Part 1: The story begins with Princess Orca just before her Talons of Power ceremony, where she manages to hide being an animus by enchanting her coconut so that no other dragons could see it move even when she commands it to. We're introduced to the SeaWing royal family, consisting of Orca's older identical twin brothers, Rift and Angler, along with two new siblings, Torrent and River. Orca bonds with Torrent over scrolls, and she gives him a fantasy scroll on a gryphon in the Lost Continent he falls in love with. He's bullied by his sister River, and Orca uses her magic to help him get a little revenge, and later reveals to Torrent that she's an animus and creates a gift for him, a stone gryphon statue that she brings to life, which Torrent names Griffin. Griffin has to be hidden from the rest of the royal family, and when Queen Coral goes to the Summer Palace for war talks with Princess Blister and Queen Moorhen, Griffin is brought along secretly. River discovers Griffin, while Rift leaves to join Queen Blister's army, Orca giving him a dolphin necklace enchanted to protect him from harm before he leaves. Torrent begins to get concerned about Orca's scroll, and she creates a map to find other animuses so she can ask them for advice. Torrent, Orca, and Griffin find an ancient NightWing animus, Sunscorcher, at the edge of the Sea Kingdom who thinks Orca is one of her ancestors, and speaks about voices in her head before attacking the three. Orca uses her magic to kill Sunscorcher before escaping, while River has been investigating Orca, even though Queen Coral refuses to believe she saw Griffin. There's another meeting at the Summer Palace, and it is learned that Rift was killed in battle, enraging Queen Coral, but she decides that he's replaceable and refuses to leave Blister's alliance. Orca and Torrent meet with a MudWing chemist named Mallard, who lets them read some scrolls on animus magic in return for reading SeaWing chemistry scrolls. Back at the Deep Palace, River finds and captures Griffin, trying to bargain with Orca to make her an animus herself. A fight between Torrent and River breaks out, ending up with River winning and holding Torrent hostage. Orca uses her magic to decapitate River, and uses it to erase River from the memory of everyone but Torrent, Griffin, and herself, trying to hide her crime. Orca realizes that she's starting to hear the voices Sunscorcher mentioned, and that she's lost her soul. She enchants a dagger for Torrent that turns can detect animus magic, dispel enchantments, returns to him, and will turn animus dragons to stone, and asks him to kill her and every other animus on Pyrrhia so that the cycle of animus tragedies stops repeating itself. He refuses, taking the map showing the locations of animuses with a few other scrolls, and flies off towards the Mud Kingdom, Griffin following him but the two parting ways after a fight, Griffin tired of being treated like a pet. Orca challenges Queen Coral and enchants a statue to kill the princess' eggs currently in the hatchery so she won't have any possible challengers after she wins. She enchants something so no other dragon can harm her, and fights Coral, but loses after accidentally impaling herself on Coral's narwhal tusk, killing herself.

Part 2: In the Ice Kingdom, a young IceWing named Crystal hides from Queen Glacier's guards in her sister Clarity's floor, having stolen an object called the Darkstone from Queen Glacier and the two sisters' father, Boreal. Clarity, her and her mate founding members of the Talons of Peace, helps Crystal escape the Ice Kingdom and sends her to a Talons base in the Sky Kingdom. Torrent goes to stay with Queen Moorhen in her palace, and not yet having realized that Orca is dead, tries to figure out a way to reverse her losing her soul. Mallard tells him about how a hundreds of years ago, the MudWings had an animus queen named Queen Fen who almost conquered Pyrrhia with magic, before she was killed by her brother Prince Calamity, and how because of Queen Fen they now kill every animus and their sibs after they hatch. Mallard tells Torrent that Orca was killed in a challenge when the news arrives, matching what it showed on the map, and that Gill is seeking to reward anyone who returns Torrent to the Sea Kingdom. Mallard helps Torrent escape the palace unseen, and Torrent travels into the swamps, where MudWings have been disappearing and the map shows the location of an animus. Crystal arrives in the twin cities that will become Possibility, and meets Avalanche, another founding Talons member, who gives her a route further east. Torrent meets back up with Griffin, who had been travelling around with an IceWing named Fracture that told Griffin where Torrent would be. They make up and enter a city surrounded by an enchanted dome that prevents anyone from leaving, and meet a MudWing named Glen. She explains that the city was made by an animus, Adobe, to hide pacifist MudWings from the war, but that Adobe became power-crazed and stopped anyone from leaving, and killed Glen's bigwings and has her sib, Schist, locked away. She hides the two with a few rebels against Adobe, and after learning about Torrent's dagger, they go to attack Adobe. Torrent turns Adobe to stone, but disenchants his tower, causing it to collapse. Griffin goes into the dungeons and rescues Schist from the collapse, who joins Torrent and Griffin, leaving Glen behind to take care of the now exposed city. Torrent, having realized the harm that a rouge animus can do, decides to go north to the next animus in the Sky Kingdom, wondering if dragons there are suffering the same fate as the dragons under Adobe. Crystal finds the Talons of Peace base, only to discover that it was massacred by Queen Scarlet's forces. She finds Nautilus' corpse, and meets another founder of the Talons of Peace, a quiet NightWing named Trustbreaker who carries around a cat named Sapphire. Crystal goes back towards the twin cities. Torrent, Griffin, and Schist end up encountering Crystal on their journey, and after Torrent capture's her, thinking she's an enemy, she and Griffin realize they both know Fracture, Clarity's mate, and she decides to join them, hoping that Torrent's dagger might help her destroy the Darkstone. They go further north and find the animus, a SkyWing with firescales named Magma who lives in a cave with a gryphon statue at the front. Magma thinks that the four were sent by an animus named Erosion, who gave Magma animus powers, to kill her, and immediately attacks. Torrent tries to attack but realizes that her firescales aren't an enchantment, and is scarred on his snout and his gills on one side. Magma tries to kill Torrent, but Schist stops her, half his body melting in the process. Crystal uses her frostbreath to hide Griffin, who uses Torrent's dagger to turn Magma to stone. As Schist lays dying, Crystal explains that the Darkstone was created in order to give dragons artificial animus magic, and that she's worn it long enough she might have powers. Torrent tries to make her not use it, but Griffin tells her she should to save Schist, and she enchants a diamond to heal dragons before falling into a coma, while Torrent and Griffin use it to try and save him.

Part 3: Trustbreaker meets with Avalanche in the twin cities, a bunch of cats following him around, and gives her the news that Nautilus was killed. Avalanche asks if Fracture predicted it, and Trustbreaker says that he didn't, and tells Avalanche that she'll be taking Nautilus' place and meeting with Morrowseer to discuss the Dragonet Prophecy. Schist survived with the help of the diamond, but now has horrible burn scars on the half of his body that touched Magma. While Torrent stays with the unconscious Crystal and learns that Magma was raised by an animus named Erosion, who Magma had escaped from. Schist and Griffin go to find food and are captured by SkyWings and taken a nearby village. They explain what happened to the village elder and that they killed Magma, who is grateful. Griffin asks about the gryphon statue, and the elder says that the northern Sky Kingdom has legends about a gryphon, their god of reincarnation who appears at the end of the world to start it anew. The elder suggests they can help out in exchange for food for Crystal, and they take her up on the opportunity. Crystal talks in her dreams to a MudWing ghost named Calamity, who explains that she's dying from the Darkstone, and that she won't become a powerful enough animus in time to heal herself with her own magic. Torrent reads a little of Magma's journal and learns that she was taught by Erosion that animus magic can figure out what the user intended. Crystal wakes up, and explains to Torrent that she stole the Darkstone from the IceWings because Queen Glacier was planning on using animus magic to end the war by killing the entire MudWing army, and that she killed her own father, Boreal, so they couldn't make another. Torrent tells her that she did the right thing, and the two of them get close, while Schist and Griffin get close to each other. The four stay the winter in the Sky Kingdom, and at the end of it, they decide to go to the next animus on the map, living in the twin cities. They go north, and almost get trapped in a cave with rising water. Torrent reveals that he's not sure he can breath underwater properly anymore from his injuries by Magma and doesn't know if he can ever go back to the Deep Palace, and Griffin says that he doesn't want to return there anyways. On their way to the twin cities, they are almost caught by SkyWing soldiers, but Crystal and Torrent kill them, much to Griffin and Schist's disgust. At Possibility, they stay at the Talons of Peace safehouse with Avalanche. Crystal and Torrent go out and have a day in Possibility together, and get their fortunes told by a NightWing hybrid, who has a vision of Crystal trapped in stone in a room made of ice or quartz, making her worry if she'll become a full animus from the Darkstone, and that Torrent will kill her. Torrent is told about a vision of the Summer Palace, with all the water around it dried up, and an aurora over a split crown. Back at the safehouse, they meet Trustbreaker, who reveals that he read the minds of non-dragons, which is how he communicates with Sapphire and the other cats in the town, and that he can read Griffin's mind. Avalanche remarks that Trustbreaker used to be mated to a scavenger. Trustbreaker explains that his cats know that the animus is a crime lord named Gila, and Avalanche suggests they talk to a competing crime lord named Evergreen. Torrent, Crystal, and Schist make a deal with Evergreen, and she helps them fight a battle against Gila on the docks, where Gila is receiving a shipment of explosive powder from the Mud Kingdom. Torrent turns Gila to stone, but Evergreen's second-in-command doesn't let him disenchant the objects that Gila had, and the three are taken back to Evergreen, prisoners. Evergreen reveals that she's been working with an IceWing ambassador and plans to sell Crystal to get an extremely large reward from Queen Glacier. The three are rescued by Avalanche, Trustbreaker, and a bunch of cats, and Evergreen ends up dead, her house on fire. With Griffin, the six flee the twin cities, and split up, Avalanche going to a meeting with Morrowseer, Trustbreaker heading to a bordertown with SandWings and MudWings named Crosswinds, and the four heading south into the rainforest, with another animus. In the rainforest, they are hit by sleeping darts, Crystal having a dream about Calamity again, who says that he can predict the future and that they need to kill the RainWing animus, who will become a menace to all of Pyrrhia. To prove it, he predicts something that Torrent says after the four wake up, captured. They're let free by the RainWings, and Torrent learns that the RainWing animus is a dragonet. Schist and Griffin make him promise to not hurt the dragonet, but Crystal convinces Torrent otherwise, and the two sneak out at night. Schist and Griffin followed, and Schist fights Crystal while Torrent goes to kill the dragonet, Griffin unsure what to do. Torrent is successful, and when he comes back, Schist leaves, saying that he doesn't want to see any of them ever again, Griffin heartbroken. Griffin begrudgingly follows Torrent and Crystal onto the next animus, under Agate Mountain. A summer passes, but Torrent is unable to find an entrance into the mountain. Crystal manages to find one, and Torrent realizes that his dagger had been hiding the entrances from him, before Griffin reveals that he knew this all along and that the animus beneath the mountain is Darkstalker. Crystal and Griffin fight, and Griffin leaves, going north to Crosswinds to find Trustbreaker, who takes Griffin north to a Talons of Peace meeting. Crystal realizes that they can't go down into the cave without swimming, and she and Torrent wait until there's more snow on the mountain to go down into it. The Talons of Peace meeting takes place south of the Ice Kingdom, at an enchanted temple called the Mausoleum of Queen Frost, and Avalanche is annoyed at Fracture for not being able to predict Nautilus's death, and tells him about the Dragonet Prophecy that Morrowseer gave him, which Fracture knows is fake. Fracture tells Griffin about the Mausoleum, and how an ancient IceWing queen, Queen Frost, went down here with three other dragons to defeat an ancient evil, but that she was the only survivor, then tells Griffin that he'll be back here three times, once to kill, once to grieve, and once to live, before giving him a wax sculpture of Schist and suggesting that he talk to Schist again. Torrent and Crystal go down into caverns filled with glowing gemstones, trying to find Darkstalker, and realize it's magical and moving around, formed from Darkstalker's magic leaking out from his body and mind. They are attacked by a giant crystal dragon guarding Darkstalker, which Torrent can't disenchant because it's part of the caverns. Griffin visits Schist, who refuses to forgive him, while Trustbreaker recruits dragons from the ruins of Adobe's City for the Talons of Peace, including Asha. Torrent and Crystal manage to escape from the guardian, and realize that they have to give up on Darkstalker, which lets them escape the caverns after they thought that they were going to die down there. Torrent starts to have doubts about hunting animuses. Griffin works with the Talons to make the caves the Dragonets of Destiny were raised in, close to a year having passed since he left them, but eventually decides to go back to Torrent and Crystal. When he returns, Torrent is happy, and reveals that after they gave up on Darkstalker, he and Crystal (accidentally) had an egg together. Griffin, who realizes he still blames Crystal for Torrent killing the RainWing dragonet, is angry, and gets in a fight with Crystal. Crystal disappears the next day, taking the egg, the Darkstone, and Torrent's dagger. Torrent is anguished but can't find her, blaming Griffin for her disappearance. Across the continent, called by Calamity, Crystal uses her blood to open the doors to the Mausoleum of Queen Frost, Fracture watching from the shadows as she does so but not interfering. She takes out the pearl from Torrent's dagger so that he can't turn her to stone, before letting it return to him.

Part 4: Four years later, Torrent is hunting an animus named Goanna, Gila's daughter, in the twin cities, now Possibility. She escapes using a magical green diamond that teleports her away, which is how the last few animuses escaped Torrent, and he thinks someone is working against him. He goes back to the Talons of Peace safehouse, where Griffin is, looking over the map, noticing that there are only three animuses left, a grey blotch that keeps moving between the Sand Kingdom and rainforest, a yellow one on the western coast, and Darkstalker. Clarity unexpectedly arrives, and Torrent asks if she has any news about Crystal, who is still missing, and Clarity says that she doesn't beyond a old few reports of IceWings working on the Darkstone being turned to stone, but that the Brightest Night is coming soon and they need to prepare for the Dragonets of Destiny. Torrent and Griffin go to the grey blotch, and encounter a NightWing named Nightreader who they fight. They manage to defeat her together, and realize she's the sister of the animus, Stonemover. She explains that she's also worried about her brother losing his soul, and they make a deal where Stonemover will enchant himself to be unable to use his magic, and Torrent won't kill him. Stonemover, who has just finished enchanting the tunnel to the rainforest and recently left Thorn, agrees. Nightreader and Stonemover realize that the NightWings would probably punish them if they learned Stonemover willingly gave up his magic, decide to travel with Torrent and Griffin after learning that they can hide the two of them from the Obsidian Mirror. They go to the western coast, where Nightreader convinces Torrent to make the same deal with the animus there, who is Jerboa and invites them for a drink. Torrent freaks out after noticing she has another one of the green diamonds, and after a scuffle, Griffin and Stonemover accidentally use it, disappearing. Jerboa explains that she was given it by another animus, and asks Torrent to remove her immortality enchantment. He does, and she disappears into dust while he and Nightreader go back to Possibility, hoping that Fracture might help them find Griffin and Stonemover. Griffin and Stonemover wake up on a tiny volcanic island (smaller then the NightWing one) and learn from an elderly SandWing named Gazelle that the island was made by an animus named Erosion, who they are taken down to. Griffin sees some of the animuses that Torrent and him tried to hunt, all captured and in collars that Gazelle can control them with, though she explains that only Erosion can make them use their magic with an enchanted scale on her tail. Torrent and Nightreader find Clarity talking to Hvitur, explaining to him his mission for retrieving the SkyWing Dragonet egg. He leaves, Torrent almost revealing to him that the Dragonet Prophecy is fake, which both Nightreader and Clarity know already, and they go to the Mausoleum to find Fracture. Griffin and Stonemover meet with Erosion, who explains that because animus magic makes her lose her soul and hear whispers, she used Magma's magic to control other animuses, which she can make use their magic for her. She plans to use them to attack Burn in Crosswinds, and then take over the Sand Kingdom, as animuses are the most powerful dragons on Pyrrhia and thus the rightful rulers, like the queen system intended. She explains that Griffin is going to be a hostage to that Torrent doesn't interfere with her. On the Brightest Night, Fracture tells Torrent and Nightreader that the others are being held captive on a volcanic island north of the Night Kingdom, which is why Stonemover isn't on Torrent's map anymore (he was as his powers weren't taken from him, he was only enchanted to be unable to use them). Nightreader asks how he knows about the Night Kingdom, and he says that he's a seer and gives them a prophecy, saying that Nightreader gave it to him, which confuses them all. On Erosion's island, Griffin is attacked and his wings are broken by Goanna and the other animuses, though he is saved by Gazelle. Nightreader and Torrent go north to the NightWing island, where Nightreader plans to use the Obsidian Mirror and an old scroll to find Erosion's island. Torrent temporarily gives her his dagger, and she tries to disenchant the Obsidian Mirror after using it and getting the scroll, but it doesn't work, and the volcano starts to rumble. Gazelle heals Griffin's wounds with Brightsting Cactus, but is attacked by Nightreader when she and Torrent show up, thinking she's Erosion. Griffin explains the situation, and they go to find Erosion, but she's created a portal above Crosswinds and is bringing her animuses through. She holds Stonemover hostage, and threatens to kill him. Torrent almost decides to attack anyways, but Nightreader convinces him not to, and Erosion goes through the portal, which closes. Torrent, Nightreader, Griffin, and Gazelle are left on the island and realize they can't fly to Crosswinds in time, but Nightreader tells them about the tunnels. Carrying the injured Griffin in a net, they sneak onto the NightWing island and through the tunnels, managing to get to Crosswinds as Burn is arriving. Nightreader goes to try and convince Burn to call off the fighting event she had planned to raise morale in her army, but she doesn't convince her and she's captured by Smolder as the event starts. Burn fights a few SeaWings, but Erosion comes out, challenging Burn for the SandWing throne. The two fight, Erosion easily winning with her magic, before Torrent saves Burn. Erosion says that she has Griffin hostage again and will kill him if he attacks, and Gazelle comes out, holding Griffin in a net. Gazelle then takes the enchanted scale from Erosion, freeing the animuses for a moment, who kill Erosion. Gazelle impales herself in the wound that Nightreader gave her with the scale, and uses it to control the animuses except for Stonemover again, and this time makes them all get rid of their powers entirely, disappearing from Stonemover's map. Gazelle stays in Crosswinds as Nightreader, Stonemover, Torrent, and Griffin go to Jade Mountain to hide from the NightWings.

Epilogue & Post-Epilogue: Two years later, Nightreader and Torrent are mates, and have had three eggs. The first hybrid, Loresearcher, hatches. Griffin returns from a meeting at the Mausoleum as the second one, Midnight hatches, but snaps the neck of Loresearcher, Nightreader almost killing him for it. Crystal comes in with her and Torrent's daughter, Aurora, wearing the Darkstone, and reveals that she had Aurora enchant Griffin to follow her commands, and that it's not his fault. She explains that this isn't personal, and she's under orders, and derides Torrent for having dragonets with someone who also had animus blood, even knowing one of his dragonets would be an animus. Crystal fights Torrent with her own dagger, with the pearl she stole from Torrent along with one of Aurora's scales, and though Torrent almost kills her, Aurora steps in and attacks Torrent. Crystal goes to Nightreader and turns her to stone as she tries to kill more of the dragonets. Aurora orders Griffin to bring the unhatched egg towards her, and he does. While she's distracted, Griffin plugs his ears with what's left of the wax statue of Schist that Fracture gave him six years earlier, and screams out the Dragonets of Destiny song before flying away with the egg, Aurora following him. Crystal attacks Stonemover and turns him partially to stone, but Torrent uses his own dagger to prevent it, also removing the enchantment that keeps Stonemover from using his magic. Crystal says that she's already done what she's needed to, and remarks that Torrent isn't needed any more, now that he's fulfilled his purpose of killing animuses in preparation, before flying after Aurora and Griffin, Torrent left with Stonemover and the young Midnight. In the Mud Kingdom, Trustbreaker meets with Schist and Glen, who are now at war and hiding from Queen Moorhen. He asks them to stop their rebellion until the War of SandWing Succession is over since armies are mobilized right now and they'll fail, and to prove that he can predict the future, says that Petrol betrayed them and Moorhen will attack their camp tomorrow. Glen realizes this is true and kills Petrol, Schist noticing that she has an enchanted necklace that she took from the ruins of Adobe's tower. In the Sea Kingdom, Angler is looking through letters discussing a secret proposal involving a hidden island between Coral and Blister, and believes that Rift is still alive somewhere, and that Blister didn't kill him. In the Sky Kingdom, Kite's village is on fire, and she realizes that a SkyWing named Goat, related to Magma, hatched a firescales egg. Bobcat dies, but Goat and the egg escape, Kite believing that Magma has been reincarnated into it. In Crosswinds, Torrent takes his dragonet Midnight, and brings her to Gazelle, and asks Gazelle, who is losing her memory, to take care of her, and gives Gazelle the last of his treasure from the Sea Kingdom. He looks at his map and realizes there's another blotch in the Sea Kingdom, presumably a relative, and decides to give up animus hunting, ripping his map apart and throwing it away, leaving Midnight. Griffin flies through the rainforest with the egg, and hides from Crystal and Aurora. It hatches, the dragonet in it, Ink, with a blank eye and convulsing wildly. In the morning, Clarity and Fracture appear, and Fracture places the leather band around his own blank eye around Ink's, causing the dragonet to calm down. They explain that Crystal visited Clarity and gave her and Fracture's dragonet, Polar, the healing diamond, causing Queen Glacier to banish Clarity from the Ice Kingdom and take Polar away. Fracture tells Griffin that there is something wrong with this world, and Griffin realizes that Fracture knew what was going to happen to Torrent's dragonets all along, and Fracture tells him that he's not allowed to interfere with Calamity's business. South of the Ice Kingdom, Crystal and Aurora enter the Mausoleum again, Aurora somewhat unsure of her emotions at seeing her father and not talking to Crystal. In the center, they meet with Calamity, a MudWing ghost trapped in the body of a NightWing frozen by frostbreath. He explains that they killed the wrong dragonet, and that Midnight was the animus, not Loresearcher, but that this means there will be some interesting effects in Pyrrhia down the line. He tells the two of them that he's moving the Crystal Caverns forward a number of years, having control over the rate time passes in it, and that he needs the two to kill some more dragons for him. Seven years later, Aurora arrives in the Sky Kingdom during Scarlet's fight with Tourmaline, and sneaks into the treasury and kills the guards, taking an artifact called the Eye of Amethyst. She uses it to call lightning down upon Tourmaline, killing her and calling Scarlet to win the fight, becoming SkyWing Queen once more.