"Hey you! Half-breed, wake up!" a voice shouted in her ear. Searipper snapped awake, growling, "Don't call me half-breed!" "Well get up, then! Master wants to see you. I don't know what for, I just know he wants to see you. He also wants to see the SkyWing with the MudWing head." "How dare you!" Skyfire roared. "Deal with it, Sunny-boy!" the guard shouted back. "Arrgh!" Sky roared in annoyance. Four guards flanked them, and they were led to a large, circular room. There, a dark grayish-blue SeaWing was sitting on an elegant stone chair, which was raised slightly above a deep stone pool filled with water. The SeaWing wore a hood over his head, as well as a narwhal horn trident on his tail. "Ah. Well, let's all introduce ourselves, shall we?" the SeaWing said. Searipper noticed that his voice was raspy.
"You," he said, pointing at Searipper. "Go first." "Fine. My name is Searipper, I am a SeaWing-NightWing hybrid, and I hate the food that your guards keep bringing us." "Okay. Thank you for telling me that." "You. Tell me something about you." the SeaWing said, turning to Skyfire. "My name is Skyfire, I am a SkyWing-MudWing hybrid, and I am the son of Peril and Clay." "Clay... Now where have I heard that name before? Oh, yes. One of the last of the oh-so-famous and revered, blah,blah,blah, Dragonets of Destiny, along with that NightWing and that SandWing hybrid friend of his. Tell me, hybrid, where is your father, mother, and their friends? Oh, no worries. I won't hurt them. I just want to have a little, you know, chat."
"Says you. How do we know you're going to do what you said?" Searipper spat. "Well, I am the leader of the Phantom Brotherhood, so you have my word." "Swear by the number of grains of sand in the desert and the height of the mountains in the sky." Searipper growled. "Fine." the hooded SeaWing drawled, "But you are in no position to be ordering me around, half-breed. But, all right, if you insist." The SeaWing took a deep breath. "I, Tidepool, eldest son of Riptide and Tsunami, and leader of the Phantom Brotherhood, do hereby swear by the number of grains of sand in the desert and the height of the mountains in the sky that I will not harm the families of the two hybrids standing in front of me. Ever. There, is that what you wanted?" "Yes. Its good for now." Searipper hissed. "Sooo. What I summoned you here in the first place for is the jobs you will have while here. You see, we dragons of the Phantom Brotherhood desire that you hybrids have the best life possible here since you can't have that in the outside world. Here at the secret base of the Phantom Brotherhood, we want to protect you and keep you safe, away from dragons who would do you harm. But first... jobs."
"Huh?" Skyfire asked. "Ahhh... you haven't been taught the rules yet! Well, I shall tell them to you." He proceeded to launch into a long list of them, among them shocking ones like, 'No talking while dinner is being served and eaten.', 'Be ready to work at 1:00 AM sharp.', and prehaps the most shocking one of all: 'No asking questions. Ever.' Searipper stared at the SeaWing, before opening her mouth to speak, but was interuppted by Tidepool. "Sooo, SeaWing hybrid, you shall be working in the mining tunnels, helping to excavate new areas of the base. And you, SkyWing hybrid, you shall be working... in the kitchens, helping to do the dishes." "WHAT??!!" Searipper roared. The guards raised their spears and hissed, giving her a warning. "Well, they should be ready to work in one week. Yes?" "Yes. They shall both be ready. Whether they like it or not." a guard said. "Good. Shall we sing our hymn?" "Yes!" all the guards in the room roared. "On three. One... Two... Three." Then the guards and Tidepool burst into song:
"Hail to Our Phantom Brethen,
who go before us all.
Hail to Our Pure-Bred heritage,
which makes the half-breeds fall.
We fight for purity of blood by
taking up the cause.
So the hybrids fear us when they
hear us sharpening our claws!
Annihilate all half-breeds,
this we pledge to do.
For this we fight, for we know
that it's right, so this we go and do!
We go before a fight and any hybrids, all hybrids
of all kinds. We take them back to the mountains
of yore for this we take up the cause.
'Anihilate all half-breeds',
that's our motto, too. For the cause we fight,
for we know what's right,
We sneak through the Night to find
all that's not right...
and slay them,
for they're not our kind!"
"Dismissed." Tidepool said, right before diving headfirst into the pool and getting then all soaked. Skyfire hissed in annoyance. The guards dragged them back to their cells, and as the door slammed, Searipper had a feeling that something or someone was coming, that something was about to change.
