Grey wandered around the grass, wondering what will happen to him now. He was an escaped convict, so no one would ever take him in now. He kicked a pebble, hating the devil so much he could scream, so he did. His eyes widened as he realized he had made a mistake. He ran into the shelter of the trees and sighed. His shoulders slumped and he curled into a ball.

  He shook as hot tears trickled from his eyes. He thought of Willow and wondered if she would ever trust him again. He looked up and realized that crying wasn’t going to change anything, only doing something will.

  So, he picked himself up, dried his eyes and set off for the library. He was going to do some research on memory dragons and maybe the devil, in hopes of helping Willow.

  When he arrived at the library, the person at the door looked at him suspiciously, probably suspecting that she knew Grey, but let him pass. He went to the dragon section and searched for memory dragons and found a few books on them.

  He flipped through them. He only stopped at the parts that talked about their abilities, and read all about it. After an hour of reading, he closed the books and was quite bored of reading, so he left the library, which was called the Intelligible Library, and ran home.

  He spent the rest of the day thinking through what he had read and wondered what the devil was up to. Probably grumping about how he couldn’t find anyone else to do his work. Grey smiled at the thought and fell asleep on the couch.

  Willow rode around on Sky for fun. Willow had started Sky off at a slow run and had headed towards the redwood forest. As the trees grew denser, Willow slowed Sky a little. Eventually, Willow flew on Sky. She practiced twisting in the air and had a lot of fun.

  She whooped as she soared through the pale blue sky. Willow wondered what the clouds would feel like. She flew up and found out. They looked fluffy, but they were wet! She laughed as her hair stuck in wet strands.

  She looked towards the big sky and remembered why Sky was called Sky.

  She leaned forward on Sky, relaxing. She rested her head between Sky’s horns. Sky’s head was kind of wet, but Willow didn’t mind.

  Suddenly, Willow started to slip! Sky’s scales scraped Willow’s face and she screamed. Willow scrambled for something to hold onto, but she was riding bareback because Sky liked it better. Her hands scraped against the scales. Sky, panicked from Willow’s screams, stopped, but to stop, she had to go vertical, and Willow’s descent increased in speed, and she fell from Sky’s back.

  Willow started breathing quickly and curled into a ball, her face and hands in another world of pain, and her panic was in the other. She searched rapidly for Sky, and saw her looking for Willow.

  “SKY! HELP ME!!” Willow yelled at Sky. Sky turned towards the noise and swooped beneath Willow, stretching a wing out to catch her. She caught Willow successfully, but quickly after started to lean to one side, causing Willow to slide off.

  Willow started to sob with stress unknowingly and saw the ground was coming faster than Willow would have liked. She counted the seconds until her death. Her count was off by two seconds, and Sky broke her fall. Her wing jerked down from the force, and Willow came with it and she hit the floor- hard.

  Everything went black.

  An interminable amount of time later, Willow opened her eyes into a small cozy room. “Oh, good. You’re awake!” A voice Willow hadn’t heard before said. It was a little squeaky. “Ah! Stay down now. Don’t rush it. Take it slow.” They said when Willow tried to sit up, and gently pushed her down.

  When her grogginess went away, she turned her head from side to side, and saw that it was a pleasant room with a bed that Willow was in, and another two beside it. The main color scheme was a dark red and gold highlights. There was a chair by every bed, cushioned with red pillows.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  A face was peering into Willow’s, it was deeply tanned and had short black hair framing the face. They had blue eyes. The lips were pursed with concern.

  “My name is Mora. Someone found you on a patrol and brought you to me. I’m this area’s healer.” After these words, she rested her hand on Willow’s forehead and looked relieved. “Whoof! For a second there, I thought you had passed out from heat stroke or a high fever. But nope! Your temperature is completely normal.” Mora told her, smiling. She frowned as she said her next words. “Now, would you mind telling me what happened?”

  She put her hand gently behind Willow’s head and she realized there were bandages there. Willow looked down and there were bandages on her hands, too. The world spun for a moment for Willow. She waited for a second when the world stopped going crazy. “I… I was flying on my dragon, Sky, and I fell and…” The effort was too much and she leaned back down.

  Mora smiled. “Thanks for telling me. Now, rest!”

  “W-wait.” Willow said weakly. “What.. about… Sky?”

  “Oh! The person that found you took your dragon to the nearby doctor.” Her brow furrowed. “Her wing looked pretty bad. She’s probably okay though!” Mora said, trying to make Willow feel better.

  “Good…” Willow said then fell asleep.

  ~This is where the chapter previously ended~A week later, Willow was feeling good enough to go outside and go for a walk. Her first destination was obvious- Sky’s healing place. Willow went at an easy pace, as recommended by Mora. She followed the instructions and quickly found the place. It was a big, big place, and Willow wondered why, but her question was answered as she entered.

  There were a couple dozen dragons in there, and only a few were checking on their friends. Willow scanned the room and found Sky. She speed-walked over to the bed that Sky was relaxing in.

  Sky looked quite regal, despite her circumstances, being her wing was at an horrible angle; she was laying with her head held high and her legs folded comfortably.

  She looked as if she had recently woken up, with her eyes half closed, but she popped them fully open when Willow called her name.

  “Willow!” Sky said happily and galloped towards her.

  “Sky!” Willow responded. Willow wrapped her arms around Sky’s chest when she reached her. They hugged for a second before letting go. “Are you okay?” Willow asked anxiously.

  “She is doing just fine,” A silky voice said, attached to someone walking smoothly towards them. “She is coping well, and we expect a full recovery within a few months!”

  “Great! Who are you?” Willow replied.

  “I am Sky’s caretaker.” The woman said.

  That wasn’t really what Willow was looking for, but she didn’t say so. “Okay. When would I be able to fly on her again?” She said instead.

  “Oh, about a month after the few months.” Sky’s caretaker said.

  “Okay.” Willow said, disappointed. She was hoping to fly on Sky earlier. “Bye!”

  Willow left the place quickly. She returned to the healing center, and sat down. She laid back and thought. She wasn’t able to think very long because Mora interrupted her.

  “Willow! Hey! I see you are back from your walk.” She said joyfully.

  “Hello, Mora. What are you doing here?” Willow replied.

  “Oh, someone else needs healing, so I was just bringing him here.” Mora replied offhandedly. “Hurry up, if you don’t mind!” She called behind her.

  A tall man entered. He had sharp features and dark hair. “Why hello, young one.” He said in a greasy voice.

  “Hi. My name is Willow!” Willow said

  “I’m.. Devi.” He said.

  “Devi! Sit down and I will diagnose you.” Mora told him. He complied and she walked over to him. “What seems to be the matter, Devi?”

  “I think my arm is broken.”

  “Oh, dear! That is serious. I’ll have to get the supplies!” She said.

  “Why would you have to leave to get supplies?” Willow asked.

  “Well, the medical equipment is expensive, so all the doctors got together and we decided that we would buy some for all of us. I believe Melinda has them right now.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Bye! I’ll be back soon.” She left briskly.

  “How’d you break your arm?” Willow inquired.

  “I was, ah, walking by a uh, river and uh, slipped, and broke my arm.” He replied hesitantly.

  “Hmm. Interesting.” Willow shrugged and went back to thinking. Devi sidled closer to her. She glanced at him confused but otherwise ignored him. He went behind her and snapped. She fell through a hole and screamed.

  She realized what had happened. Devi was the devil! She closed her eyes and curled into a ball to take as little pain as possible when she hit the ground. She fell for what seemed like forever, but she eventually hit a cold, hard floor.

  “Willow! How- how did you get here?” A familiar voice said. It was Grey! He was standing on a rock that looked like a massive T. He was on the left, the devil was in the middle (he probably got there while she was falling) and on the other half was… the Queen?