It was a beautiful summer morning in the rainforest. Mysticfog wondered why he kept seeing dark shadows dance in the corner of his eyes on such a seemingly perfect day. They scuttled from tree to tree. He and his friends where on the outskirts of the kingdom, so no one would hear their cries for help if anything happened.

That thought made Mysticfog's Rainwing underscales turn pale green. However, his Nightwing overscales always remained an iridescent-like blue.

Frog, a normally deep blue Rainwing, brushed Mysticfog's wing with his own. "Why so scared? We're not going far."

"I know but," Mysticfog dug his claws into a tree branch. "I have a bad feeling about this. I mean, we're traveling outside of the kingdom with no guards or anything."

Bleakwood shoved Mysticfog playfully. She was his older sister, though her Rainwing blood showed through much more. "You always have a bad feeling about everything. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? Now come on." With that, she bounded forward, heading towards the old castle ruins.

"I could think of plenty of things that could happen," Mysticfog uttered under his breath.

"Oh come on," Frog smiled, then dashed after Bleakwood.

Mysticfog took one last glance in the direction of the kingdom, then reluctantly followed the others. It wasn't long before he felt a wing brush up against his own. It was Ravine, a usually orange Rainwing.

"You know, I agree with you," she said. "Sneaking away from the guards is a bad idea. I wish you'd grow a backbone and stand up against your sister for once."

Mysticfog twisted his tail with Ravine's. "I wish I could. But she is the future queen, so I might as well get use to it."

"She's not queen now though," Ravine said. "Besides she's always so reckless and gets you in trouble. Come on, let's go back to the Rainforest Kingdom so we can stay out of this. You know Queen Glory will eventually find out about this."

Mysticfog smiled at her. "Thank you." He felt relieved, but also had this feeling in his chest. He wished he could be strong and stand up for himself, but he always needed Ravine to help him through everything.

"No problem," she said. "Come on, I hear there's a breakfast banquet in town square today. I wonder if-"

Ravine was cut off as a white figure jumped out of the trees. The next moment, all that Mysticfog could See was a maw full of teeth and claws reaching out for him. Ravine jumped in front of him and spate her venom in the Icewing's face. He fell to the ground yelling as his face bubbled up and scales melted to the ground like tar.

Mysticfog and Ravine shared a quick glance of surprise and fright before they dashed away in the direction of the Rainforest Kingdom. There was a rustling in the treetops above them, then frost hit the branch that Ravine was about to land on. She slipped, crashing into the tree. An Icewing leapt down on her back, slicing her throat with his serrated claws. Ravine tried to yell in pain, but blood bubbles up from her mouth. She fell out of the tree with a thump on the ground.

The Icewing glared at Mysticfog, creeping towards him. Mysticfog was frozen with horror, unsure of what he had seen really happened. Then when it finally registered in his mind, Mysticfog began to cry.

The Icewing laughed, obviously enjoying this like a game. "Are you sad because I killed your little friend? Or are you crying because you know you're next?" A moment past with only the sound of Mysticfog's sniveling before the Icewing spoke again. "Too scared to even speak, Mysticfog? Pathetic for a prince. Then again, what can you expect from lazy Rainwings? This is going to be way too easy."

The Icewing lunged forward. A wave of rage swept through Mysticfog, an ugly look of anger twisted on his face and he bared his fangs. Mysticfog dodged out of the Icewing's path.

"You're the pathetic one!" Mysticfog shouted through tears. "You killed an innocent Rainwing that was never trained to fight."

The Icewing turned around and glared at Mysticfog. "I'll make it four deaths. Your other little friends are walking right into an ambush."

Mysticfog growled and took off in the direction of the kingdom, yelling behind him, "When Queen Glory finds out about this, she'll hunt you down like the monster you are!"

A mix of anger, grief, and fear drove Mysticfog on with a viscous energy. The Icewing followed close behind, almost biting Mysticfog's tail at one point. However, once he got closer to the kingdom, the Icewing trailed off for fear of running into invisible guards.

Mysticfog dashed through crowds of suprised civilians and into the tree palace. His underscales were pure white with fear. The whole place was bright because the branches of the tree palace was wide set, allowing plenty of sunlight to shine through.

The Rain-Night hybrid paid no caution as he trampled the carpet of beautiful flowers. He came to a skittering stop right in front of the queen. Glory sat on a throne made of twisted tree branches. She was huge with majestic looking wings. A commanding power seemed to radiate from her bones.

"What's going on now?" Queen Glory asked, her voice thick like honey.

Mysticfog choked on his tears. "Mom, Ravine is dead!"

Glory felt a jolt at the sudden and unexpected news. She thought her son was coming to her for something underwhelming, like a spider in his room. She pushed down the surprise and worry that she felt, keeping her orderly composure. She stepped down from her throne and walked up to Mysticfog. She was easily twice the size of him. "Ravine, dead? How?"

"She was killed by an Icewing. She saved me. It was me they wanted. I saw her fall, bleeding from the mouth and throat. It was horrible. Ravine…" Mysticfog broke down crying.

All around the room, red streaks appeared on the tree branches. On closer inspection, the odd color change was caused by the hidden Rainwing guards trying to conceal their anger.

Glory wrapped her wings around her son, overwhelmed with relief that he was alive. Then she backed away. "I must assemble the army in case there is a planned attack. Stay here."

"Wait!" Mysticfog said. "Bleakwood and Frog, they're out there. At the old castle ruins. The Icewings are going to ambush them!"

Glory sprung into action. "Cocoa, gather three of our top generals. Tell them to bring two hundred soldiers each. We're off to the castle ruins!" With that, the queen flew out one of the openings in the wall. There was a loud storm of wingbeats as Glory's invisible guards followed her.

Mysticfog was left alone in the throne room, collapsed on the ground with his talons covering his eyes.