6 years after the Breath of Evil incident...
The king sat alone on his lonely throne, staring sadly at the seat beside him. Ever since Moon and Queen Thorn had died, things had gotten a lot worse for Qibli. Some of his friends were still alive, but they were too far away to send a message. Queen Thorn had left the burden of ruling a kingdom and abruptly plunked it onto Qibli's shoulders on the night of the assassination.
The assassin had stabbed Thorn in the gut, mortally wounding her. Then the assassin had taken Moon as a hostage, threatening to kill her if anyone got too close. As he neared the arched doorway of the palace, he slid the edge of the knife against Moon's neck, slitting her throat. Then he threw her body at the guards who had surged against him, and fled into the cold night. As guards pursued the assassin, Qibli sprinted towards Moon, kneeling and holding her head in his talons, as he frantically searched for something to use as a bandage. As Moon gasped her last few breaths, Qibli tore a section of curtain off and started to press his talons against her neck, but she pushed them weakly away. "It's t-too late", she choked out around the blood bubbling out her wound. "I can't lose you too", Qibli sobbed, still futilely trying to staunch the bleeding. Tears cascading like falling leaves streamed down his snout as he rocked her back and forth with Moon's head still in his lap, face contorted in grief. "I-I love you." Qibli hiccuped as he hugged the body that was slowly draining of life. Her eyes grew wide, as she stared at something beyond him and she said, "I can see them all," with a sense of awe tinging her voice. Her eyes focused and landed on Qibli as he cried, her talons reaching towards his face. "I love you too, Qibli." Her claws brushed his jawline lightly before they dropped and landed by her side. Her eyes retained a glassy look as Qibli shook her lifeless body.
As he realized she was dead, he cried out, a roar of tremendous fury and loss escaping his mouth as he launched himself into the air, grieving tears blurring his vision as he accelerated towards the shape of the assassin, far off in the distance. He quickly passed the guards, still in hot pursuit and caught up to the assassin, rage-induced speed enabling him to go far beyond the abilities of any dragon. He collided with the cloaked figure of the assassin and they both suddenly plunged towards the earth, fabric rustling in the air. "Are you crazy?!" The NightWing cried as they fell towards the ground. Qibli did not respond, adrenaline flooding his system as he clawed at every exposed scale on the dragon's body. His venomous tail came up and pierced the NightWing's heart three, four times before Qibli tightly clutched the other dragon's body as they plummeted down. His expressionless face contained no emotion except grief and sorrow. It doesn't matter anymore if I live or die, he thought. There's no point in continuing onwards. But just then, a small whisper of something poked at his mind. Is this what Moon would want? It murmured. He pushed it away. It persisted. Again: Is this what she would want? With a shudder, he realized, No! She wouldn't want this, she would want me to live on, experience a good life, not this! So, as he and the stranger fell, he detangled himself with the body right before it made contact with the ground, exploding in a shower of blood and gore, splattering Qibli with blood from head to toe. Exhausted mentally and physically, he winged his way back to the palace, in shock.
There, he arrived and walked in, shell-shocked, leaving bloody footsteps on the sandstone floor as he trudged towards the medical wing. The dragons there opened the door and were jump-scared by the sight of Qibli, covered in dry blood with a vacant expression in his eyes. He walked numbly into the room, and saw Thorn on a cot with Smolder holding her talons. Smolder shot a worried look at Qibli, glancing at his bloodstained scales. Qibli ran to Thorn's bed, hoping beyond hope that there would not be two deaths tonight. As he approached the cot, Thorn suddenly lunged forwards and grasped Qibli's talons, a sudden fire in her eyes. She pressed something hard into his claws, and closed his talons around it tightly, her own slipping off onto her chest. A tingle of electricity ran through him, and he started in surprise. When he opened his talons, the Eye Of Onyx was in his claws, the dark sphere glinting dangerously at him like the heart of a faraway star. "Ahhh!" He yelped as he leaped backwards, throwing the Eye away from him like it was scalding his talons. The Eye had hit the ground with a dull clunk, the hammered gold chain glimmering in the moonlight. A few blue sparks of electricity flew out of it as it landed. "Qibli!" Thorn scolded, even as she was dying. "Be careful with that!" Qibli gingerly picked up The Eye, holding it as if it were a dead rat. "Why?" He asked, in awe. "You're the only one I trust with The Eye, and the leadership it commands. I know you'll be a great leader." She said. "Are you sure about this?" Smolder said as he watched Qibli put it on. Thorn nodded. As he felt the weight of The Eye against his chest, Qibli felt like the burdens of the world had been set on his shoulders. "I would teach you more about ruling the tribe, but as you can see, I am dying and I needed to quickly choose an heir to the throne before I pass away." She said. "Why me? Out of all the other possible choices, why did you choose me?" Qibli asked, confused. "I thought that you were the best choice for the throne. I know that you'll use that mind of yours to make good decisions for the tribe. At least, I hope-" She suddenly broke off into a coughing fit. She was wheeled into another room, dragons in medical dress pushing the bed through double doors that swung shut behind them. For the rest of the night, Qibli fiddled with The Eye and paced anxiously outside the doors. As the surgeons labored, he waited with Smolder, who was wringing his talons and looking pale. As the sun peeked over the sand on the horizon, a dragon had walked out with a solemn and delivered bad news to them; Queen Thorn had died during the attempt to save her life. When she delivered the news to them, Smolder jumped up and fled out of the room, in tears while Qibli stood there, openmouthed. Two deaths in one night, both of them beloved to him. First Moon, then Queen Thorn.