— Chapter 7 —
Oracle
During the flight to the Rainforest, they explained to Sunny as much as they could regarding the to-be dangers in the Sand Kingdom: the looming threat of Vulture, and the fact there's a secret royal princess.
Sunny was looking really surprised by this barrage of information, but unsurprisingly, she took everything well enough.
"Oh that is quite a lot more than I thought, but it'll all be okay!" She had assured them. "We know about this, while these others wouldn't know that we know, so we can take that advantage."
Oracle smiled at that, despite how surprising was the addition of Sunny to this task, he really appreciated it. She has always been one of the best and nicest characters, happy and hopeful, and also just so cute! Very huggable in looks.
Also one of the very scarce times where he doesn't have to look up to someone while talking to them, he has to in nearly every single conversation in this world, so it's surely appreciated for a change.
But among all these happy thoughts, Sunny's words made him blink as he felt as if there was something he was forgetting, something rather important…
And that's when he suddenly stopped mid air, eyes wide open as he finally realized a big mistake that he made regarding what he had forgotten, and he facepalmed after realizing.
"Oracle? Something's the matter?" Qibli asked, having noticed him hanging back and stopping, which made Sunny stop too and look back at him.
"I… Am feeling like an idiot, I forgot something quite important…" Oracle muttered.
"Oh! Hm, surely it can't be that bad? At least you remembered that you forgot before we even got there," Sunny quickly said.
Oracle just groaned a bit, what a thing to forget! Okay, it barely was mentioned for very few pages in Qibli's book, but he's not fully excused when he should be trying his hardest to remember every detail from every book.
The Obsidian Mirror, the magical tool literally able to spy on anyone at any moment to hear anything they say, the mirror which… Vulture currently is in possession of, and… What if he had eavesdropped on them and learned what they're doing? What if he knows their secrets now?
Oracle needed some moments to clear his head and thoughts before he was feeling ready to admit his massive mistake that could lead to Vulture knowing too much, but he got stopped right before talking.
Oracle should wait, his voice of reason suddenly said to his mind. If he speaks up now, then if someone is listening, they'd know that he knows.
Like always, the logical side of his head was absolutely right, and he was glad he didn't say out loud that Vulture has the mirror, because they can't really tell if they are being spied at the current moment or not, and it would be giving the bad guys too much information about what they know if they're listening.
"Iiii forgot something back at the mountain, oh well, will just take it when we're back in some days," he said just in case someone was listening so it'd sound less suspicious.
Qibli squinted his eyes at Oracle a bit, certainly knowing he's 100% lying, but Oracle gave the two Sandwings a nervous smile and signaled them to wait.
He brought out a scroll and an inkpot, not the scroll, just a regular one, then he proceeded to dip a claw into the pot so he could write some stuff, and after he was done he presented the scroll to the others.
Vulture has the Obsidian Mirror, he could hear anything we say, we mustn't say any new important information out loud.
Qibli's eyes instantly widened, and Sunny let out a small startled gasp after hearing that, so Oracle quickly handed over the scroll and inkpot to them.
The larger Sandwing grabbed it first, dipping one of his own claws into the ink to write back.
You forgot that!? Who knows for how long he could have been listening? What if he knows about what we're doing? Or if he knows about you?
Oracle could feel as if his blood was freezing as he shuddered in fear, oh absolutely not. Vulture knowing about him… About a Nightwing that supposedly can truly see the future, yet appears to be meek and weak… Oracle did not like the sound of that.
Then Sunny snagged the scroll from Qibli and wrote something as well.
What do we do? We've already talked about our plan to reach the Sand Kingdom and warn my mom. So we just hope for the best and that he's spying on someone else that is not us?
He didn't like the sound of that, to just rely on luck and hope they haven't already been discovered, but he slowly nodded, and then Qibli did the same. Although when Sunny looked away, Oracle gave Qibli a "We'll talk later" look.
After another minute of just standing around in the same spot in the air, they finally began to move again towards the direction of the Rainforest, and Oracle could tell that Qibli was thinking deeply about this new unsettling information, while Sunny appeared to be putting on her most confident and determined face.
For the most part they flew in silence, although Sunny made attempts from time to time to strike casual conversations, which were appreciated to think for a little bit about something else, and it was just almost impossible to feel bad or frowny when she's happily talking.
"We're getting very close! It'll be very nice to talk to Glory for some time to tell her what's up before we move on, because she wouldn't like it if we literally entered her kingdom and didn't say hi," she said with glee.
It was nearing the evening before the first trees of the Rainforest were visible, which Sunny had gleefully announced to show how close they were, but while Oracle was happy about that… For some reason he also felt uneasy, as if there were some sort of small pressure clutching on his chest.
What is going on with him? Why would that cause such a reaction? For now he decided to simply chalk it up to the thought of being so close to the magic shortcut…
They flew above the trees for a while, Sunny constantly looking down to the green foliage below before starting a descent across the trees, Qibli and Oracle carefully following after her, although that didn't stop the Nightwing from smacking his head with several branches on the way down, making him let out a huff each time.
But finally, his talons were touching dirt and really tall grass as he landed behind the others, and Sunny was looking up to the trees.
"It's me, Sunny, the friend of Queen Glory! Just coming through with some friends for a quick visit," she announced to the air before starting to walk.
"Woah," Qibli commented as they began moving. "This is all really colorful and pretty, and I also can't see 10 steps in front of me," he said grinning.
"You get used to the ways of the jungle eventually, and maybe some other day we could come here and teach you how to glide through trees," Sunny offered, grinning back.
After that, they kept walking forward, and Oracle couldn't help but to keep feeling that sensation… And after a minute, he realized what it was due to having felt it several times during his stay in Pyrrhia… Panic.
Panic was building up within him the more they walked to approach the heart of the Rainwing kingdom, he was feeling tense, and on edge, eyes constantly darting from side to side, up to the trees, Rainwings could be anywhere here, hidden, out of sight until it could be too late-
Breathe… Breathe… You are… Okay. Majority of Rainwings are just colorful, peaceful dragons…
He took a deep breath, one of his claws still twitching. The Sandwings were walking in front of him so they weren't looking at Oracle right now. Out of reflex and not really thinking much of it, he brought a talon to slowly rub that side of his face.
Rainwings are good, you know Glory is good too, you got your face spat at by one of this arc's antagonists, doesn't make sense to feel so upset over the entire tribe…
But fear is not something rational and he knew that, looking at them from all sides, Rainwings have the potential to be the most terrifying of all tribes, with their camouflage that might as well just be called invisibility, agility and nimbleness, and the most deadly and painful of all weapons…
Breathe in. Breathe out…
He knew that nothing was happening, nothing was hurting him, and that most likely nothing was going to hurt him here, but he almost felt that horrible sensation on his face, having it melt down while he experienced and felt every second, touching there and feeling his own bones…
BREATHE.
Oracle just barely snapped back to his senses before he almost slammed his face on a big tree, eyes wide open he quickly stepped aside and took a deep breath.
Sunny and Qibli were just ahead, looking straight up to the treetops, so Oracle did the same and then spotted some of the treehouses by the foliage, and large platforms on the treetops. And it was more lively here, there were moving colors as the Rainwings swiftly moved from tree to tree, from branch to branch, collecting fruit then going up to these platforms.
And there, gliding from a big treehouse, was a Rainwing heading straight down to them, and Oracle realized it was the Rainwing, Queen Glory was here, and she was looking rather glorious, alright.
"Hi Glory!" Sunny said happily, waving at her with a big goofy smile.
"Sunny," she said, showing just a small smile on her expression, but if he squinted, Oracle was able to see some few pink scales appearing on her body. "It's been some weeks since we talked in person, and Tsunami told me in dreams that some chaos happened recently."
"Yep, you wouldn't believe half of it," Sunny said, shaking her head. "But things are mostly fine now at the academy, so you don't have to worry much for the mountain!"
"Okay, everything there happened within a short time so I couldn't do much, but if I get some warning next time, I'll be flying there with my best Rainwings to help," she said firmly.
Next to Oracle, Qibli had given a respectful bow to Glory, who looked at these two now. And the small Nightwing tried his hardest to not look at her mouth when she opened it, as it showed these fangs. And he knows this dragon in particular is very renowned for her accuracy on hitting faces…
"And who might you two be? I will assume that you are some of her students based on the fact that you're dragonets, did she bring you over for a field trip?" Glory asked.
"I'm Qibli, loyal follower of Queen Thorn, and formerly one of her Outclaws," Qibli said with a smile.
"O-Oracle..:" The Nightwing simply whispered, and felt himself shrink a bit when the Rainwing Queen looked straight at him now, and that's when he actually thought about the detail that…Glory is his queen too as he is a Nightwing. Since he didn't reside in the Rainforest, he didn't consider that earlier.
"You don't look very familiar," Glory outright said. "Although I cannot say that I already remember every single dragon within my kingdom, I'm rather sure that I'd recognize you."
"And I find that highly suspect and odd if I must say so," A new voice spoke up, and then like if they had materialized from the shadows, another Nightwing had suddenly appeared.
"Seriously? Even when I'm just heading to talk to one of my friends, while still in sight of my treehouse you still follow me? You can see things just as well from up there," Glory said, looking unamused by this appearance.
"Ahem, as your personal bodyguard, I literally cannot possibly stand over 50 meters away from you, or I'd be breaking protocol," the Nightwing replied.
"Protocol that you made up in just one day and keep trying to convince me to legalize it forever," Glory retorted before looking back at the group. "Qibli, Oracle, this funny pest sticking to my side is Deathbringer, if he says anything dumb, don't take it too personal, he's just that way."
Ah, there he is… Murderbasket. Oracle thought, almost slipping that name out, which would have been extremely funny, but he didn't want to test his chances with a literal assassin, let alone one that said there's something suspicious regarding him… He could feel some of his claws start twitching again.
"Anyway, as I was just saying," Deathbringer resumed speaking. "Keeping a registry of just the dragonets at the village is easy enough, and the name "Oracle" rings no bell, and neither does his appearance."
Oracle mentally cursed a bit, oh gods, seriously? He just arrived here and he is going to become the topic now because he's a Nightwing? There's more important stuff at hand!
"Huh, is that so?" Glory said, looking at him, and Oracle cowered a bit from her green eyes examining him. "Then where did you come from?"
"Oh woah, you are not a resident of this place? Didn't know that one," Qibli commented.
Think fast, but also think straight… Mess up, and they'll immediately know you're just lying, any answer I give will be a lie, but at least don't make it obvious! He told himself.
"I was… Raised outside of the Night Kingdom…" He managed to mutter. "Somewhere far away, with plenty of space to move and hide, the Sky Kingdom…"
Technically the only place where he's been it's Skywing territory, and also technically he spawned into this world on one of these mountains, so that was the safest bet and even 1% of a truth.
"So another one raised away from our kingdom," Murderbasket noted. "In that case, are you aware of who you should give your loyalty to?"
"Deathbringer, this part is actually really unnecessary if he never even set foot on the island or this place," Glory said.
"Actually I believe that it is completely necessary, you are the Queen of the Nightwings, not the Queen of Most Nightwings," Deathbringer said, shaking his head.
"Y-Y-Yeah, true…" Oracle very quickly muttered. "I, hm… Oracle the Nightwing… Pledge myself… To you?" He said as he almost stumbled forward while bowing at Glory now.
Simply join and show that you'll be a loyal, nice, small, non-dangerous fella, and there'll be far less chances of anyone spitting at you… He thought.
"You don't sound very certain," Deathbringer pointed out.
"That's how I sound a lot of the time…" Oracle muttered.
"That would be more than enough," Glory said to Deathbringer before turning back to Oracle. "Welcome to the kingdom in that case. Do you want to see your tribe's village?"
"O-Oh hm… No, I don't think it's needed right now, thank you," he quickly replied. He knows that Nightwings already don't like Moon and are salty due to her better conditions, so he didn't want to deal with that right now either.
"I'm sure you'll enjoy it here when you are out of the academy, Glory is an amazing queen," Sunny said with a smile, and Glory did look quite proud there.
"The best queen," Deathbringer added.
Oracle immediately looked at Qibli to see what he had to say, but the Sandwing looked back at him and smirked slightly after seeing him look, but didn't say anything. Probably considered it smarter to not tell a queen straight to the face that his queen is better.
"So, Glory," Sunny added. "Think we could talk about a few things in your royal treehouse? I got some great news to share!"
The queen nodded, and she flapped her wings to fly upwards to one of the taller trees, so the others followed and then a minute later they were there, and it was rather spacious and neat. With a good amount of aromatic flowers decorating it, a nearby table was holding a talonful of fruits, and there was a simple looking carved oak throne at the back.
"Feel free to help yourselves with some fruit, it's meant for visits," the queen said, making her way to the wooden throne and sitting down on it, Deathbringer standing to the right of the throne.
Oracle remained still for a moment, just looking at her after she said that as if he was confirming these words, before very slowly reaching out for a nice, round mango, and then as slowly he began to bite down on it.
"So, what's new?" Glory asked Sunny with interest.
"Something amazing happened to our friends," Sunny replied with glee. "Remember Clay's injuries and limp? They've all healed earlier today!"
Glory's reaction was about instant, her expression turning into one of shock as her scales more visibly shifted to a mix of yellow and pink.
"Clay got healed? You are not pulling my tail, right?" She asked, stepping closer to Sunny, who huffed in an indignant way.
"When have I ever joked about something important like that? He's completely healed now! You could give the mountain a visit and see for yourself," she replied, and Glory just looked even more surprised. "Oh, and Starflight said he'll eventually recover his eyesight when he's done making his new type of scrolls, said he wants to see all of our smiling faces when that happens, yours included!"
Glory was left quite speechless, her colors shifting between primarily pink and primarily yellow before she apparently got them under control and went mostly back to normal, although with pink scales still showing.
"Him too? That is great, but how did this happen so suddenly?" The queen asked.
"Simple! Oracle, do you want to step forward?" Sunny beckoned gently with a warm smile directed at him.
Little Oracle was not expecting that, and slowly stepped forward, looking from Sunny to Glory as he gulped.
"Qibli and Oracle are some of the students that suddenly escaped from the academy for two days," Sunny explained with a small shake of her head. "And that was very bad, but Oracle here presented to me an item that he found, an Animus touched chalice that could heal almost any injuries and more!"
Oracle knew what the cute Sandwing was probably doing, giving a better impression of him to his new queen by mentioning how good of a deed he is, and he appreciated it… But he also wished to not be the focus, again.
"Animus touched? And was it safe to just use it on our friends?" Glory asked.
"I-I tested it on myself, beforehand…" Oracle quickly chimed in, not wanting the queen to be suspicious of him at all. "I had sustained…" He trembled a bit and took a deep breath as he talked about this to the Rainwing Queen. "Significant grave injuries during our escapades… And that object healed them instantly. So I knew I had to give it to the academy so more could use it…"
"I was there next to him when he got injured, and also when he healed himself, so I can confirm," Qibli said with a serious expression for once.
"I wasn't doubting you, or Sunny's words, but I just had to be certain. Not even saying that you would have willingly tried to hurt them, but if I just found a magical object, I'd be cautious with it for a while," Glory said.
"R-Right… That's understandable, your majesty…" Oracle nodded.
"Anyway with that settled, I guess that I should give you my thanks for that, it's a nice relief knowing that they'll be fine and with such an object at the academy," Queen Glory said, giving him a nod, which he returned with a shy smile.
"I-It's my pleasure, you and your friends simply deserve things like that after everything you've done," he said, giving a bit more of a proper bow this time.
After they were done talking, Sunny stepped forward once more and looked at Glory. "Oh also, besides coming here to visit you, I also wanted to tell you that we'll be taking the shortcut to the Sand Kingdom, we want to visit my mother."
"A multi-purpose visit, I see," Glory said with a nod, then looked slightly confused when Sunny just began to write on a scroll for a minute while she talked, then handed it over to Glory.
Deathbringer leaned closer to Glory's side so he could read it, but she quickly pushed his face away and read it herself, her face turning more irritated, and some scales shifting to red. So Oracle assumed that Sunny gave a quick rundown on the situation.
"You know, how about you wait five minutes so I can do something, and then I'll bring you over to the shortcut myself to see you leave?" She said with a tone clearly trying to stay neutral as she quickly scribbled something down and handed the scroll back to Sunny before she walked away and flew off, Deathbringer following her.
The scroll said: I'll get one of my Rainwings to secretly help you. I won't just sit while you head to danger.
That should feel good, to know that Queen Glory was directly supporting them during this task by giving them a probably constantly invisible follower... But to Oracle, that thought was also creepy.
And so after reading this, they waited for some time in the treehouse before Glory and Deathbringer came back. "Okay, let's go," she simply said, so the group followed her and flew in another direction.
They flew for a good while, getting quite far from the Rainwing village, until eventually they were starting to descend near a river made from a waterfall, the sound of water feeling quite nice and calming, and at the top of the waterfall were a group of very tall brownish-black trees, and next to one of them was an oversized boulder that about doubled the size of any dragon that Oracle had met.
"Ah, doesn't this spot give you good memories?" Deathbringer commented to Glory. "I still remember dearly when you tied me to that tree down there, we had a great conversation where you revealed the depths of the love you felt towards me."
Glory raised an eyebrow at him as she turned her head to the Nightwing. "Weird, I remember something more akin to you being annoying as usual, and then I tied that big snout of yours so you'd stop talking."
"That is just what some would call "tough love," Deathbringer replied, casually shrugging that off.
Glory shook her head and landed near the super giant boulder, going behind it now, and there, Oracle saw a dragon-sized hole that led to a tunnel within the boulder.
"Here's the shortcut, it will bring you quite close to the Sandwing palace, although fair warning for you two," she said, turning to Qibli and Oracle. "You're probably feeling it already by just looking at it, but the shortcut gives a big sense of wrongness to anyone due to its magic, but other than that it is perfectly safe."
Oracle gave the hole more of a look and he could confirm that indeed, a mere look inside made him shiver and shudder, it just felt wrong to his mind in so many senses. He gave a look at Qibli and he could tell that his expression looked perplexed by it.
"Tell your mother that I said hi, and I might just visit at some point," Glory told Sunny, who quickly nodded. "Alright, off with you three now, I hope to see you again soon."
The message behind that was very clear with the "I hope to see you again", Glory was telling them straight up to not die during this endeavor.
They waved at Glory and Deathbringer, and now they ventured into the strange tunnel and headed for the Sand Kingdom.
Author's Note:The chances of getting Rainwing PTSD are low, but they are never zero.
Oracle's discomfort levels in this chapter are an all-time high, and hardly anything else could get him to feel as he did here.