— Chapter 13 —

Everything was burning.

Luna had literally just got here, and already she flinched and gasped in shock as she took a step back with her eyes wide open, her wings instinctively open up as the flames quickly reached her… And then just went through without her actually feeling anything.

"What the blazes…?" She questioned herself in confusion, before remembering that, yes, this is indeed a dream, so she couldn't truly be physically harmed in dreams.

That didn't mean that it couldn't hurt her in other, less physical ways though, and the burning jungle surrounding her wasn't a good start.

She was surrounded by tall, old, burning trees, and several kinds of plants that she didn't need Leafspeak to know that they were in great pain as they writhe until they were reduced to nothing but ashes.

"Blue? Blue! Are you there?" She called out, raising her voice as she started walking, turning her head and looking around, trying to see her brother's very recognizable colors.

Luna heard the sound of a branch snapping under weight, and she quickly turned that way, right in time to see a large Leafwing running straight at her. It caught her off guard and she didn't even get to go out of the way, but just like the fire, the Leafwing went through her and ran farther ahead while screaming in fear.

"Oh no…" Luna muttered, finally starting to realize what's going on in this dream.

"BLUE!" She called out again as more dragons appeared to run away in fear, trying to evade the flames and a thick, growing gas that was starting to cover the woods like a cloud made of darkness.

She opened up her wings and flew literally through several trees until she was above the burning foliage, moving her head quickly to all directions to look out for Blue, it's his dream, he had to be close.

Finally, above the whole jungle, he saw a figure hovering in the air and looking down, the fiery light showing his blue and purple scales. Blue was there, and he's looking horrified at the scene.

"No, not this again, no!" She heard his voice exclaim in horror, his body shivering at the sight, and a blurry Leafwing came out of the woods and was flying away meanwhile. "I'm sorry! I didn't know… I couldn't control myself…"

And that's when Luna saw that Blue was crying too, tears falling down from his eyes and falling to the fires below while he looked around in the air in a desperate manner, as if looking for anything that could help.

"Blue! Over here!" Luna called out one more time as she quickly started flying towards him. Blue turned at her in surprise, looking startled amidst the tears.

"Luna?" He asked in shock, and then much to her surprise, he flinched and flew backwards slightly. "Wait! Don't come any closer, please."

Luna stopped in confusion, tilting her head as she looked at him. Why'd he tell her to stop?

"I… I don't want to hurt you," he quickly muttered scaredly. "I could lose control again, and I don't even want to imagine…"

"Blue," Luna said firmly yet calmly. "This is a dream, you can't hurt me, nor are you hurting anyone else down there."

Now he was the one looking in confusion, glancing at her, then back down to the burning jungle beneath, and then back to Luna once more.

"This is… A dream? I am not doing it all again?"

"No, you are not, this is just a nightmare, and it is awful but you're not literally acting on it right now," Luna assured her younger brother.

"Wow..:" He said, surprised and the tiniest bit calmer, still not a lot though. "This is the first time a dream tells me I am in one."

"Well, I am not exactly part of the dream," Luna explained. "It's me, the actual Luna. Blue I am talking to you through dreams thanks to a magic device handed by Tsunami."

"Wait, really?" Blue asked, and Luna could see some hope shimmering within his eyes. "Luna? I'm actually talking to you?"

"Yes you are," she said gently, and flew slightly closer to him. "You don't know how much I've missed you for all of these weeks."

He still looked nervous and confused, but after a moment he flew forward as well, approaching until they were hovering in front of each other.

"I… I didn't think I would ever get to talk to you again," Blue said slowly. "I… I saw the throne room, everything feels so blurry to me, but I can remember that clearly, where I…"

"No," she quickly interrupted, knowing where he was going with this. "I don't want to hear any "I", because it literally was not you that did it."

He looked surprised at her after she just cut him off, but he was still very shaken. "But it was just like down there," he said, pointing sadly to the jungle below. "I burned that terrible plant and then… Everything was ruined."

"That wasn't Blue," Luna said in a determined tone. "It wasn't my brother, the kindest dragon across the continents. It was some heartless snake named Cottonmouth passing as my brother."

"Cottonmouth…" Blue said with a shiver, his expression looking as if he'd just remembered something awful.

"Hm? What's in your mind?" She asked after seeing this.

"Hearing that name…" He replied with a shudder. "It made me remember that soon after I first inhaled that terrible gas, someone called for me, I was… Brought somewhere?"

"What? Where were you brought?" She asked, feeling worried for him.

"I wasn't physically moved, I am sure of it," he said furrowing his brow in thought. "But in my mind, I was suddenly somewhere else, and it was very eerie."

"Do you think you could describe it? Maybe it could help somehow," Luna asked, not expecting to get potentially useful information from this dreamy visit, only expecting to talk to him and help Blue feel better.

"It was… Really weird to say the least," he said, looking down to the burning woods. "Everything was covered in shadows. Apparently I was in some sort of palace and I recognized a tall throne in front of me, but whoever was sitting was just a silhouette.

"Eh? That sounds so odd! Why would it be that way?" Luna asked, furrowing her own brow as well now as she felt confused by what she's being told.

"Then the one at the throne talked," he said with clear discomfort in his tone. "His voice was powerful and echoed around the entire room. He said… That being his first Silkwing, and that since I just became a useful… Tool…" His expression looked even more bothered after saying that, and Luna tried to bring a talon over for comfort, but it just went through, making him look at it.

"Huh, sorry, I think my original intent was obvious but, don't let these words get to you, you're far more than some tool," she assured, pulling back her talon.

"Is that true, though?" He asked with a saddened expression. "Wherever I went, someone wanted to use me because I can burn things. Wasp tried to get my silk. The Leafwings managed to get my silk and burn down a hive. And now this plant got my silk, and myself, and I'm forced to do so many horrendous acts…"

"You were used, and that does not make you less or a simple tool. We have the coolest powers in Pantala and so everyone wants a piece of it. But trust me, this is a terrible situation, but you need not to despair and just… Hope, believe that it might end soon, because trust me when I say my team and I will be trying our hardest to give Cottonmouth a kick in whatever behind they've got!"

At least that made Blue smile slightly, and Luna felt relieved at seeing such a familiar sight, her brother smiling amidst control and oppression, a spark of optimism that she doubted could ever truly die out. Oftentimes she had considered him far too naive and gullible, but if it weren't for his innocence, then he wouldn't really be Blue.

"Okay, I will try. You and Swordtail always will be some of the bravest dragons I knew, with how much you dared to do stuff, even when it filled me with worry," he said as he shook his head, likely remembering some of the many times they'd speak up or act against the norms. "So if there's a dragon in Pantala that can do it, I believe that you'd be a top choice."

Luna smiled brightly at her brother. He always believed in the best of everyone, sure, but this time it felt more personal, he truly meant it, she managed to give him some hope despite the circumstances.

"Well, I guess I should keep telling you about what I've seen," Blue said, shuddering again a little.

Luna suddenly saw shifting in the air and around the whole place, she turned around in confusion and saw how the flames were disappearing and the jungle, vanishing, replaced by black stone as walls rose from the ground.

She suddenly felt a pull and was quickly brought down to the ground along with Blue right before the scenery shifted completely, with no traces of the jungle or the fire left.

"It seems like you're dreaming of something else now," she whispered.

Seeing Blue looking worried about watching this, she brought a wing right above him, she couldn't touch him, but at least she could make the gesture by having that wing just above.

Her eyes tried to peer at the surrounding darkness, but it wasn't like some regular darkness covering stuff behind, no, everything was actually pitch black and only showed silhouettes and outlines.

And right in front of them was the outline of what she could only assume was a throne, with a darker silhouette contrasted against it.

"Greetings," the one in the throne said, it was hard to know who it was directed to due to lack of facial features, but most likely at Blue if those are his memories. His voice was deep, cold and smooth. "Blue of the Silkwings, a rather fine addition you are to my ever growing empire."

"Wha-? Who are you? Where am I? I just burned the Heart of Salvation… What happened?" Blue's voice suddenly appeared in the room, even though the Blue next to her wasn't talking.

"I… am the one that shall be the ruler of this world. I am ancient, I am eternal, I am Cottonmouth, or for a name you might be more familiar with, I am also the Breath of Evil," the figure said, and Luna tried her hardest to get a good look at it, but all she could see was it sitting straight on the throne, and the outline being much smaller and thinner than a dragon's.

"The Breath of Evil? Wait, but I just dispelled your hold with-!" Blue's echoing voice tried to say.

"The Heart of Salvation?" Cottonmouth said with a mocking, sarcastic tone. "I am sorry to tell you, but that has never existed. It was merely my roots that you burned for everyone around to rejoice."

There was silence in the room, as Blue back then must have ended without words at the time after being told such harsh truth. And then Cottonmouth let out an amused chuckle.

"It's not like I expected any of you lizard brains to even imagine the possibility that you've been tricked, so I thought I'd be courteous enough to tell you: "You've been tricked."

The self proclaimed ruler laughed again, likely having seen whatever expression Blue had made.

"You brought me here, just to insult me?" Blue asked.

"In part, yes, that's exactly it. But also for another reason you'd probably find more adequate. I am in a really good mood, Blue. After years of planning, I struck gold in the most perfect way possible and now every tribe of this land is mine to control. So both for being my first ever Silkwing, and for being the Silkwing that literally brought light into my grand plan, I shall reward you. And no, I am seeing your face, I am not freeing you as a reward."

"Then what are you going to do?" Blue's voice asked in a nervous tone.

"For your current services as my new, faithful servant for many years to come until your body expires, I decided to reward you by granting you a sight that no other dragon has deserved to behold for many thousands of years… Myself. This whole thing with the shadows? I had to build up excitement, tension, for you will be one to witness the magnificence of Cottonmouth."

The silhouette stood up from the throne in a bipedal manner and then, only for them did colors suddenly return among the sea of shadows. And what happened after made Luna gasp in shock as she took a step back, not believing what she's witnessing.

Cottonmouth, Cottonmouth is…

A human.

Standing at a surprisingly big height for one of these tiny creatures, Cottonmouth had to be at least two Wrens in size. And besides that, the most striking feature about the human had to be the eyes, they were big, of a deep green color and they appeared almost unblinking, just staring coldly at whatever was in front.

They were also wearing some human pieces of clothing that Luna did not know the name of, like his feet were strapped to some sort of flat golden base below them, while above it was open.

On the head was a strange sort of thorned crown, and Luna made a quick guess that the crown was made of Cottonmouth's own plant. A long, red stem filled with thorns was circling the top of his head around the black fur up there, and it was adorned by several white flowers.

And as for the middle section, Luna only ever had Wren as point of reference to compare to other humans, but Cottonmouth appeared far bulkier, with a significant amount of muscle showing on his arms, one of which was resting on a side, close to a large sheath that showed the hilt of a sword, with the hilt being adorned by glistering emeralds.

And lastly, they were wearing a silver colored chestplate, behind it was a long blue cape with an odd symbol, depicting a large coiled black snake that was biting its own tail and making a circle.

"This is the face, the body of the greatest living being to have ever wandered the two continents, pure, noble, perfect," they announced, arms stretched over to the sides and head tilted up with their expression showing a large, wicked smile.

Then without any warning, Cottonmouth's head slowly tilted over to the side, and these cold green eyes suddenly landed on Luna.

"As you can see, Luna, you lizards are not the superior species, and never have been."

Luna let out a panicked shriek as she stepped back after the Cottonmouth from the dream was actually glaring at her.

Cottonmouth walked forward, every single step making the entire castle tremble, and the walls were suddenly closing in around the siblings.

"H-How?" Blue questioned with a startled tone. "Those are my dreams, and this did not happen!"

"You thought I wouldn't notice? That I was blind? Luna, Luna, Luna… You already did this before when you talked to that other fool, and we're not the "Othermind" for nothing. A perfect connection amongst my mind and the many ones of the plant and those connected to it… And of course, we'd take notice that there's a new, different mind than our own."

Cottonmouth was in front of them now, not looking at all bothered by the fact of standing so close to two taller dragons, but more so amused.

"The mind is a very interesting thing, and while we might not have complete control over every one of its parts, like its thoughts and memories, dreams are much simpler to peer into, and I decided I'd follow along with these "memories", just so Luna would see that she's been thoroughly and utterly outmatched… By a human."

Luna gritted her teeth, seeing the originator of everything standing so casually right in front of her, and without a second thought she quickly stretched her talons forward and threw long strands of Blaze Silk at Cottonmouth. But of course as she should've imagined, they just went through while they looked bored.

"Indeed, just proving my point further about your lizard brains. Luna, I don't usually do this but here's an excellent tip: don't just try to burn every problem away, it merely makes you look even more simple-minded than you already are."

Their expression turned more serious now, gaze piercing and making her feel as if they were staring straight to her soul, looking for any imperfections within their being.

"I might not currently know where you're at, but whatever you might try is only a temporary respite. Nearly all of Pantala is mine to control, and soon you and your strange friends will merely become yet more vessels, it doesn't matter where you go, there is no escape."

Cottonmouth walked back to the tall, black throne, turning back to them as the human sat down slowly, a smirk showing on their lips.

"I know that we'll meet again very, very soon, and Luna, I am looking forward to our next conversation where I'll be able to tell you just two very simple words for you to understand: "You lost."

The whole palace began to shake, and Blue's body started to stir and shake as he appeared to be fading.

"Oh, I'm waking up I think," he said sadly. "And it doesn't seem like we'll just get to repeat this, so Luna, I wanted to tell you quickly… Thank you, you're the best sister that I could wish for, and I don't even hope you'll be right."

"I know you will be."

With Blue's last hopeful words sinking into her ears, the dream world, Blue, and Cottonmouth disappeared, and then Luna woke up with a gasp.