THE MASSIVE SANDWING folded her wings as she stared down at the smaller dragons occupying the room, her charcoal eyes settling on Aether for a noticeably longer moment before an unsettling grin overtook her face. She said nothing more to them, slithering between Metalmark and Siphonophore toward the chambers she would be sharing with the hybrid.
Aether shifted uncomfortably, but offered a smile toward Fire Opal when it noticed his expression. "Hey, don't jump to conclusions. Maybe she's nice."
Appleseed turned up her nose. "Sure didn't look nice." She commented. "Did you see the way she looked at us? Like a predator before the pounce."
"It was a bit unsettling," Chimpanzee remarked, the scales along his back blooming with green. "What if she decides to kill you in your sleep?"
"That would be a bit difficult, considering I don't go down easily." It replied, swishing its tail back and forth, glancing around at everyone before it huffed, only to be interrupted by a roar coming from the room. It jerked to the side and spun, slithering quickly into its room just in time to see Mirage snap her jaws toward a small blue bird that dashed through the air, arcing toward the hybrid and diving under one of its wings.
The SandWing raised her wings, landing a few paces away fromAether in a threatening manner. Her white fangs were bared into a threatening growl, enough so that the young hybrid found itself cowering back in surprise and terror.
A soft, strangled chirp emerged from its wing, and the bird peeked out, wiggling from the interesting hiding place and fluttering to sit upon its horns. Mirage narrowed her eyes.
The dragon stepped back, tail swishing low to the ground. Three moons, she was massive, larger than itself.
"I take it that you're my roommate, then?" The SandWing stared down at the hybrid, interest sparking in her near-charcoal gaze. She then moved, slithering around it and brushing the venomous tip of her tail against its scales, the gesture vaguely threatening. "Aether?"
Mouth dry, the young dragon flinched away from her tail. "Yeah." It grunted, tucking its wings closer to its sides and ducking its head as the bird chirped out nervously.
"Hmmm . . ." She lowered her snout in turn to brush against the side of its face. "You look more like a sparrow to me." Her teeth bared slightly. "A little sparrow."
I'm not little.Aether thought indignantly, but wisely didn't move or retaliate against her, not with her fangs capable of tearing the scales off its face.
The massive SandWing pulled back after a long moment, teeth bared in an unsettling grin as she curled her tail just slightly. "Well, I assume you already know, my name is Mirage."
"I read your name on our door earlier."
"Oh, but introductions are so much more personal, darling."
Aether tensed. "Don't call me that. I'm no one's darling."
Mirage raised her head, a motion scarily similar to a serpent rearing before the strike, but she said nothing else, that smirk never leaving her face as she turned and slithered toward her own side of the room.
The young hybrid took a step back and felt for the door, pushing it open lightly and returning to the common area.
As soon as it was no longer trapped in that room with the fearsome SandWing, Aether let out a soft exhale, twitching one wing as a signal to the little bird perched on its horns. In response, he let out a soft chirp, shaking out his feathers and rubbing his beak against its face in a preening motion to calm the both of them down. It would admit that the way her presence alone instilled a thrashing heart was not something common with the young hybrid, and without saying anything to anyone lurking in the common room, it slithered out, emerging into the hallway.
All tension seemed to leave its body the moment it was alone, even the little bird had left the safety of his owner's presence to go flutter off and stretch his wings. Aether watched him go for a long moment, before stalking down the winding corridors of the barracks.
Since the sun had gone down, the halls were dark and void of most life forms, which didn't bother the young hybrid too much at that moment. It was content with wandering alone in silence, the sound of its talons clicking against the stone ground, passing by multiple doors leading to other squadrons. Blue Squadron was on the left, a few paces down from the hallway leading to the Purple Squadron, but there was only silence up until it came across the hallway leading to Yellow Squadron, the corridor where it suddenly became aware of voices.
Aether halted, glancing up as a small group of about five dragons emerged from the darkness of the corridor, marked with a yellow triangle. It recognized one of them immediately, the familiar light-colored SeaWing from earlier, who it had been talking to while waiting in line for the identification brand welding. She was walking alongside a blue-and-white RainWing, a near-black HiveWing, and a midnight-black dragon with ice-blue glowing stripes, leading the hybrid to believe it was another DustWing, perhaps the one Candy Crab had been fawning over before.
When the group noticed it there in the main corridor, they stopped walking, staring at its massive frame for a long moment before the young SeaWing broke the silence.
"Aether!" She chirped, bouncing over and flinging her arms around the lower portion of its neck in a surprise hug. "Isn't this place amazing?"
The young dragon pulled back slightly after a moment, arching its neck. "It's certainly something," it replied, "quite the interesting campus." It glanced toward the other three dragons who approached. "Who are your friends?"
Candy Crab looked over her shoulder at those who accompanied her. "Oh, those are my squad-mates, Rottnest is the HiveWing, he's pretty cool, though don't talk about his cooking, he'll stab someone. Parakeet is the RainWing, a bit of a hothead, has jumpscared me twice already, and likes to eat." She waved a talon at the hybrid who lurked in the shadows. "And that's Blackband."
"You've mentioned him before," Aether replied with amusement, hiding a snort when the smaller dragon shot it a glare. "What are you all doing out here, anyway?"
Blackband shrugged a shoulder, his sleek back scales outlined only by the faint glow of blue from his stripes. It admitted that he was good-looking, though not in a sense that others would think. Candy Crab was clearly head over heels for him already, despite having laid eyes on him a few hours, maybe less, ago.
"We were just exploring," he replied, "seeing what the academy is like." Tilting his head, he stared up at Aether. "What about you?"
"Much of the same," it admitted, "Getting some fresh air; I don't like being cooped up in those small quarters, especially with strangers."
The other hybrid nodded. "Understandable. The exit is down the hall and to the right, leads to a pretty spot on the roof, giving off a charming view of the stars."
It brightened up slightly. "Oh, thank you, Blackband," dipping its head, it slithered past the group, murmuring a farewell to Candy Crab before allowing the shadows of the Yellow Squadron corridor to swallow its massive figure.
Aether moved gracefully through the darkness, eyes adjusting to the gloom after a moment and able to notice different cracks and crevices in the stonework. Eventually, however, it found the door that Blackband had mentioned, pushing through to the outside.
As promised, the stars were visible up in the night sky, as well as two of the three moons, one being a thin talon-shape and the other a little more than half visible. The third was nowhere in sight.
It walked out onto the roof of the barracks, the casual scrape of its tail-band against the stone grating to the ears, but it eventually made it to the edge of the building, which overlooked the massive courtyard and gave a direct view of the palace where classes would take place.
It was honestly beautiful.
Sitting out there reminded Aether of when it and its twin sibling, Spice, would sit out late into the night, under the stars, watching them twinkle when they were both still young, freshly orphaned dragonets. That seemed like such a long time ago, and yet, it was one of the young hybrid's fondest memories, one of the earliest, apart from the death of their parents.
I wonder what they would think of Spice and I being separated like this, it thought sullenly to itself, grinding its talons into the rock beneath it.They were always adamant that we look out for each other. It was mom's last wish.
Exhaling softly, Aether shook the familiar faces of its family from its mind. Sunninglark and Velvet were dead, and Spice was holding down the fort back home, awaiting its return. There were things to do, and the quicker that the hybrid accepted that, the quicker this year would pass.
It just needed to tough it out. School couldn't be that bad, after all.
"Oh, hello there."
Aether turned slightly at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, only to be greeted by a significantly smaller individual, with pale turquoise scales patched with blue and yellow blotches. It recognized the familiar RainWing almost immediately, with his flowery necklace and intelligent eyes.
"Principal Peacock," it dipped its head to the older dragon, pulling its wings closer to its body.
He stepped closer and swayed his tail, glancing up at the sky with interest before returning his gaze to the hybrid before him. "Nice night to see the stars," he commented.
It nodded once in agreement. "That it is," its voice was tense, a bit unnerved with this dragon close to it, but that was all the discomfort it showed before it forced a pleasant smile. "Come to enjoy them as well?"
"Yes," the principal replied, equally as pleasant. "The night is perfect for observation."
"Do you study the stars?" Aether asked curiously.
Peacock shook his head. "No, but my son is quite fascinated by them. You tend to be drawn toward the interests of family."
"That's true," it admitted, watching as he raised his eyes back toward the dark sky. It did the same, and the silence stretched on for a long moment before Peacock once again broke it.
"You're one of our DustWings," the RainWing's voice was quieter than before, when he'd been speaking at the opening ceremony. "Our SilkWing-SkyWing, right?"
Aether nodded once, eyes scanning the school grounds below with interest, rather than looking down at the other dragon, seeing that it was considerably taller than the older RainWing. "Yes, I'm Aether."
"Intriguing," Peacock replied, his scales shifting from their usual pale teal to silvery-white under the moonlight. "And what brings you out so late, Aether"
It didn't make a habit of interacting with males that it didn't know, but as this was technically someone who held authority, the young hybrid elected to respond. "Couldn't sleep. I figured a nighttime walk would help clear my mind."
He nodded once. "I can understand and sympathize with your concerns." His voice, despite the words he spoke, seemed to lack just a sliver of empathy, which Aether took into account, but didn't dwell upon. "This is not your home," the prince continued. "You have no ties to this place. It must be hard to leave behind everything you know to come to school."
"Perhaps it was for a better reason than we think," Aether responded, lowering its head slightly. "A reason that has yet to be revealed to us. But I have to admit, leaving behind family and friends to interact with dragons I've never met before is . . . hard."
Peacock glanced up at her. "You left behind your family?"
"Of course." Its gaze turned quizzical. "My twin, the one with whom I shared my egg. We were separated, but told that only those invited could attend."
He nodded, tail curling out behind him. "I can sympathize in a sense," his voice was soft, "while I did not have any siblings, my son and I . . . we were separated due to the laws of the jungle. I could not keep him with me all the time, and thus sent him off somewhere else to be safe. In a similar way, you and your sibling do not cease being siblings just because you are far apart. Perhaps they can join you next year, when the new wave of dragons floods through those gates."
Aether's eyes clouded. "Maybe." The word came out as a whisper. I don't know if they'd ever accept authority over them, though.
Spice had always been a bit of a control freak, always lusting for power and never once bowing to authority, not to queens or anyone else. They were loyal to few, ruled by none.
The best combination for a hybrid whose life was less than perfect.
Still, it couldn't help but miss the comfort of their presence.
Peacock gave Aether a long look. "Perhaps you should head back to your barracks, young cadet." He told it calmly. "Curfew has long since passed, and despite you remaining on Academy grounds, it would benefit you to get some sleep. The first day of classes will be hard, and until you break in your new routine, it would be best to get as much sleep as possible."
The SkyWing hybrid shifted to a standing position, digging its claws into the material of the building they stood upon. "I suppose you're right." It admitted quietly, striding slowly to the edge of the castle's roof.
"Goodnight, Aether."
It glanced over its shoulder at the principal once more to find that he had disappeared from sight, the rooftop now empty of all life save for itself. A prickle of discomfort at the sudden chill of the night caused the hybrid to shiver slightly, turning and launching into the air with a majestic flap of its massive wings.
As it swooped down toward the entrance that would ultimately take it back to the quarters where it would be sleeping, Aether couldn't help feeling less certain about this entire Academy situation. Something didn't feel right, like a sliver of its own conscience was trying to warn it.
However, it pushed those feelings down, subduing them in the pit of its gut as it entered the small room.
Entering the cave within the quarters, the silence that greeted it was almost comforting. Mirage was curled up on her ledge, her deadly tail draped off the side in a near-relaxed position.
Aether stepped toward its own ledge and climbed up on it, its body heating the stone beneath to a comfortable temperature as it curled up.
Tomorrow was the start of a new dawn, and it wanted to make the best of a situation that brought it great apprehension.
It would make this work.