I'm not sure if anyone's even gonna read this, but I'm posting anyway. I don't love Wings of Fire as much as HTTYD, but I'm still giving a try at a crossover. So here, hope you enjoy chapter 1!
It's been a year now since the end of the War of the SandWing Succession. The Dragonets of Destiny had completed their quest at choosing a new queen for the SandWing tribe, which, didn't turned out as everyone expected. Then again, who would've listened to a bunch of dragonets telling then who the new queen should be between Blaze, Blister and Burn? Two of sisters surely were too stubborn to just listen and realize it could mean a chance to live. But only Blaze had been smart enough – surprisingly – to hold back her great speech on why she should be queen. Thorn was now the new queen of the SandWings, Sunny's mother. Most approved, as they could see the leadership in her. Some others had to be reasoned, that she'll be a great leader. Now peace was mostly all over Pyrrhia, if it wasn't for some incidents at the Jade Mountain Academy.
Most tribes had heard about the female IceWing named Icicle, trying, and failing – thankfully – at killing Starflight, one of the Dragonets of Destiny. A great number of dragons disapproved of her for attacking a blind dragon. Even though most tribes were concerned about IceWings hating NightWings and vice versa, it still wasn't acceptable to have a dragon attack another, mostly when he was a hero – one of many who brought peace on the lands.
Now, after those events with the explosion in the cave at the Mountain, some parents of dragonets thought again about sending their young ones to a risky place to learn. Some thought, perhaps learning to know dragons from other tribes might not be such a good idea after all, especially when you mixed some dragons who've fought in the past.
But that didn't scare Darklight - a young NightWing, barely a year old, living in the rainforest with her tribe and a RainWing as her queen. After those stories she'd heard about her tribe once living on an active volcano, he understood why they were living here, in the rainforest. Though she didn't hate it – they had a lot of food supplies, a great night-sky to soar across, and amazing smells – it was better than her parents' previous lives on that island stories. Now eggs hatched in bright moonlight, giving some NightWing dragonets powers, as the ability to read minds and see the future or have visions. Darklight was born with only one of those so called gifts. Her mindreading wasn't strong, but when she let go of trying to control her powers, all she'd hear were distant whispers of many dragons' thoughts.
Curious and adventurous, she would often sneak away from her mother – which wasn't hard as she would mostly help building up the new NightWing village – and explore the rainforest on her own. She didn't have many friends, only Shadowdrift, who was another NightWing of the village, around her age – though he didn't have any powers as his egg had been hidden under a shadowing bush that wouldn't let any moonlight reach under its leaves. But he was dark as hardened lava, and had barely any silver scales at his neck.
Darklight still liked him though, he could be funny when he wanted to and would come to join her for an exploration in the rainforest.
Darklight slipped under her mother's wing that covered her as she collected water at the stream, and trotted to Shadowdrift she'd spotted helping his own mother with carrying a bucket of needles needed for the construction of the platforms, so they wouldn't be stepping on the muddy ground all the time. They wanted the buildings to be high enough from the ground, but not too high to be in bright daylight, like the RainWings loved.
''Hey, Shadowdrift,'' said Darklight as she stopped behind her friend who held the bucket between his jaws for his mother to grab the needles when she needed to.
''Hey, Darklight,'' he returned, which came out strange because of the metal handle between his jaws.
''Come on, I think I know where we can find those sloths that escaped us last time.'' she said, reaching a paw up to her mouth as she spoke close to his ear.
''Darklight,'' he said harshly, shifting his eyes from his mother to her. ''I'm kind of in the middle of something,''
''And you're about to be as well,'' said Darklight's mother as she passed them, placing a pair of satchels filled with water from the stream on her back.
''Mom!'' Darklight shrieked, startled, looking at the heavy satchel on her back. ''Mom, you're gonna break my back,''
Her mother showed a smile a gestured to follow with a move of her head. Darklight followed, staying low as she carried the satchels up where her mother said to empty them. When done, Darklight shook off the pair of satchels, dropping them to the ground.
''Okay, okay, it's done,'' said Darklight in a hurry, walking back to Shadowdrift and her mother. ''Can we go now?''
Shadowdrift placed down the bucket to the ground gently. ''So where are we going? It better not be any place dumb.'' he said, giving her a pointed look.
''No. It's a very cool place.'' she said, grinning.
''So where is this very cool place?'' asked Darklight's mother from behind her.
Darklight's muscles tensed up, her ears folding back. ''Uh, the second stream, on the other side of the RainWing village..!'' she tried, and Shadowdrift folded back his ears, confused.
''The second stream? What's so great about that?'' he asked.
Darklight rolled her eyes and turned around to face him. ''I'll show you when we get there,'' she whispered harshly in his ear, and he nodded, smiling.
''Oh, uh, mom? Can I go with Darklight?'' he asked, turning to her mother.
''Mmh... What do you think, Fierceclaw?'' asked Shadowdrift's mother to Darklight's.
Darklight and Shadowdrift turned to Fierceclaw, smiling hopefully. ''Please!'' they both said at once.
''Well,'' said Darklight's mother, looking down at them. ''It's alright with me.''
''Yes!'' they both shouted and ran past the first stream, and towards the RainWing village.
The second stream, as they called it, was the RainWings' waterhole. Queen Glory accepted them two to explore past their village borders, as she'd seen not much negativity from them like lots of NightWings, and wanted to be the best queen to these dragons as possible. She allowed them to go wherever they wanted, as long as they didn't get close to the animus tunnel leading to the NightWings' island and in the dunes of SandWing territory.
''So where are we really going?'' asked Shadowdrift as they walked side by side, crossing under the RainWing village, which was built high, leaving the ground full of vegetation.
''Like I said, the second stream,'' said Darklight smugly, her head high as she looked forward.
''Are you kidding? That's the most boring place in the rainforest!'' he exclaimed, turning his head at her.
''Shh..!'' she hissed, gesturing above. It was sun-time for the RainWings. Queen Glory wouldn't be happy if they woke up a dragon – or worst, the queen herself. ''Something at the stream,''
''Oh..!'' said Shadowdrift, his ear perking up. ''You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?''
''Maybe,'' she said graciously, and broke to a gallop, Shadowdrift following closely behind.
They raced to the stream, laughing and pushing each other around until they arrived, and took a sip to cool themselves off. A noise suddenly met Darklight's ears, and she looked up to see two sloths peering down at them curiously.
''Hey, look at that.'' said Darklight, looking up at the sloths. ''Two in one.''
''Okay, let's just get this over with and find that super secret tunnel,'' said Shadowdrift, walking pass her, walking up the stream until they met the fall. ''Hey, I just thought of something,''
''Careful, that could hurt.'' joked Darklight, grinning.
''What if there are guards there?'' he asked, worried.
''Nah,'' she said, closing her eyes mindlessly. ''All RainWings are deeply asleep by now. And if there are here, chances are they're sleeping as well.''
''Point taken,'' said Shadowdrift and they finally reached the fall, the noise of the water getting louder as they approached it.
''There it is!'' said Darklight, gesturing of a claw the large boulder resting at the top of the fall. ''Come on!''
They beat their wings until they reached the boulder with a hole in it, big enough for a large-size dragon to get through. The inside was as dark as Shadowdrift's scales, and you couldn't tell if there was actually an end to it. But if they heard right, this was a tunnel that lead to NightWing Island, and SandWing territory.
''Let's go!'' said Darklight excitingly, about to throw herself inside, only to be held back by her friend biting her tail.
''Whoa, whoa, whoa!'' he called as soon as he let her go. ''We don't know if it's even safe. There's maybe a reason Queen Glory doesn't wants us anywhere near it. Who knows?''
''Come on, Shadow,'' said Darklight, giving her a 'you promised' look. ''You agreed!''
''Yeah, that was before seeing it for real.'' he said, backing off slightly. ''I have a bad feeling.''
''Well, like it or not, I'm going in,'' she said, and took the first step in. ''Plus, you always get bad feelings.''
Shadowdrift shook his head, looking down. ''Why does she have to be so stubborn?'' he questioned, and it didn't take long before he followed.
They walked in the darkness, breathing a plume of flame to see where they were going. Bumping in a wall wouldn't be professional if you asked them. The air here was way hotter than in the rainforest – and the rainforest was pretty hot and humid. But there was something else about this tunnel other than the intense warmth. It was like the world wasn't right anymore.
They finally saw a dark red light at the end of the tunnel, and took cautious steps towards it, looking at each other in silence.
As they reached the open, their eyes went round, their jaws dropping.
''Whoa...'' they both said at once, awed. This was the island their parents, and grandparents and great grandparents, etc, had lived on for so long. Just breathing was a hard thing to do here. They knew the volcano had erupted, and there were no longer any sign of life here, but still, were there any when the volcano was just active? When Darklight looked at some NightWings, she noticed some were still pretty scrawny. Their ribs were visible and their cheekbones were sticking out not just a little. Now Darklight was glad she'd been born in the rainforest.
The dragonets looked at each other, wordless, and advanced. Shadowdrift's front leg walked on something hard, and he looked down to realize he'd just stepped on the skeleton of a long dead dragon, probably a NightWing that hadn't escaped the volcano.
''Bones... that's just great.'' he murmured and followed Darklight. ''Hey, I think we've seen enough already, maybe we should turn back.''
''Oh, come on,'' said Darklight, twisting her neck around to face him. ''Would you stop whining a follow? There's nothing else here than packs of bones and hardened lava.''
''Exactly,'' he said, ''See? You said it yourself. Nothing to see here.''
But all Darklight did was take off into the air, and fly through the still floating smoke from the glowing ashes below. Shadowdrift growled under his breath and followed anyway, unfolding his wings and shooting after her.
Their eyes scanned their surroundings, once landing on, what they believed her name to be Battlewinner's fortress. There were destroyed stone buildings, crevices on the stone floor far below, collapsed caves, and many more.
''Hey, Darklight?'' called Shadowdrift from behind, and she twisted her neck to face him. ''Is it just me, or is there something glowing down there?'' He gestured with his talon something shinning bright below their wings, and both of them plunged down, stopping in front of the structure.
It hadn't been clear from up there, because of the blinding grey smoke, but now they could see what it was.
''Is this...''said Darklight, but Shadowdrift, expert in all knowing, was already answering.
''Nightscale's portal.'' said Shadowdrift, awed. ''I've read in some scrolls Queen Glory brought me from the Academy's library that Nightscale was an animus dragon, and built a portal, animus touched. But from what I've read, it never really worked.''
''Never really worked? What does that even mean?'' asked Darklight, confused. ''So you're saying the portal has been somehow shut down, and now it's working?''
''I don't know,'' he said, shrugging. ''Seems like.''
Darklight approached the portal, its frame stone-like, and inside the rectangular was this bright blue light, circles dancing on the bright wall.
''Wait, what are you doing?'' asked Shadowdrift, afraid she might be thinking what he thought she was thinking.
''Come on, Shadow, don't you wanna see what's on the other side?'' she asked, smiling hopefully.
''I don't need to cross to another world full of madness and death,'' he said, ''I'm very happy where I live.'' He turned his back, looking back at the tunnel leading to the rainforest. ''You may love danger, but I'm not like you.''
''Hey, look,'' she said, turning to him. ''This portal is standing in the middle of destruction. What if it was meant for us to find it?''
''Uh, hello? It's animus touched? Clearly Nightscale must have enchanted it to resist any form of destruction, even a volcano.'' said Shadowdrift as if it was obvious.
The ground under their feet shook roughly all suddenly, and from the distance, they could see the bright golden-orange lava drifting down the volcano as new smoke rose from the mouth.
''Oh oh...'' said Darklight, eyes wide as they both stared at the bursting volcano, boulders flying down to them. The earth shook violently, almost knocking them off their feet. They both took off in the air as rocks flew down from the sky like shooting stars, and towards the exit, the tunnel leading back to the rainforest – back to safety.
Shadowdrift was at the lead, flying as fast as his wings could carry him, dodging the flaming boulders and trying to see through the thick smoke.
Darklight calculated the distance left, and she knew better than to take that risk. ''Shadow!'' she called as loud as she could through the rumbling noise of the volcano. He looked back at her, concerned. ''We'll never make it! We need to head back!''
''Head back? Where?'' he questioned, and he immediately knew what she was talking about. ''Oh no no-no,'' he said, shaking his head sideways.
''We don't have much of a choice!'' she roared, and she went full speed, cutting him and forcing him to fly back.
''Darklight!'' he cried out, as she pushed him to fly back.
But she ignored him and made sure he didn't turn around and flew to his death. Determined, Darklight, shot forward as she sighted a massive flaming boulder falling down from the volcano down on them, and with no question asked, both tucked their wings to their sides, and went through the portal, as the boulder who would've given them a different fate, slammed right in front of the animus touched built, blocking the bright light from view.
As soon as Darklight and Shadowdrift went through the portal, everything went bright, and they were no longer knowing of their surroundings. They only felt their bodies slamming against cool bare rock, and next thing they knew, they were dead to the world.
