Chapter Text
She is alone.
She sheds a small tear that falls into a nearby pool, reflecting the moon and stars above.
The pond ripples, and shifts to an image of Winter.
The IceWing prince lies down atop a frozen plateau, with no will or reason to fly away, merely staring up at the northern lights with empty eyes, broken horns, broken talons, and broken teeth that shimmer in the light.
On the opposite side of Pyrrhia, Qibli, Talon and Outclaw, problematic child nymphomaniac, sits in a quiet, dark room of his own making, scratching at the single black dragon skull tattoo on his neck.
Moon looks up to find herself standing in the open fields of Jade Mountain.
Qibli and Winter are there to greet her.
Qibli flashes her a knowing smirk, and Winter firmly nods.
Her wingmates gesture for her to follow as they race each other across the fields.
Moon begins to smile as she chases after them, but the ground shifts and rumbles, the sky turns dark and stormy.
Qibli and Winter vanish in the storm, and Moonwatcher clutches her head, re-witnessing a feral Fatespeaker rip out the throat of Fjord of the IceWings.
As Fatespeaker forlornly looks down at the blue blood on her claws, Moon looks down at her own claws, which have the same blue blood on them.
But Moon is not the only NightWing with trials, as Fatespeaker greets the new students of Jade Mountain, and their caretakers.
Fatespeaker pushes aside the pain of her past as Viper nudges her from her left with a smirk, and Squid smiles at her from her right.
Ochre happily plans out a hunting party with Peril and his new cousins, while Flame quietly stares at his winglet from afar, still bearing a scar across his left eye and the left side of his face.
The older NightWing steadies herself as the arriving students mingle and swiftly bicker.
Moon keeps her head down but follows along as Qibli, Kinkajou, Umber, and Carnelian all share thoughts and jokes.
Winter and Turtle follow along as well, both with their own secrets to hide.
Next to the Jade Winglet, is the Gold Winglet.
Icicle swallows her doubts and puffs her chest out with a smirk, and then intermediately sneers and complains when Sora calls her out for blocking the way into the academy with all her luggage, which has caused the MudWing to trip.
Tamarin struggles to get the IceWing and the MudWing to stop arguing, she cannot see them and they will not look at her.
Anemone gives Peril a friendly wave, tells Tsunami and Pike to stop hovering over her, rolls her eyes at the luggage incident, and tells herself that she is just fine without the temptation of animus power.
Peril returns Anemone’s wave and tries not to feel upset as almost everyone keeps their distance from her for her firescales, which she had once reclaimed in order to protect, not harm.
Peacemaker smirks from afar as he plots and schemes and yearns to reclaim his absolute power.
And Onyx grumbles while keeping her distance, fearing for her mother's health and dreaming of the day she will become Queen, even if it may well kill her.
The royal bastard of Smolder reaches towards the crackling white light of the Eye.
The students tackle a variety of obstacles, ranging from tree sap, to swinging logs, and a tree thicket that does not contain invisible RainWing assassins, for there are no RainWing assassins in Pyrrhia.
The Jade Winglet, led by the gung-ho Carnelian, finishes together as a team and receives Viper and Kestrel’s half-eaten ice cream, which Winter re-freezes to the cheers of his winglet.
The Gold Winglet, hindered by Icicle and Sora’s arguing, is penalized and must endure being pelted with rotten tomatoes.
Icicle glowers at her stoic brother as he throws a tomato at her face, knowing fully well that he is not what he seems.
Lessons are learned, school supplies are stolen, smoke bombs are dropped, and the students settle into their routines.
Viper teaches her students to fight like SandWings and SkyWings and RainWings, embracing the earring of an Outclaw and the tattoo of a Talon, wearing her artificial tail barb as proudly as Sunny wears hers.
Squid tries to help Webs with a basic Aquatic lesson, loses his temper, throws a vase and insults the class with every tail-stripe insult he knows, and he knows many due to Webs.
The young SeaWing has the shakes, from when he drowned a SkyWing soldier to protect Flame.
Hailstorm stumbles and collapses before a flowing river, seeing Pyrite’s reflection in the water.
And then, Pyrite sees Hailstorm’s image in the rushing torrent.
Moon finds a chasm growing between herself and everyone else as secrets are revealed, fractures are illuminated, and fears are exposed before the ugly truth.
She is torn between Peacemaker’s selfish ambition and Fatespeaker’s hard earned wisdom.
And so, she runs to protect herself from others and others from herself, fleeing to the jungle she has known all her life.
Her disabled father looms over her, prophet of the night, imploring her to embrace her strength and rule over all of Pyrrhia.
Her adopted grandmother looms from the other side, always vigilant for the safety of the jungle and its many children, including Little Moon.
Moon watches the past as Secretkeeper flees Morrowseer and the volcano, only to fly directly into the domain of Grandeur and her shrouded agents.
Moon watches herself hatch from a silver egg under the moonlight, serenaded by the hums of the RainWings.
Even so, there are no RainWing assassins in Pyrrhia.
Caught between Morrowseer and Grandeur, NightWings and RainWings, born from both tribes but belonging to neither…
Moon sees a looming future where she is the all-powerful, all-knowing empress of Pyrrhia, feared by all like Morrowseer and Blister and Darkstalker before her, and it fills her with despair.
She bows her head and weeps for the future that she cannot deny.
Elsewhere, Winter stands up atop the icy plateau, finding the will to roar and shatter the shackles of his own mind, for the brother and sister he still has.
A small crack of light appears in Qibli’s room, and he looks up at it.
Moon feels a gentle comfort come over her as Fatespeaker approaches quietly, encouraging her to stand and choose her own path.
Through their synchronization, Fatespeaker has developed her own power, to understand how to find dragons that are alone and frightened.
Moon stands up as Fatespeaker hugs her, banishing the darkness with a smile.
The IceWings struggle to adapt as the gift of order collapses into nothing, plunging the nobility into anarchy.
A foul usurper sacrifices her son and her very own soul, in exchange for the power to destroy any who dare oppose her ambition.
Queen Glacier and her daughters seek refuge with Princess Blaze and Queen Thorn.
Winter, Icicle, Hailstorm, Lynx… and the spirit of a SkyWing that never was… they stand up to the usurper that is both a tyrant and a fool, she who believes there can only be one.
Good and evil clash as another SandWing crisis emerges.
Two young SandWings clash with an older SandWing, they are all adorned with black skull tattoos, for they all have killed before and will kill again for what they believe in.
Their egg sister struggle to determine if she is a true SandWing like them.
Before Onyx can risk it all on a fool’s bet, she is halted by the shouts and a pile of her annoying wingmates, her aunt Blaze, Queen Thorn, Prince Smolder, Sunny, Qibli, and a grinning Viper.
Viper looms over Flame, and sincerely asks him to turn over a new page in his story, to break away from SkyWing bitterness and find his own reason to keep living.
All around Fatespeaker and Moon, their friends and allies stand ready despite their bickering and their differences.
Qibli, Winter, Kinkajou, Turtle, Carnelian, Umber…
Icicle, Sora, Tamarin, Anemone, Peril, Peacemaker, Onyx…
Squid, Viper, Ochre, Flame…
Clay and his sibs, Tsunami, Akulet, Riptide, Coral of the Jungle, Kestrel, Webs, Glory, Chameleon, Jambu, Pineapple, Splendor, Deathbringer, Starflight, Mastermind, Fierceteeth and Strongwings, Greatness, Glacier, Snowfall, Crystal, Mink, Lynx, Hailstorm and Pyrite, Thorn and her Outclaws, Sunny…
And countless more, queens and commoners and everything in between.
Together, with the two females that shimmer together like the stars…
The NightWings of Jade and Destiny…
They all nod and turn to the sky, where the sun shines brightly for all, heralding the glorious new day.
Moon stands alone in the forest again, but she knows her friends and family are always with her, no matter the distance.
Moon smiles, for all is well.
But then, she is startled when she is approached by a traitor from her own winglet, one that she never would have expected in a thousand years…