— Chapter 20 —

Oracle

Don't cry… don't cry… I knew that was always a very likely possibility… that city's rough… but I… I just wanted…

Oracle's thoughts were as scattered as his tears during this flight, he wasn't able to hold them back, no matter how much he knew this outcome was one of the most likely, it still hurts.

During the first few days in this new world, the small dragon had been thinking too much about the current situation, the future, and trying to survive before getting to join Jade Mountain Academy, he was a dragon, in one of his now favorite franchises, he could meet these great characters and with his knowledge maybe be a hero!

And then that first day at the academy when he arrived at the prey center and Bandit the scavenger appeared, that is when Oracle realized he'd already been neglecting his human side, seeing Bandit and so many hungry dragon faces that would happily eat him made him recall just how terrible the humans are faring in this world, and he had suddenly felt selfish for not thinking about it more, he could've helped Bandit to feel better as well…

Back in his own world, he had read Dragonslayer, which had given the biggest perspective of human lives in Pyrrhia, and it was awful how many died and got casually eaten without a single thought, how scared they constantly were. The den that the Nightwing had approached was the famous Indestructible City, the largest human settlement, where they actually fight back when they can, most there would be hardened and wouldn't care how cute and nice a dragon is acting, he knew yet had got his own hopes up.

But actually being on the receiving end of an arrow rain, fired by his own kind after he wanted to meet them, was just a terrible feeling even knowing that, and that made Oracle determined about something now.

I mustn't forget my roots and where I came from, no matter how big this adventure might be, or where I end up, I will remember that at my heart, I am still a human. And about all humans in this world are suffering, with fear even in the most well guarded places.

He rubbed his eyes with his talons, trying to stop the tears. Kinkajou must have seen him like this, and he wondered if she was thinking why would a dragon have such an extreme reaction to scavengers rejecting him, to outside eyes he probably looked just pathetic.

Focus… the mission… Chameleon will be here soon, you know what he holds, that could be the biggest turning point in this timeline.

Oracle had almost stopped midair upon actually realizing this.

The scroll… we'll get it a whole book early… Peril isn't with us to burn it… I could…

Oracle should heavily reconsider the thought of abusing magic for any sudden significant changes, even if it involves changing the way humans live in Pyrrhia.

The Nightwing mentally cursed, his head dropping some more. As always, his voice of reason is right… this was the whole Animus morale with Qibli in the arc's last book, he shouldn't expect to be an incredible magic user…

Oracle is right.

Soon enough they reached the spot where the rest of the group was, Winter had gone back to the ground after his shiny demonstration from earlier, and the four looked at them.

"Oh hey, you're back. How did talking to the scavengers go?" Qibli asked curious, and Oracle could see Winter is also looking his way with what he thinks is slight curiosity.

"It was terrible!" Kinkajou exclaimed from wherever she was camouflaged, making Oracle wince as she had replied before he got to do it. "He brought fruit to their stairs, talked like them and waved all nice, and they just shot him down! Nobody even bothered to come and squeak a hi or wave back." She huffed, she'd probably be quite red if she wasn't hidden.

"Oh three moons… Did you get hurt?" Turtle asked with worry in his eyes, approaching more.

Reluctantly after a moment Oracle had turned to show his back at the Seawing, the arrow that had ended on his tail earlier had luckily fell off during the flight, the other three were still over his body, they were rather the itch and sting, by this point he wouldn't be surprised if his scales were also flimsier and weaker than average because why not? Arrows pierced quite well.

He felt warmth approaching him as Qibli stepped closer, examining these arrows latching there. "Let me get these off, I'll be very careful," he promised, and knowing that Qibli's very trustworthy in most things, Oracle nodded, so the Sandwing began to pluck off these things, the smaller dragon winced each time he did, but the stinging eventually ended after some moments and the projectiles were on the ground.

"Thank you Qibli…" Oracle muttered, and now also winced at himself, he had thought he should try keeping a composed tone, but it was hard after the disappointment that just occurred, his voice still being quite saddened.

"Huh, you seem to take scavengers even more seriously than I actually imagined," Winter commented, eyeing him.

"... N-None of you would understand…" He whispered, going back to his usual extremely vague demeanor, he knows very well that many of them don't like it, but he was forced very often to act this way, because he's terrified every single minute, the thought of them learning that to him they were fiction before becoming reality, the idea of them finding out he's a human, so not even the kind of comments that Moon receives about not being a real Nightwing, he's not even a real dragon.

Looking down to the ground to not meet the eyes of anyone, he kept on whispering. "Anyway… remember, we talk a minute to Riptide, say we need a Skywing to guide us around, Kinkajou unmasks the "Icewing" who's not a real Talon of Peace, and if the smaller Skywing looks like she's about to run away, someone seizes her…"

There were some general sounds of understanding that satisfied him so he looked up at them now.

"And Kinkajou, just in case, try to wait in case the larger Skywing flies off alone so there's less dragons around…" He whispered to the empty air.

"You think we might have to end in a fight against the Talons?" Moon asked worriedly.

"Well it's never a bad idea to plan for the worst case scenario, if a plan might not work, then you plan for the different circumstances that might have ruined it," Qibli agreed, and Oracle didn't need to be Moon to guess the Sandwing is potentially thinking on how to fight the upcoming Seawing, Mudwing, Skywings and fake Icewing.

Turtle looked very unsure about that as he looked at Oracle. "You said Riptide is going to talk to us first, right? I remember him, nobody was pleased when they looked at him, especially mother… but I never said anything bad to him, so if he remembers me among my other 31 brothers, maybe I could talk to him if actual fighting begins?" He offered, and Oracle nodded at that idea.

After that, there was some silence for the following minutes, everyone must be feeling at the very least some level of anxiety, yet they were following Oracle's plan again, it felt really tense to him, he's supposed to be their guide, the one who makes the big plans accounting for the future, so if something goes wrong, if someone got hurt, or died, the only one to blame would be Oracle, he knew it, and surely the others also knew it.

The silence was broken when suddenly there was movement on the water, before anyone could say anything, Winter had immediately turned his head to the liquid surface and shot a small blast of frostbeath, making the Seawing down there to immediately jump back and out of the water to not be right beneath the spot where the water froze.

"Three moons!" The green Seawing exclaimed, landing back on the water at some more distance, his head poking above the surface. "Do you just freeze anything that you hear moving!?" He said indignantly.

"If they're skulking around and clearly about to suddenly appear on us, yes," Winter leered down at the Seawing, who pouted.

"Squid!" A voice called out from the skies above as another Seawing was descending, this one was sky-blue with dark blue horns, landing on the water with a frown next to the other that Winter had shot ice at. "Didn't you hear my orders?"

"Whaaaaaaaaat?" The dragon called Squid whined.

Right, one of the false Dragonets of Destiny, Oracle recalled, he remembered a Seawing was going to lunge at Winter, he just didn't remember it was this one.

"I very clearly said, nobody approaches strangers until I've had a chance to talk to them," said the Seawing that everyone else already knows is Riptide. "And instead you're here and almost getting frozen."

"I was TRAINING," Squid replied in a defiant manner. "My dad, the previous leader of the Talons of Peace said that I should do that to get even better at it, being somehow spotted like that by an Icewing is not my fault.

Riptide looked as if he was on the brink of losing all of his patience as he sighed. "Squid, take your lurking and snooping and harassment somewhere else. Right. Now."

"Fine, fine, FINE" Squid floundered out of the water, flapping his wings and grumbling. "I wish you didn't boss me around the whole time, my dad was a very good leader, I could've been too," He mumbled as he flew away, and Riptide came out of the water to greet them.

"I'm sorry about that so how about we act like that never happened?" He offered. "My name is Riptide. I saw your signal so… Are you looking for the Talons of Peace?"

"That's right, we need help from a Skywing to guide us around here," Qibli nodded at him.

"We don't have a lot of Skywings," Riptide admitted. "Ruby pardoned almost everyone who'd had a disagreement with her mother, so all the fugitives who'd been hiding from Scarlet went home. But we still have a couple who don't feel safe going back. I don't know if they'd be willing to help as guides but we can ask."

"That's fine, at least just getting a couple pointers would be much appreciated," Oracle nodded, burrowing his sorrow for now and talking casually.

He let out a very odd high-pitched whistle, Oracle winced slightly at that sound, and then looked back as two dragons emerged from the nearby trees. One of them was a big Mudwing with a crooked tail, and the other… an Icewing, rather large, and Oracle tried to not focus his eyes on him for more than a moment. There's the target. This must work.

"Please ask the SkyWings to come here," Riptide said to the Mudwing, who nodded and flew away.

"So while we're here… hm, hello," Turtle said, having been behind the others, but stepped forward to greet the other Seawing, who looked at him for just two seconds before noticing the spiral pattern of the Royal Seawing lineage on his wings and gave a bow.

"Greetings, I did not expect to see someone of the royal family here, especially with such a varied group," He said now and actually looked even more curious, his eyes gazing at everyone present besides Kinkajou for very obvious reasons.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Turtle, we study at the new academy at Jade Mountain," Turtle replied with a smile and a lazy wave.

"Oh, Tsunami's academy? Well it's my pleasure to meet her students," Riptide said, nodding at the others. "Did she send you here? Was there a message for me?" He asked with hope in his tone.

"Well, technically she did send us, we're out here for a school project, a day and a night outside for 6 dragonets to explore and socialize, and we decided to check around the Sky Kingdom, it was the closest and some of us didn't want to fly much." Qibli said with a grin, probably having thought of that lie the moment Oracle said this part of the plan, and Riptide gave another nod.

"Well when you see her on your way back, tell her I send my regards." Riptide replied with a smile.

"Will do. She thinks a lot about you," Moon blurted out and Riptide looked thoughtful by that.

"She does? That makes me happy to hear, hopefully she'll send a letter eventually," he said.

"What's your name?" Winter suddenly asked, facing the fake Icewing.

"Cirrus of the Icewings," the faker hissed. "And you?"

Oracle was looking thoroughly at Winter, hoping he'll keep composure. And that talking to someone posing as an Icewing won't hurt his pride or make him call out Cirrus.

"I'm Prince Winter," he replied, and Oracle could tell there was some tension in his voice, but he wasn't acting rashly.

"So, what do the Talons do now that the war is over?" Qibli asked with a curious tone, but Oracle was sure about what he had in that brilliant mind this time, if everyone's distracted and talking, it's easier for Kinkajou to get closer.

"We basically are a group ready to help any dragon in need, anyone that feels they don't fit in their tribe or have issues there is welcome with us. We can still help keep peace by just helping others when we can," Riptide answered with earnest honesty and Qibli nodded quite satisfied with that.

"Sounds just like Thorn and her Outclaws, always ready to take in others and help as much as possible," Qibli had agreed.

"Oh hey look, there's Pyrite and Avalanche," Riptide announced, looking towards the trees, where there now was a rustling. And Oracle had found himself getting very slightly on guard.

Both pieces are here right now, Chameleon and Hailstorm, we just need a good moment for Kinkajou to make her move, hopefully without Avalanche just in case, and we'll be set…

He was mostly thinking that because he could see the way that Avalanche was glaring at them, especially Qibli, if a fight breaks out, he doesn't want a furious Skywing to beeline to the funny Sandwing and kill him.

And there's Pyrite, the pouch right there on her neck on a gold chain, oh how surprised Winter is gonna be, maybe with all this, Oracle could grow on the Icewing, he simply wanted to be friends with all the good guys, be it the Dragonets of Destiny, the Jade Winglet, and so on.

And talking about Pyrite, she had immediately begun talking.

"Hi, and hm… Listen, whatever it is you need, I don't think I can help you. It's not that I wouldn't like to. I would like to, really, I wish I could do all kinds of things, but the truth is I'm not very good at anything and I'm sure I'm not the dragon you're looking for, so ..." She said, twitching and looking at all of them.

"It's not a lot we need some help with, just some pointers and directions, perhaps a guide," Moon assured her with a calming tone, although she looked puzzled upon looking at Pyrite, ah yes, her mind, right.

"They're having a school project together, and they thought to ask here for some help," Riptide added, and that made Avalanche huff.

"That's really all there is to it? Why bother giving a signal to the Talons instead of asking any other Skywing in the Sky Kingdom?" She questioned.

"Well, Skywings can be kinda scary," Qibli replied right away and Avalanche just glared at him even more now. "So we thought this would be a safer way to ask than just approach any random person with such a varied group."

"Riptide, this is ridiculous," Avalanche hissed at the leader. "I am not here just to serve as a tour guide to a bunch of dragonets. And they'd probably consider me one of these "scary" Skywings, can I make my leave?

"The whole point is to help others whenever we can…" Riptide whispered to himself, Oracle heard it just because he was nearby, then the Seawing sighed. "Alright, you can leave."

Not even bothering with giving a nod or a goodbye, Avalanche took off at quite an incredible speed, so now there's just Riptide, Cirrus, the Mudwing and Pyrite…

Subtly, acting as if he's just slightly fixing the pouch on his neck, he gave it a pull as if to signal at Kinkajou if she's looking.

After five seconds, Cirrus suddenly made a surprised noise and pulled up one of his wings, quickly hitting sideways with one of his front talons.

And then Kinkajou was rolling on the ground near them, her invisibility going off as she groaned after the hard slap.

"What…?" Cirrus stated coldly, staring at Kinkajou for a second with unnerving eyes, and the small Nightwing recalled how he was so spiteful towards Rainwing he had placed Kinkajou in coma in the regular timeline, he wouldn't allow that.

So before either he or any of the other Talons actually did something after that surprise, Oracle rushed forward and clawed at the Icewing's neck! He had seen it during that short second where the white dragon raised the right wing, against its underside, tied firmly below the wing, was a pouch, the pouch.

Cirrus roared, Oracle's short, thin claws had actually managed to cut there, spilling some blue blood on the ground right below and on his talons. Cirrus raised his talons to strike, Oracle attempted to dodge to the right towards the wing, but extremely long serrated claws had caught his side and made him scream in pain as he staggered backwards.

I came from fighting an Icewing yesterday to fighting a LARGER Icewing, with LONGER claws, below SUNLIGHT! His thoughts raged.

"A trap!" Cirrus shouted, and his other three allies reacted differently, Riptide had looked baffled for a moment but then he looked about ready to dive forward, the Mudwing immediately eyed at the rest of the group and got on guard, and Pyrite yelped and her wings flared open, clearly about to start flying, until Moon had suddenly charged against her, both rolling on the ground as Pyrite gasped and tried to throw her off.

"Wait!" Turtle exclaimed at Riptide, who had turned his head that way and was about to go help Pyrite. "There's an explanation for this, we don't actually mean harm!"

"Prince, sorry but I am doubting that," the other Seawing replied, shooting past Turtle and heading towards Moon.

Cirrus meanwhile hadn't just stopped, bringing a talon towards his neck with a grunt as he felt the blood in that injury, he quickly moved that talon forward to swipe again at Oracle, and it almost got him but someone had quickly pulled him away from these serrated claws, Oracle felt warmth as Qibli had moved him aside and immediately after the Sandwing had already engaged into a fight with him, expertly dodging the larger dragon's attacks, slashing at his legs after dodging, and having his tail ready, although Oracle hopes that's just intimidation, he doesn't actually want Chameleon to die right now.

A dozen of meters away, the Mudwing was stepping heavily from behind them to aid Cirrus, but suddenly he let out a hiss as Kinkajou had gotten up by now, having gone kinda unnoticed for some moments, and had slashed at a hind leg to distract him, he turned and tried to grab her, but she was nimble and smaller, moving around him and jumping around, pestering with some small slashes to keep him focused away from the others.

Riptide had tackled Moon off Pyrite and they were struggling on the ground, Riptide on top and trying to keep her pinned down while Moon struggled back, but Seawings are quite physically strong so she was having issues at pushing him. Meanwhile Pyrite was gasping and breathing heavily and standing up, but got quickly brought back down to the ground after a spiked tail slammed against her back as Winter threw her down. Then he had quickly gone to Riptide to attack him with his tail as well, and that made the Seawing have to get off Moon to dodge to a side.

Oracle and Qibli had tag-teamed against Cirrus, Qibli being at the front in matter of delivering blows and striking where it hurts, the Icewing was larger than Icicle and had longer claws, but he didn't look close as experienced or skilled as her, so Qibli was managing quite well and had already left a larger cut on his neck, had kicked his belly, and after ducking below the spiky tail after Cirrus had tried to attack with it, he had used fire against his tail and it made the imposter hiss in pain and fury.

And meanwhile Oracle was by the sides, doing smaller quick strikes at times while Cirrus was occupied fighting Qibli, focusing on clawing at his side and quickly diving away, and had managed to do a swipe at the membrane of his left wing, which had helped to distract Cirrus and let Qibli punch at his face.

Kinkajou was finally having some struggles with the Mudwing, who managed to swat at her with a foreleg like a colorful fly, making her slam against a tree and making her gasp in pain, but as the big brown dragon comes over, she managed to get up and quickly climb up the tree, her scales already morphing to fit the foliage as she went to the top of it. The Mudwing grasped the trunk of the tree with his talons and began to shake it, nearly throwing her off but she then leaped towards another tree at the side and that made him grunt.

And at the other side of the clearing, it had turned into a 2 vs 2, Pyrite had stood up and seemed like she had at least some fighting spirit out of desperation as Moon had attempted to bring her down again but the Skywing barely dodged her.

"Why are you all doing this?" She had complained confused right before sending out flames towards Moon, who had almost got burned, her tail had been very close to the fire when she dodged.

And next to them, Winter and Riptide were brawling, Riptide slamming Winter with his powerful tail, knocking the air out of him for a moment, then proved himself rather efficient at claw to claw combat, dodging Winter's attacks the best he could, but the prince seized a chance when he did a fake out as if he was about to blow frostbreath at him, making Riptide instinctively move to a side, so Winter made a quick turn and actually got him with his tail this time, staggering the Seawing.

Back to Oracle and Qibli, they were overwhelming Cirrus with coordination and Oracle's hit and run tactics, whenever the Icewing had to focus slightly more on one of them, that let the other get a hit in, and after a minute, Oracle found himself at the right of Cirrus, who was dodging a feint that Qibli did with his tail barb, so the Nightwing took that chance to quickly duck beneath the wing, raised one of his talons and… cut the rope with his claws, the pouch falling down to the ground right in front of him!

He was about to quickly pick it up from the ground, but a loud roar had instinctively stopped him for a second, eyes wide open as Cirrus had turned towards him after throwing a quick frostbreath at Qibli to make him have to dodge and be away for a moment.

The dragon's right talon had gone for Oracle's neck to get a quick grip of him, although the Nightwing was feeling how the serrated claws had turned smaller, the talon getting greener among the white.

The left talon had gone to quickly grab the pouch, holding it in a desperate manner as the talon shrinks. Cirrus' head had turned towards Oracle's face, the Icewing's head shrinking too, being quickly covered in lime-green scales, and also now green eyes were meeting Oracle's.

After two seconds, he was face to face with a not very large Rainwing with a deformed snout, still bigger than Oracle, his expression was one of pure, absolute hatred and anger, for forcefully putting his back into this form, for revealing his secret.

Chameleon's jaws opened merely half a second after giving him that glare and from his fangs he fired a splash of black venom straight to the Nightwing's face, the hold on his neck going away as Chameleon was quickly turning.

And Oracle screamed in horror and absolute pain, feeling the greatest agony he'd ever felt in his life, his talons instinctively going to his face as it was melting, burning hotter than any fire, already one of his eyes was blinded and it was all dark on that side, his talons were able to touch his own bones, he could barely see, or hear over his own screaming as he fell to the ground, his shouting having stopped the fighting as everyone else had turned and looked in horror at this display.

Chameleon must have dropped him and moved to turn towards Qibli, probably planning to drop the venom on him too and fly away with his pouch.

But too late he had realized he'd stopped paying attention at the Sandwing for a few seconds too long as he suddenly felt a weight on his back, the sound of something slashing down in the air.

And then Qibli's tail had gone from behind him, through his chest and coming out through the other side, blood dripping from the barb as the Rainwing let out a muffled scream as his body went limp before he fell to the ground and he was now completely still.