Rattlesnake looked up into the sky. The sun was high in the sky. The day was only half way done. Marie had overheard Black Star soldiers talking and heard they knew about the temple in Paisland. That means that they were headed Southwest to the Agorian Ocean, and then flying to Paisland. It had been Anthony's plan to go as fast as they could to Paisland and retrieve the relics before Black Star could. The day was unnaturally bright and clear for such an intense task.
Rattlesnake's thoughts wandered back to her days back in the Scorpion Den, helping the Outclaws. Helping dragons get back up in life. The biggest threat only being Vulture's enclave. Rattlesnake wished she could go back to that life. Before Jade Mountain. Before Savanna joined the Darkists. Before she knew about the demons, and the constant danger. Before she was stuck in the past. She almost felt like giving prayer a shot, now that she knew about the Moon Goddesses. She had no idea if the stories were even real, but here she was going to retrieve legendary objects from those exact stories anyway.
She recalled something her mother said to her a long time ago, after she told Rattlesnake the story of an animus dragon named Jerboa. Rattlesnake had asked; "Was that story real mom?" To which her mother replied; "Maybe. Most old stories like that one have been told and retold so many times, details get blurred. Some dragons might change it to make it a comforting story. Some might throw in things to make it more interesting, because some dragons think the best stories take you by surprise. But all of those stories started with something. They might be based off of something real, but not be real themselves." Rattlesnake turned and looked up at the three moons outside her window. She heard the claws of her mother begin to leave her room. "Goodnight Rattlesnake." Her mother said quietly.
Rattlesnake was suddenly consumed with the same old guilt she felt. Her mother's death was her fault. She had dared stolen from The Enclave and her mother had paid the price. She had convinced herself that from that point on to be a better dragon. She would never do anything that could place others in danger again.
Rattlesnake decided she might as well try. Luna, if you're really up there… Please let the others and I return home. Please bring back the old days. I would much rather have to face evil dragons than all of this. Demons, Darkists, Black Star, Camaelists. Please… bring me back. She thought, closing her eyes. "You okay?" Michael asked, riding up on a horse next to her. "Yeah." She said quietly. "It's just… I can't believe any of this is happening." "Well, what part?" Michael asked, chuckling. "All of it." She said. Thinking all the way back to when Ostrich was killed. "Well, I guess all of this has been kind of insane for you, right?" Michael said, chuckling again.
Rattlesnake and the others had secretly revealed everything they knew to their new friends. From the other worlds, to the demons. Rattlesnake knew they were kind of skeptical of some of it, except for Anthony, who believed every word without a second thought. But he had seen some of it with his own two eyes.
Vulture was still struggling to get used to his eye patch. He kept reaching upwards to scratch at it, to which Marie would remind him not to. They had considered leaving Vulture behind so he could heal, but he insisted on going. Rattlesnake thought it was odd, considering how in the past Vulture had tried to avoid dangerous situations, and how persistent he had been about it was uncharacteristic. Rattlesnake tried to sneak it into a conversation and try to find out his reason, but he seemed to dodge everything.
So, Rattlesnake resigned herself to her own thoughts and the tiresome walk towards the Agorian Ocean. It was a long walk, and Rattlesnake envied the humans and their trains. She would've given her earring to be able to sit down in a seat and go to sleep as the locomotive simply brought her to her destination. Rattlesnake felt the mysterious earring Savanna had given her so long ago swing back and forth as she walked. She had wondered why an earring based off of the Earring of Sola had been on the ground of a street in the Scorpion Den. She knew there was no way it was purely coincidence someone had made an earring just like this, without there being any connection. But… that meant that there were dragons back in Pyrrhia that knew all of this was going on, or at least, happened.
Did this mean that even if she went back home, this stuff would still follow her? That her life could never return to normal? I guess that's kind of already true. She thought to herself. I won't ever be able to forget any of this. Maybe she could embrace it and just live here. Old Monarchy stops the Scorching, history is altered, and she can live in a world of human technology and dragons from tribes she had never even heard of. What would I do? Would I go and become a full-on Old Monarchy soldier? Rattlesnake couldn't imagine herself ending the life of another dragon, or even a human. She had always liked to believe in the stories that scavengers were just as smart as dragons when she was young, and was glad she did. If she had ever killed a scavenger, Rattlesnake didn't know if she would be able to live it down after all of this.
Forget about the war, what would I do if Old Monarchy won? Would I go wander the world? Would I go live in Jeoul, the country with the highest dragon population? Would I stay here in Arnia? I mean, they speak our language. Rattlesnake still found it funny that their language was actually an old human language from way before the Scorching. Would I stay with my friends? Her mind flickered back to when she yelled at Swordfish in the forest. She quickly tried to think about other things. Like what had happened to Blizzard, Vine, and that Swordfish? Where was Polar? Did they all know about this?
. . .
"Vine, I want you to watch what Toucan does." Stone said. "I want you to watch how she does these things willingly." Vine had shrank back into a corner when Toucan had started screaming earlier, and she was still there. Stone had come back from whatever he had been doing, much to Toucan's relief. When Stone appeared again she had nearly thrown herself at him, which must have been odd, even for her, because Stone gave Vine a weird look that walked along suspicion and curiosity.
"Toucan, please go get my helmet." He said, and Toucan got up almost instantly, walked over to an old shelf and picked up a metallic helmet. She walked back towards Stone and held it out for him. Stone took it and placed it on his head, his thick Rockwing horns securing it in place. He waited a few seconds before saying "Toucan, please take my helmet off and place it back on the shelf." The Rainwing hastily took the helmet off the General's head and walked back to the shelf and put it back.
"You see how eager she is to do these things?" Stone asked Vine. Vine slightly nodded her head, still remaining in the corner of the room. "It is because she loves me. And I love her. I protect her, therefore she does these things for me as a form of repayment." Toucan nodded her head. "And soon Vine, you will learn this same love. It will be a revolution of the mind."
Vine did not see herself ever loving this, but then again, maybe Toucan had been the same way, and eventually she just gave in. Vine was repulsed at the idea of becoming a weird, mindless servant. The freedom she knew she must have lived in when she was in the Rainforest was a stark contrast to this.
"And the first step towards this, is the big one. You were an Old Monarchy soldier. I am a Camaelist general. I see that humanity is just a plague. One that destroys our forests and kills nature's creatures, especially us. This war is also a revolution. A dragon revolution. Yet you see humans as equals. You see them as being as capable and as intelligent and as dragon as us." Stone spoke calmly and without any hint of anger. "So, the first step of your revolution is to see just how superior we really are. You will see how weak humans really are. Strip them of their technology and they become nothing but another animal, like a cow or a horse."
Stone got up from where he was lying down and walked over to the bashed-in doorway. "Come with me Vine. Let me show you." He gestured with his wing out the door. Vine didn't move. She didn't answer. "…No." She eventually said quietly, her scales feeling even greener.
The Camaelist general stopped, the small smile on his face falling. He slowly walked up towards Vine, towering over her. Toucan's scales flickered to pale green before quickly turning back to blue, and she swiftly turned around and began to look at the wall, and began softly repeating something to herself in Emigan, one of the languages from this world. "Si no miras, no pasa nada…"
"Vine, please repeat that to me." Stone said, still calm, but with a hint of another emotion underneath. "…No." Vine said, louder this time. "I won't-."
She was cut off by Stone hitting her with his wing membrane so hard she fell. It felt like her entire left side had been cut by small, thin leaves and then dipped in the acidic juices of rainforest fruits. Vine screamed. It stung. Toucan began repeating her words louder, almost like she was trying to not hear the screams.
Stone stood over Vine as she lay curled on the ground, whimpering. "Don't worry too much, Vine." Stone said. "This is just the way I deter you from those kinds of dangerous thoughts. If you think like that enough, you won't be worthy of my kindness, and I'll let the others have their way. And their way involves torture until death for being a traitor to dragonkind." Vine felt tears slide down her face.
"Now, let's go to the arena." Stone said, dragging Vine to her feet. Vine was forced up and towards the door. Before Stone got her out the door, Vine shot a look back at Toucan, who had turned back around. Vine could have sworn she saw a flicker of another color. She couldn't be certain, but she thought she saw… red.
. . .
Swordfish sat in the crowds of the arena which had been made out of various bits and pieces of the old town. The crowd of dragonets cheered. The actual arena floor was the bare floor of an old house, and the stands were made out of pieces of buildings and houses. Swordfish found the stone building side he was sitting on rather uncomfortable. He and Blizzard had ended up sitting next to Barley and Tornado, which were brimming with excitement. Swordfish watched Blizzard look around the crowd intently. "What are you doing?" He asked her quietly. "Looking for Vine." She responded. "Luckily I've always been good at finding the right dragon in large crowds."
"Do you think they won't supply any humans this time?" Swordfish heard Tornado ask Barley. "Nah." Barley replied. "Giving the pests at least a fighting chance is what makes it good. If we were just watching humans die without there even being a fight, it would defeat the whole point." So it's humans fighting dragons, not dragons fighting dragons, like in Scarlet's arena. Swordfish realized. Well, I mean I guess that makes sense. They need to drive home the point of dragons dominating humans.
"There." Blizzard said quietly to Swordfish, nudging his wing with hers and pointing across the arena to a platform. On it, sat Camael himself, still appearing to be a normal Seawing. To his left was General Wraith, who was glaring at the Rockwing sitting to Camael's right. The large Rockwing had Vine sitting next to him. She was wearing a strange new armband, and looked like she had been injured on her left side. She looked sad and depressed, her scales swirling between pale green and light blue. Fear and sadness.
"Hey Swordfish, you don't look very excited." Barley said to Swordfish suddenly. "Yeah! It looks like he's all eyes for Stone's new pet!" Tornado teased. "It's normally Terracotta's job to be ogling over his servant!" Barley laughed and then saw Swordfish and Blizzard's confused expressions. "Do you two really not know the joke? The whole Recruit Grade knew!" "Maybe they were from those other few bunkers. I don't recognize them." Tornado said. "Yeah." Swordfish blurted out, nervous they would find out he wasn't really a recruit. They needed to get Vine, and get out as fast as they could.
"Terracotta was a Mudwing who was completely in love with General Stone's servant. We all used to tease him about how if Stone found out he would lose his wings." Barley chuckled. Swordfish faked a laugh.
Swordfish noticed that Blizzard kept glancing back at Camael. She had a look on her face like she was trying to figure something out. Swordfish was going to ask her what was wrong when General Stone stood up, and flew out over the arena. Vine stayed back, Wraith giving her a menacing look.
"RECRUITS, VISITORS, AND DRAGONS OF ALL TRIBES!" Stone bellowed. "WELCOME TO THE TRIAL OF MANKIND!" The dragons cheered. "OUR COMBATANTS CONSIST OF CAPTURED HUMANS FROM BLACK STAR AND OLD MONARCHY, VERSUS CAPTURED OLD MONARCHY DRAGONS AND OTHER DRAGON PRISONERS! ALL HUMAN COMBATANTS WILL BE GIVEN A SPEAR, A SHIELD, AND A SET OF MOBILE SHOTGUNS, EACH WITH ONLY ONE SHOT!"
Swordfish watched as a gateway opened and a pair of humans wearing tattered military uniforms emerged. A woman from Old Monarchy, and a man from Black Star. Each wore the given weapons. "FOR THE HUMANS, SANDIP D'CRUZ OF BLACK STAR, AND VEER AALDENBERG OF OLD MONARCHY!" The humans were met with boos and growls. Interesting. Swordfish thought. They put two enemies together.
"AND FOR THE DRAGONS, WE HAVE COBRA THE SANDWING OF OLD MONARCHY!" Another gate opened and a large Sandwing stepped out. The crowds cheered, but Cobra snarled up at the platform Camael, Wraith, and Vine were on. She yelled something in Kiboten at them. She turned to the two humans. She looked at the woman from Old Monarchy, Veer. Swordfish noticed Veer and Cobra were both blinking at each other.
Suddenly, Sandip, the Black Star soldier rushed forward, screaming with his spear brandishing towards Cobra. Cobra flapped her wings once and rose into the air, but she did not get her tail up quick enough. Sandip leaped forward, and sliced her poisonous barb off.
The crowds erupted into cheers. At first, Swordfish was confused, but then he realized that even though Cobra was a dragon, the Camaelists saw her as a traitor, and just as bad as one of the humans. The booing at the humans was just something they did. Probably a tradition.
Cobra shrieked. Blood was seeping out of the wound. She swiped downward towards Sandip with her claws, narrowly missing his head. Swordfish saw Veer watching the battle from the sidelines, holding her shield up. She was staring at Sandip.
"There's no way they can win." Blizzard said quietly. "Even if they're equipped with the weapons, they don't have a good environment to use them. There's no way Cobra will let her head get down low enough so that they can shoot her." Blizzard gritted her teeth. "This is how they execute their prisoners of war."
Sandip screamed and ran towards Cobra, who was still in the air, her blood dripping down onto the arena floor. He held his shield up and tossed the spear at Cobra's stomach. Cobra batted it away with her wing, and blasted fire in Sandip's direction. Sandip rolled out of the way, but the back of his tattered uniform caught on fire. He screamed and began rolling on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. Cobra pounced forward, gritting her teeth as her wound on the tip of her tail scraped against the wall of the arena. Sandip screamed and fired both of his shotguns at the oncoming Sandwing. BANG! BANG!
But Cobra wasn't close enough for the weapons to be effective at all. One of the shells slightly grazed her cheek, but she wiped away the blood. The audience cheered. Cobra pounced on top of Sandip and stuck her talons into the soldier's stomach. Blood spurted out of the wound. Sandip shrieked. The crowd erupted into thunderous applause. Swordfish was startled out of his repulsed trance by Barley whistling next to him. "YEAH! YOU SEE HER FORM!? THAT WAS AWESOME!"
Swordfish was still staring at the scene. It seemed like Cobra had tears forming in her eyes, and like Sandip was trying to say something. Stone hushed the crowd, which almost instantly fell silent.
"At least… I went out fighting… a monster." Sandip said. "I'm sorry." Cobra said with a thick accent. Both were barely audible, but the arena had gone nearly silent. Cobra removed her talons from the man's stomach and lightly touched his head, almost endearingly. The wound was open and Swordfish watched as Sandip's blood began to flow out of the wound, his eyes unblinking. Cobra stared at her bloodstained talons. "WHAT AN HONORABLE FIGHT, DESPITE BEING HUMAN!" Stone thundered and the crowd erupted into applause and cheers. Veer stood by, staring at the Black Star soldier. Cobra turned, wincing as her tail once again scraped along the stone. Cobra suddenly blasted fire in random directions. The crowd began cheering again, but stopped as Cobra continued to breathe fire. And it wasn't like she was trying to burn something. It was like she only cared as long as there was as much smoke as possible.
"Are they going to try-?" Swordfish began to ask in a whisper to Blizzard, but she shushed him. They were going to try and escape together.
Swordfish watched the smoke as it got thicker and thicker, and then he couldn't see Veer anymore. Only the backside of Cobra. The arena was filled with the chattering of the audience. Suddenly, Cobra shot up and out of the arena with Veer riding her back. Cobra almost immediately took off flying. "OLD MONARCHY FOREVER!" Veer called back towards the arena. Guards took off after them as the crowd exploded into yelling. Some of the watching dragons even got up and flew after the escapees.
"Can you believe this?!" Tornado asked Barley. "Eh, don't worry." Barley replied, shaking out his wings. "There are so many guards around here, they'll never escape. Give it a few minutes, and they'll come back with their heads." Swordfish looked in the direction of the dragons, who had flown out of sight. He looked back towards Vine. Stone was back with her. Swordfish wondered what Tornado had meant when he said Vine was Stone's "new pet." Was she okay? What had she been through since Wraith took her?
Stone was looking off into the sky where the dragons had gone. Wraith was hastily apologizing to Camael, who looked bored. It was still surprising to Swordfish how average Camael was. He looked like any old Seawing who could be loitering on the corner back in Swordfish's hometown. Swordfish caught Blizzard looking at the leader's platform as well. "Look at him." She whispered, ever so subtly gesturing to Wraith. "Camael doesn't even care and Wraith's just apologizing and getting all agitated. He's pathetic." "Yeah well, it got him to the rank of general." Swordfish replied, still looking at Vine. What was Stone doing to her? Had he hurt her? Where was he keeping her and how could he and Blizzard save her, and get out?
Suddenly, the guards returned, holding the heads of Cobra and Veer. The audience clapped. Swordfish and Blizzard just stared at the ripped off heads as they were thrown to the ground at the arena center. Veer's made an especially disgusting noise as it landed. "See? What'd I tell you?" Barley said to Tornado.
The heads were cleared off the arena floor and no sooner, the next combatants were revealed, this time two Black Star soldiers versus a Camaelist criminal. It was over very quickly, the two soldiers hardly able to put up a fight against the Icewing. Swordfish watched with horror as the two men were quickly ripped to bloody shreds, the Icewing basking in the glory. Swordfish was eventually able to make eye contact with Vine during one of the fights. He saw gold shoot through her scales when they made eye contact, the color of happiness.
. . .
Vine stepped back into the room through the busted-in doorway, her mind still picturing the deaths of the humans she had seen in the arena. She tried to think about happier things, anything to take her mind off of the scenes of gory death. "Do you see now, Vine? Do you see how weak humans are? How unfit they are to dominate us?" Stone asked.
Stone had taken Vine back to the room they were staying in. Vine had begun to hate the room. She hadn't really felt this feeling before. She had been terrified before. Adnachiel, Darkists, Black Star, the other Camaelists like Wraith, but the emotion Vine was starting to feel was different. She had never really felt this loathing before. Vine noticed Stone and Toucan staring at her, and she looked down to see she had clouds of red, tinted with black, billowing up her scales. The colors of anger and hatred.
"Vine? Are you okay?" Stone asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "Those are not peace colors." Toucan said to Stone. "Those are the colors of anger and hatred." Stone whirled around to face Vine again. "What is it Vine? Anger towards what? Me? Camaelism?" Stone paused. "Humans?"
Vine took a silent, yet deep breath, calming her scales to match Toucan's peaceful blue calm. She looked up into Stone's eyes. He looked legitimately concerned for her. His old scales crinkled around the eyes like someone who had seen more than he would have liked. Vine put on a fake smile. "It was nothing, Stone." She said, careful to address him by the name he said he preferred. "I just realized how cruel and weak humans really are." Stone's face split into a smile. He lightly put a claw on Vine's face endearingly. He held it there for a second before letting it slip away. "Revolution." He whispered.
Toucan stared at the scene unfolding in front of her. Vine looked at Toucan and saw more red begin to appear on her scales, ever so lightly appearing before disappearing again. Three moons is Toucan jealous? Vine wondered. It doesn't matter. She told herself. You just need to keep up the act until you can get out.
Vine went back to figuring out how to escape. Should she just wait for Swordfish and Blizzard to come? No! Stop doing that you lazy Rainwing! Vine berated herself. You can't just wait for other dragons to do everything for you every time! You have to do this yourself! She went back to examining the ceiling. But out there, are just more Camaelists. They'll see my armband and kill me. Vine tugged at the metal armband, tight around her arm.
If she could somehow get the armband off of her, she could just pass as a recruit. The only trouble would be getting away without Stone chasing after her. Or Toucan, for that matter. She just had to wait for a moment she was alone, and then she could…
No, Stone has the keys to the armband. Vine picked at the lock on the armband. Come on! There's got to be some way! But Vine knew the only way she could get the armband off would be to unlock it. She had to get the key. But how? How would I do that without Stone noticing, and wouldn't he see me leave? Stone was sitting on the other end of the room, reading a book. Toucan was sitting on the floor nearby, playing with the fringe of a rug.
Suddenly, Vine's mind flickered back to a moment. One of the other worlds. The Skywing guard, about to kill Swordfish. No way out. There was no escape for him, and he would have died if Adnachiel hadn't killed the guard. No way out unless Vine acted.
What if… sometimes… peace isn't an option? What if sometimes… if you don't fight, you lose? What if… you can't apply rainforest logic to most situations beyond the forest itself? What if sometimes… you must strike first?
Vine looked back at Stone, and then at Toucan. Both were distracted. She needed to act fast, or this chance may not appear again. She quietly got up and walked over to a wall of the room covered in various items. Most looked like trophies taken from human soldiers. Old Monarchy helmets and Black Star guns. There were various dragon helmets and even what looked like the horns of a Nightwing sitting on a shelf though too.
In the middle of the wall was a life-size dragon's head made of metal, in its mouth, a sword. Vine examined the dragon. It seemed it was made entirely out of copper. Vine continued to the other shelf, which yielded even less useful results. It had small paintings and various books. Vine recognized the Holy Words, the prophet Hamza's book. There was nothing here that could help her.
Vine looked back to the copper dragon. The sword was definitely big enough. Why a dragon would even need a sword like this to begin with, Vine had no idea. She continued looking at the dragon's head. If she could pry it loose, it would work.
She grabbed the handle and tugged. The sword didn't move. She tried pulling the other way, and still, nothing. She tried opening the mouth of the head wider, nothing happened. She looked back at Stone. He was still reading his book.
Come on! What can I use? What can I do? Vine thought to herself, quietly stamping her foot on the ground. She went back to examining the sword. She noticed that the lower jaw of the dragon wasn't actually attached to the rest of the head. Vine bent her head down and looked closer at the jaw. It was attached, but by a piece of wood that was keeping it in place.
Vine took a deep breath. She put one talon on the lower jaw and moved her head in closer to the wood. She couldn't mess this up. She had to be precise.
Vine opened her mouth wide and spat the tiniest bit of venom at the wood. The wood began to dissolve, and she caught the falling lower jaw with her talon. It was a lot heavier than she thought. She managed to hold it up though and maneuvered herself to the other side of the dragon. She did the same to that piece of wood, completely dislodging the jaw. The sword began to fall, and Vine managed to catch it with her other talon, now standing on her hind legs, using her tail for balance.
She quietly placed the jaw on the ground, making only the tiniest thud. She grasped the sword with both of her front talons. She took a deep breath. Vine was scared. She had never truly hurt someone before, and it terrified her. She turned and looked at Stone. It would be hard to hurt him with his armored scales. She would have to strike at a weak spot. But hurting a weak spot can end in death! Vine thought. But she remembered the Skywing soldier. Adnachiel threatening Swordfish in the creepy version of Possibility. The Darkists about to kill her, Swordfish, and Vulture. How Commander Swamp had taken out the tanks in Sainsbury. Cobra killing Sandip in the arena. Sometimes, you had to hurt. Sometimes, peace was not an option.
Vine took another deep breath, turning her scales to blue again. She had no idea what they had been before. She quietly walked up behind Stone. He was still reading the book. She brought the sword upwards. She was going to strike at the weak spot on the tail. There was a good chance Stone was about to die.
Vine hesitated. She imagined Toucan's grief. She imagined Stone's friends, crying for their friend. But she also imagined life under his "love." She imagined becoming like Toucan, and she knew what she had to do.
"STONE! BEHIND YOU!" Toucan suddenly shrieked. Vine was so surprised, she swung the sword downward. Stone stood up and whirled around. The sword hit his back and made a small gash, but the Rockwing hardly flinched. He reached outward with one massive talon and grabbed Vine's. He threw her to the ground and then pinned her down with one of his large back claws.
"Do you want to be tortured by Wraith!?" Stone bellowed. He slapped Vine with his wing again. She screamed. "Or are you just blind to my love!?" He cried and sliced downward over Vine's eye with his claw.
Vine felt a searing pain wash over her eye. She couldn't see. She screamed again, feeling the blood from her eye begin to drip down her face. "I see now that those black scales weren't for humanity, they were for me." He dripped. "I guess you'll have to learn to love me a bit more violently."
Vine could hardly see through her one working eye, which was flowing with tears, but she could see Toucan standing behind Stone, more and more red appearing. Her face was twitching. Something seemed to be happening to her eyes. She seemed to be shaking.
"I don't want to be doing this." Stone growled. "But I will if I have to. I don't particularly enjoy killing humans, but I know that it must be done. Same with this. If you do not-." Stone was cut off. He stopped speaking.
Behind him, Toucan's scales had changed completely to red. Her eyes looked normal. She opened her mouth wide, like a snake, and spat venom right at Stone's neck.
Stone began screaming and yelling. He collapsed off Vine, who got up and stared at the horrific scene in front of her. The venom began to eat away at Stone's neck and throat. The screaming became more gargled and weak as his vocal cords were severed. His thick scales, disintegrating. Stone stared up at Toucan, a look of pure hurt and betrayal in his eyes before they stopped. The venom ate away at his neck until a large chunk was burned off, blackened and fizzing.
Vine looked up at Toucan, who stared at the dead body. Her scales beginning to fade back to blue. "Toucan…" Vine croaked. "Why did you wait until now to do that?" Toucan said nothing. She was still staring at the body.
"Come on." Vine said, tears still falling down her face along with the blood from her eye. She looked through the bag Stone had on him, part of the strap had been burned off. She found a metal ring with two keys on them. The first one she tried fit into the lock on her armband, and it fell off. It hit the ground with a CLANK!
Vine held up the keys for Toucan. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'm glad you're out of that weird trance." But Toucan didn't move. She kept staring at the body. Then she started screaming.
"I KILLED STONE! I KILLED STONE! I KILLED STONE! HE'S GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE…" She screeched at the top of her lungs. She began crying while screaming. Then, she fell to the ground, convulsing and her mouth frothing. Her scales began turning almost every color Vine knew as she bucked her head back and forth. Vine knew she had to get out before soldiers heard the chaos and screaming.
Vine turned the colors of her surroundings and began running through the door and down the hallways. She heard the screaming pick up again, and this time, the yelling of soldiers. Vine's eye hurt like nothing she had felt before, except maybe… that time… in the room… with the visitors. The memory was blurry.
The screaming and yelling continued until the screaming stopped. It didn't start again. Vine said a silent thank you to Toucan's spirit.
. . .
Swordfish sat in the barracks again, listening to a Nightwing named Nightwatcher tell a story about how his dad's friend battled an entire squadron of Black Star soldiers alone. "That's a load of camel dung." Said a Sandwing.
Swordfish looked outside the cave, wondering how he was going to save Vine. He couldn't think of anything. He and Blizzard were almost completely in the dark with this. They knew absolutely nothing.
Swordfish was snapped out of his thoughts by the sergeant coming by, Groups A and B trailing behind. With the sergeant was a graceful-looking Seawing. Her eyes scanned over the crowd of dragonets. "Camael himself has ordered all available soldiers to attack Paisland." Said the sergeant. Swordfish had found Blizzard in the crowd and they shared a look of alarm when the order was said.
"You mean, like, the Dieautish colony?" Asked Tornado. "Yes." Answered the Seawing. "Wow." Barley said under his breath. "This must be important if Commander Seagull came all the way out here just to tell us recruits."
Swordfish just stared into the sky again. Camael knew. The Camaelists were going to get the relics first. Old Monarchy isn't the only ones who know. Does Black Star know too? Swordfish was still wondering, shaking lightly, as the recruits filed out of the cave and out into the afternoon sky. The day still wasn't over yet, and they had a long flight ahead.
. . .
Cassriel had been counting down the days until that fateful day occurred. The day he had been so close, only to see it crumble in front of him. Tomorrow was the day.
He was sitting alone in his home in Hell, the residence of the Demons. It was essentially a large platform, floating in the Void, where the Demons could rest, and keep personal things. It had the tower from which the King ruled in the center. Cassriel preferred to keep his home similar to the way they had things on Earth, back when he spent a few years there.
Cassriel knew that Earth, or at least, a version like it, was where Swordfish and Vine were. But he had no way to get there. Adnachiel seemed to have vanished, so he couldn't ask her if she knew any way to get there. That is, if she even knew, she was a new demon, and most likely wouldn't know everything. He could only hope that things hadn't changed. He could only hope that Swordfish and Vine would return soon, then they would die, and he could continue with his work.
Cassriel heard a knock at his door. He opened it up to see Stygal, demon of death, standing there. Stygal was in his human form, a middle-aged man with sunglasses on top of his head, and casual clothes. He had a blue and gold can of beer in his hand. "I see you're trying to pull off the 'socks and sandals' look." Cassriel said, pointing downward to Stygal's choice of footwear.
Stygal smiled. "You're one to talk. I heard from Abyss you took on a nice 'shadow-creature' form trying to scare some dragonet." He said in a thick Australian accent. Cassriel cringed. "Damn him. Doesn't he know when to shut his mouth?"
Cassriel took on one of the scariest forms he could think of when encountering Swordfish. His goal was to try and scare him away from ever digging any deeper, but it didn't seem to have worked. Not that his classic demon form wasn't a scary enough sight, but he felt the kind of "unknown darkness" thing would have a better effect.
Stygal came in and Cassriel shut the door behind him. "So yeah, I actually heard all about that." Stygal said. "You really screwed that one up, didn't you mate?" "How was I supposed to predict all of that would happen?" Cassriel said, defending himself. "First, that Rainwing gets in somehow, along with Anthony Conwell, next, Swordfish screws up the order of the world well enough that the whole thing comes undone! Cedar stabs Rattlesnake! All of the work I had put into that world, gone!"
"Well, actually." Stygal said. "I'm here just about that. I just was speaking with the king and Nestorats." Cassriel looked up at Stygal. "What do you two have to do with this?" He asked. "Well." Stygal answered. "The King has developed 'plan B.'"
Sorry for the delay. No internet for a long while. Prepare for chapters to resume normal pacing and schedule.