Nightreader decided that the first thing she'd try and find would be the scroll. That would be the easiest thing, and it was much less risky than sneaking into the princess's chambers to use the Obsidian Mirror. It was almost certainly in the library, so that was where Nightreader was headed.
She touched down on a wide rock ledge, a river of lava stretching beneath it down the side of the volcano. If she traveled alongside it, it would take her to the NightWing fortress and the many caves leading towards the interior of the volcano. That's where both the library and Greatness's room would be.
As she walked along the ledge towards the entrance of the fortress, a large gateway of black stone, she saw two NightWings guarding it. Twilight and Skullboiler. Neither of which she was particularly worried about, as she took precedence over both of them.
"You're back?" Twilight asked as she saw Nightreader approach. "We took bets on happened to you." She bared her teeth in a frown. "I thought you'd been caught by an IceWing. Now I owe Skullboiler my next three meals." She glared over at Skullboiler, who hunched her head inside her wings.
"I knew you were going to come back," Skullboiler quietly said, trying to tone down the slight pride in her voice. "Will you take me with you the next time you leave the island?"
Skullboiler was one of the older dragonets on the island, around six, but she wasn't allowed to leave the island until she was ten. Nightreader felt a pang of pity. She remembered that time, waiting until she turned ten to get off the island, but she'd been given an exception, first leaving when she was eight. When Morrowseer had taken Stonemover to make the tunnel at the rainforest, he'd pleaded to have Nightreader come with him. Nightreader had been anxious for a while of what Morrowseer would do to her because of Stonemover's begging, but eventually, Morrowseer gave in.
For all their bravado, Nightreader knew that Morrowseer and Greatness were terrified of what Stonemover could do, and especially when she was younger, Nightreader had done what she could to keep them on edge. As long as they knew she could tell Stonemover what to do, she had power over them. When she broke a rule, her punishments were lighter than the other dragonets around her for fear of invoking her brother's 'wrath,' and even now, whatever Morrowseer had in mind for her punishment wouldn't be too severe. Still, she always had to be wary; if Greatness, Morrowseer, or Battlewinner became too frightened of Stonemover, or thought he was becoming disloyal or losing his soul, they'd get rid of him. No one wanted another Sunscorcher or, moons forbid, another Darkstalker.
Nightreader hated using her brother's position to increase her own say, but it had worked to an extent. She'd served as his advocate, suggesting, and occasionally even arguing with Morrowseer over how Stonemover should use his magic, usually trying to prevent any use of it. Morrowseer knew just as well as she did the price of using animus magic, but he had other plans about how to use it, hence the tunnels. Stonemover was just a tool to him, one with limited uses before it had to be thrown away. Still, the tunnels had been one of the few enchantments Nightreader had protested little against. The horrid island was slowly killing her brother, and making the tunnels gave Stonemover a chance to escape it. And apparently, meet other dragons and fall in love.
"Sorry," Nightreader apologized to Skullboiler. "You know that's not my decision to make."
Skullboiler looked down, crestfallen, while Twilight gave her a snarl. "Wait your own turn like the rest of us," she hissed, turning to Nightreader with anger and envy in her eyes.
Nightreader didn't respond, and continued her smile. "Unfortunately, I can't stay for long," she continued. "Morrowseer wants me to catch up with him." This was a flat-out lie, but she doubted anyone would see through it. Morrowseer would be gone for at least a few days, and by the time he returned, she would be long gone with Torrent.
Twilight muttered something under her breath, then gave Nightreader a glare. "Go on," she ordered.
"You might want to avoid your father," Skullboiler notified her as Nightreader walked into the fortress. "He's in his mood again."
Nightreader nodded with a sigh. Her father was the only parent she and Stonemover had growing up, since their mother had plunged herself into lava when they were barely two years old. He was ill-tempered, prone to fits of rage, and spent his days wandering around the fortress. And just like Nightreader, he knew very well that he had a little extra protection from retribution due to his son's powers. Fortunately, parenting in the Night Kingdom was loose at best, and Morrowseer had been very insistent on raising the kingdom's animus himself, with little interference from his father. This left Nightreader in an in-between state when it came to growing up, thanks to Stonemover's insistence, much to Morrowseer's annoyance, that Nightreader be around him almost constantly.
Nightreader entered the fortress with a glower of determination on her snout, walking at a steady pace towards the library. She passed a number of NightWings on her way, but few decided to even greet her. It wasn't far before the paved dark stone of the fortress turned into natural caverns, and the temperature of the air started to rise. A fork in the caves loomed ahead of her, and she took the left passage. The right led further into the volcano, whereas this way went to the library.
The library floor was covered from wall to wall with wooden shelves of scrolls, messily organized, but it wasn't nearly enough to hold the wealth of knowledge in the library. Piles of loose scrolls covered the floor, and Nightreader had to tread carefully to avoid stubbing a claw on one, or even worse, ripping a scroll open. A thin NightWing stood across the room, sorting a pile of scrolls and placing them on a shelf. Mastermind, the Night Kingdom's researcher and scientist.
Nightreader stepped across the floor towards Mastermind, who didn't seem to notice her approach. "Excuse me," she stated.
Mastermind slowly turned his head towards Nightreader with a sigh. He looked down at her with an undeserved expression of pity. "Nightreader," he said with a frown. "I was busy sorting these scrolls. I was looking to see if there are any records of this interesting material I've been experimenting with recently. Quickstrike's son, whatever his name was, recently had to . . . complete an order involving a MudWing scientist, and kindly sent me back a sampling of her research. She appears to have created this highly volatile powder of some sort, very dangerous and not for your talons, and I've been attempting to discover its components to recreate it. Greatness is quite hopeful."
"Ah, interesting," Nightreader muttered impatiently. "Do you know where that scroll about the NightWings' journey from the old kingdom was? The really old one?"
Mastermind thought for a moment, then pointed a claw at a shelf of scrolls. "It should be over there, with the other ancient history materials. Did you tell Stonemover about my offer?"
"I did," Nightreader replied. She hadn't. "He doesn't accept, sorry. It's nothing personal, he just wants to use his magic as little as possible." Mastermind's 'offer' was experimenting on animus magic and its users, and based on the state of some of the other dragons who'd come out of Mastermind's 'experiments,' Nightreader didn't want her brother joining in.
"Oh, that's a disappointment," Mastermind snorted. "Think of how much we could learn about animus magic! It's quite an anomaly, you see, I can think of few fundamental principles to explain it. Imagine how useful it would be if we could control it! Do you know what lodestones are? I made an interesting discovery not too long ago by using some of that and some old chainmail mesh. I call it 'lodestone-lightning.' Unfortunately, I've been having quite some trouble recreating it, and your brother would be quite valuable."
Nightreader resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "He's a bit busy working on the tunnels at the moment. Speaking of that, have you seen Princess Greatness recently?" If she wanted to sneak into Princess Greatness's room, it would be good to know she wasn't in there.
"She's in a meeting with a dragonet at the moment, punishing her for sneaking into my laboratory without permission. Very just. But make to tell me if Stonemover changes his mind, and wishes to devote himself to the pursuit of knowledge!"
Nightreader nodded and thanked Mastermind for his help, then stepped across the floor of scrolls towards the shelf Mastermind had pointed out, keeping her tail lifted so not to topple over any of the small piles accidentally. When she reached the shelf, she grabbed a few scrolls and put them under her snout to read. Night Kingdom Currencies, Volume 1: Pre-Darkstalker. Post-Scorching Wars, Rebellions, and Democratic Microstates. Not what she was looking for, but a good sign.
It took her awhile before she found the one she was looking for, even just skimming the titles of the scrolls. The Diary of Listener. That was the one. The original scroll had decayed, but a few centuries ago, someone had reconstructed what was left of it. Nightreader rolled it open a little bit, and glanced down it. The original author had done a good job of documentation, day by day she wrote about what direction the NightWings had flown, for how long, and what they had seen on the way. It might be imperfect, but Nightreader thought she could construct a map from the scroll of the surrounding islands, and if she had a glimpse at wherever Stonemover and Griffin were, she could find the island they were looking for. She quickly tucked it in her satchel and left the library, paying a final glance to Mastermind. Even with the purpose she was using it for, she felt slightly bad about stealing the scroll from the library, knowing it wouldn't ever be returned here. Oh well. Hopefully no one would ever need it to find the old Night Kingdom or something like that.
Princess Greatness's room was off-limits, but the Night Kingdom was small enough she didn't bother to have any guards posted on it. Other than the Obsidian Mirror, it wasn't like there was much of value in there. Sure, a cunning dragon could steal some of her jewelry and hide it, but if they attempted to pawn it off, news would travel fast. There were only a couple hundred dragons, all stuck on a small island for their entire lives, and everyone knew everyone.
Nightreader traveled within the twisting tunnels quickly, keeping her ears and nose open to make sure she didn't run into any dragons unexpectedly. She felt her satchel move, and glanced down in worry before remembering what Torrent had said about his dagger — it would try and return to him. That shouldn't be a problem. Nightreader headed down a tunnel with a small trickle of lava running through part of it, heating up the tunnel intensely and making her wrinkle her snout at the sulfurous smell. She'd be glad to be out of here soon.
As Nightreader entered Greatness's room, she was unimpressed. It was a bit of a mess — a few scrolls scattered about, along with various gems and jewelry. The sulfurous smell lingered in here too, Nightreader was a bit surprised that the princess hadn't attempted to find a new cave. Maybe this one had a convenient location. A small wooden box caught Nightreader's eye. Greatness had used the Obsidian Mirror publicly a few times, and that was where she normally put it. The object gave off eerie vibes, so Nightreader understood why Greatness would want to have it somewhere she couldn't see it.
Nightreader took her satchel off and put it to the side of the room, where Torrent's dagger was too far to affect the mirror. She then stepped towards the box. As her talons wrapped around the wood, she felt a chill jolt through them, running along her scales. Almost uncontrollably, she started to shake. Even in the balmy room, she felt cold. Nothing Stonemover created had ever felt like this. Sure, the tunnels gave her a sense of artificiality and 'wrongness', but this was different.
As the NightWing lifted the lid to the box, she suddenly felt a talon dragging along her backside, and whipped around. There was no one there. She sighed, and glanced back at the box. Inside it was the Obsidian Mirror. For the power it had, the object wasn't particularly decorated, appearing just as a plain oval mirror of black stone. Nightreader glanced into it. Her own reflection appeared, staring straight back at her.
Nightreader shook her head. She was just imagining things. "Stonemover," she muttered, and breathed a puff of smoke onto it. The figure of her brother appeared, slightly distorted, in the mirror. Nightreader let out a sigh of relief. He didn't look particularly happy, but at least he was alive and safe. Nightreader frowned as he saw a metal collar around his neck. Maybe he was imprisoned somewhere? Near the border of the mirror, Nightreader could see another dragon she hadn't seen before, with brown and black splotches all over his body. She looked beyond Stonemover to see the wall of some sort of cave.
Nightreader let out a groan. He was underground. That wasn't helpful; there was no way she could see find out what island he was on from that. The mirror was useless. Nightreader set the mirror down on the stone floor and breathed a blast of flame on it, getting rid of the image. Maybe there was someone else who'd be helpful to see.
"Griffin," she whispered, then gently opened her mouth to breath more smoke up. The mirror's surface shifted, until Nightreader could see Griffin in its reflection. She opened her eyes wide, and winced. Torrent would not be happy. Griffin was in a sorry state, blood mixed with feathers all over him. His eyes were bruised, and a trickle of dried blood on his beak. One of his wings looked completely out of place. A large stab wound was visible on his leg, the feathers and skin bulged around it. That didn't look good.
Nightreader looked beyond Griffin to see smoke and lava. At least he was outside. Fracture had mentioned lava, or something like that. It wasn't anywhere on the NightWing island that Nightreader had ever seen. Beyond him, she saw the peak, although she wasn't quite sure 'peak' was a fitting word. The island was small, though the obscuring smoke made it seem much larger than it really was. To the side of the peak, she thought she saw another island in the distance, this one larger. "Can you zoom in or something?" she muttered to the mirror, knowing it would have no answer.
Nightreader held the mirror up to her eye, and squinted, trying to get a better view of the island in the distance. Two peaks. One higher than the other. Wait, no — two islands, not two peaks. Two volcanic islands, three if the rock Griffin was on was included. All in a row. That seemed hopeful.
Nightreader glanced over to the satchel. It looked like it had moved a few feet since she'd set it down, like it was trying to escape. The dagger, again. Opening the satchel, she pulled out the scroll, and rolled it open, one end of it hitting the other side of Greatness's room. She quickly read from the top, looking for any keywords that might match with the island she'd seen in the mirror. There were a number of volcanic islands that Listener had seen, but only once in the scroll did she mention three near each other, all of which were completely inhospitable. That sounded like what Nightreader was looking for. After a quick apology to it, the NightWing made a minuscule tear in the scroll to mark the day in which Listener had come across the island.
She rolled the scroll up, and exchanged it out for the dagger, then turned to the Obsidian Mirror. Nightreader doubted anyone would be too sad to see it gone, and wasn't even sure that Greatness would realize that it didn't work anymore. She breathed a puff of flame on it to clear the image, then brought Torrent's dagger close it, her claw on the emerald.
The Obsidian Mirror started to vibrate, as if it was in pain from the dagger being so close. Nightreader grabbed at it with her talons, though the small disk shuddered, as if trying to escape. She snorted. "Die, you stupid thing," she hissed, then brought the blade of the dagger to the mirror's surface.
The obsidian seemed to warp from the blade's touch, ripples traveling through it as it started to become liquid beneath her talons. "Three moons!" Nightreader yelled, a bit more loudly than she'd intended as she dropped it, although it seemed more like it dripped through her claws. Was this what was supposed to happen? On the stone floor, the Obsidian Mirror seemed solid once more. With a growl, Nightreader stabbed the blade into it again.
Following a ripple across its surface, a small bubble popped on the liquified stone where the dagger touched its surface. Black mist started to spread from the surface, creating a quiet hissing noise. Nightreader narrowed her eyes, her talons shaking. Whatever this mirror was, she wouldn't let it get the best of her. She held the blade to the mirror's surface, as the ripples across the stone started to grow. The hissing grew louder, as if the mirror was screaming out in pain.
Suddenly, a loud rumble resounded beneath her, shaking Greatness's room. A necklace fell from one of Greatness's shelves, and the ground vibrated. Everyone in the Night Kingdom would have felt that. Nightreader's breath quickened. The volcano? Nightreader brought the dagger away from the mirror suddenly, causing it to become fully solid once more. She looked around her, then back at the mirror. Had it caused that? She turned her snout to the dagger, and shuddered. The emerald her claw was against had visibly cracked down the middle.
Nightreader wasn't sure what had happened, but she didn't want to risk harming Torrent's dagger any more, or far worse, causing the volcano to erupt. She carefully set the Obsidian Mirror back in its box, then placed the dagger in her satchel with the scroll. She had gotten what she'd really come here for.
As Nightreader left Greatness's room, and walked down the halls towards the stronghold's exit, the sound of clawsteps reached her ears. She froze, looking around for a place to hide, but unless she wanted to swim in a lava pool, there was nowhere. Suddenly, Princess Greatness walked down from the other end of the tunnel, not quite running, but quickly trotting towards her room.
The princess glanced at Nightreader as she passed, as Nightreader returned a smile of innocence. "Nightreader," Greatness said, "you're back."
Nightreader nodded quietly, trying to think of what to say in response.
"You need to get out of here," the princess demanded, "did you hear the rumble? The volcano might erupt any moment."
Nightreader presented an exaggerated gulp to the princess. "Mastermind said we had years before it erupted," she protested.
"He's been wrong before," Greatness muttered. "Maybe it's still too early, and it was just a rumble. But you need to get out of here. These tunnels could collapse at any moment." She glanced back towards the tunnel Nightreader had come from anxiously. "There's something I just need to get."
Nightreader nodded and smiled as Princess Greatness ran on. That was close. It was fortunate that Greatness was in too much of a rush to wonder why Nightreader was coming from her room, but it might not be like that the next time Nightreader saw her. She needed to get out.
Nightreader hurried towards the exit of the tunnel. No more rumbles had sounded since the first one. That was good. The chaos caused by the volcano erupting might be slightly beneficial to helping her get out, but it would be disastrous for her kingdom. They still had another seven years before Morrowseer's plan would be done, and they weren't at all prepared for an eruption.
As she reached the exit of the stronghold, she noticed that Skullboiler and Twilight were still there. Twilight had her wing wrapped around Skullboiler, pulling the NightWing in close. Both were tense, and Skullboiler's scales were shaking. Twilight kept glancing back to the volcano, thinking it could erupt any minute. Skullboiler whimpered slightly, and Twilight glanced down to her. "It'll be alright," Twilight comforted her, though her own voice was shaky.
A rare display of affection in the Night Kingdom. As Nightreader looked back towards the stronghold, she saw other dragons behaving similarly, huddling together in fear of the volcano looming over them.
"You're leaving?" Twilight asked Nightreader with a frown.
Nightreader glanced back to her. "Er, yeah, there's something with the tunnel I need to check up on quickly."
Twilight flicked her tongue out and bared her teeth. "So you're just abandoning us? Going to escape the Night Kingdom while we're all burned alive?"
"No," Nightreader lied, "just need to check on something. I don't think the volcano is ready to erupt yet."
Twilight glared at Nightreader, but didn't move to stop her as Nightreader walked past her. "Coward," she hissed, holding Skullboiler closer to her.
Nightreader didn't respond as she exited the stronghold. Twilight was right. Nightreader was a coward, and was abandoning the Night Kingdom. She winced. She had to keep her goal in mind. Saving her brother. That was all that mattered right now.
As she reached the ledge she had landed on, Nightreader spread her wings wide, and lifted off into the air. As she flew towards the bay, the air felt clearer already. She sighed as she glanced back towards the island, the lava casting an orange glow around the volcano. It wasn't as if there was much she could do to save the NightWings, and her brother was already paying the price of his soul for his help. She felt a small pang of nostalgia as she flew away, but it quickly faded.
Torrent sat beneath the bay of the NightWing island as a rumble shook through the water. The water irritated his scales, small particles of ash getting between his gills, causing them to sting irritatingly. He flicked his tongue impatiently. Hopefully Nightreader would be back soon. He didn't think she'd betray him — he supposed she could turn him into the NightWings, although it wasn't like they could hurt him down here. Nightreader also didn't seem like that type of dragon, one who broke the trust of her friends. Then again, Torrent wasn't sure how well he knew her. He'd thought he'd known Crystal, but she'd left.
Just thinking of her hurt. He'd loved her, and she'd loved him. Sure, it wasn't perfect, and maybe they'd made some poor decisions, but he'd been happy with her, hadn't he? Well, not really. They'd been worried and frightened, rightfully so, of the powers they were dealing with. Torrent had still been grieving over Orca.
But for a while, things had been alright. The winter in the Sky Kingdom, after Crystal had woken from her coma. Torrent and Crystal had almost been able to set aside their anxieties, knowing there was nothing they could do but wait. That was back when Schist and Griffin were with them too. And Agate Mountain, too, when Crystal and Torrent had only had each other. After they'd given up on trying to find Darkstalker, and were just able to be with each other, nothing else to do. For a while, Torrent had wondered if Griffin would ever return, and if the two of them could just live on Agate Mountain forever. It would have been a nice life. Away from the war, from the queens, from magic. Just them, and their dragonet, no other dragons for miles around.
Maybe that was the key to happiness. Giving up. The two of them had wanted to protect Pyrrhia from animus magic, but that wasn't possible. Only after they'd finally decided that Darkstalker was off-reach were they able to be together. Sure, everyone was in constant danger from animus magic, but if Torrent could just ignore that, maybe he'd be happy, like he'd been then. Maybe things would go wrong, or maybe they wouldn't. It would be better for everyone if he just didn't care.
Still, good things never seemed to last. Crystal had left, for whatever reasons she had. Why hadn't she told him? Was it Griffin? Torrent? Something else altogether? Torrent bristled a little as the ash stung his gills. He raised a paw up and rubbed at one, feeling the indentations of the burn scar Magma had given him. His damaged gills made things difficult when swimming, but not impossible. As long as he wasn't too active, or the current wasn't too strong, it was alright, and he wouldn't run out of breath while underwater.
Suddenly, it clicked together for Torrent. Magma. That's where he'd heard the name Erosion before, in her diaries. Erosion was the SandWing animus that had taken Magma as a dragonet, had given her animus powers, and if Torrent had remembered right, Erosion had killed Magma's lover, Copperhead. Torrent had never come across Erosion in his travels, and had just suspected she'd died somehow. He'd been horribly wrong — she was the animus who'd made the green diamonds, and she had Griffin and Stonemover now. And she knew how to give others magic. That was dangerous. The last thing that Pyrrhia needed was more animuses.
Torrent suddenly glanced up. A dark shadow was overhead, above the water. Nightreader had finally returned. Torrent flashed his scales, telling Nightreader 'I'm here' in Aquatic. Nightreader seemed to notice, and flew off, away from the island. Torrent followed her for a distance before surfacing.
As the SeaWing's snout burst through the water surface, he breathed a sigh of relief. Nightreader was above him. "Nightreader!" he called, as she descended closer to the surface. Diving slightly down again to gain speed, Torrent emerged from the water with the spread of his wings, taking off into the sky above. Nightreader covered the satchel she held, trying to protect it from the spray.
"Did things go well?" he asked, concerned.
Nightreader grimaced a little and thought for a moment. "Sort of. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I found the scroll and the mirror, and think I know where Griffin and Stonemover are."
Torrent nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. She'd been successful. "What's the bad news?"
"First, Griffin," Nightreader responded. "He's injured. Badly. Really badly. His wing is broken, and I think he has a SandWing barb wound. But he's alive. Stonemover is fine."
Torrent bristled with fury. Erosion would pay for that.
"Second," Nightreader continued, "the Obsidian Mirror. I don't know if your dagger worked."
Torrent took a breath to calm himself. "It probably did," he responded, "disenchanting objects doesn't really look like much."
Nightreader shook her head. "That's the problem. Something happened." She pulled out the dagger from her satchel and passed it off to Torrent. He narrowed his gaze as he examined it. The emerald within it was cracked slightly. That was new.
"I'm sorry," Nightreader apologized. "When I tapped it to the Obsidian Mirror, that happened. Oh, and the mirror started bubbling, and the volcano shook."
"The volcano shook?" Torrent asked, surprised. That definitely wasn't supposed to happen. He didn't think that was possible with just the dagger. "Maybe the mirror had some type of protection enchantment on it," he hypothesized. "But that's alright. I think the dagger will still work." The crack didn't look bad, and as Torrent pressed a talon to the amethyst, it gave off the normal ambient warmth that it generated from being near the emerald and the rest of the dagger.
Nightreader nodded. "But I think I know the way we need to go. We'll have to hop between a few islands, and it might not be the straightest route, but we should make it."
"I hope so," Torrent replied. If Griffin had been stung with a SandWing barb, Torrent wasn't quite sure how much longer he had left. "We need to hurry."
Nightreader pointed a talon towards the northeast. "That way," she responded. She glanced back once more towards the NightWing island, now a speck of dark clouds in the distance. She would be glad to leave it behind.