Nacreous's talon slid across the scroll that lay on his bed, reading it for what had to be the hundredth time. After all, he couldn't take it for granted; he only still had it because of his magic — a one-in-a-million, possibly even more. It kept him wondering if he was really a pure SkyWing, but then again, every time that thought crossed his mind, he remembered that it was possible SkyWings still had magic, albeit rare.

But at the very least, he felt content with his life — as much as he could anyway. He had everything he would need: a caring mother, and a father who raked in enough money to live comfortably and support around him whenever needed.

However, there were two things he wished he could change about his life more than anything: he wished his father didn't have to work so much, and, more importantly, he wished he hadn't been cursed with the burden of being an animus. Or more importantly, the only SkyWing animus.

"Nacreous!" he heard a voice call out from downstairs. "I'm home!" He looked over at the sundial sitting on his windowsill as its shadow danced around the 'four' mark. He quickly rolled his scroll up and set it on his shelf before grabbing a few unread scrolls and starting downstairs, a smile painted on his face.

When he reached the bottom steps, the sound of the faucet running filled the room as his mother relentlessly scrubbed away at the dishes while his father stood at the door. He pulled out a crumpled-up brown paper bag — which Nacreous assumed once carried his lunch — and threw it in the garbage by the door. When his father saw him, Nacreous ran towards him and gave him a great big hug. "Hey there, Nacreous," his father greeted. "How was school today?" he asked.

"It was fine," Nacreous said with a smile as he pulled away, proceeding to set his scrolls on the couch. He wasn't exactly lying though; none of the other SkyWing bullies had bothered him except for the daily lunch money he had to give them.

His father turned around back towards the counter. "Actually," he said as he began unzipping his bag. "I have a surprise for you." Nacreous felt a jolt of excitement run through him just at the mention.

"What is it?" Nacreous asked excitedly, smiling ear to ear. He was practically bouncing between his talons in anticipation.

"It is…" he trailed off as a talon dug around in the bag a bit. A few moments later, he pulled out a plastic container with some sort of cake or pastry inside. "...my special chocolate-covered cream puff recipe!" He placed the container in Nacreous's talons. Upon closer inspection, he could see twelve different cream puffs in the box.

"All of these for me?" Nacreous questioned. His father gave him a nod of approval. "Thank you," Nacreous said gratefully. His father's cream puffs were somewhat of a delicacy, only being made or brought home every once in a while — but this time, he didn't have to share them with anyone else.

"You're welcome," his father responded. "Don't eat them all at once though; you'll get a stomach ache." Although, the chances of all the cream puffs disappearing within the next week were close to zero; Nacreous never had a sweet tooth.

As Nacreous turned around to place them in the fridge, his mother began walking over as she dried her talons. "Speaking of surprises," his mother started. "Your mid-quarter report card came in the other day, and I saw your grades were all higher than ninety-fives. So tonight, we're going out to an expensive restaurant; make sure to get ready because we're leaving at eight!"

"Expensive?" Nacreous tilted his head in slight worry, although still excited. "How expensive?" Even though they were fairly well off, expensive in the Sky Kingdom usually meant you had to be as wealthy as royalty to order something and still have money to pay rent.

"Don't worry, Nacreous," his father interjected. "There's a discount going on for the founder's hatching day today. I heard it's one of the best and longest-running restaurants in the Sky Kingdom." The look on Nacreous's face was still uncertain. "Basically what I'm trying to say is order whatever in the clouds you want; we have the suns to cover it."

Nacreous sighed, feeling almost forced to agree, although still grateful. "Alright," he said reluctantly. He walked over to the couch and grabbed one of his scrolls before laying it gently across the glass table. His father sat down on the couch beside him with a bowl of leftover salad he swiped from the fridge and began munching away at it. His mother followed, sitting on the couch beside his father resting her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Nacreous exhaled, relaxed. He wished he could spend every day like this — spending time with his mother and father without a care in the world, going out to eat, and doing fun things. But in a way, it made the moments more precious, and that thought only made his smile bigger.

As the hot water from the showerhead hit Nacreous's face, he looked out through the little window to see that the sun was finally dipping below the horizon. Quickly, he finished applying his two-in-one scale polisher and body wash.

He turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, quickly bringing a towel to his face as the water dripped against the white tiled floor. He hoped that the scale polish wouldn't wipe off, considering the rushed manner in which he was drying himself.

"Nacreous!" his mother's voice rang out through the room. "Let's go! We're going to be late!"

"I'm coming!" Nacreous responded. Only half-dry, he took the moisture cap off of the candle and blew it out, threw the towel on the toilet seat, and opened the door to see his parents waiting for him by the door. The entire house was mostly dark, the only exception being the singular candle that illuminated the living room.

"Nacreous, you're still dripping wet," his father observed. "Just hope that you dry off on the flight there." On his way over to the door, he blew the living room candle out, obscuring the rest of the house in darkness. His mother opened the door, allowing the moons' light to light up the area a bit.

"Everyone ready?" she asked, though Nacreous assumed they were leaving regardless of what anyone answered that question with. "Alright, let's go." She took a step forward and launched herself into the sky. He and his father followed with his father next to his mother and him close behind.

As they flew high in the sky above the clouds — which wasn't exactly hard due to the height of the Sky Kingdom — Nacreous looked down at the thousands of different building lights as they flickered off in sync with the lowering sun.

He felt a pit of excitement as he thought about what he was going to eat and all the new foods he was potentially going to try. One thing he'd wanted to try for the longest time was sushi — everyone always told him it was disgusting, but he couldn't help but want to try it regardless.

He flew a little closer to his parents with a question lingering on his mind. "Mom?" he began. "What's this place called?" She said it was a popular and long-running restaurant, so maybe Nacreous had heard of it before; maybe it was one of the restaurants he'd seen and wanted to visit when walking through the Sky Kingdom.

"The Scorching Table, I think," his mother answered, not turning her head back and keeping her eyes forward. Nacreous remembered that name from somewhere but couldn't exactly put his claw on it. Maybe it was from when he walked through the Sky Kingdom, or possibly from eavesdropping on other dragonets. Point being, the name was strangely familiar.

After a few moments, his parents began descending in front of him, leaving Nacreous to follow a short distance behind. When they landed, Nacreous couldn't help but feel even more excited as he read the big red letters above the door, spelling out "The Scorching Table". The front door was made of foggy glass with dots of black scattered between the panes. The outside of the restaurant was made of black stone and cement with large windows all around.

Standing at the entrance of the restaurant was an older-looking SandWing who had to be at least fifty or sixty. He was holding a notepad with a pen, looking out into blank space, likely waiting for someone to come across and make his job a lot less boring.

As they approached the SandWing, he looked in their direction and got his pen ready. "Reservation?" he asked in a formal voice, bringing up his notepad to prepare to find their names. For a moment, Nacreous thought that they weren't going to get in. After all, his mother had never brought him to a restaurant that required a reservation.

"It should be under Arcus," his mother said, surprising Nacreous that she even had one in the first place.

The SandWing skimmed through the long list of reservations. "Let's see here. Arcus, Arcus, Arcus," he mumbled to himself for a few moments, until his claw stopped on what Nacreous assumed was a name. "Here we are, Arcus. And right on time, it seems. Right this way." The SandWing turned around and opened the door.

As Nacreous and his parents stepped forwards, the smell of hundreds of different meats and dishes filled the air, only making his stomach grumble more than it already was. Now that he was inside, he could see that the floors were made of glossy dark wood, matching the overall theme. The tables and chairs looked about the same, but the chairs had different markings etched into them that seemed to be in the shape of SkyWings and MudWings. As he took a closer look, some of the tables were much bigger, able to hold up to eight dragons, while others could only fit two or three.

But eventually something caught his eye as they continued. They passed a pillar in the middle of the restaurant that held two different professionally drawn pictures: one of a SkyWing and one of a MudWing, both smiling. Both of them had a necklace on that matched the color of the scales and the MudWing seemed to have scars all around his chest and right shoulder.

Below the MudWing's picture, the text read, "For being my third moon that lit up the sky every night, you never failed to make me feel like the most important SkyWing in Pyrrhia. And for that, I love you, MudWing."

Nacreous couldn't help but smile at the heartfelt message from who he assumed was the owner to his partner. They looked happy like they had finally found peace in life. Nacreous had no doubt that they spent everyday together until their last, happy.

The SandWing sat them down at their table for three and gave them each a fancy menu. It had the name on the back of it in red cursive letters. "A waiter will be here shortly to take your orders," the SandWing said, turning around and walking back to his post at the front door.

"First impressions?" his mother asked as she looked around the place, either admiring the dragons that actually belonged there in terms of money or the carefully crafted interior. "This place is really over the top," she commented.

"As it should be," his father said in a low voice. "If I'm paying this much, it could at least look pretty. I was half expecting a foot massage to come with my food." It garnered a giggle from his mother and his father picked up his menu and began reading.

Nacreous did the same, picking up his menu and dragging his eyes down the menu. All of the dishes had crossed out prices, leaving red scrawls of 'half price!' beside them instead. As he skimmed through the menu he saw several dishes, most of which he'd never even heard of in his life.

The ones he could pronounce were wagyu beef, fettuccine alfredo, kobe tartare, saffron risotto, and foie gras. All of them came with toppings which were either several variations of truffle or caviar, neither of which Nacreous had ever tasted in his life.

After a few moments, his eyes landed on one dish that piqued his interest: Dragon Fire Spice Lobster Tail — an original recipe only available at The Scorching Table. The description of the dish was, "A delicious lobster tail carefully seasoned with exotic dragon fire spices, served with a side of golden saffron rice and topped with edible gold flakes and a drizzle of truffle-infused butter."

Lobster was another type of seafood he had yet to try, but from what he'd heard, it was also delicious. On top of that, the dish's description only made him want to try it more. His mother's eyes lifted from her menu and looked up at Nacreous. "Find anything you like?" she asked.

"Yeah," Nacreous responded. "This one under the Originals section — Dragon Fire Spice Lobster Tail." He set his menu down, finally deciding on what he wanted.

"Dragon fire spice?" his mother questioned. "Won't that be a little hot for you, Nacreous? Whatever, it's your tongue, not mine." Although Nacreous wasn't entirely convinced they were talking about heat when it came to the spices."What about you, Mammatus?" his mother asked as she set her menu down.

"I think I'm getting the beef bour…" he tried, but quickly gave up after a few attempts. "Whatever this thing on the menu says." He pointed to a stew on the menu that read "beef bourguignon"; Nacreous couldn't even begin to understand how anyone could pronounce it, but he commended his father for at least trying.

It was a stew with chunks of slowly cooked beef in a red wine sauce with several different vegetables. The wine was the part that made it look incredibly distasteful to him, although his parents — and the restaurant — probably wouldn't let him order it for that exact reason.

He looked up from his menu to see a SkyWing who hadn't been there just a few moments prior carrying a notepad. "Hello!" the SkyWing started enthusiastically. "My name is Maroon and I'll be your waitress tonight," she said. "Are you ready to order?"

His mother was the first to speak. "Yeah. I'll get the filet mignon with pasta," she said. "and he'll get the Dragon Fire Lobster Tail." She pointed at Nacreous.

"And how would you like that cooked?" Maroon asked.

"Medium-rare, please," she answered. "And Mammatus will get…" she paused. "Mammatus, can you tell her what you're getting again?" Nacreous held back a laugh, watching both of his parents struggle to say the name of a dish at what'd likely be the most expensive restaurant they had and would ever be at.

"I'll get the…uh…" his father tried awkwardly. He pulled up his menu and pointed at the dish. "...Whatever this says?"

Maroon chuckled at the attempt. "The beef bourguignon," she corrected, smiling. "I struggled to say it on my first day, too." She paused as she wrote the orders down. "I'll get that out to you all right away." With that, she turned around and went into the kitchen.

His father looked over at the dragon who had just ratted him out. "Gee thanks, Arcus," he said with a sarcastic chuckle.

"Don't mention it," his mother replied with a smile. "Just be grateful you didn't order some of the other things on the menu," she noted. Nacreous took a peek at his menu only to see a few dishes whose names he couldn't even spell right if given the opportunity, let alone pronounce.

He rubbed his eyes as exhaustion began to set in; he usually wasn't up as late as it was. After all, with all the scrolls he read during the pastime and how early he usually woke up, it was surprising he hadn't fallen asleep earlier. His mother always told him that it was because he was a growing dragonet, but sometimes he suspected he was secretly part RainWing.

He rested his eyes for a few moments and leaned his head back, exhaling. "You tired, Nacreous?" his mother asked.

"A little…" Nacreous answered as he opened his eyes. "But I can still stay awake for the food."

"Alright, well take a nap for now then," she responded. "We'll wake you up once the food's here." Nacreous nodded his head and rested against the table before closing his eyes and using his arms as a cushion that also blocked the light. Even with the lights in the restaurant, he still felt like he could fall asleep forever.

It didn't take him more than a few minutes to fall into a sort of half-asleep, half-awake state. His dreams were blurry and made no sense from an outside view — not like they made much sense to him, either —, but it still felt good to take a nap, even if it was brief.

He was woken up he didn't know how long later by someone's voice. "Food's here, Nacreous," they said, shaking him gently. After a few moments of processing, he realized it was his father who said it. Nacreous looked up to see three plates of food being passed out by the same waitress from before. "He's been awake for a while," his father said, clearly directed to Maroon.

"Ah, I have those days too," Maroon sighed with a smile as she passed out the meals. First Nacreous's, then his father's, then his mother's. "Sometimes I wake up for work an hour or two early and just can't get back to sleep, and I'm exhausted by the time I get home. Then I go to sleep early and the cycle repeats. Anyways, enjoy your meal!" She turned around and walked away to take another table's order.

As Nacreous looked down at his dinner, it shocked him how good they made the dish look. The lobster was carefully set in the center of a pile of golden rice with gold specs all over. There was a bowl to the side that contained the truffle-infused butter to dip his lobster into. But there was one issue with the whole dish that made it difficult for Nacreous: he didn't know how to take apart a lobster.

"I hope it's as good as it looks," his father commented as he stabbed a fork into the stew.

"Yeah, hopefully, this price tag isn't just for that Scorching Table presentation," his mother added, cutting her steak with a knife. The inside was a perfect medium-rare, cooked to perfection.

He was hesitant to ask at first as he saw both of his parents digging into their food, but his father must've noticed the untouched lobster on his plate. "Something wrong, Nacreous?" he asked.

"I…uhm…" he started. "don't know how to take apart the lobster." He turned his head away in slight embarrassment.

His father stood up and walked over to his seat. "Here, I'll show you how, Nacreous," his father said as he grabbed his lobster. "First, you want to grab the tail and the body like this—" he had it horizontal in his talons, grabbing the base of the tail and middle of the body "— then twist them both in the opposite direction." As he did, the tail easily separated from the body, leaving only the meat inside. "You can use a fork to push the meat out or just crack the shell open and use your talons." He gave Nacreous the lobster to try it for himself.

It was easy to get the meat out of the lobster and his father continued showing him how to do each part: the legs, claws, and even a bit of hidden meat in the main body. When he finally got all the meat out and began eating it, it was delicious, to say the least. By the time he was finished almost the whole bowl of truffle butter was gone, and his mother was already giving Maroon the suns for the meal with a generous tip.

He and his parents stood up, leaving the dishes on the table that Maroon was already cleaning up, and bringing the dishes out to the kitchen to be cleaned.

As he walked outside, the cold outside air bit his ears and face — he wasn't used to the cold, especially at night as he was usually inside before nightfall. "So, what do you think?" his mother asked everyone. "Did we get our money's worth?"

"I'd say so," his father responded. "We're probably never eating there again, but it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time." He looked over at Nacreous. "How'd you like the lobster?" he asked Nacreous. "That truffle butter must've been-"

"What are you doing out so late?" a voice in the dark interrupted. Nacreous's head snapped to the side to see a SkyWing clad in metal armor holding a spear. "It's past curfew for dragonets, you know."

"W-We were just getting home," his father said nervously. His tail swung back and forth in anxiety while his mother stood there looking more annoyed than calm.

The guard looked at them for a few moments, likely either making up his mind or inspecting them further to see if they were up to anything suspicious. After a few moments, he finally spoke. "Alright, off you go then," he grumbled. Just as they were turning around to walk away, they were stopped by the guard again. "Wait," he said. "The queen has an important announcement tomorrow — everyone has to attend. Don't be late, or she'll have your head, and I don't want to be the one to deliver it to her."

Both of his parents nodded their heads before turning around and leaping into the night sky towards their house. Nacreous followed close behind, helplessly wondering what announcement was so important that everyone had to be there. Not only that, but also why it was so important in the first place.

Author's Notes: Awww, what a wholesome moment, it'd be a shame if anything-

…

"It is with a heavy heart that I stand here today to tell everyone that the Sky Kingdom is facing a threat, one much larger than ever before. But through our strong will and unfailing determination, I believe that we will overcome this together."

She leaned her head down, almost as if she looked scared. She's...scared? Nacreous thought to himself. Queen Phoenix was the last dragon he thought would be scared of something. She was the queen that went teeth-first into battle, with the largest and most consistently well-trained army in Pyrrhia behind her.

"A…prophecy has been shared with me," she forced out. A few audible gasps left the crowd.

…

Thank you Arkaiid for helping me with proofreading! (Just a side note, I've decided to switch the chapters to once every two weeks. Sorry, but it's hard to push myself to release these chapters that fast and I don't want to burn out.)

Note from Arkaiid:

Hiya! Hope you're enjoying this story.

I'd like to issue a quick reminder- don't be a stranger! If you're having as much fun reading this as I am, feel free to leave kudos, whatever FFN's equivalent of that is, or even better; a comment complimenting Amisgal's writing!

Thanks loves, Ark out o7