Chapter 1 - The Perilous Prophecy pt. 1

A/N. Initially I wanted each book to be it's own chapter, but... it didn't go too well, as you can see. Anyways, enjoy!

Peril opened her eyes, groggy from sleep. This usual sensation was unfortunately accompanied by an intense, low thrumming in her skull. She sat up sharply, clutching her head with a talon. Slowly, the pain began to fade and she dropped her arm down, exhaling in relief.

She looked around, expecting the red fabric and white walls of Ruby's palace but was met with uneven walls and muted tones. She was in a cave. What? Had she already made it back to JMA and was experiencing some sort of vertigo? But this didn't look like any room in the academy she'd been in, let alone her room. And… she'd like to say that Jade Mountain was decidedly more… clean. So, that left the question, where was she?

"Wha-" her exclamation of confusion was abruptly interrupted by her choking on air. She cleared her throat but then stopped. There was a notable difference in how her body felt. It felt… smaller.

"It's too early, Spark." A voice tiredly spoke out, causing Peril to whip her head around to identify the speaker. The dragon was shrouded in shadow and was lying down, back turned to her so she couldn't make out any details. "Go back to sleep."

Peril stared at the figure for a moment, processing the statement.

"Are you talking to me?" she asked, trying to ignore the strange feeling of speaking. The dragon didn't respond or move initially, but got up after a pause, turning and walking towards her. The dragon appeared to be a young male sandwing, about 6 or 7 years old. He stopped close to her but a decent distance away like a reasonable dragon, which made Peril realize that either this 'Spark' character was a firescales who looked enough like her to fool a tired dragon or that he knew who she was. He sat down and looked up at her.

"Sorry, have you been having nightmares again, Spark?" he asked, apologizing with his eyes.

"I'm… not Spark" Peril replied, "Um, who are you?"

The sandwing's eyes widened, clicking his claws against the stone.

"...I'm Qibli." he replied carefully, tipping his head forwards and down in a coaxing motion. He noticeably lacked a scar.

Peril thought about that for a moment before deciding that was, in fact, very wrong.

Breakfast was cows. The usual - at least, that's what her new memories said. It was a very strange and dizzying thing that Peril wasn't going to focus on more than was necessary. She had gone back to sleep after a brief conversation with older-Qibli. When she woke up, she ultimately decided that she was going to pretend that nothing had happened and that she wasn't anybody but Spark - which she was but she was also Peril and her head was hurting again. Kestrel dropped a hunk of meat at her feet, looking at her questioningly.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Her voice was somewhat muted but not dead, like she was tired or sad. Apparently this was normal.

"I'm fine, mom." Peril replied gently, taking the meat in her talons and taking a bite. At that moment older-Qibli had returned from fetching the older versions of Moon and Turtle.

"No." He interjected, prompting her to roll her eyes, "She had another nightmare, Ms. Kestrel."

Kestrel turned to look at her with concern whilst Peril shot Qibli a look of mock annoyance.

"Qibli." she said, in alignment of how Spark - who was her, she reminded herself - would've reacted, which came surprisingly naturally. She sighed, turning to her mother- her mother. "It's… nothing, really."

Moon cocked her head. Moon was- Moon was big. Well, she wasn't the largest dragon, per se, but compared to young-Moon? Huge difference. Peril then remembered - or re-remembered? - that this Moon also had freaky nightwing powers that she probably couldn't hide from.

"Do you want me to read to you tonight?" Turtle asked as Moon scrunched up her face in thought, "I really don't mind."

Turtle here was different in a different way. He was a bit larger, sure, but not to the extent of Moon, who was about the same size as him here. Older-Turtle was… slimmer? He had less volume in his body relative to young-Turtle and was a bit longer. She snorted. Dare she say that Turtle looked anywhere close to fit.

From what Peril had pieced together in the brief moment of clarity after waking up the second time when she was rudely awakened by someone, namely Winter, who was currently lounging by the river, was that she was in the cave that Clay and his friends grew up in. Also, she and the remaining original Jade Winglet minus Kinkajou (poor dragon, always seemed to miss out somehow) were the dragonets of destiny, what? Yeah, after sifting through her new memories, apparently she was a DoD now? And her age was shifted to match, which explained why talking felt so weird and how Qibli and the rest were bigger. Except Winter. He looked roughly the same, just scaled up slightly. So, that meant one of three things. Either this was a dream, there were some animus shenanigans going on or that her life as Peril had been a dream. The first was starting to look unlikely and she was desperately hoping the third wasn't the case. She remembered that Turtle had asked her a question and decided to answer it rather than staring at him.

"That'd be nice; not because of nonexistent nightmares, I just like it when you read to me." she replied. Turtle smiled brightly.

"Okay!" he said.

It was around midday - how she could tell, she didn't know - when a large, imposing nightwing arrived. The guardians were all pretty on edge the whole day - there were five guardians, she was pretty sure Clay had said three, and she was pretty sure two of them were either courting or pining for each other - and this was probably why. Peril wasn't scared of most dragons, wary, sure, and most whom she feared were from past trauma, like Scarlet. But this dragon gave an air of… authoritative death, was the way to put it. Listen to him or risk the worst of dragonkind. Also, she was pretty sure that he was killing them in his mind or something. He was surveying the dragonets, looking at them all with contempt, but when he got to Winter his face rippled in disgust. He pivoted his head slowly to glare down at her mom, who managed to hold her ground. The large black dragon lifted one long claw, slowly, ever so slowly, and pointed at Winter, who flinched back.

"What. Is. THAT?" he said, voice loaded with enough venom to kill twenty dragons mid flight.

Turtle took a step back, pupils constricted. Peril glanced at Winter, who seemed to want to appear unfazed but was trembling slightly

"There was an accident." Kestrel said coolly, very unlike what Peril had gathered from her memory, "We lost the mudwing egg. We had to get one from somewhere else- "

"From the- " Morrowseer, as Peril finally remembered, tried to interrupt, but Kestrel was not easily moved, continuing resolutely.

"-in case the prophecy was salvageable."

Surprisingly, Webs stepped up.

"We have five dragonets." he said, "That's all that matters."

Morrowseer peered down at Winter for a few more moments in revulsion. Peril wondered why Hvitur had not yet spoken up as he was quite protective over the dragonets, going as far as being the 'father figure' dragon of the five guardians. She quickly looked around the room to find that he was absent. She tried to discreetly turn to Turtle to ask about him.

"Oh," Turtle whispered back, "he's in the scroll cave. He's an icewing; didn't want to provoke Morrowseer, Moon said." Peril nodded. However, it seemed that they weren't discrete enough and Morrowseer turned to look at them. He specifically focused on her, face unreadable.

"What's wrong with this one?" he growled out, a low rumble, flicking his tail in her direction. "She seems to be… defective. You are aware of the policies on defects in the Sky Kingdom, yes?"

Mom looked like she wanted to practically rip his eyes out and shove it down his throat. Her outrage was contained to seething, though barely.

"Those 'policies' are precisely why I left, Morrow-seer." She pronounced each syllable of his name with emphasis, as if forcing herself to eat a food she disliked to reinforce her contempt; the way she spoke was a borderline hiss. Peril had never seen her mother so angry at another individual, not here or in the other world.

…

Yeah, that's what she's going to call it from now on. Clears up a lot of confusion.

Morrowseer actually reacted to Kestrel, shifting a talon slightly to give himself a better stance and raising a brow. The two had a stare down for a short eternity before the nightwing flicked his tail and walked over to Moon, his every movement being set aflame in mom's gaze.

"We'll talk about the icewing later." he said before promptly dragging Moon into a separate cave by her arm. Moon looked very much like she didn't want to be in such a situation and, to be fair, Peril wouldn't either.

As soon as they were out of earshot - well, Moon might still be able to hear - Kestrel let out an agonized breath, shaking. Asha put a tentative talon on her back to try to sooth her. Dune just sat there, arms crossed. Webs held his head low, looking at the ground.

"How dare he talk about the dragonets like that." Kestrel choked out through heavy breaths. "He called my daughter defective. Defective. My daughter." She stumbled forward but was caught by Asha and she curled into herself. There was a clamor of talons and suddenly Hvitur was in the room, gazing over everyone, evaluating their expressions. Asha looked up at him with tearful eyes, though not quite crying.

"What happened? I heard a lot of noise."

Nothing was said for a while. Winter was on the floor and Turtle had been staring where Morrowseer had been. Qibli looked like he had been bitten. Eventually, Webs looked up.

"Come on." He said, voice tender. "We need to talk."

He moved to walk away. Dune followed suit. Hvitur stood in the doorway, breathing and looking at Asha for advice, who just shrugged, gesturing towards the two departing guardians with her snout. He nodded and followed them.

Asha nudged Kestrel lightly and whispered something in her ear. Kestrel had a delayed reaction, shaking her head and eventually getting up to follow the others.

"Mom?" Peril said before she could fully leave the room, surprising herself when her voice cracked.

"Yes, Spark?" she asked, quiet and raw, turning her head to see her. Peril gulped.

"I love you."

There was a moment of silence as Kestrel processed.

"I love you, too."

"We're leaving"

Peril looked up from the stone tablet she was reading, finding Winter in front of her.

"Excuse me, what?"

Winter tilted his head in a way that somehow conveyed urgency. As far as Peril could tell he'd always been like that in both worlds.

"We're leaving." He repeated, "Pack your…" he paused, remembering her condition, "Pack what you can," he amended, "The guardians want us at the entrance cave by midnight." He then turned to leave. Peril sat there for a moment as she digested the information before jumping up to her talons in alarm.

"What?" she asked, this time in confusion rather than clarification, "We're leaving?"

Winter nodded.

"The guardians have deemed this place unsafe." And he promptly left, leaving Peril alone in the cave. She stood there for a moment before racing off to collect the few valuables she owned in this world. This included a couple small stone tablets, a few toy's she was given as a hatchling and her girdle, predictably also made of stone. Well, the base was made of stone. The top where the food would be cooked was fashioned by a hardy metal in order to conserve some of the heat. The rest was stone because she was hot enough to make the poor heat conduction of stone not matter. According to Spark's memories, she was given it for her fifth hatching day, the same one where Moon was given her crescent necklace. The girdle was actually her largest possession; the stone tablets were rather small and thin and the girdle was about two-thirds as long as she was.

As quickly as she could, which wasn't very, due to what she was carrying, she made her way to the entrance cave where she found everyone waiting. Turtle was carrying a few bags, probably filled with his story scrolls. There were only three bags, so she assumed he left all of his blank ones behind. Moon had barely anything with her, only a single pouch. Qibli had his guitar slung around his back and was holding a small box. He looked especially disappointed, most likely because he couldn't bring his drums, another turning-five present. Winter had a tan bag covered with color and drawings, filled with his art supplies. The guardians had their own possessions as well as a few necessities. Peril put her things down, heaving. Kestrel stepped forward.

"Everyone here?" she called. She was answered by a variety of scattered responses. She nodded. "Stand back." she ordered and took a string, setting it alight. There were a few tense moments of nothing, before suddenly the cave shook and trembled with a mighty boom, making her flinch.

"What was that?" Peril exclaimed.

"She blew up the cave so that Morrowseer can't get to us." Moon said plainly.

"Okay!" Kestrel shouted, trying to be heard over the collapsing tunnel, "Everyone out, quickly!" She then took Peril's - well, Spark's, but right now they were one in the same - girdle, slinging it over her back in a way that didn't obstruct her wings. Everyone funneled through the one-dragon wide doorway as swiftly as possible, Hvitur going last to make sure everyone was out. There was a deafening roar that pierced the sky, big and echo-y, sound escaping and being amplified by the skyhole.

"Doesn't sound like Mr. Seer was too happy about that." Qibli unhelpfully commented.

They were resting by a river, taking a break from flying all morning. It wasn't yet noon, but the sun was high. Turtle, Moon and Winter were taking a swim whilst Qibli rested on the bank fiddling with his guitar. The guardians were mostly stretching and resting their wings, making plans for what they should do moving forward. Peril hummed a tune, sitting on a large flat stone part of the bank, absently listening to their conversation whilst periodically turning the meats. She could without burning them, after all, it was called firescales, not fire-claws. Honestly, she wished she had figured this out in the other world. Though, it seemed growing up with Turtle and Qibli's ideas lent some benefits. If she somehow finds a way back, though, that'd be nice, as long as that didn't strip these dragons of Spark. She couldn't do that to them, especially not this Kestrel.

"We need to contact the Talons." Webs insisted. Peril flicked her ears in their direction. "They need to know what's going on." Mom grumbled.

"We know, Webs," she said wearily, "But we have many other things to worry about first." she looked up from the knife she was sharpening - a present from her father, apparently. Whether or not it was Chameleon, Peril wasn't sure (nor was Spark), but she might give this version of him a chance if he was willing to part with precious items like the ornate blade mom carried. "We can't stay in one place for long," Kestrel continued, "we need every dragon available to help but we can't stay with the Talons. They're too large and have a massive target on their backs already. It's extremely risky. Three dragons can't protect themselves and five others, and if we do send a message, it has to be two dragons."

Dune had a stone face, as usual, but Asha looked particularly out of it. Hvitur was a bit absent; flying in the summer heat didn't serve an icewing well. So, unusually, Webs was the most active participant besides mom.

"We can't manage like this by ourselves for long." He pushed. "We need support."

Kestrel exhaled a long breath.

"I know, Webs. I know."

Peril noticed that the food was done cooking and gladly interrupted the discussion, calling everyone in for a late breakfast and sliding the girdle off her tail.

"Food's ready." she called, keeping her voice audible but not harsh.

Asha walked up in between Kestrel and Webs, putting a talon on both of their shoulders.

"Come," she said with pleading eyes, "Let's take a break."

Kestrel gladly accepted, tension releasing from her shoulders as she made her way to the eating area. Webs looked like he wanted to continue, but acquiesced. Asha looked at the two depart with worry, holding out an arm in half-reach. Hvitur strode up beside her, eyes half closed and wings almost open. He leaned into her, shaking his head.

"I feel like I'm going to pass out." He breathed, trying to pry his eyes open. Asha turned to face him.

"... Go take a lay down." she said, "I'll have Winter prepare some ice for you. What food would you like?"

Hvitur inched his head in her direction, looking at her through the side of his eye.

"What did Spark prepare?" he asked.

"Medium rare to well done steak, grilled fish or cold soup." Peril called from across the clearing. She had prepared the soup warm initially but had it cooled down by Winter. Hvitur held his head down - an easy feat, considering his posture was originally as so - in thought.

"... Soup." he said eventually before being escorted to a shady spot to rest by Asha.

It was a quiet morning. They had stayed in the same place overnight to let Hvitur rest. It was nice. Winter had taken this opportunity to paint the scenery; he had set up a foldable easel by the river and was halfway finished. Moon had briefly confronted her about 'Peril' but it was dealt with quickly and she was very understanding about it; she was surprisingly okay with her not wanting to explain everything. Currently, she was in the middle of playing a verbal game with Qibli. It was quite entertaining. What she found very amusing about this Qibli was that he had a habit of referring to every adult dragon as 'Mr.', 'Ms.' or 'Mrs.' which Peril figured was probably because he didn't grow up with Cobra as a parent in the cut-throat-ness of the Scorpion Den.

…

I wonder how Thorn is doing.

Asha and Webs weren't here, though. It had been decided that they should be the ones to deliver the message, so they were off doing that.

Peril heard talons behind her and saw Qibli look up. She turned around to find Dune standing there.

"Dune?" she said.

"May I sit here?" he asked. Peril blinked, surprised by the question. Dune had always been the most distant guardian, not saying much and rarely interacting with her or the other dragonets.

"Um, I don't mind- Qibli?"

The dragon in question shrugged, gesturing to a spot on the sand next to them. Dune walked over and sat down with a huff. Peril and Qibli continued their little game, bouncing back and forth. It was a story game, introduced to the group by Turtle. You would be presented with a situation by someone and you would have to respond with what you would do. The other dragon would, in turn, explain the outcome of your actions and so on.

"Bad idea." Dune interjected one moment.

"... huh?" Peril asked, turning to face him.

"You risk harming the rest of the group. A better idea would be to go around."

She thought about that for a moment.

"Okay." she said, telling Qibli that she would do that instead. He looked quite amused and they continued, Dune adding input every so often.

Lunch hadn't yet come when the sky filled up with the sound of wingbeats and a maniacal laughter that haunted her dreams. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother flinch.

Scarlet.

Peril turned to face her mother, who seemed to be running through every possibility in her head staring at the descending red shadow. After a moment's stillness she flicked her head towards Hvitur, awake and looking much better.

Run. She mouthed. Get out of here. Get help.

Hvitur promptly dashed through the forest, Scarlet and her guards never knowing he was ever there - in part due to because he was resting in the far side of the clearing under shade.

Scarlet and her seventeen guards landed heavily, scattered across the glade. Slowly the queen of blood lifted her head, as if she were the star of a play.

"Well, well, well," she drawled out excitedly in her I'm-going-to-enjoy-watching-you-suffer way, "what do we have here?"

Kestrels eyes were contracted beyond belief, staring at her nightmare.

"Nothing to say, Kestrel, dear?" Scarlet spoke, ever grandiloquent and glib, "How about we play a familiar game. Ooh! And we have a river here, too! Perfect, wouldn't you say, Kessie?"

That got Kestrel to react, digging her claws in and gritting her teeth. It took Peril longer to realize that she was talking about Sky.

"No." Kestrel hissed. Peril assumed this back-and-forth would go on for a lot longer but Winter decided to blast a skywing in the head with frost breath.

Peril was suddenly restrained by a material she didn't recognize in the form of a net that somehow didn't catch fire. Almost all of the guards descended upon Winter but were intercepted by Dune, who actually managed to fight off several of them. Moon was handling herself pretty well, considering her senses were most likely overloaded right now. Qibli and Turtle had joined forces which was able to handle two guards decently. Mom had been trying to fight off the three guards on her whilst attempting to free Peril, who was still stuck in the fireproof net.

Everything came to a halt when a reverberating crack rang out.

Scarlet yawned.

Dune was dead.

A/N. Each book will have another character "wake up" when they are the protagonist. So, for TDP it's Peril as the replacement, for TLH it'll be Turtle, ect. Once a character "wakes up" they will keep their memories. Originally I was going to do all 15 books like this but... yeah. Not happening.