Distant Thunder

DISCLAIMER: This book is a heavy work in progress. I am currently going through and revising the chapters after a year-long hiatus, and new content will not be added for a little while.
Feel free to proofread and point out any grammatical errors or give suggestions for the story, and if you do see any obvious grammatical mistakes, it would be extemely appreciated if you pointed them out. However, please DO NOT EDIT under any circumstances.
Please leave a comment with your feedback! :) You can also give suggestions for future parts of the story/future books or request OCs to be put in as minor characters.
==Pre-Novel Information==
===Requesting an OC as a Minor Character===
If you would like an OC to be put into the book, leave a comment using this form:
Name:
Gender + Pronouns:
Age:
S&S:
Tribe*:
Appearance:
Powers (opt):
Personality:
Other (opt):
*For "Tribe", stick to canon tribes please -- hybrids are fine, Pantalan dragons are fine.
I will try to put the character into this book, but if I get too many requests then a character might end up in the second book instead. (That's probably not going to happen.)
===Credits===
Rime (Ch.12) belongs to Moonwatcher908
===Cover===
Emerald the sea-rainwing is going to draw one at some point :D
===Gallery===
Storm from Distant Thunder Cover.png|A drawing of Storm from a scrapped cover, drawn by dragonlynx
Storm Battwiink Basefill.png|Storm, base by Battii, filled by dragonlynx
Diamondback Basefill Battii.png|Diamondback, base by Battii, dragonlynx
Opal Battwiink Basefill.png|Opal, base by Battii, filled by dragonlynx
Cloud Basefill Battii.png|Cloud, base by Battii, filled by dragonlynx
Starblaze Basefill Battii.png|Starblaze, base by Battii, filled by dragonlynx
File:I Won't Forget Watermarked.png|Sleet and Anniu, drawn by dragonlynx
===Queens===
There is much more detailed information here.
Queen Crimson - Sky Kingdom
Queen Auklet - Kingdom of the Sea
Queen Cholla - Kingdom of Sand
Queen Firefly - RainNight Kingdom
Queen Crystalline - Ice Kingdom
Queen Egret - Mud Kingdom
Queen Aspen (head of LeafSilk Assembly) - LeafSilk Kingdom
Queen Izula - Hive Kingdom
===Blurb===
More than a hundred years ago, an affair began, hidden from the world. But the time is fast approaching that a new force of evil will emerge from the shadows, dooming both continents.
An egg hidden in the sand ... a tribe more powerful than any other ... a secret hidden for more than a century ... the distant thunder of a coming storm.
It will take many more lies and betrayals before the light emerges. But by the time it does, it may already be too late.
==Prologue==
Two dragons soared southwards in the light of the setting sun. The fading sunlight rippled across their scales, which shifted from blue to orange to yellow to purple and back again. Their wingtips brushed against one another as they flew. As they approached the beach, the mountain territory beneath them slowly transformed into the rough terrain of a rocky, deserted beach.
The pair landed lightly on the sand. The smaller of the two was pale blue, with elegant silvery stripes that formed delicate patterns on her legs and wings. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the ocean breeze. Her eyes shone brightly with pleasure, and she twined her tail around her partner’s.
"We should go back to the cave, Anniu." The skinny IceWing next to her shifted his weight from talon to talon, looking apprehensive. He was slate gray in color, with pale silvery claws and horns. He unwound his tail from hers and began pacing up and down the beach, looking agitated.
"Oh, relax, Sleet. No one will find us here." Anniu darted forward into the lapping waves eagerly. The young SeaWing-IceWing hybrid had been orphaned at hatching, and when Sleet -- already an outcast among his tribe -- ran off with her, his parents had harshly rejected the relationship and cursed him for leaving. He still lived in fear of them somehow finding himself and Anniu, living their solitary life in the lower mountains of southern Pyrrhia. "Come on, the water's fresh and cold!"
A little reluctantly, Sleet paddled into the shallow water. It was a bit warmer than the average IceWing's taste, but then again, Sleet had never been an average IceWing. He actually rather enjoyed the slightly warmer temperature. In fact, paired with the cool breeze and beautiful sunset, it seemed like a perfect evening for swimming.
Yet Sleet was far from at ease. He felt as though danger was lurking around every corner -- indeed, he had been acting tense ever since he and Anniu had ran into Sleet's brother, Seal, in Sanctuary. Ever since then, he had been extremely paranoid, even in the mountain home where the couple had been safe for years.
"Look," said the gray IceWing suddenly, pointing towards the distant sky above the ocean. "Dragons! Dragons flying here! We need to hide now!"
Anniu squinted up at the sky. In the distance, a group of dragons -- four? five? -- were flying off into the distance. In the half-light of the sunset, it was hard to tell what tribe they were from. "Huh," she said. "I wonder where they're going. There's nothing out there."
"Where they're going?" cried Sleet. "Here! They're coming here!"
"No," replied Anniu calmly, "they're flying away, see?" She pointed to the figures in the sky, which were quickly becoming smaller. She couldn't even hear their wingbeats.
Sleet sat down with a huff. His tail spikes clattered as he threw his tail across the sand. His eyes gloomily scanned the pebbles and sand underneath his talons. With one long, serrated claw, he drew a line in the sand, resentful thoughts clouding his mind. Suddenly he gasped and leaped backwards.
"What's wrong?" Anniu looked up from where she'd been swimming. Her stripes were glowing dimly now, as the sky was becoming darker.
"I -- I thought there was something ..." Sleet looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Anniu glanced over, looking confused at this speech. "Here, show me." She hurried up out of the water to where he stood on the beach. He pointed silently at the place where his claw had scored a line in the sand, his normally gray scales looking as pale as a regular IceWing's.
The young hybrid walked over and examined it, a little nervously, with one claw, wary of what had so easily spooked Sleet. She saw a glint of dark blue. "A rock?" she wondered. Carefully she began to push the sand off the hard round object and gasped when a sparkling blue shell was revealed.
A dragon egg.
It was an egg unlike any she had ever seen. Coal black in some places, sapphire blue in others, and it smoothly faded from one to the other around the egg. Wrapped around the whole thing were gray swirl patterns that she recognized to be similar to a SeaWing egg's -- only these were jaggedly shaped, like zigzags. Actually, they almost resembled lightning bolts.
Sleet forgot his caution for a moment, he was so shocked at Anniu's discovery. He took a few steps back and cried, "What in the name of the three moons is that!?"
"An egg," Anniu breathed in wonder. "Someone left it here. But … why? And whose?" She gazed at the egg, unlike any of the seven tribes -- any of the ten tribes, she was sure. She'd never seen SilkWing eggs, but she was pretty sure they didn't look like this -- it had to be a hybrid. And yet, someone had abandoned this precious life form, hidden it in the sand and left it to freeze and die.
Sleet, wearing his paranoid expression, watched her, his eyes darting from the dragon to the egg. "Anniu, you're not seriously considering --"
"We very well can't just leave it here," snapped Anniu. "It'll freeze in the night.” Her voice softened. “We can hatch it along with our own.”
Sleet was about to argue, but then he stopped. Anniu had made up her mind, and there was no stopping her. He had learned that from experience. "Fine."
But suddenly a thought struck him. He came up to her, stepping over the egg, and grasped her talons in his. His dark, stormy blue gaze locked into hers. A strange expression came over his face -- fierce, unforgiving. But his eyes were pleading, pleading desperately with all his heart, pleading for all he had left of a life he had left far behind.
"Tell me you won't forget, Anniu," he whispered. "It means everything to me. Tell me you won't forget our promise."
"I won't," breathed Anniu, gazing back into his face, fearfully almost, but lovingly all the same. "I won't forget."
==Part One: A Rumbling==
===Chapter 1===
With delightful yells, the dragonets tumbled into the river. A great splash went up, although it did nothing to drown out their excited voices.
"I got here first!"
"No, I did!"
"C'mon, let's swim!"
"Race you to the oceannnn!"
"Noooo! You're gonna win!"
"You're just a sore loser from the last race!"
"Am not! You just want to cheat so you can win for once!"
They were four years old and had never known the world outside their little mountain home, their parents, each other, and the river to the ocean.
The first dragonet was a pale ice blue. Indeed, he looked just like a miniature IceWing, except for the webbed claws and glowing white stripes all over his body that marked him as a SeaWing hybrid.
His sister, older than him by three days, was even odder. She, too, had the signature IceWing spikes, although not quite as many as her brother; and in addition to serrated claws, she had gills and light-up stripes. The oddest thing about her was these glowing scales, for although they were very similar to a regular SeaWing's, they were shaped rather jaggedly, a bit like lightning bolts. She still learned Aquatic alongside her brother, but it made her different. Not that Storm minded; she thought having lightning stripes were cool.
Dark blue and pale blue, they swam side by side. After a few seconds, the brother shot ahead.
"Frooost!" moaned his sister. "Stop it! We both know you're a better swimmer than me." She looked enviously at the webbed claws that powered his swimming. “Show-off," she muttered to herself.
"C'mon, Storm, scared?" mocked Frost, swimming ahead.
"No way!" Storm ducked her head underwater and began to swim, using large, powerful wings to power herself after her brother. As they neared the final stretch, she leaped out of the water, spread her wings, and soared over Frost, who was still swimming. She then tucked her wings and dove, splashing in the ocean water a split second ahead of her brother.
"Hey!" complained Frost, as soon as he had come up for air. "That was cheating!"
"You didn't say we had to swim," said Storm with a grin.
"It was kind of implied!" cried Frost angrily. He flashed seal-brain in Aquatic. In response, she flashed a few words using some extra wing stripes that Frost and normal SeaWings didn't have. Since she'd invented these combinations, Frost didn't know what she was saying, and it always infuriated him.
"So weird," he muttered, and swam off on his own. Storm relaxed as his IceWingish chill left the water where she was swimming. Despite being three-quarters IceWing, she had never liked the cold much. She found a warm current and began to follow it.
"Storm?" called Frost's voice. Her brother was doing playful flips in the water on the other side of the beach. "Where ya going?"
She ignored him, spreading her wings slightly to catch the current. All of a sudden, she shot forward, faster than she had expected. The current began to carry her deeper underwater, farther south, where it was warmer. She struggled, trying to escape, but the pull was too strong.
"Frost!" she tried to scream, but all that came out were bubbles. She flashed all her stripes as bright as she could, which was in fact brighter than a regular SeaWing's. She tried flashing them on and off, and then Help! Frost! Help! Frost! over and over again. But no help came. How far did I go? Where's Frost? She began to panic.
Soon she was in foreign territory. She didn't recognize the corals and rocks around her, but although it was warmer, it seemed darker and deeper. More ominous. Her scales were growing hotter and hotter, and she felt almost sickeningly warm inside. She tried to scream again -- but all that came out was a great hiss of steam.
Steam? How hot is it down here, really? Am I hallucinating? I must be losing air. Oh, wait, I can breathe underwater ...
The momentary confusion somehow seemed to bring her back to her senses. She clapped her wings shut and kicked with her legs, and fell out of the current. Exhausted, she floated limply in the water for a few minutes as her thoughts slowly put themselves back in order. It seemed cooler, too, outside of the current.
Although afraid, she knew she only had to follow the current back home. It was hard, since she was opposing the current now instead of traveling with it, and she had to swim near enough to feel its motion. Still, Storm could not risk getting lost. When she finally burst out into the air, she collapsed onto the beach from exhaustion, shivering in the chilly evening air. Yet the warm, tingly feeling remained in her scales.
"Storm?" called a voice. Looking around, she realized it was getting dark. "Storm! Oh, thank the moons it's you!"
Still groggy, she felt a cool snout nudging her in the side. "... Ma?" she managed.
"Storm! You're okay! ... Are you okay? What happened?"
Storm sat up and tried to speak, but found she could only cough; there was sand and water in her gills, and her lungs felt weak. As she went into her second coughing fit, though, something bright flickered for a moment on her breath.
Anniu, her mother, froze. "Was that ...?"
"That's impossible," said Storm. Her parents were IceWing and IceWing-SeaWing. And yet, she remembered the steam, back down in the water ...
She tried again, breathing in the crisp air, focusing on the tingling warmth still inside her -- and breathed a small plume of fire.
===Chapter 2===
"You can breathe fire?" asked Anniu in wonder.
"But how?" cried Storm, still in shock. "I'm not -- I'm not --"
A realization seemed to dawn on Anniu's face.
"Wait, do you know something?" Storm studied her mother's face, and gasped. "Ma! You do know!"
Anniu shook her head, a little too fast. She took a couple steps back. "I -- I don't --"
Fear began to creep up Storm's scales, colder than any IceWing's touch. The hot embers inside of her seemed to have evaporated, leaving no trace of their warmth. "Tell me, Ma! Please. Why can I breathe fire if I'm three-quarters IceWing and one-quarter SeaWing?"
Her mother shook her head again. "Now is not the time, Storm. Let's go back to the cave." Anniu took a step back, hesitated, and then leaped into the sky and began soaring back upriver.
"Mother! Ma! Wait!" Storm flew after Anniu. Her wings were powerful, and charged by her anger and desperation, but Anniu's were still bigger, and Storm didn't catch up until they reached the cave entrance to their home. But as she landed, she only caught a glimpse of a sky-blue tail disappearing into her parents' private cave.
Storm swore to herself angrily as stormed down the narrow stone tunnel. What did she mean, "Now is not the time"? Why wouldn't she tell me anything? She turned a corner and swept angrily into her own cave.
She had chosen this cave because there was an area at the back where a stream ran through, so Storm could easily wash herself without leaving the cave. She had also carefully carved a crack in the ceiling that allowed a shaft of light to come through. If it was raining, she just slid a large palm leaf over the opening. Cut into the walls of the caves were rectangular alcoves she had created to make shelves, where she stored her few possessions -- a combination of random items collected from outside and souvenirs brought back from Anniu's occasional visits to Possibility. One shelf held the precious few scrolls that she owned. On one side of the room was a larger natural alcove which she had turned into her bed, using leaves, grass, and sand to make it soft and comfortable.
"Mew?"
A fluffy gray head popped up from behind a scroll that lay, open, on Storm's bed.
Storm, who had frozen, fearful, for a moment, turned and let out a small sigh of relief. "Oh, it's you again."
"Mew!" The tiny kitten scrambled out from underneath the scroll and gazed imploringly at her with wide gray eyes. Storm felt the anger draining out of her as she gently extended a claw, and the kitten batted at it with delight. She had found it a few days ago, hiding on a shelf in her room, buried in scrolls. Thinking it must have gotten lost and separated from its mother, she had pitied it and taken it back outside, but it had appeared again the next day. Storm still hadn't shown it to Frost or her parents; although grudgingly, she had become quite fond of the little creature, and would rather it not be eaten.
"You don't care if I can breathe fire or not, do you? You probably don't even know the difference between the dragon tribes."
The kitten purred obligingly, rubbing its jaw against her claw.
Sighing, Storm glanced at the ground, which was littered with leaves. She picked one up with her claws. Maybe she had imagined it somehow. Maybe it wasn't her. Maybe she couldn't really ... but she could feel a tingling warmth inside her now ... She took a deep breath, focusing all her energy on that inner warmth, imagining it growing hotter, rising up, flames dancing upon the air --
Storm shrieked and stumbled back, dropping the leaf, which feel to the damp stone floor by the underground stream. Smoke was curling from where it had been ablaze a moment before. The kitten looked at it curiously for a moment, then jumped down from Storm's bed to bat at the now soot-black leaf.
I can breathe fire.
But how?
Unwittingly, ideas began to form in her mind, and she remembered reading about the ancient magic of animi ...
Am I magic somehow? But magic doesn't exist anymore ...
She sighed, turning back to her shelves, and pulled out her favorite scroll: Animus Magic of Pyrrhia, written at least a hundred years previously. She loved everything about it. The beautiful text, its carefully scripted ink telling of the wonders of those dragons who possessed the ability to do anything, make anything happen ... the artful illustrations, which seemed to carry the magic of the objects they depicted within themselves ... Storm rolled open the scroll to a full-size portrait of the Darkstalker, gazing with mixed wonder and fear at the menace that seemed alive in the depths of his eyes ... and the bottom of the scroll, where she could hardly bear to look at the shards of glass that represented the forever shattering of animus magic ...
If only it were real ... if only I was an animus! But fire isn't animus magic, is it?
Fire-breathing is pretty common for dragons, isn't it? There's three tribes that can breathe fire, she thought. No, four -- SandWings, NightWings, SkyWings, and MudWings. But not SeaWings or IceWings. Unless ...
Storm gasped. The kitten, who had rolled over onto its back and was batting at Storm's tail, squeaked.
Unless I'm not a SeaWing-IceWing. What if I'm actually part SandWing or something? But SandWing wouldn't make much sense ... it might be NightWing.
She thought about the traits that set her apart from even other SeaWing-IceWings: her lightning stripes, and now her fire. Being a tribrid ... might actually make sense.
But if I'm a tribrid ... then that means ...
My parents aren't what they say they are.
===Chapter 3===
It couldn't be true.
It just couldn't be.
Her parents, not her parents? It just couldn't be true.
Sure, she had lightning stripes -- so what? So what if she was a little odd? She had always been her parents' daughter. She had Sleet's narrow snout and Anniu's short, curved horns. Her wings folded and her spikes sparkled and her claws curled just like Frost's did. No, that couldn't be it. They had to be her family.
Storm began to pace. A well-worn track around her private cave marked the hundreds of times she had, in anger or concentration or delight, strode around the room to mull over her thoughts. Around and around she went, more and more theories popping into her head. What if one of my parents is actually part NightWing? Or SandWing? She tried to think of any odd features she'd seen in either Sleet or Anniu, but couldn't really think of any. Well, Sleet's color was a little gray for an IceWing. She was pretty sure they were usually paler, and shinier, like Frost. What if he was gray because he was part NightWing? That would explain the fire ...
But, if that was the case, then WHY hadn't they told Storm? Or Frost, for that matter? Why had Anniu acted so suspicicous and secretive when Storm discovered her power?
Storm could feel herself getting angry again. Why would they hide being part NightWing? There hadn't been anything wrong with being an IceWing-SeaWing hybrid, and the four of them lived alone. So why would they keep a secret like that?
Her parents had lied to her.
Storm didn't know why, or what the truth was ... but she knew something was wrong. Very wrong.
She felt a wave of fear wash over her and stopped pacing. She dropped to the ground, ducking her head under her wings. The chill of the stone floor against her scales was nothing, nothing compared to the ice now running through her veins. Storm's heart was pounding in her ears. She felt as though cold water was seeping through her skin, slowly making its way to her heart.
What if everything isn't how I thought it was?
"Mew?" A tiny fluffy something landed with a whoosh on Storm's back, rolling down her wing. Storm was surprised at the little cat's warmth, radiating from its tiny furry body like a warm fire. Still lying on the ground, she turned her head slowly to gaze into the huge gray eyes. The kitten squeaked and batted Storm's nose, making her sneeze.
Storm felt an odd smile twist her face as she sat up. It felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. How could she smile after what she'd just discovered? But as the little kitten dragged over another leaf in its jaws and stared up at her hopefully, Storm couldn't help but give a dry laugh. She picked it up and waved it around, watching the kitten dance and leap in its excitement as it tried to seize the leaf.
"I think you need a name, don't you?" Storm asked out loud. "It's becoming a bit tiring to think of you as just 'the kitten'."
"Mrrr-ow!" yelped the kitten as it leaped for the leaf again and nearly snatched it with its tiny claws. Storm had found a scroll about mammal anatomy the other day in her parents' room and tried to compare it to the little animal. The scroll, of course, was primarily meant to be a guide for hunting and cooking prey, and there was no section on cats, but she was pretty sure the tiny fluffball was a male.
Storm tilted her head at the kitten and found that the cold fear haunting her felt further away as the considered names for the cat. "Gray, because you're gray? Or Stripes? No, too simple. Silver-eyes? That sounds kind of creepy. Fluffyfur? Cleverclaws? Okay, these are starting to sound like NightWing names ..." The cold seemed to rush back for a second and Storm fell silent, thinking of NightWings and fire and her parents--
"Rrrr," growled the kitten, bumping its nose against her talon, which had stopped waving the leaf and drifted to the ground.
-- [halfway through revising this chapter, so there's a bit of a disconnect here lol]
I'm going to run away and figure out who I am ... on my own.
But mayyybe she should come up with a smarter plan first.
She sighed and paused, worn out from pacing. Whatever the truth was, Anniu definitely knew something. So step one was spying on her parents. Storm jumped up eagerly. This feels just like one of my adventure scrolls!
When Storm and Frost were two, they discovered that the big river branched off in one spot, and a smaller stream ran underground. It was the same stream that passed through the back of Storm's cave, and also passed into her parents' cave. Unfortunately, she couldn't use it to just secretly sneak in like the five Prophecy Dragonets back in the 5000s; the gap simply wasn't big enough. Still, Storm was sure it could be useful somehow.
She padded to the back of the cave, where she usually washed, and slipped into the water. Swimming with the weak current, the river almost immediately went into a dark tunnel with no light and no air. Storm swam down the cramped tunnel, feeling uncomfortable with her large wings. She lit up her stripes to help light her way. She knew that Frost's cave was next, but passed by silently, knowing that Frost was probably present.
After her brother's cave, the tunnel became much tighter, and it quickly became evident that continuing to her parents' cave was impossible. Even if I could get there, what are the chances I could listen to them undetected, and that they would talk about exactly what I needed? It's always too easy in scrolls ... even real scrolls ...
Storm turned around and began to swim back, expecting the water to brighten as she reentered Frost's cave, which also had a sunlight hole. But the tunnel remained dark, and after a few minutes it began to slope up, and expand. All of a sudden she burst out into the cold cave air.
Storm clambered up onto a boulder and looked down, confused. The stream ended in a small pool here, and only rocks went beyond that. Looking up, she could see that the tunnel continued winding upwards for a little bit. She realized that this must be a side tunnel she hadn't discovered before. She doubted Frost knew about it; he hated swimming through the tunnels, thanks to the lack of air in some stretches, since he didn't have gills like Storm.
Eager and excited, she climbed up the tunnel. It wasn't very steep, and after a few minutes she came to an opening. She stopped and looked down, realizing that if she had kept walking, she would have dropped right into her parents' cave. She took a few steps back and lay down in the sheltered opening. The bottom lip was wider than the top of the opening, so it seemed well hidden when viewed from below. Yes! thought Storm. Yes! This is exactly what I need!
Voices drifted up from below.
"... next go to Possibility?"
A sigh. "Must you go there again?"
"I know you're nervous about Seal, but --"
"It's not just my idiot brother!" came a hiss. "If anyone sees you --"
"I'm fine!" Anniu's voice sounded exasperated. "Hybrids are so common in Possibility and --"
"I don't want to lose you, Anniu. Not before -- not before we have to."
Storm's ears pricked up. The beginning of the conversation had been nothing new, but this was interesting. "Before we have to" -- what could that mean?
Unfortunately for her, the conversation ended there. Storm stayed, listening, for several hours, and heard nothing but snippets of useless chatter. She was getting frustrated by the time Anniu went out, calling Storm and Frost to dinner, but made a split-second decision to stay where she was. Maybe it'll arouse suspicion and they'll start talking about me.
Sure enough, after a few minutes, she heard calls of "Storm? Stoooorm! Where are you? Storm!"
And then a breathless voice from below, "I can't find her anywhere!"
"What did you tell her, Anniu?"
"You mean earlier?"
"Of course!"
"... Nothing."
"Tell me!"
"Nothing, I swear! ... But she may have suspected ... that I knew something."
Sleet swore from down below.
"We need to find her, and fast."
===Chapter 4===
Come on, keep talking! thought Storm, eagerly awaiting new information. But her parents just made plans to go searching again in the morning and went to bed, letting the starlight stream in from he a crack in the wall.
Storm decided to spend the night here, on this new spying perch of hers, and wait to see what her parents did. First, however, she quietly made her way back to her own private cave and chose a few possessions to bring with her, not expecting to return.
First she took a small moonstone that she had found washed up on the beach one morning. It was her dearest and most beautiful possession, and she called it her "lucky stone". Maybe it was because of her original luck in finding it, but every time she wanted (or didn't want) something really desperately, she wished on her stone and made a sacrifice, and it almost always seemed to come true. Maybe she'd get lost in a storm, and she'd pray for her safety, abandoning a cool looking feather she'd collected instead. Or maybe Anniu was on one of her trips to Possibility and stayed away longer than expected, and Storm wished on the stone for her safety and skipped dinner. Maybe it was silly, but Storm didn't care what others might think. The moonstone was Storm's secret.
Next she took a small sack of dried fruit -- a rare treat she'd saved from Anniu's last visit to Possibility -- not enough to feed her for a long time, but hopefully she'd be able to find hunting wherever she went. Finally she took two scrolls, the animus magic scroll and a supposed guide to the ten tribes. She packed all this in a relatively compact waterproof leather pouch and then stepped into the stream. Here she paused.
Is this it? Am I really leaving?
One side of her was nervous. Am I really going to run away from my family? Secrets or not ... I don't know anything about the outside world. This is a terrible plan. Why am I even doing this?
The other side was confident and excited. Yes! I'm finally going to get out there and see the world. And once I know what they know about me, I can get out there and figure out who I am, by myself.
She took a deep breath and made up her mind that she at least had to find out what her parents were hiding. So she ducked her head under and swam back to her new secret ledge.
She waited tensely, restless, for several hours; when she finally rolled over to sleep it was past midnight. She woke up again two hours later to whispered voices.
"... Do you really think she ran away?"
"She has to have -- or else she's hiding. But why?"
"Do you think it has to do with us not telling her?"
"Well, of course it has to do with us not telling her! But how could we have? If she knew Frost isn't her brother, we're not her parents ..." Then came silence.
If Storm had been sleepy when she first woke up, she was wide awake now.
I'm not ... I'm not ...
I'm not their daughter!?
Storm's head was spinning wildly, and her thoughts were crazy and disorganized, but she couldn't seem to focus on anything other than what she had just heard.
The theory had come to her once or twice, but this ...
It's not real ... it can't be real ... how can it be real? ... it's not real ... it can't be real ...
Storm couldn't think, couldn't focus, couldn't stay there. She had to get out, get away, escape this uncomprehending thought.
Without thinking, she spread her wings and flew straight up. A moment later she realized this was stupid, and she expected to hit her head hard on the stone above. But instead of hitting her head, she flew up into clear air -- and saw light up ahead. Without a hesitation she flew towards the light and emerged blindly into the starlit night.
I have ... to get ... away ...
===Chapter 5===
Storm flew for what felt like hours. She didn't know how long it was or where she was going, only that she had to get away, as far away as possible. She just kept flying and flying, her wings never tiring. When she finally collapsed onto soft grass, silent tears ran down her face. It's not real. It can't be real … but it is real …
Unconsciously she found the moonstone in her pouch and clutched it desperately. "Please," she sobbed. "Please, it can't be real. I'm dreaming. Please, let it be a dream ..."
She had no parents. No family. No friends. No one in the world. Storm was completely alone. She curled up in the grass and cried until she was spent of tears.
Finally, she dried her eyes and sat up. She was in a grassy area at the foot of a low mountain. Storm was pretty sure she'd never seen it before. Being exhausted, she crawled over to a shadowy nook in the rocks and cried herself to sleep.***Storm blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked around. The grassy knoll was now lit up by the full sunlight. Slowly she remembered where she was, and then the events of the previous night.
She didn't feel hungry, despite having skipped dinner the previous night, so instead she flew up to get an idea of her surroundings. All around her were small, grassy mountains and rocky areas. In the distance, she could see a river; she realized it must be the same river that flowed to the ocean and through her home.
What used to be her home …
She shook off the thought and flew until she reached the river. There she paused.
Downriver, towards the ocean, was home. There were Frost and Sleet and Anniu, and she could go back, and work everything out, and be loved again …
But they're not my parents.
I can't go back.
So Storm turned and flew upriver instead. She took occasional breaks to drink and eat, and sometimes switched to swimming, before returning to the air when her legs got tired and her wings felt rested. She wasn't sure what she expected to find, but if she kept going she'd get to Sanctuary eventually; this she knew from the maps she had studied. A map was included in the guide scroll, and she sometimes checked it to try to figure out where she was.
To the east lay the rainforest and the RainWing kingdom, according to the map. To the west began the Claws of the Clouds Mountains; indeed, Storm could see Jade Mountain in the distance. She began to get nervous as it grew closer -- there would be dragons there, lots and lots of dragons, at Jade Mountain University. She'd read about it in scrolls; it had been founded after the War of SandWing succession, and had rapidly grown over the past century, eventually changing its name and expanding to several more mountains. Not wanting to get into trouble or leave a trail for Sleet and Anniu to follow, she decided to skip Jade Mountain altogether and avoid it as well as she could.
Trying to be less visible, she dived into the river and swam underneath the surface, barely a shadow to those who might be looking from above. She was almost clear of the area when she put on a burst of speed, and heard a sudden yelp coming from above. Preparing to fight, she leaped out of the water and landed on the shore with her fangs bared. But it wasn't her parents.
Standing on the other side of the river, water still dripping from his snout, was a shocked-looking SandWing dragonet. He was a pale sandy color, almost white on his underbelly and chest, but closer to a golden tan along his back. He had black diamond-shaped markings running along his neck and sides, and there was a wicked-looking barb at the end of his tail. He was the first dragon Storm had ever seen outside of her family.
"Who are you?" the two dragonets yelped at the same time.
Storm recovered her senses first. "I'm Storm," she said warily, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "What are you doing out here?"
The SandWing glanced around nervously. "I ran away," he said urgently, lowering his voice. "Please, please, please don't tell Professor Moonwatcher. I'll be in so much trouble!"
"Professor Moonwatcher?" asked Storm, confused, dropping her guard. "As in, the headmaster of Jade Mountain University?"
"Uh … actually, that's Professor Qibli," said the other dragon. "Professor Moonwatcher is the librarian, but she's also my winglet's monitor. She'd be the first to know I'm missing! … But don't you know that? You go to school here, don't you?"
"Um, no, actually," said Storm defensively. "I ran away, too -- from home. But why did you leave the University?"
The young SandWing's wings drooped, and he looked away. "I got bullied," he said nervously. "Because I'm an orphan. Finally I couldn't take it anymore, and we left."
"We?"
"I mean, me," he said quickly. "I left. I'm Diamondback, by the way."
"Oh, forget it," said a new voice. "You've already told her everything there is to know, anyway."
She whirled around, and the most beautiful dragon Storm had ever seen appeared out of thin air in front of her eyes.
===Chapter 6===
She was a slender dragon, and her scales were a deep indigo blue. But they had a brilliant iridescent sheen to them that made them glitter in the sun with more colors than imaginable. She had thin spines running down her back and sparkling silver starscales on the undersides of her wings. The colors of her scales danced in the sunlight; it was mesmerizing to look at.
"Whoa," breathed Storm. The new dragon noticed her staring and looked uncomfortable, her ears turning pinkish-orange -- although even these new colors were as prismatic and iridescent as the rest. Immediately after, though, all the colors dulled until it looked more like just plain indigo blue. Storm, realizing she'd been staring, looked away, embarrassed.
"Yeah, and that's my friend Opal," said Diamondback cheerfully. "We're running away together."
Opal glanced at Diamondback, looking annoyed and amused at the same time. Her scales changed too, and yellow-orange rippled through her wings.
Oh! thought Storm. Of course! She must be a RainWing, and her scales change with her mood.
Opal narrowed her eyes at Storm. "And what about you? Who are you really, and where did you come from?"
"I told you, I'm Storm," she said, somewhat annoyed. "I ran away from my family in the mountains. We're a hybrid family, so we lived alone." Not a real family, she thought to herself. I mean, we kind of were … we all loved each other, didn't we? … or did they …
"And why did you run away?" pressed Opal, interrupting her thoughts.
"None of your business," snapped Storm suddenly, turning defensive. She lashed her tail angrily. "I've already told you more than you need to know."
Opal looked taken aback and embarrassed for a moment, but then her scales turned a fiery, prismatic red-orange at the remark. Storm arched her back and hissed, her lightning stripes lighting up, but Diamondback quickly intervened. "Opal, she's right. What she's doing is none of our business," he said gently.
Opal shook her head and muttered something about not enough sleep, and her scales slowly faded back to blue.
Storm's eyes darted from one to the other, trying to figure out what was going on. For some reason, she felt prickles of anger underneath her scales at their obvious close friendship, but she kept her mouth shut.
"If you don't mind me asking," added Diamondback to Storm, "what kind of hybrid are you? Your stripes look really cool, but I don't think I've seen anything like them before."
"I'm an IceWing-SeaWing," answered Storm automatically. And maybe NightWing. Or SkyWing.
"Oh. That's cool."
There was an awkward silence between the three of them.
"So … where are you going, anyway?" asked Storm.
Diamondback look startled. "Nowhere really, I guess. Maybe Possibility or Sanctuary? I have no parents to go back to, only some grumpy orphanage guards, who are probably gonna be even more grumpy now that I've run away. And Opal --"
"It's complicated," interrupted the RainWing. "And no, I'm not going back to the rainforest."
The tense silence resumed. Finally, Storm said, "Well, I'm not going anywhere either. I can't believe I'm the one suggesting this, but do you want to, like … travel together?"
Diamondback and Opal glanced at each other. "Sure, why not?" asked Diamondback cheerfully.
Opal frowned, looking away. "Diamond, can you hand me the map?"
The SandWing took out a map similar to Storm's and handed it over. Storm tensed at the nickname and lashed her tail angrily, thinking about the brother and family she'd left behind. These two had probably known each other for years, a year at least. It was springtime, which meant Jade Mountain's school year had been in session for months, and the two were probably in the same grade level and winglet.
At the same time, though, Diamondback's friendliness was a little comforting. A change, maybe, but perhaps a good change. Maybe she could get along with other dragonets her own age. Maybe having friends wouldn't be so bad.
===Chapter 7===
Storm traveled with Opal and Diamondback for six days. It was slow going, for the other two couldn't fly as swift as she, nor could they switch to swimming in the river when their wings got tired. The territory also became more mountainous as they went on; they were drawing close to SkyWing territory. They planned to change direction and fly towards Possibility before they entered the Sky Kingdom, but they kept delaying, since they would lose the river as their guide when they did.
By the sixth day, Storm was getting frustrated, impatient, and was feeling excluded from the other two's friendship. "Come on," she urged them when they woke up that morning. "Let's just go to Possibility. The mountains are getting taller and taller; any day now we'll be deep in the heart of Queen Crimson's territory."
Opal shimmered into view next to Diamondback. "You're sure you know the way?"
Storm sighed. "Of course! We've been through this. Due west is the Great Five-Tail River. If we travel along it, we'll get to Possibility eventually!"
"I think Storm's right," piped up Diamondback. "We should go now, before we get any deeper into SkyWing territory."
"Fine," said Opal. "Are we just following the sun, then?"
"Yep."
At last, the three changed direction, going west. The terrain became less mountainous and lower again, and the dragonets got thirsty, unused to not having the river right there to drink from. At last they took a break, feeling hot and tired, when they found a small mountain lake. Storm delightfully swam in the lake, letting herself cool off.
She was just climbing back out when she heard a voice hiss, "Shhh!"
Opal, Diamondback, and Storm looked at one another, but it hadn't been either of them. They immediately began searching for the source of the noise. Storm rose up on the wind, searching from the air, and quickly spotted two dragonets fleeing from the lake area, hiding in the rocks.
"Aha!" Storm flew down and landed on a boulder, obstructing their path. The dragonets stepped back, looking afraid. She frowned and studied them more closely.
The first dragonet was small, perhaps three years old. His scales appeared to be pure white, but he didn't look like an IceWing -- no extra spikes, no serrated claws. His eyes were an odd pinkish-red color, also not matching any tribe. The other dragonet was bigger, maybe five or six, a year or two older than Storm. She looked like a NightWing, except her silver starscales had an odd coppery-red sheen. Her underscales were red-orange too and were visible when she spread her wings in the full sunlight, shielding the white dragonet from Storm.
"Uh ... what kind of hybrids are you?" Storm asked, suspicious and somewhat confused, as Diamondback landed next to her. Opal, she assumed, was invisible.
The bigger dragonet lashed her tail and narrowed her eyes, but the white one pushed past. "I'm not," he said. "A hybrid, I mean. I'm a -- Starblaze!" He shot the other an annoyed glance as she slapped him lightly with her tail. "I'm fine. I'm a SkyWing," he continued to Storm. "I just --"
The bigger dragonet slapped him again and hissed, "We don't even know who they are or what they want!"
"So?" said the white dragonet, looking annoyed. "I'm not ashamed of who I am, and what harm will it do to say so? Anyway," he addressed Storm and Diamondback again, "I'm a SkyWing, I was just born tiny and weird-colored. Not that I care. I'm Cloud, by the way."
"Oh. Hi," said Diamondback. "What are you doing all the way out here -- with a NightWing?"
"Cloud! Don't!" hissed Starblaze, but Cloud ignored her. "I got bullied in my village," he said, "and Starblaze in hers. So she came to the Sky Kingdom, and met me, and --"
Starblaze shoved his shoulder and interrupted, "Tell us who you are first!"
"I'm Diamondback, and this is Storm." Storm shot Diamondback a look, annoyed that he was speaking for her, but didn't interrupt him. "We ran away from Jade Mountain University. Or at least, I did."
"Why?" pressed Starblaze.
"Because I got bullied, too," said Diamondback in a low voice. "Because I'm an orphan. There were some really terrible dragons in my winglet." He looked down at the ground, but quickly added, "Not all of them." No doubt he was thinking of Opal.
"Oh." Starblaze looked a little ashamed of her behavior. "And what about you, uh ... Storm?"
"I ran away from home," said Storm curtly, trying to make it clear without being rude that she didn't want to reveal any more information.
"Oh," said Starblaze again. "Well -- yeah, I'm Starblaze, I'm half SkyWing and half NightWing, and I'm four. I'm an orphan, too, but I was mistreated in the NightWing village, so I came here to try to find my mother's family. That's when I met Cloud, and, well -- yeah, now we're heading to Possibility."
"Oh, that's perfect!" said Diamondback. "Us too. Let's travel together! Opal?"
Opal shimmered into view. Starblaze and Cloud gasped. Starblaze glared at the RainWing. "You hid on purpose! What do you have to hide?"
Opal's wings turned red. "You're one to talk! Trying to prevent Cloud from saying anything--"
"Stop!" cried Cloud suddenly. Everyone turned to look at the little white dragonet. "Stop. We just want to get to Possibility, right? Why can't we just travel together, like friends? Do we have to fight about everything?"
Starblaze hung her head. "Sorry, Cloud. You're right."
Shades of grayish-blue and purple rippled through the red of Opal's wings. She muttered, "Sorry, I guess."
Diamondback turned to Storm. "So, are we agreed? We'll travel together?"
Storm regarded the others skeptically. Well ... traveling with them will be better than traveling alone, I guess ...
"Fine," she agreed. And the quintet set off, now with a single goal in mind: Possibility.
===Chapter 8===
Diamondback flipped a loop in the air. "We should come up with a team name or something. Like: 'The Heroic Bullied Orphans who Saved the World!'"
The five dragonets had been flying for several hours now, heading westwards towards the slowly sinking sun.
Storm snorted. More like, "The Tragic Homeless Dragonets who Ran Away. And were never seen again."
Diamondback considered for a moment, then shook his head. "Nope, we're definitely destined to save the world. I don't know how, but there's a serious saving-the-world vibe going on here." He motioned to the five of them with his tail, smiling cheerfully. Cloud grinned; he and Diamondback had become fast friends.
"I'm not a heroic bullied orphan," pointed out Opal.
Storm tilted her head at Opal; she realized how little she knew about the RainWing dragonet's background. "Me neither," she commented. "Just tragic and homeless."
Cloud laughed.
After a few minutes, Opal flew up next to Starblaze and asked, "Hey -- you came from the rainforest, right?"
"Uh, yeah," said the big NightSky dragonet. "One of the NightWing villages. They didn't really ... like me much there." She raised her eyebrows.
"That's what I was going to ask about, actually," said Opal. "Because I grew up in the rainforest, too, and part of the time I lived in Ursa, a NightWing village. But hybrids are actually pretty common there, especially NightRains, and others too. But I didn't get bullied there; that's not why I left."
"Oh," said Starblaze. "Well, I lived in Cygnus -- I think that's the smallest and most remote of the villages. That's probably why they're less used to hybrids there. But I got bullied because of a combination of my SkyWing ancestry and lack of parents. Even my dad, a NightWing, didn't really try to defend or protect me before he died, when I was two."
"That's tough," said Opal. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that."
"It's fine," said Starblaze, looking embarrassed. "Or I'm fine now, at any rate. But, if you don't mind me asking, why did you leave?"
Opal sighed. "I guess everyone else's shared their story," she commented. "Well, when I lived in the rainforest, I split my time between Ursa, with my dad, and the RainWing village, with my mom. They got into fights a lot, and I was sort of trapped in the middle. I didn't really have any good friends, because I didn't spend too much time in either village, and my situation was very different from even other RainWing-NightWing hybrids. Eventually, it got so bad that they were completely neglecting me, and I was constantly caught in the middle of a shouting match. I practically begged Queen Firefly to send me to Jade Mountain, to escape the problems."
"Hold up," said Storm, surprised. "You're a hybrid?"
"Yeah," said Opal. She toned down her vibrant scales to black, spreading her wings to make the silver starscales more obvious. Now that she wasn't distracted by the scales, Storm noticed that Opal didn't have a ruff like a RainWing's, and she had NightWing spines running down her back.
"Whoa," said Cloud. Storm nodded; Opal now looked identical to a NightWing.
"Anyway," said Opal, "actually, when I said everyone else's shared their story -- you haven't told us about yourself much, have you, Storm?"
"Oh. I guess not," said Storm. She'd been dreading this moment, but she supposed it was only fair, especially if she wanted to consider the other dragonets her friends.
"Well, my parents, brother, and I lived alone in the mountains," she began. "My dad was an IceWing, and my mom an IceSea hybrid. So, naturally, my brother Frost and I were IceSea hybrids, too ..."
The dragonets nodded expectantly, looking at Storm. She felt her heart hammering. Should I tell them the truth? That I don't know who or what I am? That I can breathe fire? Should it be my secret? She made a quick decision.
"One day, I overheard them talking about me, and ... my past. It sounded like there was some big secret surrounding me, and ... and that Frost and I may not even have been blood siblings. I couldn't stand it and I flew away." It was the partial truth, at least.
There was a murmur of "Oh." among the dragonets. They exchanged glances, but Storm beat her wings faster and powered on, trying to avoid their sympathetic looks. As the wind whipped past her face, a tear tolled down her cheek.
===Chapter 9===
They landed and made a makeshift "camp" later that day in a shallow cave area. Storm lay alone on a ledge, out of sight and earshot from the others, needing her thoughts to herself. She rested her jaw on her talons and gazed out at the shining moons. One was a new moon, and the other two were crescents, so the sky was dark, and the stars shone out brighter than usual.
Without warning her mind wandered to thoughts about home, and the night she escaped.
My fire, she remembered suddenly. She itched to try it now, but she knew that it was too risky with the others around. Bitterly she lashed her tail on the ground, her tail spikes clattering.
"Hey," came a soft whisper behind her, and Storm turned to find Opal standing there, looking at her. "Do you mind if I join you?"
"Um -- sure," said Storm.
Opal settled down next to her. Her scales weren't quite as vibrant as they were in the sunlight, but now glittered like the depths of the ocean, shades of indigo and navy blue, reflecting the stars in the dim moonlight.
"Are you sad?" asked Opal. "I mean, like--"
"No," said Storm, looking away. "I'm angry. This whole thing -- what am I even doing? I'm sick of not knowing. I don't know why I'm here, where I came from, who my family is, what I am. I don't know who I am. I want to KNOW!"
There was a moment of silence as her angry words echoed around the mountain area.
"You mean you don't know who your parents are. Is that it?" Opal asked.
"It's not just that."
"Listen, Storm, it doesn't matter who you were born to or how you ended up here. All that matters is that you are here. And as for who you are? You do know that, Storm. You are who you are."
Opal paused and looked away nervously.
"I just wanted to tell you," said Opal, "that I understand what you're feeling, and -- it's ok if you don't feel comfortable confiding in us. And --" her scales took on a slightly rosier hue -- "I'm sorry that I was rude to you, the day we met. I didn't mean to try to, you know, stick my snout into your private business."
Storm shrugged. "It's ok. I know you didn't mean to be rude. It was natural to want to know more about a complete stranger before trusting me."
"Alright." Opal turned her head so that Storm couldn't see her expression. Several colors shifted along her scales before she settled with NightWing black. The silver starscales glinted, brought out by the contrast of the darkness around them.
After a few minutes of silence, Storm said, "I've always been interested by color-shifting scales, but you're the first RainWing -- or part RainWing -- I've ever met. How does it work?"
Opal looked back at Storm, tilting her head. "I dunno, it just feels kinda -- natural, I guess. I can sort of feel the colors, you know? Instead of imagining the color blue when I want to make my scales blue, I just kind of feel blue. Maybe it has something to do with the same colors that are triggered by emotions. Blue feels kind of calm and serene, you know, and a little curious, if that makes sense -- but red is sharp and bold and vibrant. Angry, almost. But of course, RainWings turn red when they're angry anyway. So I guess it's just a more subtle form of emotional shifts."
Storm pondered this for a while, imagining what it would be like to have RainWing camouflage scales.
"I don't know if it's the same for me as it is for other RainWings," Opal continued. "I think I have more control over how my emotions show than most RainWings, but I'm not immune to it. Sometimes I don't mind that," she said thoughtfully.
"What about camouflage?" asked Storm. "Do you have to connect the right emotions to each scale in order to camouflage perfectly? How hard is it?"
"Not that hard, actually," said Opal. "Camouflage is different from normal color-shifting, for me at least, but it's sort of the same idea. I just kinda focus on my surroundings -- feel my surroundings, as I see them -- and let my scales do the rest. It's actually kind of instinctive for RainWings."
"Huh." Storm was actually really interested by this new information. She looked at her own talons, plain dark blue with pale white stripes, wishing she too could change her colors.
"What about Aquatic?" asked Opal, following Storm's gaze. "And your stripes? Is it hard learning a second language?"
"Not really," said Storm, thinking back to the Aquatic lessons alongside Frost in the dark underwater caves near the coast. "Not much harder than learning to read and write, in addition to speaking. And the stripes are pretty easy -- it takes a little practice to be precise, but not much. Lighting up a certain wing stripe is like wiggling a back claw without looking at it -- although obviously, you have twenty claws and about two hundred stripes," she added, laughing a little.
Opal smiled. "If you don't mind me asking, I noticed your stripes are a little different from regular SeaWing stripes. Is that just a hybrid thing, or --"
Storm shrugged cluelessly. "Just a weird side effect of my ancestry, I guess ..." She trailed off. But I don't know what my real ancestry is ...
"Um, is something wrong?" asked Opal, looking concerned.
"I -- it's just that I --" Storm sighed. "It's nothing. But, yeah -- the stripes are the same as a regular SeaWings, just shaped differently. My mom used to say that it's like I'm speaking with an odd accent underwater."
"Oh," said Opal, looking uncomfortable. "Well, I'm retiring." She soared down to join the others and go to sleep.
Storm sighed and closed her eyes.
Did I make the wrong decision by hiding the truth? Did I just lose my only friend?
That night, Storm curled herself up in a tight ball, away from everyone else. For the first time since the night she had left home, she pulled the moonstone out of her bag, clutched it to her heart, and cried.
== Part Two: The Truth ==
===Chapter 10===
Storm woke up early the next morning, just as the first hints of sunlight were reaching the sky. She stood up, yawned, stretched her wings, and rose into the air. She needed some time for herself to think. As she pondered, one question kept repeating itself: What am I even doing here?
Storm had run away from home because she couldn't bear to face the truth. But now she could ... so what was she still doing here? Why was she traveling with dragons that slowed her down, towards a destination that wouldn't help her figure out her past at all, away from the two dragons who really knew who she was?
She soared over the spot where the others were still sleeping. The friends she had acquired on this unguided journey. Funny, friendly Diamondback. Fierce, loyal Cloud. Kind, protective Starblaze. And then there was Opal ...
Storm thought back to the parents and the family she'd left behind in their mountain-beach home. Her parents, who had lied and kept secrets from her. Her parents, who weren't even her real parents. Did they want her back? Did they even love her? If she went back to them, what if they just locked her up to stop her escaping? Who was she to them -- a daughter, or an object of value?
She glided over her the shallow cave opening again, looking down upon where the other four dragonets peacefully slumbered. Opal's scales shifted from midnight black to rippling with sprays of iridescence as the sunlight reached them. Three moons, she was beautiful ...
Is it a choice? Storm wondered. My past, and the truth ... or my friends?
Below, Cloud stretched and opened his eyes sleepily. Spotting Storm flying above, he soared up to join her.
"Hey, Cloud," said Storm.
"You're up early," he responded cheerfully. "What's up?"
"Nothing much," she replied. "Just thinking about things."
"What things?" the little albino SkyWing asked curiously.
Storm sighed. "My past," she said. "And my parents."
"Oh."
There was an awkward silence. Cloud broke it by saying, "Oh, look. Here come Starblaze and Opal."
Storm glanced down. Sure enough, the big reddish NightWing was flying up towards them, followed by Opal, sparkling blues rippling through her scales. Only Diamondback remained sleeping on the ground, his scales soaking in the sun. Starblaze and Cloud went off on their own and Opal was left with Storm.
"Sooo," said Storm, searching for a source of conversation. She glanced at Opal's scales. "Can you, like, shift your scales to look like other dragons? Do you ever disguise yourself as other tribes?"
Opal laughed. "And good morning to you too," she said.
Storm reddened. "I didn't mean --"
"No, it's fine," said Opal, smiling. "And yes, I do. Some tribes are easier than others; obviously I can be a very convincing NightWing or RainWing, but I can also do this --" She turned her scales reddish-orange, camouflaged her spines into them, and spread her wings, looking exactly like a SkyWing. "Or this." She then shifted to resemble a brown MudWing, even using some tricks to make her snout shape look different.
"Wow," said Storm. "That's pretty cool."
Opal smiled mischievously. "I could even do something like this." Storm watched, awed, as her scales shifted to a dark midnight blue, with dark ice-blue horns and pale blue, zigzag-shaped stripes all over. The spines seemed to grow longer and sharper, and the tail longer and thinner, more whiplike. Even the claws had little shadows that made them look serrated.
"Whoa," breathed Storm. "It's like ... me. But ... so much prettier," she blurted.
Now it was Opal's turn to redden, although much more literally, as reddish pink broke through the stormy blue.
"I meant --" stammered Storm. "I meant, my scales looked prettier ... on you ..." She didn't really know what she was saying at this point. "I mean -- you're prettier -- than I ever could be ..."
"Stop," said Opal, pink warring with blue on her scales as she tried to control them. "Stop -- you're just making this weird --"
Storm's eyes widened. "Wait! I didn't mean to --"
"It's -- it's fine -- let me just go wake up Diamond ..." She tucked her wings and dove down, more and more colors rippling through her scales -- pink, blue, purple, green, orange ...
Storm landed on a stone ledge, out of sight, and covered her head with her wings. What did I say? WHAT did I say? Why did she react like that? Did I offend her somehow? WHY DID I HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING!? Urghhhhhh ... stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it, Storm!
Finally, once the other four were all awake and had regrouped, Storm rejoined the others. But she couldn't look Opal in the eye and rose up higher than the others as they flew together, not looking down even to make conversation with the others. Thoughts raced through her head, darting back and forth in a disorganized chaos. She thought, If she was a mindreader, could she change the color of her teardrop scales and disguise them? What about Starblaze -- she's not a mindreader, is she? Is she!?
The few times she did glance at Opal, her scales flickered between dull blue and her usual shimmering iridescence, usually settling on plain indigo.
She didn't know why she was acting so paranoid. She hadn't known what she was doing when talking to Opal earlier, but after seeing the RainNight dragonet's reaction ... or maybe it was Storm who had overreacted ...
What am I even thinking anymore? What have I done to our friendship?
===Chapter 11===
Storm and Opal didn't talk all the rest of the day.
She didn't know what Opal was thinking, but she'd been so embarrassed by Opal's reaction to her comment that she couldn't bear to face her. The others could tell something was up, Storm could see, but chose not to comment on it. For that, at least, she was grateful.
So obsessed was she in her thoughts about what had happened with Opal that she didn't realize it when they had crossed out of the mountains and were flying over grassy meadows.
"Look!" cried Cloud suddenly. "Over there, in the distance. A river!"
Storm shielded her eyes to look where Cloud was pointing. Sure enough, a large river was on the horizon.
"I can't see it," Opal complained.
"You should be able to soon," said Starblaze. "That must be the Great Five-Tail River."
"Oh no! Are we lost?" asked Cloud with a panicked face.
"No," Starblaze said to him. "Didn't you study maps in school? We're going there."
"Possibility is on the river," clarified Opal. "The city's so big, we should be able to find it easily if we fly upriver along the Five-Tail."
"Oh," said Cloud, not seeming at all ashamed at his outburst.
"How fast can we get there?" Storm asked, directing her question at Diamondback, who was flying beside her.
"I don't know," said Diamondback, startled. He glanced down at Opal. Of course. Look at her for the answers.
Opal, who clearly knew the answer, kept her mouth stiffly shut. Starblaze interjected, "We should be able to get to the river by sundown. As for the city itself, probably in about two days."
There was a collective cry of "Finally!" from Diamondback, Cloud, and Storm.
"I can't wait!" Could and Diamond began eagerly discussing what they would do once they were in Possibility.
And me? Storm thought to herself. What am I going to do? Possibility's not going to help me find my parents ... do I really need to stay? She found herself glancing at Opal again. Do I really have friends here?
Well, I can't bail out now. Maybe in Possibility, when we part ways. But I can keep going for now ... until we get there, at least.
The dragonets were tired by the time they reached the river, but there were murmurs of excitement as they landed on its banks at last. Storm immediately slipped into the water, letting it ease her sore wing muscles. Finally, I can swim again! She sank to the bottom, finding a little sheltered nook where she could curl up and sleep. Carefully she took off her pouch and tucked it there.
As she stretched her tired wings, she realized she was exhausted. As much as she wanted to just go to sleep, though, she decided she should check in with the others first. She drifted to the surface and slid out with out her usual dramatic leap.
Cloud and Starblaze were talking, as usual. Opal was nowhere to be seen -- no doubt camouflaged. Diamondback, who had been sitting nearby, walked up to Storm with a friendly smile. "Hey."
"Hey," she greeted him.
"Okay, this is going to sound kind of awkward coming from an orphan, but -- do you ever miss your family?"
"No," said Storm, shivering in the cold night air. She turned to look at Diamond. His pale gold scales glowed with color in the light of the setting sun. When he moved closer, she could feel the welcoming warmth radiating from his scales. "I mean -- sort of, I guess."
The SandWing tilted his head, his dark eyes shining with kindness, curiosity, and -- pity? Storm looked away. I don't need your pity. At least I have a family ... real or not.
As if reading her thoughts, Diamondback said, "I know I can't really understand what having a family is like, because I never had one. Sometimes I wish I did. But ... I also don't really know what it's like to lose one."
His eyes turned sad, then brightened again. "But no matter what happens, Storm, you should know that we've always got your back. Friendship ... can be even more valuable than family sometimes."
Was she imagining it, or did his eyes turn misty for a second?
Well, whatever it was, his eyes were shining with happiness and support now.
"Thanks, Diamond," mumbled Storm. "It means a lot."
He smiled again, looking happy, and walked off to join Cloud and Starblaze.
Storm stood there for a moment, absorbing what had just happened, and then slipped into the river.
===Chapter 12===
It was mid-afternoon when they first spotted the city.
"Over there!" cried Cloud excitedly, pointing at something on the horizon. "What's that?"
"Possibility! At last!" exclaimed Diamondback.
And it was. As they got closer, the majesty of the city became clearer. It was huge, spanning so wide that they couldn't see the other side, even from high up in the air. There were different neighborhoods, sometimes clustered by tribe, but often mixed. There were SeaWing, IceWing, MudWing and various hybrid homes along the riverbank; RainWing, LeafWing, and SilkWing homes in the trees, sometimes constructed with silk; and various mixed-tribe apartments and homes further within, usually having the majority of NightWings and HiveWings. It was chaos, but a beautiful kind of chaos, Storm thought to herself.
And then there were the dragons. Dragons of every tribe -- SeaWings and IceWings, and NightWings, SandWings, SkyWings, and RainWings, but also heavy-built brown MudWings and beautiful shimmering SilkWings and sharp-nosed HiveWings and slender green LeafWings. Little dragonets and young adults and old dragons, friends and families and couples. And the hybrids -- so many of them! Pyrrhian, Pantalan, cross-continental ... so many odd colors. Storm saw a black SeaWing with silver starscales all over, an iridescent four-winged LeafWing, a black-and-brown spotted MudWing with insect-shaped wings, a blue-and-green IceWing with webbed spines. Another SeaWing-IceWing? Simpler hybrids, too -- a SkyWing with a SandWing barb, a pale brown MudWing with slightly taller spines than normal. And some dragons that just looked a little unusual, and may have been hybrids, or may have been just odd outcasts, like Sleet -- a dark black-blue HiveWing, a LeafWing with bright blue eyes, a dark-scaled SandWing, a pinkish-white SeaWing.
So. Many. Dragons.
Storm and her friends circled down towards the colorful city and landed in the middle of a busy street and took in the sights and sounds with wonder. A young pale blue IceWing bounded up to them eagerly. "Hello! New?"
"Um, yes," said Storm, eyebrows raised, a little taken aback at his excitement.
The IceWing looked to be about two or three years older than Storm, and he had a dazzling smile on his face. "I'm Alpine. What're your names?"
"Uh ... I'm Storm," she replied. "This is Cloud, Diamondback, Starblaze, and Opal." She pointed to each of her companions in turn.
"Awesome!" Alpine exclaimed. "Visiting, or here to stay? Got family here?"
"Uh ... no, we don't know anyone here, and ... I guess we're staying." She glanced around at her friends, who were nodding approvingly.
"Great! Know where you're staying yet?" The IceWing was practically jumping up and down with eagerness.
"No."
"Brilliant!" said Alpine. "I'll show you my neighborhood. It's a great place for a group like you, plenty of hybrids and diversity!"
Not sure what else to do, Storm followed Alpine and her friends followed behind her. He led them to a sunny hill, with homes built all around it. The hill was at a bend in the river, and along the shore half-submerged stone caves served as homes for SeaWings, SeaWing hybrids, and some IceWings. One area, right around the bend, had a wide, shallow muddy area where several MudWings and hybrids had made homes. Around the base of the hill were wooden homes with a mix of NightWings, SandWings, HiveWings, and various hybrids. Further up the hill were various scattered dwellings, and at the top was a cluster of trees, filled with silk- and wood-constructed homes that housed SilkWings, RainWings, LeafWings, SkyWings, and more hybrids.
"Wow, it's beautiful," breathed Opal. The edges of her scales turned shimmery iridescent pink with pleasure.
Alpine offered to show them around, calling over several of his friends. A pretty LeafWing eagerly led Cloud and Opal up to the trees, while a young dragon with scales of rippling black, shades of brown, golden, and pale yellow-white dotted with pure white scales under his wings took Diamondback and Starblaze to meet dragons in the base-hill homes. A tribrid?
At last, Alpine was left alone with Storm. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing towards the riverside homes, and set off towards them eagerly without waiting for an answer.
Storm followed him, somewhat unsure, down to the river caves, where he introduced her to some of the dragons there. There were several SeaWings, including a family of four: Tidepool, Dolphin, and young twin sister dragonets, Brook and Bubble. She also met Blacktip, a sly, friendly blue-gray SeaNight with black talons and webs. After talking to a friendly MudWing couple, Shale and Heron, Alpine led her eagerly over to a group of IceWings further down the river.
He led her over to an older female IceWing, perhaps nine or ten. "This is my sister, Snowdrift," he said, beaming. "Drift, this is Storm. She's new to the neighborhood."
"Oh, hello!" said Snowdrift shyly, gazing at Storm. "Will you be staying here? Oh wow, your stripes are so ... bold ... and unusual."
"I'm an IceSea," said Storm, purposely avoiding her earlier question. "Nice to meet you." They shook talons, and then Snowdrift turned back towards her friends and Storm towards the river. Alpine introduced her to several more IceWings, a few of which were relatives of his. There was even an odd, quiet white-and-black hybrid named Sphinx Moth, although he insisted on being called simply Moth.
At the end of the river was a tall, dark foresty area. Some old, worn buildings could be seen in the shadows, one of which the river disappeared from view behind. "What's this?" asked Storm curiously.
"Um, maybe we shouldn't--" began Alpine, but Storm was already setting off into the shadows.
Suddenly, a shadow loomed out in front of them. Storm's battle instincts were instantly triggered -- she jumped back, wings spread, fangs bared, stripes lit.
It appeared to be a pale silver IceWing, wings half-spread and eyes narrowed suspiciously. He was clearly full-grown, much older than Storm or Alpine; combined with his voluminous wings and the tall shadow cast on the wall behind him from the radiating light from Storm's scales, he appeared huge in comparison. There were several black tattoos on his scales, something Storm had never before seen on a dragon, including a large winged skull tattooed across his chest. His spikes appeared to be black also -- could he possibly be a hybrid? Or were they dyed? She had also never seen dyed scales before.
"Who are you?" he asked gruffly.
"Um," said Alpine nervously, "Maybe we should--"
The IceWing gave him a look, silencing him. Storm noticed that his claws were not real claws but gleaming brass ones, as wickedly serrated as her own IceWing claws.
"Who are you? Do you live here?" challenged Storm. Her tail was twitching in anticipation of an attack.
"You could say that," grunted the IceWing. "And put 'em lights out, already."
Storm reluctantly let her stripes go dark. IceWings can't see in the dark, can they? I have an advantage.
She couldn't help but notice that without the odd lighting and tall shadows, the older IceWing looked a lot less menacing and a lot more ... sad?
He frowned and studied her more closely in the darkness.
"You remind me of someone ..." he said quietly.
===Chapter 13===
"What!?" cried Storm. "Who? What do you mean?"
The IceWing looked hard at Alpine. "You are dismissed. Let me talk to this dragonet alone."
Alpine nodded nervously. "Yes -- yes, sir," he stammered, before he turned tail and fled.
"Wait, wait, hold up," said Storm. "What do you mean, I remind you of someone?"
"Those stripes ..." he began.
"You've seen them before!?" Storm thought her stripes were unique to her, but of course her real parents might have them ... was this IceWing saying he'd met one of her parents? Or worse ... "Wait, wait, wait. Please don't tell me you're my long-lost father or something."
The IceWing laughed, a short, harsh bark of a laugh. "No, no, nothing of the sort," he said. "In fact, I have no brothers or sisters, and neither did my parents or grandparents -- we're a very condensed family. And all of them passed many years ago. So you don't have to worry about that. However ..." His eyes narrowed, studying her closer still, looking over her.
"Who even are you?" blurted Storm.
"Rime, they call me," he said, not taking his eyes off Storm. "You?"
"Storm."
"Storm," he muttered under his breath. "How ironic."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, lashing her tail.
Rime ignored her comment. "And did you say you don't know your father? You're an orphan?"
"Um ..." Storm was at a loss for words. "Wait, an orphan? Who said anything about--"
Rime didn't speak, he just looked at her expectantly.
If he knows something about my past, I have to tell him the truth.
"... I mean, yeah. I'm an orphan." Storm looked away uncomfortably, then turned back and looked Rime dead in the eye. "Tell me what you know about who I am."
Rime sighed.
"I don't know who you are, dragonet, or where you came from, or who your parents are," he told her gravely. "But if you really know nothing, then -- then I'll tell you what little I know."
Storm waited tensely. This is it. I've wanted to know who I am since I ran away, and now I'm finally going to learn the truth.
He sighed again, then took a deep breath and began.
"About six years ago, I met two dragons who came to this very neighborhood, the very forest-edge under which you are now standing, to talk to me. The first was a very, very old dragon, eighty or ninety years old, I'd say -- you didn't use to see that sort of thing much, although they say dragons are living longer in these times of peace.
"Anyway, this dragon was an IceWing. Called himself Frozen -- frozen like his heart, I'm sure. His assistant was a younger SeaWing-IceWing, although I'd guess he was still older than me; I forget his name, something like Sealion. Ugly brute, he was. And they had with them a very young dragonet, perhaps one or two, very pretty, gray in color. But the strange thing about her was that, despite being an obivous hybrid, she had those SeaWing stripes. The same stripes ... as yours."
===Chapter 14===
"There's someone else ... like me," said Storm in wonder. "Is she ... related to me?"
Rime shook his head sadly. "I don't know that, dragonet. All I know is this: They were stripes shaped like lightning bolts. The two older dragons called her Cyclone.
"They said she was one of the first of a new tribe, the StormWings. It was some sort of science project they were working on. They said they collected DNA from many dragons to create the first generation of hybrids and bred them together to get the perfect dragonets. But they were now well into the ... fourth generation, I think, and they needed more DNA donors for ... what was it? Genetic varied -- verified -- I don't know, genetic variables or something. I never studied much science, anyway."
"Genetic variation?" offered Storm. It was a blind guess; she hadn't been taught much about science either.
"Yes, that's it," said Rime. "And now they were asking to use my DNA to make more dragonets to breed as a part of their weird program.
"Well, of course, I refused. The whole thing sounded like some mad dragon's crazy experiment, and I didn't like the way they talked about silicon breeding. Hmm, that doesn't sound right. Selelite -- selected -- selective? Yes, I think it was selective. Anyway, it made dragons sound like animals, or prey, that the scientists could just choose who marries who and force them to have dragonets. Very suspicious, very wrong. And I definitely didn't want some dragonet hatched with my DNA as a part of that."
Rime paused and took a deep breath.
"Is that it?" asked Storm curiously.
"Pretty much," said the IceWing. "After I said no, they just shook their heads and said I was missing a great opportunity. They took the little gray lightning-striped dragonet and flew away south, towards the foothills at the edge of the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. An odd direction to fly in -- nothing really beyond that but beaches and open ocean. But they seemed to know where they were going."
Storm felt a shiver travel down her spine.
The foothills ... the beaches. That's where I live ... or used to live, anyway.
The lightning stripes ... StormWings ...
Storm inhaled sharply. "You think that I was a part of this. That I was hatched in this -- project and somehow ... escaped? Was stolen?"
"I'd guess that," said Rime, "but then again, I don't know much at all about you personally."
"Storm the StormWing," she muttered to herself. "That sounds SO lame. Couldn't it have been ThunderWings? LightningWings? Hmm ... CycloneWings. TempestWings? CloudWings, even?"
Rime laughed, but his expression was grave. "Do you know who named you?"
"Uh ... my parents, I think. I mean, my adopted parents? I was hatched with my brother -- not my brother -- a few days before him, actually, but I vaguely remember it, so I think ... yeah. However I ended up with that family, I was an egg when I did ... I guess."
"So they named you Storm," said Rime, looking a bit amused, "without knowing about the StormWings. Like I said earlier. Ironic."
Storm looked away.
She whispered, so quiet she could barely hear herself, "A StormWing. Am I even a real dragon?"
She turned away and walked out of the forest, into the neighborhood. She wasn't sure where she was going, or what was happening. But she needed some time to herself. She wandered farther and farther away from Springhill, not caring if she got lost.
I'm a science experiment. That's ... my identity? That's really all I am?
Who are the StormWings, really? What was the scientists' goal?
What is my purpose in this world?
===Chapter 15===
"Hey! Hey, you, over there! Striped dragon!"
"Storm, is that you?"
Storm turned around. She'd been wandering for hours. She saw two dragons running over to her -- a SandWing she didn't recognize, and Starblaze.
"Oh ... hey, Starblaze," said Storm to the out-of-breath red-and-black hybrid.
"Where -- have -- you -- been?" gasped the bigger dragonet, panting. "We've been searching -- for hours!"
"Oh." Storm felt a little guilty. "Just walking around, I guess. Who's your friend?"
The SandWing grinned. "I'm Saguaro," he said cheerfully. "Your friend here was kind enough to employ my services in looking for you, but seeing as you're found, I suppose I'm no longer needed." He did a little bow and flew off. Storm felt annoyed at his joking behavior.
"Come on, let's go back," said Starblaze, extending one wing to usher Storm back towards the direction from which they came.
Irritated, Storm slapped her away. "I can find my way on my own, thanks." She took off into the sky to try to spot Springhill from above.
Starblaze soared up to join her. "I know which direction it is," she said kindly. "Come on."
"Stoooooooop!" yelled Storm. Angrily she lashed her tail and nearly fell out of the sky. "I'm NOT your little sister! I'm not Cloud! I can handle myself!"
She powered forward, higher and higher into the sky. Starblaze watched after her, looking hurt, but Storm didn't care. I should just leave now. I don't even need to go back to Springhill. I need to go back to the mountains. Back to the foothills. South, across the sea. There, she could find her answers, at last. Her past. Her parents. Her creators ...
I have creators. I'm nothing more than a science experiment. These dragons don't need me. I've played nice too long, stuck with them and led them here. Now, they can be happy, and I need to figure out my past ... and my future ...
My future. What am I going to do once I find them? They sound creepy and evil ... are they just going to capture me again or something? Should I be trying to stop them?
Storm flew on east, not paying attention to the city below and around her. After an hour or so Possibility was left far behind. She was leaving her friends far behind ... but they would be happier there. They didn't need to get mixed up with Storm's problems.
Another hour passed and it began to rain. Storm found that she actually didn't mind flying in the rain. She'd never done it much before, because Sleet and Anniu and Frost didn't like it. But now she was on her own, and she enjoyed letting the water run over her, tilting her large wings at an angle that allowed her to fly swiftly using its angle. Rain powers me. Do ... storms power me? What even is a StormWing? Ugh, I hate that name ...
She realized that she hadn't really thought about her old family that much recently. Yes, she'd mentioned it to Rime, but she hadn't really thought back ... remembered. That life seemed like a thing of the past -- something she'd left behind long ago. But really, she'd only left the cave two weeks ago. Less than two weeks, even. She wasn't sure.
And now I'm going back.
Storm decided right then that she didn't want more contact with her family. She'd reach the edge of the foothills and then fly straight south. Maybe she'd get lost; Storm had no idea. But it was better than an awkward, angry, possibly evil reunion.
My parents, she thought suddenly. What if they're part of the "StormWing" project? What if I never escaped from it as an egg, after all?
A flash suddenly lit up the sky and a bright blaze of lightning struck the air close to Storm -- less than thirty feet away. Thunder boomed in her ears. The air suddenly grew very hot, and Storm felt a heat inside her stir, too.
Wait ... my fire?
Storm suddenly realized that she hadn't tried using her fire again since the night she escaped. How could I forget? I guess I was just distracted by the others, or maybe afraid that they would discover me?
Unsure if it would work in the rain, Storm focused on the heat already building up inside her from the lightning strike. The rain, which Storm had thought might fight the fire, actually seemed to give their warmth to her scales as the water ran over her. As the heat intensified and traveled up to her throat, it began to hurt. Storm thought she might scream.
But when she opened her mouth, the heat escaped all in one blast. And what came out was an electric blue flame that shot ahead of her and lit up the sky.
===Chapter 16===
Storm screamed.
She couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't comprehend what she had just done.
The heat was burning, searing her throat and snout like no fire ever had. The echo of lightning and blue fire flashed in her eyes, searing them white-hot. Booming thunder and the crack of fire and the shrill sound of her own screams filled her ears. Her wings stopped beating and she could feel herself falling.
She wanted to shout something, to ask for help, to find her moonstone and pray over it. But she could do nothing, nothing but scream until her burning throat ran dry, and still she screamed. The pouring rain washed over her face and weighed down her wings.
She was plummeting, falling to the ground from hundreds of feet in the air. Fear washed over her, cold and harsh, and she cried out again. Help me, she wanted to scream, I'm falling, I'm falling, I'm going to die --
A splitting pain came down on her skull and she shrieked in agony as her vision faded to black.
***
"Storm."
The voice echoed around her mind. Storm. Storm. Where have I heard that before?
I'm Storm, she realized. Where am I? She slowly blinked open her eyes. It was dark, and a blurry blue figure stood over her.
"... Mom?" she asked hesitantly.
Storm's vision cleared. Standing over her was not Anniu's sky-blue form but another, a young indigo blue dragonet.
"Opal," she realized, sitting up. She groaned at the stabbing pain in her skull.
"Yeees," said Opal slowly, looking a little weirded out at Storm's first guess.
She looked around. It was a small, dark stone cave, damp but sheltered from the pounding rain outside.
"What are you doing here? Where am I?" Storm stumbled to her feet and cried out at a sharp pain in her leg. She slumped back onto the ground and slowly turned her head until she could see her back right leg. The angle of it looked slightly off, and it was held in place by strong leaves for bandages.
"I did my best," said Opal apologetically. "Starblaze told us where you were going, and they sent me ahead to follow you, because I can camouflage. When I saw you fall, I tried to lessen your impact --"
"You caught me."
"Sort of." Her ears turned reddish-pink. "But your leg was all twisted, and you hit your head."
"Oh." Storm wanted to say something, to snap at Opal angrily, to leave the dark cave. But she could only lay down limply in defeat, shuddering at the pain and cold.
"Where are the others?" she asked finally.
"They stayed behind in Possibility. I told them to come after us if I wasn't back by sunset." Opal sighed. "Sunset was five minutes ago."
"Oh," said Storm again, hating herself for being too weak to even fly through a storm on her own. Especially since, apparently, she was built for flying in storms.
"Speaking of which," said Opal abruptly, "what was that?"
"What?" asked Storm, dread sinking her heart.
"You know," said Opal, looking at her snout pointedly. "That. The blue fire thing."
"Oh. That."
"Yeah, Storm, that. Why didn't I know you could do that?" Opal raised her eyebrows.
"Oh," said Storm again. "Right. So ..."
Opal drummed her claws on the stone expectantly.
Storm sighed. "So. Right. Um. I can kind of maybe possibly uh ... breathe fire?"
Opal raised her eyebrows again. "Yeah, that was kind of obvious. Explain."
"Explain ... how I can breathe fire?"
"Not just fire," said Opal. "Blue fire. Are you magic or something? Why wouldn't you tell us?"
Storm lashed her tail in frustration, then gasped as pain shot through her injured leg. "I don't know!" she snapped angrily. "My family lied to me! They told me I was a SeaWing-IceWing! They're not even my family -- I don't have a family -- I'm some sort of lab experiment -- lied to me -- fire -- when I ran away --" she was gasping for breath now. "I -- don't ..."
She sank to the ground now, the anger draining out of her as despair took over. Tears came to her eyes and then flowed freely down her cheeks. "... know ..."
And she was shaking, sobbing, because she didn't know anything, she was no one, she had no one, nothing, nothing, nothing would ever be the same again ...
And then she felt the brush of a wing with hers, and the warmth sank into her shivering scales. Storm's eyes began to close, tears leaving cold streaks on her face as her shaking wings were stilled by the comforting warmth of another's.
Never ... again ...
=== Chapter 17 ===
Storm blinked her eyes open sleepily. Bright daylight flooded her vision, and it took her eyes a moment to adjust. Where am I?
And then it all came crashing back to her -- the lightning. The fire. The fall. And the cave ... where she was now.
--
More flying in soon ...
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Content (X.dragonlynx.X)