Seven years after the Prologue

Spire tapped her talons on the dirt impatiently, her wings fidgeting. Oh, why did Whiteglow always have to be as slow as a Pantalan snail? She lashed her tail, and she stuck her head into the home hall and screamed, "WHITEGLOW! WHAT BY THE THREE MOONS ARE YOU DOING?"

Spire, along with her three friends, Goldspalsh, Glint and Whiteglow were going to go for their very first hunting trip along with their teacher, Cobalt. Whenever the sea-blue SeaWing left for hunting every day, Spire would always watch the sky and wait for the dragon to come back. As she waited, she would fantasise about all the amazing meat she would catch when she grew up, like wolves and elk, and even just thinking about them had made her pale-yellow eyes glow in excitement.

"Sorry, sorry," Whiteglow stepped out the cave she shared with Spire, a dazed look on her face. "It was…never mind, you won't understand." Spire glared at her, and her scales flashed white light angrily. "We've been waiting for you for so long the three moons have already risen," Would be true if I hadn't called you…and she sighed mentally. The white NightWing shuffled her purple wings, and she looked up from the dirt.

"Really?" The innocent NightWing asked, surprised. Then she wrinkled her snout and said, "Oh, sarcasm." A scroll from a corner suddenly floated up, and with the force of a hurricane, bashed into Spire's red-speckled snout. Agony shot through her nostrils, and she bit her lip to prevent herself from howling in pain. Her claws raked the stone ground, and she felt her core heating up.

Pain is a weakness. No one needs to know.

She bared her teeth at the white-and-black dragon, but the NightWing just rolled her eyes. "You know, the purpose of everything you do is written plainly in your mind," she said quietly as she set the scroll she had used to hit the SkyWing aside with a quick swish of swirling purple glitter. Spire held her nose in her paws gingerly, breathing through her mouth because her nose still hurt like a MudWing decided to land a few clouts on her snout. She felt her core cool down, and, she hadn't even realised, her glow dimmed until she was…she didn't like using the term normal.

She knew other SkyWings couldn't glow. She could control light, produce light and emit light from her body. Something other SkyWing couldn't do, as Cobalt had told her, so ever since she learned that, she had been proud of being the (probably) only SkyWing who could have such a special ability. One thing she learned though, was that when she got really, really mad, it was super, super hard to control how much light her scales were blasting out in all directions, and once she got so mad at Goldsplash when he stole her blueberries when she was younger that she nearly blinded him. At that time, she felt like, it was hard to explain, honestly, her chest and heart were burning as she exploded with furious light. So ever since that incident, she had always called it her core, and, well, for the sake of her friends (especially Goldsplash. He couldn't see colour in his vision for a week and refused to say a word to her for another) and Cobalt, she had learned how to calm down…but Whiteglow was definitely not helping.

"Spire? Whiteglow? Get your tails our here or get your tail bitten off!" a smooth, light voice said as a blue-and-light-green head popped into the home hall through the entrance. Whiteglow left without another word, and Spire quickly followed, pain still throbbing in her nose like fire. Cobalt pulled her head back out, and gestured with her tail towards the backs of the waiting Goldsplash and Glint as they faced the rising sun above the treeline. Goldsplash heard their clawsteps, and he turned around, yellow scales shimmering in the sunlight. "About time," he said, poking Spire gently in the snout, and pain raced through her nerves, and she hissed dangerously at him, her scales giving off a soft red light. Goldsplash seemed to have read it in her eyes as his eyes trailed towards Whiteglow.

Glint grunted, his unusally long, light blue tail-spikes rattling as he thrashed his tail against the dirt. Cobalt sighed as she walked over, her webbed talons making an extra splat whenever she took a step. "Alright, you four, lets get our wings pumping for your first hunt!" She shouted, and Spire cheered with a roar. Goldsplash nodded, but Spire noticed his tail slump, his green-blue wings drooping along with it. Poor Goldsplash, a SilkWing's a SilkWing. A herbivore won't really like bloody sight. Especially when I catch a deer… just thinking about her claws digging in fresh, strong, juicy meat made her eyes glow yellow, but she shook her head, eliciting a yelp from her when her nose bumped a nearby staglamite hanging from the ceiling of the outer cave. It was frustrating when you had to dodge all the stupid rocks dangling around, but their home being literally on the Claws of the Cloud's second smallest peak, so yeah. She growled, really, really hating Whiteglow for that few moments as pain coursed through her nostrils, but luckily it was getting a bit better.

"You better catch up!" Cobalt yelled, and she launched herself off the protruding piece of level rock outside their cave, and Goldsplash followed with a quick flutter of wings. Glint eyed Whiteglow for a few moments before following in a blinding flash of white. Spire unfurled her wings, and stepped hard onto Whiteglow's forearm. She jerked back a step, her eyes clearing, and when she realised it was only she and Spire, she blushed, pink blending with white, and quickly pursued the blue, gold and white-blue dragon already soaring above the forest. Spire dropped off the platoform and began to beat her wings, feeling the cool, morning air race between her horns, swirl around her talons, curve along with her elagent, SkyWing form. Oh, how I love flying.

Her wingbeats echoed through the canyons of the mountains as she flew after the gang, a grin pulling her lips upward. She soon slowed her pace when she was about three full dragon-lengths, snout to tailtip, away from the multi-coloured group of dragons, and she craned her neck to search the ground below.

Oh, squawking eagles, how could I be so dumb? She quickly slowed her wingbeats, catching a good air current, and began gliding. Its only me, silence and air. She raised her wings a little, and she began dropping down towards the forest that was racing below her, staying clear of the sharp pines nearby. A series of broken twigs and snorting caught her attention, and her ears perked up. She was in hunting mode. She pulled her wings vertical, and the wind pressed against her wings with a powerful force. She stayed in place for one long moment, praying that whatever meat it was was still nearby.

The silence dragged on for a few moments.

'Snap!'
'Squeal!'

She folded her wings and pressed them against her body, and she immediately plummeted towards the forest floor, wind rushing by with enough to latch onto, only glide along her scales. There, wait, no, over there. A boar was trampling through the undergrowth, squealing in surprise a few times as the large SkyWing forced her way through the offending branches. She stretched her arms all the way, talons gleaming in the faint, green light. She beat her wings harder, not caring about the sharp branches and leaves blocking her way towards her prize, and she made to swipe at the boar's midsection, but her talons brushed against the fur of the boar, and the boar picked up speed with a snort. She pumped her wings, nearly crashing into a few pine trees in the process, but she didn't care. She was going to prove to Cobalt she was the greatest hunter Pyyhria and Pantala could get.

She could feel her core start to heat up as excitement seized her. An idea suddenly appeared in her mind, and, three moons, why didn't she think of that a few moments ago?

She pulled at her core, tugging the light that was blossoming from it along her arm. She closed her eyes for a second, before she squinted at the boar, and let lose a burst of bright white light at the area around the boar's eyes.

The boar crashed into a tree trunk, pitiful squeals coming from the mangled pile of brown fur. It was opening and closing it's eyes, like it couldn't see. Spire landed with a few, swift beats of her wings, and landed in a pile of brown, dried up leaves next to the boar. She smirked, and raised her talons above the boar and went in for the kill.

Sorry if the starting seemed a bit lengthy, the action's going to start in the next chapter!

Predicted date of next chapter: February 8th-9th