Surprise chapter dump! Chapters 7-11 are now up. I'll explain why I dumped them together like this at the end of Chapter 11, but I think once you read Chapter 7, the reason may become apparent.

Chapter 7: Entering The Zone

Later that night, before I go to bed, I read.

I was as cozy as I could be given that I had started sleeping on the floor of the library. I was unable to travel to and from the sleeping caves unless everyone stopped what they were doing and helped me to go there, but no one cared that much about my sleep. And I didn't mind. I would spend my nights working frantically, walking around the library (and hitting innumerable shelves), and then whenever I felt like it, I would literally just curl up and fall asleep. It didn't matter where I was - as soon as I felt like it, I would just sleep.

One time I fell asleep by the library entrance and was woken up by a student stepping on my belly. My resulting scream woke everyone up, alerted everyone to my unusual sleeping habits, and almost got the student kicked out for assault. I had to explain to everyone that I had not been assaulted, no matter how assault-y my scream had sounded.

So I had a lot of fond memories of sleeping in the library.

Which meant that even though I could have flown back to my cave with my friends to sleep, I decided to just stay in the library. It also meant that I had easy access to whatever scroll I wanted.

Finally, I could read again.

I sat down, chose a scroll that I especially liked called Duplications, sat down in my chair, and began to read. My whole body tingled with ecstasy seeing those all too familiar words and that all too familiar opening sentence: "It was night, and the vast black sky hung over the world like a thick black blanket." It was a very average sentence, yet each word stirred a new feeling inside me, feelings of joy, pleasure, but most of all feelings of content, feelings of I could read this forever.

As I turned the pages, I quickly fell into that state that readers so often fall into when they find a scroll they are hopelessly absorbed in. I call it "The Zone".

In The Zone, the only thing that matters is reaching the ending. The sense of closing, the answers to all the questions you have, that's what you wish for in The Zone.

In The Zone all you can do is read. The only way you can leave The Zone is when you get tired or you finish the book. There are no other ways. Boredom is normally considered a way to leave, but Boredom is prohibited in The Zone.

When my eyelids finally could not fight back against the pressure willing them to close, I put the scroll down and went right to sleep.

I woke up the next morning rejuvenated by my reading and ready for whatever was to be thrown my way.

So when Sunny came in asking me if I was ready to visit Stonemover, she was shocked by how enthusiastic I was about the day's prospects. My enthusiasm should have made sense; this was my first full day with my vision, after all. But clearly, to Sunny, it made none.

"You look weirdly happy," she told me, with confusion in her voice.

"Well, yeah!" I told her. "I'm about to see your dad for the first time! Why wouldn't I be happy?"

"You don't usually get excited about things like this, though," she pointed out.

"But this is different!" I said. "This is your dad, not some normal dragon we're seeing. And you've told me nothing but good things about him."

"Starflight, why are you being so positive today?" Sunny asked me with a smile on her face.

"I don't know - maybe it's because I can read again, maybe I got a good night's sleep, maybe I'm just happy to see you again. I don't know. Probably a combination of the three."

"Did you sleep in here again?" she asked me. "Because you weren't at the caves when I fell asleep."

"Yeah," I confessed. "I'll come tomorrow. I promise."

"Promise?" she clarified.

"Promise," I confirmed.

"OK! So, are you ready?" she asked me.

"Oh yeah I'm ready!" I exclaimed.

And so we went off to visit Stonemover's cave.

We picked up Turtle along the way, which Turtle was seemingly not happy about, as it meant he had to be separated from his friends. Sunny clearly wasn't happy either. "What is he doing here?" she asked me when I told her that he was coming along. I didn't like it either, but he had the necklace. I needed the necklace, so I needed Turtle.

Seeing the sky again felt amazing. I forgot how blue it was. I forgot how green all the leaves are.

I forgot how beautiful Sunny is.

Stonemover's cave was dark and damp. It looked like a pathetic place to be stuck in. Stonemover himself looked even more pathetic than his home, though. He looked old and wrinkled. His face was buried in the ground, and his eyes were closed in sleep.

"Dad," Sunny greeted him.

Stonemover remained asleep.

"Dad?" Turtle asked Sunny. He had an expression on his face that was supposed to look confused, but all it did was make him look stupid.

I filled Turtle in with everything he needed to know. "Stonemover is Sunny's dad. He had a secret relationship with Queen Thorn. Do not tell anyone or you will start a war."

"Oh," said Turtle. "Will it actually-"

"It most definitely will start a war," I tell him. "The Nightwings are a petty tribe. They will burn down your house if you so much as steal a piece of their fruit. Tell them this and you will be the harbinger of the apocalypse."

"I see," Turtle said.

"DAD!" Sunny yelled.

Stonemover opened his eyes. "Wha - oh, Sunny! Nice to see you," he replied. Then he saw me. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who's this you brought with you?"

"Dad, I'd like you to meet Starflight," she said.

"Nice to meet you, sir," I said, adding the "sir" just in case. I'd met dragons during the war who would hate not being called "sir" or "ma'am". Their tantrums made Tsunami's seem small. Plus, I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with this guy.

"Starflight. So we meet. Sunny has told me all about you," he said.

"You have?" I asked Sunny.

"Maybe a little," she said sheepishly.

"A little's understating it," said Stonemover. "You talk about him half the time you're with me."

"Half? Come on, Dad," Sunny said.

"OK, half's exaggerating, but I have heard a lot about you," Stonemover told me. "Can't say the same of that Seawing, though. Is that this Tsunami you told me about?"

"Uh, no," said Turtle. "I'm actually her brother, Turtle."

"Oh!" said Stonemover. "Apologies."

"No, it's OK," said Turtle. "We get confused a lot." They didn't.

"I bet you do. So, why are you all here today?" Stonemover asked us. "You must have a purpose; no one just visits me for the fun of it. Unless you are? That would be a first."

"No, you're right. We have a reason," Turtle said, opening the bag that he'd carried with him and taking out the bottle of "medicine".

"So we - me and Starflight - invented this medicine," said Turtle, "and it basically heals everything, every injury you have, with one drop."
"Every injury?" said Stonemover. "That's not possible."

"That's what you think," said Turtle. "But trust me, it works. It really does."

"And we know since you're an animus, your ailments are peculiar, but we think it's worth it to give you a drop and see if it works," I added.

"You - you're serious?" said Stonemover.

"They're being serious," said Sunny.

"Huh. You're serious. Well, it doesn't matter. I'm not taking it," Stonemover said.

"Great - wait, huh?" asked Turtle.

Stonemover sighed. "Sunny, did you ever tell these two who locked me in this cave for the rest of my life?"

"No," said Sunny cautiously.

"Do you know who it was?" Stonemover asked.

"Well, uh…it was you," Sunny responded.

My eyes widened. I knew that Stonemover was cursed to stay in here forever, but I didn't know that he'd been the one to curse himself.

"I know it seems stupid, but the animus magic was driving me crazy. I did not want to hurt anyone else. I don't want to be a maniac. It's better for everyone if I stay here," said Stonemover.

"That's not true!" I told Stonemover. "In our brief time together, you have treated me with respect. You seem nice and friendly, and you definitely don't seem crazy. Everyone would be happy to have you healed."

"No, they wouldn't. They'd be scared," said Stonemover.

"Stop being pessimistic!" I told him. "From a fellow pessimist, I can tell you that you're being way too pessimistic. This medicine could give you a second chance at life."

"I don't want a second chance!" Stonemover told me. "I just want to stay here where I'm not dangerous."

"You know," I said to Stonemover, "I didn't want the medicine either. I wanted to save my drop for you."

"You took it? So that's why you can see now. Yes, Sunny told me you were blind - it must be gratifying, seeing again."

"It is," I told him, "and I want you to feel that same gratification."

"I don't need that," he said. "I just don't want to hurt anyone."
"You're not going to hurt anyone," I said.

"Yes I am!" he told me. "I've already hurt too many dragons. I've hurt my parents, my brother, my tribe, Thorn, I'm just sick of hurting everyone! And I know that if I go out there again, I'm probably going to hurt someone else, and even if I don't, I'll just make the damage I've already done more severe. Just leave me alone! If you can't understand, then just leave!"

"Brother?" asked Sunny quizzicaly. "You never told me you have a brother."

"I had one," said Stonemover, "but I don't even know if he's alive anymore. We haven't spoken in years."

"Well," said Turtle, speaking for the first time in what felt like years, "why don't you tell me his name and we'll see if we know him."

Stonemover looked intently at Turtle before saying, "His name was Mastermind. But he's probably dead now. Everyone found him annoying, and even as his brother, I admit he was. My parents-"

I didn't hear the rest of what he said, because I fainted.