The sudden feeling of something like snowflakes gently covering her body made her stir, snow is soothing to an icewing, but this falling gently onto her was not snow because it was warm, which could infact kill an icewing. She breathed in, pulling in the warm air that surrounded her which forced her to open her eyes, she still felt tired, and as she, in a disgruntled manner, raised her head. she then slowly and lazily looked around at her surroundings, unlike the icy white and blue that was her room, a dark orange smog surrounded her environment, black particles that had covered her body slid down the curves of her slender frame and onto the ground as lightning flashed along the dark ash filled sky.
Slowly, becoming more alert, Glacier shook her head slightly, failing to knock the rest of sleep fatigue that held her hostage, she then noticed that she was not in her room, but in a land that seemed scorched and alien to her, ash fell from the sky as a few volcanoes erupted in the distance, a dead forest was behind her as she slowly got up, her talons dug into the dark ash covered ground. she felt an uneasiness fill her, the heat was now immense, the smog almost choking her as she studied her surroundings only to notice that she was alone, dread crept into her mind. A low thundering ripped through the sky, she gazed at the volcanoes that bled their lava from their tops, billowing smoke and ash high into the sky, to her, this was as far from paradise as an Icewing could get.
Glacier then turned to look at the dark burnt trees, burnt pieces of bark fell from the large leafless branches, landing up on the ground only to kick up the ash particles that had been collecting for the longest time, she slowly made her way towards them, her arctic blue eyes scanned the surrounding environment, lightning flashed across the hazy orange ash filled sky, her large wings furled against her sides as she made her way through the smog. "This is a nightmare, what is happening?" "How did I get here"? she said in a now panicking and very confused state, her body feeling uncomfortably hot. With every step she wondered if she was going to eventually burn to a crisp just like her surroundings, she knew she had to keep on walking.
As she reached the edge of the chard forest, she realised it was once vast, there were tree stumps as far as the eye could see, She walked further in, and after quite a while, she noticed, slightly to her right; what looked like at first, a large group of rocks.
As she continued to walk towards them she could see some unnatural shapes, but as she walked closer and closer, the shapes began to have some definitions to them, it in fact turned out to be an unimaginably large derelict structure.
She continued on in that direction, but with now, a little more haste while trying to remain transfixed on the structure, but every now and then, she would be blasted with a gust of warm air that would slam into her, forcing her to slow. More and more ash would be thrown up obscuring her vision further, making her blink, cough and splutter as she went.
Finally it was beginning to loom into view. It was massive! She could see that the building looked like a wall, she kept walking and after a while she grew quite near, she began to look to her left and right, she could now see that it was immensely long indeed and unbelievably high, the top of it had broken off in parts with great gaping holes, and in part's, going nearly down to the ground. "What is this?" she said to herself.
Upon reaching the structure, Glacier looked up at the extremely tall wall, her wings tucked against her sides as she placed a forepaw upon the heated stone, gazing up, she started running her paw along the rough exterior of the wall, ash and bits of the wall began falling away as she did so; causing her to back away slightly, she looked down at the new pile of debris that she had unintentionally created only to see that it now; was almost invisible as it mingled with the rest of the decay that already lay before.
The Icewing queen then noticed that even though she had been here for at least an hour, she knew that she was not built for this environment, licking her lips, she felt no thirst for water, causing her to become just that bit more confused.
"Why am I not thirsty"? I don't understand!". She said to herself. "More to the point, why am I not blistered"?..."shouldn't I be dying by now"? She said as she just stood there.
her eyes now rapidly moving left and right, followed by her head. She turned a full 360 degrees and then found herself shouting at the top of her voice. "I..am..an icewing, not...a...Sandwing,...this...makes no sense at all!".
She stood and just stared at the wall, trying to calm herself, her forepaws gently resting on the wall, she took a long deep breath in, then let it out slowly.
looking left then right, Glacier looked for an opening to the other side of the wall, her eyes narrowed slightly, her pupils shrunk into slits as she focused on what appeared to be a completely collapsed portion of the wall, letting out a snort, she slowly made her way towards her destination, her talons dug into the ash covered ground with every step she took, lightning continued to flash above her, while in the distance the crackling and hissing of the volcanoes continued, her tail swished behind her. she placed a forepaw upon the loose pieces of wall that laid in a pile, letting out an almost tired huff, Glacier started to climb up it, balancing perfectly upon the large broken blocks of stone, which really surprised her.
"Now i know I'm dreaming" she said quietly to herself.
She huffed and growled while she struggled to find her footing, though after some time she managed to reach the top. She froze, her eyes widened when all she saw was nothing but the completely abandoned and destroyed remains of a city. She just stood there, her mouth agape slightly; while her wings drooped to her sides, shock running through her entire body.
She started to turn slowly, trying to take in the environment around her but there was nothing, just the volcanoes rumbling away in the distance that still spewed ash and lava, the lightning still forked across the sky. There was no sign of life, at all! There was nothing!
"If this is a dream, then why do I feel the heat"? She said. Then she found herself shouting, "wake up...Glacier...wake up.. right now"! She was breathing heavily by now, she waited, but nothing happened. She looked around her.
Finally she had completely turned around to gaze upon the devastation once more!
Then she looked down and then to her left. She found herself just staring at the wall. She realised it looked very different from the architecture that she had been accustomed to. She leaned closer, she had become extremely interested, she studied it more closely. Finally she spoke.
"I wonder how old this is, by the state and size of the wall it looks like no structure I've ever seen or have ever been told about before, it must be ancient ruins, but where from"? She said to herself.
She then turned her gaze to look back at the city. She stood and stared, straining to see a point of reference, but all she could see was devastation everywhere she looked, there were some piles of rocks that were barely recognisable, caved in rooves that were once covering... something, tall spire like structures seemed to have collapsed onto other structures, but there was so much of it, as she cast her eyes left and right it seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, it would be impossible to look at everything.
But then something did catch her eye.
A certain structure stood out from the rest, it still stood proud, it was by far the largest structure that still had any kind of awe-inspiring shape to it.
The wind was hot and dry which made her pant softly, yet her body didn't itch and blister like it normally would under the strong sun and heat of the desert.
Another loud rumble startled her, making her look at the volcanoes with unease, a large plume of ash shot out vertically from the farthest volcano from her, she watched the mountain for a few seconds before she looked back at the ruined city.
"I know I can't fly in this, but then again no Icewing can, so..., what about trying a little glide"? She said to herself. And with that she took a sharp in take of breath, opened her wings and jumped from the pile. She was amazed that she just glided so gracefully down to where she landed upon a large wide path that ran straight to the middle of the city.
"Excellent! She said. "Now I'm really surprised that that worked so beautifully". Glacier said to herself.
The path was cracked, warped and melted in some areas, lowering her snout she glanced at the individual bricks that made up the path, she ran her paw over a few sweeping away, not only the ash but unintentionally flaking bits off of it as she did so. "How old is this place, where is this place"? Then she said, "more to the point, is this really a place that actually exists"? She let out a sigh whilst raising her head once again.
The Icewing queen slowly started to make her way down the path, embers in every direction filled the ash filled sky as she looked left then right at each structure; seeing that they were once buildings but she couldn't make them out. Then suddenly, something caught her eye as she walked towards the centre, it was the remains of a building to her right. as she continued to look at it, she could just make out the remains of, what looked like, a sign that was still attached to it, but she wasn't close enough, she started in that direction whilst watching her footing as she went, after a little while she started to see a couple of letters, but as she got closer, it was very evident that it was all that was left of the sign.
As she got closer she was in awe at how big the two remaining letters were. "Could that have been a hatchery or a hospital maybe"? she said questionably.
She made her way towards the extremely large entrance, or what remained of it, she entered inside of the destroyed building, her talons clicking against the warm ash covered stone path as she made her way inside, her blue eyes flashing around, taking in the utter destruction that emanated from the hallways and rooms, Glacier slowly made her way to, what appeared to be, a reception area, upon taking a closer look, she noticed an odd shape, it appeared to be quite large and was sprawled out behind; what seemed like the remains of the desk, slowly she reached with a paw, and as she did so, started to sweep the ash away that covered the strange shape, the skull of a dragon was uncovered, no flesh or scales, just charred bones, she let out a loud cry of terror and immediately started backing away quickly in horror, she lost her balance and crashed into the wall behind her, old ash fell onto her as she did so, she became frozen to the spot, her eyes remained transfixed.
She just stood there trying to calm her self down. she then took an extremely deep breath in then let it out very slowly and shakily, and as she did so, she looked up, her eyes met with a part of the ceiling that had fallen down, letting her see up into the next floor. She tore her gaze from the hole and focused her attention, to what appeared to be, a hallway. she started down it, as she did so she noticed that there were gaps either side that resembled doorways, which was not hard to make out as there really couldn't be another explanation for the gaps. She let out another tired huff before slowly carrying on.
As she made her way past each of the doorways, she randomly stopped to her right, deciding that she might as well see what was inside, she took a few steps making her way past a partially melted door that lay on the ground; the heat radiating off it made her grit her teeth and close her eyes, she stumbled slightly into the room, ash was kicked up sending a thick cloud to float up in every direction once again. she straightened herself and then noticed that the room she had entered looked vast. She slowly made her way through the room, there were large rectangular shapes, completely covered in ash, that were regimentally lined up on either side, she noticed that one of them had been turned over onto its side.
She stopped. "What is this place, where is this place and what am I doing here?" she said, as she stood there just staring, "This is a dream," she said, and then found herself shouting, "Well, isn't it?" Sounding very confused and extremely irritated.
She slowly and cautiously continued. Her paws sank into the thick layer of ash that had built up over time, her arctic blue eyes scanned over everything, though all she saw was grey everywhere with the soft glow of orange that bled through one of the large broken windows in the room. Letting out a snort, the Icewing turned around and left the room. She carried on walking towards the end of the hallway. With every step she took more and more ash was being thrown up that only obscured her vision to what laid before her. She noticed, reaching the end of the hallway, that there was a large entrance, it looked like a shaft that connected all the floors.
Poking her head in to investigate, she turned her gaze upwards, it was vast! She was unable to see how far it reached due to the smog that obscured her vision. knowing she couldn't use her wings to fly in this heat because she is an Icewing, she had to think a little outside the box now. She glanced around, she noticed a line of horizontal bars that ran vertically up the wall either side of the shaft, she gripped onto one of the bars, pulling at it slightly to test if it would hold her weight, the metal groaned slightly but refused to give way, she froze to the spot, then, while Letting out a sigh, she started to climb. She grew more and more anxious as each footing she placed either made some of the stone to flake away, or caused the bars to creak and groan under her weight. She decided to carry on, but ascended very cautiously.
She found herself talking to herself, "Well Glacier, this was a glorious idea of yours, lets just hope I don't end up as a crumpled mess at the bottom," she said shaking as she forced herself to carry on climbing. She was about to reach the top when the very last bar she had a grip on started to move, it had slid half way out of its holdings, causing pieces of the top layer of stone and ash to flake away and plummet to the ground. She found herself enveloped in ash which caused her to cough and splutter. The bar then tore itself from its holdings, she let out a frantic scream as she began to scramble and claw desperately; trying to get a grip onto the bar below her to stop herself from falling, looking downwards, she watched the bar that had dislodged plummet towards the ground, it disappeared into the smog, then a few seconds later a loud metallic crash echoed throughout the shaft. She managed to find a foothold upon a single large block which protruded from the wall; allowing her sharp talons to grip onto the ancient stone, her forepaw talons scrambled around, eventually gripping onto a bar that held strong even after the stone above it gave way. Looking up at the ledge of the top floor, Glacier gritted her teeth and began to climb again. Her serrated talons dug deep into the stone, chunks of stone and ash fell from the wall, as she struggled frantically to find a grip.
Debris came crashing down upon her, she began to cough and splutter, she started to panic clawing frantically with all four paws. She growled as she finally was able to grip with her forepaw talons. she had reached the edge of the top floor. She had almost got herself out of the shaft when the part of the floor that was holding her weight, began to crack and creek, it began to move then started to give way, larger pieces fell away as she scrambled and heaved herself up, she desperately got to her feet, leaping away just in time and landing in a large mound of ash. She closed her eyes, flapping around and letting out a heaving, spluttery cough as ash was kicked up into the air once again. She couldn't see it, but she most certainly heard it, the unmistakable crashing of extremely large pieces of stone over and over again, falling into the shaft. She waited for a few seconds to let the air clear, the countless echo's of stone smashing against the ground floor still filled her ears. Her shaking and panting slowly became under control.
After laying there for quite a while, she felt relaxed enough to try to start to move, but realised that the adrenaline had not entirely left her body as she tried to stand up, her legs felt weak and shaky after nearly falling to her doom.
After a few seconds she finally managed to straighten herself. She just stood there looking in every direction, in obvious shock, thinking how lucky she was to have survived that. She let out a slow and heavy breath as to relax herself. "By the moons, that was a close call". she said.
The air around her was beginning to clear, at least it didn't choke her any more and was becoming partially see through, she decided to wait a little longer for everything to settle down before she carried on. She didn't want to tempt fate by trying to kill herself twice.
Raising her head she stared down the long ominous and dimly lit hallway, the spines along her back stood on end as she slowly and cautiously made her way, her arctic blue eyes glanced at each of the rooms she passed, ash completely covered everything making it hard to distinguish anything that lay before her. Her eyes flicking over the countless shapes that littered the hallway.
She ground to a halt and just stared for a moment before continuing her way into a more spacious area that opened up, she noticed something that resembled the desk down at the ground floor to her right, she carried on whilst curving and arching her body around objects in a graceful manner, her long white-bluish tail mimicking her body as she turned her head left then right, some of the doors had been ripped from their hinges and now lay upon the ground, they were bent in all shapes with scorch marks, a couple of them were badly scorched and bent so badly that they almost resembled bowls, she was forced to stop and just stared for the longest time thinking to herself of the unbelievable and frightening force it must have taken to achieve this. Then she suddenly noticed upon the desk that was covered in ash, something which was of cylindrical shape, she gently reached out, gripping it with her paw, it felt like a scroll of sorts, though the weight of it told her that it was certainly not made of paper.
She started to gently unroll it with her paws, she had to take her time as it kept breaking and threatened to completely fall apart until, eventually, it was fully unrolled, she tried to see what was written but part of it turned to dust whilst in her grasp, Glacier let out a snort and a muffled growl, she placed the heavy scroll back down onto the desk and just stared at it for a while.
Her tail swished behind her as she turned to continue on her way, again passing countless doorways.
After some time, she came across a large double door, though the door on the left was twisted and melted and hardly recognisable as a door, the door on the right, even though scorched, appeared to be intact, letting out a huff of air, Glacier placed her forepaws upon the metallic door, she tried to push it open but it wouldn't move, she took a deep breath and with her teeth gritted she pushed against the door, the ash that had built up behind it made it really difficult to move, letting out a snarl of determination she continued to all Beit at a slow pace, slide the door to where it sat fully open.
Glacier landed back onto her forepaws, she puffed a sigh of relief, and as she did so she then noticed a sign, that completely missed her attention before, above the door that she had just opened; though ash totally obscured all of the letters, she stood there motionless for a second, just staring at it, then she slowly reached up with a paw, stretching her body to its full length, sweeping away the ash to reveal the letters. Her eyes squinted slightly, trying to read the sign but the ash started to envelope her, making her splutter and flap around, which was only making it worse, she had to grin and bare it, at least until the ash had settled down again.
After a little patience though, she was starting to make out what it said. "H-Hatchery?" "Hatchery"! She shouted, "oh no, please... not a hatchery!" she exclaimed, as she lowered her head and her body sank.
She realised that she had been standing there for some time just looking to making sure she had read the sign correctly, she felt a lump form in her throat, she thought she was going to cry, she had to try and compose herself, so she took a moment.
After a few minutes Glacier, with more than just a little reluctance that seemed to drip from her entire body, forced herself to, very slowly, edge forwards, her paws kicking up a bit of ash, she was able to push aside most of it as she came across the first room.
Looking into the open doorway she let out a gasp. There, sitting on what must have been once a bed, was what appeared to be, an egg! It looked unharmed and was covered in ash, with quickened haste she entered the room, now she was running, kicking up a lot of ash as she went, desperate to get to it, her eyes scanning over it extremely quickly. Her paws were shaking now, as was her whole body, then she realised that she was holding her breath. She tried to relax herself by exhaling slowly and taking a moment.
Glacier went to pick it up, and with the up most care, slowly and gently lifted it, a smile slowly grew upon her snout, she lifted it a little higher and as she did so, the egg started to crack, which startled her, she froze, but only to watch it crumble into a cloud of dust, her eyes widened in horror, her forepaws, which now were covered in the remains of the ancient egg, shook. She shrieked with the shock while tears welled up in her eyes threatening to wash down her face, her lips trembled at the horror she had just witnessed, she looked around, a whimpering sound came from her while she struggled to hold herself together.
Though before she could even mourn the hatchling, in the distance, the furthest volcano erupted causing an almighty explosion, a large shockwave expanded out from the epicentre, slamming into the building, the building started to rumble and shake violently, she could hear rocks starting to fall. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she, with a new sense of desperation and alarment, looked for an exit, she was trying to keep her balance as the building continued to shake with a rumbling that was now extremely loud, she found herself stumbling over all sorts of things on the floor but she didn't know what!
While she was keeping her eyes fixed on where she was stumbling, parts of the roof started to crash onto the floor, she yelped and cowered, covering her snout , the weight of it made the floor bounce violently and then buckle before giving way and crashing onto the floor below, triggering a chain reaction forming another large hole in the floor below that, she tried to keep her balance as she stared down the hole, then she looked up, she looked at the, now, new opening in the roof, there was ash everywhere and it was still rising, which made it impossible for her to move.
She waited for the dust to clear a bit, her heart was beating out of her chest, she kept letting out a breath then breathing in again only to hold it in for a few seconds, which she repeated, and as she held her breath she listened, frozen to the spot. After a while she started to see through the ash at last; which exposed some of the roof that had just caved in, making, what seemed like, a very convenient ramp of sorts.
"It's safer climbing up than trying to climb down again, well it worked the last time, this building is coming down at any moment!" she said, remembering what happened in the shaft.
Her eyes widened with desperation and fear, though since the floor was littered with all sorts of debris, she knew she had to try to be careful where she stepped, she found herself stumbling while trying to clamber over all sorts of obstacles but she didn't know what. She had to get out and get out now!
The floors below her continued to rumble, shaking the whole building. She could hear things falling, in what sounded like, very large chunks below her, she was panicking, her chest was heaving, she was coughing and spluttering. She could also hear pieces of something falling close to where she was, she knew that she had to get out!
Suddenly she found the semi collapsed part of the roof, she started frantically clawing with all her four paws, everything was shaking whilst desperately trying to climb and pull herself up and out.
Finally she was up on the roof, dust and ash was flying everywhere as she tried to make a dash to the edge of the roof. She was gasping for breath and shaking, her legs seemed to be moving in slow motion trying to stay upright as the roof below her seemed to turn to liquid whilst collapsing under her, causing her to be extremely unsteady on her paws, the building, by now, was violently shaking, she was stumbling everywhere, finally she found herself at the edge, without hesitation, Glacier unfurled her wings, lifted her head and jumped as high as she could.
She landed rather hard onto the ground which caused her to tumble over and over again, letting out a cough, she began spitting out ash and dust whilst attempting to get onto her paws, failing miserably at first, with her vison compromised due to the amount of debris and ash that was completely surrounding her by now, with ash and dust getting into her eyes, she didn't know what to do or to which direction she should try to run. Slightly dazed she shook her head, the sound was still deafening, all she can do now was to cover her head with her forepaws.
She knew she had to move.
"Come on Glacier, get up...come on, you have to...Now!" She said to herself.
She took a deep breath. She was shaking in a way she had never shook before, only to then get up and sprint as fast as she could, dust and ash enveloped her which made it hard for her to see where she was running to, she wasn't quite sure if she was running away at first or towards the collapsing structure, though from the unbelievable sound that emanated from it, she quickly figured out what way to run.
As she ran, she started to hit herself on all sorts of obstacles and stepping on other objects that, not only hurt; but made her slip and slide all over the place. But she knew she had to keep running, as to what was Infront of her she didn't know, but what she did know was that she was running away, unknowingly towards a large open area of the city, away from the collapsing building.
As she ran for her life, the sound of large chunks of the building shot past her like projectiles. One grazed her on her side, spinning her around and knocking her to the ground, she tumbled over and over again, letting out a cry of pain as she finally came to a stop on her side. Covering her head with her forepaws, she shielded her face while curling up into a ball, the extremely loud sound of the collapsing building emanated throughout the city, ash, dust and all kinds of debris billowed into the air, only adding to the already hazy sky, that blocked more and more light from above, while the ash that already enveloped her only grew more dense, lightning flashed above her, she couldn't see it, though it lit up her surroundings, or what she could see in front of her, which by now wasn't much.
Glacier felt hopeless and in pain, her eyes full of dust and debris as she remained curled up in a ball. The feeling of countless small projectiles smacking into her, the sound of larger pieces smashing into the ground around her filled her ears, every heavy thump and crash made her only tighten up more into a ball. She clenched her eyes shut as tears flowed down her cheeks and onto the heated ground that she laid upon. Her mouth widened into a scream, only to be drowned out by the wind, the crashing of large pieces of building, and the deafening roar from the volcano.
Suddenly there was an even larger explosion, the resulting shockwave acted like a plough, shoving the ash and dust away, almost as if it was cleansing the sky, when the shockwave reached her, it was so strong it shoved her across the path, she rolled and tumbled, coughing and gritting her teeth whilst trying to scream with fear, her side was not only aching, but was bleeding, her blue blood oozed from her side whilst she raised her head and looked at it, her eyes scanned over the wound that was turning to a more dark blue or purple, with parts of it dripping with her blue blood, she went to touch it, though hissed in pain when her forepaw made contact with the extremely tender area, the action causing her to raise her head and let out a loud grunt of pain, her eyes snapping onto the furthest volcano, noticing that it wasn't there anymore, only a massive towering cloud of ash billowed into the sky, lightning danced and ripped through the sky while she stared in complete horror, wondering what had just happened.
The volcano was now just a mere crater, most of it's structure was gone, large chunks of hot rock had smashed into the surrounding area around her. The ash that had been kicked up by the onslaught of projectiles was only to then be blown away as another powerful shockwave ripped through the city, bringing down more derelict structures.
A wind had picked up, blowing away from the collapsing structure's immense size, making the ash that hadn't been blown away by the shockwave, to almost sand blast her body while she screamed out in fear, though her screams of terror were overshadowed by the intense howl of the wind.
After a few minutes the winds started to die down, the ash and dust hung in the air, though slowly fell from the sky, falling upon her body like a warm almost hot snow, while she kept her face covered with her forepaws.
After some time had past, Glacier slowly removed her forepaws and wings from her face, exposing her eyes that were covered in ash to the environment, ash and dust by now filled the air around her, injected back into the air by the structures that had collapsed.
Letting out a loud shaky breath, Glacier let out another groan of pain while attempting to get up, her body ached and hurt from the pounding she had just taken, though with gritted teeth she forced herself to rise up into a sitting position, folding her wings against her sides as dust and ash that had begun to fall and collect on her body slid down her frame and onto the ground.
She sat there for a few minutes, with her head lowered taking in deep breaths, feeling her heart beating out of her chest still. She trembled with shivers that rippled throughout her body, struggling to calm herself while Adrenaline pumped through her veins, she had to breath more deeply as to pull in the oxygen that surrounded her, her eyes half open as she laid down, curling herself up while focusing on calming her breathing, allowing herself to regain much needed energy that she had lost while escaping, using a paw to wipe away the ash that covered her face and blocked her vision.
"That... was so... terrifying!". She said to herself whilst panting loudly. "Talk about... dancing with death!". She said, as she slowly started to uncurl herself and gently but slowly rise up into a sitting position. She winced in pain with every movement she made until she was completely sitting upright, ruffling her heavy wings slowly against her sides as to shake the ash that had covered them.
Arching her neck around, she glanced back over her body, feeling a bit ill at the fact that an icewing... an Icewing!, was not the beautiful pristine snow white colour anymore, but that she was now, more of a dull white-grey colour, with a hint of brown mixed in. It didn't help the fact that the orange glow from the smog filled atmosphere made her ash and dust covered body appear more brown then white, though unlike her loyal subjects, she didn't really mind getting her paws dirty, but this was, even for her, a bit too ridiculous! She grimaced at the disgusting sight of herself!
Quite awhile had past, h er muscles ached and her right side hurt after being struck with such force from a heavy object. She brushed away some of the ash and dust that covered her body, her talons gently racking along her right side, she winced as she made contact with the injured area, the pain was enough to bring someone as hard minded as herself to tears, a large bruise had already begun to appear, the skin under the scales turning a dark purple while the scales directly above the injured area seemed to turn; a more dark grey almost black, with some scales cracked and missing parts whilst a few scales were completely missing exposing the injured skin underneath.
After examining herself, she let out a deep breath and raised her head, she sat there just staring infront of her for a few seconds, then she started to turn her head left then right as she looked around her. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of something in the distance, which made her look twice! "What on moons is that?" she mumbled to herself. She tried to move, and in pain, she struggled to stand up, her side now on fire with pain that rippled throughout her body, she grimaced and groaned as she forced herself to stand, the pain was so extreme that she found herself almost struggling for every breath she took, finally she stood up right.
Raising her head towards what she saw in the distance, Glacier let out a loud huff of air, her eyes felt heavy though with determination she found herself glaring to see what it was.
In the distance was, what appeared to be, a black elongated shape. She stared at it but couldn't make out what it was.
Disbelief overtook her while she glanced around at the surrounding city, she looked left and right but saw nothing other then the ash filled sky and ruins. Seeing no signs of life at all, she questioned her own sanity while she stared back at the mysterious shape; squinting her eyes to try and get a better look, she shook her head only to let out a snort of annoyance while trying to take a step forwards, though found herself gritting her teeth as her side burned with pain from the movement. She had to move closer to see what this shape was, it was hard to distinguish due to the wavering of the heat that hovered just above the ground. With gritted teeth she, very slowly, made her way towards it, her right hind paw dragging along the ground, unable to lift it properly from the stabbing pains that dug deep into her side, it didn't take very long before all her strength had gone and all she just wanted to now, was just collapse and pass out. She gently, and very slowly, lowered herself to the ground, grunting and wincing all the way as she did so, but extremely annoyed with herself, with her head held low, for having the need to stop and rest.
She focused her eyes on the mysterious shape, it was getting closer! In actual fact, it was a lot closer, and as she looked the figure was engulfed by what seemed to be a large hazy tidal wave that was racing towards her at an unimaginable speed. She struggled to get up onto her paws, gritting her teeth as she let out a growl, pushing her body to work even with the intense pain that ripped through her body. Her legs shook before buckling underneath her, she let out a cry of hopelessness and pain, tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at the towering wave in front of her, she saw lightning flicker and stretch out from the wave, where the arcs of lightning struck the ground in front of it, pools opened up in the ground as it raced towards her, seemingly swallowing the ruined city in front of her, her eyes full of horror before she closed them, as she accepted her fate!
Glacier waited for the inevitable, though after some time found nothing had happened.
She just laid there with her paws covering her head as she shook from head to tail.
She knew that she had to look but she couldn't, afraid at what she might find. She was breathing so hard and her heart beat so fast, she had never been so frightened.
Then suddenly she realised she could hear something, Something that just wasn't there before because it was impossible. It was the sound of water tumbling down a waterfall, then the sound of dragonets laughing and playing. The feeling of something gently touching her body, all over, made her slowly uncover her head, she slowly opened her eyes, giving them time to adjust only to see that she was now laying within a tall grass field, slowly she raised her head, glancing left and right, confusion rippled throughout her mind as she also felt no pain what so ever, looking down at her body she found no evidence of wounds or burn marks, she attempted to raise a forepaw, finding that her strength had returned to her as well, this only confused her to the point of her shouting out in frustration. "What on three moons is going on!" she said.
She continued to look around, not sure where she was at first while glancing at the large forest to her right, she noticed what seemed to be bridges that stretched from tree to tree, similar to that of the Rainwing kingdom, she noticed that huts were built around each of the large branches that stretched out from the main trunk of each tree, while she watched dragons walk and dragonets run along the wooden bridges and platforms.
Still perplexed, she got up onto all four paws, but the strangest thing, was that none of the dragons that were around her seemed to not take any notice of her presence, at all! She slowly turned 360 degrees on the spot, taking in her surroundings that she found herself in.
The next thing she noticed was that of a large waterfall to her right, on the edge of the forest, that cascaded down a cliff face, that then flowed down into a river that snaked and twisted itself past her then eventually into farmland and meadows to her left.
She noticed, while glancing at the farmland to her left, three volcanoes to her north east, which were rather far away in the distance, the furthest one puffing out a column of white smoke, the other two with their tops capped in ice. Suddenly, the realisation hit her of where she was, she gasped, her eyes widened when she put two and two together, she was in the ruined city, which was now... suddenly perfect and seemingly alive with life. It was so stunningly beautiful and magical, she was in utter awe and lost for words as she glanced about. All kingdoms have their own magic, including the Drainwings, yet this was something else, something far more powerful then anything she had ever encountered before, she looked at the countless dragons that were around her, they all seemed richly dressed in a style that she was not accustomed to back home, but it was Drainwing country without a doubt, even though there were things she has never seen before, especially the wall that surrounded the city, she turned fully to look upon the massive structure that was the wall, unlike what she witnessed before, which was broken and of one solid structure. What she saw before her now was a wall in it's magical and elaborate state. Each ringed section which dwarfed her with their unimaginable size, completely surrounded the city, that stacked upon one another without touching each other, made up the wall that slowly rotated constantly in the opposite direction to the section above it. Between the sections was a sort of purple sheet with sparks of lightning dancing between them, almost as if the wall was powered by the very same magic that she felt flowing throughout the lands.
The wall was semi transparent to her, allowing her to see the city inside, she saw seven spires that stood proud, each spire looked different, one was green, another beside it was white with what seemed to be spikes near the top of it, and beside that one was an almost black spire, with hints of purple within it and lava that dribbled down parts of it, then there was a yellowish orange spire which seemed to have a dusty surface that blew around in swirls, then there was a blue spire, which had a constant waterfall that flowed through the centre of it, beside that one was a bright red spire with large gem like creations that ran down its sides towards the ground, and the last spire that finished the circle around the city was a brown looking spire which had bubbling flows of mud that ran down it's walls.
She narrowed her eyes and focused her gaze on the unbelievably large but obvious royal palace; that sat in the centre of the city, it was so beautifully designed with its gentle curves in the shape of wings either side of the entrance, that had extremely elaborate carvings that were so accurate to a Drainwings wing, she couldn't help but stare at the craftsmanship. Then she noticed a dome in the centre of it, standing out from the rest of the buildings around it, the dome was a rich purple but glowed with a purple hue that radiated from its centre.
Suddenly she heard a voice in her mind, causing her to jump from the sudden intrusion. (Do not be alarmed Glacier, you know my voice and know who i am... i hope?). she listened to this voice, a bit alarmed though felt slightly more at ease from what it said, it sounded familiar.
Glacier looked around as if to see someone talking to her, but there was no one, suddenly she remembered the figure she had seen earlier, though found no sign of who it may have been, she felt the soft wind brush against her body while she looked around, her paws dug into the muddy ground as she watched young dragonets run past her, giggling away while they played tag, she moved out the way of them to allow them to pass, her wings shifted about whilst moving out of the way as they appeared to be running straight at her, it was as if she wasn't there at all!
Suddenly she heard the voice once again, but this time to her right, making her snap her head towards that direction, and standing beside her, was a massive bipedal male dragon. It startled her so much that she fell back onto her back.
The voice once again spoke. (Please do accept my sincere apologies my dear, for being so stupid as to frighten you to this degree, it has been so very long since I last communicated in this way, though this was not the intended outcome I wished to achieve. Please allow me to introduce myself properly, my name is Gromeontunth, the last king of the Drainwings, perhaps I should try a less hmm... sudden approach, yes?). As he turns and gently looks down towards her. Glacier found herself frozen to the very spot. She heard every word he said within her mind, but she was unable to react let alone speak, and yes, she finally knew who she was listening to. She slowly looked up to meet his gaze, her arctic blue eyes locked onto his purple eyes, the first thing she noticed when her eyes moved from staring at his, was the lack of deep scars that were so obviously present before that covered his face. The other noticeable observation was how much younger he appeared to be, she couldn't help but notice just how handsome this younger self of him was, and how regally dressed he appeared, with the addition of an intricately engraved and heavily jewel encrusted crown that sat upon his head.
Gromeontunth spoke out once again to her. (This is my kingdom as it truly was then, when I was the last king to rule over the Drainwings; before everyone was slaughtered and the very land poisoned with dark magic, which left a completely dead and barren wasteland that you walked through earlier!) Glacier was utterly stunned by what she was hearing from him. she said. "Could I just stop you for a moment please, what do you mean by the barren wasteland I walked through earlier?". She then continued to speak. "This is but a dream, right?, you're not really here! Are you?". She said in a questionable manner.
Letting out a huff of smoke from his nostrils, Gromeontunth looked at her with a thoughtful gaze, as if putting together a careful reply, just as he heard a very distant knocking that slowly grew more loud as time went on. (Glacier my dear, the only thing I can say at this very point in time is, Would you be so kind as to hold this ancient royal relic of the kings status for me? as I believe someone is knocking on your door!) He slowly uncovered what was a softly glowing purple crystal, so perfectly round and smooth to the touch, encased in gold with royal engravings elaborately etched upon its surface. He held it within his clawed hand, slowly lowering himself onto one knee while she reached out with her own forepaws, she watched as he gently but slowly placed the crystal into her paws, making sure she had a good grip on it.
Just then she woke up in her perfect icy room, her eyes blinking a few times as her vision came back to her, letting out a yawn the Icewing climbed out of bed and, in a rather tired manner, opened her door only for Battlewinner to be standing at the other side of it, looking extremely impatient and seemingly ready to melt her door down, smoke billowed from the Nightwings nostrils while her tail lashed behind her, showing that she was clearly not in the mood for games. "Didn't you hear me knocking!? And here, I thought I was the one to always sleep in!" she scoffed, a growl emanating from her throat, Glacier just looked on, her facial expressions unreadable; while she just stared at her extremely annoyed Nightwing friend. "Perhaps you should try to at least act more like a queen, and less like a Dragonet hmm?" Glacier remarked with a hint of frustration and annoyance that seemed to spill from her words, her eyes had a glint of anger and certainly a no nonsense stare, Battlewinner was a tough nut to crack, though even under Glaciers stare, she was not safe from the Icewing's wraith. "Well, perhaps I'm just a little more grumpy this morning then normal, nothing to worry about really, I'll join you all for breakfast in a bit, just allow me to wake up properly" she finished before closing her door behind her only to then let out a sigh, realising she had to go down for breakfast, she raised a forepaw to her face, letting out a groan of confusion and exhaustion that still clung to her.
Battlewinner waited outside of Glaciers room, her eyes flicked around to look at the engravings that covered the hallway, when suddenly Glacier's door opened, showing a slightly more awake Icewing. "Oh!, and here she comes, ready? we're late you know" Battlewinner grunted, padding down the hallway in front of Glacier, they made their way down the stairs before heading down the long corridor towards the dining room, upon entering Battlewinner and Glacier made their way towards their seats at the large oval table, Blaze, Coral, Glory and Ruby were already there, Glory had a rather displeased look on while Blaze was loving the new jewellery she had on. Battlewinner raised her gaze to Glacier before asking. "I do wonder where that Sandwing Queen has gone to, what is her name again?" Battlewinner questioned while her wings twitched against her sides, Glacier let out a groan and replied. "Don't worry, I'm sure Thorn is on her way down". She then happened to look over at Gromeontunth, time seemed to slow down, she felt her heart beating out of her chest and up into her throat, as she felt his powerful purple eyes stare into her blue ones.
"Glacier". He spoke up. "Did you hold that crystal for me?" Gromeontunth asked her, Glaciers eyes widened, the colour drained from her face as Beiphuth's head shot up from cooking some breakfast for everyone, she was about to ask Glacier what it was, though found the Icewing had, by now, left the dining room in a very great hurry, Beiphuth stared at her husband, her eyes narrowed in suspicion, to which he dared not look at her, having closed his mind off to her so she couldn't read it.
Glacier slammed her door open, nearly breaking it in half, as she hurriedly started to search her room, mumbling to herself. "where is it, oh three moons please be here!" Suddenly, a set of clicking claws echoed through the hallway, Battlewinner's voice could be heard. "I knew something was wrong". The Nightwing huffed out as Glacier finally found the dimly glowing orb, scooping it up in her forepaws. Battlewinner was about to enter the room when Glacier practically barged her way past her, nearly knocking Battlewinner over, the Nightwing just stared at her Icewing friend in concern, Glacier had never acted like this before!
Once Glacier was back at the Dining room, with a concerned yet annoyed Battlewinner hot on her tail, she immediately made her way around the large table, towards Gromeontunth with the crystal orb in her forepaw, holding it like she would an egg. Stopping in front of Gromeontunth, she sat on her haunches, as she slowly passed it back to him. "I believe this is yours". She said in a soft and weak voice.
Beiphuth witnessed the whole thing, her eyes widened in utter disbelief before her facial expressions turned into that of pure anger. The Queens all froze when they heard a growl coming from Beiphuth, they all stared at her, wide eyed, as the large stirring spoon, that she was holding, suddenly snapped completely in half in her grasp, though, it was the statement afterwards that caught all the Queens besides Battlewinner off guard. Thorn had just entered the room though found herself frozen to the spot.
"Gromeontunth What the fucking hell!"