Wings of Fire: The Looking Glass

"Wings of Fire: The Looking Glass" is a story written by SharkbyteZ. This page should only be edited by them or Moderators. If there are any spelling, grammar, punctuation, or categorical errors that were missed, please leave a message on Pluto's wall or leave a comment on this page.
Technically this is only the prologue of a much larger story that is being planned, but so far this is all that has been written. I don't plan on finishing it any time soon as I have plenty of other projects to get through first. I just wanted to post the prologue for feedback and to see if people like it. Some of the categories will make sense later on. 
Oracle belongs to SharkbyteZ. Mastermind and Strongwings belong to Tui T. Sutherland. Any original characters that belong to others will be credited properly as they appear.
Enjoy!
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Dark frothy waves crashed against the black shoreline. The sky was filled with perpetually rolling clouds, brimming with sulfurous rainwater that dared not to fall onto the charred rocky landscape below. Lava broiled as it cascaded in streams from the towering volcano that sat at the center of the island, radiating ominously as it exhaled plumes of smoke from its crater.
One could feel the oppressive heat from the volcano for miles, emanating with danger and warning rather than comforting warmth, as well as a pulsing heat radiating from within the earth itself. Despite this, the winds that swept across the island filled the air with a startling chill.
Lying on the edge of the jagged shore was a dragon barely lighter than the rocks that surrounded her. As the water approached and receded it licked against her muted indigo scales. Finally the cold water roused her from sleep. She wearily blinked as she awoke, coughing at the unfamiliar ashy air that filled her lungs. It was so dry. 
Where… am I?
As her silver eyes adjusted to the environment she scanned her immediate surroundings. It was pretty barren, but she could see the very top of a volcano just above the dune. 
There was a glint of metal in the black sand near her talons. She crouched to inspect the object, lifting it and blowing away the lingering sand. It was a long, hollow metal tube about the length of her arm, and had a mouthpiece on one end. It had no notable features except for a name that was etched in the middle: Oracle. 
“This is… mine.” Oracle croaked, her voice hoarse from the ash and smoke. “But, this place isn’t…?” 
Why did I fall asleep on a beach? Where is everyone? She frowned, unable to recall any memories. Why can’t I remember?
The metal rod was placed over her shoulder to rest against her wing, which was rather light. She felt a greater weight around her waist; a belt. It had loops for numerous tools, but only half of the spaces were filled with their respective tools. Oracle could remember some of them; a pair of crimps; various pairs of small tweezers with different ends; and a wooden tool that looked like a spoon, but with a much thicker bowl that was charred on the inside. What intrigued her the most, however, was a leather pouch with something round. 
Worry about this stuff later, I need to figure out where I am. 
Turning her attention back to what awaited beyond the edge of the beach, Oracle rose to her feet and began to make her way up the dune. Her legs wobbled under her weight, still not fully adjusted to waking up in such a disorienting situation, but she managed to drag herself over the top and onto the solid earth.
The ground beyond the beach was nothing but charred black rock. The landscape was shattered as if a giant dragon had dug their claws deep through the earth, ripping up what could have been smooth hills and valleys into crags, ravines, and sharp-jutting peaks. There were thermal vents that dotted the ground closer to the volcano, filling the air with even more smoke. 
Far off from the right of the volcano seemed to be the remains of a forest. The trees were charred empty husks of what must have once been a lush and vibrant forest. Oracle’s heart sunk at the sight.
The longer Oracle observed her surroundings, she realized that many of the black rocks were… moving. They were dragons. Dragons with dark scales and starry wings just like her. NightWings.
Is this my home? The Night Kingdom… Yes, it has to be.
With a heavy flap of her wings, Oracle lifted herself into the air. There was a structure sticking halfway out of the volcano, tall spires and thick bridges between platforms with NightWings crawling and flying all around the structure. It looked like some sort of nightmarish fortress.   
No dragon paid any mind to her as she landed on one of the higher platforms that led into a tall spire, the path leading downward in a spiral. The only source of light came from crude notches clawed far enough into the wall for torches to be hung out of the way, casting jagged shadows on the dark stone walls. Oracle followed the path until it ended at an open chamber that split into three more paths that led down similar-looking hallways. 
Her wings drooped as she paused. None of this is familiar… How am I supposed to navigate a place I don’t even recognize? Would it be weird if I asked someone for directions? Oracle’s eyes flicked between the three pathways, weighing her options. A low metallic scraping snapped her out of her thoughts.
On the left path, a slightly older-looking NightWing slowly shuffled down the tunnel, dragging what looked to be a heavy bundle of metal scrap behind him on a sled. His figure was thin and bony as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks, and the skin under his eyes sagged with exhaustion despite how lively his eyes looked. He huffed as he reached the chamber, eyeing the stranger with a curious gaze. 
“Erm, hello there! You look a lot stronger than I am. Could you help me bring these supplies down to my laboratory?” 
Oracle tilted her head, I might as well… Perhaps he can help me. Stepping forward, she reached to take the rope. The new dragon seemed to be studying her, tapping his snout as he muttered to himself while his blood-shot green eyes scanned over her scales. He finally took notice that she was staring at him.
“Oh! My apologies, I was just curious… I’ve never seen a NightWing that lives on the island nearly as healthy as you. Do you work on the Mainland? No, that couldn’t be the case, or else I’d recognize you. Queen Battlewinner is very picky with who is allowed on the Mainland, and I’m sure if you were coming back from the Mainland then you wouldn’t be on this side of the fortress.”
There was an odd quirk to the way he talked. He waved and pointed his talons to accentuate just about every sentence as he spoke. Upon seeing Oracle hadn’t moved, he cleared his throat.
“Well, we haven’t got all day! The queen’s orders are very important.”
She began dragging the sled considerably easier than the scrawny blue dragon. “The queen…” she thought to herself out loud, “Battlewinner. That’s our queen?”
“Of course!” he said with a gasp, “Did you hit your head on something? I’m not exactly a medic, but I think I would know when someone has suffered serious head trauma. Forgetting something as important as the queen, three moons! Look at me— how many claws am I holding up?”
Oracle hesitated, wondering if she could explain her situation. “Listen… I don’t exactly know if this makes sense, but I don’t really know where I am right now, or where I came from. I— I don’t know what this place is. I don’t know who you are, or who Battlewinner is… I don’t even really know who I am.” 
She began down the tunnel, folding her wings close behind her with a shudder.
“Ah, memory loss. I’ve seen it quite a few times before,” he hummed, his tone softening as he caught up. “Alright. First off, apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Mastermind, I’m the lead scientist here on the island. And of course this island is the Night Kingdom! Although… you don’t seem to be from around here. What do you remember about yourself?”
“Well, I know my name is Oracle, it says so on this thing right here.” Oracle rolled the metal tube down from her shoulder and held it up to show Mastermind, who studied it with intrigue. “I know these tools are mine,” she waved her free talon to her belt, “but I don’t know exactly what they’re for. I also know that I’m a NightWing, but this place doesn’t feel like my kingdom. I can’t remember what the kingdom is supposed to look like, but this place just doesn’t feel right.” 
Clicking his tongue, Mastermind handed back the metal tube and continued walking ahead, flicking his tail to signal for Oracle to follow. 
“Perhaps you’re remembering false memories, ones that your brain made up in an attempt to fill in the gaps that you lost. This is the only Night Kingdom there is, and Queen Battlewinner has ruled our kingdom for many years now. If I had to make a guess about you, Oracle, I believe you may have been a glassworker of some sort. Perhaps you still retain some of your skills from the trade.”
“Glassworker?” she echoed with curiosity.
They took a turn that branched into another wide chamber with a split path. Mastermind instantly turned to the left and continued walking, with Oracle keeping close to him.
“We don’t have many glassworkers on the island,” he started, “despite the volcano providing a wonderful source of heat for such a profession. It’s fallen out of practice as the necessity for glass has faltered quite a bit, especially anything not required for tools, lab equipment or other containers, or accessories such as glasses.” Mastermind sighed, “Such things happen in a time of war.”
Another sharp turn, Oracle had to manually tilt and maneuver the sled to make it around the corner without getting caught against the jagged walls. The pathway straightened out and continued upwards until Mastermind paused at a set of tall, heavy doors.
“Here we are!” he said in a jovial tone, pushing the doors open to reveal a crowded chamber with metal pipes twisting across the walls, some hissing with steam or rattling with uncertainty. Oracle brought the sled forward to the edge of the doors, pausing upon the realization that the floor dropped down for another level or two. Despite its crowdedness along the walls, there seemed to be enough air space for multiple dragons to fly around with ease. 
Oracle’s eyes widened at the sight. She marveled at the countless shelves lined with different tools, samples in jars, and surprisingly well-organized sets of lab gear. It all gave off a feeling of organized chaos that almost made her head spin.
Mastermind dipped his head. “Thanks for the help, Oracle.”
“Oh, you’re welcome.” She responded absently, her thoughts quickly starting to circle with ‘what nows?’ as she curled her tail around her talons. The scientist seemed to pick up on it pretty quickly as he moved the sled to sit on the opposite side of the doors. 
“If you’re uncertain of what to do, perhaps you could help me some more here? My talons are pretty full at the moment, and my only lab assistant Strongwings is off doing who-knows-what. I would really appreciate it.”
Oracle tilted her head, stepping over the sled to pick up a heavy piece of curved metal from the pile.
“I wouldn’t mind.”
~~~
A few weeks later
Oracle’s workshop had quickly become her home. 
Adjusting to life on the island was a bit difficult, despite her not remembering what life used to be like before she woke up on the beach. She could have sworn she was supposed to eat more than once a week, and she certainly never remembered leaving her prey to rot for days before eating it. 
As the weeks passed, she noticed that her once thick and muscular body had begun to shrink. She watched the bones of her talons and wrists become more visible beneath her scales, and she could see the ribs along her sides when she stared into reflections. It was a worrying sight to her, but then again, that’s what everyone else on the island looked like.
Most NightWings were a lot more hostile and sneery than she thought of her kingdom. Mastermind seemed the most pleasant of all of them, but she quickly learned that even he could get saltier than the waters that surrounded the island. His temper would snap in an instant if anyone messed with his things, and he was so meticulous about where everything had to be in his lab that he would always know if someone had moved something, even if by accident.
He also had a bit of a know-it-all personality. Every time Oracle got something wrong Mastermind would turn it into a lecture that seriously got under her scales, even if he didn’t intend for it to. 
Strongwings, the scientist’s assistant, was a strange character as well. He was slow and clumsy, shuffling about the laboratory without any real purpose unless he was told exactly what to do. His massive wings would get caught on low-hanging shelves or lamps, and his demeanor was about as dull as his navy-tinted scales.
But, unlike just about every other dragon on the island, he actually had a sense of humor. 
Oracle felt like she knew Strongwings from somewhere, or at least a dragon like him. It was hard to describe. She had never met Strongwings before, of course, or maybe she had before she lost her memory? But he didn’t recognize her at all. The conversations they had reminded her of memories that were so familiar but so fuzzy she couldn’t see them, yet she could just barely envision what they were about. It was like she had constant déjà vu.
Despite everything, Strongwings was like a little brother to her. 
Oracle had slowly migrated from working alongside Mastermind while she set up her own place in a vacant cave not too far from the lab. She finally had everything she needed to start working. Part of her would miss the work in the lab, but she was much happier to have a space of her own where she could control where everything was. 
Some of her first glassworks were pretty high quality. She had made some beakers and test tubes for Mastermind to show her appreciation for his help, and also to replace a few that she and Strongwings had accidentally broken one day while they were working. Some of her other projects had ended in failure, which she had to discard. 
Snapping back to the present, she hung her belt on a small metal hook on the wall, picking out all of her tools to lay them out on the nearby wooden table. When she turned back to the now empty belt, she remembered that there was an extra pouch strung to it, the one holding that mysterious object she had never bothered to check. 
Her gaze flicked back to the rest of the workshop and she shrugged. “I don’t need to work right now, a break would do me some good.” 
Taking the pouch, Oracle carefully untied the string with her claws, hooking underneath the knot to gently undo it. She tilted the pouch so that its contents landed in her palm, and what fell out was simply a marble.
Huh?
Oracle peered into the pouch, but that was all there was, a perfectly circular glass marble, a bit larger than her eye, with a simple design covering the top half. It was pure black with wisps of color swirling in aimless directions. Oracle was curious as to why she carried something so ordinary, but as she rolled it over to inspect the other side… 
She froze.
The glass on the other side was perfectly clear. It was a window to peer into the otherworldly sight contained within. The faint curls of color on the back twisted outwards to form wispy swirls of blue and green that wrapped around the sides of the marble in a loose spiral, reminding Oracle of a strange phenomena she once saw somewhere cold. The black void sparkled with the tiniest of stars that glittered with each shift of the glass.
In the very center of the marble was a tiny orb that glittered with different colors as she turned the marble, shifting from red, to green, to blue. An opal, perhaps?
There was a strange tingling sensation that ran through Oracle’s talons as she held the marble. It was something she was familiar with, but could not remember where it came from. It chilled her talons where the marble made contact with her scales.
“Where did this come from…?” Oracle muttered to herself, bringing the marble to her eye to get a better look at the illusion. Only, the moment she fell quiet, the swirls inside the marble began to shift. 
The opal within the marble began to turn, drawing in the misty swirls around it until the marble became light and clouded. Oracle froze, fearing she had caused something to happen that ruined the marble. But, that couldn’t be possible, it was solid glass!
After a few moments, the swirling gray and white receded to reveal the same marble as before, but the opal was still spinning. Oracle curiously tilted the marble, wondering what in the three moons just happened, before thick mist began pouring from the glass. It swirled between her talons, clouding her vision faster than she could even blink.
One moment, she was standing in a cave deep within a volcanic island, the next moment, she was in a circular stone room with a massive skylight carved in the roof. The light of the moons and stars poured in, filling the room with a pure, soft light that was bright enough to negate the need for any torches or lanterns.
Oracle slowly turned in a circle, mesmerized by her new surroundings. She didn’t even realize that there was a dragon working on the opposite side of the room from her. Hearing the fwoosh of flames, she turned, slowly moving to approach the unknown dragon. 
“Uh… Hello?” she said weakly, still disoriented by her world being literally flipped. 
The dragon, who Oracle now realized had the exact same colors as her, but less than half her size, was carefully working on something on a metal work table.
Oracle tried to tap lightly on her shoulder, only for her talons to pass completely through the younger NightWing’s body as well as the table’s edge. She quickly stood back, quietly observing the dragon’s work. She was carefully holding a glowing red marble with a pair of round-ended tools. Oracle could faintly see the same swirling patterns as the ones in the marble she held, radiating with heat. 
“Man…” the smaller dragon muttered, “Oblivion’s gonna love this! It’s gotta be the best one yet!” 
Oblivion… The name rang in Oracle’s mind. It was definitely someone close to her, but who?
The younger Oracle lifted the marble up to look at it, beaming with a smile. 
This is a memory. She realized, stepping back from her younger self. But where am I? This isn’t the volcano. And the sky… Where are the clouds? The smoke? 
Turning towards the arched doorway, Oracle began to walk towards it to see what the world looked like outside. Just as she reached the door the world began to fill with fog. It swirled around her quickly. No! She tried pushing it away by flapping her wings, but nothing worked. Her vision became clouded, eventually fading to darkness.
When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her workshop. Her eyes scanned every corner of the room, finding nothing had moved or changed.
“Was that… did I just see… the past?”
She looked down at the marble in her talons, which was back to what it once was, motionless. 
Now she remembered that feeling. It was that cold, tingly, otherworldly feeling that only came from one special kind of object. Something that was animus enchanted. 
And if what she just saw was because of this enchanted marble, then…
“This is the key to my memories.”
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The world of Pyrrhia is a simple one; dragons rule the world in their established kingdoms, each kingdom keeps mostly to themselves, and dragons’ lives are widely unaffected by magic, save for the few animi that show up here and there. Sometimes they waged wars, sometimes they banded together to fight a greater evil, and in the end everyone resumed their lives more or less the same.
Little do these dragons know that there is a flipside to their world, an inverse, an other half. 
One dragon is about to find out for himself.
In this toss of the coin,
in this turn of the hourglass,
will the sand fall and be lost among the vast unknown,
or will he rise above the darkness and chase the light back home? 
More flying in soon...
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Genre (Mystery)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Genre (Short Story)
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Content (SharkbyteZ)