Cyclone: A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

This is my very first fanfiction, well at least first to be posted, and I'm very excited (and nervous) to share it with the world. It is definitely short, but if it gets a lot of love, the sequels will be much longer.
Note: There are some minor disturbing images and a little bit of blood. I tried to keep it as in-universe as possible, but it takes place after the events of the first, second, and third arcs. If there are any questions to be answered afterward I will gladly do so. These are all my characters that I made on my own and if they are like any other OC's then I had no intention on stealing. Finally, please do not plagiarise anything in this without my permission.
With all that said, please enjoy my very first fan-fiction.
== Prologue ==
Serir had been flying for hours. He had been looking for water, the only thing in this sand-infested wasteland that you could never get enough of. These were the kinds of flights where you thought of the strangest things, like how the Seawings were at an abundance of water, while the Sandwings were born into too little of it. Or how in the world dragons actually breathe fire.
Water’s such a strange word, Serir thought. He rolled his eyes. He never liked to be left alone to his thoughts. It always led him into a place he didn’t really like, the weird side.
As one of the generals to the queen’s army, Serir always believed in stoicism over any other philosophy. It didn’t matter if you were being beaten, yelled at, or even if you were fighting. As long as you remain concentrated and focused, your thoughts will leave you alone.
It was this very same philosophy that had kept Serir in the desert for so long, no matter how much he hated it. He had tried with all his might to keep away from long flights, or just long distance travel in general. The thoughts would never come as easily if he wasn’t alone with them for too long.
There was only one thought he allowed to be in his mind, even through the times where he didn’t allow any. It was the thought of hybrids. Dragons of impure blood, of parents who weren’t right in the head, of strange mixtures between two that wasn’t natural. An Icewing and a Skywing could never be together, they’re two completely different dragons. And yet, whenever Serir tried to share his ideals with the world, he was the one who was called crazy!
He finally spotted water in the distance. Finally, he thought. It was small, and near the east border of the Sand Kingdom. A bit farther than he would’ve liked, but the dry season had been especially long this year and he had to take what he could get.
He descended from the sky, ready to quench his thirst. He gracefully landed near the oasis. He looked around, on the ground and in the sky, to make sure he wouldn’t get jumped. After a few minutes of studying, he turned back to the water and drank. It was hot, but he didn’t mind.
It was on his third gulp that he noticed something in the water. It had been blending in, but not enough to be entirely unnoticeable. There was something light red at the bottom of the water, a sort of light red that made you feel warm and cold at the same time. Something moved, and he realized it was alive.
Before he had a chance to react, the red object threw itself out of the water, hitting him in the neck. When he recovered a moment later, he grabbed the object with his teeth and threw it aside. What it left behind were teeth marks. Serir looked up to his attacker, and he was disgusted by what he saw.
It was a light red Skywing, but not a full one. It had light green splotches of scales dotting its neck, snout, tail, and sides. It had gills, and a powerful tail that Serir had only seen on Seawings. The wings were big, as large as a Skywing’s.
Serir growled, “How dare you attack me!”
“You deserved it,” The hybrid growled
“This is the kind of behavior I’d expect from a lowlife such as you,” Serir said. “No one ever listened to me, but here you are, acting just as I predicted.”
The hybrid roared, and as he did, his bioluminescent scales glowed red, becoming increasingly lighter as they went down his body. The darkest shade was of blood, and the lightest shade was a light pink.
“A Skywing and Seawing hybrid is one of the worst of all. Two tribes, destined for different parts of the world, coming together to create a monster,” Serir said.
The hybrid continued to growl, but unlike his first attack, he stayed where he was, waiting for Serir to make the first move.
“Might as well rid this world of one more mistake,” Serir growled. He pounced, clamping his jaws on thin air. The hybrid had ducked to the right, and Serir’s tail followed. The hybrid grabbed his tail before it could pierce, and pulled. Serir caught himself, and the hybrid clawed at his face. Blood started seeping out. But the Sandwing didn’t stop.
The hybrid tried clawing again, missing. The Sandwing bit down on the hybrid’s neck from above, almost instantly regretting it. The hybrid twisted his head up, using his horns to spear Serir in the jaw. When Serir let go, the hybrid spread his wings, knocking him upside the head.
The hybrid pounced, hitting Serir and sending him on his back. Serir jabbed his tail at the hybrid’s neck, which it caught just before hitting the gills. Serir opened his mouth to set the hybrid on fire, which the hybrid avoided just barely by using his other talon to pin his head to the ground. Both were in a position where they couldn’t move, if they did then they would be killed. But the odds were in Serir’s favor. The hybrid was in an awkward position holding the Sandwing’s tail. He wouldn’t be able to hold it for long. “You’ve got no way out of this,” Serir said.
The hybrid looked frantic deciding what to do before it was too late. Then he put on a steely face, looked into Serir’s eyes and said, “For all the hybrids of the continents.”
He let go of Serir’s tail, slashing at the Sandwing’s neck, causing him to choke on his own blood. The tail hit the hybrid in the gills. He pulled it out immediately but the damage was done. With Serir’s final choke, he saw the hybrid collapse to the ground.
And a figure flying toward them from the east.
Cyclone woke in a place he had never been before. He lifted his head up, and a searing pain shot through his neck. He tenderly touched his gills, the source of the pain. They felt maimed, and they didn’t feel like they were working.
He looked around, and he still had no idea where he was. The building was made of green vines, and curtains were placed around him. He got up and pulled aside the curtain to find no one around. There was a hallway to his right, so he started toward it. Just as he was about to enter the hallway, a dragon appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It startled him enough for him to let out a quiet yelp.
The other dragon, however, was not expecting him at all and screeched before disappearing in front of him. They had dropped a pouch during their exclamation, and seemingly hundreds of herbs scattered across the floor.
The dragon reappeared and let out a sigh of relief. Cyclone could finally tell that they were a Rainwing, which he should have guessed from the disappearing. “You scared me,” she said. The Rainwing was a royal blue, with purple stripes running down her neck. Her tail was striped with fading orange and blue, and her wings had green splotches coating almost the entire space. She bent down to pick up the herbs.
“Where am I?” Cyclone asked.
“You’re in the Healer’s Pavilion of the Rainforest Kingdom,” the Rainwing said. “I saw you dying in the desert and brought you back here to heal you.” She looked sad before saying, “Sorry about your gills, there was nothing I could do.”
“I’m in the rainforest?” Cyclone said. “What about the Sandwing?”
“He’s dead,” the Rainwing said. “Got beaten pretty badly.”
Cyclone nodded. He expected as much. “I have to go.”
“Oh no you can’t,” the Rainwing said. “You have two broken bones and you’re in no state yet to be going anytime soon.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Cyclone said.
Cyclone almost made it to the end of the hall when she said, “You still have Sandwing venom in you. If you go out that door, you’re not going to survive the week.”
Cyclone sighed, then he went back to the bed that he had been in originally. The Rainwing came with him, and took out one of the plants that had been scattered. “It’s brightsting cactus,” she said. “I’ve been applying it to you for the past few days. It should get rid of most of the Sandwing venom.”
She started to squeeze the juice into a bowl. “Why did you kill him?” she asked.
“Who?” Cyclone said, although he knew who she was talking about.
“The Sandwing,” the Rainwing said.
“What’s my business is no one else’s,” Cyclone said.
“I could skip today’s dose of brightsting cactus if you want,” the Rainwing replied.
Cyclone rolled his eyes and said, “He was a racist of hybrids, and he usually led expeditions to kill or capture them.”
“You killed him because he didn’t like you?” the Rainwing said.
“I killed him because he killed others like me,” Cyclone answered.
She started applying the juice to his gills, at which he gasped at the pain and grabbed her talon. It was warm, and felt like it belonged in his. He looked into her eyes, and he saw deep green, the kind you saw when surrounded by beautiful nature.
She smiled and said, “I need to use my talon to get the juice applied.”
“Oh, yeah sorry,” Cyclone said as he dropped his talon down.
A few moments passed as the Rainwing applied the brightsting cactus juice to his gills. When those moments were up, she said, “My name’s Toucan.”
“Cyclone,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”
A couple years passed, and Cyclone had never felt more happy in his life.
It was only fair that it would all be taken away. But it wasn’t for Cyclone.
== Chapter 1 ==
The market in Possibility was bustling, dragons from all over Pyrrhia were gathered together. Cyclone had seen an Icewing, three different Nightwings, and even a few Pantalans. He had never seen this many dragons in one place, and the sound was louder than he would ever feel comfortable with.
But this was Possibility, it was always like this.
Cyclone had decided to come down this street, one that he had never been on, to see if there was anything he needed. For the past six months, Cyclone was able to keep himself alive with hunting, drinking, and nothing else. He had always been paranoid of large crowds, and that’s why he never went to the market. But now he had found that he needed a better knife. The one he had been using was weak to begin with, and it didn’t really help that the blade broke when he tried sharpening it.
He searched the row of shops, seeing different dragons selling different things, some of which were just ridiculous. One of the shops that he had seen was selling horn extensions. He continued to pass these shops, until he came up on one that sold quilts. He had almost passed it when he noticed something behind the shopkeeper.
He walked up to the dragon, a dark orange Skywing with light red wings. “Hello, welcome to Raptor’s Quilts and Tapestries. How can I help you sir?” He said.
“Where did you get that?” Cyclone said, as he pointed to the quilt in the back.
Raptor followed his talon before saying, “That’s a very special quilt I made for a lovely Rainwing. She said that she would be picking it up, but that was a few months ago. It’s up for sale now if you want it.”
“Did the Rainwing already pay for it?” Cyclone asked.
“Yes, but she never came, so I put it up for sale.” Raptor responded.
“Can I get a closer look at it?” Cyclone said.
Raptor nodded and led him back. Cyclone felt the fabric, and he knew it was no coincidence that it looked like this. The flower, the colors, the items.
And the words.
Cyclone nodded and said, “I’ll take it.”
“Great. That’ll be about…” Raptor started.
“No, what I mean is I’ll take it.” Cyclone said.
Raptor’s expression changed. “Sir, I cannot allow you to take this without paying.”
Cyclone nodded. Before Raptor could react, Cyclone grabbed him by the neck and pushed him up against the wall. Some dragons saw what was happening from outside, but none tried to help.
“I’ll say this one more time,” Cyclone said. “I am going to take this. It has already been paid for by the Rainwing.”
“If she didn’t come to get it, that was her fault!” Raptor exclaimed out of fear.
“She’s dead!” Cyclone yelled. “She was killed on her way here to get it.”
Raptor stopped struggling, although he still looked scared. He looked at the quilt before returning his attention back to Cyclone. “You’re the one she…” he started.
“Are you giving it to me or not?” Cyclone asked.
After a moment of hesitation, Raptor nodded. Cyclone let him go and rolled up the quilt. He almost walked out when Raptor said, “I had no idea she died. I’m sorry. I mean it.”
Not knowing what to say, and worrying if he did say something that his voice would break, he walked out of the store. He noticed a shop filled with daggers.
“How much does this one cost?” Cyclone asked. It was a dagger with a smooth edge on one end, and a curved blade on the other. The middle had a brown leather grip.
“J-j-just take it,” the shopkeeper stuttered. Cyclone complied, and he flew off to his home.
When he arrived home, the first thing he did was hang up the quilt. He could tell that Toucan had told Raptor almost every minute detail to make it perfect. He felt the fabric again, and although he knew that Toucan didn’t actually sew it together, it was the thought of her idea that counted.
Tears formed in Cyclone’s eyes. Everything about the quilt reminded him of something. Most of them he wished he could forget. The earring, the charm, the necklace, the flower. All of them came with a memory of her. And every memory of her came like a dagger to the heart plus the twist.
He’d been trying to suppress his sadness, to suppress the memories that he was reminded of every single waking and sleeping moment. It was a constant battle for him, but worse. Cyclone could usually take on four average dragons on a bad day, but this battle tore at his soul. Some days he woke up, just to stay on the ground and avoid taking care of himself just so he didn’t have to live in this nightmare. But the next morning he would wake up, and do everything he was supposed to do the day before.
He didn’t know why he got the quilt. Maybe it was just to add more torture to his agonizing existence. Maybe it was to help the sadness go away. Or maybe it was just a way for him to avenge the dragon he loved, for he didn’t know how else to do it.
He stayed staring at the quilt for what seemed like hours. He studied every little thing, the intricacies of the swirling border, the depth of the two dragons in the center nuzzling one another, and the detail that went into the words below those very same dragons. In the entire thing, there was no mistake.
Except for one. After actual hours of studying the quilt, Cyclone noticed a little cut that had been sewn together. He would’ve thought that it was just a minor mistake the quilter made, if it hadn’t been a completely different color. Most of the quilt was a light brown, but the thread that closed the cut was a light green color. Cyclone looked all over the quilt and didn’t notice a single other cut that was that bad. He stared at the cut some more.
Is it thicker than the rest of the quilt? Cyclone thought.
He felt it, and sure enough, the cut was bulging the slightest bit more than the rest of the surface. Maybe the quilter did something wrong, maybe he was going to fix it but forgot.
Or maybe…
Cyclone whispered to himself, “I’m sorry my love.” He stabbed the spot with his talon, and traced it down the bulge until there was a tiny hole in the quilt. He reached inside, and his talons wrapped around something small. When he pulled them out, there was a tiny scroll in his talons. He unrolled it and read the contents:
Hello Cyclone,
I know you want to avenge her death. Well it just so happens that I want the same thing. Meet me in the center of Possibility at midnight. I’ll be waiting.
Your employer,
The hooded dragon
He read it maybe a hundred times. He wanted to make sure that he understood what it said.
It could be a trap, his mind thought. But Cyclone now knew that if it was, he knew the time and place it would happen. And he wouldn’t go down without a fight.
== Chapter 2 ==
An hour before midnight. After waiting for two hours in the center of Possibility, the hooded dragon arrived an hour before midnight.
Cyclone knew that he had to get there before the hooded dragon. If he did, then there would be no delays. For those two hours, Cyclone glanced at the coming and going dragons, wondering which one of them would be his employer.
The center of Possibility, like most of the town, was nothing spectacular. Buildings surrounded dragons from every direction, there were no monuments or statues, and sometimes there would even be a dead dragon in one of the alleys. Tonight, though, there seemed to be a happier air in Possibility. Cyclone didn’t ask, but it must have been a festival of some kind. His theory was approved by dragons coming and going in costumes and wearing ridiculous amounts of jewelry. He rolled his eyes at the fact that some of those dragons would be going home missing some of the rings and necklaces that they brought, whether they were lost or stolen.
“Missing out in the festivities?” a shadow said from Cyclone’s right.
Cyclone turned his head to find a dragon, whose head and body was covered in a brown cloak.
“I have nothing to celebrate,” Cyclone said.
“Everyone should be celebrating,” the hooded dragon said. “Don’t you know? It’s the anniversary of the end to the War of Sandwing Succession.”
“Hm,” Cyclone said. “I didn’t know they held a festival for that.”
“Only Possibility does,” the hooded dragon said. “They started this tradition a few years back, and it caught on. If you don’t like music, I’d suggest not staying for the entire festival. They start singing the Dragonets Are Coming. After that they tell a story of the war and pick random dragons from the crowd to play different characters.”
“This is all great history talk, but I’d like to cut to the chase if you don’t mind,” Cyclone said.
“Of course,” the hooded dragon said. “I wouldn’t suggest otherwise.”
“You said in your letter that you want to avenge Toucan’s death,” Cyclone said. “Why me?”
“Because of three reasons,” the hooded dragon said. “One, I can’t fight, and I know that you can. Two, I know that you are the only dragon on the continent who wants to watch the life drain from the killers’ eyes with every scale on your body.”
“Both of which are true,” Cyclone interjected.
“And three,” the hooded dragon continued. “I don’t have a lot to pay you with at the moment. So I know that because of reason two, you will accept their deaths as payment.”
“So you know who the dragons that killed her are?” Cyclone asked.
“Yes, but not all of them yet.”
“What do you mean not all of them?”
“I mean, finding dragons who left no trace is hard. It was hard to find you, a mad, serial killer hybrid who wants to be found, let alone these dragons who don’t.”
“I’m not a serial killer, and I’m not mad.” Cyclone argued.
The hooded dragon said nothing else about it. Instead he said, “I’ll give you the names that I do know. But only if you answer this question. How much are you willing to give up to avenge Toucan’s death?”
Cyclone thought about it, although he already knew the answer before it came out of his mouth. “Everything,” he answered. “But it’ll all be worth it in the end.”
“Good,” the hooded dragon said. “Although I don’t know most of their names, I do know that there were four killers. From the looks of it, two Seawings, a Mudwing, and a Nightwing. I know the names of the two Seawings, but finding them is going to have to be your problem.”
“You know the names of two dragons but you have no idea where they are?” Cyclone said.
“I have an approximation of where they are. Plus, I’d like to see you try and get evidence off of a six month old crime scene,” the hooded dragon said. “Oh wait, that’s right. You did. And now you’re coming to me because you couldn’t figure it out on your own.”
“You little…” Cyclone muttered. He felt like punching this dragon in the snout, but he knew if he did, the dragon wouldn’t give him the names.
“Anyways, the Seawings are siblings who used to be generals in the Seawing Queen's army,” the hooded dragon continued. “They were kicked out for having some…unsavory contacts. Since then, they’ve been hustling and loaning money to dragons. If the dragons don’t pay them back, they take it personally and usually try to kill them.”
“They sound…bad,” Cyclone said.
“Their names are Axolotl and Otter, and they were last seen in a town in the Sky Kingdom just south of the palace at the base of the mountains,” the hooded dragon said. “I’d start asking around there.”
“Thanks,” Cyclone said as he was getting up. “Let me know when you have the next name.”
“Believe me, you’ll wake up to it,” the dragon said.
Cyclone stopped. “What do you mea-” Before he could finish, he noticed that the cloak was on the ground, filled with nothing but air. The dragon he had just been talking to was gone.
He flew east, but he stopped when he heard a thousand voices from the festival. It was out of harmony, and it was faint, but it was still somehow pleasant to listen to. He hummed The Dragonets Are Coming the entire way to the Sky Kingdom.
== Chapter 3 ==
After days of flying, he had made it to the town that the Hood had told him about. It didn’t seem like a place where Seawings would come to. The main reason was almost the entire town was dominated by Skywings. The Seawings and Skywings seemed to have a little bit of a feud, a little like the Icewings and Nightwings used to have. It could have dated back to Albatross, or it could have just stemmed from the War of Sandwing Succession. Either way, the two tribes didn’t exactly get along on everything.
Cyclone had already asked over 50 dragons, but he had come here for answers, not to give up. He asked a shopper. They didn’t know. He asked a blacksmith. She didn’t know. He asked a food merchant. Somehow he didn’t know either.
Cyclone had arrived early in the morning, and by the time that he had asked about 75% of the town’s residents, it was midday. He was already exhausted from the long flight, and he didn’t feel like sleeping either. Not until he knew where the Seawings were.
He passed by a group of Skywings, about 5. One noticed him and started whispering to their companions. Cyclone didn’t hear much of their conversation, but he did hear cackling and one of them said, “-a hybrid doing here?”
He was about to pass them when one broke off from the group and stepped in his way. “Hm?” Cyclone said.
“Oh I’m sorry did I get in your way?” the Skywing said. Cyclone rolled his eyes. He knew what was about to happen.
“Yes, can you get out of it?” Cyclone said with a sarcastic smile.
“Hey guys!” the Skywing addressed his friends. “Do you think they follow orders?”
He looked at Cyclone, pointed his talon down, and said, “Sit.”
“Excuse me?” Cyclone said.
“You heard me,” the Skywing said. “Sit.”
“I’m sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else,” Cyclone said.
Cyclone tried going around him, but the Skywing made sure he couldn’t get past. “Tell you what, if you sit, then we’ll let you go on your merry way,” he said.
“Or what?” Cyclone said.
“Or we’ll rob you,” one of the other Skywings said.
Cyclone had noticed that the Skywings had been surrounding him, he just chose not to mention it. “That’s not a good idea,” he said.
“I’m guessing that’s a no on the ‘sit’ then?” the one who seemed like the leader said.
“Give it your best shot,” Cyclone said.
The leader hooked his right talon at Cyclone’s face. Cyclone easily caught it, and broke it with his tail. The leader screamed as the other four came at him. The fight lasted about twelve seconds. In the end, one had a broken arm, two had skulls that were crashed into each other, one had a concussion from hitting the ground, and the last one had a broken jaw and three cracked ribs. The only one that was conscious was the one with the broken arm, and he had been screaming for the majority of the fight.
“Oh I forgot to ask,” Cyclone said. “Did you happen to see two Seawings around here? And if so, where did they go?”
The only response he got was grunts of pain. “Tell you what, if you tell me if you knew them and where they went, I’ll set your arm back in place,” Cyclone said.
After a few grunts, the Skywing said, “They went to a cave…east of town…if you go you can still catch them.”
“Thank you,” Cyclone said. He grabbed the forearm and upper arm, and snapped them back into place. The Skywing screamed, but he quickly fell unconscious after the pain went away. He remembered that it was Toucan who taught him how to do that.
No, he told himself. No time for crying, there’s dragons I need to kill.
The cave was large, and it faced the sea. There weren’t many spots on Pyrrhia that looked as pretty as the view at the cave. And the sunset made it even more beautiful.
But he could enjoy the view later.
He entered the cave and let his night vision turn on. The cave was dimly lit, and he could see why the Seawings would choose a place like this to stay. It was hard to find, and even Seawings would have a hard time navigating through a dark cave like this. Cyclone tried to stay as quiet as he could, but that was hard due to the immense amount of echo and small pebbles in this cave. He walked for about 15 minutes before finally coming up on a turn, but he could see some scrolls lying around. He stopped moving, hoping to pick up the slightest sound. When there was silence, he turned the corner.
Nothing. There were some scrolls and a blanket, but other than that there was nothing. He walked in, continuing to sweep the room with his eyes. His wings started sliding across the ground, and he made sure that they were off the ground before he continued.
He heard something. It was very quiet, but he knew it didn’t come from anything else in the cave. It sounded like breathing.
Then he heard something else. A faint breath of air saying, “One.”
He ducked out of the way, and he could feel air rush just past the top of his body. He activated his bioluminescent scales, giving the room a creepy red color. He knew it would be giving away his position, but it would not only allow him to see better, but also blind the enemy enough for them to avoid using their night vision.
The idea worked, for he heard two cries of pain, and he could just barely see green and blue silhouettes in the darkness. The green one reacted first. They came at Cyclone, but he caught them by the throat and threw them against the wall. The blue one came after, but they had a spear. Cyclone narrowly avoided it before elbowing the dragon in the head and taking the spear out of their talons. They managed to get away before Cyclone could do anything else. Cyclone lost sight of the blue one, but he managed to see them following the wall, trying to avoid his sight. Cyclone gained a better grip on the spear, and threw it in the direction of the blue Seawing.
He thought he missed the Seawing, but then there was a scream of pain. Cyclone got closer to find the blue Seawing hanging by their wing from the wall. The spear had gone through the wing, and a little into the cave wall as well.
Cyclone was about to kill the Seawing when he thought of something. He grabbed the Seawing’s head to look up at him and said, “What is your name?”
“What?” the Seawing said through grunts of pain. Cyclone turned his bioluminescent scales off and turned his night vision back on. The Seawing was a rich blue, with green dots speckling down his neck and up his legs. His wings looked dark compared to the rest of his body.
“Your name,” Cyclone said. “What is it?”
“I’m not telling you anything,” the Seawing said.
Cyclone yanked the spear out of the wall, and the Seawing fell. Cyclone instantly stabbed the Seawing in the tail, which was followed by a scream of even more pain. Cyclone then walked over to the green Seawing, a light green with specks of purple dotting their snout and wings. Cyclone wrapped his talons around their snout and positioned his other talons on her neck. “Tell me who you both are or this one’s dead!” Cyclone screamed.
“Don’t hurt her!” the blue one said. “I’m Axolotl and that’s my sister, Otter.”
“Did you kill a Rainwing?” Cyclone asked.
“You’re going to have to be more specific than that,” Axolotl said.
“A Rainwing on her way to Possibility?” Cyclone specified. “A Rainwing that was killed by a Mudwing and a Nightwing as well?”
Axolotl went from having an expression of pain to an expression of anger. He said, “Yeah, we knew her. She owed us money. She was a thief and a criminal, and she got what she deserved. We made a large amount off of her, but seeing the blood rushing from her body as we took what she had would have been good enough for me.”
Cyclone walked up to Axolotl. He grabbed the spear off of his tail, and brought it down on his head.
“NO!” Otter screamed after finally waking up. She lunged at Cyclone, who had already pulled the spear out of her brother’s head. He whirled around and threw the spear with as much force as he could. It hit her square in the chest, and the amount of momentum carried the dragon back to the wall. The force of the impact was so loud that Cyclone almost covered his ears. He looked over the dead bodies of the two Seawings, one with three holes in him, and the other mounted to the wall by a spear. When he got home, he let a memory come back to him.
“Oh you’re back,” Toucan said. They nuzzled each other. “You know what today is?”
“How could I forget?” Cyclone said. “Come on I have the perfect place.”
They flew for a bit, both were holding little packages but neither knew what was in the other’s. When they reached their spot, Cyclone made Toucan close her eyes. Cyclone pulled out one of his gifts, a gift he made sure was always the first.
“Alright, open them,” he said. Toucan opened her eyes and smiled just as she always did.
“The Chameleon Lily,” she said.
“I always make sure to get it for you,” Cyclone said. “So you can be reminded that you’re just like this flower. You’re rare, beautiful, and…” He touched the petals of the flower, and they camouflaged with their surroundings, which from his point of view was the color of Toucan. She was cyan, with a spray of pink on her wings and frills, and green dots speckling all over her body. One of the things he loved about her was that she never stayed the same color. Each day, she would spend about an hour choosing what she should look like for that day. Sometimes it drove him crazy, but in a happy way.
“So, let’s get on with the good gifts shall we?” Cyclone said. Toucan chuckled as she put the lily in her pouch.
“Now, it took me a while to find the perfect thing for you, but I think I’ve got something,” Cyclone said. He took out a box, a small one with a wooden exterior. He opened it and inside was a small chain of beads, with a small jewel on one end.
Toucan took it out of the box and studied it. “It’s a luck charm,” Cyclone said. “Personally I don’t really believe in that sort of thing, but I thought that you would like it.”
Toucan nodded and said, “I love it.” She slipped it around her wrist. “I’m going to wear this every day.”
She then took out her box, a large white wooden box that just barely fit in her talons. She opened it, and Cyclone widened his eyes. Inside was a circular ruby encased by a white metal exterior. As she took the ruby out, Cyclone noticed that a long silver chain came with it.
“It’s a necklace,” Toucan said. “I noticed how you had always been saying that you wanted something to impress my parents with when you finally met. This was what I thought of.”
Cyclone was speechless. He held it in his talons, and even though he could feel the cool metal in his talons, he didn’t know if he was actually seeing it. When he found the words, he said, “How did you afford this?”
Toucan’s smile went away for a moment but came back when she said, “Let’s not talk about that right now. Let’s just enjoy this moment.”
Cyclone took Toucan’s talon in his. “Happy anniversary,” he said. They stayed in that spot for a few more hours before heading back home.
Cyclone held the ruby necklace in his talons,	and he stared as if he thought that he could see her face if he stared hard enough. But that never happened. He closed his talons around the necklace and brought it to his forehead. For the first time since she had died, he cried. He let his eyes ball out all the sadness they had been holding back for six months. When he finally finished, an hour had passed. He wished that he could just go after the next target, but he couldn’t. He didn’t feel like it. After what he had done to the Seawings, he was afraid of what he might do to them.
== Chapter 4 ==
Another note. Just as the Hood had said. A week after he had killed the Seawing siblings, he woke up to a note in front of his head.
Hello Cyclone,
Hope I didn’t scare you. I have another name, and this time I know exactly where they are. Meet me in the center of Possibility at midday.
Your employer,
The hooded dragon
Just like before, Cyclone arrived early. This time, though, the Hood was there before him.
“Looks like I beat you here,” the Hood said.
“As much as I’d love to praise you for your great accomplishment, I can barely hear you, and I am only here for the dragon you need me to kill,” Cyclone said. The first time that the two met, the night was dark and the Hood was wearing a dark cloak. But even in bright daylight, it was hard to see exactly who or even what dragon was underneath the cloak. And with the large flow of dragons coming and going on the street, the two could barely hear each other.
“The name I have for you this time is a Mudwing. His name is Leech. In my opinion, he’s named like that for a reason. Out of all four, this one is probably the worst you’re going to encounter. He runs a mining operation near the old Night Kingdom. He used the funds he received from Toucan to start it, and now they’ve become a very successful business,” the Hood said.
“Alright, thank you,” Cyclone said. He was about to leave when the Hood stopped him.
“There’s one more thing. His business has become so successful because he doesn’t pay his workers that much,” the Hood said. “It just so happens that all the miners are hybrids, or hybrid symphathists. His overseers give cruel punishments for strict rules that everyone breaks, not because they want to, but because he’s literally working some of them to death.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Cyclone said.
The old Night Kingdom was one of those places that kept dragons awake at night, especially after Darkstalker nearly destroyed the entirety of Pyrrhia. But there were some dragons that still believed that Darkstalker was just an old fable to keep dragonets from stealing too many roasted crickets. Cyclone didn’t know what he believed but he was pretty sure that Leech was one of the dragons who didn’t think that Darkstalker had existed.
The mines were deep, so deep that Cyclone had a hard time believing that this had only been a six month operation. From the echo, he could hear lots of talking and rock being hit by metal.
It was a long distance down but when he finally could hear the voices clearly, he took out the knife he had bought and concealed it by holding it behind his arm. Then he held his other arm with the knife arm, stumped over, and made himself look injured.
“Help!” he screamed. He limped over to where the dragons were and collapsed on the ground.
One of the dragons, an Icewing, noticed him and went to check on him. “What’s wrong?” she said. Some of the miners also noticed him but went straight back to work.
“I got bit by a snake…” Cyclone said through fake gasps of pain. “It hurts bad.”
“What did it look like?” the Icewing said, although she didn’t look very concerned. In fact, she looked a little disgusted.
“What’s going on here?” a Sandwing said.
“This dragon got bit by a snake,” the Icewing responded. “Might have been a dragonbite viper.”
“Can you help me?” Cyclone said.
“Sure,” the Sandwing said. “We’ll make sure the pain goes away.”
The Icewing opened her mouth, and it started making weird noises. It was all Cyclone needed to hear.
He jutted the knife into the Icewing’s neck, pulled it out, and threw the knife at the Sandwing. Both were dead before they hit the ground. Cyclone collected his knife and noticed that the miners were staring at him. It was then that Cyclone noticed that their legs were chained together, keeping them from escaping. “Does anyone know where the key is?” Cyclone said.
A hybrid, maybe an Icewing and Mudwing, said, “One of the guards has it. A Seawing I think. They’re a very dark green.”
“Once I find the Seawing I’ll free you,” Cyclone said. He heard voices coming from somewhere else in the mines. He went in the direction of those voices and they met him. It was a group of dragons, some holding weapons like knives and spears, the others holding nothing.
“We have a breach!” A dark green Seawing yelled. He wore a key around his neck.
There you are, Cyclone thought.
The first to strike was a large Nightwing. They tried pouncing Cyclone, but Cyclone quickly stabbed them. The next two were a Rainwing and an Icewing. Cyclone hadn’t seen the Rainwing coming and had been disarmed by a seemingly invisible foe. The Icewing came in and tried frostbreathing him, but the hybrid was able to dodge. The Rainwing got hit in the tail, and he screamed before having his neck opened by Cyclone. The Icewing came at him but Cyclone dodged to the right and pounced on the back of it. He brought it down on its side and snapped its neck. He was about to try and retrieve his knife when the Seawing with the key and a Sandwing came at him.
He ducked under the tail of the Sandwing and grabbed it with his mouth. One loud crunch and the tail came off. The Sandwing screamed before Cyclone stabbed his talons into its chest. The Seawing made no hesitation and came at Cyclone’s neck. He dug his teeth in and latched on and started scratching at Cyclone’s underbelly. Cyclone grabbed both ends of the Seawing’s snout and started prying them open. Soon his neck came loose but he continued to open the Seawing’s mouth. With one final burst of strength, he opened the Seawing’s snout wider than it could and he fell to the ground.
He grabbed the key from the Seawing’s neck and gave it to the miners. “Free everyone in here,” he said. “Get out of here as soon as you can. I’m going to see the dragon behind this operation.” After many grateful dragons giving him their blessings and thank you’s and grabbing his knife, he made his way through the mineshaft to where Leech would be.
He finally arrived at a little office-looking room. Sitting behind a desk with a lot of papers was a dark brown Mudwing, with an orange fade at his tail, and gold scales on his underbelly. “So you finally came,” Leech said. “I expected you here a lot sooner.”
“Well I’m here now,” Cyclone said.
“Indeed,” Leech said. “Might I say, that little Rainwing I was assigned to kill put up quite a fight. More of a fight than I thought there would have been.”
Cyclone widened his eyes. “Assigned?”
“Are you dumb?” Leech said. “You have to be if you think that there was enough money on that pathetic excuse for a dragon to be able to afford this place. Although, she did have some very fashionable jewelry on her. But I decided to keep it.”
“What jewelry? And who assigned you?” Cyclone said.
Leech reached below his desk and brought his talon up with a diamond earring in it. “I’m very surprised that such a dragon as her would have this kind of jewelry and not wear it.”
“Give that back,” Cyclone growled.
“You want it?” Leech said. He grabbed his desk and slid it out of the way, where it crashed into the far wall. “Come get it.”
Cyclone roared, and he pounced at the large Mudwing. Leech dodged to the right, but Cyclone followed. Leech caught Cyclone by the throat and threw him out the door. Cyclone caught himself as the Mudwing chased him down. Cyclone tried throwing himself at Leech, but the Mudwing was able to hit him away. Cyclone was unable to catch himself. He got up as soon as he could but Leech pushed his head against the ground. Leech started to apply more pressure, and Cyclone realized he was trying to crush his head.
Cyclone stabbed his knife into Leech’s leg. He screamed and pulled his arm away. Cyclone quickly got up and clawed at Leech’s face. He stumbled back and breathed fire at Cyclone. He was unable to duck away and took a direct hit. He pushed his way through the pain and stabbed Leech in the neck. He then grabbed the Mudwing and his head down to the ground. The knife went straight through Leech’s throat. The dragon stopped moving.
Cyclone lifted Leech’s lifeless head up to retrieve his knife. He took the earring out of his claws and stared at it. The memory that came with it made him tear up.
“I wanted to get you this,” Cyclone said. “I felt like I got you a gift that was too cheap, so I just wanted to get this for you to return the favor.”
In his talons he held a white earring, with a deep blue diamond in the center. He put the earring in Toucan’s orange talons. “Thank you,” she said. “But I didn’t need you to get me this.”
“I just felt bad that you got me an expensive gift and I got you something that was nowhere close,” Cyclone said.
She closed her talons around the earring. “The value in a gift is not how much it costs, but how much it means to the receiving end,” she said. “That’s why I’m going to keep this, but I’m not going to wear it. It’ll be a reminder that value and love cannot be bought.”
Cyclone chuckled. “That’s kind of good because that was still nowhere near the cost of the necklace,” he said.
Toucan laughed. That was one of the things he missed most about her, when she laughed.
Cyclone lay in the dark, clutching the diamond earring to his chest. He had been crying again. Not as much as the first time, but still a lot. There was only one thought in his mind when he was finished.
What am I doing?
== Chapter 5 ==
“I can’t do this anymore,” Cyclone said.
“What?” the Hood said. It had been over two weeks since Leech’s death, and Cyclone had been thinking about what he was doing during the entire time. The Hood had sent him a message and they were now in Possibility just before dawn.
“This isn’t what Toucan would’ve wanted,” Cyclone said.
The Hood sighed. “You came THIS CLOSE!” he exclaimed. “All you had to do was kill ONE MORE DRAGON!”
“If you’re so keen on killing all of them, why don’t you go after the last one?!” Cyclone argued.
“That’s your job!” he said. “If I could kill this last one, I would! But this one is a trained assassin. She’s trained almost her entire life figuring out how to kill a dragon the most efficient way possible.”
“I’m sorry but I’m done,” Cyclone said. “I don’t wanna kill any more dragons.”
The Hood stared into the sky, as if he was wondering what he could do to convince Cyclone. He sighed and did something Cyclone had never expected him to do.
He took off his hood. Beneath it was a light green Rainwing with red scales surrounding his eyes and purple swirls coating his neck.
Cyclone stared at the Hood for a bit. When he could speak, he said, “You’re a Rainwing.”
The Hood responded with, “My name is Panther. I’ve been looking for these killers because Toucan just so happened to be my sister.”
Cyclone widened his eyes. “You’re Toucan’s brother?” he said.
Panther nodded. “It broke me when she died,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do, but then I thought that if I got rid of her killers, I could avenge her death. But after finding out just how powerful these dragons were…I knew I needed help.”
They sat in silence. Panther broke it with, “If you won’t kill this last dragon for yourself, do it for me. I need to know that my sister’s killers are dead.”
“Okay,” Cyclone said after a moment of thinking. “I’ll do it for you.”
Panther smiled. “The Nightwing’s name is Constellation. She went missing after Toucan’s death. But two days ago, a Seawing turned up dead near Jade Mountain Academy. I’d start looking there.”
“Guess this is goodbye,” Cyclone said.
“I guess it is,” Panther responded.
Cyclone had never been to Jade Mountain Academy. But he knew his mother would have sent him if she hadn’t been executed for having him. So going to Jade Mountain Academy for the first time was going to be a little weird.
He sailed into the entrance and saw how many dragons were there. There were lots of dragons, but it was nothing compared with Possibility. Another thing that was similar was the variety in the school. Almost everywhere he looked, Cyclone could see a different tribe.
And it’s only going to get more diverse, he thought to himself. He knew that there were a lot of couples in the school, and there were at least a few that were different tribes. Someday hybrids would become a norm for this school.
He looked around at the entrance until he saw a dragon that must have been the greeter. Cyclone walked up to the dragon, a Sandwing, and they noticed him coming.
“Hello,” she said. “Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy! Have you come for a visit, to enroll for a placement in one of the winglets, or to sign up for one of the staff roles we are currently looking for?”
“Um, none actually,” Cyclone responded. “I actually came here for something else.”
“Are you here to pick up a student?” she asked. “Do you have a delivery?”
“I’m here about the murder that took place,” Cyclone whispered.
The Sandwing’s expression went from welcoming to serious. She nodded and said, “Yes, um…can I do anything to help?”
“Just answer a few questions for me,” Cyclone said. “Who was the victim? Who did they hang out with? What was their schedule?”
“The victim’s name was Trench. He was a Seawing in the Gold Winglet. He normally hung out with other Seawings, and put down anyone he thought was ‘inferior’ to him,” the Sandwing said.
“So he wasn’t that popular with students?” Cyclone said.
“You’d think so, but you’d be wrong. Dragons flocked to him like he was controlling them with the breath of evil. He was probably only popular because he was the Treasurer of the Kingdom of the Sea,” the Sandwing said. “As for his schedule, he had history in the morning, anatomy just before noon, free time in the afternoon, and ended his day with a class called, ‘Integration into and from the Human World’ which is basically a class where dragons learn to speak scavenger and vice versa.”
“What happened shortly before his death?” Cyclone asked. “As in, what was he doing before he was killed?”
“I wasn’t at my post, but Torrent was, and he said that Trench had gone out on his own to hunt. Last time he was seen by anyone, he was heading south. The next morning, he didn’t appear for history, and when noon arrived the principal sent a search for him. They found him dead in the evening, his body lying on the southern end of the Clouds Mountain Range. He had a few scratches on his body, a torn wing, and a broken spine,” the Sandwing said. “After a day had passed since the finding, our healer said that the body had been alive for a few hours after the attack.”
“So the killer left him alive for some reason,” Cyclone said.
After a few moments of silence, the Sandwing said, “Is that all?”
Cyclone sighed. “I have reason to believe that one of your students may have killed him. Was there any suspicious activity shortly before he was last seen?”
The Sandwing didn’t speak out of shock. “Uh…four dragons left shortly after him. But they headed east, toward the rainforest,” she said. “Other than that, no one else left that day.”
“May I speak to those four dragons?” Cyclone said.
“Sir, I don’t want any trouble to be brought here,” the Sandwing said. “I’ll take you to the dragonets but only if you promise that you won’t cause any more mayhem around here than there already is.”
“I promise,” Cyclone swore. “Nothing will happen while I’m here.”
== Chapter 6 ==
The Sandwing led him through the crowded halls of the school. Some dragons stared at him as they passed, but otherwise nothing was out of the ordinary.
Soon the Sandwing stopped and gestured to a room that she was in front of. “This is the Silver Winglet’s room. One of the dragons isn’t here yet, so you’ll have to wait while I bring them.”
Cyclone nodded. She walked back in the direction that they had come, and Cyclone walked into the room.
Four dragons sat in the room, and all of them were watching him. A Silkwing, an Icewing, a Rainwing, and a Nightwing were sitting in a mini circle together. Each had a scroll in their talons, which told Cyclone that they had been studying prior to his entrance. He studied the dragonets. The Silkwing was pale blue, with a green underbelly and red talons. The Icewing was a bright white, with glistening scales covering their body. The Rainwing was a vibrant yellow, with blue wings and frills, an orange underbelly, and green horns. The Nightwing was a void-like black, with blue eyes and a dull brown underbelly.
Cyclone sat at the entrance and tried breaking the silence, “Where’s the rest of your winglet?”
No one responded. All of them looked a little worried. It was the Silkwing that finally spoke up. “Our Hivewing, Leafwing, and Skywing went hunting. Our Mudwing, Sandwing, and Seawing are in the music room,” he said.
“What are you studying?” Cyclone asked.
“The Tree Wars,” the Nightwing said. “We have a test coming up and we’re helping each other with memorizing the events.”
“Yeah, more likely helping Stargazer with remembering the simplest thing about the Tree Wars,” the Icewing said. “Watch. Hey Stargazer, when did the Tree Wars start?”
The Nightwing shrunk back his head. Obviously he was embarrassed that he couldn’t remember a simple detail like that. “Was it 100 years before the War of Sandwing Succession ended?”
The dragonets roared with laughter. This made Stargazer shrink back even more. Cyclone couldn’t see the humor behind it, but he could tell that Stargazer thought it was funny too. He could see a suppressed smile beneath his blushing face.
They’re all friends, Cyclone thought.
“I brought back the Mudwing,” the Sandwing from earlier said. A large Mudwing entered the room. They had dark brown under scales, with a mahogany color on the top scales. “The four dragons that went out are Sludge, the Icewing, Sloth, the Rainwing, Cometchaser, the Nightwing, and the Mudwing I just brought in, Sola.”
Cyclone looked at the Sandwing like she was crazy. “But I thought his name was Stargazer,” he said as he gestured to the Nightwing.
The Sandwing looked at Stargazer then back to Cyclone. “Yeah that’s Stargazer.”
“Then who’s Cometchaser?” Cyclone said.
“She’s right here,” Sludge said.
He patted a shadow in the back of the room. When he focused his vision, Cyclone was surprised to see that there was another Nightwing in the room. He hadn’t even seen her from the entrance.
“Step out of the shadows,” Cyclone said.
He could see a figure move and step out of the darkness covering her. She had black scales, but with a hint of purple flowing through them. She had a distinct jawline, and the top of her wings were a dark purple. After a while, he noticed she had lighter scales dotting her snout. They looked like the spots that some scavengers had on their faces, but he thought they looked pretty.
“You can sit, just somewhere I can see you,” Cyclone said. She sat next to the Silkwing, who Cyclone still did not know the name of.
“Out of the six of you, there are four that I have questions for,” Cyclone said. “Sludge, Cometchaser, Sola, and Sloth, I want to know where you all were when you found out that Trench was dead.”
The room went from being upbeat and friendly to serious and melancholy. “The four of us went hunting, we came back after splitting up and came here to get some sleep,” Cometchaser responded.
“We were just getting out of our healing class when we heard a huge amount of shouts coming from the entrance,” Sludge said. “When we went to investigate, we found out that Trench was dead.”
“Why did you all split up?” Cyclone said.
“It was my idea,” Sola said. “We agreed that hunting together would be too loud and we wouldn’t catch anything.”
“Did anyone seem overly suspicious when you split up?” Cyclone said.
Everyone shook their heads. Cyclone couldn’t see anyone who acted guilty.
Cyclone stayed silent for a few moments, wondering what else to question. He had no doubt that one of them was the killer. What he was doubting was whether it was a group effort or a solo act.
“What were your relationships with Trench? I want to hear all your opinions,” Cyclone said.
“I’ll start,” Sloth said. “He wasn’t the nicest dragon…well he wasn’t really nice at all. He was always talking to other dragons about how he was more important than everyone else. I didn’t really like him, but I don’t really think that he deserved what happened to him.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sludge said. “He was the worst dragon you could ever meet. When you talked to him, he looked disgusted. When you walked by him, he glared at you. When he wasn’t the center of attention, he made himself the center of attention. He took things from other dragons and when they tried to get it back, he would send his goons that he kept with him at all times after them. I got a scar on my leg because he stole one of my scrolls. He deserved what he got.”
“I never knew him,” Sola said. “I saw him a few times but I think I was big enough for him to not mess with me.”
Cyclone looked to Cometchaser. “What about you?”
“He wasn’t good,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean he needed to die. There’s always good in everyone, it just takes a lot of time for them to come out sometimes. I didn’t like him, but taking his life wasn’t the answer.”
“Then why did you kill him?” Cyclone said.
The dragons looked bewildered. Sludge was the first to react. “HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE MY FRIEND OF MURDERING HIM!”
“And how do I know that you didn’t help her?” Cyclone responded.
“Sludge, please remain calm,” Cometchaser said.
“No, I’m tired of these kinds of dragons pushing us around with no reason,” Sludge said.
“Just calm down okay?” The Sandwing said.
“I didn’t kill him!” Sludge exclaimed. “But if you EVER come near my friends again, I might think again for you.”
Cyclone got up without taking his eyes off of Sludge. Without blinking, he said, “Ask her what her name is.”
“What?” Sludge said, still pent up with anger.
“Ask Cometchaser what her name is,” Cyclone said.
“Why?” Sludge said, now a little confused.
Cyclone finally took his eyes off Sludge and moved toward Cometchaser. “When you all split up, she went after Trench. They had a little fight, but she made sure that he died. You all came back, without a single bit of knowledge as to what she had done.
“How do I know it was her? Six months ago, a Rainwing by the name of Toucan died to a Mudwing, two Seawings, and a Nightwing. The Nightwing went missing after Toucan’s death. Then a Seawing is killed…and his death is remarkably similar to how the Rainwing had died.”
He gestured to the Nightwing’s wrist. “And one of the items belonging to Toucan happens to be on your wrist.”
She looked at the charm with realization on her face. Cyclone bent down so he was face to face with the Nightwing. He said, “So I ask again, why did you kill him Cometchaser? Or should I say call you Constellation?”
She looked into Cyclone’s eyes, and he could see tears forming. She looked away and said, “He told me if I didn’t that my friends would die.”
All the other dragons in the room stared at her in awe. Even Sludge, who had been defending his friend mere moments before, looked like he had been backstabbed. The Sandwing was covering her face, and Cyclone could hear her muttering, “By the moons.”
“Who’s ‘he’?” the Silkwing asked.
“If I tell you then he’ll kill you,” Constellation said.
“Could you all give us a moment?” Cyclone said. After a while, all the dragons got up and exited the room. None of them looked angry or vengeful. They all looked betrayed. He sat to her left, facing the exit.
When they were all gone, Constellation spoke first. “I’m sorry about Toucan. That’s the one contract I wish I hadn’t taken.”
Cyclone didn’t even care to ask who made the contract. Instead he said, “Why did you then?”
Constellation looked at the charm she wore around her wrist. “My brother got robbed by some dragons, and I rushed him to the Healer’s Pavilion. It was the closest place I could find. The healer tried to keep him alive but it was too late and he…”
She stayed silent for a while before saying, “I couldn’t think straight, and I just wanted to do anything that could make myself feel better. I blamed the healer for his death. The healer was Toucan. When a dragon came to me and told me that they were looking to kill Toucan, I accepted and didn’t want payment. I took the only thing off her that she really loved, and I felt proud that my brother had been avenged.
“It wasn’t until a month later that I realized what I had done. Not a day goes by that I don’t regret killing her, an innocent looking for no trouble. I kept this to remind myself of the burden that I carry.”
They both stayed silent. She finished with, “You have every right to kill me, but leave my friends out of this. I don’t want more innocent blood on my talons.”
Cyclone couldn’t believe how much silence they had already shared. They just couldn’t think of what to say to each other. “I’m not going to kill you.”
This time, there was no silence. “What?” Constellation said. She looked up and Cyclone saw her tear-soaked face. “But, I just confessed that I killed Toucan.”
“And you confessed that you felt bad for it,” Cyclone said. “So either you’re actually serious, or you’re a really good actor.”
She chuckled, and then said, “I don’t know how you can forgive me when I can’t even forgive myself.”
Cyclone smiled and said, “The best you can do is try.”
The two sat in more silence. Cyclone watched her to see what she would say next. She seemed to be fixed on the ground. She grabbed his talons and said, “Thank you.” Her talons were warm, even though the room they were in was relatively cold.
She looked up into Cyclone’s eyes. He noticed her green eyes were flecked with tiny purple spots. He thought it looked pretty. “I mean it,” she said.
Cyclone was going to respond when he noticed something in the hall just above Constellation’s head. It was a very small movement, but he was pretty sure that he had seen a distortion of the hallway. He also heard a quiet hiss from the same direction.
“Down,” Cyclone said.
“What?” Constellation said.
“Get down!” he said as a stream of black liquid came soaring at the two dragons. He had managed to pull down Constellation’s head with his before it hit either of them, and it flew to the far end of the room.
Cyclone quickly got up and ran to the entrance. The dragon was running through the hall, pushing students out of the way. Cyclone was about to give chase when he heard Constellation groaning from inside the room.
He ran back to find her clutching her tail. “My tail flew up when you pulled me down and got hit,” she said. Cyclone could see that her tail was dissolving away, but at a slow rate.
“There’s a wounded student in the Silver Winglet room!” Cyclone yelled. Not long after, the Silver Winglet dragonets and the Sandwing greeter came to the room. The Sandwing went screaming for help while the others came in.
“What happened?” Sludge said.
“A Rainwing attacked her,” Cyclone responded.
“You have to go after them,” Constellation said. She took off the charm and held it out to Cyclone. “In case we don’t see each other again,” she said.
Cyclone almost took it, but instead said, “You need it more than I do.”
He ran out of the room, going in the direction of the Rainwing. When he entered the main hall, he shouted, “Where did the Rainwing go?!”
An Icewing pointed out the exit and Cyclone flew out. After looking around, he saw a green figure flying east. He flew after it as fast as he could, quickly gaining on the dragon.
The Rainwing had enough of a head start to make it above the rainforest before Cyclone could catch it. It dove into the rainforest, and Cyclone quickly followed. It weaved through the trees with ease, and Cyclone realized that this was where he would lose it. His wings were too big and he didn’t have enough maneuverability to go around the trees fast enough. Soon he lost the dragon.
He continued flying in the direction it had gone, as it didn’t seem to notice him and would have gone in a straight line to its destination. After maneuvering through the jungle for a while, he reached the destination.
He gasped when he realized that it was the Queen’s treehouse.
== Chapter 7 ==
Why did they come to the queen’s treehouse? Cyclone wondered. He stayed in the same spot just hovering for a while, before deciding to eavesdrop before taking action.
He landed as silently as he could at the back of the treehouse, knowing that guards would be stationed at the entrance. He placed his ear against the wall, concentrating as hard as he could to listen.
“...unsuccessful your majesty,” A male said.
“What happened?” a female said. Cyclone thought that he recognized her voice, but he didn’t know where from. But her voice was commanding and was full of authority which made him think that she was the queen.
“I arrived at the school, making sure that no one noticed my entrance,” The male said. “I made my way through the halls to the room, where I found the target. They were with another dragon, but I knew that I had a clear shot. I don’t know how, but they both dodged out of the way before I could kill the target. I made sure to get out of there as soon as possible.”
“Were you followed?” the queen asked.
Silence, then the male said, “I don’t believe I was.”
Cyclone didn’t hear any more, because he flew to the other side of the treehouse to enter. The guard noticed him and ordered him to halt. “State your business,” she said.
“I have to talk to the queen,” he said.
“About what exactly?” the guard said.
“It’s a message,” Cyclone said. “It’s very urgent.”
“What are the contents of the message?” the guard asked.
“I was ordered that the queen is the only one to know,” Cyclone responded.
The guard took a moment to think before she eventually let Cyclone in. When he entered, there was only one dragon. She had a crown of flowers on her head, and a gold necklace around her neck. She was deep blue, with jade green flowing along her body and light red wings. She was standing behind a desk with scrolls laying on it.
“Hello, who are you?” she said.
“I request a meeting with you if that’s okay,” Cyclone said. He couldn’t see anything distorted in the room. He hoped that the male hadn’t found a way out yet.
“Um…yes of course,” she said. Her eyes flicked to the right for a split second, she had looked at the wall just to the left of Cyclone.
Cyclone shot his talons out and grabbed something, which reappeared and was revealed to be the neck of a struggling Rainwing. The queen closed her eyes tightly with defeat. “Who is this dragon?” Cyclone said. “And why was he hidden?”
“He’s one of my guards who makes sure that nothing bad happens to me while I meet with other dragons,” the queen answered.
“Then why was he at Jade Mountain?” Cyclone questioned.
The queen sighed and looked to the male in Cyclone’s talons. He was a light green, with splashes of blue, purple, white, and pink all over his body. Cyclone could see the fear and courage in his eyes. A strange combo, Cyclone thought.
“He’s an assassin I hired to kill someone,” she said.
“Who?” Cyclone said.
“A Nightwing who goes by the name of Constellation. She’s a student at Jade-” the queen started.
“You’re hunting Constellation?” Cyclone said.
“You know her?” the queen said. She looked confused.
“He was the dragon in the room with the target, your majesty,” the assassin said.
The queen stared at Cyclone with confusion in her eyes. “What business were you doing with her?”
“Why do you want her dead?” Cyclone responded.
“I will not be answering that question until you tell me what business you were doing with Constellation,” the queen said.
“I believe I’m the one who has more leverage against you,” Cyclone said, gesturing to the assassin. “So if I let him go, will you tell me why you want her dead?”
The queen had no hesitation in her answer. “Yes,” she said.
Cyclone shoved the assassin in the queen’s direction. “There,” he said.
“I thought we agreed you’d let him go,” the queen said.
“We did,” Cyclone said. “And I let him go enough that he can now move freely around the room. So, why do you want Constellation dead?”
The queen sighed and glanced at her assassin. “She had a hand in killing my sist-” she started. But before she could finish, she widened her eyes and stared at Cyclone.
“What?” Cyclone responded.
“You were her boyfriend,” the queen answered.
Cyclone also stared at the queen in disbelief. “Your sister was Toucan?”
“Wait,” the assassin said. “The Princess Toucan?”
Cyclone flicked his gaze between the two Rainwings. “Toucan was a princess?!” he exclaimed in shock. “Wait how do you know that I was her boyfriend?”
“She brought you back from the desert, and you were unconscious for a few days. Our parents fought with her almost every day about getting you out of the Healer’s Pavilion,” she said. “When you woke up, she spent more time than usual there, and that’s saying something because she wanted to be-”
“-a healer for the tribe.” Cyclone and the queen said at the same time. The queen smiled.
The queen took a moment of silence before finishing with, “One day she told us that she wanted to go and live with you. Our parents were furious, and it took every negotiation class I’d ever taken to convince them not to send every soldier they had after you.
“One day the messenger I used to communicate with her came back and told me that she was dead. I cried for weeks after that. Eventually I learned the names of the killers, but when I sent an assassin after the killers, they came back and said that they were already dead.”
“Yeah that was me,” Cyclone said. The assassin shivered, and from what Cyclone guessed, he was the assassin that had seen the horrific scenes of carnage Cyclone had left behind.
“I was with her when she died,” he said, trying to change the subject to a less gruesome one. “I couldn’t keep myself together while it happened.”
Tears formed in the queen’s eyes. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Cyclone soared above the treetops. Toucan had been gone for a few hours longer than she said she would be. He had asked around Possibility, and no one had seen her. Even the clerks she visited every time she came hadn’t seen her. He couldn’t help but feel worried about her, wondering where she was and why no one had seen her.
Something pale caught his eye, and as he soared to the ground his heart skipped a beat. On the ground lay a pale lavender dragon. He rushed to Toucan’s side, and noticed that she had multiple scratches along her body and a knife embedded into her side. She opened her eyes lazily and noticed him starting to cry over her.
“Hey Cyclone,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Wh…what happened?” he said through his sobs.
“I got robbed by some dragons,” she said. “Guess it was the wrong day to go to Possibility.”
“We can get help,” Cyclone said. “I’ll go get help, you're going to be fine.”
“By the time you get back I’ll be gone,” Toucan said. What hurt Cyclone the most was how she didn’t sound scared of going.
Cyclone leaned into her, not knowing what else to do. After a moment she said, “I was getting a quilt for us. It had the earring, the charm, the necklace, the Chameleon Lily. It showed us in the middle. It was going to be a cheesy way of asking you to marry me.” She chuckled at the last sentence.
“I would’ve said yes,” Cyclone said through the most tears he’d ever produced. She placed her wing over his head, letting him sob into her side. She squeezed his talon with hers. Before long, her talon fell away, and her body sank lower to the ground.
“I cried into her body through the night until the sun rose,” Cyclone finished the story. “I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
“From what I hear, you sent her off as best as you could,” the queen responded. She was trying to resist a sob, and the assassin had tears in his eyes as well.
“After six months I finally found out who her killers were from her brother and went after them,” Cyclone said.
“Her brother?” the queen said. “You mean Panther?”
“I guess that makes him a prince doesn’t it?” Cyclone said.
“Why would he tell you who her killers were?” she said. “He never liked her.”
Cyclone looked at her with confusion. “But he told me that her death broke him.”
“Well he was lying then,” the queen said. Before they could say another thing, Cyclone felt something tap his back leg. It was a pink sphere, with shades of brown and green spotting it. It was a dragonflame cactus.
“GET DOWN!” Cyclone said. He jumped over her desk and pushed it to form a wall between the cactus and the dragons. Almost immediately afterward, the cactus went off and sent the desk flying back. Cyclone recovered quickly, first making sure the other two were okay. The assassin was injured yet conscious but the queen had been knocked out from the impact. “Take care of her while I deal with our wannabe hitman,” Cyclone told him.
Cyclone ran out the opening, passing the guards who were rushing in to help. As he exited the treehouse, something immediately hit him in the back of the head and he was sent flying down to the ground of the rainforest. He managed to spread his wings before hitting the forest floor.
“You’re a fool.” a voice said. “All you had to do was kill the dragons I told you to kill, and you’d be able to live your life without me ruining it.”
“So you told the dragons to kill Toucan?” Cyclone said. Something scratched his neck, and he responded by biting the air Panther used to be in. Being on the forest floor was dark as it was, and with Panther camouflaging Cyclone was basically fighting air.
“You’re more clever than you look,” Panther said.
“Why?” Cyclone said.
“Because with both of my sisters alive, I have no chance of becoming king,” Panther responded. “I merely came up with a plan to send assassins after one of my sisters, then kill the evidence. After that, killing my other sister would be easy. That is, until you entered the picture.”
A black stream narrowly missed Cyclone’s head, but Panther didn’t miss his swings. Cyclone and Panther wrestled, exchanging cuts and bites. One of Cyclone’s swings hit Panther’s snout, which made him change his scales in pain. He quickly switched back and dodged Cyclone’s pounce.
“But why didn’t you just challenge the queen? You didn’t have to kill either of your sisters!” Cyclone exclaimed.
“You really think that the Rainwings would let me challenge Amazon?” Panther said. “There may be a new era of thinking after everything that’s happened on this continent but we’re still too early to have kings rule the tribes just yet. Besides, my sister has always been better than me at almost anything. The only thing I have over her is the will to get what I want through any means necessary.”
Something snapped behind Cyclone and he immediately dodged to the left. It didn’t matter though, because Panther then chomped down on Cyclone’s right wing tip. Cyclone jabbed out his right arm and connected with Panther’s face. Before Cyclone could make another move, Panther disappeared once again.
“Were you the one that gave Constellation the hit on Trench?” Cyclone said.
“Aaaah, so you figured it out,” Panther said. “Yes, I told her to kill Trench. She went into hiding, and just like you wanted to stop killing. I couldn’t give you information about her without reason so I merely gave her a contract. It worked splendidly.”
“You’re sick,” Cyclone said.
“Aren’t we all?” Panther said. He pounced at Cyclone’s left side. Cyclone let his momentum take him and Panther stumbled away, as he had been expecting Cyclone to try to resist the pounce. Cyclone then pounced on Panther.
The Rainwing fell to the ground with Cyclone standing over him. He looked scared and exclaimed, “Wait don’t hurt me!”
Cyclone glared down at the dragon, and whispered, “I’ve already told you that I’m done killing.”
Black liquid hit Panther’s face. Cyclone hopped off his body and said, “But that doesn’t mean I’ll let you live.” The Rainwing screamed in pain. The assassin responded with another venom shot.
“Help me!” he screamed in desperation. But Cyclone and the assassin did nothing to help the dragon. Soon the dragon stopped screaming and his body went limp.
The assassin spat on his body and said, “You deserve worse.” He turned to Cyclone and said, “Thank you for saving our queen. How can we repay you?”
== Epilogue ==
=== Six Months Later ===
Cyclone gazed at the beautiful statue Queen Amazon had ordered to be sculpted. It was a bronze statue of a Rainwing holding a flower in her talon. It sat just outside of the Healer’s Pavilion. A stone etched with writing sat at the base of the statue which read, “Dedicated to Princess Toucan”.
“Now everyone will know about her,” the queen said. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to do this myself.”
“You can tell others it was your idea as long as the second payment happens,” Cyclone said.
Queen Amazon nodded and gave Cyclone a scroll. He unraveled it to make sure it was what he wanted. After reading the entire document, he rolled it back up and slipped it beside the knife in the holster he had recently bought. The holster itself was covered by his upper front left leg, and it was upside down for easy access to the knife it contained. “She better not try anymore funny business, or I’ll send Balsam again,” she said.
“I’ll make sure of it your majesty,” Cyclone said.
“Just Queen Amazon if you please,” the queen said.
“Of course,” Cyclone said.
Amazon looked back to the statue. Cyclone turned to leave, but thought better of it and said, “Don’t get too caught up in the past or you might miss what’s happening now. Take care.”
“Thank you again,” Amazon said. “I mean it.”
Cyclone could tell that there were a lot of dragons looking at him while he flew off. He hoped that none of them were assassins waiting to strike. He was getting tired of all of it. Someday, he thought to himself. Someday you’ll fly away from a conversation without worrying about murderers around every corner.
The meeting place had already been set. He wanted to get there before Constellation to keep her from waiting. He just had to get to Agate Mountain and it would be one less thing to worry about.
After hours of flying he made it. But, just as he thought, Constellation was already there.
“I thought I told you to get here by sunset,” Cyclone said.
“Well I couldn’t just wait for you to get here before me,” Constellation said. “You should have learned by now that that’s not how I work.”
Cyclone had begun meeting with Constellation soon after Panther had died. They became friends after a while, even hunting together when Cyclone had time. “How’s your tail?” he asked.
Constellation looked at the end of her tail. The healers at Jade Mountain had to cut the end of her tail to keep the venom from spreading. It still wasn’t fully healed, but the skin was starting to grow over the cut. “It’s still tender but I can at least walk around without worrying about it hitting anything,” she said.
“Oh! I almost forgot,” Cyclone said. He took out the scroll he had received from Amazon. “This is for you.”
Constellation took the scroll and read its contents out loud, “The crown of the Rainforest Kingdom has declared that Constellation the Nightwing is hereby…” she started, but after reading on went speechless. After a moment she finished, “Is hereby pardoned for the death of Princess Toucan.”
Her face showed shock and disbelief, she raised her head to look at Cyclone and said, “Is this real?”
“The queen herself gave it to me,” he responded. Constellation let out a shocked laugh. She watched the scroll intently, her eyes scanning the words written on it.
“Did you do this?” she said.
“I made sure of it,” Cyclone said. “It was considered as a thank you for killing the murderer known as Prince Panther.”
She continued to watch the scroll. Suddenly, she rushed over to Cyclone and wrapped her wings around him. “Thank you,” she said.
Cyclone didn’t know what to do. Should I hug her back? Cyclone wondered. He placed his arm around her neck, thinking it was as good of a hug as he was going to give.
Just as quick as it had started, Constellation let go of the hybrid and backed up, her face showing embarrassment. “Sorry about that,” she said quickly.
Cyclone laughed it off. “So you’re done? Not gonna give me another crushing embrace?”
“Shut up,” Constellation said with a chuckle.
“Do you wanna go hunting?” Cyclone said.
“Now?” Constellation said.
“Yeah sure, if you’re free,” Cyclone responded.
“Okay,” Constellation said. “Yeah, let’s do it.”
She dove off of the mountain. Cyclone looked at the setting sun, and thought, I’ll always remember you my love. Then he followed Constellation down the mountain.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
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