Chapter Text
“You cannot be serious!” a voice says.
It has been millions of years since the battle between the Monarch of Shadows and the other Monarchs. Jin Woo and Suho have retired had returned to the realm of eternal darkness along with the other monarchs forever, leaving the positions of the monarchs open.
“We need to bring the monarchs back.” One of the Rulers says, “It’s the only way we can make sure the itarims don’t try to strike back again after the Monarch of Shadows and his son had repelled them.”
“How can we trust that these Monarch’s won’t try to destroy everything?!” another Ruler known as the ‘Second’ argues.
“The retired Monarch of Shadows fought back against the other monarchs, then the newer monarchs became our sworn allies...” The Third Ruler says, “As long as they are raised mortal, I don’t think we’ll have a problem.”
“You can’t possible put all your hopes on a mere inference!” the Second Ruler slams their fist down on their throne.
“Now, now, calm down you two.” The Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light says, “Like it or not, we need the Monarchs to exist in order to bring balance to this universe which will prevent it’s destruction.”
“We will choose new monarchs to help rule over creation with us.”
“But what if they try to destroy creation, not protect it!” the Second Ruler says, “We cannot possibly...!”
“I wasn’t done.” The Brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light says, “The other one has a point, we got lucky that the second generation of monarchs was on our side, and we got lucky that our old colleague Ashborn had sided with us one last time.”
“Because of that, I suggest we only return only five of the nine monarchs.” The Brightest Fragment says, “We will also limit the power they have until we deem that they are worthy of their true power.”
“Is this enough precaution for you, Second Fragment of Brilliant Light?” The Brightest Ruler says.
The Second Fragment sighs, “I suppose that is sufficient, I just hope this doesn’t blow up in our faces.”
“Any idea on who to pick as the next monarchs?” another Ruler known as the Third asks.
The Brightest’s eyes seem to grin behind their helmet, “I may have an idea...”
Chapter 2: MønȺɍȼħs Dragonets of Destiny
Summary:
The Dragonets are born on brightest night, just like the prophecy had foretold. But, there is far more to these dragonets than Morrowseer and the Guardians know.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
On the brightest night, the dragonets...
M̷̧̼̙͇͕̬̞͕͍̦͓͖̎̓o̷̧̢̨̧̳͓̣͎̺̹̅̽͑͒̈́͊͋ͅn̶̝̫̼͓͓̭͕̯̼͇͎̏͘ä̶̝̥̠̈́̀͂̿͒̈́̽ͅr̸̭͒́̔͌͑̒̔͊̈́͂c̸̝͈̞̼̱͋͆̿̄͋̂̕͠͝h̴̨͉͙̬̼̼͈̙͚͓̥̅̇͊͊s̶̛̞͍̯͓̩̼͕̙̆͋̈́̏͑͐̚͘͝
will come...
“I have it!” a seawing known as Webs says, carrying a rainwing egg in his talons.
“Webs...” a skywing known as Kestrel says, “That is a rainwing egg, you brainless salamander.”
“It’s not my fault!” Webs complains, “Queen Scarlett destroyed all the skywing eggs that would hatch tonight
“Quick!” a sandwing known as Dune says, “Put it with the others!”
Once all together, the eggs start to hatch.
“Why did you bring us a rainwing, you idiot?!” Kestrel says, “The laziest out of all the dragon tribes!”
“I had no choice!” Webs says, “It’s all I could get!”
The eggs hatch, first it was the mudwing.
“So, that’s a baby mudwing...” Dune says.
“He’s kinda cute, squishier than I expected.” Webs says looking down at the newborn. But as he makes eye contact with the hatchling, suddenly for the briefest of moments it felt like the sky had fell on him. And he could’ve sworn he saw the baby staring at him with empty glowing yellow-orange eyes.
Webs steps back in a fright.
“Is there something wrong, Webs?” Dune asks.
“Nothing...” Webs stutters, “Just got a little too focused.”
Webs looks around at the others, “Did they not feel that just now?” “Maybe I’m just tired from all the stress.”
“We need a name for him, something...muddy.” Dune says emptily.
“Very insightful, Dune...” Kestrel says, rolling her eyes.
“How about, Clay!” Webs says.
But as the other eggs are beginning to hatch, the newly named Clay tries to jump on the seawing egg as it’s hatching.
“Rawr!” Clay squeaks out.
“He’s attacking her, stop him!” Webs exclaims.
Kestrel quickly picks up Clay and holds him in one paw.
“What is wrong with him?!” Dune asks.
“Nothing is wrong with him.” Kestrel says, “He’s exactly what we need, a little monster.”
Kestrel narrows her eyes at Clay, “Isn’t that right, Clay?”
-6 years later-
“Ow, that hurts!” Clay whines during a sparring session with Kestrel.
“Where’s the monster that I saw that day you hatched?” Kestrel growls, “Fight back!”
“I’m trying!” Clay says, “Maybe we can just talk this out?”
Before he can finish the sentence, Kestrel steps on his tail; much to his anguish.
“Ow!” Clay yelps, “You said stepping on the tail is cheating!”
“I’m your teacher, what I do isn’t cheating!” Kestrel roars.
Suddenly something steps on Kestrel’s tail, she winces in pain before turning around.
“Stop picking on Clay.” Tsunami the seawing says.
Kestrel gives a wry smile; “Well, well...aren’t you sweat, Tsunami...protecting a dragon that tried to kill you in your egg?”
Tsunami rolls her eyes, “Yes, and we hear about how you big dragons saved us, all the time...”
“Whatever.” Kestrel grunts, “We’re done here anyway, disappointing session as always...mudwing.”
Clay gives Tsunami a small smile, “She’s going to be mean to you during your training tomorrow.”
Tsunami smiles,
“Oh no....I’ve never seen Kestrel be mean before.” she says sarcastically, “However will I cope?”
“Hehe...ow...” Clay says lying on his back, trying to sooth the aching pain all over his body.
She narrows her eyes back at where Kestrel was just a few moments ago and Clay could’ve sworn her eyes changed from a beautiful seafoam green to an empty glowing teal for a moment, “She’ll regret it once I’m the queen of the seawings.”
“I thought only the queen’s daughters and sisters could challenge her for the throne.” Clay says.
“Well maybe I am royalty, a long-lost princess.” Tsunami says with a smile. Daydreaming about who her parents might be.
“Do you think our parent’s miss us?” Clay asks.
Tsunami nods, “Yes, I’m sure they upended the world looking for us.” “The talons hid is quite well, but...”
“What if we escape?” Tsunami asks.
“Escape?” Clay says.
“Yes, we could finally go out and end this war just like were supposed to.”
“We can’t do that!” Clay cries, “We can’t stop the war by ourselves!”
“Yes, we can!” Tsunami says, “That’s the whole point of the prophecy!”
Clay thinks for a minute, maybe she’s right. Maybe they should escape, but he cannot ignore this terrible feeling in his stomach. But that was interrupted by the familiar cries of cows.
“Dinner!” Clay says with a bright smile.
“Race you!” Tsunami says with a playful smile.
“Dinner cows, hurray!” Clay says running after Tsunami.
The walk along a corridor to another part of the cave system. Laying there in the middle of the floor are two other dragons.
“At least there’s one good thing about growing up here.” Clay says with a soft smile.
“Rawr!” Sunny says look up from her scroll, “That was my fierce hunting cry, wasn’t it scary?”
Sunny the SandWing
- No Venomous barb
- Happy!
- Tiny
- Weird golden color
- Excitable
- Not like other sandwings
- Kestrel calls her defective
- Sweetest dragon under the mountain
- Cannot keep a secret to save her life
“We should study some more.” Starflight says.
Starflight the NightWing
= Smart!
= Really likes to study
= Does not like to fight
= Pretty much the opposite of Tsunami
= Blends in at night
= Scattered silver scales on his wings that resemble stars!
= Supposed to be able to read minds and see the future like other nightwings
= Can’t for some weird reason, nobody knows why
“Only if I get to pick what we study next.”
Tsunami the SeaWing
= Loves to fight
= Can fight and will fight anything
= Can breathe underwater
= Can see in the dark even better than Starflight can
= Some of her scales can light up
= Believes she’s a seawing princess
= Wants to become the queen
= Already good at bossing (practices a lot)
“No. Not the three sandwing queens again...” groans Glory, “Don’t make us act it out, again.”
Tsunami looks up at Glory, “The three queens!” “Good idea, Glory!”
“Fantastic...” Glory says deflated.
Glory the RainWing
= Beautiful and Smart
= Sarcastic most of the time
= Scales turn cool colors
= Not lazy or stupid, no matter what our guardians say about rainwings
= Secretly nice (But don’t tell her I said that)
“Oh, splendid...” Glory groans.
“Normally, I’d want to be Oasis...” Tsunami says, “But Sunny can be Oasis, since she’s a real sandwing.”
“Clay can be the scavenger.” Tsunami says, “And here’s your claw” she says handing him a pointy rock.
“I’ll be Burn, the strong one of course.” Tsunami says pointing at herself.
“Glory can be Blister, the smart one.”
“And Starflight can be Blaze, the one sandwings like.”
Starflight blushes in slight embarrassment at having to play a girl, “I was Blaze last time, too!”
“Stop complaining.” Tsunami shuts him down.
“Lalala, I’m Queen Oasis of the SandWings!” Sunny says dramatically, “I’m super important and royal, so powerful in fact that no one dares to challenge me!”
“Because...” Tsunami whispers.
“Oh! Probably because I have so much treasure!” Sunny continues.
“Squeak Squeak!” Clay says, “Did somebody say, treasure?!”
“Eep!” Sunny squeals.
“No, you're not supposed to be frightened, Sunny!” Tsunami whispers, “You know, since your queen...?”
“Oh, right!” Sunny says, jumping back into character, “Ragh, what is this little scavenger doing in my palace, I’ll eat you in one bite!”
“Squeak, Squeak!” Clay chirps, “And other scavenger noises!”
He then playfully points the rock at Sunny’s chest, “Take tha...I mean, squeak!”
“Oh no!” Sunny cries with an over-the-top dramatic voice, “A Queen defeated by a lowly scavenger!” “The kingdom will fall apart; my poor treasure is all gone!”
Tsunami fakes a gasp, “Oh no, our mother is dead!”
“And even worse, none of us have killed her.” Glory says.
“I, Burn, am the eldest and strongest.” Tsunami acts out, “I should be queen!”
“I, Blister, was about to challenge mother for the throne.” Glory says, “I should be queen!”
“I, Blaze, am the youngest and therefore, would have the longest reign.” Starflight says, “I should be queen!”
Tsunami looks at Starflight with a teasing smile, “And...?”
Starflight sighs with a deadpan, “...And I am also by far the prettiest.”
This causes the rest of the dragonets of destiny to giggle to themselves.
“And then the sisters picked sides and started the war.” Tsunami says, “All the other stuff is just straight up boring.”
“Boring?” Starflight says, slightly exasperated; “Surely you mean, essential to fulling the prophecy!”
“Fine, it’s not like anyone can stop you.” Glory says, defeated.
“We know this is your favorite part.” Sunny says with a smile.
“Fine.”
“Burn is allied with the Skywings and Mudwings, she’s the strongest of the three and could crush the others like bugs in claw-to-claw combat.”
“If she wins, she’ll probably keep this war going for fun.”
“She doesn’t sound very nice.” Sunny comments.
“Blister is allied with the seawings, and originally the mudwings...however, due to an incident that involved the assassination of the seawing general Tempest, which was blamed on the MudWings, they switched sides to ally with Burn.” Starflight explains, “Blister is smarter than her other two siblings combined.”
“Smart sounds good.” Glory admits.
“She’s also conniving, if she wins, she’ll try to take over the other tribes.” Starflight continues, “It was her idea to start the war, since she’s knows that she can’t kill Burn in a regular duel for the throne.”
“Ok, maybe not...” Glory cringes.
“Blaze is the sandwing favorite.” Starflight says.
“Ok, then why can’t she be queen?” Sunny asks.
“Burn would destroy her.” Starflight says, “And Blaze is about as smart as a concussed sheep.”
He then shoots an annoyed glance at Tsunami, “Thank you so much for always making me play her, Tsunami.”
“You're welcome.” She says smugly.
“Who do we pick when their all so awful?” Sunny asks.
“I don’t know...” Starflight says.
“What about the rainwings and nightwings?” Clay asks, “Didn’t they choose a side?”
“A nightwing known as Morrowseer wrote our prophecy, but they are a neutral party.”
“...The rainwings aren’t involved either.”
Glory scoffs, “Who would want the rainwings as allies?” “We’re all too ‘lazy’ and ‘stupid’.”
“Your neither lazy nor stupid, Glory!” Sunny says, “The Guardians don’t really mean it, I know that they believe in you just as much as they do us!”
The other dragonets of destiny glace at each other.
“Hey...Sunny.” Tsunami says slowly, “Can you show Starflight that weird bug you found at dinner?”
“Eh, but he saw that already.” Sunny says.
“No, he was reading!” Tsunami lies, “Right, Starflight.”
Starflight seems to catch on to what she is trying to do, “Yeah, I didn’t see it.”
Sunny grows a bright smile, “You gotta see it!” “It’s so weird!”
After she goes out of earshot.
“Ok, I don’t know how much longer I can take all of this!” Tsunami exclaims, “We gotta get out of here!”
“You told them?” Clay asks, somewhat surprised.
“I don’t think we’re ready yet, there is so much we haven’t learned!” Starflight argues.
“We won’t until we see the world for ourselves!” Tsunami says.
“I agree with Tsunami; the guardians aren’t in the prophecy.” Glory says, “We don’t need a bunch of ancient dragons telling us what to do.”
“What about Sunny?” Starflight asks.
“Not until the last minute, Sunny can keep a secret to save her life.” Tsunami insists.
Suddenly a familiar but loud sound is heard.
“That’s the entrance boulder!” Glory says.
“This late at night?” Tsunami asks, “Something is happening.”
Starflight looks timid, “I’m sure they’ll tell us tomorrow.”
“Starflight, stop being a smoke breather, let’s go!” Tsunami insists.
“Clay, come on!” Tsunami grins, “We can spy on them from the river!”
Clay nods as the two head into the river, keeping themselves hidden from view as best they can.
“He’s coming HERE?” Kestrel asks with slight disbelief, “After six years he’s finally interested?”
“Well, it’s his prophecy.” Webs says, “I think he wants to make sure they can actually stop the war.”
“Morrowseer?” Tsunami whispers, “He’s coming here, today?”
“But why?” Clay wonders.
“Do you think Morrowseer is coming to take us out of here?” Tsunami asks.
“I don’t know.” Clay says uncertain.
“He’s going not gonna like what he sees, these dragonets are disappointing.”
Kestrel nods, “Yes, but we did our best.” “The prophecy chose them, not us.”
Kestrel turns to glare at Webs, “Does he know about the defective sandwing, or that you brought us a lousy rainwing?”
“He can’t complain about Sunny!” Webs says, “And Glory is not that bad, she’s smarter than she’d like us to know.”
“She’s as lazy and worthless as any other rainwing.” Kestrel says, not seeming to let up on her prejudice against the tribe of fruiteaters, “And she’s not a skywing, we need a skywing!”
“He’s here!” Dune says.
Tsunami and Clay’s mouths drop as they witness the biggest dragon, they have ever seen enter the cave. Seriously, what were they feeding him?!
“He’s huge!” Tsunami comments.
“Tell me about it.”
The two sneak out of the river and towards Morrowseer, as if they were coming out of the cave.
To say Clay is nervous is an understatement, he’s terrified, that nightwing doesn’t look too happy; “He can read minds, right?” “How can I protect my friends?!”
Tsunami seemed a lot more confrontational, “Your Morrowseer, right?” “Can you get us out of here?”
Kestrel glares at Tsunami; “Hush, you ungrateful lizard!”
Morrowseer looks down at Glory, who looks just as terrified as Clay. Honestly, who could blame her, this Dragon was over three to four times their size.
He narrows his eyes at her, “What...is...that...?” he says slowly.
“There...was an accident.” Kestrel says, “We lost the skywing egg, and we needed a replacement.”
Morrowseer turns to Kestrel with a raised eyebrow, “From the rainwings?”
“Don’t look at me, it was this idiot who brought it here!” Kestrel says pointing her tail at Webs.
“We have five dragonets.” Webs says, “That’s what matters.”
Morrowseer goes up to Sunny, “More like four and a half. Are you supposed to be a sandwing?”
“Don’t you eat?” He says in a slightly mocking tone, “What is wrong with you?”
Tsunami gets defensive, “She eats, and she’s a good fighter!”
Starflight nods, “It’s not her fault she’s small.”
Clay jumps in, “Glory is a good fighter too.”
Morrowseer scoffs, “Stop talking now!”
He turns towards the guardians, “Something has gone very wrong here!”
“Yes, it has!” Tsunami says, “No freaking duh!”
“You keep us locked in here for our entire lives!” Tsunami says, “We will never end this war unless we see the world, we are not your prisoners!”
Clay watches as Glory begins arguing with Dune, this conversation seems to be going south. If something doesn’t happen soon then one of his friends might get hurt!
But as he’s wondering what to do. Something shocking appears in front of his face, it looks like some sort of image.
“Monarch of Beginnings?” Clay wonders to himself, staring at this picture that appeared in his sight. “Regain the power you have lost?”
Since when did he have powers?
Clay looks over, Tsunami seems to have stopped arguing and seems to be staring at something. But Clay can’t see it.
But suddenly, this ‘system’ shoots up another image.
Clay stares at this picture, more specifically the warning at the bottom. Death?! If he didn’t complete this quest?! He was unsure if he was losing his mind at this point, but he didn’t want to find out if they system could kill him the hard way.
Suddenly, almost as if reading his mind, Morrowseer slaps Tsunami across the face with his tail flinging her back.
Clay attacks first, jumping on Morrowseer and biting his neck. He hears a ding, and sure enough...the quest was completed.
Tsunami joins him, clawing Morrowseer’s neck. Clay is easily thrown off like a ragdoll, but he only gains minor scratches from this.
“He’ll think of any plan I make up, I just need to think about cows!” Clay says, “Cows, Cows!”
Suddenly, Sunny bites Morrowseer’s tail causing him to yelp. But it was more in surprise than pain.
“Well, this is surprising.” Morrowseer says lifting Sunny with his tail.
“See?” Clay says in his thoughts, “Sunny is a good fighter, and smart too.”
Suddenly the image appears in front of him again.
What does this all mean? What is with this weird image that appears in his vision? Can anyone else see it?! Or did finally just go crazy after living his entire life in a cave?!
Morrowseer picks up Sunny like a doll, “Hmm.”
He puts her down and looks over at Clay and Tsunami; “These two will do.”
“This one...” He looks back over at Sunny, “We’ll have to see...”
“And you...” Morrowseer says looking at Starflight; “I assumed you used your nightwing powers to see that I wasn’t going to harm the seawing.” “I’ll take you into the caves for a private conversation.”
This Clay wondering, what was that screen. And what in the three moons....
...was a Monarch?
Notes:
Do you like the image formats I did for this fic? I thought it would be neat to do this to add some flare to this fanfiction. Unlike the original solo leveling story this will not be a quick power fantasy. There will be lots and lots of struggling in this fic.
If any of you want to make a guess on who is what Monarch besides Clay then go for it!
Chapter 3: Dragonets and Systems
Chapter Text
Clay was confused; this has been the weirdest day he had ever experienced in his life. First the writer of the prophecy shows up to test them, then this whole ‘system’ business. What could this all possibly mean.
“Well, he was a great help...” Tsunami says.
“So...did you guys...” Tsunami continues, “I saw something weird in there, I was just wondering if...”
Clay looks over at Tsunami, “Do you mean…”
Tsunami nods, “Yeah, you saw that image too didn’t you.” “I saw you looking at it.”
“What did yours say? "..Mine said something along the lines of...the ‘Monarch of Destruction’, don’t know what that is, though.”
“I don’t get it!” Clay says, “What are the Monarchs?”
“I got it too!” Sunny says, “Mine says that I’m the ‘Monarch of White Flames’, it kinda sounds scary.”
Clay looks at the interface with a raised brow, “It says I earned ‘ability points’ for the ‘status window’, maybe if I just...”
Clay’s thoughts were cutoff short by Starflight leaving the cave in which Morrowseer had brought him into because of ‘important business’. Whatever that meant...
“Starflight!” Clay says running after his best friend.
“What did he talk to you about?” Clay asks.
“…I cannot say.” Starflight mutters.
He then walks up to his favorite scroll; Clay recognizes this habit. Starflight only does this when he is incredibly upset. Whatever happened with Morrowseer was bad.
“I’d thought he’d like you better than the rest of us.” Clay says, “Didn’t he tell you how noble you must be because you’re a nightwing?”
Starflight pauses, “That’s exactly what he said actually.”
“Did he say anything about Glory?”
“He just said he’d ‘deal with’ her.”
“Well, that’s not ominous.” Clay thought to himself.
“I think I’m going crazy, Clay.” Starflight says.
Clay looks shocked, where did this come from?
“What do you mean?”
Starflight gives Clay an anxious look, it wasn’t unfamiliar with Clay.
“I…. something has been appearing in my line if sight shortly after you and Tsunami fought Morrowseer.” Starflight explains.
“Wait...are you referring to the image that appears in our line of sight?” Clay asks.
“That’s right!” Starflight says, “How did you know?”
Clay smiles, “I have been seeing those visions too, it called itself a ‘system’ right?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Starflight smiles.
“What did yours say?”
"Mine said;"
“Huh, Monarch of Shadows?” Clay wonders, that title sends shivers down his spine for some reason.
“Yeah, I have no idea what that means though..."
“No...”
Suddenly, he hears so commotion in the cavern by the river. Including Sunny’s yelps.
“Stop!” Sunny wails, “Why are you doing this?”
Clay and Starflight run into the cave and notice Kestrel and Dune chaining Tsunami up to a stalagmite. Kestrel then breaths fire on the chains, welding them to the stalagmite.
“Why are you doing this?!” Sunny asks being held by Morrowseers tail, “If anyone can save the world, it’s Tsunami!”
“Actually, tiny sandwing...” Morrowseer says, “You should be following Starflight over there.”
He looks smug, “Nightwings are natural leaders.”
“How dare you!” Tsunami hisses, “When my family hears about this they will-”
“All the wonderful dreams you have about your family.” Kestrel interrupts, “Nobody care about you.”
“When it comes time to fulfil the prophecy...you’ll be alive and well.” Kestrel says, “And the talons of peace will be there to oversee it.”
“Maybe some time away from the river will give you some more time to be grateful, seawing.”
“Oh yeah, what else are you going to do to me?” Tsunami hisses, “What if I feel like singing all night?”
“OH, THE DRAGONETS ARE COMING!” Tsunami starts singing in a horrible voice devoid of any pitch.
“This is your fault.” Dune says looking at Webs, “I told you not to teach them that stupid tavern song!”
“Hmhm~” Clay hums along with the not so great tun.
“Their coming to fight!” Sunny smiles.
“We could just weld your mouth shut; you know that right?!” Kestrel exclaims, annoyed.
But this doesn’t scare Tsunami who keeps on singing, “Oh the-”
Kestrel seethes in anger, giving the worse ‘stink eye’ Clay has ever seen to Tsunami.
“Or maybe we’ll weld Clay to a Stalactite instead!” Kestrel says, “Maybe he’d like sleeping upside down the whole night!”
This immediately shuts Tsunami up, who just gives a glare to Kestrel. Kestrel smiles, “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“You all were vile today!” Kestrel says walking out of the cave.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to make sure everything, has been....dealt with...”
“We understand.” Kestrel nods.
“Please don’t leave her like this!” Sunny pleads, “I know you're not this mean!”
Webs looks back with a slightly anxious expression, “This is for your own good, maybe this isn’t the best way...but...”
“Come on Webs!” Dune says, Webs nods and runs after them.
Clay tries to break the chains with his teeth, but they won’t budge.
“Clay, stop.” Tsunami says, “You’ve got to figure out what their planning.”
Clay hesitantly nods, before jumping into the river. He floats downstream and into the small hole that leads into the room that the guardians are in.
“There has to be five of them.” Webs’ voice says, “What are they going to do about that?”
“He’ll get us a skywing, just as we should’ve had in the first place.”
“Drowning will be simplest.” Kestrel’s voice says.
“I joined the talons of peace to stop killing dragons.” Webs’ voice says, “I won’t argue with Morrowseer, but I’m not going to do it.”
“Nobody thought you would be of any help.” Dune’s voice says in a harsh tone.
“I will do it.” Kestrel says, “I’m the strongest of the guardians.”
“Can you go through with it?” Webs asks, “After, you know...”
Kestrel shuts him off, “Glory is just a rainwing, I’ll do it tonight while she’s sleeping.”
She looks back at the cave the other dragonets are in, “Tsunami is the only one who could’ve stopped me.”
“Clay will try...” Webs says, “Dumb as a rock, but he’ll do anything for them.”
To say Clay was hurt by this would be an understatement, Webs was his favorite guardian, even if the bar was low. Hearing him say such hurtful feeling was devastating.
“It’s not natural.” Dune says, “A dragon should have no loyalties outside of their tribe!”
“Even if Clay lets out the monster inside of him, there is nothing he could do.” Kestrel says.
Suddenly another image pops into Clay’s view
“Oh no!” Clay thinks to himself, before swimming upriver, “He knows exactly who this ‘Monarch of Plagues’ is.
“Glory will be dead by morning.” Kestrel voice sinks into the background.
Once Clay makes it back to the cave, he notices that the dragonets are already in shambles. Their ‘systems’ must’ve already notified them.
“They can’t!” Sunny cries.
“They totally would.” Tsunami shoots back, “Those three will do ANYTHING for the prophecy!”
“But we won’t let them!” Clay says sternly.
“You don’t have to get involved.” Glory says, “This is my problem, not yours.”
“How though, none of you all are a match for Kestrel.” Tsunami argues.
“So we escape!” Clay says.
“Escape?!” Sunny says.
“We can’t wait any longer, one of our friends is in danger!” Clay says, “We have to get out tonight.”
Tsunami groans, “If escape were that easy, we’d be long gone from here!”
“Yeah.” Starflight says, “There’s a huge boulder blocking the entrance, and you can only get out with Dune’s key.”
“What about from the outside?” Clay wonders.
“It is possible.” Starflight says, “We’ve all seen Kestrel and Webs get in without Dune, perhaps there's a lever of some kind.”
“But it doesn’t matter.” Tsunami says, “There’s no other way out of the caves!”
“What about the sky-” Sunny says.
“Can we force the boulder open if we all lean on it hard enough?” Clay asks.
“Unlikely, the guardians would’ve thought about that.” Starflight says.
“What about the s-”
“You all are really sweet, but don’t get in trouble for me.” Glory interrupts once more.
“Stop acting like a martyr, it’s not helping.” Tsunami shoots back.
“I’m not acting like a martyr; I’m trying to make sure nobody gets killed!”
“Oh, but it’s ok if you DO?” Tsunami shoots back.
“Who cares anyway?!” Glory says, “I’m not in the prophecy!”
“I swear I will kill you myself.” Tsunami growls.
Clay steps in between them, with a frown; “Tsunami is TRYING TO SAY that we care about you!”
“GUYS!” Sunny interrupts, “What about the sky hole in the scroll room, we can just fly up there and squeeze our way out!”
Starflight shakes his head at Sunny’s idea, “It’s a good idea, but the hole is too small, even for you.” “I’ve flown up there a few times myself.”
“Same here.” Glory says.
“Me too.” Tsunami agrees.
Clay looks at his claws, “Why didn’t I think about that?”
“Do you have an idea?” Clay wonders, “I know you’ve been working on an escape plan for a while now.”
“An escape plan?!” Sunny exclaims, “Why did nobody tell me?!”
Tsunami ignores Sunny and glances at the river, “It was supposed to be me, it’s too dangerous otherwise!”
Clay picks up on this, “The river?”
“We don’t know where the river will take you.” Starflight says, “You need to orient yourself, well send a smoke signal when daylight comes.”
“I could think of a few scrolls to burn.” Glory smiles, making Starflight cringe.
“Me too!” Sunny says.
“Well, what is Glory going to do before the sun comes up?” Tsunami asks, “Kestrel is going to kill her tonight!”
“Don’t worry about me.” Glory smirks as she starts fading, “The guardians don’t know I can do this, I guess it’s a good thing we never studied rainwings after all.”
“You don’t even have to risk the river, Clay.” Glory says, completely invisible, “I could just stay like this.”
“For how long?” Starflight asks, “Until you starve?”
“Kestrel is going to kill you tonight.” Clay emphasizes, “We need to get out of here, now!”
“Ok, just as long as you're not doing it just for me.” Glory says, coming back into few a bit.
“Follow the current.” Starflight says, “If the river goes anywhere, the current will take you there.”
“If?” Clay anxiously thinks.
“Be really careful Clay.” Tsunami urges.
“Hide, Glory.” Clay says.
“Alright.” Glory nods, “I’ll never admit I’d say this, but...I’d never would have made it these past six years without you all.”
“Me too.” Clay says.
“Me three!” Sunny says, “Don’t you dare die out there.”
“...And don’t panic, if you do, you’ll run out of air faster!” Starflight says.
Sunny looks at Clay one more time, “Don’t die.”
Hydragon23 on Chapter 2 Sat 19 Apr 2025 04:59PM UTC
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Dgsruby on Chapter 3 Thu 29 May 2025 07:34PM UTC
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