"Midnight?"
Oh hell, I hear voices. Did I die?
"Midnight!?"
Who's calling me? I don't recognize the voice- but at the same time it sounds familiar. What's that odd weight on my chest? It feels like a paw- almost similar to my own.
"Your hearts still beating… That's good, I'm surprised you lived through that, many dragons usually don't."
The female Night Fury's eyes ripped open as she sat up with a jolt- she remembered what happened! She should've died! She was literally ripped apart! Where was she!?
Midnight looked around her; she was still in the room with all of the crystals- by the lake to be more exact. Everything looked the same except there was one crystal missing from the wall- Cerin. But, there was also a weird looking dragon standing in front of her. Well, he looked like a dragon at least, but not one that Midnight's ever seen before. The dragon before her honestly looked like he could fly around all of the dragon isles 20 times and not break a sweat. He wasn't humongous and buffed up to the max or anything like that- in fact he was almost the exact opposite; he had a (somewhat) thin, athletic form, broad shoulders, powerful looking wings that looked like they were a size or two too large for him. He stood on four long legs that looked like he could do some damage with if he truly wanted too; he also had a long tail with a tail spade resting at the end of it, though it looked dull, almost as if it couldn't cut through much without a lot of effort. Two sharp, jagged horns adorned his head, though they weren't smooth like most horns Midnight has seen; they looked sharp and ridged, almost like they were armored. Honestly, they reminded her of the way Monstrous Nightmare horns looked.
The odd dragon also had spikes that looked like jagged dorsal fins that began in the middle of his forehead and ran all the way to the tip of his tail where the dull spade laid. They also started out small at his forehead, each individual spike growing slightly larger than the last as it traveled down his spine until it hit the middle of his back where the largest one lied. After that they decreased in size once more before disappearing into his scales. His scales were what confused midnight the most though, they were thick, almost like he had multiple layers of scales- each layer overlapping differently than the last; they reminded her of his horns and it wasn't all that hard to see either. His scales seemed like if someone were to simply poke him, their own scales would rip like delicate human flesh from it.
The dragon in front of her was one of the least colorful dragons Midnight has ever seen. His main scale color reminded Midnight of the gem called Onyx; only it looked like onyx that had been left in the shadows for many, many years- left to fade away in loneliness. The Night Fury couldn't help but take some pride in the fact that her scales were still some of the darkest the world has ever seen ( though that pride wouldn't last long considering the fact he towered over her). His under scales; that looked like armored plates rather than scales, eyes, inner wing, and dull tail spade were a dull platinum gray in color. His eyes, even though she could've swore they looked like the same color as nearly everything else on his body- looked like they had a layer of orange glossed over them; she didn't know how or why they looked like that but she just knew there was some color in his eyes. Other than his eyes, the lightest marking on him was his dorsal fin spines, which were a light gray in color- they were the thing that stood out the most on his dull color less body.
The dragon in front of her grinned widely, relief splashed across his features as his tense body relaxed,
"Thank Aasiyah; you're awake." He said with a wide grin. The female Night Fury looked on with confusion- who the hell was Aasiyah? And who the hell was this? Where was Cerin's crystal? Unless…
"Cerin!?" She exclaimed, leaping to her paws with a small wince as pain ripped through her again.
"You should really be more careful-after what just happened I'm surprised you can even sit up so quickly." He said, not answering her question as he gently gripped her shoulder blades to help keep her steady. His paws… They were almost human like, but thicker, with scales and long pitch black claws.
"What the hell are you?" She asked him, not meeting his gaze to look at her spider webs- which weren't bleeding; they were surprisingly clean, like they had been switched out for fresh ones.
"A dragon." He answered her with a wide, sarcastic grin. Midnight shot him a playful glare, which caused him to chuckle and answer her, "I'm a type of dragon called a Western Dragon- a dark type to be more exact. My species is technically from another dimension, as well as from ancient times- it's a bit complicated."
Midnight paused for a moment, looking over the new dragon type in front of her before she lifted a paw and slapped him. The Western Dragon yelped with surprise as he covered his head with his large wings, crying out apologies as he did so
"I'm sorry! I didn't know that would happen! Honestly I thought you would be Phantom or even Future! I'm sorry! I know it was painful, it replaced all of your normal abilities, I mean of course it would be! I'm just glad you're not a Nightmare, that would've hurt a hell of a lot more believe me!"
"Cerin!" Midnight exclaimed, stopping the dark colored dragon before he could continue his ongoing rant. "I didn't slap you because of that." She said, noticing his dark colored eyes peering out from the gap in between where his two wings met in order to cover himself.
"Then why'd you slap me?" He asked uncovering himself and standing up; his glossed over orange eyes peering down questionably at her.
The female Night Fury shrugged at his question,
"You were just the closest thing." She said with a sly grin causing Cerin's mouth to drop. Midnight burst out laughing finding her new companion extremely entertaining, if she could sit here and goof around with him she would, but there were more important things to do. "C'mon. Let's go before Kryo flips his lid or before Nightshade charges back into the cave system looking for me."
"Nightshade?" Cerin questioned as Midnight began walking toward the cave exit and back into the twining hallways.
As the two walked back to the main cavern, Midnight began to explain everything to Cerin, her parents, the marriage, the fight, Nightshade, how she got dragged into this: Everything. Of course, she summarized everything to make life easier for the Western Dragon, but he insisted on her giving details on certain things. Midnight was honestly amazed that this dragon- her Crystal Bond- wanted to know everything about her, there was only one other dragon in the world who wanted the same: and obviously that was Nightshade.
And, in return Midnight asked about Cerin's life-what it meant to be a Crystal Bond. Apparently, there are multiple giant crystals that could be considered 'gods'- Aasiyah was one of the gods in that cavern. These gods create crystals every day; some have no energy, which means they are simply crystals- just ordinary, no special abilities and no life. The others would be crystals with souls in them- the Crystal bonds. Apparently, every time a 'Dragon Bond' is born, so is their matching Crystal Bond- if the dragon bond happens to die before meeting their Crystal Bond, the Crystal Bond is trapped in their designated Crystal until someone finds a use for it. The uses would be someone setting the soul free or using its magic in ancient ceremonies and such.
Cerin had begun to explain a more in depth version of the Crystal Bonds and how they are created when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks right before the entrance where Kryo and Nightshade would be, his whole body stiffening. Midnight stopped and looked up at him, a small jolt of worry clenching her heart,
"Cerin? Are you okay?" She asked quickly, watching as his dull eyes suddenly lit up in happiness;
"Perfect." He said to her, grinning like a mad-man, "By the way- Look at your claws." He said before happily trotting into the main cavern where Kryo and Nightshade would be waiting. The female Night Fury felt herself recoil in confusion at her Crystal Bond's actions before doing as he suggested and looked down at her beautiful sharp claws. Midnight's jaw hit the floor;
Her claws were no longer pitch black; they were a slur of muddy blue and black, flecked with bright gold and sunset orange: and they were made out of crystal.
"Dear Odin." She whispered in awe as she lifted her paw up to her face to inspect her talons, which were now even more beautiful in her opinion. The female Night Fury swiftly got over her shock before walking into the main cavern where Cerin had disappeared into moments ago, only to have her jaw drop for the second time, only this time there was a small look of amusement in her eyes.
Nightshade stood there in all of his glory, everything on him looked the same except, his once dark colored spines were now a beautiful mix of light pastels. White and light blue seemed to be the main base colors as they intertwined in one another. Gold/ orange cloud like markings dotted around the intertwined colors, being the boldest markings on there- the ones that stood out the most. And, last but not least seeming to be the top marking was feint lavender colored streaks that weren't impossible to see, but it took a moment or so to actually notice them.
Another thing that took a few moments for Midnight to notice was that there was another (odd) looking dragoness standing next to her childhood friend. Honestly, while it was hard information for Midnight to swallow without feeling a burning sensation in the pit of her stomach; but she was beautiful. Every body part on her was just so slender and long in a majestic, elegant way and it made the young Night Fury envy the odd dragoness that was probably from the same dimension as Cerin. She had long horns that seemed to flow almost like the wind did, or how you would expect it too if you could actually see it. They were smooth like the rest of her body; they didn't have any nicks of ridges like Cerin's did; the same applied to her 'under scales'- it was just smooth! There weren't even any scales there; it looked like it could be human skin strapped onto the belly of a dragon. Small bud like appendages began in the middle of her forehead and ran along her spine until a little bit after the base of her tail. Almost like little flowers would sprout along her if she was set into sunlight. The last couple inches of her tail were filled with little licks of fur; almost like a pink fire of smooth fur had engulfed her tail.
Though, the oddest thing about this dragoness was that she had no wings. Of course, Midnight knew of a few dragons in this dimension that had no wings; such as Speed Stingers. But these dragons; no, these crystal bonds- looked like they were supposed to have wings. Even though this dragoness looked different from Cerin, she still looked like she should have wings.
Honestly, she was almost the exact opposite of Cerin, if anything; their colors separated them the most. She was the purest white Midnight's ever seen; she was almost positive that if the crystal bond walked into a dark room she would light it up immediately with her main scales alone. Her long, flowing horns and flesh-like under scales were a very pale yellow in color- almost to the point where it blended into the rest of her smooth scales. The darkest colors on her were the light pink flower-like appendages on her back and the licks of fur on her tail. Her eyes reminded Midnight of the way Cerin's were- they seemed to be one solid color and yet there was some other color tinted over them. The crystal bond in front of the young Night Fury had fresh snow white eyes; but she could've sworn she saw a pink tint over the top of them.
Midnight found it somewhat irking knowing that there was a possibility of her simply imagining the 'eye tints'; but on the other paw if they were actually there she wondered how their eyes did that and what the purpose of it was.
"Celina!" Cerin exclaimed happily bouncing over to the odd Crystal Bond and tackling her in a hug.
"Eh!? Cerin you oaf! Get off!" Celina exclaimed from under the heavier dragon as she began to thrash about. All Cerin did was smile wider and tighten his grip on her
"Aww~ Celina; you've put up your walls again! Won't you let them down now that you've found your Dragon Bond and me~?" He asked happily as the pure white dragoness struggled more.
Midnight glanced to Nightshade, who simply shrugged before his pale eyes focused on the two Crystal Bonds on the cold stone floor. The Young Night Fury couldn't help but smirk at the scene, in a way she found it amusing knowing that Nightshade's Crystal Bond was pinned down by her Crystal Bond. She knew it was just her pride getting in the way; and maybe even simple friendly rivalry. But in a way, Midnight felt it could've been more than that.
She hasn't even spoken two words to Nightshade's Crystal Bond and Midnight instantly didn't like her; almost to the point where she hated her. This wasn't anything new to Midnight; she instantly hated almost all of the dragons she met but this kind of hate was almost different from any other kind of hate she's felt.
It might've just been the jealousy that was still lingering in the pit of her stomach; but this hate- Midnight could feel it traveling through her bones and soul. This felt like the hate she had toward the male-whore she was supposed to become mates with; it was just a deep killing/ slowly torturing to death kind of hate. And yet, it was still somehow different. When she met Streak, she felt hate of course, but she didn't hate him as much as she had instantly hated this Crystal Bond who she hasn't even spoken with.
Midnight was broken from her scornful thoughts by someone clearing their throat; which instantly made the room fall silent, even the two bickering Crystal Bonds. Midnight glanced over her shoulder at Kryo and was met with the sight of a HUGE Fire Worm Queen;
'Dear Odin! She could rival Kryo in size! And he's a huge ass dragon.' Midnight thought to herself as she looked over the new comer with slightly wide eyes; her scales were a light golden color with small rust orange dots going up and down her sides. Metallic gold markings framed her eyes like eye liner, the tips ending in a down ward curl that seemed to brush against her top lip.
"Uh…" Cerin began with a nervous laugh as he removed himself from Celina and proceeded to hide behind her lying figure; pressing himself as much as he could while he tucked his head behind his large wings "Hey Mrs. H; how's it going?" He asked quietly; flinching as her gaze landed on him.
Midnight turned her body so she could fully face the two large dragons; casting another glance toward her childhood friend before her eyes focused on them once more.
"Who's your friend, Kryo?" Nightshade asked politely, as always. The elder smiled proudly and looked lovingly toward the Fire Worm Queen; who gave the young Night Fury a small, almost motherly, smile
"This is my Crystal Bond and loving mate, Honora." He introduced as he leaned down and gently nuzzled the golden dragoness. Midnight felt her features scrunch up in confusion; from what Cerin had told her this situation was odd.
'A Crystal Bond is created when their matching Dragon Bond is born; and if Kryo and Honora are mates, does that mean he fell in love with a soul? Is that allowed? Is that normal? I mean, I wouldn't have anything against it; but there's something odd about it- but what?'
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Honora," Nightshade began, trotting up to the Fire Worm Queen and extending a paw for her to shake despite the other Crystal Bond's reactions to her.
"You're such a polite young dragon!" Honora exclaimed happily as she accepted Nightshade's paw. The Monstrous Nightmare smiled again before opening his mouth to ask a question;
"Thank you, Miss. Though I do have a question; all of the Crystal Bonds we have met so far have been dragons from another dimension, but you are from our dimension- is there a reason for that?"
Midnight mentally face-pawed herself. Why hadn't she realized that sooner!? Dear Thor she was so dull sometimes! Honora smiled brightly and even chuckled a bit a Midnight's reaction to her friend's question;
"You will learn everything you need to know in dear time." She answered him before turning her gaze to Midnight "So you must be Midnight, it's a pleasure to finally meet you! Kryo has told me so much about your situation, and I'm glad he decided to help you two." Before Midnight could get a word out she began speaking again. "I just knew you'd get Cerin; and I also guessed that you'd know someone who would get Celina; because honestly if these two weren't together I don't know what they'd do! They are SO lost without each other!"
"Mrs. H!" Cerin whined like a hatchling; "Please don't embarrass me in front of my Dragon Bond on the first day!"
"Alyssa knows he can do that himself." Celina muttered, now standing next to Nightshade. Midnight watched as Cerin gave her shoulder a light shove- his fear of Honora now completely vanished;
"Aww, you know me so well~" He cooed, causing the latter to snort in slight amusement and disgust.
"As much as I would like this happy meeting to continue," Kryo began, his long snake-like body straightening itself out before coiling around itself again, though Midnight did see him intertwine his red tipped tail with his mate's golden one. "We have a lot of work to do before Midnight's trial and ceremony tomorrow," Midnight couldn't help but scowl at the thoughts conjured up by the elder's simple words, she had nearly forgotten about the trial until he had reminded her. "And I still need you two to be able to understand and master the plan I've thought up as well as the proper training of your new powers in order for it to work- so let's get started." He said, getting right to the point.
Midnight straightened up and put on a serious face- in her entire life she couldn't remember a time where she actually wanted to learn this badly. Out of the two friends, she was the one who hated learning the most. She found half the stuff she had to learn boring and just a waste of time; but being the alpha's daughter she had to learn a lot of bull shit she didn't care about. But this….this is something Midnight wanted to learn about. She wanted to learn about this ancient dragon magic that could help her. And she wanted to learn more about her new friend.
If she was this excited about learning, Nightshade must've been dying of exhilaration by now.
"Okay, now due to the limited time I'm just going over the basics and if your Crystal Bond has told you this already, it won't hurt you to hear it again." Kryo began like he was a teacher teaching a group of students. "Basically all Crystal Bonds are, are souls with a crystal body that is now attached to you. And Dragon Bonds are basically flesh-like bodies that you are connected to as of now. The difference between Dragon Bonds and Crystal Bonds is that one soul is forced to stay in the body like it always has and the other can enter their body at will.
Now, Dragon Bonds; I'm almost positive you're wondering why certain appendages of yours have turned into crystal, that is simply the eternal bond you and your Crystal Bond have formed- they are now a part of you and you are now a part of them. Their body bonded to the part of your body that you favor most, so for Midnight it would be your claws and for Nightshade it would be your spines. The only thing Crystal Bonds cannot bond to would be eyes, mouths, fangs, and genitals."
Midnight couldn't help but laugh at the last part, Cerin joining in and Nightshade letting out a small chuckle of his own while his Crystal Bond sported a tiny smile.
"I'm sorry; the thought of someone taking pride in their dick is kinda entertaining." She apologized as Cerin began to laugh slightly harder;
"Yea, then they would really be rock hard!" The Crystal Bond exclaimed; causing the young Night Fury to laugh harder at his joke.
"You two are so mature." Celina muttered sarcastically, using her long, fluffy tail to swat Cerin in the head, though that didn't cause his laughing to falter.
"It's kind of funny." Kryo commented, clearly trying his best to not grin. Honora scoffed lightly and swatted the large albino dragon with her golden-colored tail;
"Dear Thor Kryo, act your age." She muttered, "And the rest of you, straighten up! We have a lot to learn!" At her stern words; Midnight shut her trap and straightened up; even though the young Night Fury hated to admit it- this 'Queen' was slightly terrifying.
"Sorry Dear," Kryo mumbled before his eyes averted back to his students, "alright, now I may have told you before, or I may not have my memory is beginning to fade into time. But, because you have formed this bond, you have gained an ancient dragon magic that has been dubbed as 'Relgim'. There is a total of eight that you could've gotten but for the time being we will focus on six of those eight.
The first two are the most commonly seen, Power of the Eternal Flame and Power of the Everlasting Frost. The first, Power of the Eternal Flame is exactly as it sounds like. It allows the dragon to have advanced fire powers; such as being able to create fire using various body parts and being able to survive in extreme temperatures. Later on in their training, these types of dragons can also learn to handle the elements Earth, Lightning, and Metal, which I will go over when the time comes.
Much like it's opposite- The Power of Everlasting Frost allows the dragon to control the element of ice. With this Relgim the dragon's claws can take on the form of sharp icicles, their normal fire breath turns into an icy mist, and they can withstand the coldest of climates. Like their counter parts, the dragons who possess Relgim can pull ice out of thin air with various body parts. Though, with this 'power' there is a catch, most dragons who possess it must learn the powers of water and air before they can master ice. Also, later on in their training they can work with nature in the same fashion." The Screaming Death paused for a moment, his eyes glancing over his pupils before continuing;
"The next two Relgims are uncommon; Power of the Forgotten Phantom and Power of the Mysterious Physic.
First, Power of the Forgotten Phantom, dragons with this Relgim can make others very uneasy with a simple breath of their purple gas-like fire and they can turn nearly invisible. Dragons with this Relgim can become a orb at will as well as turn into something truly terrifying with the proper training. Also, with the proper training, these dragons can conjure spirits of the dead to either speak with, or to do their bidding if the spirit is willing to do so. Also, while this is a harder power to obtain, they can create spirits of their own as well as take over other dragon's bodies. And lastly, they can manipulate illusions.
Their counterparts, can feel the emotions of others, preform Astral projection (separate their soul from their body), 'second sight' (they can feel things that normal senses can't), Dowsing (able to locate objects), levitate, telekinesis, telepathy, and psychoscopy (Obtaining information about a person or object, usually by touching or concentrating on the object or a related object). These types of dragons are very sensitive to the world around them, which can be both helpful and harmful. Like their counter parts, these dragons can contact the spirits- but all they can do is communicate with them. When dragons gain this ability they lose the ability to breathe fire, but when they use their powers their eyes glow the color of their crystal bond.
And the last two we will be learning about are rare; Power of Past and Power of Future.
The first, Power of Past, which happens to be my original Relgim," Kryo began, pride lacing his tone slightly as he continued, "Dragons with this Relgim can step back into their ancestors past, and if they're lucky- into ancient history of others. They can also see visions of the past that will help them in the near future; even though this is usually at random, some can be trained to control it to a certain extent- but even at that it's not much. Much like physic dragons, these kinds of dragons can look at someone and look into their past- any part of it they want. Though, this can be sometimes difficult because of the resistance the other being of life can put up. Dragons with this 'power' can also resurface memories of others as well as within themselves, whether the memory if good or bad- is up to them. These types of dragons keep their regular fire.
And finally, their counterpart, Power of Future; dragons with this ability can step into the future, just like the dragons of past can step back into the past. Though, with these dragons, there's a catch- if they reveal the future to any dragon what-so-ever they will go through excruciating pain and suffering. Although, they can hint at the future and nothing will happen, if the dragon figures it out from their hints- nothing will happen because they figured it out on their own. Much like Physic dragons- ones with this type of Relgim are usually aware of everything happening around them. These types of dragons keep their regular fire as well. Any questions?"
Midnight felt her head swim with the amount of information Kryo was trying to shove into her brain; and in all honesty she would've been fine with just learning two of them; maybe three including Kryo's. But in the end, maybe it was good to know about most of them; if one of them happened to be hers, she would at least know the basics. But in all honesty, she hoped she wasn't a Physic mainly because she didn't even know what half of those words even existed until Kryo said them.
"I do." Nightshade said after a moment or so, "What are we?" There was a slight pause after that. Midnight wasn't expecting what would happen next; but she suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Let's find out, shall we?" Kryo asked, and then suddenly two icicles were being flung at the two dragon bonds. Midnight felt the world go into slow motion for her, watching as the sharp piece of ice as was getting closer and closer with every passing moment. By instinct, Midnight whipped around, using her fan-like tail as a weapon in order to slap the ice away; but instead of making contact with the ice, Midnight soon found out that her tail had produced a large gust of air, causing the small object to impale into the wall beside her. The Night Fury froze, shock and amazement lighting up her neon blue eyes as she stared at the piece of ice embedded into the stone wall.
Midnight looked over to Nightshade, and was met with another interesting sight; his eyes were glowing a dull white in color, and the ice shard that had been flung at him was levitated; seemingly to be in a bubble of dull white light. His eyes were widened, that's all Midnight could tell because of the hazy white light covering them.
"Excellent work!" Kryo exclaimed, and with a flick of his red tipped tail, the icicles were gone.
"What the fuck Kryo!? You could've speared us right through the fucking skull! What were you thinking!?" Midnight exclaimed aggressively, narrowing her eyes at her mentor, who continued to grin widely.
"Uh Midnight…" Cerin began hesitantly; "I think that's how we find you what our…ya know…" He said his orange tinted eyes looking down at her.
"Of course it's how we find out our Relgim; how else were we supposed to find out?" Celina said with a flick of her fluffy tail; her eyes still looking board and unamused; Midnight opened her mouth to retort something back, but was quickly cut off by Honora;
"Midnight, it's okay. That's the only way we can find out about Relgims especially in younger dragons. That dragon's life has to be in danger in order for the adrenaline to activate the Relgim. And from the looks of it, Midnight you have Power of the Everlasting Frost and Nightshade has Power of the Mysterious Physic." The Fire worm Queen said, 'slithering' over to the four younger dragons and looking them over with that same motherly smile that Midnight could find slight comfort in.
"Indeed. And because of this, my plan will work out smoothly." Kryo said, his eyes once again scanning the younger ones. Midnight crocked her head to the side, her ears flicking in slight irritation;
"Can you please tell us what the plan is now?" She asked, a small fleck of her impatient side beginning to show;
"Yes." The large Albino creature said, shifting his large body ever so slightly, "You see, youngin's, I have been here for a long time; and since I formed my Crystal Bond at a young age, I have had much time to master all of the Relgims, and because of this I can assist you in your training. As well as assist you in general. From this point on, I will be your teacher, your mentor, your sensei."
'Sensei. That's a new word. Does that mean basically the same thing as 'teacher'? Whatever it is, I like it. It sounds regal.' Midnight thought as she glanced to Cerin, who looked somewhat confused; for reasons unknown to her.
"The same goes for you Crystal Bonds, except Honora will be your Sensei. Dragon Bonds and Crystal Bonds must often be taught separately due to the fact of your different atomies." Kryo explained, causing the four of them to nod; "Now. Because we are running out of time, Honora and I will train Midnight and Cerin first for the time being; am I understood?"
"Yes, Sensei." Nightshade said, catching Midnight off guard, was that how she was supposed to respond? And how the hell did he know that!? Well, he did learn quicker than she did, so it only made sense. Though, the large beast said nothing about the subject as he finally went on the explain the plan;
"Now, the actual plan. Basically Midnight, your trail is before your ceremony tomorrow; and honestly with the trial you can handle it however you want, I doubt they'll keep you since you're 'getting married' and all." He used the words getting married with a loose tone; meaning she wasn't really getting married- in a way it was sarcasm, but an odd kind of sarcasm that the young Night Fury wasn't familiar with. "Now, the main thing here is for after the trial; I will conjure up a storm, and if your parents go by tradition they will not allow the ceremony to happen during a storm, so they'll call it off or postpone it for another day. It is at this point, Midnight that I want you to fly straight into the storm, Cerin will remain in his body, your claws, to make things easier." Cerin let out a small whine of protest, but didn't say anything as the elder continued, "Tonight I will be teaching you how to survive diving head first into the storm; it is mostly dealing with air currents so it shouldn't be that hard to master. Meanwhile, Nightshade and Celina will meet Honora and myself here in this cave system; at the very beginning where we came in, immediately after the trial ends. From there, we will fly through the storm, using me for cover.
Now, all of you, except for my beautiful mate, may be wondering why we will be flying into this storm in the first place. The answer is simple. There is a portal that will activate and open every single time Relgim magic is used in that area. That portal leads to a secret island that we can reside in for as long as we need too. Once we get to the island, I will tell you the rest of the plan; understood?"
"I understand," Midnight began, feeling a strange emotion bubble up in the pit of her stomach, "But in the end, isn't that like running away? I don't want to run from my problems, Sensei; I want to show the world that I can face them head on." She said, having a slight edge to her voice as anger flicked her veins. She officially hated society at that point; the more they talked about it the angrier she became.
"We are not running away; I told you that is only the first part of my plan. Now, we begin training." Kryo said, giving Midnight no more room for questioning; which she honestly didn't mind because in the end she knew that she would get her answers sooner or later. And, now would be an excellent time to blow off some steam. "Now, Nightshade, Celina, and Honora, please stand near the edges of the wall. Midnight and Cerin stand in the middle of the room." The large dragon said before slithering to the entrance they came in from and facing the two. No words were exchanged as the dragons moved to their appropriate places; clearly the three youngest ones were just as confused as Midnight herself was; Nightshade and Celina were just good at hiding it.
Midnight stood in the middle of the room, Cerin standing a foot or so to her right; while the others stood between the crystals on the wall to her left. Her icy neon blue eyes focused on their Sensei, who smirked and began to move his red tipped tail in a small circle;
"Now, when this storm conjures up, I want both of you to focus on the air currents in the air and around you. When this storm starts, both of you will be blown off balance, and may even slam into each other. I'm unsure. But, the goal of this exercise is to have both of you focus on the air around you, and make it cooperate with you in order to benefit."
"Wait! What happens if we can't do that?" Cerin asked as the air began to stir and pick up in the room; Midnight even noticed small, dark rain clouds beginning to form above them. Kryo smirked,
"Then I hope you can keep your dinner down." And with that, the wind roared in the Night Fury's ears, and rain pelted down upon them; she could even hear the sound of thunder. Midnight closed her eyes and tucked her wings into her sides as she dug her claws into the stone below her; beginning to feel the wind try to move her.
It was exactly as Kryo had said: a miniature storm within the large crystal-filled room had begun. Midnight dug her claws further into the stone as the rain began to battle with her as well, bigger and bigger droplets beginning to smash and splatter into her dark scales. She slowly opened her neon blue eyes, not even realizing she had closed them, to look over at Cerin. He was in the same position as she was, legs spread, claws digging into the ground, head and shoulders lowered to the ground in an attempt to block out the air. The only difference was that his eyes weren't closed, instead they bore into hers. Clearly confused and lost in more ways than one.
He opened his mouth to shout something to her over the roaring wind, but the young Night Fury couldn't hear a word he said. When she only crocked her head, Cerin began to swing his head and long tail, almost as if he was gesturing to something but Midnight wasn't sure as to what. Her eyes began to scan the area around them, but all midnight could see where the dark churning clouds above them, the thick droplets of rain, and small dust particles flying about.
"Midnight, look out!" she could hear his voice faintly over the roaring wind. She craned her head to look at him, but when she did something sharp and cold barreled into her side, causing her claws to slip out from under her.
"Midnight!" she knew someone was screaming her name, but she couldn't make out who it was because of the deafening wind in her ears, rain pounding across her scales, and the feeling of her sore body tumbling over itself as she was blown about. She was waiting for her body to come crashing out of the storm, but it never did as it continued to be blown around and around by the air. It was like some mysterious force was keeping her trapped inside of it.
The Night Fury could feel the spider webs that were tightly coiled around her wounds beginning to peel and rip off, being lost to the wind. She opened her eyes just in time to see the webbing on her back leg become untangled and be pulled into the vortex of wind. She growled in aggravation as the wind tore at her many, small, scabbed over wounds- even causing a few of them to bleed lightly once more.
She began to struggle against the wind, she flared her wings out and opened her tail flaps; her limbs flailed uselessly as she battled with the air all around her. She flapped her powerful wings, trying to right herself within the currents, but her struggling was proven useless- the only thing it was doing was sapping her energy and giving her even more of a head ache. Midnight howled in fury again, she wouldn't let the air control her!
Well, that is until her pitch black body came barreling into Cerin's…
"Damn it!" Midnight heard Cerin yelp as they began to tumble through the air together. His body was smashed up against hers, for only a few short seconds before the wind ripped the two apart. Midnight as able to see glimpses of Cerin's body spinning opposite of hers, seeming just as lost and confused as she was (and still is). But, he was looking around wildly; he was still looking at something that Midnight couldn't see which was getting irritating.
"Cerin! What the hell are you looking at?!" she yelled over the wind, causing his attention to snap to her. He yelled something that looked like 'what?' which caused her to become more frustrated and dizzy.
'He's clearly not gonna' be any help. And there's no way I can try to fly any more without vomiting; what the hell did Kryo say? To focus on the air around us?'
The Young Night Fury roared and slammed her powerful tail through the air, hoping to blow off some steam, but instead she found it slamming into something that felt like a wall. Midnight let out a small sound of surprise and looked at where her tail hit, only to see what could only be described as streams of neon blue energy encircling her. It was almost like watching the ripples and currents of a moving stream all around them; it was amazing.
Was Kryo helping them? Midnight tried to look through the neon blue slur of energy to their Sensei, but that was difficult due to her body continuing to tumble about in the wind- and the fact that Cerin's would get in the way from time to time. She looked from the 'wall' to the air all around them, only to find that there were many stray wisps gliding all around them in a fast pace- some would go into the wall before shooting out again, many would come out from the wall and not go back in for a while, and others stayed where they were. Midnight could only watch in confused panic as one came rushing toward her. She opened her mouth to fire a Plasma Blast at it, only to find that she couldn't! Nothing came out of her mouth, only the exhale of fury before she whipped her body around and slammed her tail into it. The thin stream of energy was hurdled toward the ground, along with the many bursts of same colored energy Midnight's tail produced. She watched as all of them seemed to bounce off of the floor,
'This is gonna' fucking suck' she thought, covering her tiny body with her wings as the energy smashed into her. Surprisingly enough, the only thing Midnight really felt was a huge gust of air that forced her wings open.
'Or maybe not…?' the rare dragon thought before she was smashed into something sharp and scaly;
"Ouch! Damn it Cerin!" she yelled, struggling against her large Crystal Bond as he wrapped his large wings around her protectively.
"Wait! Listen to me," he murmured in her ear, causing the Night Fury to stop struggling. She wasn't exactly comfortable in their new position, sure, it made her head feel better and the world was spinning a bit less- but it was somewhat awkward for her, she wasn't exactly fond of contact from other male dragons besides Night Shade, and she didn't exactly trust Cerin yet… "Do you see them? The orange… things?"
"The orange things?" she said in reply, still somewhat confused.
"Yea, they're surrounding us, creating a barrier all around us, and there are a lot of them moving about the inside of it with us too." he explained, which made Midnight begin to squirm more in irritation as she realized what he was talking about.
"How the hell do you mistake those blue things as orange!?" she exclaimed. She heard Cerin give a mix between a snort of confusion and a chuckle,
"Blue!? I KNOW they aren't blue, Midnight. Of course, that would make more sense considering what they are but…" Midnight cut off Cerin before he could go into an explanation about why it had made sense.
"What are they?" she questioned him with an eager edge to her voice.
"Air currents."
"Dear Odin!" Midnight exclaimed, accidently kicking Cerin's large wing with her back leg, he flinched slightly but said nothing as she continued. "That's what you've been looking at the entire time. So that means Kryo isn't helping us, the Relgim must allow us to see them- which would probably be why we see them in different colors."
Midnight felt the small gears beginning to turn in her head. Even though she was away from her intelligent friend for so many years, and the fact that he was still far more gifted than she could ever be, he had still rubbed off on her within the years of their friendship.
"Exactly, so Kryo means that we need to work with these currents using our abilities, just like when you tried to hit that small one just now- we need to take the air flowing through us and use it to our advantage." the dark dragon said, causing the Night Fury to nod. She opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped when her head was painfully smashed against Cerin's closed wings. The larger dragon gave a small 'oof' before shifting slightly, "Sorry, I think the winds just picked up speed and I slammed into the wall."
"Okay, then we're gonna' have to figure this out quickly- preferably before I throw up." Midnight grumbled,
"Alright, now, I'm going to push you to the opposite side of the vortex, try to control the air swirling around you, once we both are able to do this- smash the air into the clouds and hopefully that'll cancel everything out; okay?" Cerin explained. Midnight felt his long back legs position themselves in the middle of her back, where her wings were, while his front paws gently gripped her shoulder blades. Midnight nodded silently and braced herself to be shoved out into the cold, ruthless, air once more.
"Ready?" the large black dragon questioned,
"Ready."
"Good luck."
And with those two short words, Midnight was suddenly blinded by the neon blue light that flooded her vision. She slammed her eyes shut as she felt Cerin push all of his limbs forward, the movement caused her to be flung from her (somewhat) safe position and out into the mercy of the vortex once more. She whipped her tail in front of her body as if she was trying to hit something, and in a way she was. She was attempting to hit the wall so she wouldn't come barreling into it, but instead she felt the feeling of her tail flaps producing a huge gust of air; which came rushing back at her with even more force.
The Night Fury forced open her eyes, knowing she would only have the advantage of Cerin's speed for only so long- so she might as well use it. She flapped her powerful wings, trying to trigger the same cold tingling sensation that her tail gave off whenever she used her Relgim. After a few beats of feeling nothing, she was forced to resort to a different method. She straightened out her tail and pointed it at the floor, before beginning to move it in a small circle motion while cold air continued to flow freely from it. The currents that flowed from her tail seemed to create a mini-tornado under her that kept her upright for the time being- as long as she didn't mess up.
Midnight's blue eyes peered through the vortex to the few lucky dragons standing outside of the vortex. Kryo continued to watch the two with his piercing red eyes, seeming to be evaluating them. That didn't surprise her in the least, he was their teacher after all- it was his job to do so. What did confuse her was the surprise and concern that seemed to line his features. She dismissed it though, thinking that she had simply been in this spinning death trap for too long.
Honora's expressions and features mimicked that of her mates. The only difference was that she would look from them to Kryo from time to time. Though, when the Fire Worm Queen saw the young Night Fury her troubled features melted into an encouraging motherly smile. Midnight noticed how her bottom paws gave her a small wave, and she couldn't help but smile at that.
Night Shade didn't even try to hide his anxiousness as his eyes bore into her, somewhat stilled, figure. She could vaguely see his pale eyes through the rivers of flowing air currents, but they seemed to be sending her a message; possibly one similar to Honora's. She found that the more she stared at them, the clearer it became, to the point where she could've sworn she heard his voice in her head. 'Beautiful job, keep it up. Show them what you can really do! Show them all.'
'Thanks, I will.' She thought in determination even though she knew he couldn't read her mind. Even with his new powers, there was no way he could've learned to do so. Though, that thought almost went out the window when she noticed him recoil slightly. She felt a familiar grin slide over her features as her friend's eyes seemed to light up in happiness; that same look he got when discovering something interesting.
Finally, her eyes landed on Night Shade's Crystal Bond: the pale dragoness known as Celina. She seemed calm and composed (and probably bored) as she watched the vortex. She and Cerin seemed like they knew each other, and he seemed to have cared a great deal for her. Honora said they would be lost without one another. And yet, here she was, blankly staring at her struggling friend. Midnight felt those familiar pricks of hate shoot through her spine. She struggled to find a reason to not hate her; she was her best friend's Crystal Bond after all- but she could find none. Even if she preferred to stay emotionless, she could try to be supportive of her friend. Midnight watched as Celina's eyes met hers, her expression changed from one of boredom, to that of a teasing hate. The Night Fury didn't need Physic Relgim to be able to tell what she was trying to say: 'Fuck you.'
Midnight felt her eyes glaze over with hate as she glared down the dragon opposite of her. She watched as Celina broke her gaze for a split second to glance at the other dragons before looking back to her and mouthing the words; 'Weak bitch'
Midnight growled at the insult, but she didn't dare mouth anything, not when everyone was watching her.
'I'll show her who the weak one is.' Midnight thought bitterly as she flapped her powerful wings, stings of cold air and hate spreading out across her long scaly body. She roared loudly, watching as a mist-like substance leaked from her mouth as she did so- but she ignored it, thinking that Kryo was simply making the vortex colder.
Neon blue outlined her body and came out in powerful waves produced from her wings and tail. The vortex didn't even matter at this point; it was like she was flying through calm, non-stirring, air. She glanced to Cerin, whose body almost mimicked hers, except his currents were orange.
"Cerin," she growled with an unintentional, commanding, edge to her voice. The black dragon looked to her with a questioning glance. She looked to him before looking to the clouds and beginning to stir up more air with her tail. He nodded and began to flap his larger wings to match her speed and power.
Midnight inhaled sharply, and focused on the air currents around her, on the vortex itself. She thought about the icy cold, and how she wanted it to go flying at the clouds, how she wanted it to rip them apart just as she wanted to do to the bitchy Crystal Bond that filled her senses with hate. And to her shock, small streams of air began to remove themselves from the vortex near her and began to rip at the rain clouds above them. The streaks of energy tore at the clouds like small vipers, swaying back and forth as if looking for weak spots in the clouds, before darting forward and becoming lost in the darkness. As they did this, the clouds would break and move apart slightly, the rain wasn't getting any lighter though, but it was becoming more spaced out.
Midnight smirked and angled her wings so that her gusts of air produced from them would be aimed at the clouds. Large neon blue streams ripped into the clouds at a quick and brutal rate, which were soon joined by Cerin's orange air currents. She watched as the dark, depressing, gray clouds began to disappear into thin air, taking the rain with them as well as turning into a lighter color. The air vortex was beginning to steadily slow down, allowing Midnight to see, and think, a bit better- though her rage as seeing the white dragoness clogged up her head with rage again.
The young Night Fury suddenly leaned her body forward, tucking in her head and ripping her tail forward-taking the air currents with it. She smashed the 'tailnado' into the rain clouds- shattering them. And just like that, when her paws had finally landed safely on the cool floor after her summersault, everything had stopped. No vortex, no rain, no clouds, no nothing. The only air stirring was Cerin's tailnado, which he was slowly coming down form to stand beside her.
Internally, Midnight was shocked and astounded. She had only meant to slow down the vortex even more- not stop it completely in one blow, especially considering how that was their first training run. Though, she was beginning to question Kryo's teaching methods. Though, externally she smirked in triumph and looked to the 'spectators'.
Kryo was staring at them, this time Midnight was positive that she saw confusion lacing his features. But other than that he was giving the two a proud smile, and kept it as he began to speak;
"Excellent work! zi bensvelk, zi bensvelk." The large white dragon commented as he slithered to them along with Honora, Nightshade, and Celina.
"zi bensvelk?" Cerin questioned as Honora gently pat both of them on the head with her warm paws in a motherly fashion.
"It means 'very good'," she answered him, as she removed her paws. "But both of you did incredibly well! I'm so proud! You guys were only in there for about five minutes, which is pretty impressive compared to the eight and ten of others. Both of your forms were very well done, though Midnight your mussels were a bit too tight if you do that too often the air will have trouble 'flowing' out of your body and Cerin yours need to be a bit more tense so that it will be easier to move within a moment's notice."
"Thank you Honora," Midnight said politely, feeling a pride and happiness bubble up in her chest. Midnight had never really experienced what a legitimate caring mother and father was like. Hers were over barring and stupid in their own way, while Honora was very supportive of the things she enjoyed but also corrected her. It was an odd feeling, but she planned on welcoming it.
"That means a lot Mrs. H!" Cerin said in his happy-go-lucky tone.
Midnight felt a paw on her shoulder and turned to face the Monstrous Nightmare who it belonged to. He simply stared at her for a moment, his pale eyes looking over her intently; possibly looking for any sign of harm that had been brought to her.
She sighed happily and quickly brought him in for what the humans called a 'hug'. She brought her right forearm around the back of his long neck while her left one stayed planted on the ground. She pulled him toward her and opened her wings slightly in a meek attempt to embrace his large body. He recoiled at first, they had a lot of contact in their friendship, but Midnight rarely hugged anyone.
"Nightshade I'm fine," she muttered to him as he slowly wrapped his dominant wing around her smaller body.
"I know," he mumbled, resting his forehead on her shoulder, "I just worry is all."
"Then don't be. Cerin and I kicked that storm's ass." She replied with a small bout of enthusiasm as they pulled away.
"Considering it kicked yours first, I would hope so." He said with a small chuckle.
'I wonder why he's so concerned.' Midnight thought, as she watched Cerin embrace Celina, wrapping both of his large, scaly arms around her chest and shoulders, thus trapping her arms to her sides from her sitting position. The white dragoness gave the arm around her chest a half-hearted pat, muttering something and glaring at him at the same time.
'I've done worse, haven't I? I mean, those things didn't involve life-changing Relgim magic that could alter our bodies and souls- but I've done worse.'
"While that was great for a first run," the large Screaming Death said, catching everyone's attention and causing Cerin to let go of Celina. "Tomorrow you cannot take five minutes to adjust to whatever may happen. I may have been doing this for a long time, but that doesn't mean I can have complete and utter control over the air currents of such a large area. Anything can happen and you must be able to adjust within a moment's notice."
'Maybe it's just because I've been gone for so long.'
"Oh no," Cerin mumbled. "Sensei, I think I know what's coming next- are you really gonna..?" Before Cerin could finish his sentence, Kryo began to chuckle and twirl his tail in the same manner as before. The air around them began to pick up again, as more rain clouds formed and more neon blue air currents began to form. Though if Midnight concentrated hard enough they would look green, which was probably the color of Kryo's aura.
"We shall do it again!" He exclaimed, as another vortex formed and the wind roared.
"No!" Cerin whined, while Midnight gave a small cheer and a roar.
"C'mon Cerin!" She exclaimed with a huge grin as she leaped into the vortex. She knew he had spoken more, but his words were quickly drowned out by the sounds of the wind and rain all around her. These were her elements now, and when put together they would be what defined her Relgim: Ice.
'Yea,' she thought again, watching as Cerin leaped through the 'wall' and into the chaos around them
'That's probably why he's worried.'
Holy shit. 18 pages and 9,800 words later here I am. Sorry if this chapter is a bit confusing or boring guys, I assure you Midnight is indeed going to Berk, I just really wanted to add a twist to this kind of story and the Relgim magic is the twist.
Icestorm: You should tell them about the Christmas Special…
Damn it! I was expecting Cerin or Night to do that, not you XC
Icestorm: :P
Well, I was planning on writing a Christmas Special for this series, even though I really don't like Christmas… What do you guys think?
Sirius: You don't like Christmas?! What is wrong with you?
Night: She used too
Shut up -_-'
Nightshade, Midnight: Christmas?
Uhm…. Bye! (( I do not own HTTYD, The species Night Fury, Monstrous Nightmare, Fire Worm Queen, and Screaming Death all belong to Dreamworks (or who ever made How to Train Your Dragon)) Characters belong to me though! ))