Wings of Fire: The Illusory Empire

by Realist_Sophist

Summary:

The IllusionWings have lived in magical isolation for thousands of years, and with no record of the Scorching, they regard humans as equals.
But when that isolation ends and Pyrrhia, in it's ignorance, casually commits the worst atrocity they can imagine, the most peaceful place on the planet fills with the most vengeance.

The ambitions of a genius archer and a young dragon may be the only ones left to control the flames of justice and liberation.
But the question remains, will Pyrrhia atone? Or will it burn?

Notes:

Okay, I'm not the best writer and my creativity is rather lacking, especially when it comes to description and vocabulary.
With that out of the way, I feel like it's a good idea to explain the motivation for starting this and what to expect.

Firstly, there will NOT be guns. Often the fics depicting humans that can defend themselves will give them guns or special powers.
That was one of the reasons I wanted to write this. Honestly I find it insulting how the series goes about it as if they would be that 'weak'.
It's really my stance that the only reason they're weak is because Tui doesn't allow them to actually use the weapons they should be using. Crossbows should be more than powerful enough, bows with high draw weights can also penetrate iron armor(depending on the thickness and conditions), even if that was not enough, there are literally manuballista that you can carry around with you.(literally handheld ballista) For siege weapons, they for some reason stick to ballista which they have to rely on luck to actually hit. The dragons literally dance around in front of them because they can see it coming.
You know what would work better? A hwacha! Now yes they may not have chemical propellant, but given the circumstances human ingenuity would design a mechanical solution. There is no way a dragon could dodge multiple projectiles fired at them in a grid pattern.

Aside from Animus, I don't want to make any huge changes right off the bat.
I've seen great stories that basically completely rewrite the book with new lore, but I want mine to feel more like the additions caused the divergence, and not that the divergence was already there in the first place.

Ah, and I'm not removing Animus or anything like that, nor am I going to turn this into an Animus power fantasy (though I have a pretty dumb idea for another fic involving it that I might try out)
I'm planning to place restrictions on Animus that should make it much more interesting. The best part is that it doesn't even have to contradict canon, because as far as Pyrrhia is concerned, they were too afraid of overusing it to figure out what the actual rules were.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Huff... Huff... I just had to get a single shot in, that was it!
I could feel the ground rumbling beneath me as I narrowly dodged a massive talon.
This time for sure! It was perfect!

I could feel the tension in the string, the arrow resting on my thumb, the wind blowing sharply in line as if to guide this arrow to its destination.
Then, just as I exhaled, I released the string... It was perfect, I knew it was going to hit!

But then the dragon's head suddenly moved out of the path of the incoming projectile. In an instant the long neck craned over me as huge jaws rushed to surround my chest.
I immediately tensed and blinked uselessly as hot breath enveloped me, but the terrifying teeth barely paused around me before retreating.

"You're getting slower, and you missed." Gale snorts.

"I didn't miss! You got lucky and barely moved out of the way!" I yell in frustration.
I scan the ground littered with arrows that never once missed their mark.
They were all blunt of course, but it wouldn't matter if it wasn't a headshot.

"Tiny idiot, do you think you can rely on luck if I was a monster~?" He giggles and mocks relentlessly.

"What am I supposed to do with a bow if you move just when I let go?! Look at that guy! Just what the fuck is that nonsense?!" I fume and point to the other sparring pair, where a larger dragon is relentlessly trying to catch a much smaller, yet burly man with a blunted greatsword.
He somehow dodges every single swing and when the dragon finally gets tired of it and tries to 'bite' he somehow sidesteps that and turns the blade up at its neck from an almost impossible angle.

And that was the man being flashy! All he had to do was move and swing. Naturally, overextending didn't mean much even if it worked.
It's universal that no one wants to fight a dragon with just a sword regardless of how sharp it is, but it's pointless if you're going to win and still get hit. So it’s fairly clear it’s mostly for fun or showmanship, of which the latter is very much accomplished.

"Just admit it. You missed!" Gale insists on glorifying his victory.

"I don't miss if it's a still target! Watch!" I shout and pick up a blunt arrow from the ground.
Without hesitation or mercy, I loose the arrow and hit the back of the other dragon's head perfectly.

The larger dragon looks over spitefully but holds it in and eventually looks away.

"Let's get out of here before you make him mad. You were always terrible at picking fights, Field." Gale hurries me away from the training field.

"Whaddya wanna do then?" I ask while ignoring the constant vibrations that come with being a human in the capital.
There were numerous 'giants' regularly stomping by, it wasn't the easiest place for humans to live comfortably.

"I don't-" Gale begins, before a human boy around 5 or 6 years old runs by and trips on an uneven bump on the ground.

Both Gale and I were shocked, but I was faster to take action.
"Hey, what are you doing out here all alone, kid? Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Wuhh... No?" He lies clumsily, making it painfully obvious he must be trying to skip school for some reason.
Children weren't allowed to roam around on their own in this city. They were always reckless, hard to see, yet easy to squash.

"Looks like someone's been naughty today. How about we take you back to class?" Gale says.

"No." The boy stubbornly refuses and stays in the spot with a pouty face.

"Even if you get to ride me all the way?" Gale pushes again with an irresistible offer for most. Few dragons want to be responsible for them falling off and hurting themselves, but this was indeed better for him than running around and getting trampled.

"Oh~ Nice job!" I cheer his quick resolution as we headed to the closest school, the boy tracing the white colored stripes of scales down his neck.
This school was the one we both attended ourselves at some point.
It seemed the whole class was sitting outside, the perimeter a measly wooden fence barely as tall as the sitting teacher.

"Down you go, little explorer!" Gale declares and tilts him off his back gently as he flails to hold on a bit longer.

"Ah! Drell! There you are!" The teacher calls, "Go sit down, and don't even think about climbing me again to get out!"

Drell dejectedly goes and sits with the rest of the students, mostly small dragonets with an occasional human that were more interested in secretly cuddling the nearest dragon than whatever the lesson was about.

"Alright, today's story is going to be a classic!" The teacher began energetically.

Both of us could see the book she was opening, "Oh, they still read that tale..." We both mumbled.
"Maybe we could just stay and listen for nostalgia sake."

The teacher breathed in a hefty puff of air before beginning to read.
"Once upon a time, when many colorful dragons soared, there was a young dragonet like you and me," She began, "It was a dark, dark time, back when dragons saw humans as mere prey to hunt down. The dragonet and his tribe were no different, until one day the dragonet chose to look closer."
The teacher seemed to like this part of the story.
"But no one believed the dragonet, not until they could talk! So he struggled and struggled, until he could finally prove it! But the colorful dragons denied it, and only got more violent!"

I also loved this story, though it was surely fiction. Before I could absorb all of it, the story continued even faster.

"So the dragonet and his tribe captured every human they could find. They screamed and they cried, but it was for their own good. The colorful dragons demanded them back, but instead were denied! The genius of his kind had hid us away." She nears the ending full of breath, a striking perk of dragon lungs, "The colorful dragons roared, their fury unrestrained, but the dragonet and his friend had played them at their own game. The humans, confused, cursed him to the skies, yet he fell with a grin, for a hero never dies."

Thus the Founder’s legend ended.

No matter how many times I listened to this story, the ending always moved me. Even after being retold so many times, it still demanded everyone's attention.
Of course, it had to be fiction; how would we know what happened to him if we were sealed inside some hidden place or something?

Though it was true that every dragon trying to leave simply arrived right back on our own continent, but still!
The students are always enchanted by it nonetheless. Of course every legend had varieties.
The one taught in schools was the neutralized version, and even that has its own darker undertones.

In some tellings the dragonet had already eaten a few humans before realizing, while in others the 'colorful' dragons were simply portrayed as evil demons. Some even added betrayal into the mix, somehow.

"Why did the humans curse him so much for helping?" The sleek dragonet in front asks shyly.

"Well, that's-" The teacher starts to form an answer, but this is a question I've heard plenty of times in the past.

"It's because they thought they were caught to be eaten or worse." I answered without thinking and immediately regretted it. We weren't even supposed to be here and I just gave such a heavy answer without thinking!

"I- I see..." She mutters, and no one else seemed to want to ask further questions.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I got too sucked into the story." I apologize.

"It's fine, it's nice to have guests sometimes."

After overstaying our welcome, I overheard Gale talking to someone else.

"...I'll go, but Field should stay behind." Gale answers to a huge dragon behind us with two lines of white scales running perpendicular across his snout.
I was roughly leg height to Gale, but I wasn't quite there to reach this dragon's. I'd strain my neck trying to look up at his eyes which he doesn't even bother to lower to my level.

"No way! I'm coming wherever you're going! You can't escape me that easily." I sneer and cling to his leg.

The larger dragon, wearing something akin to a badge around his neck narrowed his eyes at me for saying such a thing.
"Fine. But bring a decent weapon at least." He huffed and turned away.

"W-Weapon? Why would I need a weapon?" I ask shakily.

"Oh- uh, well... You know how I got really good with that ancient dragon language? It seems they need me." He answers while scratching his chin with a claw.

"Of course I know. You practically made me learn it too. And I'm still coming, no matter how dangerous it might be!" I insist, refusing any attempt on his part to deny me. Though my question remained unanswered.

Chapter 2: First Contact

Summary:

Things go bad

We caught up to the large dragon as we approached the royal palace.

This was a special place ordinary people would never get to see, so I was excited to be invited in so easily.

I've worked so hard to be acknowledged with the bow that it still feels a little cheap to tag along with Gale.

As suggested, I'm carrying the most powerful bow I owned and a quiver of the best arrows.

What could I need it for? They can't be sending us after bandits, right?

Humans weren't usually allowed to take part in aspects such as law enforcement. Unless the dragons had a death sentence or similar.

For us, there wasn't really much of an option to capture a dragon alive. As a human, if you have to fight a dragon on your own, you either kill them or you escape, there's no in between.

While I pondered, I almost didn't notice we were already at the front gates of the palace. I was puzzled on whether I should call them gates or doors, as they were huge.

As we entered, the ground below transitioned from a stone trail to smooth, premium flooring.

There were many dragons inside the palace of various shapes and sizes. Me and Gale didn't have much experience, so we would probably be disrespecting everyone here if the important dragons weren't so clearly defined by what they wear.
It was typically expensive cloth and jewelry that covered their chests.

But as we reached our destination, it was obvious who the most important dragon was.

A young dragon sat powerfully at the end of the throne room, surrounded by other older dragons, both armed and unarmed.

This was Emperor Stormlight, and he was among some of the youngest in history to be elected as emperor.

Each term was typically 5 years. Some say the reason for the limit is to prevent corruption, but it makes more sense to say it's to be more fair for the occasional human emperor.
Otherwise they might outlive any good human emperor before they get a chance.

Gale bowed first, and I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and did the same.

"Hmm, I called for Gale, but why has his human companion joined us?" Stormlight questions me.

I bite my lip wondering if I'm allowed to answer before going for it.

"I can be helpful too! Please let me-" I answer almost desperately before he raises a talon to shush me.

"The old legend of our founder has turned out to be true. We're suddenly surrounded by strange lands we couldn't see or interact with before. Do you know what that means?" He asks stiffly, almost as if it wasn't even a question.

W-What could it mean? Wait, they need Gale because he's fluent with the old language- does that mean?

"T-There are other dragons?" I ask sheepishly.

No matter which version of the legend I thought of, the other dragons were always the unpleasant kind...

"Yes. We've already made contact with a group of them that have wandered into our territory, but couldn't understand their language well." He exclaims while straightening up, "It's just a tale, so there's no telling what's changed since then."

That's true, I suppose it could have been biased from being retold over and over.

Stormlight then continues with news that I'm no longer sure if I should be happy or worried about, "Since you want to remain with Gale, I feel it a good idea to see how they treat you. They will likely return soon, that much we could understand."

"I-I see." I stutter in a bit of shock before remembering I should be using honorifics, "Thank you, your majesty!"

I was quite worried about being the test subject, but I got myself into this...

"Commander Ashwind will retrieve you when needed." The emperor dismisses us with a wave and we unwaveringly comply in a heartbeat.

One of the servant dragons even leads us to a guest room, which looks unimaginably prestigious!

"Wow, this bed is so huge and soft!" I exclaim while flailing around on the gigantic silky cushion in the corner.

"Then let me try!" Gale demands happily and gives me no time to move at all.

His heavy form lands close to me as he rolls over while snatching me onto his belly.

"Ack! What are you doing?!" I wail pathetically at him.

"What do you mean what am I doing, I'm having fun with you is what I'm doing!" He laughs at me wiggling in his grasp, unable to escape.

I swing and hit the air while trying to punch that annoying smile off his snout.

This is always irritating, but I also don't feel the need to demand release.

"You're the only one that lets me play rough with you."

"I don't let you, I just tolerate it because you're pitifully aloof at times." I snort coldly at him.

"Do you need me to squeeze you to get you to be more playful?" He jokes and then pauses to smell the air. "What's that smell?"

Gale looks around and then his eyes widen at the table a few steps away.

"It's meat!" He squeals and drops me harshly on the bed.

"How rude of you to discard me over a damn steak." I mumble to avoid sounding jealous of his attention.

Even though humans were quite good at breeding animals, it was still expensive since dragons needed so much of it. It was difficult to maintain the animal populations on this small continent.
Fruits and vegetables were much more plentiful and low-effort, so it wouldn't be strange for many dragons to have barely tasted meat in their lives.

I grimace and wince at the crunching of bones; he was not elegant about it at all!

"Oh, I almost forgot." He exclaims, muffled by a full mouth as he grabs me again and lifts me to the table. "See, I'm not heartless, you can have some too~"

"I don't want it." I state matter-of-factly.

"Yes you do." He repeats and shoves a small chunk in my face, threatening to make a mess on it if I don't let it in. "I'm so forgetful today–  how could I forget to cook it first?!"

He moves it a little higher and opens his jaws slightly to let out a short stream of highly compressed blue fire.

The chunk of meat sizzles hastily and he finishes searing it while coughing from the side effects.
They couldn't create a stream of consistent fire for very long, and it always made their voice raspy if they tried.

"Here." He wheezes through a pained expression, "I'll be fine in a few minutes."

Gale can be annoying on occasion, but he still suffered through that just to cook a tiny portion for me.

And it was so good, just a little burnt. It genuinely felt like being royalty.

After a few minutes, a loud knock on the door broke the silence.

"It's time." Commander Ashwind calls us out.

"Let's hope that legends aren't always accurate." I muse, ensuring I have my longbow and arrows ready.

Gale didn't react to my words and moved me up to his back easily.

Then, we were led outside of the city to a small clearing with sparse trees. How long would we have to wait?

I wondered how strange these new dragons were going to be.

Were they like the legends?

I was with Gale the whole time, but I was never that into an ancient language. Given that I was always around, I can understand it pretty well, but I've never bothered trying to speak in it.

I guess he must have really had some free time.

I gulp as the familiar feeling of dragons landing nearby interrupts the tranquil air.

Ashwind was watching from the side as the strange dragons approached. I don't seem to be very noticable in this situation.

They were bulky, muscular and had flat snouts. They were kind of ugly, actually.
Should I be saying that?

The one in front had big shoulders and confidently tried to greet Gale by getting closer.

"Hello! I am Sepia of the MudWings!" The big-shouldered dragon opens without a stutter of hesitation, but Gale doesn't seem impressed.

"What do you want from us?" He asks one of the main questions he was earlier ordered to bring up.

Gale keeps crinkling his snout during this as if he's smelling something strange.

"Something metallic is in the air." Ashwind hisses under his breath.

"Only an alliance! If my words are not enough for you, then please accept a gift," Sepia gestures to the dragon on the rear-left which has been holding something obscured to us by the angles, "Scavenger is a rare delicacy, right?"

The 'MudWing' in the back releases a slim woman with short brown hair, who immediately gasps in air and bursts into a fit of sobbing that was held back by compression.

Everyone just stared in shock for a single moment, and then–

"Monsters!" Gale growls and lunges, causing the woman to scream louder as the three are pushed back and one is pinned to the ground.

I ran to pull the woman behind a nearby tree, before watching the scene unfold as if I could only power through the shock to get this far.

I have to help. I have to do something!

Without even realizing it, I already had an arrow on the string.

I pull back on it as hard as I can until I can't anymore.

Thump

I can feel my heart pounding as I aim. The dragons around Gale don't care about my presence at all, I have a clear shot.

But—my hand is trembling.

My arm was getting numb from the powerful weight of the bowstring, and I couldn't resolve myself to potentially kill them for the longest time.

Since I was hesitating, Commander Ashwind instead took the initiative to intervene.

Gale had the center one pinned, but seemed to be losing the strength battle.

The other two were so surprised they didn't do anything for seconds before trying to pull Gale off.

The first tried to catch Gale in his jaws, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a red bolt of compressed fire precisely flew into it.

Thus, he screamed and choked from his throat being burned.

That gave Commander Ashwind enough time to grab the second by the neck.

Despite the foreign dragons being bulkier and perhaps even slightly bigger, he was practically on top of the caught dragon and had them completely locked in place. They couldn't break free no matter how strong they might be.

Even so, Gale was still struggling and could have even been overpowered if they all didn't suddenly stop resisting.

I couldn't understand why they would stop, until I realized they were both staring at Ashwind about to turn one of their necks into abstract art.

Relieved, I relax my arm which has gone numb from keeping such a powerful bow drawn for so long.

I could only slump against the tree and try not to think about what would have happened if there was no one to intervene and I still couldn't take the shot.

A bunch of other dragons that were watching from a distance were arriving to take the 'MudWing' dragons away.

I turned my attention to the crying lady that was now attempting to cry as silently as possible.

"It's okay, you can talk now." I try to assure her. "I'm Field. What's your name?"

The surroundings must be a blur for her right now, too panicked to hear anything but the sound of my voice.

"I- My name- it's Misty. It was nice to meet you..."

'was'? These are the words of someone resigned to their doom.

The three foreign dragons were already taken away, leaving just Gale, who was now coming over to check on me.

Misty seemed to be more aware now that things were less intense, clutching onto my arm.

"Hurry! Shoot! Maybe we can-" Misty squeals and frantically tries to grab the bow out of my hands and pull the string while I'm still holding onto it.

"Hey! Calm down!" I try to sound commanding, but she continues struggling despite not being strong enough to draw the bow even if I wasn't fighting it.

Gale was already right in front of us and didn't know what to do.

"H-hi?" He stutters meekly with no apparent ideas of what to say..

Misty gave up on trying to fight and simply closed her eyes and sobbed harder than before.

Gale winced at bringing such intense despair so easily. So did I, and I didn't know how to fix it.

"Misty? That's a nice name." Gale retries after seeing her open her eyes.

She looks almost even more shocked than she was while wailing her lungs out.

"A dragon can talk?" She whimpers and looks to be fighting herself to look, as if needing to confirm it.

"Yes!" Gale answers softly. "I'm not scary at all~"

"That's not something you can decide for others, you oaf!" I scorn by slapping him with my bow.

Gale tries to make it true by laying on the ground submissively and whining, but Misty doesn't seem to know what's going on anymore.

"Is this what losing your mind feels like?"

"This is all real. Welcome to the Illusora continent." I chuckle.

"Continent? But it looked more like a really big island when I was... taken." She responds quietly.

"What's an island?" I ask, stumped.

"Huh? You don't know what islands are?" She sniffles and finally has a laugh, but that wasn't my intention at all. "They're like smaller patches of land, floating over the sea. A really small continent, I guess."

So, this whole time we've just called it a continent because we had nothing to compare it to?!

"Okay... Well, anyway, the dragons here are friendly. I don't know what kind of life you had outside, but there's nothing to be scared of here." I return to explaining the situation now that I had an opening.

"They don't... eat you?" Misty asks like it was an amazement.

"No! Of course not!" Gale answers reflexively. "We all live together, why would we eat people? Only monsters do that—like those ugly, flat-faced ones that don't deserve to be called a dragon!"

"I-I'm sorry, but you're kind of special when it comes to dragons..." Misty mutters while trying to be confident.

That doesn't sound good... Maybe the colorful dragons being demons was the accurate telling of the founder's legend after all...

"Then, would you like a tour?" I offer, rubbing Gale's head to show it was fine.

Chapter 3: The Sparks of War

Summary:

A certain dragon realizes just how much they messed up.

"A tour of anything sounds fun, but... How many- how many dragons are there?" Misty squeaks and avoids any eye contact with Gale.

"No matter how many, you'll be fine!" Gale says, "I'll even give you a ride!"

"A ride does sound like fun..." She admits.

"Great!" Gale yips and raises a talon.

I smack his leg and scorn him for that, "You idiot, you can't just do that!"

"Oh, that's right. Sorry." Gale pauses and lowers to let her climb up herself.

"This is exactly why I called you pitifully aloof." I scoffed as Misty gets closer with short steps.

Gale takes a whiff of her when she gets close enough.
"Why do you smell like that?" He questions and tilts his head a little.

Misty turns pale, somehow knowing it was obvious what he was smelling, and replies slowly, "They passed by a village. A-and they- and they-"
She retches and cries, unable to finish the sentence, but that was enough to get the point across.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." I console, though this time I have to restrain a new level of boiling fury inside of me.

Just then, Commander Ashwind returns with a cloud of dust and a loud crash as if it was timed.

Misty yelps and holds her head on reflex at the return of the larger dragon.

Indeed, his expression was less stupid and harmless than Gale's. Maybe it did look like she was about to lose her head.

"Both of you prepare for battle." He demands us, "Those monsters have massacred the village of Frontier. This can be no less than war!"

War was not something to mention so casually, but somehow, it was to be expected. No, perhaps it was welcomed.

"Gale will be needed there to translate their surrender." He smirks, before finally looking down.

"As for you– you just need not to cry. Save it for joy." Ashwind told Misty with a level of sudden pity I didn't expect from his usual imposing stiffness.

I know I never received that expression at all.

Misty liked that enough to stop covering her head and look around.

I grabbed her hand and led her to Gale so I could finally show her around.

I know it would be possible to do this myself, but the average dragon isn't used to someone that cries in terror just from bending down to their level.

So for that, it was best to give her something to hide behind.

She trembled silently almost the entire time we were in the city, trying to hide by flattening on Gale's back.

Nothing was particularly fascinating for her to look at. It probably just looked like a lot and lot of dragons.

At least that was until we passed by the school on the way back out.
Misty seemed enthralled with the view of a bunch of young humans running around with dragons.

"This place really is like a paradise. Why couldn't the world be like this?!" She tears up.

"Then we'll fix it! Everything. We'll wipe out the monsters of this world like dust in the wind, so that everyone can experience this!" I declare with a confident gesture.

The teacher from before catches on to our return and looms over the fence, enough to reach her head over to breathe on Misty.
"Is this one shy?" She questioned Gale, who awkwardly looked away while Misty shivered.

"Not exactly..." I interject, explaining the difficult situation as best as possible.

"I see. What a sad way to live. But everything bitter eventually turns sweet." She mutters sadly.

"Misty, you should probably stay here. There are going to be a lot of dragons gathering outside. And you need to get used to this anyway."

"What?" Misty blurts out with a shock. "Can't I stay with a smaller one at least?"

The teacher dragon seems to be pleased with the idea, already reaching a talon over the wooden fence.

Misty on the other hand doesn't look pleased at all with a talon almost bigger than her body reaching closer, choosing to flinch and avoid it instead.

"Just let me get you over here. You can get down right away." The teacher snorts impatiently.

Misty complies immediately, either from a change of mind or just sensing the slight wavering of her patience.

"I don't like this. It makes me feel like a baby..." She complains.

"You're not a baby," The teacher interjects, "Babies like being held."

Both I and Gale laugh ourselves away to get back on track. We had something much more important to be doing.

"Do you think Misty will be okay like that?" Gale wonders.

"Of course. Not every teacher files their claws down just so the class idiots don't cut themselves."

After a few minutes of travel, the confining streets gradually opened up to a more vast view of a long, winding road streaking down the plains.

There, about a hundred separate dragons waited, with plenty preparing various kinds of armor and weapons.

Commander Ashwind was at the front, where a singular horse galloped closer to the city down the path.
Ashwind didn't look the type to be outwardly interested in things that weren't important. But he was staring at the approaching figure intently, so intently that he was shifting and flicking his tail behind him.

And when they finally got within a few paces, I could finally see them fully.

A middle-aged woman was dismounting with a confused look.
"What's going on? What's with all the weapons?"

Commander Ashwind didn't even bother to answer a question. Instead, he responded with his own question.

"Where were you?"

What an odd question.

"Oh, you worry too much about me, can't I go anywhere?" She laughs at him.

They must know each other, right?

"Mother... Tell me now!" He continues with a more demanding tone.

Mother?!

"If you really have to know... We were just visiting Frontier for a while, that's it." She answers casually.

"Then what about father?"

"He said he was going to return later. I'm sure he'll be-"

“Again.. again...” Ashwind was snarling very noticeably now, with his claws digging into the ground.
"I- I'll-...Th-THEY'RE DEAD!" He roars deafeningly and takes off back to the city.

At first, I thought that was just an obvious deduction that slipped through his lips.
It wasn't until he took off faster than an arrow that I fully realized who was dead.

 

---

 

Sepia was contemplating her situation from inside a prison cell, isolated completely from any of her siblings.

The main thing she kept going over and over in her head was what they possibly could have done to offend them so badly.

'Did I make a bad gesture?' She thought that was the most likely, but that didn't sound like enough to be imprisoned as 'monsters'.

Even then, this didn't feel like a normal reaction.

The cell she was forced into looked like it would normally be much more accommodating, yet they even took out what was presumably a bed of some kind.

Then they went so far as to bite her neck while forcing her in!
'I think that's going to scar...'

The next most likely theory was that they just looked so different they thought she was a monster?

But by far the most bizarre aspect were these strange dragons themselves.

They talked to each other in this strange language that didn't sound anything like Dragon.

It sounded more like the squeaking and shrieking of scavengers. In fact, it was eerily similar since she had enough recent experience to make the comparison.

No matter how she tried to gesture for mercy or plead, the guards outside didn't seem moved at all. If anything, they growled at her and stared with an obvious disdain.

'What did we do? How could anyone not like a gift? Do they hate scavengers that much?'

As if on cue, a scavenger walked through the entrance.

Completely on its own. Not even bothered by the two dragons.

Sepia then thought she figured it out.
'Maybe they thought we stole someone's pet! I heard RainWings can get pretty mad over that.'

Though, as she waited and hoped to communicate an apology for a misunderstanding, the scavenger started making noises directed at the dragons.

Sepia had a jolt of unease. Then the dragons responded to the scavenger!

Not only did they look like they were conversing, but the scavenger even looked like it was staring at her with the same pure hatred the dragons did, even clenching its paws so hard they might bleed, before looking away.

She was even starting to mumble to herself as if it were a dream, or a nightmare. But she suddenly felt as if poisoned or deathly ill.

"But– if they were talking... Then all the scavengers we—O-Oh, no... Oh, no!"

The desperate need to find some excuse or alternative theory was strong, but it was impossible.

It suddenly made everything fit into place. Only now could she imagine from these new dragons’ perspective.

The sudden guilt was already crushing, but there was a bigger problem than that.

They'd come here representing the Mud Kingdom... Unofficially...

And if she thought about it from how they see it, then her and her troop just devoured a scavenger den– no, a village—..a city?! Then offered one of their citizens as a snack.

It was very obvious what any other tribe would do.

Sepia was completely powerless, but still desperately tried to cry out despite them not being able to understand, or maybe they wouldn't care.

"Wait! Please, we didn't know! Just punish us! Please!"

She cried hoping for some way to fix this before they went down in history as the MudWings that ruined the Mud Kingdom.

She thought it was best if her siblings didn't know any of this. They had to be awaiting a death sentence, and they could die without hating themselves at least.

Just then, something immense sent the door flying open into the wall.
A hulking dragon with stripes on his snout snarled and approached at a consistently terrifying pace, rambling incoherently in much louder versions of those scavenger noises.

Sepia didn't need a translator to understand what he was here for.

But all she could do was whimper and back up into the corner.

This wasn't a planned execution, this was much worse. She could already see what was about to happen by looking at his eyes, which were more accurate than any NightWing prophecy.

She resigned herself while watching him approach, only for the other two dragons to grab his sides and struggle to barely force him outside.

'Are they saving me?' Sepia had hoped they at least wanted her alive for some kind of trial or tradition.

But no, it turned out that the angry dragon was just so determined that he was about to step on the scavenger.

She felt that otherwise, they wouldn't have cared.

 

---

 

I had just finished explaining everything to the person that seemed to be Commander Ashwind's mother.
And now I finally had to ask it for myself.

"You're really his mother?"

"Yes." She answered, sniffling from the realization her husband was almost surely gone. "His parents were killed for witnessing a robbery. It wasn't even far outside their own home. So we had to take over."

"That sounds difficult." Gale remarks.

"It was. He was so small then, and they didn't even have the time to explain anything at all to him, so I think he was trying to eat me himself, just really bad at it." She chuckles, though I could tell there was emptiness inside.

I never expected Commander Ashwind to have such a soft spot that could detonate so fast.

But it was a universal law that everyone had one.

I held my bow tightly as I looked to our next destination, before silently uttering a warning to the unfamiliar lands beyond.

"And we're coming for yours next.”

Chapter 4: Crusade, Not Conquest

Summary:

It begins.

We were simply waiting for Commander Ashwind to return before we could finally leave our island for the first time.

Everyone else was complaining about what was taking so long, but I guess only we knew what he was going to do.

We volunteered for military duty, but an actual war was probably not what anyone was expecting.

There were so many dragons, equipped with armor and various dragon-sized weapons.

Even humans were preparing saddles on their backs.

"I don't like this! It's so tight and uncomfortable!" Gale whines and complains after fitting even the lightest armor on.

"You big baby, you can't even handle the leather armor?" I mock him for complaining about it.

"I'd rather nothing at all!"

"All I can tell you is to get over it."

The dragon we were all waiting for was finally here.

Though the emperor himself landed in front of the army with him.

Naturally, the emperor coming out to lead an army created a lot of murmuring.

Ashwind was looking away like he got punished for something.

Maybe he really did it...

"I know what you're all thinking, and I will not be taking command. I will be returning after reaching our border." Emperor Stormlight clarified the matter, before finally giving everyone the order to get moving.

"You better hold on tight if you don't want to fall off." Gale says and yoinks me behind his neck.

"I haven't fallen off before!" I snapped before he leans sharply to fling me back down.

"Now you have!" He beams as I hit the ground and got back up with a tingling sensation where I landed.

There was no time for fooling around anymore. Not even Gale was dumb enough to keep playing around in front of the emperor and a commander.

And as we flew for hours, some of the dragons were starting to look quite green.

I couldn't pinpoint exactly why until we proceeded a little farther, enough for a red dot to come into view on the ground below.

This was where Emperor Stormlight decided to hover and face the rest of the dragons, which were reacting to a terrible smell the humans were unaware of.

Gale was also trying to close his nostrils while complaining that it was a familiar smell.

"Dragons, and humans!" Stormlight roars to the shaken army staring down at the scene on the ground, "Dragons from a strange land have invaded our home, murdered our people, our families, and our friends!"

He gestures to the splotch of red adorning the ground and looks up with a fiery gaze, "Take a good look! This is what remains of Frontier Village! Can we allow this to happen again?!"
The ‘village’ was now nothing more than an endless ocean of blood and broken structures.

"No!" Everyone roars back.

Stormlight then looks back towards the target while finishing the speech.

"Don't think of this as a conquest, but a crusade! Our ancestors could only hide us away like little hatchlings afraid to fight, but things have changed! We are not invaders. We are liberators!"

Just a few words had such a profound effect.

The sorrowful and sick expressions were quickly converted into resolved anger, and Commander Ashwind swiftly continued our advance to convert this morale into momentum.

Emperor Stormlight stayed behind, likely that speech was the only reason he came along in the first place.

I suppose it would be difficult for dragons to handle a war after so much peace without the requisite level of fury and hatred.

I couldn't even think it was planted hatred. It was all true, and it was hardly exaggerated as I looked anywhere but the mutilated bodies and blood..

No matter how far I dug, I couldn't dredge up a single drop of pity or sympathy for them. Only monsters could do that without feeling anything.

It felt like we were flying for weeks, but it was probably just a day until we reached the beach of the new continent.

"We'll stop here and push forward on the ground." Commander Ashwind orders.

It was almost night, and the moons were already visible in the evening sky.

As we moved inland, the sandy beach gradually transitioned to a muddy swamp.

"It figures those monsters would live in filth like this." One of the dragons nearby remarks.

There was nothing stopping our advance.

The first dragon we encountered-- if they even deserved to be called a dragon– ran away as soon as they saw us coming.

That marked the end of our easy takeover.

A similarly sized army appeared in opposition soon afterward.

 

---

 

Queen Moorhen looked out from her palace across the expansive marshland that made up the Mud Kingdom

"I thought being dragged by the tail into the SandWing's war was bad enough, but then an entire island full of new dragons just had to appear out of nowhere. " She growled irritably.

"I know, however-" A sibling begins a sentence.

"But they could also be our ticket out of this war, if we could just form an alliance. Don't you think so, Mica?" Moorhen ponders. "Prepare a diplomatic party as quickly as possible."

"Actually, that's what I was here to talk about... They've already attacked us! There are at least over a hundred dragons." Mica responds, "It seems a sibling group has already visited the new island with that in mind, but I guess it didn't work out as they hoped."

"W-what did they do?!" Moorhen flares with her talons on her head, "Have General Slate hold them back for now. It's all we can do."

"What about Burn or the SkyWings?"

"They wouldn't get here in time and might not even care. We have to figure out how to resolve this ourselves."

 

---

 

Gale and I were near the front, by Commander Ashwind.

Given our roles, being so close to the front wasn't very comfortable.

He was in charge of leading the main force, but there were other command positions as well.

Such as Subcommander Eno, a human subcommander leading a group of dragons carrying gigantic dragon-sized bows.

Right now the MudWings were staring in shock or awe at us.

While all of our dragons had some sort of armor, and most had weapons, they did not.
Some of them are attending this battle with absolutely nothing.

Even their weapons only consisted of some spears. That was it.

"You're kidding me?! They come and murder so many of us, and then expect to fend us off with just this?" I fume at the scene.

Of course, our dragons mostly donned leather armor. Otherwise flying would be harder.
The more important or skilled had steel plating over their vital areas, which were fitted after arrival if it was too much to fly in.

Why wouldn't they make it an aerial battle? Well, that's because-

"Loose!" Subcommander Eno commands the group of bow-wielding dragons hovering in the air.

At once, they released a volley of arrows each longer than a human's body. Accuracy wasn't important, just that it was hard to completely dodge even in the air.

The MudWings were all clumped into groups, meaning that many of the arrows struck on target, and a few immediately fell.

Once the confusion wore off, that's when they finally charged.

My gifted kinetic vision allowed me to see everything clearly from our precarious positioning.

The swampy, mucky water was immediately stained a menacing red as both sides clashed.

Despite the MudWings seemingly naturally superior strength, our dragons were just too well equipped for it to be easy.

On one side of the battlefield a MudWing tried to lunge at a dragon, only for them to pull out a dagger the size of my arm and thrust it into their neck at an angle that would be impossible to achieve with claws.

On the other side, a MudWing trying the same thing spat out blood and flopped over as the dragon drew a crossbow.

When they could get into a close quarters fight, the instant they tried to bite at their neck for a quick victory, the dragon simply ducked and lined up a perfect shot for a human on their back.

Even when they could get a hit in with their claws, assuming the dragons weren't wearing steel, their claws would get caught on the leather long enough to be nailed with a devastating counter.

However, their fire breath was a surprise to most. They could create sustained streams of fire that spread out like the volcanoes described in old stories.

A couple poor dragons were caught off guard by the new kind of breath attack and collapsed from severe burns. The rest learned to dodge out of range.

"Don't falter! If they could use their fire without restrictions, they would already be doing so!" Ashwind shouts, removing most of the hesitation from the soldiers.

Not even aerial attacks work, as any that try to dive at dragons from above are easily hit by crossbows, or intercepted by other dragons. Those with riders have a small advantage, as arrows hitting a chasing dragon will strike with more force and more easily penetrate scales and bone.

Ashwind was a whirlwind of combat, even more so once the MudWings realized he was the commander.

All who tried to pin him with brute strength alone were almost casually tossed aside, often with their forelimbs dislocated with joint locks almost faster than even I could see.

Another that stabbed with a spear was deflected with the body of a crossbow, before choking on a bolt as a torrent of blood flowed onto the mud.

Finally, a slim MudWing rushes Ashwind with a spear as he stands over the corpses of the first two.

I can't just sit on Gale's back doing nothing.

I reached over my shoulder as the dragon momentarily paused and threw the spear.

The spear whooshed through the air at a frightening speed, but just as it was halfway–

Clang!

My arrow struck the side of the speartip, sending it off course and harmlessly hitting Ashwind with the shaft instead of the point.

The dragon, not even registering what just happened, continues trying to attack Ashwind's barely armored chest.

Ashwind effortlessly blocks the swipe with his steel greaves, and holds the dragon's neck as he melts a hole through it with a jet of pure red flames.

The dragon slumps over with a gaping hole in the center of its neck that could be seen through. It barely even bled, as it was completely cauterized.
Ashwind coughed and wheezed a little from using his fire in such a way, but regained composure in just seconds.

A couple of the other dragons from where it came screamed, but it was drowned out by the roaring of the battlefield.

Immediately after, a huge MudWing enters from the back and yells out something loud to the rest.

Then they all start retreating further into the swamp.

Everyone roars and moves to chase them with the momentum, but Ashwind extends his wings to stop the charge.

He was staring blankly at the dragons retreating into the denser swampland, seeming to mumble to himself.

"Hmm, if that was the enemy commander... Why retreat... Ah, a mistake ." He mumbles silently before getting louder, "Everyone stop here! We will wait for night and push forward slowly!"

The moment of relief as the danger passed was a phenomenal feeling.

I could tell because Gale was getting less serious now and shifting around.

"If you make me fall into that mess then I'll smash your tail with a hammer when I get the chance." I threaten.

"That doesn't sound very effective, but I don't want you to fall down either. I'd have to nuzzle a glob of mud." Gale snorts and pushes me with his nose.

Most of the other dragons were covered in mud and blood. Especially the dragons with the huge greatswords, as they could probably easily cut a dragon in half. It was hard to imagine any unarmed dragon able to so much as touch them.

But it restricted them to the ground if they wanted to use it effectively, and balancing on two legs so deftly wasn't easy for dragons. They couldn’t exactly chase any that ran away either, so they were mainly defensive.

Waiting for nightfall definitely sounded like the right idea. Who knows what kind of trap they were hoping we'd fall into.

Now I see why he muttered that it was a mistake.

We had but a few casualties, none of which were humans. And many of our dragons had a majority of black scales.

This was their only chance to stop us before night fell over them like a deadly blanket.

Some dragons were already turning back to the beach to wash all the mess off, though they will just get messy again.
Still, I like it better when I can see their beautiful patterns of black and white without the impurities of all this gunk.

Many of the humans were actually hesitating to kill, more than the dragons, but even that didn't last long when they realized these MudWings were not even considering them worth paying attention to during the battle.

"Split into groups and scout the surroundings! If you encounter humans, talk to them and convey our purpose here, even if you have to scare them first." Ashwind issues a general command, but doesn't specify how to do the grouping. "Except you two, both of you are staying close to me until needed."

What were we even needed for?

Chapter 5: Tactics and Resolve

Summary:

Tactical outmaneuvering and badassery

The MudWings were regrouping after their retreat, their spirits shattered and in its place brewed anxiety, panic, and some fear.

"I don't think they followed us... Right?" One of the soldiers that survived the front line whines.

"I hope not. They had such strange weapons. If I didn't hide in the back the whole time I don't think I could have got close to one." The dragon next to him reminisced.

A slimmer MudWing, almost a dragonet, joins in with a different view of the battle.

"You're all focused on the dragons, but did you see the scavengers? I saw some on their backs! I think one of them could even block spears being thrown!"

"They've even trained scavengers to fight?! We're doomed! How will we be able to see them in the dark? Do you think we can surrender-" Some of them chime in with the same idea.

Their commander overhears the mention of surrender and roars in front of them.

"All of you shut it! Stop moping around and think of other dragons for a change! Who do you think will fall under their mercy if you don't fight?!" He shouts and is met with silence. "I should rephrase. Did you feel a shred of mercy from them?!"

They start murmuring about the answer to the question, but eventually come up with a unanimous answer of "No!"

It wasn't hard to realize when they looked back and remembered just how little hesitation their opponents had.

But some of the smarter dragons were already starting to figure out their next problem that raw confidence can't make go away.

"But... How are we going to see them if it gets dark?"

General Slate was ready for that question.

"Yes. They stopped chasing because it will be night soon. But now we have time on our talons!" He announces confidently, as appearing unsure would harm morale further. "Even if they can see in the dark, this is our land! This is what we're going to do: ..."

"...Start digging!"

 

---

 

I was sitting on the beach with Gale and the other dragons as we were waiting.

The sandy beach was much more pleasant than that messy swamp.

Everyone was clearly trying to enjoy their time before we would soon have to go even deeper.

Some of them already found animals that weren't present on our home island.
And even some of them were complaining about it.

"I hate this place. It's too messy everywhere we go, and there's nothing to flavor this meat with."

It's not like this was a vacation, how can they expect seasonings here? I could only scoff and turn my attention to the dragon pestering me for attention.

A dragon that was a bit smaller than Gale was there trying to get me to respond as I ignored her thinking it was Gale being annoying again.

I couldn't even think of what to say besides "What?"

This dragon had a white streak of scales traveling over her eyes to the corner of her maw.

"Finally! I just want to be your friend!"

"Why so sudden and randomly..?"

"I want to know all the cool people when I get home. I saw how you shot that spear out of the air, so it was so easy to choose the right one!" She seems to be squealing at me like some kind of fan.

I could hear a faint huff as well as a grumble from the side.

"Lucky; already getting popular." Gale grunts.

He seemed to be much more serious than usual, which I just attributed to the situation we were in. But this dragon talking to me just seems like Gale if things were normal.

I can't be sure if she is also just an oaf like Gale, yet.

"Ah. I got scout duty... I have to go now." She complains, "My name is Flameshot, remember me! Especially if you do something awesome!"

Ugh , what does that dragon think? That I'll become some kind of war hero?

It was getting quite boring until the commander finally said something.

"We might have a couple hours left before dark, and I know everyone is probably tired from the flight and battle. So you should take this time to get a rest." He announces to the arranged dragons.

Many were immediately happy with that.

None of them really even seemed worried about sleeping in enemy territory. Of course some were going to stay awake, but the main reason is that they won so overwhelmingly they don't even consider being attacked as a problem.

Gale seemed to be one of those celebrating dragons.

I wasn't one to complain either, but I was more worried about what would happen in those couple hours.

We might have time to rest, but the enemy dragons will have time to fortify.

But I'm not the commander. It's not my place to worry about such things.

I wouldn't get any sleep if I kept worrying about it, and I would be wasting this time if I didn't.

Still, it can't be easy to sleep with the damn sun shooting rays at me.

"Hey, oversized blanket, do you mind turning the lights off over here?"

Gale half hisses indignantly, but complies like the pushover goober I expect. Maybe it's just for me, but that still makes him a pushover.

His wings do a perfect job of blocking all that light out.

"Maybe you'd stop being so bossy if I roll over and squish you~" He complains.

"I'm older than you anyway." I retort and start trying to play out a dream in my head hoping it'll drag me along quickly.

 

---

 

Flash was an important member of Safe Harbor's most successful merchant company.

It paid outrageously, mainly because not many are stupid enough to even think of travelling.

This time, instead of drinking to another success, he was left blankly sitting in the lobby with nothing but the looks of pity he was all too familiar with seeing directed at others.

It just made it agonizing for that look to be coming from his own group.

The cookie cutter words only made it even worse.

"Hey, sometimes things happen. But it could always be worse."

"This is already the worse outcome! We've done this so many times without issue; I got too confident and tried to cross that clearing too boldly. It's my fault!" He snapped.

Of course, from anyone else's perspective a single person being able to lure away an entire group of those flying monsters was an overwhelming win.

But he knew that timid mess wouldn't even think of doing that on purpose.

"I know you're not up to it, but we still have to make the next run. We already committed to a client." Snow mentioned.

"I'm still coming." Flash denied sitting this one out.

"Are you that desperate for the pay? We're using the same route, but you can't expect anything unrealistic like finding your sister or something. You should know better than anyone what happens to every idiot that holds on to that crazy hope for too long."

"Hope is the only thing that keeps them alive for that long. Now I realize it's not something you can understand until it's your turn." He reaffirms, "She was half of this operation. And still is."

"You should just cry like someone normal." Snow chides.

"If I cried that would just make it real. I'm not crying until I die, and I won't give those fucks the satisfaction of seeing me cry either."

 

---

 

I was jolted awake by a talon squishing me and thrashed for the giant idiot to cut it out.

The giant idiot was none other than Gale forcing me awake because it was finally night.

It was time to continue the fight.

I was still covered in sand, unable to forget the vivid nightmare that seemed to instill some form of doubt in myself.

Well, I expected this. They were still dragons, after all.

It's not like I expected to go into war without having nightmares of their fearful or pained expressions.

But they started this, what excuse could they possibly have?

It was better to just clear my mind. The sound of waves crashing on the shore was sufficient for that.

I was ready when Commander Ashwind finally led the formation forward at a slow pace—slower than I expected.

The air was cooling down without the heat from the sun, and because of all this moisture everything was already getting foggy on top of it being dark.

Nothing much happened other than bouncing up and down on Gale's back.

That changed completely when an entire dragon burst out from the mud and lunged at him, roaring an apparent war cry.

I reacted quickly and loosed an arrow straight at the dragon's skull.

From this distance and at full draw, there was no way for it to glance off. Instead, the arrow flew straight through with an audible crack !

The attacker fell dead, with the arrow plugging most of the blood from leaking out.

That wasn't the only one though, and it seems we were lucky this one didn't have a spear.

The other dragons with worse reaction times weren't so lucky. At worst, we've already lost a few more.

Another inconvenience is they seem to be paying more attention to the humans this time. Not that they were easy for them to get to, but they didn't easily fall for the same peekaboo trick.

For some reason this was all getting to my head more than usual.

There was just a shred of doubt why these dragons would dare to just come do such a thing if they didn't know how hard it would be to defend a counter attack. But at the same time it was unfathomable what excuse they could possibly have; they still did it.

Out of everyone, Ashwind got faced with the enemy's commander himself.

His opponent seemed just as big, if not bigger than he was. Add on the excessive bulk common to these dragons, and it really started turning into a scene that parted the action itself to make room.

Unlike the rest of the fighting, neither of them were mindlessly lunging forward with a spear or biting.

The MudWing commander seemed aware enough to avoid being caught after a reckless attack.

The first thing Ashwind tried was to end it in an instant with one of his two crossbows, but the MudWing managed to deflect that with his spear and managed to dash into range.

Ashwind threw the crossbow in his face as a distraction and barely sent the spear flying away into the muck.

It was truly dazzling, enough that you could say most of the conflict had paused around it.

Perhaps it was just a spectacle, or maybe it was because the outcome would decide the winner here.

They might not be used to facing dragons that fight patiently and with weapons like us, but that could still change given time to adapt.

The sounds of their roaring and growling were now the loudest, or maybe just the only sounds on the battlefield.

The MudWing decided to use his best advantage by trying to break through with fire breath, but Ashwind fanned his wing to blow back the stream of fire just long enough to dodge out of range.

They were both covered in small nicks and gashes from barely in-measure attacks. And...

Ah!

He shot his other crossbow through the flames and smoke, there's no way he can dodge that!

Yet somehow the crazy toughie manages to get out of that with just a flesh wound.

It's so insane it feels unreal.

However, not all of them were as captivated as I was.

I had to learn this the hard way when a different MudWing charged Gale again, only this time it was clearly aiming for me specifically.

I was naively surprised and was late in reaching for my quiver, and that might have been it if they didn't suddenly get clotheslined by a near dragon-sized sword.

The pristine silver blade was now a dripping, bloody mess, but such was the fate of any sword meant to be used.

"Uh... Thanks." I was shocked and could barely stutter it out when I finally processed what happened.

The dragon wielding the sword was entirely white with just a black underbelly, a terribly unlucky pattern to be born with for a dragon that uses a sword. Those white scales will and already have been stained with the darkest blood.

Whether that's a bad thing could depend on whether you're on the enemy's side or not, I suppose.

"No problem. I'm just happy everything I learned didn't go to waste!" He responds casually, paying no mind to his red tinted scales. "It's a shame none of them have or are any good with weapons though."

"...They have spears?" Gale glares doubtfully at the dragon after the admittedly absurd statement.

"What good are those things if my sword cuts through them like butter? They could have at least reinforced the shaft with metal." The swordsdragon scoffs while seeming to chuckle while thinking about it.

When we finally turned our attention back to the center of the action, it became obvious who was losing.

The MudWing commander was healing somehow. Who knows what kind of sorcery or magic he must be using, but it was happening.

Everyone seemed too immersed in it to actually help or notice.

"I think the commander is losing. Someone has to help." I vocalize, assuming the swordsdragon would easily be able to solve this.

"There are way too many dragons between us. I'll just get blocked if I try to get over there to intervene." He declines.

Now I had a decision to make. It was hard enough to tremble before it.

But when I was about to lose hope, I started to remember what got me here in the first place and how ingenuous I must have been to sign up as if it was never going to actually come to this.

I could even remember the sparse back yard where it started.

 

~~~

 

"Look, we got you a present! Don't you like it? It's a toy bow!"

I'd never seen a bow before in my life until my parents brought me one. It was just a weak version with softer blunted arrows, but I loved it so much that I didn't hesitate to cry when all the initial arrows degraded too much to be accurate, until I got more.

The first thing I ever shot at was just a makeshift target—a bag of sand tied to a tree.

I took a while aiming, before finally letting go as the arrow grazed the side of the bag and sent it spiraling in a circle.

But I'd still clicked my tongue in irritation because I missed where I was aiming.

"Wow~ Beginner's luck is incredible. What a sign! Do you want to be an archer when you grow up?" My father cheered and tried to solidify me into what they saw I was gifted at, but it was just what any parent would have said—until I tried again and hit the then-moving bag again.

That left both of them shocked. Then I knew what I wanted to be.

"I'm going to be the best." I declared monotonically.

After that, I had a more mischievous game idea when I looked over at the striped dragonet that was barely bigger than me at the time.

I tried to hit the dragonet with an arrow but missed.

Then I missed again and got caught.

"I win~" The dragonet exclaimed and squeezed me.

 

~~~

 

After a few moments of thought, I knew what I had to do.

– "I'm going to be the best"

I can't be the best without proving it.

"Then I'll just have to do something stupid." I utter and leap down with my longbow to the dragons’ surprise.

The mud squelches under my landing.

Only now does the true scale of the battlefield really hit.

Despite the spectacle, there were still a few dragons fighting.

Both sides were dangerous in this situation.

I have to get through.

So I just started running, only to bump into Subcommander Eno and his group of bow-wielding dragons which were idling at the back, useless in this closely packed battle.

"What are you—nevermind. I see. If you're going to do something that insane then swap bows with me." Eno paused me and forced his own bow in my hands.

I looked down at it and noticed it was much shorter and easier to move and run with, as well as curved on the ends.

"Will this-"

"Of course it's powerful enough. Hurry up and go be a fool before I change my mind."

I decided to take that literally and continued running.

Just getting there proved a challenge in its own right.

The MudWings no longer just ignored me and actually tried to swipe or bite at me.

I managed to dodge all of them but I couldn't stop moving or turn around to retaliate. They also couldn't lunge at me too far without ruining their fighting distance and being defeated in an instant.

Commander Ashwind was definitely feeling the accumulated damage. And the MudWing finally lunged completely, but breathed in as if ready to spew out a scolding flame.

He was basically close enough for Ashwind to grab and slit his throat, but instead turns and whips Ashwind with his tail.

It was muscular enough to send Ashwind flying away and stunned against a tree.

He was ready to close in to finish it, but I arrived just in time and loosed an arrow which was barely blocked by his wing, piercing straight through while being deflected off course.

He hissed in pain and looked between Ashwind and me trying to decide which is more important to focus on, and eventually chose me.

I could hear a few commotions from the dragons around us, and I could swear that I could make out the word for 'what' in the old language.

It was clear that their commander being challenged by a human was even more of a spectacle.

But for me, this was a new experience. And I'm not even thinking about being in a real war.

Just about how I could see myself regarded, in more clarity than from any of the rest.

This was the first time in my life I've ever been afraid of a dragon.

Things almost felt slower as I watched the dragon charge at me, likely expecting an easy win.

There was no angle to hit his eyes like this, and penetrating shots might not kill fast enough, especially with such a hulking build.

But I didn't come unprepared, I knew what to do.

Even though I was shaking, I waited.

Until the dragon was right over me, and I rolled under his belly and into his blind spot with three arrows held in one hand.

In just a few seconds or less, I cycled all three arrows at near full draw. Point blank.

One plunged deep into the base of his neck, the other two struck the amber underbelly.

The dragon roared in pain and I swiftly ran out from under him and barely dived away from a desperate tail swipe.

I had no time to dawdle around on the ground, so I quickly got up and we were turned to face each other again at the same time.

This time he was looking more sharply down at me, I had a clear shot at his eyes!

I might not have time to prepare consecutive shots, I have to hit on the first try.

All of the adrenaline must be kicking in at once, as it almost felt like time was slowed in this moment.
My legs wouldn't move, not this time. They were just too heavy despite being in perfect condition.

My focus tunneled so extremely that it seemed my arm and my target were the only animate things in the world.

Even the arrow seemed slower than a snail as it cut through the air and pierced the dragon's eye perfectly.

Eventually everything settled down, and it suddenly felt like a single second had turned into ten.

The only thing that mattered though, was that I did it.

But inside, I knew. I don't have time to freeze like that ever again.

The MudWings were devastated and almost in even more shock that they just watched a human defeat their commander.

It must have been impossible from their point of view, but it happened.

Ashwind was going to be fine as well, but given the circumstances, celebration was more important.

Gale managed to run over to partake. I had to tell him to stop because there was still something I almost forgot to do.

Commander Ashwind landed against a withering tree with a decent amount of relatively dry moss.

I approached, exploited the opportunity to pat his snout when he couldn’t do anything about it just for a laugh to take the panic away, then covered a handful of arrows with clumps of the moss secured by some plant fibers.

I was quite proud of myself for such a crafty idea as I held three in my right hand and the other three alongside the bow.

"Alright, Gale. Light these up." I requested.

Once they were lit by Gale's fire, I aimed upwards and shot all six into the sky simultaneously while screaming.

"We wonnnn!"

I couldn't be as motivating as a commander's words, but actions have always spoken louder than words.

As demonstrated by the MudWings whimpers and silence, and our dragons roaring victory cheers as the arrows shot into the sky as brief, but bright flashes of light.

Notes:

Being able to add notes to elaborate on fine details is a blessing.
One thing to note about Field at the end is that I tried to give a realistic portrayal of how adrenaline actually affects people. I'm sure many fics just go with time slowing down or something and that's it.
In reality that's all just a memory effect. If you haven't trained to do something, or trained too many different things, you won't be able to pull it off, or will experience action paralysis when reflexes can't decide on what to commit to. So there's no reason to agonize over what you could have done in such extreme moments.

As for the tactical explanation.
For the MudWings retreating was the only good move I can come up with, they really had no chance of winning as it was. So retreating would allow regrouping and luring them deeper into home advantage, or buy time.
And the IllusionWings were going to gain a camouflage advantage by waiting, so they had little reason not to. So it was mainly just stalling.

Chapter 6: Dual Encounter

Summary:

More friends yay

It was over, we had won crushingly.

The only thing left was to clean up.

Immediately after my declaration of victory, it was quite obvious what the next course of action should be. And this was probably what we were needed for in the first place.

Gale knew it too, so he got in the very front and flared his wings at the frozen MudWings.

"Surrender!" He demands with a happy-angry voice. Clearly he was excited for this part.

What choice do they even have at this point? The answer came quickly judging from how they all drooped.

He even continued on to command them take us to their leader.

Well, it was understandable they don't even know if they should. But we're going to find them eventually anyway.

And it didn't take long at all for them to put their circumstances together and comply.

Commander Ashwind still led us forward, even with all those cuts and bruised scales.

I was getting some scary glances too, probably because I patted his snout. I don't recall needing permission to do so.

Strangely, the MudWings were still only being attentive to the other dragons and not any of the humans.

Everyone already considered them with disdain, and it didn't help for them to so obviously continue their blatant disregard for the humans. Of course, our dragons were more irritated by it than the humans, so it was almost like the MudWings were just asking to die by keeping that up.

But regardless, it didn't take long to be greeted by a palace built as if floating over a lake.

The dirt-colored dragons scrambled away as soon as they were allowed to.

Getting in was not a problem, practically the entire ceiling was just open and exposed to the sun.

We flew right in.

Of course, now we had to stumble around until we found the right room.

We seemed to have landed in some kind of hatchery with eggs strewn about.

It was crazy they didn't even put glass over the hole in the wall. Anyone could just come in and out.

We could have just shattered every egg in sight and kept moving.

But there was still some hope that maybe they simply had a horrible leader, and maybe they weren't just worthless people-eating monsters.

We filed through the mud-lined corridors, occasionally encountering a dragon which needed to be restrained.

Nothing could so much as delay us before we arrived at what was a definite throne room.

It was clear who was in charge: The huge dragon with gemstones encrusted onto their head and ankles.
I was usually pretty good with recognizing gender at a glance, but this one was just so big I could barely conclude them as a she.

Sure it was harder to recognize features on dragons, but it's their fault for being brutes...

Commander Ashwind might have had a problem with just her, let alone the others on the sides.

But we had plenty of dragons with crossbows ready. Those bolts were terrifyingly large, and they would probably easily take down the smaller dragons in one shot.

The presumed queen, however, would probably take a few shots if they weren't perfect.

Ashwind was still just a bit smaller, but he visibly hated them even more than anyone else.

I gestured Gale and he put me up on Ashwind's back.

From here I actually had an angle on the dragon's eyes.

I nocked a precautionary arrow on the left side of my bow and aimed carefully in case I had to use it, visualizing the perfect shot as if it had already happened.

I was always a bit more accurate with the left side.

"What are your demands?" The dragon seems calm, but it's hard to hide minute details such as an anxiously flicking tail.

She understands quite quickly. That was good.

Gale was the only one here that could really respond. Well, I could respond, but I haven't practiced trying to make those sounds much, and it's not the most pleasant for a human's throat.

"I'm not in charge of deciding what our demands will be." Gale answers. "I'm just here to translate your agreement to surrender."

"But why? Why are you doing this?!" The dragon blurts out before even giving her name.

Gale was completely serious, and growled before responding with the opposite of an answer.

"Why?! How are you asking why, after murdering so many scavengers?!"

Ah, he used what must be their word for humans. Well, we thought it meant the scavenging kind of scavenger before those first dragons used it to refer to humans.

"What? If this was about resources, we can pay reparations..."

"REPARATIONS?! HOW DARE-" Gale snarls at the suggestion that ‘reparations’ would be enough and has to be physically held back.

Though I had a suspicion they wouldn't have held him back if they could understand.

The queen slinks back slightly while trying to continue.

"Why are you attacking us over animals?"

What?

"W-Who are you calling an ANIMAL , you beast!" I scream and rasp my entire throat out just to pronounce it as loud as possible.

Seeing that stupified expression makes me even more fucking pissed off. On all of them!

"You... talk?!"

 

---

 

Flash was once again leading his friends through a rainforest hell. Though it didn't feel like he had any right to make decisions.

The rainforest itself was way safer than this thin border where it turned into a swamp, for some reason. But they were also paid for speed, not just their consistently safe arrival.

It was pitch black. The conditions were in their favor this time. At least, they should be.

The sound the cart made was a problem, but aside from that it would be easy to scatter and retreat. They wouldn't even lose progress. They always used hand-pulled carts for maximum stealth.

The group could probably fit more than what they could safely get on a boat, as well.

Those damned sea dragons were much more consistent at being obstacles.

The frames were light, the wheels were padded as well as they could be, but it wasn't like they could completely eliminate the noise.

But, with this land route, they could just hunt on the way instead of needing to preserve and waste space on food. Though fire was also still a risk.

Now that he thought about it, how did those stupid lizards supposedly build grand palaces but not recognize them as equals when they could create fire and cook things? He guessed people that called them simple flying sharks couldn't be far off.

Flash was getting distracted, but the familiar surroundings around him jolted him back to reality.

This was where it happened. He could tell the others knew that too.

They were quite optimistic with how easy it should be to make it across the clearing this time, since it wasn't even that big.

He checked every little nook before even considering going through this time, until he was looking in the same places over and over.

"Calm yourself, Flash. You know the last time was a coincidence, it's not worth it to waste our time going around..." Snow interrupted, and somehow convinced him to move forward.

That's exactly what they did, but Flash wasn't feeling it.

He was just filled with a constant unease. He begged whatever higher power to give them just this. But whatever higher power was cruel enough to force them into this existence seemed not to care.

They weren't even halfway across before they were blocked by the towering shadows of two enormous dragons.

It was completely dark, yet just with the weak moonlight they created an endless void of shadow around them.

Contrary to everyone else's reactions, he couldn't even feel the panic or fear.

"No. Not again!" He managed to mumble, seemingly defeated.

Snow and Wart both immediately drew and released their bows with an impressive speed.

Flash didn't care; they would be useless anyway. There was no way those hunting bows would do anything.

He didn't even know why he wasn't running, or why he was bothering to look at his doom.

Did it matter what color they were? Perhaps Wingwatchers would be interested in a night dragon with white patterns, but he couldn't care less. He would come off as crazy if he tried to explain the strange look in their eyes, though.

Flash could only despair in place, as the pair of dragons seemingly flinched as the arrows hit them and simply bounced off.

He couldn't even imagine why they would even react. Surely they knew it wouldn't do anything. If they could know anything at all.

Snow stayed for some reason, but Wart got himself together and started running as soon as the feeble desperado failed.

One of the dragons quickly darted after him, and Flash figured it would make it easier to accept this.

Instead of a violently quick end, this situation only served to confuse him further.

It was like a frighteningly deep voice was coming from out of nowhere.

"Please be calm. I'm not trying to hurt you."

Flash even looked around for someone else, despite the implication being clear who—or what it had to be.

But he really didn't want to believe it. Not that.

Who would want to believe those things are perfectly capable of higher-order thought, yet still eat people alive? That's worse than the flying shark theory no matter how much evidence there was against it.

"Hello?"

But this dragon only got more insistent and closer to their frozen bodies.

"We are different from those monsters you hide from. Very different."

Flash didn't really have a choice but to hope he wasn't having some dying dream or nightmare. Somehow he managed to ask something stupid. Asking a dragon of all things a question sounded like something stupid in its own right, but...

"What about my sister?" He just blurted out without context or thought.

Even if he assumed they were really talking right now, they looked nothing like the ones that took her anyway so it'd be a stretch to even think they would know anything from just that.

"Oh! I think maybe she might be the one that got saved yesterday." The dragon trails off, almost to itself.

Flash was shocked that it even knew when it happened, maybe he really could be the luckiest person in the world.

The other dragon came back with Wart struggling and crying in its talon. Maybe he would have just been crushed if he annoyed a 'normal' dragon with all that thrashing.

"This little guy doesn't want to listen to me at all. He just keeps running away when I let him down." It complained.

"Maybe he can tell you're the dumb one by the way you breathe down his neck like that." The first one bickered back at it. "Maybe you'd do better if you didn't call him like some kind of pet."

Flash and Snow were both lost, but when the first dragon brushed its wing against them to apparently demonstrate that touching was okay, the physical sensation made it clear this was real.

Flash had no idea what to expect, but given how ready he was to accept a horrible death, this wasn't that bad at all.

Though he wasn't sure whether to call Wart normal or below average, as he was still pushing against a cage of wings while trying to escape.

Chapter 7: Difficult Diplomacy

Summary:

Could be worse.

“You… talk?” Queen Moorhen gasps along with her siblings and other dragons present.

 

There was a scavenger on this dragon’s back! And it just used words!

This wasn’t even as if they trained it how to repeat. It clearly responded in context!

 

“Of course I talk! Why wouldn’t I?!” It shrieks even louder, pointing its tiny stick and string at her.

 

Moorhen reeled, not necessarily because of what that meant on a larger scale, but because of how much more likely it was that her kingdom was doomed.

She had a pretty good idea of how that MudWing group managed to instigate this now.

 

Depending on what she did now, all of Pyrrhia might be thrown into an even worse war.

“We had no idea you were all intelligent.”

 

She wanted to add that they shouldn’t be throwing all MudWings in with them, but she couldn’t find a way to say it without antagonizing them.

It also felt wrong to say it when she too might have done something regrettable if she’d seen one before now.

 

Moorhen could somewhat deduce that the scavenger itself must be able to do some kind of damage, but she really didn’t want the dragon it was on top of to get angrier.

She wasn’t sure if any dragon could look at another with as much hate as that. And the wounds on his body that barely started healing didn’t make it look any better.

 

It was the dragon beside that one that actually did the talking—other than the scavenger…

 

“How can you not know?! What about their art? Or their cities? Making tools should be enough!” The neck-striped dragon pushed with a clear agitation.

 

“I-I don’t know what to say. That’s just how we’ve lived; that’s how every dragon lives.” Moorhen panicked for something to say.

It was immensely embarrassing trying to make an excuse for the entire continent on the spot.

There was nothing that would work as an excuse when everything made so much more sense just by changing a single aspect of their worldview.

 

These dragons seemed to know nothing at all, and she could just assume the noises the rest of them were making had to be some kind of scavenger language. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if the scorching somehow came up right now.

She was definitely faster on the uptake than her siblings, but there was no time to let them catch up.

 

“We will surrender. But only on one condition.” She bluffed pathetically.

There was nothing they could do but make their takeover troublesome, and the snorting huff from the neck-striped dragon showed it.

 

“And what do you think you have any right to demand of us?” The dragon grumbled.

 

“Spare the dragons that caused this. They didn’t know what they did.” Moorhen could at least say she tried to save them.

They could already be long dead and it wouldn’t be surprising.

 

“They murdered hundreds! Why would we let them off-” The dragon hissed sharply, before being forced to stop by the other.

 

“I’m not supposed to make such a decision on my own.” He growled in a chastised tone, “You’ll have to wait to receive the obvious answer.”

---

 

Lightweaver stared at the royal palace in front of him.

This was it. The greatest heist.

And he was going to do it far before his wretched brother could.

He wasn’t taking it back to the Shadowclaws, either. This would be his accomplishment, and only his.

 

The guards at the entrance weren’t lazy, and he was going to just walk right through the front door.

He took cover behind a wall and focused until his appearance changed completely.

 

By the time he reached the guards, he was simply let in with a greeting.

Neither noticed the shimmering blur around the dragon they just let in.

 

Lightweaver chuckled to himself and inwardly mocked all the dragons out there that didn’t even realize they had powers like this.

Everything was planned, he just needed to get to the treasury and clean it out!

 

No one so much as questioned him on the way, leading to his exhilarating view of arranged treasure.

He wasted no time in filling as many bags as possible before strolling out.

On the way back to the entrance, he even passed the emperor himself!

But the bags were perfectly invisible, and his disguise was crystal clear.

Lightweaver could even go as far as to say this was his record for disguising himself without artifacts.

 

“Who are you?!” The emperor questions.

 

‘What? How does he know?!’ Lightweaver thinks in a panic and tries to introduce himself as the identity he assumed.

 

“Don’t bother pretending. I have all the servants in this palace memorized, and I just passed the dragon you’re pretending to be.” He insists. “I don’t know how you’re doing it, but I know you’re a fake.”

Lightweaver knew the trick was over. He tried to think of anything but nothing good was coming to mind.

 

The emperor was quite small. Small enough that he would probably need both arms to carry a human.

It shouldn’t be hard to force his way out, but there would definitely be guards and others waiting to stop him.

 

“You know the punishment for this. But I’ll give you a chance.” Emperor Stormlight said.

 

Lightweaver was surprised and worried what this ‘chance’ could entail.

“What does that mean?”

 

“You will use this magic of yours to aid our war, and I won’t send you to a dungeon.” He added coercively. “You’ll make more by enlisting than being a lowly thief with that power.”

 

Lightweaver could easily evade searches with his ability, but sooner or later he would eventually get tired and slip.

He had to grit his fangs and agree to it. This could even be a way out of the Shadowclaws, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted out.

---

Misty had no idea what to do.

She had all day to wonder if she should have insisted on going home regardless of the dangers.

 

This island was just crazy.

There was a dragon in every direction that could take her head off.

 

Not even the human children showed any sympathy at all, they just kept laughing at her for being scared of their teacher.

Being laughed at by children was enough to hold it in. Misty couldn’t throw that much dignity away.

 

‘How could they not be crazy to sit in front of this giant all day without imagining getting flattened?’ Misty pondered, not even willing to touch how readily they annoy the smaller dragons.

 

That every dragon here actually talked made it feel stupid to tremble or wince.

But she knew how stupid it would be to actually answer any of their questions.

 

She wasn’t dumb enough not to realize the stories of her nightmarish world needed to stay out of this paradise.

It was something she never thought she would be thinking, but the small dragons here were growing up to be good dragons. Something no one outside of this island thinks existed.

 

She stayed put in the corner all day until the students started leaving.

Then she was left all alone with this giant teacher.

 

“Come with me. I’m responsible for you, so I can’t just leave you here alone.” She ushered and held out a talon towards her.

 

Misty tried to go around to climb on the dragon’s back herself and still had to be caught and lifted up after falling down.

This was different from riding the smaller dragon that had stripes on the sides of its neck. This one was so much bigger and made the world feel unstable.

 

She tried to avoid the crushing gazes of the other dragons passing by, but still wanted to see the huge structures.

Misty wasn’t sure what sound to make when she finally got to see inside one of them.

 

It was like a house for a giant—because it was for a giant.

She immediately wanted to slide down and explore everything now that there was only one dragon to tower over her.

 

And she tried, but she just got caught again.

“You act like one of those reckless little kids that want to run around and get stepped on. Just like another one I know.”

 

Misty attempted sliding out, but even a gentle pressure was inescapable.

“I want to see what a dragon’s house is like!”

 

“Maybe after I feed you.”

 

Misty wasn’t even thinking about how much danger she could be in anymore.

She was starting to feel a dash of irritation.

‘Why am I still being carried around and talked to like a baby?!’

 

She was going to actually work up the courage to complain about it as she was lightly placed on a giant countertop, but something smelling really good shut it down.

The dragon was sizzling a chunk of meat bigger than her body over a metal pan and a controlled fire of some sort.

 

“Do you have a name too?”

Misty tried to ask because it was going to be awkward to remember her as just ‘big somewhat scary teacher dragon’.

 

She didn’t get any response over the loud sizzling and didn’t feel like asking it over and over.

 

When the meat finally hushed, Misty saw the frightening snout tilt over at her instead.

“Of course, you can call me Libereste if you want.” Libereste answered and cut off a tiny piece of well-done meat with a comically large knife.

Misty thought it was funny to see dragons using tools. She didn’t even notice until this moment that Libereste had completely blunt claws.

 

She focused on enjoying what she got to hopefully not have to see the terrifying sight of the dragon devouring the rest.

It worked, thankfully.

 

All Misty could do was look at the dragon for a way down.

When she got snatched up again that’s what she thought was happening.

But instead she got dropped on something soft and immediately recognizable.

 

“What? I’m not tired! Aren’t you going to give me a tour or something?!” She protested as if she wasn’t talking back to a giant dragon.

 

“I am tired. Just get down and run around until you are too.” Libereste snorts, “There’s nothing for you to find in here.”

 

Misty looked down to see that it indeed wasn’t too high for her to get down and back up again.

But she didn’t think there wouldn’t be anything worth seeing in a house this big. Just the novelty of everything being huge was brand new.

 

…

 

The dragon was right. There was absolutely nothing worth exploring once the novelty of looking at giant furnishings wore off.

She acted like a child exploring everything for the first time only to find nothing. It was no wonder she was being treated like some baby.

She was even more clueless here than the actual children.

 

When she finally navigated her way back she was happy the dragon was too busy snoring to brag about it.

Then she wondered how she would get any sleep.

 

‘I’ll figure it out. Somehow.’

Notes:

Might sound a little OP to give the IllusionWings such an ability, but remember that their fire breath isn't great.
I really pumped it full of limitations as well. Not only do they have to be born with a high enough talent (which isn't too uncommon) but they need the mental acuity to handle it.
It's to the point that despite many of them having the power, most don't even know magic exists.

There's also that an IllusionWing can never be an Animus, or at the very least they'd need not only to have the Animus gene but completely lack any natural capability at the same time.

Chapter 8: An Ultimatum of Existence

Summary:

Sometimes you have to make compromises to exist.

I was feeling quite angered at their claims of ignorance, though I could tell my dragon friends were more infuriated.
Even Gale was way more serious than I’ve ever seen him normally be.

Holding my bowstring so long was starting to make my muscles numb, so I relaxed and let the arrow rest idly on the center of the bow.
If they weren’t smart enough to recognize intelligence when they see it, how could we expect them to be smart enough to uphold their surrender?

“What should we call your kind..?” The queen asked and I suddenly realized we don’t even have a good answer.
Well, we never thought there would be a need to have any distinction other than dragon and human.

After translating and then having everyone trying to come up with something, no one had anything that sounded great.

“If you don’t have anything to call yourselves, then might we call you IllusionWings?” The queen adds, talking about how our island was basically just one big illusion.

As much as I hate to admit it, it’s a much better name than any of us have come up with.
Maybe it would be best if we didn't try to name ourselves anyway.

I consider making a fuss over calling us ‘scavengers’, but it would just be a pain right now.
It’s becoming more and more clear that ‘scavenger’ in this language wasn’t just a word for a human. Which simply meant it was an irritating name—as if the humans they see can do nothing but scavenge to survive.

Snapping back to attention, I start trying to slide myself down Ashwind’s leg.
I’m almost halfway down before he shakes me and makes me fall the rest of the way, landing on my back.
“Ow! What was that for?!”

“Did you think I forgot you petting me when I couldn’t move?” He snickers.

Damn, what a spiteful dragon.

Now that I had more room to move around, I urged Gale to spend less energy being mad at the MudWings.
It was enraging to hear such an awful excuse, but I don’t want Gale to change because of these MudWings and their lies, or at best chronic ignorance.

I like to think it’s just ignorance. They seem to have at least some kind of emotion.
Ignorance can be fixed. But anything else might not be resolved so cleanly.
It’s strange most of the IllusionWings aren’t even considering a clean solution. They seem more angry than the humans that were disregarded.

Not that I can’t understand it. The IllusionWings probably didn’t like considering the dragons here as equals, on account of how they treat humans. The humans had more hesitation for killing things that looked similar to friends—alright, vaguely similar.

After Gale translated to them that they’d get their answer by someone more qualified soon, I pestered him to hurry up and take us back to the camp.
As I strolled over to Gale, I even laughed at the MudWings that looked away and stumbled back. Clearly they understood it was what they considered ‘insignificant’ that now held weights over their head.

His neck is easy to climb onto, and I can easily use this position to stroke his scales.
I begrudgingly wait until we get out of the palace before trying. He was useless at trying to hide reactions to it like others do.
Something about how only hatchlings were supposed to like it.

“Stop that!” He hisses and tries to toss me further back.

“Fine, you big hatchling.” I relent poutfully.

It was silent for a few minutes before Gale spoke up with a different topic.
“Why did you stop me? Who cares if they are really just stupid or not? They still did something that no one is going to forget about.”

“Since when could any sin be forgotten? A sin is just a hard lesson that lasts forever. It was easy to get angry and take action without considering anything like intent, but trying to blindly punish all of them is a sin in itself.” I responded uncomfortably.

I was still angry myself—enough to make defending them in any way feel criminal.
But I can see the similarities between the different dragons, even if most of the IllusionWings want to rashly distance themselves to avoid comparison.

So I point as a few MudWings wisely tried to hide as we passed by, though they suck at it compared to the earlier ambush.
“We can just reeducate them, and make sure they never forget it.”
I can’t be sure if other humans think the same.

Gale didn’t seem to be able to think of a good response to it, so I must have really hit the target with that one. We arrived before he could come up with anything.
The beach camp was as close to a home atmosphere as this place could get.

“I can’t believe they’re already cooking so much.” Gale exclaims with a clear desire to have some of it.

I don’t even recognize some of the animals they found. There was definitely more variety outside our island.
But they tasted great. And an hour to forget about the frustration of ‘diplomacy’ was exactly what I needed.
Some of the dragons that saw what I did during the battle were even coming over to ask questions.

Many of them were tasked with scouting, and weren’t present.
“Is there anything interesting around here other than a swamp?” I ask.

“You call a swamp interesting?” A shorter dragon with large wings questions.

“Okay, bad choice of words.”

“There’s a rainforest to the south, and then there’s a city east of that.” The dragon answers eagerly.

“A city?” I wonder out loud, pondering what it might be like.

“Yeah, it’s a human city!” The dragon continues into a sadder tone, “But a few of the dragons scouting the rainforest have gone missing, and the human city probably doesn’t like dragons, so we avoid both.”

“I would assume so, considering those damn MudWings think they’re edible.” I sigh.

After almost another hour, a pair of dragons return from the south with three humans shuddering along.
They had clothes dyed in shades of green, and one was trudging slowly behind the others.

I took a look around and noticed I was the only other human currently present.
Their expressions made it obvious I should go help.

I would pay to be able to replay the shock they displayed when they saw me coming from the gathering of dragons.
Jeez, it’s going to be so much fun seeing every human on this continent reacting to their soon-to-be saviors.

“You can relax. I’m sure you’ve already been told they don’t eat people.” I assured them of what they should already know by now.

The more confident one steps forward.
“I’m Flash, this is Snow, and Wart.” He points out all three of their names, “Did they bring you here too?”

That was funny enough to make me chuckle.
“No. Well—yes. But we’re from that island over there.” I point over the shore.

“We?”

“Obviously that includes the dragons.” I answer before abruptly pausing and turning to the two that brought them here.
“Did either of you even explain anything?”

They shuffle and turn their heads away, so clearly not.

Gale suddenly catches up and chimes in to do it for them.
“Soon enough you won’t have a thing to worry about!”

“It is strange to see so many dragons talking like this… But the swamp dragons-” The slim woman, Snow, adds before Gale interrupts.

“They aren’t going to do anything to you anymore. It’s not going to be pleasant for them if they do.” Gale beams and tries to goad them into touching him.

The person in the back is much more reserved and doesn’t get too close or say a word. I don’t get good vibes from that guy.
I wonder why he even came along without just insisting on leaving.

“What I really-” Flash starts, being suspended by his throat tightening, “What I really want to ask is: Do you know a girl by the name of Misty?”

“Don’t worry, Misty is safe on the island.” I answer quickly.

He looks relieved and even cries and punches the air in celebration, so she must be someone important.
Then he turns to Snow, “Scorch you! It was far more than crazy hope!”

“You also said you weren’t crying until you died.” She retorts.

“It’s okay to cry now! This is something I want to be real.” He states with confidence.

Wait. ‘Scorch’?
“What does-” I wanted to ask why such a word would be used like that, but I was interrupted by the arrival of Emperor Stormlight and another dragon.
The other dragon was mostly black, with a single stripe of white cutting him straight in half.

The group of humans flinch and crouch for a moment.
Most likely some kind of reflex. A dragon landing nearby is probably never a good thing to them.

I wasn’t expecting him to come himself.
Especially not with the danger… Actually, what danger? With how easily we won it didn’t even seem very dangerous here.

***

Queen Moorhen was trapped in a storm of brooding.
Her siblings, who were also kept in place, were chattering about ways to escape as they got bored and anxious.

She couldn’t help but consider her own siblings fools.
To be chatting about such a thing right in front of them is foolish enough, but they didn’t even consider they already got through an entire army in less than half a night.

The only way out of this for them was to appease these dragons, and by extension, scavengers. If they didn’t already have overwhelming control over them, she would have thought they were pulling some kind of Animus trick!
She would have to punish her subjects doing anything that would draw their ire, but what about other tribes?
‘How in the moons am I supposed to keep other tribes from touching the scavengers?’

Just as she was finally curbing the fit of overthinking, two more new dragons entered.
One had a single long stripe from head to tail, while the other was just straight up tiny.

“Greetings, MudWing queen. Do not think.. have gotten your name yet.” A horrifically pronounced and grammatically broken voice sounds from the smaller dragon. Even the scavenger did better!

Suddenly she remembers that she never even introduced herself by name, because none of the others bothered to ask and she had so much more to worry about than etiquette.
But before she can even answer, they’re looking away again and bickering.

“You say wrong, is like this: …” The IllusionWing beside the smaller dragon begins in a similarly basic structure before giving an almost perfect example.

“So it should be like this,” The small dragon utters in a better, realized tone, “Wait. Why you know old language?”

“Long story.”

Queen Moorhen was getting tired of being ignored here, and might have dared to draw their attention back just to get it over with if it lasted any longer.

“I am King Stormlight.” Said the small dragon.

“You do not have the word for his actual title. But referring to him as a King is good enough.” The side dragon clarified.

These wacky dragons only got more and more strange!
A tribe ruled by a king? Not even a king!
‘What kind of position could it be if we don’t even have a word for it?!’

And he was barely bigger than the scavenger!

She tried to keep her thoughts in line and respond before she lost the chance.
“I am Queen Moorhen of the MudWings.”

They chitter to each other in their own language before the striped dragon speaks up again.

“King Stormlight has asked me to more clearly translate his answer regarding your fate and your request.” He continued as she tensed for an unfavorable answer, “We will leave the MudWings unharmed as long as they don’t attack any more scavengers. But you will also be obligated to assist in our goals on this continent. As for the prisoners, what happens to them isn’t up to you.”

Queen Moorhen was twitching irritably at the inevitable idea of becoming a puppet kingdom twice over.
As cold as it was, she did what she could for those MudWings that started this disaster, but she had to let them go for the good of everyone else.

He keeps going with an even more grating tone.
“He also wants to make sure it’s clear that your continued existence and comfort is directly related to how the scavengers of this continent consider you in the future.”

“U-Understood.” Moorhen whimpers in a crushingly defeated tone.
Her siblings were also shrunk closer to the ground much earlier than she had. The menacing aura of disdain emanating from the IllusionWings has not once wavered.

“I think that’s everything you need to know.” The dragon finishes, sparking a hint of relief for the MudWings that just wanted a dash of peace and relaxation back.

“But he added one more thing to remember.” He grins almost maliciously and fans his wing over to the wound-ridden dragon that’s been glaring hard the entire time, “If we ever catch so much as a scent of scavenger blood from any of you, then you will spend what feels like an eternity wishing you were dead.”

Chapter 9: Supplantation of a Snake

Summary:

Of course the rainwings get conquered by a single spy.

As Emperor Stormlight and the other dragon left to seal the ‘negotiations’, I really wanted to finish asking my question before it got away from me.

 

Wart was still glaring hesitantly, and Snow was trying to sketch Gale as he eagerly posed to be drawn.

So I asked Flash directly.

 

“Why did you use ‘scorch’ as profanity?” I ask.

 

The question seemed to fully confound him.

“You really don’t know what the Scorching is?”

 

“No. I don’t think so.”

 

Flash sighs and gives a brief summary. From how there used to be enormous human kingdoms to being decimated by dragons.

It sounded an awful lot like our founding tale minus a happy ending.

 

It sounds bad enough as it is, I so don’t want to even think about how aggravatingly ignorant or casual the dragon side of this story might be.

 

“Changing topic then. Do you want to visit Misty? It’s not that long of a flight if you do.”

 

“We still have to deliver our goods. Unfortunately I have to wait for that.” Flash answers.

 

“I can see it on your face that you don’t want to wait. We can probably get you there in just a few hours or less if you let some dragons carry it.” I state.

Practically any of them would jump at the chance to do it.

 

They seem to like the idea of that a lot.

Maybe we can get filled in on what we have waiting for us on this continent.

 

After the woman is done with her quick drawing, it’s up to them to pick who they want to be riding with.

It’s not as much fun to share a dragon when there are plenty available. And what do you know? We have just enough right here!

 

The goods they were talking about all fit in a single hand-pulled cart.

It was left right where it was—a small clearing right near the edge of the rainforest ahead. It took a speedy flight to get here quickly, and it was still a couple hours travel at our speed.

 

Flash digs through the contents and pulls out a weathered piece of paper from within.

“A map.” He points, “This is Pyrrhia.”

 

He hands me a map of the continent, which is called Pyrrhia, at least to the humans here.

As expected, a lot of it is marked with the areas they consider dangerous, and some places are left uncharted. But there are also some interesting markers such as dragon palaces, so there must be other dragons out there, at least.

 

“I got this.” Gale puffs up and reaches around the entire cart ready to lift it up. “Look how strong I am!”

 

“You’re a dragon, you oaf. That’s not impressive for you...” I facepalm. Even the other humans were managing to laugh at him.

 

Flash points us in a direction as he explains the rest of their common knowledge.

It was mostly a depressing history lesson.

 

---

 

Lightweaver felt like it would never end.

He could tell Commander Ashwind and the other dragons were tired of looking at the MudWings.

But they couldn’t leave while Emperor Stormlight kept desiring more and more information.

 

It was getting kind of annoying, and most of it was just immediately translated to Ashwind since he would be the only one making use of it.

The surroundings, other kinds of dragons, things like that.

 

Ashwind was mostly cold and unreactive until they described NightWings’ appearance.

Out of everything, that felt like the craziest thing to let out a grumble at.

 

Lightweaver was dying to know how hearing that a bunch of dragons with black scales exist could be such a problem, so he just decided to ask.

 

“It was a dragon with completely black scales that murdered my original parents.” He huffed without a care. “I made sure I would never forget that. This continent is showing no lack of dragons that I can’t stand to look at!”

 

“You already can’t stand looking at the MudWings, don’t just extend that to dragons you haven’t even seen yet!” Lightweaver blurted out in disbelief. He quickly realized he’s really questioning things too much. Why should he care when he was just here for rewards?

 

Ashwind didn’t respond and he figured that was for the best, since he should be happy if this topic disappears. He also made a mental note not to bring up his past around him.

 

Instead he turned his curiosity to a different source as they made the trip back to the beach.

“You asked me how I knew the old language, but how come you know it?” He questioned Emperor Stormlight.

 

It should have taken some time to learn enough to even do as much as he did.

 

“I just memorized the lessons, it wasn’t that hard. Don’t you think your excuse of a ‘long story’ is more interesting?” Emperor Stormlight answered in a casual enough tone, as if that was something anyone could just do in a few hours.

Though perhaps he had access to the best learning materials from his ruling position.

At least now Lightweaver knew how such a young dragon managed to become Emperor.

 

Commander Ashwind looked angry and annoyed that there wasn’t going to be any more fighting.

 

“All I heard was that none of the dragons on this forsaken continent deserve any respect,” He growled continuously, “And that they’re so technologically inept they cling to nonsense such as ‘magic’.”

 

Lightweaver snorted at the sentence.

“Magic exists. Otherwise, what would you call this?” He said, appearing behind him.

 

“What the hell is that?!” Ashwind jumped after seeing him appear behind while he’d clearly been watching him in front the entire time.

 

“Magic! Probably.” Lightweaver laughed like he always did when he got to reveal his power. Though calling it ‘his’ wasn’t entirely accurate.

By all accounts, he should have tried to hide it if he ever wanted to have a chance at being a thief again. But since Stormlight found out about it, it was already too late for that.

 

“How do you use it?!” Ashwind followed with a question. He sounded almost panicked, but it didn’t seem like it was from the realization that magic existed.

 

“You have to perfect your concentration if you wanna do anything fancy like this. And then there’s the luck factor of being born with enough talent.” Lightweaver answered, before pausing and clarifying what ‘talent’ means.

“Also I don’t mean talent as in being a genius. I meant it in the ‘you either have magic or you don’t’ kind of way.”

 

The camp was filled with plenty of talk about meeting human natives.

They’d missed it, but clearly something fun happened here. Or maybe it wasn’t actually that fun, as most of them were just brewing in even more concentrated dislike for the dragons of this continent upon hearing how pitiful the human living conditions were here.

 

Commander Ashwind was already doing commander things and Lightweaver almost forgot he was also under his command, until he got reminded.

 

“Lightweaver, since you have that —I’m sending you to scout the rainforest.” Ashwind ordered. “Make a team or do it alone, that part is up to you as long as you can handle it.”

 

“Why do we need to bother scouting when we can just ask the MudWings? It was something about RainWings and how they’re too lazy to get involved in anything. Besides, they said they were mainly vegetarians anyway.” Lightweaver griped in response.

 

“I would say the same if I thought it would save them to do so. You wouldn’t even be able to afford an apple with that amount of credibility.” Ashwind scoffed, “Plus a few scouts have been going missing, that’s reason enough to go take a look.”

 

It sounded like he was done, so Lightweaver looked away only for him to add a final remark under his breath.

“They better not do anything to encourage me to burn their forest down.”

 

...

 

Lightweaver collected everything they learned so far and decided to enter alone, since it would take far too much concentration to juggle a dynamic illusion over multiple dragons.

He tested on the MudWings just to be sure, and just like with humans, he could simply make himself invisible to them.

 

This was basically impossible to pull on another IllusionWing even if they had zero talent. And even on humans they could still see the blurred outline of his form.

The clarity of an illusion depends entirely on how well the user can mentally visualize what they want to show.

 

If they were invisible, then the environment behind them would constantly be changing, and that makes it impossible to have a clear mental image unless they stand still. Thus complete invisibility would always create a rather conspicuous visual distortion.

 

An IllusionWing would just be able to see him anyway if he tried an invisibility trick, but these different dragons didn’t even know it was a thing outside of this so-called ‘Animus Magic’ some of them supposedly had.

 

The morning sun was starting to peek over the horizon as Lightweaver finally started entering the rainforest.

It was a welcome relief to feel the ground gradually become more firm and less messy.

 

Aside from the buzzing insects and croaking frogs, there wasn’t anything of note aside from the huge trees surrounding him.

At least, not until he started to hear voices ahead.

 

When he got close enough to see the source, he could see all of the previous scouts were trapped in crude metal cages arranged about a small opening in the trees.

 

The dragons here were much more prismatic and radiant than the MudWings.

And there was a gathering of them.

 

“...it would be easier to just throw them back out.” The fatter of the group finishes.

 

The soft-lavender colored dragon looks slightly annoyed before formulating a snappy response.

“This isn’t the same as some random dragons bumbling in. Many have already tried to take our rainforest in the past; am I the only one left that cares what’s going on outside, or what it means for us?”

 

“Sure, because keeping them in these cages definitely won’t bring us even more trouble than the easy solution.”

 

“We need a real queen this time.” The lavender dragon continued, “Perhaps our royal challenge has gotten too peaceful. We need a combative challenge—like tranquilizer duels at the very least...”

 

The fatter dragon flashes a golden color before smirking.

“I’ll do it as long as you promise me enough tribute! I don’t care all that much for being queen anyway...”

 

Lightweaver burned every detail of their appearance into his memory before they left the cages unattended.

Now given the opportunity, he hurried close to the first cage where a thin dragon with dashes of white scales over her eyes was bordering on careless bliss inside.

 

She turns to see him and barely gives any reaction.

“Oh, someone really made it all the way here.”

 

“What kind of reaction is that?” Lightweaver said, checking the front of the cage and peeking through what appeared to be a hole for a key. “Let me find a way to get you out of there. I learned how to pick locks from a human, so a shitty lock like this isn’t going to take long.”

Of course humans were godly at picking locks they could reach, at least until dragons started realizing they could just look inside the lock.

 

“But I don’t really mind being here. They give us fruits and stuff!”

Lightweaver could choke on this strangling naivety.

 

“Also I can escape whenever I want anyway. My fire is the only thing that makes me special, or useful.”

 

“Then why don’t you do your job and go report what you found like you were supposed to?” Lightweaver grumbled, unimpressed.

It was such an insane reasoning that he almost forgot he wasn’t doing this because he was patriotic or anything of the sort.

 

The caged dragon huffs and looks towards the metal latch keeping the door to the cage locked shut.

Then a bright crackling sound erupted which forced Lightweaver to snap his focus to whatever she was doing.

 

The metal was sparking and melting away under a jet of almost pure white plasma, radiating enough heat to distort the immediate surroundings.

The dragon cut through the metal with ease and opened the cage while coughing and steaming from the mouth.

 

“I NEED WATER SO BAD!” She screams and scrambles in the camp’s direction.

 

Lightweaver didn’t know what to do besides cover his snout with a talon in disappointment.

He’d leave the rest here while he advanced forward for more information.

 

He didn’t bring any real weapons, though he did hide a staple of the Shadowclaws just in case.

They all learned how to use it. But he hated when something became messy.

A thin and sturdy metal wire was all it took to cleanly assassinate any dragon. It easily slipped under scales and sliced throats with almost no clean up required.

 

He didn’t want this to become another mess. Not like that time.

 

With a little bit of focus, he disguised himself as what he assumed must be a RainWing.

Since they seemed to have such varying coloration, he thought it would be a safe guess to merge the patterns from the two dragons and then choose a slightly altered color.

One of them changed color, so he figured color would be the least likely to give him away.

 

Lightweaver couldn’t modify his body shape too much, as this wasn’t the same as taking the form of an existing dragon.

It was easy to visualize a dragon he’d seen before, but creating an entirely new appearance is a disaster. It would have to be good enough.

If only he had some kind of mirror or reflective surface, he thought.

 

If he could just find some way to get a look at himself then he could stabilize his mental image of whatever form he’s taken.

Subtle patterns on the snout with minimal structural changes was the most he could get away with considering they were going to be looking at his face the most.

 

‘Ah, I’m so stupid!’ He suddenly thought.

Lightweaver realized he could form an illusion in front of him and use that as reference for himself.

His disguise was suddenly much clearer now that he had a tangible visualization of what he wanted to look like.

 

As he progressed forward, he eventually found a village of similar dragons.

It consisted mainly of hammocks and treehouses.

 

Some smaller dragons were even bouncing up and down on an elastic platform woven out of plant matter.

A larger, flat platform hovered in the center where the dragons he just saw were gathered.

 

That looked like where the important details were taking place, so that was where he went.

He could already hear a cut off conversation between six dragons on top, some donning wreaths of flowers around the neck or wrists.

 

“...that’s nonsense! The challenge is supposed to be a peaceful competition!” One of them complains roughly.

 

“It is peaceful, they’re just darts.” The fatter dragon from earlier says with a snort.

 

“And what did Grandeur offer you, ‘Queen’ Dazzling? You know she’s going to win, age won’t be enough to slow her down.”

 

Lightweaver could already guess this was some kind of competition for a throne.

It seemed crazy, but if they were really going to just hand out a ruling position over a stupid competition...

He could deduce the fatter one as Dazzling, and the lavender one as Grandeur from that information. Well, now he knew how the fat dragon gained that bulk. Way too many bribes!

 

They all looked in his direction as he landed on the platform with confidence. One that may or may not be rewarded.

 

“I want to compete too.” He said, unsure of what else that could be said to be included.

Seeing that their colors changed based on mood made him extra nervous. He had no idea when and to what color he should be changing.

 

“...Who are you?” All six ask the same question at almost the same time, shifting to the same emerald-green color.

 

Lightweaver’s mind raced for a few moments, the focus on his disguise slightly wavering and shimmering with a momentary haze.

 

He needed a name that would fit in. One that could belong to a female.

The naming scheme wasn’t clear just from the two names he had available to analyze.

All he could do was guess, and at that point he might as well poke fun with it.

 

“Snake. I’m Snake.” He declares after a few seconds of pause.

 

“Ugh, another dragon to share the throne with.” One of them lamented out loud with a grumble.

 

It worked. Lightweaver grinned at the chance.

‘Yes. I’ll swallow your kingdom whole like a snake!’

 

With that, he followed the group of five deeper into the jungle until it was time to spread out and hide within the loose perimeter enforced by the ‘witnesses’.

There was no real way for them to witness the entire thing, but they didn’t have to, because this would be decided by the last still awake.

 

One of the original six, with a fruity-sweet smell, dropped out early—for some reason.

 

He was given a satchel of darts and a blowgun. There were more than enough darts for five targets, but he had no practice with this kind of weapon. It shouldn’t be too different from aiming breath attacks.

 

Morning was progressing, and there was no doubt he wouldn’t be able to get away with any crazy illusions if there’s any more light than this. There was a limit to the amount of nonsense he could do in plain sight.

 

Lightweaver cautiously moved forward with the assumption that they could camouflage, but they could climb the trees quite easily as well.

 

As he moved forward, he kept the illusion of himself shifted slightly off so that incoming darts would be more likely to miss.

 

Sure enough, after a few paces of not really trying to hide, one of the competing RainWings swings down from a low branch and tries to shoot him while hanging upside down by her tail.

 

Lightweaver easily dodged the imprecise projectile.

The same could not be said for the foolish dragon that tried to surprise him from a position they could not dodge from.

 

‘One down.’ He smirked as the body made a heavy thump on the ground.

 

Not far from his position he could hear a short scuffle. That probably made two down.

 

He wondered how stupid he must look just walking around without trying to hide or anything.

It couldn’t be expected that his next opponent would do something foolish and easy to punish.

 

As if he’d called it, another dart whizzed past from behind him, lodging into the ground by his talon.

This time he didn’t dodge it, but it passed through his offset illusion.

 

Lightweaver knew it would be pointless to try and turn around, and instead chose pretending to sleep.

It was the dragon he recognized as Dazzling that carelessly strolled past him with a celebratory gait.

 

Lightweaver laughed at the trick working and took out another dart as he approached from behind and manually stabbed the needle under her scales.

She quickly gasped in surprise and changed colors to what must have been to express shock, before passing out like the others.

 

The fourth one he was the one to get the jump on, which only left the last.

Judging from the ones he’s seen so far, it had to be Grandeur—that lavender colored dragon he initially saw.

 

It was quiet for a while as he moved farther from the recent action.

He was starting to get bored. Quite the dangerous feeling when alertness is needed.

Keeping a dart ready to shoot was the best he could do on that front. There were way too many angles to be attacked from like this.

 

Just when he thought he was getting tired of the flush greenery, he saw the last thing he expected to find here.

 

There was a human standing behind a younger tree, watching him.

It was bewildering when he considered how he was told the natives reacted to dragons here.

Though he was also told these dragons were supposed to be vegetarians, so it’s probably just a big coincidence that they aren’t as worried.

 

Well, it wasn’t his problem if they were just going to stand there and stare warily. If he kept looking at the human he was just going to get shot from behind.

 

So he scanned the foliage repeatedly until he heard a shrill wail from where the human was.

 

Lightweaver quickly snapped his head over to see the human falling over with the definite form of Grandeur standing over them.

Of course, it would be obvious in hindsight that she could care less about the human over landing a dart on him.

 

But this was not a time for thinking.

Lightweaver didn’t consider himself to be here out of some kind of righteous crusade or responsibility, but he still felt a flare of anger that made him understand the appeal of such motivation.

 

He was already an exceptionally quick thinker and multitasker, but what about when thinking was completely thrown out?

Grandeur could barely raise the blowgun to her maw before Lightweaver closed almost half the distance and got his shot off first, his illusion disguise almost flickering completely in the process.

 

He swerved around the only dart she could get off before arriving just in time to push her body to fall somewhere but on top of the tripped human.

 

Lightweaver pondered over his victory while looking up at the canopy and completely forgetting what else he just did in the process.

 

The human somewhat understood what happened and kept trying to touch him before sneaking off somewhere after he didn’t react to his illusion disguise being touched instead of his physical form.

 

He was ecstatic and dreaming of history books exaggerating him as being the dragon that conquered an entire kingdom alone.

The key word being ‘exaggerate’.

 

All he had to do was win a competition!

He would prefer King Snake, but since this continent seems to be quite biased on the leaders being female, Queen Snake will have to do for now.

Notes:

I'll admit I took some liberties here. I think originally Magnificent would be the RainWing queen at this point.
And the metal cages are hard to explain considering I don't think the RainWings have fire breath, which means they wouldn't really be able to work with metal themselves. I mean I do think there was a MudWing that left the MudWings to stay with the RainWings but I don't remember when or if they'd still be around. It's probably why they banish instead of imprison, since they don't have any good ways to do it.

And I'll add one small fun fact here. Emperor Stormlight has a photographic memory.

Chapter 10: The Logistics of Necessity

Summary:

Some ultra nerd stuff. A little mc showoff. Explosion of nerdiness author note.

The glare from the morning sun was growing steadily brighter as we landed at the edge of the forest preluding our destination.

As the trees opened up, they revealed a vast expanse of flat ground leading up to the mountains.

 

It was a whole city built into the side of a cliff, with an exhaustingly long staircase carved to the entrance.

I could only marvel at the location and walls that could even be perceived from this distance.

 

“There. That’s The Indestructible City.” Flash points.

 

“It doesn’t look that indestructible to me.” Gale starts saying something stupid again, and I have to slam my fist down on his neck, which doesn’t even interrupt it.

Now I constantly need blunt arrows so I can always reach his head before he says stupid things.

 

Flash and Snow were riding the two dragons that found them quite contentedly, yet somehow I got stuck with this comparatively silent and grumpy Wart character on Gale.

 

“The dragons have to wait here.” Snow states, courageously patting the happy dragon carrying her.

 

That made sense. No one had any complaints except for Gale pouting over it.

Unfortunately, we have to pull the cart of goods the rest of the way.

 

“Please don’t tell me we have to pull this up all those stairs.” I beg.

 

“Well, if you want to get it over with then we should start now, right?” Flash began and paused for a few more seconds while everyone was cracking up over it... “Alright, I’m just kidding! No need to get that look on your face. Obviously they have an elevator for stuff like this.”

 

That was such a relief, I can’t believe I thought for a second they would really make people drag carts up all those stairs.
It was easy for the dragons to laugh because they wouldn’t have been the ones that had to do it.

 

Regardless, we marched towards the city in front of us.

 

“Isn’t this cart of stuff way too small to be worth the trip?” I observe. How could it be worth it to come all this way just to deliver this much?

 

“The cart is designed to be stealthy and fast, and it just doesn’t work that well if it gets too heavy. It’s already dangerous enough to travel without bringing anything.” Flash answers.

 

“That’s going to change soon...”

 

I wasn’t sure what else to say. It was going to change. It might have already changed.

 

“What’s with the strangely shaped bow?” Wart finally said something while staring at the bow around my body, and it wasn’t a question I expected.

 

“Someone gave this to me, so I don’t know what it’s called exactly. But it turned out as strong as my usual longbow.”

 

“Why does it matter how strong a bow is, they’re only really useful for hunting and that’s it.” Flash questioned.

 

“...You don’t even use them for defense?” I ask in a surprised tone.

 

Snow fashions a disbelieving look as she points to one of the plain, uncurved bows they held.

“We only bring these in case we need to hunt at some point. What good are they for defense when the arrows just bounce off dragons.” She points and shakes around the bow she was holding like a piece of garbage. “Maybe if it was a crossbow, but those are expensive and take forever to reload.”

 

“Why don’t you make a better bow then?”

 

“It’s not worth trying to improve something that shows no potential.”

 

Hearing bows be degraded so much was almost physically painful.

“But these can go right through dragon scales. I even sent one of those ‘swamp dragons’, as you call them, straight to hell with this bow.”

 

“What?! You would be just as famous as the Dragonslayer if you managed to prove that!” Flash interjects loudly before reflexively silencing himself.

 

“That’s another long story you probably don’t need to hear right now. But given your... circumstances. I don’t think that title would be pleasant for you.” Snow jumped in right after to explain.

 

Indeed, that wasn’t the most pleasant thing to imagine being known for. But I had no doubt that it was probably a great feat here.

 

Every step took the immense fortress ahead closer and closer—more specifically to a large elevator built onto the side that lifted an entire platform up to the ledge.

 

We took position on the lowered elevator before it started moving up with a sharp jolt.

I wobbled with awe at the sensation of whatever this would be called. Weightlessness? Gravity?

 

“I can’t believe you consider this an experience when you get to fly on dragons every day.” Flash mentions.

 

“That’s different.” I huff.

 

As the top comes into focus, a complex system of pulleys and ropes come into view as they spin to heave the platform closer to the top.

 

The air was fresh and humid, likely from the waterfall that was audible not far from the city itself.

 

I looked around at the first people we saw upon leaving the elevator. The guards wore leather armor with spikes sprinkled on.

The purpose of said spikes was something I wasn’t quite smart enough to figure out at a glance.

 

No one seemed to care about us entering with weapons.

Either because it wasn’t a problem or maybe it was just too much of a hassle to store and keep track of them.

 

When we finally passed through the walls, the other side was by no means a perfect city, but you could call it bustling.

Even in this state and with dragons that acted as monsters, humans still made a city the likes of this.

 

The back of the walls were lined with huge machines that looked like ballistas.

At least I hope I was right, because I only knew what those were because some folks obsessed with history built a few back home.

They were simply impractical, but I suppose they must be the only way these people believe they can fight back.

 

Focusing forward, I would get lost if I didn’t follow the group, so I made sure not to let my attention veer too far away.

They led me to a market where the surroundings turned into stalls. It seemed only the extraordinarily successful afforded entire buildings.

 

“I’ll go visit the city clerk, you guys stay to sell the goods.” Flash says abruptly and flies off.

 

“Leaving us with the boring job?! You prick!” Snow yells in a grating voice.

 

How boring could it be?

Well, it turns out it can be very boring when not many even want to buy, or spend ages trying to haggle the price down.

 

It wasn’t really my responsibility, and I got distracted when I saw a group shooting bows at targets.

Naturally, that was where I wanted to be.

 

It only exacerbated my desire when I saw they were betting currency.

 

So I snuck myself in after it looked like their current ‘round’ was over.

“This looks like an excellent place to hustle!” I grin menacingly.

 

“Well if you wanna be hustled, it’s your call, strong lady. Ol’ Drunkshot' here hits the inner ring even while swimming in booze!” One of the older men sitting in a chair replies.

He looks rich enough if the clothing quality is any indicator.

 

“Then sign me up!” I blurt out without thinking about how I literally had no money.

 

“Well what’re you gonna stake?”

 

Damn.

 

“My bow.” I unsling my favorite bow from my shoulder and hold it out for inspection.

 

“What’s special about it?”

 

This again...

 

I look back at the targets.

The targets themselves are most likely straw or hay, but there was still a relatively thick wall of wood behind them.

 

“Watch.”

 

I demonstrated with an arrow flying straight through the wooden wall, only barely getting snagged by the fletching of the arrow.

As expected, they could tell it was special just from the powerful sound of the impact.

 

Though I didn’t get to use it, and had to share the normal bow to take part.

 

The spectating fools bet so much on this drunkard that I couldn’t stop smirking.

Even when the drunkard somehow hit right outside of the bullseye with every arrow.

 

When it was finally my turn, I chose not to hold back on showing off. I just hit the eye of a charging dragon, like hell am I losing to some random amateur stuck in a bottle.

 

The spectators were snickering as I picked up all three arrows at once as if they thought I must be making some kind of joke. I’ll show them a joke, alright.

 

As soon as I steadied and let out a breath, all three arrows whistled out in succession in a single second.

I’ve long mastered holding three arrows in the draw hand, and that’s not to mention that this feeble little stick they called a bow is nowhere near my usual draw weight.

 

All three arrows perfectly lined up inside the bullseye, forming a straight vertical line on top of each other.

 

The urge to laugh at their gaping awestruck faces was getting too much.

I thought I wouldn’t make it, before I finally received my small bag of silver coins.

 

“Now that’s what I call a hustle!” I cackle like a witch as I leave them destitute of their bets.

 

I don’t even have anything to spend it on, but I found a more well off looking stall selling spices on the way back to the group, so I decided to use a coin to acquire another small bag of the spiciest thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.

It was seriously stronger than anything I’ve heard about back home. At least not without having to dump a desert of it in.

 

When I found the group, the cart was almost completely empty by then, and Flash was present.

 

He was holding a very special-looking piece of paper that everyone seemed excited over.

Other than Wart, who seemed to stay silent but still glaring at it. Still as creepy as ever.

 

“What’s that?” I ask.

 

“The clerk apparently has a family member back in our city, and he wants us to bring a piece of jewelry they made the next time we come back. This is the trade bond for it!” Flash presents joyously as if I’m supposed to know what that means.

 

Snow smacks his hand away instead, “Stop that right there, let me explain the complicated parts before you mess it up.”

 

“Travelling from city to city is always a risk, so to promote travel, a trade bond guarantees you get the reward listed by the bond even if they don’t need what you bring by the time you arrive.” She explains in his place.

 

I look closer at the paper and notice the special features.

 

At the bottom of the page there was a wax seal resembling a dragon being impaled by a ballista-fired spear. That brought on a faint discomfort and pang of sadness, but it was understandable given the circumstances.

 

Part of the seal design was interrupted with a rectangle and a collection of dots punched into its area.

 

There were also slits cut into the left side of the paper and two groups of letters at the bottom which resemble an older numerical system.

That I recognize it at all was saddening, because it really meant most of their development for all of these years has been so stagnant that what is modern for them is historical to us.

 

I push through my thoughts and ask about these special areas.

 

“Those are the security features,” Snow begins, “The cut slots and dots on the seal match the digits of the price to make it obvious if someone tries to change the amount.”

 

“But what if they just change the marks too?” I put forward.

 

“That’s what the characters at the bottom are for. The details of the bond are combined into a sum to be printed on the document.” Snow answers. “If you changed anything, they would know.”

 

It was remarkable that humans could still come up with such ingenuity even while living like this.

 

We just had to make the hour long trip back to the forest, and be thankful we didn’t have to use the stairs...

 

As I expected,Gale and the pair were waiting for us when we reached the treeline.

Flash and his group still don’t take it well when Gale suddenly rushes to welcome me.

 

“Field! I was so bored!” He exclaims obnoxiously.

 

“Stop scaring them.” I order him away.

 

“I’m not scaring them, they just get scared by a lot of things. And they aren’t even scared.”  Gale denies and continues trying to nuzzle my body.

 

I really want to throw the spice I bought in his face, but I know how painful that would be and manage to suppress the urge.

 

“That’s enough, I don’t want to waste the rest of the day being pushed around for fun.” I grumble.

 

The others get to climb up on their own, but Gale still likes to just grab me and lift me up himself while taking the time to play with how light I seem to be.

 

Flash and Snow both just watch in shock that I just let it happen without any complaining.

I can read the silent question behind their eyes and let out a sigh.

“You don’t have to worry about grabby dragons like this. It’s a special thing. Gale just didn’t grow out of acting like a hatchling.”

 

“I grew up faster than you! Stop telling people that!” Gale fusses as he starts moving back the way we came.

 

Just like that, the day was almost gone.

Even flying at maximum speed it was probably a miracle to arrive before dark.

 

Once again, the dragons had to stay behind.

 

“I’m not staying here in boredom!” Gale sulks jealously, “You go spend the night in the city or something.”

 

I can tell he wants to see what it’s like, but it’s obvious they definitely don’t want to see him showing up.

The dragons just up and left like it’s nothing.

 

“It’s not like we’re here to have fun.” I mumble under my breath.

I could faintly hope they get put to grueling work and learn how much easier just waiting a short while doing nothing would have been.

 

We were still a short walk from the edge of the forest, but Wart was the one pulling the cart and he seems to be falling behind.

Neither Snow nor Flash look like they’re being attentive to the cart following farther than usual.

 

But I wasn’t slow to see him pull a bow from the now barren cart.

What the hell?

 

It was made obvious what he was doing as he was aiming for Flash’s back.

I was the one with a weapon, so I’m not quite sure how he chose to go for Flash first.

 

But he aims like a snail and doesn’t know I’m watching him, so I have plenty of time to act.

 

“Watch out!” I yelled at the targeted pair, but they dash in an unhelpful direction and look around expecting a dragon attack or something similar.

 

Wart definitely made sure he was far enough away to curb a melee rush, but I can still see his form, and with how slow he’s aiming I already know the path his arrow is destined.

But stopping it is another matter.

 

I don’t have a shield. Flash is too far ahead to push out of the way. It’s not going to miss.

But it’s a plain bow that undoubtedly shoots slower arrows. There’s only one way.

 

I raise my hand in preparation and tense up for what feels like the longest few seconds of my life.

Eventually, Wart relaxes and lets the string slip past his fingers.

 

The arrow flies true to the path I expected, and from this distance I have just enough time to react.

I make a sharp jab at the air and snatch the flying arrow just before the fletching escapes my reach.

 

Flash and Snow look shocked without any time to process what’s happening, and Wart also looks surprised but also angrily busy preparing another shot.

There’s no way I can do that again. It required knowing the trajectory in advance and a perfect reaction.

 

As soon as I get my bow ready, I returned his arrow to him.

I was aiming for his hand, but he moved, and the arrow whizzed past, cutting his bowstring instead. It made it look far more impressive of a shot, though.

 

“What the scorch, Wart?!” Snow screams frantically and rushes to pummel him.

 

He was unprepared for it to get this far, so pummelled he got, while Snow repeatedly screams “Why?!”

 

“The company was always supposed to be mine!” Wart retorts with a delusional greed. “The stupid bastard getting himself killed to find a dead person, and you dying trying to save him, that’s how it was supposed to be! Then I could just tell those damned lizards the forest dragons got the bow bitch.”

He yells back and finally punches Snow off, either purposefully or coincidentally in the way to block my next shot.

 

I can’t believe I can’t shoot this scum right now. I knew something was off!

 

He grabs the arrow he dropped on the ground after being tackled and stabs Snow in the leg with it, dashing away after grabbing the sack of coins from the cart.

 

I shoot perfectly at his back while he tries to flee, but he swings the sack of coins just in time to deflect it, leaving a small gash for a fraction of the treasure to spill out.

 

“Are you alright?” Flash questions the woman that just had an arrow cleanly stabbed through her leg.

This was more than enough of a distraction for that guy to escape, it wasn’t worth a futile chase.

 

“This is nothing. We lost most of the money! He even took the drawing I made.” Snow states. “I really wanted to show everyone what the dragons looked like so they had something to build trust on.”

 

“I don’t think they want to accept that dragons can think...” Flash sighs, “...even if they believe these ones are completely innocent it means the rest don’t care about being monsters.”

 

“And what’s so bad about that? Doesn’t it just provide a reason to accept the offered revolution?” Snow grins. “But damn, now I have to redraw everything!”

 

After recovering what was left of the profits scattering the ground, we were finally back on track to their home city, this time with one less member than expected.

 

“Thanks for saving us like that.” Flash beams with some strange look of admiration. “I guess you could say... You thwarted him.”

 

“Shut up.” I cringe.

Notes:

I wanted to detail trade a little better. With this system, even if the city doesn't need something by the time travellers arrive, they still get the full amount they expected. That way the risk of travelling is guaranteed to yield a sufficient reward.
On top of that, I used this opportunity to demonstrate they could apply math.
The 'trade bonds' are secured with checksums generated with a weighted sum cipher. The weights can be rotated monthly.
So if you change any details of the document the checksum won't be correct.
The markings (slits on the side of the paper and the dots on the seal) are not part of the checksum, but will immediately catch any novice forger at a glance that tries to increase their reward.

The seal is also protected against making molds of the seal. Safe Harbor puts glass in the wax, while The Indestructible City might use quartz. (It cuts up the material you're using if you press something like clay into it.)
Making the wax brittle is also another security measure, but you can just believe they do this if you want or not. I couldn't wrap my head around how making it brittle helped security, but apparently it does.

Even more detail with an equation example:

C(issuing city) = 1, T(type of goods) = 3, R(reward amount) = 20, (weights) W¹ = 2, W² = 8, W³ = 5

3 * (C * W¹ + T * W² + R * W³) = 378 (last digits are the checksum)

(Multiply by 3 or some other value to prevent differential analysis.) (This doesn't really work well either, it's better to simply salt the sum with a secret derived from something dynamic, like time)

78 is the checksum to print on the document. If you change anything, such as the reward amount, the checksum will be different. The weights are private secrets both cities know and have exchanged beforehand; they can be rotated regularly as long as they share the same weights.

You can then do this again for the identifier of the client, which allows the city to provide them with a token that proves they are the one that made the request.

Did I really overthink this for no reason? Yes.

Chapter 11: Seeds of Cooperation

Summary:

MudWings get the chance to get a chance.

Queen Moorhen was never this anxious when delivering edicts. Many of which in the past held just as much weight.

But this was different; it had to be given out personally.

 

Scrolls were way more efficient, but there couldn’t be any confusion or interpretations this time.

She barely even had a night to plan what to say, and even that short time passed by too quickly.

 

As soon as morning came she had as many dragons present that could fit in the clearing before the lake, all grumpy from being awoken or angry after losing a battle.

 

“MudWings! As of today you are forbidden from attacking the IllusionWings!” This was straightforward enough, but the problem was what came after.

Some of them already knew what that meant. After muttering about the name of the new tribe they already started complaining. It was almost certain they were thinking this was a script given by them after winning so decisively.

 

Moorhen had to silence the guards getting riled up by their daring.

Everything had to be addressed here to prevent them from trying anything stupid.

 

“That’s crazy! We just need to block their strange attacks and get rid of their pets!” One of the younger MudWings shouts angrily.

 

Everything had much more time to set in now. Moorhen could feel her chest tightening at the mention of ‘pets’.

“That’s why I’m delivering this edict myself! A group of MudWings provoked this attack!” She answered with a convenient excuse, knowing this would have happened eventually regardless of if they started it or not.

 

Moorhen was starting to see why queens didn’t like giving edicts this way. It was hard not to disdain their own subjects while having to picture their foolish thoughts on the spot, for their own good.

If she mentioned which dragons caused this exactly, their lives would basically be ruined even if they got off that island; she also knew at the same time that any of these dragons would have done the same thing themselves.

 

“And, most importantly, absolutely, NO EATING scavengers. Just imagine yourselves eating tiny dragons. They are intelligent!” Moorhen announces clearly and concisely to make sure they hear it right.

“Those of you that took part in the recent battle saw them working with the IllusionWings, and I’m confident the brightest among you can put together what those MudWings did to provoke this. So don’t do it again!”

 

…

 

That should have been the end of it, but no sooner than the crowd dispersing was the entire community divided like fire and ice.

Moorhen was left aghast after hearing just how much of a problem it turned into.

 

“What in the moons is so hard to accept about scavengers?! It takes more energy to catch the damn things than they provide!” She paced and ranted to her siblings who were unqualified to provide an answer.

 

One side is trying to completely deny everything, while the other extreme had dragons that couldn’t handle the weight of the revelation and chose the easy way out—of everything.

 

But it thankfully mellowed over the course of the day.

She thought things might finally return to some semblance of normal, before one of her aides came in to destroy it once again.

 

“My queen! The border scouts have caught glimpses of IceWings and SandWings flying this way!” They shouted in a rush. “They’ll arrive in a couple days at their current speed!”

 

‘IceWings and SandWings… It has to be Blaze.’ Moorhen thought.

 

She couldn’t think of anything they could possibly gain from doing this right now.

“That runt just had to choose now to send her dragons to their deaths.” She sighed.

 

It wasn’t a matter of whether those IllusionWings were going to fight them or not. There’s no way they would let them get close to the scavengers. Even if not…

Moorhen was aware all it would take was to say they were here to burn down the scavenger dens looking for treasure.

---

Emperor Stormlight looked over the camp on the beach with busy thoughts.

Everything was going smoothly.

 

One of the scouts lost to the rainforest returned, followed by the rest shortly after.

Not only were they rescued, but Lightweaver somehow took over the forest dragons’ leadership and sent the prisoners back with samples of a dart weapon they employed.

Stormlight needed him for something else, though. And since the ‘RainWings’ really were vegetarians they aren’t a problem in the first place.

 

Even Gale, the dragon that was mainly only here to be a translator, was rolling around on the sand out of boredom after his human companion visited one of the native cities.

Field was a package deal, but he had to acknowledge that no one else would have faced a dragon head-on alone with just a bow. Stormlight knew they could be fast, but that was borderline unbelievable; even the ones that sparred dragons using just a sword only did so because the dragons had to hold back.

 

Subcommander Eno was closer to what Stormlight expected the most useful human would have been.

He focused on his four dragons instead of taking reckless actions. Though his group didn’t appear all in favor of this.

 

“I want to go home. This wasn’t what I wanted..” One of the four whines on the ground, sounding ill.

 

Stormlight could only sigh because it was inevitable for morale to drop when so many of them signed up expecting to only face bandits.

He couldn’t keep trying to brush it aside by repeating justice over and over.

 

Eno didn’t waste time to show that he indeed deserved the title of Subcommander.

He noticed the slumping dragon and rubbed the top of their head.

“I’ll make sure you get home. Just a little bit more.”

 

The dragon seemed to stop moping after that, but Stormlight noted that it would be best to send the reluctant back soon.

Liberating an entire continent will take a while and be inefficient without a motivated force.

 

Still, he was flashing back to the meeting he just left. These foreign dragons weren’t completely different from them.

He could vividly remember when a dragon tried lying to him, and this didn’t feel the same. They really didn’t seem to know about humans, as dumb as that sounded, it felt true.

 

So he made the decision to send some of the more open-minded northward, presumably where more of these MudWings resided. It would be a good opportunity to have them accept that things were more complicated.

 

Then, he sent the first scout saved from the rainforest back to retrieve Lightweaver for something else he had planned. He could definitely find a way to slip out for a day at least.

 

…

 

Gale was unhappy being told to venture even further into this swamp and ‘learn’ about the new dragons.

So what Field thinks they can be good? There was nothing to learn that wouldn’t be infuriating.

 

But Commander Ashwind led him along with a few other dragons and humans into the heart of this swamp, until they were eventually walking down a dried path of dirt surrounded by mucked up water on each side.

There were ‘houses’ made of mud strewn across the place too.

 

The dragons themselves mostly had the sense to hide, but some that didn’t were just on the ground casually eating animals.

 

Commander Ashwind openly displayed the revulsion and contempt others managed to keep hidden.

They ate like beasts. Gale and the group knew that any dragon back home publicly eating like that would be shamed, but they had to quickly look elsewhere as it started turning to anger when they began imagining a human victim.

 

But he knew what they were supposed to be doing, and he seems to be the only one that wants to even try.

He didn’t know how to get anywhere with it, but he breathed and then shouted “I SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE! IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, ASK ME!”

 

Nothing changed at first, but then a few of the MudWings slowly crept out, clearly wanting answers more than the urge to hide.

 

“What do you want from us!” One demands in a cracking voice.

 

“For you to treat scavengers with the respect they deserve. If you can do that much then we don’t care what else you do.” Gale answered, still navigating their unpleasantly demeaning word for humans.

 

“Can they really think? What are scavengers to you?” The same one follows immediately with another barrage of questions.

 

“Equals, obviously! We can only get this far together!” Gale declares pridefully.

 

“What about the MudWings that went to your island! I know Sepia! Sepia wouldn’t do something that bad!” A different, younger MudWing interjects.

 

“Maybe not to dragons…” Gale muttered under his breath, but it was almost drowned out by the chorus of commotion that erupted right after.

 

“So THEY’RE the ones that caused this?! Who cares about them?!” Some start clamoring louder and louder.

 

Gale was getting the feeling that somehow blame was shifting hypocritically.

Some of them looked more than gluttonous enough to take their place if they were the ones to reach the island first.

---

Sepia has been in a cell for a couple days now. It was a terrible two days.

She knew exactly what was coming and that she deserved it; the nightmares agreed.

 

The wait was grating, and she thought another day was going to pass like this.

 

But something was different this time. The little piece of metal holding the prison door shut was all rusted and slightly bent, as if she could push it right open.

It didn’t look that way before.

 

Not only that, but all the dragons were gone, leaving just a scavenger to watch over.

 

Upon pushing on the door even a little bit, the metal bends and the door opens almost too easily. It would feel uncanny to anyone not overtaken by a rush of emotions preceding a chance of escape.

 

She could just get rid of the scavenger and have plenty of time to plan and escape, but– but it would only be escaping justice by repeating the same crime.

It would be terrible for them to punish other MudWings if they can’t punish her.

 

She soon started regretting it when not long after, the door opened with purpose.

 

…

 

Emperor Stormlight had the prisoner that set this whole thing in motion set in front of a crowd. It was no mystery what they expected. But he had to somehow convey that the rest of the MudWings were ‘reasonable’. It was too much to ask given the Founding tales.

 

“Before we begin, I would like to ask witnesses present not to project what these dragons did onto the rest of their kind. There will be an explanation given out later.” He addressed broadly, as ineffective as it might be. Perhaps it only agitated the crowd that were only here to witness ‘justice’.

 

“What else can they be?! What kind of monster does that!” One of the dragons ignites.

 

“Yeah! I found one of the survivors of Frontier wandering around in the wilderness! Do you know what they did when I saved them?!” Another on the opposite side of the crowd snarls, “They screamed at me not to eat them!”

 

Stormlight was slightly amazed that the humans were the only ones left that weren’t all chanting “Kill the monsters”, but couldn’t be surprised by reactions he more than expected.

 

…

 

Sepia couldn’t understand a word of the collective yelling, but it wasn’t something she felt needed translation to understand.

Each dragon had their own distinct pattern to recognize them by and a look of hate which even the scavengers showed less of. The exceptions didn’t matter much to the bigger picture.

 

She didn’t know how it was going to happen, and remained anxiously oblivious until a glint caught her gaze, reflecting off a shiny metal blade being swung down by a bulkier dragon.

 

The edge sliced through like butter and that was– should have been the end of it.

Sepia didn’t feel pain from a botched attempt, but she was looking down at what was definitely her head severed on the ground. Even the cheering was fading into background noise now.

She didn’t think dying would be that painless, but now she was imagining ghost stories turning out to be real.

 

“I didn’t think it would work this well. Look at you thinking you’re dead.” One of the dragons behind her chortles.

 

“What? How can I not be dead?!” She frantically pointed down at her obvious body.

 

“That’s an illusion to appease the masses. I don’t think I need to tell you that if you ever return, the next time won’t be.” The dragon continues sternly.

 

“Then my siblings?!” Sepia was jittery with relief and excitement, brushing aside the matter of what kind of magic they had to pull this off.

 

“I’ll just say you’re lucky you had a chance at all. All of you had an easy test, hard to fail, and one of you still managed to fail.” He snorts. “They didn’t learn and tried to repeat their mistake again.”

 

“Ah. Okay…” Sepia whined while being directed away. She noticed the dragon looking somewhere at the back of the crowd, at a patternless dragon that looked much closer to a NightWing, but she was swiftly moved too far away to see any more detail.

 

One sibling was—gone forever. But at least her next encounter confirmed that she could still bring one back home, it was one more than she could ask for after getting them into a mess herself.

She hoped Newt wouldn’t be devastated by it, or maybe blame her, as he should—like every other MudWing should.

 

“Sister! You’re alive!”

 

“Yes.. But it’s just us now.” She replied blankly.

 

“Maybe we should just be happy there’s an ‘us’ remaining. I thought they were trying to starve me to death.” He complains, “Let’s go home and find a nice cow or something. I don’t think I like scavengers anymore…”

 

Sepia retches on the spot.

‘Did he pass the ‘test’ by luck?’

 

“I-I-I don’t think I can handle meat anymore.” She says while shuddering. It was ruined for good, now meat will remind her of the feeling of murdering tiny beings with feelings.

It was so horrible that it was comforting to think of it as murdering.

 

“Did they turn you into a RainWing?” He cluelessly makes a joke at the expense of non-present RainWings.

 

“You really still don’t know the scavengers were intelligent?!” Sepia didn’t like springing it on his blissful ignorance right away, but dragons have already exhausted their supply of ignorance now. Or maybe it was selfish? Maybe she didn’t want to atone alone.

 

But at least he shut up about being hungry… And now he stopped responding at all.

Sepia started to lament not waiting until they left the island before breaking him like this.

Chapter 12: Consolidation Declaration

Summary:

war never changes

Notes:

Well... Arc 4 was revealed to be starting next year.
I don't have any hopes for it. It sounds like the series is just going to keep skating around all of the atrocities the dragons have done to humans. As if it was just another 'war' that ended in peace, but it was a genocide, not a war.

Safe Harbor was only a little less developed than The Indestructible City.

Even with that in mind, it was an amazing place that could make one forget the difficulty they faced.

 

I really wanted not to think about that, but it wasn’t easy to avoid it.

Even the books here were mostly dragon slaying fantasies. You would die before you ever found any book here where dragons aren’t the villain.

 

The morning sun gleamed over the horizon, giving a clean marker of time for me to go back.

It was comfortable here, but I couldn’t stay somewhere everyone I knew would be called a monster.

Flash also wanted to see Misty again, so he was going to be coming along.

 

“How’d Snow’s idea work out?” I asked with an unexpectant tone. I could already guess.

 

“We might be the best and most trustworthy merchants, but no one here is stupid– uh, brave enough to go say hi to a dragon. The best she got was either thinking it a joke or saying they’d consider it if there was no other option.” Flash answers.

 

That was better than I expected. Are they open to the idea, or does the pair just have a great reputation?

 

“I don’t know why I haven’t asked until now, but are you related to Misty?”

 

“Yes, I co-founded the company with my sister.” Flash answers directly. “Going out with family members is a debated subject here. Some say it’s better than leaving family behind to grieve, and others say it only adds guilt to the mix if some make it out.”

 

It didn’t sound like the most constructive debate. “There would never be a clear answer for that kind of thing. Both are just as correct.”

 

“Maybe. I just want to hurry up and bring Misty back. I can’t imagine how scary being on an island surrounded by dragons is. Just a few of them makes me feel surrounded by fangs waiting everywhere.” Flash says with a faltering voice.

 

“Well that’s a problem with where you’re letting your attention linger. You can get over it. Who do you think helps when they get cavities?”

 

“What? They get cavities?” Flash gapes.

 

“Some of the dumber dragons get addicted to desserts. That or they have irresponsible parents.” I add.

 

As we moved to leave the city, there was the expected chatter about an island suddenly showing up out of nowhere across the shore.

Their explanations ranged from God to magic. Some were even talking about trying to sail over. They were certain to freak out if they stumbled into a settlement.

 

A few of the guards waved at us leaving the front gates behind.

I could feel unnerved by the trek, given the knowledge that seeing a dragon out here could by no means be called a normal or safe occurrence.

 

There was thankfully no incident as we arrived at the beach, but Gale was annoyingly not present.

 

Flash attracted a lot of attention as well, from all of the dragons that wanted to hear from a native human of this continent.

I was more focused on finding one that wasn’t going to be overbearing about it while flying us over.

 

A loud thump sends sand flying everywhere and forces us to look away for a second to avoid the particle spray.

 

“Field!” I heard a faintly recognizable voice call from above, overshadowing a faint hiss of irritation behind it.

 

The voice was a little too high-pitched to be a dragon.

 

The sand calmed just fast enough for me to raise my eyes to a slim-figured woman bouncing on the heads of the three closest dragons before elegantly front-flipping to the ground.

 

It was Grace, the latest apprentice Vela took in after I decided I knew enough. Well, I was never interested in going the full mile in regards to learning that kind of flexibility. Just enough to dodge.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“That nag kept telling me I wasn’t ready. I know I’m ready and I came here to prove it!” Grace declares with too much pride for her own good.

 

 “Wow, I haven’t seen anyone move like that before.” Flash says.

 

“It’s mostly for performances, it just happens to make it annoying for a bad dragon to catch her.” I add.

 

As if to contradict that statement, Grace is immediately pinned into the sand.

“I finally caught you!” Flameshot shouts.

 

“No! You dirty cheater!” Grace fumes and struggles angrily under the talon holding her into the sand.

 

Flameshot pouts and denies cheating, but one of the dragons on the side smacks her head with a paw to admonish the cheat.

Flash is trying not to laugh, but I’m not really moved by it. It felt like something I’ve seen before way too many times.

 

“We need a ride home and back.”

 

Flameshot stiffened and shifted in place for a few moments. “I want to fly with a hero. Pick me!”

 

“Anyone else?” I shivered at the exuding energy.

 

“ME!” Flameshot continued.

 

“I’m not a hero.” I groaned and gave in as we climbed on the overzealous dragon’s back.

 

“Umm, how are we not going to fall off? This doesn’t look like such an easy trip.” Flash asks a little too late.

 

“Just hold on to me or around her neck, it’s easy after the first few times.” I answer casually with a lifetime of experience.

Wait. How long is a lifetime? I’m not that fucking old.

 

Flash seems to stare in awe at the stretching wings, and like, really doesn’t hesitate to make it obvious it’s an experience to him.

I can already imagine how much fun the dragons are going to have with the humans here. With them experiencing everything for the first time and all.

 

The strong force of jumping into the air and taking off took any ideas out of his head besides holding onto me.

The strength I’d use to draw my bow makes it easy for me to hold on tightly.

 

Flash stays dreadfully silent during the flight and as soon as Flameshot lands, he melts onto the ground like jelly.

He probably wouldn’t even make it if we didn’t land close to the city.

 

“Misty is... here?!” Flash gasps at the sight of so many dragons flying around or just generally present along the streets. “There’s so many! Is it even safe here without evil ones?!”

 

“Well, it is a city with a majority population of dragons.” I shrug. “Just don’t get stepped on.”

 

“And how do I do that?” Flash grumbles.

 

“It would help if you gave yourself more of a presence instead of timidly sneaking around.”

 

“It’s okay. I’ll make sure he doesn’t turn into a pancake!” Flameshot says.

 

Just like that, we continued to the school we dropped Misty off at. I can’t imagine her going anywhere else.

When we arrived, it wasn’t a book reading session this time.

 

I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

All the human kids were painting patterns on the dragons’ scales.

 

The dragonets were either happy or angry at ones that sucked at painting. I would be angry too if I was scribbled on with a trashy doodle while another dragonet had blooming flowers or flowing rivers.

 

Misty was running around with the smallest dragonet in her arms, barely small enough to be lifted, and that was soaking up the attention from being paraded around.

Clearly it went well.

 

“Misty!” Flash calls in an instant of seeing her without regard for the crowd of small dragons.

 

“Brother! You’re here too?!” Misty looks back with wide eyes. “Did you come to visit paradise as well?”

 

“This is paradise to you?” Flash looks like he wants to hug Misty, but he stops short when the dragonet starts glaring and trying to fan him away from their attention seeking.

 

“Not only do the people here not live like they’re going to get eaten every day, but they even make families with dragons of all things!” Misty says gleefully.

 

“Please don’t say something like ‘I want to stay’.” Flash winces from his imagination running wild over her wanting to stay here.

 

“Of course not. I can’t burden Libereste forever, and I don’t think I could handle living here on my own.” Misty laughs. “Even most the people born here go to less dragon populated areas to make villages, and at that point there’s nothing much different from home.”

 

Flash was relieved that she’d be coming back with him.

“Wait a minute, how did you get saved? I didn’t even wonder until now how you could survive that swamp dragon long enough to even get saved.”

 

“Apparently, I was supposed to be a gift of food. I’m glad they took offense to that idea.” She answers. “Also apparently, all of the dragons we know are big dumb idiots that can’t recognize intelligence when they see it.”

 

“This is really a school... I never imagined children that wouldn’t be screaming in front of such a huge dragon.” Flash continued, giving the teacher a look.

 

“I’m not that big, there are still some dragons that are bigger.” Libereste replied. “I’m going to miss babysitting your sister.”

 

“Don’t call it babysitting!” Misty yelled out and placed down the now upset dragonet.

 

...

 

Upon returning to Pyrrhia, Flash and Misty left for Safe Harbor, while I continued on to find Gale waiting to grab me.

“Field! I get so lonely without you! You came back just in time!”

 

I fuss and push on the muzzle getting too close to me.

“Well you aren’t lonely enough when I’m here!”

 

“I don’t get bad dreams when I have you. Just stay with me.”

 

He rolls over to lay on his back and holds me up to the dimming sky, still struggling irritably until I get bored and he’s snoozing too hard to care about my freedom of movement.

 

...

 

When I awoke, the surroundings were loud and busy, and I was on the sand.

“Now what’s going on?” I complain groggily.

 

“The MudWings are being attacked by some other dragons. I guess we’re supposed to help?” Gale shuffles on the sand, as if the idea of lifting a claw to help them is a drag.

 

“We should go.” I sighed. It wouldn’t be a good idea to let some other problem dragons take over.

 

Gradually, we collected our forces on a high ridge of what the MudWings called the ‘Diamond Spray Delta’.

 

This will be the first time we’re fighting with the MudWings. Whether it will be the last—is to be decided.

Instead, we’re going to be facing ‘IceWings’ and ‘SandWings’.

 

And, just as I thought it, the opposing force finally came into view from the ground.

The names were quite descriptive of their appearance: ice and sand colored dragons.

 

Now that I’m noticing it for the second time, Commander Ashwind seems to have a habit of mumbling his thoughts out loud while thinking intently.

 

“Spread out with enough room to fly in an instant! All but the back lines stay on the ground!” He yells demandingly.

“And avoid the tails of the yellow ones!” He adds after spotting the barbed tails of the SandWings.

 

If his mumbling before giving out the orders were any indication of why, then there was no reason to ever fly in battle except to dodge breath attacks.

The only reason the back line even had to stay in the air was to prevent them from trying to pass the defenses.

 

If they do start fighting any dragons in the air, dragons from the ground can come up from below with a weapon to get free strikes at their vital areas. They probably don’t think it’s a problem because it’d just be running into their claws without use of weapons.

 

What else would they be able to do other than dive straight into projectiles or face us on the ground?

 

Many of the MudWings flew off to go fight them anyway, but a surprising amount chose to stay and copy what IllusionWings are doing.

 

The MudWings that went to fight early eventually had to fall back to the ridge, where our dragons could finally fly up below the attacking army.

They carelessly disregarded the dragons coming from below, leading to their chests being embedded with lethal bolts.

 

A few tried to spray them with their powerful fi– no, the blue/white dragons were shooting out beams of glistening frost!

I could only watch for now. Most of it was unmemorable, and I don’t want Gale to soon get into trouble he can’t handle.

 

Flameshot, for a dragon that was so bubbly, was doing unsettlingly well, even if it wasn’t really from skill alone.

Eventually the attackers gave up on trying to do aerial combat once they realized it wasn’t working, and that everyone on the ground was ready to dodge if they tried to strafe the ground with fire or ice.

 

Flameshot was one of the first to start with the dragons attacking on the ground. She sent her first shot of white plasma directly into one of their chests, watching it go through the IceWing surprisingly easily. It was as if they also melted like ice.

Another IceWing tackled and held her jaws open to shoot their characteristic ice beam down her throat, but Flameshot panicked and returned a solid stream of plasma at the same time.

 

It almost looked like sparks were erupting between the two. This was a spectacle that made every second of being here worth it.

They were being clouded with fresh steam which almost created an impenetrable fog, before the IceWing fell with its own throat melted from the inside, and Flameshot was wailing about the discomfort.

 

I wanted to call her the hero here, but I’d never hear the end of that. I’d better focus on what I can do.

I might have slain a dragon almost by myself just recently, but I can only take shots at those close enough for the arrows to penetrate, or maybe dragons that stay still or predictable enough to hit a vital weak spot.

 

The battlefield was deafened by screams of dying dragons, and covered in a mix of blue and red blood.

Some of our dragons didn’t dodge in time, and had parts of their wings turned from a fleshy membrane into a thin sheet of ice.

 

The SandWings on the other hand had barbs on the end of their tails, which despite the orders to avoid it, some were caught by them and emitted sharp cries of constant pain.

 

I didn’t want Gale to end up like that. He definitely wasted all his training time learning a presumed dead language.

Thankfully Ashwind was ahead of us and wasn’t fazed by their venom.

 

They were strong, but Grace was a relative monster.

She didn’t even have a dragon to assist as she weaved between dragons on both sides.

The SandWing she was rushing towards just finished off a MudWing and got struck in the leg by a crossbow bolt.

 

As soon as the dragon leans closer to the ground in pain, Grace grabs their leg and vaults onto their back the instant they look away.

The SandWing was too much in pain to notice.

 

She quickly inches closer to their neck and proudly unsheathes a thin blade—the kind of blade that looked utterly useless on a dragon.

But it wasn’t useless, because she slid the blade between the scales and pulled it across the dragon’s neck, holding the spine of the blade with the other hand to add more force and jumping off quickly when it started choking.

 

Everyone else was doing well, but I had no clear targets to shoot at.

While I was busy scanning for a way to apply myself without jumping into too much danger, I was suddenly thrown off of Gale and hurled to the ground.

 

I shook off the world-shaking sound of roaring and tumble to break my fall as I deftly recovered proper stance.

An IceWing was grabbing Gale and trying to gash or freeze him into an ice sculpture.

 

“No!” I impulsively scream and reach for an arrow even with Gale in the way, blocking any possible shot.

 

I can’t feel helpless. Not while there’s still something I can do.

I have to do something I only ever used for performances of my own.

 

In the next second, I have my arrow nocked—not on the center of the bowstring, but about an inch or so below it.

I couldn’t be confident about aiming like this. What if it didn’t come reflexively to me like it normally did?

 

I had to be confident. So I released before the doubt could fester.

 

And I watched as the arrow left the string, appearing destined to miss abhorrently.

But this arrow was different!

As it approached the pair of tussling dragons, the arrow destabilized in the air, turning sideways into a curve !

 

It curved around Gale, miraculously finding the throat of the IceWing.

 

The IceWing paused its impending claw strike to grasp its impaled throat—it wasn’t a huge projectile for a dragon, but it still caused bleeding enough to choke on.

That was a lucky shot. If I didn’t hit the throat directly it could have continued fighting! It still could have taken Gale if it focused on fighting to the end instead of desperately trying to save itself.

 

“Nice shot!” Grace compliments, while the other bystanding witnesses were left in shock.

I did show her this was possible in the past, after all.

 

However—that wasn’t the only attacker.

“Watch out!” I shout at her to dodge the second IceWing landing like a shockwave. This one had gleaming, pristine white scales that could be said to glitter like true ice.

 

She jumped out of the way, but it wasn’t clean. She forgot the most important part of dodging, and didn’t keep her limbs close to her body while doing it.

I heard a piercing scream which attracted the attention of almost every IllusionWing in the vicinity.

 

The IceWing chomped mercilessly down on where Grace was, and a fountain of crimson blood erupted from the place her left arm used to be, or at least where most of it used to be.

 

After ruining its pristine white scales with her blood, it continued charging at us like nothing happened! And it looks like I’m supposed to be next.

 

I can feel it. That sensation of terror and locking up.

I can’t freeze this time, nor can I kill this dragon with just arrows in time to avoid danger. Gale isn’t going to save me either, he’s too shocked by the horrific scene of war in front of him.

 

The reflex of reaching for an arrow almost took over my body.

But at the last second I realized what I was doing and stopped myself.

 

There’s only one thing I can actually do. I’m so relieved I brought this.

 

As the dragon gets just into range to chomp me, I reach down to my waist and quickly throw the pouch of spice I’d bought from The Invincible City.

 

A suffocating cloud of burning pepper envelops the IceWing, eliciting an immediate scream of pain and tears.

They turn and run in a different direction, encountering Subcommander Eno.

 

Somehow the damn dragon managed to get lucky enough to surprise him as well, only getting a single shot off trying to block it from one of the dragons before he stumbled over the longbow he wasn’t accustomed to.

Luckily he only got swiped with the blunt of the dragon’s talon, due to it being almost blind.

 

All four of his group watch him tumble flat onto the ground and roar in anger, all four focusing on a single dragon.

The IceWing quickly became a pincushion of dragon-sized arrows, reduced to nothing but a statue stapled to the ground, leaking blue blood everywhere.

 

I breathed in the moment I had to relax, but even without any more immediate threats, some problems don’t just go away.

 

Grace cried on the ground in agony from her amputation.

“No.... no...” She sobbed while holding it.

 

“Uh, uh, hold on! We’re going to save you!” I shout. My voice was finally wavering once the urgency left the scene to fully set in.

 

“I don’t care about that—my arm!” She wails.

 

I couldn’t help wincing. She really needed her arm and now it’s gone, and with it, what she was good at.

 

“We need to stop the bleeding... I don’t think a tourniquet can hold that for long enough and we only really have our clothes.” I say with a trembling voice. “We have to cauterize it right here.”

 

Flameshot bounds closer with pity. “I can do it!”

 

“No... your flames are way too hot. It would do way more than cauterize.”

 

Ashwind had the coldest flames an IllusionWing could be born with, but he was busy.

 

“Gale, you have to do it.”

 

Gale whines and cries that he can’t as if he had any choice in the matter.

“I can’t do it!”

 

“Yes you can, because you can’t let her keep bleeding. I’m not letting this become a situation you regret later.” I command. “Just lean down and give us a steady flame. We’ll handle it.”

 

Gale closes his eyes and does as told, blowing out a beautiful blue plasma for us to make use of.

It was definitely uncomfortable to maintain, so as soon as I had the opportunity, I grabbed Grace and pulled the stump of her former arm into the edge of the fire for just a few moments.

 

She screams for a few seconds before pulling back with a freshly cauterized—and no longer bleeding wound.

 

I too, had to look away as the inevitable faulty thoughts flashed through my head as the side effects of being human.

Just like anyone else, it was hard to look at Grace and not think at least once about being lucky it wasn’t me. Perhaps it was even comforting to think this, if just for a moment.

 

The IceWings and SandWings were retreating now, their forces nearly obliterated.

Even though the MudWings took most of the losses, we weren’t without losses of our own.

 

...

 

The MudWings weren't as reclusive after the battle concluded. Though just because they thought better of us didn’t mean IllusionWings returned the feelings.

But at least some of them that paid attention to what the humans were doing during the battle prostrate themselves in front of them and repeat apologies.

 

That at least bought them enough consideration to avoid being automatically hated.

 

Tonight sure was going to be difficult. Gale had to see something terrible.

I’m not sure even I can hold back nightmares after that.

So much blood—everywhere—it’s something that doesn’t fully hit you until later.

 

I made sure to hug Gale’s neck tighter this time, and pray that he doesn’t get hung up on the debilitated sobs he witnessed today. I could only wonder if all of this was worth it.

 

After enduring a night of constant squirming and trying to crush me regardless of what clever place I managed to find, I finally got annoyed with it and napped somewhere else.

 

At least when I woke up this time, it wasn’t on another battlefield. Instead, I was sprinkled with morning dew.

Visiting the delta, but making sure not to go far enough as to revisit the battlefield—there were MudWings around doing combat training. Granted, their idea of fighting doesn’t look as elegant as what our soldiers would be learning.

 

We didn’t draw much attention anymore.

 

For once I thought the only thing we had left to do was to work things out with human cities we encountered, but something unexpected just has to come up every single time I relax!

Two MudWings flew in from the direction of the battlefield and landed at the edge of the delta.

 

A well-built MudWing turns to them with suspicion at two unrecognizable, uninjured MudWings arriving from a battlefield that should have no one left.

“Who are you?” She demands of them.

 

...Why do I feel like the one on the right doesn’t look ugly enough to be a MudWing?

 

They looked speechless at the bluntness channeled through the question.

“I’m Clay, and this is Glory.” The stout and buff MudWing answers.

 

“And what were you doing out on the battlefield alone? We aren’t looking for unsibs.” The interrogating MudWing gives a slight scorn in her tone.

 

“Unsibs?” Clay muttered silently before the other took over.

 

“We’re just looking for someone,” Glory says. “A MudWing couple who lost an egg six years ago.”

 

“A MudWing couple?”

 

“There was a red egg; it was stolen from around here somewhere.”

 

“[...]”

 

Eventually they were given directions at the end of the dry path to find a dragon named Cattail.

Though that’s when they finally noticed us.

 

“Is that one of the MudWings’ new allies?” Clay voiced. “I don’t think any scrolls mentioned a tribe like that.”

 

‘Ally’ is a strong word to call it.

---

Queen Scarlet was preparing for her hatching day festivities. An entire day all about her!

‘Every day should be like that, but this day is special! Any that dare to disrupt it will beg for my claws to rend them to pieces!’

 

As if an ominous omen, the door to her abode was disturbed.

Scarlet hoped for an impudent dragon she could throw into the arena as an appetizer to celebrate longer. She even waited to answer it, hoping they would wallow in their anxiety and get impatient.

 

It didn’t happen, so she opened it with an already forming sneer by the time she saw who it was.

‘It’s that little SandWing runt. Why did I even let him go? This runt should have been happy suffering instead of coming back for more.’

 

The SandWing presents a strange object with a string running between two protruded limbs and then eagerly starts explaining all kinds of things she wouldn’t have given the time of day if she didn’t know he wouldn’t dare give her such an insulting lie.

He even went as far as figuring it out himself and demonstrating its use.

 

Scarlet could barely stifle booming laughter.

‘This runt actually got something useful from that whelp, Blaze! Look at him thinking he’ll get his family back!’ She cackles internally. ‘They’re already dead. I’ll just have the guards kill him before the festivities. It’s his fault for not using it to kill me—that fool.’

...

Pain! Overwhelmingly concentrated pain is all that could describe the current moment.

And that was if she could maintain any concept of a single moment being different from the last.

 

The event was completely turned on its head, and her perfect face was being destroyed by this ravenous, twisted venom!

 

She could only get back to her room before the pain demanded her consciousness to yield to its hellish insistence.

But she could hear, and partially see four SandWings coming in after her. What’s a little bit more pain?!

 

‘I still have that thing! Die, you desert weasels!’

 

“Burn!” She roars and points the object she acquired earlier at one of the approaching SandWings.

 

After pulling the metal trigger on the bottom, a metal-tipped shaft of wood launches into the skull of the dragon. One immediately rushes out of the room at the sight, and the rest start backing away.

 

“That’s right! Run and hide before I give you a death like your precious Queen Oasis!” Scarlet glowed and hissed maliciously, before finally dropping from the pain as soon as they finally fled.

 

None of the SandWings were aware of the reloading requirement.

Notes:

Honestly I don't get what this battle is about but it happens in the canon. The only possible motivation I can think of is trying to make the MudWings leave the alliance with Burn, but that was obviously not going to happen. I don't even know where it takes place exactly. The dragonets apparently see the battlefield while following the river from the SkyWing palace entering the mud kingdom from the north. And the ice kingdom and Blaze are far in the northwest.
I just have no idea why they chose to invade the place peasants are born instead of going after the MudWing palace. Not only does it not make much sense, but if the SkyWings did actually send reinforcements, they would arrive behind them.

Also, the dragon that got turned into a pincushion was Icicle, who is now dead.

Chapter 13: Shattering Destiny

Summary:

An interaction that shatters destiny into pieces

Notes:

This took so long to finish, I planned to do way more in this chapter but I figured I took long enough.
I'm not very confident in the dialogue and personality matching well with the characters, especially since when I'm reading the source material it's going in and leaving my head just as fast.
I'm pretty much reading the books as I go, and skimming at that, mainly to supplement the wiki's plot summary.

I can't handle actually reading the series normally because I literally feel sick from how stupid it gets when humans are mentioned.

My best guess was that these dragons were travelers of some sort.

In that case I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to introduce them to the changes before they hear it in a worse light.

 

I nudge Gale to get closer and he gets all antsy about it, forcing me to insist.

Gale whines at me under his breath and ambles over to the dragons slowly, only getting more sensitive when they start mentioning me.

 

“Do scavengers make good pets?” Clay directly pushed his patience.

 

Gale hissed at him as soon as it happened.

“Watch who you’re calling a pet, mud-brain.”

 

“But who did I-”

 

“ME, stupid!” I shout uncomfortably. I hate this language so much for how many growls and deep noises I have to make.

They looked about to fall backwards after hearing me, and I was ready to think I had to reiterate it to make sure they heard it properly.

 

“Talking scavengers?!” They trill. The other MudWings were eyeing them—also surprised at my talking, but they weren’t as surprised that it was possible, just that they were witnessing it themselves.

 

“Yes. I talk. Get over it.” I scoff at them.

 

Clay looks at the ground intently as if there was something behind it to look at, before mumbling something silently.

“I’m glad.”

 

Glory looks aghast after catching that utterance. “Glad for what? Didn’t you once say that you’d r-”

 

“I didn’t! And I even saved one instead!” Clay quickly shushed her with an indignant swipe.

 

“Let’s find your family first, then figure out what to do after.” Glory pulled him away and Gale looked relieved at their departure. I know he thinks they were suspicious as well.

 

On the way back, we caught a SandWing with a missing ear and some teeth confronting a pair of MudWings in the center of the MudWing village, giving them an almost permanent scowl.

“You sure?” he said. “There’ll be four of them. A MudWing, a RainWing, a SeaWing, and a kind of SandWing-looking thing.”

 

“I assure you we would have noticed a SeaWing, a RainWing, or a … ‘SandWing-looking thing’ strolling through our sleephouses.” One of the MudWings replied.

 

“Well,” The SandWing said with a snort, “if you do spot them, let Queen Burn know right away.”

 

Who the hell is Burn? Now those two are really suspicious. They definitely know something.

“Hey, let’s go. We have to report this.” I guide Gale to go get Ashwind. He would probably know what to do.

 

As expected, he already knew about Burn, probably from the MudWing queen.

 

Ashwind snorts at the information before moving past us.

“We should go find them first. Lead the way, since you know where they came from.”

 

It wasn’t until we were back to the cliffside battlefield that I realized my mistake.

I shouldn’t have let Gale come back to see this. I couldn’t see it as clearly yet from here, but...

“Gale, don’t look.”

 

“Don’t try that. I’m not bothered by what I’m seeing. It’s what I could be seeing.” Gale rumbles.

 

“Well you’re not seeing things that could have been, this is how things are.”

 

“I just sat there and did nothing while that monster took away Grace’s future, and then almost took yours too.”

 

“Then start putting more effort into practicing. Being a simple guard is no longer on the table for us.” I exclaim.

 

“There!” Ashwind declares and stares at a group of five dragons lingering on the edge of the cold battlefield.

 

We landed right behind them before they could finish whatever conversation they were having.

 

“Are those the dragons you were talking about?” The smallest, golden dragon says, pointing past the rest at us. “They look like NightWings. Sort of.”

She had brightly yellow scales and lacked a barb that all the other SandWings seemed to have.

 

“Oh, I forgot to mention the talking scavenger.” Clay started.

 

“Ta-”

 

“Yes, I TALK!” I interrupt with a grating shout. Every single dragon responds the same way, I don’t even have to wait to know the stupid question they were going to ask

How many times am I going to have to say ‘yes, I talk’?

 

Aside from the two that already knew that, there was a brilliant blue dragon, the bright gold one, and a black dragon with glints of purple.

I thought the black dragon looked rather mesmerizing considering his wings looked like stars. I suppose the name NightWing didn’t just refer to the black scales.

 

Ashwind was far from mesmerized, and he was staring at the NightWing—what I assume must be a NightWing—with unbridled hatred. They haven’t even done anything yet, so I don’t really get it, and I can only really hope he keeps that under control.

 

But just when I thought this would go smoothly and there wouldn’t be any problems, the blue one just had to say something unpleasant.

“So what? Those greedy little creatures are what started this in the first place! Isn’t it worse if they could think. That they could have just NOT started the war?!”

 

Glory snapped her head over to the blue dragon incredulously.

“So they steal some treasure, big deal. If a murderous queen was chasing me, are you going to tell me I should just die instead of fighting back?” She sassed. “Wait, we are being chased by a murderous queen.”

 

“Nope, nope, there’s no way she survived that. Most of us saw your venom hit, right?” Clay said with a placating gesture.

 

The NightWing was frozen in thought, or maybe a tinge of dread for a few seconds before finally coming up with something to say—so delayed that it didn’t apply to the standing question.

“But what if—maybe they are just really smart instead of sentient... They can be intelligent without feelings, right?”

 

What kind of nonsensical attempt at an excuse is that?! The smart ones are the scariest, coming up with somewhat logical bullshit such as that!

 

“I don’t know. Does anger count as a ‘feeling’? Because after hearing that question I’m feeling quite pissed off, you know!” I remark with snarky irritation.

 

Gale snorts happily at my effective dismantling of their ignorant thoughts, or just plain denial.

I’m just happy I can distract him. Maybe I can keep it going.

 

“Also, I knew you had to be too pretty to be a MudWing.” I point to Glory’s more colorful and vibrant form. Her shape was the same, making it easy to recognize.

 

“That’s what I said.” Clay adds. “Wait. Did the scavenger call me ugly?”

 

It worked too well, and made all of them laugh at him as he wrinkles his snout in offense.

 

“Are you going to introduce yourselves or not?” Gale changes the subject to something more pragmatic.

 

Now they shift around uncomfortably for a while and I guess they were arguing over what to say.

“We’re the Dragonets of Destiny.” The small golden dragon says on her own.

 

“The MudWings are allied with Burn, why’d you say that!” The NightWing and blue dragon hiss similar complaints in response.

 

The gold dragon looks away shyly at their scrutiny and mutters “They would find out soon enough, anyway.”

 

“We don’t know what being ‘Dragonets of Destiny’ is supposed to mean either.” Gale scratched under his snout as he asked the question.

 

The group stares in astonishment as if it was something everyone was supposed to know about.

Then they start going on about prophecy and war and how they’re supposed to end it.

 

“If you’re not going to turn us over to Burn, then why don’t you help us bring peace?” The NightWing says.

 

Gale didn’t look bright or brave enough to take the initiative to give an answer, and it wasn’t really my authority to commit to anything either.

 

“Maybe if that peace extended to scavengers we might care.” It was the most vague answer I could come up with.

 

“Of course! No dragons would eat them after they learn you can talk!” The gold dragon seems to be the most naively idealistic of the bunch. Nothing is ever that simple.

The other dragons know that too, they just don’t want to ruin the chance of getting help.

 

After translating what they wanted to Ashwind, I was fully expecting a stern no from how he’s glaring at them. But he can still think ahead, so I guess that went into his actual answer.

 

“He said we will, but that you better make sure each ‘tribe’ ends their torment of scavengers or they’ll, and I quote: ‘have bigger problems than a mere succession war’.” I translate.

 

“We can do that! Can’t we?” Clay beams at the rest which are just as skeptical as I am. They can’t promise anything, they’re literally just dragonets that’ve barely matured. What are they expected to do?

 

“I don’t think we can promise anything for the other tribes, but Tsunami can definitely get the SeaWings on board, being their lost princess and all.” The NightWing says.

 

“That’s if my mother doesn’t turn out to be like Cattail — no offense, Clay.” The blue dragon—Tsunami grumbles with a twitchy tail as if it was a very real possibility.

 

“Then it’s settled.” I try to slide to the ground, but Gale barricades me with his head.

 

“No. Stay by me.” He commands with a bossy, overprotective tone

 

“Get out of my way, noodle-neck. I can take care of myself.” I order back and slip through anyway.

 

“Clay. Glory. Tsunami.’ I point and match the names to each of them. “It’s just you two left to exchange names. Ah, I almost forgot... I’m Field, this is Gale, and the grumpy angry dragon is Commander Ashwind. Now it can be called an exchange.”

 

“I’m Starflight, and-”

 

“Mine is Sunny!” The SandWing interrupts, revealing a more bubbly personality.

 

I was confident the dragons here weren’t completely irredeemable. Even after that last battle, there had to be good somewhere, even if it will take effort to fix it to a level comparable to home.

Gale was only focused on the bad that hasn’t been revealed yet. Considering I’m basically the only representation humans of this continent have, I can’t be going around hiding behind Gale all the time.

 

Nor can I let him go around hissing at every other dragon to keep them away.

 

With the introductions out of the way, I wave them to follow us back to the beach.

It’s only thanks to the MudWings making at least some effort to change that these dragonets are able to even have a chance.

 

The dragonets were faced with suspicious glares and protectively covering humans. Gale isn’t the only one that knows what happened to Grace or how quickly.

Subcommander Eno was a lot braver in that regard, even after narrowly escaping the same fate.

 

“Field, come over here. I have something else for you.” He calls me over.

 

I wonder what he has to give me this time. The bow I got is already incredible.

 

“Take these. They should be able to knock out dragons in a few seconds depending on where you hit.” He holds out a bundle of arrows, but these arrows have somewhat large darts attached onto the tips.

 

“These things definitely won’t lock into my quiver securely.” I observe.

 

“It’s better than having to survive a dragon that doesn’t want to die quickly.” Eno retorts.

 

That much was true.

Regardless, I looked back at the five out of place dragons shrinking under the scrutiny of a beach full of IllusionWings.

 

It wasn’t nearly as bad when Ashwind finally moved away and stopped focusing on Starflight.

He really hated looking at him more than any MudWing, of which even he was being more tolerant of.

 

“The Sea Kingdom must be beyond that island.” Starflight says obviously.

 

“Let’s get this over with.” I declare on the way back to Gale, who is currently examining a pair of crossbows someone gave him and sparkling with the feel of something new.

Knowing we were probably going over our island, they wanted to make sure he dealt with them quickly if they tried anything.

Chapter 14: Bridging a Divide

Summary:

Sunny gets to shine. Sort of.

Clay, Glory, Sunny, Tsunami and Starflight flew behind Gale and the scavenger for the half-day it took to reach the island floating between them and the Kingdom of the Sea.

 

“What is that? What are they doing?” Sunny points down at the fields below, brown dirt with repeating patterns of lines and mounded soil.

On the edge of the field was another IllusionWing and scavenger on the ground rooting around in the dirt.

 

“I think I’ve read about this! They must be growing vegetables!” Starflight drones on and starts spilling more information than any of them wanted. “I don’t think any dragon has ever done as much as this! Just look at the scale!”

 

Sunny strained to better see the dragon and scavenger on the field, watching as the dragon craned down for the scavenger to start touching and wrapping its little arms around their neck.

“Oh my moons, look at that! It’s a little scavenger hug! I want one!” She exploded and almost squeaked in the middle of the sentence. “We need to make Pyrrhia like that!”

 

“Stopping a single war is already more than we can handle!” Tsunami huffed, imagining her as a little sister jumping up and down wanting something she couldn’t have. “Pyrrhian scavengers probably just want our treasure anyway. Why else would they die to get it?”

 

“Well, that’s just rude to say. Since they make dens–I mean cities, they can’t all be the same.” Clay replies to the agreement of the other dragonets.

“Oh, look! They have cows!” He suddenly points down at a grouping of cows trapped behind fences, staring at them longingly. Glory snorts at his lack of attention span, and that he cares more about food than being reminded his mother had sold him for a couple of cows.

 

“Those aren’t yours!” Gale snaps his head around to ensure Clay didn’t get any ideas.

Sunny could almost see Clay pouting as the juicy cows faded into the distance.

 

The silence was brutal as they flew over fields. No one wanted to say the wrong thing in the middle of their territory.

Eventually something that wasn’t just dirt and flat ground appeared at the edge of their vision.

 

“It’s– it’s a city!” Starflight announced as very tiny structures became visible enough to make out amidst the flat plains.

Now he really wanted to write his own scrolls.

‘Do all scavengers build like this? Why do the scrolls say they dug holes or built with sticks?’

 

He wanted to get closer and study everything about it, but they were forced to land far before they actually reached the border of that small city.

From this closer distance, it was more clear that while the structures were very teeny, they were spaced out just enough for dragons to squeeze through.

 

“Are we stopping to rest? At the very least I would expect a city to have food, so why are we stopping here?” Glory questioned on behalf of the dragonets, especially Clay.

 

“Do you think you’d be let into a city after what those MudWings did?” Gale answers.

“Don’t say ‘but it was just a few specific MudWings’ because they don’t care.” He continued while pointing over at the city and dragons flying their way.

 

The dragonets said nothing and didn’t plan to say something like that in the first place because they didn’t even know what they did, just that they did something.

Clay explained what his siblings told him, but they weren’t there personally when the queen addressed them, meaning they only knew the version passed around verbally and likely missed some of the details.

 

The only thing they all agreed on was that they weren’t sure if they wanted to know.

It wasn’t hard to guess, though.

 

Without delay, four dragons with varying patterns crash down in front of them and quickly advance with a clear threat.

They only stopped because of Gale and Field saying something unintelligible to them, and even that didn’t end their snarling.

 

“What did we do?” Glory complains.

 

“Nothing. Yet.” Gale responds. “That’s why you’re going to stay right here until we come back.”

 

Then, he disappears with Field into the city before any of them get the chance to protest or gripe.

Suddenly the atmosphere is extremely tense, and it feels natural to stiffen in front of the unpleasant gazes.

 

Tsunami is the first to dare make any sound.

“This is crazy. They’re sitting us here and keeping us under watch like some disasters waiting to break loose.” She grumbled.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe we are?” Clay said with acceptance, laying down and trying to be patient.

 

“They conquered your home! Look how they already think of us! How do you think that’s going to work out for the MudWings?! Didn’t you say one of your siblings died to them? Shouldn’t you be angry right now?!” Tsunami rants at the lazing dragon that she considers way too accepting of all of this.

 

“Well, they said Sora wasn’t taking it very well, but I didn’t know her personally. It sounds like the MudWings started it, anyway, so.. If not making a big deal about it can help then I can at least do that.” Clay shrugged at the implication he should be more angry.

 

“Tsunami does have a point though-” Glory starts before Sunny interrupts with a flare.

 

“Why doesn’t everyone just calm down! Maybe if we all behave they’ll let us in next time!” Sunny tries to be scolding and has no luck sounding stern with her smaller stature.

“I’m sure it’s just a matter of understanding!”

 

As if to prove it, she tried to step closer to the four dragons clearly tasked with watching them.

“Hello.”

 

No response.

They just ignored her completely and kept making very undragonlike noises at each other.

‘That’s okay, maybe these dragons just have a different language.’

 

Sunny tried to give them a little wave, but there didn’t seem to be any progress.

 

After a few moments of trying, she thought the glance she earned finally meant something.

Suddenly, she feels something hit her head and scales.

 

One of the dragons had reached down and thrown a pile of dirt at her instead, before sauntering off with disinterest.

She was so shocked by the unexpected outcome that she just froze with the same expression while processing the feeling of dirt grains tumbling down her scales.

 

“Hey!” Tsunami flared at the already long gone dragons that were too far away now to care about her outburst.

Even Clay was forced to his feet by the insult and subsequent dejection served to Sunny.

 

Sunny shook off the dirt and sat down silently until they could finally see Gale returning.

 

The four dragons were visibly relieved to not have to continue watching them anymore, almost irritatingly so in front of the dragonets.

 

“Alright, this is what you get for food. Obviously it’s the cheap stuff, but if you complain about it then you weren’t hungry in the first place.” Gale dumps a block of oily mush in front of each of them.

 

“Food?!” Clay perks up, only to be met face to face with the brick of mush. “What is this? No meat? Is it even really food?”

 

“Do you think we have an entire continent full of cows and pigs running around on this island? Of course there’s no meat, I said CHEAP!” Gale chides.

 

Clay grumbled and hesitated to try it, but it exploded with new flavors when he bit into the soft cube.

“What is this? Why do vegetables taste so good?!”

 

Gale didn’t bother to explain the depths of seasoning to them since all of them were about to repeat the same question again anyway. He started wondering if they ever even bothered to put salt on anything, instead.

‘They act like they were stuck in a cave their whole life.’

 

The blocks of mashed vegetables were designed to fill quickly, and Field especially only needed a small little slice off the end to be satisfied.

The reddening horizon marked the time to get some sleep.

 

But Sunny wasn’t ready to give up yet; there had to be a way to find common ground.

She didn’t want this awkward barrier to stand forever. There was just one problem.

How does she even start? Her friends weren’t even confident in her at all.

 

Sunny then had the idea that maybe Field would be easier to work with.

 

What did scavengers like?

She had no idea what to say to a scavenger to get them to like her.

The only thing she could see was that the scavenger really loved the stick she was holding.

Or maybe it was closer to a stick with a string tied to both ends?

 

“Hello.” Sunny hoped for more than being covered in dirt again. “What’s that you’re holding?”

 

“I never found any word for this when learning your language. It’s called a bow.” Field answered.

 

“Like bowing to someone?” Sunny excitedly asked again, proud to get an engaging response.

 

“No, but it sounds the same in our language too, so I just chose the word based on that.” Field continued.

 

Gale didn’t look comfortable with Sunny being close to Field, but Field fanned him away and he chose to add to the conversation instead.

“The gesture and the weapon both got their names from the same root, which meant ‘to bend’. You have to bend your body to bow, and a bow bends as part of its function.”

 

“You really wasted too much of your time on language.” Field mutters.

 

“Weapon?” Sunny asks incredulously.

It was hard to believe, but she didn’t want to destroy the progress she just made with an insult. How could a stick and string be a weapon?

 

She saw Field laugh—at least Sunny thought that might be a laugh, or maybe a smile was different for a scavenger.

Then she said something to Gale and he started snorting and holding back too.

 

Sunny wasn’t feeling good about that kind of laughing.

 

“Put this on your head and stay still.” Field instructs and throws a red ball at her which she manages to catch.

 

“Is this an apple? Why is it so small?” Sunny mumbles and does as told, even though it feels dumb.

 

Sunny watches Field raise her ‘bow’ and pull out another stick, and then the second stick comes flying and impales the small apple before she even had a chance to blink.

Everyone is stunned by the apple with a small stick protruding through it.

 

“What if that hit Sunny?!” Clay exclaims loudly.

It reminded all of them of a certain something, but they all chose not to say anything about it.

 

“I’ve hit much harder targets than that. If I wasn’t consistent then I wouldn’t be here right now.” Field replied casually without even a flinch and turned to look at the setting sun. “We should be able to make it across the island in a few days or less. Make sure you get enough sleep. There’s no room for being tired if you plan to stop a war.”

Notes:

I'm not sure how well I'm capturing the personalities the dragonets are supposed to have, but if I'm doing it wrong then there's no real coming back from this...
I think my own pattern of speech seeps into all the characters I write and I can't really avoid it.

Chapter 15: A Record of the Past

Summary:

LOOOOOOOOORE

Notes:

Jesus this is a huge chapter. A whole 9k words and I was rushing too.
Yeah, I really should have saved this for way later in the story, but I wanted to write this so bad and I'm not very patient so I couldn't stand waiting for that long.
I basically could have turned this into a whole story arc if I waited but I didn't.

I woke up early to get the day started. Birds were chirping and a salty scent filled the air.

The less stops we had to make, the better. It would be accurate to say the ‘Dragonets of Destiny’ as they call themselves would be hated no matter where we went on the island.

 

But the SandWing was likable. Sunny was a little shorter than Gale, and I guess the happy playful mood could be considered similar to his—or at least his normal state.

The difference was that it was mostly born from being a naive innocent idealist.

 

It was the worst choice to expect anything war related from.

The fall from idealist to realist was slated to be long and riddled with thorns.

 

Making Gale wake up is easy. It takes a few hits to the head, but it’s consistent.

 

“You’re so mean. The sun isn’t even fully out yet.” Gale moans.

 

“I want to get this over with quickly. No time for all that slumbering!” I exclaimed and moved under him so he couldn’t go back to laying down. “Are you a dragon or a lazy lizard?”

 

He mumbles and complains while I walk over to deliver the same awakening to the dragonets.

 

“I’m not letting you near that nasty bitter SeaWing.” He snaps back to focus and forces me back.

 

“You get too hung up on first impressions. At least be nicer to that one. Sunny seems more pleasant than the rest.” I say while pointing to the sun-yellow dragon.

 

“Why do you think you have to do everything? I’m still not letting you. I’ll do it.” Gale states stubbornly and goes to yell at them to wake up.

That works much faster than my plan to hit them until they do.

 

They aren’t even that disgruntled about it either, more like being forced awake was a common thing.

Without having to deal with more complaints, it was easy to get back on course before the sky even started turning blue.

 

Most of the ground below was occupied with farms, simply because it took a lot to feed an island full of dragons.

Humans barely needed a fraction compared to how much of it had to go toward feeding the dragons. And there had to be rules emplaced to protect the fragile ecosystem, otherwise there wouldn’t be any animals left.

 

After a few hours, the edge of the island was almost visible, and with it, one last city before open waters.

This one had countably more dragons guarding it than the previous one.

 

We aren’t stopping at this one, and we pass right over it. Gale was likely the only reason we weren’t being intercepted.

I didn’t think we would be able to pass without some big explaining to do, so that was a plus. That doesn’t mean we weren’t being watched closely, though.

 

Now we just had to find this so-called Sea Kingdom.

There was something uncomfortable about flying over an ocean. Some islands were small, others were larger, but all varied in their vegetation and geography.

 

The islands weren’t anything special. At least, not until one was .

Almost right as our home island left our view...

 

“Woah, what’s that? Is that the Summer Palace?” Clay announces as he spots the island homing a palace that appears very pragmatically built.

 

“We haven’t even gone very far yet, that can’t be it.” Starflight answers.

 

“There’s only one way to find out!” Gale trills and dives straight for the island.

 

I cling tighter to withstand the wind and gravity, then hit his neck as hard as I can.

“You idiot! Stop that before I fall off!”

 

“You’re strong enough to hold on, don’t give me that...” Gale grumbles.

 

I looked up at the palace built onto the island.

It was built with smooth, precise blocks and carved pillars.

 

“This doesn’t look like a SeaWing palace.” Tsunami mumbles almost disappointedly.

 

“How would you know when you’ve never even seen one yet?” Glory interrupts.

 

“I think I’d know.” Tsunami huffs as we get closer to the entrance.

 

It felt more like a temple than a palace, maybe even a shrine.

 

The entrance to the structure was large enough for dragons to fit through, and despite my expectations, the interior was somewhat lit.

Light poured in from holes in the ceiling, some even showing the sky, yet from outside it didn’t look like it was possible for the sky to be visible from where they were placed.

 

Usually if you build something this grand, you would at least put some decorations, but no, it was barren. Just plain stone walls and an indentation in the wall that looked like someone forgot to put a sign up.

The ground wasn’t as neatly tiled as the walls and ceiling, it was more like big cobblestone.

 

I was starting to fall behind Gale because of my observation, and I had to speed up.

The palace or whatever I should call it, didn’t seem to be built with the idea of having many rooms in mind. If anything it was built as if it was just a single corridor from start to finish.

 

Gale is walking so strangely like he was trying to avoid specific stones in the way and it just looks wacky and stupid. I wonder if he’s come up with some kind of game that he’s decided to keep to himself.

He probably decided not to tell me about it because I’d win...

 

We continued in silence, as there wasn’t really much to say. It’s not like there were paintings to admire.

The best we got was an occasional carving. Not of a dragon or anything interesting, just random carvings of environments.

 

As I keep walking, eventually I step on a stone loose enough to sink further into the floor with a click.

The surprise of a sinking tile puts me on edge immediately, and as soon as I hear a further clink from above I jump back just in time for a huge spear to impale the ground where I was.

 

I’m so thankful for my reaction speed...

 

Click.

 

Fuck. I wasn’t in a good position to change direction, and I was right in the middle of it with no time to keep moving backward to pass it.

I could only hope it missed now. It’s already taken longer to trigger than the first trap has.

 

The next instant I felt a burning sensation and a force throwing me back, and my first thought was that I got hit. I barely even got a short cry out before feeling out of breath.

 

When I opened my eyes again I was looking at the spear lodged not through me, but stuck in the ground.

Instead, I was in the air being partially crushed by a yellow talon.

 

Now I can see that Sunny grabbed me before it activated, or in other words that I got lucky.

 

Gale looks back at the commotion and pieces together what happened, thankfully, but Sunny gets a venomous glare until she puts me down and I’m able to breathe freely again.

 

Sunny looks unbothered by the glare and instead stares down at me gasping.

“Did I crush you? I’m sorry! I did it so fast I didn’t think about it!” She squeaks frightfully. “Please be okay...”

 

“I’m fine. Thank you for that.” I rasp appreciatively for my faith in them being affirmed.

 

Gale speeds over and starts prodding me to check whether I’m faking being fine.

“Stop poking, I’m really fine. Didn’t I tell you to be nicer to Sunny? Now you can see why.”

 

“Just Sunny.” Gale snorts distrustfully.

Sunny was a little bit shorter than Gale, so I guess he figures he can easily overpower her if needed. She didn’t even have the tail barb the other SandWings did.

 

“Why did you trigger the traps anyway? Did you not see the sign telling you to avoid the red tiles?” Gale says mysteriously.

 

“What sign? What red tiles? None of them are red, and there was no sign.” I replied.

 

“There was, for me. I can see the red tiles.” He inflates while foreseeing himself being more useful.

 

“I’m not even going to question it, just lead the way and trigger the traps before we go over them.” I sigh.

 

Gale triggered the traps while the rest of us followed closely, except for Clay who barely fit through the hall.

 

After a minute or two of walking, the corridor finally opened into a larger room.

 

“What is this?” Starflight questions first.

 

“It’s a library.” I answer.

 

“A library without scrolls?” Starflight says in a way that suggests they didn’t even know what books were.

 

Scrolls? They still use scrolls?!

“No, these are much more useful than simple scrolls. I guess you could call them hard scrolls, or layered scrolls since you probably don’t have a word for them.”

I didn’t even know how I was supposed to explain what a book was without a word for it.

 

“Does that mean—a dragon didn’t write any of this?” He asks.

 

“Maybe or maybe not, of course IllusionWings know how to make them too.”

But how would they have gotten to this island and had time to build all this?

 

“I want to read all of it!” He declares passionately. “What kind of stuff did they write about? What technology and information did they have?!”

 

The books were all in the written language we used all the time. Some were small, while others were made big enough for dragons to read.

As for the subjects, it was filled with illustrations of old or lost technology, and I even picked up a few biographies of people long gone.

 

The most eye-catching book was undoubtedly the one resting on a pedestal in the center of the room.

I wonder what could be so important about a book to put it on a literal pedestal.

 

“Hey, I can read this one!” Starflight says with a lighter tone. “The title... ‘An Analysis of Animus Magic’”

 

“Wha.. like the myths? That kind of Animus?” Clay exclaims and tries to peek over Starflight’s shoulders to see the book.

 

“I-I think so, yeah. It says it’s an ‘analysis’, and even claims to be the work of someone named Viperess.”

 

“Does that mean Animus is real?!” Clay continues.

 

Animus? Why do they know what it’s talking about?

Whatever, that can wait.

 

The end of the room had a door that only a human could fit through.

It was special both in size and how the designer of this place finally decided to add some decoration by carving a portrait of a dragon above the door.

 

“Where are you going? What if there’s danger in there?!” Gale sees me trying to go ahead.

 

“Then I’ll escape just fine. Now stop grabbing me, I don’t need you hovering over me.” I grouch irritably at him and dodge through the smaller door.

 

“You had to be saved by that yellow dragon last time. I don’t need you dying and then leaving me all alone!” He pouts and tries to reach in after me, but I move inside to get out of his reach.

 

The next room was a completely desolate, oval shaped room, save for a single pedestal in the center with a glass orb sat atop it. A couple duplicates of it waited patiently on the edges of the room.

 

I approached closer until eventually, I could read the plaque below the orb.

It read: “Break the orb to trigger the Animus recording.”

 

Recording? Still, what the hell is ‘Animus’?

I guess there was only one way to find out.

 

I took aim with my bow and shot a single arrow straight through the orb.

The glass shatters with a loud break, and I’m left in shock as the surroundings shimmer and distort into a completely different scene.

---

Five thousand years prior...

Sunflare had finally found a large enough landmass for his tribe to live. Perhaps it was even the land where one of his parents had supposedly come from.

The long, exhausting flight didn’t make it easy to convince the others it was worth it.

 

He was aware he was a hybrid, yet he didn’t face much scorn. He couldn’t tell if it was just his status as a prince or if they really didn’t care.

But he wasn’t allowed to have hatchlings because of it, and that was fine, he thought. He just wished he didn’t feel out of place or avoided, especially if he was expected to ever lead in the future.

They would interact with him when they had to, and that was the extent of it.

 

His scales were pure white, with no black patterning to be found.

He didn’t think being a hybrid had anything to do with that, though. It was just rare.

The shape of his body was closer to his foreign parent, but he didn’t inherit their fantastical colors.

 

He’d quickly found an isolated assortment of boulders near a stream where he could be alone. He revisited that spot often, until one day he finally saw a dragon like his father.

He followed the splotch of green and yellow all the way to a cave.

 

He wondered what to do and how to introduce himself even. What if they had different languages? Or more accurately, why did he think they wouldn’t have different languages?

Yet somehow, they didn’t.

 

“Why are you following me?!” A hostile voice hissed. “What kind of dragon even are you?!!”

 

“I just want to make friends, that’s it!” Sunflare insisted, finally noticing it was a female.

 

“You still didn’t answer the second question.”

 

“I don’t know what to say to that.” He mumbled.

 

“Then go away, I’m busy studying magic.” The dragon gestured him away scornfully.

 

“Magic? Like this?” Sunflare said while creating a duplicate illusion of her form.

This was just a common ability, it didn’t sound very worthwhile to waste time studying it.

 

“So you’re an Animus?” She asked.

 

“What’s an Animus?”

 

“Oh my... You’re hopeless.” She sighed and pointed to a big rock. “Like this. I enchant this rock to transform into a statue of the dragon in front of me. ”

As commanded, the rock immediately turns itself into a perfect rendition of Sunflare in his current pose.

 

“Woah! Is that real?! I can even touch it! How?!” Sunflare touched and moved the statue around in shock. It wasn’t an illusion!

Then something else hit him, maybe he finally found an answer to his own powers being different from the others of his kind.

He’s noticed that if he really tried, he could make his illusions become real. But every time, it made him feel like he was losing something, or slowly filling up with something uncomfortable.

 

“Yes, it’s real. But normally you wouldn’t find any other dragon wasting their power on something as frivolous as that. Most of them believe it uses up their soul.” She said. “I’m Viperess, and it would be nice to have someone to remember what I can’t, and a test subject. I don’t want my work to disappear after I’m gone.”

 

Sunflare wanted to bounce up and down to celebrate.

He found his first friend that didn’t care about his status or traits.

All he had to do was learn as much as he could about this ‘Animus’ magic. Sunflare was confident in his memory, so it should be easy!

 

He sat down ready to learn anything.

 

“The most important thing to remember is not to overuse it. I don’t think it uses up souls, but abusing it leads to consequences that might look similar. It also takes a while to recover enough to use it safely again.” Viperess started the basic lesson, which Sunflare committed to memorizing even if he could never use it himself. “Any Animus that abuses their power too often eventually loses their mind and starts casting bigger and bigger spells, until eventually, they die from it.”

 

He was able to be of use with his own magic, as well. Being a test subject was fun, actually.

Especially since Viperess seemed quite pleased with whatever the results happened to be.

 

Sunflare thought it must be so amazing to make anything you want just by saying it, but it seems that it has to be very specific.

When he made an illusion of himself, any spell she made using pronouns would affect the illusion instead of him, unless she specifically mentioned his name or something similarly identifying.

 

Despite how powerful it seems, the magic is at its core just enchanting objects. She explained that you could create a spell even by thinking it, but verbalizing it in words is what gives the spell more strength.

And at that, while you can create a spell by wishing for it out loud or just commanding a target to do something, using ‘I enchant’ to start the spell is the most accurate and therefore most effective way to create a spell—as trialed by many other animus dragons across history, though mostly verbally passed down as common knowledge.

It was also much easier to use spells that forced something to happen that was technically possible to occur naturally.

 

According to her, there was also no such thing as a ‘rule’ of Animus.

You can’t revive the dead because nothing in existence has enough power to do that. Nothing happens if you try, which in itself is a spell some dragon long ago casted since dragons would die themselves from even trying it whether they were even aware they did so or not.

You can reanimate their corpse, or attempt to clone them, but what you get back would be a puppet or extension of your own will at best.

 

Of course, there were dragons that claimed they succeeded in the past according to Viperess, but the explanation was as simple as concluding there were no problems ‘bringing back the dead’ as long as it was done quickly after it happened.

Viperess didn’t like the oversimplified easy to digest explanation of a soul, but saying the soul left the body after a few minutes was currently the only good reasoning she had.

 

The main purpose of a friend was to listen, but Sunflare was starting to get bored learning about something he can’t use. Even if it gave him ideas on his own powers being some strange mix of his kind’s natural illusion magic and this seemingly more omnipotent power.

 

He promised Viperess to return tomorrow and left for his favorite spot.

Something was off this time, though.

 

As he settled by a large rock he could hear something viciously squeaking at him.

He looked down to see an utterly bizarre creature that seemed stuck in place with its feeble limbs stuck together.

It was rabidly shrieking at him and the surroundings.

 

He wasn’t sure what to do. This must be some strange animal native to this area, and they’re so loud!

Rather annoyed, he decides to get a taste of the new animal, which doesn’t quiet down until it’s finally bitten into two pieces.

‘I guess it doesn’t taste bad.’

 

He made sure not to let it go to waste before cleaning up for the next day.

 

...

 

Sunflare repeated the same routine every day, gradually growing closer with Viperess.

He didn’t even visit his own tribe to spend more time there, he was enjoying it too much.

 

That’s how he spent a whole month of time.

Things went on uninterrupted, until it happened again.

 

Yet another one of those skinny, squeaky things was stuck next to his spot.

He grumbled and started considering just doing the same as last time, but this one wasn’t as rabid as the first.

This one was calmer and had a sheen of wetness on its face.

 

There was water right there it must have fallen in, there was no way they could cry!

Then it dropped something shiny on the ground behind it.

 

Sunflare picked it up and looked at it just long enough to see that it was metal. And that it was sharpened metal too.

There was also no way an animal would know what to do with metal, even dragons were trying to figure out a good use for it!

 

He put the metal object in one of its tiny paws and watched as it cut through whatever was keeping it stuck there, yet it just froze in place and stared, shaking a little.

It was so obvious that it was thinking about his actions, but now he was thinking of that first one he...

 

‘Does Viperess know? Will she hate me if she finds out? Maybe I should hate me.’

Sunflare also cried along with the tiny thing as he started imagining being the little creature he recently snacked on.

 

Instead of running away like it probably should have, it gaped its little mouth at his teary snout and edged closer to give it a touch.

After that, it didn’t leave him alone. Not even the others listened to him when he tried to tell them this tiny little thing had thoughts.

He started spending the rest of his time teaching and learning language.

 

He knew it was possible from the moment it tried to repeat a word back.

 

...

 

It took a few years before they were both fluent in the other’s language. The others of his tribe couldn’t deny it after he showed them she could talk.

She explained that her village sacrificed her after being framed for something he didn’t fully comprehend. He never pushed to learn more because he was afraid the first human he saw would come up.

 

Marley became special enough that he was afraid she would get angry and leave forever if she found out.

Now that she could communicate freely, he thought it was a good idea to bring her with him to meet Viperess too.

 

Sunflare placed Marley down in the cave just as Viperess came expecting to see him.

 

“Is that a human? Why did you bring one of those?” She questioned right away.

 

“My name is Marley!” The human shouted.

 

Viperess didn’t look as surprised as Sunflare hoped. Maybe she already knew about them, and he could lose both of them at once if that time came up now, he just couldn’t forget about it. This could have been a mistake.

 

“Okay, let’s continue as usual, then.” She said while ignoring the human. “I just wish I had something better than your memory to record this with.”

 

Marley flails her arms angrily after being ignored.

“Why don’t you just write it down?!”

 

“Like drawing pictures? I need to store detailed information, not diagrams.” Viperess scoffed.

 

“You don’t have written language?” Marley exclaimed. “Then I can teach you or write whatever you want!”

 

Viperess huffs in consideration for a minute before accepting it.

“I guess I can enchant it to be decipherable by anyone later. You’re going to have a lot of work to do, don’t complain later if you can’t handle it, tiny.”

 

Now Sunflare was just a test subject. He was happy as long as they wanted him around.

But now that there weren't constraints of what he could memorize, they were starting to go over even more complicated topics like ‘enchantment decay’.

 

Eventually Marley started spending more time with Viperess than he did, and then he started feeling isolated again.

He jealously watched them chittering and decided to leave early to go see how his tribe was doing, something he normally didn’t care about more than his actual friends.

 

As he sauntered into the gathering of dragons like himself, he was unsettled with the uncanny amount of attention he’s getting this time.

“Prince Sunflare! The queen passed away yesterday!”

 

His heart sank when he realized why all the attention was on him.

The only other queen candidates were all carefree and uneducated since they didn’t care despite having chances to improve.

Even though a queen would be preferred, they’d rather make him a king than put a bratty dragonet in the position.

 

Sunflare didn’t want this kind of attention—all of it was only brought by responsibility and lasted just as briefly.

It was a prison of being alone even while surrounded by dragons.

 

She’s been sick for ages, why did it have to be now?

He hoped they would have a better choice in mind, but...

 

“King Sunflare!” They chant at him without his consent.

 

“I’ll have to think about it!” He snaps and runs away, back to the cave where his real friends reside.

On the way, he thought that maybe he never had to go back. They could make do with a brat on this food-enriched continent.

 

In the end, he returned to the cave no better, or even worse than he left.

 

“There you are. You’re late for your hybrid power practice.” Viperess scorned.

 

“That’s fine, there’s still time left.” He replied soullessly

 

“Are you sad?” Marley squeaked at him.

 

Sunflare didn’t want his relationships to be fragile temporary ones. He was enjoying the past years too much to realize that’s what he’s been building.

“There’s something I never told you.”

 

“And what would that be?”

 

“What I did to the first human...” He looked away to miss the inevitable reaction.

 

“Are you a dumb dragon? You didn’t think I knew that? How could I not know?” Marley fussed. “They were an actual twisted criminal, so it’s fine. You could tell the difference, that makes you good!”

 

“I didn’t even tell you yet! That doesn’t make it okay, even if they were going to die anyway. Viperess probably would have done better.” He slouched away further.

 

“I only knew they were smart because other dragons said so. They see a lot more of them up there than I do on this isolated end of the continent.” Viperess interjected.

 

“Come on, Sunflare, let’s go fly around until you forget whatever makes your wings droopy.” Marley called and started climbing him before he could say anything about it.

 

...

 

Months passed as everything continued as it always had, other than him avoiding his own tribe.

There weren’t any more troubles in his way, all he needed were his best friends.

 

Sunflare was waiting far away from a village for Marley to return. When she did, it was by running and panting all the way back.

“There are dragons attacking—everywhere! Cities, villages, everything!”

 

“What? E-Everywhere? Viperess has all that Animus magic, I’m sure she can do something!” He spouted hopefully. “If they haven’t gotten here yet then we can reach the cave and figure this out!”

 

They rushed to the cave much earlier than normal and started calling out hysterically.

 

“Alright, I get it! What’s so urgent that it can’t wait a minute?!” Viperess hissed from the mouth of the cave.

 

“Dragons everywhere are attacking humans!” Marley shouted before Sunflare.

 

“Everywhere? I don’t think that many dragons hate humans.” Viperess doubted. “The only thing that could change that so abruptly would be a spell.”

 

“How do we know?!” Sunflare hurried.

 

“Being able to read and write opens up a lot of possibilities.” Viperess smirked and threw down a slab of stone carved out of the wall with magic. “ I enchant this stone tablet to list the exact wording of all currently active global enchantments, in order of their creation. ”

 

Instantly, words start carving themselves into the stone.

—===—

– I wish these plants would get bigger.

 

– I enchant all dragons unable to attempt reviving the dead; from now on, casting such a spell should immediately fail and do nothing.

 

– I enchant all dragons of this continent, excluding myself, to slowly forget about humans and unconditionally attack until they are completely gone from OUR world.

 

– I enchant my previous spell to be impossible to remove or modify in any way.

—===—

Sunflare thought that first one must have been an accidental spell or something...

But the ones after the first two were diabolical.

“Why limit such an evil spell to just the continent?” He asked, slightly curious. “I was fine since I’m not from this continent I guess, but what about you?!”

 

“I enchanted myself to be immune to any direct spell like that a long time ago.” Viperess answered. “As for why they would limit it. They had no way to know how many dragons actually exist in the world. Applying a direct effect to every single dragon in the world might be instant death if there are too many dragons that you don’t know about.”

 

Viperess amends to that statement right after.

“Actually, I take that back, they probably could have used more magic to figure out how many dragons there were first, but they either didn’t think of that or there were too many.”

 

“What do we do then?!” Marley cried.

 

“I can’t remove it... I think the only thing you can do is separate them. I’ll help as much as I can, I owe you that much.” Viperess answered.

 

“I’ll go get my tribe to help!” Sunflare announced and ran off.

 

Maybe they already found a replacement for him, like he wanted. But that’s not what he wants anymore.

On the way, he realized he’s now doing the same thing he hated so much.

He declined them, and now is coming crawling back when he needs something.

 

The tribe was a mess when he arrived. It went to show why they didn’t want to be bossed around by a brainless brat with no experience.

This time he’s not met with a position being pushed onto him, instead it’s the opposite.

 

“Why do you want to be king now, after you disappeared to avoid it?!” They attacked.

 

“The humans are being massacred by dragons! I need help!” He just hoped they would feel bad about leaving them be and choose to go help them.

 

“How is that our business? It’s probably just a brief conflict.” They hesitated.

 

“It’s not a war! They’re trying to get rid of them entirely!” Sunflare insisted.

 

“Well, maybe we would be obligated if someone were to take over as king.” One of the royals added. “But it’s not something you can just run away and hide from later.”

 

“Fine. I’ll be your stupid king.” Sunflare hissed.

 

...

 

The attacking dragons hadn’t reached this remote part of the continent yet, which meant they had plenty of time to prepare.

For Sunflare, that meant gathering his own dragons to hold them back.

 

He wanted to keep Marley in a safe, calm place until it was over, but she kept on disappearing for days on end.

The enemies were really taking their time, because it was weeks before anyone even saw any of them. But now that the scouts have seen them, it was only a matter of time.

 

When Marley returned from the direction of one of the human villages, she came back rolling something really big along the road behind her.

This wasn’t the time he wanted her coming here, not when there could be fighting soon.

 

“Man this is heavy.” She complained. “It took some time, but I finally whipped those villagers into shape and had this baby finished!”

 

“What is that thing?!” Sunflare reared his head back in shock at this strange wooden contraption.

 

“That’s a ballista. It shoots out wood, really really fast.” Marley said proudly.

 

“I don’t care what it does, you should go wait somewhere safe while we deal with this.” Sunflare demanded.

 

“This is as much my fight as anyone. No, it’s even more my fight because you aren’t even a human!” Marley refused.

 

Sunflare rumbled in annoyance. It was both at her ignorance of safety and other dragons starting to come try to interact with Marley.

He had to keep them away and keep her from going to them. He was tired of watching them coo at her and picking her up like a toy, and her casual acceptance of it!

 

He was almost thankful when a horde of assorted dragons finally showed up.

The ground vibrated as the entire army landed in front of them, revealing one dragon clearly ahead of the rest.

 

It was too late to get Marley away, so he hid the ‘ballista’ with an illusion.

His focus was poor, he was trembling from the weight of what he was faced with.

 

“How did you freaks escape my spell?” The leading dragon with orange scales growled.

“Especially YOU!” She stared at Viperess.

 

“Who are you?! Why would you do something so horrible?!” Sunflare interrupted.

 

“Those pests go around stealing eggs; they made the mistake of stealing MINE. I’m just exterminating an infestation! Dragons will remember the name Eminence as the dragon that did what others were too lazy to do!” She clenched a talon in the air.

 

“You’re a real monster..” Viperess sneered as they both opened their mouths at the same time.

 

“ I enchant all of -”

—

“ I enchant you to choke. ” Eminence interrupted.

 

Viperess failed to finish the sentence as she started coughing, though it was only temporary.

 

Sunflare thinks quickly and swiftly made an illusion clone of her to hopefully take any more spells.

“Attack!” He commanded his side.

 

Each side rushed at each other and clashed with resounding screams and impacts.

 

“I think she has much more combat experience with magic than me. I think it would be best if I don’t take part.” Viperess admitted shamefully. “I can only do this. First, I enchant all currently living dragons of Sunflare’s kind to be immune to direct Animus spells. ”

 

“Why only ‘currently living’?” Sunflare questioned.

 

“They are killing humans because they have unstoppable power over them. Don’t become like them.” Viperess answered vaguely. “Next, I enchant Marley to be capable of using Animus , transferring all my remaining power to her, and draining lifespan to power spells beyond that.”

 

“What? Why?!” Marley queried as she started walking away.

She was starting to feel a faint tingle under every sensation, but what it felt like to have magic wasn’t currently on her mind.

 

Sunflare looked back at the surroundings and quickly realized they were outnumbered and losing.

Eminence alone was fighting through multiple dragons before breaking free and storming closer.

 

He then realized he forgot about maintaining the illusion.

 

“I can’t cast anything on you? Let’s see how you like this, then?!” Eminence screamed furiously and turned to Viperess trying to recede from the battle. “ I enchant you to be permanently affected by my spells! ”

 

Viperess instantly snapped back around—no, Sunflare didn’t see Viperess there anymore, just an empty husk with hollow eyes.

What was left of her immediately lunged for Marley, forcing Sunflare to get in the way and be subjected to the violence instead.

 

Marley watched as Sunflare was on the ground with Viperess raising a claw to slash his neck.

“ Stop! ” She screamed, and Viperess did.

 

Marley waited for some kind of recognition, but there was none, as Viperess was still struggling to continue.

There was no recognition, but her command became a spell.

 

She immediately knew her mistake and looked back in relief after she realized Eminence looked away in time to miss her usage of magic.

When she looked back, another dragon like Sunflare grabbed Viperess and bit her neck—it was over just as quickly as it started.

 

“No! Why did you do that?” Sunflare wailed and sobbed.

 

“Come on, we have to go. You know we can’t win.” The dragon glared.

 

“Everyone retreat!” Sunflare ordered hesitantly. “Go capture all the humans you can from the villages and take them with you!”

He knew the humans wouldn’t like being invaded and grabbed away from their homes by a bunch of dragons, but it was better than leaving them there to die.

 

He had to slow the enemies down here.

 

Eminence was much faster than the others, and in the time it took him to give a retreat order, she was already on top of Marley.

He felt his heart spike and desperately imagined Marley being right next to him while using his magic.

 

He’s gotten better at controlling his illusion-animus powers, and he managed to teleport Marley away just in time for her teeth to clamp down on air.

It wasn’t meant to be used like that. Just that much took almost all of it out of him.

 

“ I enchant you to die! ” Eminence yelled hatefully.

 

Sunflare flinched, then remembered he was immune from direct spells.

Everyone else has already escaped, so he was alone this time...

 

But before she could get any closer, a long spear of wood came flying in from the side.

 

Marley fired the ballista at Eminence to no avail, as it was blocked by an invisible barrier.

 

“You think you can touch an Animus?” Eminence cackled.

 

Sunflare quickly snatched up Marley and flew away from the army chasing them.

Small huts and farms passed below as they went over a village.

 

“All of you spread out and deal with the pests.” She commanded the army of dragons and then chased them alone.

 

The world was starting to fade from Sunflare’s senses as he started wondering if he made a mistake.

‘Why did I try to be a hero? Why didn’t I just take Marley and hide alone?’

 

He flew and he flew, only growing more distressed at how insistently this monster was following them.

His home island was finally visible, but as soon as he neared the shores, he could hear the dragon behind him shouting after a long period of silence.

 

“I’m going to take my time with your pest!” She roared impatiently.

 

Right afterward, he felt a sudden drop in air pressure and began tumbling to the ground.

There was no longer enough air around him for his wings to catch.

 

Sand sprayed everywhere as he hit the ground.

Sunflare could barely cushion Marley from the impact, which meant there wasn’t enough time to run before Eminence landed more gracefully.

 

Marley was trying to think of something that would work—anything.

But anything direct she’d tried didn’t affect Eminence in any way.

There was no time left, so she eventually settled on one that would hopefully make it even.

“ I enchant Eminence to have no more magical protection. ”

 

Right away, Sunflare breathes a small blast of orange plasma at her neck, which Eminence simply ignores until it hits squarely and creates a mildly painful burn.

 

“How?!” She snarls, not understanding Marley’s squeaking to know she was using magic.

 

Sunflare tries to attack, but every swipe and bite is weaved without much effort.

“Stupid brat, did you think I could only fight with magic?”

 

Marley tried everything, but it wasn’t doing anything no matter how hard she cried out the words. It was like she was behind an impenetrable bubble of preventative spells—specifically prepared for fighting against Animus.

 

Eminence threw Sunflare back where he charged from and summoned a glass spear out of the sand.

He hit the ground hard, followed by a loud collision as Eminence threw the spear perfectly.

 

He started leaking dark blood steadily and didn’t move much more.

“Any Animus with a brain obviously makes themselves immortal. A weak little thing like you had no chance, all because you associate with those pathetic vermin.”

 

Marley wailed and rushed to pull the spear out, then started second-thinking if it should be pulled out.

Trying to heal him with a spell, she only managed to find that his Animus immunity applied to this as well.

She didn’t even notice Eminence paused her approach to greatly enjoy the moment. It was her comedy.

 

“Sunflare!” She patted his head again, which had more blood coming out of his mouth.

‘Why wasn’t anyone else here to help?!’

 

“You’re such a good little friend. I wish I was like you—all brave enough to stay around something big and scary like me.” He wheezed.

 

“You were even better than me, by saving so many and fighting that monster.” Marley said while stroking his nose.

 

“I’m scared,” Sunflare cried. “I don’t want to die.”

 

Marley bit her lip and tried to block his view of the sadistic monster behind her.

 

“Alright, I think that’s enough sappy nonsense. Let’s-” Eminence started impatiently towards them.

 

Marley sobbed over him and forgot all about the impending doom.

“ I...I wish we could be together forever. ”

 

Eminence stomped forward disdainfully, only to be surprised by a familiar tingling feeling in addition to a heavy shimmer as if the air itself was vibrating.

 

Before another word could be said, a bubble of space surrounding all three of them was promptly frozen in time.

 

...

 

After a few decades, the spell eventually decayed enough that keeping time frozen was unsustainable.

But instead of ending, the main subjects of the spell were turned into unbreakable stone.

 

Thousands of years passed. Plants grew, storms passed, until one day...

Crack.

 

Marley was the first to be released from the spell.

Her first reaction was obviously to scream after seeing both of the dragons turned to stone in an instant from her perspective.

 

She didn’t know what to do, whether to try to break Sunflare free, or leave it.

Her wish to be together forever came true in the most literal sense.

Finally, she realized she had time. There was time, but she also didn’t want to fathom how much time she had lost at the same time.

 

Marley sat in a thinking pose as she planned what to do.

First, she had to deal with Eminence.

 

She wasted no time trying to enchant away anything that prevented her from casting spells on her, but she could feel it wasn’t working as she hoped. It took a good chunk of the power she could use before her lifespan started draining—the power Viperess gave her.

 

Instead, she enchanted a pebble she found on the ground to glow red and to turn green when Eminence had nothing preventing spells from being cast on her.

Then enchanted the date she would be released from the stone to be tattooed on her arm.

 

‘Great, I have time.’ She thought as she started walking away from the beach.

 

As soon as she got out of the sand, she could see how different everything was.

The island was now covered in farms everywhere produce would grow.

After hours of walking and getting tired, she finally found a settlement.

 

She marched towards it like a moth to a flame, not sure what would have happened after they got rid of Eminence.

Marley didn’t even hesitate when she saw the very clear form of dragons ahead.

 

She was confident enough it would be safe.

To some relief, she really didn’t get much attention.

She could see why, because there were other humans running around the place as well.

Maybe even more than the dragons.

 

They all seemed to use the human language, which made it easy for her to find a building labeled as an inn.

The man inside was probably the only one she could start asking questions without feeling embarrassed.

 

Marley dedicated a few months to learning how to live in this place.

Finding a job, a place to live, the basics.

But she returned to the beach every day to cast the same spell on Eminence.

 

If she couldn’t remove her warding all at once, then she would do it slowly, bit by bit.

Every day was like that.

 

Eventually she started realizing she should do more with her powers, leaving some kind of legacy.

She didn’t have Sunflare to help, but there were dragons everywhere around here.

Her heart didn’t feel the same while paying a dragon she didn’t even know to fly her off to one of the nearby small islands.

 

When she saw it, she knew the first island was the one. It couldn’t be too far away, after all.

Her hands immediately moved to start sketching designs and construction methods.

 

‘This is what I do.’ She smiled at the visualization coming together on the paper.

She couldn't call herself the only one anymore, but she was definitely the first architect to dream of building something using dragons.

 

It took years of planning and work, but by having dragons carve and transport smooth blocks of stone and then putting it all together, it was finally starting to take shape.

Add in a few mirrors and lenses for natural lighting and it’s done!

After that, she started installing traps just in case any other dragons found it.

 

The traps were designed herself, no magic needed. She didn’t want to waste it on something like that.

To make sure the intended targets in the future got through, she instead used magic to place warnings only the island dragons could see.

 

Also, a library that she’d slowly fill with everything she learned, both from Sunflare and Viperess, or through living on the island.

To finish it all off, a final test that they could only pass if they were still friends with humans—the whole reason she carried this glass orb all the way here, and freaking out over almost dropping it mid-flight.

 

The orb sat peacefully upon its new resting place for ages to come.

Marley placed the finishing touches and prepared to install the plaque she had carefully inscribed beforehand.

 

‘Alright, let’s be as specific as possible with this part.’ She breathed.

 

“ I enchant this glass orb, when broken, to fill the room it is in with a three dimensional illusory recreation of Sunflare’s story and my own, beginning from the moment he arrived on Pyrrhia as if the subjects of the illusion were there themselves. ” She chanted, and proceeded to make a few duplicates in case they were needed.

 

It was done, everything was ready except for one more gift she came up with.

The last spell she planned to cast would probably use up all the remaining power she could safely use without burning up her life, so she had to do the small things now while she had enough to spare.

 

First, she placed a small piece of parchment where she planned to place the plaque describing how to activate the orb.

Four holes waited on the corners for the plaque to slide into.

 

“ I enchant this parchment to be indestructible until a sentence is written onto it. ” Marley began weaving multiple spells onto the parchment. “ I also enchant this parchment to cast a single Animus spell written on it as soon as a grammatically correct sentence has been concluded with punctuation, but only if it doesn’t break any of these rules: The spell cannot make someone an Animus or give them the power to cast a spell in any way. The spell cannot do anything that would allow the user to cast another, including by duplicating the parchment. The spell can only affect objects, or a single, specific person. ”

 

Marley could feel the drain, and was confident that what she came up with was probably specific and reasonable enough. She couldn’t help but think she was missing something though.

 

“Oh! I almost forgot!” She stiffened and looked up at the ceiling. “I know whoever finds this is probably going to be watching me do all this, so if you choose to make yourself immortal using this, then please don’t do that without some kind of condition to reverse it. Don’t complain over my grave if you do something like that and then realize you cursed yourself. No refunds.”

 

The descriptive plaque finally slid into its destined place as Marley slowly inserted the anchors into the frame, hiding the parchment behind it perfectly.

 

There was just one more spell left.

“I enchant my home island and this structure, inhabitants included, to be fully invisible and impossible to interact with from the outside in any way, excluding myself and any dragons within thirty paces of me; anyone attempting to leave should be redirected back to the island, instead, while anyone attempting to enter should pass through as if nothing was there. ”

 

With that, her job was done.

 

...

 

Marley continued visiting the beach for decades, the predicted date for the dragons’ revival encroaching fast.

She was starting to get worried that she wouldn’t tear down that evil monster’s protections in time.

 

At some point it even leaked that she used to be the third statue that wasn’t there anymore. Then they started questioning her about everything and referring to Sunflare as a ‘founder’ or even some ‘dragon of dreams’.

Somehow he became some myth they tell children to keep nightmares away?

 

Even more time passed like a fleeting moment, until one day after casting the same spell she always did, the pebble in her pocket finally turned green!

‘After all these years, I’m finally ready for the next step!’

 

She had decades to think through this moment.

Breaking Eminence into pieces and scattering them across the ocean was the plan, but if she did that right away there was no telling if it would fail.

 

Instead she waited until now so that she could enchant her never to wake again.

Eminence definitely made herself immortal, and Marley knew she was much better at combat-focused magic. She couldn’t imagine someone like that not expecting someone to simply try to make her mortal. Maybe she’d just explode right away if she tried.

 

Then, just in case that spell ever lost power, she enchanted her so that if she ever tried to cast another spell then she would lose her immortality on the spot. So Marley was confident she avoided whatever kind of trap there might have been behind trying to remove it directly.

 

Many of the humans and dragons wanted to come along when she told them what was going to happen in just a few months now.

She needed help breaking Eminence’s statue and scattering the pieces, so she wasn’t in a place to complain if it meant she wasn’t going to need another spell for that.

 

Marley took them to the scene early to do the deed.

 

Satisfied with hearing the pieces crumble and watching them thrown far into the water, she also watched the last use of her magic hurl away alongside them.

Those spells finally used up the last of her free power, and she didn’t plan on ever using it again and losing any of her life for it.

 

No matter how much she tried to go over what she learned in the months with Viperess, she couldn’t find any spell to save Sunflare.

She could only be there.

 

And she was.

Marley waited along with everyone that decided they wanted to be there too.

 

Until the exact time she received all those years ago finally arrived.

 

Crack.

 

Marley had feeble hopes that being restored would fix him, but the spear became part of the statue. Even if it worked like that, it wouldn’t change anything.

 

Crumbs of rock fell and almost instantly revealed his pristinely white scales once more.

For a moment it looked like the shock might have expedited his predicament even more.

 

“What happened?! Why did all those dragons suddenly appear?! Why are you all wrinkly?!” He chokes on more blood and fails to move away.

 

“It’s been an uncountable number of years since I made a wish.” Marley smiled and held back tears. “We really were together forever.”

 

Sunflare vaguely started to understand.

“Then who are they?”

 

“Those are the descendants of everyone you saved. I could never stop if I had to put that many greats in a sentence.” She replied lightly.

They even brought children here against her warning, all indignantly pushing past to touch him.

 

“Thank you for making our home, Great Founder!” They bowed to him on the spot.

 

“I just want to live! And have friends!” He wails into the sand and turns slightly, gurgling more blood onto the sand. “Marley...”

 

“Dream dragons can’t die, they only sleep! They have friends everywhere!” The clueless children repeat one after another, perhaps not understanding the blood, or choosing to ignore it.

There wasn’t any response this time.

 

“Sunflare! Wake up!” Marley hit the scales with the side of her fist and felt her tears rolling down to fall on his motionless snout.

One by one, everyone else was gone while she stayed behind to sob.

 

It left her waiting until they found a place to bury the body.

 

...

 

One more decade later, Marley now laid on a bed, nearly immobile. Only a candle illuminated the room.

 

"And that’s where it ends.” She said to the man at the end of her bed with a book and quill in hand.

The only thing missing from her library was her own biography, which would hardly be a biography if she wrote it.

 

“I was never able to be happy since then. Maybe it’s because I could have done it differently, and that made it worse than it should have been.” She amended. “What if I used my power to give me more time? What if I reminded him to try using his own power to save himself? No, it all boiled down to myself being too cowardly to use my life to forcefully save him.”

 

“The book is finished. I’ll put it on the table for whatever you decide to do with it. I still think it was a mistake not to want it published.” The man said and got up to leave, not very interested in the final mutterings of an old woman on her deathbed.

 

“You should cherish the short time you have with people and do whatever it takes to save them—because regret is worse than any loss.” Marley trailed as he left.

 

She then enchanted the book to be teleported into the library she’d built many years earlier, finally stilling as the spell took whatever brief time she had left.

---

Present...

The illusion dissipated around me as I stood there in shock, my own eyes watering.

I could already imagine Gale ending up like that, and then history really would repeat itself.

 

Quickly getting myself together, I pulled off the plaque on the pedestal and found the magic parchment right underneath it as shown in the illusion.

Now I should get out of here!

 

I hurried back to the door upon hearing Gale’s screaming of my name.

He was there waiting for me to come out, and I can only cry and hug his leg while I still have the chance.

 

“What happened in there? You never cry! Did something happen to you?!” Gale focused on me.

 

The dragonets looked uncomfortable seeing me cry as well, though I suspect it’s for a different reason than Gale had. Except maybe Sunny, and I suppose Clay looked close enough to an acceptable reason.

 

“No, I just want you to know I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect you.” I say with resolve to avoid the same mistake I just witnessed.

 

“That’s what I’m supposed to say. You trying to protect me just sounds silly.” He ruins it.

 

“Let’s just get out of here.” I sigh in response.

 

“Finally!” Tsunami approves and then silences after being looked at funny.

 

We didn’t trigger any more traps on the way back out.

Light shining through the entrance was becoming a blinding beacon to the exit, even with the natural lighting coming through the ceiling.

 

As we escaped into the open air, the salty ambience hit like a hard landing.

Then...

 

“Wait! Look down there!” Tsunami suddenly shouts, mostly to the other dragonets.

 

Down near the beach laid another SeaWing flat across the sand. A faint hint of red spilled out around the top of their form.

 

“It’s a SeaWing! We have to help them!” Sunny exclaims.

Notes:

I really tried hard to make Animus somewhat reasonable. My writing is already a little too much on the telling instead of showing side of things, so I didn't really have a chance to explain every single detail, but I think I got most of it without sounding like a straight infodump for most of it.
I don't really have to change much of how canon regards Animus because this interpretation fits nicely and it can just be said they grew too afraid to actually learn more about it.

I always thought it stupid to have such an overpowered magic system and then say there's a single arbitrary rule that you can't bring back the dead. That's why I wanted to base my interpretation on being more of a universal force with no actual rules.
Now I don't have to say they can do anything but bring back the dead because it's convenient for plot, I can give an actual reason they can't while also being able to explain why they wouldn't be able to do other things which are just as broken.

If you want a real example of how well this works, just absorb this:
Fate and determinism (sort of) exist (a good explanation of prophecy powers), but so does free will, which means fate would be like an infinitely branching path containing every possible deviation that can happen.

Receiving a prophecy would essentially just be the same as those paths being collapsed into one early and then reselecting the new path based on what you do with that information.
Fate isn't broken, everything is still determined, free will is preserved because the only thing that's determined is what can happen and not what will happen.
You could also say that the reason they receive prophecies at specific times is because they've reached a 'focal point' along fate where things become strictly determined if they don't use it.

Sentient creatures obviously bring the most deviation with all of the possibilities that free will creates.
So, not being able to bring them back to life after they're dead can be explained simply that once they die, they no longer have a place to interfere with fate. Trying to bring them back to life isn't a rule, but no one in the entire universe would have enough power to forcibly rewrite something as infinitely expansive as fate.

And so ends another one of my nerdy essays.
There are still some problems with this, but they are quite fine details and... it's magic. No matter what I do, trying to fix something will create other problems, so I think I've got pretty darn close to the peak of Animus rationalizations.

Chapter 16: First Meeting

Notes:

Jesus, I basically took a long hiatus and then came back with an almost nothing burger chapter.
I really dreaded writing this chapter for so long and when I did, I ended up with something that I don't think is even very good.
Most of the reason was because the plot from this point on gets super complicated and I'm basically reading the books on the spot with not a single sentence staying in my memory for longer than five seconds, which contributes even more to my dialogue lacking much variety in speech patterns. It all feels like I give every character the same way of speaking no matter how hard I try and I'm not sure if that's how people read it but it certainly feels that way to me.

I looked down at where the bloodied SeaWing laid with an exasperated frown as we rushed down to the beach.

The dragon had a crossbow bolt completely through the top of his neck.

 

“Oh no! No no no!” Tsunami sped in front of the dragon and panicked over the injury while the SeaWing looks up at her flared wings.

 

“Mm, I made it to the summer pahlace... Am sorry fer bing laaate, Coraal.” The dragon slurs intensely.

 

“This isn’t the Summer Palace, and my name isn’t Coral! We need to get that stick out of you!” Tsunami blares in a shrill voice.

 

I have to hurry to catch up.

“No! No! Don’t just pull it out! You big dumb idiot!”

 

Why do I have to be the one explaining common sense to these brainless dragons?

 

“It has to come out eventually!” She groans.

 

“The crossbows for our dragons have barbed tips, you can’t just go pulling things out unless you want to kill them faster.” I complain and feel the thickness of the bolt. “You have to do it like this.”

I kick the bolt a few times with great force until it snaps. They are quite thick, after all.

 

After it did, I could more easily pull the tip end out the other side.

The dragon already has some scars on his underbelly and tail, so this is probably just going to add one more.

 

“Gale, don’t you still have the cloth sack we carried the food in? We can use that to bandage it.”

 

“Ahh, but these things aren’t cheap, why do we have to use it on that random dragon that probably eats kids.” Gale pouts and slumps.

 

“Hey!” Tsunami growls.

 

“You can’t prove he doesn’t, so shut up.” Gale snaps back.

 

“I guess we have to wait for him to recover some sense.” I sigh.

 

So we gave the dragon an hour or two until we could finally get some coherence.

 

...

 

“Wake up!” I ordered.

 

“What?” The dragon questioned.

“Who are all of you?!” He continued at the dragons instead of me.

 

“Where are you looking? I’m right here, or is your brain the size of a fish’s too?!” I repeat my presence again.

 

“No! A talking scavenger! I’m dead!” He cries.

 

“I’m so sick of this reaction from every single one of you. I’m real, or do I need to give you some pain for you to figure it out?!” I threaten impatiently.

 

“Okay, enough of the whole scavenger talk, let’s get to the Summer Palace part!” Tsunami pushes past. “What’s your name? And would you mind bringing us to the SeaWing kingdom?”

 

“I’m Riptide—and no sinking way! Queen Coral would kill me if I brought back a MudWing of all things, let alone some strange NightWing thing, and a NightWing too!” He shouts and is otherwise unable to move much.

 

“Well I know you’re at war with MudWings, but can’t you make exceptions for the Dragonets of Destiny?” Starflight poses.

 

There’s that title again.

 

“NO.”

 

“Not even for the missing princess?” Tsunami snorts, confident that it will work.

 

“That’s you?” Riptide shrinks a little.

 

“You were the one that thought I was Coral.” Tsunami puffs up like there was some victory.

 

“Well, it’s fine if it’s you. But the MudWing has to be blindfolded, and that weird black and white dragon too!” Riptide grumbles. “All I did was look around on the... ghost island... and I barely escaped with that thing in my neck!”

 

“After the incident there’s no way they’d be letting any more strange dragons like you in.” I add.

 

“Would someone please explain the talking scavenger at least?” He looks somewhere else for an answer.

 

“I already explained myself. We’re just as smart as you, well, smarter actually... Is that enough for you? It should be!” I answer with a blank and cold expression.

How many times do I have to explain it to a single dragon?

 

“I can’t even make sure something so tiny is wearing a blindfold properly so I guess the scavenger gets a pass. I can’t recommend taking one into the Sea Kingdom though.” Riptide observed and turned to go collect seaweed with a series of pained grunts and drips of blood onto the sand.

---

Flameshot waited with everyone else for further instruction.

Commander Ashwind didn’t look very content with stagnating here.

 

Things were a lot more boring now that Grace didn’t want to play anymore, or couldn’t.

She should have gone home but said it would just remind her about it and chose to stay.

Those kinds of debilitating injuries were easy to ignore as long as there was still a war. But they can’t be ignored forever either.

 

Flameshot was more afraid of being useless and unnoteworthy like her only mother said she would.

She couldn’t fight much at all, and was small enough to be overpowered too.

 

The commander puffed up in front of the sitting rows of dragons and a few humans and started putting out words.

“Our presence on this new continent has been fully secured, but we still have a lot more to do before we can expand!”

 

“The MudWings have supposedly agreed to stop terrorizing the humans native to this land, but a shallow promise does not erase the dangers they face, let alone the other kinds of dragons which do just as horrible things!” Ashwind continued. “Their cities here are few and far between, and spend every day waiting to be wiped out in a land full of monsters! It’s no way to live.”

 

Everyone tenses and gets more army-like when they hear the reason they were here repeated to them.

Especially when it’s laid out that a single city of their own being destroyed was nothing compared to how the humans here have to live their entire lives.

 

“It would be best to place defenses around said cities, however, there is one obvious problem. Every human on this continent, minus two, don’t even have the concept of a ‘good’ dragon. So, I’m looking for the... least imposing dragon here... to make progress.”

 

Everyone murmured at that because it wasn’t even asking for the most human experienced dragon.

It was essentially asking for the ‘cutest’ dragon, and everyone started pushing her up there.

 

“Hmm, I guess you do look too pitiful for even a human to be afraid for long.” Ashwind snubbed coldly.

 

Flameshot winced at his casually slighting words, that she can’t even be called cute directly, just too ‘pitiful’ to be scary.

 

“We know the direction they have to go to reach the other city, so all you have to do is wait and explain things to each of them until enough of them believe it.”

 

She really got the easiest job, and it didn’t really sound like something only she could do.

But she thought maybe she was the best choice if they just needed the least ‘scary’. She decided to forget about the negatives and just focus on being able to do something important at all.

 

---

 

As an extra, I got really bored one day and despite not being able to draw anything good I really put my mind to it and made a somewhat decent portrait of what I imagine Ashwind to look like.

I'm incapable of any good detail but I think I did somewhat well. I wanted to draw Field too but then I realized I can't draw a full body shot with correct proportions or depth, especially not a human face. This was a miracle to come out as it did. I'd still take it as a grain of salt.

 

Oh and he doesn't have the ears not because I can't draw them (I can't) but because they actually don't have those.

Those retarded asf ears are another reason I hate WoF because they look so stupid and they aren't something dragons should have.

Chapter 17: Summer Palace (1)

Summary:

Self explanatory

We were flying quite haphazardly, given that Sunny opted into a blindfold too and had to ride Tsunami.

She was supposedly a real princess, but for such paranoia I think welcoming some random dragon in as royalty is dumb no matter how real her wing swirls or whatever are. It’s like asking for spies to raise said princess into doing whatever they want.

 

I wasn’t really feeling like straining my voice trying to yell over all of this wind. It was certainly harder for me than it is for any of them.

 

The islands below all came together to form a noticeable spiral pattern.

 

“Hey, there’s some pinkish dolphins down there!” Glory observes as we lower closer to the waters.

 

“Can we eat them?” Clay perks up from behind his blindfold.

 

“No. Queen Coral has forbidden it. She thinks they might be distantly related to us.” Riptide turns.

 

“You’re telling me she thinks you’re related to some sea mammal, yet has no problem eating things that can even cry the same way?!” I snap.

 

“Well, when you put it like that, it does sound bad. But I don’t think any dragons looked that closely...” He shirked away from the topic, which seemed to be getting pretty common when it comes to this.

 

As if they’d need to ‘look closely’. Makes me want to use one of these dart arrows right now!

 

“Here comes our welcoming committee,” Riptide announced, almost relieved for a distraction.

The distraction was a hefty formation of blue and green dragons—all audibly angry even from this distance.

 

“Uh-oh.”

 

“What’s happening?” Sunny lifted her head even though the blindfold was still on.

 

“The advance guard,” He says in a dreading tone. “They make sure no one even gets close to the Summer Palace.”

 

Before long, we were completely surrounded. The wind created from all the flapping needed no introduction.

I prepared my bow in advance.

 

“Riptide! What are you dragging home now?!” The lead rumbled.

 

“I’ve found the missing princess.” He answered without a stutter. Well, it was way beyond an exaggeration to claim he found anything other than almost dying.

I could even see Tsunami trying to look like a princess, and that’s just not working. There’s such a thing as trying too hard.

 

“Oh, really? You? What an unusual coincidence.” The imposing dragon continued.

 

“And who are you?” Tsunami sassed back.

 

“This is Shark, commander of palace defense and the queen’s brother.” Riptide introduced.

 

I was not very interested in this bickering so I just tuned most of it out until Tsunami started glowing some patterns under her wings. Because apparently they can glow, too.

 

“Very well,” Shark hissed. “Kill the others, then bring her and the black and white dragon.”

 

Of course things can never be easy.

I hear the creak of my bow as I pull back to prepare for some extraordinarily difficult shots in the middle of this turbulence.

 

“Don’t you touch them!” Tsunami yelled and smacked one of them out of the air as they went for Clay first.

Sunny immediately fell off and lost her blindfold as she regained orientation and hovered in a clueless daze.

 

“I am the queen’s daughter, and I order you to leave these dragonets alone!” Tsunami shouted even louder.

 

They actually get confused and pause from that. I was ready to loose some arrows, too. What a shame.

It’s insane how Shark only now decides to back off. It was obvious they were with her, but apparently nothing matters until it becomes an ‘order’.  

 

“Very good,” Tsunami was quite possibly overconfident that she had this under control. “Now take us to my mother.”

 

“The queen is conducting business at the Deep Palace.” Shark said, unimpressed. “We will take you to the Summer Palace, where you can wait for her.”

Two of the pair break off into the water, likely as messengers.

 

Then Shark and the rest began diving into the space between two protruding rocks under the cliff.

Tsunami looked dumbfounded as if she had no object permanence. It was painfully obvious that this was where the Summer Palace was.

 

And again, why are the dragons here all so stupid?

If it were me trying to find this place as an enemy, I would just retreat the instant I saw them coming and immediately know where to spend more time searching.

 

“This is the entrance to the Summer Palace, you’ll all have to swim.” Riptide adds.

 

“How far?” Sunny grumbled.

 

“Not far, it’s all been redesigned so that Queen Blister can visit.”

 

“Is she — here now?” Starflight almost stuttered.

 

“She is not fond of swimming, and she rarely visits even after all the changes we’ve made.” Riptide answers. “But, is the scavenger going to drown?”

 

I can feel all their concerned gazes on me as if they think I can’t hold my breath for a minute.

“Obviously not. I can hold my breath for about a minute.”

 

“Stay close behind me. I’ll light up my stripes so you can follow, and flash them to signal you for the breathing spots.” Riptide says.

 

He splashed into the water with everyone else filing behind, with me and Gale as the last.

 

Not breathing was rather uncomfortable, as you can imagine.

I was not interested in doing that whole tail chain thing they were. I just pulled off Gale’s blindfold so he could follow. I’ll just pretend it was always there and take it off a second time.

 

After being bombarded with a forest of kelp, we finally popped out into a dark tunnel, with a small air pocket that quickly became very crowded.

 

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Tsunami interrupted their conversation readily, like she’s suddenly turned into some little hatchling.

Thankfully the stops were so frequent I didn’t have too much trouble making it.

 

Finally, we floated up to the sight of a flush, green canopy that was more than thick enough to hide everything from above.

Waterfalls also crashed all around.

 

But the presence of air was very much appreciated.

 

While everyone gasped on the beach, I looked down at my bow.

I can only hope it was really, really made well. Getting wet is one thing, but completely submerged is a disaster most bows probably don’t survive through very long. At least for now, the tension is still there.

 

Then I heard a loud splash and looked back to see Tsunami point up at the pavilion.

Everyone else started following her up there, so we did too. After even longer conversations I didn’t care about in the slightest, we went up even further to the topmost ledge of the pavilion.

 

Finally it felt like I escaped the numerous stares coming from all around. They didn’t feel like the same kind of stares the others got for being different, it felt more like the stares that make me want to snap.

 

At the end stood a carved throne jutting out of the stone, studded with green and blue gems and a gold lining. There was also a smaller version to the side.

 

Tsunami looked back to assess the rest of us.

Starflight was pathetically slumped on the stone with Sunny consoling him. Clay nearly fumbled off the edge. And Glory shamelessly zipped around the thrones as if ready to try them out herself.

 

That left just me and Gale as the only dignified ones left.

 

Nothing really mattered to my ears until Riptide mentioned all of this being made by an Animus generations ago.

That meant Animus still existed.

 

Finally, another much huger SeaWing the same color as Tsunami burst through the entry tunnel and dashed steadily up here.

Then I saw the second dragon—a smaller dragonet that would be a year old or less if they grow at the same rate I expected.

 

The larger one had to be the Queen Coral I’ve heard so many times. Then it took but a second to also realize both dragons had a harness, with a long cord connecting the two.

It was stretched taut, with the smaller dragonet struggling to keep up.

 

“Who is that?” Tsunami asks.

 

“That’s Anemone,” Riptide answered. “Your sister.”

 

Tsunami looked dejected at figuring out she was by no means an only child. A strange thing to complain about...

 

“My baby!” Coral cried after running straight to Tsunami. “I knew you were out there, trying to find your way back. I never stopped searching for you.”

 

Just the way it’s said sounds like some horrible play.

 

Something more important caught my attention, though. Gale looked just as disenthused.

 

“Mother. Ow . That was too fast. I think I hurt my claws.” Anemone whined.

 

Oh hell no, someone needs to teach this neglectful bitch a lesson.

 

Once the apparent reunion is over, Coral immediately starts scrutinizing everyone else.

My time of being ignored was finally ending.

 

“WHY IS THERE A MUDWING IN MY SUMMER PALACE? AND A SCAVENGER?!” Coral shrilled in a flash.

 

“These are my friends,” Tsunami interrupted. “Minus the scavenger and him I guess. We were all stolen from our homes as eggs. We’re the dragonets of destiny, from the prophecy.”

 

“We have names. Use them!” I snap back.

 

“It talks, too?! What is this, a magic scavenger?!” Coral jerks back from me with a hefty statement of denial. “Well, Queen Blister will be so interested to meet all of you. We’d better make sure you don’t go anywhere.”

 

Coral glowed and gestured to bring the waiting dragons forward.

“Put these five and the... magic scavenger... in Blister’s cave. And set a guard so they stay there.”

 

Wow, this Queen Blister seems more important than her daughter.

 

The other dragonets fussed and complained, but it was pointless to even try resisting right now.

They didn’t spare much force in dragging them away. A couple of them came for Gale soon enough.

 

“I’m going. Don’t you dare touch my friend or I’ll kill you!” Gale threatened them away from me with the crossbows he brought, though they didn’t know what a crossbow was and remained clueless of any risk at all.

I got back up on him as he was led to the same cave with the rest.

 

I was optimistic that there would really just be a guard, singular. Escaping would be much easier if it was like that.

Well, they’re in trouble if we don’t make it back anyway, even if this place is hidden, for now...

Chapter 18: Summer Palace (2)

Summary:

A lot of very annoying to write dialogue.

Notes:

You'll probably notice a lot of dialogue is skipped over or omitted, and that doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't take place, but that I just don't feel like it would change and I also don't like feeling like I'm just 1:1 copying the original into the chapter.
So I'm probably going to just skip over any dialogue where I don't feel like this story has any constructive changes to add.
And also I'm speeding past because I really hate this part since most of the book is just a bunch of Sea Kingdom info dumping, and throughout all of it the added characters of this story don't really have many ways to directly contribute.

Probably going to be another part of this palace crap until I can break out of this hell.

As I’d expected, we were confined to a cave with few guards.

A few dart arrows would be enough to make a run for it, but it wasn’t worth trying that just yet. It’s their problem they aren’t smart enough to take my weapon away.

 

It’s best to just give it some time. I want to get out of here quickly, but sometimes it’s just better to wait.

That’d be super uncomfortable if Gale kept on being defensive about me. Spending who knows how long being constantly paranoid would have been terrible.

But it ended up as the opposite.

 

“I’m bored already!” Gale complains loudly and pulls me closer to fix his problem.

 

“And you’re too needy, you big hatchling!” I gripe and hug the base of his neck.

 

“I like being needy. It makes you pay more attention to me.” Gale adds, seemingly ignoring the other dragons like they didn’t exist while he gets to revel in the attention I have nothing better to do than give out.

 

They didn’t seem to care that much anyway, except for Sunny jealously staring in my direction and making pouty noises.

It seems she really does want one.

 

“I can’t believe we’re locked up in another stuffy cave.” Glory huffs.

 

“I’m sure things are different this time! Let’s just trust Tsunami!” Clay says hopefully.

 

“Yeah, it’s just until Blister arrives, right? She’s the smart one, maybe we should choose her!” Starflight jumps in.

 

Choose for what?

The others also seemed taken aback by that sudden statement, and seem keen to just ignore it as if it didn’t happen.

 

“So much for being a ‘princess’. They don’t even listen to her.” Glory continued with a brief flash of red.

 

They probably have more reason to be annoyed than I do, so I guess it’s not my place to go and say it’s not her fault that this place is run by an incompetent dragonet abuser.

It didn’t help that Tsunami didn’t even bother to visit her friends the entire night.

 

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘another’?”

---

Tsunami was so elated to be with her own tribe. She already received a pearl necklace as her first gift.

Of course, her friends were stuck in a cave again. But she wanted to believe it was just ‘confinement’ for their own good.

 

“Can we talk alone?” She asked, firstly wanting to get to know her mother.

The ten dragons around were too creepy to have any meaningful conversation. Shark was the worst of them.

 

“Of course. Council, you are dismissed. Moray, send a message to Queen Blister and see how quickly she can get here.” Coral said and then turned to Riptide. “As for you, you wounded creature, go back to your guard outpost and stay there until someone actually wants to see you.”

 

There were already too many things to think about.

‘They already call her Queen Blister. How pretentious.’

 

Riptide nodded and looked like he stumbled slightly before diving off the edge in a fashion that looked more like falling off than a dive.

Tsunami couldn’t pinpoint why she wanted to say she wanted to see him.

 

“What’s wrong with Riptide? I thought he was nice.” She asked.

 

“Oh, no ,” Coral shuddered. “He can’t be trusted. Webs is his father. Their bloodline is tainted with betrayal.”

 

“Webs is his father?! ” Tsunami gasped with shock. She actually liked him, and that fact had been carefully omitted.

‘It figures. Anyone I might like ends up lying to me, or not telling me things I should know. Maybe I would have liked Webs too if he wasn’t so much of a coward.’

 

It didn’t feel right to blame him for his father’s doings, but she figured her mother would know her subjects best.

Yes, that had to be it.

 

“Nasty family. Not fitting company for royalty by any means. We keep him as far away from us as possible.” Coral only affirmed the pity further and didn’t leave much hope for a reasonable justification. “I say his recent wounds are just consequences for whatever he’s scheming. Whatever it is, it must be big. Now he gets dizzy spells and can barely fly for a few minutes before falling flat on his snout!”

 

Tsunami didn’t even want to hear any more. It only sounded worse and worse.

Once the topic moved away from her past, she finally asked what the stains on her talons were in a bid that maybe there was something more pleasant to talk about waiting there.

 

“This is my hobby. Or art, you might call it. I should show you.” She sprang up and displayed little care for dragging Anemone around. “And then you can meet Whirlpool. You’ll adore him. He’s just the most wonderful, brilliant young dragon.”

 

She was introduced to what resembled a stage with a writing area at one end.

Now it was clear those stains were simply some ink.

 

A half written scroll laid unfinished on the stone writing table.

The carved seahorses looked particularly intricate. She was told they were made by her first daughter, who she had no knowledge of.

 

Eventually she stood there with four whole scrolls stuffed into her talons.

Tsunami couldn’t believe she was expected to read all these in a single night.

It was almost as surprising when she learned it was her mother herself that wrote her favorite scroll.

 

But she couldn’t say she approved of her mother trying to set her up with this frog-eyed dragon in front of her. Riptide was still more handsome than that , but it wasn’t something she could say out loud.

 

“There are some others too, but many of them are for dragonets. Ooh, maybe you can have some of those magic scavengers act for a play! The Very Greedy Scavenger would be impossible to adapt otherwise...” Coral added. “The ending would probably need to be censored a little, but...”

 

“They aren’t magic!” Tsunami snapped with a tinge of fearful worry of what she might be thinking. “And you can’t mess with them! The MudWings did that and almost got washed from Pyrrhia!”

 

“Oh, that’s wonderful! But I assure you my Council is smart enough to avoid making even more enemies. We already have the SkyWings and MudWings as it is. And SandWings too.” Coral brushed off.

 

‘Wonderful?!’ Tsunami recoiled from the mention of something like that being ‘wonderful’.

 

“And, haha , of course they’re magic, dear! We would have known a long time ago if they weren’t!” Coral snorted dismissively at the idea.

 

‘Could it really be magic? Maybe if it was Animus. Why wouldn’t we know if it wasn’t?’ Tsunami thought the logic was sound and also out of place at the same time.

 

“Your majesty. I’m sorry to interrupt, but Urchin just arrived with strange news. I knew you’d want to hear it right away.” It was one of the Council dragons hovering in the air behind them.

 

“Of course, Moray. You always know what’s best.” Coral replied.

 

Moray looked similar to Shark in color, but Tsunami wasn’t sure if that meant they were related or not.

“That’s because I’ve had excellent training at the side of the most wonderful queen in Pyrrhian history.”

 

Tsunami hoped that was not a serious statement, but looking at Anemone, it only looked like that was just the beginning.

 

“Apparently, a dead dragon has been found just a few islands from the Summer Palace.”

 

“Oh, how sad.” Coral muttered with a small yawn “What happened to him?”

 

“Her. And we don’t know yet. But the strange part is that it’s not a SeaWing. It’s a SkyWing.”

 

“WHAT? That close to the palace?” Coral leaped up. “Get Shark and Piranha and take me to the body right now!”

 

...

 

Tsunami never expected to find Kestrel dead. Not here.

She didn’t want to tell Coral right away, not if it would get her the same treatment as Anemone. At least she had to tell her friends first.

She chose to stay silent about it through the meal they had upon returning.

 

She couldn’t understand the need for this Council, or the very insistent push towards Whirlpool.

If she was queen, she would just get things done without waiting for all this reporting and management.

 

It was almost relieving when one of the war commanders arrived and called up a pair of very injured dragons.

 

Every time she looked to her mother for some sympathetic or caring look, she was disappointed. Coral seemed more concerned about the floor than them.

 

One had a terrible gash in the neck, but both were quite charred.

The gashed dragon was bubbling blood from the gills, yet somehow the bleeding was much less than what Riptide had. It must look way worse than it is.

The other looked like he fell into lava, and couldn’t fly without support at all.

 

“Let’s hear it,” Coral ordered.

 

“Something strange is happening in the Sky Kingdom, Your Majesty,” The one that couldn’t fly said. “We were patrolling the outer islands, and we were attacked by two separate squadrons. The first were SkyWings. Then there were SandWings too. They were attacking each other, but they both decided to focus on us before we could escape freely.”

 

“Attacking each other?” Coral echoed. “Could they be turning on each other after all this time? The tides of luck are really on our side today!”

 

Tsunami wouldn’t expect any other choice of words from a dragon that’s supposedly an award-winning author.

But it felt like something was missing.

 

“What about Scarlet?” Tsunami asked, somewhat out of place.

 

“The SkyWings were shouting things like ‘For Scarlet!’, of course. Why, did something happen to her?” The dragon answered quickly.

 

‘So Scarlet survived... That’s so unlucky.’ Tsunami dreaded the thought.

 

“Why don’t you know anything about this?” Coral turned to the blue dragon in the pool marked ‘Secrets and Spies’.

It was named a little too blatantly for what Tsunami imagined.

 

“None of my spies have reported in for days. I had no idea anything was happening in the Sky Kingdom.” Moray protested.

 

“Mother, shouldn’t somebody look at their injuries?” Tsunami pointed at the soldiers getting more and more uncoordinated.

 

Of course, Coral cared more about them finishing a full report before sending them off to be helped.

Moray jumped up to clean the blood off the floor almost right away.

 

“If they’re busy here searching for us, then maybe now is the right time to strike. We could get him back today .” Coral said in a more hopeful tone.

 

“We don’t know enough. Just because they have a squadron out here doesn’t mean the palace is undefended.” Moray denied firmly.

 

After the Council was dismissed with audible disappointment, Tsunami found herself caught in her first impromptu aquatic lesson,

Whirlpool was a worthless teacher. Making her memorize how to recite the queen’s stories she hasn’t even read!

 

Tsunami couldn’t stand being taught something so useless, on top of how much of a suck up this dragon was.

‘I have to get out of here before I lose it.’

---

Queen Scarlet idled in her chamber almost obsessively focused on her newly acquired weapon.

The pain has mostly subsided, but it never goes away.

 

Everything became so much more clear to her now, and it only took world-bending pain to realize it was all her fault that this happened.

‘No more complacency, no more impulses, it’s time to think before indulging in careless games!’

 

“Those dragonets are dead! I’ll turn over all of Pyrrhia until I find them!” She hissed over the pain intensifying and drowning out her own thoughts.

 

She fiddled with the weapon that saved her from Burn, the next dragon on her list, and put every new thought towards figuring out how to make it work again.

That pathetic SandWing never told her how to reset it after using it, which made her think he didn’t even get that far himself in figuring it out.

 

It had a string attached to both the limbs in the front, but that looked important and like it might snap if a claw caught it the wrong way.

There was a handle-like piece that protruded from each side, and when it was slid up inside the track it was held into, a tiny metal bit poked up ahead of the string.

 

Feeling somewhat accomplished already, Scarlet pulled the handle up and back towards the handle, watching the string caught and drawn back by the metal tab in the center of the string.

After pulling it all the way and thinking she was done, she released the handle.

 

Thwip!

 

She jumped as the string loudly rushed back into its previous position.

She tried again and pushed it down at the end. This time, it clicked into place and didn’t move when the handle was released.

 

She was satisfied when she took the projectile recovered from the victim’s body and loaded it perfectly onto the track.

The projectile itself can be easily replicated, at least.

 

Now she only had to find Burn and those dragonets, and give them all painful deaths.

She already knew which way they escaped. Right to the Mud Kingdom.

 

Maybe they went to the RainWings for protection, maybe they stayed in the Mud Kingdom, maybe they went to the SeaWings. It didn’t matter.

‘I’ll just destroy everything until I find them.’

 

But first, there was some trash that had to be taken care of.

With her new reflection, she could scrutinize the dragons around her in a completely new light. They all rightly fear her.

Especially her guards. Any guard should be more afraid of failure than any threat! But now that she was focused on it, there was one guard that showed a lot less of that fear than the rest.

 

Her previous thoughtless self just thought ‘they must be better than the others to be so confident’ , but now she was considering that maybe they just wanted to be promoted into a position easy to spy from. Of course a spy would be brave.

 

Peril also betrayed her, but she didn’t mind that as much. A tool can fail now and then.

To her, Peril was hardly a real dragon at this point.

‘I’ll just have someone else kill off the dragonets. Problem solved.’

 

Scarlet quickly stormed out to find one of her highest ranking guards. As expected, Zonetail happened to be right outside. Even currently alone, at that.

 

“Zonetail, go get my dragons prepared for war. We’re going to destroy the SeaWings even if we have to go island by island!” She demanded.

It wasn’t a lie, she was going to do just that. They were the weakest, destroying them is just a matter of finding them.

 

Zonetail diligently obeyed, knowing the consequence of neglecting an order. But as night fell, he used his off time to sneak off to the Diamond Spray River.

He knew he would be waiting for a while, so he sat there and swayed in a bored fashion.

 

He waited for minutes, until he felt a presence behind him seconds before his neck exploded with pain!

 

“I knew it!” A loud voice growled from behind him.

 

He looked back in a panic to see the orange scales of Scarlet!

The worst disaster had come true without any warning.

He tried to make up an excuse, but he couldn’t even make any more sounds beyond a gurgle. Breath no longer came easily, or at all.

The confusion of how he was attacked and seeing something wooden pierced through his neck almost took over the sudden fear and panic long enough for him to not even feel distressed about it, but it wasn’t a long enough daze to grant him a blissful death.

 

“No other dragon would come out this far just to look at a river! There’s no excuse for you! Die, you filthy spy!” Scarlet grinned.

She didn’t care if there was some chance he wasn’t a spy, it wasn’t like she lost anything important if not.

 

Once she had the body paraded around, any others should be too afraid to even think of going any further with their treachery.

Notes:

I enjoyed writing Scarlet more than the SeaWing stuff.
Maybe I'm competence-washing these characters too much, but considering my OCs they need to be a little more competent to stand a chance.

I don't think I'd worry about Scarlet mass producing crossbows or anything though.
The crossbow itself is easy to make. The hardest part of crafting a crossbow is actually the trigger. And in this case, the reloading mechanism too.

Chapter 19: Summer Palace (3)

Summary:

Tsunami is getting a lot of focus lately...

Tsunami had to get out of there, and ended up in a cave on the first island that came in sight.

She couldn’t even swim there, she had to fly there as if she wasn’t a SeaWing. Even the sky was darkening to symbolize her terrible day.

 

It was so stupid. She was the only SeaWing that didn’t love the ocean. And she thought she had a chance at being queen. Apparently it wasn’t as easy as showing up.

The original plan was just to mope alone and vent everything to the sweet presence of nothing, until she spotted the head of a dragon very bad at hiding peeking in and trying to disappear.

 

“You are the worst at staying hidden. Has nobody ever told you that you should never be a spy?” She scorned his poor performance.

 

“I think I’d make a splendid spy.” He said.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be patrolling the outer islands, where we met—I mean where we saved you?”

 

“I don’t have a very important job. I can hardly stay awake enough to do it anyway.” Riptide grumbled and rubbed his newest scar. “If I was trusted with anything vital, then I wouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

 

“You do seem like a shady character, but come on in, I’m just recovering from an Aquatic lesson with Whirlpool.” Tsunami said with an audible tone of disdain at mentioning that nasty dragon’s name.

 

“Oh, Whirlpool, Queen Coral’s favorite instrument of torture.”

 

They were closer than she thought. And she was here alone with him. It felt uncomfortably comfortable.

“Why didn’t you tell me Webs was your father?” She blurted out hastily.

 

“It’s not how I usually introduce myself. You can imagine how that makes me look.” He argued with his tail coiling around his legs. “I’m sorry, I should have told you. I was hoping you might—I’d like to know more about him.”

 

Tsunami thought it was crazy that he’d want to know more about the reason he was living like this in the first place.

But she huffed and gave an answer anyway.

“Webs wasn’t the worst. Not like the other two.”

 

“We had three guardians. Dune and Kestrel both hated everything. Except maybe Sunny. Nobody hates Sunny—she’s too sweet and simple and lovable. Now not even scavengers hate Sunny.” She explained. “Webs was the only one to teach us anything useful. History, geography, the prophecy, that kind of stuff. When it was his turn to hunt he tried to bring back prey he knew we liked. It would have been worse otherwise.”

 

Listing good things about him was a difficult chore that she didn’t even know she was capable of. But she thought she managed to find everything there was.

 

“It’s all right, you can tell me the truth. I need to hear the bad stuff too.”

 

Tsunami took a deep breath.

“He was too much of a coward to protect us from anything. Not even from the non-physical stuff. If he was the only one that cared, he would have stopped the rest from telling us we were worthless at least.”

 

“That sums up everything I’ve been told about him.” Riptide nodded down at the ground in a slump.

 

“That doesn’t mean you’re anything like him. It’s not fair to punish you for what he did.” Tsunami hesitantly touched his wing with a claw.

‘Maybe this is better than a throne anyway .’

 

“Would you like a real Aquatic lesson?”

 

...

 

Riptide was a much better teacher than that nasty Whirlpool. At least she knew some phrases she might actually use now.

But it was about time she got back before her mother started getting paranoid. She didn’t want a harness herself.

 

“But also, what does this mean?” Tsunami paused to show a gesture she saw Shark make yesterday.

 

“If you mean this,” Riptide said, circling his talon the same way. “then it means something like ‘not right now, we’ll finish this later’.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Pretty sure. Why, who-”

 

“Yesterday, that’s what Shark gestured after I stopped him from killing my friends. You’re telling me he just said they’d do it later?” Tsunami stiffened up.

 

“Maybe, but if Queen Coral hasn’t ordered it, then I’m sure-”

 

“How would I know?! What if she has, and I just didn’t understand it?! I have to go check on them!” Tsunami rushed out, missing his last words.

 

She hurried back through the entrance tunnel, but went so fast that she didn’t even see the dark form waiting in one of the breathing holes.

Tsunami was quickly forced under as hooked claws caught in her gills.

 

The figure forced a hood of seaweed over her head as well as they tried to slam her against the tunnel floor.

 

‘I’m not dying here! Not right when I finally get home!’ She thought with only determination available to realize it.

They felt like they were wearing something heavy, with a metallic feel against her spines.

‘SeaWings must have armor too, just like those IllusionWings did.’

 

Thrashing and shouting wasn’t working, and she knew in that instant she couldn’t allow them to get any better of a hold on her neck.

She desperately shoved her talons through the gap between the attacking claws and her neck and forced them away, and tried to flash her scales as bright as possible when they had to look to find her head again.

She felt the water shift, and then a stunning force smacked her into the rocks.

 

She spent agonizingly long moments just flailing and swinging before she realized they were gone, just like that.

Riptide arrived, but way too late.

 

She assured him she was fine, and hurried to tell her mother that she almost just got assassinated.

 

It was eerily calm inside for a place she just got violently attacked.

Not a single dragon looked suspicious, which meant the odds were high they were even going to get away with it!

 

When she rushed up to the library level, she found her mother surrounded by scrolls and a deflatedly bored Anemone.

“Hello, dear,” Queen Coral said as she arrived. “I’ve been reading out loud to your sister. It’s her favorite part of the day. We’ve just finished the story of how I chose Gill to be my husband.”

 

There wasn’t any time to question it, but the name Gill was the last thing she wanted to hear again.

The same name she heard in the arena, and the same one she assumed she would never hear again. It had to be a different Gill. She didn’t even want to ask and find out, there was a perfect excuse to save this for later. Maybe Starflight could tell her there was a different SeaWing named Gill, after all.

 

She had to repeat “Mother” multiple times, and it was clear this was the least favorite part of the day for her little sister.

“Someone just tried to kill me.”

 

“What?” Coral finally shot up out of her mindless ranting and paid attention. “Who would dare?!”

 

“I don’t know, but they must be here now, somewhere in the palace. We should gather everyone and-”

 

“The eggs!” The queen suddenly blurted out. “The eggs must be in danger!”

 

“What eggs?”

 

“Two eggs with female dragonets.” Anemone explained. “They’re both in the Royal Hatchery, in the Deep Palace. They’re due to hatch in a couple of days.”

 

“And if someone attacked you, then they might be after the eggs, too!” Coral cried while already dashing to the edge and calling for Moray, and of course her favorite, Whirlpool.

 

Tsunami wanted to get everyone together and catch them here, but Coral insisted on rushing over there instead.

 

...

 

Somehow she ended up swimming next to Whirlpool. By some coincidences she always ended up next to this torture device, even when he wasn’t even doing anything it was still so irking.

And she forgot to check on her friends, again!

 

She did the best she could to ride the current like everyone else seemed to do effortlessly, though it didn’t feel so effortless for her .

Anemone couldn’t be very content with being dragged all the way to another island like that.

 

The skinny green dragon by the hatchery door screamed with an octopus in talon, clearly caught doing something.

Inside, a statue of a SeaWing labeled ‘Orca’ looked tough and ornately beautiful at the same time.

 

Nests of seaweed were stuffed into depressions in the floor, connected by wide pathways spanning between them.

 

In the farthest nest, one egg was still intact, while the other was—completely obliterated.

It was completely shattered to wring the sad little dragonet’s neck into the consistency of a soggy strip of kelp.

She didn’t even get to see what it was like outside of the shell before learning what violence was.

 

Now it made sense why Anemone couldn’t go anywhere alone.

 

Tsunami couldn’t leave this egg here alone. Not if it meant having to see that again.

She carried it on the way out and caught up just in time to watch Coral brutally mutilating the skinny dragon that was supposed to guard the place.

 

She couldn’t even understand anything while they were underwater, it felt so embarrassing not to know what any of them were saying.

 

She could only flash that she’d protect this egg, the job no one else seems to want, and for an apparently good reason.

But not in this hatchery. Something had to be wrong with this place.

‘Why do they not just move the hatchery instead of putting them right back in the same place they keep getting attacked?!’

...

“I’ll take it back to the Summer Palace.” Tsunami eventually suggested.

 

“The Summer Palace?! No, you don’t want to do that in this weather. It gets terribly flooded there during a storm.” Coral flared. “It’s better to wait it out here.”

 

“Flooded? You mean the caves? And the beaches? Where my friends are?!” Tsunami hissed.

 

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. Can’t they swim?” Coral dismissed.

 

“Not like us! Can the scavenger even swim at all?! I have to go check on them!” Tsunami declared.

 

“With my egg?” Coral growled.

 

“You’ve tried trusting everyone else, and failed. I’m the last one you have that takes it seriously. Are you going to trust me, or another half-hearted dragon that’s only afraid of being punished?”

 

“If anything happens to that egg, I’ll be down two daughters in a single day.”

 

“No, if anything happens to this egg, you’ll be down three . Because something would have to happen to me first.”

 

Tsunami needed a harness to carry the egg in, and while she was asking why Tortoise pointed at Shark it only made her start to dislike her own mother even more.

How could she be expected to stay there for days without eating anything if she couldn’t even stay inside to do it. It’s like they’re supposed to starve to death just to watch the eggs without breaks. Not to mention it was Shark’s fault she left her post in the first place!

 

She hurried getting to the harness so she could reach the palace as fast as possible, and it didn’t even fit until Anemone did something to it. She didn’t know what, but it didn’t matter.

 

It all felt so impulsive, and she was now lost in a vast ocean of crashing waves and menacing thunder.

She was hoping to see Riptide, but now she was starting to wonder why he would stay out in this storm. It was too late to give second thoughts now that she’s already put herself and the egg at risk of getting lost.

 

When trying to swim, all the currents shot her around uncontrollably, and if she tried to fly the wind just swept her away. It was impossible to go anywhere.

Tsunami was fighting the wind and the sea for so long that everything was getting sore.

 

After finally catching sight of an island, she had no way of knowing if it meant she was going the right way or not.

When she finally spotted a dark shape in the water, she was hoping it was Riptide.

 

But when she got closer to the water, it was instead some odd bowl shaped piece of wood.

There were two scavengers huddled on top of it, all soggy and weak.

 

She remembered the three others she saw before, and that she definitely killed one of them herself. Indirectly or not it didn’t make much of a difference now that they were just like dragons.

At least it was better than what other dragons did to them. The ones in the arena weren’t going to get any better than the dragons doomed to the same fate anyway.

 

‘I don’t have time for this. But now I can’t just leave them like that now that I know.’

 

Tsunami begrudgingly swooped down and tried to lift the vessel, but it was surprisingly heavy.

The scavengers screamed constantly in a way that would have been annoying if she didn’t now understand they could be terrified of things in a dragonlike way.

 

So instead she circled around and captured each of them in a front talon to lift them away from their doomed platform.

They screamed even more and uselessly hit at her claws. They didn’t have the ‘bow’ thingy that made that Field scavenger at all imposing.

 

‘It’s your fault all of this is happening. Even to yourselves. I’m sure somehow some of you managed to incite the Scorching, too!’ Tsunami couldn’t resist giving them a shake, seeing that she was just going to be a big blue monster to them anyway.

But then the piercing shrieks turned into very obvious scavenger sobbing and Tsunami started to feel guilty about squeezing them too hard.

 

She tried to grip loosely and fly faster to hurry them to the beach and get it over with, and they ran into the treeline without even looking back as soon as she placed them down.

 

Now she wasn’t even sure they would survive like that if she just left them on a remote island and moved on. Her mother was too ignorant to even make the SeaWings stop eating them right away.

She would have to bring Gale and that scavenger back to figure out what to do with them later, if she could even find her way back here.

 

Tsunami kept rushing forward and lighting herself up in blinding flashes until she finally bumbled right into Riptide out of pure luck.

She didn’t even know how to say anything useful, she could only manage to say it was urgent, and that was thankfully enough.

 

‘Please be okay.’ Tsunami had to hope they were still okay. She couldn’t let them all drown in some cave just because she couldn’t even create the time to check on them for almost two whole days now.

Notes:

I think I cooked with this. Tsunami I specifically wanted to develop more, because in the original the only reason she saves the two humans is basically one of those times Tui just put in humans to go "look how good this dragon is". She probably would have just killed them in canon if she was the least bit hungry, so it just makes little sense for Tui to think this demonstrates a dragon being 'good'.
Specifically, now she actually considers what happens to them after leaving them on the island instead of just putting them there and forgetting.

One of the biggest changes is how Tsunami survives being attacked. Generally I'm going to be writing combat to take on a more realistic theme. I found how Tsunami originally fights remarkably stupid. Like trying to get smaller to wiggle out of a hold? Seriously? At that point they already had their claws in her neck, all that would do is help them cut easier. And trying to 'distract' them by just fanning her wings was just as stupid.
It's like being strangled and waving your arms around uselessly expecting them to pause because they get confused why you're not fighting back.
There's simply nothing to be confused about. Moving her wings like that doesn't interfere with their attack at all, so there's no reason to get so confused to just completely pause.

Chapter 20: Summer Palace (4)

Summary:

A LOT of stuff happens.

Notes:

This is a huge 15k word chapter because I really didn't want to have a part 5 or even more. I miss my symbolic chapter titles.
Also yeah, I hope no one has a problem with how I write combat, because I'm integrating martial art concepts to work with dragons and I think in doing so it's much more interesting to see the skill that goes into fighting and not just viciously clawing at each other. (Though thats probably still the average level of combat)

This is another advantage the IllusionWings have to make up for inexperience in a full war.
They developed technique in their fighting more uniformly by adapting the ideas from watching how it works for humans. For Pyrrhia they mostly reach the same level just through talent and experience to figure it out naturally which leaves everyone else lacking compared to the talented and experienced few.

This cave was getting super boring, even for me.
The dragonets were being much more vocal at complaining about Tsunami the more time passed without even so much as a quick visit.

 

With nothing else to do, I got to know more details of how these dragonets ended up here. It did seem like they were of some importance to this continent if everyone knew about them, so they were probably the easiest way to get what we want without having to completely conquer everything.

 

Their own description of their upbringing is even worse than watching the pale little dragonet being dragged around on a leash. Essentially all of them were abused for years and then thrown out to go end a whole war they barely have any influence over.

Of course, the saddest part is that they think they’re part of some prophecy.

 

It’s the kind of thing I would see in fiction. Even if such things were real, it’s clearly not a real prophecy if they could so easily just replace one of them with a completely different kind of dragon. Even if I assumed they didn’t all have to be together, why in the world would being kidnapped and abused make them the chosen ones?

Even the smart one, Starflight, didn’t seem to want to even consider their entire reason for existing might be a lie, and bringing it up doesn’t sound like the best thing to do.

 

Ours wasn’t really as tragic, but I guess it serves as a role model for what they want to create. Well, this continent is just way too divided to ever work that smoothly. But at least I can actually move around now without Gale being so greedy over having me to himself.

Waiting here is taking way too long. If we don’t get out of here by tomorrow, then I’m just gonna have to break out.

 

But I can give it a night’s rest before trying that.

 

...

 

I woke just before the morning light started filtering through the shrouding canopy.

Of course, I was the first to wake up.

 

Out of all of them, Starflight seemed the least invested in sleeping. He was hiding under his talons like a hatchling.

I fought the urge to go out and start snooping around until everyone slowly started waking for the next day of confinement.

 

Somehow Starflight ended up as the last one still sleeping, until Glory interrupted it.

“What kind of sleeping position is that?”

 

Starflight jolts up instantly and tries to return to a more dignified sitting position.

“It’s just arena nightmares, that’s all.”

 

“We all have those, but we don’t end up like that.”

 

“Not like that. It’s about scavengers now. They were there, too. And I almost got one of them. I can see their eyes in my dreams now and the looks they gave me make me feel very stupid. I failed to notice something so huge and obvious.” He broods.

 

“Well, if that’s what you’re moping about, don’t. Tsunami did worse than you anyway, and you almost got stabbed by one.” Glory consoles in a strangely sharp fashion.

 

“It’s alright, maybe they escaped too!” Sunny tries to add, but none of them look like they think that it could even be true.

 

We definitely have to pay a visit to this arena later.

“I don’t even know how the humans of the continent live. With such terrible weapons they can hardly do anything on their own. The bows they have can barely get through some wood, let alone dragons.” I say.

 

“Don’t they have things that shoot... bigger sticks?” Starflight asks.

 

“I’m not sure how to translate it, but those are just a deterrent. They probably hardly ever actually hit anything.”

 

“Oh.” He slumps. “That’s not very fair...”

 

“Can’t do much about reality. This is just how things are. But not how they will be.” I say while imagining the not-so-far future.

 

Breakfast was obviously hardly more than leftovers. What am I supposed to do with some crabs?!

They really want to push my patience.

 

Just a short while after the light began beaming brightly outside the cave, it dimmed again, then a pattering of droplets started falling outside.

 

It’s raining. But—we’re in a cave.

Starflight stiffens at the sound as well, but I internalized it sooner.

“This cave might get flooded.”

 

They don’t look very worried. Of course the most naive of the bunch lays out what they are all thinking.

 

“I’m sure they’ll let us out before that..” Sunny hopes. Of course, that dream didn’t come true.

 

A SeaWing guard comes through the entrance carrying remarkably shiny chains. And just a single set.

 

There’s no way they’d even think of chaining someone in a cave that might flood.

But there is!

 

“Uh. I have to chain up the MudWing. I’m sorry, but it would be bad for me if I don’t follow orders.” The dragon says.

 

I run to get in the way quickly after doing a quick analysis of the near future..

“Hey! You can’t chain him up in a cave that might flood!”

 

It’s clear they really want Clay dead now. But as much as I want to blame that incompetent queen, there’s no way it’s her.

This could have been done way earlier if it was.

But, for someone else to get away with this, the queen must be gone. She really must be a useless dragon if anyone thinks they can explain that Clay ‘drowned’ and then still get away with it.

 

The guard looks shocked, but at least this time they were told about the ‘talking scavenger’ first.

“I have to. So get out of the way, little scavenger. I can’t tell him that I stepped on you in the process.”

 

“That does it!” I’m just overtaken by anger at that comment, and I was going to do it anyway, so I snap and reach for one of the dart arrows. I don’t even have to do it quickly.

I love how stupidly ignorant the dragons here are. They just wait there patiently and don’t even react to my attacks as if they think I’m harmless.

 

As soon as it leaves my bowstring, it flies straight into their neck, still not even reacting until it lodges firmly.

I immediately jumped back, since I don’t know how fast these things worked.

 

The guard barely has time to yelp and try to pull out the dart on the tip of the arrow before they stumble and fall forward, completely out cold after just a few seconds.

 

“Haha, these things are awesome.” I chuckle in satisfaction at how amazingly quick that worked. These darts are incredibly effective, they’re going to be the pinnacle of humans’ self-defense in the future.

 

The dragonets twitch restlessly as they slump over.

“Oh no! Is he dead?!” Most of them cry something similar.

 

“No. Just sleeping. If he was dead there’d be much more blood.” I sigh.

 

The body of the dragon now just lays there motionlessly as I turn back to examine my perfect shot.

“You should have at least tried to evade, maybe I would have hit somewhere it’d take more time to work. You had the brain of a fish, too.” I insult his unaware body before walking back to my position.

 

“Woah, that was a bit harsh.” Clay recoils.

 

“You’re lucky he’s not awake to hear that.” Glory laughed through her nose uncontrollably. “I’ll have to save that one for Tsunami. It’s better than ‘squid-brain’.”

 

Three more SeaWings rush in and see the one collapsed on the stone right after.

“Relax, he’s just sleeping for a while. But no chains.” I repeat.

 

“We HAVE to. Even if we have to restrain you first.” They warn.

 

I only have four darts left. I can’t afford to waste them all right here, and some of them are behind the others and impossible to hit right away.

No—I should let them do it and leave before they figure out they can take my weapon away.

 

I didn’t have many better options but to let them and hope to find a way to undo it afterwards.

Even escaping would mean escaping into a possible storm.

 

They chained all of Clay’s legs and made it clear someone wants Clay to drown here, since he can’t even stand on his hind legs to reach higher.

Then they carry off the unconscious SeaWing like nothing happened.

 

“Can you melt this?” I look at Gale.

 

“I don’t think so. I would probably burn my throat before it even started glowing.” He says while inspecting the silvery chains.

He gives it a long torching, but it doesn’t even change at all.

 

The dragonets also try, but if Gale can’t do anything with concentrated flames, theirs would do even less.

 

My prediction of a storm only gets more and more true.

The rain is crashing in waves outside, and it’s very audible even with the canopy blocking most of it.

 

Slowly but surely, the cave was starting to fill up. Now that water was covering the chains, burning them off would be even more impossible.

Starflight came up with the futile idea of piling on top of Clay to stay out of the water, but at the end of the day, we aren’t the ones chained down.

 

Clay can practically already be considered dead, as there is no way of saving him.

Waiting is all that can be done now.

So, we wait for a miracle that takes so long that Clay almost has to be standing to stay out of the water.

 

The pile was arranged from largest to smallest, so I had to be on top of Sunny.

She likes that to an uncomfortable degree, especially without the death threats from Gale for touching me. He doesn’t seem very worried, or got tired of monitoring everyone at once.

 

“I’m finally getting that tiny hug I wanted! She’s as light as a cloud!” Sunny announces to the others below.

 

“I’m just holding on, don’t call it that!” It feels immediately cringeworthy to hear it called a ‘hug’.

Though Sunny does emit more of a natural warmth than any of the others, and the increasing water is making this place rapidly drop in temperature.

 

“At least Sunny is happy.” Clay mumbles as he watches the water slowly getting higher.

 

“She can find something to be happy about anywhere.” Glory remarks.

 

After what feels like an eternity, Sunny suddenly jerks up to peek at the entrance of the cave and almost sends me tumbling over.

“Tsunami?”

 

I climbed back up to see that Tsunami was actually there. Though, it looks like she got put in a harness too. This harness had an egg secured inside.

 

“Are you all right? This is a terrible strategy. Please tell me this was the scavenger’s idea, because I thought Starflight would be smarter than this.” Tsunami derided the idea, but it wasn’t mine.

 

“How about calling people by their name instead of just ‘the scavenger’.” I fuss loudly to get the point across from back here.

 

“Fine. Anyway-”

 

“The SeaWing princess has time for us all of a sudden?” Glory asks with a hint of cold fury.

 

“It’s only been a day. Mother’s kept me busy.” Tsunami gave an uncomfortable to deliver excuse.

 

I expected a lot more unrest from that, but Glory doesn’t even make another sassy jab and they just leave it.

 

“We can’t go anywhere. We couldn’t leave Clay.” Sunny pointed down at Clay’s talons shackled to the ground.

 

“There’s no guarantee they would even let us out either. But I think they specifically have it out for Clay.” I add.

 

Tsunami looked really angry now. I guess she probably knows who would do this.

“Sunny, I need you to take care of this. You’re the only one that can keep this egg warm.”

 

“Me? You want me to do something important?” Sunny sounded just as happy with being given an important task. But, maybe they don’t usually take her seriously because of her personality.

 

“Really important. That’s the very last female dragonet Queen Coral may ever have. Somebody wants it dead, and we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Tsunami continued.

 

I have to cling tighter to her neck as Sunny perks up to wrap the harness around herself and envelop the egg.

 

“Haven’t they at least fed you?” Tsunami asks next.

 

“We got some leftovers... Very tiny crabs that not even Field thought were worth eating.” Clay sighed disappointedly.

 

“That’s not why! I can’t just eat things raw out of the sea unless I want to get sick!” I clarify.

 

“Scavengers are so unlucky. They have to cook everything too?” Clay says in a way that resembles pity.

 

“That’s not a misfortune. Cooking makes it a million times better.” I shut down his pointless pity. Leave it to dragons that barely cook anything in their lives to think it would taste better raw.

 

“Calling them unlucky would describe them pretty well. The two I found floating around in the storm were unlucky to be there.” Tsunami says.

 

“Oh no! Did they drown?!” Sunny squeaks sadly.

 

“They also got lucky that I passed by. So I put them on an island to wait out the storm. Not that I got much of a thanks for not eating them...” Tsunami ended with a grouchy grumble.

 

“So you wanted thanks?” I chuckle at the implication.

 

“I didn’t say that!” She flares. There’s silence except for Gale snorting at the response.

 

A splashing from behind Tsunami announces Riptide’s entrance soon after.

 

“How do we get these off?” Tsunami hurriedly demanded Riptide towards the chains.

 

Riptide rubbed his snout like he wasn’t sure if it was safe to give an answer before speaking.

“You’ll need the key from the guards, but they’ll never give it to you.”

 

“We’ll see about that. Hide if you need to, I might have to bring one of them back with my claws through his ears.” Tsunami growls and stomps out of the cave.

 

...

 

The water was already high enough that Clay had to be standing up by the time Tsunami returned.

She came back holding the keys instead of dragging a dragon along by force, so I guess something must have worked out.

 

“Hooray!” Sunny cheered energetically.

I’m glad I got down before that, or I would have been plunged into the drink. But it’s not like being hugged along with the egg and called cute is any better.

 

Tsunami unchained Clay and allowed him to move free of the restraints.

“All better.” He grins, before his stomach disagreed. “Well, almost all better.”

 

Tsunami thanked Riptide, who insisted he didn’t do much.

 

“OOOO” Glory started.

I could see it too. Who wouldn’t?

 

But I stayed quiet and moved over to Gale while Glory got shoved into the water for not staying silent.

 

Tsunami put all of us into a higher cave that wasn’t quickly flooding, or occupied. I don’t know what the plan would have been if it was.

It was much warmer since it was dry, and now full of dragons. There was also Starflight’s bright idea to warm it with a small flame as well.

 

Sunny was busy murmuring into the egg.

 

“The dragonet can’t hear you.” Tsunami says.

 

“We don’t know that. She might be scared. I’m just telling her it’s all right, and we’ll take care of her.” Sunny replied.

 

“She’s right. Some dragons with exceptional memory can remember some things from before they even broke out of their shell... Though usually anything at that point that’s memorable enough to be remembered isn’t so wholesome.” I add.

They probably wouldn’t know what that means... It’s for the best.

 

“You say that like you’ve hatched one before. How does a scavenger raising a dragonet work? Is that what you did with Gale?” Tsunami aghasts.

 

“No no no! It’s not like Field is my mom or anything crazy like that. Stop thinking of weird things!” Gale quickly interjects.

 

Tsunami looks like she is pleased to have hit something with that remark, and I can tell it’s not ending there...

“Of course not, you hover around the s–Field more like a parent. All you’re missing is the harness.”

 

What a horrific comparison, but at least my name was used, so I guess that’s progress.

 

Gale snorts disgustfully at being compared to Coral and to a parent and Tsunami looks like she’s loving it.

I might think it was funny if I wasn’t getting roped into it.

 

Finally, Clay came to change this topic by nudging Tsunami and asking questions that everyone really wants answers to.

“Tell us about the tribe. Does everyone adore you? Are they good fighters? What do they eat?”

 

“Let me find you some food first.” Tsunami says in a more brighter tone than before. Clay only really cared for the food, and the other questions were probably just courtesy.

 

She came back with three cauldrons. One with fish, water, and a seaweed and mushroom salad.

Sunny dunked into the salad, while Starflight charred the fish with flames since Tsunami was apparently the only one here that thought raw fish was good.

It’s not as badly burnt as if Gale did it, but it couldn’t be called cooking to just burn all of it, and I still don’t trust that. I’ll take my chances with the salad.

 

“Raw fish is awesome.” She said, but no one else agreed to that.

 

“You have unreliable taste. You think your terrifying mother is awesome.” Glory retorts.

 

“She is not terrifying! She’s a wonderful queen!” Tsunami responded, almost desperate-sounding.

 

“That is what all the scrolls say.” Starflight mentions.

 

“Er.. Well, apparently she ... wrote a lot of those herself.”

 

“Really? She’s a writer? I had no idea. That’s–I mean, I wish I–do you think she’d read something I-” Starflight suddenly stammered and then tried to recompose with “It’s cool, is all.”

He completely missed the point.

 

“Anyway, it’s not just the scrolls. Her subjects think she’s a great queen, too.” Tsunami says.

 

I lower myself from the rim of the cauldron to address her.

“Okay, I’m going to stop you there. You’re telling us she wrote the things saying how great she is, and those are the only things that her subjects can actually read. But how many of them that actually work around her would say the same if they weren’t at risk? What do you actually think of her? Have you even seen anything that makes her ‘wonderful’?”

 

“I’m sure it’s just what a queen has to do!” Tsunami replies, flustered already.

 

“What did she do, then?” Gale pushes first.

 

We got a very detailed description of what Coral did to Tortoise for something Shark allowed, letting Shark off with no punishment at all. That was on top of everything else about her already.

 

“You know, the murders started right after her first challenge. Maybe Queen Coral is doing it herself to avoid another challenge. Her first clutch of eggs had one female in it... Orca.” Starflight started. “She challenged the queen almost the moment she was full grown. I’m sure Coral was more shocked than anyone. Especially when Orca almost killed her. Queen Coral only won by accident, impaling Orca on that narwhal horn she has on the end of her tail.”

 

 “That’s no reason to murder all of her daughters.” Tsunami says.

 

“Seriously? She saw how close she could come to death, then realized if she let any of her female children grow up, she might be dead within seven years. Much easier to kill them all in their eggs, or as little dragonets, before they become a threat.”

 

“How would she know they were female before they even-” Gale started, but got ignored..

 

“Stop it!” Tsunami shouts furiously. “She’s not like that. She loves her daughters. Didn’t you hear what she did to that dragon when she found the egg broken? So it can’t be her. She wants them alive more than anyone. Don’t you see? We’re doing a good thing, and now Queen Coral has to take care of all of us because we’re protecting her daughter. She can’t chain you up and not feed you anymore. And that probably wasn’t even her idea anyway. Then if we find the real assassin, we’ll even be heroes.”

 

“Someone else tried to kill me too, and it wasn’t my mother.” Tsunami added.

 

“And I’d like to know what would have happened to us if they’d succeeded.” Glory snipped.

 

“Are you saying Sunny’s in danger now? Why-?” Starflight demands, then stops after glancing the crossbows that Gale still had which the SeaWings didn’t know were weapons.

 

I looked over at Sunny to check, and she did look a little bit paler than usual, but said it was fine and went back to hugging the egg anyway.

 

“I think it’s Shark. He’s the one that got there first and he even distracted Tortoise at just the right time. I’m sure there’s probably some secret entrance that no one knows about.” Tsunami continues.

 

I have my doubts that it would be him. There’s no way he would have gotten away with it this long if he was that sloppy with it.

Actually, maybe he would if it was this place.

 

“Tsunami, it doesn’t sound like you’re safe here. Maybe we should go.” Clay nuzzled.

 

“Or at least we should go.” Glory immediately suggests. “You can stay here if you really want to. We could leave now, while no one is guarding us.”

 

“No, I’m not leaving this egg until it hatches. And we can’t split up. We have to fulfill the prophecy together.” Sunny beams optimistically.

 

“I agree with Sunny. I don’t love it here either, but we have to stay until we meet Blister. That was the whole point of coming here.” Starflight inserts himself at the end.

 

“Then I think you should stay with us. So we can all keep each other safe.” Clay says and holds Tsunami’s talons.

 

“All right. I can help protect the egg as well.”

 

“Okay, now that the reunion is over, I’d like to actually address things seriously.” I interrupt. “Did you actually get her to tell everyone to leave scavengers alone?”

 

“Well, no... She thinks you’re magic or something.” Tsunami admits while avoiding eye contact.

 

“Why would it matter? I’m talking either way, and I’m saying everyone else can learn to do the same.” I clench my fist as I imagine all the humans that could be getting unlucky right this very moment. “If she refuses to do that, then ‘Queen’ Coral has to go. There are only two outcomes from there, and the best one is you taking the title with your own challenge.”

 

“And what’s the other one?” Tsunami flinches back and flattens her frills against her head.

 

“You don’t want to know the other one.” I say with a sharp undertone.

We might not be able to completely find and neutralize SeaWings in the ocean, but they’d never be leaving the waters again until they comply.

 

“I can’t kill my mother! Why would you suggest something like that!” She hisses.

 

“Well, if killing Orca was an ‘accident’ then you probably don’t need to. You can use one of the darts I used on that guard that first tried to chain up Clay.” I hold the thick needle up for a second before putting it back in place.

 

“She cares so much about family, how can I betray her like Orca?! She was probably devastated by that, and she’s even trying to rescue Gill from the SkyWing arena. It just has to be a different Gill. Maybe they just happened to have the same name, right Starflight?” She looked over at Starflight, seeming to wait for something she wanted to hear.

 

“Uh—the chances of two SeaWings being named Gill making it into the arena pretty much don’t exist. Was he someone important?” Starflight said what I would have said.

 

“He is—would have been my father!” Tsunami looks like she’s trying to look tough, but I can tell when someone is trying to hide wanting to cry.

 

It sounds like he must be... gone, and she just clung to the unrealistic hope that it wouldn’t be him?

 

“It’s not your fault. Let’s just sleep out this storm, and then we can worry about everything else.” Clay consoles.

 

I’m curious why it would be her fault, but it’s really none of my business.

 

“Sleep? What if she gets attacked again as soon as she’s alone?” Gale says.

 

“Then I’ll bash their heads in and deal with it.” Tsunami declares.

 

“Well, I don’t trust you to know how to fight. Everyone has to trust you to win, because it’s not just you that you’re fighting for.” Gale provokes.

 

“I can fight just fine!” Tsunami insists.

 

“No you can’t, you’re just a dragonet.” Gale repeats.

 

“Then I’ll show you fighting!” Tsunami growls and pounces to catch him.

 

Wow, that was not hard to do.

 

Gale steps back expectantly as she falls short, and narrowly displays the sense to pull her extended neck back before it can get grabbed, but slightly too late if it were actually happening. This wasn’t even anywhere close to what Commander Ashwind would have done to her by now. He didn’t learn to fight on the level of being prepared for a war.

“See? If I was really fighting you then I’d have your neck right now. You’re just good at fighting, but with no experience. Talent without experience is like night without moons. It has the potential to be beautiful, but falls short because something is missing.”

 

“Then what do you want from me?!” Tsunami grumbles.

 

“I’ll just have to teach you how to win.” Gale answers.

 

I sneak Gale a double thumbs up for such a great performance. She’s going to need to learn something if she’s going to win a challenge. Great job!

It’s better to know how to stay alive instead of just lunging forward and hoping to be stronger.

 

...

A loud angry roaring jolted everyone awake.

“WHERE ARE THEY?! WHERE ARE THE DRAGONETS? WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER? WHERE IS MY EGG?!”

 

“Up here,” Another voice answered, sounding even closer.

 

I quickly got up when I saw the coiled SandWing figure coiled around the cave entrance.

It didn’t take a genius to know who this was... Blister.

 

Everyone was awake except for Clay, who had to be poked to end his snoring.

 

“Well, hello. So nice to meet you. I’m Queen Blister.” Blister says.

 

I shiver just from how fake it sounds.

 

“Staying dry out of the storm, I presume. Very wise. I would have done the same thing.” She continues as if it was just about not getting wet.

 

Coral quickly arrived on the ledge behind her, bringing three guards and dragging Anemone behind her as usual.

“Where is my egg?”

 

“It’s safe and warm like I promised.” Tsunami gestured to Sunny with the egg.

 

“You never said anything about a SandWing touching my egg!” Coral hissed.

 

I wish punching would work.

 

“Oh, but think about it, Coral, these are not ordinary dragons. These are the dragonets of destiny. If they can’t be trusted with our future, who can?” Blister quelled Coral with words that make me want to retch from how much control they have on a so-called queen.

 

“You got my message! I was so glad you came. I knew you’d want to hear about the dragonets right away.” Coral answered as if they were friends, but it should be clear to anyone else who is in control here.

 

“Tsunami, say hello to my ally, Queen Blister.”

 

“We’ve met,” Tsunami replied irritably.

 

Starflight looked the most afraid of this for someone that’s been pushing for the meeting so long.

 

“Then introduce your friends.” Coral ordered next.

 

“Clay Sunny, Starflight, Glory, Field, and Gale.” Tsunami answers.

 

“Marvelous. All so brave and clever-looking. Wait, you were pointing at the scavenger?! So you gave it a name? Do the dragonets of destiny have time for a pet?” Blister gapes.

 

“She isn’t as defenseless as you think, so I would stop calling her a pet unless you want to learn what happened to Riptide and one of the guards.” Tsunami warned for me. It was very wise to save me the breath, because I wouldn’t be holding back the words I choose.

 

“Well, I suppose they had to be capable to force those MudWings into submission. I know plenty about all of you already, though I hope both of you don’t trust every rumor and propaganda the Talons of Peace have stuffed in these developing dragonets as they were raised.” Blister slithers closer to us, seemingly uninterested in the others now. “That can wait. For now, what’s for breakfast?”

 

“Let me guess, more fish.” Glory shudders angrily. Clay doesn’t care at all as long as it’s something.

Well, I still don’t trust anything from this place that isn’t properly cooked.

 

“Yes, that’s a good idea. Let’s go eat, then you can tell me the latest updates from the war. We hear something odd is going on with the SkyWings and Burn. Anemone, Tsunami, come.” Coral orders.

 

I know Tsunami probably hates receiving the same kind of ordering around as that poor abused dragonet, but just a little bit longer.

 

“Let the others come, too.” Blister adds. “I’d love to get to know them better.”

 

“Fine.” Coral grunts with a wrinkled snout.

 

...

 

As I thought, I didn’t really want to touch anything there. Roasted seagulls? No way. I’m not Gale.

The only thing worth being there for was the spectacle Tsunami created to get a miniscule justice for trying to drown Clay. Of course, Coral wouldn’t actually punish them for very long.

 

I feel like it’s probably to save those guards that gave her the key, which were down there anxiously awaiting a punishment probably. One of them looks away even faster when they see me watching them.

It was just a dart, it can’t be worse than what that ignorant dolt over there would do.

 

Starflight can’t even keep it together to respond with a single sentence that lacks a stutter.

 

Then came all the conversation about ‘Kestrel’ that I wasn’t really versed enough to know about. But once Blister mentions whoever it is’s neck being slashed both Tsunami and Starflight seem to have a knowing and puzzled look respectively.

I suppose knowing the exact way they died would indeed look bad.

 

Tsunami ends up leaving with Coral and Blister after a ‘secret weapon’ is mentioned, and Coral wants to show her for some reason.

I honestly don’t know why she would want to show a daughter she’s only known for a day anything actually important. Just that they have a secret at all is already a crazy thing to let slip.

 

So it was even more of a surprise when they came back, not even long after.

 

“Field, now they want you to come too.” Tsunami says with a wavering gaze. “I think I might have said a little too much...”

 

How much is too much? And what is there to reveal that they would even want from me?!

 

“As if I’d let you take her alone with them!” Gale shouts and tries to pull me closer.

 

“I’ll make sure they don’t do anything to her. I promise nothing will happen.” Tsunami insists.

 

“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.” I sigh and wave Gale off again. “I won’t be alone anyway.”

 

The destination was on a higher level, and Tsunami didn’t look very comfortable having to let me ride like with Gale.

Well, she is a little softer and more squishy than what I expect even if it’s all relative.

 

Soon enough, I was in what was clearly an armory. Mainly populated with spears made out of horns, and very crude chainmail armor and some blades that don’t look very well made.

 

“Well, scavenger, my daughter mentioned you might know something useful about Animus. If you’re going to come into my palace and make demands of my SeaWings, then maybe you should make yourself useful first!” Coral demands once we reach the center.

 

Animus?! They still have them?! Who?!

No, it’s obvious... Anemone!

 

I want to run away already! Not from fear of Animus powers, though I know how scary those can be.

But... if we can’t get SeaWings to comply without a fight, then— we might have to kill Anemone .

 

That kind of power is just too dangerous to allow against us. I still have that enchanted parchment from before.

If it really came down to it, I could do it myself and it’d only take a few words.

 

No wonder Coral wants to keep that baby dragonet tightly bound to her presence. It’s about keeping a weapon under watch and control.

Thankfully we left that Animus book behind and no one has actually read it yet.

 

There’s no good answer to give, and I’ve already taken too much time thinking of other things.

 

“Forget it, what could you have expected from a scavenger?” Another... ugly dragon interrupts, his rudeness saving me from a difficult position right in time.

 

“Maybe you’re right. Let’s move on with the practice.” Coral shifts her attention away so easily. It seems every single dragon around her can influence her however they please with barely any effort.

 

They get busy making Anemone do mundane things with her powers, while Tsunami is temporarily put out of mind.

 

“You did learn something, didn’t you?! Is it something my sister needs to know?! You better tell me!” Tsunami demands silently to avoid getting them to focus back on her.

 

“All I can tell you is that she won’t lose anything unless she does something extreme. But she doesn’t need to know that, if you don’t want her becoming a weapon of war even sooner.” Even that was saying too much. It would be foolish to correct their misconception that it has a heavy price. If she’s too scared to actually do anything with it besides what they have her doing right now, then that’s better for us.

 

After watching them make Anemone do stupid things with her power, something else in the canopy above rustles around. Both Blister and Tsunami notice it and look up first.

Soon enough Blister and Coral were flying up to the cliff in the direction of one of the taller waterfalls.

 

Tsunami definitely wanted to follow, but looked back at me and then stopped herself with a pouty grumble, probably because it would mean leaving me alone.

Blister pulls out another SeaWing from the vines and throws them at Coral, who is soon visibly enraged.

 

“Webs..!” Tsunami growls as if half angry.

Yet another abusive ‘caretaker’ I presume.

 

Coral sends them flying down towards the lake with a crack audible even from here, and Tsunami calls his name again like she’s worried about him all of a sudden and starts calling for Clay to save him.

 

At least she had the sense to bring me as well, even if I was left with nothing much to do besides watch them.

 

Webs definitely made the wrong decision coming here expecting mercy, I can see that.

Though it wasn’t just Webs, another group of SeaWings dragged in Riptide as well.

 

Despite Tsunami trying hard to say he wasn’t involved, they didn’t seem to care. Blister says everything just right to easily manipulate that worthless queen into getting rid of them.

---

“...you know what this means? We can return the egg to the Royal Hatchery. It’s safe now.”

 

Tsunami was furious with how easily Blister is framing Riptide. She barely managed to convince her to release Riptide if she catches the real killer.

But now she doesn’t even know if she can trust her mother in that!

 

Why did she have a mother that was so brainless? One that didn’t seem to care about anything but herself?!

She can’t challenge her own mother, not like Orca. But everything she does makes it harder and harder not to.

 

Even just a short while ago when she’d tried to push for her mother to finally stop her own dragons from eating scavengers, Blister managed to find a way to ruin that too!

 

“Now maybe you should forbid such a thing, magic or not... Can you imagine how useful those talking scavengers could be as spies?!” Blister had said.

 

Coral just as quickly went along with it. “You’re right. They come demanding things from my SeaWings, they should be ready to return something in exchange for my mercy!”

 

Tsunami couldn’t stand how unbearably selfish her mother was. She only cared that something was being demanded of her for once in her life and showed no interest at all in the obviously right things to do.

Maybe if it were those island scavengers. At least they were composed enough to understand the assignment, but what about the normal ones that were already there? How do they plan to get those ones to comply?

 

She can’t even imagine how Coral could consider letting any more dragons eat things that think just like a dragon. Even imagining she only cared about the dragons didn’t make it any better.

The arena already made her feel bad, but at least Tsunami could be content not knowing what it felt like to chew off one of their fragile little heads.

It was terrifying to imagine some random SeaWing snacking on some scavenger only to be told a day late that they just ate a person, and that they wouldn’t have even considered it if their queen cared to tell them right away.

 

But right now she just had to save Riptide. Webs was lucky not to die. Maybe she should have just let him instead of saving him along with Riptide.

It was a simple enough plan.

 

...

 

Tsunami waited resolutely in the Royal Hatchery for the assassin.

She expected some hidden entrance, and then for Shark to show up.

 

But she didn’t know what to do if they chose not to show up at all.

The heat from the jets of water fizzing up through the coral was getting uncomfortably warm.

 

And as time passed the worries that there would be no assassin were getting more pronounced.

How would any assassin be able to get away with this for so many years? Why would an assassin that good ever come back right after their last attempt where they almost got caught?

‘The egg might be safe, but I prove nothing if they don’t show up!’

 

Just then, the egg started displaying signs that something was moving inside.

It should be a happy moment, but what if it really hatches and the assassin doesn’t show themselves?!

Both Anemone and the new dragonet will probably be harnessed to Coral for good, and then there’ll never be another chance to catch them.

 

But then, maybe to her relief, a scraping sound erupted through the silence.

She quickly prepared and expected to be fighting a SeaWing assassin, but then she noticed the statue of Orca was now looking at her.

She wanted to call it impossible, but it quickly became very possible when the statue undoubtedly came to life.

 

Its malice made no effort to hide itself as the statue immediately zoomed at the egg.

 

Tsunami quickly blocked its path and the statue immediately switched to clawing her neck.

She didn’t know what to do or how to fight something that wasn’t even a dragon. She did remember everything Gale showed her earlier, so instead of letting it manage to reach her gills, she held up her talons to block her neck and focus on stopping its charge. It felt strange to be doing something so defensive as a dragon .

 

She was expecting a powerful impact, but the statue suddenly killed its momentum with a small bounce in its swim and then angling its wings to shoot straight down just ahead of her.

It was like it knew exactly what she tried to do, and then it made a maneuver like that . Something like that wasn’t even something she was sure a SeaWing could ever pull off across such a short distance.

 

As soon as it touched the ground, the statue grabbed her guarding arm with its right front talon and then hooked its left talon under it to grab her neck from below.

 

Tsunami panicked and barely avoided its stone grip ready to break her as easily as another little dragonet, and received a gash just below the gills instead.

She just pulled as hard as possible, and finally managed to break free before any more damage could follow.

 

It was confusing how she was even still alive. Why wasn’t that stone grip unbreakable, or the statue unparalleled in strength?

Despite being obvious magic, that alone proved that it wasn’t absolute—that it could be beaten.

Nevertheless, somehow it knew that she was going to get hit by that no matter what once she let it get a hold of her.

 

The statue was making stuttery movements, starting and stopping repeatedly in front of her for reasons she didn’t understand, but it was free time to think.

She finally remembered the narwhal spear she prepared. She didn’t know how to use it or if it would even work, but it was the only thing she had.

 

She reached over the egg to grab the spear, and as soon as she had it the statue continued its lunge.

Tsunami held the point out hoping it would run into it, but the statue raised one talon and effortlessly guided the point of the spear to the side.

 

The hard bone grinded against the side of its stone arm as it closed distance far past the tip.

Tsunami quickly grabbed the middle of the spear and turned it to jab the charging statue with the handle. Her talons instantly went numb from the hard impact, but it was the only good decision.

 

Chips of green marble sunk to the ground as the handle imparted a small crater in the chest of the statue.

The force pushed it to another stop, but the statue felt no pain and instantly moved to grab her arm.

 

Tsunami pulled it back right away, already knowing what was going to happen if she let it try again.

Just like she practiced for hours before sleeping the storm away, she pushed its reaching left talon aside with her own and pushed forward as much as possible.

 

The statue started reacting right away by trying to brace and push back, but it clearly wasn’t strong enough. It even tried to reach back to bite her, but all of her vital areas were too far to its side for it to reach and also blocked off by the spear she still had possession of.

 

Its weight forced it straight to the ground next to the wall, and it even struggled for just a moment against its own weight and water above it.

It was just long enough for Tsunami to back up and charge the spear cleanly through a thinner section of its chest.

 

Then she ran back to the egg to run out with it, and it started wobbling with a tapping sound right away.

A tiny green head shattered out the top.

 

Her little sister was choosing the worst time ever to hatch, and Tsunami didn’t even have time to smile for the little dragonet because she had to get out before that statue recovered.

 

It was already sliding out the spear by the time she started dashing for the door.

 

‘I made it! Please someone be out here!’ Tsunami approached within reach of the door, eagerly reaching to break it open and escape.

Just before she reached the door itself, something disturbed the water and she paused for just a moment before even looking back.

 

The spear that was once stuck in the statue came shooting right past where she would have been and lodged into the frame of the door with a resonant crack—no, where the egg would have been held if she kept moving.

The statue not only threw the spear in its last resort, but tried to throw it in prediction of where she would have been!

 

Maybe it did know exactly what she was going to do, but it seems intuition remains unpredictable.

 

Once the door was open, the statue froze in its tracks.

 

No guards. Nothing! Her mother was so confident in her worthless theories that she didn’t even bother to keep the guards around!

 

She zoomed straight to the Summer Palace to confront Coral and get Riptide free.

 

...

 

Finally, after reaching the Summer Palace and causing a huge commotion her mother finally decided to show up.

 

“My daughter!” She beamed. “See-”

 

“No! We almost died! I’m the one with the ‘I told you so’ here! You even took the guards away!” Tsunami shouted vengefully and it infuriated her even more that her mother had the nerve to start calling for the prisons to be checked as if Webs and Riptide managed to break out just to pull it off once again.

 

“It wasn’t Webs, or Riptide. It was Orca! Orca was an Animus! And she enchanted the statue in the hatchery to kill all the potential heirs! You can go see it for yourself if you want, it’s probably still in its battle-ready position since I left the door open!” She continued hysterically like it was some conspiracy theory, but it was the truth.

 

“You shouldn’t make up things just because you want to free Riptide, but fine, I’ll go take a look.” Coral scoffed as if being told to make a useless trip.

 

Tsunami snorted and carried the dragonet that continued flinging away eggshells, until she finally reached the lakeside beach where she was glad to find her friends not thrown in another cave the instant she’d gone away.

Her little sister could finally run around for the first time.

 

Then she suddenly remembered Field existed. She had no idea what baby dragonets did with scavengers.

And the first thing the little dragonet did after getting over the discovery of sand happened to be trying to pounce on the scavenger.

 

‘It’s fine.’ She thought hopefully. Field didn’t look very worried about it and the dragonet was smaller anyway. If anything the dragonet is getting confused and grouchy that she can’t catch the scavenger.

She couldn’t even catch a crab or an insect or even stop getting sand in her nose. She might have to keep her away from any beaches just so she doesn’t drown in sand or something.

 

Of course, before she could think of a name, Glory shifted attention onto Starflight.

 

“What’s going on with you? Why are you worshiping Blister so much?” Glory demanded.

 

“I’m not!”

 

“You are.” Tsunami added.

 

“I just think she’d be a good queen,” he mumbled.

 

“No, you don’t, back under the mountain you specifically said she was kind of evil and probably had sinister plans for all of Pyrrhia.” Glory pushed.

 

“Oh, you did say that.” Clay joins.

 

“And that you remember?” Starflight grumbled.

 

“So why do you suddenly love her soo much?” Tsunami asked.

 

“Blister’s smart. She’s–uh–she’s better than Burn or Blaze.” Starflight stammered for a response.

 

“I don’t trust her at all. I think we need to meet Blaze and hope all the stories about her brainlessness have been exaggerated.” Tsunami said.

 

“It’s doubtful that they are.” Starflight glums.

 

“So we can go? And look for Blaze? You mean we’re done here?” Glory asked happily.

 

Tsunami could understand they wanted to leave after everything this place made them go through. But she still wanted it to be her home, it was supposed to be home.

 

Wingbeats marked the arrival of Coral, Anemone, Blister and Moray. They must have finally confirmed the real assassin.

 

The baby dragon finally stopped trying to chase the scavenger to latch on to her other big sister Anemone, who was much easier to get.

“Have you picked a name?” Anemone asked.

 

“What do you think of Auklet?” Tsunami suggested, ignoring Starflight’s exposition on why.

 

She did like the look on her mother’s face. Right now she looked like a mother.

But she knew how badly she needed to keep her from being manipulated around like a convenient tool.

She was mostly just relieved that it wasn’t her killing her daughters.

 

“Orca’s statue has been destroyed. It was so beautiful, too. She was so talented. I can’t believe she hid her animus powers from me. She could have trained with Whirlpool, too.” Coral sighed.

 

“Wow. She really missed out.” Tsunami replied. She wanted to say ‘no wonder she hid it’, but...

 

Tsunami asked to make sure it was Orca, since she really didn’t trust anyone here. Her mother was so easy to manipulate that any of them could be doing whatever they want all the time.

 

And they still don’t know who attacked her in the tunnel.

 

“Now that we have the real assassin, you promised to set Riptide free.” Tsunami reminded.

 

“I know I did, but I’m not quite sure what to do with him. Clearly he can’t stay in my kingdom. He’ll have to crawl back to those Talons of Peace and see if they’ll take him.” Coral answered.

 

There it was. The part that makes her fury flare.

Why wouldn’t he be able to stay? Who cares about the stupid Talons of Peace anymore?!

 

“Then maybe he can come with us.” She proposed instead of getting angry.

 

“With you? Are you going somewhere?” Coral uttered slowly.

 

“Yes—I think we should. I don’t belong here, Mother. I wanted to, but—I’m only causing trouble, and I’m not doing what I was hatched to do. I don’t speak the underwater language. I don’t understand the Council. You have two daughters now who could be great queens one day.” She nodded at Anemone. “But my destiny is somewhere else. I have to stop the war—and keep a new one from starting.  With my friends.”

 

“And how do you plan to do that?” Blister cut in.

 

“I d–we’ll figure it out.” Tsunami switched her words at the last second to avoid sounding like they don’t know what they’re doing. If there’s anything she’s learned it’s that she can’t let every other dragon control her through mere words.

 

“We were thinking we should go meet Blaze, just to be fair.” Clay revealed.

 

‘AHH, shut up, Clay!’ Tsunami winced.

 

“But it won’t change how we—I mean that we think you’re-” Starflight continued trying to overcompliment Blister.

 

“No. No one is leaving.” Blister declared flatly.

 

“You can’t tell us what to do.” Tsunami responded.

 

“ I am your choice. The Ni–Talons of Peace want me .” Blister added. “Your job is very simple. You just have to tell everyone the Dragonets of Destiny choose me. And you can do that from here, where I can keep an eye on you.”

 

“Where you can keep us prisoner, you mean. We’ve had quite enough of that. Mother, tell her you wouldn’t do that to me.” Tsunami said angrily, finally expecting her mother to have an easy choice for once. If she loved her daughters so much there was no way she could do anything else.

 

“My dear, I’m sure they will still choose you after meeting Blaze. No one would choose her in a million years.” Coral said anxiously.

 

“Perhaps, but first they have to survive that long.” Blister constructed smoothly. “You know how dangerous it is out there, Coral. Remember what happened to Gill. We’ll really be protecting the dragonets by keeping them here.”

 

‘No, don’t tell me.’ Tsunami could feel her teeth grinding in anger at her own foresight.

 

“Oh, that makes sense.” Coral said, actually relieved to be told such a blatant lie. “She’s right, Tsunami. Just stay here and we’ll take good care of all of you.”

 

Tsunami looked back. Starflight was the only one looking miserable, the rest looked hopeful as if they fully expect her to get them out.

Other than Field and Gale who could probably escape on their own from how careless their confinement has been so far.

 

“This isn’t the right place for my friends either. Glory wants to go home. Sunny should find her parents. It’s not fair that I get to do those things and they don’t. We just—we have to go. And if you try to keep us, you’ll be no better than the Talons or Queen Scarlet.” Tsunami said it and was hopeful that her words were as effective as Blister’s seem to be.

 

Blister immediately looked to Starflight for support next. “Don’t you have something to say about this, NightWing?”

 

She got no response.

“Useless. There is something wrong with all of you, isn’t there? But you’re the dragonets I have, and I’m not letting you go.” Blister turned. “Throw them in your prison.”

 

“She wouldn’t do that. Right?” Tsunami hoped.

 

“It might help your decision,” Blister hissed. “If you knew exactly who killed your husband in the SkyWing arena.”

 

Tsunami turned to ice as that was brought up. It didn’t matter how she knew.

 

“What are you saying?” Coral looked lost.

 

“You know he died in the arena,” Blister said, but Tsunami decided she’d better interrupt before she gets a chance to say it.

 

“I did, OKAY?! It was ME . I was his opponent, and I didn’t even know who he was!” She shouted first.

 

Coral took a step back while pulling back Anemone and Auklet. She was looking back and forth like she didn’t know who to trust anymore, as if she shouldn’t be trusting her daughter first.

 

“Don’t listen to them, Coral.” Blister said. “They’re only dragonets. And dragonets never know what’s best for them.”

 

“I think we can be pretty sure prison isn’t at the top of the list, though.” Tsunami snapped back. “And from now on, Blister, you should show some respect and address my mother as Queen Coral.”

 

Smoke puffed from Blister’s snout and Tsunami could only imagine how good it would look if she attacked right in front of everyone.

 

“I don’t know what’s going on, and I can’t blame you for what happened in the arena.” Coral said and flicked her tail in a signalling motion. “But for your own safety, Tsunami, you’re staying here for now.”

 

SeaWing guards filed out from one of the caves to surround them.

 

Tsunami wanted to keep trying to get her mother to think for herself, but now all the restraint finally broke and she didn’t care anymore how much she would regret it. The same breaks seemed to finally destroy her ability to hold back tears.

 

“THAT’S IT !” She finally roared so loudly that all the guards paused and the scavenger had to cover her ears from a distance away.

 

“All I wanted was a mother that I could actually rely on! That was all I wanted! I thought I had one because of how much I saw you care for your daughters.” Tsunami sniffled. “And then I started to see how selfish you are. You don’t love them because you should, you love them for yourself, and don’t even listen to them!”

 

“You’re just a dragonet. You’ll learn this is what’s best for you later. Being queen is a-” Coral started.

 

“You’re a terrible queen, too! Do you think everyone is loyal because they like working for you?! They’re just scared of how they get punished! And then you write about how perfect you are to all the others!” Tsunami berated steadily and heaved deeply. “Well, I’ve had enough! Queens that don’t care about things being right are why we landed in this mess. If you don’t care about doing the right things, then maybe I should!”

 

Tsunami didn’t even know how or what to say, but she just said whatever she thought would work. “I challenge you for the throne! A royal challenge! Or whatever I’m supposed to say!”

 

Blister and Moray immediately twisted into nasty snarls.

 

‘I bet you didn’t expect that, you vile parasite!’ Tsunami thought with satisfaction looking at Blister.

 

“Don’t do that! Why do you want to make the same mistake as Orca?!” Coral screamed.

 

“This is what it was made for! This isn’t the same as Orca!” Tsunami replied.

 

The guards all stopped in their tracks. Clearly they must not be able to interfere with a challenge. She wasn’t going back to a prison, especially not because of her mother.

She didn’t have to kill her mother though. She just had to stab her with that little dart Field had on the end of her stick things .

 

They were already clearing an area on the spot as she retrieved one of them. She could still recognize the irritating smirk even on the scavenger’s clawable face as she was doing exactly what they wanted.

Maybe they knew it would turn out like this.

 

She was placed about two dragon lengths away from Coral.

The size difference was nothing to scoff at. But Tsunami didn’t feel like she’d lose when Coral only managed to accidentally win against Orca, another 7 year old dragonet.

She could hardly be worse than fighting that statue was.

 

They were already in place, so she was waiting for a start signal, but Moray was still in the way of them.

 

“As per tradition, both participants must clearly repeat this sentence exactly: ‘I enchant all of my magic to have no effect on this match.’” Moray announces, with a scowl for Tsunami.

 

“Probably so they can’t use Animus to win. Maybe that’s why Orca didn’t just use her powers to win the challenge?” Starflight pondered from the side. “That’s really smart.”

 

Tsunami didn’t have a problem with it. She didn’t have any Animus powers anyway.

As soon as the challenge started she shot forward after Coral with the dart firmly held between her teeth where it wouldn’t snap.

 

“Now hold on, you’re just a-” Coral just held her arms out expecting to easily stop the charge and punish a rowdy dragonet.

 

Tsunami decided to try exactly what that statue tried on her. She hopped just before reaching to kill the momentum and came back down grabbing her arm and hooking under it with the dart in talon.

Because of the extra time it took to grab the dart, Coral managed to pull her neck away and Tsunami could only stab the tip into her lower chest.

 

‘That should be enough.’ She was basically done. If Coral could use a spear then there’s no reason she can’t do this.

But she wasn’t careless enough to fall for that spear trick. She saw Coral trying to stab her tail at her, but she managed to hit it to the side with her own tail and disengage.

 

She did forget to mention that she wasn’t going to kill her to win, but it was too late now. She was already going to win if that was enough.

 

It definitely took a minute, but Coral inevitably collapsed since she didn’t think to attack while she still had the chance, and just like that lost her position as queen of the SeaWings.

Of course some of them tried to say it was cheating, but no one would speak up because Coral used a tail spear herself, so weapons were clearly allowed and no one said anything about scavenger darts being banned. Where did they even get those things from? Why didn’t anyone ask?

 

The place she managed to hit wasn’t the most effective, since it took so long and Coral was still barely conscious while already quickly recovering.

But that wasn’t important right now.

 

What was important were all the dragons now bowing to her .

She was Queen Tsunami now. Not just a princess anymore.

The only thing she knew for sure was that she would need an audience right now to explain this before things got out of hand and she gained the full reputation of the next Orca. There was no escaping that comparison. It was the first thing she sent her new subjects to do, and she only thought of it because of how obvious it was. She didn’t need Starflight to know how bad this will look.

 

Every minute there were more dragons crowding in front of her on the beach. This isn’t exactly a place designed for announcements but it will have to do.

She knew she had to say something, but she didn’t know where to start on what to say.

 

To get this far she had to fight, but she can’t beat up words. She still had to lay out their new future.

“Hello SeaWings!” She started, and already it felt strange to be saying hello as queen. “I don’t know how to start a speech yet, but it’s one of the many things I’m going to learn as your new queen! Aren’t you tired of unforgiving punishments and executions for small mistakes?! I won’t overly punish anyone like she did! I’ll learn to show you what a queen should be!”

 

She didn’t want to say it out loud, but she knew what a queen shouldn’t be. And she wished her mother wasn’t on that list next to Scarlet.

And they looked very excited to be allowed to make a mistake without extreme punishment.

Now for her first real orders as queen.

 

“The first thing I’m doing as queen is taking us out of this war! You can call me a dragonet that doesn’t know anything if you want, but I’m not sending any more SeaWings out there to die!” Tsunami declared, but she didn’t even know if they wanted to be out of conflict or not. “Also, my mother probably didn’t bother to tell most of you about the scavengers...”

 

As she thought, her mother really didn’t tell them anything.

And as she hoped, most of them were shocked or sick after her explanation and the proof being right in front of them. It felt amazing to achieve something. She could prove to them that her dragons weren’t just big monsters.

 

And her declaration that they wouldn’t be punished like Coral did already erased any objection or resistance they would have had from the change.

‘Even if I’m not a competent queen at least I’m better than the alternative. No one is controlling every thought I have.’ She thought proudly as the SeaWings dispersed after being allowed to leave.

 

As there weren’t very many of them left besides the guards which were now her guards, Coral started waking up and realizing what just happened. Tsunami wasn’t looking forward to how awkward it will be having her mother as a princess.

 

Some of the guards didn’t bother to hide that they weren’t afraid of Coral anymore, though most of them probably thought she would just challenge again and take it back.

 

Instead of anything like that, Coral just flopped on her side limply and started sobbing with her head in her talons instead.

“Why do my daughters betray me?!”

 

“You can still be a good mother, just not as queen.” Tsunami consoled with empty words. “That starts with letting Anemone out of that harness.”

She wasn’t sure how much she could keep telling herself she was that desperate for a mother.

 

An angry roar soon sounded from behind her. She reacted to look back, perhaps expecting the one that attacked her before. It was Moray charging right at her.

She didn’t know if it was because of what happened, or if she was the one that attacked her, or what was happening.

 

Field reacted faster than any dragon she’s ever known just by rolling out of the way. Though she didn’t know many dragons, of course. But the dart sticks she had tumbled out onto the ground loosely.

 

The guards clearly didn’t expect Moray to do this, since they were frozen just as shocked and positioned terribly. The only dragon that did anything was Gale.

He tried to grab and unbalance Moray from the side, but Moray didn’t stop for a second. He even managed to use one of his special weapon contraptions on her, like what Riptide almost died to.

 

She got hit in the neck with the metal tipped stick, but it didn’t start bleeding like Riptide had. Moray didn’t even seem affected by the lodged object at all.

 

Tsunami reflexively tried to redirect and grapple her to the ground like she pulled off with the statue and Coral, but Moray already watched her do that and pinned her without letting her do anything. So Tsunami felt an unstoppable force slam her into the sand and claws trying to strangle her neck.

 

“You TRAITOR! You’re just like Orca! Betraying your own mother all the same!” Moray roared incessantly. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I’D GIVE TO BE YOU?!”

 

Tsunami desperately scrabbled for any leverage at all as hooked claws dug into her scales, but there was none. Moray wasn’t even listening to Coral shouting for her to stop.

 

Even though she wasn’t strong enough to completely force Moray off, Tsunami intuitively reached for the shaft of the embedded projectile instead of waiting for someone else to pull Moray off.

She grabbed and pulled it out, then down and across Moray’s neck.

 

Moray screamed but was silenced into a gurgle just as quickly.

Torrents of blood poured all over Tsunami and coated her scales completely. It was far more blood than even seasoned soldiers were likely to ever see from claw wounds. The barbed metal tip made easy, effortless cuts as it was pulled out. This was why Field told her not to pull it out of Riptide.

 

She should have waited for someone to intervene.

‘It happened again.’ She thought as the blood blanketed her formerly pristine scales. It was just like the arena, but this time there was no Scarlet to use as an excuse.

 

“I didn’t mean to—she attacked so fast! What was I supposed to do?!” She justified shakily from the ground as Moray collapsed..

 

Everyone was backing up and looking away from the scene because of how horrific it looked, and Tsunami felt guilty as she just told some of the guards to handle the body.

She didn’t know what to do. Really, she’s never had to think about anything that comes after winning the fight. She didn’t even know what kind of funeral traditions SeaWings had.

 

With everything settled, she tried to ignore the horror on the other dragonets’ faces at what just happened. Especially Sunny.

She ordered another of the SeaWing guards to go release Riptide. Not Webs. She was going to have a talk with Webs later. But she wasn’t feeling like that right now.

 

She was ready to rush into the lake to clean off her terrifying blood-covered appearance before it got any worse. Everything was silent except for the wailing of a baby dragon.

‘Auklet had to–’ Tsunami started thinking, but she was so relieved to see that the dragonet was only screaming and crying because Field was holding her away from the scene and carrying her behind curtains of wings. Her baby sister didn’t have to see her like this.

 

Blister was the only one that wasn’t phased, but she was almost steaming in anger that didn’t seem to be entirely at her despite being the one happily destroying her plans.

 

...

Being queen wasn’t going to be easy. She could see why her mother needed a Council to alleviate all the real responsibilities.

Anemone no longer had to be harnessed to Coral, or ‘train’ with Whirlpool. Riptide was free, and more importantly wasn’t an exile.

 

He was actually being treated so much better now that no one had to agree with Coral on everything. Or it was because they knew he was suddenly favored by the new queen.

She didn’t know what to do with the other prisoners yet because she didn’t know which ones were in prison for a good reason.

 

And her friends were actually getting to feel welcome somewhere instead of treated like prisoners.

 

She did all of the work, but it felt more like that scavenger and IllusionWing stopped her from accepting things as she wanted.

They looked like they couldn’t stand her mother from the first moment, and then even helped to dethrone her. She couldn’t even tell if they just hated Coral or wanted her to be queen for easy control.

 

But the other dragonets sure seem to like them a lot regardless of their intentions for coming along.

 

But now she would have to say goodbye to her friends, since she had a kingdom to manage now. Now there was one less tribe getting involved in the war, or at least she hoped it would be like that.

She met up with all of them for that purpose.

 

“I think—you guys have to leave without me. I need to stay here.” Tsunami said.

 

“What? But what about your attacker? We still don’t know who did that! You’re not safe here at all!” Sunny cried.

 

“I’ll be fine. I know some guards I can definitely trust.” Tsunami claimed.

 

“You haven’t even been here a few days!” Glory doubted.

 

“Um—I can help with that.” Anemone said as Auklet dragged the harness she used to wear around on the ground. “It’s just one thing, so I think it’s okay.”

 

“You can do that?” Tsunami hoped.

 

“I can do almost anything I could imagine, this isn’t that bad.” Anemone admits in response. “The only reason I don’t was because of what Blister would make me do, and because—you know.”

 

“You don’t have to worry about that. You won’t lose your mind or turn evil or anything unless you really overdo it. If you stick to small things then you can use it almost as much as you want.” Field explained. “And we found a whole book about Animus. Maybe we might let you read it eventually.”

 

Tsunami was shocked that she would tell Anemone so much, let alone offer information on how to use it even more. She forgot about that book.

“Don’t even think of using my sister! I don’t care if she can use it freely or not, I won’t let her get involved in anything like that!”

 

“That’s fine.” Field deflates with a less ambitious undertone.

 

But Anemone already wanted to know more about the possibility.

“Really?”

 

“Don’t listen to that. I don’t doubt it, but just be happy you don’t have to worry about using your power for small things. I promised you I wouldn’t make you use your powers, and to me that also extends to not letting anyone else control you for them like my mother.” Tsunami shushed.

 

“What about medicine then? Can’t she heal anything?” Gale added.

 

“I said I don’t-” Tsunami started.

 

“I don’t want to be useless if I can really use my power safely!” Anemone interrupted anxiously. “Let me choose something for myself just once! I don’t want to be hovered over just like mother! I can choose whether to do it or not!”

 

“Fine. But nothing war related. I have that much authority as your big sister—and queen.” Tsunami enforced.

 

“Okaaaay...” Anemone grunted. “I’ll need a spear or something for this.”

 

Tsunami just had a guard hand over theirs, and Anemone proceeded to enchant it to find the one that attacked her in the tunnel.

She didn’t know how to trust that this was fine. Especially not with how she turns cold like her soul was being sucked out in the process.

 

Of course, she wanted it to be Shark. She still doesn’t like him, but now she really didn’t want to see him after becoming queen and killing his daughter in the process. He probably expected something like that as soon as she showed up with Riptide.

She really expected him to come storming at her just like Moray did.

 

But...

 

“Ow! What is the meaning of th–ah!” It was Whirlpool.

The guards looked just as shocked as she was.

 

“Why would you want to kill me?” Tsunami asked. She thought he was too boring to be the one.

 

“Nonsense. I would never.” Whirlpool insisted.

 

“Don’t forget who your queen is now. The question was WHY you did it!” Tsunami demanded.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We all know you received those wounds from Orca’s statue, you can’t blame me for that.” Whirlpool deflected with a slight tremor.

 

“You can’t deny Anemone’s magic!” Tsunami pushed furiously.

 

“I–We all know Anemone doesn’t like her training. Maybe she doesn–thinks they will stop without a teacher. Maybe she can make spells work differently than how she says them. Are you going to frame other dragons with Anemone? That would be the same as what—I mean that’s all I have to say.” Whirlpool responds with a steadying tone and shifts to become much calmer by the end of his speech while Tsunami was only getting more ticked off by the feeling of being outmaneuvered with words.

She could do anything to him right now and this pathetic weasel was standing before her so calmly when confronted with consequences.

 

Tsunami wanted to just get rid of him, but she felt a tug on her wing.

 

“No. You can’t do that in front of everyone.” Starflight whispered. “Why do you think Coral didn’t just kill Riptide when she hated him so much?”

 

‘Ughh, that’s so stupid. But it’s also obvious.’ Tsunami boiled that she couldn’t do anything extreme to him right on the spot, especially for comparing himself to Riptide.

“Fine then, I’ll have you rot in prison instead of dealing with you right now. Until you tell me why, you won’t even see a grain of sand ever again. Locking you up is hardly as bad as what Coral would have done to you.” Tsunami compromised. ‘Everyone will forget about him in no time.’

 

Whirlpool looked relatively, but annoyingly unbothered as he was taken to the prison level.

She should have locked up Blister too, if she didn’t disappear so quickly.

 

“I’m going to be very busy learning how to do queen things from now on. I guess this is goodbye.” Tsunami turned to the remaining dragonets of destiny. That didn’t feel good. “There’s only one more trip I’ll be able to make with everyone. I almost forgot about the two scavengers I saved from the storm. They probably need to be taken wherever their home is.”

 

One more flight together. She found her home and family, but it doesn’t feel like she belonged.

She took them out through the exit tunnel. At least those two scavengers can be sure of where they belong.

 

When everyone finally emerged outside, there was anything but a calm ocean waiting out there.

Dozens of wingbeats were drowning out the waves and shadows were filling the sky.

 

“SkyWings!” Tsunami observed a cloud of SkyWings and SandWings moving over the palace canopy. The palace was under attack.

It didn’t matter how they found them.

 

“Hurry and go! They’ll catch all of you if you stay here!” Tsunami pushed her friends to escape before it got blocked. The dragonets of destiny were definitely in danger here.

She was the only one that needed to stay.

 

“We can’t leave you here! We’re not the dragonets of destiny without you!” Sunny wailed.

 

“I’m still a dragonet of destiny, But I’m a queen now as well, I’m sorry..” Tsunami saddened. She didn’t want to avoid the fight for her home either. She can’t hide in a corner while everyone else fights.

‘I’m not a coward! Every dragon counts.’

 

Smoke began wafting up from the canopy and the risk of being spotted by the clumping dragons above was almost certain now as the numbers increased. Especially as SeaWings were starting to rush out of the narrow exit in a panic.

“We can come back with help if we make it in time.” Gale said. “Take these. You’ll figure it out. It’s just point and shoot.”

 

Gale gave her both of his stick-throwing things. Tsunami saw one being used, so she knew how to use them at least once.

She turned upwards to join the column of dragons flying up to stop the attacking army.

 

“Wait! You’re going up there to fight them?! You can’t do that!” Clay freaks out.

 

“He’s right, queens aren’t supposed to do that!” Starflight joined.

 

Tsunami ignored them anyway. At least when she looked back they were flying off without needing to be told again. She hurried up with the other SeaWing soldiers, finally rising over the canopy.

In just a couple of minutes the entire canopy was burning, and they were still dropping burning logs and spraying it with even more flames.

 

SeaWings tried to fight, but they were fighting SkyWings—in the air. There were so many of them.

Tsunami really did feel afraid now. It was different than just being able to beat up a single dragon and winning. This wasn’t like an arena or a duel.

 

Then there were SandWings to deal with too, even when she thought they were turning on each other the instant the SeaWings were done.

Still, she charged after the dragons that looked isolated.

 

Even then, she didn’t feel like it was helping.

‘What does a queen do in battle? How do I help?’

 

Commander Shark was already fighting off multiple SkyWings and SandWings at once with a trident and by ordering around other SeaWings, but they already look depressed as if they already lost.

The SeaWings on her side weren’t even organized in any way. One commander couldn’t control the whole battlefield, after all.

 

“SeaWings! Fight them together!” Tsunami ordered the ones still yet to reach the enemies. Having them all going off to fight single dragons was a bad idea. Clearly the SkyWings had the advantage here, so they needed to work together.

The SeaWings of various colors looked shocked to find their new queen in the middle of battle.

 

They weren’t the only ones that heard her shout, since the enemy SkyWings nearby naturally turned to look for a new valuable target.

 

“What—it’s Tsunami! The queen wants her dead! Kill her!” One of the clustered SkyWings shouts eagerly.

 

Tsunami was shocked that they knew who she was, and that they recognized her at all. But kill her?

That could only mean Scarlet didn’t want them for her arena anymore, she wants her and the other dragonets dead.

 

Multiple SkyWings immediately changed their courses to catch her instead of anything else. Now it was clear... They didn’t care about the SeaWings, they wanted the dragonets specifically.

 

“Protect the queen!” Some of the SeaWings shouted and blocked the flood of SkyWings, but there weren’t enough, and many still broke through.

Tsunami was surprised by their agility in the air, and had to use one of the weapons she had to evade it. She managed to claw the second enough for them to fall away, where she learned the stick-thrower didn’t work more than once, so she tossed the used one away.

 

She managed to barely beat the next couple before the gap was filled by other SeaWings. They seemed more spirited in their fighting than before, but she doesn’t know what has them so fired up.

 

One of the SkyWings with armor dodges around the barrier of SeaWings and closes in on her once again, preparing to breathe fire.

Just before the SkyWing could reach her, a large brown shape clamped down on his neck and threw him down to the waters below. They fell uselessly and didn’t recover before hitting the ground.

 

A MudWing hovered in front of her now. With sooty wings and a large maw scar.

“I’ve finally found you. I don’t know where the other dragonets have gone, but you’re coming with me. Unless you’d rather die as the dumbest queen in history.”

 

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Tsunami shouted. “I don’t even know who you are!”

 

“I didn’t say you had a choice.” The MudWing charges straight for her.

 

Tsunami raised the other weapon and squeezed the trigger, and the stick flew straight. But her aim wasn’t very good and it only hit the dragon’s front leg.

 

The MudWing yelped in pain as it lodged into their leg, but nothing vital was hit.

Tsunami kept holding it and hoped they would think she could keep shooting more sticks. It seemed to work, because the MudWing diverted and dived back under the burning canopy.

 

They managed to halt their progress, but they were losing slowly. Only Anemone could put out this much fire.

She was ready to order a retreat after about an hour of this. Even when they were dodging and avoiding them to tire them out, the SeaWings were just too vulnerable to fire and venom.

 

Just as she was ready to go look for her mother and sisters in this chaos, an impact strikes her from the direction she looked away from for just a moment. Now she felt multiple sharp points around her neck. A SkyWing had finally caught her in a moment of inattention.

She reached to claw their neck first, but there was only a clang of metal. The dragon had both an armored chest and neck, and she had nothing. Maybe she should have looked for armor, too.

 

SeaWings around her were screaming while she failed to break out of it, but they strangely made a sharp noise that sounded collectively surprised or shocked before silencing. Tsunami couldn’t make sense of what that was for.

‘I only lost focus for a moment!’ She thrashed futilely.

 

Just when the SkyWing was finally able to get a better grip, they bellowed in pain and loosen just enough for Tsunami to break their grasp and breathe freely enough to notice the shadow over them.

 

The SkyWing begins to fall like a rock.

“I CAN’T LIFT MY WINGS! HELP!” They screamed as they plummeted to the canopy. Tsunami could see deep gashes where the base of their wings were sliced.

They didn’t even simply fall through the canopy or hit the ground either.

 

Tsunami closed her eyes in horror as the SkyWing fell right onto a tree that was part of the canopy. It had a thin trunk, and the sound was more than enough for her to know what happened below.

 

When she looked back up, there was an even more terrifying dragon behind where the SkyWing used to be.

With a familiar perpetual scowl and striped lines on his snout.

 

“We made it!” She heard Clay nearby.

 

A wall of patterned dragons swarmed behind the SkyWings and SandWings.

 

‘How did they come back with this many dragons so fast? That’s impossible!’ Tsunami gaped at the new scene.

“How?! How are they here?!” She demanded immediately.

 

“Did you think we wouldn’t have anyone follow you when you left?” The grating voice of Ashwind replied.

 

‘How could they follow us here without anyone knowing?! ’ Tsunami had even more questions. Were they waiting on a nearby island this entire time?

 

The SkyWings and SandWings attack was quickly stagnating and reversing on them.

They were all surrounded from both sides now. The IllusionWings’ way of fighting seemed to work better on the ground, but the stick-throwers still did huge damage.

The SkyWings had greater mobility, but it seemed like even if they got above them the IllusionWing always had some kind of metal claw that extended their reach just enough to nullify the advantage of being on top in the air—the one every dragon expected to hold true.

 

Maybe the SkyWings that grabbed them had a chance, and she did see a few SkyWings that inflicted serious enough wounds to win and escape. Unfortunately for some of them that tried to copy it, some of the IllusionWings had a scavenger on their back that easily killed them with the tiniest of stick-throwers if they occupied themselves with trying to wrestle the dragon.

They didn’t see or simply treated a very important combatant as insignificant, and were paying the price for being so careless. Especially when the scavengers definitely weren’t hitting any dragons that didn’t immobilize themselves right in front of them.

 

Most of the injured IllusionWings were the ones that got burned by fire, while others seemed to have some kind of cloth over their wings that shielded some of it.

IllusionWings didn’t seem to use their own fire very much and they really had to be precise with it. The dragons that got hit by the IllusionWings’ short bursts of flame suffered much deeper burns though, and it looked like they were aiming at the base of their wings, so they would fall.

 

After a satisfying few minutes, the SkyWings and SandWings all started flying away and retreating, and her SeaWings were cheering happily. It seems they got so caught up that they forgot that the Summer Palace was literally ashes by this point.

 

SeaWings tried to talk to their ‘saviors’ as well, but they were only left confused that they only made scavenger noises.

 

She watched stiffly as Ashwind turned to Gale and started conversing things she couldn’t understand and then Gale chuckling at whatever it was.

 

“He said you did good.” Gale translated. “If he thinks that then you really did great.”

 

Tsunami didn’t know what to say about that. She looked down at the smoldering leaves and wood instead and wondered if her mother and sisters were safe.

She left the hovering position and descended through the canopy to look at the destruction. The dragonets and the group of IllusionWings followed too.

 

Charred SeaWings were everywhere, and there were huge craters in some parts of the stone.

The lake at the bottom was where she saw that her mother and sisters were still inside.

 

They didn’t have any burns because they hid in the water. Coral was still wrapping around Auklet.

 

“Is everyone okay?!” Tsunami asked.

 

“No! Some horrible MudWing tried to take my beautiful Auklet away from me!” Coral shrieked defensively.

 

“Did they have a large scar on their snout?” Tsunami suspected it was the same one.

‘Maybe she tried to kidnap Auklet to use against me.’

 

“Yes! And–wait, why are you bringing even more strange dragons into my palace!” Coral snapped.

 

“It’s not your palace anymore!” Tsunami scolded with a hiss. “They just saved what’s left of it. We’ll have the palace searched, a MudWing with a scar like that can’t hide for long.”

 

“Queen Moorhen has no reason to get involved with this, especially not with just a single dragon.” Field added.

 

“Yes... she wanted me to come with her. Probably to bring me to Burn.”

 

“What—why Burn? Don’t the SkyWings want us back the most?” Starflight raised his head.

 

“No. Scarlet survived. And she wants us dead now. The SkyWings won’t even take us prisoner anymore, so don’t let them catch you.” Tsunami advised.

 

“Oh, well that’s just splendid.” Glory grunted.

 

“Why doesn’t that dragon just speak instead of whatever that is?” Coral points at Ashwind talking to Gale and Field.

 

“Most of them only know the scavenger language.” Tsunami answered.

 

“That doesn’t sound very convenient.” Anemone uttered. “If they made such a difference in our defense, then don’t you think it’s bad news if Pyrrhia can’t communicate with most of them? I can easily fix that with a spel-”

 

“No!” Tsunami and Field interrupt at once.

 

“Why not?! You said I can use it if I don’t overdo it!” Anemone complained.

 

“We don’t even know what your limit is. Enchanting so many dragons at once might easily be enough to do it! It might not even take that much because you’re young.” Field elaborated on her no, while Tsunami just said it because she was scared for Anemone.

 

“How about just that one then. He looks important.” Anemone pointed at Ashwind.

 

“Alright, if it’s just the one then I guess it’s okay.” Tsunami could agree to just that much.

 

“Then—I enchant that dragon to be able to speak and understand Pyrrhian dragons.” Anemone casted.

 

“Did that work?” Clay wondered.

 

Ashwind jolted for a moment after.

“What just happened? What did you do?”

 

Field pulled his attention aside to explain Animus magic to him.

 

“I hate magic...” He grumbled.

...

Tsunami finally got around to what she was initially planning to do before the attack.

It took a while of retracing her path to the Deep Palace, but she saw the familiar shape that looked just like the island she left the scavengers on.

 

When she and the dragonets landed on the beach, she already knew finding and getting them to leave was going to be an ordeal.

 

Sunny was overly excited for this. Tsunami hoped that being seen as adorable wouldn’t be offensive to scavengers or they’re going to start hating Sunny eventually.

“Can you tell your new friends about me?” Sunny pesters her.

 

“They aren’t my friends. Why are you asking as if they’d listen to me?!” Tsunami retorted.

 

It was going to be quite a search—at least that’s what she expected until two feeble little forms hobbled out of the treeline towards her left.

‘Why do scavengers ignore all their survival instincts? No wonder dragons thought they were stupid.’

 

They clearly weren’t so confident in their rash decision since they were trembling and shaking on their way closer. They only got any braver because Field ran over to comfort them.

 

“Okay, what are they saying? And why did they come out? Even dragonets learn to hide from strangers.” Tsunami asked, dying of curiosity at this point.

 

“They were going to starve to death eventually anyway if they couldn’t find a way off this island. Also they recognized the patterns under your wings.” Field answered and went back to chittering with them.

 

‘They really recognized me? And they actually like me that much?’ Tsunami marveled.

 

One of them quivered closer and then pointed up at her strangely.

“Kween Sanomi!” They squeaked miserably.

 

‘Oh moons, that really was too adorable.’ Tsunami cracked. Hearing her own name squeaked out so terribly felt really warm when it came from something so tiny and vulnerable.

 

Sunny looked like she took something from her until the scavenger seemed to understand the jealous shifting and staring and pointed over at the SandWing too.

 

‘No way. They aren’t going to mess up Sunny, right? It’s too simple.’ Tsunami tensed.

 

“Sunsy!” They failed again.

 

Sunny looked dead because she couldn’t grab them or hug them.

 

“Wow, they like our little Sunsy!” Clay patted her head for the little scavenger that was too shy for touching near Sunny’s mouth.

 

“Don’t call me that!” Sunny woke up and finally stopped the name from staying.

 

Field and Gale made it very easy to convince them to ride on herself and Sunny.

Tsunami already didn’t want to watch them leave. She wanted to hear badly pronounced names over and over. She didn’t even get to hear how much they would mess up Starflight.

 

“Do you think the palace would be safe?” Field asked suddenly.

 

“It needs some rebuilding, but of course it would be safe if it can be better defended.” Tsunami answered idly.

 

“They aren’t the smartest...” Field scratched her head. “They want to go with you and learn about SeaWings.”

 

“Really?” Tsunami startled and tried to contain any surprise or excitement. Showing them SeaWing culture sounded fun, even though she had to learn it herself. It would be like learning with them. Maybe she should be scared of what she’d learn regarding scavengers, though. “They’d be safe as long as they stay close to decent dragons.”

 

“They claim to have been trying to map islands before that storm hit. So either way they don’t seem to have enough fear for their own safety. I’d keep an eye on them.” Field sighed.

 

Tsunami didn’t mind letting these scavengers stay at the palace. There shouldn’t be a single dragon at the palace that would do anything to them. If not from her own commands, then just because it was scavengers that had a direct role in saving them from the attack.

---

Oceans crashed against a wooden hull.

 

“What the scorch are we doing out here?! We’re just supposed to be fishing, not going on an expedition!” The younger man anxiously snaps at the older sailor as rough waves spill over the sides..

 

“You get better fish farther from the shore. I’ve taken this exact route dozens of times and never seen so much as a disturbance in the waters.” The old sailor dismissed and started to check the strength of lines and netting.

 

Everything was peaceful and seemed to pay homage to his claims. But the boat suddenly rocked much more violently than the waves seemed to allow.

 

The pair held on against turbulence, but instead of passing, the young man started screaming and tripped trying to climb over the side.

“Dragon!”

 

A huge sea dragon tipped the side of the boat down and stared in at them.

 

“I’m sorry, young one! Heaven forgive me for getting you into this!” The old man cried.

 

He waited for agonizing seconds before he felt something wet smack against his leg.

Both of them felt it and panicked harder, but the boat rocked again as the sea dragon suddenly disappeared with a splash.

 

There was a mass of fish flopping around in the boat, caught in a net that wasn’t their own.

 

“What happened?” The young man sobbed and blurred his own vision further.

 

“I–I don’t know! Maybe the dragon was sick or something was wrong with it! Who cares! Let’s get out of here!” The sailor rushed to turn back to shore with a terrifying new story that would certainly get him called a crazy.

Notes:

There are some things to cheer for and scream about after this chapter. Like Coral getting consequences is YEAH. But unfortunately Whirlpool manages to survive for now.
It's shocking how Coral gets away with NO consequences in canon with all the terrible things she did and how unworthy she is as a queen.
I would be lying if I said the consequences here weren't personal. Because Coral is everything I hate. She's not even stupid about humans specifically (that we see in canon) she's just in general stupid and ignorant and everyone else suffers for it.
The only dragon I probably hate more would be Humpback, but since he's already long dead I can't deliver him the horrible fate he deserves.

Oh yeah and I made that statue fight so much more epic. I thought it was stupid how dumb the original statue is that it just runs into a spear and gets stuck basically.
My Animus system made that so much more awesome when paired with my inclusion of martial skills.

Unlike in canon, the Animus in this story didn't make the statue actually sentient. It was simply reading the possible futures and making the optimal movements according to them.
Since the spell had been running for a while at that point, by the time Tsunami fights it's greatly weakened in its predictive ability.
If the spell was still at full power, no one in the world could have beat it.