Swordfish screamed as he was pounced on by the hooded dragons. He felt two pairs of talons on his back, pushing him down. He tried to fly out of their grasp, but they had grabbed his wings too. He opened his mouth to yell at them, but a cloth was wrapped around his head and into his open mouth.
The two hooded dragons lowered Swordfish to the ground, and Swordfish head the sound of metal clanking as his arms were put in handcuffs behind his back. His wings were still pinned down to the ground. One of the dragons pinning him down then whistled, as if calling someone. Suddenly, a Nightwing wearing the same robes and armband landed in front of Swordfish. They stared down at him on the ground. "Is this the right Seawing? Is this Swordfish?" One of the anonymous dragons behind Swordfish asked, but Swordfish could tell it was a male. The Nightwing didn't break their gaze, yet still remaining hidden by the hood. "Yes. This is him." She said with a familiar voice.
From what Swordfish could see of her, she was rather muscular. She walked with power and purpose. Her voice was low for a female and made her sound rather angry. Swordfish suddenly realized who it was, and looked up at her, making a muffled "MMMM" under the gag, until one of the dragons behind him removed it. "S-Scaleslasher?" Swordfish choked.
The Nightwing paused, but then lifted her hood and Swordfish saw Farseer's face be revealed, her teeth glinting in the low moonlight. "Pronghorn, what did I say about keeping the gag on?" She growled. "Well, I thought that would be a poor first impression! You remember the Grandmaster's plan, right?" Pronghorn, an older student from Jade Mountain, responded. "And you're one to talk, you just revealed two of us to an outsider!" "Are you forgetting that he's going to find out who we are anyways?" The last dragon asked, still pinning Swordfish down.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" Swordfish suddenly cried. "Farseer, Pronghorn, you two are Jade Mountain students? What were you doing in Frigid's room that night?" There was a pause before the third dragon said, "Actually, I'm a Jade Mountain student too. I'm Flame." Swordfish remembered the scarred Skywing who had been raised by the Talons of Peace.
So… there were four dragons in the room that night. Where's the fourth one? The one who had the dagger. Swordfish's eyes darted up to the trees. Is he hiding?
Suddenly, Swordfish was yanked to his feet. The handcuffs he was in were connected to a longer chain, which was being held by Farseer. "Don't even try to fly away or I'll catch you again and rip out all your teeth this time." She growled violently. Swordfish saw flame take off his hood, and let his scarred face show in the night. He looked up at the stars. "We have until daybreak to get him to the city, or the Grandmaster will have our heads on spears." Flame said "Grandmaster" bitterly, as if he despised bowing to whoever this dragon was. "Don't question the Grandmaster's ways." Farseer said sternly. "His order and faith have led us this far. And with Swordfish and possibly our Keyholder being found so quickly, it won't be long now until it's all over." "Right." Flame said under his breath.
"Just who exactly are you?!" Swordfish asked, a combination of angry, scared, and confused. Grandmaster? Keyholder?
"Right, I believe an introduction is in order." Pronghorn said, and then began to recite something by heart, like a creed. "Born from the ashes of the war, we are the pioneers of the new world. We believe in the King, and trust in his powers. That he will bring the world to its knees, for its rebirth. We are the Darkists. Justice, Security, Peace." Pronghorn raised his arm with the golden armband into the air and made a fist. Swordfish saw what the armband had engraved on it. A seal with branches and an eye, with the words Justice, Security, Peace engraved under the seal.
Swordfish was silenced again by Flame putting the gag back, but Swordfish was already speechless. Where had he heard those three words before…? Pronghorn then took Swordfish's satchel, the one containing the map, Rainfall's scroll, and the earring, and put it on himself. Then, Farseer, took off and took the lead, pulling Swordfish along with her. Flame and Pronghorn followed behind.
The quiet journey west left Swordfish plenty of time to think. OK, so I'm being kidnapped by the Darkists, the same dragons who were in Rainfall's room the night Rattlesnake, Cedar and I went to go search it. One of the four there is missing right now. Their group has a leader called the Grandmaster, and now that they have me and possibly someone called the Keyholder, they're getting close to something. They believe in "The King" and his power, and a new world. All three dragons here were students at Jade Mountain. Swordfish decided this was too much to think about right now in addition to the Demons and his unwanted future with Typhoon. That is if he ever lived long enough to see it. Swordfish was tired from flying from the academy, to the Rainforest, to the ocean, through the whole ordeal with his family, to this.
The four dragonets flew into the desert from the Rainforest border, and never stopped. At one point, Swordfish picked up on a hushed argument between Flame and Pronghorn over who should ask Scaleslasher for a rest, but neither of them stepped up. They were both too afraid of her.
They flew straight through the desert. Thankfully, it was night, so the heat wasn't a problem. There was a point where Swordfish could see Jade Mountain, but when they got close, Farseer tugged on the chain that was keeping Swordfish captive and growled "Don't even think about it."
They encountered a few Sandwings, but nobody stopped them. They got some weird looks, but that was about it. It occurred to Swordfish that various anonymous criminals were probably commonplace in the Sand Kingdom, especially after Queen Oasis was killed.
Swordfish also had time to think about Farseer, the dragon keeping him flying. He thought about the few times he had talked to her, and his mind went back to the night Rainfall was shot by Adnachiel. He replayed the entire series of events that happened that night. Talking to Stonemover, getting lost, and then Adnachiel attacking, and two things occurred to Swordfish.
The golden object he had seen Farseer showing Stonemover had been the armband she was wearing right now. It had to be. But what had she told Stonemover that had made him angry? He remembered sneaking a peak back when the group was leaving Stonemover's cave and seeing Farseer showing Stonemover something golden and whispering to him, and him getting angry. What had she told him? The second thing Swordfish realized is that Farseer had been just as surprised about Adnachiel as the rest of them, and had even attacked her. This made it highly unlikely that the Darkists were following the Demons, and this "king" the creed spoke of was the Demon King Abyss had warned Swordfish about.
Then again, Rainfall had acted like he didn't know what Adnachiel was, and yet, according to Adnachiel herself, Rainfall had "everything to do with this."
After tiresome flying for hours, Swordfish began to see a mountain ridge come into view. He realized that they had flown as southwest as they could go according to the Map of Pyrrhia. This was the Sand Kingdom coast. Yet, the Darkists kept flying forward, their eyes beyond the small mountains. When the mountains were crossed, Swordfish felt a strange feeling wash over him. An unnatural feeling. He looked down and saw the ground on the mountains was littered with bones. Swordfish just stared, unfazed by the mass of death below him. He was too tired to care right now.
It was sunrise when the dragonets came into an old, abandoned city. It looked ancient, yet Swordfish could see dragons of various tribes, all wearing black robes, milling and flying around. Three moons. As if I didn't have enough to deal with, there's a whole army of these dragons. Eventually, Flame and Pronghorn broke away, and flew off into the city. Farseer landed and dragged Swordfish through the ruins of the city. Many Darkists here in the heart of the hidden city didn't have their hoods up, but hastily made their faces hidden when they saw Swordfish coming through. The hoods completely hid their faces.
Farseer brought Swordfish into the old palace. It had a faded feeling to it, like it had once been a place of great wealth and power, but Farseer did not lead Swordfish into the main part of the palace. Instead, she brought him down a flight of stairs labeled DUNGEONS.
Swordfish saw Farseer grab a key off of a hook on the wall, and open a cell. Swordfish felt his handcuffs come off, but was immediately kicked into the cell, his limp, exhausted body falling to the cold, stone floor. "You'll be out of here soon enough, depending on what you do." Farseer said, and she closed the door and began sulking off. Swordfish heard a new voice say "So they brought me a friend, huh?" Before falling into a sleep filled with dreams.
In his dream, Swordfish was lying on the ground. He looked all around him and could see only black. Looking down, he could see land below him through the glassy floor. Looking up, he could see the orbs that contained other worlds. He was in The Void.
Swordfish tried to stand up but he couldn't. Dragons suddenly emerged out of the darkness, all wearing the robes of the Darkists. They formed a circle around Swordfish, and began chanting the three words from their creed. "Justice, Security, Peace." They chanted. They said it three times before removing their hoods. Swordfish recognized many of them. Urchin was right in front of him with Starfish and Cerulean to either side of him. To Swordfish's right was Cedar. To his left was Farseer. There were other dragons too, like Typhoon and Truthteller, but there were dragons Swordfish didn't recognize as well. A light-green dragon that almost looked like a Rainwing, but didn't really match any tribe Swordfish knew was there too. Swordfish also noted two purple dragons that also didn't match any known tribes, one of which had a scar going down his cheek.
Suddenly, they all disappeared into dust as the voice of an old dragon suddenly rang out. "Don't worry Swordfish. This works out too. Just as the time Cedar stabbed you, and when Cassriel made the fake world attack you, and when you go to Mount-." The voice cut off as Swordfish awoke. When he opened his eyes, he could've sworn he had seen movement to his left, but when he looked at it, there was nothing there.
The dungeons were still dark, yet sunlight shone through a window on the stairwell that led down to them. Swordfish sat up, and he felt again how cold the stone floor was. "Ah, you're awake." Said a voice, and Swordfish looked to the cell across from him to see a Sandwing in there. Her eyes were a dark black, and she almost looked like Blister. She had small, black diamonds embedded along the scales on her wings. She had black tattoos along her horns and neck. "Th-they have more prisoners?" Swordfish wondered aloud. "Nope. It was only me for almost a year now. Until you came along last night." The Sandwing sounded sad and beaten down. "My name is Onyx." She said.
Swordfish remembered hearing about a Jade Mountain student going missing after the Tragedy of Prince Winter. "Yes, I'm the missing student Onyx." She said. "Uh… I'm Swordfish." Swordfish said. Has she really been down here for all that time? "Nice to meet you Swordfish." Onyx said sullenly. "We're going to have to get used to each other because we're most likely going to spend the rest of our lives down here. Unless you do as they say." Swordfish sat down. "What… what do they want?" He asked. Onyx looked him right in the eyes. "For us to join them." She responded ominously. "Why?" Swordfish asked her.
Onyx sighed. "Well, here's what happened. I'm the only remaining heir to the throne that Blaze currently holds." Onyx started. Swordfish was shocked. She had so off-handedly said that, Swordfish had to stop her from continuing. "WHAT? HOW?" He asked her. "Prince Smolder fell in love with this dragon from the city named Palm. Palm ran away from fear of being killed by Oasis, and was able to convince soldiers that she was in fact her twin sister Prickle. She had me in secret, and ever since then, there was a secret fourth heir to the throne. Funny how that wasn't foreseen by that Nightwing prophet, Morrowseer." Onyx said with salt, and then continued her story.
"I had made a deal with a gang in the Scorpion Den that if they help me take the throne, I would pay them handsomely when I became queen. I had been attending Jade Mountain in hopes of finding dragons angry about Blaze winning, but I quickly found that this gang had more to offer than that forsaken school, so I left." Onyx sighed again. "Turns out, one of the gang members was part of a cult that had been started after the Tragedy of Prince Winter. Some say it began near the end of the war, but changed its goal after that whole fiasco. They believe that their holy king is still alive, and will lead us into a reformed world. They believe he will bring justice, security, and peace. They have about eighty members, most of which are still bitter about the war, which had a serious lack of justice, security and peace. They named themselves the Darkists, in lieu of their beloved king." Onyx paused, and Swordfish managed to ask a question. "Who is this king?" Onyx looked up at Swordfish and the dark dungeons seemed to get darker. "Haven't you figured it out? King? After the Tragedy? We're even in his city! They worship Darkstalker! They want to free him from his prison!"
Everything in Swordfish's head clicked into place, like a massive part of a puzzle just came together. A giant, immortal, overpowered animus who promised what the creed said is exactly who dragons still angry about the war would turn to. After the Tragedy, the story about what happened to Darkstalker was spread throughout Pyrrhia. Swordfish also knew he was feared and hated within the Nightwing tribe, which is probably why Stonemover was so mad with Farseer. She had asked him to join the cause. He was a Nightwing animus, why wouldn't she?"
"The catch is, they don't know where Clearsight buried him. Nobody does. So until they can find him, they will try to achieve what they can through any means possible." Onyx said, and then continued her story.
"Anyway, this dragon in the gang stole me away from them and took me here. They took me to the Grandmaster. The cactus licker who started it all." Swordfish remembered hearing about the Grandmaster on his way here. "He is their head of command." Onyx said. "He is completely anonymous to even his own Darkists, he never takes off his hood. All we know is that he is a Nightwing, and was horrifically injured in the war. In fact, half of his snout is encased in metal, and so is his entire left arm. Like fake scales. Because of this, he is completely mute, and has to write everything down. The Speaker does all the talking for him." Swordfish was confused, and he must have looked it too. "The Speaker is this rotten Sandwing dragonet who does all the talking for him." Onyx explained. "Anyway, I go before the Grandmaster, who asks me through the Speaker to join them. He says I would get benefits, and if they needed, they could assassinate Blaze and put me on the throne. They tried to convince me that if Darkstalker was ruler of all of Pyrrhia, it would be a better place. I said no. They offered to pay me, and I still refused to be their pawn. So they tortured me."
Onyx held up her left talon and Swordfish saw that three claws had been ripped off. "Then they threw me down here. They said that every time I try to escape, they'll torture me again, and judging on how far I got is how painful it would be. They can't have their precious heir die, so that's what they'll do." Onyx finished. "And I've been down here ever since. They only take me up to listen to the Grandmaster's speeches through the speaker, in hopes of changing my mind."
"Wow." Swordfish said, unable to think of anything else to say. A Darkstalker worship cult had been going undetected for a year. "Do you know who the Keyholder is?" He asked Onyx. "No." Onyx replied. "I know from speeches that it's this mystery dragon who will apparently help them achieve their goal of awakening Darkstalker."
Swordfish sat back down, trying to process everything that had happened. His mind turned to escaping. He saw the keys on the hooks with their corresponding cells, but obviously, he couldn't reach them. Swordfish looked around the cell, and observed every small crack in the wall. "Good luck getting out!" Onyx called to him. "I've been here almost a year, and I've checked every way and every hole I can. Not only are we in stone cells, we're underground!"
Swordfish still looked around the cell which had stayed in relatively good shape for being over 2000 years old. Swordfish sat down again, and he and Onyx sat in silence for hours.
Suddenly, a group of six Darkists came down the stairs. One of them grabbed a key from the hooks and unlocked Onyx's cell. "Meeting time already?" Onyx asked innocently. "New information. Emergency meeting. Be silent." The Darkist ordered without emotion. He and two others put handcuffs on Onyx and wires to hold her wings down. They led her up the stairs.
Then, one of the three remaining went and grabbed another key, and walked back to the doors of Swordfish's cell. "Swordfish, isn't it?" She asked. She was a Seawing. Swordfish slowly nodded. "Nice to meet you Swordfish. My name is Aqua." She said. She sounded old. "Sources have told us that you have been to different worlds and know of things called 'demons'." Aqua said. Swordfish backed up, scared and astonished.
The only people he had told were his friends and the teachers at Jade Mountain. "How-how…" Swordfish began, but Aqua stopped him. "Oh, you know how things just… get around." She said lightly, and she chuckled. "Well, I guess we really shouldn't gossip about others." And she unlocked Swordfish's cell.
Swordfish was panicking. SOMEONE HE HAD TOLD WAS WORKING WITH THE DARKISTS. Let's see. Who was new, weird, and Swordfish didn't know anything about? Falcon. Swordfish thought angrily. He just showed up outside the academy one day. He was a Darkist.
Aqua called the other two Darkists who had remained silent this whole time. They put the handcuffs and wires on Swordfish like they had done to Onyx. "Terribly sorry about this. Just a safety precaution, you know." Aqua said, and when she put the handcuffs on Swordfish, he felt how sharp her claws were. "Why are your claws so sharp?" Swordfish asked the hooded Seawing. She chuckled lightly again. "Did you know just how easy it is to chop right through muscle with just your claws?" She asked. "The cartilage too. Just slice, slice, slice, and their claws come off." Swordfish went silent, repressing the urge to start screaming.
Aqua led Swordfish up the stairs and into the main part of the palace, and into the throne room. The room would've been amazing to see, how old it was, yet Swordfish could only help but think the mass of robed dragons ruined the experience. He could see members from every tribe, except Icewings. There was not a single Icewing Darkist.
Swordfish was pulled to the side with Onyx as the space in front of the ancient throne was cleared, and in walked in a large Nightwing, with two Darkists to either side of him. Half of his snout was metal.
When the Grandmaster walked in, the room became silent and the Darkists raised their fists into the air. The Grandmaster walked up in front of the throne, but did not sit down. Instead, he turned and looked at all the Darkists. He held out a scroll, and a hooded Sandwing walked out and took the scroll from him. Swordfish noted the way he walked, his swagger was familiar. Swordfish began searching the crowd for Falcon, but he realized he wouldn't be able to tell if it was the Skywing or not because of the hoods.
The Speaker took the scroll, went in front of the crowd, and began reading what it said.
"Born from the ashes of the war, we are the pioneers of the new world." He said. Swordfish felt like the world stopped for a second. That voice… it couldn't be… he had to hear it again. The other Darkists repeated the creed. The Speaker spoke again.
"We believe in the King, and trust in his powers. That he will bring the world to its knees, for its rebirth." As the crowd repeated the chant, Swordfish felt like crying. This couldn't be happening. Why would he do this? Farseer, Swordfish could understand, but this?
"We are the Darkists. Justice, security, peace." And Savanna raised his fist into the sky as the others repeated him. Savanna, the fourth one from that night. The one with the dagger.