Author's Note – Due to work becoming unexpectedly more demanding, I need to modify the schedule for posting chapters of my two active stories. The stories' new posts will alternate with new chapters going up every other Saturday morning.
Shocking Encounters
Aurora cautiously approached the overhang which dropped into a new range. A waterfall crashed down beside them, forming a big stream or river below. Mushroom-trees grew in different colors throughout the verdant range, but purple mushrooms and trees were the most common.
It was the one sky-kin she could see perched on a distant light-rock which was bothering her. The sky-kin was dark purple, lacked forearms, and was shaped almost like a Night Fury, other than lacking forearms and forepaws. Where had she heard about this sky-kin kind before?
Grr, this is too familiar. Where from?
Kin-liver rested a paw on her shoulder and pointed at the distant sky-kin, "See it? Is that a Skrill?"
Her ears flew back as she remembered where she had heard of this sky-kin before. Sire-father had told her and her nestmates stories about the sky-light-eater, the Skrill, that had attacked his former island-range called Berk. He had not known why that dangerous sky-kin had attacked, only that it did. He and a ground-kin had worked together to kill it.
Yes, that is it!
"Lookss like onne. What sshould we do? Morre of them could be danngerrouss."
Kin-liver beckoned her over to everyone else crouched down low and out of sight. No one had yet shown themselves in this range or been noticed.
"So here's the situation. There are Skrills in the next cavern," Kin-liver said.
Unsurprisingly, Rock-Climber barked happily, "Yess, fightinng!"
Rain-Eater gasped in surprise and leaned closer, "Sskrrillss, thosse arre rrarre drragonnss!"
Kin-liver nodded, "They are. More important for us is that the only Skrill your father met was not a friendly one."
Alvor and Safiya looked down to their paws.
Kin-liver continued, "I wasn't there, but I heard what happened. It attacked Berk with the Berserkers, and it tried to kill your father."
Mist-Wings whined, "But that wass onne bad Sskrill. They cannnnot all be bad!"
Aurora rolled her eyes, annoyed at her sister's continued blindness, "You do nnot knnow that! They verry could all be bad."
Mist-Wings looked to Kin-liver, "What do you thinnk?"
Kin-liver held her staff while staring into the distance, clearly deep in thought, "I and Cloudjumper saw a Skrill months ago. It wasn't threatening to us or anyone else. The King Bewilderbeast once had a Skrill in the Sanctuary for a while, and that Skrill wasn't dangerous to anything there. It's likely that the one which attacked years ago was... abused or hurt by the Berserkers. Also, I don't think Skrills are as dangerous anymore as they used to be. Can anyone guess why?"
She had no idea why Skrills wouldn't be as dangerous anymore. It was annoying when Kin-liver or anyone else played games with information. She was not as good at guessing as were some of her nestmates.
Unsurprisingly, Rain-Eater spoke up, "Becausse they cannnnot fly in sstorrms to take in theirr lightnninng! Therre arre nno sstorrmss down herre."
Yes, I see how that would be a problem for them.
Skrill were, of all sky-kin, ones that very much needed to be in the open sky, not trapped under the ground where there were no storms to feed on.
Kin-liver nodded, "That's what I was thinking. I'm not sure if they can shoot much lightning at all down here. Still, there's a risk if we continue."
She grumbled and glanced over her tail down the path they had flown. There were no other caves or passes they could continue down in any other direction. It was either go back the way they came for over a waking-cycle, or continue on into the Skrill's range. Continuing on would be dangerous, but when was that a reason to not fly a flight? Almost all the hidden world was dangerous!
But this would be another level of possible danger.
"We sshould vote. Go back the way we came frrom, orr go meet the Sskrrillss? Who votess forr goinng to the Sskrrillss?"
Everyone except Safiya raised a paw.
"That annsswerrss that," she huffed.
Rock-Climber spun in place, as if chasing his own tail, and settled down, "Yess, thiss will be funn!"
Alvor chuckled, "Hopefully not too shocking though!"
Kin-liver groaned, "Helmets on. Everyone stay close. Remember that the Skrills will want to make sure we aren't a threat."
Rock-Climber barked, "But we arre!"
She swatted and hit his shoulder with a paw, "Yess, but we donn't wannt to fight. Sstupid brrotherr! Do nnot trry to fight them. Prromisse, orr elsse!"
"Finne, I will nnot trry to fight them firrsst!" Rock-Climber brayed.
Kin-liver continued, "Aurora, look for the Alpha or Alpha pair. We will want to be respectful as guests in the Skrill pack's territory."
She could easily be respectful. There was no doubt about that.
"Will do. Quesstionn, Sskrrill arre nnot like uss, rright? They donn't talk with worrdss, orr do they?"
Kin-liver shrugged, "I'm not sure. Your father said the Skrill he fought didn't try to speak. Have any of you ever thought-spoken with another dragon?"
She recalled discussions her sire-father and Shadowwing had with her. Other sky-kin could hear her thought-wishes and share their own thought-wishes with her, but only when she burned with power-light. That had not happened in a long time, not since she had to help protect the ground-kin when they all first came into the hidden world. What was needed for that power-light to burn to life?
Her sire-father and Shadowwing could do it almost at will to thought-speak with other known sky-kin. Maybe using it more made it easier to make burn to life with only wanting it to happen.
She grumbled, "I havenn't nneeded to, but I knnow how to do it. Everryonne rready?"
The ground-kin put on their helmets and got on their respective sky-kin. Everyone took flight following after her in a calm flight into the range. There were many blue and purple mushrooms and trees within. Far across the visible depths of the range she could see a passageway with a stream flowing out of it.
They were all clearly visible to any guarding Skrill. Sure enough, a shrieking roar followed only wingbeats later. They had been noticed.
Disliking that this was necessary, she dove for the mossy ground and landed in a clearing near a blue light-rock. All her kin landed beside her and packed in close as more shrieking roars echoed from the unknown depths of the range.
Skrill began appearing: circling above, landing on the nearest mushroom-trees, or cautiously landing while keeping distance. While every sky-kin had different roars, some calls were common to all sky-kin. These ones were calling in fear, alarm, and wariness.
Good! They should fear us!
Moon-Dancer shuffled closer and whispered in Fury-speak, "I do not like this. There are more of them than we are."
She smirked, "But we are Night Furies and a Dawn Fury."
He rolled his eyes, "Thank you for reminding me. You are unholy offspring of lightning and death, and I... what does that make me?"
She was not sure. The twisted ground-kin description for Night Furies did not fly over to Dawn Furies.
"I do not know either. Talk about it later."
She counted seven Skrill, five on the ground around them and two up on nearby mushroom-trees. Now up close she could see them more clearly. They had frills or soft spikes sloping back from their heads, what looked like a hook or claw on their wings, long tails like ropes, and of course they only had hind legs. They used their wing-claws to help them walk almost like the wings were limbs.
None of the Skrill struck or did anything aggressive beyond hissing and soft growling in warning.
Someone had to act and do something. Who was supposed to do that?
Oh wait, I am the flight-leader. Great...
"Al, get off," she softly hissed.
He hopped off her back and stood beside Moon-Dancer. That would keep him a little safer if this became fighting.
She took a breath and stepped forward from her kin, "Sky-light-eaters, do you understand me?"
The nearest Skrills stared at her without answering, though they clearly understood they were being spoken to.
She had no time to do anything else before another pair of Skrill appeared, one male and one female, and landed together. The male advanced first, his teeth bared and scales sparkling with faint crackles of light.
He was threatening her and all her kin who needed to be protected. She flared her wings and growled back at him, feeling much stronger and more assertive. She was a flight-leader and protector for her kin!
The male Skrill glowed a very faint blue, though he did not strike. Why was he glowing blue, if not to strike? He was not showing any lightning. Or maybe he was not the one making the light. She was making the power-light!
Ha! You did not expect that! Now how does sire-father do this?
Sharing thought-speak was twisted, since she had never done it before.
She stared at the male Skrill's narrowed purple eyes. It had a life-fire like but different from her own.
'Dark wings what danger threat maybe fouled yes maybe fouled no safe yes no confusion.'
She started in surprise and confusion. Was that what their thinking was like? It was twisted and not easy to understand.
'Sky-light-eater, we fly here in peace. Peace. No fighting.'
The male Skrill relaxed a little and let his sparking lights fade away, though he remained crouched and ready to pounce.
'Peace maybe safe yes safe no. Unsure. You move fight no stay yes wait yes.'
'We will wait."
He grumbled, faced the female, who was probably his mate, and barked at her. What he said or thought to her was unknown.
The female Skrill crawled up to her and started sniffing. First the Skrill sniffed her, then Rain-Eater, Mist-Wings, Rock-Climber, and lastly Moon-Dancer. The Skrill paused at Moon-Dancer and gave a gurgling growl which was not at all threatening, more like laughter than anything. Then she sniffed at the three ground-kin huddled together. She chuffed in evident confusion, sniffed again, and turned tail on them, crawling back to her mate.
What was that about?
Whatever it was, it apparently went well. The male Skrill visibly relaxed and softly roared at the other Skrills all around. They started flying away or relaxing if they remained where they were. None of them were sparking with sky-light.
The Alpha pair remained where they were.
'What is happening?' she asked.
'Scent you flight safe yes. Fouled-mixed no. You safe dark wings and dark-light-wing. No monsters. What small dark wings those small kin-no confusion?' he asked.
She flicked her tail and gently struck Alvor, 'They are ground-kin. Like us but with no wings or tails.'
'Ground-kin confusion new kin. Threat not. Alpha power-light you Alpha?'
She chuckled in amusement.
Not exactly, but for this flight... sure, I am Alpha!
'Yes, I am the flight-Alpha,' she answered.
'Why you flight our range?'
Kin-liver spoke up, "What's happening?"
"They knnow we arrenn't a thrreat. He assked why we flew herre."
Her thoughts immediately went to what she had seen of the range. So far, the Skrills' range was big enough for ground-kin to live in. It was perhaps a little darker in places, but that was balanced by how there were no other sky-kin living here. From what she could see, only Skrill lived here.
'We flew here to find new ranges where some of our pack could live.'
The male huffed, 'New ranges seeking not here finding. Range ours good your pack no.'
The male obviously was not interested in sharing territory. That was a little disappointing, and there had to be a reason why the male did not want them there.
'Why not?'
The female growled and slapped the ground with a wing. Her thought-voice... felt different from the male's thought-voice.
'Our pack works keep hidden stay here protect hidden.'
'Protect what? Is something hidden here?'
'Monster!'
A monster?
'What monster?'
'Hunter monster dark wing fouled bad maybe here stay keep.'
The male grumbled, 'This command here keep. Protect monster protect ranges.'
She was not sure what to make of that. Were the Skrill keeping something in their territory to protect it, or to protect everyone else from it? If it were a true monster, why were the Skrill not afraid of it? This was too confusing.
She wanted to ask, but she noticed the female Skrill was staring in open curiosity at the ground-kin. These had to be the first ground-kin the Skrill had ever met.
'Do you want to meet the ground-kin? They are good and have warm livers.'
The female Skrill crawled closer, 'Curious. These what? Dark wings young not. Scent strange.'
'These are our ground-kin. You want to meet them?'
'Meet greet nuzzle warm yes maybe.'
'Good. Be careful and gentle. No hurting, biting, or hitting with fire-light.'
She got Kin-liver's attention, "Drragonnhearrt, come herre. Sshe wanntss to meet you."
Kin-liver fearlessly approached and stood at her shoulder while letting the female Skrill nuzzle and scent her. Very tiny sparks jumped from the female Skrill and hopped to Kin-liver, making her softly bark in surprise before laughing. Kin-liver slowly stroked the Skrill's jaw, earning her a deep rumbling purr.
Kin-liver had a way with almost all kinds of kin.
Meanwhile, she got the male's attention, 'What monster? Is there a danger here?'
'Danger yes no. Light wings here fly answers hunting. Monster meet talk answers finding.'
She started in surprise. Other Light Furies would fly here to talk with the monster? That had no lift. Monsters, small-thinking ones anyway, could not talk. Why would anyone want to meet a monster?
More important than whatever twisted reasons for meeting a monster was the news that Light Furies would fly here on occasion. That meant there was probably a Light Fury pack or packs nearby.
'Are there light wing packs near yours?'
'Yes.'
'How many?' she eagerly asked.
'Three.'
'Where is the nearest pack?'
He pointed with his long and narrow tail toward a distant cave, 'That flight long ranges fly waking-cycles pawful. Sand range danger through fly. Light wings pack take range stinging-tail hunter-kin pack dead. Light wings there live.'
She spun on everyone else and saw Alvor and Safiya were now stroking the female Skrill's neck. She was not surprised at all that the small-bonding was going so well with them. These Skrill did not know ground-kin or two-legs, so they would not fear them. Further, the ground-kin wearing their false-hides certainly made them look more like sky-kin, and thus be more approachable.
She explained what the male said about there being a nearby Light Fury pack they could go find. That news got tails swaying and livers warmed with eagerness.
On a whim, she mentioned what the Skrill said about there being a monster nearby.
"What?" Kin-liver asked.
She shrugged, "It iss a ssmarrt drragonn. That'ss all I knnow."
"No idea what kind?"
"Nnonne."
Rock-Climber barked, "You knnow what we sshould do? Go fight it!"
Mist-Wings rolled her eyes, "Orr we could talk to it. That would be betterr."
She would normally have snapped at her twisted sister for suggesting something so stupid, but this time there was lift to it. The male Skrill had specifically said that this monster, whatever it was, would peacefully meet with and talk to Light Furies who flew to meet it. So it was not a hunter-monster or a small-thinking monster.
An explanation flew into her thoughts. There was one kind of sky-kin she knew about that could be bad.
Maybe it is a great-tusk. Those could be like monsters.
"The male Sskrrill ssaid Light Furriess would meet the drragonn annd talk to it. We could trry too. What if it iss a Bewilderrbeasst? Iss that danngerrouss forr uss?"
Everyone froze and grumbled as they considered that possibility. Sire-father and Kin-liver had explained to all of them that the great-tusks could somehow control or twist-rot a sky-kin's thinking.
Kin-liver put a paw on her shoulder, "Remember, I don't think one of them can control you if you stay close together."
"Rright. Sso we talk to thiss drragonn and thenn go to finnd the Light Furriess?"
"Sounds good!" Alvor cheerfully said.
Kin-liver slowly nodded, "I agree, but we should be careful about this."
Safiya laughed, "Yeah, no taking off our helmets. I'm pretty sure my hair is standing straight up."
Kin-liver also laughed, "That happens whenever we're around Skrill. I don't know why."
Rain-Eater purred, one eye-ridge lifted, "Maybe it hass ssomethinng to do with the ssparrkss annd lightnninng givinng the hairr-furr ennerrgy."
She shrugged, having no concern for such idle musing. All that mattered was making sure her kin and everyone on the flight was well, happy, and alive. Though, being well and alive was all that really mattered. Their being happy was not important. Actually, all that mattered was that they were alive.
Being a flight-leader had good moments, such as her being confident and liver-flamed in meeting the Skrill, but it was usually boring and stressful.
Safiya gasped and pointed a paw at a couple very young Skrill that probably were new to flight. They were hiding behind a female Skrill, cautiously peering at the ground-kin.
"Look at them, so cute!" Safiya sighed.
"Huh? Oh... Skrill babies. Sure, I guess they're a little cute," Alvor muttered.
She entirely agreed with him that young Skrill were not as... cute as Safiya was acting. Not that she would admit to him that he was correct.
But it was liver-warming to watch the Skrill dam-mother cautiously lead the young Skrill closer to let Kin-liver stroke them with a paw.
Skrill were not nearly as bad or dangerous as she had thought they would be. The only problem with them was how twisted their thought-words were. Understanding what they were saying was confusing.
Moon-Dancer followed everyone else as Aurora and the male Alpha Skrill led the flight toward what looked like the far end of the range. A large cave stretched back, narrowing the deeper the cave went. A stream flowed out of the cave.
Aurora and the Skrill dove for the ground, so he followed them. Aurora then did her silent thought-speak with the Skrill. Thought-speak was a very confusing idea, mostly because it had never happened with him. Would it be like hearing another spoken voice, only with no one else there or no using the mouth? It was confusing.
Something else confusing was Aurora's power-light. She was not burning as brightly as his own sire-father or Was-Grounded had on very rare occasions in the past, but she had her power-light regardless.
She was able to speak with Alphas, even of different types of sky-kin, and be liver-flamed, brave, and amazing in many ways. Beautiful and confident too.
He grumbled and looked down to his paws. Those thoughts were... strangely confusing.
Aurora grunted once, and the Skrill turned tail, flying off deeper into its range. Her faint glow faded with his departure.
"He ssaid we sshould finnd him whenn we arre finnisshed with the monnssterr. He will have onne of hiss pack lead uss out of the Sskrrillss' terrrritorry," she explained.
Rock-Climber hopped in place, "Rready to meet a monnssterr? Becausse I am!"
Aurora rolled her eyes and took flight. Everyone followed behind her. The cave continued to narrow and grow darker the further they flew. In the growing darkness, he noticed that the water in the stream glowed a very faint green, which was twisted. How could water burn with light?
The cave narrowed so much that they had to land. Their ground-kin got down to walk with them.
Rain-Eater barked, "Iss thiss the onnly way innto the monnssterr'ss rrannge?"
"The Sskrrill ssaid it wass," Aurora answered.
Rain-Eater huffed, "Good! Thenn we knnow the monnssterr prrobably issnn't a Bewilderrbeasst. It musst be a ssmallerr drragonn."
Good point. It must be not much bigger than us.
"Why is the water green?" Alvor asked.
Rain-Eater splashed the water with a paw, "It iss warrm too. The grreenn might actually be ssmall glowinng plannts inn the waterr."
Kin-liver nodded and pointed ahead with her staff, "Good idea. Keep alert now. We don't know what's ahead."
They all continued on paw with him bringing up the tail of the group. They scrambled up a rocky slope by a small waterfall, and climbed into a new chamber filled with dim light-rocks, heavy mist that blocked the view, and a deep lake filled with green water throughout. Mushrooms and light-rocks faintly glowed in blue and green, but the range was very dark in many places. There were few plants other than the mushrooms.
There was no sound at all except their breaths and the faint waterfall behind them. No calls of kin. No roars. Nothing. A weight hung in the air. An emptiness.
Despite having his kin here with him, this place did not feel safe. Not seeing a threat was just as scary as seeing one, if not more scary.
"What iss thiss place? Who would wannt to live herre?" Aurora whispered.
Alvor put a paw on her neck, "I know. It feels creepy. Where's the dragon? See anything?"
Mist-Wings whined, "I donn't like thiss misst."
He agreed, seeing as how the mist was just hanging there, not flying somewhere as mist should. The light-rocks, though faint and dim, created strange areas of light deep in the mist.
Aurora grumbled, "Maybe it'ss ssleepinng orr doessnn't knnow about uss yet. Onne sseconnd."
Aurora stood up and roared loudly, her roar echoing and bouncing until it eventually faded many wingbeats later.
The mist hung motionless in the distance. The water was calm and almost perfectly still. There was no new sound at all. No one moved a paw, ear, or tail.
"Wherre iss it?" he hissed.
'How did you find me?'
He, Aurora, Rain-Eater, Mist-Wings, and Rock-Climber jumped in surprise and looked around, seeing nothing nearby. The voice had come from nowhere, and it was touched with what might be fear or alarm. Having not heard thought-voice before, he was unsure whether it was a male or a female, but it felt more like the latter.
The ground-kin must not have heard anything, as they grumbled in confusion. This was also confusing because it must be different from thought-sharing with power-light. No one was burning with light, but they all must have heard that voice.
"Did you hearr a... voice?" Aurora softly hissed.
"No, did you?" Alvor asked.
"I did." "Yess..." "Yes..."
Kin-liver frowned, holding her staff, "Only you dragons heard it. It must have thought-voice too."
Aurora raised her voice, speaking to the unknown sky-kin, "You can show yourself! Come out!"
'Why show myself when you want and seek my death?'
That was confusing. Why would the sky-kin think they were here to kill it?
"What? We are not here to hurt you. We only want to meet you," she protested.
'You must forgive me for not believing you dark wings. I cannot believe you do not mean me any harm.'
She growled and lashed her tail in annoyance, "Why would we? We do not even know what you are. You have not hurt us, so why would we want to kill you?"
Did a dark wing flash through distant mist? Did the light from a light-rock dim as though it was momentarily blocked by something?
He spun around, feeling breath on his neck. But there was nothing there. Were there bugs on his hide? No, nothing was there either. Where was the sky-kin?
'What am I? I am a monster. That is all you need to know.'
"What? We know that light wings fly here to speak to you. You do not hurt them, so you are not a monster! Show yourself!"
The unknown sky-kin was silent for a long time.
'You flew to my trap-range. Why should I trust what you say? Why should I think you are different?'
Aurora grumbled and pawed at the ground in frustration, but he was curious what this unknown sky-kin said.
"Different from what?" he shouted into the mist.
'My kin-kind and yours are killers of the other.'
They all glanced at each other. He had never heard any stories of sky-kin that tried to hunt dark wings. Death-grabbers were hunters of sky-kin, but they would hunt anything.
Aurora groaned, "We do not know what you mean. Just show yourself."
'You want to see me and not kill me?'
Aurora rolled her eyes, "Yes, but I might flame at you if you keep us waiting!"
More long waiting followed until a resigned thought-voice echoed in the silence.
'If I am to die now, I hope it will be an appropriate end.'
Nothing moved. The entire visible range, not that they could see much of it, was motionless. The air felt suddenly cooler.
He blinked.
A shadow stepped before a light-rock in the thick mist many lengths away and began slowly striding toward them. The shadow had four legs, spread wings, a head with spikes, and was about their size.
But the closer the shadow got and the clearer the sky-kin became, the more liver-chilling it was. Despite walking calmly and doing nothing threatening, this sky-kin felt and looked very dangerous. Its forepaws had large and curved claws, far larger than their own, which clicked on the ground at every step. Its bone-spikes on its head were very sharp, more so than those a spine-tail had. Its entire shape was thin, strong, and fast, appropriate for the hunter it was. Its eyes were closed, but it evidently saw or knew all around without needing to look.
He had never seen or heard of a sky-kin like this, but his liver screamed to run away, hide, and hope it could never find him.
Mist-Wings and Rock-Climber leaned against each other out of fear. Rain-Eater stared as if he were frozen, and Aurora held herself steady, though her tail faintly twitched.
"Is everything okay?" Kin-liver warily asked, also staring at the new sky-kin.
"Yess, jusst a ssurrprrisse... sseeinng thiss drragonn," Aurora gasped.
He took a deep breath as he stepped beside Aurora, "What... are you?"
The sky-kin turned partly aside, lay down, and stared into the mist. They could not see its hide, which was so dark that it looked hungry for light.
'I am like you but not, for I am a foul-wrong-mixing of your kind and another. Speed and life-will-powers of your kind, and the need to hunt and cleanse from another kind.'
He gasped as he considered that. This sky-kin was a half Night Fury? That in itself was not so twisted, since he was half Night Fury too, but this one looked very different in many ways he was not different. Night Furies and Light Furies were far more like each other than were whatever had made this sky-kin.
Rain-Eater took a cautious step forward, "What do you mean, another kind?"
'I never met them, but I heard enough about them and can feel their rotted, cleansing wants in my life-fire. They live far away, darker and deeper, if they still are.'
Aurora grumbled, "Do you have a name? Are you a male or female, sorry for asking, but I am new to hearing thought-voice."
'My name is Reflection. I am female, though that changes nothing. What are your names?'
Aurora introduced each of them, finally naming the ground-kin and gesturing at them with her tail.
Reflection faced the ground-kin without opening her eyes. Was it possible this kind of sky-kin was blind? Reflection knew where everyone was without needing to look.
'So, two-legs live in the hidden ranges now? I did not know.'
"Do you want to meet them?"
'It would be best if I not meet them up close. I am a monster.'
Aurora grumbled, "Why do you say you are a monster? Yes, you look like a hunter-sky-kin, but that does not make you bad or a monster."
'Aurora, you do not live with the twisted-wants that I do. I know with my head-thinking that I should not kill other kin, but my liver-thinking wants to kill, hunt, and... cleanse. I may be a monster who has not acted on my wants yet, but that is still a monster all the same.'
Rain-Eater shook his head, "No, I do not agree. You choose to not be bad and not kill. That is what matters. That makes you not a monster."
Reflection exhaled, a heavy sound they all heard in the silence, 'You have not lived my life. Even now, part of me wants to leap at you, tear you apart, rip out your livers, and drink your life-water. I cannot promise that I will always refuse my wants. Are any of you here for flight-guiding and clear seeing?'
Everyone tensed at the slight threat in Reflection's words, though she did not move a paw. Even her tail was perfectly still. She was slightly crouched, as if ready to move at the faintest twitch of a tail.
"What do you mean? Is that why some light wings fly to you?" Aurora warily asked.
Reflection chuffed, 'It is. I can show them what they fear the most. Seeing what causes fear and chill in the life-fire or the liver helps others become stronger against that fear. Do any of you want that help?'
Despite the situation and how dangerous Reflection was, that was a very appealing offer. Learning what chilled his life-fire or made him afraid to act would help him become stronger. If Reflection had a life-will power that would help with that, all the better! As long as this could be done safely, anyway.
He faced his Fury-kin, "Do any of you want that help? I am interested."
Mist-Wings, Rock-Climber, and Rain-Eater shook their heads and stepped back a pace, all of them visibly worried or unsure of being around Reflection. Aurora remained where she stood, but she did not look eager at the opportunity.
"How will you give the help?" she asked Reflection.
'You must only look into my eyes, and you will see what you fear most.'
"Can you do it here where we all watch?"
'I would prefer that myself. It is safer for all of us.'
Aurora slowly faced him, and she was understandably very wary, "Moon, are you sure you want to do this?"
"I am. I do not know what will happen, so stay close."
Mist-Wings growled softly and rubbed his neck, "We will. Be careful, bro."
Aurora explained to the ground-kin what he was going to do. He took another deep breath to steady his racing life-organ as he slowly approached where Reflection was sitting two nose-to-tail lengths away from his kin. Every step closer chilled his life-fire and made him feel a little more tired.
This is so twisted!
He sat across from Reflection and tried to avoid looking at her long and curved claws.
"I know you might not believe me, but I do not think you are a monster," he whispered.
'We shall see if you think differently soon. Are you ready?'
"All I must do is look in your eyes, yes?"
She faced him and opened her eyes which were very dark and pulling and filled with a faint light deep within like a fire which was burning all around the den while death-grabbers were jabbing with tusks and tearing apart the den as he hid and dashed and darted between the strikes and-
Dam-mother was dead on the ground, stabbed by a tusk as she was trapped in ropes.
Sire-father lay dead beside dam-mother while a two-leg with white head-fur held up sire-father's life-organ in a paw.
Aurora was falling from the sky with her wings shredded by death-grabbers.
Mist-Wings's head hung from a hunter two-leg den.
All lost and gone!
All because he was only a hatchling. He could not protect anyone he cared for. He would lose anyone he loved.
Too small.
Too weak.
Too useless.
Powerless.
Was he?
A fire was burning in his liver.
A promise in his liver.
He was not a hatchling anymore.
No, he was grown! He was not small, weak, or useless at all!
No!
He bit through the ropes to free dam-mother after killing the death-grabber.
He crushed and trampled the two-leg while sire-father was too weak to fight.
He and Aurora flamed the death-grabbers, tearing their wings and making them fall to their deaths.
He and Mist-Wings flamed the hunter two-leg's den before fleeing into the sky.
All found and safe!
All because he was strong and brave!
He blinked, gasped, and stepped back from Reflection, shaking his head as the faint pain in his head faded.
"I... grr... what was that?" he barked in alarm, setting down after the vision faded.
Reflection looked away from him.
'As I said, any kin that looks in my eyes sees their greatest, deepest fear, whatever it is. That would let me strike them before they could react, if I were hunting them.'
What he saw was a hunting-power? A way to paralyze her prey?
He gasped, "And you choose to use your power for good."
She looked down at her long claws, now slowly tapping on the ground, 'I... like to think so. You should go to your kin. They fear for you.'
He dashed over to everyone else, and they leaped toward him.
"Moon, are you okay?" "You alright?" "Bro..." "What happened?"
Kin-liver held his chin while Mist-Wings nuzzled his neck.
"Are you okay?" Kin-liver asked, sounding very worried.
"Yess, I am well. What happenned?"
Mist-Wings answered, "You werre sstarrinng at herr, but you ssounnded like you werre hurrtinng. Thenn you werre grrowlinng. What happenned to you?"
"I... ssaw what I nneeded to ssee, I thinnk."
He did not share specific details. They did not need to know what he had seen. He still needed to think about that on his own.
He faced Reflection as she had not moved at all, "Thank you, Reflection."
Reflection got to her paws without looking at him, 'If no others of your kin wish to see, you should all leave. I would feel better and... less tempted if you leave.'
Aurora grumbled, "If you want us to leave, we will. Before we go, I have a couple questions. Do you know of any ranges near here where ground-kin two-legs can live? Are there any unclaimed ranges?'
'All ranges are claimed or left empty for good reason. I have seen two-legs from afar before, when I lived in the above. Your two-legs must make peace with light wings if they wish to live in any ranges I know about. Your other question?'
"Are you trapped here?"
Reflection did not immediately answer that, though she slumped slightly, 'Trapped? I am trapped in what I am. Do the sky-light-eaters keep me here? Yes, they do. Their kind can kill me easier than almost any other. They obey a command they were given. I may not leave this chamber.'
Aurora snorted, "You should be free like we are!"
'No, I stay here for my own good and for the good of others. All that I need to live is in this chamber already. I am too dangerous to allow free. Please never speak of me to your kin. I want to be left on my own as I deserve.'
"You do not deserve that!" she protested.
'Better that I be alone than forget myself and make others suffer as would happen, even if I do not want it. Leave me and never return.'
Reflection jumped and took flight, vanishing into the mist without thought-speaking anything else.
Silence followed. The mist hung still in the air. The air felt warmer now that Reflection was gone.
Aurora broke the silence with a very soft whisper, "We sshould... go."
No one disagreed, and they turned back for the cave which led to the Skrills. Kin-liver, Alvor, and Safiya understood that they were leaving without needing to ask. They all walked together in silence along the small stream which fell down into the cave.
Everyone else leaped or scrambled down into the cave, but he, being the last one still in Reflection's range, paused and looked back at all he could see. It was liver-chilling that Reflection thought she was too dangerous even to allow herself beyond. Why could she not understand that she could just choose to not be a monster?
Or maybe it was more complicated than that. He certainly could not relate to having the same feelings and wants she had hinted at having.
Was there a shadow diving to pounce on him even now? A massive darkness was drawing nearer!
Afraid, he quickly dove into the cave and bounded toward his kin without hearing anything behind him. She had not suddenly struck at him at the last second. Some uncontrollable and twisted part of his liver had feared precisely that.
Twisted of me.
Regardless, he never wanted to come back here.
Relief followed as the dark wings and mixed-kin dark-light left her range. Good. They were gone. Hopefully her swooping dive at the last one, the mixed-kin who wanted to see his fears, would scare them enough to never return.
But their tempting scents lingered on the air, so she swiftly flew deeper into the mist and the dark of her trap-range. Finally, their scents were gone entirely.
They were too alluring. Going after them would be fun for sure. She never had a good chance to hunt dark wings before and cleanse the ranges of them and taste their flesh and life-water... but no, hunting them would be wrong, not allowed, not deserved!
Where did those thoughts come from? What part of her twisted, rotted life-fire was greater? In all the season-cycles and waking-cycles of thinking, no answer ever burned to life. A slow dance between the two flights.
A reflection of both.
Did denying wants and using life-will power only for good help at all? The risk was too great. How many dark wings could she hunt and kill if she only failed once, lost control, and let the wants take over? Too many. One was too many.
Staying here, forever alone, was safest and best for everyone. Going out and trying to become stronger or gain any power over others would only lead to pain and suffering.
'You are not a monster, little one.'
'But I feel like one. Why do I want to hurt them?'
'You must fight that. It is your struggle. You are strong enough to do what you must do.'
'Which is?'
'Nothing.'
She had felt when mother died in the above. Mother who sparked her life-fire and taught her that she was strong enough to do what was needed. Mother who saw another way and helped her not be the full monster she would have been.
Even if what was needed was to do nothing, all for the good of others. They mattered more than a twisted-rotted-kin did anyway.
Aurora was very glad to be leaving that twisted hunter-kin behind. Just being in Reflection's range was liver-chilling in a way that got under the scales.
The Alpha Skrills had agreed to have one of their pack lead them onward toward the next ranges. But for now everyone was relaxing in the Skrill's range, while other Skrills, even some fledglings, gently nosed at or scented the ground-kin. Alvor had joked that just being around the Skrill made his head-fur and other furs, such as on his arms, stand up. No one knew why that happened, but it was humorous to think about.
Rain-Eater also found he could thought-share with power-light, though no one else could or tried to do so. He was speaking with the Skrill they were to follow after everyone was rested.
It was a good opportunity to explain everything she learned about Reflection to Kin-liver, who would understandably be very curious and was likely eager to ask her questions.
Sure enough, Kin-liver audibly gasped when she told her that Reflection was a mixed-kin of Night Fury and... whatever else she was.
"Are you sure?" Kin-liver whispered.
"Sshe ssaid sshe iss. I wassnn't closse ennough to ssmell herr, but sshe lookss almosst like uss, inn ssome wayss."
Kin-liver leaned on her staff, "Your father and Shadowwing never said anything about dragons that hunted Night Furies."
Several details flew together now that she thought about it. The Skrill here were keeping Reflection safe... trapped... whatever. They had also scented her and her Fury-kin as soon as they arrived here. Maybe the Skrill were checking to learn if any of them were like Reflection, and thus monsters.
Hmm, did the Skrill that attacked sire-father do that? Maybe it was rotted by the two-legs and thought he was a monster.
"Think we should keep Reflection a secret?" Kin-liver asked.
"Sshe wannted uss to nnot ssay annythinng becausse sshe wanntss to be left alonne. Sshe issnn't leavinng herre. I thinnk we sshould menntionn herr to my parrennts, Sshadowwinng, annd Lunna, but alsso let them knnow sshe issnn't a thrreat."
"Do you believe that? I've seen a lot of dragons, and that one looks... different."
She shrugged, "Sshe could be a hunnterr, yess, but sso could we."
Kin-liver nodded, "Fine. Any idea what happened with Moon-Dancer?"
They glanced at him where he was dozing, his head on his paws.
"He ssaid nnothinng to uss. Whateverr he ssaw iss forr him to knnow. I'm ssurre he'ss finne, if that iss what you'rre worrrried about."
Rain-Eater barked, getting their attention, "Drragonnhearrt, come herre! A Sskrill fledglinng!"
Kin-liver chuckled and went over to her brother before whom was sitting a young Skrill who was clearly eager to meet a ground-kin. With everyone occupied meeting the Skrill in peace-bonding or just resting on their own, she went over to the female Alpha Skrill, who was staying nearby to watch over her pack.
She had more questions to ask the Skrill, such as whether they had met other Night Furies, how long they had lived in the range, when Reflection appeared, and what the ranges they were going to fly to next were like.
Being a flight-leader was not usually enjoyable, at least it had not been so far, but meeting with a pack of peaceful Skrill was liver-warming. Sire-father certainly had not done anything like this before!