we made it out!" she launched herself into the air with Casimir reluctantly following behind.
"WAIT UP!" he called after her but she didn't listen she kept soaring higher and higher- into the clouds, freedom awaited her- and food- a life again.
Katya kept flying but soon she could no longer hear Casimir yelling after her, Then, suddenly she felt something grab her tail she tried beating her wings harder but she couldn't go forward- and slowly she started to sink to the ground. she tried to scream but no sound came out. Whatever had grabbed her tail was slowly taking her down back to earth, and it began pulled her faster,, and soon they were plummeting to earth, Katya's wings flapping uselessly as she was dragged back to land.
So this is why the humans were not there... Katya managed to think while she was quickly plummeting to the ground. She looked behind her and saw Kai hanging onto her tail. "Get Off!" she roared at him, "Or we will both die!" and Katya felt she was telling the truth because at the speed the two of them were falling, they would most likely splatter on the ground, once they hit it anyway.
Kai sneered, "No. I can't die. and trust me I have tried."
Katya didn't what to say in answer, she just kept trying, uselessly, to glide safely to the ground. Suddenly, Kai's weight was knocked off of Katya's tail. but instead of gliding, she started spiraling out of control and falling to the earth.
She saw bursts of flames soaring through the air, but she was unworried about what was causing them. The only thing her mind concentrated on was not dying, which was pretty much what she had spent all her time as a dragon trying not to do. But she did notice when a burst of fire hit her in the back.
Katya flipped around mid-flight and saw the scene behind her. Both Casimir and Kai were locked in a ferocious ariel battle. and it looked like Kai, who was larger, stronger, and unable to die, was winning. But the battle was quickly speeding away as Katya fell through the air. And finally she hit the ground, and all the air was knocked out of her lungs as her eyes fluttered to a close.
Katya saw a bright light through her closed lids, but she kept them closed, fearing what she would see if she opened them. But with her eyes closed, everything she imagined was just imagination not reality. And she really hoped that what she imagined wasn't true. She thought of blood pouring over everything, and Casimir's dead body lying strewn across the ground, with his limbs bent in every which way.
The light brightened and getting extremely annoyed Katya opened her eyes but all she saw was the bright light, whose intensity hadn't changed from when her eyes were closed to when she opened them. For a second Katya thought that she had lost her sight again, but how it was now wasn't like that, she could tell that something was different. For one she could still see but what she was seeing was pretty weird, it looked like she was looking down on herself from above until slowly her perspective faded back into her own eyes just like it usually was. What it actually was like was that she was in an endless white void. When she spoke her voice echoed around the light. and she couldn't feel anything, not like last time. Katya took a step forward and wobbled as she stepped onto what felt like a cloud. Katya smiled as she took another step, her front legs sinking into the cloud. Soon she was running as fast as she could through the empty white void, just as she had dreamed to do since she was a little girl.
Katya lept into the air with her wings outstretched but she couldn't fly. And suddenly she felt her body changing as if she were shrinking. and a few minutes later she was standing in the clouds. to add more strangeness to the scenario, Katya was surrounded by mirrors and in her reflection, Katya saw that she had been changed back into a human. Katya screamed and a human scream came out of her throat. Yes, she was human again. Katya stared at her fizzy amber-colored hair, and she inspected her blueish eyes, not even a spec of the used to be solid silver. She looked at her clothes, the dark blue hoodie she used to always wear, along with her black leggings and torn-up sneakers. Luckily her knife was still hidden under her black jacket. "Please-No!" Katya whimpered, she had loved being a dragon with Casimir more than being a human with no friends. The white haze lifted and Katya saw that she was lying right where she had fallen earlier.
She stood up, trying as she hadn't for a while to stand on two legs, she took a few wobbly steps. and promptly fell back onto the ground. Katya grumbled and stood back up, brushing off her leggings. and her eyes fell onto Casimir's form, and she rushed over to him, forgetting that she was a dragon. Finally Katya noticed just how large dragons were, Casimir was easily eight feet long, from snout to tail. and if she had to guess she would say he would be nine feet tall standing. It was hard to think that Katya had only been slightly smaller than Casimir when she was a dragon.
Suddenly Casimir rocketed up, when he saw Katya he roared and lunged at her, Katya was about to yell, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" but she remembered that she was a human. And finally, Katya knew just why everyone thought dragons were a serious threat. When she saw Casimir flying at her it was honestly completely terrifying, and Katya almost forgot to jump out of the way.
Katya reached deep into her memory for some of the dragon language, and she finally understood what Casimir was roaring at her. "YOU KILLED HER DIDN'T YOU!" he kept saying.
Next Katya had to figure out how to speak in dragon. "I didn't kill Her, Casimir, I am Her. My name is Katya!"
Casimir froze as if saying, But what if she is telling the truth? but he shook off that thought. He landed and started circling her, "You're lying! But-" He paused a hint of doubt in his voice, "how do you know my name?"
Katya smiled, "why would I NOT know your name, Casimir?" she asked.
Casimir kept pacing, "What- but if you're- how- No it's impossible."
"But it's not, Cassi- believe me."
Casimir's eye's winded, "Cassi?" he whispered.
Katya smiled "Yes, Cassi. Rember?"
"Yes I-I remember." Casimir murmured, then his head shot up. "Wait- you're speaking in dragon!"
Katya nodded, "yes, I think I am still dragon enough to at least speak in this tongue."
Casimir nodded also as if he understood every word. But the confused look on his face said otherwise. "Right..." he trailed off as if she still couldn't believe that this girl- This HUMAN was really the beautiful dragon he had met.
Katya looked around warily, "I think we should go, we wouldn't want to be found."
"You mean- I wouldn't want to be found. I doubt they kill you." Casimir said sourly."
Katya looked around, "look, I didn't choose this. now, let me get on your back."
Casimir bowed down and Katya clambered onto his back and fastened her grip onto his horns. When he lifted them into the air, she could feel his wings beating behind her legs, he soared through the air, and Katya smiled as the wind blew through her hair. Casimir did a few spirals and he kept diving in and out of sight, till she thought that all the people saw were the bright flashes of his sandy scales.
"Look down there!" Katya hissed loudly in Casimir's ears as he dove behind a cloud. He peered to the ground. And standing there, just talking was Sir and human Kai. She, with her pitiful human ears, couldn't hear what they were saying, but Casimir's ears twitched and he started whispering what they were saying.
"-I'll get them next time!
No, I don't trust you to do another mission
Please!
No, the right thing to do would be to turn you in, you would be publicly executed of course but one less dragon to worry about" Sir, the second speaker, seemed to be musing to himself, ignoring the fact that Kai was there, but it was hard to tell since Casimir was saying both their parts.
Katya leaned father onto Casimir's neck, trying to hear what he was saying, but currently, they seemed either to not be talking or speaking so quietly that even a dragon's extremely sensitive ears couldn't pick it up.
Casimir soared a bit higher but quickly picked up the pace as he ascended higher and higher. Finally he landed on a ledge. And Katya slipped off his back, "Casimir, what was that all about?" she asked him.
Casimir glanced nervously behind him, "apparently Kai could hear me speaking, just as I heard them."
"So you got out of there?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, that's good I guess." Katya ended awkwardly. Talking with Casimir had become a lot more awkward once she become human.
Casimir edged away from her and curled up, "well I feel like I'm tired." He said gruffly.
Katya was silent as she lay on her back and stared at the stars in the sky above her. She watched as the moon and stars slowly faded and the sun rose above the skyline. Was I really awake for THAT long? She asked herself as she rose to her feet. As she stood at the edge of the gigantic ledge she wondered again what she would do. As soon as she was comfortable with her future as a dragon some just HAD to come and rob it from her, and now, once she was human again what was she supposed to do? Maby she should start covering herself in fruit juice and see what happens? But Katya didn't truly think that would work. Of course, Casimir probably had a lot of questions too, what was she supposed to tell him? That she was actually always just a human that looked like a dragon? That she had been lying to him the entire time? No, she couldn't do that, but already she felt that she was starting to lose the only friend she had every had.
"Cassi, time to get up," Katya whispered into his ear.
Casimir shot up, "Wha-wait- oh," he said as he saw Katya, and his expression changed so slightly but she was sure that Casimir was disappointed that it hadn't been a dream.
"Morning." She said in a cheerful tone, trying to cheer him up.
Casimir just got up, and muttered: "we should move again, we don't want Sir and Kai to catch up."
Katya just stared at him, "Uh yeah I guess so." But she couldn't help feeling a bit stung. Why was Casimir acting this way?
Casimir crouched down, and Katya got on his back again, as he launched himself in the air she, almost slipped off but Casimir didn't notice. She kept glancing down, afraid that she would slip off and Casimir wouldn't even notice. He seemed to be trying to make Katya fall off, as he was flying much more roughly than he needed to. Katya clutched desperately onto his horns.
"Slow down!" She yelled through the wind rushing past her ears. Casimir suddenly stopped flying and Katya fell off. She started screaming as she fell and Casimir whipped around and a stuned look came to his face when he saw Katya falling, and the hurt looks on her face as she quickly fell to her death. and she wished, she wished so much that she was a dragon again.
Suddenly, she hit the ground, but when she looked behind her to the ground she saw that she was still hundreds of feet above the earth. But, it was like she had landed on some sort of a transparent surface, like a really thin and strong sheet of glass. Slowly, the thing she was sitting on started descending back to the earth. and when the shock started to wear off she noticed an old couple, both with their hands raised toward Katya. and finally, she touched down to the ground, she slowly got up and faced the old couple, "thank you." she said softly to them.
The woman smiled, "don't worry about it, Katya!"
Katya took a step back, "How do you-?"
"Know your name?" The man took a step forward, "my wife has the power to see."
"The power to what?" Katya asked.
The woman smiled more broadly, "well yes, to see. You know, see fragments of the future."
Katya nodded her head ever so slightly, "well yes, but who are you?"
The man smirked, "well you do know us, you just can't think of us at the moment."
Katya scanned her mind, trying to pull up a memory of the pair. but only a faded sound of laughter that sounded slightly like one of their voices turned up at her mind's call. She shook her head, "No, I can't really recall-" she froze, another memory suddenly skidded across her mind, "Grandma? Grandpa?" she asked, astonished.
"yes." Her grandmother said, then beckoned for Katay to follow her. Katya followed the couple into the woods, even though she couldn't stop feeling that it was a bad idea. She followed them through the trees, and the forest, and at long last, she reached a small wooden cabin. "c'mon Katty." her grandmother called, as Katya reluctantly stepped through the threshold.
Grandparents to the rescue!