First off, thank you all for all of the reviews, they do help. To the last comment of btrflybubblgm, well this story starts just a week after TBN's epilogue, so naturally they are still figuring out the plans for the school. As for Cheryl Hadden, that dream symbolized the effect of the spell; them five of them being upside-down meant that their personalities have become opposite of what they normally are, as a side note for the same review, I don't know Zyla or chill, so I can't compare them. As for neo and guest, don't worry, I plan to see this to the end, after all I'm planning for sequels. Also, guest, your review for my Spyro short story, what did you mean by that? Anyway without futher ado,
Chapter 3 – a reunion years in the making
Thorn was flying back to the Jade Mountain; in tow were Peril, Fatespeaker, Deathbringer, Riptide, and lastly Jambu. Silently she was growling, in part to the suggestion of Peril that they should go visit the dragon that lives there. She guessed Peril didn't know exactly just who the dragon was, so the fact that she was about to meet Stonemover after years of silence was not something she looked forward to. Thorn contemplated using the dreamvisitor on him, but she wanted to speak to Stonemover's face. During the previous night she did use it to tell Six-Claws and Smolder of the situation; their reactions were quite surprised about this mystery dragon. She looked down at the pouch hanging from her neck; it held the dreamvisitor and Obsidian Mirror. The pouch kept on bumping with her moonstone pendent and the Eye of Onyx. Thorn sighed, knowing that her reunion with Stonemover would be one for the ages.
"So what's the deal with you and this dragon?" Peril asked.
"I suppose Clay didn't tell you, huh? That dragon is Stonemover, and well, he's my partner, give or take all these years of not hearing from." Thorn explained.
"Hmm, yeah, I don't remember Clay talking about." Peril nodded.
"Years of not knowing what happened to him would certainly cause problems." Deathbringer chuckled.
"Well, it does explain Sunny's unique body." Riptide commented, "So he's an animus, huh? I do remember Tsunami talking about how he found a way to alter the curse into his scales."
Jambu's scales were a solitary rose pink during the flight, "So what is the deal about these animus dragons; what are they like?"
"Animus dragons are capable of enchanting objects to do their bidding and other things; like the dreamvisitors allow one to enter the dreams of others. However, they lose their soul each time they use more of their magic." Fatespeaker explained, sounding like Starflight.
"Uhh alright, so this Stonemover avoided losing his soul. So what does that mean?" Jambu asked, not understanding as always.
"That when we meet him, he won't want to kill us. In fact, given what I've heard about him, we won't have any problems." Fatespeaker replied.
The group of six eventually landed on some rocky ground, of which poked at their feet as they walked. While Thorn was anxious to finally meet back up with Stonemover, she wasn't going to cut him any slack for not trying to contact her harder. Riptide and the others only hoped to figure out how to undo whatever happened to Tsunami and the other four. Picking up a branch from one of the few trees, Deathbringer ignited it so it could be used as a torch.
"Why do we need a torch? After all, four of us can breathe fire." Fatespeaker asked.
"Well, who knows what we could end up burning in the darkness of the cave, and besides, a torch should be just as effective." Deathbringer explained and started walking into a tunnel.
Riptide was able to see what was inside sooner thanks to his vision while the others had to rely on fire. Walking into the tunnel, Deathbringer took the lead as he held the torch in his talons. Thorn and Jambu disliked this trek the most, thanks to the fact that their scales wanted sunlight. Keeping their wings by their sides and walking one by one, they made their way through the tunnel. Eventually, the six dragons entered a large cave, although all they saw were rocks. Riptide looked around and came across a black lump, and then lit up his tail stripes. The other five came over to see what the Seawing found.
Whispering, Fatespeaker said, "That looks like a dragon, a Nightwing to be exact."
"I think we found our guy, anyone want to wake him up?" Peril asked.
No one had to as the Nightwing opened his eyes and blinked, "What are all you dragons doing here?" He turned his head slightly and gasped, "Thorn!"
Thorn took the chance to walk up to Stonemover and slap him across the snout, "How could you just let me go on without knowing what happened to you? When I learned the volcano exploded I thought you died!"
"But, I thought you got the letter I sent and didn't want to come." Stonemover stumbed over the words he was searching for.
"You are lucky that Sunny told me about you living here. And why didn't you try to send me more letters? You shouldn't have given up on me." Thorn continued ranting, her tail lashing furiously.
Stonemover was at a loss for words, "I just, um, well you see."
"Get on with it." Thorn growled.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't come to visit you or try harder, but my curse has gotten too far. My scales are making each and every move tough. Will you accept me again?" Stonemover pleaded.
Thorn growled, "It going to take me a while for that."
"Interesting reunion and all but we still have a mystery to solve." Deathbringer interrupted.
"What do you mean? What's happened?" Stonemover said, though barely moving, the surprise was evident.
"Well some dragon has completely altered the personalities of Clay, Sunny, Tsunami, Starflight, and Glory. We think you may be able to help us out with this." Riptide explained.
"Something happened to Sunny! Can you tell me more about this?" Stonemover asked, startled that his daughter had something happen to her.
"Okay, for the last four days or so the five of them have been completely acting different. For example, Sunny has been acting more withdrawn and gets easily upset, and Glory has acted lazier and less sarcastic. In other words, they are acting completely like they have completely opposite personalities." Thorn explained.
"That doesn't sound too bad." Stonemover replied.
"Doesn't sound too bad!" Thorn repeated, "Sunny is completely different. How can that be not bad?" She was ready to lash out again at the Nightwing.
"I, uh, don't know. I was just expecting something far worse." Stonemover mumbled.
"You are so a lost cause, maybe we'll find help somewhere else." Riptide commented.
"No wait," Stonemover said suddenly, "please stay here, at least for a little while. I get so lonely nowadays."
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to spend a night here. Maybe we could figure something out." Fatepseaker mused over the idea.
"Soo, um, does anyone know about that Magiah dragon?" Jambu asked, his scales were currently a purple-orange color, indicating confusion.
"Wait a second! Fatespeaker, you saw him in your dream, couldn't you use the dreamvisitor on him? Or maybe even the Obsidian Mirror since we know his name." Peril exclaimed.
"Why didn't we think of that sooner! Of course, so which one should we use?" Deathbringer asked.
"I think the Obsidian Mirror would work best given the time." Riptide said.
"Wait, why don't we see how the dragonets have been?" Stonemover asked.
"Alright, it couldn't hurt much." Thorn took out the enchanted mirror and said "Clay."
A brown tendril of smoke came from the mirror, along with a couple other tendrils, "Could you leave me alone, I think it could help for me to study." That was Clay talking.
"Oh boy, yeah Clay is so different; he's not the type to study." Fatespeaker commented.
Now Reed's voice appeared, "You know that for the last four days or so, you haven't been the same right? That's not a 'mood swing,' that's something entirely else."
"So what would that mean? Nothing to me, that is." Clay replied.
"Come on, let's leave Clay alone, it doesn't appear we are going to get anywhere with him." Reed must have been talking to their brothers.
"Okay, so next up let's do Glory." Deathbringer said.
"What about Tsunami?" Riptide asked.
"We probably can't do her, unless they are above water. Which probably won't happen now that the Summer Palace has been destroyed." Peril said.
"Glory it is then." Thorn said.
A blue tendril came out, along with a green one, "I don't want to check on the Nightwings, I'm sure they're fine." Glory was protesting to someone.
"Get off your tail Glory, you are the queen now, so you have a responsibility." Grandeur sternly demanded of her.
"Please let me be, I'm sure everything's alright." Glory was pleading, the blue tendril of smoke shrunk, as if Glory was trying to back into a corner.
"Oh Glory." Jambu's scales started to turn blue-gray, probably for the first time in his life.
"Okay, yeah, we've got to find this dragon and fix the five of them." Fatespeaker said.
"I want to see about Sunny." Thorn said as she cleared the Obsidian Mirror and breathed more smoke into it.
A golden tendril of smoke came out, followed by a sandy colored tendril, "Hey Sunny, want to go out for a flight?" The voice belonged to the messenger Sandwing Camel.
"No Camel, I'll stay here." Sunny was saying in a rather depressed way. It was obvious that whatever happened to the dragonets was very strong; it was changing their entire personality.
"You need to cheer up Sunny, you aren't acting like you did while Smolder was trying to keep you prisoner." Camel sounded to be rather worried.
"Why don't you just go away? I don't need your pity." Sunny's tendril barked out. Thorn then cleared the Obsidian Mirror.
"I've heard enough," Stonemover said after a few moments, "how can I help?"
"Well, first, let's see about this Magiah dragon." Thorn then reactivated the mirror.
A purple tendril came into view, "Hmm, oh what to do, what to do? It does seem like my spell has been working perfectly, so what should I do next? I know, I'll surprise you fools listening to me with your dear little magic mirror." Everyone jumped back at the fact that this dragon knew they were eves dropping.
"That's right. I know the seven of you can hear me. You must be completely speechless at what I can do. Allow me to say this, I'm far beyond the level of an animus, so don't think that you can predict me." Magiah declared through the mirror.
"Just who are you exactly, Magiah?" Thorn growled.
"I am not going to tell you that. However, again, my skills and powers in magic are far beyond what you can imagine. Hmm, you may deserve to know that I have come from another world." Magiah stated.
"Another world? How is that even possible?" Deathbringer asked.
Magiah laughed through the mirror, "Nothing is impossible with magic, the possibilities are endless. Things that you can hardly even imagine can become possible with someone with powers like mine."
"Why did you change our friend's personalities?" Fatespeaker asked.
"Because I can, and it was fun." Magiah simply said.
"You are a monster!" Peril exclaimed.
"Sticks and stones, missy, sticks and stones. Do yourselves a favor and go back to your friends and family, because I won't change them back. In fact, they could use your help adjusting with the changes I've made. Also, don't even think of using the dreamvisitor, it won't help you." Magiah said, making his point.
"We are going to find you, and when we do, we're going to get our friends back." Riptide growled.
"You can try, but you won't succeed." Magiah said and his tendril vanished.
"Umm, okay, that was creepy." Jambu said after a minute of silence.
"We have to find him, and then kill him, painfully." Thorn said darkly.
"Stonemover, do you think you have enough magic in you to create something? Maybe something that could search out Magiah?" Deathbringer asked.
"Um, I don't know. I guess I could try but it might be the last I could do." Stonemover replied.
"Wait, I don't want to lose you. After all, I still need to punish you for giving up on me." Thorn said.
"It might be our only lead though. Maybe you could think it over for the night, Stonemover. After all, we do need to rest." Riptide suggested.
Later that night, Riptide was preparing to use the dreamvisitor. Closing his eyes, he thought of Anemone and let the dreamvisitor send him into Anemone's dream.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the Summer Palace before it got attacked, "Anemone?" He asked looking around.
"Riptide, why am I dreaming about you?" Anemone appeared behind him.
"Dreamvisitor. So how has Tsunami been?" Riptide explained and then asked.
"Well Mother has been keeping a close eye on us, so we are safe. Tsunami in particular," Anemone sighed, "well she's been really not like herself. She obey's every order and doesn't talk much, also she has gotten rather shy. Do you know why this has been happening?"
"Yeah, some dragon by the name of Magiah used some sort of magic to alter Tsunami and the other's personalites." Riptide explained.
"You mean my sister's friends, Clay, Glory, Starflight, and Sunny have been affected too? Just what kind of dragon is this Magiah?" Anemone asked, surprised.
"We don't know, just that he claims to be from another world, but he does seem to be telling the truth." Riptide shook his head, not having a full answer.
"Do you have a cure?" Anemone asked.
"No, but we plan to find him with the help of Stonemover." Riptide replied.
"That Nightwing that lives in Jade Mountain? I thought he was done for, with how much magic he did. Speaking of such, I would like to know what he knows, maybe I could find out something to help with my magic." Anemone shruddered.
"Maybe we could take care of that after we stop Magiah. Take care Anemone, and let's hope I can finally come back home." Riptide said.
"Yeah, Tsunami still talks about you, so please succeed." Anemone said. Riptide was then ejected from the dream.
(after-story notes: so were you surprised with Magiah's little trick with the mirror? Also, I found myself enjoying Thorn's reaction when Stonemover woke up. oh as of this edit, sorry for the extensive wait, I haven't been focusing on updating my stories and in turn, I've still got a ways to go before the next chapter is ready, although, once it is ready, it sound be grand.)