InnerFire: Book One; The Beginning They say that powerful wolf sorcerers can live another life or they can give their power to a different wolf. Well, it was long forgotten that if they chose to live another life, it was the life of a dragon... Once a wolf sorcerer dies, they have a ghost-looking spirit in the heaven of the wolves and the dragons. Wolves and dragons are what they call a comolatial species. It means "connected" and since both wolves and dragons have sorcerers in each kind, the sorcerers can share a life. This is what happened to the litter mates. Current, Smoke, Sunshine, Blizzard, and Vine had "died" in the wolf world and were now dragons. And since they "died," they have all chosen to lose their powers... All of them except Smoke. The four who decided to get rid of their powers, can speak to the spirit wolves and to the wolves who have a GlamiousHali. Smoke can't do this... But she is an animus.
The litter mates all remember their previous life. Current is a SeaWing. All Current knows right now is that the other litter mates are definitely not SeaWings. Current also knows that she is a six year old dragonet and that she apparently knows how to speak aquatic. Aquatic is an underwater language where you light up your stripes. Aquatic also makes up a number of claw signals. Current had been looking for and studying the exits of the palace and, her swimming teacher was fairly stupid and didn't know that Current had years of education in her previous life. According on how the swimming teacher looked, she didn't know how to fight. But, Current did. As the next swimming lesson came closer, Current memorized the map of Phyrria. And, the good thing is, all the male dragonets were training to hunt... And there was only two other female dragonets in the class.
Current followed the swimming teacher into the current that led to the 'island'. As they neared the pile of rocks, Current broke out of the current and swam with her wings directing her towards a patch of seaweed. Current sensed a bigger dragon behind her and Current knew that this was the right time. Current turned around and roared in the dragon's face. That stunned her. Current thought as she sped away, through the seaweed. Current didn't see or sense anyone behind her, but she still pumped her wings as fast as she could and swung her tail through the water. Once she was far away, Current clambered atop an island and lifted her wings this will be the first, Current thought mischievously. Current rocketed into the air and started pumping her wings to gain altitude. Hmm... I'm pretty good at this... What? I've seen other SeaWings do it... Current thought. As Current straitened herself out, she started flapping her wings and tried to do a circle. But, she couldn't. Her tail started dragging her down towards the ocean. Oh, no! Oh, no! Current thought as she tried flapping even faster. Current tried remembering what the dragons did when they where flying. Oh! Current thought as it came to her. She straitened her wings and lifted her heavy tail and started to use her tail as a rudder.
Once Current was sure she could land and take off, she flew on towards what she thought was where the mainland was. As the day wore on, Current swore she could see the gray outline of land on the horizon. Yes! Current thought in triumph. I will get there by... About... Maybe midnight. Current thought hopefully. As Current flew along, she swore she felt her sister's conscience touch her own. Smoke? Current asked hopefully. Current! She heard Smoke's familiar voice. What is it? Current asked. I need you to escape the SeaWings and go to the rainforest. Once you're there, I'll tell you more. Smoke said. Umm... I'm flying towards the mainland now... I was planning to find you four. Current said, almost losing her concentration. Oh, okay great! See you at the rainforest. Smoke said before vanishing from Current's conscience. Current finally reached the mainland and found herself in a muddy land. This must be the home of... MudWings? We don't have MudWolves... Current thought, thinking hard. The rainforest was to the east of the MudPalace... According to the map, I'm facing north so, I go to the right. Current thought while turning to her right. Let's go! Or... Not us... I'll go! Current thought, amused.
A green canopy appeared below Current as she felt herself falling oh god! I almost fell asleep! Current thought as she smacked into the branches of leaves. Current straitened her wings a few seconds before she hit the ground. That was... Interesting. Current then landed and stiffly walked to where? She didn't know. Before long, Current got lost. So, she went to the left and felt a stabbing pain in her stomach. I need food! Current thought longingly. Current turned around a tree trunk and collided with what she guessed to be a RainWing. The RainWing looked about as lost as she was and about the same age as her. She looked into his eyes and saw familiar, friendly eyes."Vine!" Current said before bouncing onto him."Wha-" Vine never finished as he got squished by Current."Current!" Vine said a second later and his eyes brightened. Current panted a smile."I've flown day and night looking for you guys!" She said excited."Let's find the others." Vine said, grinning.
As Current and Vine looked for the other dragonets, Current looked at Vine in curiosity. His scales could change colors!"Your scales light up in different colors?" Current asked, awed."No, silly! They don't light up! Who's scales light up?" Vine said, almost laughing. Vine looked at Current and then looked closer at her face."All the SeaWings' scales light up." Current said dryly."Oh, cool!" Vine said "Ours change color so we can match our surroundings," He said "See?" Vine then changed his scales so they were the brown color of a tree.
After what seemed like hours, Current and Vine found Smoke sleeping in a hollow of an enormous tree. Smoke snored as loud as volcano... So, it was pretty easy to find her among the silent forest. As Current approached, she saw Smoke stiffen as if she could smell Current walking towards her. Current walked a few more steps towards the curled up red dragon. When Current's face was only a few inches away from the tree, she saw Smoke's nose twitch. Hmm... She has an okay nose... But I would've woken up by now. Current thought, amused as she ever so slowly lifted her right foreleg and silently inched her claw towards Smoke. When her claw was a breath away from Smoke's hind leg, Smoke's eyes opened. After a second, Smoke yowled and launched herself from the hollow and while screeching, and clawed at Current's face. Current waited till the last moment and stepped aside, leaving Smoke in a jumbled pile on the floor."Now, if you'd mind to wait a second before you wake up the whole forest, Smoke, it'd be great if you looked before you touched."Current said in amusement, it was typical Smoke.
"Current! Vine," Smoke said, happily "I didn't think i'd find you so soon." Vine rolled his eyes and said sarcastically "It took me sooooo long to get here!, I mean... It was terrible I had to walk twenty steps into the forest!" Current's heart warmed as she saw Smoke roll her eyes back and say "Awe whatever! I didn't expect to find Current until three days from now and I expected to find you tomorrow because, you would usually wander aimlessly through the forest." Vine looked at her and sat down."Okay, fine! There were a couple of cute little fluffy chickadees that I decided to follow... So what?" He said defiantly.
A few sunrises later... Current looked to the east and saw a pale yellow dragon flapping under the leafy canopy towards the small camp that Current and Smoke arranged. Sunshine is later than I expected... Current thought as she pondered what a SandWing would look like. As Current stood up and faced the direction that Sunshine was, she saw the little dragon was flapping madly as she raced towards Current."Sunshine!" Current shouted out with glee. Sunshine then landed/collapsed on the floor next to Current and panted for a few minutes."He-llo..." Sunshine finally coughed out."Hi, Sunshine... Smoke, and Vine have already made it... All we need now is Blizzard and then, we'll be all here." Sunshine looked up and panted her toothy smile up at Current. "Good." Was all the small SandWing said. Or, at least she looked small... For a SeaWing, she was average size.
As Current looked across the fire at Sunshine, she studied her features. The SandWing's tail had an unnatural barb that made a chill creep down her back. Sunshine kept her tail curled up, as if she didn't want the barb to touch any of the living objects around her. Current tore her gaze away from Sunshine's tail and studied the SandWing's scales. Some of her scales were flat plates, almost as if she had armor. Sunshine's eyes were pure black, like she sucked all the light from her eyes and only a black veil remained. In the firelight, her eyes glinted purple. Sunshine had a horn on the top of her nose, as did Smoke and Vine... Current wondered what significance it was of but decided that it wasn't important... As it was, they lived on land not in the inviting water. Which, she thought was a much better choice than land. On the land, it was sticky and the food was different. the next sundown later... All the dragons were sitting around the fire. As they peacefully hummed and ate fruit, Current heard a strange noise echoing through the forest. The other dragons lifted their heads in unison and searched around them. Current looked to the north and saw a little patch of white from behind a bush. Hmm... Current thought as she scampered towards the bush."Hello?!" Current heard again... But this time she heard it louder. As Current got closer, she pounced. The white dragon underneath her shifted as Current landed. Current looked down at the white dragon and noticed that it was an icy-blue color. The IceWing looked like she had a mane of ice."Hi, Blizzard!" Current said as she got off of the dragon. In a gruff voice, she responded "Hello, Current." As the days wore on, Current learned new things about her litter mates. IceWings had ragged claws and ice breath. SandWings had poisonous barbs on their tails. RainWings had changing scales. And SkyWings could breathe fire. It is pretty cool to find out all this information, about other dragons. Current thought about her own species and thought about their advantages. The thought hit her like a blow. I can only breathe underwater. Current thought unhappily. Whatever, I don't need other advantages, if I needed them, I would already have them from when my species was created. Current thought she heard a loud rustling, like someone was shaking a tree. She heard loud footsteps and her head shot up as she heard a gruff voice growling "The Rainforest is too sticky and muddy." That sounds like SkyWings! Current thought as she fought the urge to flee. Current bounced out of her designated space and landed on top of Vine. Current smiled as she heard Vine whisper "Ferrets, oh, cute little fluffy ferrets." Current looked down at Vine and shaked him."Wake up! We have to go!" She hissed. Vine's eye shot open and he glared at her."You ruined my dream!" Vine said all too loudly."Shhh!" Current hissed, "SkyWings are in the rainforest!" Sunshine lifted her head and nodded."Sunshine? Can you wake Smoke and Blizzard?" Current asked the small SandWing."Yeah, sure." Sunshine answered. Once everyone was awake, Current and the others started flapping away... The tried to be stealthy, but Smoke's gigantic wings were interrupting all the leaves in a two hundred feet radius, and Blizzard was making a racket. Oh, the three moons. Note to self, never leave stealthiness to IceWings. Current thought as she landed."Okay, new plan... Hide and hope that the SkyWings don't find us." Current said as she walked towards a stream nearby. As Current got into the water, she saw Vine disappear on a rock. It's like he melted into part of the rock. Current thought as she saw Smoke pick up a tiny rock and then, Smoke disappeared too. It seems like she enchanted the rock. Current thought uneasily. Sunshine flew up to the top of a tree the had yellow flowers growing on it. Blizzard decided to do the same as Sunshine and she flew up to the top of a different tree. Just as Current sank underwater, she heard voices nearby. Current slowly lifted her ears above water and guessed that the SkyWings were about fifteen dragon lengths away from the stream. The voices came closer every second until she was sure that they could see her. She sank to the bottom of the stream, hoping they wouldn't see her. As Current saw a splashing a tail length away, she swiveled her head in the direction. Oh, god. Current thought as her heart beated so fast, she thought she was going to explode. Not a second later, she felt something grab her head and pull her out of the water. No! Current thought as she looked into the eyes of an orange SkyWing. Surprise! She thought as she whipped her tail through the air and striked the SkyWing across the chest. The SkyWing fell back and Current faced the other two SkyWings. Smoke and Vine reappeared and snuck up behind them Smoke set one ablaze and Vine nipped at the other's wings. The SkyWing that Vine attacked roared with fury and set everything near him on fire. Uh oh. Current thought as the SkyWing behind her sat up and leaped at Current. As everything seemed to be in slow motion, embers danced across her vision as she saw the SkyWings claws coming towards her. Ha! Current thought as she spun around and kicked the orange SkyWing in the stomach the orange dragon fell and Current tore at the dragon's wings and the SkyWing roared in agony as she fell."Don't mess with dragonets!" Current said to the dragon. Current roared in triumph, letting the world know of her feat. Current looked up as a SkyWing yowled. Vine had slashed the dragon's belly and Vine was now dodging fire blasts. Current walked up behind the SkyWing and tapped his shoulder while saying "Boo." Current started laughing as the dragon ran away and head butted a confused Smoke. But then, Smoke regained her senses and shot the dragon with a stream of fire. Blizzard and Sunshine stood by the stream and watched as the SkyWings rolled on the ground and soothed their scratches.
Current looked up and saw a few very colorful dragons flapping towards the burning clearing. She knew that the dragons were RainWings. And she also knew that they weren't going to be happy with the dragonets. As the RainWings grew closer, Vine scowled as he saw a blue dragon. As the blue one came closer, she noticed that it wasn't a RainWing! It was Tsunami, daughter of Queen Coral, the SeaWing queen."Tsunami's the general. She teaches fighting." Vine said unhappily. Another SeaWing! In the Rainforest! Current thought, excited. Current knew very well that Tsunami and Queen Glory of the RainWings were very good friends, and she also knew that Sunny, heir to the SandWing throne was their good friend, too. Tsunami and Queen Glory were very powerful dragons, they ended the war that lasted eighteen years. And, they were both part of royal families.
Current ignored the stares of RainWings as she walked through the RainWing village. As the six year old dragonets were being escorted through the village, all the dragons looked in wonder at the SeaWing, RainWing, SandWing, SkyWing, and IceWing. As the dragonets and their RainWing escorts, made it to a hut that was brightly decorated with flowers, and pretty leaves, Tsunami stopped and strode towards the hut. A NightWing that was station at the entrance shared a few words with Tsunami and went inside the hut. When he came out again, Tsunami motioned to a bright orange RainWing to bring the dragonets. When Current stepped inside the hut, she looked around. Light came through the sun roof and made the flowers look like they were covered in glitter. A violet colored dragon sat in the front of the room. A silver sloth was lying in the curve of the dragon's neck. The dragon was at a desk, she was reading scrolls and writing on pieces of paper. Glory looked up at them when the dragonets entered. Queen Glory then snickered and quietly said "This reminds me of a prophecy." She looked at the dragonets and then asked."How did you, six year old dragonets, defeat three full grown SkyWings?" Glory asked them as she examined the five of them."I mean, I get how the IceWing could... But not the rest." The Queen said. Current stared at Glory defiantly and said, "Actually Blizzard didn't do anything, neither did Sunshine. When the battle started, they were hiding at the top of a tree, and the rest of us were camouflaged on the ground, and they didn't have time to get down before the battle began." Current liked the look on Tsunami's face when she said it. It was like everyone in the room was awed."So, how did you do it, SeaWing?" Queen Glory asked Current."Actually, Current and our litter mates are from the wolf world. We were sorcerers, but we "died" and we decided to live another life and to give up our powers so we could speak to the spirits and to wolves who have the GlaimiousHali." Vine said before Current could utter a word."Ahh, the GlaimiousHali. It's been a while since I heard of that." Glory said unexpectedly."You actually believe us?" Sunshine asked, confused."Of course I do, but I'm afraid that you'll have to stay here for a while longer." Glory said.
Current looked at the wooden cell that she was in. The other dragonets were standing in similar cells. As she looked at the wood, she saw it shimmer. The wood must be enchanted. Current thought."Smoke! The wood is enchanted. Do you think you can break the spells?" Current said to her."I'll try to." Smoke said. Current waited for a couple of minutes and then, abruptly, her cell exploded into tiny pieces of wood shavings. Current uneasily walked out of the cell and looked at the other dragonets. They were too just walking out of their cells Current made sure that everyone was out before she walked to the opening of the prison. There were a couple of NightWings scattered throughout the prison, but besides them, no one saw anything, it was about midnight, Current would say. The two RainWings who were supposed to guarding fell asleep on the job, so Current walked out of the prison and ran into the depths of the forest, Vine and the others on her tail.
After a while wandering around, Current decided to go to her left. As she led the dragonets through the forest, she listened for any signs of RainWings or such. Sunshine soon got tired, so they landed and walked there on. Just as she was going to say that we should start flying again, Vine saw a squirrel. He chased the squirrel through the forest. The squirrel turned hard left and then it jumped to the ground. Current chased after Vine, the others right behind her."Come back, Vine!" Smoke yelled."You're wasting time!" Blizzard shouted at Vine. I'll have to fly to catch him. Current thought as she leapt into the air, racing towards Vine, and dodging branches. Just as fast as the squirrel came, it was gone. Current landed next to Vine. "Well, the stupid furball at least led us to the MudKingdom." Current said to him.
Current sat in the middle of an argument, everyone was talking, and she just wanted it to stop. She was sitting on the patch of driest land there was, everywhere else there was mud. Vine was literally sitting on her shoulders, Smoke and Blizzard were standing in the mud, flinging mud at each other and Sunshine sat unhappily on a dryish island near Current. As Current shook Vine off of her, she said "Well, we can't go back to the rainforest, we definately don't want to stay here, we'd be sleeping in bushes... And the SandKingdom and IceKingdom are far, far away and, the SkyKingdom is looking for us. Why don't we just go to the SeaKingdom? I mean, it's the closest, and no one is looking for us there." Current looked at the dragonets and said "Plus we can wash ourselves." The others were silent until Sunshine said "Okay, I'm in." Smoke looked at Blizzard and Blizzard at her."Yeah, sure." They said in unison."Yup, let's go!" Vine said enthusiastically.
Once the dragonets saw a few islands, they sighed in relief. As they were flying over an island, Current saw a small cave in the cliff wall. That one! She thought. And since she was in the lead, she waved her tail and swooped down. The wind in her face, she felt free. As she happily spiraled towards the cave, she heard Vine whoop and Smoke hollered. I'm free... Current thought as she landed in the cave. It's perfect. Current thought after she inspected it. Two full grown dragons could stretch the wings out, and walk in a small circle. A large boulder by the opening of the cave could be pushed to block the entrance. It could also be moved with magic. Current thought as she smiled.
Embers danced across her vision and fire blazed around her. You could see the stars, but the sky was an orange-red color. Current was staring at her self in wolf form. And in dragon form. The two animals stood next to each other on the cliffs. Their eyes were closed, and when their eyes opened, the dragon form disintegrated and the wolf stayed there, her eyes a flaming orange-red, almost as if they were made of fire. Current woke up with a start, it was morning. The dream played through her head multiple times... So, she decided to clear her mind with a swim. When Current was wing deep in the water, she heard splashing behind her. She spun around, and relaxed when she noticed it was just Blizzard. After a while of splashing each other, Blizzard left and curled up in the shallows, and Current rested at the bottom. As Current relaxed on the sands and studied the fish that swam past, she felt a rush of water pushing her. There's not supposed to be a current coming in... It's supposed to be going out. Current thought. But, then she heard it... Dim roaring. A flash of light. Splashing in the shallows. Then, Current tasted the sharp tang of blood.