Crystalla
Facade

Ruby the dragonet was sat on the upper landing in the apartment, looking down. She knew something wasn't right about this whole situation, but couldn't yet remember why, she leaned against the balcony and ran her hand through her hair.

"Wait, what?!" Ruby's eyebrow raised, as she looked at her arms, her humanoid arms, she looked in a nearby mirror. She had mousey brown hair, and short Hubun ears. Was this how she had always been? This didn't seem right, she used to have wings, she thought to herself.

Ruby looked down at her family, as she saw Roisin and Dex, the word 'Parents' formed in her mind. Roisin looked up and waved, by Ruby still had the feeling that this wasn't right. This is what she had always wished for, but...

The television grabbed her attention, and the attention of the others, as two tall men stood outside City Hall. The Mayor Thomas Artorias, with long blonde hair and sharp blue eyes, and the chief of police, Avery Baddon, a man with darker hair and deep green eyes.

The sight of them sent shivers down Ruby's spine, but she couldn't figure out why.

"Greetings to the people of our fair city. Submit to our will. We are pleased to announce that the crime rate across the city has been brought to zero. Obey. By following the rule of law, we have become a city of peace. Do not rise against us" Thomas Artorias explained.

Ruby's family below clapped as they watched the man speak. But Ruby shook her head. This wasn't right, she was being fooled. She sighed and looked at the others in the room below, why could they not see what she could?

The man on the screen now seemed to look directly at Ruby, the others didn't notice this though.

"I see, a Dragon" Thomas Artorias grinned. "Know that we have the whole world under our thumb, Dragon. Rebellion is pointless. Submit to the will of the Old Ones" He said, in a calm manner. Ruby shook her head.

"A shame" Avery sighed, betraying his true identity.

"Infernus!?" Ruby gasped. Avery chuckled and shook his head. Ruby checked below, but none of the others noticed the conversation taking place. "We have lulled them into a world of dreams, the humanoid mind is very easy to mislead... Draconic minds? Not so much, it seems" Infernus sighed.

"I will not submit to you, I'll wake the others up!" Ruby shouted.

"Child" Thomas Artorias, or, Tartarus sighed. "This is a world of our creation" He grinned as he lifted a gun and shot through the screen at Ruby. She fell backward as the gunshot echoed and rolled onto the floor.

To her surprise, she hadn't been hit, infact, someone else was now standing where she stood seconds ago, holding the bullet between their fingers, with her long pink hair in a ponytail.

"Please" Brannam laughed. "Dreams are my speciality" She said, before pulling Ruby to her feet and jumping through a wall, the wall rippled as the two ran inside. On the other side, was a small space, between the dream. Brannam panted, then looked at Ruby.

"So... you're a Dragon?" Brannam raised her eyebrow and chuckled.

"Usually" Ruby shrugged with a smile.

"I thought I was the only one who was able to see through this dream, until I witnessed them speaking through a television" Brannam explained. "As soon as I saw that, I used a bunch of my energy to track you down" She continued.

"I'm just a little kid though" Ruby shrugged, as she looked up at Brannam.

"A little kid can change the world" Brannam smiled. "You should know that better than anyone, with whom you call 'Mum'" She nodded.

"Roisin..." Ruby nodded.

"We need to end this dream, before they kill her, and our hope of saving Crystalla" Brannam said, as she looked around the space they were in. "We're safe in here for now, but they will eventually find us" She continued.

"Can't we just fight them?" Ruby asked.

"I went to Memoria... the, uh 'Memory' Crystalla, he was lost in the dream too, but between the... mania that he was in, he confirmed that those two you saw, Avery Baddon, or Infernus, and Thomas Artorias, or Tartarus, are Old Ones" Brannam tried to explain.

"Old Ones?" Ruby asked, looking confused.

"Basically, they're unkillable, if we encounter them, run as fast and as far as you can, they're too powerful for any of us to fight" Brannam sighed. Ruby nodded, to let Brannam know she understood. The two sighed, and looked around in the small white room they found themselves inside.

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