With a jolt, Midnight extended her claws, preparing for a fight. Crystal didn't move, and it didn't take long for Midnight to realize why. She was turned in stone, her white scales now grey, her dagger caught within her talons. The IceWing's stare was empty and lifeless.
Midnight shivered. She'd gotten over the initial shock of seeing Crystal, though her heart still pounded. She gave Crystal a wary glance. No flinches, not even breathing under the stone exterior. She felt Ecru wrap a wing around her as she shivered. Even in death, it was difficult to see her mother's murderer right in front of her eyes.
"Sorry," Polar winced. "I should've given you some warning."
Midnight took a step forward, onto the crystalline bridge, placing one paw after another as she kept her gaze fixed on Crystal at all times. She wasn't the only dead dragon in the cavern. In order to cross the bridge itself, Midnight had to walk around a slab of ice, with a long-dead NightWing preserved within it. A dragon's skeleton rested not far from Crystal. Midnight had a sinking feeling that she knew who it was. Her brother. This was a place of death.
"I didn't realize my step-mother had ended up like this," she mused as she walked up next to Crystal. She squinted as she examined the IceWing's eyes, similarly preserved in stone. Dead. "I suppose I could've guessed, based on what Tiger had said."
Her talons shook as she stared at Crystal. Part of her wanted to throw her to the ground, to beat her until she was just unrecognizable chunks of stone. To obliterate her until there was nothing left of her in this world.
"It's ironic," Midnight muttered. "Both my father's mates ended up dead this way. Trapped in stone. Orca's curse on our family."
"Careful not to poke yourself," Polar warned her. "The enchantment is still around."
Midnight glanced down at Crystal's talons. The dagger that she'd embedded Torrent's pearl had been partially covered in the stone, but the tip still remained intact, exposed metal glinting in the ethereal glow.
"How did she end up getting it to work on everyone?" Midnight asked Polar. "My father told me it only worked on animuses."
"Loophole," Polar smiled. "The dagger the pearl is embedded in just needs to touch an animus dragon's scale, and it'll turn whoever it pierces to stone. She put one of Aurora's scales in the dagger after Aurora had been fully exposed to the Darkstone, and made an animus. It's strange," Polar said, stepping up to Crystal himself. He flicked his talons against her horns, scraping against the stone. "I hated her for so long. Killing her was the only way I could redeem myself, redeem my family to Queen Glacier's eyes. And now, Queen Glacier is dead, and I have to live with the snow-eating traitor."
Midnight turned towards Polar. "Er, she is dead, right?" she asked, somewhat concerned. "Like she's not alive and trapped in there or anything like that?"
Polar shook his head. "Quite dead. The enchantment killed her. Her insides are stone, too. It's the same for your mother too, if that's what you're asking. There's no way to bring her back, not truly. I myself only survived because of the diamond stuck in my paw and Calamity's help. Lucky, or unlucky, depending who you ask."
"So Calamity is still around," Tiger frowned, stepping over the bridge.
Polar glanced back to the RainWing, and nodded. "He is. It's pretty difficult to get rid of him for good, thanks to the enchantment on him." He whacked Crystal in the head, beaming. "Trapped in here though, thanks to Ink. He's not getting out anytime soon; it took him five thousand years for the binding to wear off the last time. But you're free to ask him questions, he's surprisingly interested in this whole affair with Antigonia."
"I don't want his help," Midnight snarled, glaring at Crystal again.
Polar laughed. "If you say so. I wouldn't trust a thing he says. He's about as manipulative as my dad. However, the four of you are caught up in something pretty big, so I'd ask anyways. Think of it as my help, not his."
Midnight snorted. "That doesn't make it much better. You're on his side."
Polar tossed her a glance, stone cracking as he tilted his head. "I'm not on anyone's side. Queen Glacier, Fracture, Calamity. We're all just pawns to dragons like them, playing their games with us. Fracture knew about the Horror, and kept it from us to throw us up against Calamity. He could've told us, given us the choice to choose a side, but he didn't. And look how things turned out for me." He frowned. "Even if it didn't end up being much use, I tried to give my life in Ink's place. I should've died. Not him."
Midnight closed her eyes. She hated the idea of letting Calamity help them with their problem. A manipulative dragon who was responsible for her family's death. But she couldn't hate Polar, just for surviving, especially after what he'd tried to do for her brother. And if talking to Calamity was going to be the difference between stopping the Empress and not, she couldn't refuse it.
"Fine," Midnight grumbled. "Someone else, ask. I don't want to talk to him."
"Can you — can Calamity tell us about the Empress?" Skytaker quickly asked, question already prepared. "What are her weaknesses and strengths? How do we stop her?"
Polar thought for a moment, like he was discussing with Calamity in his mind. He grimaced. "Er, Calamity doesn't actually know who the Empress is."
"Liliana?" Skytaker suggested hopefully.
"Do you mean Liana?" Polar asked back. "Lily? Lilac?"
"No," Skytaker sighed. "Her name is Liliana."
Polar shook his head. "No clue. She isn't or hasn't ever been important enough for him to know her."
"That's useless," Skytaker grumbled. "Well, she's pretty important now."
"Wait, you mentioned Calamity is interested in Antigonia," Ecru suddenly brought up. "But doesn't know the Empress? What about the carvings on the Mausoleum door there? I think they are different than the ones here, at least from what I've heard of them."
Polar smiled. "He says that's a good question. How much do you know about the Legend of Calamity?"
"Queen Fen's sib," Ecru replied. "She was planning on conquering Pyrrhia, but before a decisive battle, Calamity betrayed her. He wrapped the MudWing's Eye, the Eye of Coal, around her neck. It killed them both, just like the Eye of Onyx killed Blister. There's another legend about Calamity too, during the Scorching. Which one is this Calamity? Or are they both—"
"The same?" Polar asked. "Yes, and no. This one is the one from the Scorching. Tiger, you know that legend, don't you?"
"Yeah," Tiger frowned. "You were there with me when we read it. Well, Polar was there with me. Calamity was one of the animuses who created the Seven Eyes in order to win the Scorching. They knew they were going to lose their souls after the enchantments, so they enchanted the Eyes to kill them. But Calamity did something that kept himself alive, or half-alive at least. After the Scorching, he and his mate, a dragon named Ignite took the Eye of Amethyst and made earthquakes with it. Four dragons, Princess Frost, Starweaver, Mica, and Falcon went after him, killed Ignite, and trapped Calamity. Princess Frost was the only survivor, and later became queen and made the mausoleum."
"Pretty good," Polar nodded, approving of the retelling. "You're wrong about me being an animus, but a lot of it got preserved."
Midnight took a sudden step back as she realize what was going on. Polar wasn't speaking through his own body anymore. She readied her claws, in case Calamity made a motion to attack.
"Don't worry, I mean you no harm," Calamity chuckled through Polar. The IceWing's scales started to glow brighter through the cracks in the stone. "I wouldn't have had him save you just to kill you myself. Let me answer your question. Ignite had firescales. She killed her brother in the egg, and stole the fire from him. Maybe not in that order. But Antigonia was a world where things happened differently. Against all odds, Ignite's fireless brother survived till their hatching. The only he survived, the only way he could have survived? He is an animus, and enchanted himself to be unharmable while still in the egg. His name is Ash, after what his sister almost turned him into.
"I met him with Ignite. I have to admit, his survival was a surprise for me, and I wasn't quite sure what to do with him. So I had him join Ignite and I. I taught him about his magic, and where it truly comes from. He was my protégé. Someone I made to be like me. A fatal mistake.
"He betrayed me when the day arrived, and fought against me with Frost. He didn't just trap me within Starweaver, but he destroyed me, and killed Frost. Ash wanted the world as his own, and by getting me out of the way, he became the god of it."
"What about the final image?" Ecru asked, trying to picture it again. "I didn't see what it meant. I thought it was some sort of ritual. There was a sphere around Ash, and tendrils grabbed the sphere. I think it was the . . . thing we saw beneath."
"The Horror," Polar grinned, Calamity twisting his snout into a wide, toothy smile. "I can't really say for certain — I was dead — but my guess? Ash made an enchantment, something so terrifyingly powerful that just one single use of magic awoke the Horror, summoning it up into Antigonia after it devoured his entire soul in a single nibble. How Antigonia is still around after that, I have no idea."
"The Wishstone," Tiger whispered. "That's what he made. What the Empress is looking for."
"Maybe," Calamity replied. "But, I can tell you this: however dangerous the Empress is, an animus as intelligent and manipulative as Ash, without a soul, is far worse. Good luck!"
"You'd know," Midnight growled. "So, how do we defeat the Great Ice Dragon, or the Horror, or whatever it is?"
Polar shook his head. "You can't. That's Aurora's duty. Preparing Pyrrhia for—" He stopped. "I'm sorry. Calamity won't let me tell you any more."
"Of course he won't," Midnight huffed. "Maybe if I think of the right spell . . ." As Midnight considered the option, she suddenly felt her breath quicken, as a buzz rang through her ears. She glanced down to see that the rocks beneath her were shaking up and down. Just by considering an enchantment, she'd brought the Horror closer.
"You're still in its domain," Polar warned her. "And as I said, you can't. The only reason dragons have animus magic to begin with is that it gives it to them. Regardless, anything you can think of, Calamity has tried it already."
"I don't believe you," Midnight responded. Calamity had said Ash had done something he didn't know, right? Then maybe, just maybe, Midnight could figure it out. She decided right there and then. No matter how long it took, she'd find a way to stop the Horror, and stop Calamity with it.
"We should probably go, if we don't have anything else to ask," Tiger said, glancing around. Calamity didn't seem like he'd be much help in their fight against the Empress.
"One more thing," Midnight snarled. "Why did Calamity have my mother and brother killed? They were innocent! They had nothing to do with you!"
Polar grimaced. "Your hatching was . . . a focal point. Nightreader's death was needed to keep her from being a moderating influence on Torrent and his hatchlings. If you'd grown up with her, you'd all have been as normal as your family could've been. Without her, each of Torrent and Nightreader's dragonets would have changed Pyrrhia in their own way. Had Loresearcher survived he would've conquered Pyrrhia in order to raise a united army to defeat Calamity, Crystal, and Aurora. It wasn't personal."
Midnight let out a furious roar, claws extended, teeth bared at Polar. "It wasn't personal? You killed my mother! I would've had a happy upbringing, and you destroyed that intentionally?"
Polar took a step back, guarded. It looked like Midnight was just about to attack. "Not me, I'm just the messenger," he quickly added. "I had nothing to do with it. I'm not happy about what Crystal did to me either. She tore me away from my family, too. I understand your hatred for him." He glared at Crystal's stone corpse, as if to make the point.
Midnight slowly relaxed her claws, breathing heavily. "Sorry," she huffed. "It's just . . ."
"I understand," Polar smiled. "I'm not happy about being stuck with him either. Believe me, I'd wrangle Calamity too if I had the chance, and Calamity had a body to wrangle. Come on. You all have a world to save. Follow."
Polar led the four up through the Crystal Caverns, Darkstone speckling against the walls as they climbed the passage back to the surface. Midnight stared down at the ground. It was like an old wound had been ripped open. Her mother had been killed, just to make her life miserable.
It wasn't long before the interior of the Mausoleum was up above the group. Polar pushed on the bottom of the ice coffin, Queen Frost's body staring down at them as he shifted it over with ease. The four climbed out into the interior behind him. Ecru felt herself relax. She could feel it now. They were almost home. As they stepped up to the doors, she noticed Polar, staying by the side of the coffin.
"Are you coming with us?" Ecru asked him. "We could use your help."
Polar shook his head. "I wish. I can't leave the Crystal Caverns, not for long. Calamity can't extend his spooky ghost powers that far. I'd end up trapped in stone if I went with you. Not much help at all."
"Oh," Ecru replied. He was trapped here, forever. Like a prisoner.
"But if you want to do something to thank me, there's something you could do," Polar suddenly said, his expression lighting up. "There's a dragon named Slate in the Northern Mud Kingdom. Could you tell him I'm still alive, but trapped here? I'd really appreciate it. Some company would be nice."
"Of course," Ecru nodded. "It's the least we could do."
"Wait, Northern Mud Kingdom?" Skytaker asked. "Do you just mean the parts near the Sky Kingdom?"
Polar smiled. "I forgot. It hasn't happened yet. I think you'll understand what I mean when the time comes. Unless the world ends, in which case it won't matter." He waved his claws, descending back into the tunnel, as Queen Frost's icey grave slid back over him.
Midnight flicked her tongue. She was ready to get out of here. And see if Pyrrhia had been recreated by the Empress in her absence. She pressed her claws against the two doors, this time, hoping they wouldn't break. They didn't, moonlight fluttering in with a freezing wind as snow covered their talons.
The first thing Tiger did after stepping out through the doors was look up at the night sky. Stars dotted the celestial sphere, and Tiger quickly scanned all sides of it. "Three moons," she whispered. "Three moons! Three! Not four, or zero! Three! This is it! Pyrrhia!"
She ran out of the semi-circle of pillars, the ancient queens staring down as she and Skytaker leaped into the snow, rolling and laughing. Tiger's scales glittered gold and pink as fluffy white fell from them.
"I've never been so happy to be on Pyrrhia before," Skytaker grinned, shaking snow off their wings. "It's been so long!"
Midnight stared up at the sky. She wasn't as relieved as the dragonets, though she supposed she'd been in Antigonia for a far shorter time. But now, things were different. She knew the terrible truth behind animus magic, and the murder of her family. And they still weren't out of the storm yet.
"This is far from over," Midnight muttered to Ecru. "We still need to get the Wishstone before the Empress does. Or else . . . there might not be a Pyrrhia for much longer."
Chapter 48Inferno's claws were shaking, teeth chattering at what she'd just seen. What terrible thing had the Empress summoned? Why had it freaked Aurora out so much? Sand fell into the crack as it slowly seemed to widen. Inferno watched as Aurora became a speck in the distance, disappearing behind the edge of the arena. Would she be back?
"AURORA PLEASE!" Queen Scarlet screeched, straining against the vines holding her. "PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE I DON'T WANT TO DIE RESCUE ME!" Tears started falling from the SkyWing queen's eyes. "I'M GOING TO DIE THEY'RE GOING TO BOIL ME IN VENOM MY FACE THEY'LL MELT MY FACE!"
"Four moons!" Liliana groaned, placing her paws over her ears. "Just, shut up already, will you? Or I'll melt out your tongue first."
Queen Scarlet stared, jittering as her mouth closed. That shut her up quickly. Inferno stared at the brutal tyrant, reduced to a gibbering mess. Inferno almost pitied her. She frowned. She felt weird, having any sympathy for such a terrible dragon.
"Clean things up," the Empress ordered to a few of the RainWings who'd watched the battle, flapping a wing at them. "I don't want anyone stubbing a toe on the orbs she created."
The RainWings obediently got to work, trying to remove the objects Aurora had created during the battle while flattening out the sand. A couple grasped their talons around the lightning rods in the ground, attempting to pull them up. It barely budged.
"Your majesty," one of the RainWings gulped. "We, er, can't get these out."
Liliana rolled her eyes, and they scrambled out of the way as she grabbed ahold of the lightning rod, attempting to pull it up herself. Instead, she just snapped off a piece, lifting up a brittle pole as long as she was. She stared down into the hole beneath it. There was still more beneath it, and it had been connected to the others. She'd have to tear up the whole arena if she wanted to get them out.
"Nevermind," the Empress muttered. She glanced around, trying to find her crown. It seemed like it hadn't regenerated with her. "Someone, fetch me a new crown. I want to look my best when I'm holding the Wishstone. You, SkyWing queen," she said, glaring at Queen Scarlet. "What was in the box? I want to know what she has now. Can it heal her?"
Queen Scarlet shuddered, opening her mouth, before snapping it back closed.
Liliana groaned. "You have my permission to speak," she sighed. "Go on."
"It's the Eye of Amethyst!" Queen Scarlet rapidly replied. "It's an ancient animus-touched artifact that chooses queens."
Liliana looked over at the crack through the arena, still slowly widening. Sand seemed to be spilling down into it. "It seems to do quite a bit more than just choose queens," she frowned. She turned in the direction where Aurora had flown off in, squinting to see if she could still see her. "Well, if it can't heal her, I suppose that's the end of that."
"She's going to come back for me," Inferno said. "You didn't kill her."
"She doesn't have healing powers, like me," the Empress retorted. "You saw how hurt she is. She's not going to survive her injuries."
Inferno smiled, shaking her head. There was no way that would kill Aurora. "She will. Having been her enemy at one point, I don't envy you. She'll come back, prepared."
Liliana snorted, turning to Inferno. "Doubtful. She won't get another chance. I'll have the Wishstone before that."
Inferno looked up into the Empress's eyes. "You said it was Ash you wanted. Do you need him to get it, then?"
Liliana chuckled. "Sweetie, he is the Wishstone. They're the one and the same." She walked up to Inferno, tail dragging through the sand. The vines tightened around Inferno as Liliana placed a talon on Inferno's neck, sizzling and healing as she dragged the claw up to Inferno's chin. Inferno gritted her teeth, unused to the odd sensation.
"Ash is quite a tricky little fellow," Liliana smirked, grabbing Inferno's neck, leaning in so close Inferno could smell the RainWing's breath, cold on her scales. "Very cunning. But you know that by now, don't you?"
"I don't know what you mean," Inferno lied, her ears twitching as they folded back. She was right. Ash had pretended to be her brother for Inferno's entire life.
"He's the real villain here," Liliana continued, her smile turning into a scowl. "He has been for years. He plays his enemies against each other, treats us like toys."
Don't listen to her, Inferno, Ash said into Inferno's mind.
Inferno frowned. So now he decided to say something? I'll listen to whoever I want.
"He's talking to you, isn't he?" Liliana asked. "Don't listen to anything he says. Don't trust him. He's betrayed everyone around him."
Even Calamity, Inferno remembered. That was why Aurora had been so freaked out about him.
I had a good reason for that, Ash responded, I had a good reason for betraying Liliana, too. They're both your enemies, remember? Not me. I'm your—
Don't say brother, Inferno answered, baring her fangs at Liliana. Don't say brother.
"Creating the Wishstone must have taken his soul," the Empress mused.
"It didn't," Ash growled, suddenly taking control of Inferno's voice. "My soul is mine. Based on how you almost destroyed this world just a few moments ago, you still don't know the first thing about animus magic, Liliana. It doesn't destroy your soul, it exposes and takes it. By enchanting myself into the Wishstone, I kept myself fully intact. The first thing I did afterwards was sever my world from animus magic, getting rid of my own animus powers, making sure my soul was once again all mine, and preventing more animuses from ever being created. The Wishstone accesses the powers of animus magic and the underlying nature of our reality directly, without the Horror needed as an intermediary."
"There you are," the Empress snorted. "Finally, you got the courage to speak to me? Impressive. How do you know you really still have a soul? Can you feel it in your chest? Oh wait, you don't have one." She laughed. "Whatever a 'soul' is sounds like such a vague concept. Can you smell it? Can you eat it?"
"Yes, in fact," Ash replied. "They taste pretty good. I had control over your world, remember? If I had lost my soul for real, then the Pyrrhia you crawled out of your mother into would've been far worse than it was."
If you're the Wishstone, why can't you just use it to stop the Empress? Inferno asked him.
As long as I'm in my current state, of being trapped in you, I don't have that power, Ash explained. It's why I entered you in the first place. No one can use me, Trustbreaker, or anyone else. And, well, no one can touch you. Almost no one.
"You could have told me what was going to happen when I used the Wishstone!" Liliana growled. "You were the one who destroyed our original world! You tricked us!"
"How was I supposed to know?" Ash shouted back, Inferno's fangs bared. "You think I wanted that? No one, not even Calamity had created something like the Wishstone before. When I had used it before, I always had a clear intention in mind, unlike you and Trustbreaker's messy thoughts and desires. Half of what you wished for conflicted, and barely a quarter was even possible! There was a reason I had an entire cult of dragons protecting the Wishstone from falling into anyone's claws or hands, but no, you just needed to try and make your perfect world!"
"You turned Duskwind against me!" Liliana accused him. "I loved him! None of this would've happened otherwise! I wouldn't have had to kill him!"
"I'll admit, that was partially my fault," Ash responded. "But I only opened him up to reason, showed him all the terrible things you did to Antigonia. Are you just going to keep blaming me for everything that went wrong in your life, or are you going to actually do something?"
The Empress's expression contorted into rage, and she spat venom into the sand. "I will," she snarled, taking her other foreclaws, and stabbing them into Inferno's head.
Inferno let out a squeal as the Empress's claws dug into her, though they didn't break scales, instead passing into her. She tried to move away, scream, but her body refused to move. A jolt of energy burst through her from Ash to the Empress, images and sounds flickering in front of her. Wet tears on skin. A dying young NightWing with sunset in his scales. A hundred portals, with nothing but lava and darkness. The rotting body of a dead scavenger. The roar of clashing dragons. A vast emptiness, nothing in all directions. Failure.
Inferno opened her eyes. She was no longer in the arena. A familiar grassy hillside, circles of flowers dancing around her paws. Sunlight shined down, a river weaving through the valley.
She turned to see Ash. A small SkyWing with pale salmon scales. His talons shook, eyes wide with fatigue. This was the landscape that he'd made whenever he'd spoken to her in her dreams.
"You chose this place?" Liliana laughed. Inferno covered her ears as her voice seemed to boom from everywhere throughout the dreamscape, grass shaking from the sheer force of the sound. "Of course you did. Our first sight of the new world we'd created."
Ash glanced over towards Inferno, his talons shaking. "Inferno," he said, trying to keep his voice to his usual calmness, "you need to—"
"Stop telling me what I need to do!" Inferno growled back. "You keep doing that! Lying to me! Controlling me!"
Ash's expression grew grim. "I'm not—" he stammered. "I just wanted to help you."
"Well, look where your help got us!" Inferno snarled. "I'm sorry you don't have a body of your own, but that doesn't make it right for you to make me do whatever you want!"
"Don't worry," Liliana's voice boomed, laughing. "He won't be in you much longer. I need him."
Inferno yelled out as the ground beneath her started to shake, grass torn up as a giant hand burst through it, fingers grasping around Inferno like she was a piece of fruit, grabbing her and pulling her into the air. Through the fingers, two humongous eyes stared down at her, as a gargantuan scavenger lifted her into the air, the ground spinning beneath the SkyWing. She spotted Ash, caught in another hand, trying to escape it.
The scavenger laughed as the hands squeezed around the two, Ash crying out in pain. Lines of glowing rope appeared between Inferno and Ash, stretched taut as the hands pulled apart. Ash screamed out again as Liliana tugged on the ropes, pulling him away from Inferno
"Don't let her take me!" Ash squealed at Inferno. "Please, don't let her take me!"
Memories flickered in front of Inferno, hers and Ash's mixed together. Goat, yelling at Inferno, calling her a monster. Ash pleading to Liliana, asking her not to force him to do this. Blurs and screams, the lights of a fire flickering in the village where Inferno hatched. Scales sizzling as Ash's head was pushed to the ground, Calamity's head shaking in disappointment. Inferno crying, tears boiling off her scales, Ash's wings around her. Ash screaming as his limbs moved themselves, Calamity yelling. Ash warning Inferno about Ink. Inferno, unable to even speak to Slate and the screaming Toxin as she felt Ash take Polar's Darkstone. A small Inferno, asking Ash who he was in her dreams.
"He lied to you," the Empress said, "just like he lied to me. He betrayed us both."
Inferno felt herself tense up as she was thrown out of the memories, something jolting through her body. The Empress's eyes stared down at her and Ash as one of the ropes snapped, Ash screaming as the Empress dragged him towards her.
Memories flooded back again. Talons around Calamity's neck, Ash yelling furiously as he reached into the MudWing's form. Coyote's howls of pain as Inferno bumped into him. Ash crying as his neck burned, his sister choking him while Calamity watched. Inferno screaming as Trustbreaker fell onto the ground, blood spilling from his jaws.
She felt rage well up in her talons, and for a moment, she wanted to set them on the Empress, to let her burn for what she'd done to Trustbreaker. That's right. This isn't about Ash. This is about Trustbreaker.
The sunset-glinted NightWing, laughing alongside Inferno in the Talons of Peace. Trustbreaker, promising Ash that he'd be free, and no one would ever control him again. A young Inferno crying as he left the caverns, Trustbreaker promising her that he'll be back soon enough. Trustbreaker crying to Ash, asking him if there's any way to fix what he and Liliana had done. Inferno grinning as Trustbreaker gave her a geode, telling her that she wouldn't be able to burn this present. Trustbreaker, holding Ash tight in the middle of the night, four moons above as they flew away from the Empress's glass palace.
The Empress pulled her talons out from Inferno's head, a disgusted look on the RainWing's face as Inferno opened her eyes again. She was back in the arena, vines still tight around her.
"He's been terrible to you your entire life," the Empress snarled. "You should be glad to be rid of him."
"You're right," Inferno replied, heart pounding. "I won't forgive Ash for that. But it was you and Calamity who taught him to be controlling." She frowned. "So I won't forgive you either. He and Trustbreaker were my only friends, in the Talons of Peace. And as bad as Ash has been to me, there's no way I'm letting Trustbreaker's murderer take my brother from me just to be worse to him than he was to me. He's not yours, just to do with what you like, and nor is Pyrrhia, or Antigonia."
Liliana gritted her teeth. "It doesn't matter," she snorted. "Make your brave speeches all you want. Ash is the Wishstone, and thus, I need him. You won't be able to hold up forever, and once the last rope snaps, the Wishstone is mine."
Inferno smiled. "I don't need to hold up forever. Just until Aurora comes back, and kicks your tailvent."
Chapter 49Aloe stared down at her golden plate. Who else had eaten off this piece of treasure? Had her mother, her grandmother, and the predecessors before her all dined on this shiny piece of filth?
The royal banquet room of the SandWing palace had a dragon at every place of the table, but it was silent. No joyous conservation, no playful banter. These dragons had all been trained far too well for niceties like that.
This was the day of the week that they got their rations. A SandWing went around, dropping a small hunk of dried meat on each platter, and pouring water out into each cup. The water was the most precious. In the rains after Aloe had taken the palace, they'd managed to gather a lot, but she was still wary. If something went wrong, and the water was lost, they'd be through.
She stared down at the food, picking at the meat, and nibbling at the chunks. It tasted like more salt and less meat. As per her orders, it was the same amount as every other dragon here. Dining with the queen would make them more loyal to her, especially if they saw she was getting the same treatment as them. Still, Aloe wasn't hungry.
"Well, at least it's not fish!" Leopard chuckled, gobbling down her meal. A murmur of agreement rose up among the other soldiers. None of them wanted more fish.
With Leopard, the silence had been broken. More of the soldiers started to murmur and speak up, though rarely louder than a whisper. Aloe sighed as she picked at her food, dribbling a few drops of water on her tongue.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Leopard asked, sitting directly across from Aloe. "You didn't laugh."
Aloe glanced over at the SandWing who'd been passing their food around, frowning as she saw his scarred scales. She turned back to Leopard, a glance of understanding passing between them.
"You still don't like Quill?" Leopard asked her.
Aloe nodded quietly. "He was one of Blister's most loyal soldiers," she grimaced.
"And now he's one of your most loyal soldiers," Leopard assured her.
Aloe stared down at her talons. That didn't make her feel much better. She let out another distressed sigh. "I just want to get this whole thing over with. Before it escalates more." She shook her head. "Ugh. Why couldn't have Sunny just accepted my challenge?"
"I think she's a bit smarter than Burn," Leopard smiled. "She might have suspected something."
"Burn?" Aloe asked. "My aunt?"
"Remember?" Leopard replied. "Your mother killed her by giving her two Dragonbite Vipers. I don't think Sunny would fall for a . . ." She winced as she saw that Aloe had cut off her eye contact, staring back down at her meal. Oops. She hadn't meant to compare Aloe to her mother. "Oh, I just meant Sunny . . . it's not really trickery, you just have . . . er, sorry."
Aloe looked down at the plate, sulking. Her own reflection appeared in the shimmering gold, a black diamond pattern stretching across her neck.
"Really sorry," Leopard apologized again. "I didn't mean that. It's not the same, at all. Look, we've been together all our lives. I know you. You've got so much more than Blister. You're strong, smart, kind, and beautiful. Not like her." She smiled, hoping that she'd catch Aloe's eyes.
Aloe glanced up to Leopard, and let out another sigh, averting her gaze once more. "Thanks," she mumbled half-heartedly.
Leopard closed her eyes, and decided not to say anything more. She didn't want to make things any worse. She shouldn't have brought up Blister.
They stood in silence for a few moments, Aloe poking her meal quietly. Her wings drooped down as she lost herself in her thoughts.
Eventually, Aloe raised her head back up. "I want to go see Armadillo."
"Armadillo?" Leopard asked, surprised by the sudden turn-around. "A-are you sure? Why?"
"The best way to win this war is by figuring out my enemy. Maybe I can get something useful out of him." She poked at her meat again. "I'm not really hungry or thirsty anyways. I'll give him my rations in exchange."
"Alright, good idea," Leopard grinned, glad to see that Aloe was being at least a little less sulky. "You want to go now?"
Aloe nodded, and stood up, grabbing her plate in her jaws and her cup in her talons. Careful not to spill the precious water, she walked out of the banquet room, towards the dungeons. Leopard followed.
The dungeon entrances were locked, and after Sunny's escape through them, every gate was guarded by two SandWings with loud bells. Aloe didn't want enemy troops sent back into the dungeons getting into the palace. The gates opened for her and Leopard as they passed through each one, SandWing soldiers bowing to their queen. The air became cold and musky, the light dim, as they descended into the sprawling dungeons beneath the palace.
Aloe knew which way to go. After they'd conquered the palace, the assassin that Aloe had sent after Sunny had been freed, and Armadillo had been imprisoned in his place. Thorn and Sunny's advisor.
He looked up as they came across him. The imprisonment hadn't been good for him. Since being captured, he'd lost a lot of weight, scales outlining his bones. His gums were dry and cracked, fangs yellow and dusty. Still, even in his sorry state, he smiled with power and regalness.
"It's been quite lonely down here, you know," Armadillo grinned, his voice hoarse and dry. "I'm glad I finally have visitors, though you weren't the ones I was hoping for. No chance I'm lucky enough that the two of you are trying to use these tunnels to escape, am I?
Aloe passed the plate of food between the bars holding Armadillo prisoner. She kept the glass of water in her talons. "A goodwill gesture," she explained. "If you tell us what we want to know, I'll give you the water to wash it down with."
"A hard bargain," Armadillo muttered. He eagerly grasped at the food, devouring the meat down quickly, a lump in his throat. He let out a scratchy cough, staring pleadingly at the water.
"SandWings can go a long time without food or water, can't they?" Aloe tsked. "This should be a commodity to you."
"That is true," Armadillo slowly answered. "So, what do the two of you want to know? If you're wondering Sunny's weaknesses and how to win the war, even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you."
Aloe squinted. "I know you're lying. You have something in mind, don't you? A potential weakness. I just need to figure it out."
Armadillo shrugged his wings. "If you say so."
"Why didn't she accept my challenge?" Aloe asked. "That's what the normal thing to do would've been."
Armadillo laughed. "She's not really a normal dragon. I'm really surprised you don't know that by now, though I suppose her not accepting it is partially my fault. It's obvious from a glance. She's small and somewhat stunted. She's not a great fighter." He glanced up at Aloe, examining the SandWing. "Though looking at your own feebleness, she might have had a chance after all."
"Hey, cut the sass," Leopard growled, instantly coming to Aloe's defense.
"It's fine," Aloe calmly replied. "He's right."
"It makes me wonder," Armadillo tsked. "If you didn't know she wasn't a great fighter, how come you challenged her? You seem like a smart dragon. Why did you think you'd be able to win against her in a one-on-one fight?"
Aloe stiffened up, feeling the weight of the dolphin necklace around her neck. She shook her head. "I'm the one asking the questions here. Not you. What about Sunny's personality?"
Armadillo laughed. "You're asking the easiest questions. I didn't even know her for that long, but her personality is barely a secret. She's famous. Where on Pyrrhia have you been for the past three years, under a rock?"
"On a secret island," Aloe truthfully replied. "We didn't get much news of the outside world."
"Hmm," Armadillo said. "Will I get the water if I answer this question?"
Aloe nodded.
"Good," Armadillo smiled. "Sunny is kind, nice, and always looks for the best in everyone. An optimist. She's smart, but she isn't cunning. She also an idealist, she wants a peaceful world where everyone is happy. She wasn't meant to be queen, and never wanted to be. I figured that was why you got Thorn killed, since it'd be easier to take the throne from Sunny."
Aloe shook her head. "I had nothing to do with Thorn's death." She frowned. "If Sunny doesn't even want the throne, why doesn't she just let me have it?"
"For one, she thought you'd killed her mother," Armadillo answered. "I believe you, that you didn't, but the timing was pretty suspicious. Second, you're Blister's dragonet. There's no way Sunny would ever let anyone like Blister rule the Sand Kingdom."
Aloe flinched at the name, taking a step back.
"Sunny should get to know Aloe first," Leopard quickly added. "She's not like Blister, at all."
"Maybe ordering her to give over her throne and sending an assassin after her wasn't the best first impression," Armadillo snorted. "Can I get my water now?"
Aloe paused, clutching the glass. For a moment, she considered still withholding it, making him give more information. That was what her mother would've done.
She passed the glass of water to Armadillo, and he eagerly took it, pouring it down his dry throat in a single swig. He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"Wait," Leopard said, "I want to ask a question. Not about Sunny, or our war. Do you know anything about an empress? The Empress?"
"The Empress?" Aloe frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Er, Six-Claws told me that a RainWing army had taken over the Sky Kingdom, led by a RainWing known as the Empress," Leopard quickly explained. "Apparently she has some sort of magic."
Aloe flicked her tail, annoyed. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? This is is important."
Leopard guiltily glanced away. "I wasn't sure if it was true or not. I didn't want to accidentally lead you astray."
Aloe tapped a claw on the stone floor. Did Leopard not trust her to judge herself whether it was true or not?
"Six-Claws isn't the type of dragon to lie about something like that," Armadillo spoke up. "I don't know anything about this Empress, but if Six-Claws said it, he probably believes it."
Aloe turned back to Armadillo. She didn't believe him. She stared directly into his dark brown eyes, looking for any flinch or sign that he was lying. He glanced back, smiling impatiently as he scraped his tongue along the bottom of the glass, trying to get out any last droplets.
"I think I figured it out," Aloe finally said.
"Figured what out?" Armadillo wondered, raising an eye-ridge.
"Sunny's big secret," Aloe continued. "Her weakness."
Leopard turned to Aloe, watching her along with Armadillo.
"She's a hybrid," Aloe hypothesized. "You are, too."
"Are we?" Armadillo repeated, not giving anything away.
Aloe nodded. "Our assassin mentioned didn't have a barb, and was cloaked at the time, like she was trying to hide her body. You said she was stunted. Both of you have strange scale colors." She smiled. "And you're desperate for water."
Armadillo's snout twitched at that, the movement barely visible to Aloe. That confirmed it. She was right.
"You're worried," Aloe replied calmly. "You don't have to be. I won't tell. Leopard won't either."
Armadillo flicked his tongue, surprised by that. "Really?" he remarked. "If what you say is true, and I won't guarantee it, it would be an advantage to use that against her. Many SandWings would be unhappy with a hybrid queen, if something like that ever came to light."
Aloe shook her head, and laughed. She turned away from Armadillo, gesturing Leopard to follow.
"I can't," Aloe called to Armadillo as the two walked out of his view, her necklace jingling against her scales. "My own dragonet is a hybrid. If I used that against Sunny, I'd never be able to look at her again."
Chapter 50Midnight stared at the pine-covered ground as the four flew across the Sky Kingdom, the Claws of the Clouds rising high their right. She'd never seen pine trees before this. There was so much of Pyrrhia that she'd never been able to see, places she'd only been able to hear about from Gazelle and her father, landscapes she'd only seen in scrolls or in her dreams. With having to take care of Gazelle, she hadn't been able to leave Crosswinds. She appreciated everything that Gazelle had done, and loved her like a mother, but still, she wondered: if her actual mother hadn't been killed, if their family had stayed together, would they have roamed the world? Would her parents have shown them the places they'd visited? She could almost picture her mother flying next to her, explaining to Midnight about that one time she'd visited the Sky Kingdom, telling her about the history of the land.
She spotted something strange beneath her. A large fault in the ground, a crack running down from the Claws of the Clouds to . . . she couldn't see the end of it. Maybe it went all the way out to sea. Near it, trees had been upended while rocks fell down into the abyss. It had to be pretty big for her to see it from all the way up here.
She frowned as it moved into the distance behind them. This had been the fourth one she'd seen today. Were there a lot of earthquakes in the Sky Kingdom? She hadn't heard anything about it. Strange.
Tiger nervously cocked her head left and right, quickly glancing around for any sort of intruder. "Are we sure this is a good idea, to be flying during the daytime?" she asked. "Queen Scarlet doesn't like intruders." She winced. "RainWings worst of all."
"I doubt we're going to be the top thing on her mind," Midnight replied, trying to reassure her. "Especially with the Empress causing so much trouble. I'm not even sure Queen Scarlet is in power anymore."
"Really?" Tiger wondered. "Did something happen to her while we were in Antigonia?"
Midnight shook her head. "All the villages we've passed since entering the Sky Kingdom were recently deserted. Just a hunch, but with what you said about her map of Pyrrhia and that, it makes me think that something big happened."
"On some level, that worries me more," Tiger murmured. "Queen Scarlet was bad, but she wasn't 'destroy the world' bad . . ."
"Agreed," Midnight grimaced. "It just means we need to hurry up and fly faster."
With a swoop of her wings, Midnight rode an air current forward towards Ecru, leaving Tiger behind with a tired sigh. She fell back towards Skytaker, giving the hybrid a glance.
"Are you doing alright?" Tiger asked them, concerned. "You've been quiet."
"I'm fine," Skytaker nodded, forcing a smile. "All my time in the Sky Kingdom outside the palace was with Cyclone. Good memories, just . . . nostalgic ones."
"Not just the Sky Kingdom," Tiger said, giving Skytaker a worried glance. "At least from how it sounds, we're going towards the palace. That's where we're most likely to find the Empress."
Skytaker sighed, lifting their head as they stared forward. The SkyWing palace was probably right on the other side of these mountains. It wouldn't be long before they'd be there. "It doesn't matter," they answered. "I don't remember any of my time there, anyways. Not that I want to."
Tiger nodded. Of any place on Pyrrhia, this was the one that Skytaker wanted to visit the least. She didn't blame them. The two were silent for a moment, cold winds whisking past. Tiger spotted another crack in the ground ahead of them. Why were there so many of these things?
"Hey," Skytaker said to Tiger. "How do you think Ermine's doing?"
Tiger felt a tad of purple shine through on her scales, before she quickly hid it. "I . . . I have no conceivable way of knowing that. He could be fine. He could be dead."
Skytaker twitched their tail. "That's pessimistic. You don't really think he's dead, do you? I think he's still alive, safe, and waiting to be rescued."
That's optimistic, Tiger wanted to retort. She wasn't quite sure why it mattered what either of them thought. What mattered was the facts. And the two of them didn't know the facts. "A-are you feeling guilty about him?"
"Of course I am," Skytaker grumbled. "I promised him we'd all get out. I promised him. And we're here, and he's still there."
"It wasn't like we could've done anything about it."
Skytaker sighed again. "Yeah. I know. But we're doing something about it now, aren't we? I'll do whatever it takes to get him back."
But what will it take? Tiger wondered. She shook her head. The closer and closer they got to the Empress, the more uncertain Tiger became about what they had to do.
As Midnight flew up behind her, Ecru glanced back with a smile.
"How are they?" Ecru asked Midnight.
"Tiger and Skytaker?" Midnight asked back. She looked back over her wing to see the two dragonets talking with each other. "Fine, I think. They've been through a lot. Maybe more than us."
Ecru nodded in agreement. "It's starting to get late," she pointed out. "I think we should find a place to make camp."
"Make camp?" Midnight frowned. Ecru was right about it getting late at least. Midnight could already see the sun just barely dipping below the horizon. "It can't be much further to the palace."
"We've flown all over Pyrrhia and Antigonia in the last moon cycle," Ecru reminded her. "The dragonets haven't flown this much since before they were captured. And they have smaller wings."
"The fate of the world depends on this," Midnight retorted. "This is more important than any of us."
"Which makes it even more important to sleep now," Ecru clucked. "We can't fight the Empress when we're exhausted from a long day of flying. We have to be at our best. Also, we need time to prepare."
Midnight shut her eyes as wind blasted against them. "Fine," she hesitantly agreed. "But if the world ends while we're asleep, it's your fault."
Midnight gestured for the others to follow as she dove down with Ecru, scanning the ground for a nice place to sleep. Eventually Midnight settled on something — a tail-thin valley between two cliff-faces, full of trees. If one of the Empress's scouts passed overhead during the night, there'd be no way they'd be caught.
While the other three looked around for a nice place to sleep, clearing away rocks and looking for any sort nasty bugs they didn't want to sleep in, Midnight walked further into the valley, cliffs rising high above her. The sun had set by now, only a faint dusk glow filling the sky. She scanned the bushes for any sort of food or water. Berries or a wild pig would be a nice meal, though she wasn't sure she wanted to cook prey she caught, for fear of being caught herself. Eventually, she saw a small rustle in the bushes. Something to eat?
Midnight held still, lowering herself to the ground. She wasn't really quite sure how to hunt, but this sounded like how she was supposed to do it. She waited patiently until the rustling grew closer.
"Meow?"
Midnight squinted as a tabby slowly walked out from the bushes, staring back at Midnight. That was right. She'd forgotten to hide. She sighed, chuckling to herself. She couldn't eat the cat anyways. It was both far too small, and more importantly, far too cute.
"What are you doing here?" she asked it, grinning. It purred as it looked up at her. Weird. "Huh, surprised you're not running away. Are you used to being around dragons?"
The tabby turned, walking back into the bushes. Midnight smiled as she followed it, pushing aside the leaves. "Hey, where'd you go? Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you."
Midnight glanced down, expecting to see the cat below her.
Instead, Aurora's vivid violet eyes stared back up at her.
Ecru leaped into the air as she heard a furious battle roar rip through the forest, eyes going wide.
"Midnight!" Ecru yelled out, recognizing the voice. She gave a quick glance back towards Tiger and Skytaker. "Stay here!" she ordered them, before rushing off deeper into the valley.
Her heart pounded as she stumbled through the underbrush, twigs and branches whacking against her wings as she sprinted towards Midnight as fast as she could. What if she was in danger? Had they been caught? Midnight let out another roar, Ecru shaking as it got louder.
Finally, Ecru burst through a pair of bushes to see Midnight in a clearing in front of her, furiously attacking a dragon on the ground.
"You!" Midnight roared, swiping her paw down at Aurora, the attack just phasing through her half-sister. "YOU! I'll kill you!" She attacked again, biting down, only to wince as her jaws slapped against themselves.
Aurora sighed as Midnight attacked her once again, talons unable to make contact. Sapphire licked his paw, bored.
Aurora glanced over at Ecru as Midnight let out another roar. "Tell her to stop," she grumbled.
"Midnight!" Ecru pleaded, wincing as Midnight tried to headbutt Aurora, whacking her snout against a rock.
"I won't!" Midnight hissed, panting, trying to attack again.
Aurora twitched her tail, spikes shaking back and forth. "I have no desire to fight you."
"Oh, really?" Midnight growled. "You don't have a desire to fight? Well, guess what, I do! You tore apart my family! You killed my brother!"
"It was an accident," Aurora coldly responded. "You were the one who was supposed to die."
Midnight's eyes went wide, seething as she stared down at Aurora. "Then I'm going to make you regret messing up," she threatened. "I enchan—"
"MIDNIGHT!" Ecru squealed, rushing towards Midnight, and grabbing onto her snout. She turned Midnight towards her, staring into her eyes. "She says she doesn't want to fight!"
Midnight glowered for a few moments, talons shaking. Ecru felt her fangs grit together, and for a moment, Ecru was afraid Midnight was going to attack her.
"You promised," Ecru whimpered. "You promised, you wouldn't use your magic."
Midnight's talons twitched, but finally, she took in a deep breath, and relaxed. Ecru let go of her snout.
"Stopping her was a good choice," Aurora replied. "A moment later, and I would've killed her. Get off me."
Midnight glared as she took a step back from Aurora, wincing as she felt something poke against the back of her head. Rubbing beneath her horns with a paw, she turned to see what it was. Stone spikes had risen up and circled around the back of Midnight's head and neck, ready to impale her.
As Midnight skirted around the spikes, Ecru managed to get a better look at Aurora. There'd been a reason why the hybrid had been lying on the ground, not fighting back. She didn't look in good shape — a few of her limbs had been twisted out of place, metal casts covering parts of others. Slowly, bits of flesh and scale were reforming, replacing the metal as if they were growing.
"Do not mistake my current physical injuries for weakness," Aurora stated, looking up at Midnight, moving her body as little as possible as she spoke, "and do not mistake your magic for strength. The moment I consider you a threat is the moment you die."
Midnight bared her fangs again, wings clenching against her torso. She opened her mouth to speak, but Ecru got there first.
"Alright, thank you Aurora, we'll keep that in mind," Ecru smiled, trying to defuse the situation. She glanced over to the spikes behind Midnight. The two of them needed to tread carefully here — she didn't doubt that Aurora could make good on her threat. "How about we all just back off? We can go camp somewhere else."
"That deal is sufficient," Aurora replied. Sapphire walked up next to her, licking one of her horns. "I don't want my half-sister's interference."
"Don't call me that," Midnight growled. "We're not family. But fine. As long as you stay away from the Empress and the Sky Kingdom, we'll let you be. For now."
Aurora shook her head, barely rotating it to the left and right, so not to move her neck much. "Those terms are not acceptable. I plan to go after the Empress again as soon as I've healed myself."
Midnight narrowed her gaze. "So you're on her side?" she hissed. "Of course you are. In that case, the two of us are enemies."
Ecru winced. Midnight, why can't you just be quiet for a moment! she thought. Telling Aurora that they were enemies sounded like a great way to get killed. She nervously glanced over to the spikes, expecting them to impale the two of them any moment now.
"The current existence of Pyrrhia is important to me," Aurora answered. "I have no intention of joining the Empress's side."
"So why are you going after her then, huh?" Midnight pressed.
"To kill her." Aurora flicked a talon, pressing it to the Eye of Amethyst. The glowing slitted pupil on it rotated upwards, looking back and forth between Midnight and Ecru. "My injuries are the result of my previous failure."
Midnight squinted. Aurora was fighting the Empress? She shook her head, having difficulty comprehending that. The Empress was evil, and Aurora was evil, so they should be working together.
"We're not enemies then," Ecru quickly explained. "We just got back from Antigonia. The world that the Empress is from. We're also trying to stop her."
Aurora gave the two of them a skeptical glance. They really had no idea what they were up against. "You should stay away. If you attack her, you're incapable of winning. Likely, you'll just make things worse."
Midnight frowned, glancing at Aurora's Darkstone, next to the Eye. "I'm more of an animus then you are. I have a better chance. And I don't trust that you have nefarious intentions in attacking the Empress. I bet you want the Wishstone for yourself."
"I don't need it," Aurora retorted. "If possible, I would like to destroy it, if that can be safely done. And from what I've heard of your magic use, or moreso lack thereof, if you use it for something too big, it'll leave you exhausted and possibly dead. It'll taint your soul, and based on the Empress's own powers, it may not even work. If you enchant a spear to strike her through the heart, she won't die. I turned her into water and she survived. I'm not even sure there's anything that can kill her."
"Looking at your wounds, you don't seem very capable yourself," Midnight frowned. "Three moons, what did she do, tear off your leg?"
"Twice," Aurora answered. "With everything I've learned about the Empress's powers, strengths, and weaknesses, I think I have a decent chance next time, particularly with the Eye of Amethyst activated."
Ecru thought for a moment, glancing down at Sapphire. The cat stared back at her, as if trying to tell her something. "A decent chance," she whispered. A decent chance that their world wouldn't be destroyed. She didn't like those odds. "Hey, maybe we could work together."
"No!" Midnight and Aurora growled in unison.
Midnight turned to Aurora, glaring at her. "No. Way."
"Hear me out. You can share with each other what you both know about the Empress," Ecru suggested. "You've got a lot of power combined. Plus, this way Midnight can make sure Aurora doesn't get up to anything nefarious, and Aurora can make sure we don't get in her way. I think it's a good idea."
Aurora thought for a moment, cocking her head. She turned to Sapphire, as if to ask him what he thought about the idea. Finally, she nodded. "I'm willing to do that."
"I'm not!" Midnight huffed. "Ecru, she killed my brother! And she helped kill my other brother!"
"I had little to do with Ink's death," Aurora explained. "I fought him, but I wasn't there in the Crystal Caverns when he helped kill my family. And you might have helped kill Loresearcher too, if you'd known what terrible things he was going to do when he was older. He would've killed our father, in front of Ink and I."
"That doesn't make it right, at all," Midnight snapped. "We're not 'even.' And you're one to talk about doing terrible things."
"Midnight, I don't think we can win on our own," Ecru pleaded. "You don't have to forgive her or even stop hating her, but you were the one talking about how the fate of the world depends on this, and how it's more important than any of us. She fought the Empress already, and survived. I think she's our best chance. Maybe our only one."
Midnight groaned, passing Ecru an irritated look. Now Ecru was turning against her? She shook her head as Ecru's words sunk in. She didn't like it, but Ecru was right. Aurora was stronger than any of them, and she'd lost against the Empress. Without her help, what chance did they have?
"Fine," Midnight grumbled, irritated at this whole thing. Of all the dragons in Pyrrhia, why did it have to be her? Midnight would've far preferred Darkstalker. Antigonian or Pyrrhia. "She can join. But she's not part of the team."
Aurora flicked her tongue. "Team?" she asked. "There's not . . . more of you, is there?" She felt a little bit of disgust at that notion.
"Yeah, there are," Midnight answered. "Six of us. Big team."
"Well, four at the moment," Ecru added. "Ermine and Darkstalker are still in Antigonia. They didn't make it."
"Hmm," Aurora said, considering this for a moment. "Can Sapphire join your team?"
"Who's that?" Midnight asked.
Aurora pointed a claw at the elderly tabby, sitting down next to her head.
Midnight squinted. The cat? "You're . . . you're joking, right?"
"I am not," Aurora answered. "Sapphire is very smart. He knows far more about the Empress than either of us do."
Cats and dragonets. Midnight was less and less sure this was going to work. "Is he evil, or something?"
"Only if you're a bird or a mouse."
Midnight frowned distrustfully. "Fine. He can join, but you can't. I'm going back to the camp. With my team."
Ecru sighed. She couldn't blame Midnight for her reaction to Aurora, but it felt like she was making things overly difficult. Both for the group, and Midnight herself. She turned to Aurora. "Do you need help moving? I could help carry you."
"No." Aurora poked the Eye of Amethyst, and the pupil suddenly started to glow brighter. Ecru watched in amazement as small curls of wind picked up from beneath Aurora, and she rose off her bed of leaves, the winds keeping her levitating a paw-width above the ground. Not moving a muscle, the winds started to slowly carry Aurora after Midnight, over towards the camp. Sapphire leaped on to Aurora, careful to avoid any of her wounds.
"That's creepy," Midnight muttered, seeing Aurora float her way across the valley floor.
Aurora just glared back as she followed, not bothering to reply.
When they gotten back to the camp, the dusk glow had all but faded, replaced with the light of the moons and the occasional flash of one of Aurora's glowstripes. Midnight twitched her tail. How come Aurora had gotten glowstripes, and she hadn't? She supposed that they probably got annoying after a while, especially flashing at random. That would make for a confusing conversation in Aquatic, not that Torrent had bothered to ever try and teach Midnight that.
Midnight pushed through the brush hiding the small clearing that the four had chosen as their resting place for tonight, Ecru following right behind her. The two dragonets immediately turned, happy to see that Midnight and Ecru were the intruders.
"You're back!" Skytaker said, relieved. They grinned, seeing that the two were unharmed. "We were worried about you for a bit there."
Midnight grimaced as she walked into the center of the clearing, turning back. Aurora floated between the bushes, before the wind gently settled her down in a small patch of grass. Sapphire leaped off her, turning to look at the two new dragons.
"Who's that?" Skytaker asked, glancing down at Aurora. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw Tiger take a step back, her scales turning green as she realized who she was.
"You brought her back?" Tiger stammered, eyes wide with fear.
"Blame Ecru, not me," Midnight snorted. "Everyone, this is Aurora. My half-sister."
Aurora tossed Skytaker and Tiger a thoroughly unimpressed look.
Tiger stared at Aurora, quenching the green in her scales only for it to be replaced with red. "She's a murderer," Tiger hissed. "She killed two RainWings and nearly killed another."
"Yes," Aurora snorted. "I did. I was sedated, captured, and attacked when I woke up a bit too early for their liking. What would you have done?"
"I would have spared their lives!" Tiger huffed. "I wouldn't have—" She suddenly stopped talking as a cold feeling ran through her blood. How many RainWings had died during their escape from Antigonia? At least one that Darkstalker had killed, maybe more. She hadn't done it, but was it fair for her to judge Aurora for doing the same thing, while ignoring what Darkstalker had done just because it benefited her? She stopped talking.
"Midnight, what is she doing here?" Skytaker asked, slightly concerned.
Midnight turned to Ecru. "You explain," she grumbled. "You're the one who suggested this."
Ecru let out a sigh. Hopefully, Midnight would eventually forgive her. Or they'd all be dead, or have lost their memories, and it wouldn't matter. "Aurora is also trying to stop the Empress. I think she might have some information about how we can defeat her."
"Defeat her? Is this is your entire crew?" Aurora scoffed. "I was expecting a bit more than two dragonets given that you had Darkstalker on your team." She frowned. "And Calamity didn't mention either of you, which means that you're likely unimportant to Pyrrhia in the scheme of things to come. I suppose that means your deaths would be inconsequential if the Empress kills you."
"We're not inconsequential," Skytaker hissed, flashing their claws. "We're not useless either. We were in the Empress's palace for at least a moon cycle or two. We know some of her secrets."
"Explain," Aurora commanded.
"Well, she's looking for something called the Wishstone, first of all," Skytaker stated. "She's going to use it to re-create Pyrrhia."
"It might be with a dragon named Trustbreaker," Tiger added. "Which means we need to find him, and the Wishstone, before he does."
Aurora snorted. "I already knew all that. You're too late."
"What do you mean?" Skytaker asked.
Aurora turned her head towards Sapphire, and a wind lifted the cat into the air, floating him in front of the dragonets. "This is all that's left of Trustbreaker. The Wishstone is in fact a SkyWing named Ash, and his spirit had been residing in Inferno's body since she came to the Talons of Peace. The Empress captured Inferno, and at the moment, the two are currently in the ruins of Queen Scarlet's arena."
"We knew about Ash," Tiger added, her eyes on Sapphire as Aurora set him back down. "Calamity told us."
Aurora's ears perked up at that. "You spoke to Calamity?" she asked. "Calamity spoke to you?"
"We had to go through the Crystal Caverns to get back to Pyrrhia," Ecru explained to her. "Polar and Calamity helped us through."
"What did he say?" Aurora interrogated, trying her best to hide a hint of desperation. "What were the instructions he gave to defeat the Empress? Did he ask you to pass any messages on to me?"
Midnight growled. "There's no way we'd pass on any messages regardless, but he didn't say anything helpful, or give us instructions. All he did was tell us Ash is worse than the Empress. Pretty bad advice, given only one of them is currently trying to destroy the world."
Aurora's snout curled. "That's not good. Why didn't he say anything?" She shook her head, and her blood ran cold. "It means . . . he's abandoned me. He's abandoned this world."
How could he do that? Aurora thought, talons trembling. How could he give up hope? Didn't he know a way to fix this?
A small in Aurora's head whispered to her: if Calamity had given up, then Aurora had given up herself. The Horror would destroy Pyrrhia, and there was nothing she could do about it. And that meant she was free.
"Good!" Midnight cheerily replied. "Great! I hope he stays trapped in your stupid mother forever, and never touches Pyrrhia or any dragon on it again! I don't want his help anyways! Or yours, for that matter."
"Fine," Aurora bristled. The winds lifted her off the ground, and she started floating away from the group.
"Wait!" Skytaker quickly protested. They couldn't just let Aurora go. She was their only chance of stopping the Empress. "We could use your help!"
Aurora sighed, plopping herself back down on the ground. She glared at Skytaker, waiting patiently.
"So, how come the world is still around, if Liliana has the Wishstone?" Skytaker asked.
"It's still in Inferno," Aurora answered. "I think the Empress needs to remove it. Which might be difficult, but I doubt there's much time left. As soon as she gets it, I expect she'll use it. From what I could tell, she's more of the acting before thinking type." She tossed Midnight a glance as she said that.
"And how long will it take you to heal yourself?" Ecru wondered.
"It will only take the night to return my body to sufficient fighting shape," Aurora replied, "but the Empress can heal instantly."
"Is that it?" Skytaker questioned. "What else can she do?"
"Shapeshifting. Teleportation. She can control and create lightning, though I believe I've negated that. She can control and create vines, which appear to be fireproof. Telekinesis. She's extremely strong, taking my leg off in a single hit. She can create portals. Trustbreaker mentioned that before he took it, she had the Wishstone give her a lot of powers in order to keep control over Antigonia. So maybe even more beyond just what I saw."
"Three moons," Midnight whispered, shocked. For just a moment, she was slightly impressed that Aurora had managed to fight her. "There's no way we can fight against that."
"Yes, that is what I said," Aurora sighed. "You will all die. Quickly. I can only think of three dragons on Pyrrhia that could survive a battle with her: myself, Calamity, and Darkstalker."
"Wait, what about our dad?" Midnight questioned. She frowned. Our dad. She wasn't quite sure she liked the sound of that. "Torrent. If we could find him, he could stop her."
"He was at Jade Mountain when we were captured," Tiger pointed out. "He might still be there."
Aurora shook her head. "I can't say for sure, but it's unlikely his dagger would be able to negate her powers, given the way she got them. From what I gathered, the Wishstone alters reality directly, without involving animus magic. So her powers aren't actually enchantments. The Wishstone itself is enchanted, so he could use it on that, but the enchantments almost certainly conflict, and if Torrent's dagger can't work on Calamity's enchantment, it probably won't work on the Wishstone either."
"Huh," Midnight responded, considering that. Her father had mentioned something like that before. When her mother had attempted to use his dagger to destroy the Obsidian Mirror, the emerald on it had cracked instead.
"Midnight. Exactly how many times have you used animus magic in your life?" Aurora asked her. "And what did you use it for?"
Midnight twitched her tail. "I'm not telling you that. You might use it against me one day."
Aurora sighed, clenching her claws. Was Midnight trying to be as hard to work with as possible?
"Midnight, just tell her," Ecru asked. "She's trying to help us, remember? This might be important."
Midnight glowered. "Fine," she muttered. "Twice. The first one was an enchantment that lets you heal dragons, the second one points in the direction of whoever you're looking for. I don't have them right now, though. I gave them away."
Aurora considered this for a moment. The first one might have been useful, although Aurora wasn't a fan of automatic healing enchantments. "And what was your recovery time for each of them?"
"I was out after the first one for a while. Around a day. I didn't have much recovery time for the second though, I just felt pretty woozy for a bit. Maybe I'm getting more used to it?"
Aurora shook her head. "That's not the case. The recovery times were different because the first one was a complex enchantment requiring more interpretation, whereas the second one was simple. Similarly, you should've felt more harmful mental effects from the former than the latter. The more complicated the enchantment and the less experienced the animus, the more time it will take to recover." She thought for a moment. "I plan to attack the Empress as soon as I'm recovered. In that time, you likely have the energy to perform one complex enchantment or two simple ones. Choose wisely."
"Wait," Skytaker spoke up, "can't Midnight just enchant something to kill the Empress? That would solve all our problems."
"Only if it worked," Aurora answered. "You could enchant a spear to stab her through the heart, but she'd certainly survive that. As I mentioned, she survived being turned into water. Maybe there's something more direct and complex that would work, but maybe not. She might have some way out of it, and then Midnight's enchantment would be wasted."
"What do you suggest, then?" Ecru asked.
"Self-healing would be useful if Midnight wished to survive a battle with the Empress," Aurora considered. "However, those are complex and easily prone to misinterpretation."
Midnight recalled what her father had told her about Erosion's fate. "Yeah, I think I'll pass on that one."
"Another option is something that will give you an invulnerable body. It's simpler, and less open to errors. I wouldn't enchant your body itself, however."
Midnight thought about that. Aurora was probably right. If she wanted to fight with the Empress, she needed some way to not die, and if she didn't want some way to heal herself, invulnerability was the next best option.
"Ecru, what do you think?" Midnight asked. "I know I've . . . concerned you with how willing I've been to use magic, especially now that we know where it comes from. I wanted to make sure you were fine with this."
Ecru hesitated, but quickly nodded. "Yeah. You should do it. If we don't manage to stop the Empress, I'm not sure there'll be much of a soul for you left to lose."
"Great," Midnight grimaced. She glanced up at the night sky, getting darker by the moment. "I guess I'll do the enchantment, then go to sleep. Rest for tomorrow. Who here wants to keep watch on Aurora first?"
"It's pointless to keep watch on me," Aurora remarked. "It would take mere seconds for me to kill all of you, whether you watch me do it or not."
"And that," Midnight glared, "is why we're keeping watch."
Chapter 51General Six-Claws paced back and forth across the tent. A SandWing soldier stared as he made tracks in the ground, his barb dragging through the sand. A cold night wind blew through the flaps of fabric, chilling their scales.
"I can't say this siege is particularly interesting," the soldier sighed. "How much longer do you think we have before they give up?"
Six-Claws shook his head. "I doubt they will. The palace had been prepared for something like this. We just thought that we'd be the ones inside the walls. Unfortunately, I think we have a lot longer to go before they finally surrender."
"And how long before we give up?" the soldier questioned. "We'll have to declare Sunny dead at some point, and with her lack of immediate relatives, there's no one else to prop up as her successor."
Six-Claws knew that was true. Thorn had been an orphan. Maybe Sunny had relatives on the NightWing side of her family, but the Sand Kingdom would hardly accept them as a queen. If Sunny didn't return, there was nothing else they could do but accept Aloe as their queen.
"She's not dead," Six-Claws said, trying to reassure himself. "She's only been missing a fortnight."
"The scene at the Outclaws wasn't very hopeful," the soldier muttered. "With Cheetah found dead, and Sunny missing? I think an assassin got to her."
"I'm not giving up yet," Six-Claws muttered. If she was dead, who would be hiding it?
Six-Claws continued his pacing. As he reached one end of the tent, the entrance flaps suddenly flew open, revealing a young SandWing, looking up at Six-Claws with wide eyes.
"Sir!" the SandWing shouted. Six-Claws winced as the voice pierced his ears, turning his head away. "You're being summoned!"
"Summoned?" Six-Claws frowned. "By whom?" The only one with the authority to summon him was—
"Queen Sunny!" the SandWing yelled back. "She's just returned from hiding in the Claws of the Clouds!"
Six-Claws's grim expression suddenly turned upwards, into a huge grin. He glanced towards the soldier back in the tent with a look that said 'I told you so', before rushing out the tent flaps.
It didn't take him very long to figure out where Sunny was. The camp seemed to have come alive beneath the shadow of the palace, with SandWings crowding and jostling to get a view of their queen. Had Six-Claws been the last dragon to know she'd returned? He pushed a few SandWings away with his wings to get past them, peering over heads and horns until his eyes finally landed upon Queen Sunny.
Her eyes turned and landed on him, and she quickly started towards her general, dragons moving out of her way. Six-Claws grinned as she approached.
"Your majesty! You're back!" Six-Claws smiled, wrapping his wings around her in a hug.
"Yeah," Sunny answered, pushing his wings away. "I am."
"I'm so glad you're alright," Six-Claws grinned. "We were worried about you for a moment. What happened?" He glanced down at her foreleg. The golden band indicating leader of the Outclaws was around it.
"I met . . . someone," Sunny carefully replied. "She helped me. I stayed with her for a while." She glanced around at all the clambering dragons, whispering and talking. "I'm surprised so many dragons still serve me. General, do you have a line of communication open to Aloe?"
"I do," Six-Claws replied. Something seemed off about Sunny, but he wasn't quite sure what. It was odd. "I meet with her general, General Leopard, every so often. We exchange information, and occasionally prisoners."
"Good," Sunny said. "I want you to tell her that I accept her challenge for the throne."
The crowd of soldiers immediately fell silent. Six-Claws stared down at Sunny, his sail falling flat on his back. Sunny looked around. Why were they all so shocked?
"A-are you sure?" Six-Claws stammered.
"I am," Sunny grimaced, flicking her barbless tail. "Every SandWing here has risked their life for me and my mother. The least I can do is the same for them."
Six-Claws winced. "Maybe we should discuss this somewhere a little more private?"
Sunny sighed. "Fine."
Six-Claws forced a nervous grin, and gestured Queen Sunny to follow him. The crowd broke for them as he headed back towards his tent. He looked up at the palace walls, rising above him. He wondered if the news that Queen Sunny had returned would get back to Aloe soon. Was Leopard watching them from up there?
Six-Claws opened up the flap to the tent, shooing the other SandWing in there out as Sunny looked over the sparse chambers. Her eyes landed on a small painting of three dragons on familiar scrollpaper. Ostrich with Six-Claws and Queen Thorn, was the title. She remembered Ostrich showing it to her after making it at Jade Mountain Academy. How long ago had that been? Could Sunny ever return to that life?
"Sunny," Six-Claws frowned, "I think it's very . . . valiant of you to want to challenge Aloe, but if you die, we all lose with you. Everyone is here because they chose to be here."
"And now, I'm choosing too." Sunny sat back on her haunches. "If you're afraid that I can't win, I think you're wrong. I'm not the same dragon I was when we first met, and I'm not the same as when I lost the throne. The last two weeks, I've been training, and learning how to fight. From the best. I saw Aloe myself, she's no Burn. Even before training, I think we were evenly matched. I could win in a one-on-one fight."
"I don't doubt that," Six-Claws replied. "But only if it's a fair fight. I have a really bad feeling about this."
"What do you mean?" Sunny frowned. "A bad feeling?"
Six-Claws tapped his talons on the ground, sighing. "It's just a hunch, but Leopard has said a few things which make me think there's more to Aloe than meets the eye. I'm not sure what, but it's awfully suspicious how quickly she demanded a challenge initially, especially considering that Aloe herself isn't particularly physically strong. She's also no Blaze. She wouldn't have challenged you unless she thought she was going to win. If you accept the challenge, I'm almost certain that you'll be heading into a trap."
Sunny opened her mouth, just about to argue back. How could she back down again? All the training she'd been doing the past fortnight had been to learn how to fight, specifically to challenge Aloe! If she didn't fight her, all that just seemed . . . wasted.
"So, what would you do instead?" Sunny huffed.
"This," Six-Claws replied. "Did you here the news about what happened while you were away?"
Sunny shook her head. She hadn't had any contact with the outside world since she'd left the Outclaws with Jackal.
"There was a battle between Queen Blackice, and forces led by King Deathbringer and King Hailstorm. If you can't tell by the latter's new title, they won, and it looks like your students will be finding bits and pieces of Blackice for years to come. They're alright, by the way, a bit traumatized, but none of them died, thank the moons."
A small load seemed to lighten off Sunny. She'd been busy with all the events in the Sand Kingdom, but what was happening in the rainforest had stuck at the back of her mind. "Good. I'm glad she got her dues, even if it can't bring Glory back."
"With Queen Blackice dead," Six-Claws continued, "Queen Moorhen busy with her rebellion, and whatever is going on in the Sky Kingdom, there's no one else for Aloe to turn, with Queen Coral, King Deathbringer, and King Hailstorm all in support of us. She has no more allies."
"And?" Sunny asked. "What does that mean we should do?"
"Wait it out," Six-Claws suggested. "They're under siege. They can't hold on forever. Eventually, they'll give up, especially now that you're back."
Sunny considered this. "No."
Six-Claws opened his mouth, but Sunny didn't let him speak.
"Every day that Aloe is on the throne is a day where the kingdom doesn't have leadership," Sunny explained. "A day that I can't help the kingdom recover from war and poverty. I'm not willing to let the Sand Kingdom suffer that long, and the longer it takes, the greater the chance is that some other disaster happens and the tides turn again. No. I want to finish this now."
Six-Claws felt his expression droop. He didn't to outlive both Thorn and her daughter. He wouldn't let Aloe kill Sunny, not while he was still alive. But what could he do to stop Sunny? "You're queen," Six-Claws pleaded, "it's your choice. But in the strongest terms possible, I would advice you not to accept the challenge. You will die. Aloe will become queen."
"So we invade," Sunny suggested. "We take the palace back. We fight."
Six-Claws let out a sigh of relief. "It's not . . . impossible. But the problem will be getting in. The palace was built to be practically impenetrable to anything larger than a scavenger. A frontal invasion won't work, and the secret tunnel you used to escape is heavily guarded. Getting in would be like throwing dragons at a mountain."
Sunny thought about it. Had Jackal taught her anything for this? Could assassins get in? Aloe's had gotten in, but that had been before the palace had been boarded up so closely, like it was now. Maybe, maybe not. An idea popped into Sunny's head.
"I think I might know a way," Sunny said. "How do you feel about building a new palace once this is all done?"
Six-Claws gulped. Whatever this was, he wasn't sure he liked the sound of it already. "What are you thinking?"
"I can't say I'm too happy about taking one of her ideas, but Blackice managed to take out Icicle by destroying a lot of the IceWing palace, and flying in her troops through the hole."
Six-Claws frowned. "We'd need explosives, and a lot of them. This isn't an ice palace, this is solid stone, and its lasted a long time without any magic. We don't have whatever Blackice used, and with both her and the NightWing who created them gone, I don't think we could get more. Maybe Mastermind could help reverse engineer them, but it'd be a large project to make enough for our purposes. It'd take nearly as long as the siege."
Sunny smiled. "I don't think we'll need them. It just so happens that I know a pair of siblings with a lot of explosives, and an even greater need for treasure."
Chapter 52Ecru stared as the sun rose up in the east, the pink colors of the dawn sky shining over the ruins of the SkyWing palace. Sunlight slowly lit the nearby forest, shining through the foliage as it illuminated Ecru's scales. A thin wire bracelet glinted against Ecru's scales, barely visible against them. If they failed, this could be the last time the sun rose over Pyrrhia.
"Midnight, stay safe," Ecru whispered, turning to her.
Midnight smiled, trying to mask her fear. "I'll be fine," she answered, raising up a paw with a bracelet matching Ecru's. "This is going to work."
Ecru wrapped her wings around Midnight, placing her head on her neck. She let out a quiet sigh as tears ran from her eyes. Invulnerable or not, this was dangerous. Aurora had said that the bracelets she'd made them were strong enough no normal dragon could hope to tear them off, but what if the Empress could? What if something else went wrong?
Midnight hugged Ecru back. "It'll be alright. I'll be back, soon enough."
Ecru nodded, wanting to believe that. She didn't want this goodbye to be permanent. She turned towards the arena, sunlight glinting across its walls. She could feel it. This was a place of death. She didn't want Midnight to join the myriad of dragons killed here.
As Midnight and Ecru shared a moment, Aurora stared down at Sapphire. She couldn't take him with her. She placed a talon between his ears, gently stroking his fur.
"Skytaker," she said, turning to the hybrid. "Take care of him, until we return."
"Alright," Skytaker answered, glancing down at the cat, and giving Sapphire a gentle smile. Sapphire purred as he walked over to Skytaker, rubbing his back across their legs.
Aurora paused. Trustbreaker had given Sapphire to Aurora to take care of before he'd gone to face the Empress, and gotten killed. She wondered: would she share his fate? She wasn't sure she wanted to die. Crystal and Calamity had kept her locked away for her entire life up until now, and all the time since then she'd spent trying to follow Calamity's orders. But there was so much left on Pyrrhia she hadn't experienced. Sunrises, mountains, oceans. Palaces, delicacies, scrolls. Would she ever be able to experience that, once this was done? Like a normal dragon would?
No. She wasn't a normal dragon, and never would be. Her parents had assured her that. Midnight and Ecru's embrace caught her gaze. She had a duty, a mission. In the grand scheme of all of Pyrrhia, her own life and her own happiness was worth as much as one of the worms beneath her claws.
"Tiger, are you ready?" Midnight asked, after finally pulling away from her embrace.
Tiger nodded. "I think so." She closed her eyes as her scales changed color, blending in with the forest around her, until there was barely a faint outline of a dragon left where she was. She suddenly regretted not playing more camouflage games back in the rainforest.
"Great," Midnight sighed. She turned to Aurora, frowning as she saw her half-sister. "Then I guess it's time to go."
There was a gust of air as Tiger took off into the sky, Midnight unable to see the RainWing dragonet against the sky. Midnight and Aurora took off after her, the sun in their eyes as they flew towards the arena. Midnight's heart raced as she risked a final look beneath her, Ecru, Skytaker, and Sapphire staring back up at them.
Columns of the palace lay in ruins as they approached, RainWings staring at the two hybrids from beneath. A few fluttered their wings, and one almost made a motion to attack, before being pulled back by a friend. They knew there was nothing they could do to stop Aurora.
"I hope we'll be enough of a distraction to cover Tiger's advance," Midnight muttered. She had lost sight of Tiger by now, which hopefully meant that no one else had noticed her either. But with all the RainWings around, what were the chances of one noticing Tiger? Tiger had said that the Pyrrhian RainWings trained themselves through dragonet games to keep themselves hidden and find other camouflaged RainWings, but games didn't seem like something that the Antigonian RainWings would do. Midnight let out a roar, telling them 'look at me!'
She glanced over at Aurora again. She hadn't responded.
"You don't care about what happens to Tiger, do you," Midnight muttered. Of course Aurora didn't care.
"I care insofar as the fate of Pyrrhia depends on her," Aurora remarked.
"Lovely," Midnight replied, disgusted. "You really don't care about anyone but yourself, do you?"
"My own eventual fate is also inconsequential," Aurora sighed. "Is that something Gazelle and Torrent taught you? How to care?"
"I guess?" Midnight answered. "It wasn't really something anyone taught me. It's just something all dragons have. Except you, apparently."
"Crystal and Calamity taught me not to care," Aurora said. "Caring about the fate of individual dragons would only be a distraction. It's not something that would change the overall fate of Pyrrhia, as a whole." She paused, frowning. "I think I would like to care. About Inferno. About myself."
Midnight gave her a skeptical look. "If you're expecting sympathy, you're not getting any from me."
"I don't require your sympathy."
Aurora extended her wings out, slowing herself down without bothering to use the Eye of Amethyst to do it. She glanced down as the interior of the arena had come into view. The crack through it was slowly continuing to widen, the width of a couple dragons by this point. On the other side, the Empress stood next to a vine-wrapped Inferno, grabbing ahold of the SkyWing's head. Inferno seemed to shake as the Empress's claws dipped into her head.
"SHE'S HERE!" Queen Scarlet suddenly screeched at Aurora. "SHE'S HERE TO KILL ME SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME!"
Hearing Queen Scarlet, Liliana pulled her talons from Inferno, shaking her head as Inferno breathed hard. Both looked up to see Midnight and Aurora approaching, Inferno with relief, and the Empress with annoyance.
"I'm surprised you're back so quickly," Liliana commented, flicking her tail. "I was expecting you to die. And who's your friend? I don't think I've seen her before."
Midnight bared her fangs. "Really? You don't know me? You sent an assassin after me, and he almost succeeded."
"Aah!" the Empress smiled. "I think I know who you are now. Midnight, is it? You should consider it an honor that I considered you enough of a threat to send Deathbringer after you."
"You should consider it an honor when I smash my talons through your neck," Midnight hissed.
Aurora snorted at this, the two landing at the opposite side of the arena from the Empress. Ceramic armor began to form over her scales. "That's surprisingly violent."
Midnight glared at Aurora. "A dragonet killer has no room to talk about being violent."
The Empress yawned, as she flicked her talons, the vines pulling Inferno back away towards the sides of the arena. She walked forward, stretching out her claws and wings. "So, are the two of you just going to quibble all day, or can we get this over with? I have a new world to build."
"Gladly!" Midnight growled. She stretched out her wings, and half-flying, half-running, charged at the Empress. Midnight let out a furious roar as she leaped forward, talons outstretched, reaching towards the RainWing's neck.
With a flash of blue light, the Empress was gone, and Midnight's claws hit sand. A moment later, the Empress re-appeared above Midnight, and flicked her tail, whacking Midnight in the side with it. It hit with the force of a hundred dragons, and Midnight sailed across the arena, sand floating up in a cloud as she skidded through it, before slamming into the arena wall with a crack.
A few moments later, Midnight got back to her paws, grinning. There was not even a single scratch on her. The enchantment had worked perfectly. "It'll take more than that!"
Midnight leaped across the arena again, heading down towards Liliana, mildly annoyed that she hadn't turned her opponent into a splash of blood on the wall. She teleported again, but this time, Midnight was ready. She twisted around, grabbing ahold of the Empress's neck, and ripped out her throat with her talons, throwing a bloody chunk of the RainWing onto the sand.
The Empress teleported just far enough to get out of range, the wound healing. "I could say the same," she sneered, as soon as it had healed enough for her to speak again.
Midnight jumped again, tail whipping as she grabbed onto the Empress's wings, trying to pull them apart. The Empress grabbed ahold of Midnight's head, her talons glowing. With a huge flash of light, lightning shot out of her claws, directly into Midnight. Thunder shook as sand whipped up across the battlefield.
A few moments later, the light faded. The Empress stared down with a content grin, only for Midnight's claws to rip into her snout, crying a cry of shock. Midnight bit down on her neck again, pushing the Empress into the ground with a roar.
There was a flash of blue light, and Midnight yelped as the Empress disappeared. She glanced around to see that the Empress had reappeared on the other side of the arena, next to Aurora.
Aurora leaped to the side as Liliana struck down, hitting the armor on her tail. She winced as it quickly cracked, and the Empress's talons struck straight through flesh. Pain coarsed up Aurora's spine to her head, and she quickly blunted all her nerves in the back end of her body, landing nearby in the sand. Metal bands shot out of her tail-stump, latching back onto the remainder of her tail, pulling it back towards her as she reattached it with strands of metal.
The Empress charged forward, and Aurora raised her talons. Copper rods around her jumped up into the air as Liliana jumped into them. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, hitting the rods and Liliana with them. She let out a yell as a whiff of burning flesh entered Aurora's nose.
Liliana teleported again, flapping down towards Aurora. Aurora moved her talons, and wind blasted upwards, between the Empress's wings, throwing her off-balance enough for Aurora to sneak out beneath her. The Empress flapped wildly for a few moments, before teleporting again. This time, Aurora shot up a blast of stone from her armor. The Empress hit it instead of Aurora, taking off a good chunk of Aurora's armor and scales.
"Midnight!" Aurora shouted as she dodged another one of the Empress's attacks. "You're supposed to be defending me!"
"Great, I have to defend her now," Midnight grumbled as she ran over towards Aurora.
Aurora twisted around, rolling as the Empress tried to grab at her with her talons, tearing off another piece of armor. The Empress teleported in Aurora's way, and Aurora extended her talons at the Empress, a blast of wind coming up from her, roaring as it even managed to push the Empress away.
Aurora leaped to her talons as the Empress appeared on the other side of her, and slapped her tail in the sand. Huge hardened spikes shot up from the ground, impaling the Empress in a dozen different places as they moved her away from Aurora.
"Hey!" Midnight shouted, as the spikes whacked into her scales, not breaking through, though they pushed her away from Aurora. "I can't defend you if you keep throwing spikes at me!"
"You'd have been safe from the spikes if you hadn't flown off to attack the Empress by yourself," Aurora growled, sending up another few spikes as Liliana teleported away, catching them through her again. "The plan was that we attack together."
"And we would've attacked together if you had followed me!" Midnight retorted. She lifted her wings, gliding towards the Empress, in the middle of a mass of spikes.
Meanwhile, Inferno stared at the three, shaking as the vines wrapped ahold of her. Thunder crackled as blue lights flashed. For most of her life, Inferno had been told she was one of the most dangerous, most powerful dragons on Pyrrhia. But as the three fought, spikes flung into the air while normally mortal injuries were treated as scratches, Inferno suddenly felt ordinary. Firescales or not, she'd die in an instant in the arena. She really couldn't hurt these dragons. Her scales were nothing compared to the power of animus magic.
Something suddenly set Inferno's scales on edge. She glanced behind her to hear clawsteps through the sand, and noticed a small distortion against the arena wall. She opened her mouth, about to say something.
"Shhh," Tiger whispered. "It's Tiger. I'm trying to free you. Pretend not to notice."
Inferno nervously looked back to the battle, keeping her eyes focused on the three, while pretending not to know that there was someone beside her. She felt the vines move against her scales, as Tiger tried to pull them off her.
"Be careful," Inferno winced. She didn't want Tiger to accidentally get burnt. She held herself as still as possible as Tiger moved vines. Was her being too still suspicious?
"I will be," Tiger quietly frowned. "I don't know if I can get them off just by moving them. It's weird that they're not burning . . . hold very still. I want to try something."
"Alright," Inferno gulped, not quite sure if she could hold any more still than this. She tried to freeze all her limbs as she felt Tiger pull one of the vines away from her, dipping her head down towards it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw fangs reveal themselves from the camouflaged scales, and a small black liquid run down one, falling towards the vine.
A blue light flashed behind Aurora, and she tensed up as she felt the Empress hold onto one of her talons, trying to pull off another one of her legs. She quickly separated the toe from the rest of her body as the Empress pulled it free, then twisted around, grabbing ahold of the Empress's foreleg instead. In just a few moments, she'd turned it into lead, and the Empress tilted off balance from the increased weight, tripping onto the sand, where steel spikes burst into her legs.
It wasn't enough. The Empress shook her metal claw, and it transformed back into flesh. She reached out, clenching her talons. Aurora felt her muscles freeze up, unable to move as the Empress used her telekinesis to hold her in place. The RainWing ripped herself away from the spikes, the wounds quickly closing up, and reached up towards Aurora's neck.
With a roar, Midnight barrelled into the Empress, knocking her away from Aurora. The telekinesis faded, and Aurora felt herself suddenly able to move again.
"You're welcome!" Midnight growled, swiping at the downed Empress. The wound made from her talons instantly healed, and she kept hitting the RainWing, over and over again, unable to do any lasting damage.
"I could have phased through that," Aurora sighed. She glanced over at Midnight and Liliana fighting. Why hadn't the Empress teleported away? Suddenly, she noticed a vine creeping out of the sand, wrapping around one of Midnight's hindlegs. Of course. If the Empress couldn't hurt Midnight, she'd try and trap her. Aurora sprinted over towards her half-sister, using the winds to give her a boost. "Midnight, move your leg."
Midnight glanced at Aurora for a moment, not quite sure why Aurora would tell her to do that. It was a moment too late, and the vine wrapped itself around Midnight fully, the Empress teleporting away. Midnight tugged on it as Aurora went over to help her.
"I can free it myself," Midnight growled, trying to pull her hindleg free. She didn't want to give Aurora a chance to use her magic on her. She opened her jaws, shooting a blast of fire at the vine to try and burn it.
"No, you can't," Aurora hissed. Midnight's fire stopped, the vine unharmed. Aurora grabbed ahold of the vine, and it dissolved into water.
Suddenly, another vine burst out of the sand where Midnight's had been, snaking into Aurora's jaws and down her throat in an instant, her eyes going wide open.
"Don't move," the Empress smirked. "How fast are your powers, Aurora? Do you think you'd be able to recover from vines thrashing around your throat and insides? What about your brain?"
Aurora stared, remaining absolutely still as she felt the vine moving up her snout. She wasn't sure about the answer to the Empress's question. She could get rid of the vine, but how much damage would the Empress be able to do before then?
"Midnight," the Empress smiled. "If you don't surrender, I'll kill her."
Midnight shook her head. "What, you think that'll stop me? Please, I tried to kill her myself just last night." She ran at the Empress, swiping her talons across the RainWing's chest. She was sure Aurora would have agreed with her. The fate of the world was far more important that just one dragon.
The Empress raised her claws, and Midnight suddenly felt her body stiffen up, unable to move. She twisted, trying to turn as the Empress lifted her into the air, and spread out her talons. Midnight winced as she felt her limbs tug to the side, the Empress attempting to rip them from her body.
Liliana frowned, spreading out her talons again. Nothing happened. She tried a third time, and sighed as she finally realized that this was useless.
"Na-na," Midnight taunted her, "you can't hurt me!"
The Empress scowled, and spat venom onto Midnight's exposed underbelly. It harmlessly dripped from her scales. "And it appears you can't hurt me either."
"I'll just have to outlast you then," Midnight smiled, trying to swipe her talons. The Empress stiffened up as she tried to remain concentrated on the telekinesis, keeping Midnight in place.
Liliana sighed, smiling as she shook her head. "You'll have to do far better than outlasting me if you hope to stop me."
Suddenly, vines leaped out from the walls of the arena, grabbing ahold of Midnight's limbs and body, wrapping around them. Midnight yelped as she felt herself pulled back, trapped against the wall. Aurora stared, unable to do anything with the Empress's threatening vines creeping throughout her body.
"No!" Midnight hissed. If they were trapped, then they'd lost. "Not yet! I enchant the Empress's scales—"
The Empress opened her eyes wide, a glint of terror in them as she realized what Midnight was going to do. Enchant her. Would it work? She didn't know. A moment too late, she started to try and shapeshift, hoping that getting rid of any scales would prevent the enchantment from working at all.
"—to," Midnight continued, "to . . . to . . ." Her head started to sway to the side, and her vision went blurry. Before she could complete the enchantment, her head slumped down, and Midnight fell unconscious. The air of magic around her fizzled out.
Aurora winced. This was why she'd suggested Midnight save her second enchantment instead of using it on Ecru. She'd done too much, and now, she couldn't do anything more.
"Well," Liliana tsked, gently bringing the knocked out Midnight to the side of the arena wall. "I expected something a little bit better than that." She looked back towards Aurora, waving a claw from side-to-side in a simple threat. Aurora didn't move. "I suppose it's time to finish this."
She turned towards Inferno, the glaring SkyWing still wrapped up in vines. Next to her, a RainWing stood on her hind-legs, holding a struggling dragonet in her talons.
"Let me go!" Tiger squealed, trying to scratch at the RainWing's paw. She swung her tail and hindlegs from side to side, trying to get out of the grasp.
"Thank you for coming all the way to Pyrrhia, just to warn me," Liliana smiled, walking over to Inferno. "It almost makes up for the mistake you made by managing to lose them in the first place."
General Glory frowned, wincing as Tiger scratched her. "There should still be two around here, somewhere. Skytaker, and the other hybrid who came with Midnight. Neither are animuses, but they could still be dangerous."
"It won't matter soon enough," Liliana responded, staring down into Inferno's electric blue eyes. "I just need a little more time with Ash and Inferno, and the Wishstone is all mine."