Chapter 6

Mist

Heat. That was all she could feel. Heat that made her scales dry. She couldn't open her eyes. She wouldn't. The heat was unbearable. Wherever she was, a cave or a hut, it was cooler than outside. Still hotter than anything. She tried to imagine the Underlying Desert. Its strange phenomenon of cold water geysers spewing out freezing water. Any dragon in the Underlying Desert worshiped them. That was how dragons handled the heat. Here, it was awful.

Something made a noise a little ways away. Mist dared to open one of her eyes the tiniest bit. A dragon stood over a desk scribbling on a scroll. Mist closed her eye again as the dragon looked towards her. She held her breath hoping the dragon didn't notice her.

The dragon sighed. "I'm too old for this." it walked away with a limp, leaving Mist on her own.

Mist opened her eyes. She got a good look of where she was. It was poorly lit inside but she could see light trying to penetrate inside from outside. Mist was laying on top of a bed made of some kind of leaves. The inside was almost empty with only a shelf, a desk and a bed inside. She got off the bed and slowly walked towards the door. The wood floor creaked under her talons.

She cracked open the door and peaked out. Light shined off the pebbled ground around her. Water calmly hit the sides of the pebbled beach and birds flew noisily in the sky.

The dragon she had seen leave was nowhere to be seen on the beach. Mist walked slowly out into the brightness of the sun. She came closer to the water seeing small silver fish swim around. She looked around at the small house-like structure she was in. The walls were made of simple wood while the roof looked to be much like the leaves the bed was made of. Around the walls jars of some kind of liquid lined them.

"Where am I?" she spoke quietly. "I can't be in the Underlying Desert. I would have seen the Sandstone Spires. Or at least the Great lake."

Mist walked into the cool saltwater relishing the coldness. She looked down at the fish. Some were small while others were the size of a small snack. She didn't care. She drove her head down and snatched up a small fish and ate it in one bite.

She licked her teeth at the taste. It tasted…different. Not like the ones at home. Home. She sank to the bottom of the beach, only her shoulders and head sticking out.

"I want to go home. Mother will be furious at me." Mist spread her wings watching as the water streamed around. Her dark grey wings had very subtle lines of a dark purple and a dark blue undertone. The royal family always had different colors on their tribe. No one knew why. Her mother, Queen Thunder, had a dark green underbelly and a light yellow line down the middle of her face.

Mist looked up at the sky. "Maybe I could fly my way back." A cloud blew past in the sky "If I knew where I was."

"The desert." a voice came from behind her. "Never seen one before."

Mist spun around to see the dragon on the beach behind her. This dragon was a pale yellow almost like the sand. At the end of its tail was a barb much like the giant scorpions in the Underlying desert.

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" Mist looked around warily.

"More importantly, now that you're awake, I can ask you that question." the pale yellow dragon said. It was a little unsettling. The dragon's eyes were a pitch black abyss.

Mist stood as tall as she could trying to look regal. "I am princess Mist of the Stormwings, and I advise you to do no harm to me."

The yellow dragon stifled a laugh and sat at the beach. "Well, princess. What brings you here?"

"I was brought here by the sea." she let her composure drop a little. "I was working on a storm and lost control."

"Where are you from then?" The yellow dragon continued.

Mist laughed. "Well here duh. Where else in Grairokora would I be?"

The yellow dragon looked at Mist. "Where?"

"Grairokora." Mist rolled her eyes. "The continent. I suppose you could be Changewing. I don't know of any living in the Underlying Desert though."

"Sorry to say but this isn't Grairokora." the dragon calmly said.

"What?" Mist snapped her head to the dragon. "That's impossible."

"It is true. I am Jerboa. This continent is Phyria." Jerboa watched Mist.

"What? But there's only one continent." Mist pulled herself out of the water.

"Actually if what you're telling me about your home is true then there's three continents." Jerboa stood up.

Mist gasped. "What? Three?"

Jerboa sighed. "Follow me."

Mist watched as the yellow dragon opened her wings and started flapping towards the sky. She followed the yellow dragon into the sky. As she flew she could see sand for miles. She sighed internally as it looked like they would be flying for some time.

Mist landed with a hard thump. "Where are we?" she groaned.

"At the edge of the Kingdom of Sand." Jerboa looked bored.

They had been flying with only a few stops for two days across the desert. Mist could now see trees in the distance. Jerboa had said something about seeing some dragons about his dilemma. Mist didn't see it as a dilemma but more as a problem. She was on an unknown continent with new dragons she knew nothing about. The only reason she was going with Jerboa was because Mist wasn't sure if she could get herself back home on her own.

"Where are we going?" Mist asked as she sat up.

Jerboa pointed with a claw. "That mountain."

Mist saw the Mountain in the distance. It was a large duel peaked mountain. Most looked around on the horizon. She could see more studding out of the ground. If she had to guess, the mountain Jerboa pointed out was the tallest in the area.

"Come. We must go now." Jerboa stood up and opened her wings.

Mist gave an exasperated sigh and obeyed opening her wings. She flew close behind Jerboa watching close for her tail barb. One of the resting spots Jerboa was telling Mist about the tribes here. Jerboa was a Sandwing. Apparently all Sandwings had tail barbs. Mist didn't like it much. Jerboa told her of the other tribes here on Phyria and the other content Pantala.

She was curious about it. All of it. Some sounded similar to the tribes on Grairokora. The Silkwings and Hivewings had four wings just like the Duelwings.

Mist watched as the sand turned into rock then into trees. The trees brought them to the base of the mountain. Mist was glad they were finally out of the heat at moving up towards her natural element. As they flew up it reminded her of home. The palace was made by the queens before her mother to be a safe place for their tribe. The halls hollowed out for corridors and rooms. Mist was even working on hollowing out a new part of the palace with her mother.

Mist could see the snow top cap of it from where she was. Snow. She loved the feeling of it. It's softness rubbing her scales. She wasn't too fond of that cold though.

Jerboa flew ahead a few lengths and landed on a large alcove with the opening of a cave. The sun was just setting and torches were lit on the inside.

Mist landed behind her. "We're here?"

"Not quite. Come on." Mist watched as Jerboa began to walk into the giant cave opening. She followed behind, quickening her pace to catch up with the Sandwing. As she entered she could hear it. Dragons all around the place. She could see several. Most are about two or three years younger than her. Dragonets. This must be a school.

Mist looked at the different dragonets. Some were White, others green or blue. Some were even changing colors.

"Where are we?" Mist asked Jerboa.

"Jade Academy." Jerboa wound her way through the tunnels.

Mist looked up to see hanging globes, all a different color. She also saw dragonets look at her like a hatchling seeing a mountain rock gecko for the first time.

Jerboa stopped at a corridor with four caves. These caves were the only ones on the corridor. Jerboa slightly knocked on the outside of the cave announcing herself.

"Come in." an angry voice called. A blue dragon turned to Jerboa. "Hello Jerboa. What brings you here?"

Jerboa jerked her head at Mist. "I need to talk with Moon."

The blue dragon's jaw dropped at Mist. Mist waved a talon and smiled. "Hi."

"Tsunami, do you know where she is?" Jerboa asked the blue dragon.

Tsunami looked back at Jerboa. "No. I can ask the others though."

Jerboa nodded. "We'll be here."

Tsunami ran off to look for the others she had mentioned.

Mist sat do with utter fascination. "This place is incredible."

"Don't you have schools?" Jerboa grumbled.

"We do. But none like this. It reminds me of the Palace back home. We built the school into the mountain before we even started on the palace." Mist smiled at the memories in the Polished School. "We have no schools that house all nine tribes."

"I've been meaning to ask what are your tribes?" Jerboa asked.

"Oh well there Stormwings, which is what I am. Also Silverwings, Whitewings, Changewings, Shimmerwings, Stonewings, Crystalwings, Duelwings and Shieldwings, which the two have been at war for at least 2,000 years." Mist listed them off.

"Interesting." Jerboa laid her head down. "Don't mind me."

Mist didn't mind. Some peace and quiet would let her brain go through all of this. So she sat peacefully waiting for a dragon named Moon.