A/N: This is my first fanfiction ever! Please read and give me constructive feedback and point out any grammatical errors. :)

5,010 Years after the Scorching, The Sky Kingdom I woke up in the moonlit forest. The pine needles glistened in wet dew while the trees swayed in the soft breeze. I heard a roaring and a howl of laughter in the distance. I tensed myself while beads of sweat trickled down my forehead.

I, Bowen, was a lonely scavenger boy who was abandoned by my clan. The searing heat of the flames that licked at my feet and my sister's desperate screams were imprinted inside my mind forever. Even though it had been many days ago it still pained me to think about it. Suddenly, an uncontrollable rage welled up within me. I hated dragons! Those monstrous creatures destroyed my life and I was determined to destroy theirs.

Now I was constantly in fear and danger in dying in the talons of one of those overgrown reptiles. I gripped my stone dagger closer for protection. My natural instincts told me that I was near the Skywing palace where an arena match was currently being held. Father had always forbidden me to wander past the needle leaf forest, but there were no more rules now.

According to some history books, in the past 24 years the land in which we lived in had been in a constant state of turmoil. There were always gigantic dragons soaring overhead breathing flames and tearing their claws through each other's flesh. My father was a "wizard" who sold expensive animus touched objects. On my tenth birthday I received a special gift from my dad. It was a large amber dragon scale with a copper tint to it. Nobody could figure out what its special properties were so it was considered useless.

I gingerly took it out to look at my reflection on its smooth, glossy surface. But instead of seeing my reflection I saw the dark looming shadow of a dragon. I jerked my hand away and stifled a scream fearing that I would alert other nearby dragons. Slowly, I picked the scale back up thinking I was only hallucinating because of my extreme fatigue. But it was still there!

This time the vile creature faced me as it glowed faintly of a dark purple. My eyes were locked in place, I tried to move but my muscles but they felt like they was being weighed down by bags of sand. I tried to scream but my mouth was dry and my lips were cracked. Unexpectedly, the figure shifted its fluorescent scales revealing my mother and father. I finally found my speech,"M-my family, Where are they?" I stammered. I opened my mouth to speak again but before any words came out an intense pain shot up my back and rocketed into my skull. A deep, dark voice spoke and seemed to resonate from my mind and I shuddered.

To find your kin

Search for the forest

Of fruit and dragons

Past the land of marshes and reeds

There you will find

The shifting sands

Find the bay of burning trees

There you will find great joy and glee.

The dragon spread its wings and flew away into the distance as the glow faded. Then the scale turned blank. My vision blurred and my mind did somersaults. Finally, I collapsed into blackness.

I awoke to a light rain splattering on my face. The clouds were dark and rolling as if they were angry at each other. I clutched the dagger that was still in my hand from the night before. Slowly, I stood up and glanced at my surroundings. Rainwater seeped through the cracks in the rocky terrain and the ground was damp.

Past the land of marshes and reeds, I thought. That must have been the Mud Kingdom! I wanted to depart for my quest now but first I had to get supplies. I felt my pockets for anything that might be useful on my journey. I set my belongings on a lone boulder that wasn't too wet. I had a dry biscuit that was partially squashed, my grandfather's compass, a crude map of Pyrrhia, and my animus scale.

I stared at the map. I was roughly on the east coast of the Sky Kingdom, slightly north of the Diamond Spray Delta. If I traveled south I would hit the Mud Kingdom.

I spent the rest of the day searching through the scorched ruins of my scavenger den salvaging items that could still be used. Almost everything in the entire village had been burnt to ashes. Tears filled my eyes as I saw my father's workshop only partially standing and still smoldering. Only the enchantment book had remained and even that was singed on the edges.

A small necklace of some sort hung from some burnt framework. When I reached my hand out and grabbed it by the handle it emitted a faint purple glow. It must have been an amulet! I had read about these from a book on my dad's shelf. Even though my knowledge on them was very limited I knew that they were very powerful. I carefully stuck my head through the small golden chains. It was a perfect fit.

Suddenly, it levitated and tugged towards the enchantment book. I stood frozen in place for a second in both shock and amazement. The amulet thrummed with energy. "Encado Minimo", it seemed to whisper. Even before I could comprehend what had just happened I started mumbling the words "encado minimo".The enchantment book jerked upwards and dissolved into a transparent vapor that was sucked into the amulet itself.

My mind throbbed and felt like it had just swallowed whole sea of information. I mysteriously knew spells and curses that I had never even heard of before. I sifted through my brain and found a summoning spell. I unconsciously murmured the words "lavis natovis". A tingle of excitement bubbled through me as a plump brown rabbit materialized before me. I flipped through my mind and found a damage inflicting curse.

I broke into a sweat as I recited the words "Captivo Avili". I saw thin tendrils of steam rise from the earthen mud and entangle itself around the rabbit. The furry creature writhed in pain as the wisps of steam pull tight around its body. I wanted to see the full ability of this curse to know how effective it was. I bit my lip, took a deep breath, and let the words come tumbling out of my mouth. "Captivo avili maxima", I barely whispered. I waited anxiously for the curse to take effect. Suddenly, there was a swish of hot steam and a bright flash of light leaving nothing but a pile of gray smoking ashes. I stood and gaped at the both hideous and thrilling sight. It took me a full minute to recover. My mind raced, I use this against dragons!

Leaves rustled in the wind and drops of water collected in small pools beside a cluster of mossy stones. My veins seemed to course with magical power as the amulet thrummed against my chest. The rain had stopped and the sun shone in the early morning sky.

I took out my weathered map of Pyrrhia and calculated that the Skywing palace was about 20 miles north-west of me. I wanted to test my amulet's power on some Skywings, the same tribe of dragons that had destroyed my home. I would have to trek up mountainous terrain for at least 10 miles to see any dragons.

My ears followed the piercing sounds of screeches and roars. As I rounded the corner of a ravine I abruptly stopped in my tracks. I stared appalled at the gruesome sight. There lay a dragon corpse half burnt to crisp with a steady flow of blood oozing from the unscathed side of it. This must have been a battlefield!

Suddenly, an ear piercing roar came from directly behind me. I whipped around having just enough time to momentarily stun the dragon with a spell. "Captivi avili!" I screamed, my voice cracking. The creature winced with a hint of surprise in its eyes as his scales hissed and steamed. Was it working? The dragon gave a shriek of savage fury. The spell had stopped taking effect! The Skywing shot a jet of white hot flame directed towards me. Luckily I dodged the inferno, but I nearly smashed right into reptile's talons. Its razor sharp claws were headed straight for my throat. At the same time I launched a spell which made the dragon's talons swerve slightly upwards. A pain exploded in my head as I was knocked back about 15 feet.

Dazed I tried to get to my feet but just helplessly fell back down. I felt something hot and sticky on my forehead which was most likely blood. "Ahh, A scavenger we have here." came a sly voice. "Hey, Peregrine, I think we have a trinket for Scarlet!" yelled the same voice. I barely had enough energy to open my eyes as I heard wingbeats to the left of me. "Hmm, let me see this creature," commanded a male voice which was most likely Peregrine.

I fumed with anger. I wasn't any creature. They were! I tried to scream but I was already having a hard time breathing.

"Should we take him back to the palace?" came the sly voice again. "Yes, I believe we should." replied Peregrine.

I could faintly make out claws reaching towards me. I tried to fight but the Skywing was extremely powerful and everything in me was completely drained out. The talons dug into my back making whimper in pain. Peregrine laughed and remarked, "These creatures are so vulnerable", in a falsely sympathetic way.

I slowly felt myself being lifted off the ground and into the sky. This was going the exact opposite way I had planned this to go. Is this the end? I thought. Then I blacked out.

I awoke with a start. My head pounded as I glanced at my surroundings groggily. I was inside a crude stone box covered in scratches and scorch marks. I could hear roars and wingbeats above me and the sound of a cascading waterfall in the distance. This must have been the Sky palace.

There was a small dish of half spilled water and a chunk of stanching meat set in front of the iron barred door. I gulped down the water which tasted vaguely of mud and bit off a piece of meat. Just then a large Skywing burst into my room with a cruel menacing face. "The Queen wants to see you" he said in a gruff voice. The dragon grabbed me by the waist and started walking down a long corridor in quick stride.

The palace was massive and covered in melted gold and encrusted with jewels. I could see hundreds of dragons flying overhead into the distance while the sun rose and cast a warm golden shadow upon the magnificent stone structure of the palace.

After a couple minutes of walking I found myself wondering why I could understand dragons but why they couldn't hear me. The amulet of course! I thought. If my arms were free at that time I would have face-palmed myself, but unfortunately I was bound together by the powerful grip of a Skywing guard. The thought of the amulet got me wondering on how I could escape my imprisonment and continue the quest to find my family.

My thoughts were interrupted by the loud knock of a door. The sound resonated on the walls of the vast hallway behind me. "Do you have a permit to see Queen Scarlet, Valleyglider?" said an unfamiliar voice. My guard, Valleyglider, produced a slip of paper and the dragons guarding the door immediately let him through.

I was attacked thousands of rays of light sparkling off sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and rubies redirecting sunlight into large shiny lanterns swaying from gold encased chains. The roof was a huge sky dome and areas that weren't covered in gold or gems were substituted by twenty foot high windows. There was the statue of a queenly Skywing that sat in an elegant posture on a throne that literally glowed. Suddenly, Valleyglider knelt down on his knees and gave a low bow. Why would he bow down to a statue? I thought. Then, out of nowhere, there came a voice. "You may rise, Valleyglider." said a female voice. I jerked my head towards the voice. My eyes fell upon the statue. It had moved!

"Ah, this lowly scavenger has little respect for the queen of the Skywings," observed the dragon in a regal voice.

What I thought was a statue really was an actual dragon. I yelped in terror and tried to run away but I found that Valleyglider had resumed gripping my waist. "Where did you find it?" the queen asked." In the Eastern Valley," my guard replied. "Interesting, scavengers usually don't come so close to the palace," the queen commented. "Anyways, I am sure this scavenger, Scarlet gestured a hand toward me, will be absolutely thrilling in my arena.

Suddenly, a dark orange Skywing came bursting through the door. "Th-the Seawing, she's attempted to escape again!" wheezed the dragon as he gasped for breath. "She what?!" roared Scarlet, who was completely outraged. The Queen stormed out the door and screamed for her elite guards to follow her. I quickly glanced around the throne room. Everybody seemed to be in a state of temporary shock. I seized this precious opportunity and bounded off along the gold embedded floor leaving a small cluster of dazed Skywings behind me.

I raced down the seemingly deserted hallways of the palace as I heard a growl of surprise in the corridor to my left. "Idiots!" hissed an unfamiliar voice. "They let the scavenger escape."

I heard the scraping of talons as I rounded the corner of the hallway only to find it guarded by a pair a burly Skywings. "Umm… what creature is this?" questioned on of the Skywings. "How should I know? Just stop it!" yelled the other guard.

The first guard responded immediately and leapt forward only to be left clawing the air for nothing. The second guard gave a burst of orange flame that singed some of my hair. I was unprepared for the sudden attack but I still managed to fire a spell that paralyzed the first guard but my reflexes were too slow to move. The second Skywing slammed right into me sending my body ten feet forward. Spain rushed into my head as it slammed into the door that the Skywings were guarding. Still rattled from the attack I slowly got up to my feet. The second guard was approaching me again so I fired a curse that sent him up in flames. He gave one last scream as he fell to the floor, dead.

I swiftly strode to the door and put my weight against it. The oak door slowly creaked open and I found myself overlooking the arena! Hordes of Skywings and Sandwings along with one or two Mudwings were shuffling around and craning necks trying to get a better view of the match that was going on. The fight seemed to be between a young male Mudwing and a female Skywing that was not much older than her opponent.

But this was no normal Skywing. She appeared to have smoking scales that glowed as if there were fire within them. In my old clan we had heard legends of such a dragon. I just thought that they were created so to scare children to not wander past the forest. As for today, that had changed. The Mudwing and the Skywing circled each other for a few minutes and boos came from the disappointed spectators. I grew nervous during this time so I decided to move away from the door.

I caught a glimpse of smooth lavender color and slowly made my way towards it as my curiosity took over. Unexpectedly, the color shifted to a turquoise and I took a step back in surprise. I could vaguely make out the shape of scales behind the shifting colors.

Now I was baffled so I casted a spell of stealth and moved even closer to the color shifting dragon. I whispered "Tegeto Approchium," as I made the strange dragon my target of interest. My body was suspended in midair as I inched my way toward the creature. As its whole body came into view I was amazed. It was a dragon!

She was chained to some sort of metal tree that looked quite delicate. Suddenly, just as the match between the Mudwing and the Skywing was finally turning into somewhat of an attack, the color shifting dragon sat up and shot a dark liquid out of what seemed to be fangs. My head swung wildly searching for the target of the colorful dragon.

I jerked my head upwards to a bloodcurdling shriek and I stared in disbelief. I saw Queen Scarlet's face, or at least what used to be her face, sizzling and disintegrating past the scales and flesh right down to the bone.

Everybody stared in shock and fear. Then the arena erupted in pandemonium. All kinds of dragons flew left and right roaring, screaming, and breathing fire everywhere. Through all the chaos I managed to make out the form of the firescaled Skywing and the Mudwing along with a Seawing, and a seemingly disfigured Sandwing.

The group of dragon flew towards the color filled dragon which I finally realized to be a Rainwing. I was struck by fear and if it was not for the spell that I cast I would have been killed. The fiery Skywing hastily sliced through the metal bonds that bound the Rainwing to the tree sculpture and the band of dragons flew off towards the mountains.

A/N: Thanks for reading, again review and feel free to ask questions!