Jason was now well on his way to the Skywing palace. His first assignment as a freshly minted soldier was to escort the queen to an undisclosed location. Seeing the spires of the palace jutting into the sky, Jason banked and glided down to an entrance of the palace, which was a marble platform built on the side of the palace. Flapping his wings, he landed softly and reported for duty. He was directed to where the procession was set to leave in less than an hour. As Jason walked down the hallways, he took the time to admire the beauty and elegance that permeated the palace. Soaring spires, piercing the sky like one of his father's thunderbolts, intricate details carved into its outer walls, shiny, almost glowing marble composed the floor, all linked together with endless hallways adorned with art, banners, and carpets, much like the one he was walking down.

Fit for a queen. 'My queen' for the time being.

Standing on the platform, in formation, Jason managed to get the location out of an officer, mostly because his reputation as a superb cadet preceded him.

Jade Mountain Academy. Why would the queen go there? What's so special about this place? There are surely many more deserving schools here.

He was still thinking when the guard next to him elbowed him quietly. The queen was here, in all her glory. He stood to attention and tried not to stand out. The dark red queen's gaze swept over the line of orange and lighter red soldiers. It landed on him.

"You look much younger than the others here. Pardon my curiosity, but why so?" The queen asked. Her soft gaze and voice ensured Jason's answer wasn't jumbled when he bowed in reverence and said, "I finished training much earlier than my peers, Your Highness."

The queen looked satisfied with the answer. Jason breathed an internal sigh of relief. No drama for the moment.

The queen strutted up to the edge of the platform, before turning back around quite gracefully, and stood tall, wings spread.

"I will be giving the orders today. None of your officers will accompany us on this trip for reasons I do not intend to tell you. It will just be the seven of us, " the queen said.

Do not intend to tell you, huh?

They took flight, leaping off the platform one by one. The queen was in the middle of the formation. Jason was on the right of the hexagon formation. There wasn't much flying before the clouds thinned to reveal a jagged two-pronged mountain. A couple of moments passed before Jason could make out the shapes standing on a platform, much like the one he took off from.

Jason saw a brown dragon standing next to a golden one near the middle of the platform. A copper scaled dragon emitting smoke stood far off to the side. Its posture gave away anxiety and anticipation. A blue dragon stood on the opposite end, occasionally glancing at the copper dragon. However, Jason knew they weren't here to talk.

The motionless body of a red dragon lay on top of a tarp, wings neatly folded.

The group landed.

The guard at the front of the group surged forward in anger, roaring profanities at the dragons standing there, before getting restrained by another guard. Jason and the other guards just stood on watch. One of the guards was talking to the queen He manipulated the winds to boost his hearing slightly. He didn't like what he heard of the hushed conversation the guard was having with the dragons.

He glanced at the queen. She was furious and definitely having trouble keeping it together. The guard turned to the dragons standing there.

"I smell lies all over this story," the guard snarled. "First you tell us you're harboring a violent, bloodthirsty criminal, and then you show us a dragonet who has died in exactly the same way that creature kills! Quit shitting us!"

"Are you sure that abomination didn't burn Carnelian to death!? Because those are burn marks, and only one single dragon can do that, and it's her!" Ruby roared at the brown dragon, whilst pointing a talon at the dragon with smoking scales. The smoking dragon seemed to cower.

What? Who did what?

The golden dragon spoke.

"No. Clay is right. Everyone saw. Carnelian and another dragon died in a dragonflame cactus bombing. Another dragon was injured, gravely. A whole classroom was trashed. If it weren't for action by a few of our students, more would have died."

"As much as I hate Peril, the fire wasn't caused by her. You have my very royal, trustworthy word," the blue dragon added.

"You want us to buy that a MudWing set of a dragonflame bomb and accidentally killed a soldier loyal to Queen Ruby instead of her supposed target?" the guard from earlier hissed.

Jason didn't hear anything else. Back and forth, the guards and the dragons there argued, but he didn't care. He tried to think about something else. He couldn't. He forgot how to breathe, how to think, how to react. He shook his head, trying to clear the disbelief. An empty feeling crawled across his chest. He put his head down to hide the tears.

Carnelian.

He had heard that name before. He knew.

Amber.

Jason desperately hoped that some dragons had shared names. His eyes roamed over the body of the corpse. An amber earring greeted him. His hopes were dashed, his heart crushed. How is he going to tell Amber, if he ever does?

He had already put enough things to worry about on Amber's shoulder. Jason saw Amber storming off all over again, disbelief, horror, and grief written on his face.

Stop. Make it stop! Stop!

Jason shuddered, every fiber of his being shuddered. He curled his talons into a fist and squeezed with as much effort as possible to distract him. Blood dribbled down his talons, and Jason gasped.

Oh, Amber. Amber, Amber, Amber. Why, why why?

In this state, nothing happened around him. Until a fellow soldier shook him.

"Hey, hey. Keep it together will you? We can't have a blubbering mess with us," he said.

Jason blinked the tears out of his eyes then tried his best to regain composure, wincing slightly from the hissing pain in his talons. He was a soldier. He had a duty.

"Sorry."

"Your majesty!" a guard said. "Someone is approaching from the north."

"Queen Moorhen?"

"No. I see orange scales..." the guard said before drifting off into silence.

A collective gasp of shock spread. A few guards murmured.

Queen Ruby whispered under her breath, but Jason heard. He saw it on her face too.

"No. No, how? I thought she was dead!"

The orange dot grew closer, larger. Details came into view. A scarred face, a vengeful look.

Everyone took defensive positions, as did Jason. All his thinking happened all of a sudden, in a rush.

Carnelian. Student, soldier, and sister to a friend. I told that idiot. I hope he can get over my revelation before I dump another on him. Oh, Amber. I'm so sorry. That smoking dragon's name is Peril. Carnelian was caught up in something not meant for her. Who is this dragon? Why is everyone so-

"Traitors!" the orange dragon roared with fury. "All of you! Disloyal dogs! I will destroy all who oppose me! I will have my vengeance and I will have my throne back! This dragon is only the start. You'll all be next!"

She threw the object in her hands, then whirled around and bolted.

Civil war? What is this? Wait. A head?

The group fell into pandemonium. The golden dragon keened with loss.

"Queen Glory? What? How?" a dragon asked through the pandemonium.

All through this, the frustration, guilt, feelings of uselessness and pain had been building inside Jason. Simmering under the surface was a vast pool of rage and wrath, and now it boiled. He roared in catharsis, putting all his energy into that roar. Whoever this dragon was, he would go after her. He had justification, based on what he observed. With that, he roared once again and took off after the dragon, flapping his wings with a passion. He didn't even care at this point. All caution was thrown to the wind.

He surged forward, sparing a single quick glance backward. He saw a blue form right behind him flapping with all her might, as well as the rest of the guards. He looked forward and realized he wasn't getting any closer.

Huffing, he directed the winds to push him forward. It wasn't long before he caught up to the dragon. He used his fury to fuel his lightning.

The first bolt knocked her out of the sky and burnt her badly. It wasn't enough for him. He called down bolt after bolt on her broken, burning body.

The other dragons had stopped and watched in shock as he pulverized this dragon. He roared in fury and victory after what seemed like an eternity of lightning. The entire area had been charred by the heat.

Wow. I have NEVER felt that good in my whole life.

He panted, exhaustion hitting him like a truck as the adrenaline rush subsided. He felt lightheaded from the blood rushing to his head. He tilted his head back to try to get rid of the lightheadedness, but all that happened was a red haze spilled all over his vision. Gasping from the sudden blood flowing out of his eyes, he tried to clear it out, but it hurt. So he sat in the burning dirt, head buried in his bloodied talons as red dribbled down his arms. After the pain subsided, he looked back, tiredly, to see the shocked faces of all the dragons who had followed after him. He looked at them, confused. It took him a while, but when he came to, a single word escaped his mouth.

"Shit."