— Chapter 21 —
Qibli
Qibli had lived most of his life in the Scorpion's Den, where one basically had to fight every day, every hour to make their way through and survive, with the ever-looming presence of his grandfather during his childhood, and having seen the last few years of the war, he thought he had seen plenty of unspeakable horrors, and that he was well hardened, even having a visible scar to show that.
And yet right now, after dispatching of that tricky dragon by stabbing him right in the heart, now he could only see the horror in display just a few steps away from him, his new friend screaming even more than most fully grown dragons while being tortured by one of grandpa's goons, and Qibli's mind was trying its hardest to think, but he realized he was panicking, he didn't know what to do, how in the world he could ever fix this.
"Kinkajou! Come over here!" He had shouted, trying to keep calm and think straight was being hard even for him, he didn't know how much Oracle even had, if the venom kept expanding at this same rate and reached further up his head, to the brain… Qibli estimated the Nightwing would barely have a minute left to live.
Kinkajou had rushed closer fast, and looking at her was slightly painful to the eyes due to how much they were changing colors, but constants were red, green and black, behind her the others were approaching too, including the Talons of Peace.
Oracle's screaming reached everyone, the Talons are now suddenly seeing a Rainwing where Cirrus stood, and the most horrific thing is happening, not a time to keep fighting. Qibli had thought quickly.
"How do we heal Rainwing venom?" Qibli asked quickly as she was approaching, and her face seemed filled with sorrow.
"Only another Rainwing can! If Rainwings are related then the venom from a family member can stop theirs," she had answered extremely quickly without stopping for a second to explain.
"Then are you related to that Rainwing?" He replied back to her, talking while someone is constantly screaming two meters away from them is very distressing.
She didn't talk, instead plucking off a nearby flower from the ground, she winced but brought it towards the Nightwing's face so it caught some of the venom dripping there as the plant began to melt. She quickly turned around and spat a single droplet of venom at the flower, and it only melted faster now. Distressed, she shook her head.
So with that response, Qibli was out of ideas and options, eyes wide as he saw Oracle screaming and crying for dear life on the ground. And the others had approached, apparently nobody knew what to do, the small Nightwing is looking like he'll be a goner in seconds.
That's when a green shape had stepped forward and closer to Oracle. Looking even more nervous than usual with eyes wide open, Turtle had leaned down while holding something on his front talon and he touched the Nightwing with it, who gasped, his good eye looking straight at Turtle.
And then to Qibli and everyone else's absolute surprise, the melted down right side of his face was starting to… fix itself? Tissues were starting to move around to fill the gaps, scales were regrowing over the flesh that's repairing itself.
There was a general shocked silence from everyone for some seconds as they saw this miraculous recovery, but Winter was the first to speak.
"How in the world did you do that? Did you-?" The cold prince began to speak, but Qibli had quickly smacked at one of his legs with the side of his tail.
Turtle didn't answer yet, looking only at Oracle, but here from the side, Qibli was sure that Turtle's gulping and breathing heavily.
After half a minute, Oracle's face was fixed… but Qibli realized that wasn't the end of it, and clearly so did the Seawing a second later when he had pulled out what he was holding, and the Nightwing began to scream again, that startled Turtle and made him place the thing on his side once more, and that's when Qibli spotted what it is, a simple rock?
There… there's no way, right? He's a royal Seawing, probably their treasury has tons of Animus touched objects and he just borrowed that before leaving, it's just a healing thing, my friend is not a literal Animus, one of the most powerful things in Pyrrhia.
"Whatever you did, it seems to have fixed his injuries, but there's still venom on his face so that should be removed," Qibli realized quickly and moved closer to the Nightwing's face, he was twitching and shaking a lot while crying.
… But even if he's an Animus, right now is not the moment to be questioning this, not when someone could still die at any moment, and there's 3 strangers that we just fought.
Qibli picked up a rock of his own, a plain, smooth oval rock, perfect for what he needs to do, and he looked down at him.
"I know it's horrible, but you have to remain as still as you can, I'll start to push that venom off your face, okay? Then Turtle can heal you with his rock," the Sandwing tried to assure the smaller dragonet, he didn't even nod or respond, but he was clearly forcing himself to stay mostly still in the middle of that pain.
Being extremely careful, not wanting his claws to touch the venom, he gripped the rock with the smoother side facing down and began to move it along Oracle's head to literally push the dark liquid over to a side and get it off him, the venom sizzling on the grass beneath after he does that, coupled with the blood that had fallen from Oracle, it looked very gloom.
After a minute of moving a rock over the face of a shivering dragon, there didn't seem to be any more venom, Turtle tried for just a second to see if he was healed by moving the rock slightly off his body… based on the instant pained gasp, he quickly put it back on his side.
"Huh? Is there more? I don't see any more venom on his face!" Kinkajou said worried and nervous, when looking at her for a moment, Qibli could see her face and among the emotions that one would normally feel, he also noticed guilt.
Hm, is it because a member of her tribe used their super deadly weapon on a friend? I feel it'd be odd to feel guilt over what someone you may not even really know did. The way she looks at his face… That's it, she probably must've needed to use her venom on other dragons too, but seeing this happen on a friend, maybe now she's thinking more about just how violent that tool is. I've read and heard things about Rainwing venom recently, but actually seeing this in action feels terrifying even to me, his thoughts rushed in realization. If even someone like her was forced to use it, I want to assume it would be justified at least.
And indeed, there weren't any more visible black droplets above the black scales, so that made Qibli look more deeply, looking at his eyes, one of them closed shut and twitching, and that's when he realized with a grimace.
"His eye, there must be venom directly in the eye socket," he asserted, and Kinkajou turned about as green as the Rainwing that laid dead on the ground nearby.
"T-This is just horrible and a lot, do we need to stay here? Like, they had attacked us and Cirrus is dead, shouldn't we do something?" Pyrite said with a squeal, clearly as disgusted by the mental image of venom directly in the eye as everyone else.
"Well…" Riptide looked conflicted, probably not wanting to get into another fight when things are looking this horrible. "I would appreciate an explanation at least for sure."
"Isn't it clear enough?" Winter said, Qibli was sure he was trying to use his usual tone, but he was sounding slightly deflated and less mean, probably due to how gruesome the previous sight just was, coupled with the shock of Turtle potentially being an Animus. "There is no "Cirrus", I never even heard of him before in my life, and that's because he wasn't an Icewing but just some Rainwing trying to lie to you."
"A spy…" The Mudwing had grunted, staring at the dead body of the green dragon. "Who did he work with? He's been with us for years, and the Rainwings never had any affiliations during the war."
"You'll get more answers, when our friend here is able to stand and talk," Qibli said evasively, since in reality, only Oracle actually knows the formerly alive Rainwing's intentions.
Talking about him, he had let out a grunt and was moving? He shifted to Turtle's surprise, talons in front of him, and was starting to claw forward towards the dead dragon, the Seawing keeping the stone on him as he moved.
Qibli looked surprised by that, and Oracle reached the Rainwing after some moments, the green dragon's front left talon closed and gripping the pouch, crawling over to it, the Nightwing forced open the talon and grabbed the pouch.
Qibli's mind clicked as he realized what he's most likely going to do the moment before Oracle ties the broken chain along the chain of his own pouch.
And suddenly the Nightwing was starting to enlarge, his tail getting longer and thinner, covered in spikes, his scales going from black to white, and a pale purple on the underside. Several spikes running over from his head through the back, and his claws getting thinner, longer and serrated.
Slowly stood up once more the image of Cirrus of the Icewings, rubbing his head and his eyes, then he took a step, wobbling and comically fell to the ground with a huff.
"Oracle…?" Turtle asked, perplexed and nervous, most likely he's worried about if this transformation affected his friend's mind too.
"I-It's still me… just in another shape," the Icewing muttered, and even though his tone was more raspy and cold, it still felt like Oracle's way of talking. "Ough… suddenly much bigger and more built, I'll need some time to get used to this…"
He looked shaken and nervous, his face looked clean and like the Icewing, but he didn't stop rubbing it, his eyes twitching and looking around nervously.
He's going to have some long lasting trauma from this, anyone would after dealing with what just happened. Qibli thought with pity and sympathy.
"You're alright? It doesn't hurt?" Moon asked, looking quite interested in this.
"This is basically a whole different self, damage I'd sustain at my default wouldn't translate to this body, and same for any new injuries I may take as an Icewing and then I turn back into a Nightwing," Oracle explained helpful.
Qibli couldn't but to quickly throw a glance at Winter to see how he reacted, a Nightwing turning into an Icewing? Either he must feel angered by that, or feel some pride in someone from the "obviously" worst tribe in Pyrrhia being something better. What the Sandwing saw was a face that told him he was feeling both livid and confused by the sight.
Pyrite yelped from seeing the dragon that they technically saw die but not quite because he died as a Rainwing, just be up again and look at them, Qibli mentally admitted it must feel so odd with what he just learned of the Icewing being with them for years.
"Cirrus… I mean, excuse me, Oracle it is, right?" Riptide spoke, looking at the Nightwing-turned-Icewing, who nodded slowly at him.
"Do you think you could answer us some questions? Regarding this whole, well, trap. And "Cirrus" being now… dead," Riptide clearly didn't know very well how to start this questioning.
The large Icewing sighed, looking down, shifting nervously on his feet, it looked odd to see the small dragon's mannerisms on someone like that.
"His name was Chameleon, he was exiled from the Rainforest years ago… since then he's been working for Scarlet," Oracle-Cirrus announced.
Pyrite's eyes widened. "Oh my, three moons! One of Queen Scarlet's followers is dead? Oh no she's going to feel so displeased about it, if only I had known, I'd have helped him. I would have tried to at least, I mean…"
"And I'll assume that pouch you took must've been enchanted to change his body? He was a chameleon, alright," Riptide kept asking, and Oracle nodded at that after a moment.
"And how did you know all this? In years we didn't see any hint of betrayal in Cirrus…" The Mudwing growled.
"T-That is an excellent question, you see…"Oracle was clearly thinking quickly about something. "Some time ago, I managed to spring a trap on one of the queen's loyal subjects to ask questions, and they actually knew about this whole plan with Chameleon…"
Qibli gave that lie some thought, not really a bad one, although Oracle's tone could've sounded more convincing, but since spreading around the news of a Nightwing with super detailed foresight could be troublesome, it should do well enough.
"Hm, I see…" Riptide seemed to be thinking about that answer, clearly seeing the small hesitation that the Icewing had at the beginning, but the answer itself was technically solid. "I guess that I should thank you for dealing with the spy situation? Even though you technically attacked first? It's confusing, I wish we could actually interrogate Chameleon," he admitted.
"Sorry for the sudden attack, that was kind of the best idea we had to surprise Chameleon," Turtle apologized, having talked very little during this whole thing.
The Sandwing remained still and just kept his face up, being able to question and interrogate the Rainwing would probably be very useful, but during the heat of the moment, with someone screaming and seemingly dying horribly next to him, and the Rainwing clearly turning to do the same with him, Qibli went for a lethal strike for their safety, he imagined his own face melting, or the Rainwing doing that to his other friends, Winter, Moon…
"I wish too that it didn't end like this… he's a massive jerk but hm… Iiii'll have to tell his daughter later what happened…" Oracle muttered and Kinkajou looked up at him.
"Wha-? His daughter? You actually know that? Wow, that's so unusual!" She said surprised.
"Hm, I'll explain later, but you all know her…" the Icewing whispered, clearly looking awkward.
Meanwhile as this conversation happened, Qibli was noticing that the sky was getting darker, with two moons shining tonight, quite a lot happened in a single day.
Riptide appeared to have noticed too, as he seemed to think for a moment. "How about this? I think we all could do with some rest, especially after some of the things that happened, get time to put thoughts in order," he offered.
"Oh hm…" Qibli could see Oracle's eyes gazing at everyone, and he was certain he gazed at Pyrite for an extra second.
She's important in some manner, but he didn't specify what's the deal with her, is she hiding something too? Qibli pondered.
But then he looked at his own group, touching the magical pouch with a talon for a moment, and then nodded at Riptide.
"That sounds fine by me at least…"
Winter scoffed. "There are a lot of things we need to talk about." After he said that, Qibli was rather sure the Icewing was thinking of a certain Seawing as well, who was seemingly trying to shrink a little.
"I could do with some sleep for sure," Kinkajou promptly agreed, rubbing the side that had slammed against a tree earlier.
"Tomorrow we'll fill you in more," Moon promised at Riptide, who nodded, then the Seawing had looked at his Mudwing companion, who began to fly towards the mountains.
Most likely going to gather a couple dragons to watch over from afar just in case we do any more sudden actions, Riptide's trying to get some goodwill and understanding, that makes asking questions potentially simpler. Qibli realized, but he was fine with it, there's a lot of things that could be explained before going to sleep without one of the Talons being nearby, that's probably why Oracle accepted.
Riptide nodded and began to flap his wings to take off. Pyrite looked over at everyone nervously and twitching for a moment before following after her leader.
Everyone remained still for some minutes, making sure nobody else was near, before many of their eyes turned towards Turtle, who was sitting in a tense manner, pressing against the ground as if hoping it'd swallow him.
"You better start answering soon, because hiding it won't work," Winter said with a low hiss.
With shaky steps, Oracle the Icewing had quickly stepped closer to Turtle, wings raised in a protective manner.
"None of you press him too much or get angry, especially you, Winter, hurt him and I am not telling you where's your brother," Oracle said coldly, taking advantage of Cirrus' already cold voice.
Actually being able to look at others straight in the eye instead of having to look up to us must be making him feel more confident than usual here. The Sandwing thought quickly, taken back by Oracle's words as much as everyone else.
Turtle looked at the transformed Icewing near him with surprise and a small grateful expression, and meanwhile on the other side, Winter looked as if he'd just been slapped.
The Icewing prince grunted, but Qibli could tell he was trying to hold back on his ire given how suddenly there was something important at stake.
"So… you already knew…" Winter said very slowly at Oracle, each word dripped with venom of its own, but he was at least holding himself still.
The taller Icewing looked back at Turtle, who slowly gave a nod.
"He sees the future, I doubt I could hide what I can do for very long against that," Turtle admitted.
"So you also admit to actually having that ability, you're an Animus," Qibli pointed out baffled.
"Woaaaah, you can do magic? That 's awesome! What big spells have you made?" Kinkajou asked eagerly and with extreme interest.
"Hm.. I haven't used my magic a lot, just for some small things…" Turtle said awkwardly, and Winter glared.
"Small things… You have a gift that most tribes would kill to have, or to get back, and you say you've barely used it? You could've ended 20 years of war with just a dozen words. Or since our seer here knew, he could have said details of the future and stop any threats beforehand, or make Hailstorm just appear here and save us this trip," Winter snarled, but stepped back when Oracle glared at him and whipped his tail down to the ground since Turtle was looking nervous and embarrassed.
"I don't like the idea of using it for big things… What if something goes wrong with a spell and it's my fault? And there always was the issue that my soul would be at risk if I used too much magic…"
"Prince," Oracle said, staring right at Winter. "I thought when you Icewings had Animus, they only were allowed one spell in their lives? What, since Turtle isn't an Icewing Animus, you think you can just ask him to do whatever you ask?" And after saying that he immediately flinched back with the way Winter glared at him.
"Don't you come at me with that topic, especially when Nightwings stole Prince Arctic from us so we got no more Animus for two thousand years!" He snapped at the transformed dragon. "That's hundreds of gifts that would help the tribe that we'll never get…"
Oracle looked unsure as if he wanted to argue more there, but he lowered his head apologetic. "R-Right… sorry for bringing that up…" Winter didn't respond at that, just glaring still angered.
And through all this, Qibli was silent and lost in his own thoughts.
Turtle IS an Animus, there's someone that can cast magic in our group and that's Turtle? Winter raised a good point regarding Oracle's knowledge, has Turtle done anything with that or he's been just sitting there doing nothing?
Immediately after having these thoughts, Qibli was glad that Moon wasn't able to read his mind, his mind knew he was being harsh on the Seawing, but if he hasn't done something then that'd feel so annoying, Qibli would've made at least a dozen different useful spells in the short time since he joined the academy.
Moon appeared to be thinking something as she said. "That chain you two brought along to ambush Icicle… was that done with magic? I don't know where in the mountain you could have gotten that."
Oh! She truly is quite smart, that's true, I was curious about that chain too, maybe Turtle did stuff?
He looked expectantly at the green Seawing, Turtle looked at Oracle who gave him an affirmative gesture before nodding.
"It was my idea… a warm feeling chain that'd instantly make an Icewing unable to use their frostbreath, and also feel just slightly weaker…" He confessed slowly.
Not a bad spell, get rid of their best weapon, use the temperature to lessen suspicion, and weaken just slightly so that it won't be felt in most cases but still helps. Qibli admitted to himself.
"Listen, please, it's up to Turtle to choose what to do with such power, and out of the "secret powers" in this group, the one that makes the most sense to try hiding, so much can be done with magic, good and bad, it's a lot of pressure for a dragonet." Oracle said looking at everyone present, with an expression that said he'll stand ground for this argument to defend his friend, who had smiled lightly in a grateful way.
But the good that can be done with magic can easily outweigh the bad, every problem can be solved with some words… I could write out spells for Turtle and they'd all be extremely helpful for everyone. Qibli thought with some bitterness in his mind.
"That 's fine! I wouldn't want him to feel sad or pressured, buuut I just want to ask if you ever do any other spell and I am around, to tell me! I'd love to see how magic is done!" Kinkajou said happily.
"I can't pressure anyone for how they use whatever gift they have," Moon said softly. "I've peered into the minds of so many without wanting to due to a lack of control, like Oracle said, it's your gift and your choice," she finished talking and Turtle was looking less tense.
Winter just leered some more in silence, clearly not amused by this, and Oracle noticed.
"Hey… we're getting your brother tomorrow, please don't make things too hard at the last moment," he pleaded, and after some moments Winter huffed and just laid down on the ground, grumpily facing away from them.
"Well… let's set down a campfire here," Oracle said awkwardly, approaching some trees to snap off branches, most likely appreciating his new height that allows him to do so. Seeing what he's doing, Qibli gathered some rocks and placed them in a circle, then Oracle dropped down the sticks, and Qibli proceeded to breathe some fire on the wood to make a nice cozy fire.
"You all can rest safe and assured that your friend Qibli is watching over and staying as guard during the night, we should be okay but still better be safe," the Sandwing said, and he meant it, but he also thought he could take that time to think.
Turtle laid down on the ground in the patch with the most grass that he could find at a middle distance from the campfire, Moon was rather near to the fire when she lay down, and Kinkajou of course didn't stop and rest but went to the nearby trees to gather some fruit.
Meanwhile, Qibli decided to sit down at some distance from the others for now, ears listening for anything and his eyes looking around as he guards the campsite. After five minutes he heard steps approaching him from behind and someone cleared their throat.
"Hey, Qibli… you think that hm, we could talk a little?" Oracle spoke, Qibli nodded so the Icewing sat down next to him.
"So, what is it?" The Sandwing asked him with curiosity.
Oracle remained silent for some more awkward moments as he often does, then he slowly said. "You know that it's not his fault…"
"Huh?" Qibli asked, quite surprised by that sudden statement.
"Turtle… he was simply born that way, and being an Animus in the Kingdom of the Sea is quite a big deal, you've seen him, his personality, he enjoys not being the big center of attention," he explained.
Qibli turned his head to look at Oracle, why is he telling that to him in particular? He barely talked out loud about Turtle's gift.
"Qibli… I… I know what you feel, about the gifts of the rest, being with a couple royals and dragons with unique abilities…" Oracle admitted sheepishly and Qibli froze.
What? How could he know? How can he realize that I'm… jealous?
"And that you wish to be… an Animus…"
"And how do you know that?" Qibli questioned, his tone probably being a bit harsher than he actually meant. "I thought you didn't have the mind reading abilities."
"I don't, but you… huh well… admit it outright in the future, and I've seen that, what you wish, and what you feel regarding that topic…" Oracle slowly admitted.
Qibli didn't know what to think, so in the future he's honest about his feelings, who does he tell that to? Turtle? Now he was worried about how that might go, does he snap at Turtle out of jealousy in the future? Maybe that's why Oracle is talking to him about this now, he's been very protective of the Seawing.
"Sorry… I know it's a personal topic, but I felt that it's important that we talk about it… So, Qibli, you feel that if you had that power, you could do a lot of good, right?" He asked slowly.
Well, the scorpion is out of the sand, Qibli assumed he didn't have much choice right now, if the seer believes this topic is of importance, then there must be a reason.
"Yes, for years the only thing that has kept me alive in the Scorpion's Den was my mind, I am not stronger or faster than most other Sandwings. Wit is what's been keeping me alive, and I've seen plenty of crimes, death. Scared dragonets who deserved better families… Wouldn't you say that magic could fix all these things? A good Animus can shape the world for the better based on the stories I've read," Qibli said with honesty, but took note of Oracle's expression. "Do you think I'd be a good Animus?"
Oracle frowned, shifting nervously and looking down, clearly feeling extremely awkward about this.
"Do you think I'd be a bad one?" Qibli continued slowly, feeling his heart sink slightly, why should he be distrusted on this?
"W-Well… I don't want to say you'd be bad but, I… feel exactly due to how you are that it could really go either way…" Oracle whispered in a low volume, and Qibli couldn't believe this.
"But why? I'd only be doing things for the good of others, no little spells or just sitting and doing nothing, I would try for every spell to be able to help many people and be multi-purpose too, where's the wrong in that?" He questioned now.
After some more seconds of silence from the seer, Qibli quickly had a thought.
"Did you see something in the future that makes me not trustworthy with magic in your eyes?" He questioned, hoping that's not it.
"Weeell… there is that one time where you accidentally bring down a super sandstorm into the Sand Kingdom's palace with a magical item you got…" Oracle admitted and Qibli's eyes widened, he what?
"I do that…? Hm well, you just said it was an accident, one wrong use of magic can't speak for all my future uses of it, no?" Qibli tried to argue.
"It's not just that, it's also… you see, the way Turtle uses his magic, little and not for big things, using spells you'd consider more "useful" if really needed and someone talks to him about it… that's honestly the safer way to go with magic. You can rewrite the world, the rules, the dragons with magic… if every spell is one meant to bring big changes, that means a mistake, or if you actually do something based on wrong knowledge, that'd mean big issues too?" Oracle tried to explain and Qibli thought quickly about it.
"There is logic to that admittedly, but at the same time in the hypothetical that a mistake does happen, then couldn't another spell just fix it back up? Or I could cast something that tells me when something went wrong," the Sandwing replied.
"And here's the big moral dilemma… What's Right and Wrong?" Oracle said, and Qibli looked baffled at him after such a question, so he explained himself. "Qibli, you are one of the most loyal dragons there are alongside being one of the smartest, loyalty is an amazing quality, but there can be something like being too loyal with some circumstances…"
"Care to elaborate on that?" Qibli pondered, trying to hear his side.
"Okay… let's make a "what if" scenario, alright? Imagine yet another timeline with some changes, where you are born and live under similar circumstances to your regular life, but you were born an Animus…" Oracle began to say, and Qibli was looking at him with interest so he cleared his throat.
"Your loyalty to Queen Thorn wouldn't really just waver, right? If things in that timeline remained mostly the same."
"Of course not! Queen Thorn is one of the best queens that Pyrrhia has ever gotten, she's been a great mentor throughout my life," Qibli said, shaking his head.
"Okay, so in this other timeline… Thorn still becomes Queen of the Sandwings, but for an example, three years later another tribe decided to wage war against your tribe… as an Animus, you'd believe that you have to do anything to help your tribe during a war, yes?"
"That is what an Animus should do, aim to end a war when they can," Qibli agreed now.
"That is easier to say, to just believe one should say some words and end any conflict, but it all depends on how it ends. Qibli, if there's a big battle going on between your tribe and the other tribe, and your queen tells you to cast a spell to make the enemies drop their weapons and surrender, you'd do it?"
"Getting a quick surrender? That means there wouldn't even be need to shed blood or kill someone in that battle, that's just a good spell," Qibli nodded, and Oracle seemed to be trying to keep a neutral expression.
"Alright… now let's say that to end the war, which we'll say lasts a good couple years and so everyone is tired, your queen ordered a spell to completely break apart the leading and the order of that tribe by saying something like… "I enchant this blade so that it appears in front of every female of that royal family and kills them", so the queen, any sisters, daughters, even newborn dragons and possibly eggs… they just keep dying until you revert the spell. Would you do it?"
Qibli looked in absolute shock the more that Oracle spoke, that's such an extreme example and right away he wanted to say that neither Queen Thorn nor him would do that.
But the worst thing is that he didn't find himself able to say that a second later as he actually considered the question in detail. A Qibli born as an Animus, so he'd probably have been giving his services to Thorn with magical means since early childhood, casting possibly hundreds of spells across the years while helping her… would that make her and Qibli change? Thorn has a will of steel, but being able to order virtually anything, might she possibly grow more complacent? And after several years in yet another war, hundreds of dragons would die, very likely including ones that Qibli knows, and Animus cannot bring back the dead, would he possibly grow bitter at the other tribe? Want to end the war however he can?
"And that other question I said… forcing a surrender is literally controlling other dragons against their will, if you say that you would do it without hesitation, what would stop you from using spells like that more and more? Control them to fight back against their own tribe? Control the queen to order whatever you may want?"
Qibli pressed his talons on the ground, his mind racing at maximum speed upon being told that, controlling others… Indeed, what stops his spells from escalating? After all, technically… controlling the rival Queen would be one of the best tactics to end conflict, just having her order a stop…
His wit and his mind that have taken him far in life could really cause mayhem as well.
"... I really could make a very dangerous Animus." Qibli finally admitted.
There was a cold touch against his side, Oracle having nervously placed down a talon there and trying to comfort.
"I… am really sorry for saying all this to you and so suddenly, you literally just found out Turtle is an Animus like two hours ago, and here we're talking about this and what you'd do, I realize it's not fair…" He muttered apologetically.
"No, you are right, staying jealous like this when now not even I am sure if I'd do any better as an Animus, I think I needed to hear that." Qibli said with a sigh.
"Hey, Qib… I, just wanted to make you see that point of view, reconsider what it means to have power, and the responsibility that comes with using it, in the future, you make a realization about what it entails to have such power, but we're also trying to avoid that future for several reasons so, I thought that helping you see that now… maybe in this future you could be entrusted power, I thought it was important to have this talk because…"
"Because…?" Qibli said back, wondering what it is now.
The Icewing sighed, and opened the new pouch that he got from Chameleon and brought a talon inside, and after a moment he pulled out a scroll from a black leather case and held it tightly.
"Okay, I… think it's a good time to tell you, all of you, more specific details of the future, and have you know why we had this talk. I did this to prevent as much arguing and in-fighting between us as possible, you'll understand most of it in a few minutes.
Oracle stood up and turned towards the others. "Hey everyone… before you all go to sleep. Right now at midnight by the campfire… how about we talk about ghost stories?"
Several heads turned to look at him as Oracle stepped closer, and Qibli noticed something. Moon saw the scroll and its case and had a shocked expression on her face.