Flaming Scales. A Wings of Fire fanfiction.
(Disclaimer; I do not own Wings of Fire or any of the characters)
This is the small insignificant story of an island in the expanse of sea in between the Sky and Ice kingdoms. But, this is an interesting story. It is one of greed and fear. It mostly centers around a Sandwing thief named Hyena. And now, it begins.
Hyena was flapping desperately over the ocean. It was cold and raining and he was absolutely miserable. The rain was pelting him furiously, like the storm was determined to throw the sandwing head-first into the watery abyss below.
This didn't worry him however, after all. He DID have a sack full of gold coins, golden trinkets, and various other valuable items. The only thing was it was HEAVY; the sack weighed him down greatly (as one would expect). He spewed out a long line of curses as the wind picked up, tossing him violently in the storm's unmerciful current like a toy. The rain picked up further, and a loud clap of thunder was audible in the distance.
"Drat." He muttered, quickly steadying himself against the newfound air flow. At this rate, it would take him an extra hour to reach his destination.
Oh well.
Hyena was born a thief and he would die a thief. At least that's what the dragons closest to him said. He agreed fully, the life of a thief was one he reveled in. The adventure, the challenge… it was like living in a dream. Only issue? He wasn't THAT keen on the whole dying bit. Then again, who was?
Looking down at his loot to ensure it was safe, Hyena laughed into the rain. What a great catch that day. He had just stolen ALL of this from just one vendor in Possibility! The orange-yellow sandwing really enjoyed making a living this way. Except when he has to stealthily escape through THIS kind of weather.
After a strangely long time of flying through nature's wrath; suffering the horrid slimy rain on his face, the terrifying crashes of the waves below him, and the occasional clap of lightning that would strike wings away from him, he finally came to a conclusion.
Three moons! He thought, as the sandwing looked around hopelessly in the endless sheet of rain. It looked all the same, and suddenly his stomach sunk in fear.
I'm…. I'm lost.
The pit in his stomach grew, and Hyena thought he was going to be sick. The sandwing thief looked around helplessly in the rain; praying that anything, ANYTHING, begged to resemble something that he recognized. However, even with his determined searching, the rain was too much. It was like molten steel against his body; cold and unwavering with each fierce spit, his eyes coated in liquid glass, blurring his vision.
The storm worsened the further he went, his wings being jostled by the storm's wrath. Even with the sheets of rain dying down, a thick layer of fog began to rise from the ocean. The thick cloud overcame the sandwing in seconds. He began to panic, the sinking feeling from earlier returning. His wingbeats became unsteady as the storm picked up speed, the rain soon re-emerging from nowhere. The sandwing's heart raced as his attention was drawn to the deep watery hell, which was getting closer and closer every second. Trying to regain more altitude as to avoid a deadly collision with the vast aquatic grave, Hyena flapped harder. However, his attempts seemed futile. No matter how much effort he put into it, he was still slowly sinking. Soon enough, he could feel the light drizzle of spray that was washing his belly. It's sickening, slimy specks of salt made him want to tear off his stomach with his claws.
Hyena felt weak. He couldn't fight it anymore. The current was blowing him away, and the amount of salt had collected on his stomach was unbearable. The lightning was too close for comfort, and evening must have been settling in; his internal clock of the day was screaming at him that rest was needed. His eyes heavy, the sandwing gave one last push into his general direction.
The sandwing felt ready to pass out, his strength failing. Hyena blinked a few times; but the water was just too much. In a swift motion, he fell a few feet towards the surface of the ocean, flapping viciously before pushing himself back so he was gliding. As his eyes began to shut against his will, a shadow appeared in the near-distance.
Hyena paused, running over options in his head. For all he knew, it could be some guards, or maybe a sea monster (despite these being rumours, he wasn't willing to take any chances). He bit his tongue, shuddering from both the immense cold and his own doubts.
This could be a trap, or maybe even an ambush…. But he didn't care.
Not anymore.
He stopped flying and simply glided through the storm; wings extended against the falling water droplets. As he got closer and his vision blurred, he could make out…. Trees?
Yes…. yes…. YYES!
Hyena cheered internally(as he had no energy left to shout it out loud) as the small island came into view. It looked small, and he couldn't make out the details…. But that didn't matter. The sandwing landed on the rocky beach, and in a matter of seconds, his vision left him for darkness, and Hyena doubled over unconscious.
By the time Hyena had woken, the sun was already almost at it highest peak in the sky. Grumbling, the sandwing dragged himself up; body sore. His tail dragged on the ground ruefully behind him.
Looking around, he finally spotted his treasure bag a small distance away; hidden half-beneath some dirt on the beach.
A little more looking around made Hyena realize there was a LOT more dirt than he had thought.
He just happened to land on the rock itself.
Damn my luck. He grumbled, thinking it was pretty cruel of karma to land him passed out on a solid firm rock then on some softer dirt. There were smaller pebbles and stones and such around, but the vast majority of it was dirt. Dusting off the treasure bag with his tail, he grabbed it greedily and snuck a look inside.
After making sure nobody else was around, he dumped it out on the ground. The treasure spilled out, though there seemed to be slightly less of it than he remembered. Cursing profoundly at the realization that he must have dropped some during the storm, he took a better look around.
"Incredible…." He muttered, looking at the incredible scenery that unfolded itself in the daylight. The beach was peaceful now that the storm had passed over. The tide washed gently over the shoreline; the seafoam building up on the crust of the island like makeshift clouds. The trees however were probably the most spectacular out of all.
They seemed to resemble birch trees, with the white colored bark and eyelets. They were unnaturally skinny for trees; it took Hyena a few seconds to realize they were indeed trees, and not simply huge stalks of grass or brush. However, the leaves shone the color of firescales… their reds and orange hues shimmering like an endless fiery rainbow against the blue sky. Each individual leaf glittered like a crystal, or a pane of stained glass, but instead of portraying a prism of rainbow colors they shone with more magnificance than the beautiful sun above.
It was the first time Hyena had ever seen anything like it.
Raising a talon to a leaf, he plucked it from its branch. The branch shivered, like a chill swept down it's invisible spine. He turned it around in his claws.
The leaf was delicate, like a tiny petal off a rosebud. It was thinner than parchment, and the tiny individual veins within looked like threads of crystal or web, woven by the tiniest spiders imaginable. They seemed to weave in and out so intricate. After pulling a few more from the trees around him, the sandwing realized each was as individual as the next. No two leaves were alike. Being extremely careful not to damage his new discovery, Hyena slipped the leaves into his loot bag. These were a treasure, and that was almost guaranteed.
Intrigued by the odd, earthy nature of the island, Hyena began to explore. Approaching a rocky cliffside, he sniffed cautiously. However, there didn't seem to be anything there except him. Which was strange. He would have expected at least something to challenge his presence, but nothing was there. The occasional whiff of cow or sheep wafted from somewhere, but he didn't feel particularly hungry at the moment.
Leading on, the island was bigger than he had previously thought; there was a small rocky canal that lead to a grounded hotspring (If he had liked water, that is), a large field where various types of sheep, goat, and ram grazed, and a strange rocky dwelling near the northern end where he had landed. Approaching the odd rock formation, the trees seemed to grow around the smooth stone, which felt soft to the touch.
Turning around, he found the entrance to a cave on the other side. The entrance was blocked off by some of the firescale tree branches. Being careful not to damage the natural beauty of the trees, the sandwing gently brushed the branches out of the way and went inside. It was dark, a little darker than he had hoped, but sunlight started filtering in through the flaming leaves.
Seconds later, the far wall of the cave was illuminated by it's red and orange glow. Hyena approached it cautiously, but what he found was no danger. Instead, he found a mural. It was huge, taking up the entire side of the cave itself. Each set of art seemed to be done in paint. Hyena sat down and marveled at the spectacle.
It was dragons. Near the bottom of the wall, seawings swam through endless oceanic currents. A pile of mudwings (Who Hyena assumed were siblings) were curled up on each other outside a mudwing shelter by a riverbank. Nightwings were climbing in along a huge canyon. Hyena stopped. Nightwings and canyons? The idea seemed futile.
Moving on, the sandwing saw one of his own, the sandwing hissing at what seemed to be a desert mammal. Skywings decorated the sky, torching beautiful shades of red flame into the blue painted sky. Rainwings were curled up in trees, basking in the sunlight. Icewings flew over a huge frozen lake and over tiny evergreen trees speckled with snow. There were a few tribes however that Hyena didn't recognize.
Way along the base of the wall, dragons painted in ghostly colors walked among huge cities made of crystal and gemstone. Hyena almost drooled over the thought. A city made entirely from gemstone? It sounded like a dream, for any dragon. Then, at the very top, dragons with thunderbolts for horns soared through black storm clouds. He frowned slightly. The storm was still ringing in his ears from earlier.
The strangest thing was that neither the gemstone cities nor the thunderbolt dragons were ever ones he had known of previously. The dragon thief dragged a claw across the wall. It too, was smooth, just like the rocks outside. He debated on the fearful idea that the tide had washed it down; but this was soon ruled out. If it had, no doubt the mural would have been washed. This however looked almost as clean as if it was fresh. Considering that this place wasn't on any map he'd ever seen that sounded pretty ludacris.
Hyena stepped back out of the cave as dusk began to settle across his new island. HIS island… that felt pretty good. The sandwing looked above into the horizon and over the now-calm waters. As much as he hated to admit it, if the storm hadn't blown over the way it did, he wouldn't have found this place.
He grinned as a stray ewe bleated at him from across the field.
"Welcome home, Hyena." He said, basking in the evening glow.
"Welcome home."
MONTHS LATER
Hyena had gotten somewhat used to the flight to the mainland. It didn't take very long to figure out the shortest routes to and from the main continent of Pyrrhia. After a bit of mapwork however and a lot of determination, he figured it out. There was a collective of caves along the skywing kingdom's coast which he could store treasure in should he couldn't make it to the island in time. Resting spots, efficient passages, even some alliances with other thieves helped the thief figure out the most efficient way to live.
After a substantial time between flying back and forth and plundering various vendors, the sandwing had collected such a hoard of valuable items, he would be rolling in riches for years to come!
Crawling back into his loot cave, he began laughing as he looked at the large chest full of gold, gems and other such valuable things. He threw in his latest score and crawled back out of the cave. The sun was bright as ever, shining down magnificently as the sandwing reveled in his latest catch.
He started to glance around the trees on his own little peaceful island, their leaves rippling like fresh fire. Snatching another leaf of a branch and twiddling it he smiled. It was truly a natural miracle.
A thought shot through his greedy mind. What if he took some of these leaves and sold them himself? The sandy colored dragon chuckled. He would have more gold then to know what to do with!
Strolling around the island, which seemed bigger when you were actually on it, the orange-yellow Sandwing started humming a jaunty tune, a slight bounce in his stride. There was a cool ocean breeze washing over him like invisible pleasant waves, sun on his scales, and treasure in his den. Oh, how perfect it all was!
He had hunted pretty much everything on the island, and when he returned he was not very keen on flying over the ocean again. So he hunted the various animals there, such as the flocks of sheep and goats that liked to graze in the field. Occasionally, a ram or husky cow would appear and make a finer meal. Although he wasn't a fan of it at first, Hyena had grown into the new meals.
The sandwing walked to the beach he had landed on when he first found the island. He grinned as he looked out at the ocean, the salty scent filling his senses. His life had always been hard, but not anymore. Hyena wouldn't need to thieve or steal from anyone anymore. With his newfound collection, he would have plenty to establish himself for probably the rest of his life.
He stood there for a while, enjoying the pleasant ocean smells and soothing atmosphere, however he was downwind in comparison to the air current, so the dragon wasn't smell the Dragonbite Viper silently creeping up behind him. Hyena nearly had a heart attack when it hissed, the blue-black colored serpent rearing backwards. It bared its fangs like a rainwings; with shining white fangs that looked like thin snake was GIGANTIC, it's head was roughly the size of his fists, and its fangs were almost the same length as his talons. Hyena backed away slowly, tail landing with a sudden thud onto the ground.
What is it? He thought, squinting slightly as the hostile visitor. The snake arched its neck and hissed again, sliding closer. Though, he hadn't seen a dragonbite viper in a long time, let alone out on the island….
Soft thumps could be heard in the near silence as Hyena backed away from the snake, never looking away from it. It hissed again and he shivered, the chill running through his bones. It slithered closer and he quickly backed away until he could feel the ocean lapping at his ankles. Silently cursing the realization that he was cornered, he glared at the snake. The snake glared back with almost twice as much ferocity as he did. Hyena felt a sudden pit of dread build in his stomach again, like it had when he was in the storm
"Heeeey, there, buddy snake.." Hyena backed away slowly. His voice trembled slightly. "Don't bite me, alright? We're both scaley, we're brothers… yeah?" Refusing to take his eyes off the huge serpent, he slowly spread his wings to take off. Despite this, the snake got closer and closer, to the point where he was ankle deep in water. Deciding enough was enough, Hyena took to the sky…
But the snake was faster.
The sandwing roared as he felt the fangs of the snake sink into his tail; instantly recoiling in agony. Hyena let out a burst of flame into the sky out of pain, and whipped his tail as hard as he could. The snake was shaken off almost instantly, and Hyena could have sworn that one of the snakes fangs was still embedded in his flesh. Cursing profoundly, he beat his wings as to attempt to fly back to the cave, but now that he was airborn it seemed his wings had a different idea.
Further and further he flew, and every inch he was fighting. It was like an invisible current had taken hold of his body, and was slowly flying him from his home.
"Hey! Take me back!" He shouted angrily. "Take me back!"
The wind denied his cries of protest as he continued to soar to the mainland, and soon enough dusk was once again settling on his back. He was tired. Hours of flying and he was ready to pass out clean, but the wind wouldn't let him rest, or even stop. Soon enough, the lack of noise settled him into an almost trance as he began to see tiny dots of the skywing kingdom.
"Finally…."
He grunted, and once he touched ground (Or, thought he did) fell back into the same dark depths of unconsciousness, and he couldn't remember a thing.
A/N; HEY GUYS! IT'S ME! And yes, I am writing again. Kinda. BUT. Without SolsticeSummerMoon06, this NEVER would have happened, and it would be a LOT shorter. THANK YOU SO MUCH SOL. Yeet. Thank you for being my editor/beta and helping every step of the way. :) Also, this is important to future stories. VERY important. *hinthint* Again, THANK YOU SOLSTICE. SO MUCH.
DINO OUT!*teleports away*
**Note Hello darlings! Yes, tis I, Sol. I was the editor and overseer of this wonderful project. Thanks to Dino for allowing me to contribute, and I hope you lovelies all have a wonderful day!
Cheers, loves!
-Sol