A RIGHTWING GUIDE TO THE
DRAGONS OF PYRRHIA.
SADWINGS:
Description: pale gold or white scales the color of desert; sometimes with some shades of blue; poisonous barbed tail; forked black tongues.
Abilities: can survive a long time without water; poison enemies with the tip of their tails like scorpions; this poison has an effect on the mind and nervous system and makes the target depressed, making them feel hopelessness and more willing to give up; they can bury themselves for camouflage in the desert sand, and breathe fire.
Queen: since the death of Queen Gloom, the tribe is split between three rivals for the throne: sisters Sorrow, Misery and Fright.
Alliances: Sorrow fights alongside Spywings and Madwings; Misery is allied with the Teawings; and Fright has the support of most Sadwings as well as an alliance with the Nicewings.
MADWINGS:
Description: thick, armored red scales, sometimes with amber or golden underscales; large, flat heads with a powerful jaw.
Abilities: can breathe fire; have impressive physical strength and are able to break a boulder in a few strikes; they're fast despite their bulk and get stronger with significant amounts of adrenaline as they sustain damage.
Queen: Queen Berserk.
Alliances: Currently allied with Sorrow and the Spywings in an unfitting yet effective alliance.
SPYWINGS:
Description: They come in multiple colors, although they're completely uniform among an individual; slender bodies with thin wings.
Abilities: the fastest of all the tribes. They can emit sound waves inaudible to other tribes, and these sound waves can return to them to reveal objects and creatures without requiring seeing them; their talons are padded and almost completely silent; and there is word of Spywings with rare and unique abilities.
Queen: Queen Hush.
Alliances: currently allied with Sorrow and the Madwings during the war.
TEAWINGS:
Description: Commonly have black or green scales for the majority, but they can appear in a wide variety of colors; webs between their claws; gills on their necks; glow-in-the-dark stripes on their tails/snouts/underbellies.
Abilities: can breathe underwater and see in the dark; they have a very powerful tail. Most have a lesser control on plants to help them grow while the royal family often has a stronger version; they can shoot boiling water from their mouths.
Queen: Queen Grey.
Alliances: currently allied with Misery in the great war.
NICEWINGS:
Description: soft white or light blue scales; very short and pitiful claws and horns; they have a very thin, useless tail; and they have forked blue tongues.
Abilities: can emit puffs of cold, white smoke that has a short immobilizing effect; somehow standing close to one gives a feel-good sensation, possibly naturally emitted by pheromones or something within their bodies.
Queen: Queen Grace.
Alliances: currently allied to Fright and most of the Sadwings in the great war.
PAINWINGS:
Description: the smallest of the tribes; swift on the ground and even trees thanks to their prehensile tails; sharp claws and sharp fangs; they have slender wings.
Abilities: their claws have a numbing effect to immobilize targets; they can spit a deadly, acidic venom from their fangs or inject it with a bite; vast knowledge of many types of poisons and they make powerful assassins.
Queen: Unlike any other tribe, they don't have a royal family; instead anyone in the tribe can choose to fight the current ruler to show who's strongest; due to this they are the only case where there's been Kings in charge; and it is unknown who the current victor is.
Alliances: not allied to anyone specific, instead working for all the sides with their quality as assassins.
RIGHTWINGS:
Description: perfect and pristine gold or silver/platinum scales; forked black tongues and shimmering, expressive eyes; big and powerful; they can breathe fire.
Abilities: the smartest of all the tribes; they can store incredible amounts of knowledge and information within their minds; when asked a question they can always answer the right thing; some have prophetic powers and their words shape the future itself so they are correct.
Queen: the great and mighty Queen Perfection.
Alliances: too powerful and magnificent to be a part of the war, it would become too one-sided in favor of whoever they choose; however they're willing to share some knowledge to all the factions.
THE
DRAGONET
PROPHECY
When the war has lasted twenty years…
The dragonets will come.
When the land is soaked in blood and tears…
The dragonets will come.
Find the Teawing egg of deepest blue.
The right egg for the job will be brought to you.
The largest egg in the mountain's depths
will give to you the wings of secrets.
For wings of madness, search through the mud
for an egg the deep color of dragon's blood.
And hidden alone from the saddened queens,
the Sadwing egg awaits unseen.
Of three queens who bring misery and sorrow and fright,
two shall die and one shall learn.
If she bows to a fate that is stronger and higher,
she'll have the power of wings of fire.
Five eggs to hatch on brightest night,
five dragons born to end the fight.
Justice will prevail to bring what's right.
The dragonets are coming..
— Prologue —
A dragon was trying to hide in the storm.
He was panicking, not even his own calming aura was enough to slow down his heart rate and stop feeling afraid. After all, anyone would be after actually entering one of the many mountains controlled by the Spywings, and the constant sense of dread and of being watched were enough to tell him that he never truly went unnoticed.
Joyful exhaled, he had to keep calm and act confident, after all, his friends needed him, and most of all they needed this egg, the egg that will eventually hatch onto an amazing dragonet, the egg that will bring them hope and end this horrible war with so many pointless deaths.
Deciding to do this as safe as possible he began to descend until he was basically hovering above the ground, the egg held on his front talons and held against his chest as he kept moving forward, turning his head and eyeing his surroundings, even though he knew that if the Spywings were after him, they'll see him far before he spotted one.
The storm was just getting stronger, he was used to snowstorms and blizzards in the Nice Kingdom, but this type of storm with rain trickling down onto his scales, loud thunder booming in the sky and lightning bolts falling down, wasn't something he has gotten used to yet, but he still had to try.
He felt the light brown egg, it was already cold, and his own body temperature was not helping with the matter.
"Everything will be fine, little one," he said in a whisper, using a comforting tone. "We'll get to the cave very soon and then you'll keep resting, and in two days you and the others will hatch and be a happy family that'll help us all."
He didn't know whether the dragon inside the egg heard him or not, but he still wanted to be hopeful and to share it with them, this dragonet will have a bright future and so will the others.
However the happy thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he felt something wrap around one of his hind legs with a piercing pressure. His eyes widened and turned his head back as he saw a rope ending on a sharp hook twisting around his leg and latching painfully.
And not even a second later, another hook had gripped onto his other leg, and then two more caught his wings, forcing him to immediately fall to the ground right below, barely moving the egg over his head instead so he wouldn't crush it.
He heard a short snicker above him, so he quickly turned his head to look at the sky but couldn't spot anything for a moment until whatever it was just descended directly in front of him.
A dragon as black as the night itself had landed gracefully and in silence, her eyes were a dark hue of blue and the only other color present on the outside of her tall, sleek body, and seeing her made Joyful stop moving completely.
"Queen Hush," Joyful said slowly, using a respectful tone and trying to give a short bow with his head while literally restrained and sprawling on the ground.
She looked at him with a bored expression, but her eyes were moving all over his body and examining him in detail.
"A Nicewing, I never would have thought someone as visible as you would ever get this far, so you must've received plenty of intel before even attempting such action, my assumption is that Furtive aided you," the queen said in a matter of fact tone, as if just stating the obvious.
Joyful was taken off guard by her words, he'd heard about the Queen of the Spywings, but he didn't expect her to go as far as to perfectly guess the main holder of their information. But for now he tried a nervous smile.
"I'm really sorry for the intrusion, your majesty. But it just was something I had to do, the dragonet in here could grow to do great things, end this conflict. Isn't that something that you desire as well?" he asked softly.
"Correct," Hush said without emoting much. "But not this way. Dragonets are not smart, they can be taught and told anything and they would believe it, they are not the ones that should make such a decision."
"But most kingdoms believe in the prophecy, if it could end conflict in a few years, isn't that the best thing? How many of your dragons have been killed during these years?" He tried to reason, but Hush merely raised an eyebrow at him.
"Care to tell why I should say anything about my numbers? There is no need. We are not on the losing side, we can allow more years of war."
Allow the war to go on… Why should anyone? Why must we keep fighting? Joyful thought, feeling anything but happy right now.
Queen Hush looked to the side for a moment, opening her mouth as if she was going to let out something before closing it again and remaining silent for some seconds.
"My ally is approaching, she'll be interested in talking to you," she announced nonchalantly.
Joyful felt as if his breath got pulled out of his lungs after hearing this. Princess Sorrow was coming and all the tales spun about her were the very opposite of promising, oh this night was just getting worse and worse, and his allies were still waiting for him!
He attempted to struggle against the hooks restraining him, but all he managed to do was to get sharp cuts on legs and wings as the hidden Spywings around pulled on them to make the sharp ends hurt.
"It's pointless," Hush said calmly.
Loud wingbeats were heard, breaking the silence unlike the very silent dragons around him, and looking up once more he'd see dull yellow scales with red tints that were easily identified as dry blood, and there was the Sadwing landing with a loud thump close to his side.
Sorrow was terrifying, she easily was the largest dragon that he'd personally seen. Her claws were long and it was obvious she sharpened them herself, her long, strong tail ended on a cruel barbed tip that was coated in blood by how much it was used, scars were lining all over her body. And the worst part were her deep, black eyes, looking at him not as if he were another dragon, but just a prey to catch.
"So," Sorrow hissed with a rumbling voice. "This is your intruder? A bit pitiful truly, I would've expected the Talons to try harder than this," she said in a disappointed tone.
"At least I wouldn't underestimate them, he entered one of my mountains," Hush scolded lightly, which only made Sorrow shrug.
"Doesn't really matter if I underestimate him or not right now, because he will not be doing anything else," the Sadwing said coldly.
"So I'll guess that as usual, you want to get a killing blow now instead of starting an interrogation, right?" Hush said bored and actually sounding deadpan.
"Oh, you just know me so well," Sorrow said with a cruel smile as she took a step closer to Joyful. "I don't think you'll be needing this," she said as she brought her talons over to the egg he was still carrying, he tried his hardest to keep it out of her reach, but restrained as he was, her superior strength quickly took it away.
"Be careful, please!" the Nicewing pleaded, scared of her strength. "That's one of the dragonets of prophecy that you're holding, you need to be gentle!"
"Hmm…" Sorrow said, turning the egg on her talons and looking at it with a critical eye. "So supposedly, this child will so happily choose either my rise, or my death, is that so?"
"Well, if you show everyone how good of a queen you could truly be, then your chances would be perfectly good," Joyful said with absolute honesty.
"But still, why leave something so important like the fate of my kingdom to chance?" Sorrow hissed. "These dragonets won't choose me for certain. Meanwhile on the other talon, simply defeating my sisters is clear, concise, and can be done with enough power, much better."
And then, the Sadwing Princess turned to the Queen of the Spywings.
"Hush, what do you say?" Sorrow asked.
"I appreciate you taking the effort of trying to act nice, even though I know exactly what you're wanting to do," Hush replied in a steady tone.
"And that would be…?" Sorrow questioned, looking at Joyful with a cruel smile.
"Break it."
"NO!" Joyful exclaimed, pulling himself forward the hardest he could and actually managed to get a few inches closer to Sorrow despite the incredible pain that came from the tugging, but her reply was to simply slam a talon on his head and then grab it.
"This is going to be great, I won't even need to pierce you so you can see how hopeless this whole prophecy business is, I'll just prove it right now," Sorrow said, raising the talon still holding the egg, before in a quick motion she brought it down to the ground and smashed it.
Joyful let out a startled gasp, his eyes wide open as he saw the life being broken in pieces, and underneath the scattered pieces, he barely spotted the tip of a small tail, and it wasn't moving.
"Too dramatic," Hush chimed in with a short huff, but didn't say anything else.
"And now, time for these worthless Talons to see that they stand no chance," Sorrow said with amusement and raised her long tail.
Joyful felt the worst pain he'd ever experienced in his chest, lowering his eyes he saw the barbed tip of the tail coming through from underneath him, and the only thing he could do was to let out a scream filled with pain and despair that broke the silence of the night for some moments, before it died down.
"Well, that was slightly fun at the very least," Sorrow said after the deed was done. "Shall we go back to your palace? There was that one large goat that caught my eye before I had to come out here…"
Hush nodded, and with a quick push from her wings, she took off to the air and immediately disappeared in the night with Sorrow flying after, and thunder boomed one more time.
Some time later when the coast was clear, a large grey dragon the color of storm clouds slowly and silently creeped closer to the aftermath, gritting her teeth in anger as she saw this scene, staring at both dead dragons, an adult and someone who never got to hatch, shaking her head in disappointment she walked back in silence for some time until she reached a cavern, it was tight and contained many turns, and seemingly ended at a very large boulder.
But she knew what was behind, and moving a talon close to beneath the large rock, she grasped a large, sturdy stick which she pushed sideways, slowly moving the boulder off to a side and revealing another entrance.
She was received by a green dragon with some pale white spots on his underside and who had webbed talons, who was looking worried at her.
"What happened? Where's Joyful at?"
"He's dead, Lemongrass, and so is the dragonet," she replied in a bitter tone, making Lemongrass step back in shock.
"No…! That can't be right, how could the egg…? How could it? It was prophesied to hatch, so how can that be wrong?" Lemongrass asked.
"I don't know, but it's what happened, Sorrow appeared and smashed it, and then killed Joyful. It's over," she replied.
"What's going on over here?" A deeper voice asked, as a Sadwing stepped closer, this one walking with a limp as he was missing a foot, he was large and bulky looking, with several scars trailing mostly around his legs and wings.
"The prophecy is a fluke, Pain, there's no Spywing dragonet with us anymore, they are dead," she repeated the events now, much to his dismay.
"Impossible," he grunted. "These eggs are everything we've been working for," he finished with a sigh, then looked around for a moment. "Furtive, where's Joyful?"
"Sorrow," she simply said, knowing it's more than enough, and Pain looked down after she said this.
"Terrible news, and after we've just lost someone else too… Ire returned while you were out, but she was badly injured by the crossfire of a battle and died right after giving the Madwing egg," Pain announced, making Furtive let out an angry grunt.
"Just great, so it is only you, Lemongrass and me to take care of four dragonets, so at that point, why even bother? Everything has been ruined," she said bitterly.
"It is still most of them, so hopefully the prophecy could still be delivered by the majority," Pain said, attempting to think of something.
"What would be the point of the prophecy announcing five dragons just to actually end with one less?" Furtive retorted.
"Maybe we could try to get a different egg?" Lemongrass suddenly proposed, making the others turn their heads at him.
"Idiot, Joyful was discovered despite all the directions and schedules I gave him, the Spywings will be on even higher alert now, we can't get another egg," she hissed.
"Then what about an egg from another tribe? All we need are 5 dragonets, with 4 actually being on the verses, so maybe…?" the Teawing said now.
"And where are we going to obtain such an egg just two days before the Brightest Night?" Pain asked.
Lemongrass thought about it for a moment before he frowned.
"I… Maybe I could try negotiating with the Painwings, I heard they can give plenty of services as long as they get a good payment or benefits, so maybe for one of their eggs?"
"A Painwing? You want to deal with that tribe and then have us take care of one of their little beasts? They're not even allied to anyone in the war, who would care about that dragonet's words?" Furtive questioned in a baffled tone.
"It's the only idea that I have, okay? And besides, if we teach them well enough then it could be useful. There are no Painwings among the Talons, we could do with that extra power if needed," he tried to argue now.
"Just do what you consider necessary," Pain said in a defeated tone. "I can't say I like the idea either, but it might just be enough, we have to follow through with the prophecy as much as we can."
"In that case I'll leave right now, so I can reach their kingdom tomorrow, then hopefully bring back the egg before the Brightest Night," Lemongrass said with a nod, walking towards the open boulder.
"Make haste and try to not fail," Pain said before he left. "Even if the prophecy is all broken up now, we must do with what we have, in eight years, when the Talons come looking for their Dragonets of Destiny, they must be there."
PART ONE
UNDER THE MOUNTAIN
Author's Note: Yep, another story, this one's a literal random thing I thought of after a conversation in Discord that happened after spotting a typo.
This will not be a "main" fic, but more like something I'll work on when I feel like it, and during downtime between other stories.