Hey guys! Christmas is here, and so I thought, what better time to give you all the gift of a new chapter WITH SOME LONG-AWAITED ANSWERS? I've been reading the reviews, and have noticed a couple of reoccurring questions that I plan on answering in some way in this chapter.
Mist Muse: That's really nice of you! Will I have some of MY questions answered as well?
Me: Well, I-!
Furytalon Muse: Or will we learn about what happened to me and why I can't remember my life before meeting Mist?
Me: If you would just listen, I-!
Crystal Muse: And what the heck is up with Inferno-?
Me: WOULD YOU ALL PLEASE JUST LISTEN! *Exhales* Seriously, guys, if you want to find out all this stuff, then just let me write the chapter…
Ember Muse: *Pats me comfortingly on the shoulder*
Me: Thank you, Ember… See, Ember's the only Muse who listens.
Stalagmite: Just get to the story, Raineyes…
Me: Fine, fine.
I do not own Wings of Fire. Wings of Fire belongs exclusively to Tui T. Sutherland.
A/N I was planning on having this chapter be a sort of Christmas present to you all, but unfortunately I hit a roadbump and was unable to finish it in time… Luckily, I got past that, so now I suppose this chapter is a gift for the new year! Enjoy!
"Wow, Mist!" Clementine mused examining the picture in the scroll. "This looks a lot like your painting! In fact, it's almost identical!" She cheered, turning her head to smile at Mist. "I guess this explains why you thought the castle in your painting looked familiar! You must have noticed someone reading this scroll when we were in the library yesterday!" Mist frowned slightly, still trying to calm herself down and gather her thoughts. I suppose that makes some sense… She mused, scratching her neck. But if that's the case, I probably wouldn't have remembered every single detail of the castle… Taking a deep breath, Mist slowly sat down again beside her friend.
"Maybe…" She started cautiously, beginning to read the legend- apparently -relating to her dream. "Let's see what all the fuss is about… Maybe it has something to do with my dream…?" And with that, the two friends began to learn of the Legend of the Lost Continent.
"There have been several stories throughout the history of Phyrria describing an entirely different continent far from our own, with completely different tribes. Although most stories regarding said continent are disregarded as nothing but rumors and hatchling-stories, one such tale has been highly regarded as truth. The supposed existence of nine forgotten tribes of dragons, living on an island somewhere else on our vast planet." The narrator of the scroll began, causing the MistWing princess and her friend to exchange confused yet intrigued glances with each other.
"NINE more dragon tribes, huh…?" Clementine mused as Mist nodded. That's quite a bit more than just one or two… Wonder what they are? Does it even say in the scroll? She pondered, quickly receiving her answer after reading further along in the scroll.
"Only two of the nine tribes are known of extensively, those two being the MistWings and the FlameWings. As for the other seven, the only things known about them are their names, which were revealed to the SandWing animus Jerboa by a supposed MistWing. Those tribes are said to have their own societal system, far different than the system of armies and soldiers that us dragons of Phyrria practice. Each tribe has a certain group of dragons selected by the royal families of each tribe. These dragons are known as the tribe's guardians, and once every two years, the leaders of each tribe's guardians meet together on the tallest mountain of the continent to discuss the going-ons in each tribe, potential threats to the 9 tribes, and so on and so forth. These councils are known as the Meetings of the Hive, with the guardian leaders and their queens making up the members of the Hive. The tribes that live on the Lost Continent are as follows: MistWings," And before Mist or Clementine could read any further, a scream erupted from somewhere down the hallway, towards-….! Mist's eyes widened in horror. From the art room! Ms. Sunny was in there!
"What's happening?!" Starflight panicked, fumbling around and tripping over a rack of scrolls before righting himself again. "Who was-…? Where…?!" Mist took Clementine's talon in her own, green spreading like wildfire through her scales.
"It came from the art room! Come on, we have to make sure Ms. Sunny's alright!" She exclaimed, taking off and sprinting for the art room before her equally panicked friend was able to respond. To her relief, (or concern) Clementine soon followed after her, racing side-by-side with Mist as the two hurried towards the art room. However, upon reaching the art room, the only thing they found was an embarrassed and seemingly shame-faced Skywing, along with Crystal and Sunny. Nothing seemed to be horribly wrong, other than the unknown SkyWing's obvious regret.
"Is… Everything…? I mean, we heard a scream and all, and…. Is everybody okay?" Clementine started hesitantly, to which the younger SkyWing hung her head even more, shuffling her talons in embarrassment. Sunny, on the other talon, smiled reassuringly.
"Don't worry, everything's fine. Ignite just sneezed a bit too hard, is all." She explained, pulling Ignite in with a hug.
"I'm awful sorry, Ms. Sunny… I didn't mean to set the paintings on fire…" Ignite sniffled. "Or the coal…. And we was almos' finished with the still-life paintings!" Crystal rolled her eyes and let out a low grumble in response.
"Yeah, we kinda were." She muttered before speaking up upon Sunny turning to frown disapprovingly at her. "BUT, the important thing is nobody got hurt and all that jazz, because hey, IceWings make for awesome firefighters!" The clearly annoyed Icewing added quickly.
"And besides, you're still only four, so it's understandable. Don't worry about it, alright? We can just start anew later, after all the ash and ice is cleaned up. Okay?" Sunny spoke softly, so as to reassure the little dragonet. Ignite smiled softly up at her and nodded slightly. Well, I'm glad that nothing TOO bad happened… Thank the moons it was just a sneeze.
"Well, thankfully you're all okay. Clementine and I were seriously worried!" Mist sighed, relieved. Whereas Clementine, on the other talon, still looked slightly concerned.
"Wait, which paintings were set on fire…?" She questioned cautiously. Sunny's smile faltered for a bit, then she sighed.
"I'm afraid that at least a fourth of the paintings on the drying rack were destroyed… Including yours, Mist. Luckily, the damage was minimal and nobody was injured." Sunny's smile returned, and she turned to Crystal with a grateful nod. "Thanks to Crystal, we were able to put out the fire rather quickly." Crystal nodded in response, slightly lifting her chin with pride. Clementine bumped Crystal's wing with her own, smiling.
"That was some good thinking, using your frostbreath to put out the fire. But still, it's just awful that your painting was destroyed, Mist! It was so pretty, too…." She lamented, frowning gloomily as a blueish-gray streak flowed through her scales like a water-stain.
"Yeah… I wasn't finished with it yet, too…." Mist agreed, but her mind strayed elsewhere. The scroll in the library specifically mentioned MistWings… And another tribe. What was it…? FlareWings or something like that…? Dragging herself out of her thoughts and back to the situation at hand, she sighed. "Oh well; I can always paint a new one. And hey, who knows, maybe the next one will be even better than the original! So don't sweat it, okay Ignite?" She smiled, attempting to console the shy little SkyWing. Ignite nodded gratefully.
"Okay… Thank you, Ms. RainWing!" She chirped, shortly after turning and trotting towards the meal cave. Crystal groaned and followed her, muttering something along the lines of "better make sure she doesn't start any MORE fires…" her tail swaying from side to side in annoyance. Mist sighed, shaking her head and smiling at her Clawmate's lovable prickliness. She can be a bit aggressive and hot-tempered at times, heh-heh temperature pun, but she really does care a lot about others. EVEN if she does have a weird way of showing it… She thought fondly, slightly chuckling before turning to face Clementine again.
"We'd better go make sure Starflight knows everything's alright," She started, letting out a half-nervous-half-amused chuckle. "He probably still thinks something's seriously wrong…" Clementine nodded in response, a mix of yellow, pink, and purple spattering her scales. Mischief, amusement, and happiness. Mist noted.
"Yeah, he probably thinks that the school's under attack again or something." She teased, before the purple faded out of her scales. "Besides, I wanna finish reading that scroll! We had JUST gotten to the good part!" She cheered as Sunny beamed at the two of them.
"Well, don't let me stop you! I've gotta clean up all this mess that the sneezing fire caused. If you run into Tsunami or Clay on your way to the library, will you let them know what happened and ask if they could come help? I'd really appreciate it." The principle of Jade Mountain requested, to which they both nodded.
"Yes ma'am!" The two friends asserted in unison. Sunny's smile grew, her eyes brightening.
"Thank you both for coming to see what the matter was; we sometimes have little accidents like this, but thankfully nothing as dangerous as what happened a few years back." At the memory of the accident, the cheerful, older dragon's smile once again faltered, but she quickly cheered up again. "Well, you two'd better get going! Make sure Starflight's alright, too, while you're at the library, okay?" And with that, Sunny ducked back into the art room.
"Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's head back to the library." Mist suggested, and she and Clementine started back down the hallway to the library. On the way they met up with Tsunami who- after having been informed of the situation -thanked them and left to go help Sunny. Upon returning to the library, they discovered Fatespeaker and Starflight rearranging the scrolls that were knocked down, whilst Fatespeaker was trying to calm down Starflight.
"TRUST me, Starflight, it's okay! I don't have any visions of anything bad happening to us." She explained calmly.
"Mr. Starflight, everything's alright," Clementine chirped. "Ignite just sneezed a bit too hard and set some of the paintings on fire; Crystal put it out, though." Upon hearing this, Starflight visibly relaxed, the tension in his wings dissipating.
"Thank the MOONS…" He breathed, immensely relieved. "Thank you for letting me know." Mist and Clementine both nodded, (before remembering he couldn't see them and quickly saying a breathless "You're welcome") then headed back towards where they had been reading the old scroll.
"I can't wait to learn more about this Lost Continent! It just sounds so interesting and all, and… …! What happened to the scroll?!" Clementine started before shouting in horror. Mist followed her friend's gaze to see that some of the words on the scroll were now blurred or blacked out, as though water or ink or both had been spilled on top of the scroll.
"How could this have happened…? We were only gone for a couple of minutes, tops!" Mist cried in dismay. Maybe Starflight knocked a pot of ink or water over on the scroll…? But no, that can't be it, there's no stains or spills anywhere except for on the scroll… She pondered, puzzling over the possibilities of what could have happened. It couldn't have been an accident… She reasoned, her eyes growing wide.
"Someone did this on purpose…"