Author's note: So I just started reading Wings of Fire last week, and I'm already writing a fanfiction for it. I probably won't have very much to said in this first author's note, but just so people reading this know ahead of time, this fanfiction will have it's own separate plot from the actual series, and if there happens to be any similarities between any scenes in this fanfiction and the actual books, it was either intentional (such as a few moments in this chapter) or accidental, as I have only read the first book and part of the second book so far.

A major difference here will be how long Clay, Tsunami, Glory, Sunny, and Starflight have been imprisoned by Queen Scarlet. As of the time this prologue, they have been imprisoned for about four years now (ever since they were captured by Scarlet when they were three years old).

There are some things from the first book I chose not to change however, like Peril's firescales, Clay's fire resistance, etc. Except for other other thing, I think that's about all I've got to say right now.

I have three more chapters I might post throughout the day; I kinda got carried away with the writing and I wrote 2 1/2 chapters in the same day I started this. Heck just yesterday, mikey1393drago and I ended up writing a chapter together. (And he's not even read the books yet!)

Anyway, the only other thing I have to say is that this chapter, as will all upcoming ones, was proofread by mikey1393drago.

Edit: In case it wasn't clear before since I just received a message where somebody asked me about this. This story is non-canon. At the time that I started writing it, I was only just beginning to read The Lost Heir, so this story is basically in an alternate reality from Tui's Wings of Fire series.

Prologue:
A Touch of Death

Queen Scarlet rules the SkyWings with a figurative iron fist; no one dares question her word, for it is the law of the SkyWing Kingdom. Any dragon that has dared to has never been seen again. Rumor has it that anyone who dares question her word, and therefore her law, is left at the mercy of the champion of her arena, Peril, who was born with the deadly ability known as firescales. Anyone the fiery SkyWing touches dies, reduced to ash in an instant, even if only barely touched by Peril.

Some of their fellow SkyWings believe Peril is Queen Scarlet's secret weapon, while others say that is not the case, that Peril's only purpose is to ensure nobody ever escapes their imprisonment, that when a dragon begins winning too many battles in the arena, Queen Scarlet has them battle Peril, just to ensure they do not live to earn their freedom, by having her arena champion Peril execute them. That is happening today.

"Please! Have mercy!" the male dragon, only seven years of age, screams at his attacker. Her touch alone is like being scorched by lava; and that dragon, Horizon, is trapped in the sadistic Queen Scarlet's arena in a fight to the death against her. It has always been common knowledge that if anyone dares touch Peril, they have a death wish, for anyone she touches dies painfully, as if she is a walking inferno.

Everyone agrees that Peril's parents did not want her when she was born, that she supposedly killed her brother when they hatched, and so Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings took her in as her own. No-one has heard from Peril's mother since she tried to escape from the SkyWing Kingdom and Peril never knew her; it is believed Queen Scarlet and her best fighters killed Peril's mother and lied to Peril by telling her that her mother chose to abandon the kingdom. Nobody knows the truth for sure, but that has not stopped the SkyWings from speculating even if it has gotten some of them killed by Peril as per Queen Scarlet's orders.

Queen Scarlet is the only SkyWing in her kingdom who can provide Peril with everything a dragon with firescales needs to survive; every day, Peril must eat coals on a regular basis or her horrifying ability will be the death of her, burning her alive from the inside out. The coals Queen Scarlet provides Peril with are the only things that can stop it from happening.

"Get away!" Horizon screams. "Do not lay a talon on me! Please! I am begging you! Don't you dare touch me, you hellspawned creature!"

"I do not need to use my talons to watch your scales become ash," Peril mutters ominously. "All I need to do is wrap my arms and wings around you, as if I'm hugging you, and then I can watch your scales melt like ice does at the start of the warm season."

An uproar in the audience of SkyWings erupts suddenly. The gruesomeness and tone of their requests only intensifies with each dragon who yells down at Peril and Horizon in the arena.

"We want gore!"

"More blood! More guts!"

"Make him burn!"

"Rip off his wings!"

"Cut his throat!"

"Put him through Hell, Peril!"

"We want to see him burn!"

"Less talk! More murder! More gore!"

"Turn his body to ashes!"

"We want to see you cremate him alive!"

"Kill him! Make him suffer!"

"Death to the SandWing!"

"We want death!"

"Eat his liver for breakfast, Peril!"

Horizon's eyes become wide with terror.

"Are all you SkyWings insane?!" he screams at them.

"More gore! More death!" the SkyWings answer in unison.

"We want to see the SandWing burn!"

"Leave his charred corpse at Princess Blaze's door as her Hatching Day gift! It is next week when the three moons are full!"

"Rip off the bastard dragon's head and impale it on a stake!"

"Make him watch you eat him alive!"

"You're all sadists!" Horizon bellows. "I will not let all of you sadists find pleasure in my suffering! I'll end it on my terms!"

Knowing he would never be able to escape Queen Scarlet's arena by flight, Horizon knows that he only has one option to cease his suffering in this hell. He knows Queen Scarlet will not let him nor Peril leave her arena until one of them has stopped breathing, and no matter what happens, he knows it won't be him. How can he kill a dragon who kills anything she touches? He's heard plenty of talk about his fellow prisoners, when he's chained up beyond the arena on those pillars, that nobody has ever won against Peril in a battle; nobody has survived either. Peril is Queen Scarlet's arena champion; not only does nobody triumph over her in the arena, there is no chance of their bodies being carried out by Queen Scarlet's servants in one piece. Horizon is about to show the non-SkyWing audience why that is the case.

What is he doing? Peril wonders.

Nobody in the arena imagined Horizon would fly towards Peril. He body slams into her and wraps his wings around Peril, holding so tightly that she cannot move as her firescales begin scorching through his body. His spine chilling screams of agony reach the ears of every dragon in the arena, be they a honored guest or worthless prisoner.

The SkyWings go into a frenzy; the sound of his screams is like music to their ears. Bearing witness to the SandWing's scales becoming ash, his face becoming an unrecognizable shape as he buries it into Peril's chest, is the most entertainment these SkyWings have had in the past few months of watching these death battles in Queen Scarlet's arena. Some of the SkyWings begin screaming so loudly that it makes their throats ache.

"BURN HIS ENTIRE BODY!"

"LEAVE NOTHING FOR THE BIRDS TO FEAST ON!"

Horizon endures Peril's firescales turning his face to ash for only another minute before he drops over dead. There is nothing left of his wings nor his face but the piles of ash lying at Peril's feet; Horizon barely looks like a dragon anymore. There is not a quiet SkyWing in the audience; nearly all of them want to fly down into the arena to congratulate Peril, but they know she'd probably turn their bodies to piles of ash too, so they resist the urge as much as they can.

Queen Scarlet scowls down at Horizon's corpse, which is still deteriorating even though Peril is no longer touching him. She is most definitely not pleased with how the SandWing died.

"That was not thrilling at all," the queen complains to her daughter, Princess Tourmaline. "My fellow SkyWings did not wish to see Peril win another battle because her opponent kills himself before she can make him really suffer."

"They seem to have enjoyed it nonetheless, mother," Princess Tourmaline says. "I have not ever seen them behaving like this before."

"YES!"

"Death to the SandWing scum!"

"Now deliver his corpse to Princess Blaze, Queen Scarlet!"

Queen Scarlet flies up to the highest pillar in the arena, frightening off the announcer dragon, her own son no less, from his position.

"SILENCE!" Queen Scarlet roars. "Hold your tongues! Do you ignorant dragons not know a bad fight when you see one?! This was not thrilling in the least! That SandWing, Horizon, is a coward! He did not have the guts to face Peril to the bitter end, so he chose to kill himself! Princess Blaze will not miss such a coward; when she finds out, she'll probably thank me and Peril for getting that coward out of her life."

"MORE GORE!"

"Make Peril fight again!"

"We want more murder!"

"We want to watch another dragon wither away to ash!"

Queen Scarlet's eyes become wide with fury. Some of the audience swears they can see fire burning in her eyes. "SILENCE ALL OF YOU!" she roars. "WHERE IS YOUR SELF CONTROL? Do I need to come up there and slash half your SkyWing throats for you to understand? You do not cheer for Peril winning a battle after her opponent took the cowardly way out! Now hold your tongues, SkyWings, before I have Peril burn them away!"

The SkyWing audience immediately becomes quiet, but Queen Scarlet does not.

"PERIL!" Queen Scarlet bellows. "Teach those SkyWings a lesson!"

"FLY FOR YOUR LIVES!" a female SkyWing screams. "She's sending Peril after us!"

"Attack! Kill! Burn! Teach them a lesson they will not forget any time soon, my Champion!"

Peril roars like a dragon possessed and streaks across the arena to where the SkyWing audience is, flying in all directions in a panic to get away from the burning dragon.

She gets her talons on a male dragon not much older than herself. His shoulders begin to fall apart in her grasp, being nothing more than ash sliding between Peril's talons in mere seconds.

"So you are fine with a dragon taking his own life to get out of me making him suffer?"

"P-Please Peril…I meant no disrespect towards our Queen!"

"Queen Scarlet wishes me to teach you all a lesson…I will do just that."

The burning SkyWing puckers up her lips and, without any hesitation, plants them against the male SkyWing's lips with an unusual passion. Even though he tries to scream as his lips are rapidly reduced to ash, Peril continues passionately kisses him. She can taste the ash that was his muzzle as she grabs his face with her front talons, in a vain attempt to escape her hold. His screams of agony do nothing to discourage Peril from her act, which can be considered one of torture. Usually a dragon would dream about such a beautiful SkyWing kissing him, but Peril's kiss meant death. Even if she had only briefly kissed him, not for as prolonged of a time as she was, it would have been enough to burn away his entire muzzle almost immediately.

When Peril is finished with her act that is seen as borderline torture by her fellow dragons, nearly nothing of the SkyWing's head remains; his body falls over into the mound of ash that was his muzzle. The Skywing male's eyes are stuck in an expression of pain and terror. This may be Peril's first time kissing another male, knowing her kiss is a literal kiss of death, but she is pleased with herself, and she knows Queen Scarlet is too, for her unique way of executing a dragon. Peril smirks when she sees how impressed Queen Scarlet seems to be.

"WHO IS NEXT?!" Peril screeches. "I'll burn anyone else who dares disrespect Queen Scarlet!"

Peril's blood is boiling and her adrenaline is at its peak. She is panting heavily as she glares at each frightened SkyWing, growling as she does.

"That is quite enough, my champion," Queen Scarlet says, in a voice calmer than anyone has ever heard the queen speak in recent times, as she flies down from the highest pillar to land several feet away from Peril. She knows not to get too close to a dragon afflicted by firescales. "They have learned their lesson…I hope!"

All the SkyWings answer her together" "Yes, my queen! We will remain silent when Peril's future opponents end their own lives to avoid a battle to the death."

"You common SkyWings are smart after all," Queen Scarlet says. "Now come, Peril. I have to get you more coals before your firescales overwhelm you."

The MudWing known as Clay will never forget what he just saw below in the arena. He has heard of the SkyWing Kingdom from all the reading his friend, Starflight the NightWing, had done when they lived underground with Princess Tsunami the SeaWing, Princess Glory the RainWing, and Princess Sunny the SandWing-NightWing hybrid under the watchful eye of three guardians, Kestrel the SkyWing, Dune the SandWing, and Webs, a SeaWing, but none of them would have imagined the SkyWing Kingdom's residents being so bloodthirsty.

Queen Scarlet had killed Dune before their eyes, snapping his neck like a twig, claiming his injuries from fighting in the War of SandWing Succession, a missing wing and a lame leg, made him useless; they do not know what happened to Kestrel and Webs, but as mean as Kestrel had been to them, they hope she and Webs both escaped Queen Scarlet's wrath. Kestrel and Webs finding the Talons of Peace will be the only chance the dragonets of destiny have at being rescued from Queen Scarlet's clutches.

After witnessing such brutality, Clay nearly forgot that Princess Tsunami was by his side, until he looked to his left. Tsunami seemed to be as horrified by what just transpired as he was. Worst of all, they have no way of escaping; they are chained to these pillars and each other. They are prisoners, and the only time they have left these pillars since their capture at the base of the mountain where they had been hidden away by the Talons of Peace was when Queen Scarlet decided it was time for them to fight in the arena. So far none of Clay or his friends have had to fight in the arena, but even Tsunami dreads the day that comes. They would rather stay up here, where there is no fighting and they are brought a meal once a day, in spite of the unbearably cold air they must endure. That is better than having their bodies reduced to piles of ash by Queen Scarlet's champion.

"How are we going to get out of here?" Tsunami whispers. "I don't want to see any of you end up like that SandWing. Nobody deserves to die like that."

"I don't think Peril wants to be like this," Clay says.

"What are you talking about? She's a SkyWing just like Queen Scarlet! She's no different than any of them."

"I don't think so. If we just got to talk to her ourselves, she might be different from the rest. Did you see her face when Queen Scarlet was looking? She seemed sad about what she had to do to that SkyWing in the audience, and what happened to Horizon in the arena. I don't think she wanted to kill anyway."

"She sure seemed to enjoy using her kiss to kill that SkyWing, if you ask me," Tsunami growls. "It makes me sick to my stomach to know there are dragons like these SkyWings in our world. All they wanted to see was death, gore, suffering, and murder…they should all die."

"Oh, is that so?"

Queen Scarlet! Clay screams in his brain.

Oh no, Tsunami thinks.

"If you feel that way," Queen Scarlet continues. "How about one of you fights my champion in the arena tomorrow evening? Peril has never fought a MudWing or a SeaWing. I know she will love to bestow her kiss of death upon dragons like you two. You in particular, Clay." She looks at Tsunami. "Offense meant, Tsunami. Peril isn't like that."

"Well!" Tsunami scoffs. "You're lucky I'm chained up!"

"You kill me?" Queen Scarlet laughs. "There isn't a dragon in this world that can kill me."

"Peril can kill you," Clay says confidently. "She will kill you."

"My champion knows better than to lay a talon on me," Queen Scarlet says. "Without me, Peril would die. Nobody else knows where to find the coals Peril must eat to stay alive. Peril will not survive if she cannot eat coals, and I am the only SkyWing who knows where to find them. Peril cannot afford to kill me." She smirked evilly. "Peril will always be in my palm."

"You don't care about her!" Tsunami gasps. "She's only a tool to you! You are too lazy to kill dragons yourself!"

"We'll see about that!" Queen Scarlet screeches. In an instant, she has her sharpest talon held against Tsunami's throat. "One more word and your boyfriend here will know what your blood tastes like!"

"Don't!" Clay screams. "Tsunami. Stop."

Tsunami sighs.

"You will fight my champion tomorrow, princess." The way Queen Scarlet said "princess", it may as well have been an insult. There was no respect in her tone. "You will not live to succeed your mother Queen Coral. Tomorrow will be your last day of life, I promise you that."

And with that, Queen Scarlet flies off, leaving Clay and Tsunami to fear what tomorrow will bring.

Will tomorrow really be the last time Clay and Tsunami see each other?