"Oh, Gale, I'm so glad to see you again!"
A young Icewing male stood in front of me. It was my brother, Snowdrift. Or what used to be him.
"I'm sure you are, but I'm not."
Drift's face morphed into one of mild surprise. He was just as I had last remembered him: kind, cool, and…
Absent.
"Why not? It's your brother, Drift. Don't you remember me?"
He casually took a step forward, ivory claws clinking on the abyssal plane. My eyes narrowed, my wings twitched, my tail lashed. Every one of my instincts was telling me to run. But I couldn't. I was frozen in place. Drift's green irises locked with mine.
"You're not him. Drift was nice, he was smart, and he was generous. He was my brother. You'll never be like him, you demon."
I spat the last word out my mouth like it was laced with poison. This, thing, was not my brother. It was an imposter, using my brother's body like a skin suit to do as it pleased.
Drift smirked. "Seems you're as stubborn as ever, Gale. You know, I once thought you were a nice dragon. But then, the more and more familiar I became with you, I realized something. You aren't really what you acted like you were. You're selfish. You're sly. You're a filthy, worthless backstabber. You left Drift to die!"
I flinched. This had been brought up many times, but it had lost none of the emotional weight it carried.
I had no choice. Drift wanted me to leave. He told me to!
"I already told you, I had no choice! Drift… no, you, were going to kill me! And Drift knew it! He knew about you!"
"LIES!" The imposter yelled. Its eyes were filled with fury, now. I knew this would end just like last time. And the time before. And the time after that. Forever and ever, the cycle would repeat itself, until I die.
But I knew even death would not release me from my guilt.
Suddenly, the imposter came charging at me. My eyes widened, and I threw my talons up in defense. But they came too late.
"Ack!" Claws wrapped themselves around my neck, squeezing the life out of me. "All of my existence, I've waited for this moment, Gale. To repay you for all the things you made Drift suffer through. To make you understand what it would have been like to be him. Retribution, you may call it."
Lights danced in my vision as I scrabbled to free myself. Above me I could see the faint outline of a clawed paw, poised to kill. It was over, and I knew it.
"NOW DIE!"
"GAAH!"
Gale shot up in bed, breathing hard. Her claws trembled as she threw her head from side to side, scanning the room for signs of danger. All that greeted her was darkness and soft sounds of her female clawmates snoozing the night away.
Oh, thank goodness. At least no one was awake to see that.
She had been dreaming about her brother, Snowdrift. Again. These nightmares had become a common occurrence for her, waking her up night after night, stripping her of sleep.
"Ugh," she groaned, flopping back down on the stone ledge.
Oh, Drift. I miss you.
It had been years since she last saw her brother. Her wonderful, smiling brother. The one she grew up adoring, caring for… she could remember her brother's look of glee the day her mother introduced him to her. Look, Drift! It's your sister, Gale! She had said.
But that all changed 3 years ago, on that fateful night. When she was first introduced to… her.
My forgotten sibling. I should have known. Even under that bright face and his hyper attitude, I knew there was something off about Drift. The way he acted, how his mood would switch in the blink of an eye, it was all there. And yet, I just couldn't see it.
She growled. There was a secret that her mother had been hiding from her for years, and that night… it all came spilling out. Literally.
Don't worry, Drift. I'll find you someday. I know you're alive; that bitch would never let you go. You're too important to her.
Suddenly, Gale was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps. Her ears twitched as her keen hearing pinpointed the location of the noise. The hallway? Is someone trying to sneak out? She could just hear the faintest sound of breathing. Whoever it was, they had obviously not gotten much practice with being stealthy.
Hmm. I should follow them, just to see what they're up to. I mean, I'm not gonna get any sleep anyway.
She stepped off the ledge, stepping deftly towards the exit archway. Being an Icewing, not only could she see in bright light, her eyes were also adapted for darkness as well.
Closer…closer…
"Scrape!"
Unfortunately, she had been so focused on the door, that she had not seen a small pebble on the ground in front of her, and with a the flick of a talon, had sent it skittering across the floor. Outside, the footsteps had halted, and the dragon's breathing had become frantic.
Shoot!
She quickly flattened her body against the stone and held her breath, doing her best not to make a sound. A few seconds passed, before the dragon seemed to regain their composure, and the noise of claws hitting the rocks continued.
Phew, that was close.
She got up and followed the escapee out into the hallway. They must have not been very familiar with the layout of the school, because they had walked down several other corridors and doubled back a few times. Eventually, though, they got out into the lobby, and she was forced to stay behind and watch, or risk being spotted.
It must have been the place the dragon was looking for, because they picked up their pace and started jogging over to the huge entranceway. Gale strained her neck to see.
Who is that?
Then, as the dragon stepped into the moonlight, she got a good look at them.
Kauwari?!
Before she could jump out and stop him, Kauwari spread his rainbow-colored wings and shot up into the air, disappearing upwards.
Damn! What is he doing?
She rushed over to where the Chromawing had been standing moments before, on the bamboo walkway, just in time to see the orange tip of a tail vanishing over the top of the mountainside. Spreading her wings, she took off as well, following the soft 'whoosh' of wingbeats. They flew for several minutes, climbing higher and higher over the mountain peak, until Kauwari gently glided to a stop, alighting on a small ledge near the top. Gale landed as well, curling her wings in and ducking behind a boulder.
For several minutes, Kauwari layed there, admiring the glowing crescent of the moon hanging in the sky. It was flanked on all sides by glitters of light cast by the stars, with a velvet nebula wrapping them all together, and casting an ethereal glow across Pyrrhia.
Gale sighed, not particularly interested in the beautiful sight. "Jeez, this is lame," she whispered. Just when she thought she might pass out from boredom, Kauwari pulled something out his bag and laid it in front of him. He had his back to Gale, so she couldn't see exactly what it was. However, she did notice a strange, pulsating light appear as he started to fiddle with whatever he had in front of him.
Gale watched him for a while, before sheer curiosity finally took over. She stood and walked over to where he was, making sure not to startle him. Kauwari was so focused on his activity that he didn't even notice as she snuck up behind him.
"Boo."
"Eep!" Kauwari jumped, and the light immediately puffed out as he frantically threw his claws over the object in an attempt to hide it. Sensing he had been caught, he let out a long sigh. His shoulders sank as he slowly turned around, not bothering to look Gale in the eye.
"I-is there something you want?"
Gale smirked. "Yeah. I'd like you to show me what you're up to over here."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, you really don't know? Then I guess i'll just have to ask one of the teachers. Hi miss so-and-so, why does Kauwari go up to the top of the mountain at night and do secretive things?"
Yikes, Gale thought, as Kauwari shivered and shrank further into a ball. Is… whatever this is, really that important to him? Maybe I shouldn't do this. But it was already too late. Turning back around, he gestured for her to sit beside him. Even then, he still refused to meet her gaze, and she could feel the aura of defeat around him.
"If…" he started. "If I show you my… uh, I mean, this, now… will you promise not to tell anyone?"
Kauwari finally met her stare. She would never admit it, but that helpless puppy-dog-eyes look of his was absolutely adorable.
"I promise."
His face seemed to brighten a bit at the statement. He turned back to his clasped talons, releasing the object contained within.
It was a small diamond.
"A rock? Is that it?"
"No, no, not the diamond. It's this."
He smiled, before closing his eyes and concentrating. Gale watched as the air beside the diamond shimmer and flutter, and little sparks of illumination began to multiply. They started to congeal, and suddenly, one square facet of light appeared, followed by another, and another, until they formed a whole new shape right before Gale's eyes.
It was another diamond.
Her face was blank with bewilderment, and Kauwari opened his eyes to observe his work. He seemed pleased with her reaction. "Wha… how did you…" The Icewing stuck one paw out to grab the stone, and watched as her claws passed right through it, leaving only a small shiver in its appearance behind.
"It's an illusion," Kauwari explained. "All Chromawings have the ability to make such illusions. That's where our name comes from."
She gave him an awestruck look. "Can you do more like this?"
"Well, yes. Actually, there's 3 categories of illusions. The first is Imitation, which is this. You make a copy of an object, or manifest something from imagining it. Second is Disguise, which is where you change another dragon's appearance or your own. Third is Landscape, which is when you modify the appearance of an entire setting to look how you want it to."
"Wait, does that mean you could have changed whatever you wanted to before to escape? Why didn't you do that?"
"I… don't know, actually… I guess I just felt like staying here for some reason…"
Kauwari looked up to find Gale giving him a very devious look.
"So, does that mean you LIKE it here, then?"
"N-no! Why would you think that?" He said, flustered. "Look, illusions are difficult to control, and won't work if you were as scatter-brained as I was a few days ago."
"Oh." She rolled her eyes, knowing she wouldn't get a reliable answer to that question anyway. "So, what about the other members of your tribe? Can they do all those things too?"
"Well, yes and no. See, there's also 4 kinds of dragons within our society, based on their wing colors. Some have orange, and they can do imitations only. Others have blue, for disguise, or green, for landscapes. And the really rare ones have all three, like me." He fanned out his tri-colored wings, letting the pride swell in his chest.
"So, as you can se-"
"Can you do a dragon?"
Kauwari, stopped, mouth half-open, and blinked at her. "A dragon?! A whole dragon would be nearly impossible! It would take me hours to get all the scales, and the body, and the colors, and... and... uh..." He trailed off, shaking his head.
"So, that's a yes, then?"
The Chromawing watched his Icewing friend give him the most innocent smile she could muster. He glared at her.
"Yes, it is."
"Could you move a little more to the left? Ok, there. That's perfect."
Gale did her best to stand up a straight as possible, displaying all the aspects of the Icewing form. For the past half-hour, she had been serving as the model for Kauwari's illusion. But it wasn't just any dragon she wanted to see. It was her brother.
I wonder if it will really look like him.
She turned her head to see Kauwari sitting just a few feet away, brow furrowed in concentration. "How much longer is this going to take?" Gale groaned, digging her talons anxiously into the rock. Kauwari cracked one eye open to survey her frustration.
"About ten minutes," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Hmph." Gale glance over at the Chromawing as he went back to his work. It was curious. This was to be a 'disguise', according to Kauwari. Seeing his scales riggle and turn over as the magic traveled up his body gave Gale weird chills. She had never really believed in animi and stuff like that, and this was no different. But here she was, watching another dragon morph into a complete duplicate of her long-lost sibling.
"Aah, finally," Kauwari sighed. The illusion was finished; if he had gotten it right, he should look like a genuine Icewing. He held a paw out in front of him, flexing his claws to see the snow-colored scales glint in the moonlight. "A bit of a challenge, I'll say, but nothing too hard for me to handle. Welp, you wanted to see your brother, here he is."
Gale walked over to the other dragon, before sitting in front of him. Her eyes traveled up and down his body. Soon, her eyes locked with his. They were emerald green.
A color she knew all too well.
"Drift..."
"Huh?" Kauwari said, cocking his head to one side. "Wha'd you say?"
"Snowdrift. That was my brother's name, although it was just Drift to me." Gale chuckled. "It's amazing; you look exactly like him." She stared at him for a few more seconds, before tentatively placing one set of talons on Kauwari's. He flinched, but didn't pull away. "Uhh... Gale... what are you doing...?"
As Kauwari eyed her warily, Gale's gaze slowly became more and more absent, as if she was falling into a trance. Her left claws clutched his own, while her right found their way to his face. She cupped his cheek, running her talons over the scales on his chin. "Oh, Drift..." she whispered.
"Where... where did you go?"
'Why are you here, Gale?'
Gale froze, returning to her senses. She could have sworn she heard a voice. Who's voice?
"K-Kauwari?"
"Hm?" He paused in the middle of pushing her paw off his snout. "What's up?"
"You didn't... happen to say something, did you?"
The Chromawing gave her a strange look. "No...?"
'I told you to leave, remember? But I guess you didn't. I'm not surprised, you were never the smartest dragon.'
"That's... Drift's voice..."
'Why, do you not even remember me anymore? I'm disappointed, I thought I meant more to you than that!'
The Icewing back away from Kauwari, curling into a ball and clutching her head. Her claws shook, and she trembled from horns to tail. "No, Drift, you... you don't understand! I didn't want to leave, you told me to!" She yelled.
'I hate you, Gale. I HATE YOU!'
The shrill noise startled Kauwari. In a flash of ethereal sparkles, the illusion shattered and dissipated into the air, and he was back to looking like his old self. "Wha- Gale!" The Icewing continued writhing as Kauwari ran over to her, panicking.
"Oh no, no, no...Gale?! What's wrong?!"
"Aaah!"
A throb of pain shot through Gale. Her neck and wings stiffened. She felt like someone had wrpped their talons around her neck, and she was slowly suffocating.
"Why... Drift, why?!"
'I never wanted you to leave, Gale. You told yourself that. Always listening to the little voice in your head, saying, 'Run! Run, Gale! Save your own skin!''
Gale's eyes widened.
"No... you're not..."
'Don't you dare say that. You might convince yourself otherwise, but I will always know the truth. I am your brother. I hate you for abandoning me. And...'
'...I hope I never have to see your traitorous face again.'
"N-NO!"
"GALE!"
Silence.
Suddenly, the voice was gone. The ringing in Gale's ears faded away. Her struggling stopped; Kauwari had managed to shake her out of her fit.
"...G-Gale? Are you okay?"
Gale's talons relaxed, and her arms fell away. She slowly raised her head, still shaking, to meet the ebony dragon's qustioning gaze. As the last bit of her strength faded, she uttered two words.
"Help me."
And everything went black.