The Land Across

The Land Across is L1quid's version of The Flames of Hope. Even though the canon POV is Luna, L1quid decided to go for Wasp to break the formula of Wings of Fire. (L1quid wants Wings of Fire to break it's own formula for once, which this fanfiction does. L1quid also wants the old style of Wings of Fire books back - when there was minimal gore and death described in great detail and actually good books, something that the third arc is severely lacking (except for book 11).)
==Content Note==
This fanfiction will have mature content in it, as L1quidMarbl3's works discuss problems in the real world - such as genetic engineering, resurrection biology, politics, war - and will have gore and blood in it, as The Flames of Hope is the finale of The Lost Continent Prophecy arc and L1quid thought that there will be a war in Wings of Fire book 15 (which the actual novel does not have).
----This fanfiction will contain some gory/gruesome/terrifying/horrifying/depressing fates of beloved Wings of Fire characters (because this story is L1quidMarbl3's definite ending of the series). If you wish to not read about these fates, then do not read this fanfiction. (An example: One of the scenes of this story is Cricket and Luna are killed by Wasp over "treason" (aka disobeying the Hive Queen) (the scene is more graphic in the actual story).)
==Summary==
With talons united...
Luna has always wanted to change the world — to fix it, to free it — even if she’s never actually known how. Now that all of dragon - and humankind are in mortal danger, Luna is flying back home to Pantala with a team of dragons on a rescue mission, determined to be brave and useful.
But saving a continent isn’t as easy as a prophecy makes it sound, and "facing a great evil" definitely requires more than the fiery silk that Luna is uniquely able to create. As she fights her way to the abyss that hides the dark roots poisoning Pantala, Luna must uncover a long-buried secret and unite her friends, her enemies, and her own powers. If she doesn’t, she won’t get to change the world. She’ll have to say goodbye to it — forever.
----Face a great evil with talons united, or none of the tribes will survive....
Most dragons expect that Wasp was a cruel dragon since hatching. But nobody knows her true story.
Wasp was the most promising dragon in her youth to HiveWing society. But the abuse her mother, Cochineal, inflicted on her shaped her wretched nature today.
Now that she has control of Pantala, a somewhat utopia has been conceived and any dissent is seen as a form of treason to Wasp. Thanks to her, peace has finally been achieved across the continent.
Until a group of young dragons arrive unexpectedly. These dragons are attempting the overthrow what Wasp has built, kept, and stabilized for five decades, and this, to Wasp, is a declaration of war.
And when she finds Pyrrhia, the Distant Kingdoms, the Dragon Planet will be transformed forever.
==The Lost Continent Prophecy==
Turn your eyes, your wings, your fire
To the land across the sea
Where dragons are poisoned and dragons are dying
And no one can ever be free.
A secret lurks inside their eggs.
A secret hides within their book.
A secret buried far below
May save those brave enough to look.
Open your hearts, your minds, your wings
To the dragons who flee from the Hive.
Face a great evil with talons united
Or none of the tribes will survive.
----
Across the ocean to the west of continent Pyrrhia, there lies the continent of Pantala.
Ruled by a tyrant who stings like wasps,
dragons live in metaphorical chains and die in metaphorical prisons.
In their children lies a physical poison.
In their religion lies a spiritual poison.
The Abyss and caves below hide something that might save the three species - the SilkWings, HiveWings, and LeafWings.
Listen to the dragons that have escaped the Hives, 
heed their warnings about their society, and listen to the Legend of the Hive.
Put aside your differences and face the Hive queen and her allies,
or the entire planet will be enslaved.
==Epigraph ==
In the darkness before the dawn
In the swirling of this storm
When I'm rolling with the punches and hope is gone
Leave a light, a light on
Millions of miles from home
In the swirling swimming on
When I'm rolling with the thunder but bleed from thorns
Leave a light, a light on
In the darkness before the dawn
Leave a light, a light on
- Midnight (Coldplay)
==Prologue==
Flying across the western ocean of Pyrrhia/the eastern ocean of Pantala was exhausting for the ten dragons and the only human. 
At least, for Luna, they could be the only ones who could destroy an authoritarian like Wasp. 
The eleven had been out here for a few days, and they needed to stop every day and evening on an island in order to rest and feed Wren. 
If anyone needed to know who the eleven were, Luna knew all their names and backgrounds - Bullfrog of the MudWings, Qibli of the SandWings, Sky of the SkyWings, Tsunami of the SeaWings, Pineapple of the RainWings, Lynx of the IceWings, Moonwatcher of the NightWings, Wren of the humans, Cricket of the HiveWings, Sundew of the LeafWings, and, of course, Luna herself of the SilkWings. 
These dragons had been handpicked by the monarchs of Pyrrhia - Moorhen, Thorn, Ruby, Coral, Glory, and Snowfall - to face the "great evil" (read: Wasp) of Pantala and prevent the ten dragon tribes from going into extinction, or something like the Hives. 
Luna shuddered as she fly through the sky over the ocean. It was still daytime. 
If the Hives come to Pyrrhia - no, the Hives will not come to Pyrrhia if we defeat Wasp before she finds it. 
"I think that's an understatement", said Moonwatcher, who was flying next to Luna. "I've seen the future, and it goes twofold." 
"Twofold?" Luna inquired. 
Moonwatcher vaguely resembled Clearsight, the NightWing whom the dragons of Pantala worshipped. 
"On one talon, Wasp is defeated. But then who will fill the vacuum of HiveWing queen?" 
This thought didn't occur to Luna. She hadn't studied political systems, nor power systems in school. In Silkworm Hall, SilkWings were taught obedience to the law, how to spin silk, history, and other subjects. 
"Well", Luna started, but Lynx interrupted her. 
"If we kill this Wasp dragon, whoever is her successor takes the throne. If there were no heirs, then the most logical thing to do would to give it to another royal - maybe her aunt or one of her sisters?" 
Luna wasn't sure what that meant. 
"But if there really weren't any heirs...." Lynx said slowly, then the IceWing's blue eyes widened. 
Silence fell over the group. 
"I know what she means", Moonwatcher said softly. "History will repeat itself, like the War of SandWing Sucession." 
The seven Pyrrhian dragons were in horror, and it seemed like the three Pantalans didn't know anything in recent Pyrrhian history. 
Luna turned her head, and saw that Sundew and Cricket were flying above Luna. (Maybe as a shield?) 
Cricket was the only one immune to Wasp's mind control, which is why she was there. And she picked on the Pyrrhians' silence. 
"The War of SandWing Sucession?" she inquired. "Did something happened recently?" 
Lynx looked up at Cricket. "Yes", she grimaced, "a war and an almost-war. You where lucky not to live through them." 
Cricket was befuddled. "A.... war?" 
"Yes", Qibli, the SandWing, said slowly. "The war that eneded one year ago was about the SandWing throne. You see, three humans like Wren managed to sneak into the SandWing palace and killed the previous SandWing queen, Oasis, with their weapons. Lynx says you were lucky not to live through that war, because it was the bloodiest damn war in the history of dragonkind." 
"Uh, what about us humans?" Wren, the human, inquired on the back of Sky, her SkyWing ally. "We suffered under you, because three greedy humans decided to steal a dragon's treasure. Treasure, which, we returned to you afterwards." 
Sky - the pale orange dragon with giant wings, pale blue eyes, and no fire - fiddled embarrassingly nervous with the pale blue scarf he wore around his neck with his claws as he listened to the conversation. Before leaving, the group went to Possibility to stock up on food, water, weapons, and disguises before heading off to Pantala. It was there were Sky found some bracelets and necklaces he loved in the marketplace (for his disguise). But the scarf he wore, which he found in an accessory store, was his newest prized possession (because the color of the scarf matched the color of his eyes). 
"You did return the treasure to us", Qibli griped, "by giving it to Sunny." 
"Can we not talk about this?" Sky whimpered sheepishly. 
Tsunami snipped at him. "No. And while we're at it, if Wasp were 'defeated' somehow, either by an uprising or something else, I believe what we're all trying to explain to you three - yes, Luna, Cricket, and Sundew, you three - is that we don't need another War of SandWing Succession, or another Darkstalker, on your continent." 
Luna gulped, and looked at Sundew and Cricket, who looked concerned, yet terrified. And the three knew what Tsunami was about to say next. 
"If you don't learn from history, history will repeat itself, regardless of the era where it occurred or if you lived through it." 
==Part One: The Wasp's Nest==
===Chapter 1===
The first thing you should know about ruling an entire dragon tribe, is that you need to control them in some way.
That was what Wasp's first lesson in politics was, although it was years ago.
When the original propaganda didn't work, redo the propaganda to make it believable. Same for deification and persuasion.
Wasp used all tactics when ruling the SilkWings, HiveWings, and LeafWings... if only the LeafWings never rebelled.
The Tree Wars were the result of LeafWing rebellions against the SilkWings and HiveWings, and Wasp had crushed the entire species with her newfound multispecies army.
But now they've resurfaced, the LeafWings. They weren't extinct all along.
But now they were, thanks to the burning of the Poison Jungle and the mass control of SilkWings and HiveWings.
Now there would be real control and peace across the continent, and the dissent that was here now by the SilkWings would be squashed swiftly.
And Wasp had a weapon that she would unleash soon, something that she and her scientists had been working on - a replica of Clearsight. This Clearsight replica would convince the rebellion to stop their fake news.
As she walked down the hall towards the Wasp Hive lab, Wasp was sure that this would be the time to release the replica - if she only knew what her role was.
Subject C-2000 was the only viable Clearsight replica that survived hatching. But there was another Clearsight replica Wasp had, a dragon whose name was "Dawn Chorus" (as said by Scrabee). If anyone wanted to know which replica Wasp wanted to see right now, it was "Dawn Chorus", since the dragon was not a true replica, but the SilkWings and HiveWings would accept this dragon as "Clearsight" in their hearts.
The entirety of Wasp Hive was made out of hundreds of wood types, making the place seem like a capital city, which was Wasp's goal when she first started building the place all those years. But in right now in modern times, the capital was fully functional.
Wasp walked along these dark, beautiful wooden hallways until she found the area designated Wasp's Projects.
Of course it was bluntly named to deter prying eyes away. But for those curious dragons, two guards were posted outside the doorway in order to drive them away.
As Wasp approached the guards and the doorway, the guards bowed in respect. Wasp knew their names - Cochineal (female) and Hover (male). Cochineal was named after Wasp's mother and the previous HiveWing queen, Queen Cochineal, and Hover was named after how dragonflies hover in the air when flying. Of course, Wasp knew this because she had all the information to her citizens to herself.
Wasp opened the black wooden double doors that lead into a corridor that led into the main lab, which sort of resembled the forensic dragonology lab in the Hive, which is how Wasp intentionally designed the labs to look like. Order and perfection were necessary to her.
Wasp entered the lab and she found Scrabee, her top scientist, studying something on the raised platform in the middle of the area. There were no other scientists in the lab at the moment.
Scrabee was around Wasp's age, albeit a bit younger than her. The HiveWing was fascinated by science throughout her life, and she had lived throughout the Tree Wars, so, of course, Scrabee was her top scientist.
As she walked up the stairs towards the platform, Scrabee noticed Wasp and said, "Your Majesty" in a cool, unwavering voice.
Wasp peered at what Scrabee was studying and found that she was studying a piece of "breath of evil", a plant native to Pantala that could be genetically modified in hundreds, no thousands, of ways.
"Have you found more properties of the plant?" Wasp asked the scientist.
"No", Scrabee replied, "but I have found a gene that could be altered to allow you to control SilkWings alongside the remaining LeafWings."
The Hive queen sighed. "Not that again. I mean, did you find something useful I could use?"
Scrabee looked at Wasp with befuddled brown eyes. "That's what I said. I said I found a gene that could be altered to allow you full control of all dragons of Pantala."
"That's not how you originally worded it."
"I apologize, Your Majesty, but..."
Scrabee cut herself off when the doors to the lab opened again.
Wasp spun around and her most trusted messenger, an orange-colored dragon named Fly, run into the lab.
"Fly", Wasp said as she descended from the platform, her voice like sliding ice, "what news do you have for me?"
The orange dragon stopped near the steps, clearly out of breath, briefly bowed, and said (still out of breath from running), "I've located them. Just like you asked."
Wasp narrowed her obsidian-black eyes at the messenger. "Located who who?"
"The SilkWings and the LeafWings. I've located them. They're in the Distant Kingdoms."
===Chapter 2 ===
She's found it.
She's found them.
She's found where they are hiding.
They're hiding in the Distant Kingdoms. Only fools hide in other places.
Wasp glared at Fly. "Where did you get this information?"
Fly gestured with a talon that he needed to regain his breath. It took a bit, but then he said, "A rebel was found this morning at a routine citizen checkpoint. The police arrested her, searched her belongings, and found this."
Fly took something from the leather bag he wore around his neck, and handed it to Wasp.
It was small piece of paper, and on it was crudely-done drawing of the eastern half of Pantala and the western half of the Distant Kingdoms (known as "Pyrrhia" by Clearsight, as stated in her Book).
"What was the criminal's name?" Wasp asked Fly.
Fly shifted a bit uncomfortably on his claws, since he was rarely asked about citizen's identities, but he told her anyway (since it was part of his job). 
"Io", he said, "Her name is Io. She's the sister of that SilkWing whose in love with one your flamesilks, Your Majesty."
Wasp then eyed the messenger with satisfied black eyes. She knew exactly who this "Io" was.
"Thank you, Fly. You are dismissed."
The orange dragon bowed respectfully and left the area.
Wasp turned around and looked at Scrabee. "You were saying..." Wasp started, but Scrabee clearly had a look of both sheer terror and surprise on her face.
"The Distant Kingdoms?" she said, "I thought that was a myth!"
"It's not a myth", Wasp said, "I saw it in the Book myself. Clearsight dubbed the place 'Pyrrhia', although I don't know why she named the place after a moth genus, and our continent is named after a dragonfly genus. I guess we'll never know. But that's not important. What's important is that you tell me what this gene you have discovered in the breath of evil is."
Scrabee changed the look on her face from her "holy sh** there's another continent!" face to "let's get this sh** over with" face. She walked over towards a computer near her workstation, a looked through it before something popped up on the screen. It said The Ecosystem Gene.
"Sorry about the gene name" Scrabee said, "I didn't know what to call it when I first found-"
Wasp cut her off, and walked over to the computer. She stared at the screen, and looked over at the work Scrabee had done.
Then Wasp smiled, she smiled a malicious smile, as she knew exactly what to do this with this gene.
=== Chapter 3===
"You want me to make copies of the gene now?" Scrabee asked as Wasp left the lab.
"Yes, and I want that done in two days!" the queen answered as she left.
Wasp finally had the ultimate weapon. No, she had the ultimate trump card.
With the Ecosystem Gene, she could control the masses - HiveWings, SilkWings, LeafWings (and possibly the entire Distant Kingdoms) - and everything would be back to normal and peaceful (well, before the rebellion).
But she couldn't mull over what the discovery of the Ecosystem Gene meant to her now. Wasp had to find "Dawn Chorus" and instruct her on how to tell the masses that she was the second coming of Clearsight.
The second coming of Clearsight? That's... odd.
Wasp stopped in the corridor that served as the bridge between the lab's entrance and the actual lab, and breathed. "You're back."
Yes, the breath of evil sighed with frustration, I've always been here, Your Majesty.
The plant was saying "Your Majesty" in a tone that nearly mocked Wasp's power and position.
"What do you want from me?" Wasp growled, "I've did everything you've asked since that half-assed nitwit Hawthorn infected me fifty years ago!"
And I sense you want the entire continent, isn't that right? You just need to figure out the timing, and then the world is yours.
"But how?"
The breath of evil stopped for the minute, then said, You need to find Sequoia and Monarch, and kill them in the fashion of a public execution. But use your star-winged subjects as the method of execution, and claim that this is Clearsight judging Pantala.
"So religious manipulation?"
There a pause of the breath of evil. Then, an answer.
Yes, that is correct.
----As Wasp walked through the wooden capital that she called her home, her thoughts began to spiral like SilkWings weaving tapestries in a circular fashion.
Where is Monarch where is Monarch?
If I don't do this, the world will be thrown into chaos.
Chaos chaos chaos. Chaos walking.
Chaos will walk if the world is thrown out of balance.
Where is Monarch where is Monarch?
Argh! This is a thought spiral! Kill kill kill!!
And Wasp killed the first thing she saw as she continued walking throughout the capital - a red-scaled baby SilkWing with orange eyes and orange tightly coiled wingbuds who looked newly-hatched and was walking with its parents doing their Assignments.
They were second-class citizens, SilkWings; so Wasp killing SilkWings was no big deal to her, since if they gained "free will", then chaos walked in Pantala.
Chaos chaos chaos. Chaos walking.
Another through spiral went through Wasp.
And she couldn't hear the sound of the SilkWing parents sobbing and grieving for their newly dead, newly-hatched child whom she murdered to bring herself out of a thought spiral.
===Chapter 4===
The moon was high and in the early stages of waning when Wasp went out onto her acacia wood balcony.
She breathed in the air, the wild air of the savanna, deeply and exhaled. This was what peace looked like. This was what stability looked like. This is what order looked like.
No fighting, no hunger, no pain.
No choices.
From up here, Wasp could see the glittery-ness that was Jewel Hive in one direction, and the distant lights of the Hives in all other directions.
In two days, she would have the copies of the Ecosystem Gene ready and begin preparing for the Hive Ceremonies, which occurred during the wet season. There, she would give the new six-year-old SilkWings their Assignments and other young HiveWings their Assignments as well.
Wasp had read about Assignments in the political science-fiction books that her mother assigned her as "homework", which was really code for "prepared to be destroyed with reality".
When setting up the Hives, Wasp had wondered if Assignments would be good for the population. When she first attempted such Ceremony commemorating the year after the Tree Wars, the Ceremony was deemed "necessary" by the population.
The opening speech of that first Ceremony... well, it wasn't half-assed. She knew what she was going to say. And she still said it every year, setting it as a reminder than without the Tree Wars and Wasp's rule, there would be no peace.
Since she could not be at each Hive Ceremony in person, Wasp used holograms to see the Ceremonies herself in all the Hives.
When the hologram for one of the Ceremonies was turned on, Wasp would greet the Hive say, "Good morning [Hive name]", and the entire Hive would response with, "Good morning, Queen Wasp".
Next, she would apologize for not being there, and the entire Hive would accept her apology.
Then the Ceremonies would commence.
----Two days later, Scrabee and the rest of Wasp Hive's scientists made all the copies of the Ecosystem Gene and placed them into vials, which were kept cold in the refrigerator in the lab for storage until use.
Wasp was practicing her speech in her personal quarters when Scrabee told her than the genes were copied.
Wasp nodded with approval at this news, and then continued practicing when Scrabee left.
"Beginnings, from disorder and chaos, to great suffering and great pain. Confusion, envy, and hatred was seen in the Tree Wars within ourselves and in the LeafWings, and in the aftermath, a solution was formed by us when the LeafWings when into hiding. The Hives - serene, beautiful places where disorder became harmony, and where our outposts would be in case the LeafWings wanted their revenge."
This sounded like something out of a novel that someone would read - and it was. No one had heard of the novel, so Wasp used it in her speech under the guise of her own words to avoid potential plagiarism if she were investigated.
And the words worked their own magic on the dragons of Pantala, since this was the new truth of the continent - out of suffering and bloodshed came the Hives, where peace, stability, and order were finally accomplished and where the Pantalans would keep up their guards in case the LeafWings returned.
===Chapter 5===
It was well into the wet season and nearing towards the end of the year when Wasp would perform the Ceremony. She would go through Tsetse Hive, Bloodworm Hive, Mantis Hive, Hornet Hive, and Vinegaroon Hive with the holograms and she would go through Wasp Hive, Yellowjacket Hive, Jewel Hive, and Cicada Hive in-person.
And this would also be the bloodiest and most politically-charged year in which the Ceremony would be performed (because of the Bombing, the Burning, and the killing across Pantala); so Wasp had to be careful if she would go through her normal speech or do a different speech this year.
She decided she would do the same speech, with a little bit or tweaking to the words.
Let's hope this speech doesn't rile up the citizens, she thought as went down to the Ceremonial Arena of Wasp Hive where the Hive Ceremony would be performed.
The Ceremonial Arena of Wasp Hive was made out of the same wood that made up Wasp Hive (various types) and resembled a giant auditorium straight out of political science-fiction.
And every single dragon in Wasp Hive was there.
----The speech did not stir a commotion among the dragons of Pantala, but instead hammered home what the Hives were about. There was thunderous applause whenever Wasp performed the speech to Tsetse Hive, Bloodworm Hive, Mantis Hive, Hornet Hive, and Vinegaroon Hive through the holograms.
But now, she would speak the speech in front of an audience again - this time in Jewel Hive.
The Ceremonial Arena for Jewel Hive was, well, not as orderly as Wasp wanted it to be. But, whatever. Jewel like disorder.
(Wasp performs the Ceremony of Advancement for Jewel Hive.)
===Chapter 6===
The Ceremonial Arena of Cicada Hive somewhat resembled the Hive's treasured landmark - the Mosaic Gardens. On the walls were the mosaics depicting important events in Pantalan history - the most important one being the Salvation Mosiac, which (inaccurately) depicted the end of the Tree Wars. The image was of Wasp holding up the Book of Clearsight whilst stabbing a LeafWing in his carotid artery with one of her stingers.
But that was not how the War ended.
The day the Tree Wars ended, was the day that the LeafWings were forced out of Pantala. Nearly all the trees were cut down, making Pantala look like a big-ass logging facility. The sky was filled with the sounds of saws, and sawdust blew wildly in the wind. Wasp was standing on a section of her Capital's skeleton framework, looking down at the nearly desolate wasteland in front of her. She was forty-years-old.
"You finally did it, didn't you?" a voice gripingly growled behind her. Wasp turned around. It was her aunt, Scarab. And behind her was her daughter, Jewel. "You finally have control of Pantala. Now what will you do? Destroy everything?"
At that statement, Wasp sneered. "Actually, Aunt Scarab", she said, "I have better things to do with the dragons of Pantala."
And so Wasp started to form and begin the Hives.
The Arena of Cicada Hive was empty, and Wasp was there to be sure everything was there - the microphone, the assigned seating, and the items required for the Ceremony.
As Wasp climbed the stairs of the stage, she found that there were seventy-five handheld devices with Assignments for SilkWings, and seventy-five handheld devices with Assignments for HiveWings being packed into the mechanized podium by a black-scaled HiveWing with orange stripes. In total, there were one-hundred-and-fifty Assignments to hand out to the young dragons of the Hive. Some of these Assignments were repetitive, though, since there were areas were workers were lacking. All of these devices were stored in a mechanical podium, in which the HiveWing standing next to it would hand out these devices to the young dragons.
The dragon standing next to the mechanized podium here in the Arena of Cicada Hive was Hawker, a guard in charge of identifying dragons who entered and exited Cicada Hive. Although he didn't give a shit about dragons who came through the Hive entrance every day, he did care the safety of the Hives. Hawker's photogenic memory for faces was the reason Wasp Assigned him the Assignment of Identifier.
"Your Majesty", Hawker said in his deep, gruff voice, not even looking at her. He didn't bow, which was abnormal for Identifiers and Guards, but Wasp left him alone. She knew he suffered from a disorder of restrictive behaviors and one-sided conversations, like her. The problem was that she didn't know the medically correct word for it.
"Are you ready for today's Ceremony, Hawker?" Wasp asked Hawker in a monotone voice. He nodded.
"Very well. Once these devices are packed into the podium, we shall call the Hive together to begin."
Hawker was stunned. "'We'?" he echoed.
Wasp smiled a toothy smile at him. "Yes. 'We'. We the dragons of Cicada Hive will bring the city together to commemorate a new beginning."
----The entirety of Cicada Hive filled the Arena soon. Parents with children, children with parents. Graduates. Assigned mates. Everyone.
As soon as Wasp got onto the stage, the entire Arena fell silent and the only sound heard was the breathing of dragons.
Wasp now stood in the middle of the Arena's stage, with Hawker on her right, standing next to the mechanized podium.
"Dragons of Cicada Hive", she began, "Today we begin anew. Today is where the future is shown. Today, we remember why we came to be."
And she started her rehearsed speech.
"Beginnings, from disorder and chaos, to great suffering and great pain. From the confusion, envy, and hatred seen in the Tree Wars, seen within ourselves, and seen in the LeafWings, came a solution. The Hives - serene, beautiful places where disorder became harmony, and where our outposts would be in case the LeafWings proved themselves not to be extinct."
The entire crowd clapped.
Wasp let out a soft chuckle. "Heh. Let me get through it."
The crowd continued to clap.
"Oh, fine", she humorously relented, "It begins. The Ceremony. Would the Elders please come on stage?"
As soon as she spoke, several old SilkWings and HiveWings marched on stage. They faced the crowd and beamed with pride, as they knew this would be the last time they would see their beloved city.
"Ceremony of the Elders. Honoring the citizens who have worked hard to keep the Hives running, and are now ready for a new chapter in their lives."
Wasp flicked her tail at a few HiveWing guards near the stairs of the stage, and several of them lead the old dragons off the stage and out of the Arena.
One down, a few more to go.
(As Wasp goes through the Ceremony and notices Luna amongst the Graduates. She also notices the rest of the Pyrrhian/Pantalan Representatives, and commands the entire Arena to arrest the Representatives, which goes quickly.)
===Chapter 7===
Wasp cancels the rest of the Ceremonies and takes her new prisoners back to Wasp Hive. Luna is placed (back) into the flamesilk factory (security is now tight there and new technologies are used because of Blue and Luna's previous escape (the overall feeling of the factory is supposed to be akin to a prison)); Cricket and Sundew are placed into Wasp Hive's prison (the one for notorious Hive criminals); Moonwatcher is placed into Wasp's lab where the NightWings are kept; Bullfrog, Qibli, Sky, Tsunami, Pineapple, and Lynx and imprisoned and interrogated; Wren is placed into Wasp's labs for inspection. After hours of long interrogation/torture, Wasp knows her way to Pyrrhia and how to destroy it (in the name of peace and order).
==Part Two: The Lost Continent==
===Chapter 8===
Wasp begins gathering her SilkWing/HiveWing army to invade Pyrrhia, and successfully induces Cricket into the Hive Mind.
===Chapter 9===
Wasp begins her search for Sequoia (to execute her), and the othermind brings Sequoia to Wasp without conflict. Wasp then begins her search for Monarch, but the search bears no fruit. Then, the othermind, using its kudzu-like abilities/growth, suddenly locates a population of SilkWings and LeafWings living in the Pantalan Northwestern Mountains and locates Monarch there. The othermind silently takes over the SilkWing/LeafWing population and hands Monarch over to Wasp. Monarch regrets handing her tribe over to Wasp before Wasp induces the dragons of the Northwestern Mountains into the Hive Mind.
===Chapter 10===
Wasp forces Moonwatcher to execute Sequoia and Monarch, and the Hive Queen pronounces that their "god" (Clearsight) is judging Pantala for their "sins" (wanting to be free from authoritarianism). Moon initially refuses to execute the Queens (before the actual execution), and Wasp threatens her with killing the other Pyrrhian dragons if she doesn't comply/execute the Queens. Moon sheepishly complies/executes the Queens out of fear. Then, Moonwatcher's eyes turn white and she (unintentionally) tells the entire continent of Pantala her Lost Continent Prophecy (the one in the books, for clarification). The Pantalans, not understanding the Prophecy's meaning, look on at Moonwatcher in awe and reverence. However, Wasp interprets Moon's prophecy as a threat to her, and, after the execution, imprisons Moonwatcher in Wasp Hive's prison (the one for notorious Hive criminals).
Moonwatcher's ornamental design as "Clearsight" is supposed to look like something from the night sky, or something ethereal.
===Chapter 11===
With the deaths of Sequoia and Monarch, Wasp officially rules the entire continent of Pantala. As she's about to leave with her army, an alarm is sounded - the Pyrrhian prisoners have escaped. Wasp commands a group of SilkWings/HiveWings/LeafWings to corral any prisoners they find into the Temple of Clearsight. When Wasp goes into the Temple, she finds Moonwatcher, Luna, Cricket, and Sundew in there.
===Chapter 12===
Wasp confronts Moon, Luna, Cricket, and Sundew in the Temple (vice versa for Moon, Cricket, Luna, and Sundew); she arrests Moon, Luna, Cricket, and Sundew with the dragons who corralled the dragonets into the Temple. Moon sneers that Wasp's genetically-engineered dragons (C-2000, genetically-engineered Pantalan dragons, resurrected BeetleWings) have escaped (Bullfrog, Qibli, Tsunami, and Pineapple freed them) and that Pyrrhia will be warned beforehand of Wasp's invasion of Pyrrhia (Lynx, Sky, and Wren are the ones who warn Pyrrhia). Wasp then murders Cricket and Luna in cold blood for "treason" (defying the Hive Queen) and to set an example for Moonwatcher if she defies Wasp again.
===Chapter 13===
Wasp places Moonwatcher and Sundew into her army (Blue, Swordtail, Katydid, Bombarider, Silverspot, Burnet, Hemlock, Belladonna, and other Pantalan characters from Wings of Fire arc 3 are part of the army also), and begins to fly with the entirety of Pantala to Pyrrhia. The Hive Queen forces the two to fight the Pyrrhians or else they will be killed like Cricket and Luna.
===Chapter 14===
It takes a week for the Pantalan army to reach Pyrrhia. By the time they reach the continent, the army is ready for battle. Wasp's first Pyrrhian sight is of Jerboa III's hut and decides to raid the hut for more resources for the army. Inside the hut, Jerboa III is hiding underground, thanks to Lynx, Sky, and Wren's warning about the army. After Wasp tells two armor-clad SilkWing soldiers to find resources and potential dragons of help, she injects herself with the Ecosystem Gene (genetically-engineered serum/gene that allows a dragon to command any kind of dragon, connected to the Hive Mind). It is revealed that Wasp's natural HiveWing ability is to command dragons (similar to the Bewilderbeast in the HTTYD franchise), alongside her stingers, and that the breath of evil was an unintended booster (for the mind control). Jerboa III is found under the hut by the soldiers and Wasp quickly injects Jerboa III with her breath of evil/Ecosystem Gene serum mixture (from her tail stinger) before Jerboa III can use any of her enchanted porcupine quills on Wasp. Jerboa III is the first Pyrrhian dragon to be connected to the Hive Mind.
===Chapter 15 ===
Wasp and her army easily overtake the Kingdom of Sand in one night (the same day/night that they arrived on Pyrrhia). Queen Thorn surrenders to Wasp (out of fear and the sheer forces of the Pantalan army) before being connected to the Hive Mind, making Thorn the first Pyrrhian queen connected to the Pantalan Hive Mind.
==Part Three: Midnight==
===Chapter 16===
A few days later, Wasp and her army overtakes the Ice Kingdom easily because the southern border (Great Ice Cliff) has been destroyed and the sovereignty of the Ice Kingdom is now gone. Wasp infects a random IceWing with her serum, and uses that IceWing to connect Snowfall into the Hive Mind. Snowfall sees this as consequence for opening the Ice Kingdom's southern border and ignoring the sovereignty of her Kingdom (she blames Opal for this, when in reality Snowfall decided to intentionally destroy the Great Ice Cliff at the end of The Dangerous Gift). The other dragons who illegally flew over the remains of the Great Ice Cliff are infected with Wasp's serum alongside a large amount of IceWings. Wasp's army can now dominate the entire Dragon Planet.
===Chapter 17===
At night, in the city of Possibility, which easily surrendered to the Pantalan army over the sheer numbers of the army, Wasp plots where the build the Hives in Pyrrhia. She thinks of one giant Hive per Kingdom, but soon throws that out of the window since it wouldn't be practical. As she thinks of another plan, singing is heard in the city. Wasp orders her soldiers to arrest and kill those who were singing the song, but irony of it was that Moonwatcher was singing the song. Wasp then tells the soldiers not to arrest Moon, as she is part of the army. Through the lens of a LeafWing solider, Wasp sees that Moon is singing to terrified dragons in order to calm them. Wasp gets out of the LeafWing's head and allows the pair to keep singing for a little while. 
(The song sung in this chapter is Midnight - Coldplay. (Moon is supposed to sing about hope in darkness to the dragons.) The song (Midnight) belongs to Coldplay, the original artists/musicians of the song.)
===Chapter 18 ===
The next morning, Wasp sends her Pantalan-Pyrrhian army out to the rest of Pyrrhia to conquer the continent.
===Chapter 19===
The rest of the Pyrrhian queens submit to Wasp. However, there are rumors that some have escaped and are reusing the ships brought to the Dragon Planet by the dragon tribe's ancestors (also the ancestors of the human colonists of the Dragon Planet) as a way to escape the Dragon Planet.
===Chapter 20 ===
Wasp starts building a Hive close to Possibility (this creates tension among Possibility's residents). The skeleton framework of the Hive is sketched out (on paper) and trees in the city and surrounding wilds are cut/harvested to create the city. Wasp christens this Hive as "Distant Hive", the capital of Pyrrhia under Pantala.
==Epilogue==
The epilogue shows the world enslaved by Wasp.
==Pyrrhia's End==
Timeline: 5,012 A.S. (current events of Wings of Fire)
The dragons kept pouring into the Ice Kingdom.
This was what happened shortly after Snowfall destroyed the Great Ice Cliff, on behalf of Opal and the Ring of Vision.
Dragons just kept pouring and pouring into the northern tundra and arctic.
Stealing and looting and trafficking,
and Snowfall continuously said "They need our help!"
without even acknowledging how her dragons will suffer because of this.
Sky, Sea, Silk, and Leaf
bombarding the cities the IceWings had lovingly and genuinely crafted from their talons,
burning them to the ground.
Hive, Sand, Night, and Rain
disregarding what made the IceWings great
because it's free real estate now.
Mud traveled in groups
but soon faced hell in the cold.
Icicle, another heir to the throne of ice,
was soon broken out of jail,
worked with criminals,
and sabotaged Snowfall's succession.
Mink, the purest soul born of ice,
was forced to flee southbound
into the warmth she had not known before.
And Crystal,
the only conservative who left before the crisis,
was horrified.
As the looting continued,
Snowfall was blinded by Opal's spirit,
and the usurped queen was later killed
by foreigners terrorizing her dragons.
Icicle is a puppet queen,
and she will be disposed of when the tyrants and criminals no longer need her.
The political demographic of the Ice Kingdom changed,
because someone decided to destroy the greatest IceWing gift,
not knowing the consequences.
This was the downfall of the IceWing tribe.
And no one in the universe was going to give a damn about the IceWings
because they were now the butt of all jokes.
Leaders have a duty to defend their country from threats both domestic and global.
But when you focus only on the politics and turn a blind eye to the real threats,
your country will fall.
==Trivia==
*L1quid decided for Wasp to be the main protagonist since Wings of Fire (series) has too many pre-teen or adolescent protagonists (Wings of Fire) needs a few more adult protagonists), and that a book with an antagonist for a POV would be nice for a change.
*L1quid named their version of The Flames of Hope as Wings of Fire: The Land Across because they feel that "The Flames of Hope" is a dissatisfying title for book 15, and that Tui should try to treat the finale of Wings of Fire arc 3 with dignity and respect and that the book needs to satisfy readers. L1quid is also considering that The Flames of Hope should be the last book of Wings of Fire, so that Tui can work on other books and not turn Wings of Fire into Erin Hunter's Warrior Cats. (L1quid's fear of great series turning into long-running franchises is a genuine fear they have due to experience in their favorite series/books.)
**03/28/2022: L1quid has seen a summary of The Flames of Hope on this discussion post (due to readers finding that Barnes and Noble stock their stores early with new releases), and has decided that the canon ending of The Flames of Hope is "woke" for them (they get the poetical implications of the ending, though) and is not realistic. L1quid has also found that many fans are disappointed with the ending, as they expected a great war between Wasp and the Dragon Planet, and instead got a lecture on how to understand others. For this reason, L1quid considers their version of The Flames of Hope to be more canon than the actual novel, as their version includes antagonists achieving their goals (and having an antagonist as the main POV), protagonists being defeated (which is something that needs to be done for once in mainstream media), actually includes blood and gore, and is a fun, yet dark ride to read.
*The other parts of Pantala seen in this fanfictions are L1quid's headcanons for Pantala. One of them is resurrection biology, in regards to Clearsight and the BeetleWings.
* L1quid's version of Wings of Fire: The Flames of Hope messes with the general/main formula for the Wings of Fire books (adolescent/pre-teen protagonists, giant evil, prophecies to decipher, ending full of hope), and decided to have the book be more bloody and tragic because they believe that the antagonists need to triumph over the protagonists in novels sometimes, and that real-life is not all sunshine, rainbows, and hope (like a Hallmark film).
*The "Pyrrhia's end" section, which was the original epilogue, is loosely based on disasters caused by world leaders throughout history and the repercussions of Snowfall destroying the Great Ice Cliff (read: IceWing southern border) in Wings of Fire: The Dangerous Gift (2021). L1quid decided to do poetry for it, because the destruction of the Great Ice Cliff will poetically symbolize the downfall of the IceWings and the imbalance that will now exist in Wings of Fire.
*Part Names - "Part One: The Wasp's Nest" refers to Queen Wasp and the Hives; "Part Two: The Lost Continent" is named after Wings of Fire: The Lost Continent (2018) and what Pyrrhian dragons call Pantala in the Wings of Fire series; "Part Three: Midnight" is named after the song Midnight by Coldplay, whose lyrics tie into The Flames of Hope and the theme/plotline of losing hope in dark times in mainstream media (also it sounds/looks better than the previous names of Part Three).
**Part Three's original names were "The Dawn Chorus", (after the song Dawn Chorus by Thom Yorke, which is one of L1quid's favorite songs) and "The Alien Choir" (after the song Alien Choir by Coldplay, which is one of L1quid's favorite tracks on Coldplay's Music of the Spheres).
*L1quid purposely decided that the beginning of The Flames of Hope (Luna thinking about the eleven diplomats) would be this fanfiction's prologue so that Luna's POV would be in the book, but for a little bit.
*The Land Across is a politically conservative fanfiction because L1quid has not seen a lot of politically conservative stories in modern mainstream media, which is heavily politically liberal, and that the author themselves is politically conservative (based on their own observations of the world). L1quid also believes that Tui needs to stop writing from only politically liberal point-of-views and needs to sometimes write in politically conservative points-of-view. 
**Note for other writers - please do some research on actual conservatives before writing conservative novels/books. If you don't do your research properly, you will be stuck with stereotypes as your only research. Don't fall into the trap of using stereotypes only for your characters/novels.
*The labs for Wasp Hive were based off the forensic anthropology lab and the Jeffersonian in Bones, which is one of L1quid's favorite crime shows.
*The Hive Ceremonies are based off of the Community Ceremonies as seen in The Giver to further convey the utopian/dystopian sense of Pantala that L1quid had while reading The Lost Continent for the first time and later subsequent rereads. The Ceremonial Arena is based off the Arena shown in The Giver.
== Gallery ==
File:Luna the silkwing (wings of fire book 15 cover).jpg|Luna (SilkWing) on the cover of Wings of Fire: The Flames of Hope (2022)
==External Links==
*The Ceremony of Advancement - The Giver wikia
*The Ceremony of the Graduates (The Giver (2014)) - YouTube
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Content (L1quidMarbl3)
Category:Genre (Prophecy)