— Chapter 2 —

Oracle, that's got a nice ring to it, The self-named black dragon thought to himself, mentally feeling a little proud of that one, hopefully that one isn't taken by someone else in the tribe.

"Okay then, Oracle, mind telling me what are you doing all the way over here with your rather shameful "flying" attempts?" Amber questioned, her gaze going up and down the dragon, as if she could uncover that way what he could be hiding.

"A-Ah huh, there isn't much of a reason really, I just…" Oracle began to say and then stopped, trying to think fast of some quick and good excuse that may convince the Skywing.

If I am wrong with my timeline here, I am going to look even dumber and then I'll be completely out of options, but I gotta give it a shot… Oracle thought now, shifting on his feet.

"So, have you heard of huh, any like… academy that was made around here on the mountains?" The black dragon said, nervous.

"Oh, you mean the one these dragonets are making over on Jade mountain? Is that where you're going?" The orange dragon asks interested.

I got a way out! Oh this is such a convenient spot in time, Oracle's mind thinks relieved as he spoke up "Huh, that's r-right! I want to join!"

"You are kind of far in that case, Jade Mountain is further to the south, and from what Queen Ruby has said it's supposed to open up in about a week or so, wouldn't you know that if you enrolled in the academy?" Was the next question from Amber and that made Oracle deflate, a week? And no, of course he hasn't enrolled yet.

The Jade Mountain Academy… about everything that's going to occur within the following month, it all starts there, and Oracle surprised himself thinking some new stuff.

I could be… some sort of hero! Imagine it, me, the one new to this whole world, saving everyone from a load of trouble and issues, I literally know plenty of what happens! Couldn't that ensure my safety? To help all the dragons there?

Truth is, Oracle when he was still a human for most of his life, he always had big dreams of being a hero, the star of the current moment, to help out others plenty. But back on Earth there wouldn't really be such a chance, and besides for all these big dreams, he had always been rather shy and trying to not get too much focus into him, just waiting…

And now he has a gift that could already make his life much simpler if he dared to use it the best he could.

Huh, similar to one of the characters here now that I think about it.

He looked up to the Skywing, his size was so tiny in comparison, and he didn't look starved or like if he never had a good sleep like many other Nightwings did, but he was small, lean and mostly thin, he took a deep breath and asked now.

"D-do you think you could help me send a letter?"

The last week here was a big change for Oracle, after some convincing, Amber got him some stuff to write and then said she'd have the letter delivered, the letter that would tell if he would join the academy or not.

Until then, the Nightwing had managed to find himself an empty, lonely cave to stay most of the day, just thinking about the situation.

Of course that wasn't all he did, at times during the night he made attempts to get more use out of his body, his walking was good enough, although he felt very wobbly when running.

After a couple days, he had managed to stay in the air a little bit and land on his feet instead of crashing down and hitting his head again. After enough time he began to take off and actually fly and it felt awesome to him, the breeze against his face and the feeling of soaring above, although he can only fly from about 10 to 12 minutes at the moment.

He also tried to use fire, he knew Nightwings were just able to use it when desired, but at most he got a small ember and sparks out of his mouth.

Night was also when he dared to go outside and scavenge for food, but he didn't dare to hunt live prey, he's never done that in his own world and the very thought of clawing and killing some harmless animal himself was enough to make him not even try, so instead he just ate fruit when he found it.

3 days before the supposed time where school begins is when Amber returned, handed him a letter and immediately flew off back to duty before he could really engage into any talking or say hi.

With a deep breath, very slowly he opens up the letter, eyes closed until it is fully open and then he reads it…

His breath stiffened as he gasped, looking in awe at the letter on his front talons.

He did it, somehow, he managed to be one of the lucky ones that got accepted.

The few next days before the academy started were all spent on traveling south to Jade mountain, he's still barely a flier although he kept on trying during his trek there, and when he could he'd fly a few minutes to significantly speed up for these ten minutes before inevitably landing again.

And finally there it was at sight, the Jade Mountain, it was the day of the great opening based on all the dragons flying on the sky above and heading for the mountaintop.

But before approaching further, a sudden thought quickly stopped him.

Wait wait wait! Remember the first book of this arc, aren't I forgetting someone? Like, a big, treacherous, smart and evil dark dragon pretty much just beneath my feet? He thought with a shudder.

Darkstalker is right there, and when I approach I'll be within his range of MIND READING, oh and also he might have already looked at the futures that include me, and if I want to play hero, isn't the literal main villain that might already know I will attempt change the biggest threat?

His eyes darted above, looking at everyone flying towards the mountain, none of them knowing the big threat below. Among these dragons, Moon is going to be there, the Nightwing that Darkstalker can so easily convince, he could flood her mind with doubts about Oracle.

I can't let Darkstalker or Moon know that I am a human or well, Scavenger as they'd say, from another world… nor can they know I carry enough detailed future knowledge that could make even Darky there raise an eyebrow.

The moment I step into the mountain's proximity, he might check my mind as I am a Nightwing. He said he read EVERYONE'S minds here, and I doubt I can keep my thoughts in check, so what should I do…?

As he had been looking up this whole time, he noticed right away the blue and green shapes flying above, nearing the mountain.

SEAWINGS! Queen Coral and her daughters… and there at the back…that would be Turtle, he's great and… he's got that bracelet with Skyfire, it blocks the mind reading of Moon.. and Darkstalker.

I need that.

Oracle looked at his own wings, he's going to ask a lot out of them right now, but he has to get to Turtle now before he may arrive at the mountain.

He shot up to the sky, his wings painfully flapping the fastest they could, he was not ready to fly like this, not at this speed and forcing his wings that much.

But he knew it was a required risk or else his plans would fail, the green Seawing was getting closer and closer above him, Oracle realized he was approaching literal royalty was too casually, especially with Coral and daughters just some few dozens of meters away, but he didn't care right now.

But that is also when he realized he had overdone it and didn't actually know how to slow down on the air as he yelped.

"W-WATCH OUT!" He screamed to the Seawing that was approaching far too fast,

Coral and Anemone looked back and flew to the side to make sure they wouldn't get hit by the speeding Nightwing.

Turtle wasn't so lucky, as he looked down in surprise and he just barely got time to make a shocked expression before Oracle crashed onto him at high speed with his body and they were now both diving down towards Jade Mountain.