The Fallen Prince (Dark Seas Series)

by Riokodragon

As Orca, Crown Princess of the SeaWings, attempts to hide her powers, her family works to uncover her secrets. In the aftermath, one of her remaining brothers sets out into Pyrrhia to stop animus magic for good, joining a thief with Queen Glacier on her scales, a captive-hatched MudWing, and an enchanted stone gryphon. Fic series containing Dark Seas, Stone Cold, and Rising Flames.

135. SC: Part 3: Chapters 38 to 46

Chapter 38

"Cal . . . Cal, wake up, please!"

Calamity felt claws dig into the scales on his back, trying to jostle him awake. The young MudWing moaned in pain, his head dizzy. His throat ached, and he wheezed out a cough. Sticky red blood came up, the taste of iron flooding his mouth. He opened his eyes, only seeing blurry shapes dancing back and forth. He squinted a little as they started to come into focus. The most prominent figure was of the dragon shaking him, another MudWing. She was the same age as him, five years from hatching, but quite a bit larger. Prince Calamity's sib and bigwings, Queen Fen.

As Calamity's eyes opened, Fen started sobbing. "You're alive," she sniffled. "At least you're alive."

Calamity tried to get up onto all fours, pushing himself up with his forelegs. They shook uncontrollably, and the young prince gritted his teeth as he felt a sharp pain through his back. He glanced back to his hindquarters, barely able to stretch his neck around to see. A large pile of rubble from what may have been a stone wall or pillar buried his scales, his hindlegs and tail trapped beneath. He tried to move them again, but felt no pain.

The MudWing prince tried to remember what had happened. He'd been in the foyer of the palace, the room with all the tapestries. They'd only moved into the Queen's Palace from the nearby Princess' Palace recently, after Fen had won her royal challenge, and Calamity had been looking through the tapestries, trying to figure out how many of the queens of old he could recognize. But there'd been shaking, and after that, he couldn't remember anything.

Calamity felt the ground rumble beneath his claws, small pebbles from the rubble jumping across the floor. The shaking was still there. He looked around the room, his vision still blurry. He was still in the foyer, although it was difficult to recognize. The wall behind Calamity had collapsed, along with part of the roof. A number of the tapestries were visible on the floor, some torn and ripped by the rubble. Calamity winced. That was history of the Mud Kingdom there, forever lost to an earthquake.

"C'mon Fen, we need to get out of here, the rest of the palace could collapse at any time," Calamity urged her. He tried using his forelegs to pull himself out from the rubble, but his claws slid across the floor with nothing to grab onto. He put his forepaws out for Fen to grab. "Help me out of this."

The shrieks of dragons suddenly pierced through the walls of the palace, making Calamity wince. It was unlucky that Fen had to deal with a disaster like this so soon in her reign. It was a bad omen. But right now, the most important thing was staying safe. Where were the rest of their sibs?

"No," Queen Fen said, shaking her head back and forth. Small tears fell from her eyes. "I can't go back out there. Maybe we can hide in here."

"Hide?" Calamity asked, confused. "What do you mean, 'hide'?" Fear struck through his voice. This was an earthquake, why did they need to hide?

Fen's legs and wings trembled in terror, and Calamity could smell the reek of piss on her scales. She pointed her claws up. Calamity followed it to a hole in the ceiling. One of the moons was visible, having almost reached its first quarter. Stars twinkled behind it. Calamity kept looking, unsure what his sib wanted him to see.

Suddenly, a shape moved across the hole, blotting out the stars. The quarter moon disappeared, replaced by a field of colorful lights and bubbles, shooting across the sky. More screams yelled out, and Calamity's blood turned cold as ice. A few moments later, the colors had disappeared, and the moon and stars were visible once more.

"Fen, what was that?" Calamity asked, breathing heavily, looking back to his sister, away from the hole.

Fen shook her head, as if trying to deny Calamity's questions. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she whimpered, her claws shaking. "This is all my fault. I didn't mean to do it. I don't know how I brought it here."

"What do you mean, 'brought it here'?" Calamity interrogated, almost shouting. "What did you do? Where are the rest of our sibs?"

"I don't know!" Fen yelled out, almost angrily. "It's big, and I couldn't control it. I tried, but it wouldn't listen, even though that's what I enchanted it to do. Everyone else is gone. You're the only one left."

"Only one left?" Did she mean, the only one of their sibs left? "No, no, you're not saying —"

Calamity suddenly yelled out as a sharp pain ripped at his stomach. He tried to clutch at his underbelly, but wasn't fast enough. He retched, vomiting up a puddle of warm blood onto his sisters paws. The MudWing prince started to go dizzy, and his head fell to the ground, his blood running into his scales. Sharp pains shot through his chest with every breath as he started to hyperventilate.

Fen started to sob again, not bothering to move her claws from the pool of her brother's blood. "No, no, please stay with me."

Calamity coughed again, before trying to speak. "Magic," he wheezed. "Use your magic."

The young MudWing queen stood still for a moment, unsure. "I can't," she whispered, her teeth chattering. "That's what brought it here. It'll find us if I try."

"Please . . . it's not too late," Calamity said, his claws tensing up. He coughed again, the familiar taste of iron welling up. "Think of something." Fen was smart, and an animus. She could find a way out of this, like she always had. The right enchantment, carefully worded, could save them all.

"It is, Cal," Fen assured him, sounding defeated. "It's too late." She looked down at her sib, her eyes stained with tears.

Calamity wheezed again, his head lying loosely on the floor. The screams of dragons from far away started to blend together. He looked up at Fen. He needed to stay awake. He couldn't close his eyes. If he did, it would be all over. "Please."

Queen Fen stared back into her suffering brother's eyes. No. She wouldn't give up. This was her fault. There had to be something she could do. She stiffened her legs up, trying to stop the trembling. Ideas started to flash through her whirring brain. Animus magic couldn't bring back the dead, but what if there was a way around that? What if they'd never died in the first place?

"Cal, if we were able to do this over again, do you think you could stop me?"

"Stop you?" Calamity groggily questioned. "I still don't know what you did."

Fen took in a deep breath. "I'm not sure either." If she did this, Calamity would only have one chance to stop her. There was no way she could be sure he'd succeed. Unless . . .

Fen took a few steps back, into the center of the foyer, beneath a collapsed staircase. The ground shook beneath her. She didn't know how much time she had left. But if this worked, time wouldn't be a factor anymore. The words of the enchantment already started to swim through her mind. She repeated it in her head a few times, editing and re-editing it until she made sure it was just right. Something infaillible, something that would ensure Calamity could prevent this.

As she finished composing the enchantment, exactly sure what she had to say, Fen took in a deep breath to calm herself. She wouldn't get another chance. The MudWing opened her mouth to speak, and the familiar aura of magic started to surround her, twisting across her scales. "I enchant —"

As soon she started to speak, the ground around her cracked, the flooring splintering into pieces. A black ooze started to well up from the cracks, circling around Fen's paws and latching onto them. She kept speaking, Calamity unable to make out the words as the screams of dragons flooded his ears.

Suddenly, a torrent of the ooze swarmed up around Fen, raising itself into the air in a column three dragons wide. It engulfed the MudWing queen within it, lifting her into the center of the foyer, a story up. The translucent black liquid flooded down Fen's throat and beneath her scales, but her will was indomitable, and the MudWing kept speaking the words of enchantment. Colorful glowing bubbles started to rise up from the ground, flowing past Fen. Her scales started to glow, sparkles of light appearing on them.

Calamity could barely see anymore, everything in front of him blurring together. His head slumped to the ground as blood dripped from his jaws, and his eyes finally shut. By the time Fen finished the enchantment, he was already dead.

---

"Calamity. Wake up. I'm hurt."

Calamity's eyelids opened as Crystal dragged herself towards the floating MudWing spectre. Beyond a number of minor wounds, blue blood dripped from her hindpaw, and nothing remained of the spiked end of her tail. The Eye of Diamond swung back and forth from her neck, and her obsidian dagger remained at her side.

"Looks like someone had a little trouble," Calamity commented. He gave out a yawn and swam towards Crystal, floating through the air. The Eye of Onyx swung from his neck, the glowing pupil still visible.

"Shut it," Crystal growled. "I fought the entire Empty Circle at once. Magical dagger or not, I was lucky I didn't lose more than my tail. Your magic can't bring me back to life, can it?"

Calamity shrugged his wings. "Depends on the permanence of your soul. How you died, whether you have a strong reason to stick around or not. It's easier with fireborns and impossible with animuses. Spooky ghost magic has a lot of rules."

"Is that really the only name there is for it?" Crystal scoffed. "Spooky ghost magic?"

Calamity grinned. "What, not good enough for you?" With a sudden swish of his wings, he swooped down into Crystal, his ethereal form passing into her. Crystal winced as she felt Calamity's presence within her. The feeling of having another dragon share her body set all her scales on edge. She could tell from the new rigidity in her muscles that her movements were not fully her own, and that Calamity could choose to exert his will on them if he wished. The Eye of Onyx had fallen to the floor beside her, the pupil on it curiously watching.

Crystal's tail suddenly twitched without her moving it. A pale aura extended from the missing end of it, creating an glowing outline of her tail's tip and spines. Slowly, flesh and scale started to fill in the outline, building the tip of her tail back up. Similarly, the wound in her paw started to heal, the scales slowly mending back together. A few moments later, her tail was whole again, and her wounds gone.

As quickly as he entered it, Calamity's figure swam out from Crystal. Crystal relaxed, her body entirely her own again. She looked back to her tail and paw, perfectly healed. Calamity floated back around Crystal, picking up the Eye of Onyx once more and hanging it around his neck. Where the chain touched him, his scales appeared to solidify slightly, becoming opaque.

"So, I take it you succeeded?" Calamity asked, pointing his tail to the Eye of Diamond around Crystal's neck. Two silver wings spread from the many-faceted diamond, glittering in the strange glow of the cavern.

"I wouldn't have this if I didn't," Crystal assured him. "Queen Glacier, Princess Snowfall, and the Empty Circle are all dead."

"Not all of the Empty Circle," Calamity pointed out.

"Polar barely counts," Crystal snorted. "You're the one who told me he wouldn't be there. Anyways, after Blackice decimated the palace, I removed the last forgotten remnants of Project Darkstone. It's over. The only things left of it are Polar and Aurora's Darkstones."

"They still have a role to play," Calamity said with a smile. "Although I can't say I'm certain what it will be anymore."

"So, you want this?" Crystal asked, taking the Eye of Diamond from her neck. She tossed it at Calamity. The MudWing caught it with one paw, turning opaque as he grabbed it.

"I can't use both at once," he clucked. With a smooth motion, he tossed the Eye of Diamond to the side of the cave. It settled against the rock, the clear shining gem blending in with the crystalline walls of the cavern. The MudWing's paw became translucent again. "I'll hide for later. I have to exert the Eye of Onyx a bit more first. Jerboa is a feisty one, aren't you?"

The pupil on the black surface of the Eye of Onyx moved up towards Calamity, looking the ghost straight in the eyes.

"I swear, if she had eyelids, I'd think she'd be glaring," Calamity joked. "You got Queen Glacier's permission, didn't you?"

"Of course," Crystal said. "She gave it to me in exchange for her daughter's life."

"Well, I just need to make sure that it's in the right place when the time comes."

Crystal frowned, glancing at the Eye of Onyx. It looked back at her. "So just how long are you going to keep this drought going?"

"Until I've finally exerted the Eye enough that Jerboa can't hold it together anymore," Calamity explained. "Why do you ask?"

"The Ice and Sand Kingdoms have been mostly spared from it, but I saw the effects its had on the land," Crystal reminded him. "Plants dried and shriveled, animals dying of thirst. I can only imagine what it's doing to the swamps and forests in the east. Dragons are suffering."

Calamity didn't seem particularly disturbed. "Dragons suffering is nothing new," he replied. "I hope you remember what we're trying to stop."

Crystal's eyes darted to the hole in the cavern behind Calamity, across the fragile crystalline bridge. She'd been through there before. She knew that everything they'd done was necessary. "Yes, I remember."

"Good," Calamity smiled. "In that case, I have another mission for you."

Crystal nodded. "What is it?"

"You remember Fracture, don't you?" he asked. "Well, I believe it's about time to stop him from meddling any further."

Crystal closed her eyes. She'd known this was going to happen eventually. She didn't particularly want to kill her brother-in-law, but she knew it had to be done. "I'll do it," she sighed. "How long from my return to the caverns?"

"Not long, just [7 days]," Calamity responded. He frowned. "I can tell something's wrong, you know. Are you still on that drought thing?"

"No, no." That wasn't quite true. It still bothered Crystal. But it wasn't the only thing on her mind. "I'm worried about Aurora. She's never been away from the caverns for this long."

"She has her mission," Calamity replied. "You not worried she'll get hurt, are you? She has her band and the Eye of Amethyst. There's few dragons who could harm her."

"Not just that," Crystal sighed. "It's more. I suppose I've become a little sentimental. I want her to be happy, to have the life I gave up for this."

"You chose this path for her," Calamity said, tapping a claw in the air. "You knew the options. I gave you all the information. But this way, Pyrrhia has a chance. A small one, but a chance to survive."

"Yes, I know, I know," Crystal snorted. "But I want her to have a choice."

"She got one," Calamity retorted. "She's free to leave us whenever she wishes, and she knows that. She chooses to stay because she wants to what's right."

"She never got to see what the other path looks like," Crystal frowned. "Of course she chose duty. That's the only thing she's ever known."

Calamity sighed, and floated in a small circle around the cavern, above Starweaver's frozen corpse. Crystal watched him as he thought. Aurora never had anything close to a normal raising. It had just been her, Crystal, and Calamity all her life. But now that she was out there, maybe she'd have a chance to realize that there was more to life than duty.

"Alright," Calamity finally responded. "I can try and get her a happy ending, although what she makes of it is up to her. The freedom she's earned."

Crystal breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"But she's not done yet," Calamity warned the IceWing. "There's a bit more she has to do for us, to make this work. Crystal, have you ever played Queens and Generals?"

Crystal nodded. "A few SandWings I met during my time with Boreal showed me it, but I was never any good. Why do you ask?"

Calamity grinned, and fluffed his wings. "It's one of those skills I developed over my existence, just to pass the time. Only a few more moves, and we can move our SeaWing and SkyWing queens to center of the battlefield."

Chapter 39

In a blink of an eye, the world around Toxin went dark. When she could see again, the hybrid dragonet was no longer in the damp, shaking cave. Where there had been dimly lit rock walls, stone houses rose above Toxin, shaped by triangular roofs. Her eyes were caught on a bright crimson SkyWing, who was staring back at Toxin with a confused expression on her snout. The SkyWing backed away into a small alley between two of the houses before quickly running off.

The loud sound of a retching dragon came from behind Toxin, causing her to turn away from the fleeing SkyWing. She wrinkled her snout. The MudWing that had been blocking their exit had just emptied his most recent meal on the cobble street, and was woozily swaying back and forth. Next to him was a wobbling Ink, and a few tail-lengths away was Inferno, a confused look on her snout. Toxin glanced down to see Polar, collapsed at her paws.

"Polar?" she asked him, worried. The IceWing didn't respond. She bent her head down and gave his neck a nudge. Polar didn't move.

Ink stared down at Polar. He took a step towards the IceWing, narrowly avoiding stepping in Slate's mess. "He's not . . ." he whispered, choking up slightly.

Toxin rested her head against Polar's side. It gently rose and fell. "He's breathing," she said. "I think he's alive."

Ink stepped closer, and rested a claw on the IceWing, checking for himself. "C'mon Polar, please get up."

Slate staggered from side to side, and let out a moan. As he regained his balance, he looked around at the four dragons, then at his surroundings. Clearly, they weren't in the cave anymore. "Hey, so what just happened?" he asked. "We didn't die, did we?"

Toxin winced as she glanced down at Polar. "We're not dead," she sighed. "You heard Polar. I think he enchanted us . . . somewhere. To get away from Aurora."

"Oh," Slate responded. "Is Polar the IceWing? What happened to him? He looks bad."

Ink nudged Polar with his snout, trying to waken him.

"What do you think we're trying to figure out?" Toxin hissed, her ruff flaring up. "I hope you realize this is mostly your fault, for trapping us in that cave."

"Hey, I'm not the one who almost caused the cave to collapse!" Slate growled back.

Toxin rolled her eyes, and looked to the alley where the SkyWing had fled. She could be coming back with reinforcements. Were they in the Sky Kingdom? If so, their unusual group could be in danger. Toxin had heard enough about Queen Scarlet to know that the only place the SkyWing queen liked diversity was in her arena. The hybrid dragonet glanced over towards Inferno. She was a SkyWing, right? Maybe she couldn't get them out of this. It wasn't like Queen Scarlet could capture her.

"Where are we?" Inferno asked, checking out her surroundings. She shivered. While a lot of these houses were made of stone, some of them looked awfully flammable. She'd never been allowed into a city before, and probably for good reason.

"The Sky Kingdom?" Toxin suggested.

Ink shook his head, his claws still on Polar. "No, I know this place. We're in Possibility. Somewhere on the east bank."

"Possibility?" Slate wondered. "We're that far? But that's on the other side of the continent from Jade Mountain! How are we supposed to get back there?"

"Flying," Toxin bluntly answered. "Although it's probably for the better if we're a continent away from Aurora. It's not like there's anything else I need from Jade Mountain anyways." She raised up the Black Scroll in her paws. Fortunately, it had come along for the ride when Polar had teleported them.

"No, no, I have to go back," Slate stated. What had happened to Torrent? And he still needed to find the other dragons in the prophecy.

"Tsunami will be really worried about us," Inferno mused. "Do you think everyone else will be okay? What if the mountain collapses on the academy?"

"I'm not leaving Polar behind," Ink snorted. He lowered his neck, and tried to get himself under Polar to lift the IceWing up. "I know someplace we can stay until we figure out what's wrong." This was his fault. He'd done something wrong, somewhere. He should've been more worried about Torrent. He shouldn't have gone after Aurora. If he had payed more attention to his visions, maybe Polar would be okay.

Ink tried to get Polar on top of him, wincing as the IceWing rubbed against his bandaged scales, still wounded from the fight with Aurora. Polar's limp body slid off, rolling onto the cobble path.

"Ink, stop," Toxin ordered, looking up at the hybrid. "You're injured. Let someone else carry him."

Ink shook his head. "I'm fine," he winced, trying again to roll Polar on him. "Here, help him up."

"You're not fine," Toxin snorted. "Anyways, you have to show us to the safehouse, right?" She glanced back at Inferno and Slate. Toxin was far too small to pick him up, and Inferno definitely shouldn't try and carry him. That left one option. "MudWing, you carry him."

"What?" Slate huffed. "I don't know any of you, and the IceWing just threatened me a few minutes ago. No, I really need to get back to Jade Mountain as soon as possible. You see, the drought going on is magical, and there's a prophecy, and —"

"You're an idiot, and this is your fault," Toxin interrupted, scolding the older dragon. "What's your name? I didn't catch it when you almost got us all killed."

"Slate," Slate growled. "Please listen, I really didn't mean what happened, I didn't realize Torrent was going to get all murdery, but —"

"The tablet forgotten, right?" Toxin sighed. "Hooray, we have our five. I would love to share this moment of celebration with Polar, but oh wait, he's not moving."

"Wait, you know the prophecy?" Slate asked, surprised. "You're the other four dragons in it?" Wasn't Midnight supposed to be in it? Where was she, still in Crosswinds?

Toxin waved the Black Scroll around again. "Yay, you figured it out." She glanced towards Inferno, who appeared unsure what either of them were talking about. "I'll explain it to you later. Now, Slate, pick up Polar."

Slate grimaced. This whole epic quest thing really hadn't gotten off to a good start. It seemed like everyone else hated him already. He glanced towards Inferno. At least the SkyWing didn't seem particularly angry at him.

Slate walked over to Polar, Ink hesitantly stepping aside. Crouching down, he spread out his wings, opening up a place for Polar to lay. Ink and Toxin carefully moved the limp IceWing across Slate's right wing, and onto his back. After Slate stood back up with a grunt, Polar's limbs hung slack, his forelegs resting in front of Slate's wingblades, and his spiked tail over the MudWing's hips and onto the cobble path. Slate really didn't want to accidentally step on that.

"C'mon Ink, lead the way. Keep us out of sight if you can," Toxin ordered grumpily. Even if they weren't in the Sky Kingdom, she didn't want to stay here for long, just in case the SkyWing came back. Why did it feel like she had to tell everyone to do everything? Adults were supposed to be responsible.

Ink nodded with a sigh of defeat, and started off into one of the numerous alleyways of Possibility, Slate slowly lugging Polar behind while Toxin and Inferno followed.

The city was quiet this evening, something Ink was not used to. Could it be the drought? he wondered. Although they never had to cross it, the five had gotten glimpses of the Great Five-Tail River on their walk through Possibility. Or at least, where the river should've been. Just like how it had been in Crosswinds, there was little left but a dry gap where the river should've been, a trickling flow running through it and out to the ocean. It wasn't just the river that the drought had harmed, the water level in the ocean had dropped in the past two weeks. The island in the bay north of Possibility could almost be walked to without getting one's claws wet.

Eventually, the five reached the safehouse. The blue-shingled house seemed to be in a state of disarray. Parts of the roof had collapsed, and hastily nailed up wooden boards had taken their place. A pile of broken shingles lay on the ground, Slate carefully sidestepping them. That was definitely a safety hazard.

"Is it locked?" Toxin asked, examining the door. She gave it a few knocks, but got no response. She tried pushing it open, but it didn't give.

"Nah, we lost the keys long ago," Ink replied. "Just takes a bit of effort to get in." With a shove and a crack, the door slammed open.

Toxin looked around the inside. Rocks and rubble were scattered around the room, and a pile of ash had blown out of the empty fireplace. She sniffed it, frowning as the stench of urine wafted through the air. "This can't be sanitary," she grumbled. "Ink, what is this place?"

"It's a Talons of Peace safehouse," Ink grinned, almost proudly. Something about this place seemed to bring his previously dour mood up. "Although it's almost like a home to me. Griffin and I spent a lot of time here as a dragonet."

Griffin? Toxin wondered. That sounded like a SkyWing name. She supposed it made sense that a SkyWing would've raised Ink here, with all the SkyWings around.

"Inferno, come on!" Ink called as Slate lumbered through the doorway, trying not to get any of Polar's limbs caught on the frame.

"Er, maybe we should go somewhere else," Inferno gulped, glancing up at the house. Most of the walls were wood. "I don't want to set your childhood home alight. You could get hurt."

"The floors are just dirt, and furniture is lacking," Toxin pointed out. "If you can get through the frame without setting it on fire, you can just away from the walls and you'll be fine." Personally, Toxin preferred having the dragon that set things on fire near her. Both for protection, and so that Toxin could keep an eye on her.

Inferno winced. This was a bad idea. She pressed her wings against her body as close as she could, and lowered her head. "Alright. I'll try."

Taking each step slowly, the SkyWing walked through the frame, careful not to let any of her scales touch the wood. She shuddered as she heard a hissing noise beneath her and the smell of smoke, but kept going. Eventually, she made it inside. She glanced back to see the damage — one of her talons had pressed into the bottom of the frame, and left behind a charred mark and a few coals.

"I accidentally stole Torrent's waterskin," Slate quickly suggested to Toxin. The RainWing-NightWing hybrid nodded, and pulled it from Slate's side. She poured some of the contents over the coals, causing them to make a small fizzle before going out.

Inferno breathed a sigh of relief, and headed to the center of the room. Something she stepped went up in a burst of flame and smoke, causing her to jump in surprise, but it quickly went out. A scrap of food? She couldn't tell from the remains.

"We don't have much water, do we," Toxin lamented, swishing what was left of Torrent's waterskin around.

"No one does," Slate answered. "You can have it if you want, though. An apology for what happened I guess. I can tough it out, got a bit of SandWing blood in me."

Ink started to clear away a space on the floor, pushing aside rubble. "Set Polar down here."

"SandWing blood?" Toxin asked. Her eyes glanced up towards Slate's ivory horns. That would explain their unusual shape and color. "You're a hybrid?"

"Sort of," Slate explained. "My grandfather is a SandWing. Unless he's dead, then was." As Ink finished making a place for Polar, Slate shimmied over to the area and gently knelt, allowing Ink to slide the unconscious IceWing off him.

Ink regretfully looked towards Polar. The IceWing breathed in and out, but there was no conscious movement.

"I think he overused his animus powers," Toxin theorized. "I didn't get a lot of the details, but he's not a natural animus. The thingy in his bracelet gives him powers."

"It's enchanted?" Inferno asked.

Toxin shrugged her wings, unsure. "Again, I don't know the details."

Ink frowned. "It's called Darkstone. I think it's what Aurora wanted. I saw it in my visions."

"Visions?" Toxin wondered. "You can see the future too?" She supposed it was possible, Ink was also half-NightWing.

Ink glanced towards Inferno with a sigh. "Sort of," he responded, not offering anything more than that. "But when I was flying to Jade Mountain with Polar, he collapsed while clutching it. What if it's hurting him?"

The NightWing-SeaWing hybrid reached down to Polar's forearm, and gently wrapped his claws around the silver bracelet. The scales around it were raw and disfigured, and parts of Polar's discolored skin showed beneath. He started to gently slide it off of Polar, when the IceWing's muscles suddenly stiffened up. They started to flail around uncontrollably, causing Ink to jump back. As the bracelet slid back, Polar went limp again.

"Maybe we should keep it on," Toxin suggested. Ink nodded and sighed in agreement.

The four waited for a moment, carefully watching Polar. There was no more movement from him but his continued breathing. Eventually, Toxin turned to Slate.

"Alright," she started, baring her fangs, "now that we're settled down, I think you have some explaining to do. What were you doing at Jade Mountain with the SeaWing?"

Slate stiffened up, and Inferno let out a sigh. "Hey, you don't have to be so rude," she quietly suggested to Toxin.

"I'll remind you that he and the SeaWing just tried to kill us all," Toxin snapped. "I think I have a good reason to be a little rude."

"The SeaWing is my father," Ink commented. "His name is Torrent."

"Duly noted," Toxin snorted, returning back to her interrogation of Slate.

Slate grumbled unhappily. "Torrent and my father used to be friends or something," he explained. "He brought me to Jade Mountain because he thought I was part of the prophecy, and believed some of the other dragons in it were there. The MudWings are suffering from the drought, and I just want to stop it before it's too late."

"Oh right, prophecy," Inferno remembered. "Weren't you going to tell me about that, um —"

"Toxin," Toxin sighed.

"Right," Inferno squirmed, embarrassed she hadn't known the hybrid's name. "There's a prophecy? Like the Dragonet Prophecy?"

"Yeah. It's called Nightreader's Prophecy, although I'm not sure why. Ink, Nightreader was your mom, right?"

Ink nodded, still carefully examining Polar. "I didn't know her, though. She died before I hatched."

"Did you know about the prophecy?" Toxin asked bluntly.

"A little," Ink admitted.

Inferno frowned. She hated to think it, but it seemed more and more like Ash had been right about Ink hiding stuff from her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it was relevant," Ink explained. "I heard about it years ago, and never figured out what it meant."

"Well, we have some idea now," Toxin continued. She rolled open the Black Scroll, revealing Nightreader's Prophecy, written in golden ink.

Slate peered over at the scroll, the glittering ink catching his eyes, even if the script was meaningless to him. Inferno stared at it blankly.

"Er, I can't read," Inferno admitted. Slate nodded in agreement.

Toxin rolled her eyes. Why was everyone else so useless? she asked for a moment. She shook her head before speaking. That was wrong. She shouldn't shame them for being illiterate — Toxin knew plenty of RainWings who couldn't either. The only reason Toxin was able to read was because Queen Glory had started requiring all dragonets to learn, RainWing and NightWing alike. She was lucky.

"Alright, I can read it," Toxin replied. "You might want to listen too, Ink, to refresh your memory." She quickly read the prophecy out-loud, her words filling the quiet house.

"So what does it mean?" Inferno asked.

"Polar and I figured out parts of it," Toxin explained, looking to her comatose friend sorrowfully. She explained what she and Polar had discussed, Inferno and Slate listening carefully while Ink stayed by Polar's side. "And so we think that the five dragons here are the five mentioned in the second verse of the prophecy."

Slate nodded. "That makes sense. But how come all of you already know each other?" He fretted a little bit. Had Torrent been wrong? If Midnight's brother was in the prophecy instead of her, Slate might not be in the prophecy either.

"We don't," Toxin sighed. "I only met Polar a week ago, and I barely know Ink. As far as I know, none of us have met each other before, although I think Polar and Ink's families know each other."

Slate thought for a moment. They'd gotten off on the wrong wing with the RainWing-NightWing hybrid. "Maybe we should try introductions, then," he suggested. "I'm Slate. I'm from the Mud Kingdom. Should we say something interesting about ourselves?"

"No," Toxin grumbled, unamused. She stayed silent, not willing to put up with Slate's antics.

"Er, I'm Inferno," Inferno stated, unsure if they were doing this or not, and if so, if it was her turn. "I'm from the Talons of Peace."

"Huh," Slate mused. He hadn't picked up on her name earlier. "Torrent had said there was a dragon named Flame at Jade Mountain that he'd thought was part of the prophecy. I guess that meant he was wrong about both her and Midnight."

Ink's ears perked up, and the hybrid turned away from Polar. "Midnight?" he asked. "Do you know her?"

Slate nodded. "Yeah, she's your sister, right? Torrent and I visited her in Crosswinds."

Crosswinds, Ink thought, grinning. He had a sister. Maybe after this adventure was over, he'd be able to visit her. But a dark thought suddenly crossed his mind. He'd always imagined Midnight as being kind and caring, but what if she wasn't? What if she was like Loresearcher, or Aurora? "What's she like?" he asked Slate, concerned. "Like, is she nice?"

"Nicer than Torrent," Slate snorted. "No offense. But I liked her. She lives with a elderly SandWing named Gazelle who she takes care of, and has a lot of hybrid friends. She's brave too, even though she doesn't like him, she helped save Torrent from an army of SandWings."

"Wow," Ink beamed happily. Crosswinds wasn't that far from Possibility. It was on the way to Jade Mountain. If they were flying back there, maybe he could stop off and meet her.

"So, what are we going to do about Polar?" Inferno asked, looking over the IceWing. Even if he hadn't been very nice, she hoped he'd be okay. "When do you think he's going to wake up?"

"There's a doctor I know not too far from here, and there's some spare coin somewhere in the safehouse, for emergencies only," Ink suggested. "I can try and get her to come over and see what she can do."

Chapter 40

"WHERE ARE THEY?" Peril asked, frantically looking around the cave for the five missing dragons. "What did you do to them?"

Aurora swished her spiked tail through the air, waving it threateningly, as one of her glowscales randomly lit up. "This wasn't my doing," she calmly replied. "It appears that Polar figured out how to use the Darkstone, and took them with him." She suppressed the pang of empathy she felt for the IceWing, remembering her own experiences with the object.

The rumbling in the cavern started to slow, and Torrent walked forward, trying to get around Peril. "Get out," he barked at the SkyWing as he brandished his dagger. "You'll just get in the way."

"Not a chance," Peril snorted, breathing another puff of flame. "You think I'm on your side? You're the one who just attacked us and tried to destroy the scroll."

"Believe me, I don't want to release the Darkstalker either," Torrent growled, his eyes turning to the scroll on the ground, not far from Aurora's paws. "Let me pass. I've allowed the enchantment, it'll be fine."

"Are you going to try and talk to her again?" Peril commented, stepping aside. "It didn't work so well the first time."

"Shut up," Torrent hissed. He looked towards Aurora, making eye contact with his hybrid daughter. "Aurora. You don't have to do this."

Aurora tapped a claw on the ground, unimpressed with Torrent's plea. "You don't know what 'this' is."

Torrent took another step closer, causing Aurora to back up. If he got close enough, he'd be able to keep her enchantments from working, but too soon, and she'd be able to escape into the wall again. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself from his earlier anger at Aurora. "Working with Crystal, Calamity, whatever. Using animus magic for your own gain. You can live a simple life, without magic. You'll be happier that way, like your half-sister."

Aurora let out a snort, almost amused. "You mean scared into submission, like Midnight? Terrified of her own magic? I don't think you have any clue what's at stake, father. I have a duty, and I know what will happen to your world if I fail."

"What do you mean, 'your world'?" Turtle asked, peering out from behind Peril. "Are you talking about the drought?"

"No," Aurora explained. "We caused the drought. The death of a few dragons is a small cost to pay for survival. You agree with me, father, don't you?"

Torrent walked a few more steps towards his daughter, forcing her back, almost to the wall where Stonemover lay motionlessly. "Please, just stop this. Come back with me to Crosswinds. Midnight could use a sister."

Aurora shook her head. "You don't get it. Pyrrhia is in danger. We're not the bad guys here."

"You killed my sister."

Aurora turned around as she felt claws wrap around her leg, pulling it out from under her. Unbalanced, she fell onto her belly as Stonemover's talons grasped her, shavings of grey stone crumbling from their movements. She growled and pulled her leg, trying to phase it through the NightWing's grasp, but glanced back to see Torrent standing in front of her, her enchantment blocked.

Aurora hissed, stretching out her claws and baring her fangs at her father. She swirled her spiked tail through the air before slamming it into Stonemover's foreleg. The spikes cut through the layers of stone, cracking it before lancing through his scales and into his flesh. Stonemover yelled out in pain, letting Aurora go. She quickly pulled her tail out from his arm, red blood pouring from the holes she'd made in it.

Aurora leaped towards her father, her claws out and ready to tear scales. Torrent roared as he reared up. The hybrid's claws made contact with her father's, and he threw her to the side. She slid back with a burst of her wings, using her tail to rebalance herself, landing on all four paws.

"Something seems familiar about this," Torrent growled, circling Aurora. "But this time, you're alone."

Aurora didn't reply, turning to keep her father in front of her. With another roar, Torrent rushed at Aurora, frighteningly fast for his speed. Aurora ducked to the side, swiping out at Torrent's scarred gills with a paw as she passed by him. Torrent immediately changed course, and with a whip of his tail, whacked Aurora in her chest.

Aurora scattered back again, the wind temporarily knocked out of her. She quickly regained her breath, and crouched, carefully watching Torrent's movements. The SeaWing rushed towards her again, and this time, she met him head-on. As Torrent dug his claws into her wingblades, ripping scales, she ducked her head beneath his neck and bit into, clamping her fangs just forward of his gills. Torrent twisted to the right, trying to throw her off him. She whipped herself to the side, unclenching her jaws just enough to tear strings of flesh from Torrent's neck. Using Torrent's momentum against him, she twisted her up into the air, slamming it into Torrent's rib-cage. He roared in pain as the porcupine-like spikes of her tail embedded themselves a few inches beneath his scales.

The hybrid ripped her tail out from beneath Torrent's wings, pouncing back again. She breathed heavily and gritted her teeth — Peril could see that violet blood was dripping from her wingblades from where Torrent had clawed her, running down her azure scales. Aurora had had her jaws clamped around Torrent's neck. Peril had seen enough gruesome fights in Scarlet's arena to know that it would've been trivial for her to rip out his throat or tear through an artery, ending Torrent. If she was trying to kill him, why hadn't she done that?

"Both of you, stop!" Peril ordered, trying to quell the fighting like the two were dragonets. She stepped away from Turtle, wings outstretched. Aurora took a step back, and Peril walked between the two.

Torrent bared his fangs at Peril, blood dripping from his neck. "What are you doing?" he growled. "Get out of my way. This is between me and her."

"Please, you don't have to fight," Peril stated. That's sounded like something Clay would say, right? "Fighting each other will only lead to more pain and hurt. Believe me, I know. But we can work our differences out with words." If she could make up with her father, maybe Aurora and Torrent could repair their relationship?

"I tried that," Torrent hissed, exasperated. "And she didn't listen. She's lucky I tried that, and didn't immediately tear her to pieces for what she did."

"You kind of tried," Turtle commented, invoking a death-glare from Torrent.

"She also isn't trying to kill you either, it's why she didn't tear your throat out when she had the chance. Isn't that right, Aurora?" Peril looked over to Aurora, hoping the hybrid would confirm her suspicions.

Aurora still looked towards Torrent, her legs tense. "Torrent is disposable, but neither his death nor injury are required," Aurora flatly stated. "Of the four of you, we only need the remaining animuses' survivals." Her eyes darted towards Peril, then Turtle.

Peril winced. That hadn't been the answer she'd been looking for, but maybe she could make something of it. She turned back to Torrent. "What Aurora means is that even though she could hurt you, she doesn't want to. That means that neither of you actually want to hurt each other, right?"

Torrent growled, and his talons clenched around his dagger. Suddenly, Peril felt a whip of motion from behind her, as Aurora dashed towards Turtle. Torrent yelled out and rushed towards her, but he was too late. The hybrid grabbed ahold of Turtle with her talons, pulling him in her grasp. The young SeaWing fought back, trying to swipe at her neck, but she easily blocked it, slamming her tail into Turtle's elbow.

Turtle screamed out in pain as Aurora's spiked tail hit him, collapsing to the floor. Aurora pulled her tail and pressed her claws against his neck, pulling him towards her. He whimpered as blood dripped from his elbow, placing one paw on Aurora's forearm. "Don't move," Aurora ordered Torrent, who stopped in his tracks, "or I'll kill him."

Peril roared, fear overcoming her previous attempt at pacifism. "If you hurt him, I'll burn you to a crisp," she growled.

Torrent hissed, baring his teeth as he kept moving closer to Aurora. "You're lying. You said you needed his survival."

Aurora flicked her tongue. "His death would be highly unfortunate, but not critical. If you think I'm lying, remember the last time you thought I was bluffing. Stay still, or the SeaWing dies."

Disregarding Aurora's warning, Torrent continued forward. Aurora dug her claws further into Turtle's neck, the SeaWing squirming in pain.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Peril yelled out, stepping in front of Torrent again. Torrent jumped back as the full force of Peril's heat hit his scales. "Let him go, he has nothing to do with this!"

Aurora took a few steps into the tunnel leading back towards the academy, pulling the frightened Turtle with her as the prince looked to Peril for help. Her ears suddenly perked up, and something metal suddenly shot from her neck, almost taking off Peril's ear. The SkyWing glanced behind her to see a silver disk hit against the wall, before falling harmlessly on the ground.

Aurora frowned, and stepped sideways, the right side of her body disappearing into the tunnel wall. Turtle yelled out as she pulled him into the wall, phasing with her. In moments, both dragons were gone.

Chapter 41

"Monkey droppings," Deathbringer cursed, walking up to the space where Aurora and Turtle had just been. He tapped the tunnel wall, as if expecting them to appear from it. "It almost worked the first time."

"Turtle!" Peril called out frantically, rushing to the wall of the cave, causing Deathbringer to take a few steps back. She put her ear up the wall, trying to listen to him. But no such luck. "She took Turtle!"

"He's an animus, isn't he?" Torrent commented uncaringly. "He'll be fine."

Peril glared at the SeaWing, shaking her head. She'd seen enough of Turtle's enchantments that she had some doubts. She turned back to Deathbringer angrily. "You could've killed him, you know! If you hadn't tried to kill her, maybe we could've gotten Aurora to let him go!"

Deathbringer shuffled his wings, defensively. "Hey, usually my weapons don't pass through the dragons I send them at. I was just trying to do my job."

The NightWing assassin walked into the center of Stonemover's cave, giving Torrent a quick examination before looking down at Stonemover. If the animus was in pain from the punctures in his arm, he didn't show it. "We need to get you back to the medical center," Deathbringer frowned, seeing the wound.

Stonemover grunted. "It's fine," he replied apathetically, sighing. "I can barely feel a thing."

Deathbringer grimaced. The wound certainly needed attention, although he doubted he could pull Stonemover to the medical center. Maybe he'd ask Tsunami to come out here and give the poor animus some attention.

Torrent walked over towards the exit out of the cavern, up to the room where Nightreader's stone corpse still stood. Lying on the ground, slightly unrolled, was the Darkstalker's scroll. The SeaWing picked it up, feeling the familiar otherworldly sting of animus magic as it graced his talons. Sitting back on his haunches, he carefully put a paw to the top of it, and unfurled the scroll. This was a artifact he'd only read about in legends, an enchantment whose power was imprinted in the memory of Pyrrhia forever.

Torrent snorted as he read the scroll. A large part of the scroll had been torn out, but a large amount of script still remained. At the bottom of the scroll was the most recent enchantment, in hasty clawscript which read 'heal Chameleon's body completely.'

"Hey, what are you doing with that?" Peril asked, seeing Torrent pick the scroll up. "If you release the Darkstalker, I'll set you on fire."

"I think I'm going to hold on to this," Torrent muttered, rolling the scroll back up. This thing was more dangerous than the Darkstone. Instant animus powers. It was lucky the last dragon who'd held this hadn't done anything worse than the enchantments on there, although Torrent was worried about what was on the torn out portions.

"I'm not letting you use it," Peril hissed, threateningly. She didn't want to hurt this SeaWing. Clay wouldn't be happy. But Deathbringer might be able to get the scroll from him safely.

"What, you think I want to use it?" Torrent laughed, dropping the scroll into his satchel. "I'm an animus hunter, or at least I was. I've had the power of magic in my paws before; all it does is cause greed and pain. The last thing I want is to use the scroll. I'm going to keep this safe, keep it from falling into the paws of anyone who wanted to use it."

Peril frowned. She felt a little bad about taking it from her father, and she didn't trust this dragon, Turtle's brother or not. Still, he did have something that could disenchant animus artifacts, which could be helpful keeping it from other power-hungry dragons. And she agreed with him on this, if they couldn't destroy it, it needed to be kept as safe as possible — it wasn't like Peril could do that herself, it would go up in flames if she touched it.

"Take it for now, but I'm going to keep my eye on you," Peril begrudgingly agreed. "Also, it's your fault Aurora kidnapped Turtle, not mine. You better help us get him back. And this time, he's the priority, not your beef with Aurora."

"Fine," Torrent snorted. "I can do that for you." He pulled his map from its scrollcase, gently weighing it in his paws. It was nice to have it back. He rolled it open, and closely examined the area around Jade Mountain. Not far from Stonemover's blotch, he could see Aurora and Turtle's blotches, stuck together as they left the mountain.

"What's that?" Peril asked, curiously.

"How I found you all," Torrent huffed, exasperated. "Your animus friend is still alive, at least for now. He and my daughter are nearby, outside the mountain." And so was Polar, his faint blotch now having moved to Possibility. So Aurora had been telling the truth about that.

Peril's eyes lit up, relieved in her friend's safety. "Deathbringer, you hear that?" she shouted. "C'mon, let's go find Turtle!"

Deathbringer nodded, and gave Stonemover a quick glance of concern before heading out of the cave, up through the tunnel behind Stonemover. Torrent winced as he and Peril followed. This trip had already dredged up enough bad memories, he didn't particularly want to walk through what should've been his dragonets' nursery, by the stone corpse of his deceased mate. He sighed in regret, still imagining the life he could've had instead of the lonely last seven years.

Quickly walking through the abandoned nursery, the three took off over the woods surrounding Jade Mountain. As Peril flew over the hills, the effects of the drought were more visible than ever. Trees were dried and withered, and their leaves had started to lose their color, becoming an unhealthy tint of nondescript green-brown, rather than the vibrant colors of fall. Cracks ran across the scorched ground, and the snowline had clearly receded further within the past two weeks. If Peril wanted to touch down, she'd need to be very careful, or else the whole forest would be set aflame.

"This way," Torrent directed them, using his map to follow Aurora and Turtle's movements. They three flew to the west of the mountain, towards the desert and foothills in the distant.

"So, who are you exactly?" Deathbringer asked Torrent, still somewhat unsure why Peril was following this SeaWing. "What brings you to Jade Mountain?"

"Torrent," the SeaWing snorted. "I was tracking your animuses, including my daughter, And who are you, NightWing?"

"Deathbringer," the ex-assassin grinned. "King of the RainWings and NightWings. Mate of her majesty, Queen Glory."

Torrent glanced over towards Deathbringer, unimpressed by the extravagant title. This NightWing didn't look or act particularly kingly. No guards, no ordering dragons around. It had been many years since Torrent's time as a prince in the Deep Palace. Royalty seemed different nowadays, ever since the end of the war.

"So, what exactly happened?" Deathbringer asked the two. "I was going after Aurora, and tracked her here. Did she attack you both?"

"You should ask him," Peril snorted, glaring at Torrent. "He's the one who attacked us first."

Torrent bared his fangs. "I didn't attack you. I just followed you all, and you decided to run."

Peril rolled her eyes. "Huh, I wonder why we'd run from a dragon chasing after us holding out a wicked knife while threatening to release the Darkstalker."

Torrent scoffed. "The last part wasn't my fault. If you'd just explained the situation, I might have stopped."

"Might have," Peril pointed out. "Anyways Deathbringer, Torrent chased us to Stonemover's cave, where he threatened us a bit, and then Aurora came in, and she threatened to collapse the cave on us if Torrent attacked, but he didn't care, so this is really all his fault."

Deathbringer clucked.

Torrent grumbled unhappily, not really having a response to that. "The number of animuses at Jade Mountain was really suspicious, and I thought Ink was working with Aurora," he protested. "You heard her, she's helping to cause the drought. She's dangerous."

"I can agree with the SeaWing on that," Deathbringer pointed out. "There's a reason I was following her. We found her back at the volcano, and she killed two of the RainWing guards. Quite gruesomely, I might add."

"You thought Ink was working with Aurora?" Peril laughed. "I barely know him, but he's as harmless as a squirrel. And what do you mean, the number of animuses was suspicious?"

"There were five at Jade Mountain," Torrent growled. "Five. Do you know how many animuses there are in Pyrrhia? Seven. The last time I saw that many animuses so close together, they were being enslaved as a plot to take over Pyrrhia."

"I get your concern, but maybe you should've checked things out before attacking?" Peril suggested. "The animuses at Jade Mountain are just like everyone else, you know. They're just trying to live their lives in peace."

"Sure, they're like everyone else except for their apocalyptic powers," Torrent retorted.

Peril snorted. "Well, look at me. I can kill any dragon with just a touch. Three moons, pretty much any dragon could kill anyone else if they planned it out well. But we don't, at least not usually. Powers or not, animuses deserve the same chances everyone else does."

Torrent shook his head. "No. Either of you can kill many dragons, sure, but that's nothing like what an animus can do. Your abilities are completely inconsequential. With a single enchantment, an animus could enslave or murder an entire kingdom. You can't do that."

"She can't, but I can," Deathbringer pointed out. Torrent looked at him, unsure what he meant. "I used to be an assassin for the NightWings," Deathbringer explained. "I'm not proud of it, but I spent my life killing for my kingdom, each death meant to keep the war going until the NightWings could negotiate a new home with the victor. The war would've ended years before if not for me."

"Well, that's different," Torrent growled, irritated. He didn't offer an explanation why, just looking back down at his map.

Peril glanced towards him, wondering what was happening, but she couldn't risk flying closer without the chance of setting the SeaWing on fire.

"They've stopped," Torrent frowned, seeing that Aurora and Turtle's blotches were now still. He looked over to a hillcrest, surrounded on all sides by the forest valley. "They're over there."

Peril breathed heavily. Hopefully, Turtle was alright, and they'd be able to get him back without incident. The three headed down towards the top of the hill, knowing that Aurora was awaiting, hidden.

Chapter 42

The hot desert sun beat down upon Sunny's wings as she flew east. Her heart jumped in her chest as she saw the SandWings around her, the small volunteer army Armadillo had put together to defeat Aloe. Clay had been uncertain about leading them to the battle-site herself, but she felt like it was her obligation. If her weakness was leading some of these dragons to their deaths, Sunny wanted to experience what their pain and fear alongside them. And as Armadillo put it, knowing that their queen was flying alongside them would 'improve troop morale.'

Clay and Armadillo flew beside Sunny, the former almost as close as he could be without accidentally flying into her. Six-Claws was not far behind. His safety and arrival had been relieving to Sunny. Someone new in the palace she could trust with her life.

"I don't like this," Clay murmured, looking around at the SandWing fleet surrounding them, many of them dressed with armor and armed with spears. "This feels wrong."

Queen Sunny nodded solemnly. "I don't like it either." She'd only really been in one battle before, the short fight between Queen Thorn's Outclaws and Burn's SandWings guarding the stronghold, when Thorn had tried to rescue Sunny. If Sunny had been in Thorn's position, would she have done the same thing for her daughter? Send a bunch of dragons to their deaths? Was that what a queen did?

Sunny sighed. "I can't shake it," she said. "The feeling that I'm doing something wrong here. Three moons, I'm a Dragonet of Destiny! I'm supposed to stop wars, not start them!"

"You're a queen now," Armadillo added cynically. "Not a dragonet. And you didn't start this fight, Aloe and her mother before her did."

"I still don't like it," Sunny snorted. She remembered how she'd been able to stop the battle at the stronghold, now the palace. She'd gotten Peril to threaten everyone. That hadn't felt right either, but at least it was bloodless. Maybe it wasn't too late to get Peril at Jade Mountain, but she'd just be relying on someone else to keep her in power. She'd be little better than Queen Scarlet. And if Aloe didn't back down, there might be bloodshed after all. "There has to be another way."

"It's a little too late for that," Armadillo asserted. "Aloe's demand was unsatisfiable."

Queen Sunny was starting to tell that her advisor was getting fed up with her idealism and pacifism. To him, war was just a fact of life. Yet, maybe it didn't have to be. Peril had the power to prevent battles — what if Sunny had a hundred Perils, able to prevent any wars or conflicts at all? She would've snickered at the ridiculous idea, if not for the gravity of the situation. She glanced to Clay. She knew Peril had started to discuss the idea of dragonets recently, with Glory and Deathbringer's egg. Would their dragonets, if they could even have them, be little Perils? Would they also have firescales?

An updraft of wind pushed Sunny up, before she quickly stabilized her flight, drawing her attention back to the upcoming battle. Stopping wars — that sounded like something a Dragonet of Destiny was supposed to do. Although she supposed it didn't matter any longer. Morrowseer was years dead, and it wasn't like the prophecy had ever been real. She'd just gotten lucky. If Flower hadn't shown her the Eye of Onyx, Blister would've be queen instead of Thorn. And it wasn't like Thorn's coronation had been bloodless, anyways.

"If you're still worried, I wanted to try and ease your concerns," Armadillo continued. "I can't say the same for Aloe's SandWings, but your soldiers have been trained under a strict code of conduct. Queen Thorn's provision."

"A code of conduct?" Queen Sunny asked. "What do you mean?"

"The SandWing princesses, Burn in particular, had no sense of ethics in battle," Armadillo explained. "Your late mother wanted to make sure that the atrocities committed by her and her soldiers would never be repeated. There are various commands we've given our soldiers — no harming civilians, no harming opponents who've surrendered, no animus-touched objects, no pillaging, no surprise attacks, and so on."

"Huh," Sunny said. The destruction she'd seen caused by the war — maybe it could be prevented. Maybe this way, as few dragons would die as possible.

"You also expressed concern about drafting soldiers," Armadillo continued. "I've checked to make sure that all our SandWings are of age and are volunteers. I'd suggest that you speak to a few of them on our flight, if you'd like. Ask why they're fighting for you. Talking to their queen could improve morale."

Sunny thought about this for a moment. Maybe it would be a good idea to see what they were fighting for. Was it just because Sunny was their queen, and they didn't like Aloe or Blister? Or was it more? She nodded. "C'mon, Clay," she told him, before they flew towards one of the wings of the army, where her troops flew alongside her.

They all watched their queen with reverence as she came nearby. Sunny quickly picked out one of the younger, friendlier-looking soldiers, and glided over to her. The soldier looked in surprise, not having expected that her queen would be picking her out.

"Your majesty," the soldier said, bowing her head mid-flight. A few more SandWings crowded around, curious as to what their queen was doing.

"Just Sunny is fine," replied the young queen, kindly grinning. "What's your name?"

"M-me?" the SandWing asked nervously, unsure why her queen was singling her out. Could she be in trouble for something? Sunny couldn't know about the brightsting cactus juice she'd stolen, could she? It had been so many years ago, before Thorn's ascension… "Er, I'm Sandstorm."

"It's nice to meet you, Sandstorm," Sunny replied. She could tell that the soldier was worried, like Sunny's students when she had to bring them in to reprimand them (saving them from Tsunami's wrath). "Please don't be worried, you're not in trouble. You all are going to be risking your lives for me, and I just wanted to meet a few of you before."

"Oh," Sandstorm said, clearly relieved. "Thank you, your majesty, that's so kind of you."

Sunny smiled. "So, I just wanted to check — you're a volunteer, right? No one is forcing you to fight for me?"

Sandstorm nodded in response.

"And you're ten or older?" Sunny asked.

"Eleven," Sandstorm pointed out. "Don't worry, I can fight."

Sunny looked her up and down. She definitely did seem to be in fighting condition. She glanced at the other soldiers flying around, curiously watching the interaction. "That's good. I'm hoping that you won't need to. You know that you're risking your life for me, right? Why?" A bit direct.

Sandstorm thought for a moment, but the answer was quick. "Your mother," she explained. "My condolences. But after she became queen, things became so much better. She helped get everyone food and water, and gave out emergency brightsting cactus. During the war, that didn't happen. None of the princesses cared."

Another one of the SandWings butted in, this one a bit older than Sandstorm. "Every day, we were worried our cities would be destroyed. That our homes would be pillaged, and we'd be conscripted into Burn's armies. Queen Thorn ended that. I'd risk my life if it means my dragonets can enjoy the stability she brought us."

Sunny grimaced a little. But if he died, that meant his dragonets would grow up without a father. She sighed, and shook her head. "And you think I'll be able to continue doing what my mother did?"

"Of course!" Sandstorm exclaimed. "You're a Dragonet of Destiny, aren't you? You stopped the war. There's no better queen than you!" Murmurs of agreement came from the other soldiers.

Sunny shook her head, almost unnoticeably. The prophecy was fake. She'd just been lucky enough to fulfill it. She'd barely been able to hold a school together, much less a kingdom. And she couldn't even fight Aloe herself. If they all knew the truth of the prophecy, they wouldn't be fighting for her.

"Thank you," Sunny sighed. She wasn't strong enough to tell them the truth. "C'mon Clay, let's get back to Armadillo and Six-Claws."

The soldiers watched, confused as they glided back towards the center of the army. The long flight east continued until the sun was low in the sky, oranges and reds lighting up the desert floor.

One of the SandWings who'd flown out ahead of the group was visible in the distance, rushing towards the army as quick as he could. Armadillo's eyes lit up as the swift, small soldier's form grew, his wings beating as he approached the center.

"This is it," Armadillo murmured.

The dragon approached Queen Sunny, out of breath as he turned around. "Your majesty," he coughed. "There are dragons, flying west, carrying a banner we believe is Aloe's. We're quickly approaching them."

Armadillo nodded, and murmured something to another SandWing, who immediately started barking orders at the dragons around him.

"This is good," Six-Claws quietly whispered to Sunny. "The sun is at our backs, and there aren't any sandstorms in sight."

Sunny nodded, not caring too much about the details. "How many are there?"

"I didn't have time to count, but not many. Maybe fifty or so."

"Only fifty?" Armadillo suddenly asked, surprised. "Reports said that there were about double that when she arrived in Crosswinds, and she should've gained numbers in recruits there."

The messenger shrugged. "There might have been more further back, or maybe she split her troops. Or maybe Crosswinds was less than welcoming to her."

Armadillo frowned. "No matter," he decided. "Even if she tried to sneak behind us and attack the palace, it's easily defensible and we've got plenty of troops defending it."

"And if she tries to flank us with the two parts?" Six-claws asked.

"Still pointless," Armadillo replied. "We have hundreds more dragons than she does, here alone. Unless she got the entire city of Crosswinds to join her, we easily outnumber her."

Six-Claws nodded, and turned to Sunny and Clay. "I'll be near you both the entire time," he explained. "We'll be in the center of the army rather than the back, and will stay as far from any fighting as possible. I want to make sure you stay safe."

Sunny nodded, looking out towards the horizon in the east. It wasn't long before the small figures of dragons appeared in the distance. Aloe's troops. Yells and orders started to surround Sunny from the SandWing soldiers, and she heard the sound of horns call out. As they approached, it soon became clear that Sunny's troops dwarfed Aloe's. The numbers were even more skewed than they'd been for the Outclaws attack on Burn's stronghold. It would take a miracle for Aloe to win this battle.

"C'mon, let's get back," Six-Claws said. Sunny and Clay followed behind him, until a crowd of SandWings flew ahead. The army remained mostly level with each other, although she could tell that a few layers were starting to separate out, like a pair of giant jaws, made up of hundreds of dragons.

Sunny said a silent prayer to herself, for the battle to be over quickly, with as few casualties as possible. She barely had time before the two armies suddenly collided, her SandWings enclosing around Aloe's. Roars of dragons engaging in battle started to ring out, with the clang of claws on scale and metal drowning out all other noises, except for the piercing horns. SandWings started to fly around Sunny, Clay, and Six-Claws, and the queen tried to make herself small, hoping no one would accidentally brush against her scales with their barb. She didn't want to go through that again.

Clay nervously brushed a wing against Sunny, as two dragons fought claw with claw ahead.

"Stay calm," Six-Claws tried to comfort the two. The SandWing on Aloe's side was hopelessly encircled by five more of Sunny's soldiers, waiting for their turn a small distance away. Even if he defeated the one in front of him, he had little chance of getting through the rest. With a swipe of his tail, he raked his opponent beneath the wing with his barb. The injured SandWing roared in pain, struggling to keep aloft. He glided down to the desert below, landing with a tumble, as another one of Sunny's soldiers swooped in to take his place.

Sunny looked down to the desert floor. More frequently now, dragons were dropping out from the swarm of fighting SandWings. Some managed to glide safely, but others fell like rocks, meeting a perilous end. Sunny winced. This wasn't what she'd wanted. They needed to get the battle on the ground.

"Six-Claws, command our SandWings to land," Sunny ordered him.

"Land?" Six-Claws asked, slightly concerned. "We have them surrounded on all sides now, they'll be able to attack us from the air if we land."

"At least take us closer to the ground," Sunny pleaded. "We're not trying to kill here, just taking prisoners."

General Six-Claws nodded, although he seemed uncertain of the decision. "Yes, your majesty."

He barked out an order to the nearest horn player, and the sounds shifted. Slowly, the mass of SandWings started to dive. Those of Aloe's soldiers who were already caught in battle were pulled with the mass, but many others were too late, and the already small amount of soldiers was stretched vertically thinner. The sounds of the horns changed again as they got near the ground, until most of the SandWings were either standing on the dunes or gliding just above them.

The battle resumed, Sunny taking a sigh of relief. At least now, injured dragons would be fall. Suddenly, the queen heard a roar from behind her, as an enemy soldier came swooping down, talons out.

Six-Claws shoved Sunny to the side, into the dune. He turned around and shot up at burst of fire, scalding the soldier as he flew off with a yelp. He quickly became interlocked with another SandWing, and Six-Claws pulled Sunny away from him.

"By landing, we've opened ourselves up to attacks from above," he warned Sunny, his voice teaching, but not judgemental of her decision. Clay followed as the three weaved through a crowd of SandWings, nestling themselves safely in the middle. A few more glided above them, protecting them from flying attacks.

Horns sounded again as Sunny looked out, barely able to see through the mess of dragons. She saw two SandWings fighting, claws out as they reared. As one leaped forward, the other feinted back, and stabbed their opponent in the neck with their barb. Sunny almost through up in her mouth as the barb was torn out ruthlessly, ripping out chunks of blood and flesh before the SandWing slumped to the ground, certainly dead. She couldn't even tell who's side the SandWings were on, with the sigils on their breastplates obscured.

Sunny shook her head. "We have to stop this," she told Clay. "We never should've done this."

"It's too late," Six-Claws interrupted. "You could try and retreat, but we've almost won." It was true. There were a few fights left on the battlefield, but the fighting had mostly stopped. She looked around, wondering if the rest of Aloe's army was going to show up, but there were no other dragons in sight, just sand and sky.

The horns sounded again, this time in triumph. Few dragons were still flying overhead. Sunny looked through the crowd to see that a large number of Aloe's soldiers had been rounded up, disarmed while being placed in chains, while others were fleeing. They'd surrendered.

Armadillo walked into view, making his way through the crowd of SandWings towards Sunny. "Good news, your majesty."

"It's not good news," Sunny grumbled, looking around. Plenty of dragons were on the ground, injured or dead. She wasn't even sure what side most of them had been on. "I didn't want anyone to die for me."

"There were very few casualties, compared to a usual battle," Armadillo replied. "Tens at most, including both sides."

"And it would just be one if I'd fought Aloe," Sunny snorted.

"In the short run, yes, but your reign will surely be less bloody," Armadillo continued. "Less starvation and wars in the years to come will make up for the deaths here."

Sunny sighed. This wasn't what she'd wanted. Why she have settled things peacefully, like Glory and the NightWings?

"Do you see that?" Armadillo pointed out, raising his claws. Sunny followed them to the dunes, where two SandWings were lifting up another SandWing, carrying him. "He's might be an enemy, but we're still going to tend to his injuries as best as we can. We've got plenty of brightsting, enough for Aloe's soldiers, too."

Sunny was still unimpressed. It would've been better if no one had been hurt at all. "Where's Aloe?"

"We couldn't find her," Armadillo explained. "She either fled, or more likely than not, wasn't here in the first place."

Sunny seethed, the small hybrid almost furious. "So what was the point of this? She's the one who matters, not these dragons!"

Armadillo shook his head. "We defeated Aloe, and that's what counts. Even if she still tries to lay claim to the throne, she has almost no one left to back her up. We can also get information from her troops on her movements."

Sunny shook her head. This was an empty victory, only the first battle. The images of the dragons she saw killed flashed back through her head. All of their deaths were her fault, because she wasn't strong enough to face Aloe alone. And there was nothing she could do about it. "C'mon," she muttered. "I want to go back to the palace."

Chapter 43

Ink, Toxin, and Inferno stared on as Mayfly poked and prodded Polar. The MudWing doctor seemed somewhat unhappy that she'd been asked to come all the way out here as opposed to having Polar brought to her, but Ink had been insistent. She lifted one of the IceWing's wings up and gave its membrane a little squeeze, before feeling its response. It shook a little, but there was little motion. She then slid her claws down to one of his hindlegs, and gave the knee a hard whack. Inferno jumped in surprise, and Polar's leg struck out.

"You don't have to keep staring," Mayfly snapped at the three.

"Sorry," Inferno apologized.

Mayfly turned back, and moved her paws to Polar's forearm. She squeezed it, checking the blood flow, then placed her claws to the Darkstone bracelet.

"Don't take that off!" Ink suddenly shouted.

Mayfly turned back, annoyed. "It's just a bracelet. I can put it back on."

Ink shook his head. "No, he starts shaking if you take it off."

Mayfly snorted. She jiggled the bracelet a tad, and Polar's body suddenly stiffened up. "Hmph," she replied. "That's unusual. The bracelet doesn't happen to be injecting poison or anything into him, does it?"

"Poison?" Ink asked, worried. "No, I don't think so."

Mayfly frowned, and stuck her snout to the Darkstone bracelet, giving it a sniff. The flesh beneath was blue and puffy. Was it the cause of the injury, or had he put it on there to hide it? Maybe it was causing an allergic reaction? But if taking it off caused spasms, she didn't want to do anything that could harm him further. "Is it enchanted?" she asked. "I know IceWings have their weird gifts."

"Not really," Toxin answered, not quite sure how to explain the Darkstone to Mayfly.

"The diamond I put in his other paw is enchanted, though," Ink continued. "It's supposed to heal him."

Mayfly opened up Polar's paw, checking out the Diamond Healer. "Doesn't seem to be doing a very job, then," she commented. She moved her paw back to the area around the Darkstone, and gave it a few prods with her talons. Unlike the rest of his scales, the area was hard and lumpy.

The three kept waiting impatiently while Mayfly continued her examination. Eventually, she got up from Polar, and turned to Ink. "I have good news and bad news," she reported. "I'm not sure what happened, so further details might enlighten me, but his body suffered some severe trauma, unusual in that most of the stress seemed non-localized. That being said, it seems to be healing quickly, and his coma isn't bad as many other cases I've seen. It doesn't seem like there's severe brain injuries."

"Do you know when he's going to wake up?" Ink asked.

Mayfly shook her head. "I don't. Optimistically, within a day or two. But given how unusual his case is, there's no way to tell, especially since I don't know how much he's improving. It could be much longer, or never."

Toxin winced. She hadn't realized how much risk he'd put himself in when he'd saved them. She sighed. "Thank you, Mayfly."

"That's the good news," Mayfly continued. "The bad news is that I discovered severe cancerous growth beneath his bracelet that's spread through his foreleg. If left unchecked, it'll spread to his organs, and eventually kill him."

Ink looked down at Polar gravely. He remembered how the IceWing had fallen in their flight to Jade Mountain. Did it have something to do with that? Had Polar known?

"So long as the cancer is only in the foreleg, we should be able to get rid of it by amputating," Mayfly explained. "It'll need to be done as soon as possible, and I will want him brought to the clinic. Which of you is taking care of the IceWing?"

"I am," Toxin decided. She frowned, worried. Why hadn't Polar told her? "We're not going ahead with the amputation until he's awake. He should make the decision for himself."

"I'd hardly call it a decision," Mayfly snorted. "Unfortunately, there aren't any other options, unless your magic diamond heals cancer. Hopefully, he wakes up soon, or else you might need to make his decision for him."

Toxin clenched her claws. Maybe Polar could use the Darkstone again, and enchant something that shrunk tumors or similar. But that required him waking up. "He's strong, he'll wake up."

Mayfly seemed ambivalent, and just shrugged her wings. "Well, come to me when you're ready." She swished her frostbreath-scarred tail and got up her supplies, opening the door to the small house. Directly in front of her, also trying to reach for the handle at the same time, was Slate.

"Er, sorry," Slate said, stepping out of Mayfly's way to let her pass. After she'd gotten down the steps, he came back up, carrying a small sack with him into the blue-shingled house. Closing the door behind him, he set his sack in the center of the room, and opened it up. The smell of smoked meat filled the air.

"That smells good," Ink commented, trying to lift his mood.

"Yeah," Slate answered, pulling out a variety of smoked and salted meats. "I wasn't really able to get us much water, unfortunately. With the river gone, it all needs to be collected from the mountaintops." He pulled out a small flask.

Toxin frowned. If the prophecy meant that they needed to stop the drought, it had better hurry up. How could Polar stop the drought if he was in a coma? He had to wake up, soon.

Inferno slowly made her way to the to the banquet, and picked out a large piece of pork. Careful not to touch anything else with her claws, she bent her neck down and picked up the piece in her jaws, making sure it didn't touch her scales and char. She quickly swallowed it, before looking to the flask.

"I can get that for you," Ink said, opening the flask of water. Inferno yawned and opened her mouth, letting Ink pour a small portion of it in, careful not to lose any drops of the precious water.

"Er, do you eat meat?" Slate asked Toxin. He'd heard that RainWings only ate fruit, but Toxin was half-NightWing.

Toxin shrugged. It wasn't something she'd ever gotten fully used to, since no one had eaten meat before the NightWings arrived. "It'll do." She picked out a chicken breast, gently knawing on it.

Slate stared curiously at Toxin, watching her eat. She glanced back, slightly irritated. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Slate replied. "I was just thinking, do the NightWings have to eat fruit now that they live in the rainforest?"

Toxin shrugged her wings. "Some do, although most eat meat too. To be honest, most of them just eat whatever they can find. Even insects are better than what they had on their island. Carrion isn't particularly tasty, so I've heard."

"Bleh," Slate snorted, sticking out his tongue. "That sounds pretty gross. I take it you were raised with RainWings, not NightWings?"

Toxin laughed. "Believe me, if I'd hatched in the Night Kingdom instead of the rainforest, they'd have thrown me in lava right out of the egg. But yeah, my mother was kind enough to put my egg in the RainWing hatchery."

"Do you know her?" Slate asked, thinking about Fawn. "Your mother?"

"Nah," Toxin answered. "RainWings don't do parents, sort of like MudWings. They just throw all their eggs together. They check how their venom mixes to see if they're related before mating, but it's not really important otherwise. Still, I figure that my parents would know I'm their dragonet, since there's only one other hybrid my age, but neither of them have come forward to claim me. I don't even know if my mother is a RainWing or NightWing, or their relationship with each other. For all I know, they could've both been drowned in a pit of lava before I hatched."

"Oh," Slate said sympathetically, "that's rough."

Toxin snorted. "Honestly, that's my favorite scenario. Two dragons who died fighting for forbidden love. But it might not have been so pretty. There might be a reason they don't want me."

Slate shuffled uncomfortably. Even though Toxin put off an air of ambivalence about this, he could tell she really cared about this. For her sake, he hoped it was something good, like her parents had flown off together, and would one day return to find their daughter.

"But again it's not like it matters much anymore," Toxin continued. "I barely even remember the rainforest before the NightWings joined us, and we've got plenty more hybrids along the way for Glory to fawn over. Her own dragonet included. But what about you? You mentioned your grandfather was a SandWing. How do you know that, if MudWings don't know their parents?"

"I was unlucky enough not to have any sibs," Slate answered. "So my mother took care of me instead, since she'd kinda been pushed out of her group of half-sibs. We thought about trying to find MudWings that would take in unsibs, but I was too young to join most open groups, and to be honest, I didn't really want to leave her. So we just ended up together. I didn't know who my father was until Torrent told me."

"Torrent?" Toxin asked, recalling the SeaWing she'd barely met.

"Yeah, apparently they used to be friends or something."

Meanwhile, Ink had turned himself away from Polar, leaving the IceWing to sleep. He looked over at Inferno. "Are you alright?" he asked. The SkyWing was bobbing her head in a dazed stare at the wall.

Inferno shook herself to attention. "Yeah," she grumbled, "just a bit tired." Ash had been frantic last night, worried about being in the city, worried about Polar's animus magic, and worried about the prophecy. He'd pleaded for Inferno to turn back towards Jade Mountain, but she couldn't. If the world was at stake, and she had to be with these other dragons to save it, then she didn't have a choice. She couldn't just let everyone done.

Ash hadn't been happy, and had warned Inferno that if she got killed, that would be the end of him, too. Still, what else could she do? She'd suggested that she tell the others, or at least Ink, about him, but her brother instantly turned the idea down. She didn't like hiding Ash from Ink, but Ink had hid the prophecy from her, after all. And it wasn't like Ink, or anyone else, really needed to know about Ash. What if they were creeped out by him? She'd not only accidentally killed her twin brother, but somehow absorbed his soul. That certainly didn't seem like something a good dragon would do, even if Inferno had done it on accident.

"Alright, try and get some more sleep," Ink suggested with a smile, not knowing if it would help or not. He looked back to Polar, watching the comatose IceWing.

Suddenly, Polar's forepaw started to contract, as if he was trying to grab something. Ink's eyes lit up as he saw the IceWing's eyelids flicker. The hybrid rushed over to his side, looking down over Polar's head. "Polar, are you alright?" he asked, wanting to see if the IceWing had regained consciousness.

The IceWing grumbled something incomprehensible. Trying to hear, Ink leaned his head down to Polar's snout, almost touching it to his ears. By now, the other three were watching hopefully. "What did you say?"

Polar reached his forearms around Ink's neck, pulling him in and breathing misty breath over hikm. Before Ink had time to react, the IceWing planted a smooch on the hybrid's snout. Taken by surprise, Ink reared his head up. Polar's forearms slipped off it, and the IceWing's head hit the floor with a bang.

"Ouch," Polar muttered.

"Well, now he definitely has brain damage," Toxin commented.

Slate looked towards her, slightly confused. "Is this normal?" he asked.

"Polar? Showing affection? No."

The flustered Ink blinked and stared back at Polar, not quite sure what had just happened. "Er, sorry about dropping you," he stammered.

Polar moved a forepaw towards his head, trying to rub it, but his coordination was still off, and he ended up rubbing the floor. "No," the IceWing grumbled groggily, "er, I deserved it. I shouldn't have done that."

"It's fine," Ink replied, still confused, stepping back to give the awakening Polar a little bit of space.

The five dragons were all quiet for a minute as Polar struggled to get up, his limbs collapsing beneath him with each attempt. Eventually, he gave up, resigning himself to lying on his back, his wings spread out slightly.

"If anyone even thinks about mentioning what just happened to Queen Glacier, I'll rip your throat out," Polar threatened the others.

Toxin snorted. "This is more normal," she commented to Slate. "Although Queen Glacier is dead."

"Huh?" Polar asked, his memory starting to return to him as his thoughts became clearer. "Oh, yeah, right."

Barely able to lift his head up, the IceWing looked around the small, cluttered, room. "Where are we?" he asked. "This doesn't look like Jade Mountain." He frowned as he looked over at Slate. "And what's he doing here?"

"I'm the one who carried you all across town; you're welcome," Slate muttered.

"We're in Possibility, and this is Slate, our number five," Toxin explained. "Remember what happened? Aurora came in, and almost crushed us all, then you teleported us out."

"Wow, I'm surprised that worked," Polar snorted, laying his head on its side, trying not to shut his eyes again. "The most I'd done before was making pebbles float. Is that why I feel like I've eaten a rotten seal?"

Toxin nodded. "Partially. We had a doctor come by to check you out."

"Oh great," Polar grumbled, the floor swirling around him. "You didn't tell them about the Darkstone, did you? That's supposed to be a secret. Oops, I shouldn't have said that. Wow, I'm bad at this secret keeping business."

"Most of us already know," Toxin sighed. Hopefully, this wooziness would end soon, "and yes. But there's something the doctor said that you need to know —"

"— Although it's not urgent," Ink suddenly interrupted, turning back to Toxin and giving her a look of concern. She returned a glare. "It can wait until you've had a little more rest."

"Great," Polar yawned. "I'm pretty tired, and I can't tell which of you is which anymore. Wow, letting a bunch of not IceWings guard me while I sleep. My ranking is dropping faster than a flying penguin."

Polar shut his eyes, and the IceWing slowly drifted back off into sleep while the four watched. After she was sure he was finally fast asleep again, she turned to Ink.

"What was that for?" Toxin hissed. "Why didn't you let me tell him?"

"He just woke up, and he's clearly a little addled," Ink answered calmly. "I didn't want to bother him more than I had to."

Toxin snorted. "Well, unfortunately, this is urgent. You heard what Mayfly said, right? We don't know how long he has before the cancer spreads beyond his arm."

"Fine," Ink replied. "Next time he wakes up, you tell him."

Toxin flicked her tongue out, and turned back to her meal, finishing it off. It wasn't long before she was interrupted again.

A loud knock on the door suddenly startled Slate. Ink looked nervously towards Inferno, while Toxin bared her fangs.

"Who's that?" she growled, glancing towards Slate for an answer.

"I don't know!" Slate frantically replied, the tip of his tail swishing anxiously. "I didn't think anyone followed me back!"

"What if Aurora's here?" Inferno asked, suddenly alert.

"It's not Aurora," Toxin snorted. "She's on the other side of the continent."

"We teleported, what if she can too with her Darkstone?" Slate suggested.

"She'd just phase through the door," Ink replied. "It could be the Enclave. They sometimes check up on disturbances."

"Are we a disturbance?" Inferno gulped worriedly. "This is a Talons of Peace safehouse, right? And we're on the border of the Sky Kingdom. Are the Talons outlawed here?"

Toxin groaned, and pushed Slate aside. "You all are such cowards. I'll just open it myself."

The dragonet stormed to the door and slammed it up with a ferocious glare. "This is private property," she growled, "you have no business here."

The RainWing-NightWing hybrid looked up to see a smiling wintergreen IceWing, a leather strip over one of his eyes that matched Ink's. "Technically," Fracture grinned, "I think this is my property."

Chapter 44

Polar turned from side to side, his claws clenching. It was much too hot here for a good night's rest. Voices spoke from around him, the chattering of dragons. "Would you be quiet?" he snorted.

The voices grew quiet, until only the occasional whisper surrounded Polar. He still tossed and turned, shutting his eyes. Sleep didn't come. He sighed, knowing there wasn't much use still trying. His eyelids slowly slid open, bright light coming in them as he looked up. Above him was the green-tinted snout of another IceWing, slowly coming into focus. As the rest of the room came into view, he saw the four other dragons that had been there last, staring at him.

"Who are you?" he snorted at the IceWing. His eyes moved to the leather band around the IceWing's left eye.

Fracture looked down at Polar, a hint of regret in his voice. "I think you already know."

Polar's claws clenched up as he realized who the IceWing was. Queen Glacier had given him descriptions of his parents, and the eyepatch was just like Ink's. "Fracture," he said bitterly.

"It's been too long, Polar," Fracture responded, his spines drooping even as he tried to crack a smile. "I haven't seen you since you could fit in my paw."

A low growl sounded in Polar's throat. "You abandoned me," he accused his father. "You left me with Queen Glacier, just so you could betray our kingdom and raise someone else's dragonet."

Fracture was silent, curling his tail guiltily.

"Why didn't you take me with you?" Polar hissed. "Did you think I'd enjoy living in the Ice Kingdom, with no parents? Whenever I left the palace, whenever I saw the rankings, I had to see Clarity and Crystal's names, resting in the Seventh Circle. You weren't even on there. I didn't even know if you were alive, or just too lowborn to get a ranking."

Fracture refused to defend himself, but Ink did.

"You think Fracture wanted to leave you?" the unusually angry hybrid snapped at Polar. "He didn't get a choice. Queen Glacier took you from his paws and forced him to flee, just so that she had some extra leverage against Crystal and the Talons. He and Clarity didn't abandon you. They tried to get you back, but there was nothing they could do."

Polar looked over to Ink, still too weak to lift his head up much. He shut his eyes as his claws shook. Ink was right. Polar knew it. He'd known it since his conversation with Toxin, maybe even before that. He shook his head, sniffling as a few tears started to run from his eyes.

"No, Polar's right," Fracture said. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I wasn't there for you all those years when you needed me. I should've tried harder."

Polar sniffled some more, and Fracture reached down to hold the IceWing, cradling his son's head in his forearms as he sat. The two IceWings were like this for a while, while the other four waited patiently.

"I'm glad I got to see you again," Fracture smiled. "I really wish I could've been a real father. To have been there as you grew up — taking down a polar bear together, singing you to sleep — I know your mother feels exactly the same way. My greatest regret is not being able to stop Queen Glacier from taking you."

Polar laid back. He'd sometimes imagined what life would've been like if he'd been raised by his parents, even against Queen Glacier's wishes. If he'd had dragons around him who'd loved him, instead of just being used as a tool.

Fracture sighed. "I'm proud of you. Don't forget that you're doing the right thing. There's so much I wish I could say, to make this all better, but I don't know how much time we have." He gave his son another squeeze, before tearing himself away, teardrops in his eyes.

Fracture turned towards Ink and gave him a hug, cradling the hybrid in his wings. "I'm proud of you, too. You've grown so much from the dragonet I knew. You're so brave to do this."

After holding Ink for a few moments, Fracture let go. The IceWing took in a deep breath, holding back tears before stiffening himself up, becoming more serious. He scanned his eyes across Toxin, Inferno, and Slate. "Now that all five of you are awake, there's something we need to discuss."

"We already know you're the one who gave Nightreader the prophecy," Toxin stated, recalling Stonemover's words. "How did you get it, and what do you know about it?"

"The prophecy came to me once in a vision," Fracture explained. "Nightreader foretold the prophecy in this vision."

"Hold on, what?" Slate asked, confused. "Are you saying you saw her foretell the prophecy in the future, then told it to her before she foretold it? Like, time-travel?"

"No, that's not it," Toxin said, keeping her eyes locked with Fracture's. "First of all, IceWings don't get visions of the future. Second, Nightreader was born on the volcanic island. She couldn't have the power of prophecy."

"You're correct," Fracture smiled. "Nightreader never foretold the prophecy."

"So, your vision was a fake?" Inferno questioned. "You just made it up?" That didn't make sense, the Talons had claimed that Fracture had predicted things before they had happened.

"In a way, yes, although I didn't make it up," Fracture continued. "Like Ink, I am able to experience a sort of vision through my blank eye." He tapped a talon to his eyepatch. "But instead of seeing the future, and how things will be, I see how things could have been. I'm able to experience how my life would've been on different versions of Pyrrhia, where things happened differently from the way things are now."

"Until Aurora took my eye out, I used to be able to see how Pyrrhia would've been if Crystal and Aurora had killed my sister instead of my brother," Ink gave an example. "But Fracture can see lots and lots of different Pyrrhias."

"So like, if Burn had won the war instead of Thorn?" Slate asked.

"Correct," Fracture said. "Not just Burn, but Blister, Blaze, Erosion, Onyx, or Aloe. Unlike Ink, who could only see the one version, I experience visions in many of these worlds, which let me see more worlds where I can have visions, and so on. I can use what I see in the worlds most similar to this one to figure out information I wouldn't have known normally, and use that to even predict the future sometimes. For example, figuring out troop movements, or if someone is an enemy or a friend."

"And you used these powers to lead the Talons of Peace?" Inferno asked, frowning.

"Yes," Fracture nodded, confirming it.

Inferno tapped a talon, still unsure. "How come the Talons of Peace failed, then? Why didn't you use it to end the war?"

A twinkle glimmered in Fracture's eye. "The Talons didn't fail. The Dragonets of Destiny ended the war, and Thorn became queen, didn't she?"

Inferno mused on this for a while. Maybe Fracture was right, but couldn't there have been a better way?

"Back to Nightreader," Fracture said. "In one of these versions of Pyrrhia, the NightWings conquered the rainforest decades before the war, brutally enslaving and killing the RainWings. The IceWings had responded, and the two kingdoms were locked in an endless war. I knew from my visions that the NightWings had an animus, Stonemover, and that he was going to cause a great travesty, killing many IceWings and NightWings alike. I travelled to what was left of the rainforest, where I was snuck into the NightWing palace and met with Stonemover and his sister, Nightreader. There, she gave me the prophecy, knowing that I could use it. Eventually, I just gave it back to her."

"What happened to Stonemover and the travesty?" Slate asked.

Fracture shrugged his wings. "I convinced him and Nightreader to flee the Night Kingdom, but I didn't manage to escape the palace alive."

"Oh," Slate responded.

"So, what does the prophecy mean?" Polar asked Fracture, trying to look up. "Toxin and I figured out that it refers to us five and the Eye of Onyx, but not much more than that."

Fracture sighed. "Unfortunately, I can't tell you much. I've never managed to live the prophecy out to its end. I can't even say if it will come true or not. In some worlds, not all of you are even alive at this point."

"Gah!" Toxin yelled, flashes of red streaking through her dark scales. "Seriously? What was the point in coming here if you don't know what it means?"

"I said I can't tell you much, not that I can't tell you anything," Fracture calmly replied. "You already know who Calamity is, I take it?"

"Not really," Polar grumbled. "He did something with one of the Eyes to cause earthquakes after the Scorching. We have some conflicting information, but Aurora mentioned him, so I think they're all working together."

"There is little about Calamity that isn't conflicting," Fracture answered, "but it's all true. He's extremely dangerous, far more than Aurora or Crystal, and is unkillable. Still, if you wish to find him, the 'bridge of light and frost' refers to the Crystal Caverns beneath the Southern Ice Kingdom, beneath the Mausoleum of Queen Frost and the Darkstone mines." He turned to Toxin. "Do you remember how Calamity can be stopped."

Toxin thought back to the legend she'd read. "Falcon," she said. "Calamity can be trapped in the mortal form of a dragon using the blood of an animus."

Polar's eyes glazed over as he started to realize what that meant. The Darkstone had made him an animus, hadn't it? And none of the others were animuses. Just like Falcon, he'd have to sacrifice himself. If he went down into those caves, he wouldn't be coming back.

"Yes," Fracture confirmed, although he didn't seem happy about it. Melancholy and dread dripped from the IceWing's voice. "That is the only way."

Everyone was silent for a minute, before Slate interrupted the quiet. "You said you can see other possible versions of Pyrrhia. Are these like, abstract possible futures, or are these worlds real? Can you go to them?"

Fracture turned to Inferno. "Inferno, you remember Trustbreaker, don't you?"

Inferno nodded. "Yeah. He can read minds, right? Are you saying —"

"Yes," Fracture responded. "NightWings his age in this Pyrrhia shouldn't have powers, but he does. I met him years ago, not long after he escaped his world. That being said, in all my visions, I've only met a single crosser other than him. While some of these worlds are real, and Trustbreaker is from one of those realities, most of them are long gone."

"Long gone?" Slate wondered. "What's that supposed to mean?"

As Fracture opened his mouth, a loud knock suddenly sounded on the door, making Slate jump. Toxin bared her fangs.

Fracture looked towards it, and sighed. "It appears my time is up."

Before anyone else could say a word, a quiet hissing followed by a loud 'thunk" came from the door, and it flew off its hinges, slamming onto the ground with a bang. This time, a different IceWing walked through the door way, swishing her perfectly formed tail back and forth. She glanced around the room before turning to the dragons within it.

"Looks like this place hasn't changed too much from when I was here last," Crystal snorted, her obsidian dagger held out to her side. "Nice little family reunion we've got going on here."

Chapter 45

The three landed on the top of the hill, Peril on a rocky outcrop. A few blades of grass growing between the cracks in the rocks shriveled and burned as she got close. She looked down at them worriedly. The last thing they needed right now was to set the entire Jade Mountain Valley on fire.

"Turtle!" she called out, unable to move from her spot while Deathbringer and Torrent walked towards the treeline. "Are you here?"

The SkyWing gritted her teeth and turned her tail in a circle. There wasn't anything she could do but yell out — if she stepped one paw onto the grassy knoll, the dry grass would catch. She hated just having to wait here, not knowing whether or not Turtle was safe. Although it wasn't like she'd be much use in combat; Aurora would just phase through her. There weren't many dragons who could pose a physical threat to Peril.

Suddenly, a rustle sounded from the undergrowth. Large enough to be a dragon. The three turned towards it, getting ready for another fight. Torrent's claws grasped tightly around his dagger, while Deathbringer reached towards one of his silver disks. Peril's eyes watched the woods closely, and her wings beat once, in case she needed to fly.

Out of the undergrowth came a panting Turtle, tearing through bushes as he ran into the open. Torrent jumped back as Turtle fell to the ground, breathing hard. His forearm was stained red around the wounds he'd gotten from Aurora's spikes, although it looked like it had stopped bleeding.

"Turtle!" Peril shouted. Thank the moons, he was still alive. "Deathbringer, bring him over here." If there was going to be another fight with Aurora, Peril didn't want Turtle caught in the midst of it.

Deathbringer put a wing beneath Turtle, and helped him limp over to the rocks Peril was on. "Are you okay?" Peril asked, checking her friend for injuries. Other than the ones Aurora had given him on his elbow, there didn't seem to be any new ones.

Turtle's breath started to slow. "Y-yeah," he answered, clutching his forearm. "I think so."

Deathbringer walked back towards Torrent, who was still waiting at the undergrowth, holding his dagger out.

"He's just a distraction," Torrent growled. "She'll be here any moment."

Deathbringer looked out into the dry woods. There didn't appear to be any more movement. "Are you sure?"

Torrent kept his dagger pointed out towards the woods, then slowly lowered it towards the ground, keeping a claw on the amethyst. He narrowed his eyes. "She's gone underground. If she's trying to surprise us, she should know better."

"Whatever you say," Deathbringer clucked. At this point, he started to doubt that Aurora would be coming back.

Torrent bared his teeth and turned towards Turtle, lumbering up towards the rocky outcrop. "You, animus," he demanded, "what happened back there? What did she do to you?"

"S-she just pulled me into the cavern walls, and then came up in the forest," Turtle stammered. "She told me she was sorry for hurting me, then told me to go."

Torrent squinted, starting straight into Turtle's eyes as the SeaWing gulped. He took a step closer, and raised his dagger.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Peril yelled, seeing the dagger flash. She took a step between the two, causing Torrent to jump back in alarm and slide down the rock, his webbed paws scratching the surface. Deathbringer raised his paw with the disk.

"Trying to save your lives, you stone-brained idiots," Torrent growled as he climbed back up the rock. "She could've enchanted him."

"She didn't," Turtle responded. "She didn't say anything."

Torrent snorted. "Animuses don't need to say anything to do an enchantment, and for all I know, she could be making you lie to me. It wouldn't be the first time it happened, and I'm not taking the risk again. Let me check if he's enchanted, and disenchant him if he is."

"You're not going to hurt him?" Peril asked, eyeing the sharpened dagger carefully. "You know you could've just told us that from the start."

Torrent gave her a glare, and climbed back up the rock to Turtle. Cautiously watching, Peril stepped aside. Turtle squirmed as Torrent placed the cold flat of the steel on his scales, pressing the amethyst. It was warm, but that didn't say much, since Turtle was already an animus. He moved his claw to the emerald, and gave the dagger a quick brush around Turtle's body, like he was disinfecting him.

"There," Torrent grunted. "He should be good."

"I feel absolutely no different than before," Turtle mumbled.

"Then you're lucky," Torrent warned his younger brother. "She could've enchanted you to try and kill one of us when we weren't expecting it. Not sure why else she let you free."

"He was probably just a hostage," Deathbringer commented. "To make sure she got away safely."

Turtle stood up, wincing at his wound. It would be good to get some care for that soon. Peril smiled and stepped away, giving him a little space from her aura of heat.

"So, what now?" Peril asked. She didn't really have any desire to go after Aurora again.

Torrent pointed his dagger straight down, feeling for Aurora. "She's still beneath us," he replied, "although there's not much we can do about that. But there are still three more animuses at Jade Mountain I might be able to do something about."

Peril moved herself back in front of Turtle, keeping herself between the SeaWings. That meant Turtle and Anemone. "What do you mean when you say 'do something'?" she growled.

"I'm not going to kill him," Torrent snorted. "I've put those days behind me. I want him to give up his animus magic. It's a win-win. No more animus magic, no more chance of him losing his soul."

"Give it up?" Peril asked, looking back at Turtle. "Can you even do that?"

Turtle winced. He'd made Anemone an animus. Likely, he could take away his own magic. But he hadn't told Peril, hadn't told anyone about what he'd done. If he answered, Peril might start suspecting, and he didn't have the heart to lie if she asked how he knew.

"He can," Torrent answered for him. "I've seen it done before. Just say the words." He growled at Turtle, baring his fangs.

"I'm not going to let you bully Turtle into doing it," Peril said. "If he wants to, that's his choice to make. Right, Turtle?"

"'His choice,'" Torrent scoffed. "You say it like he earned his powers somehow; like he deserves them. The fact is, as long as he's able to use animus magic, he's got the ability to do whatever he wants, consequence-free. No one should be able to have that power over the rest of us."

"There are dragons who'd use magic to make the world a better place," Peril retorted. Clay, for one.

"Maybe, but it's not worth the risk," Torrent continued. "So long as Turtle has his powers, no one in Pyrrhia is safe from him, you included."

Peril rolled her eyes, and glanced back at Turtle. He didn't seem alright with this conversation. "Look, Turtle isn't some Darkstalker-level threat. I've seen his enchantments, no offense, but they're all silly and kind of useless, like a bowl which doubles things in it."

Turtle turned away from Peril, avoiding her gaze. Not all of his enchantments. He'd slipped up, made Anemone an animus. What if he did something worse next time? What if she did something worse?

"They're silly and useless now," Torrent grumbled. "That's how they all start out. Little things to make your life just a bit better. To give others a little bit of joy. Then it's too late, and half your family is dead."

"I'm keeping my powers, at least for now," Turtle suddenly decided. "If there are animuses out there who can hurt my friends, I want to be able to protect them. Like Fathom." If Darkstalker got free, Aurora returned, or three moons forbid, Anemone lost her soul, Turtle wanted to be able to stop them. He had to keep his powers, to protect them.

Torrent glared up at Peril, then back to his brother. He hadn't been referring to Fathom and Albatross, he'd been referring to Orca. Torrent was supposed to have been her Fathom, but he'd been too weak then, too naive. "Then I can't stop you. Let's just hope you stay Fathom, and don't become Albatross."

He took a step back, then looked up towards the snow-crested peak of Jade Mountain. "With Stonemover, that leaves one more."

"We're not letting you hurt her either," Peril hissed.

"Fine," Torrent yawned. "Your loss. I'm sticking around, anyways, just in case Aurora comes back. Unless Turtle wants to use more of his soul to try and stop her, I'm the only one who has a chance."

Peril breathed a puff of smoke in the SeaWing's snout, making him cough and turn his head to the side. "I have half a mind to singe your tail and chase you from Jade Mountain for good," she threatened him. "If you lay a claw on anyone here, you'll regret it."

Torrent took a step back from the smoke, and bared his fangs. "If you're going to put all these dragonets at risk by keeping two animuses around, that's on you, not me."

"Hey!" Deathbringer yelled from below the rock. "Can you please stop fighting? I'm going back to the rainforest to wait for Glory's return and make sure things are going smoothly in her absence, but I'd like to know that no one's going to kill each other as soon as I turn my head. That's my job."

"I'm not planning to kill him," Peril huffed.

"My dagger is sheathed," Torrent snorted, putting his dagger away.

"Great," Deathbringer sighed, rolling his eyes. "Get Tsunami to sort this out, will you?"

Turtle looked up to Torrent, gulping as he met his eyes. He'd never had too much luck making friends with his brothers.

Chapter 46

Crystal twirled her dagger, the snake-like blade flashing in front of Toxin's eyes. The hybrid's gaze moved to its base, where a sky-blue scale and a black pearl were embedded. The scale had to be Aurora's — how many other dragons on Pyrrhia looked similar? Was it just a keepsake, or could it be animus-touched?

"Who are you?" Inferno asked, slightly confused why this IceWing had just walked in the room.

"Crystal," Toxin growled. This was the same IceWing she'd seen in her vision, the one who had killed Queen Thorn and Blaze. She was the one who'd started the drought.

"Yes, that's my name," Crystal snorted.

"It's six against one, and we have a SkyWing who can set you on fire with a touch" Slate said, stepping forward, up to Toxin's side. "You're outnumbered. Surrender, or we'll make you."

Crystal laughed, and twirled her dagger in the air. She took a few steps towards Slate and Toxin, the spines on her tail scratching across the floor as she dragged it.

Polar lifted his head up, trying to see what was going on. His eyes focused on Crystal. She was the one who'd brought shame to his family, the one who'd stolen the Darkstone from Queen Glacier. If Polar managed to catch her . . . it was too late for that. Queen Glacier was dead, along with the rest of the Empty Circle. Some of the most celebrated war heroes in the Ice Kingdom. If they couldn't defeat her, it was hopeless for the six here, firescales or not. "You can't fight her," Polar despaired. "You can't win."

Crystal's eyes turned towards Fracture and Polar with a smile. The last time she'd seen them was just before Ink's hatching. When she'd given Polar the healing diamond, before Queen Glacier had exiled Fracture and Clarity, thinking they'd been conspiring with Crystal. It wasn't as if it wouldn't have happened eventually, with the two leading the Talons of Peace. "Polar," she cheerfully greeted him. "My favorite nephew. It's been so long, hasn't it?"

Polar tried to get to his feet, but his muscles were still weak, and he collapsed as he tried to stand. Letting down a wing for his son to grab onto, Fracture crouched down, and Polar put his forearms around his father's back, stabilizing himself. "I hope you get impaled by an icicle," Polar growled.

"That's not nice," Crystal scoffed. "I hope you didn't treat your father that way, either. By the way, Fracture, it's so nice to see you again. I never did thank you and Clarity properly for helping me steal the Darkstone."

Polar stiffened up. He hadn't realized that Fracture had had a part in that.

"Slate, take Polar," Fracture ordered the MudWing. Slate obediently retreated back, and switched places with Fracture, letting Polar climb on his back for support. "Protect him. I trust I'm leaving him in good paws."

Slate nodded, surprised. Fracture barely knew him. "Er, yes sir."

Crystal took a few steps forward, her dagger still in her paws as she walked. She turned towards Toxin and Inferno, grinning. "Now, what's a dragonet like you doing, getting involved in this? This seems like something adults should be trying to fix."

Toxin didn't take the bait. "You're the one who started the drought, right? Stop it."

Crystal shrugged her wings. "I can't. That's in Calamity's paws now." She suddenly lunged forward, slashing out her dagger at Toxin. Toxin jumped back with a yelp, barely avoiding the tip. She bared her fangs in response, shooting a blast of venom at Crystal's paws. The IceWing took a step back, surprised. She shook her paws, spraying droplets of the venom over the room. About now, Toxin was really wishing she'd been born a full RainWing.

Crystal smirked. "What, you think a little spittle is going to stop me?"

Toxin took a few steps back, and Crystal turned towards Inferno, dagger out. "Don't let her touch you with her dagger!" Toxin warned the SkyWing. Crystal had to have used animus magic to turn Blaze and Thorn to stone, and there was an obvious culprit for what had done it.

"Firescales," Crystal snorted. "Seems dangerous. I best make this quick."

Inferno took a few steps back as Crystal approached, shaking. "We don't need to fight," she pleaded. The SkyWIng suddenly jumped in surprise as she felt her tail brush against the wooden walls of the house. Instantly, the wood started to burn, smoke rising up as a charred hole appeared where Inferno had touched it.

"Crystal, that's enough," Fracture growled, warily glancing towards the wall, the fire slowly starting to spread on the dry wood. "I'm not letting you hurt these dragons." He took a step towards Inferno, and breathed a blast of frostbreath on the floor in front of her, creating a line of ice between Inferno and Crystal. "Everyone, get out, now."

Fracture stepped over the white line he'd made in the ground, Crystal taking a few steps back. With a lunge, she suddenly swiped her dagger at his left side. He deftly dodged to the right, keeping his distance from the blade while he swung his tail up into her chest. Crystal yelled and stepped back as Fracture's tail spines raked her scales, blue blood dripping from them. She turned to the left, and swiped again. Even with her speed, Fracture easily dodged the attack, taking care not to get close to the blade.

"We need to help him," Ink said, scooting over to Inferno and Toxin. "He can't fight her alone."

"We can't fight her either," Toxin stressed. "You know what will happen if she nicks you with that dagger? You'll turn to stone."

"I can't just let Crystal kill him!" Ink growled.

"The magical IceWing who can predict the future told us to get out," Toxin replied. "I'm following his instructions."

Inferno glanced back at the flames, licking at the walls of the house as they rose. They really did need to get out of here soon. She turned back to Crystal and Fracture, still fighting. "If we want to get to the door, we'll have to go through them."

Toxin frowned. There was no way they could sneak past the fighting dragons without Crystal getting a chance to attack. She turned back to the burning wall, feeling the heat coming from the dry wood. "Inferno, run into the wall."

"What?" Inferno asked, shocked at the idea. "That'll just make the house burn up quicker."

"We still have a little longer before the flames reach the support beams," Toxin said, pointing a talon to the nearest wooden beam. "But the wood in the wall is charred and burning. I think you can break through it."

Toxin looked towards Ink. He sighed and glanced around the safehouse. This place had been his home, he didn't really want to see it destroyed. But it wasn't like there were many options. "Yeah. These walls are flimsy."

Inferno closed her eyes. Usually, dragons wanted her not to set stuff on fire. "Alright," she said. "Here goes." Getting a small head start, the SkyWing threw herself into the wall as hard as she could. She crashed through it as wood burned and charred, leaving a burning hole the size of a dragon.

Outside, the sun had just set, and dusk was quickly approaching on Possibility. Inferno had fallen out into a cobbled alleyway, no dragons around to see them. Splinters cut into the spaces between her scales, but quickly caught flame and turned into ash. Inferno swept her tail across the ground, pushing aside burning debris to make a safe space for the other four.

Meanwhile, Crystal leaped at Fracture's side, knocking the IceWing to the ground and onto his back. Climbing on him, she stabbed her dagger down, aiming for his neck, but the green IceWing caught her forearm in a paw, using all his strength to keep it just inches from his neck. Unable to break through his grip, she moved her other forepaw on top of the dagger, pushing down harder, but Fracture took the chance to open his jaws, letting out a puff of frostbreath.

Crystal quickly rolled to the side and off of Fracture, only the tip of her horn getting caught in the blast. Fracture quickly got up again and took a few steps back, Crystal getting to her paws. She took another swipe again, but as if he already knew her movements, Fracture deftly ducked beneath it, and tore at Crystal's wing with a paw.

"Inferno, step out of the way," Toxin asked, not wanting to accidentally run into Inferno. That wouldn't be a pretty death. She looked through the opening Inferno had made, flames eating away at the wood around it while burning coals and debris dropped from the top. It wasn't like there were any other options.

Running as fast as she could, Toxin leaped through the opening, wincing as embers fell onto her scales, burning them. A few of her black scales turned white in pain. She landed on the ground, and shook her wings, brushing the hot embers off. "Ink, you next!"

Ink quickly complied, and jumped through the hole as embers showered. He gritted his teeth and squealed as his tail brushed across the opening, getting scorched by the flames. Still, at least he made it through.

Slate slowly followed behind, carrying Polar with him as he shuffled across the room, lowering his head as if hiding from Crystal. When he reached the opening, he gulped. A chunk of burning debris fell from the wall. The hole had expanded some, but not enough to fit two dragons. "Guys?" he asked worriedly. "I don't think I'm going to be able to make it through with Polar. It's too small, and I can't jump."

"I can try and make it larger," Inferno suggested. She looked up, worriedly. It wouldn't be much longer before the flames reached the beams, and burning more of the wall would decrease the little time they had.

Slate suddenly glanced back as he heard Fracture yell his name. Crystal and Fracture had gotten turned around, and Crystal had suddenly changed direction, aiming for Slate. Slate took a step back, running from the flaming opening as Crystal kept after him. Still, with Polar on his back, his pace was sluggish, and Crystal didn't need to do much to catch him.

As Crystal pounced at the two, Polar clenched his claws into Slate's back and turned his head around, letting loose a stream of frostbreath. Crystal ducked, yelling as the frostbreath grazed the side of her neck, instantly freezing the scales there. Polar coughed and wheezed. He didn't know how much more he had in him.

"I need to help them," Ink said, his expression streaked with worry. He raised his wings above him to protect his head from debris, and started back towards the hole. Just as he was about to jump, Crystal turned back towards the hole, abandoning Slate and Polar as she started towards the three dragons outside the house. A shower of embers burned her scales as they fell. The pain was irritating, but it would all be healed as soon as she got back to Calamity.

As Crystal tried to slash at Ink, she was suddenly pulled back, Fracture's claws digging into her tail as they kept her from leaving the burning house. Ink jumped back into Toxin, the dagger having narrowly missed his snout.

"Fly!" Fracture yelled, as he pulled Crystal back into the house. She roared and turned around, swiping him again, this one almost making contact. "Fly, as fast as you can!"

"I can't leave Polar and Slate behind!" Ink pleaded, another shower of embers obscuring his view of the fighting IceWings. "I can't leave you behind!"

Fracture lowered his head and ducked to the right as Crystal swiped again, being knocked onto his back. "I'll protect them, no matter what," he calmly stated. "Ink, trust me."

Crystal turned again towards the opening, grinning as she shot a blast of frostbreath through it, almost hitting Ink in the wing. Ink yelled and pushed into Toxin.

Inferno spread her wings as she walked to the edge of the alleyway, looking back at Ink. If Fracture was telling them that they should escape, she knew they had to. "Ink, we need to go."

Ink looked back at the hole, tears in his eyes as Inferno spread her wings, hot air pushed down the alley. She started to take off, with Toxin behind her. He shouldn't just leave them. That was cowardly, it wouldn't be the right thing to do. Yet, if there was one dragon he could trust, it had to be Fracture. Shaking his tears, Ink turned away from his home, and went after Toxin and Inferno, into the clear night sky of Possibility.

Back inside the house, Slate stayed against the wall, Polar resting on his back. Fracture had grabbed onto Crystal again, and the two IceWing's fight continued while the house continued to burn up around them. The MudWing looked across the ground to the open door, and started to slowly inch towards it. He just needed an opening long enough for the two to escape.

Crystal whipped around, slicing down at Fracture's claws. He let go, and she pounced again, forcing him back. She roared out and charged, dagger out. Fracture took a step back, not dodging the attack. Suddenly, one of the support beams for the roof finally cracked, one side of the huge flaming beam falling, whacking the charging Crystal in the side and throwing her across the room, towards Slate and Polar.

Slate backed up, and looked over towards Crystal, wondering if she was dead. No such luck. Her eyes opened, and she carefully got up to her paws, looking directly at Polar. A blast of frostbreath suddenly came between Slate and Crystal, white frost spreading across the wooden wall.

Crystal turned back to Fracture as walked towards her, making sure he was between her and Slate. She slashed out again with her dagger, but Fracture lifted his wing beneath her forearm, forcing it up. Crystal took the chance to shoot a blast of her own frostbreath, coating the underside of Fracture's wing as he cried out. She pulled her forearm back and stabbed at him again, but he turned to the side, the dagger almost grazing on his neck. By now, both of the two IceWings were panting, exhausted from the fight.

Slate looked towards the doorway. This was their chance. He stumbled towards it with Polar grasping to him, bouncing up and down. Seeing them try and escape, Crystal roared and let loose another stream of frostbreath, aiming to block their path, but Fracture lifted his already frostbreath coated wing up, using the dead wing to block the shot. With almost all of the nerves in it already dead, he felt little more than a tingle as Crystal's breath coated his wing, its membranes splitting and cracking.

A shower of blue shingles and embers fell from the roof as another part of it collapsed. When Crystal stopped her frostbreath and Fracture lowered what was left of his wing, Slate and Polar were gone. In moments, they'd be deep within the alleys of Possibility.

Crystal cursed and glared at Fracture with a growl. He met her gaze with his eye, huffing. "I'm not letting you go after them," he stated.

Crystal flicked out her forked tongue, blue blood dripping from her wounds. "I suppose it's just you and me, then?"

Fracture nodded, and took a step back. More of the walls had started to burn, and the two didn't have long before the rest of the house collapsed. The five dragons were gone, and there was nothing he could do now but hope they succeeded.

"How much did you tell them?" Crystal asked, stretching her claws. Her question seemed one more of curiosity than of fear or anger.

"I told them I could see other worlds," Fracture answered with a smile. "That I could see versions of Pyrrhia where things turned out differently."

Crystal narrowed her gaze. "Did you tell them what those worlds really are? Did you tell them what lies beneath our world?"

Fracture shook his head. Another beam fell across the house, shingles smashing into the floor.

"So you lied," Crystal accused. "Nothing about you has changed."

"I admit I have my faults and mistakes," Fracture replied assuredly. "But this was not one of them."

"If they knew the truth, you know they'd join us," Crystal spat. "That's why you keep lying. You're afraid."

Fracture shook his head. "You're wrong. They'd choose the same as me. I didn't want to put that burden on them."

"Weak," Crystal hissed, dragging her tail through the dirt, across a pile of fallen shingles. "Scared. If you really wanted to save Pyrrhia —"

"But I don't," Fracture interrupted. "I don't want to save Pyrrhia, not if it means killing innocent dragons, making them suffer. It doesn't matter, anyways. You're going to fail."

"It's possible," Crystal retorted. "Likely, even. So what? Calamity has an eternity to succeed."

Fracture shook his head. "It's not possible. You don't understand what you're up against. You have no chance."

"I've seen it," Crystal growled. "I've almost touched it."

"Only while it sleeps," Fracture continued. "You haven't seen what it can do when it's awake. I've seen myself killed by it. There is nothing you, Calamity, or any dragon on Pyrrhia can do to stop it."

Crystal shook her head disapprovingly. "I've always wondered what my sister saw in you. You've given up."

Fracture glared, his body tilting to the side as his frozen wing weighed him down. "You know as well as I do what's going to happen to every dragon in this world. It's inevitable. I just want them to live happy lives while they're still here."

Crystal snorted. "And so you took control of the most feeble pacifist organization in Pyrrhia? Allowed the NightWings to use you to their own foul ends?"

"The Talons of Peace saved lives," Fracture replied. "That's more than you're able to say."

"If we succeed, I'll be able to say we saved Pyrrhia."

The two IceWings continued staring at each other, as the walls went up in flames around them. Both were silent, not sure what else they could say.

"This is pointless," Crystal sighed.

Fracture nodded. "We've had this conversation many times before, and we'll have it many times again. You and I don't manage to convince each other of anything."

"Of course," Crystal snarkily huffed, her snout twitching. "But you succeed in stalling for time so your fabled prophecy dragonets can escape."

Fracture smirked slightly. "We might as well get on with it. I'm not going to make this easy for you. As a dragonet, I was scared of death. I replayed this vision over, and over, and over, hoping that I could avoid it."

"And now?" Crystal asked. "Are you still scared?"

Fracture shook his head. "Of death? No. I'll see you next time around, Crystal. I hope you're able to make the most of the time you have left. Be happy, for once."

Crystal laughed. "Never. Goodbye, Fracture." She raised her paw again, clutching it around her dagger's hilt.

Fracture smiled as blue shingles rained down upon them, another beam ready to crack. It was fitting that the oldest base of the Talons of Peace went down with their leader.