Wind tore violently through the streets of Volans. The city shuttered with every gust. Storms like this were a nightmare for the mechanics who kept the city afloat. Every time the wind picked up, something would break. Many of the workers would be up all night, scrambling about the underside of the city, working tirelessly to keep it from tumbling to the ground, so far bellow. All the while they would try desperately not to be blown off themselves.
But there was another group that hated the storms almost as much. The homeless of Volans. Breeze and Tremor fought though the wind, desperately looking for somewhere to spend the rest of the night. They'd been sleeping in a small alleyway, but the as the wind picked up the two found it harder and harder to sleep. Finally, at about midnight Breeze suggested they find somewhere with a little more shelter.
They stumbled through the empty, windswept streets for some time, searching for somewhere, anywhere, where they might be welcome for the night. By 1 A.M. the two found themselves in an old rundown part of town. A few beat up houses and what appeared to be an abandoned pub- all of which were designed for bipedal creatures- were the only buildings in sight. The two made a beeline for the pub. Even with a couple broken windows, and no door it was better than the streets.
The inside of the bar was just as torn up as the outside would have suggested. Overturned tables and broken chairs littered the floor. A few empty shot glasses were scattered about. Nothing of practical use was in sight, likely all picked away by looters. The wind whistled loudly, though the building offered more protection than the streets.
The siblings were quiet a moment as they took in everything. "Well," Tremor broke the silence, "It's a place to sleep."
Breeze nodded in response, then started scouting out a place to lay down. Her brother followed suit a moment latter. After a time she found a relatively clear spot of flooring, the only things in the way were a few pieces of broken glass that she quickly swept away with her tail spike.
As she was doing this Breeze noticed several spots where the floorboards was a deep shade of red instead of their normal oak brown. Curiosity got the better of her, and she lowered her snout to the the ground get a better look at the discoloration. It seemed to be a stain of some kind.
"Hey, Breeze! Check this out." Tremor called from the other side of the room, pulling the gold dragoness from her exploration.
Breeze glanced in the direction of her brother's voice. He was staring intently at something on the wall.
"We should be looking for somewhere to sleep," The wind dragoness muttered, even as she trotted in Tremor's direction. It took her a moment to figure out what her brother was looking at. Several holes, about a half inch in diameter, had been punched in the wall. The precision in which the wood had been punctured led Breeze to believe that they weren't a result of rot.
"Are they... bullet holes?" Tremor mused.
Breeze started to to say something about her brother's 'overactive' imagination, but she was cut off.
"Indeed they are. There was a fight," Both siblings nearly jumped out of their scales at the unexpected third voice.
"Who's there!" Tremor demanded, spinning to face the speaker.
"Just an old dog," the speaker, a large, black furred canine, grinned, showing off the white fur around his mouth, "Don't worry. I won't hurt you. I'm too out of shape to take two spry young'uns like yourselves."
The two dragons relaxed a little bit as they looked over the new arrival. The dog wasn't lying when he said he was in no shape to fight. He was quite fat, covered in strange fleshy growths that protruded from his fur, and just by the way he held himself, it was obvious that his right leg was injured.
There was a brief silence. "So..." Tremor said, braking it, "Who are you?"
"My name's Dalr. I live here." He didn't elaborate.
"...May we stay here tonight, sir?" Breeze asked after another moment of silence.
"I don't see why not."
Lila didn't sleep the rest of the night. Every passing shadow was the assassin, come to finish her off. Every gust of wind, a sword drawn. The purple dragoness tossed and turned, wide eyed until dawn. That said, it was only about an hour and a half after Atash and Suishou were sent back to bed, that the sun poked it's head above the horizon.
It was shortly thereafter that Lila heard the infirmary door creak open. The purple dragoness inhaled sharply and rolled onto her stomach, expecting the worst. Her mind was rushing; if the assassin had come back with a gun she have no chance in a fight, she'd have to run. Though, if he was armed with a dagger, she may be able to get the jump on him.
"Lila?" A voice asked softly. Lila relaxed, it was the doctor. "Are you awake?"
"Yeah,"
The blue scaled dragoness walked into the room and sat next to Lila's bed, "How are you feeling?"
"Great," Lila said a little bit too fast.
The doctor raised an eye ridge, but decided not to push it, "If you're up for it, Kaze wants to talk to you. He has some questions about the dream you had."
Lila nodded. Anything to get her out of this bed would be amazing. She stood and followed the blue scaled dragoness, who lead her into the hallway where she found both Kaze and Mura were waiting. The two had been holding a hushed discussion, but both clamped their jaws shut the moment they noticed Lila. The purple dragoness frowned, wondering what the Guardian's didn't want her to know. How much did they know about Fireclaw? How much did they know about the recent evening's events?
"Hello," Lila said as she walked into the room, "You wanted to see me?"
Kaze nodded, "Indeed. Are you feeling okay? Does the wound hurt at all?"
Lila shook her head, "No, I feel great. It doesn't hurt at all."
Both Guardian's smiled, "Ancestors be praised," Kaze muttered.
"So..." Lila muttered, starting to tire of hearing people marvel over her resurrection, "You wanted to talk to me? About my dream?"
"Indeed," Kaze said slowly, "I don't mean to frighten you, but both Spyro and Malefore wrote extensively about a number of prophetic dreams they had in the days before the first and second Draconian Wars respectively," He sighed, "By the sound of things, history may be repeating itself."
Lila shuttered.
"Don't let this worry you," Mura interjected before the Wind Guardian could continue, "We may just be paranoid. After tonight, anything seems possible."
Lila smiled halfheartedly, though it was just to appease the Guardian of Fire. She hardly felt better.
"Paranoid or not," Kaze continued, "I'd like to hear more about this dream."
Lila nodded, sitting down, "This may take a little while."
She described the first dream as well as she could remember. The panic when she saw Volans burning, the feelings of confusion upon finding herself in the doorless, windowless room, the strange colorless dragoness she'd conversed with. Lila started to explain the second dream, the one she'd had after being shot, but the moment she opened her mouth, the purple dragoness realized she couldn't remember anything about it.
I... I'm sorry," She muttered after a moment of stuttering, "I can't remember the other one."
"Very peculiar..." Kaze mused.
"As forays into the subconscious always are," Mura added, turning to Lila "I think you just ate something that didn't settle well. I wouldn't worry if I were you."
"And I wouldn't be so fast to brush this off as nothing Mura," Kaze said, "As I said before, both purple dragons wrote about having strange, prophetic dreams before a number of major historical events!"
"As have paranoid conspiracy theorists," Mura replied dryly, "Don't let him worry you Lila. Everything's fine. Why don't you try to get a couple more hours of sleep?"
"But I don't wan-" Lila started, but was cut off by the doctor.
"Yes, that's an excellent idea," she said quickly, noticing the glare Kaze shot at the Fire Guardian, "Come on Lila," The doctor put a forepaw on Lila's shoulder and led her back into the infirmary.
A/N: Longest update time yet! Not sure this is a record I should be celebrating, but hey...