A/N: So, this is my first fanfiction I've ever written. This'll be a new experience for me, If i'm being honest. Just note; I wrote this before I found out that the protagonist of the new book will be called Blue. I genuinely did not know that until I looked it up five minutes ago. Anyways, enjoy!
PS: I need OC's for the rest of the story. Preferably gay/homicidal ones. Please, do submit some. That would be much appreciated.
Prologue
"At that moment in time, I truly and sincerely believed that I'd had it."
A chorus of "Oh's" rose from the dragons seated around his bed. The night was pitch black, and the only thing illuminating the room they were in was a small oil lamp that guttered every now and then, leaving them in surprisingly appropriate darkness for the tale he was telling them.
"As I was saying," he continued, "I thought I was done for. Dead. Urk." He mimed slicing his neck off and tilted his head to the right exaggeratedly. A few giggles escaped from the younger dragonets. He smiled imwardly. That was exactly what he was going for.
"And then, out of nowhere, this- this THING came out of the darkness, and suddenly- "he paused for dramatic effect, "All my attackers fell to the ground." He looked around at the small crowd gathered in the small shops' front room. "They were all dead."
Nobody moved. The only noise came from the desert wind, rushing through the open window. Judging by the speed, they could expect a moderately large sandstorm tomorrow. No matter. He didn't plan to stick around for that long.
"Now, I'm not some 'Braveheart' kinda guy," he continued, making air quotes to emphasize his point, "and I was scared. I mean, REALLY freaked out, y'know?"
The crowd nodded their approval. They knew. Most of them had been alive during the War of Sandwing Succession; hell, many had been part of it. And even the younger ones remembered how Vulture had tried to take over the Sand Kingdom and kill Queen Thorn. It was only a week ago, after all. All of them knew fear. They knew their limits.
"So anyways. I think it over. DO I get out from under this bush and thank my saviour, or do I hide and hope he doesn't notice me? Remember, I don't know if this guy is on my side."
The crowd nodded. He could tell that he was testing their patience. They'd paid good money to see this show, and so far, all they'd gotten was an old croon regaling the story of how he'd been caught scouting across enemy lines. Not that that wasn't interesting, but the veterans in the crowd were clearly getting bored. He knew what he had to do.
"Well, the guy makes the decision for me- turns around, stomps towards the bush where I'm hiding and- guess what?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "It was a lass!" He laughed. "Can you believe it? A wee girl saved me!"
This was what he considered a genius move in his endgame. Act a bit misogynistic, so that the crowd would be more inclined to dislike him. He was already getting plenty of dirty looks. This way, nobody would really like him much, and wouldn't be too inclined to believe the story that the guy who would be here a week later had to tell.
"So anyways, she trots towards me all hoity-toity, and says-" He sat up straighter, deepened his voice, and acted haughtier; "'Do not worry, you are safe.' Then she flies off and leaves behind…." Slowly, he reached into his back pocket and brought out a blue scale. But not just any blue scale, the most vibrant, metallic, luminous, deep blue scale anybody in the room had ever seen.
"Take a good look, one and all. This is the only example of this type of scale you will find anywhere. Careful." He grinned. "It's sharp."
The scale was passed around the room. Attempts to scratch or bend it just led to aching talons and many injuries.
"Fantastic session." He said after everybody had laid hands on it. "But I'm afraid our time together has ended. Please, step outside."
All the dragons left in awe, amazed at the surprisingly authentic dragon scale. As the last stubborn dragonet was dragged out by its parents, he stood and locked the door. He then bolted the window shut and went into the back room.
There lay a dragon with scales of neon green, with a reading glass up against her eye.
"Oh, so you finally found one cheap, huh?" He said, settling down beside her.
"Yeah. The dragons in these markets even had a way of figuring out WHAT type of glass I needed to read clearly. It's amazing."
"Yeah." He flopped down beside her and nuzzled her flank. "So, how much did we earn today?"
"Enough."
"What does 'Enough' mean?"
"Enough to get us to that cool Nightwing settlement in the rainforest."
"So you heard about that place, huh?"
"Yeah. Two tribes being ruled by one leader? Sounds incredible."
"Sound like it wouldn't work."
"Well, it does, so shut your trap."
He nudged her playfully, and she giggled.
"This feels weird." She said after a while. "Get back in your actual body."
"As you please." He bowed mockingly, and then turned to the dragon in the other corner.
He was a magnificent specimen, with metallic scales of a deep blue. He was also comatose, and had a scar running across the right side of his face. One of the scales under his left eye was missing.
He closed his eyes, flexed his power, and suddenly;
He was looking at an old geezer of a Sandwing, who was now passed out on the floor.
"Will he be fine?" She asked.
"Yeah. He'll wake up in about five hours." He said, prying the scale from the Sandwings' hands and slotting it into place under his eye.
The other dragon scooted a bit to the right as he approached. He sat down beside her and folded his right wing over her, so as to draw her closer.
"So, what's gonna happen when he tells everybody that a dragon took over his body for the night?" She asked.
"Well, I've already acted as a prick to all the locals, and managed to offend all the ladies too, so chances are they'll just think he's gone cuckoo-bananas."
"That's not a good thing, Blue."
"Yes, it is. You've rooted around in his mind, haven't you?"
A pause. "Yes."
"You've seen what he went through in the war then."
Another, longer pause. "Yes."
"So don't you think it would be better if he went to a healing centre like the one we heard about in the Sky Kingdom?"
"Why don't you just come out and say-" she deepened her voice so as to imitate Blue- "You're a hypocrite, Green. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to stare at my ripped body in the mirror for another half-hour."
For a second, both of them just glared at each other. Then they simultaneously broke into laughter.
"Its called working out!" Blue protested between giggles.
"You don't work! You just gaze at your muscles as if you want to MAKE out with them!" She retorted.
He tackled her to the ground, and they rolled around for a while until both of them were exhausted.
"That was fun." Green wheezed.
"Yeah." Blue said. "We should do that more often."
"I would, but my leg is already hurting."
"Oh." Blue said, glancing at her leg, still quite crooked in its special brace. It had been deformed since she had been born 9 years ago. Unlike her, however, he had gotten his scar in the war they had escaped by coming here. "Shall I heat some water up?"
"Nah." She waved off his concern. "I'll be fine. Unlike old man Sandwing over here."
"Why do you say that?"
"Did you stop to consider what would happen if his family DIDN'T take him to a healing centre, and offed him instead?"
Oh damn. His mind seemed to go. Missed that one. Sorry.
Then he had an idea.
"Green, you love me, right?" he said, drawing out the word 'love' as much as possible.
She looked up in surprise.
"Yeah, but, um- where are you going with this?"
"Would you do an itty-bitty favour for me?"
"What's the favour?" she asked, getting suspicious.
"Could you go into the mind of a neighbour or something and make them take him to a healing centre?"
"Already did it." She said, slowly picking herself off the ground.
"Wait, what?" He said, shocked. "When?"
"When you were asking me if I loved you." She replied. "It was a no brainer."
"Oh." He said, dejected. "I was just hoping that I would come up with an idea before you had already thought of it, y'know?"
Green suddenly came up next to him and grabbed his arm, forcing him off balance. He wobbled a bit, but otherwise stood still. "Relax." She said, looking into his eyes. "Who cares WHO comes up with all the good ideas? I don't!"
"Easy for you to say, when its YOU who comes up with all of them." He replied.
"C'mon! You contribute too! Remember how you suggested we save up so we can eventually go to Jade Mountain? That was a good idea"
"Hmm." He mumbled under his breath. He wasn't actually mad anymore. It was hard to be with Green around. "Yeah." He admitted.
"Tell ya what." Green grinned and drew close to his ear; "Why don't you come up with an idea for what we should do next?"
Blue twisted his head so that he could see her better. Her smile was so bright and so radiant that he realised that he really DIDN'T care who the brains of the operation was, as long as he got to stay with her.
"How about…. we go swim in the oasis?" He said.
"Yes!" She shouted, and gave him a small peck on the snout. "Let's gooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
By the time he looked around, she was already out of the door, taking off once she was clear of the arch so that she could achieve her maximum speed.
"Wait up, you cretin!" He yelled, and sprang after her at his top sprinting speed.
I love you, Green. He thought to himself, and smiled.
He knew he was the luckiest guy in the world, because she loved him too.
~Meanwhile, on the other side of whatever planet Pyrrhia is on (AKA the Lost Continent) ~
A shape wandered through the tundra. The shape was wobbling. The shape was glowing. The shape was cursing ferociously.
"Those goddam fucking bastards. Those motherfucking, goddamned bastards." It yelled over the howling winds. It was, of course, referring to the bastards that had left it in this tundra with nothing to protect itself from the ongoing blizzard other than the flame it'd managed to manipulate into its body. To make it easier on all of us, I should probably reveal that the speaker of these profanities was a male. Said male was very, very tall. Also, quite muscular. Also, quite handsome. Also, he had special powers, which allowed him to do things like that 'putting fire inside himself to keep himself warm' trick. Except the powers had very clear limits. For instance; he could manipulate fire and the other elements, but he couldn't teleport. He couldn't summon things either. And any attempt to manipulate the elements in quantities larger than a handful often left him powerless for at least a few hours, which is why he couldn't, say, dig a shelter, or manipulate the air to blow around him. He couldn't do anything other than keep moving and hope that his powers would return eventually. Currently, his only plan was to reach the nearest cave and hide in there. But he couldn't go any faster, due to that stupid, STUPID wound along the left side of his torso, that was so painful he could barely move. It had been inflicted on him by- another wave of pain shot through his body, and he almost collapsed. But no. He had to avenge them. He HAD to. There was no alternative. So he kept moving, knowing that at any moment he could die. But he didn't stop. He wouldn't give up.
He would never do that.
~About 100 feet away, but 40 feet up, so that like 107.703 feet or something? ~
"I can't just leave him there to die."
"Yes you can."
"You know what I mean, me."
"And you- or should I say, I, know that going down there will result in your DEATH."
This rather odd dialogue came from a young Rainwing, who was currently debating the ethics of heading down and saving the obviously injured dragon limping his way along the tundra floor with himself.
"Remember what happened the last time you tried to help out?"
"Yeah." He sighed. What had happened was that he had offered to go on a scouting mission looking for other islands across the sea, due to his excellent eyesight. It was sure to get the attention of his mother, he had thought. But no, when he told her, she had just said, "Aww, Kiwi, you're going on an adventure! That's amazing!" and had gone back to sleeping through sun time.
Well, no chance of that happening here. He thought, looking up at the clouds blocking out almost all light. After the most powerful winds he had ever encountered had blown him off course, he had ended up in what looked like the Ice Kingdom, except uninhabited. The only reason he had not frozen to death was that the caves he was in were unnaturally warm. Further investigation had revealed that the mountain was in fact a volcano, and he was sheltering in one of the tubes that, if the volcano erupted, the lava would spew out of. So, if there was an eruption, he was cooked.
But enough about him. There was a badly limping, possibly dying… he wasn't sure what species of dragon that was. "Is that dragon glowing?" He leaned over the edge to get a closer look.
At that instant, there was a lull in the wind, and the snow cleared. At the same time, the dragon looked up, probably to curse the clouds that were causing the storm. And at THAT exact moment, a small gap in the clouds opened, shining light on the dragons' face. The dragon didn't see him, but he DEFINITELY saw the dragon.
His heart stopped beating the instant the dragon looked up. He got a clear view of his handsome features, and muscles, and everything else, and suddenly, the part of him that was opposed to going down there changed its mind.
"That dragon will not die there." It said. "Especially not if he looks even better close up."
So, with minimal hesitation, Kiwi jumped.
~ Now back to this guy on the tundra floor ~
Just as the swell ended, the dragon began to hear a weird whistling kind of sound.
What's that sound? He thought. It sounds like someone is dive-bombing me.
At that instant, a dragon landed face-first in a snowdrift a few yards away.
The dragon stood still. Well, shucks. I was right.
He limped away from the dragon, who was shaking the snow off his snout. For all he knew, he had been sent by… THEM. It was a species he had never seen before, since its scales changed colour every few seconds. Now they were grey, then they bloomed yellow, and finally, as the dragon noticed him, pink began to spread along his wingtips, and then engulfed them entirely by the time he had pulled himself out of the snowdrift.
"Um, hello?" the dragon started, obviously unsure of himself. Either that, or he was getting distracted by his many injuries, as he kept glancing at his torso. "I'm Kiwi, but my friends call me Kiki, and, ummmmm…" Kiwi wasn't even attempting to keep his focus on his eyes anymore, "I was up in one of those caves up there and I saw you were wounded."
"What ARE you?" he whispered.
"Beg pardon?" Kiwi replied.
"WHAT ARE YOU!" he shouted over the howling.
"That's not important!" the dragon shouted. "You need to come with me. There's some shelter up on that mountain!"
"What do you mean?" he shouted back.
"SHELTER YOU IDIOT!" he dragon yelled. "WHERE YOU WON'T FREEZE TO DEATH!"
The snow was getting stronger. The winds were growing louder. He wouldn't make it to shelter.
"Save…. Yourself." He choked out. "I won't make it. Not with this wound."
"What're you t-t-taking about?" Kiwi stuttered. The cold was starting to have an effect on him. His scales were now blooming white.
"My injury," at this he lifted his wing up to display it more fully, "won't let me climb up an incline of any sort with any speed. I won't make it, even if I decide to come with you."
"Why wouldn't you?" Kiwi asked, confused.
"Because I don't know you! You could be out to kill me!" he replied.
Kiwi simply stared. "I'm almost half as tall as you are, am way scrawnier, have no muscle and no weapon. How would I kill you?"
He sighed. There was no other option, was there?
"Alright. If you can get me to your cave, I will be forever indebted to you."
"Ah, nonsense." Kiwi said. The colour was starting to drain from his scales. He didn't have long.
Together, they heaved up the incline. Each step was more and more painful, and the temperatures were dropping. But just as he thought he couldn't make it…
"H-h-here it i-i-is."' Kiwi was shivering badly. Icicles were forming on his nose.
They tumbled into the cave, and slowly progressed deeper inside. As they rounded a corner, the sound of the wind decreased substantially, and it became comfortably warm.
He collapsed on the ground. He had been sure he was going to die. And now, thanks to this…. THING, he hadn't.
"Thank You, Kiwi." He said, meaning it.
"It's the least I could do." Kiwi replied, flopping down about two feet away from him.
They lay there for a while, catching their breath.
Suddenly, Kiwi asked, "What's your name?"
"My name is Brightheart."
"That's a nice name." Kiwi said.
They huddled closer as the winds grew stronger.
~ Somewhere between Jade Mountain and that outpost from the end of Darkness of Dragons~
Qibli had just been out answering the call of nature when he heard Moon scream.
He didn't wait to think. He just ran.
"Qibli!" she yelled out.
He ran into the small clearing in which they had set up camp. "What happened?" he asked with concern.
Moonwatcher put her head in her hands. "It's starting again."
"What is?" Qibli asked.
She slowly took her head out of her hands, and he realised her eyes were glowing.
Over this land, a star will burn
And bring destruction and death
and when these four dragons foretold
appear, they shall be put to the test
A dragon will kill, by the will of another
A father, a son, a sister, a mother
And two more dragons shall bring the light
One of rain and the other called Bright
A traitor will uncover the truth
hidden in the darkest of the dark
and a forgotten prince of scales untrue
will bring the peace at last
and for this prophecy to be true
a test most would confound
The last of the Lightwings
really must be found!
Utter silence.
Qibli had already committed the poem to memory when he realised something.
Moon looks terrified. He thought. I should do something about that.
"That was the worst kind of Prophecy, Moon" he said gravely.
"Which kind?" she asked hoarsely.
"The limerick kind!" he hissed and then gave an exaggeratedly evil laugh.
Moon looked at him, stunned, and he was worried that his joke had had an adverse effect on her. Then she suddenly broke into peals of laughter and began rolling on the ground. "You- you don't even know what a limerick is." She giggled. He sighed in relief and lay down next to her.
"I don't. But it stopped you from worrying, didn't it?"
Moon laughed quietly, and then sat up.
"I'd hoped the next prophecy would come after we were both long gone."
"Me too. But, ah well. I guess I'll have to save the day again."
He flashed her a grin. She smiled sadly and then leaned into him.
"I don't think the prophecy is about us, Qibli."
"Are you kidding? Did you miss the bit where it said, 'And the coolest, most awesomest dragon of all time beats the villain with her heroic and totally buff Sandwing sidekick?"
Moon giggled, which was music to Qibli's ears. "I just hope this one doesn't kick off another war. Or the destruction of a mountain. Or require us to shrink another dragon."
"Hmm." Qibli kissed the top of her head. "With you by my side, I'm not that worried about any of those things."
"Yeah…"
They both settled down to sleep again.
"How much longer until we get back to Jade Mountain again?"
"Not long. About two days more, I think. Why?"
"I wanna see how everybody is doing. Also, remember the mystery species dragon?"
"Oh yeah, we're supposed to report that, aren't we?"
"Yup. I think first to Queen Glory, and then to Sunny and the rest."
"Oh yeah."
"How do you think they'll react?"
"Ah, I don't know. They'll panic, probably. And Tsunami will beg us please not to tell her that we have another prophecy. And then we'll tell her about the prophecy. And then it'll all work out."
Moon smiled, and pecked his cheek.
They curled up together, and resumed their sleep.
~ Pyrrhian Night Sky ~
Far, far above the inhabitants of the world, seven stars seemed to revolve on a single axis. They spun about, teasing each other, until suddenly- they all fell into place.
What this meant, nobody could tell yet. But somewhere, a young dragonet woke from a restless sleep and said- "Its me."
Somewhere else, an older dragon laughed.
And then choked on his laughter.
"Godfucking damnit. That's really fucking annoying when that happens." He grumbled.
His scales were pristine and metallic. And a neon yellow.
"I really need to get out more. All this cave dust isn't good for my system."
Slowly, he walked out into the night.