This took way longer than I expected. Maybe trying for 6000 words in a week is pushing it a bit too much. But anyway, thank you all for your patience. I know I'm very late in getting this chapter out, and I hope I can do better in future chapters. I just got slammed by 2 major tests that I needed to take care of studying and practice, so that took a majority of my conscious thoughts. But Here is the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire.

"Normal speech"

"Thoughts"

Wither and Moon came out of the private room, seeing Oracle smiling with her sleeping dragonet. "... Take care of her. Do what you must to protect her."

Oracle looked to him, nodding. "... You brought her back. I... I can never repay this debt..."

Wither shook his head lightly, a small smile on his face. "Ensure your dragonet lives. That will be payment enough."

Oracle nodded, cradling her dragonet as Wither walked past, before immediately groaning as he saw Morrowseer walking in. "Seriously, you're going from creepy observer to full on stalker at this point. Don't you have... I don't know... a life outside of this?"

Starflight held back a snort, Clay holding his snout closed to stop himself from laughing. Fatespeaker... did not have such restraint, bursting out laughing. Morrowseer growled in anger, before pointing to Starflight. "That one comes with me." He then turned his glare at Fatespeaker. "You as well." She quickly stopped laughing, realizing it was not a good idea.

Wither looked to Starflight, who was no longer trying to stop himself from laughing. Instead, he was nervous, his talons already starting to tremble. Wither nodded to Starflight, before giving a blank look to Morrowseer. "You might be a head honcho here, Barrowsneer, but do understand, his mother did just get brought back. I did my end of the deal. and now his mother wishes to spend time with her dragonet of destiny. How about going off to bother some other dragons for a change... Oh, right. You have five."

Morrowseer's eyes narrow, glaring at Wither "Silence, you insufferable worm. If we did not have need of your power, then I would-"

Wither met his eye, Morrowseer freezing at the cold glare as Wither slowly shuffled forward. "... It's honestly sad to see someone who could have used their position to better the world, only to take away from it... I know that I don't know the full story of how your tribe works in today's era. But what I do know is that It's rotten to the core, just like the carrion you feed your tribe's dragonets... Does it not hurt to know that your children have to eat rancid, rotting prey? You have a way to the rainforest, why not hunt fresh prey? or gather fruits? Anything would be better than what you consume..."

He stopped a meter away from Morrowseer, their eyes locked. "... Make no mistake, Morrowseer... You have committed a sin against the dragons of this world, and I know fully well that karma always comes to collect her debt. And your debt will be paid in blood."

They stood still, glaring at each other for a long moment, until Wither broke the silence again. "Starflight, If you feel good enough to go with Morrowseer, you may go if you wish."

Farsight looked up to him in shock. "But... But my dragonet..."

Wither turned to her, giving a reassuring nod. "Is old enough to make his own decisions. He's a dragonet of destiny. He's handled far worse than a cranky dragon with splinter in his tail."

Starflight blinked in confusion. Was... Wither putting trust in him? The expression on the Deathwing was reassuring, as if the older dragon was saying 'I believe you will make the right choice.'

He took a breath, before nodding. "... Let's just go Morrowseer." Morrowseer smirked, as if he had won an argument, turning to exit the room. His eyes locked onto Moon, who flinched as she saw his gaze centered on her, before the false prophet huffed, leaving the room with Starflight following behind, Fatespeaker bounding after them.

Farsight looked to Wither. "Why did you encourage him to go with Morrowseer!? He could be hurt!"

Wither shook his head. "He can handle himself. Your son is stronger than you'd think he is... and besides..." He settled down on the ground. "I'm sure Starflight has already caught on to the fact that my opinion of the Nightwing tribe is quite bias. He needs to learn more about the tribe on his own and form his own opinion."

Starflight followed Morrowseer through the twisting corridors. Ever since he got here, all he had seen were dark corridors, a desolate beach and volcanic landscape. All in all, he came to one definite conclusion...

The Nightwing Kingdom completely and utterly, sucked.

He easily noticed that each passing hour was making it harder to breathe, very noticeable due to how he was used to air being clean. Sure, he waited a day to come to this conclusion, but It was fairly blatantly obvious from the first hour after waking up in this land.

He was noting the turns they were taking, already starting a mental map of the palace when they came up to a sleeping chamber. Starflight tilted his head at the sight of a dark brown Mudwing and a Seawing the color of seaweed. Tsunami's blue and emerald colors looked far more regal than the sort of muted green this smaller Rainwing had, and Clay's scales looked far brighter with flecks of gold than the Mudwing before him.

Morrowseer's gaze wandered the room, before growling angrily. "Where are the sand and sky wings!?"

The Mudwing didn't even respond, a loud snore coming from him. The Seawing grumbled lightly. "Probably doing something more fun than being stuck in a boring cave like this."

Morrowseer stomped up to the Seawing, causing the him to squeak, backing against the wall as the Nightwing loomed over him, the Seawing starting to panic. "I-I don't know! They came back and Viper had a spear, and then they left an hour after. Something about meeting someone named Tyrant. I don't know anything else."

Morrowseer's eyes widened, before growling. "Tyrant, you battle hungry fool..." He took a deep breath to regain his composure. "... No matter. I can do this with just the four of you."

Starflight looked curiously as the Mudwing groaned, getting up from his spot. The Seawing followed suit, grumbling out of annoyance, but sounding more like whining. "You haven't given us any good food in days. Fatespeaker said you'd get us a walrus."

"That would be highly unlikely." Everyone turned to Starflight as he spoke up, going into what the other dragonets had secretly dubbed as his 'fact check' mode. "Walruses are sea animals, native to cold environments. While yes, they can appear in tropical climates and waters at certain times of the years, such as winter, they generally stay in Cold climates due to their main source of prey being larger arctic fish and penguins. As such, the walrus will stay in an environment that is cold, such as the seas that border the Icewing kingdom. Warm climates are the last place they will travel, as they specifically eat large amounts of fish to build fat in their body to keep warm in cold climates, so they would be very uncomfortable in a warm climate such as this island."

All four of the other dragons blinked at him. The mudwing looked even more confused. The Seawing looked annoyed. Morrowseer was in-between impressed and irritated. And Fatespeaker had a look that was a mix of disappointment of not getting a walrus, but a bit of hero worship at how knowledgeable Starflight appeared to be.

Morrowseer then caught their attention with a rumble of his throat. "You certainly are Mastermind's son... Alright, enough game." He took a step back, looking to the Mudwing and Seawing. "Ochre, Squid. Fatespeaker. For this training, I want to see how well you can do in hunting."

Starflight tilted his head, getting a bad feeling. "... And what do I do."

Morrowseer's face morphed into a smirk. "They need something to hunt, don't they?" He turned to the other dragonets. "You three...

Kill him."

Viper was panting hard, dripping with sweat as she swung the heavy metal spear in the formation that Tyrant was drilling. Overhead swing, side swing and then a stab. She had learned about ten minutes into the drills that the spear she was holding was meant for training so that using a normal spear would be easier, the training spear being fully made of metal. The normal spears the guards used consisted of wood for their shafts that they would gather from the Rainforest and were about one fourth of the weight of the spear she was now swinging.

Tyrant nodded at her form. She had certainly been going longer than he had expected. While not massively impressive, for a dragonet that jumped into head first, she had made it nearly half way through the first drills he would give to new recruits. "At ease."

Viper panted as she nearly dropped the spear, setting it down with a loud clatter as her sweat dripped down her scales. Her muscles felt sore, her talons ached, and she was so desperately thirsty. Tyrant nodded at her as she slumped to her side. "Ten minutes, then I want you up and at it again. I'm impressed. For a dragonet, you lasted about half way through the first drills."

She groaned in response, too tired and worn out to retort as the older Nightwing moved towards the other recruits, who were doing their own, more complicated drills, Eying Flame. "Skywing. If you aren't here to train, then you're wasting my time. Either join or leave."

Flame frowned lightly at the bossy tone of the dragon. "I am a guest here. I can do what I-"

Tyrant cut him off by pounding the blunt end of his metal spear into the ground, giving off a high pitched ring. "Don't get cocky, worm. The only reason Morrowseer cares about any of you is that he can use you. But I don't give a rat's tail about what he wants. This is my barracks. My word is law here. And my law is either get off your tail and train or get out."

Flame winced from the ringing that persisted in his ears, growling in annoyance as he got up, headed for the exit "Alright, fine! What's wrong with wanting to see Viper worn out?"

Tyrant gave a scoffing laugh. "Ha! I'd love to see you even try to hold out as long, little Skywing."

Flame stopped. If there was one thing he could not stand, it was a blow to his pride. "What was that!?" He turned back towards Tyrant, growing in anger.

Tyrant didn't look intimidated in the slightest, his gold tooth glinting in the torchlight of the room. "I think you heard me, little Skywing. Your tribe might be the best at flying, but you still think you're hot stuff. You're arrogant, cocky, and full of yourself. Honestly, you might be the Morrowseer of Skywings." He went into a bellowing laugh as Flame got angrier with each word, before Flame charged.

Tyrant stopped laughing instantly, Grinning widely. "Too easy." He flipped his spear up just as Flame was about to reach him, the blunt end of it catching Flame right in the chin just as he was about to breath fire at the Nightwing instructor. His mouth was snapped closed just as he exhaled, the flames burning inside his mouth, before shooting out of his nostrils. Flame roared in pain as his snout burned like it never had before, rolling on his back as he held it with his talons.

Tyrant let out a chuckle at the display, prying flame's talons away, before yanking the Skywing's mouth opened. Smoke poured out of Flame's mouth, the Skywing coughing hard as he choked on the smoke of his own fire, Tyrant standing up. "You're even less experienced than the Sandwing. She at least has a natural killer instinct. You... That wasn't killer instincts. You weren't attacking me to try and kill me. That pathetic display was just blind anger. Well, guess what, little worm." He leaned down, staring Flame in the eyes. "Anger doesn't win a battle. Skill and a bit of luck do. And luck favors the prepared."

Flame wanted to be furious. He wanted to lash out in anger, to inflict some kind of pain on this arrogant dragon, but he didn't miss the fact that the Nightwing was still holding his spear in a way that it could be swung into action at a moment's notice. Tyrant stepped away, flipping his spear back up, turning back to Viper. "Ten minute are up. Front and center!"

Viper, still sore and aching, got back up, gripping the spear in her talons as she started resuming the Drill. Tyrant smiled. "We'll make a soldier out of you yet."

Flame stared at Viper, seeing her sweating form return to the drills as best she could, seeing something... different about the Annoying Sandwing he had known for so long. She had a determination that he had never seen in her before. He grumbled to himself, rubbing his chin as he slinked away, Tyrant noting the hesitation of the Skywing as he left, smirking. "Maybe we'll make warriors out of you dragonets yet."

Kinkajou slinked through more corridors, trying to find her way back out. She hadn't been paying attention when she fled the queen's chamber and found herself hopelessly lost in the twisting corridors of the palace. It was all like a massive maze that all looked the same. It was only getting more confusing as she pushed forward, the slopes of the tunnels making her worried of how deep into the Volcano she really was.

She heard clattering talons coming from one corridor to her left, before having to hold back a yelp as Starflight ran past, turning a corner. His expression was panicked, but determined in a way she hadn't seen before. She jumped as a roar followed close behind, Kinkajou spotting a larger brown dragon chasing them. She looked a little confused, but also scanned around quickly to try and find something to help, before groaning to herself. "This is a dumb idea, but it's all I got!"

She pressed her talons into a crack in the floor, before swiping her tail forward, wrapping around the Brown dragon's front talon. She nearly cried out as several bones in her talons popped from the momentum of the bigger dragon, but her plan did what she hoped. The bigger dragon was not prepared for his talon to not be in front of him, especially at a sharp corner, slamming head first onto the wall, cracks appearing in the hard stone.

Kinkajou waited for the worst. For the brown dragon to start yelling about an intruder... but nothing came. She unwrapped her tail, moving to check on the bigger dragon. he groaned dizzily as his head slumped against the ground, his eyes unfocused. Kinkajou giggled to herself, realizing the dragon had been knocked out cold, before hearing more talons following, seeing a pale green dragon not too much further down the corridor where the Dragons had been running from. She looked in the direction Starflight had gone, her invasive curiosity pushing her to follow.

She heard the other dragon behind her skitter to a stop in front of the downed Brown dragon, complaining in a voice she found whiny. "Oh, come on, Ochre! Get out of the way!" She giggled to herself as she followed the sound of Talons, until she finally saw something that wasn't winding corridor, finding herself outside. She took a breath of air... and immediately regretted it, nearly going into a coughing fit as she remembered the air in this place sucked. She looked along the sky, spotting Starflight flying towards... Her eyes widened as she recognized the mote of lava. The Rainwing prison cells.

She took off of the ground to follow, kicking up a small cloud of ash as she did. She made her coughs as soft as she could, grimacing to herself as her lungs protested. She flew as quietly as she could manage, following Starflight, before the dragon disappeared inside. Kinkajou gently landed nearby, making sure to move in carefully. She spotted his eyes just before he closed them, at the bottom of the pit that separated all of the cells.

She was about to approach when a smaller Nightwing landed a few feet away from her, making her nearly jump. She watched carefully as the Smaller Nightwing came closer to the pit. "... Starflight? If you're here... I just want to say, no matter what Morrowseer wants us to do, I won't try to hurt you." She waited for a long time as the Nightwing stood still, before the Nightwing smiled at nothing. "... I hope we can be friends, Starflight. I really do. I'll be waiting for you back at the cave." She turned, flying out of the prison.

Kinkajou waited for a short minute, before flying down to the pit where she saw Starflight disappear. She let her camouflage fall as she whispered. "Starflight?" Starflight jumped at the sound of a voice next to him, whipping his head around. Kinkajou sighed as she moved to be slightly illuminated. "Starflight, calm down. They're gone."

It took Starflight a moment to recognize the Rainwing, before his eyes widened. "Kinkajou!?"

She smirked. "Yep. Me and Moon snuck in to get you guys out."

Starflight sputtered for several seconds. "But... you... What... how... What are you doing here?"

Kinkajou rolled her eyes. "Just like I said. Moon and I came here to figure out a way to get you and the others out of here to the Rainforest... Oh, yeah. Glory won, so she's queen of the Rainwings now."

Starflight sighed, sounding a much more tired than he looked. "... Do the others know you're here?"

She shrugged. "I know Wither knows. Moon does, and... Well... I kinda... insulted the Nightwing queen."

"You What!?"

Viper was groaning after another ten minutes of the drills. The heavy spear made every inch of her talons ache. Tyrant looked her over, before nodding. "You held out longer than I anticipated, especially for your age. With a decent amount of training, you might be a warrior yet."

Viper couldn't help but smile with pride at the compliment, realizing her mistake as Tyrant grinned evilly. "Which means, you'll be resuming training tomorrow. I expect you to last twice as long as you did today." Yes. Smiling was a mistake. He waved her off as he picked up the fallen spear, holding it to her. "Hold onto this. You'll get used to the weight, so when you use a real one, it will move faster in your talons."

She nodded tiredly, taking it as she trudged back towards the cave she and the other dragonets slept in. She was exhausted, and just wanted to sleep. She walked in just as Fatespeaker did, both coming into the sight of a Knocked out ochre, as cowering Squid, and a furious Morrowseer. Flame was oddly nowhere to be found. Morrowseer whipped his head towards her, growling. "Where is the skywing!?"

Viper shrugged. "Don't know. Don't care." She trudged over to her corner of the cave, setting down the spear and curling up on herself, almost immediately falling to sleep when she closed her eyes.

Fatespeaker looked a little concerned at the sandwing, but squeaked as Morrowseer whipped his head around again. "Have you killed Starflight?"

She didn't flinch, shrugging. "I lost sight of him after Ochre slammed himself into the wall. I tried to pick up a trail but couldn't find anything."

Morrowseer's angry expression somehow got angrier. "Useless Dragonets, the lot of you!"

Ochre finally groaned into consciousness again, shaking his head. "Oh, moons I have a headache... Did we get our Walrus yet?"

Fatespeaker was almost ready to laugh again at the angry Nightwing... until Morrowseer swiped a talon at Ochre. Fatespeaker, Squid and viper's heads whipped to the sound of the mudwing crying out in pain. They saw the gash over his left eye, blood dripping down his face. Fatespeaker and Squid both looked horrified at the sight, taking a step back to be further away from the large Nightwing. Viper was tired, but now awake enough that she registered what had happened, before Morrowseer grabbed ochre by the Neck, pinning him to the ground on his back.

Ochre gasped as he tried to breathe, only able to gargle as Morrowseer bared his teeth at him. "I will do more than just leave a scar next time! You all are simply beneficial! Only the skywing is needed. The rest of you... Disposable if you fail me again!" He threw ochre into the wall, stomping out of the cave.

Fatespeaker and Squid both stared as the large Nightwing left, before noticing what was replacing the sounds of the Nightwing. Soft whimpering. Fatespeaker looked to the source. Ochre, who was clutching his now blinded eye, shivering in the corner.

Viper didn't know how to feel at the sight of the cowering Mudwing. She hated the others, but... She never actually wanted them to die. Ochre was fun to fight and tease. But now, seeing him seriously hurt...

Squid was even worse, Seeing how one of the biggest bullies of his years as a dragonet was reduced to a whimpering mess. A part of him wanted to take pride and relish that someone he hated was hurt... but another part told him he would hate himself if he did.

Fatespeaker was silent for a long moment, before speaking. "... We need to get out of here."

Viper and Squid looked to her, Squid more out of surprise while viper tilted her head curiously. "What do you mean?"

Fatespeaker slowly walked up to Ochre, rubbing a talon on his side to try and help him calm down. "I mean... We need to get away from this place. Away from Morrowseer. You heard him... We're just tools to him... He never cared about us... just how useful we are... And that wasn't an idle threat. I didn't need a vision to tell that... He would kill one of us."

Viper and Squid were silent for a long moment, mulling over Fatespeaker's statement. She was right. Morrowseer did not give any sign of lying. Viper sighed. "... How? How do we escape?"

Fatespeaker leaned against Ochre, the biggest member of their dysfunctional group slowly calming down as she thought. "... Wither. He plans to escape from this place...

And we're going with him."

Starflight stared at kinkajou for what felt like hours in disbelief, a bit of respect, and outright shock. "You... infiltrated the palace... found their queen and the princess... and backtalked both of them?"

Kinkajou giggled. "Yep. Called the princess a frog face."

Starflight swallowed to try and regain his composure. "I... See..." he groaned to himself, holding his head as he usually did when trying to think. "... So, the Nightwings know your here. Do they know about...?"

Kinkajou shook her head. "Don't think so. At least, I haven't seen her since we split up. Wither told me to go back to the rainforest, but I wanted to check things out. I even found something pretty cool!" She reached to her pack, pulling out the star shaped sapphire.

Starflight tilted his head, recognizing it from somewhere. He wracked his library of a mind for what it would be... before his eyes snapped open, staring at the gem in awe. "Kinkajou, Do you know what that is!?"

Kinkajou tilted her head in confusion. "... No?"

Starflight rolled his eyes. "That's one of the legendary animus touched objects. I remember reading about it. A dream visitor."

Kinkajou looked at the stone with awe for several seconds... before deadpanning to Starflight. "Okay, first, what's animus touched mean? And what's a dream visitor?"

Starflight had to stop himself from face faulting. "It's an object that's been enchanted with magic, Kinkajou. It lets whoever holds it visit the dreams of someone they know."

Kinkajou looked at the stone skeptically. "... Okay? And how is that useful? Like, can you turn dreams into nightmares?"

Starflight sighed in frustration. "Look, We can use it to contact Glory. We don't need to leave to the Rainforest to tell her what's going on."

Kinkajou's eyes widened. "ooooh... Sounds perfect. So, how do we use it?"

She was turning it in her talons when Starflight stopped her. "Get it to Wither and the others. They can tell Glory what's going on and form a plan. I need to stall so that Morrowseer doesn't suspect anything. Can you do that?"

Kinkajou smirked. "Of course, I can. I'm the stealth master."

She put the stone back in her pouch, hiding it behind her wings, before flying out of the prison, Starflight just barely making out "Now... Where was the Lab again?"

Starflight sighed, before also flying out of the prison, coming to the moat of lava that surrounded it. It bubbled and burned, making Starflight recoil slightly, but pressed forward, taking flight to head back towards the Dragonet caves. He figured that's where Morrowseer would eventually show up, and he would be ready for his schemes this time.

Flame wandered down the corridors of the palace, wanting to just get away from everyone. His anger boiling like it never had before. Twice, he had been humiliated and beaten without a sweat. Twice he had been embarrassed in front of Viper, and it infuriated him that his rival in combat saw him so weak and incapable. Each passing second made him angrier, rage stewing in him like water in a cauldron over boiling magma.

He desperately wanted to tear into... something. He was stewing over this when he nearly ran into a Nightwing guard who was walking by, a small dragonet following behind her. He snapped in frustration. "Watch where you're going!"

The guard frowned lightly, pulling her dragonet closer. "You are supposed to be where Morrowseer told you to stay. Don't blame me for not looking where you were going."

Flame huffed, growling as he turned away to storm off. He turned a corner to try and get away from them but... stopped when he heard the little dragonet speak up. "Mommy? Why is that dragon so angry?"

The guard turned to her dragonet, sighing. "... I'm not sure, Grace... Could be a number of things... this island is horrible, and we're close to running out of food..."

The dragonet, Grace, tilted her head. "Maybe he just misses his mommy."

The guard had a pondering look, before smiling as she caressed her dragonet's head. "Perhaps. Then let's both hope he gets to see his mommy again soon."

They both trotted off, Flame trembling behind the corner, tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he bit them back. "... Foolish dragonet... I don't miss her... She threw me away to this horrible place..."

He shook his head to stop welling on it, his scowl returning in full force. "... No matter. I need to find a way to get stronger. That'll show the others not to underestimate me. He trudged along, continuing his exploration of the dark Palace.

It took kinkajou the better time of half an hour to find the labs again, sneaking inside and checking it out. Wither was huddled in a corner, soft snoring coming from the Stone scaled dragon. She slowly crept forward to get to him when she spotted Moon, pacing back and forth. She gazed around to make sure that the dragon with the weird helmet wasn't there, before letting her camouflage fade. "Moon!"

Moonwatcher yelped in surprise, looking to find Kinkajou. "Kinkajou! Where have you been? I've been so worried that you would get hurt."

Kinkajou smirked. "It'll take more than a dusty old castle to stop me."

Wither cracked an eye open, groaning at the sight. "Congrats, Moon. Your newest friend is the type that never listens." He slowly picked himself up, shaking his head lightly. "Didn't I tell you to go back and warn glory?"

Kinkajou huffed. "Well, It would be helpful if I actually knew where the tunnel back was. But anyway, I found something else to do that!" She slung her bag over, rummaging through it.

Wither frowned as the Dragonet kept looking through her back, before his eyes widened as she pulled out the star shaped Sapphire. "... A dream visitor... How in the moons did you find one? There's only three in existence."

Kinkajou smirked. "Cause I'm awesome!" Wither stared at her skeptically, Kinkajou huffing after a few seconds. "Fine. I bumped into someone and was chased into a part of the palace that had been melted over. There was a hole small enough for me to squeeze through, and I found it in the talons of a dead dragon."

Wither nodded. "I see... Was there any other objects in that area?"

Kinkajou shook her head negatively. "Nope. Not anything else interesting."

Wither frowned, muttering to himself. "Then they must still have the obsidian mirror somewhere..." He walked over and gently took the gem from Kinkajou's talons. "I'll see if I can use this to contact glory. It should be just about sundown, so I'll try to get in touch with her or sunny... As for you two."

He focused on Moon and Kinkajou. "... What you both did here was recklessly foolish. Brave... But there are so many things that could have gone wrong. Thank the moons that neither of you have been discovered yet."

"... Actually..." Wither and Moon both swiveled to stare at Kinkajou, the Rainwing looking away nervously. "... I sort of... found the Nightwing queen and insulted her."

Wither blinked slowly while a look of horror crossed Moonwatcher's face. Wither took a deep breath, pinching between his eyes. "... Of course you did... Of course... Why should I have expected anything different?"

He sighed. "Well, stay hidden... I'm going to try and contact Glory." He moved back to his spot, tracing his talons over the gem. "Let's hope this is the real thing and not a replica."

He closed his eyes, pressing the gem to his forehead as he concentrated on his memory of Glory. The rough, kind hearted Rainwing he had come to know over the last month. He opened his eyes to find himself in the throne hut of the Rainwings, Glory shuffling through piles of scrolls. That was the giveaway that this was her dream, as the Rainwings didn't know how to read and write. "... Glory."

Glory's head shot up, spotting Wither standing before her. Her expression went from shock to joy at the sight of him. "Wither! How are you? Is this just a dream or..." She looked down at the tapestries in front of her, rolling her eyes. "Oh, yeah. No real scrolls in the Rainforest, so this is a dream."

Wither chuckled. "I can assure you, that though this is a dream, I am the real Wither."

Glory looked him over, seeing a slight fade between the image of the Rainwing village and a cold cave of sorts. "... You found a dream visitor."

Wither nodded. "Actually, It was kinkajou who found it. She at least shares one trait with you. She's just as stubborn."

Glory gained an expression of mock hurt. "Oh, you wound me with these verbal jabs."

Wither chuckled softly, before his face got serious. "It's not good over here Glory. And I don't mean just for us. The entire Nightwing tribe is in danger."

Glory's expression went from playful to neutral. "... And as queen of the Rainwings, my first priority is the safety of my tribe. The tribe that the Nightwings have blatantly attacked."

Wither sighed. "I know, Glory... But you don't know the whole story. The Night kingdom... There will be nothing left of it in a few days' time."

Glory frowned, tilting her head. "What do you mean?"

Wither looked down at the ground, still feeling the rumbling from his side. "... The volcano of the Island. It will erupt soon... and it will consume every dragon left here."

Glory hummed to herself, picking up one of the scrolls as she looked through it, before sighing. "... Wither. I am queen of the Rainwings now. My first duty is to ensure their safety. What would you have me do?"

Wither took a breath. "... A majority of the Nightwings are not following this plan out of loyalty, but out of fear. Fear of there being no future. I only ask... that a part of the rainforest be prepared to house the Nightwings that seek to come through in peace as refugees. At least for a short time... there's families here, Glory. Mothers, Fathers, and Dragonets. those who were forced into this plan against the Rainwings because they felt they had no other choice. What I'm asking you as a friend, and begging of you as queen, is to show mercy."

Glory stayed silent for a long moment, before picking up a familiar locket, Wither's breath hitching as he saw the image of Celest inside it. Glory looked at the image, before looking back to Wither. "... Her tribe means that much to you?"

Wither didn't speak, only giving a small Nod. Glory sighed softly, setting the locket down gently. "... Alright. I'll see what I can do... But no matter what, and I don't care if you hate me for it, but Morrowseer will not get any mercy. If he comes through that tunnel, I might kill him myself."

Wither stared at her, before smirking. "Trust me Glory, I feel exactly the same. Arrogant worm is trying just about everything to get me under his talons."

Glory smiled, before watching as the images started to fade. "... Looks like I'm waking up. Weird, that dreams seem to move fast."

Wither nodded. "Yes, it is strange. Time is always fickle that way... Goodbye Glory. Save me some Strawberries for when I return."

Glory giggled. "Of course. Be safe, Wither."

The dream faded away, leaving Wither back in the laboratory cavern, seeing Moon and Kinkajou sleeping, Clay keeping watch just in case. "... But where's Starflight?"

Hope this is up to par with everything else I've posted so far. I do apologize again for taking so long to get this chapter out. I hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to the next one. And an update on the commission, it is nearly done, so I expect to be posting it as the cover art for this story by the next upload. It looks really good, and I look forward to hearing feedback from it. As always, leave a review if you want, and I'll see you all next week."