The moons shone brightly in the night sky; illumination breaching through the branches and leaves of the forest, dotting the land beneath. Slicing through the soft earth like a scar, a roaring river all but drowned out the frustrations of a single dragon. Slashing down with his claws, the dragon tore bark from one of the nearby trees in an attempt to vent his own irritation.
Clearsight. She had managed to convince him against his plan of revenge. She had managed to stop him from killing those wretched IceWings for tearing his family apart. She had managed to make him see imprisoning that wretch of a father would be better than making him tear his own stomach open - oh, how much he wanted to make that happen. How easily it would be, too; just a few simple words.
Lashing out with his tail, he heard the crunch of shattering rocks behind him. In her work, Clearsight had even managed to convince him to not crush that foolish queen, Vigilance, despite the assassin she had sent after him. Hah! The surprise in Quickdeath's eyes when the assassin's spear bounced off his scales. It was a pity that SeaWing managed to kill him first.
The dragon's thoughts trailed off as pain shot through his head - his claws digging deeply into the soft earth as he snapped his eyes shut from the pain. In his mind, he saw conflicting events. There was a land stained in red, and there was a land prosperous and vibrant. There were fallen dragons - friends and foes alike - and yet they were also there working together as one. There was a rocky tomb, and there was a wedding. There was war, and there was peace.
Words slipped into the dragon's mind, and before he could react, he hissed them aloud to no-one but himself. "Beware the vigilant hand, beware the loss of vision. The icy night comes, claiming all in its grasp. Beware the gaze of frost and flame. Hope will shatter as purpose is found. The heir of the Scorching arises."
His eyes were open in an instant. What had happened? He knew he was just given a vision, and a prophecy. But this was not the first time he had seen the future, so why was there such pain with it this time? Growling under his breath, he let his vision focus as he glanced around the environment - his focus drifting from one point to another.
Shaking his hesitation off, the dragon turned suddenly. He did not yet know what this prophecy meant in full, but he would find out. He refused to let any other vision or prophecy tear his life even further apart than those wretches already had. Whatever was to happen, Darkstalker would be ready to face it. He had to be.