Man, these last two weeks hit me hard. Guess that's what happens when you're going through the process of resignation. Sorry to all for the wait and delay, but I wanted to deal with quitting my current job before spending a lot of time on this. But, this also means I will have more free time to work on this story from this point onward, so Expect longer chapters again starting next week. I will be editing the chapter so that Arctic has his right name sometime in the next week, and I do plan on things being very different from canon from here on out. Thank you all for your patience, and please, enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire.

Wither looked between the two Nightwings, looking confused. "You... know this dragon?"

Farsight groaned lightly. "Where..." Her expression changed from confused to worried in an instant as she shot to her talons. "Aqua! Where is Aqua!? Did she get away?"

Mastermind nodded. "Yes, Farsight, she got away, but... I... I didn't know they recovered you..."

Wither looked between them, sweat dripping off of just about every inch of his body, before moving to lay down away from the two Nightwings, trying and failing to not pant from exhaustion.

Farsight frowned. "Recovered me? What do you mean? How did I get back here?"

Mastermind looked to the side. "Um... I'm not sure how to say this..."

Wither butted in, still panting from his corner. "To put bluntly. *pant* You died. *Pant* And I just brought you back." He swallowed, catching his breath as he laid down. "By the moons, I forgot how exhausting this was."

Mastermind immediately perked up, grabbing his notes. "So, this power drains you? You look nearly spent."

Wither rolled his eyes out of annoyance, replying with sarcasm nearly dripping from his voice. "Oh, no. Not at all. Bringing a dragon who's been dead for a couple months is so easy!" He deadpanned at Mastermind. "What? Did you think that I could just do this at will? This power isn't infinite. It draws from myself, so yeah, It's pretty freaking tiring. It's less intensive the more recently they died. Few days, not a big deal, but months is where things start getting tricky. First time I tried, I passed out."

He got up from his position, sweat still running down his face as he swallowed a few more times. "If that is all... I suppose I'll leave you two to reminisce."

He walked towards the exit, getting just to the tunnel when he heard Farsight speak up. "M-Months... Mastermind, Has there been any word of our dragonet? The one taken for the prophecy?"

Wither screeched to a stop, his eyes widening as Mastermind replied. "No, Farsight. Morrowseer hasn't told me anything about it. I've been too busy with work to worry about it."

Wither frowned, before trudging forward again, thinking. "Which one are they talking about? Fatespeaker or... Could they be Starflight's parents?... It would make sense, Mastermind is a scientist and Starflight is just as inquisitive..." He sighed. "... I just made a massive mistake again, didn't I?"

Glory and magnificent faced off with each other, both dragons meeting each other's glare, until the elder Rainwing cleared his throat. "Ahem. So, One of you will wear an eye cover, and the other will have two minutes to hide anywhere in direct vision. Your goal is to find the other, and whoever accomplishes this quicker wins."

Magnificent smirked. "This will be simple. I look forward to seeing you lose."

Glory returned the smirk. "And I look forward to your face when I find you."

Both Rainwings glared at each other, until the elder interrupted again. "Ahem. As per tradition, Queen Magnificent will be the first to hide."

Magnificent sneered, before the elder placed a blindfold over Glory's eyes, obscuring her vision. She heard rustling beside her, then wing beats as Magnificent left the arena. She took slow breaths to keep herself calm as several minutes passed, before the blindfold was taken off, rubbing her eyes as her vision returned. The elder nodded to her. "You can now begin."

Glory looked around her field of vision, scanning for where Magnificent might be hiding. She frowned as a minute passed, finding nothing. Then another. By the third minute she was growling, until she noticed that Exquisite was fidgeting. She chanced a glance, and noticed that the grey scaled queen was darting her eyes between Glory and a higher platform, where a stall full of fruit was sitting. She flew up, to the platform, scanning for any faults in her vision, before spotting one spot. Right there in the stall, there was a line of distortion over one of the Pineapples. If not for the segmented skin of the fruit, she wouldn't have noticed it. "... Your majesty?" She walked forward to place a talon on the stand, before a startled yelp came out right in front of her as her front talon stepped on something.

The things she stepped on pulled away quickly, and Magnificent came back into view, a livid expression contorting her face as she held her tail, which looked to be throbbing. Glory blinked, giving a sheepish grin. "Oops. Sorry, didn't mean to step on that."

Magnificent growled loudly. "You little brat... I'll find you way faster than you did."

Glory gave back a smirk. "I look forward to seeing you try." Magnificent growled back at her as they flew back down to the platform.

The elder nodded to them, before placing the blindfold on Magnificent. "You may begin hiding."

Glory nodded, before looking around for a good hiding spot, her mind going back to how she found Magnificent. "I need something without a lot of hard lines on it... Something where that... distortion won't be visible... Heh. That must be how Wither does it..." she tried to gaze at where would be a good hiding place, before realizing there was a spot that would work. She stretched her wings, flying up into the air... and landing silently back down on the same platform, right in the middle of the huge mess of torn up vines and plants that Fruitbat had made. She curled up in the huge, barren spot where Fruitbat had completely stripped every individual plant from, leaving nothing but dirt stray petals. She swiped them away, before settling in the spot, willing her scales to become translucent, waiting for Magnificent to begin her search.

Starflight and Clay watched the tunnel to the Night kingdom intently, Starflight tense while Clay was trying to stave off his stomach, before Clay grumbled. "Gotta love getting hungry when nervous, right?"

Starflight blinked, before chuckling. "Yeah. I can see why that would be an issue... Want me to go get you something?"

Clay shook his head. "No... I guess... I'm worried about Wither. I hope he isn't hurt or anything."

Starflight nodded. "Yeah... I know he can take care of himself, but I also worry..."

Clay gave a soft chuckle. "... Kinda weird to think that we met him less than a month ago, and yet... He's become a part of our..." he hummed, trying to think of the right word.

Starflight looked to him, before smiling. "... Family?"

Clay blinked, before chuckling again. "Yeah, I guess that is the best way to put our group right now. I'm the big brother who protects you all, Glory's the tough sister, Tsunami's the angry sister, Sunny's the kind and caring little sister and you're the know it all little brother."

Starflight nodded along, before glaring. "Hey! I resent that last comment!"

Clay laughed lightly. "And Wither... He's... sort of been like a dad to us... Like in those stories, how the dad would protect and take care of the kids... even if he's a bit grumpier when doing it... Actually, our entire group feels like we're right out of a story from one of your scrolls."

Starflight paused, looking back down at the tunnel. "... Yeah... I guess you're right... I wonder if he sees it that way."

Clay looked to his talons, counting his fingers. "Well, He's helped Glory to be more open about her emotions for us to help her, he showed Queen Coral how she was being manipulated, also bringing back Tsunami's little sister, He's teaching you Astrology and he got me to have more faith in myself being... well, not a big, dumb muscle brain. He... He's made us better dragons. And... Well, Since I'll most likely never meet my dad I... Guess I like thinking of him that way."

Starflight smiled. "... Yeah... it is kind of nice to think of it that way. All of us as a family... a very odd family, but... together."

Clay nodded. "... Do you think Glory's doing alight?"

Starflight rolled his eyes, relaxing. "Knowing Glory, She's already won."

Clay chuckled, a fond expression on his face. "Yeah... She is like that... Ugh, I am so hun-"

Before either of them could react, half a dozen black dragons charged out of the tunnel straight towards them. Starflight yelped in surprise as clay tried to get into a battle stance, but the Nightwings were just too quick. They descended on both of them, two going for Starflight while the other four went for Clay.

Starflight tried to run, but it was one dragonet against two adult Nightwings. They quickly pinned him down, slamming the blunt end of a spear into his skull, knocking him unconscious. Clay roared as he tried to push past to get to Starflight, but he was also overwhelmed, getting pinned down by the Nightwings. One of them clamped a muzzle of some kind over his snout, before rest started slamming the blunt ends of their weapons into his head. He tried to fight back, to squirm. To escape. Anything, but each blow caused more of his vision to fade, before a final crack to him head cause everything to go black.

The Nightwings nodded to each other, before starting to drag Starflight and Clay towards the dead tree, pulling them into the tunnel to their kingdom.

Hidden in the foliage, Coconut and Heliconia let their scales return to their normal color, looking worriedly to each other. "We need to go warn them!" They extended their wings, before rushing back towards the Rainwing village, weaving through the trees as fast as they could.

Glory watched as Magnificent's blindfold was taken off, the queen searching with her gaze over everywhere she could think of where Glory could hide. Her head swung back and forth, starting to get more and more frantic with each pass that the Queen saw nothing. Magnificent began to growl, before her eyes landed on Sunny, who was holding Glory's sloth. She smirked, before charging forward, roaring at Sunny,

Glory wanted to move, thinking that Magnificent was going to attack the sandwing, but Magnificent stopped as she roared at the sloth. The small creature gave out a cry, trying to scramble away from the roaring queen, moving as fast as it could... Right towards her. She started to panic as the little creature bumbled towards her, until Mangrove burst out of the tree line, carrying a large sack of fruits, landing on the platform just in front of the Sloth. Even more freaked out, the Sloth started to curl up on itself, whimpering.

Magnificent growled loudly. "Cheater! You planned that!"

Mangrove blinked, tilting his head to the side. "... Planned what? What just happened?"

The elder looked to the timer that they used for the challenge, a hollowed-out fruit that had sand pouring out of a small hole in the bottom. "... The time has run out, Queen Magnificent. The win goes to Glory."

Magnificent seethed, stamping her talons in anger. Glory thought it looked very similar to a dragonet throwing a tantrum. "NO! I refuse to accept this! This dragon interfered!"

The elder shrugs. "Technically, you tried to cause the sloth to interfere."

Magnificent growled, gritting her teeth in anger. "Th-that shouldn't count!"

Glory rolled her eyes as she stepped forward, becoming visible again. "So, it's okay for you to use those outside of the contest to find me, but it's cheating when something accidental happens?" She shook her head lightly. "I'm a bit disappointed with you."

Mangrove tilted his head as Magnificent tried to burn a hole in Glory with her glare, before clearing his throat as he dropped the sack down. "Here's all the fruits I gathered. I saw Dazzling... She was... um... Snacking." Dazzling then came through the trees, carrying a notably smaller sack of fruit, before giving a loud burp that smelled of mangos and Pineapple.

Magnificent growled loudly as the Elder looked through both bags for a few minutes, examining each piece of fruit. "... Well, it seems that Mangrove has collected sixteen types of fruit, while Dazzling has collected... eleven."

Magnificent was trembling in rage, her talons biting into the platform as the elder sighed. "It seems we will not need the venom shooting test Glory has already won."

A disappointed whine came from Kinkajou. "Aw, Come on! I was just about to show my stuff!"

Grandeur chuckled, patting the young Rainwing's head. "I like your enthusiasm, little one... If you still want to test yourself, I'd be more than happy to do that contest without the whole queen thing."

Kinkajou smiled brightly, nodding her head rapidly out of excitement. "Yes! I've been practicing so much!"

The elder nodded. "Well, Glory is now queen of the Rainwing tribe. What is your first or-"

"Glory!" Coconut and Heliconia burst out of the foliage, landing on the platform, both panting from how hard they had flown, Coconut swallowing. "Starflight and Clay. *pant* They were taken by the black dragons."

Glory, Sunny, Tsunami and Moonwatcher all felt their blood run cold as Glory looked to Coconut in shock. "W-what?"

Heliconia nodded, swallowing to clear her throat. "They rushed out and knocked them both out. We didn't even have the chance to help them."

Glory's eyes widened, gritting her teeth as she started to panic, her heart pounding in her chest. Her worst nightmare had come real. Clay and Starflight had been kidnapped by the Nightwings.

Starflight groaned as he started to wake up, blinking lightly from a pounding headache. He gripped his head to try and stem the pain, sucking in a breath of air that nearly made him gag from how dirty it was, feeling like bits of sand were sticking to his throat with each inhale. He cracked his eyes open to find himself in a cave. He rubbed his head, before noticing other Nightwings in the cave. Dragonets by the look of them. They were all quite young, a majority of them younger than himself.

He slowly rose to his talons, trying to assess what was happening, before giving a yelp as he recognized the glare from the tunnel that he assumed was the exit, seeing the familiar scowl of Morrowseer. The Nightwing prophet smirked, before returning his expression to a scowl. "About time you awakened... Come with me. Now." He turned, not waiting as he stomped down the tunnel.

Starflight hesitated, before being approached by one of the Nightwing dragonets. "You're new. Are you the dragonet for the prophecy? What's your name?"

Starflight recoiled a bit, looking to the approaching dragonet, noticing the others were also looking at him. "Um... I'm Starflight."

A scoff came from one of the ledges is the cave, an older Nightwing dragonet sitting there with a glare pointed at Starflight. Starflight finally noticed what had been bugging him about all the Dragonets here. They were all painfully thin. The Nightwing on the platform pinned him with her gaze. "He doesn't look like much for a prophecy dragonet. It should have been me."

The Dragonet that had approached Starflight rolled his eyes. "It couldn't be you, Fierceteeth. You're a year older than him. You'd be too old for the prophecy."

They were all interrupted when Morrowseer shouted. "Follow NOW!"

Starflight jumped a bit, before sighing. "I have to go..."

The dragonet smiled. "Mindreader... yeah, A bit ironic since I can't actually read minds."

Starflight gave a smile. "Don't worry. It's an overrated power anyway... even if you had it, how would you turn it off?"

Mindreader paused, thinking for a bit. "That's... actually a very good point. How would I turn it off?"

Starflight chuckled. "A topic for another time..." He got a mischievous look on him as he thought of a great idea. "For now, I need to go see what Barrowsneer needs." He started walking out of the cave, just catching up to Morrowseer when laughter of the dragonets in the cave echoed out to them.

Morrowseer growled, before Starflight realized the glaring problem, looking to Morrowseer. His voice came out more confident than even he had expected. "Where is Clay?"

Morrowseer scoffed. "You don't need to worry about that. Just follow me." He trudged forward, Starflight frowning as he followed.

A million worries came to him as they walked. "Is clay alright? Where's Wither? What is happening?... Where is he taking me?"

Wither was wandering across the Island, looking in vain for any ground that might be capable of sustaining life, but his search proved to be fruitless. Not even weeds grew on the dormant force of nature, but he thought it was at least worth a shot. He was about to head back when he noticed Secretkeeper, gesturing for him to come over. He looked around, making sure no Nightwings were following, before flying over to where she was, landing with a puff of soot that caused him to cough a bit. "Yes?"

Secretkeeper looked around worriedly. "... I'm sorry, I just... I can't stop worrying about Moonwatcher... Especially now that Morrowseer is back."

Wither tilted his head in confusion. "... Because of her powers? Would he have her killed because of it?"

Secretkeeper hesitated, biting her lower lip as she thought for a moment. Her expression shifted, as if fighting over a conclusion with herself, before she finally sighed. "... Partially. I... I lied to them all and said I lost my egg. None of them know that Moon exists. Let alone her curse."

Wither frowned lightly. "... You see her powers as a curse... why would you..." His eyes softened as he made the connection. "... Your daughter's powers would make her a target if it was known. Morrowseer would kill her to keep the secret that his prophecy is fake."

Secretkeeper nodded. "Exactly... Those powers have cursed her ever since she first hatched. Disaster has only ever befallen her because of those cursed powers..."

Wither put a talon on her shoulder, stopping her from continuing. "I understand your anger, but there is something you need to realize... Those powers will never disappear." He looked into her eyes, his own stern, focused, but kind. "Those powers are a part of what makes Moon the dragon she is, and it will continue to influence her growth for the rest of her life. To deny those powers... to deny that piece of her, would be denying a part of her identity. I know it's been frustrating and terrifying that you might lose your daughter, but... a power is like a spear. It is the one who wields it who decides if it is used to protect or destroy."

He stopped himself there. "Except for mine... my power only brings destruction and death..." He snapped out of his thoughts, focusing back on Secretkeeper.

Secretkeeper frowned, obviously not entirely convinced, but she eventually sighed. "... I... I'll try... But Morrowseer can never know about her."

He nodded. "He'll never find out from me."

She nodded in appreciation. "Thank you... I should go. Be careful." She flew off, leaving Wither.

He sighed, before starting to make his way closer to the palace, thinking he might be able to see the false dragonets again. He made it about half way there when a Nightwing guard approached him. "Wither? You are demanded for a meeting with the Dark council."

Wither rolled his eyes. "Oh, they want another meeting? Was my message not clear the first time? What more should I say for them to get the idea that they have no leverage on me?"

The guard... shrugged. "No idea. But Morrowseer started looking really smug about an hour ago."

Wither frowned, before sighing. "Alright. Let's get this over with."

He followed the guard back to the palace, grumbling as they trudged through the admittedly cramped corridors, feeling his talons scraping against the hard rock of the palace tunnels. He idly observed the walkway to get a layout of the palace, until he noticed a corridor that seemed to have half collapsed, half melted. "... What's down that way?"

The guard stopped, before grimacing. "A small eruption happened a few years ago, and that section of the palace got engulfed in the lava of the mountain... Several dragons weren't able to escape."

Wither frowned, looking to down the corridor. "... Were any of them close to you?"

The guard blinked, before nodding. "... My mate... She was one of the keepers of the treasury that was in that section of the palace... She wasn't able to escape."

Wither took a deep breath. "... I'm sorry for your loss... I..." He sighs. "... I want to help this tribe. I really do... But it as stewed too long in arrogance... Those that are in power are too swallowed by pride to let go of it and ask for help... If things continue as they are, the Nightwing tribe will be extinct the moment the volcano erupts."

The guard remained silent, but Wither could see the lines of consternation on his face, seeing that the guard was thinking about his words before he nodded to the guard. "My apologies for the delay. Shall we get going to the rip-off villainous council?"

The guard actually snorted a laugh at that one. "I'll agree with you there, the names we've given ourselves are pretty... villain centric. It's... kind of sad honestly."

Wither looked at the guard as they walked, before speaking. "... Could you tell me more about the situation? Is... every dragon here eating carrion... even the dragonets? Is that why almost every dragon here is so painfully thin?"

The guard stopped for a second, looking Wither over for a minute. "... Yes... That's exactly how it is... even... even my own dragonets starve almost every day... they're all I have left of my partner, and it hurts to see them grow so... sickly... My heart breaks each time they tell me that they're hungry and I can't give them any more..."

Wither listened as the Guard emptied his heart, seeing the tears falling down his face, evaporating on the hot volcanic ground. "... I can't say I know that pain... but I know that no dragon should ever have to watch their children suffer..." He looked forward, passing the guard, before stopping for a second. "... What's your name?"

The guard wiped his eyes, getting rid of the tears blurring his vision. "... Nemesis."

Wither had to use every ounce of his willpower to hold back his snort at the cheesy villainous name but nodded to him. "... I'm going to try and convince the Nightwings to ask the Rainwings for help... If you're lucky, the Rainwings will forgive, and you can give your dragonets all the fruit and prey you could want."

Nemesis blinked, before nodding. "Then... I hope to the moons you succeed."

Wither nodded, giving a smile. "... Let's go. I'm sure I'll get plenty of chances to get a rise out of Barrowsneer in a minute."

They both had a small laugh at the nickname for the false prophet, before finally arriving at the passage to the dark council. Wither sighed, cracking his neck lightly. "... I hope you won't have to suffer these conditions for too much longer, Nemesis. And... I hope your dragonets will be happier."

Nemesis paused, before nodding with a genuine smile. "... You're not as bad as I thought you'd be... I... Thank you. It's nice to hear someone actually... wanting to help us... or rather, to know that someone actually cares."

Wither returned the smile, giving him a nod, before regaining his stern expression, stepping into the council chamber... only for his blood to freeze. In the center of the room, covered in chains held by guards, was Clay. His eyes widened, seeing a trickle of blood still falling down the Mudwing's snout, before he heard Morrowseer, his voice full of smug confidence. "Now... What was that about having no leverage?"

There you have it. I hope that this holds up to the earlier chapters in how the story is going. Now, Clay and Starflight are both in the Night Kingdom, and this marks the end of the events of Book 3. I felt this was a good way to have some actual tension in the Night kingdom, as in Book 4, Starflight was never in much real danger during it other than when Morrowseer was being a jerk, so I felt this would be better to spice things up a bit. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you enjoyed or noticed something for me to improve, please leave a review. Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all next week.