"Nacreous, why are you eating your toast like that?" his mother asked from a table's length away, dipping her last piece of bacon in a small cup of maple syrup.

Nacreous took a bite of his piece of toast, folded into two, dripping with butter. "It's faster." Nacreous answered. "I had to get used to it so we weren't late."

"Faster?" She cracked a smile. "We're not in an eating competition quite yet — unless your father brings home some of that cheesecake from last week." She gulped down the last piece of bacon. "Ah, I forgot, work," she remembered, still chewing. "I have the rest of the week off so I can fly you to school today."

Nacreous felt a jab of joy and a smile formed on his face at the mention. Not only did it mean she could fly him to school, but it also meant that mornings would be a lot less stressful — Nacreous would be woken up normally, breakfast would be done already, and the conversations would be less about work.

He stabbed his last piece of sunny-side-up egg and swallowed it before discarding his now-empty plate to the side of his table — his mother would wash it when she got back, as she usually did. He picked up his scroll satchel lying down, propped up against his chair, and threw it around his shoulder. "Ready," he said as he got up from his chair. His mother walked through the door and opened it and Nacreous followed close behind, closing it behind them.

"Remember, the school is taking you to the town square for the announcement today," his mother mentioned as they walked to the door. "When they let you out, don't come looking for me, just meet me at home — your father'll meet us there."

Nacreous got an even bigger smile of glee on his face. What more could he ask for? Just a few hours with his father made him the happiest dragonet in Pyrrhia, let alone a whole day.

"I'll race you home!" Nacreous challenged, knowing full well it was a race he would lose; he didn't exactly know why he said it.

"I'll race you to school!" his mother replied, leaping into the air and flying faster than Nacreous would have wished to. But not wanting to waste any precious distance he had on her, he didn't hesitate to follow.

As she zoomed off into the distance, Nacreous flapped his wings as hard as he could but to no avail. His mother's figure started getting smaller in the distance, until eventually, she slowed down enough for Nacreous to catch up. "No fair!" Nacreous complained when she got close enough. "I wasn't ready yet!"

"Well, one day you'll probably be even faster than me," his mother pointed out. "That way, you'll be able to make up for all that distance from getting your butt kicked by me when you were younger." Her head turned forward, surveying the ground below her, and began descending. "We're here," she mentioned.

Nacreous followed as they landed near the school so as not to collide with other dragons. Before he and his mother departed from one another, his mother dropped some money in his talon. "Have a good day at school, Cloud Jumper," she said, and Nacreous began walking away. "Oh, and don't forget! Meet me at home!"

"Okay!" Nacreous shouted from a distance as he hurried his way to school; he was mostly hoping to beat Slate to his homeroom. Although it wouldn't be the end of the world for him as he was going home right after lunch, it was still nice to be able to give back the money. But even then, something told him there was a high probability Slate and the others wouldn't be attending the half-day.

As he followed the herd of hundreds of different dragons stomping through the halls, he finally made it to his small homeroom, which only consisted of about a few other dragonets, most of which were all in the same friend group that — obviously — excluded him.

Nacreous waited patiently as everyone made it to their homerooms. After a few minutes, the bell on the teacher's desk rang, and she spoke up, her scales shimmering bright red as most did. "Alright everyone," she began, and the snickering from the group of dragonets across the room stopped immediately. "I don't know if your parents told you, or whatever, but today is a half day. We'll be leaving right after lunch, remember? About halfway through lunch, you'll be called out to go to a royal announcement, then you can go straight home. Your schedule will be normal; the school didn't have time to make new schedules for us today." With that, she got back to whatever she was busy with.

Nacreous took out his scroll from the satchel and began reading; escaping from one reality and putting himself right into another. Being in a world that wasn't his excited him, being able to do anything he wanted in it. Except, he was pulled out of that reality when the bell finally rang for the first period, and everyone started quickly putting their things together to leave.

The two classes he had before lunch went by in a blur — he wondered why they even had school that day if he was hardly learning anything. However, it didn't matter to him because as he finished a paid-for school lunch — thanks to the bullies' absence — a large dragon in the center of the cafeteria called for everyone to get in a line at the doors, where many teachers had their own line that needed to be filled.

He threw his tray out in the garbage as he made his way to a random line. Unfortunately, reading a scroll while standing up in a crowd was impossible for him for many reasons so he had to stand there and wait for everyone to get things in order. Finally, though, talons began shuffling along the floor as the line began moving.

Eventually, they reached the nearest exit in the school where another flock of mostly dragonets stood. If it weren't for the space between each line, Nacreous would've been claustrophobic, to say the least — crowds were never his thing.

Each line took off, one by one, following their teacher in loose lines. They landed a little ways away from the town square and had to walk for a few minutes as that many dragons landing in one spot all at once certainly wouldn't turn out well. As they walked through the massive crowds, Nacreous felt a growing anxiety in his chest, but he pushed through.

When they finally made it to the town square Nacreous noticed that many guards surrounded the area, ready for any problem that may occur, and most importantly, keep the queen safe. He looked to the stage in the middle and saw a dragon most idolized: Queen Phoenix.

Her shiny golden crown laid upon her head, the five points with red jewels in the middle sparkling in the sunlight. Her scales almost looked almost the same as Nacreous's — an incredibly shiny crimson versus a shiny bright red. Five guards surrounded her, ready to take charge if necessary. She held a paper in her talons, likely a script that she'd follow.

It took a few minutes to get everyone quiet, but once everyone heard the queen, their maws were super glued shut for the rest of the announcement. When even his noisy classmates were quiet for once the queen finally spoke up.

"Citizens of the Sky Kingdom, it is with great honor that I speak to you all here today," Queen Phoenix began. "In these times, we navigate a thin line between prosperity and total warfare. And even through our countless battles, both wins and losses, we stand strong here today. We stand in unity as one, unyielding to any threat that passes — qualities that would make any queen proud." She cleared her throat and looked down at the piece of paper.

"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. A prophecy? Nacreous wondered. A prophecy about anything meaningful didn't happen often, especially one dreadful enough to strike fear into Queen Phoenix herself.

"Yesterday, a letter from the Rain Kingdom was sent to me by Queen Niji herself when a frantic RainWing stumbled into her quarters," she began. "The NightWing who had this prophecy is nowhere to be found, lost, or worse, dead, and the RainWings are launching an investigation to find out their name. There is an animus in the Sky Kingdom, and as of tomorrow, everyone will be required to undergo animus testing, regardless of your tribe." The last words sent a jolt of shock down his spine and his jaw dropped as if it'd been severed from the rest of his body.

"In the meantime, the Sky Kingdom will be on an indefinite lockdown until the animus is found." Nacreous felt his breath catch in his throat, dread striking his heart where it hurt most. "I will now state the prophecy," she said in a lower, uncertain voice. And with a deep inhale, she began.

In crimson skies, where shadows reign,

Lies an animus, bound by pain.

Visions guide the path ahead,

Whispers of fate in dreams are spread.

In the clash of empires, destiny's call,

One must rise, and one must fall.

But darkness lurks in the heart of might,

A choice must be made on the darkest night.

Nacreous blinked. Time felt like it had come to a stop as every nerve in his body screamed at him, filling his heart with fear. He took a step back, but even as a sharp rock stabbed him in the foot, he didn't react; the shooting pain didn't register, lagging behind as every fear, every anxiety, every little ounce of doubt he ever had was shot to the forefront of his mind.

Even the million eyes against his scales felt like illusions. It was almost like he was dreaming, and for a moment, he thought he was. He expected to wake up to his mother calling his name hurriedly as she rushed to get ready, but that moment never came. The only thing that accompanied him was his heart beating through his chest as the dragons around him flooded his ears with chatter, the sound of his blood rushing becoming almost deafening.

He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. He wanted to run but couldn't; wanted to make any sort of movement. But he just couldn't.

He was frozen.

His mind snapped back to reality at the sound of the queen's voice trying to speak over everyone. But whatever she had to say next was quickly disregarded as dragons started taking off in panic. Guards tried to stop them, but it was no use.

With shaky, almost numb wings, he joined them and launched himself in the air in the direction of his house. He struggled to keep himself aloft meanwhile his heart was beating through his chest. It felt like a lifetime of a fly when he landed on the path in front of his house, tumbling along the gravel after a bad landing. His claws slid, making clear skid marks in the gravel and he barged through the front door of his empty house.

He didn't remember shutting the front door behind him, tripping over his talons as he frantically ran through his house, up the stairs, into his room, and locked the door.

Heavy panting accompanied silence while his back lay flush with the wall. He needed to think, but with his mind racing, putting even a coherent thought together was a challenge. Everything was a jumbled mess. Thoughts bounced off of every corner of his mind, crashing into each other and trading words even when they didn't line up.

Okay, okay Nacreous, calm down, he tried to tell himself while he attempted to get his thoughts together. Start with the prophecy. He tried to remember it to the best of his ability, but only a few lines came to mind.

In crimson skies, where shadows reign lies an animus, bound by pain, he recalled. In the clash of empires, destiny's call, one must rise and one must fall. But out of every word, one line spoke to him far more than the rest. He hesitated.

But darkness lurks in the heart of might…

Darkness? He wondered. But he'd only used his magic once before when fixing the scroll. Could that have been enough to corrupt his soul? All this time, was he evil and he didn't even know it? He didn't know. He didn't know what to think or what to believe.

And as the adrenaline in his body began to decline, so did he. He lay his head back and his breathing became shallow. For a second, he felt like he was floating as disorientation hit him before he felt almost weightless, almost like he was flying without the feeling of wind.

All his nerves began firing as he became dizzy. And slowly, his senses began to dull down, becoming almost numb. The lines between mind and matter blurred, mirroring his vision, until there was no longer a distinction between the two. And finally, strange relief washed over him as darkness consumed him.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he woke up, but judging by the sound of his mother's voice on the other side of the door, it couldn't have been longer than ten minutes. "Nacreous?" someone from the other side of the door called. She jiggled the handle a bit only to realize it was locked — something completely uncharacteristic of him to do. "Are you alright? There's blood on the floor."

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" Nacreous quickly stammered, looking down at where the rock stabbed him. Little spots of dried blood lined the floor from where he stepped. "I just stepped on a rock."

"I should probably clean it before it gets infected. Can you open the door?" she offered, but more than anything, Nacreous wanted to be alone to process…everything.

"N-No, I'm fine," Nacreous insisted. "It's just a little prick, I'll be alright." There was a suspicious silence at the door for a few moments.

"...Nacreous, you know you have nothing to worry about, right?" his mother reassured. "That prophecy means nothing and they'll find that animus before we know it."

"Mhm," Nacreous mumbled. If she only knew… he thought. He'd never really considered telling her before — his magic was in the background most of the time. He never planned on using it again, so why would he?

She sighed. "Your father will be home in a few minutes and he'll tell you the same. Who knows, maybe the prophecy was made up by a RainWing looking to get more sun time?"

Nacreous wished, but he was highly doubtful the prophecy was fake. Dragons didn't just fake prophecies — if they got caught, they might as well consider themselves exiled.

After no response from Nacreous, his mother finally admitted defeat. "I'll be back later to check on you, but if you want, we can go to the park today." When she yet again got no response, Nacreous heard the one creaky floorboard at the top of the steps squeak under her weight.

Nacreous exhaled before unlocking the door, crawling up onto his bed, and hiding under the blankets. He held his scroll satchel close, letting the thought of the nights he'd stay up reading warm him, letting it steer his mind away from everything.

Even under the blanket, he still shivered, even with the warmth that enveloped him. He held the satchel closer and closed his eyes tight, pretending that nothing could get to him on his bed. Not his worries, or fears, or anything that would hurt him or his family.

He became tired with time, even during the middle of the day. He struggled to keep his eyes open but was eventually stolen by unconsciousness.

For a while, he was in bliss. Because as the royal announcement going on in his head announced to the entire kingdom that the animus had been found and the lockdown was lifted, he sighed in relief. But as a loud knock in the distance shook his imaginary world until it crumbled, he woke up.

"Nacreous?" someone said as they walked into his room. He turned his head and locked eyes with his father before turning his head back and stuffing it into his pillow. His father sat on the side of his bed, looking over him. "Your mother told me that prophecy got you pretty worked up," he said calmly.

Making a split-second decision, Nacreous came up with a lie. "I just don't feel good right now," he tried. "I think I'm getting sick." His head was still turned away from his father, facing the wall instead.

"Oh, should I make you some soup? We have chicken noodles and tomato soup last time I checked," he offered generously.

Nacreous didn't have an appetite, but he accepted anyway. It wouldn't add up if he wasn't eating, meanwhile, he'd be stuck in bed taking shots of cough syrup. As his father walked through the doorway, closing the door behind him, he was left alone with thoughts of the prophecy.

Was it about him? His life never seemed that significant, so why? How could he go from who he was now to someone who had darkness in them?

He had so many questions but few answers, which terrified him. The fear of the unknown spread through his entire body like a plague. It felt like his life had just started, and it was already being threatened to end, because if one thing was for sure, Phoenix was going to kill him if she found out.

But even worse than that, his parents would be next, ensuring the animus gene could never be spread. He didn't know what to do. He felt lost, almost like he flew too high above the clouds on a foggy day and couldn't see the ground.

He just hoped the only way to see wasn't to go lower.

Author's Notes:

…

"I…need to tell you something." He hesitated, but eventually pulled away from her grasp and looked her in the face. She must've noticed the hesitation because of what she said next.

"You can tell me anything, Cloud Jumper. It stays between me, you, and your father." After a few moments of silence, she spoke again. "Anything," she reassured.

…

Big thanks to Arkaiid for helping me

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