PART 1: MONSTERS AND MURDER - Chapter Six

~CHAPTER 6~

Nubian winged across the sky. He sighed deeply, feeling like every one of his bones ached with despair. His only love… Algific… and she hated him. He could still remember her, kicking him with her back talons. “I don’t want to be in a relationship with you.”

That sinking memory made his heart feel like he was at the bottom of the ocean. What is there to life? If no one loves me…

He could still see Algific, flapping not far from him, her eyes scanning the horizon. Her eyes… they were so beautiful, he could feel himself sinking into them…

“Nubian. Nubian! Hello?” Fangtooth was waving his talon in Nubian’s face. “You okay? Listen, Fireburst and I… we want to ask you something. Did you have any weird dreams last night?”

“Weird dreams?” Nubian echoed. No. I had some dreams about kissing Algific on the lips, but there is no way I’m telling him that.

Nearby, Endwhisperer dropped a few feet, giggling uncontrollably. Stupid, Nubian told himself. I forgot she was a mind reader.

Then the memory hit him. A black, eyeless dragon, chasing him. A bloody war. A dragon on a pile of skulls, laughing insanely.

“Yes, actually. Something about the ‘Eyes of Chaos’. Hmm. What’s the Eyes of Chaos?”

All of the dragonets’ faces went white as IceWing scales.

“Uh…” Nubian said uncertainly. “Was it something I said?”

He looked to see where all of the other dragonets were staring. He turned to see Endwhisperer, her face gaunt and colorless, her eyes milky and her mouth sagging, revealing long vampire fangs. She began to chant in the same raspy voice as the dragon from the dream:

.

Pyrrhia may be at peace

But all the happiness will cease

A time will come when darkness again shall rise

Spreading eternal fear and dimming skies

.

For once the prince shall die

Anger and revenge shriek their cry

Horrors and blood will stain the ground

As it did back thirty years around

.

For Chaotic Eyes will rise again

If the six dragonets will not end the pain

.

The first a dragon with scales of red

Her family murdered; her spirit dead

Finding hope is difficult, you see

But her courage and chivalry help her succeed.

.

The second with eyes of the dark

Moonlit fangs and telepathic marks

Her secret is divulged, now they know

But the question is: will they stay or go?

.

The third a dragon with wings of sea

Failed and banished, they never heard his plea

Seeking revenge and promised death

He will sacrifice but not hear his wrath

.

The fourth is a long lost prince

But nobody knew his name since

A mystery and forgotten past

Confusion will be his question asked

.

The fifth is a dragon that’s rainbow-bright

Her scales can be hidden from view or the color of light

She will help along with the other five

Into a tunnel of fear is where she will have to dive

                                                                                                                                                                  .                                               

The sixth had a troubled life

Of abuse, slavery, and powers of ice

A spy for the enemy is what she used to be

Before she turned and tried to flee

.

To find their way to the chaotic eyes

Seek the SandWing in disguise.

From there the clues to find the way

Hidden under the light of day

Though they find a way to end it all

A traitor arises and one will fall…

“Three moons.” breathed Fireburst. “A prophecy?”

“Are you saying that you’re precognitive, too? AND YOU NEVER TOLD US?” said Fangtooth, although there was no hatred in his voice.

“Um……. yes?” said Endwhisperer in a small voice.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll still be your friends.” said Fireburst. She wrapped her wing around the NightWing protectively, and she winced.

“Ow, you’re so HOT.” Endwhisperer complained. “Uh… I mean the burning type, not the… other meaning.”

Gaboon giggled, hues of yellow and gold mixing with her cheerful purplish-pink. Nubian thought it was an eyesore.

WHY on Pyrrhia can’t she just be a sensible, dignified color, like pale gold? Or pale blue, he added, thinking dreamily of Algific.

She gave him a hard, stern look, as if he had drooled on the rocks. He looked down and he actually had. Whoops, he thought. Gotta make sure nobody else saw that. He cleaned it up with his tail, trying to make it look neat, but instead it smeared all over the ground and his tail.

Camel spit. Or rather, Nubian spit. This is embarrassing.

Fireburst said, “Well, what do we do about the prophecy?”

“Maybe we should try to figure it out.” said Fangtooth.

“Hmmm.” said Algific. “Scales of red- that could be Fireburst.”

The SkyWing snarled. “My spirit is not DEAD.”

“Well, your family is.” said Gaboon. Fireburst shot her a glare.

Algific continued. “Eyes of the dark… End? Wings of sea- probably Fangtooth. Rainbow-bright- Gaboon, obviously. Powers of ice- possibly me. But who’s the long lost prince?”

“Me.” Nubian heard himself say. It came flooding to him, flashes of a huge, imposing stronghold, dragons bowing as he made his way past, playing with his royal siblings.

It didn’t make sense, though, how he could have forgotten all of this. What else had he missed?

“You’re a long lost prince?” said Algific, staring at him with her beautiful borealis-eyes. There was something in her tone that gave him confidence. Was it admiration? Bewilderment? Or just plain amusement? Nubian could never tell with her. Her voice always sounded chilling smooth, and emotionless, the kind of voice that sent shivers down his spine but always drew him even closer to her.

“Are you faking?” said Fangtooth, his peridot-green eyes scanning him closely. “Just to be part of the prophecy?”

“No. I have memories of visiting the palace, dragons bowing…” As he described them to the rest of his winglet, the memories appeared in his mind, blurry, but yet vivid enough to know that they were real memories.

Fireburst frowned. “I’m not convinced of that.”

“It’s true.” said Endwhisperer. “I can see the images in his mind.”

Algific scowled. “But I studied the SandWing history. And as far as I know, there has never been a Prince Nubian.”

Fireburst’s tail swung back and forth the way it did when she was thinking. “But what if… what if your name ISN’T Nubian? Could you be animus-cursed, like me?”

That never occurred to him. Could he be under a curse? Is that why his memories were blank?

“But for there to be an animus enchantment, there has to be a place to hide the scroll…” Fireburst said, her eyes moving to the strange beetle-ring on his claw.

“Take it off, Nubian.” she advised. He nodded, slipping the golden loop off.

Right as he took it off, he felt a blinding blaze of agony. His whole head scorched furiously as the pain spread, shooting through his veins like lava. He grew and grew, until he was absolutely humongous, nearly four times the size as his friends. His scales rearranged themselves and became a strange off-white instead, his claws growing longer and sharper.

But the most frightening thing was that he remembered. He was a prince, an animus, who tried to do amazing things with his power. He made dangerous and beautiful creations, powerful weapons he used to kill his enemies. But it went too far. He turned insane and started to murder his family, slaughtering them one by one. He remembered hundreds of dragon corpses around him, laughing insanely. It was awful, horrible torture, watching himself annihilate innocent SandWings and having not a drop of remorse or guilt.

Then it dawned on him. He had created the animus enchantment, to stop him from killing and to cease the murderous spirit. When he put on the ring, it put him into a deep sleep for thousands of years, so the other dragons could be safe from him. His name was not Nubian. He was Prince Barren, the last SandWing animus.

But he didn’t want to be. The memories of his family’s murders were too unbearable, too awful. He looked down at his friends, who were staring at him, open-mouthed. He picked up the ring. The scroll on the back read:

I enchant this scroll to have the wearer transform into a male SandWing named Nubian, with no memories of his former self.

Barren sighed deeply. Tears ran down his eyes. He held up the ring and said, “Some things…. are better left forgotten.”

With that, he slipped on the ring once again- and he was gone.

PART 1: MONSTERS AND MURDER - Chapter Five

~CHAPTER 5~

Fangtooth swerved through the nighttime sky, feeling the wind whistle under his wings. Now this is something I can get used to, he thought dreamily. Flying is better than swimming.

He caught up with Fireburst and said “So… uh… where are we going?” he asked.

“Anywhere we want that’s not Jade Mountain,” she replied. “Wait a minute.” Her face paled at the sight of what was below them. To Fangtooth, it looked like a small valley, but then he could see burnt trees, rotting plants, and the remains of what looked like a small village.

Fireburst was staring hard at the ground, horror marking her face.

“Fireburst, are you okay?” Fangtooth asked. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she ran her talons across her scars. “I… I used to live here.”

“My family, my friends…. they all died in an explosion.”

“Oh.” said Fangtooth, feeling stupid because he didn’t have anything to say.

“I was only four, and some… some... STUPID, IDIOTIC NIGHTWINGS KILLED THEM!!!” she roared in despair and her scales brightened, almost like a lantern. Then they all set on fire.

She turned to face him, flames licking at her face. “AND THIS IS MY CURSE!!!” she howled. Pale, glistening tears slid down her face, extinguishing the fire.

“Your curse?” said Fangtooth. “I didn’t know that you had a curse.”

Fireburst looked furious with herself. “Okay, I’ll show you my curse. Only if you promise not to tell. Don’t tell anyone, not a soul.”

Fireburst lifted up her fire opal chain and showed it to him. She turned it over, revealing an old scroll stuck to the back. It read:

Enchant this scroll so that the wearer shall become immortal and will reverse the process of death.

She showed it to him. “This is my curse. I will never die.”

Fangtooth stared at her. “That’s a curse?”

“Of course it is, snail brain! Immortality is another way of saying everyone else dies! Everyone.. you love.”

“How… how were you cursed?” “This amulet was given to me when I turned two. It had been passed down through generations… so I guess the SkyWings DID have animuses, back in the day.”

“Well, why don’t you just take it off?” said Fangtooth. “If you don’t want immortality, you know, I could have it.”

Fireburst snorted. “Well, seaweed head, it doesn’t quite work that way. You see, this amulet reverses the process of death. That means, if I take it off, the process will continue, a-and…. I’ll die.”

Fangtooth felt wrenching stabs of pity for Fireburst.

“Who killed your family?” The question blurted out of his mouth before he could stop it.

“Oh… I don’t know.” said Fireburst sadly. Her talons clenched. “All I remember is black dragons swooping across the sky, calling ‘We serve the eyes of chaos.’ ”

She froze. “That sounds horribly familiar.”

Fangtooth felt that strange feeling of remembering that name, too. “Yes,” he agreed. “It was in my dream.”

Fireburst stared at him. “Your dream? But… I heard it in mine, too!”

Fangtooth shuddered. “It was terrible. Dragons dying, a NightWing with his eyes missing, a laughing insane dragon on a throne of skulls. Weird and creepy, if you ask me.”

Fireburst went white. “I...I had the same dream.”

“What? So that means… so that means we had a shared dream.” replied Fangtooth.

Fireburst gulped. “So our minds might be trying to tell us something.”

PART 1: MONSTERS AND MURDER - Chapter Four

~CHAPTER 4~

The next few months slid by easily. Fireburst felt herself getting closer to her winglet, and she loved them almost as much as her original family. They were the last family she had since what felt like eons of loneliness.

But one night, Fireburst had a horrible nightmare.

She dreamt she was being chased by a black dragon with his eyes gouged out, and blood gushed from the empty sockets. Fireburst ran out of the mountain to see an awful battle, with dragons slashing and tearing at each other across the skyline, cutting each other's’ throats and ripping out glossy organs. The rest of the landscape was barely recognizable. The sky was black, stained with dark, sulfurous smoke. The trees were all burnt and stark, some of them still flaming with angry red tendrils of heat. All of the ground was buried in corpses, rotting and covered in blood.

There were several volcanoes exploding out of the ground, pouring orange lava into the sky.  A throne of pure white dragon and scavenger skulls, each grinning and displaying sharp teeth, towered over the landscape. Lounging on the top of the pile of bones was a dragon in a tattered, bloody black hood, laughing insanely at the war beneath.

Fireburst felt claws on her back. She turned around to see the same dragon from before, but now there was blood coming from his mouth and nose, too. He opened his mouth, displaying rotten gums, devoid of teeth, crawling with insects.

Fireburst screamed.

“B-EWAAARE OF THE E-EYEEEE!” His voice hissed in a rasp, like wind blowing through ancient trees and creaking like wood. “THE EYEEEE… THE EYEEEE…. THE EYEEEE OF CHAOSSSSSSS!!!!”

Then his face began to melt. First the scales, gliding off like water, next the skin dripping like black blood, leaving nothing but a gray skull. Then it, too, dissolved into dust.

She had a blistering feeling of agony, like there was hot wax pouring into her ears and scorching her brain, and then an image flashed across her dream. It was an eye. A humongous dragon eye, with a bloody slash across it and two fiery wings. The pain was so unbearable, but the image stayed burned in her mind, clear as daylight. Then it dissipated, and the pain was gone.

Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream broke through the air, and her dream broke away...

Fireburst woke up with a jolt, but the scream kept getting louder and louder… and then, rather abruptly,  it stopped.

Fireburst ran out of the sleeping cave, dashing towards where she heard it. She came into a small cave and her heart nearly stopped. On the floor was a puddle of blood, oozing into the rough ground and staining the dirt deep crimson. And next to the puddle, gaunt and frozen in a state of utter horror, was the corpse of Duckweed the MudWing.

 .             .               .    

Endwhisperer darted from cave to cave, tripping over stalagmites and crystals. It cannot be. I cannot have been drinking blood in my sleep. It cannot have been.

She ran down a corridor and into a small cave. No. NO!

Fireburst was already there, staring at Duckweed’s corpse with wide eyes. She looked at End with a white face. “Who do you think did this?” she asked, her voice wavering with fear. “Why?”

End felt sick. She wanted to throw up, to run away, to stab herself. How could I? she asked herself. Why would I kill a dragon like this? Why?

She looked up at Fireburst and said quietly, “I think it was me.”

“What? How could it be you?”

“Well,” said Endwhisperer “I- I’m half vampire.”

“WHAT?!” roared Fireburst. “AND YOU KILLED SOMEONE? WHY, YOU COLD-BLOODED, SMOKE-BREATHING-” her scales seemed brighter than usual, flashing angrily in the room, her nostrils billowing out rage smoke.

“Sssh!” Endwhisperer whispered. “You don’t want to wake up the whole Jade Mountain, do you?”

Maybe I should, Fireburst’s mind thought. Maybe that’s what I need to do, to save the school from this bloodthirsty, monstrous-

“Okay, I get the point!” hissed End angrily.

Fireburst stared at her, confused. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Well, I’m a mind reader, too, so watch your head!”

She stared at the pool of blood and the scratches on Duckweed’s underbelly.

“Wait a minute,” said Endwhisperer. “Vampires never use their claws to bite a dragon. They use their fangs.”

“So it wasn’t you?” said Fireburst hopefully.

“No. That’s not how vampires kill,” Endwhisperer replied just as the rest of the winglet walked in.

“Hold up. You’re a VAMPIRE?” said Fangtooth angrily.

“You k-killed Duckweed?” said Gaboon, staring at Duckweed’s still body and sounding like she was having trouble saying the word killed.

How c-could she? the little RainWing’s mind whispered.

“I should have known not to trust lying NightWings.” Algific spat.

“No, no, no!” Endwhisperer cried. “I didn’t kill anyone!”

“Says you.” Nubian stared at her, hatred flashing in his eyes.

I never know who to trust, Nubian’s mind thought, his fury burning through End’s head. My friends may just be bloodsucking monsters,  for all I know. His mind flashed images of bloody feuds and bitter hatred.

“It’s true!” Fireburst said. “She never killed Duckweed!”

“Oh, okay.” said Fangtooth, his face softening a little. “Sorry for judging you, End. Even if you are a vampire.”

“Endwhisper’s a vampire?” another voice broke in. Behind them was a scrawny little NightWing with a smug look on his face, as if he still believed he was superior.

“End’s a vampire! A vampire in the school! A murder! MURDER!!!” he yelled, running down the halls.

“Well, that’s just great.” said Endwhisperer grumpily. “Now everyone knows my secret.”

“You need to run.” said Fireburst, concern marking her scarred face. “But you can’t just fly out alone. I’m coming with you.”

“So am I.” agreed Fangtooth.

“ME TOOO!” Gaboon trilled.

“Ok.” said Nubian.

They all looked expectantly at Algific.

She sighed. “Fine.”

Footsteps approached the room, stomping in a rhythmic beat like End’s heart.

“Time to run.” Fangtooth observed.

“Yes. Time to run. Good idea.” Endwhisperer agreed.

PART ONE: MONSTERS AND MURDER - Chapter Three

~CHAPTER 3~

Nubian flew above the mountainous landscape. Ohh, I feel so cold and my ears hurt. I don’t like this high altitude. But what do I like?

Nubian couldn’t remember. In fact, he had no memories of anything past a few days ago. He only remembered a few things- beautiful things, violent things, memories that haunted his sleep at night and vanished in the day.

He remembered basking in warm sunlight, flashes of gold light, the soft sand sliding across his talons. The warm breeze, the coolness of night. And then, screams. Blood splattering across his scales. Ripping dragons apart with his bare talons. The murder of an innocent dragonet, screaming in agony as each of her scales were engulfed in flames… and then, utter silence. Pure, deepness, peace. Rest.

And then he remembered waking up underground. He remembered roaming, almost completely blinded by the earthy coolness. Then the sounds of an underground rockfall, a collapse, being sucked into sinkhole, and then waking up… completely fine, no memory, except that his name was Nubian and he liked sand, and those few, precious seconds of beautiful, serene peace and those terrifying seconds that he wished to forget. But he couldn’t. Every time he tried to, he would find them back in his head, clearer and even more detailed.

He dove down slightly, and dragged his talons in the cool, gushing stream. Something about this feeling seemed familiar, as if he had done this before, years ago. But I couldn’t have. I don’t remember doing this before.

His talons caught on something slippery. A fish, he recognized. He lifted it out of the water. Its scales glistened, catching the last rays of the setting sun. Like Algific’s scales…

Nubian had a crush on her. She was beautiful. Her eyes, like glimmering arctic night sky, luminous and perfect and unique. Her scales stood out. They were glittery and amazing, far more stunning than the effects of a mere RainWing. He loved her regal and unapproachable personality; her strength and her smooth voice. She and him were meant to be. He could feel it in his bones.

He saw her sitting on a grassy cliffside overlooking the river. She was skewering a fish.

Such grace! Nubian thought. I just need to get her attention…

 .             .               .    

Algific chewed her fish. Salmon, she thought. Urgh. Nothing like arctic cod. She looked up to see a shape winging toward her. The SandWing, she recognized. Nubian. The one with sand for brains.

He landed in front of her, a creepy grin plastered on his face. “Hi.” he said in a slightly hoarse voice. “May I sit next to you?”

“Oh. Sure.” said Algific, slightly embarrassed. She nudged sideways, trying to edge away from him.

He was actually quite handsome, actually, once she looked at him a little closer. His pale  scales were pristine, not dusty like most of the SandWings she’d seen, who spent their free time rolling in the sand and had little care for hygiene. But this SandWing, he smelled like pine trees, that nice foresty feeling of the wintry woods of the Ice Kingdom.

Nubian also was strong. He had large muscles, rippling with power, but he was wiry and agile, like a tough but gentle dragon. His face was friendly and good-natured,  but he was a bit freaky because he grinned too much. And in such a weird way, too! It looked more like he was baring his gums than smiling. Algific was sure she had never seen him frown once.

He smiled warmly and held out his fish. “I got this for you.” For me? But why me? I’ve never been nice to him. So why is he being so outwardly friendly?

She remembered vague memories of her “parents”, beckoning with outwardly friendly gifts, a happy surprise every day; treating her like her scales were made of diamonds. But then they showed their true colors. They made her do things she never wanted to do, such as pulling heavy lifts, breaking stones with her tail, or any kind of absurd task they asked. She was underfed and starved. She was, in short, their slave. Even her sisters and brothers were pampered and overfed and were given all rights to bully her and treat her like a seal carcass.

She never understood what she did to deserve such treatment. She never did. So she ran away, flew far from home and never returned.

Algific bit into the fish. Mmm. Mackerel. How did he know I liked it? She turned to look at him. Nubian was staring wistfully at the setting sun, which reflected off his black eyes, spraying orange sparks across his optics.

“It’s a beautiful evening.” said Algific, trying to break the awkward silence. He turned to look at her, his eyes misting a little. “You are far more beautiful than the evening. Your eyes are like night. They are amazing.”

“Excuse me?” said Algific, fluffing up her back spines defensively. “Don’t you get all mushy and romantic with me, sand-brain. I don’t want to be in a relationship with you.” She pushed him with her back talons.

She flew off the cliff without a glance back at him, but guilt was creeping into her like icy vines wrapping over her heart. That was rude, she told herself. I shouldn’t have done that.

PART ONE: MONSTERS AND MURDER - Chapter Two

~CHAPTER 2~

Fangtooth stretched out his wings and blinked slowly from his nap. He stood up.

Ahhh… another day of not having to worry about anything. I could get used to this, he thought.

He flew to the prey center and sliced a fish with his claws thoughtfully.

Hmm… I wonder who’s in my winglet?

He went and checked the sign. There were so many winglets, starting from the Sapphire Winglet to the Jasper Winglet, he finally found his own at the bottom-

JASPER WINGLET

IceWing: Algific

MudWing: Duckweed

NightWing: Endwhisperer

RainWing: Gaboon

SandWing: Nubian

SeaWing: Fangtooth

SkyWing: Fireburst

Hmm… thought Fangtooth. Well, this should certainly be an interesting day. I can’t wait to meet the winglet! But… what if they don’t like me?

That sunk into him a lot. He could still recall his family, giving him looks of pure hatred, mixes of anger and fury and disgust in the one thing he couldn’t do.

We never want to see you again. Pathetic, miserable, runty... You are a true failure. No one will want you, especially not us.

But that’s the great thing about this place, Fangtooth argued with himself. Nobody is going to judge me for something that happened a year ago. Or are they?

But was it the right thing? That is the question.

Suddenly the gong sounded. CLANG! CLANG!

Well, that’s my cue. Time to make some new friends!

When he arrived, there were already a few dragonets waiting. One was blood-red SkyWing with several scars and a bad tempered expression, a shy looking NightWing with eyes the color of blood, and a pink-and gold RainWing with grass-green eyes and a goofy smile written on her face.

“Hello, Fangtooth!” said a dark blue SeaWing who had to be Tsunami. “Welcome to the Jasper Winglet!” Fangtooth nodded politely and sat down next to the SkyWing.

Her scales were fascinating, not entirely red, but not completely orange, either. Gold bands coiled around her horns, snout, claws, underbelly, and back spines. Her eyes were a vivid, electric fire-blue that seemed hypnotizing. Around her neck was a fire opal amulet on a golden chain.

He looked into her eyes and saw a deep sadness, anger, fury, but hints of kindness and compassion. There was clearly a lot more to this dragon that he thought, but looking into her eyes was like diving into murky water- he could only see so much…

His thoughts were interrupted when Tsunami greeted two other dragonets. One of them was a tall, thin SandWing with glossy scales like polished sandstone. He also had pale brown diamonds on his neck, like a rattlesnake. He had a golden ring on his right claw, inset with a jade beetle. His glittering black eyes had hints of orange in them, like sparks in the night, and they were completely unreadable, almost… like this dragon didn’t have any memories, no past, just black-orange orbs.

The other was a smaller IceWing with icy-bluish lavender scales with an almost reflective quality to them. Her eyes, at first notice, seemed dark blue, like most IceWing eyes, but when he looked closer, he saw streaks of green and purple, like an aurora borealis across an arctic sky. Her face was a contorted mix of and aloof scowl and a forced smile, as she was trying to look happy, but was actually a blizzard of mixed emotion inside.

The last dragon to come in was a very overweight-looking MudWing. His scales were a flat, blackish-brown, like fertile soil, and his eyes were a dull amber color. His cheeks also seemed more swollen, like the cheeks of a chipmunk. He grunted and sat next to Tsunami, licking his lips as if he had just eaten a meal.

“Hello, everyone! My name is Tsunami, and I am the head of school, so if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or anything, just ask me! Now that I have introduced myself, who would like to go next?”

“ME!!” the bouncy pink RainWing said. “My name is Gaboon, I love the rainforest, but I love this place even more, and every day is a great day! Oh, and I like pink.”

Next to her, the NightWing spoke up. “My name is-er… END! End..whisperer. But you can call me End. And I’m totally not a vampire right? Hahahaha, I’m so funny! But really, I’m not-uh….. Oh yeah! My favorite color is re- I mean purple, like the- um, sky.” Her voice cracked awkwardly on the word vampire and she hiccuped with embarrassment as all the dragons stared at her.

“Well, now that’s um.. finished,” said Tsunami with a sideways glance at Endwhisperer. “Fireburst, would you like to go next?”

“Um.. fine,” said the SkyWing, even though her expression certainly said no. “My name is Fireburst, I’m a SkyWing, I like orange. There. You happy?”

Fangtooth opened his mouth and said “My name is Fangtooth, I can’t decide if I like blue or green better, and I… have an evil family? I failed on my first mission? Oh, and I hate swimming. Is that weird?.... I like scrolls.”

‘Like scrolls’? Really, Fangtooth? Is that the best you could come up with?

“My name is Nubian,” said the SandWing. “And… uh… I like sand.” He grinned as all the other dragons, even Tsunami, rolled their eyes and groaned.

“I am Algific.” the IceWing said in a smooth, cold voice like slippery ice. “It is far too warm here for my liking. My tribe is superior to all.”

“I’m Duckweed. I like eating. I like brown.” said the MudWing. “Moons, I’m hungry. When was the last time we ate?”

Tsunami smiled and said. “Well! That just about sums it up. Time to go hunting! You can visit anywhere you want, the rest of the day is free time.”

She flew out over the mountainside, diving towards the river. Algific, Nubian, Gaboon, Endwhisperer, and Duckweed followed after her.

Which left Fangtooth alone… with Fireburst. Fangtooth gave her a weak smile. She stared at him, confused for a second, her obscure blue eyes scanning him, before she spread her enormous scarlet wings and took off  into the sky.

Congratulations, Fangtooth told himself. None of them hate me! …..I think.