Hey all. Sorry for the late update. New college semester has been hitting me a bit hard since I'm taking a language class. Ended up writing the majority of this chapter just today, So I hope it's up to par with the previous chapters. I have been trying to take the advice given by reviews, so I hope I've made this easier to read. But, for now, I guess I'll respond to some reviews.
Delecttric: Honestly, the whole poem structure, if you call it that, was complete coincidence. I was just making a passage that Rhymed to give the message I wanted to get out, so there was no deep structuring there.
andreamassocco98: I've never done a commission on Deviant art before, so it would be a bit new to me, but as long as the one you're following is an artist that can be trusted to deliver, and isn't super expensive, I might give it a shot.
I do apologize that this is another chapter that's shorter than I'd like, it's a bit hard to keep pumping them out each week, but I want to stick to that schedule, I just have been distracted with both school and the fact that Warcraft 3 reforged finally has custom campaign compatibility again, so I've been binging on that. I do hope you all enjoy this chapter, so please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of fire.
"Normal speech"
"Thoughts"
"?"
The dragonets all stared at Wither with either looks of confusion or outrage. The skywing, who Wither presumed was Flame, yelled at him first. "Who are you!? Why are you here!?" Flame got into an aggressive stance, ready to attack at a moment's notice. The sandwing, Viper by his guess, was also in a battle-ready stance, her barbed tail poised to strike.
Wither sighed. "Calm down, both of you. I'm not looking for a fight. By the moons, you both look like I just mortally offended you." He sat his hind legs down, gazing them over again. The Seawing, Squid he believed, too the opportunity of the distraction to scrabble away from the other two, taking refuge next to Fatespeaker behind him.
Squid barked out at Flame and Viper in a whiny voice. "They were trying to kill me! All because I'm small!" Wither had to admit, Squid was the second smallest dragonet of the five, only second to Fatespeaker.
He sighed as Flame growled, the Skywing barking out a retort at squid. "That's because you're a sniveling little worm who always talks big but runs away the second things get hard!" Smoke started to rise from Flame's nostrils as he returned his gaze to Wither. "If you're not here for a fight, then you should know better than to insult us!"
Wither smirked, realizing he could have a little bit of fun with this. "Oh, insulting you. My apologies, let me think of one better... Hm..." He tapped his chin with a claw, his eyes looking upwards as he thought. "How about..." His face deadpanned as his gaze returned to them. "You both look like impulsive little worms who will do anything to get a fight, singling out those you know you can beat, never fighting unless you're sure to win, which is why you singled out the apparent weakest of this little group."
Flame and Viper shook with rage, their eyes narrowing as they nearly saw red. Flame was the first to attack, roaring with anger as he charged head first. Wither sighed lightly. Straight line, no plan, just rage. One movement was all it took for Wither to dodge, Flame realizing that maybe charging at full speed in a cramped cave wasn't a good idea. He crashed into the cave wall, cracking some of the rock with his body as he roared in pain. Wither winced. "Oof. That's gonna leave a bruise."
He tilted his head, narrowly dodging the stinger of Viper's tail as she hissed, growling loudly as she lunged at him, trying to scrape or claw at him with her talons. She didn't even get that far before Wither's tail whipped up to hit her in the underbelly, causing her to gasp as she landed onto the ground heavily, the air knocked out of her lungs as she tried to breathe again. Wither Sighed, before moving to rub Viper's breath. "It's alright. Take it slow. Deep breaths." Viper have a haggard gasp as she was finally able to force air back into her lungs, Wither sighing as he stepped back.
He looked between the two, Viper and Flame slowly getting back on their feet. "Word of advice to both of you, Respect your elders. I know what I said was fairly out of line, but you should not act so impulsively. I can tell just from that one interaction that though you both have an instinct to kill, neither of you have had to deal with anyone who would fight back. Your movements were basic and predictable. I didn't even attack you, Flame. You hurt yourself rushing to your foe in a blind fury. Any enemy who sees that will use it against you, and you will die. You, Viper... you had a bit more composure, but you still didn't take time to strategize, or most importantly, work together."
Viper hissed. "Sh-shut up! You have no right to do this! When Morrowseer gets here, he'll-"
Wither gave a pointed look at her. "Do nothing. I've already had my fill of Barrowsneer for the day, and I made it very clear that while they might think they have me captive, He and the rest of his tribe have no power over me." Fatespeaker couldn't help but giggle at the nickname for the false prophet.
Flame growled in anger, his eyes lock on Wither as the older dragon looked to him. "That's a lot of anger for one so young..." He gave a sympathetic look to Flame, causing the Skywing to blink in confusion. Wither then looked over the lot of them. "... How long have you all been here on the island?"
Fatespeaker was the one who spoke up, walking around to face him. "Last night. Morrowseer says We're going to be the dragonets of destiny to make Blister Queen." Flame scoffed while Viper just stayed in her defensive position, tail poised to strike as Wither nodded.
"So, you've been here almost a day... If the food I saw was any indication, you're lucky if you haven't been given anything to eat yet. I'm not fond myself of eating something that's been dying or dead for a week." Fatespeaker nodded, looking sick at the memory of the albatross Morrowseer ate.
Ochre perked up from his spot. "Food? I'm starving. When will we be getting some?" Wither was about to shrug when they all heard a familiar growl, before a rotten bundle of birds was tossed inside, Wither just barely seeing Morrowseer stomp away.
He smirked. "Heh. It's kind of fun to make him angry with just my presence... But now, There's more important things." He looked at the rotten birds with worms wriggling inside of them. "... I'd rather starve than eat that... Wait here for a few minutes." He started walking out of the cave, leaving a baffled group of dragonets.
He went out of the cave, mentally marking it, before flying out towards the ocean, coming up to the ashen beach again, feeling the hot wind of the volcano clash with the sea breeze as he muttered to himself. "... This place is a nightmare for any dragon... Prideful fools." He was about to go into the sea when he heard a gasp behind him. He turned around, coming face to face with Secretkeeper.
She looked panicked, worried, and furious all at once, her eyes full of fear while her expression was angry. "What are you doing here!? You're supposed to be keeping-"
Wither raised his talons in defense. "The dragonets will take care of her. She's a friend now, so they'll be there for her. As for me, I sort of got knocked out and taken here. Apparently, I made Blister mad enough to warrant her telling Morrowseer to take me alive. But, I let him know exactly how much pull he has over me. None."
She sighed, looking away. "Just don't antagonize Morrowseer. He has... a lot of power here. He's cunning, cruel, and he will do everything he can to find a way to hurt you."
Wither frowned. "... That sounds like you have experience with that." She flinched, not saying anything as she nodded. "... Did he harm you?"
She shook her head. "No... But he will if he ever finds out about-" Wither stopped her from finishing, putting a talon on her snout to close her mouth.
"Don't speak of it out here. I have no doubt that Morrowseer is having me followed. I'll meet you later in private, and we can discuss. For now, I have something I need to do. I swear to you, nothing bad will happen." She blinked, before nodding slowly as he let go, turning to fly away.
He sighed, watching her fly away, before looking to the sea. "... Alright... Let's see if I can scrounge up anything decent."
It was late night when Glory woke up to the sound of crying. She perked her head up, scanning the platform that was dimly lit by the two waxing moons above. None of her friends were the source of the noise, sleeping peacefully in their usual dragon pile. She smiled lightly, before hearing another whimper coming from close by. She looked, her eyes widening as she realized the source. Moonwatcher.
The young Nightwing was tossing in her sleep, tears streaking down her snout as she whimpered and sobbed. Glory frowned. Moon must be having a nasty nightmare. She slipped out of the pile, before coming over to Moonwatcher, using a talon to rub her back, the same method they had used whenever Sunny had nightmares. "Shh. It's okay Moon. It's just a nightmare."
Moon's shivering and restlessness lessened at the feeling on her back, her sobs slowly turning into small whimpers, before Moon's eyes opened. She panted shakily, recovering from her nightmare when she realized it was Glory who was consoling her. "O-Oh... I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
Glory shook her head. "Not at all, Moon... That looked like it was a really bad Nightmare. Wanna tell me about it?" Moon flinched, staying silent. Glory smiled. "It's fine if you don't want to. I just... I kept my emotions bottled up for a very long time, and it felt really good when I finally... let them out. I cried, I sobbed... But I had my friends to help me. I know we haven't known each other for long, but... I'd like to be your friend, Moonwatcher. Even if just so you can talk things out."
Moon stayed silent for a few minutes, her face looking tired and worried. "... It's the prophecy... the Vision that I had. I can't get it out of my head... It was a gruesome world, hundreds of dragons dead, but there was no blood. No bodies... No graves. Only devastation. Life had been nearly destroyed, and... those eyes... like pools of dragon blood being sucked into an endless black hole... I could hear that monster laughing as he made dragons turn into dust... And it... I can't stop seeing Wither's face on it..."
Glory frowned, before taking Moon's talon in hers. "I know it's scary. I can't even think of how scared I would be if I had a power I couldn't control... But that doesn't mean you have to face this alone. You're one of us now, Moon. We might not be the best, and we might get into some small fights and all that, but we're... the closest to family the rest of us ever had. We never knew our parents until recently, and I found out a couple days ago that I'll never know who they are... You're part of our little family now. If you need a shoulder to cry on, we're right here for you."
Moon blinked, blushing lightly. "... B-But you're going to be queen if you win this contest tomorrow... Won't that change things?"
Glory shook her head. "Tsunami is a princess. We were pretty surprised when we found that out. But... Just because my personal situation changes doesn't mean I don't care about all of them any less... Come on. I think I know exactly what you need right now." She pulled Moon towards their pile, Moon blushing lightly as she stammered.
"I-I don't want to be a burden. I can sleep on my own."
Glory shook her head. "No. With nightmares like that, you need a special treatment. We like to call it Sunny's scales" She smiled as she pulled Moon onto the pile, before settling Her next to Sunny, Moon feeling the warm heat that the little sandwing generated. It was soothing, causing Moon to almost instantly tire as her eyes started to droop.
"Th-this is... I..." She couldn't stay awake, the warmth calling her to embrace sleep.
Glory shook her head. "Just let it happen Moon... Like Wither said, we're here for you." Moon tried to fight it, but the warmth drew her into the embrace of slumber, breathing softly as her eyes closed. Glory took a breath, before laying down beside Moon, closing her eyes as well. "I hope you're alright Wither... If not for our sake, then for Moon's."
Wither trudged back onto the beach, holding a half dozen large fresh tuna in his claws as he shook himself dry, looking over the caught prey. They weren't as healthy as possible, but it would have to do for now. He stretched his wings as he started to fly, getting to the cave after a few minutes. It was more quiet than before, the sound of fighting from last time absent. He made his way inside to find Flame and Viper sulking in different corners of the cave, nearly radiating with anger. He sighed. This was going to take some time. "Alright. Ready to eat?"
All five of the dragonets in the cave shot their heads up at the mention of food, seeing Wither with a bundle of fish. All of their stomachs growled at once, reverberating around the room. Wither chuckled, before separating the fish. "There's one for each of you, and all roughly the same size, so no fighting about any of you getting less than the other."
Fatespeaker bounded over with a smile, taking one of the fresh fish as moving back to her side of the room, starting to tear off bits of the meat. Viper and Flame nearly ripped their shares away from Wither, starting to eat in silence in their corners. Ochre tried to snatch the extra fish before Wither whapped his talon with his tail. "Oi. I know you're hungry, but nobody said being important was easy. More often than not, you have to deal with whatever hand you're dealt with." Ochre grumbled, before going back to sulking in another corner as he ate his one share.
Squid trotted up to Wither with confidence that wasn't present when Flame and Viper were chasing him. He tried to take both fish away from Wither, which he stopped by holding onto the second one. Squid frowned, whining lightly. "I'm starving! Besides, my dad is more important than those other ones. He's the leader of the Talons of Peace."
Wither paused, looking over the Seawing for a bit, before realizing what the issue was. It wasn't that Squid was arrogant or a loudmouth. Wither groaned internally when he realized he was dealing with a spoiled dragonet. "Well, if you take the second fish, one, it won't be fair to the others. And two, what do you expect me to eat?"
Squid grumbled, before taking the one fish back to his section of the cave, eating in silence. Wither sighed. These five are nearly the exact opposite of the dragonets he knew. They didn't blend well together, and it was obvious that they had no intention of working with each other. There was no loyalty. Only reluctant coexistence. These five... Will get themselves killed in the vicious world they're being thrown into. Wither took two bites of the Tuna, eating about half of it.
He sighed, before speaking again. "I suppose I should at least introduce myself since we're here." The five dragonets looked at him with various expressions. Fatespeaker looked excited, Ochre looked impassive, while Viper, Flame and Squid all looked annoyed. Wither looked them all over. "You all can refer to me as Wither. As to know why I'm here... Well, I made Barrowsneer quite angry, but his plan on trying to take me captive backfired. Seriously, who would think a tribe of dragons who are all half-starved would come off as intimidating?"
That actually got a snicker out of flame and Viper. Squid looked a bit confused as Fatespeaker giggled. Wither finished off his food. "... Do you five know if you're the only dragonets on the Island?"
Fatespeaker shook her head. "I've been sneaking around. They apparently have an entire cave system for the Dragonets here." Wither nodded, thinking for a bit as he tapped his chin with a talon.
"Hmm... The more I learn about this place, the more I want to take the dragons here away from it..." He then muttered, a bit too loudly. "Prideful idiots." Viper and Flame looked at him with anger in their eyes, growling. Wither looked at them, before waving a talon. "Not you two, the Nightwings." They seemed to be less offended by that.
Wither got up. "... I know it probably isn't my place to say, but you five should try to get out of this as soon as possible. Our small scuffle before showed me that the two of you who are willing to kill are not ready for war." Flame and Viper went right back to looking offended, causing Wither to sigh. "Listen, this is not to insult you. You both have obviously never fought anyone who is willing to fight back. At least, fight back seriously. If you go against trained soldiers, ones who have trained and killed for years, you all will die. Your fighting styles are the most basic of basic, borderline no training. Trained soldiers will recognize that almost instantly, and then you'll be overwhelmed by strategy. You can be angry all you want, but recognize that, even if you are dragonets of destiny, that won't stop anyone from trying to kill you."
The dragonets paused, taking in his words. Viper considered the word, a look of contemplation on her face as she realized he was right. Her ambush tactics were basically self-taught, and as Wither showed, countered easily. Ochre... didn't really look like he cared, a bored expression on him as he gobbled away at the last of his tuna. Squid was shivering in his corner, the nervousness almost radiating off of him. Fatespeaker looked a bit sad but nodded lightly.
The only one who was still angry was Flame, the Skywing nearly glowing with anger. "And what do you care? You're not one of us! You're not part of this stupid prophecy! You aren't the one who was force to go onto this island just because a dragon told you so."
Wither thought about that, tilting his head. "Well, I was taken here against my will, but I will admit, I'm not part of the prophecy... But destiny has a funny way of working. It plays out in ways you wouldn't expect... Tell me, Flame. I can sense you have a lot of anger bottled up... Why are you so angry? Who is your anger directed towards?"
Flame growled. "That's none of your business!" He stamped on the ground, looking ready to charge when Wither raised a talon.
"Yes, It's none of my business, but it is yours. But to me, you yourself are not certain on what your anger it directed towards. You're just angry, even when you have nothing to be angry at, so work it out. Figure out what it is that you're angry about. Because... anger that festers like that leads to self-destruction."
Flame growled louder, trembling in rage, before turning away. "Just shut up and go away!" He curled up in his corner, not looking at the others. Wither could see that Flame was trembling in the corner. "Ah. I understand now... He turns to anger to avoid feeling fear. He's in a place, alone, with dragonets that he's grown up with, but doesn't trust, in a place that is almost as dangerous as any enemy. He must be trying so hard to fight the feeling of terror in this place..."
"Pathetic to be honest. He should grow up and face the world for what it is. Cruel and unforgiving."
Wither shook his head. That... was a very dark line of thinking. He was starting to become concerned about these intrusive dark thoughts. They were becoming more hateful and less like himself. He nodded to the five dragonets. "I'll be back tomorrow. I want to know more about what's going on with this whole situation." He got up, Fatespeaker being the only one who waved as he left the cave.
He looked out, feeling it was really late in the night from his internal clock. "... Now... Where the moons do I sleep?"
Morning came all too quickly for Glory, groggily getting up with a long yawn, before smiling at the sigh before her. Moonwatcher had moved in her sleep, her talons now wrapped around Sunny in what she assumed to be a cuddle. She giggled at the sight. It was absolutely adorable. she sighed, hating that she had to break this scene. She gently shook Moonwatcher. "Time to get up guys."
Sunny was the first to wake up, yawning, before noticing Moonwatcher holding her. "... Did I miss something last night?"
Glory smiled. "Moon had a pretty bad Nightmare. The prophecy really scared her, and she wasn't sleeping well, so I brought her over for some Sunny's scales treatment."
Sunny pouted. "You know I never liked that name... But yeah, I'm glad I could help her."
Moon's eyes finally cracked open, before blushed as she realized their position, moving to jump a foot back from Sunny. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I just couldn't sleep and Glory-"
Sunny giggled. "It's alright Moonwatcher. I'm just glad you're alright. I usually was the way the others calmed down when we were really young. Sleep well?"
Moon took a moment to look abashed, before nodding. "Y-yeah... really well actually... It was the first sleep I've had without any... dread in my dreams."
Sunny smiled. "That's good. Glad you're feeling better." She looked to Glory, a worried expression forming on her face. "Are you sure you won't need us for the contest?"
Glory nodded. "Magnificent, if she gets the other queens to work with her, will probably choose things that only Rainwings are good at. I know it's annoying, but I need Jambu and the others to do this. As for the rest of you, We need someone with an eye on that tunnel."
Sunny nodded. "Okay... Who should go?"
Glory looked them over, thinking as the others started to wake up from their sleep. "... Clay and Starflight. Think you both can handle watching the tunnel?"
Clay nodded, smiling. "Leave it to us, Glory. We'll take care of it and make sure no dragons get through."
Glory smiled. "I know you won't, you big oaf." Clay chuckled, before he and Starflight flew down to the clearing to stand guard, Glory taking a deep breath. "Okay... Time to face the Queen."
I definitely want these next few chapters to be more interaction based with a bit of action happening in there somewhere. And I do hope that I'm portraying the alternate dragonets well. I didn't see their personalities as super memorable my first time listening through the audio book, so I might use some creative liberties to go a bit deeper with all of them, prying into their thought processes and such. My only worry is this story turning into a bashing fic on Morrowseer, which I have no problem reading, but I know there are some readers who aren't fans. I will try to portray him a bit better in later chapters, and hope that what I've done for now will be enough. Thank you all for reading, leave a Review if you'd like, and I'll see you all next time.