Sundown dropped brusquely onto the sandy dunes below her. She curled into a ball and pretended the world wasn't there. She had just gotten terrible news: she was a hybrid. A RainWing SkyWing hybrid. As she fell asleep, she remembered why she was there. Right. Shadowmaker was going to meet her there. She was an animus dragon, and she was helping him with preparing the tunnel. She had been kidnapped by him a year ago, and he was the only nice NightWing she knew. She faded into a dreamless sleep. When she awoke, Shadowmaker was staring down at her.

"Get up." he snarled cruelly. She gave him a confused look and stood up.

"Where. Is. The. Egg." he growled. I started shaking.

"Our egg is safely hidden." Shadowmaker relaxed a bit, but some remorse still remained.

"Where?"

I studied his now cold face, wondering what I should tell him. Then, I broke.

"With Burn! Okay? She wanted a dragonet, and I gave her one. I tried to take care of it. I really did. I just- I couldn't. I couldn't bear to see it anymore. I don't want to be responsible for anything right now! i- I'm lost. No one wants to help me. There's only you."

Sundown stared sadly into his eyes, and he lowered his gaze.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, and attacked her. Neither one survived the fight.

chapter 1

I crouched low to the ground, my hazel eyes following every move made by my opponents. My scales shifted from their usual ruby red, deep orange, and pitch black hues to blend into the scenery around me. Sand. White and tan sand. I felt it slip through my talons and despised every grain. I had grown up with the wretched stuff, and it was taught to me as my ally. As if. My scales were now a tawny sandy color, and I was no longer seen. I slunk around the giant pillar in the middle of the weirdling arena, stalking on silent feet the terrified SandWings around me. I had already dismembered their tail barbs with my razor blade claws. My job was to slaughter them, bit by bit, dismembering their limbs one by one, and handing the weird parts to Queen Burn. I climbed, or rather slithered, up the giant pillar in the middle of the weirdling arena. Then, I caught it, the opening. I leaped down from the top of the pillar and onto the sand below me. I whipped my tail and wings outward, and slid under the giant belly of the weirdest looking SandWing, slicing open its underbelly with my deadly talons. With a puff of sand, I grabbed his tail and found the painful spot with my talons, and pierced it through completely. He howled and I felt a stab of guilt. I never liked this job, but it was the only way I had a home. My trained talons slit through his left forearm, then his right. He howled again. I yanked out both his ears at once. I carved his back legs out and glanced up at Burn. She always tried to hide and watch from the shadows, but my keen eyes could pick her out. I think this bothered her, because every time I told her she would growl and stamp her foot. I turned back to the dead SandWing. It had only taken me seconds to sever all his limbs. I was still camouflaged, but I knew Burn knew exactly where I was. She always did. I snaked up the pillar again, and watched as the other two SandWings tried to scramble up the walls. One fell and I saw my chance. I made quick work of it as I had done with the other. I saw Burn's eyes come as close as they ever come to a little bit of pleasure as I carved out his heart. It wasn't like any other I'd seen, it had wings sprouting from it, and they seemed to be pumping the blood. they slowly stopped flapping and flopped, their tips pointing to the ground. I dropped it into the waiting dish and flew strongly and dropped on the last one, dismembering all its limbs in one swift movement. I tossed the weird looking eye into the dish. The eye was a murky green with spots of pink. I actually thought it was kind of pretty. I picked up the dish and flew up to meet Burn, and handed it to her. She nodded with a hint of actual approval at the heart and eye.

"That's a start. Where's the talon?" I glanced down at the weirdling arena below me, and turned to look back at Burn.

"It's made of pure bone. I'm going to take it to Smolder to take care of."

"Get it right now, Sacrificio. You know I don't have time for this. I have to find those frog-eyed blobs of camel spit dragonets before they mess up anything else."

I nodded, but her nickname for me still stung. It meant slaughter. I flew down to the arena to sever the talon and brought it back up to Burn. She made a low growl and stalked off. I opened my wings and flew to the tower overlooking the rest of the palace, the ice kingdom, and the rainforest. I landed on the platform and opened the door with the ruby that always rested around my neck. It was animus touched, and only I and Burn could touch it. It served as a key to open my tower door. I walked inside and blew a small, perfectly aimed flame at the oil candle. It burst to life, and I swished to my window that overlooked the rainforest. I felt a strange pull, a twang, tugging me toward it, like I always did. It was weird, I felt more RainWing than anything else. I didn't know who my parents were, but I was guessing that I was part scales could change, and I had always loved sleep. Everyone loved me, and I loved people. Burn had never told me anything about my parents, just what not to do. Or what to do. Like, don't be afraid of anything. Stop looking like a starved rat, you'll get fed next week. Or, the famous STOP FLICKING YOUR USELESS TAIL! Ah. That was a good one. My eyes floated over the rainforest. My heart skipped a beat as I saw Burn fly in the direction of the rainforest. My eyes followed her until I could no longer see her. Yes, I thought. I ran down the endless flights of steps to the bottom floor. Even though Burn almost never stayed at her palace, I always leaped at the chance to be my own dragon. When she was here, freedom was a far off memory. Smolder had always took me under his wing, but he almost never had time for me anymore. He was too busy with the war. I had been born into fighting, born into the war, and he saw that in me. I felt the sunlight fall on my face as I lifted my eyes to the sky. I basked in the warmth.

"Fox. I need you." Smolder's voice danced in from under the window in the bottom of the tower. I bolted to the door and flung it open. His eyes traveled over my wings and talons.

"So, you're not hurt?"

I shook my head and grinned.

"Aw, you care so much, don't you?" I teased. His eyes searched mine with… I'm not even sure what. he smiled finally.

"Hey, I need you. You, you… have to help me." his eyes turned to… pleading? What the heck was going on? I nodded.

"Sure. What's up?" probably more killing. He glanced around.

"I've just sent out some guards, but… I think… maybe… I think Addax has returned."

"What? That's horrible! Burn's gonna disintegrate him!"

"I know! But that's not the worst of it. He's brought… a weirdling." my scales felt like they wanted to jump right off me. I was undefeated. So why now? Why was I so scared of a stupid weirdling? I'd never really felt fear before. I stared up at Smolder, my eyes pleading.

"Don't make me kill them. Please." he hesitated. Then he stared deep in my eyes.

"I won't." I let out a sigh as he exited the door. I went back up the stairs to the middle floor and flopped onto my bed of soft blankets: a gift from Smolder. Smolder. So kind, yet somehow so cold. I hauled myself to my feet and picked up a scroll. Scarlet's Fate was my favorite scroll. Probably because it was given to me by Smolder. Almost everything I had was a gift from Smolder. He was the only person that really cared enough about my needs. No one else did. I pictured his tawny scales with black diamond shapes, just like Blister's. I settled back down, but couldn't bring myself to read it. Something was wrong. Got up again and stomped upstairs to leave the tower. I leaped off the platform and spread my wings open to catch the air and flew skillfully around my tower, than finally settled on taking a flight to the rainforest. It could do no harm, right? I felt a stab of guilt for turning down Smolder. He knew I hated killing, but he asked me- just this once- to do it, and I told him no. the one thing he ever wanted from me, after all he'd given me, and I turned him down. I glanced across the horizon at the figures crossing the desert, and I felt more guilt well up inside of me. Stupid fear. I knew it was the cause of all things horrible. Burn said as much. I shook my wings and landed on the sand. Stupid stuff. I flopped onto my back and sighed. After slacking off for long enough, I took to the sky again, shaking the sand off of my wings while doing so. I flew toward the rainforest once more, feeling depressed and horrible. When I arrived, my heart skipped a beat. The rainforest was sunny and warm, and I felt all my worries start melting away with the drizzle that was refreshing and cool. Was it possible to feel hot and cold all at once? I sighed and settled down under a log to sleep.