Chapter Twenty-one: Fatebringer
"Ugh! Why does my wing feel like it's frozen?" Fatebringer asked.
"Because it is frozen. Hold still," Lavender said while inspecting the wound. A second later, the wound was gone and the pain left Fatebringer's body.
"Copper, come with me!" Fatebringer said as he flew after Snowstorm.
Fatebringer could barely make out the shape of two dragons fighting in the distance. Who is that? Fatebringer wondered. Wait, is that Arenae? But, he could clearly tell that the other dragon was indeed The DeathWing.
Whoever that dragon is we better help him. Fatebringer thought.
"For Pyrrhia!" Copper yelled, as Fatebringer saw him run head first towards the side of The DeathWing.
"Copper, watch out!" Fatebringer said, but it was too late.
"BAM!" A dragon slammed into Copper, sending him spiraling downwards into the ocean.
"COPPER! NOOOOOOOOO!" Fatebringer yelled.
Fatebringer turned to face the dragon.
Why does it look like he has a fire-colored aura around him? Fatebringer wondered. Then he remembered the scrolls that he had read about firescale dragons.
Fatebringer jumped to the right as the SkyWing lunged for him and then jumped into the ocean, looking for Copper.
Copper had washed up to an island and was slumped on the shore, unconscious.
"Copper, wake up! We're still in the middle of a battle here!" Fatebringer said as he shook his friend awake.
"Huh? Where am I?" Copper asked as he rubbed his eyes.
"Copper hurry up. We have to get back to the battle, not doze off on the shore of an unmapped island," Fatebringer said.
"It's unmapped? What?" Copper suddenly stood up, curiosity in his eyes.
"Yeah. It should be somewhere east of the bay of a thousand scales, but there's nothing there on the Pyrrian map," Fatebringer replied.
"So, why is it unmapped?" Copper asked curiously.
"I don't know. I guess maybe it's deserted and no one lives here or no one's been here before. Or maybe it has harsh conditions," Fatebringer said. He frowned as he looked at the island. It was familiar, it was an important part of his visions, he knew that. He racked his mind for the vision when Copper started talking.
"Maybe it has something secret and they don't want us to find it," Copper said.
"First of all, there probably isn't, and even if there is, they would have taken it themselves. Or maybe someone found it. Anyway, it doesn't even matter. We have to get back to the battle," Fatebringer said.
They started walking as Fatebringer tried to call back the visions one by one to look for the island.
Suddenly, Fatebringer tripped as his foot hit something. He got up, spitting sand out of his mouth, and heard Copper talking.
"Fatebringer, come here! It's a glass bottle!" Copper exclaimed.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm going back to battle," Fatebringer said. He had just taken off when his head started to have a sharp pain.
Fatebringer plummeted to the ground, clutching his head.
He saw himself flying off, Copper getting left alone on the island, Copper looking for Fatebringer and flying west instead of east, and Copper getting too tired and plummeting into the water. He saw Copper drowning, unconscious from the fall. Then he saw his side losing the battle, he saw Lavender getting burnt to a crisp by a firescale dragon, and the DeathWing slicing Harenae's throat with a sharp claw. He saw their army getting taken down one by one, and he saw all of the dragons surround Arenae, the last dragon remaining in their army other than Fatebringer. He saw Arenae fall to the ground and die after the DeathWing used all of his stones on him. The vision ended as the DeathWing spotted him.
Fatebringer opened his eyes and saw Copper talking to him.
"Fatebringer, are you okay? You fainted just now, and you're sweating like crazy," Copper said.
"Copper, what's in that bottle?" Fatebringer asked.
"Oh, there's a scroll in there, but I wanted to wait for you before I opened the bottle," Copper said, and he ran over to get the bottle.
Fatebringer stood up. His mind was racing. He knew what he had to do.
He ran over to Copper who had the glass bottle in his hand. Inside the clear bottle was a scroll.
Copper pulled out the cork, and then pulled out the scroll. Together, they unrolled it.
Prophecy of the Lost Tribe
As Death looks for power, and the end is close, seek the tribe that has destroyed evil most.
Under an island, always in hiding, the secret tribe lives, while our world is dividing.
Search the island of this lost bottle, find the wings of fire and get Death throttled.
The price shall be big, but the world can be saved, Darkness shall rule if death is evaded.
Find the tribe on the island of fire, they shall save the world during times of dire.
235 years after the scorching
Told by Fateshadow the NightWing
Written by Surf the SeaWing
The only 2 non-FireWing dragons to ever visit the stronghold after the scorching
"Wait, 235 years after the scorching? Wasn't that around the same time as the Great Hybrid Hunt?" Fatebringer asked.
"Probably just a coincidence. Anyway, what is this prophecy supposed to mean?" Copper asked.
"I'm pretty sure it means that if we want to beat the DeathWing, we have to find this underground base thing," Fatebringer said.
"Wow, VERY precise. I TOTALLY didn't know that," Copper said sarcastically, "What I meant was where is this secret stronghold."
"On this island. Or rather, under this island," Fatebringer said.
Copper ran off.
Fatebringer sighed. He started digging his claws into the sand, wanting to quickly find the base.
"No time for that, Fatebringer," Copper said.
"What do you mean?"
"The bottle wasn't just lying around. It was in this crevasse," Copper said.
"So? What's your point?" Fatebringer asked.
"I think it might be the entrance to the stronghold," Copper said.
Fatebringer's eyes grew wide as he stared into the crevasse. He hopped into it.
"Fatebringer, wait!" Copper said.
"Bro, go back to the battle. I'll go see the base, meet their dudes, and tell them about you guys. Then I'll go back to the battle for a bit and then we can come back here with Lavender. It's in my visions," Fatebringer said.
"Fine," Copper sighed.
"See you soon bro!" Fatebringer yelled as he slid down the tunnel.
As soon as the tunnel ended and he hopped out, he was met by a strange dragon.
"Who are you, NightWing, and what are you doing here?" asked the dragon.
The tip of the dragon's tail was red, which gradually became orange up the tail. The orange continued up to her underscales, but it gradually turned into a yellow. The yellow then turned into a white at the neck, then a blue at the head, and finally a deep violet at the horns. His wings and talons were the same. He had dark blue eyes. There also seemed to be some kind of fire-aura around him, and the aura's colors were the opposite of the scale colors, the violet was at the tail and the red was at the horns.
"Uh, there was this prophecy thing," Fatebringer said.
"In a bottle?"
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure the prophecy is about to happen."
"Wait… the DeathWing is back? He's about to get all of the stones?" the dragon asked.
"It's not really a 'he's back' thing. He's a new DeathWing, and the old one is his mentor."
"Ignis, I told you, my visions don't lie," another dragon said from behind Ignis.
"Shut up, Fateshadow," Ignis said, "I'm having a conversation here."
"Wait… did you just say Fateshadow? Isn't that the NightWing who spoke that prophecy, like 300 years ago?" Fatebringer asked.
Fateshadow came out from behind Ignis and walked over to Fatebringer. He had dark black scales and indigo underscales. The scales had a few streaks of orange, and he had red wings. He had blue horns and grey eyes.
"Yeah, that's me," Fateshadow said.
"It's cool how you have prophecies of 300 years in the future," Fatebringer told him.
"Says the one who can see every single possible future for up to 5000 years," Fateshadow replied.
"How did you know that?" Fatebringer asked.
"Fatebringer, I can see every possible future up to 2500 years into the future. Also, I can read minds," Fateshadow said.
"Wow, cool. Anyway, why are you here? And why do you have streaks of orange and stuff? Also, how are you still alive?"
"Dude, I'm a FireWing now."
"But still, how are you alive?" Fatebringer asked.
"For me, it's sort of like the afterlife. So it's very hard for me to die," Fateshadow said.
"Wait so… you're dead, but you're not?"
"Yeah."
"Also, how do you know who I am? There are probably like a billion dragons in your visions!"
"Fatebringer, I pay close attention to my descendant's futures."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Dude, I'm your, like, ancestor!"
"WHAT?"
"Save the talk for later, will you? Right now it's all business," Ignis said.
Fatebringer and Fateshadow looked at each other.
"After this, there might not be time to talk," Fateshadow said.
Ignis sighed.
"Ignis, why do you have this aura thing? Also why do you have scales that are every fire color?" Fatebringer asked curiously.
"I was born a FireWing, so that's why my scales are fire-colored. Most FireWings who are born here are only one or two fire colors, but my scales are all of them since I'm a scorchshifter. That means I can turn into a fireball or a flame. As for my aura, I have that because I'm a flame whisperer, which means I can control flames and speak to them. It's like leafspeak, except with fire," Ignis told him.
"Whoa, cool," Fatebringer said.
Suddenly, a blue dragon with white and yellow streaks, an orange and purple dragon, and a red dragon with an aura swooped down in front of Fatebringer.
"Hey, Surf," Fateshadow said, fist-bumping the blue dragon.
"Who's this?" Surf asked, nodding his head towards Fatebringer.
"He's Fatebringer, my descendant who can see every possible future for up to 5000 years into the future," Fateshadow said.
"Nice. I should introduce myself. Fatebringer, I'm Surf, the one who wrote down that prophecy. The red flame whisperer is Inferno. The other native-born is Arson," Surf said.
Inferno and Arson greeted him in turn, and then the five FireWings led him down a path.
"Where are we going?" Fatebringer asked.
"We're going to see Empress Vulcan," Arson said.
The FireWing stronghold was a vast space made of tunnels and caves. They passed through one cave in which there were doors that had names over them. The doors were marked 8Nation, 8Nation underworld, 8Nation overworld, Pyrrhia underworld, Pyrrhia dragon underworld, overworld, Pantala dragon underworld, Pantala underworld, dragon planet underworld, dragon planet dragon underworld, Earth underworld, Earth overworld, Earth midworld, FireWing transformation room, Pyrrhia midworld, Decision room, and Pantala midworld.
"Whoa… that's a lot of doors. What are they for?" Fatebringer asked.
"This place is called the Afterlife Cave. When you die, you first go into the deciding room, where they decide where you go after you die. The FireWing transformation room is for the dragons who become FireWings. The midworlds are for rebirth and reincarnations. The overworlds are kind of like heaven. The underworlds aren't bad either, and it's split into 3 sections, one for the good, one for the bad, and one for the neutral," Surf answered. "Oh, remember, be polite to the Empress. We are here."
They soon came to a halt in front of a large golden door that had flame-like shapes embedded on it. Whoa, is this the entrance to the throne room? How come a tribe as powerful as this never comes to the surface? Fatebringer wondered.
"After the scorching, the other tribes banished us from Pyrrhia because they were frightened of our powers. The animus dragons cursed us so that we could never come back. We tried our best to keep ourselves on the surface so we gave some of the tribes fire, hoping we could change their minds. We also created firescale dragons. The plan ended up backfiring and the dragons with fire ended up getting punished. The MudWings were so scared that they created fire-proof dragons. We felt bad for the damage we caused and have been peacefully monitoring and helping out the other tribes as much as we can. We even take their dead," Fateshadow said.
"Um… ok?" Fatebringer said.
"Anyway, we're here. So, tell the Empress everything," Inferno told him.
"Wait, why don't you have a queen?" Fatebringer asked.
"All the tribes had Emperors and Empresses a long time ago, but they wanted to differentiate from us and banish us from their memories, so they changed their Empires into Kingdoms and got Kings and Queens," explained Arson.
Inferno pulled the golden door open.
Fatebringer walked in alongside the five FireWings and found himself in the largest throne room he had ever seen. It was a mixture of all of the fire colors, which formed a sunset-looking background behind the golden throne, in which there sat an elegant blue and red dragon with an aura. The aura looked different from the usual flame whisperer aura, and had a hint of green in it.
Fatebringer bowed along with the five FireWings beside him, not wanting to disrespect the Empress of what he now believed to be the most powerful of the dragon tribes.
"Hello, NightWing. Welcome to our stronghold. Ignis, Fateshadow, Surf, Inferno, and Arson, would you mind introducing the NightWing over here?" Empress Vulcan asked kindly.
"Your majesty, the NightWing on my right is Fatebringer, my descendant. He can see every future for up to 5000 years. He's also one of the dragons in my visions about stopping the new DeathWing," Fateshadow said.
"I see. Fatebringer, do you know much about our tribe? We cannot help you before you understand almost everything about us," Empress Vulcan said.
"The five dragons told me a lot about your tribe, but I don't know if it was all of it," Fatebringer said.
"We told him everything he needs to know, except for the stones," Arson said.
"Good. I shall tell him about the stones," Empress Vulcan said.
She hopped out of her throne and started walking.
"Follow the empress," Surf whispered into his ear.
They walked out of the throne room and through the tunnels and halls, until the empress finally stopped in front of a door marked stone room.
The empress stepped in and motioned for them to follow.
After they entered the room, she said, "there are some dragons sleeping next door. I didn't want to wake them up. Welcome to the stone room. This is where we keep our most prized possessions. Well, I guess they aren't all ours, only one of them actually is."
Fatebringer wondered if the prized possessions that weren't theirs were stolen.
"No, we haven't stolen them. The world has trusted us with them and we guard them with our lives. Once someone or a group of living beings collects all of the stones, they get released into the world," Empress Vulcan said.
"What can the stones do?" Fatebringer asked curiously.
"No one really knows, since they've only gone out into the world once in the last millennium. They do have an extreme amount of power, although it significantly diminishes when it falls into the collector's talons. I did see one in action though. They are REALLY powerful. There are 3 types, the darkness stones, the brightness stones, and the neutrality stones. There are a total of-" the empress started, but suddenly Fatebringer and Fateshadow collapsed to the ground, clutching their heads.
"AHHH!" Fatebringer screamed, as a vision hit him.
The vision was a continuation of his last one above ground, except this time he was in the stronghold, and the DeathWing had all of the stones except for the Prophecy Stone.
"Where exactly is that stone? Animus stone, tell me!" the DeathWing screamed.
A moment later, the whole army followed the DeathWing towards the island of fire. As dragon after dragon slid through the tunnel, the FireWings found themselves trapped.
Fatebringer saw dragon after dragon being taken out, and the stronghold was filling up with water as the dragons dug holes into the walls, so that the empowered FireWings couldn't use their abilities. All of a sudden, there was nothing left there except for him and the DeathWing.
The DeathWing screamed as he activated all of his stones, and Fatebringer fell to the ground, dead.
The DeathWing picked up the stone, but didn't put it in his gauntlet.
He walked past Fatebringer's corpse, kicking it off into the darkness below. The DeathWing walked straight into the stone room, and then activated the stones again, as the second set of stones flew towards him.
"FOR PYRRHIA!" the DeathWing yelled, as he shoved the Prophecy Stone into place, and clutched the second set of stones in his talons.
Everything turned black as Fatebringer regained his consciousness.
"I have to go," Fatebringer panted as he opened his eyes.
Fateshadow nodded in agreement.
"Good luck," Fateshadow said, a worried look in his eyes.
"Which way's the exit?" Fatebringer asked.
"Straight up. There's a portal that'll teleport you to wherever you want," Fateshadow said.
"Thanks, guys," Fatebringer said, as he saluted the FireWings. He flew up and into the portal, as he thought of the battle field.
Fatebringer appeared right next to Copper and Lavender a moment later. They both turned towards him.
"How did you just appear like that?" Copper asked.
"FireWing base. Portal," Fatebringer said, unable to say a complete sentence as he was still trying to take in what had just happened. He was also thinking about the vision.
Fatebringer looked around, and saw that they still had a good amount of troops left.
How does the DeathWing have so many troops? All of the tribes are on our side, Fatebringer thought.
"He uses the tribe stones, which can summon dragons," Thoughtknowing said from behind him.
"Oh, we have 2 of them, so I guess we should use them," Fatebringer said.
"You're right. I can go tell Lavender and Copper while you assess our troops and their's?"
"Sure," Fatebringer agreed, and Thoughtknowing headed off, toward Copper and Lavender.
"Hello, Fatebringer." a dragon said, and Fatebringer found himself pinned to the ground.
He looked up to see The DeathWing. Oh no, I hope Lavender summons some RainWings soon. This might be my last time alive
"Flare, Scorch, go take care of this NightWing. Ciel, Caelum, and Hearth, Follow me," the DeathWing said, as he kicked Fatebringer toward the burning scales of Flare and Scorch.
Suddenly, a group of dragons tackled the SkyWings, and then flew off along with Fatebringer. Fatebringer thanked the MudWings and asked them for their names. They said they were Silt, Slab, Muck, Mire, Sludge, and Dirt.
"Deathspeaker said that you were in trouble, so we were looking for you," Mire said.
"Thanks again guys," Fatebringer said, as they landed next to Copper and Lavender.
"Fatebringer, we finally got them to work!" Copper said, as an army of RainWings and Hybrid dragons popped up next to them.
The RainWings shot venom at any enemy dragons within their range, and the hybrids fought off the rest.
"Pretty cool," Fatebringer said, as Arenae and Harenae walked up next to them.
"Lavender, there's something I need you to know," Arenae said.
"What?" Lavender asked, a worried look on her face.
Arenae sighed.
"Lavender," Arenae said, "I'm your father."
They all fell silent for a moment.
Fatebringer thought the look on Lavender's face was priceless.
"B-but my mom said that my dad went on an unknown path," Lavender finally said.
"What Quetzal said wasn't wrong. No one knew that I had left other than Quetzal. They didn't know where I went and what I had become for a while. They feared me, and were happy that I had left along with Harenae. You see, our family is cursed to have too much venom. In the beginning, we can use it for both healing and fighting, but in the end we have to choose one. I used to have healing spikes along my tail, but also some extra venom in my tail barb. One night, my family was attacked, and I chose the extra tail venom. I lost my spikes, and the venom became much, much stronger. From that moment on, I knew that I had to defend those that I care about," Arenae said, "But I went too far. I became a reckless assassin who killed dragons on the queen's demand. Sure, some were bad, but not all of them were. I didn't even realize that they were innocent, I had just convinced myself that they were all bad dragons who we could do nothing about but kill. I realized why the RainWings had feared me. I turned into a monster that I am ashamed of."
"How come I don't have any extra venom?" Lavender asked.
"You do have extra venom," Arenae replied, "in those healing flowers on your back. I saw the look in your eyes when you realized that your friend was wounded badly. There was no hate in them, there was only sadness and pity. I saw the venom stingers on your wrists fall off, and I knew that you had chosen healing. I think that was the better choice for you."
"I also chose extra tail venom," Harenae said.
"But you manage it well. You have only used it to help us survive, and to take out attackers. You have become what I wanted to become, not the dangerous being that I am now," Arenae said.
"Dad, you're not a dangerous monster," Harenae said.
"Yeah, that DeathWing is a monster, not you," Lavender said.
Copper and Fatebringer agreed.
Arenae opened his mouth and was about to start talking when suddenly there was a commotion nearby.
Fatebringer turned around and saw two IceWings about to kill his mother.
"NOOO!" Fatebringer screamed, as he ran towards them, closely followed by Copper.
Fatebringer grabbed an IceWing by the neck as it was about to blast frostbreath at his mother, and threw him at the DeathWing.
Copper helped him beat up the other one. They threw the IceWing at the firescale dragons, who were facing the other way. The IceWing was burned and couldn't stand up.
"Are you okay?" Fatebringer asked.
"I'm fine. Thank you, Fatebringer. I'm so sorry I didn't believe what you told me. You were right. I was a fool. But after what happened, after they said that he would never die…" Starspeaker's voice trailed off.
Fatebringer waved goodbye to his mother and he walked off to where Lavender, Harenae, and Arenae were gathered.
As Copper walked up next to him, and he told them about the FireWing stronghold.
"Cool. We'll leave as soon as there's a gap," Lavender said.
They looked around, but there was no path, only fighting. Overhead, there was another skirmish going on, obscuring the sky.
"I don't think there's going to be a gap anytime soon," Copper said.
"We need the Fire Stone to win. It's the only thing that we can do. He's too powerful," Lavender said.
Suddenly, Fatebringer had an idea. He knew it was dangerous, but it was the only thing he could think of.
"Guys, I have an idea," Fatebringer said.
"Wow, that's a first," Copper joked.
Fatebringer ignored him.
"I'm gonna clear a path for you guys. And I know exactly how to do it," Fatebringer said.
"How?" Lavender asked.
"Remember that second IceWing we beat up? He made me think of this," Fatebringer said.
They both looked puzzled for a moment, and then suddenly Copper got a worried look on his face.
"No, don't do that! We need you!" Copper said.
"It's the only way," Fatebringer said.
"What second IceWing?" Lavender asked.
"The one we chucked at the firescale dragons," Fatebringer and Copper said at the same time.
"Oh, I saw him bang into them. The look on his face was priceless when he realized he was being burnt to a crisp. Must've hu-" Lavender suddenly froze.
"You mean you're going to-" Lavender stopped, shaking her head.
Fatebringer nodded.
"It's either this, or we lose the world to the DeathWing," Fatebringer said.
"Why can't you just blast fire at them?" Copper asked.
"They could dodge it, or they could recover," Fatebringer said.
"Why this? We'll find another way," Lavender said.
Fatebringer shook his head.
"Here, take this. You'll need it. Finish my prophecy book after the battle, will you? It's in the Scorpion Den," Fatebringer said, handing her the Prophecy Stone.
"NO! DON'T!" they screamed.
"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for things bigger than yourself. Good luck, guys," Fatebringer said.
He saluted his troops as he started breathing fire.
He knew that all of the timelines depended on this moment. He knew that this was the last thing that he would do as a living NightWing. He knew that this was the most important thing he would ever do as one. And he had no other choice.
A few moments later, he had lit himself on fire.
"FOR PYRRHIA!" Fatebringer yelled, as he charged into the enemy dragons, his scales blazing with fire.
Artificial dragons fell left and right, and soon, all of the artificial BeetleWings were wiped out.
He took out a few more dragons, and half of the IceWings and all of the artificial IceWings were wiped out. This gave him a clear path to the DeathWing, which Fatebringer ignored. He had to clear a path to the FireWing Stronghold for Copper and Lavender.
After taking out the artificial NightWings, Fatebringer had finally cleared a path for them, so he charged at the DeathWing.
A heavy force knocked him to the ground, stopping him just a bit in front of Snowstorm. Fatebringer turned around to see Caelum, Ciel, Flare, Scorch, and Hearth.
Caelum lunged at him, so he punched him in the face. The other four SkyWings dived at him all at once, knocking him to the ground again.
Scorch punched him in the stomach, so Fatebringer stood up and kicked him in the face so hard that he was sent flying into the ocean.
Fatebringer felt bad for him, but he knew that Scorch had chosen wrong, and had deserved it.
Fatebringer knocked the other four out, and then dived at the DeathWing.
"It's the end, Snowstorm," Fatebringer said.
"How do you know who I am?" Snowstorm asked, punching Fatebringer with a firescale talon.
Fatebringer responded with an uppercut to the jawline, sending Snowstorm flying.
As he dodged the enemy around him, Fatebringer felt the flames flickering. He blew more fire on his scales, and started to feel faint.
Fatebringer saw Lavender and Copper walking through the path he had cleared for them in the corner of his eye. He smiled, knowing that he had done his job.
Fatebringer searched the army for his mother, as he dived at Snowstorm.
He smiled at his mother, then saluted Lavender and Copper, who were about to take off towards the Island of Fire.
Snowstorm swatted Fatebringer to the ground, and he felt himself slipping out of consciousness. He knew he was barely hanging on to his life.
Fatebringer closed his eyes one last time at Snowstorm's feet, his scales still blazing with his own fire.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
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I have finished chapter 22 so I will put that up once I've put it on the shared google docs version.
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