Hidden deep

by Friendlier_ghost

Summary:

Many dragons think that the underground is nothing more than barren tunnels, and desolate stone. They would never imagine that there was a world just as vibrant and full of diverse life as their own, beneath their feet. But some things are better hidden deep, and when one Dragon’s curiosity and wanderlust opens the door between the two worlds, something follows him. Something that hungers, that wants to drink in the world around it, drink in the sky and the seas and the land and the mountains, until its insatiable hunger is finally satisfied.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:
Tanzanite had always been a very adventurous dragon. He had just hatched that way. The minute he broke out of his shell, he wanted to explore everything, from the deepest tunnels, to the narrowest crevices, to the broadest caverns. He loved the feeling he got when the sensory patches on his talons felt the stone beneath him, and the pattern was something new. It always told him it was a new cavern. Somewhere he hadn’t been, that he could spend anywhere from minutes, to hours, to even a few entire cycles exploring.
Of course, he did like the familiarity of home when he returned. He never got lost - granted that was almost impossible for a ShimmerWing. Once the excitement was over, he could go back, and his home would be waiting for him, with the beautiful crystal spires, the elegant arches of pure diamond, the spikes of gemstone bursting from the ground like multicolored, glittering explosions frozen in time.
But it wasn’t home anymore. Not after what he had seen her do. The thought of it alone made him want to gag. He couldn’t even imagine what they had been through in their final moments. Trapped with nothing but crushing, suffocating darkness, and the agonizing sensation of their flesh peeling from their bones. Queen Ci- no, former Queen Citrine was a monster, he had never had any illusions about that. But what she had done was something he never would have dreamed of in his worst nightmares. Even if it wasn’t targeted at him, he couldn’t go back. He couldn’t consider that home anymore. Not until the memories faded.
On the upside, that meant he was no longer tied to any one place. Even if his chains had been severed by trauma, he was still unbound. That meant he could go to the one place that he had always dreamed of. The surface.
That turned out to be a lot easier said than done. He knew he certainly wouldn’t be easy, but he had thought his adventure would feel more… well, ADVENTUROUS. Braving the unknown, facing new and exotic dangers, seeing strange and beautiful wildlife, finding bizarre and breathtaking monuments to the Crystal Mother’s grand design. He hadn’t expected it to be so, so boring. Even the ever-present, glowing crystals that filled practically every cave in the UnderDark became less and less common, until they disappeared completely. He was left to navigate with his other senses. The glow mold he took with him had long since dried and faded, and was barely clinging to life. While this was not exactly a challenge, he didn’t enjoy it.
He had also not seen any signs of the usual life. Were the caves this close to the surface really so barren? He found a few tiny scraps of moss, and the occasional insect or lizard. He was glad he packed so much supplies. He would have either died or had to turn back.
He came to a stop again, closing his eyes - although it didn’t make a difference in the pitch black - and held his breath, just sensing the world around him. He raised one crystalline talon, and tapped the walls around him sharply as he turned in a circle. After a few moments, he stopped. The sound had been slightly different. Such a tiny difference that no other dragon tribe could even hope to pick up on it. But to an explorer as seasoned as him, it was clear as night and day - not that he knew what those were.
He tapped a few more times to try to guess how much stone he would have to bury through to reach the hollow section. Just a few feet. It would be tiring, but doable. He took a deep breath, calling up the swirling blades inside him. A moment later, a blast of shimmering dust so fine it was almost a vapor, bursts from his jaws. It intensifies, and the stone begins to fade as if acid was eating away at it. He has to repeat this a few times, then with another tap, he nods.
He raises the only tool he had broughten. A pickaxe like weapon, although one side more resembled a war hammer than a pick. He slams the spike into the wall in a circular pattern, until it was deep enough to weaken the stone. Then, with one strike from the hammer end in the middle of the vulnerability he had created in the stone, he shatters it… and immediately regrets the entire journey, as golden rays, so bright he was surprised it didn’t turn him to ashes, shine through.
He let out a half panicked, half indignant squawk as he fell back, throwing one arm over his eyes. His wings flared back in surprise, casting a blue and purple tint over the wall behind him. He just stood there for a long moment, utterly in shock. He had reached the surface.
After nearly half an hour of letting his eyes adjust, he stepped into the cave he had just accessed. There was a pile of burned scrolls that had been carefully arranged into a fire, and directly above it, a hole in the ceiling that led up to… nothing. Tanzanite stopped in awe and no small part confusion. There was… nothing above. Just a pale blue expanse, with swirling white shapes drifting lazily through. It was his first time ever seeing the sky.
He wasn’t entirely sure what he had been expecting. From the very old scrolls they still had about the surface, he knew that it didn’t have any sort of ceiling obviously. But the sight of looking up and not seeing more stone was still incredible to him. He heard high pitched, almost musical chirping, coming from above. The branches of a few massive plants swayed with a gentle rustling, although that wasn’t as shocking to him. There were a lot of brown plant roots in the UnderDark.
He finally took a better look at the cave itself, and was startled. It was definitely not entirely natural. There was a map on one wall, faded with age and lack of care. It took him a moment to realize it was a map. He thought it was a picture of a strange dragon at first. The sight of a top down map rather than an isometric one was puzzling to him, until he realized that the surface world obviously wouldn’t need it, and face palmed.
He walked through the tunnel that was on the opposite wall, and soon emerged into another room. It was much, much larger, wide enough for a few dragons to stand side by side with their wings fully extended, and have room to spare. A large table sat in the middle, stained with small bits of blood, concerningly. It didn’t look like enough to be a seriously injured dragon. Maybe it was a dining hall, and the blood was from prey?
His gaze turned to one of the other tunnels, and he froze. Two things immediately stood out, although he felt it was rather silly for his brain to entirely focus on the second. First, a pile of ashes, with small bits of cloth recognizable. It had burned a very long time ago, as there wasn’t the faintest trace of a single ember.
Second, there was a dead body. The corpse of a dragon that had clearly been there for years. It was desiccated, almost mummified, withered flesh wrapped tightly over bones that stood out through the scales. The wing membranes had dried and shrunken until they snapped, and cracks ran through it. The cause of death was obvious. Their neck was twisted at an impossible angle, obviously broken.
The body was so ruined that it took him a moment to see some of the strange features. The scales had lost most of their color, but they were a sandy yellow. That wasn’t strange, what was strange was the scorpion-like stinger on the end of the dragon’s tail. He examined it as closely as he could without touching the body, and sure enough, it was definitely part of the dragon.
Tanzanite just stared for a long moment. He tried to piece together what might have happened, but he just didn’t know enough. He poked around for more clues, including the burned sack. It was filled with mostly just ash, but he could find a few scraps of blackened paper. It had been filled with scrolls. There was a study room before. He looked to the exit, which had a large boulder next to it, which looked like it could be rolled into place. He did so experimentally, and it slid into place with a thunk.
So: Several dragons had lived here, and eaten in this room. The first room was likely some kind of study. The entrance was heavy, and likely hidden. His guess was that it was a bunker of some kind. He tried to move the boulder, but… it wouldn’t budge. He quickly grew concerned, then panicked as he struggled to move it.
He inspected it closely, seeing a small hole near the center. An oddly shaped one… a keyhole? He cringed as he turned back to the dead dragon. If they were inside, they might have some kind of way to open it. Tanzanite whined as reached out, and rolled the dragon over. He cringed again as the dried, desiccated flesh cracked, stiffened muscles snapping. A key was on the dragon’s neck on a rope. He took it very carefully, and managed to not touch the body again, thankfully.
As he turned back to the boulder, he slotted the key into the hole, and after a few tries, there was a satisfyingly heavy click. He pushed the boulder aside again, then paused as another thought struck him. If this place was locked on the inside, then it wasn’t meant to keep things out. It was meant to keep things IN. That was concerning to say the least.
He wanted to just leave and get away from this strange place, and all the ominous implications it carried. But his adventurous side wouldn’t let him leave without answers. He moved through some of the other rooms, trying to put together what this place was.
One cave looked like a sleeping room, although a very uncomfortable one. Just five barren shelves of rock large enough for a dragon to rest on. Another was so torn up he guessed it was some kind of training room. It looked like it was rather intensive training, by all the stalactites that had been shattered, and even the cracks in the solid stone of the walls and floor. A river ran through the side, and also passed through a second cave of sleeping quarters, this one with four “beds.” He went back to the planning room to examine it closer. It would be the most likely place to find information.
He took to poking through some of the scrolls, and realization slowly dawned on him as he examined one. The scroll wasn’t a military plan, or a strategy map, or a letter containing orders. The bright, large, colorful font gave it away. It was a scroll for little dragonets.
Put the pieces together. Tanzanite thought.
A fire had been lit below the hole. A smoke signal. They were sometimes used in the UnderDark, but it was more about the smell than the sight. Someone had gotten in and killed the warden. The dragonets had escaped. It didn’t explain the bag of burned scrolls by the exit. Maybe it had been more mature scrolls the dragonets wanted to bring with them when they escaped? It was the likely reason why they were there in the first place, but it didn’t explain how they got burned. Had whoever had seen the smoke signal had to fight to break the dragonets out, and set fire to the scrolls accidentally?
Tanzanite shook his head in confusion, worry creasing his brow. He wouldn’t find more answers by investigating this closer. Well, he probably could, but who had that kind of patience? It was time to really go to the surface proper.

*************************************** The creature waited until the wing beats of its prey have faded, then crawls through the tunnel. It spent a few hours adjusting to the light just as its quarry had. When it finally does, it is delighted. The sky is an alien and terrifying sight to its relatively simple, primitive mind. But Creakers hadn’t become the most feared predators in the UnderDark by being rigid. No, they were perfectly adaptable. And they were always hungry.
The sounds were a little overwhelming as well, but the Creaker was pleased to hear so much life. So much food. It stalked through the other caves, finding the desiccated corpse. Too dried and withered to eat. Useless. It stabbed one serrated limb through the corpse in frustration, punching a hole almost as three times as wide as a dragon’s talon straight through the body.
It quickly turned its attention elsewhere. It needed food. Soon. It clambered across stone walls and even the ceiling as naturally as a fish swam through water, its legs stabbing into the stone deep enough to hold when it couldn’t find preexisting footholds. It quickly emerged into the sunlight, blinking at the golden rays like a hatchling. Its hunger soon overtook its wonder.
They were always hungry.

Chapter 2

Qibli had always been a morning dragon. He would be up at first dawn for pretty much all his dragonethood. At first it had been to get out of the house before his siblings woke up and began their usual routine. Life in the Scorpion Den with two siblings who hated you necessitated that. Then it had been because he was eager to help Queen Thorn and the Outclaws. But regardless of the reason, it had been a constant.
So he was already awake when a messenger landed next to him, startling him from his thoughts. She began hurriedly apologizing for the near collision, but stopped when she recognized him. “Oh, I actually have a letter for you.” She said, pulling a small scroll from the satchel that was strapped under her left wing. Qibli accepted the letter with a polite but confused expression. He went back inside as the messenger left for the post office. The room that had been used to store intercepted letters had been repurposed for a post office. The same room that Sunny and Thorn had been locked in by Smolder.
Qibli’s expression went a little sour at the thought of Smolder. He had conflicted feelings about him. On the one talon, it was true that Smolder hadn’t had many good options. He had been the last of the SandWing royal brothers. Burn, his own sister, had killed all the others. Smolder had survived by being useful and following orders. Burn definitely would have killed him too, if the summons from the Dragonets of Destiny hadn’t been sent out. By the end of the false Brightest Night, Burn had been dead from the Dragonbite Viper. Qibli agreed with Smolder’s statement that he hadn’t expected Smolder to outlive Burn. Still, Thorn seemed to trust him enough.
Qibli’s train of thought is interrupted as he finally returns to his room. He first stops by the kitchens to grab some food. Just a bit of roasted camel. He opens the letter, and his heart leaps as he sees it’s addressed from Moon. His delight quickly fades as he reads the contents. Qibli hangs his head with a sigh, the gears in his brain already turning to try to puzzle out the prophecy.
He could think while he flew. He scribbled down a message for Thorn, knowing she probably wouldn’t approve of him flying off without warning. She still wouldn’t approve, to be fair. But he didn’t want to worry her any more than necessary.

************************************************

The bird songs were strange to the Creaker, but it wouldn’t let unfamiliarity keep it from a meal. It stalked through the trees, having a bit of trouble at first. The spikes on the ends of its legs dug right through the soft soil, getting stuck with every step like walking in deep snow. After a few minutes of stumbling around, it learns to step on the more solid tree roots, and its pace quickens to a terrifying extent. In mere minutes, it had adapted its behavior to a completely different environment, one utterly alien to its home.
It quickly spotted a viable prey. A very large boar, large enough that very few predators would consider attacking it. Its tusks gleamed like twin ivory daggers, a very obvious warning to anything that dared challenge it. It did not deter the Creaker.

************************************************

Winter sighed as he stared at the letter. Pum- DAFFODIL was standing next to him, keeping a few inches between herself and his frigid scales. She couldn’t wear warmer clothes to interact with him, since she’d constantly be overheating. So she had to just suffer through the constant chill that emanated from his scales. Still, she was happy enough to put up with it if it meant staying with him. Her dragon speech had been coming along nicely. While her accent was still all wrong, the noises were at least definitely words that couldn’t be mistaken for random squeaking noises.
Still, apparently Winter won’t be able to take the time to celebrate the achievement. They were getting the team back together, as it were. He had mixed feelings about it. He hadn’t seen the rest of the Jade Winglet in almost half a year. Last time it had been to celebrate Qibli’s Hatching Day. Sometimes Kinkajou, Moon, or Qibli would come to Sanctuary for a day or two to visit Winter.
His thoughts were troubled by memories of their previous “grand adventures.” His tribe had nearly been wiped out by a 2,000 year old dictator, who happened to be best friends with Moon, and had a racial hatred of IceWings. After that, they had gotten into a fight with an ancient human with a racial hatred of ALL dragons, and a hive mind that granted them control over an entire continent. It felt like every time a prophecy came up, it would lead to certain disaster. Maybe Tsunami had a point about fate being stupid.
“What’s going on? What does it say?” The small, still somewhat squeaky voice of Daffodil snapped him out of his thoughts. While her understanding and pronunciation of verbal communication was good, she still couldn’t understand more than a few words of the dragon's written language. They had both decided that until she could communicate enough to convince any wandering dragon not to eat her, reading and writing wasn’t a priority.
“It’s a letter from the Jade Winglet.” Winter explained. He had told Daffodil most of the stories of the madness they got involved in, at her constant insistence.
“Let me guess, another prophecy? Another resurrected tyrant? Another previously forgotten continent for you to save?” Daffodil asked sarcastically. Her smile faded at his serious expression. “Uh… there isn’t ACTUALLY another prophecy, is there?”
Winter just nodded gravely. “It seems less ominous than the others, at least. No mention of ‘falling beneath thunder and ice’ or ‘a great evil’ or ‘none of the tribes will survive.’”
“Then what does it say?” Daffodil inquired, visibly relieved that it wasn’t as dire. “I could use the practice reading dragon.”
Winter shrugged, and placed the scroll on the ground, smoothing it flat. He traced one claw along the paper as it read, hoping it would help Daffodil remember the words.

“Far below, caverns hum with ancient songs.
Far below, diamonds glitter among dancing throngs.
In barren stone you’ll find a blight,
But a friend is found in tanzanite.

“Something hungry lurks in dark caves,
Searching for the blood it craves.
Something hungry stalks through the gloom,
Searching to make every cavern a tomb.

“A dragon’s rage and hatred given flesh,
With no love or empathy to mesh.
A soldier made to stand eternal guard,
No matter how bruised or scarred.”

Daffodil simply stared at Winter with wide eyes for a long moment, looking a little perturbed. “That… is actually considerably less ominous than the others.” She conceded, which was unusual for someone of her fiery personality. Winter just nodded with a rye smile.
“You’ll be alright here in Sanctuary without me?” He asked.
“Riptide is used to my accent enough to understand me. I’ll be alright, although I’m a little upset about losing time for my lessons.” Daffodil answered. Winter nodded, also being annoyed he had to leave his research. Still, destiny called - again.

************************************************

The boar didn’t have a chance. The Creaker soared through the air, a leap so impressive it may as well have flown just like the dragons it occasionally preyed on. It lands on the boar’s back, its hooked legs digging into the flesh for purchase. It quickly scurried up the boar’s back, towards its head.
Of course, the boar tried to fight back, even if it was futile. It bucked back and forth in an attempt to throw the Creaker off, but the hooked blades embedded in its tough hide held the attacker firmly in place. Once the Creaker reached the boar’s neck it was over. One leg stabbed right through the back of its neck, piercing through the hide, and sliding neatly in between two vertebrae, severing the spine a few inches from the brain stem. The boar instantly collapsed, dead before it hit the ground.
The Creaker, being not much smaller than the boar, quickly gorged itself on flesh. It reveled in the feeling of warm blood staining its teeth. It rejoiced in the taste of raw meat sliding down its throat. It basked in the sensation of flesh and muscle parting beneath its claws. It feasted on the first of many, many victims.

Chapter 3

Stag huffed as he hauled the mountain goat over his shoulder. It was a specimen large enough that even he, with his massive stature, had trouble lifting it. Still, he was proud of his catch. He was already imagining the taste of the warm stew his father made. Elk would also be delighted. As much as his little brother annoyed him, Stag still enjoyed seeing him happy.
His happy thoughts were cut off at the slightest snap of a twig somewhere in the tree-line. He stood straight, and whipped around to face the direction of the sound. Even being one of the biggest and strongest people in his village, he knew not to let his guard down in the wild. Dragons weren’t the only things that would happily make a meal out of a lone human.
After nearly a minute of silence, save for the insects, he turned, and kept moving. One hand now twitched restlessly by his side, fiddling with the handle of his hatchet. He adjusted the position of the mountain goat he was carrying, so that if anything attacked him from behind, it would have to get through his kill before it made it to his vulnerable back. A few more snaps came from nearby, steadily getting closer. He picked up the pace…
The snaps suddenly escalated into a loud crash as something leaped through the trees. Having anticipated an ambush, Stag whipped around, drawing his hatched from his belt and swinging in one smooth motion. The blade connected solidly with something, and he heard a satisfying crack.
With his opponent presumably stunned, if not dead, he turned to face the attacker with a smirk. He didn’t have time to process what he was seeing before a blade stabbed in through his mouth, which was wide open in shock and horror, and ripped out the back of his neck.

************************************************

Eagle adjusted his grip on his bow, waiting patiently, as he had done countless times before, for his prey to appear. This time, the prey wasn’t a target of his hunger. It was a target of his wrath. They had lost too many good hunters to dragon attacks. With the sheer number of dead hunters, the entire settlement was running low on food. They couldn’t afford to have yet another beast picking off those that were left.
There. An exceptionally large cougar. Like many of the creatures that shared a habitat with dragons, it was unreasonably large and aggressive. With such monstrous competition, it wasn’t surprising that evolution would select for such traits. But it still caused problems, such as his sister, Hawk. She was badly injured, but stable last time he checked in on her. The thought of the vicious bite marks that marred her flesh made Eagle’s blood boil.
He prepared to let the arrow fly, but he didn’t get the chance. Something very large, and stark white, soared through the air. It tackled the cougar to the ground, and he got a glimpse of disturbingly humanoid hands wrapped around its throat. The mystery attacker hauled the cougar’s head back, before slamming it into the stone with a disturbing, wet smack. A blade raised into the air, before stabbing through the back of its neck.
Finally the creature stilled, with its prey well and truly dead. Now that Eagle finally got a good look at it, he nearly screamed out loud. A roughly humanoid body, as thin and white as sun bleached bone in the desert to the west, across the mountain range. The arms indeed ended in Uncanny Valley hands, with a fifth finger going straight instead of an opposable thumb, and much longer and thinner. They were tipped with small claws, not long enough to be practical weapons, but long enough to seriously hurt if you got hit.
A large chip was taken out of the side of its head. It was a gouge narrow and deep enough that he thought it must have been done with some kind of bladed weapon. It looked like it must have been too heavy to be a dagger. Maybe an axe?
Its legs were the worst, if you could even call them legs. Four legs sprouted from the base of the humanoid torso. The first segment went up, before the second segment, which consisted entirely of a massive, scythe-like blade, arched back down. The same blades it had used to dispatch the cougar… the kind of blade that could have left the wound on Stag’s throat.
Eagle’s fear shrunk, and his rage returned. Even if the cougar hadn’t been the one killing their hunters, his mission remained the same. Vengeance. Whether it was against bandits, a wild animal, or this aberration, he was here to avenge the fallen hunters.
He fired an arrow, and it flew straight. As it always did, time seemed to slow as he eagerly watched the progress of his deadly projectile. So he could see as it splintered against the creature’s side, leaving a small scrape about halfway down its chest. It turned two eyes to him, yellow-orange, burning orbs so reflective and gleaming they seemed to glow with their own light.
It lunged, and he rolled to the side. It slammed into a tree, and the impact dazed it enough that its followup attack was clumsy. One leg swiped haphazardly towards him, but he stepped back quickly. He drew his knife, and brought it down on its limb. The metal didn’t even nick the organic blade. He attacked again as it stumbled around to face him, and the blade scraped a small groove into the armored plate above its mandibles.
The few seconds its crash into the tree had bought him were over. It snapped forward, the two sets of pincers coming dangerously close to ripping open his wrist. He jerked his hand back, then ducked as one of its almost human-like hands swiped towards his head. He had to continue his retreat, leaping back as it reared up, and nearly bisected him with one of its front legs.
He needed to find a weak point on this thing. The thick shell had effortlessly turned aside all of his attacks. Just as it did when he fired an arrow, time slowed as he inspected the creature. The thickest plates were around its head, back, and limbs. The interlocking sheets of bone that covered its chest were also thick, but not quite as much. Its stomach looked the most vulnerable, but that would be a tricky angle. Due to its hunched posture, reaching the stomach would mean getting his dagger under its arms and above its bladed legs without losing his hand. Still, it was his best - and probably ONLY - chance.
He swiped at it with an uppercut, and it skittered back. It stepped off the rocks it had been carefully keeping its footing on… and its bladed leg slipped through the soil. It jerked for a moment as its leg sank into the dirt, and took its burning eyes off of Eagle for a moment, turning to look at its stuck limb. A moment was all he needed. He lunged forward, and brought his blade down.
It brought up one leg to parry the attack instinctively, but it messed up. Rather than hitting the blade, Eagle’s knife gouged deeply into the flesh of its upper leg segment. It let out a screech that could make a dragon shiver, and swiped at him with one hand, slashing him across the arm. His knife dropped to the ground, and he gritted his teeth with a hiss of pain. He ran, as the monster pulled its leg free, and scurried off into the underbrush.
Eagle kept running for a long while. His mind was a mess of emotions. Fear of this alien monstrosity, anger at what it had done to Stag, despair at his failure to avenge his fellow hunter, relief that he had escaped. But eventually, exhaustion and blood loss began to take their toll. He stumbled to a stop, leaning against a tree and almost instantly falling asleep. He knew it was risky to sleep so close to where that thing was, even if he had temporarily scared it off. But he couldn’t keep going.
When he awoke, in front of him was a threat that, despite dominating his entire life, he had almost completely forgotten about. A dragon, as white as ice, with pale blue spikes rattling down its back, was staring at him curiously, mere inches away.

Chapter 4

Notes:

I always really liked the concept of a human finding one of Chameleon’s identity necklaces.

Winter gently scooped up the semi-conscious scavenger, careful not to let his serrated claws cut it up any more than it already was. The mark across his - at least Winter thinks it's a he - arm looks rather strange. Clearly some kind of clawmark, but what animal had all five fingers lined up so symmetrically? Most animals he could think of would leave three or four slashes with their claws, not five.
Still, if all went according to plan, he could ask him later. Or get Daffodil to ask him and translate the answer. On the note of speaking to scavengers, this was as good a chance as any to test what Daffodil had taught him.
“It’s okay. I’m here to help.” Winter said, doing his best to keep the accent that Daffodil had taught him. She had said that all dragons first learning to speak human had an almost comically deep, growly tone. According to her, Sky was quite possibly the only dragon in existence that had an accent that was indistinguishable from a human.
However strange his voice might have sounded to the human, it got his point across. The human stares at him as if his entire world view had just been turned upside down. Which, in all fairness, was probably exactly how Winter himself had looked when he first met Wren. Learning that the gigantic monsters that preyed on you were fully sentient, was just as shocking as learning the strange little creatures that scurried around beneath your talons - and occasionally caused wars - were sentient.
The human barely responded before their head slumped, unconscious again. Winter knew that humans usually didn’t like to be carried by having a dragon hold them, but the usual method of having the human nestled between his wings wouldn’t work with an unconscious one. On the brightside, being unconscious meant that it wouldn’t be freaking out.
So, with no other options, Winter picked the human up, and took flight. He would have to double back to Sanctuary, but he had left quite recently. It would only add about half an hour to his journey.

************************************************

Eagle woke up slowly. The first thing he realized was that he woke up at all. He wasn’t dead. Had someone found him? Was he back at the village? He opened his eyes, and they immediately went wide. He was definitely not back home, or at any human settlement. He was laying on a makeshift bed that looked to just be a few cushions on a counter nearly six feet off the ground. A ladder was leaning against the counter, and was the only piece of furniture that wasn’t immensely oversized.
However, there was one thing recognizable. A young woman, maybe even still a girl. She had long, dark hair, with a few ribbons that stood out as a strikingly bright shade of yellow. She was currently… speaking to a dragon? On top of that, the strangest dragon he’d ever seen. It had four wings, and was mostly black, except for stripes of bright yellow scales on its back. It looked a little like a bee. A giant, scaly, horrifying bee with claws and teeth that were meant to rend flesh from bone.
The girl herself was making strange growling noises, identical to many of the sounds dragons made. The dragonet was doing its best to repeat the noises. He was so baffled at the sight that he couldn’t even move or speak for a long moment. By the time he collected himself, the girl had already noticed he was awake.
“Oh, finally, you’re awake. [Winter] asked me to watch over you while you were recovering, since he thought it would be a little jarring to wake up surrounded by dragons. Which is probably true.” The girl said, barely pausing between sentences. “My name is Daffodil, and this is [BumbleBee].” She said, tapping the dragonet on the nose lightly. It made a hilariously grumpy expression, and let out an indignant wail that carried on for nearly a full fifteen seconds, before collapsing, seemingly out of breath.
“What- where-” Eagle sputtered, utterly bewildered by… everything. He finally settled on asking one question after a few moments of stammering, which Daffodil seemed amused by. “Where am I?!” He asked, his confusion starting to give way to anger.
Welcome to [Sanctuary].” Daffodile said, once again seeming to break off into random growling sounds mid sentence. “Or, to translate, Sanctuary. A small settlement built by the [Winter], the same IceWing who found you.”
“What are those noises? Are you speaking dragon?” Eagle asked in astonishment, the realization dawning on him. He was one of the people who thought dragons were more than simple beasts. Mainly because he was one of the very few people who had ever seen their kingdom and lived. Wild animals didn’t live in castles carved into the mountains.
“Yup.” Daffodil answered, seemingly enjoying his confusion. “It’s a long story. A friend of mine grew up as a nomad with a dragon friend, so both of them can speak both languages fluently. Ironically, Wren seems to do a better job speaking dragon than Sky.”
Eagle just sat back, quietly processing all the information for a few moments. Daffodil began to look worried after the first few minutes of silence. Still, she didn’t interrupt as he just thought. The tiny dragonet, on the other hand, had recovered, and was more than happy to make a ruckus. It let out a loud yapping noise, until Daffodil fed it a mango, which it happily devoured.
Eagle pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache starting to build up. I miss being unconscious. He thought dryly. Then his mind snapped into gear, remembering exactly how he had gotten here. He sat upright abruptly, startling both Daffodil and the dragonet. “I have to get back. I have to warn everyone!” Eagle blurted, getting concerned looks from both of them.
“You aren’t in the condition to travel, [Winter] brought you here for a reason.” Daffodil protested. Eagle ignored her, walking past the door. He reached into the hidden compartment in his peg leg. Daffodil gasped as he revealed the hollow interior, and the strange item inside it. A necklace, oddly bulky, and with a shockingly large rope.
Eagle felt slightly unhappy about using it, but he didn’t have a choice at this point. He probably should have used it during the chase, but he hadn't been thinking clearly at any point since the monster had first revealed itself. He sighed, and withdrew the second item from the hollow compartment. A scrap of ancient, yellowing paper. A strange script was written on most of it, but in the corner, was a bit that had been added in human script.
When the user puts on the necklace, anything they were wearing will simply disappear, including clothes and jewelry and prosthetic limbs. When the user removes the necklace, any items that disappeared from this enchantment will reappear, in their original, undamaged state, on the user’s body where they were previously. The user will also be able to change individual parts of their body to match the form in the necklace at will. The user will fully comprehend the dragon language while wearing this.
Eagle quickly opened the locket, and dropped the scrap of paper into it. Daffodil approached as he put the locket on. Then she stopped as his skin rippled and hardened, black, ebony scales starting to grow over his skin. His clothes seemed to be overtaken by the scales, vanishing beneath the interlocking plates of keratin. In a few seconds, where Eagle had stood, there was a massive black NightWing, with hooked claws, and narrow, glaring eyes that seemed stuck in perpetual anger.
ShapeShifter spread his new wings, and took to the skies.

Chapter 5: Encounter

Summary:

Finally, Tanzanite speaks to some of the surface dwelling dragons, although that wasn’t his intention.

Notes:

Bold is someone else’s thoughts (with mind reading).
italic is either the current POV’s thoughts, or occasionally onomatopoeia.

Tanzanite watched carefully, as dragons of every shape and size flew from the mountain in the distance. He was being very careful - only traveling at night, and avoiding settlements. But he had to at least LOOK, didn’t he? How could he resist such a temptation? The stories of the strange dragons that dwelled on the surface were the things that kept him up at night in deep contemplation.
So far, he had identified nine tribes. He had given each a mental nickname. WindWings, LeafWings, FrostWings, SandWings, EarthWings, SeaWings, ShadeWings, ShiftWings, and MothWings.
It had taken him a few hours of observation to realize that the strange, multicolored dragons were the same tribe. He had only realized it after he caught sight of one of them changing colors abruptly. The only way to differentiate them from the MothWings was, well, their wings.
Tanzanite thought it was all utterly fascinating. He still didn’t know enough about them to know if they’d be hostile if he revealed himself. The fact they were all living together, seemingly in harmony, made him hopeful. But he would eventually have to get close enough to overhear actual conversations, or perhaps steal a scroll.
He had chosen the latter. Tonight, he would sneak into the mountain, and see what kind of facility it was. Many of the dragons he saw looked quite small, so he assumed it was perhaps a school. The ShimmerWing academy was nothing to scoff at, so it wasn’t a novel concept.
He retreated back into the forest, determined to wait until night to sneak in. He had gathered that most creatures, both dragon and otherwise, slept during night, and were active during the day. Frankly, given daytime is when the giant ball of eyeball-scorching fire was in the sky, and nighttime is when it was peacefully and reasonably dark, he couldn’t imagine why.
Regardless, he would wait. After a few hours of waiting, during which he caught himself a large, furry animal with branching horns he would later learn was called an elk, the sun had set. The lightless realm of the UnderDark was his home, and the dim illumination through the thin clouds was plenty bright, despite the fact that even a SeaWing’s eyes would have trouble piercing the darkness.
As he approached the base of the mountain, he saw something that made his heart sink. Something he thought he had escaped when he reached the surface. A single Creaker, skittering up the side of the mountain. Its bladed legs hooked neatly into the smallest footholds, allowing it to scurry up the sheer rock face like an oversized spider. He wouldn’t catch it before it got to the entrance. Fortunately, judging by its size, it was a young one… suspiciously young.
He spread his wings, and in one swift burst of movement, half-flew, half-climbed up the side of the mountain. He leaped from one outcropping to another, his wings beating with every leap to propel him further. In a matter of minutes, he had reached the peak of the mountain. He had trouble flying properly. Most ShimmerWings are very poor fliers. Life in the UnderDark allowed very little time to practice flight. Their wings were mostly used to assist in ground movement. But as a result, they were incredible climbers.
He quickly walked through the entrance, and felt relief wash over him. Someone else felt that same relief.

************************************************

MoonWatcher’s eyes snapped open as a new voice entered her mind. It was faint, barely within range of her mind reading, but there was something very strange about their thoughts that drew her attention. Nice to have solid stone above my head again. Having just the open sky above me feels so exposed. Even if it was beautiful- Stay on track. MoonWatcher genuinely couldn’t think of any dragon here that wouldn’t prefer a view of the open sky to barren rock.
There was also something strange about the mind. She knew that the power often worked with metaphors. For example, Peril’s thoughts being obscured by flame, or IceWings having a strange shininess to their thoughts, like the sun reflecting off of glaciers. This mind had something similar, although distinctly different. It was like a system of tunnels, underground chambers, each representing a thought or emotion, all interconnected.
She glanced over to Kinkajou, who was sleeping across the room in her hammock. Kinkajou had initially gone back to the rainforest during the break, but had returned after Moon sent out the letters to the Jade Winglet. Peril was also here at Jade Mountain, but she was still waiting on Winter and Qibli.
Shaking those thoughts, Moon carefully stood up, and stepped out of the room. She wouldn’t need to be quiet once she was away from her cave. Kinkajou, Peril, and a few staff were the only dragons here, and once she was away from Kinkajou, she wouldn’t be near any of the sleeping dragons. So as long as she was quiet enough not to alert whoever was sneaking around, she would be fine.
As soon as Moon takes a single step… Someone’s awake. Did they hear me? I was sure I was completely silent. Go the stranger’s thoughts. Moon stops in bewilderment. There was no way anyone had heard her from that distance. Whatever. I doubt they can catch me. Nobody outmaneuvers a ShimmerWing in a cave system. But they might run into that Creaker…. ShimmerWing? Creaker? The words were utterly foreign to Moon.
She began quickly pursuing them, knowing that stealth was useless against someone who could detect her so easily. It was kind of funny to watch the dragon’s train of thought slowly become more panicked as she stayed on their trail, no matter how many times they doubled back or moved to another tunnel.
Then she heard a completely impossible sound, one that made no sense in the stone hallways of Jade Mountain Academy. A creaking sound, like the exaggerated creaking of wood. The other dragon heard it too, judging by their thoughts. It’s here. Right by my pursuer. Well, so much for staying out of sight. Hopefully this makes a good first impression. Then the dragon charged in her direction.
MoonWatcher panicked for a moment. She hadn’t been expecting the dragon to come at her. Truthfully, she hadn’t put much thought into what she would do once she caught them. It wasn’t too different from what had happened with Icicle, what felt like a lifetime ago.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as something heavy slammed into her lower back. Sharp somethings pricked into her scales, moving up towards her neck with shocking speed. She let out a shriek of shock, and immediately heard some of the closest minds snap to consciousness. She began thrashing to try to dislodge her attacker. It didn’t work.
Before she could fully process the sudden attack, she was struck again, this time by something much heavier. The strange dragon rammed into her, throwing her to the ground and sending her attacker skidding across the stone floor. She was dazed, vaguely raising her head to watch as the figure lunged over her, in the direction her initial attacker had fallen. She turns to see a stark white shape thrashing between their teeth, before going limp with a loud crack. The figure glanced back at her, and she caught a glimpse of teeth that were dark, crystalline blue rather than white.
He opened his jaw, letting the strange creature he had killed fall to the floor. He kept it open for a moment as if he was trying to think of something to say, but then closed it. Both of them froze for a moment, an awkward silence stretching on. The dragon glanced at a strange tail band he wore, and Moonwatcher heard a more concerning thought. I didn’t come here with the intention of hurting anyone, but maybe I should at least be ready for such a thing to happen. The blade can’t pierce scales on the thicker parts of a dragon, but if I aim for her throat I should be able to kill her quickly, if it comes to it.
“I don’t want to fight.” MoonWatcher said quickly, hoping to avoid confrontation. Even if it did come to that, she just needed to keep him distracted for a few more moments. Her scream at her freakish attacker had woken up two other dragons. Peril, and Clay. Quite possibly two of the best dragons to have with you in a fight. Clay could shrug off all but the most devastating of attacks, and as far as Moon knew there wasn’t any natural substance that could resist Peril’s scales.
The stranger hesitated, and she could hear his mind run through his options, before settling on keeping up a tough but not hostile front. “I wouldn’t want to fight me neither.” He said in a somewhat convincing attempt at a tough voice. The effect was lessened given that MoonWatcher could hear the thought process of him trying to be a tough guy.
Then something fiery and red tackled him, knocking him to the floor. He rolled with the attack, instinctively throwing his attacker back. It would have been an incredible recovery against any attacker that wasn’t Peril. He screamed, but it seemed more like surprise than pain. Clay abruptly threw himself between the two with his wings flared out, trying to prevent violence as usual. His eyes widened as he took a closer look at the bizarre, unfamiliar dragon that was clearly not from any known tribe.
A few of the strangers scales were glowing with heat where Peril had touched him, and he growled in pain. Strangely, cracks ran through many of the scales. Moon knew that could happen with glass if it changed temperature too quickly, but dragon scales aren’t nearly brittle enough for that to happen. He reached into a small pouch that was thankfully intact. He pulled out a large ruby, closing his talons over it. Fight fire with fire, I suppose. He thought, which only worried the moon more. Then something unexplainable happened.
Red washes up the dragon’s arm, his scales rippling like a liquid for a moment as they changed color. The cracks sealed up as if a fresh coat of scales had been applied, these ones made of rubies rather than the dark blue gem that composed his scales originally. He turned back to Peril and Clay, who were watching with slack jawed expressions. “Did you know that ruby has a melting point of more than three and a half thousand degrees?” The stranger asked with a self-satisfied smile.
“Who-who are you?” Clay asked. Moon could hear that his mind was divided, part of him wanting to check on her, the other part wanting to prevent Peril from attacking the stranger. His thoughts were running through all the possibilities that might let them avoid a fight.
The dragon paused for a moment, then muttered, “I guess I actually didn’t introduce myself. My name is Tanzanite. And that,” he pointed one claw at the mangled, chitinous thing that had attacked Moon, “is the most dangerous species known to Dragonkind.”

Chapter 6: Notice going forward (not an actual chapter)

So, I’m having a bit of drama and chaos with my family in real life right now. This work isn’t canceled or even completely on hold, but it’s going to be updated VERY slowly, and I thought I should give everyone a heads up. Sorry, and I’ll try to be at least a little productive with the story.

Chapter 7: Interrogation

Summary:

Tanzanite does his best to explain everything to the DoD, and makes a horrifying discovery.

Notes:

I’m sorry this is so short, I’m sorry there was nearly a two week wait, and I’m doubly sorry that both of those things are in combination with each other. I’m going to be holding myself to a more rigorous schedule for getting some work done on this.

Tanzanite had been expecting to be held for questioning after some brief introductions, but it was still annoying. He was in a small cave that had apparently been a detention room for students before. It had been Clay’s idea to hold him there, as they didn’t know where else to put him. It was a school, not a prison.
After the initial encounter, the large brown dragon - who had introduced himself as Clay - had hurried him to this cave, and gone to have a meeting with a few others, including the principal. All Tanzanite had gathered about her was that she was extremely fierce, and was named Tsunami. Which would be a pretty fitting name if she was actually as fierce as Tanzanite had guessed from Clay’s brief mention.
He could overhear the entire conversation quite easily by using his inner ear. There wasn’t anywhere in the mountain they could hide the conversation from him. He could recognize a few voices, but he only recognized Peril, Clay, and MoonWatcher. He gradually picked up the names of two others, Tsunami and Sunny. The other unidentified dragons seemed to be in a relationship. He had nicknamed them Anxious and Cheery. He also thought Peril and Clay might be in a relationship, although he was less sure of that. They seemed very awkward around each other, in a way that might be caused by romantic tension.
“So, this strange dragon snuck into the school with the intent of stealing, and a monster like something from a story happened to be in at the same time?” Tsunami said, sounding very suspicious and just as aggressive as Tanzanite had imagined her.
“He did save MoonWatcher from that monster. And we have an - admittedly quite mangled - body, so we know it’s not made up. Are you thinking he brought it here as some kind of set up to make himself look good?” A small voice asked, sounding skeptical. “MoonWatcher would have caught that immediately.”
“I’m not saying he brought it here on purpose, I’m saying he may have brought it here by accident. Like, maybe he left a trail when he came here from… wherever he lived, and it followed him. And that means there may still be who-know-how-many more.” Tsunami responded. Tanzanite winced. That was almost certainly the actual case.
“If they’re solitary creatures, then it’s unlikely, but if they live in groups, there are almost certainly more.” An anxious voice added. “We should ask him more about them. We didn’t get much detail before we threw him in a cave.”
“We were a little more concerned with keeping everyone safe.” Tsunami growled.
“And now everyone is safe, and we can ask him some more questions in a controlled setting.”
“Fine. But if he makes one suspicious move, I’m thumping him with my tail.” Tsunami growled back.
Tanzanite panicked slightly as he heard several sets of talonsteps start approaching. He quickly closed his inner ear, the seams along the sides of his head shutting tight, hiding the quivering strands of raw red flesh within. By the time a large, suspicious, angry looking SeaWing stepped into the doorway, the nightmarish display was completely hidden.
Tanzanite started to open his mouth, but Tsunami immediately spoke before he could. “Alright, I still don’t trust you or the circumstances you arrived under, but here we go. Why were you trying to steal from the academy?”
Tanzanite was a little taken aback at her bluntness, but he spoke again after a few seconds. “I was trying to steal any kind of scroll that could tell me the current state of affairs on the surface. I didn’t want to just reveal myself without any kind of information about who I was revealing myself to. I could be taken prisoner, or worse, experimented on.”
He spotted two other dragons in the doorway behind Tsunami. One was Clay, and the other a small, golden yellow dragoness with green eyes. She looked like a SandWing without the tail barb. He assumed she was the Sunny he had heard addressed. They both looked a little sympathetic at how aggressive Tsunami was towards him, and the smaller one seemed on the verge of saying something.
Before she could, Tanzanite spoke. “I think we both know what your biggest question is. So let’s just break through the stone rather than get lost in the tunnels. You want to know about the Creaker.” He said plainly. Tsunami seemed to bristle, but then relax with a deep breath.
“Yes. We are rather curious about the nightmare beast that attacked one of our students.” She said in a voice of strained calm. He saw a knowing glance shared between Clay and the dragoness he assumed was Sunny, and he guessed this was a common occurrence for Tsunami.
“Alright, bring me its body - or whatever’s left of it - and I’ll explain everything.” Tanzanite said.

************************************************

“This is a Creaker.” Tanzanite said, dropping the carcass onto the table with a loud thud. “A juvenile, barely a few days after leaving the nest. At most two weeks old, I’d say. We were never quite able to trace their evolutionary line, as they seem to be a chimera of sorts. They actively hunt dragons, even fully grown dragons. There isn’t a species alive that they won’t try to prey on, regardless of their success rate. Speaking of which, their success rate is shockingly high against dragons.”
“How is that even possible?” Tsunami asked, seeming skeptical.
“They have it down to a science. They leap onto the dragon’s back, and dig in with their legs.” Tanzanite explained, lifting one of the scythe like blades. “Once they get to the neck, they stab one leg through a gap between the ridges along the target’s back, where the scales are weakest. It goes through, and severs the spine. If you’re lucky, it kills you instantly. If you’re unlucky, it paralyzes you, and you get eaten alive.”
Tsunami no longer look skeptical. She looked a little pale. All of the others did too. Feeling obliged to comfort them, Tanzanite quickly spoke in a rather poor attempt to do so. “Your chances of getting eaten alive are still pretty low. Usually it’s instantly fatal.”
“Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.” Tsunami said dryly.
“Well, it probably should.” StarFlight mumbled, getting a few half hearted chuckles, and an eye-roll from Tanzanite.
Clay spoke up at last. “Can we eat it?” He asks with a grin, causing a few of the others to snicker. Tanzanite squinted at him for a moment, trying to tell if he was joking. He was pretty sure it was a joke, but Tanzanite decided to humor him anyway.
“Actually, yes. They’re a delicacy for those who are either rich enough to afford them, or strong enough - or crazy enough - to hunt them themselves. If prepared right, they taste like lobster with a more gamey texture. Because of their dense muscles, they’re also quite high in protein.”
The others stared at him for a moment, and Tanzanite had to hide a smile as he saw their surprised reactions. Clay tentatively started reaching for it, and the others glared at him so fiercely that the large dragon suddenly didn’t seem so big. He looked down at the floor, and mumbled, “I was just curious.”
“If you do end up eating it, cut off the head first at the base of the neck.” Tanzanite said with a sigh. He rolled the corpse over, and nudged its head up with one talon. “They have venom sacs on their neck, which can cause some problems if…” He trailed off, staring at the red streaks along its neck. His blood turned to ice, and he automatically checked its belly. To his horror, the same dark red stripes stood out against the stark white exoskeleton. The stripes marked it as a descendant of Old One Eye.
If one of her brood had gotten to the surface, then there was a gap in the quarantine around the Great Lurker’s Maw. Even if the breach was only small enough for the younger ones to get out, it could be a problem. His horror grew as he thought about how young it was. One this young couldn’t have survived the journey to the surface. That meant that another one had come up, and laid an egg that this one spawned from. Knowing that Creakers laid their eggs in large clusters, there could be dozens of the little terrors in the region.
Worse, it meant there was also a Creaker of sexual maturity, old enough to be laying eggs. Worse, that was an adult Creaker, that was the direct descendant of Old One Eye. The Creaker had countless names. The Butcher of Knevol. The Reaper of Argonite. The Wyrm Eater. The beast that had spawned legends of demons. And now one of its children was up here, rearing its young, spreading their wretched species. Hunting. Feeding. Killing.

Chapter 8: Revelation

Summary:

Now that the team is fully together, Tanzanite explains the extent of the danger, and plans begin to form.

Notes:

Winter’s mental state is not the best as you can probably tell.

Winter

Winter lands a little roughly, his wings aching from the long flight. His backtracking to save the injured human had added a small but definitely noticeable amount to his journey here. Still, it was good to be back. He walked into the cave, and heard the urgent voices of his friends…
“If you can call them that…”
Winter stopped abruptly, leaning against the wall next to him. His breathing quickened, and he shook his head as he stared at the place the voice had come from. Shame stood there, flickering in and out of existence in time with Winter’s faltering lucidity. It leered at him, its face an eternally shifting facade of his mistakes. The breaking vase, his lonely days in sanctuary.
“They left you all alone. Made you the perfect little villain in their love story.”
Where Shame had once stood now stood Hate. The breaking vase was replaced with their accusing stares, faces that judged him so readily, yet could never face a mirror. His loneliness was replaced by him standing alone in his little hut in sanctuary, standing over a torn letter, heaving as if he had flown all the way to Pantala without rest.
“Can you blame them? The very first thing you ever said to her was a threat on her life.”
Shame was back. Winter saw every act of cruelty he had committed. Every threat hurled at Moon, every sharp jab, every insult. He saw all the times he had dismissed Kinkajou, thinking of her as nothing more than an embarrassment to dragons as a whole, a joke.
Shame’s and Hate’s voices blended together, a mixture of accusations of his mistakes, and vindications of his anger. The voices of his insecurities rose from a whisper to a roar, like the sound of a waterfall nearby. Winter was drowning in darkness. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t-
“Hey… hey, HEY! Wake up sleepy head.” Winter’s head snapped up to see Qibli looking at him with his usual infuriating smile, although there was anxiety behind it, and unusual tenseness around his eyes. “Are you alright?” Qibli asked gently.
Winter just nodded, although it was obvious Qibli didn’t believe him. “Yeah. I’m just tired from the flight.” Winter said quickly, a flimsy excuse. Thankfully, Qibli didn’t push him on it.

************************************************

Winter stared in shock at the strange dragon before him. He did seem to most closely resemble a cross of SeaWing and IceWing. He had the crystalline, spiky appearance of an IceWing, but his color scheme was definitely much closer to a SeaWing, or maybe even a SilkWing. “So… are you going to keep staring at me or can I go back to explaining the giant metaphorical blade hanging over our heads?” The stranger asked a little dryly. Qibli smiled, and Winter sighed. He really hoped this dragon wouldn’t be another Qibli. “I would definitely like an explanation of this supposed impending doom.” Tsunami said in annoyance. “So let’s get introductions out of the way. Winter and Qibli, Tanzanite. Tanzanite, Winter and Qibli.” Winter shot Moon a significant look, and she nodded. No one except the ever-observant Qibli noticed. Though Qibli had also made the connection to the prophecy right away. “Right…” Tanzanite said, a little taken aback by Tsunami’s bluntness, as most dragons were. “So, Creakers gradually gain unusual features as they grow older. They might grow spines along their back, they might change color, their claws might become serrated, and so on. Once they start having these changes, any of their offspring inherit those changes. We’re not entirely sure why. But these red stripes mark this as an offspring of one particular Creaker. A beast with a dozen different names. The Butcher of Knevol. The Reaper of Argonite. The Wyrm-Eater. But the most common name given to it is Old One Eye.” His tone was filled with dread at the words. Winter wasn’t the most in touch with the feelings of others - he didn’t think any IceWings were - but he could hear the sheer horror in Tanzanite’s tone at the name ‘Old One Eye.’ “What’s so special about her?” Tsunami asked, not giving Tanzanite’s fear much attention. “She’s the oldest, therefore the largest and most intelligent, Creaker ever recorded. She’s larger than most dragons, including everyone in this room. That doesn’t mean she’s lost even a bit of her agility. She doesn’t even need to go for a dragon’s weak points anymore. She’s strong enough to just slice you to bloody ribbons. She’s old enough that she can keep other Creakers in line, so she leads the largest cohesive pack of Creakers. And worst of all, she’s SMART.” “Each of her names has another horror story behind it. Butcher of Knevol? Using hit and run tactics, she and a group of Creakers that numbered fewer than half a dozen wiped out an entire village. Out of the thirty seven dragons that lived in that village, twenty four of them were killed and eaten. The others fled to the palace, and were pursued through the tunnels. Of the thirteen that escaped Knevol, only six got to the kingdom.” “Reaper of Argonite? She killed a military wing that was sent to dispatch her after the Knevol incident. The leader was Argonite, one of the most respected generals personally leading the mission. Old One Eye personally killed him, and left his mutilated corpse just outside the kingdom borders.” “Wyrm-Eater… well, I think that’s pretty self explanatory.” Tanzanite finished bitterly There was a long moment of silence, and even Tsunami looked a little pale once again. Winter had managed to maintain his composure, even though the risk of danger had caused Shame’s voice to whisper a little louder in his ear. “And if one of her offspring is here, she broke out of the quarantine we set up. We had collapsed nearly all of the tunnels that connected to the caverns she was in. Neither she nor any of her offspring should have been able to get out. But they’re at the surface of all places. So the quarantine is breached.” Tanzanite continued. He suddenly tensed, turning to the doorway with a suspicious look. “So, we need to set up our own security measures.” StarFlight said anxiously. “We won’t be able to trap them so easily up here. It’s nearly impossible to completely block off any large area.” “I also need to go back to my home.” Tanzanite interjected. “I won’t leave my tribe to fight those monsters on their own. If we can kill Old One Eye before she reaches the surface herself, all the better.” “Are we assembling more teams in a last ditch effort to save the world? That’s familiar.” Qibli said sarcastically. “OOH, CAN I BE PART OF THE TEAM THIS TIME?!” A new voice abruptly shouted. Tanzanite nodded as if a suspicion had been confirmed as Kinkajou appeared, her scales returning to their usual bright yellows. “Absolutely not.” Sunny said in a surprisingly stern tone. “The Jade Winglet has gotten in enough trouble as it is.” “Hey, we were specifically sent on our last mission, and it turned out pretty well!” Qibli said indignantly. Hate’s voice whispered in Winter’s ear at the reminder, their growling voice reminding him of every time he had been left out, how he had been replaced with Lynx. “That… three moons, why can’t you dragons just be normal students?” Tsunami growled, earning an I know, right? look from Sunny. “Hey, saving the world has become a habit, what can I say?” Qibli said with his usual sardonic grin. Sunny threw her wings out in an uncharacteristic display of frustration. “FINE!” She said in as close to a roar as Winter had ever heard her. “If past experience is any indication, we won’t be able to stop you from going anyway.”

************************************************

Eagle

 

Eagle came crashing down in the woods near his village. He reached to pull the amulet off, but paused after a moment. He had altered the enchantment so that he could change at will regardless if he was wearing the amulet- wait, technically, no he hadn’t. He removed the amulet for a moment, and removed the scrap of paper. Using a nearby flat rock as a surface to write on, he grimaced as he realized that he didn’t have a writing utensil.
With a grimace, he pricked his left hand with his dagger. He used the tip to carefully write a new line in his own blood. When the wearer uses the part of the enchantment that allows them to change at will without removing the amulet, it will have the same effect on any items they’re wearing or carrying as if they had just removed or put it on, but only on items that would have been affected by the transformation.
He quickly put the amulet back on, and focused on his hand. Black scales rippled over it for just a second, and when they vanished again, his flesh had healed. He mentally patted himself on the back for his clever thinking. He would be keeping the amulet on for now. At first he had never used it unless absolutely necessary, even if it put his life in great risk to avoid using it. But why should he? He had grown to like the powerful sensation, the feeling of towering over the world.
He gets back to the village soon, and stops. There were very few people outside. Most of them glanced back and forth. The guards were the most nervous, and wearing armor that they had abandoned after seeing how useless it was against dragons. One of them nearly shot him with an arrow as soon as he stepped into view.
“Eagle? You’re alive?” The guard shouted, her voice full of shock and relief.
“Yes, obviously.” Eagle snapped, too worried to be polite. “What’s going on? Why are you wearing armor, and why is everyone staying indoors?”
“Animal attacks. If you can call them animals. Spindly, creeping things, as white as a living skeleton, and just as thin.” The guard said, glancing around nervously, as if the mere mention might cause the creatures to manifest from the shadows.
Eagle cursed under his breath. He was too late. The monsters had already begun attacking the village. “I came here to warn you. I encountered one, and saw it take down a cougar in seconds. Skewered it through the neck.”
The guard looked bewildered. “Just one of them? How big was it?” She asked. Eagle hesitated, then held a hand palm-down at about chest height. The guard paled in response, and shuddered.
“The ones we’ve been dealing with are hardly larger than cats.” The guard explained. “But they attack in swarms, and strip their victims to the bone like a swarm of ants. You get dozens of stab wounds in a matter of seconds.”
Eagle paused as he took in the new information. They were at least smaller than the one he had encountered before. Did that mean they were infants? Probably. He hoped that their shells weren’t as tough as the adult’s.
Tik tik tik tik… Creeeaaaak…
Eagle whirled around, concentrating on the amulet. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure how he summoned the magic, but he had done some practice with it. Black scales raced along his arm, and his fingers twisted into talons. He caught the little beast out of the air, and slammed it into the ground with enough force to literally send pieces of it flying like the debris from a bomb.
The guard looked utterly horrified as yellow gore flew past, but Eagle didn’t even glance at her. He brought his newly created claws in a broad arc towards another as it jumped towards him. He split it messily in half, hurling its carcass into a nearby tree.
Several more sets of glowing eyes stared from low to the ground, rapidly approaching. Eagle braced himself for battle, his other arm taking on a more draconic appearance.

Chapter 9: The board is set

Summary:

Tanzanite gathers information and lays out his plans. But he’s not the only one plotting.

His talon swiped down on the first Creaker, a specimen at least half a decade old by its size, which was nearly nine feet tall, as tall as a four year old dragonet. His unusually broad claws completely shattered its exoskeleton, cleaving its upper body into several meaty chunks.
He saw two more attacking one of his soldiers, and charged. His axe-bladed tailband sliced the first cleanly in half, and punched the second with an overhead strike. His curled talon slams into the top of its head, and crushes it into the floor. He twists his talon back and forth for good measure, grinding the Creaker’s corpse into a smear of viscera.
The soldier he saved was turning to thank him, but he was already off. The leader of this Creaker pack was nearby, flanked by two of its largest subordinates. “Ferrite, distract the leader’s body guards!” Axinite roars, his voice practically shaking the cave.
Ferrite didn’t hesitate. One moment, she was stalking the edge of the cavern, striking swiftly wherever she saw one of her brothers or sisters in arms in danger, before disappearing back into the shadows just as quickly, changing direction on a moment’s notice with powerful beats of her wings. But as soon as Axinite’s order leaves his mouth, she switches to her new target, with the same incredible speed and grace that had gotten Axinite to recruit her into the Razor Guard, the elite force of the ShimmerWings.
She moves like a fired arrow, a streak of glinting silver laced with deadly intent. She easily evades a pouncing Creaker that tried to intercept her, her long tail snapping to the side to knock her attacker towards Axinite himself. He catches it in one talon, lifts it high into the air, and slams it down onto the cavern floor with a satisfying CRUNCH.
Ferrite hadn’t slowed down on her mad dash towards her target. Her spear lanced forward, the full momentum of her charge put behind it. It punches dead center through the largest and thickest armor plate of the left bodyguard, and tears out the monster’s back, skewering it. Ferrite is forced to abandon her spear still lodged in the beast as both the pack leader and its remaining guard strike at her.
While dealing with Ferrite, they were unaware of Axinite barreling towards them. The first warning they got was the ground trembling slightly from his footsteps. They didn’t get a second warning. Axinite grabbed the pack leader in his jaws while exhaling a blast of shard breath. Its exoskeleton manages to hold out for a few seconds before his teeth crack it, exposing the soft flesh inside to the spray of microscopic blades. Its innards are practically liquified by the barrage of diamond dust, reduced to a bloody, silt like substance.
At the same time, his tail lashes around as he spins, aiming to decapitate the remaining bodyguard. It leaps over his tail, and lands on his back, claws digging in. He lets out a roar of anger, and throws himself against a nearby wall, crushing it against the stone. His weight is enough to practically pulverize it.
Ferrite leaps past again, this time swatting aside two smaller Creakers that had been attacking Amber, one of the new recruits. “Remember your training Amber!” Axinite roars. “If they’re climbing on your back, roll over to crush them!”
“Sorry sir!” Amber yells back sheepishly, before swatting aside another Creaker that had pounced, knocking it out of the air. Ferrite brings her now-recovered spear down on it before it can recover. The second Creaker that had been attacking him slashes at Amber’s leg, leaving a deep cut. He growls, then lunges, grabbing its upper body in his jaws and crushing it.
Axinite looked around, seeing that the battle was more or less over. There were only a talonful of Creakers left, and most of the stragglers were smaller ones that were only alive because they weren’t priorities. Once more, the Razor Guard had achieved decisive victory.

Tanzanite

The next hour was spent on researching the surface tribes, their strengths and weaknesses. It was all important knowledge to designing the team that would be going to the UnderDark with him. So far it seemed that most of them had surprisingly useful traits, and were fairly well adapted. So far there were only two tribes he had mentally crossed off completely.
SandWings like Qibli required very little food, which would make the logistics much easier. SeaWings and NightWings like Turtle and MoonWatcher had excellent night vision. IceWings and MudWings weren’t particularly well suited, but had no severe drawbacks.
As for the ones he crossed off, SkyWings and RainWings would be of very little help, as the environment made their natural abilities almost useless. SkyWings were renowned fliers, the best by a tremendous margin. That was absolutely pointless in all but the largest caverns. RainWing camouflage might seem useful from an outside perspective, but anyone with more advanced knowledge of the UnderDark would know how little use it would be. Nearly all creatures relied on hearing as much if not more than eyesight. In addition, RainWings became sickly if they went too long without their ‘suntime.’
So, taking from the Jade Winglet, if they were as seasoned adventurers as he had been led to believe, Tanzanite thought his ideal team would be Qibli, Winter, MoonWatcher, and Turtle. Qibli and Winter would both be fighters, with Qibli having the added logistical advantage of SandWings low food requirements. MoonWatcher would be an excellent forward warning system given her telepathy and precognition. Turtle would also be an excellent scout, navigating the many underground bodies of water. Tanzanite would be their leader and navigator, since he had knowledge of the UnderDark. They would still need a team medic.
Tanzanite walked back out of the library, to where the others were gathered in the prey center. “Alright, I got the information I need. The team I want is Qibl-”
“Wait, what?” Tsunami said, cutting him off. “You are not assembling a team of our students to go on an adventure to god knows where!”
Tanzanite awkwardly closed his mouth, feeling quite sheepish as several sets of amused eyes stared at him. “I thought they said they were coming along.” He said quietly.
“They are - DESPITE my opinions on the matter - but you aren’t… doing whatever this is.” Tsunami says, waving a talon at him. “They’re the ones deciding who goes along where.”
Tanzanite falters. “No!” He argues weakly. “Kinkajou and Peril have their main abilities rendered useless. They aren’t suited for the UnderDark. There’s no sunlight, and the creatures often use hearing instead of eyesight, so Kinkajou is ou-”
“Excuse me?!” Kinkajou said, her scales turning an indignant orange-red. “I go where the others go! The Jade Winglet doesn’t split up!”
Tanzanite let out a small, defeated sigh, resting his snout in his talons. “Fine.” He said weakly, too tired and stressed to argue. His home was in danger and he wasn’t going to waste time arguing about who and who wasn’t coming along.
Kinkajou made a satisfied smile, as her scales shifted to a dark shade of violet, with purple-blue streaks. Tanzanite knew from the scroll that the color of her scales shifted with her emotions, but he didn’t quite remember what emotion corresponded with that color. He thought pride, or maybe satisfaction?
“Alright, so the ‘Jade Winglet’ is following me home, and the rest of you are staying topside to deal with the outbreak?” Tanzanite asked, turning to Tsunami. She frowned at the first bit, but nodded.
“Alright.” said, excitement and worry battling for his attention. “I’ll show you the entrance to the UnderDark.”

9 miles beneath the surface of Pyrrhia…

Far below, another dragon was making her own plans. She stared at the bloodstained reports, sorting through what was and wasn’t useful. Most of the information fell into the latter category. But the information on outpost personnel was valuable. Her attention was diverted by a clicking sound, a much sharper version of the same sound a dragon’s claws made against the stone floor. She turned around, annoyance clear on her face. Annoyance was her only reaction to a sight that would have most dragons frozen in terror. Old One Eye glared at her with that same, unreadable face. Unreadable because it seemed incapable of expressing anything other than the cold calculations of a predator on the hunt, or ravenous hunger. “I’ll tell you when I’m done.” The dragon snapped, her voice showing just as much displeasure as her expression. Old One Eye’s mandibles clicked, the plates shifting awkwardly. “You… promise… feast.” She said coldly. The tone was mostly emotionless, but there was a hint of an accusatory voice. “I know what I promised you.” The dragon snapped back again, her talons balling into fists in frustration, crumpling the paper she held. “So kindly take yourself and your wretched spawn out of my scales so I can work on fulfilling my promise without being watched over my shoulder.” Old One Eye stared at her for a moment, but the dragon didn’t back down. After a few seconds, Old One Eye made a low trilling noise, and the younger Creakers that had been slowly stalking forward backed off with a chorus of disappointed clicks and chitters. “Four… cycles. Then… hunger… exceeds patience.” Old One Eye said, returning to the shadows she so comfortably lurked in. Her single burning yellow eye is the last thing to fade into the darkness as she turns away.

Chapter 10: First encounter

Summary:

The Jade Winglet finally reaches the UnderDark with a definitely-not-poorly-written dream time transition, and has a rather dramatic run in with some wild life.

MoonWatcher

Moonwatcher’s head snapped up as her eyes opened. She was met with stone on all sides, as she had been every time she woke up over the last two days they had been on the latest adventure. The others also slept nearby. Tanzanite was sleeping between a few stalagmites against a wall. Turtle partially submerged in a small underground stream that was only deep enough to be up to his shoulders, even lying down. Winter was also there, a bit downstream from Turtle.
Moon herself was curled under one of Qibli’s wings for the heat that was given off by his scales. Kinkajou was in the same position on the other side, having wriggled under his wing at some point. Even though she knew it was an innocent gesture, she still felt a flare of suspicion, then immediately felt guilty about that.
Her thoughts returned to the dream that had awakened her. Had that been a dream at all, or a vision? It had the more solid, physical feeling of a vision. But it made no sense from what Tanzanite had said about Creakers. He had said Old One Eye was smart, but not sentient. And perhaps more importantly, who on Pyrrhia was crazy or desperate enough to work with such a monster? And what did One Eye mean that the dragon had “promised a feast?” That last one worried Moon the most.
She glanced around to see that the others had started awakening. Qibli, as per usual, was up first. He woke up all at once as if his brain was on a timer. He stood up, and almost automatically began organizing their supplies. He sorted out the rations, and began refilling the water skins from the stream, making sure to get water upstream of the two sleeping dragons.
Moon watched him with a slightly amused look as he went about his routine. He saw her after a moment, and seemed to snap out of his trance. “Good morning - probably - Moon.” He says with his usual cheeky grin. Moon just sighed at his joke, although it wasn’t entirely a joke.
Time in the UnderDark was measured in “cycles.” A cycle was about eighteen hours, rather than the twenty eight of a standard day. In one cycle, the airflow from a region called the Great Lurker’s Maw would change direction. The explanation was some long, scientific thing about geothermal patterns that Tanzanite had half-heartedly tried to explain. Tanzanite had also said that according to folklore, it was the breath of the Great Lurker itself.
Still, the false wind didn’t reach far out of the UnderDark, so they hadn’t reached it yet. When they felt the first stirring in the air, they’d know they had finally reached the UnderDark.
The others were awake by now, most of them very grumpy. Turtle, Moon, and Tanzanite seemed completely unaffected by the subterranean environment. Winter wasn’t too badly affected, but the worst were Kinkajou and Qibli. Both of them were used to, even reliant on, the sunlight. Kinkajou had become less energetic and cheerful, and her scales had dulled. Qibli was stressed, but not suffering any physical ailments from it. But Moon knew him well enough to see the strain he tried to hide, the way his eyes were always tired, and his smiles seemed forced.
After a quiet, subdued meal of rations, they began on their journey again. Tanzanite said they were almost there, and his mind indicated that he wasn’t just trying to cheer them up. But will that really help the other two? His mind stressed. The glow from the crystals isn’t the same as sunlight.
Moon could only hope it would at least stop the other’s conditions from deteriorating, even if it didn’t help them recover.

Moon was jolted from her anxious thoughts as Tanzanite suddenly stopped in front of her. He lowered himself to the floor, tapping one claw against the stone. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, he spoke. “The floor beneath us is hollow here.” He announces excitedly. He takes his pickaxe from its place under his wing, and unfolds both ends.
“Are you sure it leads anywhere?” Moon asked, shouting to be heard over Tanzanite’s assault on the stone floor.
“Not entirely certain, but if my geography is right, then we should be somewhere above the Undergrowth by now.” He says in a confident voice. The others exchange awkward glances as he continues. “We are on level with the Silt Wastes, but that’s not a good entrance point into the UnderDark. We’d probably die choking on toxic fumes before we got out.”
As he finishes speaking, the floor crumbles beneath him… and keeps crumbling. The others, who had gathered curiously around him, couldn't spread their wings in time to take flight. Tanzanite lets out a startled yelp as he topples head first into the newly created pit. Moon beats her wings twice just before landing in water, instantly plunging into the frigid, foul smelling depths…
But they weren’t frigid. The water was certainly cold, but it was far warmer than the rest of the water they’d found down here. She swims spluttering to the surface, and nearly inhales a mouthful of water as she gasps.
Fungi and plants of every imaginable color, form, size, and species form an underground jungle just as vibrant as the rainforest. Bioluminescence shines from every corner, illuminating everything in a soft twilight of greens, blues and purples. In the center of the cavern, a single towering piece of fungi grows upward like an altar to some alien god. It glows far brighter than the rest, a golden yellow shine that illuminates most of the room.
The others emerge from the water, Turtle trying to expel the foul substance from his gills. Kinkajou’s colors become as bright as she’d seen them ever since the first few hours of their journey. Even Winter looked begrudgingly awed. Moon stifled a laugh as she realized that even with SkyFire, she knew exactly what he was thinking. She could so easily imagine his mental voice saying ‘hmph, fine, it’s pretty, but the Ice Kingdom is still prettier.’
Without any caution, Kinkajou leapt into the shimmering, alien landscape. Tanzanite hurried after her, mentally muttering about her complete lack of caution. As if on cue, a terrified scream echoed through the tunnel.
The entire Jade Winglet bursts into motion at once, Qibli being the fastest of all. They burst through the foliage - fungiage? - and see a scene that makes their blood run cold. Kinkajou was face to face with a titanic centipede, easily four times her length, with a stark white skull for a face.

Qibli

Qibli didn’t let his terror get the better of him, although it was tough. The being before them, which loomed over Kinkajou, was something even his overactive imagination couldn’t conjure in his worst nightmare. It was mostly dark red, almost black. The armor segments, which were as thick as his claws were long, got brighter towards each end, until they were a furious orange red. Its legs, pincers and antenna were the same color. Its face resembled the skull of a dragon, frozen in a perpetual scream of agony.
The horror began to shake its tail, and a low hum grew into a buzzing, droning wail. Qibli’s mind raced through everything he knew about its surface counterparts, but he had no idea how much this monstrosity had in common with a normal centipede. Its armor was obviously too thick to cut through. Its underbelly was more vulnerable, but would only be exposed as long as it was reared up like it was now. He had to act quickly to save Kinkaj-
Tanzanite stepped forward, and swatted the creature on the head with the palm of his talon with a loud smack. It immediately stopped creating the strange noise, and stared at him with black, soulless eyes. “Git.” He said sharply. It took a hesitant step back, and he swatted it again. “Shoo!” Tanzanite half-shouted in the same stern tone. The creature lay flat to the ground again, and skittered off with a defeated air.
The others, Qibli included, stared at Tanzanite in awe and confusion as he watched the creature depart. Moon bolted forward after a second, and helped Kinkajou back to her feet. “Are you alright?” She asked the still acid-green RainWing.
“She’s fine. That was a Wailer Centipede. Very threatening, but complete pushovers.” Tanzanite explained. “It was just trying to scare her out of its territory.”
Kinkajou’s colors abruptly returned to a sharp yellow with lavender stripes. “That was awesome!” She shouted, causing Moon to almost drop her in surprise. Moon and Qibli shared an amused look as Kinkajou went on.
“We just reached the UnderDark, and we’ve already found an underground jungle even more colorful than the rainforest, and faced a giant monster!” She shouted, bouncing back and forth. Tanzanite had an utterly dumbfounded look as he stared at her in disbelief. He just shakes his head in confusion after a second. The UnderDark is a strange place.

Notes:

This is what inspired the scene with the Wailer Centipede: https://youtube.com/shorts/8CP6iLfmA9I?si=nUg9RhqklxSuMUss
On that note, you can find more information on the Wailer Centipede in the updated Guide to the UnderDark.

Chapter 11: Mini-chapter

Summary:

A little check in with our favorite Creaker.

Notes:

I just got back from a long vacation, so I won’t be posting much. My sleep schedule is a wreck, I’m getting back into the swing of chores, and overall just don’t have the energy to write. But here’s a mini chapter to hold you over.

Pioneer

It had decided that it had finally earned a name. So it had named itself Pioneer. It had also grown enough to become that intelligent. Normally Creakers took much longer to develop that kind of intelligence, but as a descendent of Old One Eye, it had mentally developed much faster than most of its kind.
The second clutch of eggs had finally hatched. Nearly fifty broodlings, all snapping and biting for scraps. The previous clutch was already large enough to leave the nest and hunt on their own. It had sent them to feed in the woods near the mountains.
But now it had to take care of the second clutch. Normally it would leave the strongest to eat the weakest, but in this situation it couldn’t. They needed every member their pack could get to grow into a proper swarm. So, on orders of its grandmother, the One-Eyed beast, it was stuck playing babysitter.
It tossed a chunk of meat into the small groove it had carved into the stone as a nest. Anyone who looked closely enough would see the red-orange scales still hanging onto the muscle tissue beneath.
The hatchlings immediately went into a frenzy, serrated teeth practically vibrating with fury as they tore into the severed arm of the SkyWing. Pioneer begrudgingly made sure that they all got at least some of the food. It still let the strongest get the best share.
Pioneer took a few steps back, sizing up its spawn. It held none of the affection or passion that a parent should feel when gazing upon their children. It judged them as a drill instructor would judge a fresh batch of cadets.
Just a few more days and they should be ready to hunt small game on their own. Then they would number in the hundreds. And with the sheer abundance of food, soon they’d number in the thousands.

Chapter 12: Battle at the surface

Summary:

Still back on the surface, we get our first look at how things are going for the team up there. I wonder how they’re doing. *Checks notes.* Oh dear.

Notes:

It is my head canon that Clay crashes out when his friends are in danger, he always should have been written that way. Are you really a Big-wings if you don’t break the Geneva convention at the sight of your siblings being hurt?

Tsunami eyed the mutilated pile of bloody fur with obvious disgust. Glory and Clay stood beside her, equally horrified. Clay looked like he was going to vomit, and Glory was fighting patches of green from her scales. The only ones who looked unphased were DeathBringer, and Mirage, a former Outclaw who Thorn had sent for her specialty in forensics.
“The wounds match Tanzanite’s description of a Creaker attack.” Glory said, trying to keep her voice even and steady. Indeed, it looked as if the elk’s side had been cut open, then its organs scoured by a thousand tiny blades.
“So they’re definitely here.” Tsunami growled, her tail lashing back and forth.
“Too close to the Rainforest.” Glory added, unable to keep the worry out of her voice.
“This was recent.” Mirage suddenly said, drawing attention to her. “The blood is dry, but it would have darkened a lot more if it had been more than a few hours, a day at most.”
“Great…” Glory sighed, her gaze falling. “I suppose we should look around to see if we can find out where they went?” She asked, looking to Mirage questioningly. Mirage just nodded.
They spent a few minutes looking around, until Clay called them over. Talon prints in the dirt, heading south. DeathBringer checked the trees nearby, finding some of the scratches that showed where Creakers had climbed them. Heading in the same direction.
“We need to rescue an idiot, don’t we?” Glory said bluntly.
Clay bumped her shoulder with a good natured smile. “Hey, saving idiots is our specialty.” He replied, managing to get smiles from everyone except Mirage, who was already off in the direction of the talon prints.

The others followed, all on high alert. DeathBringer was the most alert, his years as an assassin honing his instincts and senses. So he was the only one to react quickly enough to shove Glory to the ground as a dagger flew past her.
A deep green dragon fell from the trees already mid attack. They wore an ornate headpiece made of solid metal, with branching, antler-like horns. They also had gauntlets that padded their knuckles, letting them run on those instead of the palms of their talons. This meant they could effectively run while holding the daggers they held.
A talonful of Creakers leaped from hiding at the same time. The Creakers charged Clay and Mirage as the dragon leaped at Glory and DeathBringer. Tsunami let out a roar, and smashed the first Creaker aside with her tail, practically shattering it. And the fight was on.
Mirage seemed to hold her own, though her combat skills weren’t remarkable. Her stinger ricocheted off a Creaker’s exoskeleton, failing to kill but staggering it long enough for Tsunami to bite it. Her talons tore at another one, and rage filled her as she saw that Clay already had a bleeding wound across his snout. She ran to his side, batting another Creaker out of the air as it almost landed on his back. The two fought side by side, and Tsunami felt a smile on her face despite the situation. This was her element. Battling alongside her friends. And since these were mindless beasts, she had none of the guilt she got from fighting other dragons.
She thought all was well until she glanced at DeathBringer and Glory. The unknown assailant had recovered their second dagger, and was methodically cutting down DeathBringer. They had cut both of his wings, and one of his front legs, systematically crippling him. Glory was lying on her side, a deep gash on her chest.
The fight between them and DeathBringer was more like a synchronized dance of some kind. They both ducked, spun and weaved with agility that just didn’t make sense for creatures as large as dragons. Still, the attacker’s weapons gave them a clear advantage. The knives were of excellent craftsmanship, six times as long as a dragon’s claw, and easily twice as sharp by the ease they cut through scale and flesh.
Right as Tsunami had that thought, DeathBringer put too much weight on his injured leg, and stumbled. With movements so quick they gave her flashbacks of the viper biting Clay, the attacker lunged, slashing his other front leg. Speaking of Clay…
Clay slammed into the attacker with the speed and force of a boulder in an avalanche. Tsunami hadn’t even noticed him leave her side he had moved so quickly. The attacker frantically stabbed Clay, lodging a knife in his shoulder. To her shock, Clay threw himself into the attack, deliberately letting the weapon get embedded in him.
Once the attacker wasted precious seconds failing to pull his blade free, Clay attacked with a savagery Tsunami couldn’t even dream of her kind, even tempered brother possessing. He bowled over the attacker, and grabbed their head between both talons, ignoring the blade protruding from his shoulder.
He roared, punctuating each word with a slam of the attacker’s head against the ground. “NEVER!” Crack! “TOUCH!” Crack! “MY FRIENDS!” Crack! “AGAIN!”
As he prepared to slam the attacker’s head into the ground once more, they exhaled a beam of shimmering, glittering mist at Clay’s face. Clay roared in agony, falling back and clutching at his head, which looked as if it had been rubbed raw with sandpaper.
The attacker took the opportunity, and fled into the forest. “Hold them back!” He - Tsunami could tell it was a he now by the voice - shouted at the few remaining Creakers.
Tsunami roared in frustration as he sprinted into the underbrush. She wanted to pursue, but if she left the others here they could die.
So, she and Mirage regrouped, both looking a little worse for wear. They stood protectively over the limp bodies of their friends, and met the charging Creakers.

Several minutes later…

Tsunami tossed the last body onto the pile she and Mirage had made. Nearly two dozen Creakera in total, each as large as a one year old dragonet.
This was worse than she had imagined when Tanzanite had described the Creakers. It wasn’t just a handful of dangerous overgrown bugs. This was a swarm of ravenous monsters.
Not to mention them being led by one of the most skilled fighters we’ve ever seen. Tsunami thought angrily. Tanzanite hadn’t given any mention of that. He had all but stated that the Creakers weren’t smart enough to ally themselves with dragons.
And ON TOP of that, the attacker had been one of Tanzanite’s own tribe, a ShimmerWing. Was it a set up? Was it a trap? Was this an elaborate opening move for an invasion? Was the Jade Winglet dead, lured into a trap?
She growled low in her throat, her tail lashing. Mirage exhaled a blast of flame at the pile of Creaker bodies, burning all of them. After that she placed one hand on Tsunami’s shoulder, a grim but determined expression on her face.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find that dragon, and we’ll kill them for what they’ve done here today. But first we need to help everyone else.” Mirage said, her voice matching her expression.
Mirage hesitated as she looked at Clay, then spoke to him. “Clay, you instantly heal from burns, right? You’re basically fireproof?” She asked. Clay just nodded in confusion, only half paying attention. He had been sort of out of it since he had been hit with the strange mist. So he wasn’t prepared when Mirage blasted him in the face with a plume of fire.
Tsunami and the still Conscious DeathBringer stared at Mirage with mouths agape as Clay stumbled back in shock. He shook his head to clear the flames, and shouted “What was that… for…”
As the flames faded, and the burned scales regenerated, the shredded flesh is healed over, incorporated into the new growth. Clay’s face was as uninjured as it had been before the fight. Mirage just smirked at the dumbfounded looks on everyone’s faces.
“I had a suspicion that might work. If any burned tissue immediately grows back, then burning any injured tissue would effectively heal the injury. At least if it was a surface level wound.”
“And if it hadn’t worked?!” Tsunami snapped angrily. Clay gave her a look, but she was too frustrated to care.
“Then he would have regenerated from the burns as usual, and been none the worse for wear.” Mirage said calmly. Tsunami struggled for a reply for a moment, then sighed in frustration.
“Fine.” She growled. “Clay, you’re the strongest, so you carry Glory on your own. Me and Mirage will carry DeathBringer.” As much as she disliked the NightWing assassin, she knew this was the best way to divide the burden.
So, after gathering everyone up, much to DeathBringer’s embarrassment, they flew back to Jade Mountain.

Chapter 13

Summary:

The gang is quickly reminded that not everything in the UnderDark is just posturing, all bark and no bite. In fact, some things like to wait until their prey is right where they want them before the show themselves at all…

Winter was so thankful that the group had reached the UnderDark proper. The complete darkness of the normal caves had been starting to scrape away at his sanity. The lack of stimulation or distractions had made it impossible to ignore the voices that taunted him.
In fact, the real reason he had been sleeping in the river wasn’t the cool water, though that was certainly a bonus. It had been so the others wouldn’t hear him whimpering in his sleep.
“They’re just going to act like nothing happened? They cast you aside and make you the villain, and then they’re right back to being your friends the second they need you?” Hate whispered.
Winter stared at some of the glowing fungus, as if the gentle light of bioluminescence could burn away the shadows that prowled in his mind.

“Enjoying the scenery?” Qibli asked jokingly, snapping Winter out of his trance. He turned to look at the irritating SandWing, putting in his usual scowl.
“I’m not going to mope and brood the entire journey.” Winter replied, happy for the conversation. The friendly banter always seemed the most effective at driving away his inner demons.
Now he thought about it, his inner demons had been much quieter recently. Every laugh, joke, and smile shared with his friends seemed to be a powerful blow at the monsters that haunted him. But they weren’t gone completely, not yet. Words could only do so much. Qibli broke him from his thoughts as he made a shocked face, sarcastically putting his wing claws to his head as if he had just learned mind blowing information. “Winter, the nephew of Queen Glacier, not being dark and broody? A historic moment!”
Winter swatted Qibli with his wing, causing the SandWing to duck away while laughing. Winter’s joy flickered for a moment at the words ‘nephew of Queen Glacier.’ He didn’t need reminders of everything, but he knew it was all in good spirit.

Winter turned his attention back to the rest of the group. Moon and Kinkajou were up ahead, the former talking with Tanzanite, the latter happily bouncing around the Undergrowth, apparently having learned nothing from her encounter with the Wailer Centipede. Finally, Turtle brought up the rear, anxiously glancing around for any sign of the UnderDark’s strange inhabitants.

There was no lack of strange creatures in the Undergrowth. Most of them seemed like overgrown versions of normal cave animals. Mostly arthropods, reptiles and amphibians.
A crab-like thing with unusually long arms stood on top of a large mushroom that was shaped vaguely like a tree. Its arms reached down to grab at mycelium threads, snipping off small pieces and bringing them to its mouth. It stopped eating as the dragons passed by, staring at them with beady eyes.
A salamander popped its head out of the water, its neck almost a tail-length tall. It stared at them, its gaze mostly focusing on Kinkajou as she strayed a little closer to the Water. Tanzanite carefully guided her away, and the salamander retreated into the depths with a disappointed hiss.

“So, what do you think?” Tanzanite asked, a small, slightly amused smile on his face as he watched Kinkajou enthusiastically examine every inch of the cavern.
“This place is AMAZING!” Kinkajou responded gleefully, flapping her wings and leaping up to a rocky shelf that had a few rounded, bulbous toadstools on it. The closest immediately burst into a cloud of spores, many of which stuck to Kinkajou’s scales as she fell off the outcrop in surprise.
Winter’s mind immediately filled with concern as he watched her cough violently. The others shared similar expressions. Scraps of pale yellow fungal matter fly from her mouth as she attempts to clear her lungs from the spores. His worries are somewhat soothed by Tanzanite’s unconcerned reaction. If it were dangerous, Tanzanite wouldn’t have been as calm as he was.
Tanzanite helped her upright for what felt like the hundredth time, and helped her scrape away some of the flakes that had stuck to her. “Spore puffs. They just use animals to carry their spores to new areas they can grow in. There’s only one toxic strain as far as I know, and it’s a very recognizable shade of purple.”
Thankfully, Kinkajou was at least slightly more cautious after that. It didn’t stop her from asking “what’s that?” Every ten seconds to an increasingly exasperated Tanzanite.

The overwhelming environment, and Kinkajou keeping Tanzanite distracted with her constant questions, kept them too distracted to be careful enough. So as they walked through a tunnel, Tanzanite didn’t notice the walls becoming suspiciously smooth. Nor did he notice the complete lack of offshoots or branching paths. Not until it was too late.
As a rustling noise like scales on stone came from ahead, he went completely still. Even without Kinkajou’s color changing scales, it was obvious he was utterly terrified. Winter tensed, prepared to fight or flee, whichever one proved necessary. Turtle unhappily joined him. Qibli and Moon were side by side as well.
“Is it more dragons?” Qibli asked. Winter could tell just by his face that his mind was racing a mile a minute. Tanzanite shook his head, and began backing up the tunnel, before turning to sprint as fast as he could.
“JORMUNGANDR!” He screamed, as if that should explain everything. It didn’t, but his panic and dead sprint did. The others also turned to run, as a broad head leaned around the corner.
It had a large, armored crest that scraped the walls, explaining why they were worn smooth. It also made it impossible to get past. When it opened its mouth, it made the entire tunnel end in a pink, pulsing mass of flesh, all beckoning to an eager throat large enough to swallow a dragon whole. Then it charged with frightening speed.

Winter exhaled a blast of frost breath, but the snake slammed its mouth shut, letting its armored head absorb the attack. It didn’t even slow it down. Winter finally turned to run, realizing that he couldn’t fight this thing.
He desperately searched for a place where he could squeeze to the side or get out of the tunnel. Nothing, nothing, nothing. It was only then that he realized the evil genius of this thing’s hunting tactics.
You couldn’t attack it through the armor on its head. And it had chosen a tunnel that was just wide enough for it to pass through, without letting anyone move to flank it. If you tried getting around it, you’d be ground to a bloody paste as its spiked crest crushed you against the wall. There were no branching tunnels for prey to escape down. Just a long, curving path. You couldn’t fight back against, dodge, or hide from it. You could only try to outrun it. And it was FAST.

Turtle was the slowest runner. His webbed talons slapped painfully against the rock, and he was more used to swimming than running. So he was the one caught.
The Jormungandr snaps its head forward, and its jaws close around Turtle’s tail, yanking him to a sudden stop. He lets out a terrified scream as it jerks its head back to pull him closer.
“You’ll leave him. That’s what you do, isn’t it? Leave your friends behind?” Shame hissed in Winter’s ear.
Winter reacts without thinking, ignoring the impossible odds. He turns, and blasts another jet of frost breath at it, right as it opens its mouth again to devour Turtle. The monstrous snake hisses in rage, turning a hateful gaze to Winter. Out of the corner of his vision, Winter sees Turtle escape as the Jormungandr turns its attention to Winter.
As Shame finally fell totally quiet for the first time in years, Winter closed his eyes with a serene smile as the monster’s jaws opened impossibly wide, approaching at what seemed a crawl. Then an ax, its blade almost as broad as one of his wings, shattered the monster’s protective crest like glass, and cleaved its skull in two.

Chapter 14: Confrontations

Summary:

One meeting ends in battle, another in negotiation.

Notes:

Clay always should have had more badass moments. Tui didn’t give him any, so I’m here to fix that.

Clay

Tsunami lowered the Dream Visitor with a frustrated growl. Nothing. She had tried contacting the entire Jade Winglet, and gotten nowhere. Tanzanite had warned them that the sleep schedules would be unpredictable when they were in the UnderDark, so she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up.
“Keep trying to contact them.” She said to Sunny, who was wringing her talons anxiously next to Clay. Tsunami turned to DeathBringer, who was holding a few scrolls. They had healed the wounds with Turtle’s enchanted rock, and also made a few copies with the bowl. “You have what I asked for?”
For once, DeathBringer didn’t make a smarmy comment. He just nodded, completely serious. The fight with the unknown ShimmerWing had impacted him seriously. He hadn’t been able to protect himself or Glory. He had been uncharacteristically focused and quiet ever since. Clay felt the same. He had never been enraged like that.
“It confirms what we expected. Antlers has been attacking consistently during night, targeting whatever he could get at in the region. Entire herds of wildlife eaten, or up half a dozen dragons missing. All presumably eaten by the Creakers.”
“Luckily,” he continued, finally smiling, “I have a plan. Your time to shine, Clay.”

…

Clay helped Tsunami push the last barrel into place. There were a dozen in total, all freshly imported from a small village in the Sea Kingdom. They were all important to the plan she and the others had come up with.
He glanced up at the sky, seeing the sun was setting. They knew that the ShimmerWing attacker would most likely be on them at night. They had been the only ones who had fought back and won. He would especially be after Clay. Now they just waited…

…

Clay stood in the middle of the clearing, in the open. Only one moon was full tonight, but the other two were more than half, and the stars provided their own light. So it was fairly bright. He didn’t expect that to help.
He was correct. “You have a lot more brawn than brains to be out here.” A cold voice said from behind him. He whirled around to face the same ShimmerWing from before. Cold rage pulsed through Clay like ice.
“We don’t know much about your world.” Clay said, raising his talons. “We can talk this out. We don’t want to fight.”
That was a lie. Seeing Glory on the ground bleeding out had awoken something in Clay. Something Kestrel had always insisted was in him, but Clay had never felt. For the first time in his life, he genuinely, remorselessly wanted to end the life of another dragon.
So Clay was almost relieved when the stranger snorted in amusement. “Doesn’t matter what you want. The Twice Slain Queen shall rise again. And those who proved faithful will be rewar-”
Clay exhaled a gust of fire, and had the satisfaction of watching his enemies eyes open in realization before the dragon flame cacti bombs went off.

Flames exploded from the barrels, shattering them. Burning tar was everywhere in the blink of an eye, splattering over both dragons. Shrapnel cut into both, but the sheer intensity of the flames regenerated Clay in seconds.
He lunged forward before the other dragon could recover from the blast, shoulder ramming him back. He screamed as the fire burned him, the antlers on his mask melting slowly as the helmet fused with his snout.
Surprisingly, he still fought back. He brought a knife up, cutting deeply into Clay’s throat. Clay was relieved when the fire managed to heal even a slashed throat. He grabbed the attacker’s arm, sinking his claws into the burnt flesh, before yanking them forward to meet a devastating headbutt.
Within a matter of seconds, the enemy was reduced to a bloodied, burnt shell. Clay heaved from the exertion, a sense of horror creeping into his mind as he stared at the mutated corpse that had been a healthy, uninjured dragon less than a minute ago. He had done that.
He abruptly collapsed on his side in the middle of the flames, shock and exhaustion taking their toll now that his adrenaline had faded. He could distantly hear his friends' shouts over the ringing in his ears, and the roaring crackles of the flames, but he couldn’t make out any words as he slipped into darkness.

Moon

Moon had seen Princess Burn in Winter's mind. Thankfully she had been on the opposite side of the battlefield, otherwise Winter’s story would have ended then and there. But even from that distance, she’d thought Burn must be the biggest dragon ever. He was wrong.
Moon’s head raised higher and higher, and after what felt like an eternity, finally saw the dragon’s head. A face hardened by countless battles, and with the scars to prove it. Burn wouldn’t even be up to his chin. With one tug on a length of chain, he pulls his axe from the Jormungandr’s skull and back to his talons, which had unusually broad claws, almost like axe blades.
The others were all frozen in fear, their minds practically shut down in response to the sight before them. Except Tanzanite, who radiated a sense of sheepishness so strong it almost overwhelmed Moon’s own fear. The stranger suddenly did a double take, staring at Tanzanite. His hostile demeanor vanished, replaced by a mix of relief, but mostly confusion. “What- Tanzanite?” He asked, his voice just as deep and rumbling as everyone had expected from someone so large.
“Uh… hi dad.” Tanzanite said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

Moon felt as if he’d been slapped, staring between Tanzanite and his father in shock. The others all looked similarly stunned, with Qibli saying “THAT’S your dad?! Three moons, how did he have a normal sized kid?!” Moon swatted him with a wing.
Tanzanite’s father raised one claw, signaling for them to stop. He moved with the manner of someone used to their order’s being obeyed. Even Qibli knew to shut his mouth.
“Alright, a few things.” The dragon rumbled. “First, my name is General Axinite.” Qibli gave Winter a look, gesturing to Axinite’s axe like claws and his axe with a smirk. Winter years of extreme discipline as an IceWing prince are the only thing that lets him keep a straight face.
“Second, Tanzanite, I am never letting you out on your own again after seeing you walk right into a Jormungandr’s nest.” Axinite continued. Tanzanite shuffled uncomfortably.
“And third… Who in the Depths are all of you?!” Axinite asked, staring down at the others.

“Prince Winter of the IceWings.” Winter said automatically. Axinite, Moon, and Qibli gave him a raised eyebrow, but didn’t interrupt. The others all hurriedly introduced themselves.
“I know you probably aren’t here with bad intentions, or you wouldn’t be traveling with my son, who apparently only has half the survival instinct I thought he did.” Axinite said, giving the dead Jormungandr a pointed look.
“However,” he continued, “by law, I still must bring you to the Crystal Keep. You will not be in any danger as long as you don’t do anything stupid. Amethyst is a just queen.”
“Dad-” Tanzanite started, but one stern look from Axinite made him snap his snout shut. “Fine.” He grumbled.

Moon peered into Axinite’s mind, trying to get a better sense of him behind his discipline. He was telling the truth as far as his thoughts on Queen Amethyst. Definitely better than the last queen. We cast her body into the Depths for a reason.
Qibli’s thoughts abruptly cut into her mind. Dropped skyfire for a moment. Should we follow him? Moon thought quickly, and caught another stray thought from Axinite.
I really hope I don’t have to hurt them. They’re just kids. I signed up to fight monsters, not other dragons. His grip shifted almost imperceptibly on his axe.
Moon nods to Qibli, and steps forward. “We’ll go with you. It’s best to speak to your Queen anyway.” Axinite gave a curt nod, but internally he let out a sigh of relief.
“Alright. Welcome to the Crystal Kingdom, MoonWatcher.” Axinite said with a small but genuine smile. “Here’s hoping the first interaction between our tribe goes well.”

Chapter 15: As above, so below

Seeker

Initial deployment log(

Orbital entry complete. Beginning boot up sequence…

Diagnostic results:
Databanks: intact
Comms: intact
Hull: Minor damage

Self-repair system activated. Estimated time until complete repair: 37 seconds.

Directives:
Primary directive: Find and decommission rogue equipment.
Secondary directive(s): Terminate any creations of rogue equipment.
Investigate potential native life, particularly any sentient species.

Boot up sequence complete.

)

Seeker

Anyone watching the night sky near the Scorpion Den would have noticed the meteorite that had landed in the dunes. Anyone who looked closer might have seen the metallic outer shell peel away. Anyone who went to investigate the landing site would have found something none of the primitive life on this backwater planet could even hope to comprehend. Although by now, nano-machines disassembled the remains of the shell, removing the evidence.

All that’s left is a small pod, about the size of a curled up human. Slats in the side open, and flesh pours out, growing at an impossible rate. Internal biomass reserves are drained in a matter of minutes. Bones form in a framework, before muscles and tendons wrap around. Organs fill in the ribs, held tightly by webs of connective tissue. Finally, scales cover the mass. A flawed but effective simulacrum of a SandWing stands in the center of the crater. Where a heart should be, a metal core resides, Seeker’s real consciousness.

Seeker flexes one talon experimentally, then the other. It takes a few steps in a circle, getting used to its new shape. It spreads its wings, knowing without ever learning how to use them. After a few experimental flaps, it takes to the sky. Sensors whir to detect any signs of the equipment it had been sent to decommission.

Chapter 16

MoonWatcher

Axinite was a surprisingly kind and fair dragon given his terrifying stature. His mind was a deep grumble that matched his voice, but it didn’t whisper malevolent things. His memories were flooded with bloodshed, but he took honor from protecting his kingdom, not from the violence itself.
Speaking of protection, his mere presence seemed to ward off threats. Almost every single creature, even ones that looked like they could have eaten the entire Jade Winglet for breakfast, shied away from him. After seeing him throw his axe with enough force to break through a Jormungandr’s armored skull, Moon wasn’t surprised.
But there were more layers, as she had learned there always were. The honorable knight was also a caring but concerned father. Why couldn’t you just be a bookworm like your sister? Why did you have to be so adventurous? No, I shouldn’t blame him like that, but I can’t blame myself either. I taught him everything I could. Apparently not enough to avoid an obvious Jormungandr den. Now he comes back with unknown dragons, probably from the surface world. I guess that means he really made it. I have got to ask him once I’m off duty.

Axinite abruptly craned his neck around, staring at them suspiciously. He reached one talon up to his head. Moon had let herself get too immersed in his thoughts, and he had sensed her. What was that… I can't say anything without looking crazy, but I need to keep an eye on these dragons even more than I thought. Is one or all of them psychic?
Moon decided to keep her powers a secret for the time being. It was her biggest advantage if things went sour. Granted, she didn’t think ANYTHING would be a big enough advantage if she came to blows with Axinite. He looked like he could wipe out the entire Jade Winglet with a casual swipe of his axe.

After about half an hour of walking through the UnderGrowth, the landscape gradually changed to a more barren terrain. There were less fungi, although certainly still a fair amount.
More plentiful are the strange glowing crystals that erupt from the stone like multicolored explosions frozen in time. Then again, there easily could have been just as many in the UnderGrowth, and they’d just been hidden among the equally luminous fungi.
Either way, Kinkajou didn’t seem to like it as much. Neither did Moon. Only Winter and Qibli seemed comfortable with the change, since they were both used to much more barren environments.

They all came to a rather sudden halt. Axinite stopped abruptly, and let out a deep, humming sound. ‘At least I won’t be alone with them anymore. Well, besides my son.’
“A few of my squad mates should be getting here soon.” Axinite explained. Tanzanite brightened.
“Are Ferrite and Peridot still in the squad?” He asked hopefully. Memories of two other soldiers that he had met when they were visiting his dad flashed through his mind. But what Moon saw in Axinite’s mind in response was worse. It was all she could do not to visibly react.
Axinite’s memory was clear, yet explained nothing. A thing that had perhaps once been a dragon, but was now simply wrong. As if the body had been molded to a frame of something with a completely different skeletal structure by some mad craftsdrake who didn’t give a damn how many bones they had to break to make the incompatible bodies fit together. Their head was upside down on the end of a crooked neck that seemed plastered with large swathes of deformed, pale flesh, with at least six eyes. One wing was split apart into two claws, like giant scythes, which were dripping with fresh blood as it skittered in a haphazard crawl towards Axinite and a few other soldiers. A memory of holding a lime green dragon’s talon as they bled out from a stab wound in their gut.
“Ferrite, yes. Peridot, no. A Creaker got him.” Axinite lied, not showing any outward sign of the falsehood. If Moon couldn’t read minds, she never would have even suspected that he was lying.
“Oh.” Tanzanite said quietly. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s part of the job.” Axinite replied gruffly.
Moon didn’t know what to think about what she had just seen in his head. It was more horrific than anything she’d ever seen. That level of monstrosity left behind everything else she and her friends had ever faced. It might not be as powerful as DarkStalker or Queen Wasp, but in sheer horror it utterly outmatched everything else. It didn’t have the same ethereal feel as a memory of a dream. Axinite had physically been there in that cave, facing that thing. That thing actually existed somewhere down here.

Finally, the other soldiers arrived. A sleek, silver dragoness, and a bright amber-gold drake. They all stared in disbelief at the Jade Winglet, and the amber one hesitantly brought a talon to a spear tucked under one wing. A sharp look from Axinite that would have made Princess Burn proud caused him to immediately lower his talon away from the weapon.
“These are our first visitors from the surface. Winter of the IceWings, MoonWatcher of the NightWings, Qibli of the SandWings, Prince Turtle of the SeaWings, and Kinkajou of the RainWings.” Axinite says, waving a talon at the Jade Winglet. “Along with my son Tanzanite, who some of you have met. By law, we are to escort them UNHARMED AND PEACEFULLY to the Crystal Keep.” He emphasized the two words with a pointed look at the amber dragon.
“That… doesn’t explain much and raises several more questions.” The silver dragoness said with a sigh. By her already resigned mind, Moon could tell that she had received a fair number of unusual orders from Axinite.
“At least this gets us off patrol, and hopefully the hell away from whatever new freaks the Great Lurker has cooked up.” She thinks, her eyes darting for a fraction of a second towards another tunnel. Moon made a mental note to try to learn more about that later.

“We’re going to use the lower entrance, to avoid causing a scene.” Axinite continued. All three soldiers grimaced.
“Maybe Ferrite was right, prayer seems helpful right now.” The amber drake thinks miserably. Moon assumed that was the silver dragoness.
“Why is that a bad thing? What’s at the lower entrance?” Qibli asked, picking up on the signs just as quickly as Moon.
“Death.” The amber drake said bluntly before Axinite could even open his mouth. Axinite swatted him with a wing in response, his size making even that enough to send him stumbling back. “Hey! I’m not wrong!”
“Stop being dramatic, Topaz. We’ll only be there for a few minutes. These six have already survived the UnderDark for a while, they’ll be fine with us to protect them.” Axinite scolded, before turning to Qibli. “The lower entrance to the palace was mostly sealed off a while ago because the caves it connected to got too dangerous. We don’t use it unless we’re being discrete, like right now.”

“Do they know about… them?” Ferrite asked. Her mind flashed with a similar memory to the one Axinite had. A dragon twisted beyond sanity, this one with several limbs like insect likes growing out of their chest, which were stabbing at a dragon they had pinned down. Moon once again had to resist the urge to scream.
Axinite hesitated for a moment before replying. “No, but we hopefully shouldn’t run into any of THOSE.” He said carefully. “It wouldn’t be too bad if they did discover them I suppose. The reason we keep them under wraps is to avoid causing panic. As long as these dragons don’t speak to the public, we should be alright..”
“What or who are “those.”” Turtle asked plaintively. The first words he had spoken since almost being eaten alive by a giant snake.
“A secret.” Axinite replied sharply, before turning to another tunnel that appeared identical to the others. “This way.”

As they walked through the tunnels, the ShimmerWings all seemed on high alert. Axinite led the way, with Topaz and Ferrite in the back. Tanzanite was also at the front, catching up with his dad. At some point during the walk, Ferrite began talking to Moon and Qibli.
“What made you decide to come down here? After all this time, what changed?” Ferrite asked. Qibli gave Moon a questioning glance, and Moon nodded. Ferrite seemed genuinely curious, not malicious.
“Tanzanite came up, and we learned that there was an entire tribe underground. Then a Creaker followed him up, and he said it was a descendant of Old One Eye. So we went down to try to find out how one of her spawn got out.” Qibli explained. Ferrite flinched noticeably at the name Old One Eye.
“She broke out of the Maw?” Ferrite asked in a fearful voice. “It just keeps getting worse. First the Vile Ones keep coming up from the Maw, and now Old One Eye is breaking out.” She thought.
“Still, why did you specifically come down? You seem young for such an expedition.” Ferrite asked again after a moment, recovering from her fear.
“We have experience with this kind of thing. We’ve already ended up on another continent fighting a bunch of mind controlled bug dragons.” Qibli said dryly. “And we did alright.”
Moon arched an eyeridge. “We only got out of that because Luna managed to destroy the OtherMind. Most of the stealth team was infected, and the others were on the run.”
“Details.” Qibli said, waving one talon. “Minor, inconsequential details.” Moon just let out a snort of laughter.

Notes:

Sorry for the abrupt ending

Chapter 17

Notes:

Sorry for the infuriatingly long wait, and short chapter. Things have been pretty busy in my life. Without giving too much information I’ve been helping my grandparents take care of their house while one of them recovers from a medical operation.

The lower entrance wasn’t as far as Qibli had feared. They reached it without consequence. It was a gate built into the end of a tunnel that led into a hallway. The gate hadn’t been used in some time, as evidenced by the rust that had accumulated on the metal. As they walked through the poorly maintained hall, Qibli’s mind was trying to puzzle something out.
“The gate itself didn’t make sense.” Qibli thought, his mind racing with theories. “Axinite said that the tunnels it connected to were too dangerous, so they had stopped using it. But it obviously hadn’t always been that way, or the gate would never have been constructed in the first place. So meant that whatever “those” secret things are, they were a recent threat. Combine that with the fact that they’re being kept secret to avoid a panic, and it means that the new threat will upset the balance, maybe even cause anarchy.”
Qibli was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost didn’t notice when they came to another gate. Axinite opened it, and waved the others through. All of them stopped dead when they saw the other side. Instead of the stone bricks that made up the hall, the entire chamber on the other side was made of pale crystal. It was polished to be as smooth and reflective as glass, capturing and reflecting everything through a million facets.
Axinite spread his wings, gesturing broadly to the great hall. “Welcome to the Crystal Keep.” He announced dryly.

The Jade winglet followed him through the halls with wide eyes, staring around at the palace. Even Winter, used to the glamour of the Ice Kingdom, was taken aback at the grandeur of the Crystal Keep. Qibli’s mind raced to estimate the price of building a single room from pure diamond, but he gave up after reaching fifty thousand gold coins.
Kinkajou danced with child-like excitement, spreading her wings wide and changing color to see the kaleidoscopic reflections of herself. After some nagging from her, Turtle reluctantly spread his wings and flashed his bioluminescent scales. He cringed as the entire hall seemed to be instantly illuminated, drawing several scowls from the ShimmerWing escort.
Winter seemed the most at home, having lived in the IceWing palace for most of his dragonethood. He gazed off into the infinite reflections with a troubled look. Qibli wondered if this place was bringing up bad memories. Winter had come to despise his time in the Ice Kingdom the longer he stayed away from it.
But the strangest was Moon. She stared at the floor, wearing the same expression Qibli had learned meant she was listening to something with her mind reading. Qibli immediately felt bad for not noticing her distress first. What kind of a partner was he?

“Moon, are you alright?” He thought, trying to focus on her. She had said that thoughts that were about her were the easiest to read and the hardest to block. After she promised to stay out of his mind, he had stopped wearing Skyfire when they started dating as a sign of trust.
Moon looked up at him, signaling he had gotten through. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, enough that no one would notice unless they were looking, and even then would dismiss it. “Is it about the thing in the lower tunnels?”
A moment of hesitation, then an equally minute shrug.
Sensing he wasn’t getting anywhere with this, he decided to ask again later, once they could talk without being overheard. If that was possible anywhere, with how good ShimmerWing hearing was.

After a while, they finally got to another hall with a massive set of diamond double doors. Dozens of ShimmerWing servants and guards stared at them with open shock, whispers of “surface dwellers”, “is that a scraper tail”, - Qibli mentally made a note to find out what a scraper was - “that one’s changing colors”, and a thousand other things floating past. One look from General Axinite prevented anyone from approaching or challenging their passage.
Axinite stepped into the throne room, and after a minute or two, came back out and waved the others through. The throne room itself was just as glamorous as one would expect from the rest of the Crystal Keep.
The throne sat at the end of a long, grand hall made of multicolored crystal. The facets of gem were all angled so that the dragoness on the throne was mirrored and reflected in all of them, until she seemed to stare at them from everywhere at once, a vast, intangible presence that engulfed the whole room. The entire area around her seemed to have the same purple as her scales. It was almost enough to distract from the dragoness herself.

The dragoness was young - only a year or two older than the Dragonets of Destiny - but she bore a weight and wisdom that belied her youth. And the scars. One of her eyes was torn out, scarred so viciously that the initial attack must have chipped her skull. Oddly symmetrical scars were slashed into her neck, just shy of slitting her throat. She was the most injured dragon Qibli had ever seen, even growing up in the Scorpion Den.
Queen Amethyst simply observed them for a moment, her one eye ridge raised. After the silence started to get uncomfortable, she spoke hesitantly. “You six… look terrible. When was the last time you slept?” She asked.
It was so different from what Qibli had been expecting that he nearly laughed out loud. Although he still realized she was correct. They all looked exhausted and worn from their journey. Suppressing his laughter, he said, “About 2 cycles, your majesty.”

Amethyst’s eyes widened slightly before she spoke again. “Alright, since you obviously need rest, I’ll keep the questions to a minimum for now. Why are you here?”
This time it was Winter who spoke up first. “We were sent from the surface after one of your subjects, Tanzanite, arrived there. Several Creakers followed him to the surface, and he stumbled upon Jade Mountain, a neutral zone between the surface tribes.” He explained with all the grace and formality his IceWing upbringing could muster. “I’m Prince Winter of the IceWings. These are MoonWatcher of the NightWings, Qibli of the SandWings, Prince Turtle of the SeaWings, and Kinkajou of the RainWings.” He introduced the others. Qibli noticed a small grimace as he used his title ‘prince.’ He didn’t like it, but he knew it would give them more legitimacy.
Amethyst took a second to absorb the information that had been dumped on her, eye wide again. “Okay, that only answers part of my question. It explains why you’re HERE, but it doesn’t explain why YOU’RE here. Why would they send a bunch of dragonets?” Qibli saw Winter sigh, and smiled internally. They had a bet on how quickly that would be brought up, and Qibli had won.
“Truth be told, it's not the first time we’ve done something like this. We have a pattern of getting into continent-affecting troubles.” Qibli said with a rye smile. Queen Amethyst opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then closed it.
“Just go get some sleep, I want a full explanation when you wake up.” She said, resting her snout in one talon.

Qibli and the others were more than happy to take her up on that offer. They were all exhausted. Axinite flicked his tail in a ‘follow me’ gesture, and led them out of the throne room. They received just as many stares on their way to the guest’s quarters, but no one tried to stop them. Most likely due to Axinite’s hulking form, and no doubt fearsome reputation.
The beds were made of a slab of stone covered with a thick lair of soft, spongy moss. He found it surprisingly comfortable, although he would still prefer sand any day. He was asleep as soon as he lay down. And as soon as he was asleep, Tsunami appeared in his dreams, and started yelling.

Chapter 18: Sinister

Notes:

HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN SITTING IN MY DRAFTS? I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER BACK IN FREAKING AUGEST!

The lower entrance wasn’t as far as Qibli had feared. They reached it without consequence. It was a gate built into the end of a tunnel that led into a hallway. The gate hadn’t been used in some time, as evidenced by the rust that had accumulated on the metal. As they walked through the poorly maintained hall, Qibli’s mind was trying to puzzle something out.
“The gate itself didn’t make sense.” Qibli thought, his mind racing with theories. “Axinite said that the tunnels it connected to were too dangerous, so they had stopped using it. But it obviously hadn’t always been that way, or the gate would never have been constructed in the first place. So meant that whatever “those” secret things are, they were a recent threat. Combine that with the fact that they’re being kept secret to avoid a panic, and it means that the new threat will upset the balance, maybe even cause anarchy.”
Qibli was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost didn’t notice when they came to another gate. Axinite opened it, and waved the others through. All of them stopped dead when they saw the other side. Instead of the stone bricks that made up the hall, the entire chamber on the other side was made of pale crystal. It was polished to be as smooth and reflective as glass, capturing and reflecting everything through a million facets.
Axinite spread his wings, gesturing broadly to the great hall. “Welcome to the Crystal Keep.” He announced dryly.

The Jade winglet followed him through the halls with wide eyes, staring around at the palace. Even Winter, used to the glamour of the Ice Kingdom, was taken aback at the grandeur of the Crystal Keep. Qibli’s mind raced to estimate the price of building a single room from pure diamond, but he gave up after reaching fifty thousand gold coins.
Kinkajou danced with child-like excitement, spreading her wings wide and changing color to see the kaleidoscopic reflections of herself. After some nagging from her, Turtle reluctantly spread his wings and flashed his bioluminescent scales. He cringed as the entire hall seemed to be instantly illuminated, drawing several scowls from the ShimmerWing escort.
Winter seemed the most at home, having lived in the IceWing palace for most of his dragonethood. He gazed off into the infinite reflections with a troubled look. Qibli wondered if this place was bringing up bad memories. Winter had come to despise his time in the Ice Kingdom the longer he stayed away from it.
But the strangest was Moon. She stared at the floor, wearing the same expression Qibli had learned meant she was listening to something with her mind reading. Qibli immediately felt bad for not noticing her distress first. What kind of a partner was he?

“Moon, are you alright?” He thought, trying to focus on her. She had said that thoughts that were about her were the easiest to read and the hardest to block. After she promised to stay out of his mind, he had stopped wearing Skyfire when they started dating as a sign of trust.
Moon looked up at him, signaling he had gotten through. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, enough that no one would notice unless they were looking, and even then would dismiss it. “Is it about the thing in the lower tunnels?”
A moment of hesitation, then an equally minute shrug.
Sensing he wasn’t getting anywhere with this, he decided to ask again later, once they could talk without being overheard. If that was possible anywhere, with how good ShimmerWing hearing was.

After a while, they finally got to another hall with a massive set of diamond double doors. Dozens of ShimmerWing servants and guards stared at them with open shock, whispers of “surface dwellers”, “is that a scraper tail”, - Qibli mentally made a note to find out what a scraper was - “that one’s changing colors”, and a thousand other things floating past. One look from General Axinite prevented anyone from approaching or challenging their passage.
Axinite stepped into the throne room, and after a minute or two, came back out and waved the others through. The throne room itself was just as glamorous as one would expect from the rest of the Crystal Keep.
The throne sat at the end of a long, grand hall made of multicolored crystal. The facets of gem were all angled so that the dragoness on the throne was mirrored and reflected in all of them, until she seemed to stare at them from everywhere at once, a vast, intangible presence that engulfed the whole room. The entire area around her seemed to have the same purple as her scales. It was almost enough to distract from the dragoness herself.

The dragoness was young - only a year or two older than the Dragonets of Destiny - but she bore a weight and wisdom that belied her youth. And the scars. One of her eyes was torn out, scarred so viciously that the initial attack must have chipped her skull. Oddly symmetrical scars were slashed into her neck, just shy of slitting her throat. She was the most injured dragon Qibli had ever seen, even growing up in the Scorpion Den.
Queen Amethyst simply observed them for a moment, her one eye ridge raised. After the silence started to get uncomfortable, she spoke hesitantly. “You six… look terrible. When was the last time you slept?” She asked.
It was so different from what Qibli had been expecting that he nearly laughed out loud. Although he still realized she was correct. They all looked exhausted and worn from their journey. Suppressing his laughter, he said, “About 2 cycles, your majesty.”

Amethyst’s eyes widened slightly before she spoke again. “Alright, since you obviously need rest, I’ll keep the questions to a minimum for now. Why are you here?”
This time it was Winter who spoke up first. “We were sent from the surface after one of your subjects, Tanzanite, arrived there. Several Creakers followed him to the surface, and he stumbled upon Jade Mountain, a neutral zone between the surface tribes.” He explained with all the grace and formality his IceWing upbringing could muster. “I’m Prince Winter of the IceWings. These are MoonWatcher of the NightWings, Qibli of the SandWings, Prince Turtle of the SeaWings, and Kinkajou of the RainWings.” He introduced the others. Qibli noticed a small grimace as he used his title ‘prince.’ He didn’t like it, but he knew it would give them more legitimacy.
Amethyst took a second to absorb the information that had been dumped on her, eye wide again. “Okay, that only answers part of my question. It explains why you’re HERE, but it doesn’t explain why YOU’RE here. Why would they send a bunch of dragonets?” Qibli saw Winter sigh, and smiled internally. They had a bet on how quickly that would be brought up, and Qibli had won.
“Truth be told, it's not the first time we’ve done something like this. We have a pattern of getting into continent-affecting troubles.” Qibli said with a rye smile. Queen Amethyst opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then closed it.
“Just go get some sleep, I want a full explanation when you wake up.” She said, resting her snout in one talon.

Qibli and the others were more than happy to take her up on that offer. They were all exhausted. Axinite flicked his tail in a ‘follow me’ gesture, and led them out of the throne room. They received just as many stares on their way to the guest’s quarters, but no one tried to stop them. Most likely due to Axinite’s hulking form, and no doubt fearsome reputation.
The beds were made of a slab of stone covered with a thick lair of soft, spongy moss. He found it surprisingly comfortable, although he would still prefer sand any day. He was asleep as soon as he lay down. And as soon as he was asleep, Tsunami appeared in his dreams, and started yelling.

Tsunami

When Tsunami finally appeared in Qibli’s dream, she was equally enraged and relieved. She had been trying to contact each member of the Jade Winglet for the last hour with the Dream Visitor. The dragonets of destiny had been taking shifts trying to use it.
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT YOU AND THE REST OF THE JADE WINGLET EVERY NIGHT AND DAY FOR THE LAST TWO DAYS! HAVE YOU JUST NOT SLEPT THAT ENTIRE TIME?!” Tsunami roared.
Qibli tried to interject, but she kept going. “AFTER WE WERE ATTACKED BY SOME CRAZY SHIMMERWING RANTING ABOUT THE TWICE DEAD QUEEN, WE WERE THINKING THIS WAS ALL A TRAP AND THAT TANZANITE HAD LURED YOU INTO AN AMBUSH!”

“TSUNAMI!” Qibli shouted. Tsunami knew he never would have dared cut her off if this wasn’t a dream. Sadly, she couldn’t touch him. Still, the glare she gave him was enough to make him grimace a little. “Listen: We’re fine. We made it to the ShimmerWing kingdom, and also met Tanzanite’s dad, who’s even larger than Princess Burn. But…”
Qibli hesitated. Tsunami could sense something was wrong, something worse than what they had been prepared for. He spoke again after a moment.
“Moon saw or heard something in their minds, but didn’t get the chance to tell me. Go talk to her.” Qibli said. Tsunami grumbled, not relishing the idea of having to interact with MoonWatcher, even in a dream. She knew her dislike for the NightWing dragonet was a little unwarranted, but she couldn’t help herself. She put the Dream Visitor to her forehead again, and vanished from Qibli’s dream… and was thrown into a nightmare.

…

She was in a long tunnel that curved and warped strangely, the stone practically rearranging around her. The shadows were unnaturally long and sharp, cast from no particular point. MoonWatcher bolted through the tunnel, turning at every intersection. Tears streamed freely down her face.
Something erupted from Tsunami’s chest as it ran through her, and she swiped at it with her claws instinctively with a startled roar. Of course, she couldn't touch it any more than it could touch her, her talon passing through it like smoke. She nearly screamed a second time as she got a better look at it as it skittered past.
It looked like a dragon’s hollowed out corpse thrown over a spider. The dragon’s stomach was torn open, several spindly legs extending from their underbelly. Their head swung haphazardly back and forth, and their back legs dragged uselessly behind them.

MoonWatcher bolted around another corner, skidded to a stop, and turned the other way. A second monster chased after her, not quite as horrific as the first. Large swathes of grey, scaleless flesh that resembled leather cover its body, practically overgrowing its front legs into club-like chunks of hardened tissue. Something they both had in common, narrow patches grew on their neck on the back and front.
“MOON!” Tsunami called, snapping out of her shocked daze. Moon didn’t respond. Of course. The Dream Visitors didn’t work if the target was having a particularly bad nightmare. She followed Moon for a moment, not knowing what she could do but not wanting to leave Moon to this. She growled in frustration and helplessness, before putting the Dream Visitor back to her head.

…

Tsunami reappeared in the sandy dunes of Qibli’s dream. He immediately looked up to her, and started opening his mouth.
Before he could ask what Moon had told her, she spoke. “Something seriously wrong is happening in that kingdom. Neither me or Moon knows what, but it’s bad. There’s something else down there, much worse than just the Creakers. Something is turning dragons into monsters. I couldn’t talk to MoonWatcher because her nightmares were so bad, but if what she was seeing in her dreams was what she saw in their heads, you are in much more danger than we thought.”

Qibli stared at her with wide eyes for a second. “Alright… can you give me a little more information than that?” He asked in his usual dry, humorous tone. Tsunami knew that he was most likely trying not to show fear.
“They were dragons that had… mutated physically. One had spider legs growing out of their stomach, and the other had their front legs overgrown into clubs. They had this leathery, grey, scaleless flesh growing all over their bodies. It was… it was the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” Tsunami admitted. That had the smile wiped off Qibli’s snout.
“Now I’M going to be seeing that in my dreams.” He said with a shudder. “Do you have any idea what made them? Is this like the Breath of Evil?”

Tsunami had already thought about that, and was shaking her head before Qibli finished speaking. “No. The OtherMind was too orderly, too precise. These things were completely feral.” She didn’t know whether that made it better or worse. Judging by his face, neither did Qibli.
There was a long moment of silence before he spoke again. “How are things on the surface? You mentioned a ShimmerWing attacking you?” He asked, wanting to change the topic as much as he wanted an actual answer to his question.
“We don’t know much about them, but we know a few things.” Tsunami said, trying to recall the shockingly detailed list that Mirage had made. “They’re some kind of cultist of a dragon or entity called the Twice Dead Queen. They were incredibly skilled- skilled enough to take on DeathBringer, Glory, and almost Clay in one battle. They had two daggers of the best quality any of us have ever seen. None of the tribes up here have even half the skill to forge weapons like that. They also had a weird helmet, a golden mask with antlers.”

Again, Qibli took a long moment to think about what she had said. “Well… I’ll do some poking around… I suppose the best place to start would be looking at their royal lineage for this ‘Twice Dead Queen.’” He said slowly. “Is that dragon dead now?” Tsunami just nodded grimly. Qibli was perceptive enough to know she didn’t want to talk about it.
“Then… bye?” Qibli asked. Tsunami responded by leaving the dream.