Sicily sat in the front seat of Amadeus's truck while Amadeus drove down the barren Kansas land at such a fast speed that Sicily's hair was constantly in her face. Kyo was in the backseat getting the worst from the windy cold hair, and Ludwig was flying right behind them surprisingly making good speed... It was super cold icebox of a truck with the windows down and the cold winter air hitting their faces at high speed. "Can't you roll the windows up?" Kyo finally cracked from the back seat.
"I could if I had windows!" Amadeus answered back to Kyo with a loud laugh as he suddenly hit the gas to pick up the speed, it almost gave Sicily a whiplash with how hard the back of her head hit the seat.
"You don't have windows?!" Kyo shouted back over the harsh sound of Amadeus's engine roaring.
"Nah! Some punks broke all of my windows a couple of weeks ago! I've been saving up to get new ones!"
Sicily shivered harshly at the cold weather, her jacket just wasn't enough, not with the winds constantly hitting her. She tucked her arms into her jacket to keep them warm with her own body heat. "Ah! Jesus, Ludwig!" Hearing Kyo's scream, Sicily spun around in her seat to see Ludwig now in the back huddled up close to Kyo, who didn't look so pleased about it.
"L-Ludwig c-cold!" Ludwig whined loudly as he seemed to try to use Kyo as a heater.
"Well, don't go touching me with your cold hands! Get off of me!" Sicily couldn't help but giggle at the two as Ludwig was trying his best to imitate a cat in an attempt to lay across Kyo's shoulders. Kyo, on the other hand, was trying to push the imp off of her.
"Holy…" Amadeus suddenly breathed out, his tone sounded concerned which made Sicily turn around to see what he was looking at. Her heart sank all the way to her stomach when she saw it. There was absolutely nothing of their old town. Nothing. All that was left was charred, smoldering, smoking blackness. Amadeus stopped the truck before putting it in park to get out and see for himself. Sicily got out as well. Her mouth was agape as all she could do was just stare. Sicily brought her arms back into their sleeves as she walked a little closer to the blackened earth. She no longer felt cold as she could feel the heat radiating from the ashes.
Kyo and Ludwig were right next to her in a matter of seconds as they looked at the destroyed remains. "Ludwig… did not know it was this bad…" Ludwig admitted in a hushed voice from Kyo's shoulder.
"Everything is gone…" Kyo gasped out; her hands flew to her mouth as she shook her head. "Everything!" She suddenly cried.
"Yeah, I can believe a dragon done this now…" Amadeus spoke in. Sicily could see his eyes darting around trying to take in everything he was seeing. He then rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand and ran his fingers through his hair uneasily. "So… what do we do now? Call the cops?"
"What are we going to tell them, Amadeus?-" Kyo paused and put her thumb and pinky to her ear, mimicking a phone call. "-Yes? 911? Hi, listen, this entire town of people got completely blown off the map, we don't know how it happened but we suspect dragons."
"Cool the sarcasm, smartass. We need to do something! This town, as messed up as it was, still had people in it. People that are now all dead!... people that you two knew." Amadeus yelled out to Kyo.
Sicily nervously rubbed her mouth before shaking her head. "He's right, you know, the cops need to know!-"
"-If we involve the cops it's only going to put more lives in danger!" Kyo fought back.
"-That thing could be coming for our town next!"
"-If it is a dragon, what are the cops going to do? Shoot it? I don't think guns will work in this situation!" There was a moment of silence between everyone after that statement. Sicily looked over at the charred area before shaking her head slowly from side to side.
"Kyo… I think we might have to get Benjamin on the phone." Sicily finally spoke. Amadeus turned his head to face the two twins.
"Who's Benjamin?" Amadeus asked. Kyo was the one to answer him.
"The dragon rider."
Junior hopped and frolicked in the snow that covered the top of the mountain. He loved the jump into large piles of snow and hide. He especially like to startle the unexpecting brownies, though they didn't like it as much as he did. Junior jumped into a pile of snow and wiggled his body in it so he was increased and hidden by the snow. He had to be quick, his body heat will melt the snow if he sits there for too long. He dug a small hole in the snow so he could peek out at his next victim. It wasn't a brownie but another dragon. It was Silverstorm. Shimmertail's own daughter. The two of them hatched around the same time so they were the same age, but Junior came first and he wasn't going to let her forget it.
Silverstorm never saw Junior coming. With a mighty leap out of the pile of snow he jumped out at her. "Surprise!" He screamed before literally landing on the female dragon.
"Ow! Junior!" Silverstorm screamed at him before suddenly batting at his head with her paws. "You fatty! Get off of me!"
"I am not fat! And because of your insult, I will stay here and you can't move me one bit!" Junior poked his tongue out and went limp on top of Silverstorm's back.
"Dad!" Silverstorm practically screeched out.
"You big baby!" Junior scoffed at her before getting off. Silverstorm huffed at him before getting up and turning her back towards him. She kept her chin in the air, showing that she didn't want to talk to him. Junior quickly and suddenly shook all the unwanted snow off of his body, spraying Silverstorm with water.
"Ugh! Why can't you be more dignified like Firedrake?!" Silverstorm scoffed at him again.
"Why can't you be less whiny, like Shimmertail?" Junior shot back without hesitation. Silverstorm let out a loud gasp before turning her head away from him in an upset manner.
"I am not whiny!" She huffed.
Junior was ready to retort back but stopped very quickly when he heard the soft sound of a buzzing airplane. The two of them looked up to see a shiny red plane come rushing on over towards the ground. "Oh! It's Henrick! I wonder what he's doing here."
Henrick is Lola's own son. Henrick, unlike his mother, was a white and black rat, took that after his father, but he had his passion for flying from his mother. After what happened last year with Firedrake going missing, Lola decided it was high time to retire and pass her job on to Henrick. Henrick didn't take his mom's old plane, however, he made his own more modern plane that he spits and polishes every day.
The red plane landed in front of the two dragons and Henrick came popping on out. "Hello, Junior! I have an urgent message for your father!" Henrick's little whiskers were twitching madly while his fur puffed up a little. "It's from Benjamin!"
"Did something happen?" Junior asked Henrick. The little rat jumped out of his plane. Also unlike his mother, he did not wear any clothes.
"Sorry, Junior, but Benjamin requested that this is for your father's ears only!" Junior lowered his ears in annoyance at Henrick. "Don't you go givin' me that look, Junior! Orders are orders. Chop! Chop! Where is your dad?" Henrick clapped his tiny paws together in agitation.
"Fiiiine." Junior angrily huffed before lowering his head so Henrick could get on. Henrick did just that, holding on to one of Junior's tiny horns he allowed himself to be carried. Junior started to walk towards the caves where the dragon's sleep, as he was doing so he noticed that Silverstorm was casually following behind him. He wanted to comment back but decided to keep his maw shut for now. "So, Henrick, how's Lola handling retirement?" Junior asked the rat.
"Oh, Me ma loves it! All the time to herself and she doesn't get pestered by me great uncle anymore! I'd say she shoulda retired years ago when she was getting gray around the eyes!"
"But, Henrick, Lola's naturally gray."
"I mean grayer, kid. Me ma is old! Too old!"
Junior snorted at that comment, blue flames came out of his nose and hit the snowy ground sizzling on impact. They were getting closer to the caves now, most of the dragons were still asleep as the moon wasn't yet out. Junior and Silverstorm both silently dropped Henrick off at the base of Firedrake's cave. Lowering his head so Henrick could hop on. "Alrighty…" Junior watched as Henrick disappeared into the cave. Junior wanted nothing more than to go after the rat to see what was going on, but Junior knew he'd get in trouble for disobeying an order.
"Pst…" Silverstorm hissed to him. "I can hear what they're saying."
"You can? But mom and dad are in the back of the cave-"
"I have the best hearing in all of the rim. Just move to the side and let me listen…" Junior stepped to the side and allowed Silverstorm to put her ear inside the cave. Junior watched as it flicked with interest. "Okay… Okay…" She nodded before turning to Junior. "He just woke Firedrake up…"
Junior watched with total interest as Silverstorm had a serious face on. A few heartbeats of silence later he spoke: "What's happen-"
"Hush!" She snapped in a whisper. Junior's ears lowered as she stayed perked up. Her face then turned grave. "Ben needs Firedrake right away… a village-" Junior tensed as a giant shadow loomed over them. Both Silverstorm and he slowly turned around to see Shimmertail right behind them.
"Eh-heh… Hi, Daddy…" Silverstorm tried to play it off, but Shimmertail wasn't so easily fooled as his ears went back.
"I can assure, whatever is happening in there needn't involve you two." Shimmertail retorted to the two of them. "Please, go and play. Leave Firedrake be." Shimmertail gave them both a push away from Firedrake's cave. Junior's ears lowered in annoyance before he turned to Silverstorm. Silverstorm then started to trot away from her father her head held high in the air. Junior hmph'd before following Silverstorm. Once they were a close enough distance he whispered to her. "What did you hear?"
"A human village was destroyed … I don't know why it involves Firedrake, human villages always get destroyed all the time. What makes this one special?"
Junior sat down in the snow next to Silverstorm in thought. He had to think about it for a good minute before finally shrugging. "Dunno, maybe it was Ben's village! And Ben might be coming to live here." Junior excitedly hopped from his spot. Silverstorm only gave him an odd look.
"I don't know. That just doesn't seem likely, Ben wouldn't just abandon everything, even if his village was abolished. Something's up- huh?" Silverstorm had turned her head back towards Firedrake's cave. Junior looked back with her to see his father emerging from the cave. He looked determined and ready to just take off flying. Junior's ears flicked all the way up when he saw Sorrel slip some moondew in Firedrake's maw.
"Wait! What's going on! Where are you going!?" Junior screamed as he rushed over to his father as fast as his little legs would allow. Silverstorm was right behind him every step of the way.
"Junior… this doesn't concern you, son. Stay here, okay? I have to go." Firedrake told Junior softly.
"Can't you just tell me what's going on?"
"I'm… afraid not. Don't worry. I should be back soon."
"But dad- wait!" In one mighty leap, Firedrake was high in the sky, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone with Sorrel. Junior felt his ears go back again as he turned to Silverstorm. Then his eyes fell on Henrick. The fat rat was trying to shove himself into his plane at a fast rate. "Henrick-"
A paw suddenly found itself in front of Junior, stopping him from rushing over to the rat. "No, Junior." His mother, Maia told him sternly. "Just stay put… Okay? Please, go and play with Silverstorm…" She nudged his back with her face towards Silverstorm.
"B-But where did dad go? And why?"
"That's none of your concern, son. Your father will be back shortly, so don't worry too much."
Junior did worry, he worried a lot. He may have been young, but he wasn't an idiot. Something was up, he knew it and so did everyone else. Junior turned to Silverstorm, She twitched her ears at him causing him to go running over towards her, much to his mothers delight. "Don't worry-" Silverstorm whispered to him. "-I have the best hearing in all of the rim. I'll figure out what's going on before the moon rises."
"Yeah- uh-huh- don- can- Let me finish please!" Benjamin hissed at his phone. His voice carried and echoed around the stone walls of the monastery. He then carefully bowed to a passing monk "Sorry…" He whispered to the monk before bringing his phone back up to his ears. "I understand your doubts, Guin, but I saw the pictures the twins sent to me- Do I think it's a dragon? I don't know, Guin, I really don't, but I do know that there's no way anything human did that." Ben sighed loudly. He then looked over at a group of monks, none of them looking too happy at him in return. "Look, I gotta go- monks are giving me the evil eye. Yeah, love you too."
Ben hung up the call and gave the monks a small smile in return before bowing. "Forgive me for my rudeness please." He apologized in their language. He then stood up straight again before looking at out at the night sky.
About four days ago he got a call from Sicily. Sicily was frantic over the phone talking about how the small town she and Kyo grew up in was literally destroyed in a matter of hours. She explained everything from Ludwig showing up and claiming that a dragon, of all things, attacked and burnt the village down to them going to the town themselves. She then sent several photos to Ben's phone. Ben, of course, had his doubts about the whole situation and even debated on calling Henrick. Truth be told Ben figured that Ludwig was possibly lying to get some sort of sick reaction out of everyone as a prank… but then he got a better look at one of the photos.
The photo in question didn't look too off at his first glance. Just blackened earth and charred rubble. Then he saw it: A line that dragged across the background. It looked like something heavy was dragged across the ground. The problem was that it was in the background and so he couldn't see it all the way. He couldn't see if it made any sort of special marking or indent.
So, Ben did what he does best. He, with the help of Twigleg, went and did a little research to see if they could find anything about dragons in America. It took them a couple of days work. They went online and mostly found fake stories (and videos) on the subject.
"Maybe we're looking in the wrong direction… or even the wrong cultures." Twigleg had said after their first night of digging and finding nothing. Still, Ben felt at a loss and decided that it would be best if he told Firedrake about it and they could see the burnt mess together. Ben had to use his vacation days from his job to do this, so he hoped it was the right thing to do. Ben only chuckled when he heard Twigleg's soft snoring coming from his shirt pocket. Ben knew Twigleg was tuckered out from their late-night researching and coming up empty-handed.
Ben impatiently tapped his fingers on the table top as he scanned the skies for Firedrake. A part of Ben wondered if Firedrake had told Junior then Ben felt a little bit of regret tug at his chest. Yes, Ben had told Henrick to no include Junior, even though it did involve the twins, it shouldn't involve Junior. This is too dangerous for a baby dragon, an impulsive baby dragon at that. Ben felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, fishing it out he looked to see who was calling him.
Guinevere, of course. Ben couldn't help but roll his eyes before answering the phone. "Yes, Guin?"
"Hey, sorry, I just got this idea, you searched up Native American cultures, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"Did you search the more specific ones from Kansas?"
"Uh… well…" Ben paused as he tried to rack his brain. He looked up Native Americans and their connections to dragons, which wasn't much. He heard Guinevere sigh on the other line.
"You'd be lost without me, Benjamin. Look, I'll go and search up what I can. I'll get back to you." Without saying goodbye she hung up. Ben frowned as he looked at his phone before pocketing it again. Ben looked up at the sky as something moved within his peripheral vision. He saw a silver dot slowly getting closer and he stood up from his seat. Within minutes Firedrake landed right in front of Ben. The whole ground shook at his massive landing, but Ben didn't mind. Right behind Firedrake came in Henrick the little plane stopped just short of hitting Ben's foot.
"Hello, Benjamin," Firedrake nuzzled the side of Ben's face lovingly. "You're going silver yourself!" He joked at his rider. This was an obvious joke at Ben's hair, yes his roots were starting to go gray.
"Eh, I'm thirty-five, Firedrake! Of course, I'm going gray!" Ben responded as he hugged Firedrake closely. Ben then backed away to look at Sorrel, the brownie was lounging on Firedrake's back without a care in the world.
"So, explain to me why it's so important we check out this burnt village?" Sorrel asked as she waved her paw at Ben in a dismissive matter. "I mean how do we know it was a dragon? For all we, and you, know it could have just been a human experiment gone wrong?"
"Well, for one Ludwig explain he was sure it was a dragon that burnt down the whole village-" Ben started to explain but Sorrel waved at him again.
"-And we're trusting what an imp says? Need I remind you imps are pranksters!"
"-Well, he assures everyone he isn't and wasn't lying."
"Bah!" Sorrel rolled her eyes at Ben before jumping from Firedrake's back. "Whatever let's just make this quick! I don't want to go back to this Kansas not after what happened last time!"
"Trust me, Sorrel, I didn't want to do this either, but I feel strongly that this should involve all of us."
"Well, not all of us," Henrick spoke from his plane as he rested lazily on the wrong. "Didn't bother to tell poor little Junior."
"If this is some sort of giant dragon, Junior doesn't need to get involved. He's too young, right Firedrake?" Ben turned to Firedrake.
"Of course. I agree this is too dangerous for Junior."
Sorrel suddenly started to laugh loudly before throwing in her two cents. "Yeah, well you didn't want him to come along last year, and look what happened? He saved all of our behinds!"