The Legendary Sisters

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==THE LEGENDARY SISTERS==
MY WHOLE STORY SO FAR 
I made this story when I was in 4th or 5th grade so that's why there are those op hybrids so please don't judge thanks. Just try to enjoy it XD 
ABOUT 60 YEARS AFTER THE JADE MOUNTAIN PROPHECY 
 Rose and Spruce huddled over their three eggs, nestled with big and small jungle leaves, dipped in three layers of thick coconut oil and toucan down. It was a nice, humid night, bright with stars. The rain forest of Pyrrhia was more quiet than usual, but that was fine with the dragon couple. 
“Spruce! I think that one is going to hatch first, it was my … first egg.” Rose said, suddenly remembering the horrid memories of her first husband. “Really! I’m so excited Rose! They could hatch ANY minute now!” Spruce exclaimed. One of the eggs made a sound. The couple immediately went silent, as they had never existed silent. The egg shook again. Spruce looked up at Rose with eyes bigger than the three moons combined. Rose looked up at him with big eyes too. The egg cracked. Spruce was clearly trying to hold in his excitement, but some loud whispers of joy leaked through the talons cupped around his mouth. The egg made another huge crack. A small coo came from inside. The egg cracked up a little more, a horn popped out. “Oh, my moons!” Rose whispered loudly. Suddenly a small snout popped out. “Rer?” the small dragon cooed again. “Frostfire,” Rose said aloud. “Frostfire.”
CHAPTER ONE
10 years later
                  “And Frostfire takes the lead!” the announcer yelled out as Frostfire swiftly landed on the platform in front of Cantaloupe. “Yes!” Frostfire yelled out triumphantly. “Oh no you don’t!” Cantaloupe growled as she ran faster than before. ‘OH. MOONS. NO’ Frostfire thought fiercely. She pushed herself to run even faster, Cantaloupe nearly passing her. Frostfire flew onto the the second to last platform. ‘The last one, you can do this Frost!’ She thought encouragingly to herself. ‘Go faster legs! I have to win this race!’ Frostfire thought, suddenly going faster. “And Frostfire is closing for the finish line, will she make it? Or will Cantaloupe make it first?!” The announcer yelled again. Frostfire pushed herself again, going faster than she ever had. She dashed across the finish line, so fast she nearly set fire to the wooden platform. “Whoo! I did it! Yes!” Frostfire yelled, nearly tripping face first to the ground. “And first place goes to FROSTFIRE!” The announcer shouted. The Rainwings in the crowd shouted with excitement, throwing vibrant colored flowers at Frostfire. Rose ran up to Frostfire, probably faster than Frostfire was when she ran in the race. “My sweet little scale bundle!” Rose exclaimed while hugging her tightly. “Too tight, mom. Can’t. Breathe.” Frostfire croaked softly. Thankfully, Rose released her into the arms of her sisters. “Yay! Now we get free food!” Hurricane said. Island smacked her on the side of her belly. “All you think about is food, seriously! Think about something else for once!” Island said, annoyed slightly. “Actually I agree with Hurricane on this. Island, it’s free food! How can you not be happy?!” “Sorry, all YOU TWO think about is FOOD!” Island said, even more annoyed. Hurricane and Frostfire giggled at their sister, Island, even making her smile a little bit. “Oh! She smiled! We got her to SMILE!” Hurricane snickered. “Oh quit it!” Island said, smacking Hurricane a little harder. Suddenly, a big golden trophy was shoved into Frostfire’s talons. “First place! First place!” the crowd shouted. Everyone seemed happy for Frostfire’s victory, except one dragon. 
            After the crowd parted, Frostfire walked up to Cantaloupe. “What do you do to get that fast? Like, I had to literally push myself so much I still feel dead inside.” Frostfire said. “Get lost, you beat me. You don’t need to be faster.” Cantaloupe grumbled. “Well, you got second at least. I like silver, silver’s pretty cool.” Frostfire said awkwardly and suddenly. “Yeah, in your perfect life.” Cantaloupe fired back. “None of us has perfect lives!” Frostfire said, very awkwardly. “Well, you have one. Go live out your happy royal life.” Cantaloupe said grumpily and walked away. Frostfire was confused. What had she done? Well, she might as well go home for supper. 
                Hurricane laid down on the couch, thanking Spruce for the family’s favorite dish, filleted fish stuffed with berries, flower petals, and topped with a mint leaf. Spruce calls it Filersh. Frostfire ate some of the Filersh and asked to go out for a short flight out in the fresh sunset. 
“Ok, just be back by tenth star,” Rose said. Frostfire grabbed a sketchpad, a pen, and an opal mirror, and took a flight to her sister's’ secret treehouse. Frostfire landed elegantly on the faded green wooden floor of the small tower of the treehouse. She sniffed the fresh air and sat down on a small blue mat and took out her opal mirror.
“Time to see if it’s true,” Frostfire said. During the race, she went unusually fast when she wished for her legs to run faster. Frostfire took a deep breath, she was going to have either life-changing moment that will either, change her life or just make her feel really stupid. “Ok, here I go. Opal mirror, I enchant you to show me everything I want to see when I ask for it.” Frostfire said firmly. The Opal mirror just sat there in her talons, but there was something thrumming strongly inside… Magic? “Show me what Cantaloupe sees,” Frostfire said, testing it out. The mirror’s cloudy surface changed into a vivid image of Frostfire being zoomed in. “That’s interesting, wait WHAT?!” Frostfire realized. Suddenly, she was being pinned down by Cantaloupe. “Stop Cantaloupe! Please!” Frostfire yelled out. “I want MY perfect life back! MY PERFECT LIFE!” Cantaloupe shrieked horribly. “You can have it back! I’ll give your life back! Please stop!” Frostfire pleaded. “I'd rather EARN it.” Cantaloupe said, with a murderous intent. “Cantaloupe, sto-” Suddenly, Cantaloupe raked her sharp claws slowly down the side of Frostfire long neck. Frostfire tried to say something, but blood only bubbled out of her mouth. “MY perfect life. MINE.” Cantaloupe said grimly. But Frostfire smiled. “Why smile?” Cantaloupe asked. “Because I’m here.” said the guard behind Cantaloupe. Frostfire dropped her head, blacking out. 
                 Frostfire fluttered her eyes open. She was laying on a soft mattress, bandages wrapped around her neck. “Huh?” she said, still dazed. “Sorry about my sister Cantaloupe, she’s terrible and spoiled, really, but I didn’t know she had the intent to kill. Not even a shred of murder. I never thought so.” the same guard from before said to Frostfire. “Well, some all dragons are never who they seem,” Frostfire replied. The guard smiled. “Bengal’s the name, I saw you at the race. Congrats.” Bengal smiled. “Heh, thanks,” Frostfire said. “How about you meet me at the Bargainers’ market tomorrow to discuss the consequence of Cantaloupe?” Bengal asked. “Sure, I’ll meet you tomorrow,” Frostfire said.
CHAPTER 2
                   Bengal watched the huge, bustling platform of dragons, flea 
markets, and food shops. He watched the small, gleaming gold, silver, and bronze ingots reflect the rainforest sunlight. He smelled the home-cooked food of the food shops, the scent almost visible. He closed his eyes and smelled the fresh air of a new day. “Hey Bengal, sorry I was late!” a sudden voice exclaimed. Bengal opened his eyes and saw Frostfire, trotting toward him. It was like everything slowed down. ‘Everytime I see her, I feel… overjoyed and awkward… Why?’ Bengal thought. “Hey, Frost!” Bengal replied back. “Hey, sorry I’m lat-” Frostfire began. Suddenly, a thick discus hit Frostfire on her snout, then, another two black dragons sprinted toward Frostfire, like two arrows narrowly missing her. Frostfire landed on the ground, out cold. It all happened so fast, the dragons around them only now turning their heads to see a fainted Frostfire, lying on the ground cold, her scales turning white, one by one.
              Bengal guarded Frostfire’s room the whole morning she was out. Her family came rushing in to check on her, two giving worried looks and two giving suspicious looks. Bengal was soon after taken to his guard station for questioning about the event. “Spill everything you know, and then questions.”  Said the captain, Orangutan. Bengal breathed and started saying everything like pouring oil ever so smoothly. “Well, Frostfire and I decided on today yesterday to converse about the penalty Cantaloupe deserves after the attack yesterday at the Bargainers’ Market, so this morning she ran up to me when suddenly she was hit by a discus, and two fully black dragons ran past her, though I am not sure why, but anyway after that I rushed her to the hospital” Orangutan put on his thoughtful face for a moment and glanced at the other guard in the room. The guard nodded and went outside to talk to other guards. ‘More judgment for a better conclusion, I guess.’ Bengal thought knowingly. “Alright, before we get a final conclusion, I have a task for you to find the thieves, investigate them, and find out there intentions,” Orangutan said grumpily. “Rank of job?” Bengal asked. “Life or death,” Orangutan said, emotionless.
                   “It looks like hospital beds love me.” Frostfire joked. “Yeah, I guess. But sadly I have a mission to do, the best lead I’ll get will be D.N.A from the attackers will be on your scales.” Bengal said, a little sad. “Ah, I almost forgot. It held a… Family heirloom that I was going to show you.” Frostfire said, obviously trying to contain her worry. “It’s okay, I’ll find it,” Bengal said reassuringly. “Well, find the D.N.A,” Frostfire said. Bengal immediately went to work. “So describe your heirloom,” Bengal said while intently searching for the mark. “Well, it’s a black mirror created with skilled talons. It’s decorated with big and small opals, and some chunks of obsidian.” Frostfire said while intently watching Bengal using the animus touched device. “Duly noted, and I have found the mark. The D.N.A one.” Bengal said, distracted from the mark. “I have to get going now. I guess I’ll scan ya later.” Bengal joked. “Ha, hurry up.” Frostfire joked back. 
                Bengal traced the D.N.A using the animus touched device made by animus dragon Turtle to find a well-hidden cave. He sneaked into the gray stone environment and immediately listened in to the conversation going on. “Animus touched, didn’t even realize it the first time.” a sly voice said. “Hey, can we delay the deal though?” said another voice, younger than the first voice. “Ugh! WHAT do you want to say now?” said the first voice. “I have an idea.” “Well, WHAT IS IT.” “I can’t say it in front of the client.” the first voice cleared her throat. “I’m sorry about my friend, she just loves to speak her mind.” “Oh, it’s fine. As a business dragon myself, I can understand. Ideas are perfect, not a nuisance. You could kill two birds with one stone, which makes things better.” said a third voice, probably the client. “Okay fine, let’s go behind that pillar.” Bengal immediately went into camouflage mode. He slithered silently and slowly behind one of the stone pillars in the cave and peeked his head around it to get a better look at the three dragons. The two dealing dragons had inky black scales, but they were easily recognizable. The first voice went with a dragon a slightly bigger than Cantaloupe, Paradise. The second voice matched with a petite dragon, Ocelot. Both dragons were Cantaloupe’s friends, that’s what Bengal remembered anyway. Bengal peered over to look the client. ‘Wait… I recognize her… Who is she again?’ Bengal thought, trying to remember. Suddenly, the thought bolted into his head. It was his long-gone older sister, Taipan. 
             Taipan left Bengal’s family to start her own business in Possibility about architecture, mainly for building furniture, houses, and statues. Her business is well known and she sometimes gives Bengal’s family her fair share of gold and silver. Bengal always remembered Taipan as humble, gold-hearted, and innocent, but seeing her here just shocked Bengal so much that a few of his scales changed colors. Bengal slithered fastly behind the pillar and strained his ears to listen in on Paradise and Ocelot’s conversation, hoping nobody saw him. “We could use this animus touched mirror to break Cantaloupe out of prison! I’ll ask the mirror right now!” Ocelot said excitedly. Another detail popped into Bengal’s brain. ‘How in the land of Pyrrhia did I forget that these are Cantaloupe's friends? Just. How.’ Bengal thought, feeling like the most stupid dragon in the whole entire world. “Dear mirror, show us the best way to break Cantaloupe out of prison,” Ocelot said. The mirror faded into a diagram, showing Cantaloupe in her cell pacing around. It also had a sunset background, little arrows showing the hundreds of ways you could break Cantaloupe out without making a slight whisper. Bengal’s eyes were so huge for a second that he thought someone saw the whites of his eyes. He closed them back into a small sliver and glance around slowly. Paradise and Ocelot didn’t seem to notice, but someone else did. Taipan looked straight at Bengal’s direction, her eyes widened slightly.
              Bengal started to panic. Will she tell? Will she tell Bengal to leave? Bengal felt immense pressure begin to rise up inside of him. The tiniest drop of sweat dripped onto the dust-covered stone floor. Taipan tilted her head, squinting in Bengal’s direction. Bengal stood as still than ever, like he was dead, not even a scale of his changing any color. Taipan narrowed her eyes, like lasers of pressure burning into Bengal’s scales. Finally, Bengal couldn’t take it anymore and dove straight at the mirror. 
             Bengal snatched the mirror and flew as fast as he could. “I thought you double checked!” “I did! I really did! I swear on Darkstalker’s claws I did!” Bengal heard Paradise and Ocelot argue. That’s what he salvaged with his ears while he flapped his huge royal blue wings loudly.
                “Thanks, Bengal!” Frostfire exclaimed, snatching the mirror carefully from Bengal’s talons. “No problem,” Bengal said, still shaking slightly from what just happened. The vine curtain of the hospital room swooshed open, revealing the burly shape of Orangutan, grinning with a medal made of gold and bronze in his talons. Bengal’s eyes widened with surprise, his jaw dropping. “Bengal, you are no longer a public guard. You are a royal guard of Queen Fern, queen of the Rainwings.” Orangutan said, laughing as he said these words, rich with pride. 
           Bengal sat in his room. A new day. A new job. Bengal just could not stop smiling, his cheeks hurting. He jumped out of his bed, put on his fancy new gear, grabbed his new, sharpened spear, and stumbled out of the wooden door of his room.
CHAPTER 3
                 Island walked around with her friend Stellar on the grounds of the new Summer Palace, ignoring the shouts of Mrs. Macaw and how they had to meet there in about five hours. They were having a field trip to the Sea Kingdom, as autumn break is coming soon to the students of the Rainforest and Night Talon academy. They were first visiting the Summer Palace, of course, rebuilt by animus dragons Turtle and Anemone. Island gazed at the emerald palm-tree canopy above her. The sea breeze whooshed slightly past her, with the smell of sea salt and coconuts. “Stellar, isn’t this so cool?” Island exclaimed. “No, it sucks. I’ve seen better. OF COURSE, IT’S AMAZING ISLAND!” Stellar exclaimed joyfully, startling some of their classmates. Island snickered quietly and then got smacked lightly by Stellar playfully. They walked around the tall towers, feeling the smooth, animus carved marble. Then, they trotted toward the vast sea, seeing pale pink dolphins gliding out of the water. “This is SO much better than the rainforest, right?!” Island said, starry-eyed. “You have NO idea how HAPPY I am to even SEE this place! It is SO BEAUTIFUL!” Stellar yelled out. Island looked out to see the different islands. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air. A nice day on the islands of  The Bay of a Thousand Scales. As she gazed at the beautiful blue sky, something crashed into her, a big thing.
                     Island responded violently, slashing at what she could make is a face. “OW!” a voice exclaimed. Island stopped waving her talons. She looked above her, seeing an attractive face. “Oh, moons! I’m so sorry! I thought you were a threat! It was my instinct, I’m so SO sorry!” Island ranted, ignoring a small drip of blood landing on her face. “It’s fine, miss. I would’ve done the same.” the voice of the dragon said. Island blinked and looked up at the face again. She saw turquoise and emerald scales, eyes the color of frosty blue, and intricate stripes of a royal Seawing.
    
                   “You’re a Seawing prince?! NO WAY!” Stellar hollered, disturbing the merchants selling souvenirs of the Seawing kingdom. “Shush, keep it down” The prince exclaimed.  “Wait, if you’re the prince, then who’s your dad?” Island asked. The prince’s face blushed, nearly turning his scales purple. “My dad is… T-Turtle.” He stuttered. Island and Stellar’s eyes turned wider than a dragon egg.  A Seawing prince, whose father is an animus. Wow. ‘Oh. My. Moons. What.’ Island thought, dazed. Suddenly, she shook her head. “What’s your name then?” Island shouted, snapping Stellar out of her trance. “Oh yeah! What’s your name!” Stellar said. The Prince pointed to the Aquamarine Cave, a tourist attraction.”I’ll tell you there.”  “Why?” Island asked. “Because hearing my name causes a bowing ruckus and stuff. Almost nobody goes there, so it’s more private. Island looked at Stellar. Stellar shrugged, only to get a ‘seriously? Not helpful’ glare from Island. “Well, let’s just go.” Stellar whispered. Island glanced at the mysterious prince. “Okay, let’s go,” Island said.                                                                                                                               
        The aquamarine crystals glittered pink, purple, and indigo in the fading sunset.  Their claws clinked on the damp, rocky ground of the cave. “Follow me.” The prince said for like, the tenth time since they entered. “Gee, thanks for reminding me.” Stellar said sarcastically. “In here,” He said, moving a huge mound of aquamarine ore, revealing a secret room. “Don’t tell me that’s NOT cool,” Island said. They both walked inside, seeing a comfortable little hideout. Island glanced at the tiny room. “Since when was this here?” Stellar asked. “I remember being here when I was a little dragonet and I have never seen this.” Stellar said, awestruck. “Well, I have this secret I wanted to tell you because it’s heavy burden to me. It hurts everyday to not tell anyone so I have to tell someone but I have NO idea who to tell so it’s been real har-” “JUST TELL US!” Island yelled out, her voice echoing loudly. “My name is Aquarius, I am a vigilante who fights crime, a
half-animus, and I feel like I need a sidekick so I thought you were a potential partner!” Aquarius blurted, pointing at Island.
                     Island squished the fluffy pillow next to her. “So will I be starting training soon?” Island said. Aquarius looked thoughtful for a second, then said, “Depends on how long you’ll be staying here.” “I’ll be staying here for a month,” Island replied. “Oh. Interesting.” Aquarius said. “Yeah,” Island said. Awkward tension rose between Aquarius and Island as they both blushed, so she looked over to Stellar for help. “Uhm, uh… What is a… Half-animus?” Stellar stuttered. Aquarius's eyes lit up immediately. “Oh! My powers are really weird! For example, if I enchant a sword to assassinate an Icewing by floating over, it would probably just reach over half over Pyrrhia before falling down, unenchanted.” Aquarius said. Island made a confused face, along with Stellar. “That didn’t really explain anything, to be honest,” Island said. “Well, I’ve always been terrible at explaining, so it’s better if I show you.”
                     The three dragons stood at the shoreline of the bright orange ocean. “My spells are always just halfway effective, basically,” Aquarius said. Suddenly, he slashed at Islands delicate navy-silver scales under her wing. “Ow! What was that for?!” Island exclaimed, splashing the ocean water to wash off the blood. Aquarius filled up a bottle with the ocean water and said, “Enchant this seawater to turn into a potion that heals any type of wound possible when poured on scales.” Then, he dunked the water onto Island’s wound, healing half of the wound. “Ohhhh! I see!” Stellar said, suddenly realizing what he meant. “Yeah, me too!” Island exclaimed, inspecting her wound. Aquarius poured some of the water on his chest, healing the slash Island made earlier that day halfway. A loud, odd growl cut the peaceful silence. “What was that?” Island said, hopping up a little. “Sorry, hungry!”  Stellar said apologetically, rubbing her stomach. “There are actually some amazing street delicacies here on Merchant’s Island! I’ll show you!” Aquarius said. 
         “Moons, I am SICK!” Stellar said nearly tripping herself. “GEE I WONDER WHY STELLAR. HMM, IT MIGHT BE THE FACT THAT, I DON’T KNOW… YOU ATE ABOUT THREE TIMES MORE THAN WE DID?!” Island yelled sarcastically at her. “Well sorry, but I was HUNGRY as a starving dragon prisoner! Geez!” Stellar hollered back. Island smacked her playfully, suddenly realizing they had to meet up with Mrs. Macaw an hour ago. It seemed that Stellar had realized that too, her face’s color turning a light gray, as Macaw was one of the meanest chaperones that went with them. “Well, let’s get going,” Island said, quietly and nervously.
   “Thank the moons Macaw didn’t notice!” Stellar whispered loudly. “I know right!” Island whispered back, more quietly. They both listened to Macaw’s boring instructions,”Okay, listen up dragonets! You’re going to pick a friend and grab a tiny piece of paper out of this giant glass bowl.  The paper will have a number matching a room number in these three giant hotels. The one on the left is one to twenty, the one in the middle is twenty-one to thirty, and the one on the far right is thirty-one to forty.” Macaw announced loudly to the dragonet students of the Rainforest and Night-talon academy. Pairs formed up into a line, with Island and Stellar waiting for about twenty-two minutes. ‘Please give me the best room in between these hotels!’ Island thought hopefully. She thrust her talons into the glass bowl, ruffling the papers. She took one out, the number saying ‘28’. Island squeezed through the sea of dragonets, finally reaching the old, smooth, flower-scented dark purple door with a green rusting copper ‘28’. Stellar trotted in front of Island and twisted the oily, gold doorknob, swinging open the door to reveal a beautiful bedroom.
   Island and Stellar felt like they were smacked in the face but in a good way. They gaped at their room, their beautifully decorated room. The bed was huge, ninety percent pillows, and could fit possibly three dragons. The lace curtains looked delicate and coated with some shiny powder. The vanity across from the bed was made with smoothed and scented palm wood. Finally, the huge balcony took away their breaths.  The curtain swayed with the small breeze blowing gently, shining like stars in the moonlight, possibly brighter. The fence blocking off the edge looked withered decoratively and smoothed just like the Summer Palace. Stellar made the weird noise she always made when she was surprised. “NO. WAY.” Island said. She slung her leather bag on the ground, pacing slowly around. Stellar face planted forwards, scaring Island. Island thought she was dead for a second and then realized that she fainted. Island closed the door behind her and then gently lifted and placed Stellar onto the huge pile of pillows when suddenly a huge gust of air hit her. “Good evening, m’lady. Tonight, we start training. Grab needed gear, and our secret adventures shall start.” Aquarius said, in gleaming, golden suit of armor.
   Island wore a silver gauntlet, tail armor, chest plate, and a shiny gray mask, similar to Aquarius’s. “Do you have a weapon?” Aquarius asked. “No, we weren’t allowed to bring any weapons.” “Well, that gauntlet won’t do much damage, are you sure you don’t have any weapons at all?” “Well… Actually, let me check my bag.” Island said, rummaging quietly in her bag. Everything was so dull and dark, but there was a small reflection of moonlight in the bag. ‘My stringed harpoon! How could I forget?’ Island thought. She pulled the sharp blade out, reflecting the bright moonlight into Aquarius’s eyes. The small, sharp harpoon blade was attached to a thick string. If you throw it hard, the small blade can go through a thick piece of wood. “Now, we’re going to fight crime in the Seawing Kingdom, specifically the castle town, which is under-water, are you SURE that’s going to work?” Aquarius asked. Island threw the blade at the stone balcony, crumbling away some more. She yanked it out, crumbling some more stone away. “I’d say I'm rusty, but I think I’m good,” Island said to Aquarius, clearly trying to hide his surprise.
   “Are you SURE sure you’re good,” Aquarius asked again. “Yeah, I think I’m good,” Island said gazing out at the sea, adjusting her gauntlet. “Okay, suit yourself. Let’s GO!” Aquarius shouted, blasting air at Island, nearly making her fall as he took off. Island glanced back at Stellar, snoring peacefully and sleeptalking, sounding like a small baby dragonet. Island turned her head back sound, gliding smoothly into the deep waters of the Sea Kingdom. 
The kingdom wasn’t as pure and innocent as Island thought it was. Immediately she saw flashes of Seawing lights. Thanks to some scrolls in the library, the Seawing was saying, ‘I’ll give you my coins! I’ll give them all! Just please, please don’t hurt her!’ Island shook Aquarius lightly, pointing to the bright blue flashes of a small alley in the castle town. Aquarius turned his head, squinted, widened his eyes in surprise, and dove down swiftly. Island dove in after him, Aquarius’s trail of bubbles hitting her in the face. 
   Island threw her stringed harpoon just in time to knock the serrated iron blade out of the sky blue dragon threatening a cuddling mother Seawing with her small dragonet. ‘Still got another one, pretty.’ the Seawing said, pulling out another blade, looking even sharper than the last one. Suddenly, he dashed toward Island. Island barely registered what is happening, floating there like a sitting duck. Luckily, Aquarius pulled out his cutlass, protecting Island from a deadly stab wound. Island noticed quickly what happened, backing up quickly, scared.  Aquarius overpowered the other dragon, making him do a backflip. Island flashed a message. ‘I’m going to guard and calm down these two dragons. Beat that guy up real good and interrogate him.’ Island said. ‘Nice plan miss bossy.’ Aquarius said with a smirk. Island made a scoffing face with a smile. Then, she turned her head back. ‘Let’s get you dragons out of the war zone.’ 
Island tried to make the two dragons calm down despite the small sparks of the blades colliding seen outside the small window. ‘So what are your names?’ Island asked. The mother seemed hesitant, but the dragonet was excited to reply. ‘My name is Pearl like that one Seawing queen, and my mom’s name is Conch.’ She flashed quickly. ‘Oh. You can call me… Silver… Silver Slash.’ Island said hesitantly.  The mother had mixed feelings, from what Island could tell. She was grateful, scared, happy, and possibly angry. Island lowered her head, unable to think of anything to say. Thankfully, Conch burst into rushes of light. ‘Thank you so SO much for saving me and my daughter, you don’t know HOW grateful I am! Here take this, it’s one of our best selling pastries!’ Conch flashed, squeezing Islands talons happily. She then swam off, went behind the dark wooden counter, and brought out a pastry wrapped in a shimmering cloth. Conch handed it to a curious Island, smiling warmly. ‘Wow… Thank you! Actually, I should go check out on my partner, but thank you!’ Island said, putting silver coins on the table they were sitting at. ‘No. It’s a gift, from us. Take it. Help others.’ Conch said with the hugest smile Island had ever seen. ‘Take it! Take it! It’s super delish!’ Pearl exclaimed, making bubbles as she shook her talons excitedly. Island snickered, thanked the duo once again, and drifted out of the door. 
Island walked into Aquarius tying the unconscious thief with some ropes. ‘That should do it. The royal guards will be here any minute now, locking him in. Let’s go find some other threats, Island!’ Aquarius said quickly and happily. ‘Wow, does everyone I touch become happy or what?’ Island joked. ‘Well, you do have a  beautiful spirit everyone loves, so yeah, I guess.’ Aquarius said with a smirk. Island smiled sheepishly, then noticing patterns of light coming from a different direction. Island pointed to the series of light. Aquarius followed her gaze and dashed off once again. Island followed along swiftly, slightly tired. She caught up along Aquarius’s side, and asked, I’m gonna fight a little more with ya, okay?’ Island asked.  ‘Okay, whatever you want. What’s your vigilante name, by the way?’ Aquarius asked. ‘Silver Slash. Yours?’ ‘I like yours, flashy! Also, my name is Golden Gash. Based off of my first trip as a vigilante.’ Aquarius flashed in aquatic, with an uncomfortable smile. ‘Ah. Another story for another day?’ Island asked with a tiny smile. ‘Yep.’ Aquarius said, smooching her on the cheek. 
Island blushed deeply when she landed on the soft sand path. She looked at what was happening. ‘Shrimpy, skinny, ugly color. Guys, she’s the ancestor of Albatross!’ a big, buff dragonet Seawing about the age of Island said. The two Seawings next to him laughed and smiled, unleashing millions of tiny bubbles from their laughing. Island’s face grew slightly more red, angry. She hated bullies. ‘Y’know, you’re actually kind of cute when you puff up.’ Aquarius said behind her, smooching her cheek again. Island’s heart fluttered. ‘I guess we’re a thing now.’ She said, trying to hide her big smile. ‘Yes, yes we are.’ Aquarius replied. Island focused back on the task at hand. The Seawings were still laughing, saying comments like, ‘Oh moons Kingfisher, that was good!’ or ‘I can see the resemblance! Ha!’ The dragon that was being bullied curled up into a ball, her face revealing endless waves of sadness. Island got furious and jetted toward the group of three. 
Island hit the Seawing named Kingfisher in the face, hit the one on his left in his side, and the one on his right in the chest. They all quivered in pain, dropping to the ground in pain. ‘Don’t bully.’ Island said. She looked over to the small, skinny dragonet that was shivering in fear. ‘It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.’ she said. The small Seawing eased slightly and relaxed fully. Island looked around. She locked her eyes on a large fish, hunted it, and gave it to the dragonet. ‘Here. Eat this.’ Island said putting the fish in between her talons. Suddenly she was tackled.
Island got smacked in the face, twice in a row, and hit in her stomach, hard. When another punch was being delivered to her neck, she dodged, punched him in his stomach, and pinned him down. ‘Argh! Let me go, stupid dragonet.’ He flashed.  ‘Oh, I’m stupid?’ Island said. ‘Let’s see if this is stupid.’ Island said, poking a talon on his pressure point. ‘OW! OW! IM SORRY! OUCH!’ Island got off of him, and sat down, and flashed ‘You should scram.’ to the two other dragons. They swam away as fast as they could, leaving a trail of huge bubbles behind them. She then turned her head toward the dragon laying down before her, lying down in pain. ‘I’ll stop! I’ll stop!’ He promised. ‘Fine. You’re off the hook.’ She said, swimming back to Aquarius happily. 
The duo spent the rest of the night fighting the small bits of crime that happened every so often, making a better reputation for the two. They fell deeper in love, soon known as ‘The Bronze Duo’. They fought in sync, diminishing the crime of the Seawing castle town slowly but surely. 
Island returned to her beautiful bedroom with Stellar still snoring away peacefully. “You’ll come tomorrow night?” Island asked. “Yes I will, darling,” he said, kissing her. Then, he flew off into the small sunrise. Island took off all her gear and rested her tired head on the huge pile of pillows. ‘What a night.’ She thought. ‘What a beautiful night I had.’
SEMI-CHAPTER 1
Rose landed delicately onto the polished balcony of Fern’s room. Rose looked up at the deep blue night sky, the dusk air was nice and humid, but filled with tension. “Ah, here you are,” Fern said, quietly closing the door behind her. “You wanted to discuss, aunt?” Rose said. “Yes, niece. I need an idea for a  ceremony, as I am afraid the dragons I rule are getting bored of me. What are your ideas?” Fern said, a warning glint in her eye. Rose knew what that meant, someone was eavesdropping. Rose focused her ears while saying her response. “Hmm, I’m not sure. How about a museum for our kingdom instead of a ceremony.” Rose said looking at her surroundings. She glanced into the shadows, seeing an odd shape. ‘What is that?’ Rose. The shape growled. But it sounded… mysterious. Suddenly, it made another sound. But it was unearthly and terrifying. Rose looked down to see it’s… Claws? They didn’t look like claws. Not at all. They look like knives, sharpened a thousand times, glinting in the moonlight, looking desperate for blood. Some color drained from Rose’s face.  “What was that?!” Rose blurted. She didn’t care about stealth anymore. “ANSWER ME. WHAT. WAS. THAT.” Rose nearly screamed. “A twist, my newer inventions, I am an animus after all,” Fern said slyly as the ghost-like creature climbed out of the shadows, landing delicately onto the balcony. Rose’s face froze in shock. She never knew that her aunt was an animus. Her sad, dark past rose into her mind, the thoughts draining more color from her body. 
“You could have stopped her…” Rose said, her head tilting down. “But I didn’t, so get over your mother’s death,” Fern said firmly, her face looking like a sculpture. “So, what did you want to talk about,” Rose said shakily. “Well,” Fern started. “I know if there is animus blood in my veins, surely there is some animus blood in your children. Surely. Which is why I am starting an animus ceremony, specifically to find animus dragons. Every dragonet in this kingdom must compete, including your’s, Rose.” Fern said a sly grin painted on her face. 
“So, do you agree?” Rose shook her head. “I couldn’t possibly…” Rose muttered, near silent. “Hmm, child? What was your answer?” “No, I disagree,” Rose said, a little louder. Fern frowned deeply and shook her head. She smiled again and said, “Fine, I will strike a deal with you. If any of your children are animus dragons, I will make your whole family part of the royal family, which means your children will be heirs to the throne. If someone else’s child or you refuse, then I will force Spruce to be my husband.” She said in a cold tone. Rose’s eyes froze, widened. She couldn’t bear to lose the nicest husband she ever had, her soulmate. She felt torn to shreds. ‘No, you can’t possibly! Yes! You have to!’ Her thoughts screamed. Finally, she shook her head and said,”I agree” regretfully. 
CHAPTER 4 
   Hurricane wished the Cinder Flames would just go away. They were an annoying, spoiled group of brats that always made fun of her for no reason at all. They even made fun of her talon color. She never knew if they were just bored or they were genuine. It always just boggled her mind. Now, here they were again, right in front of her face, snickering rudely. This time, they were making fun of her necklace.  “Who or what made that? A MONKEY?!” Lemur cackled. Hurricane just wished they would leave. She had to get to her next class in a few minutes, and this group is just slowing her down. “Haha, very funny, now can I PLEASE get to my class, like, NOW?” Hurricane asked with a worried smile. “Like we would EVER do that when we have your HIDEOUS necklace to look at!” Lemur said. “Well, if I were you, I’d think that this necklace is so bad, I’d just go away and let me, I don’t know, PASS THROUGH?!” Hurricane bargained sneakily. Lemur and her friends looked thoughtful for a moment, then chorused one word, “Nah.”
    The bell rung, meaning that Hurricane was late for class. The Cinder Flames didn’t look one bit worried because they were best friends with the school headmaster, which means she would eat up any excuse the Cinder Flames give. Hurricane groaned quietly. ‘Y’know what? Screw it.’ Hurricane pushed two of the dragonets out of her way and sprinted as fast as she could to class. 
“Care to explain why you’re LATE, Hurricane?” The teacher said. “Sorry, Lemur, Tarantula, and Rafflesia were bullying me, so I had to endure it all.” Hurricane said pretty convincingly. “Oh, they would never! Why would you have such a thought? They are the nicest dragons in this school!” The teacher replied, slightly offended. Hurricane could tell most of the students in her class were annoyed by this answer, as they also knew how annoying and mean the Cinder Flames could be. Hurricane sat down, bracing for a long, boring day.
Finally, lunchtime. Hurricane took out the meat stew Spruce made for her. She sniffed the lukewarm soup, inhaling all the tasty smells it produced. “Hey Hurricane!” a dragon’s voice exclaimed. Hurricane looked up. It was Coal. “Hey, Coal…” Hurricane said awkwardly. Coal was the royal blacksmith’s son, who constantly annoyed Hurricane a tiny bit. He was kind of like a pet to Hurricane in a way. “Whoa! What’s that?” Coal said, attracting the attention of nearby dragonets. Of course. Hurricane’s food ALWAYS attracted the attention of others. That’s how good her dad’s cooking was. “Can I taste?” Coal asked beggingly. “No, my food.” Hurricane said, holding the wooden container closer to her. Then, she noticed other dragonets approaching her, so she slurped the delicious stew all up in one go. “Ew, manners!” Rafflesia said obnoxiously. Hurricane groaned. ‘Not right now, Please not now!’ She thought pleadingly. She didn’t need this. Not now, not soon, not EVER. 
‘It’s been five minutes since they started yelling at me. What the moons do they want?’ Hurricane asked herself. She just wanted to scream at them to go away, as they were annoying the moons out of her. “Eugh, do you SEE that necklace? It’s just so… So ugly!” Tarantula pointed out rudely. “I heard you three had the same one last year.” Hurricane fired back. “We would NEVER have something like that!” Lemur hollered uncomfortably. “In fact, we would be BURNING down something like that!” “So? Why do you care about mine? If I like it, I like it! Not like your guts!” Hurricane yelled back, angry. “Hurricane! My office. Now.” Said a firm voice behind her. ‘Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no.’ Hurricane thought, scared. A cold bead of sweat slid down her neck. “Sure thing, Headmaster!” Hurricane said squeakily as she faced the strict face of Ms. Jaguar. 
   “I actually took your side in believing that those three dragonets were actually bullying you! But what do I see? YOU bullying THEM! This is a despicable act from you, Hurricane! Do you KNOW how serious this is! I will have your parents contacted IMMEDIATELY!” Jaguar ranted in Hurricane’s face. Waves of dread, stress, and sadness washed over her. ‘Of course, this is where my rotten luck gets me. Of course.’ She thought angrily as Jaguar continued ranting about ‘how serious this is’. “Why would you bully those wonderful girls, Hurricane? What did they do to you!? You know what? I don’t need an answer. I have all the evidence I need. Plus, I know you’re going to say ‘Oh, but they insulted me first!’ No! They would never do such a thing!” Jaguar said furiously. Hurricane tried to conceal the fact that her scales were turning red, as she was almost even more furious than Jaguar. ‘Y’know what would be good? If Jaguar could turn into weird monkey.’ She smirked at the idea. That would be funny. ‘Jaguar, turn into a weird looking monkey!’ she thought seriously. Suddenly, Jaguar yelped at a group of fur growing quickly out beneath her scales. 
Hurricane suddenly realized what was happening. ‘Oh no. Oh, moons no.’ Hurricane thought worriedly. “What are you doing? Help me!” Jaguar screamed. “Help you? Help you HOW?!” Hurricane hollered back. Jaguar, for once in her life, looked genuinely desperate and confused. More fur grew around her as her size shrunk quickly. “I pass my job onto Ms. Stream!” She yelled as her face morphed into a scrunched face of a monkey. The door to the office burst open. “Jaguar, what are you yelling about?” a light blue dragon asked as she peered into the room. “Wait, where is Jaguar?” She asked. “Are you Stream?” Hurricane asked. “Why yes, now where is my cousin?”
Hurricane explained everything to Stream, rushing some parts and emphasizing with some details. “Sounds to me like you’re an animus, which is near impossible to happen!” Stream said, wide-eyed. “But, that also means you can reverse this, so do your magic!” Stream said hurriedly. “Oh, um… Okay…” Hurricane replied awkwardly. “Umm… Change Jaguar back to a dragon!” Hurricane said, shakily but somewhat firm. As soon as Hurricane spoke her sentence, the monkey started to grow huge and scaly and soon took the form of Headmaster Jaguar. 
The room had been in an awkward silence for about ten minutes, no one saying anything. “Stream, do you have an idea for what to say to Hurricane’s parents? The last class of the day is almost over.” Jaguar said quietly. Stream opened her mouth, but then closed it and shook her head. “How about we keep this quiet?” Hurricane suggested. “Until we figure out something, we should keep this quiet.” Both dragons nodded at the idea, and let Hurricane go to her class.
“What happened?” “What did she say?” “Why were you in there so long?” “What’s going to happen?” The questions from Hurricane’s classmates swarmed her like hornets, stinging her with their annoying questions she didn’t feel like answering. “Look, just leave me alone, okay? I got lucky, so nobody will be hearing nothing. Got it?” Hurricane said firmly, silencing them all. The bell was rang and they all got to their seats, the hum of gossip and chatter still hanging around. “No way she got lucky! Nobody gets lucky!” “What do you think happened?” “How DID she get lucky?” ‘Questions and answers for another day.’ Hurricane thought inside her hurting head. She was an animus dragon. An animus. “Hello class, please get out your science scroll-books and flip to page fifteen.” The teacher said. ‘One more class until I get to relax. Just one more class. That’s it’ Hurricane thought, longing for the comfort of her house. 
SEMI-CHAPTER 2
THIRTY YEARS BEFORE...
   Fern had been practicing for weeks on end to beat this competition. She was getting that prize no matter what. She had two extra hours of sun time, more than anybody else. She had to win this. She climbed the tree Queen Glory had hid in before. She threw bits of tree bark on her back, camouflaged very carefully, adding small details like flowers, and moving bugs. And she waited. She waited for the seeker. She heard the shouts of anger as other dragonets were being found. She heard more, and more, each time she heard a shout, she got frightened. ‘I wish I was invisible for the entire competition so I can win!’ She thought. After that thought, she felt something weird, like water being poured onto her. ‘It’s probably the sunlight of the breeze.’ She assured herself. And she waited. And waited. And waited...
“Three, two, one!” The judges chorused, waking up Fern from her nap. Did she seriously keep her scale color together? She stood up. “Did I, did I win?” She shouted to the baffled judges. They looked at one another, muttering “No way! I thought we got them all!” “I thought she was terrible at camouflage! How did she win?” “Well, she had been practicing a lot. She got lucky, I guess.” Fern ignored the small conversations of the judges and looked for her sister, Vine. But then she remembered their fight, and how she was totally going to miss this competition. How she hoped Fern would be a sore loser and be in last place. How she would be at sword-fight training. “We said you won! Why are you sad?” One of the judges asked, disrupting Fern’s thoughts and changing her deep blue scales to electric blue. “Wait, I won? I WON!” Fern said, distracting everyone from her blue scales that represented sadness. She put a smile on her face as the huge crowd cheered. She closed her eyes, tears of sadness sliding down her fake smile. She wanted Vine to be here. She wanted her sister, after so many arguments, after their parent’s deaths, she just wanted her to be here. 
Fern threw a rock into the river next to their shack. She threw another rock. She threw another rock, skipping it for the first time. She barely even smiled at this achievement, wondering where Vine was. The orange light of the sunset made the cold, clear river water look like rushing waves of amber with golden flecks, racing to reach the huge, majestic waterfall only Fern and Vine knew about. She skipped another rock, making it farther than the first one. Fern sighed, hungry. She wondered what Vine was going to bring back. She hoped it was her favorite ingredient for her making her famous stew. Suddenly, the smell of rabbit, chicken and various vegetables caught her attention. “Vine, you’re finally home.” She said, trying to hide most of her happiness.
“Fern, I have done my research and confirming the fact that you’re an animus,” Vine said. “Do you think it has something to do with our heritage? Maybe a secret animus during the Scorching age?” “To be honest, I’m not sure,” Fern said as she snarfed down a chunk of rabbit meat. She smacked her lips. “Needs more… parsley.” Fern said hesitantly. Vine snickered and wolfed down her piece of meat. “This is the nicest conversation we’ve had since the incident,” Vine said. “It is…” Fern said solemnly. A huge howl from the woods broke their silence. Then realizing it was probably a howler monkey, the two went to sleep. 
Fern woke up and went outside quietly.
SEMI CHAPTER 3
   “I’m here, Dazzling.” Fern said quietly. Suddenly, a huge stomp-noise disrupted the peaceful night-time silence. Another stomp-noise followed. And another stomp followed. “Do you have your answer, child?” An ancient voice rumbled. “Yes, I do have my answer.” Fern replied shakily. A huge silhouette appeared. “Are you sure?” It rumbled again. “Do you want me to doubt it? Because when you ask that, I do.” Fern said firmly. Fern grabbed wooden torch and lit it up with the campfire used to make Fern’s stew, raised it above her, displaying Dazzling’s face. Unlike Grandeur, Dazzling didn’t age all that well. Fortunately, it was just part of the curse Fern would agree to take on. “My answer, or rather my plan, is when I’m queen for three years, you will send your minions to attack a banquet I will be holding, you will kidnap me, transfer the curse to me, and become queen. Everyone will think I was slightly traumatized by the experience, which will be the reason I seem so…” Fern looked for an ending to that sentence. “So much like me?” Dazzling answered awkwardly. They both knew there wasn’t a good answer to that. “Anyways, deal,” Dazzling said, changing the subject. “D-deal,” Fern said, doubting her choice. 
CHAPTER 5
   Frostfire brought out her mirror in the sunlit green, wooden room of the treehouse. It had been quite useful over the month, but she just felt like something was… missing. It just felt a little off to her. “What are you missing?” Frostfire asked. The mirror stayed blank. Of course, it did, how would it know how to answer that? Frostfire groaned. Why did this have to be so hard? “Please just show me something… cute.” Frostfire said. The face of the mirror faded into showing a small kitty snoring softly. Frostfire’s mood became a little happier and continued thinking on what to do. Suddenly, an idea popped up.
“I enchant… Uh… Oh moons, did I forget again?” Frostfire said. She had designed a spell for a little assistant named Mouse to help find answers to her questions, but she kept forgetting what to say. “Oh moons, if I keep forgetting it, it’s going to take forever…” Frostfire groaned. She cleared her throat, remembered what to say, and said, “I enchant this mirror to have a small, gray dragon named Mouse that will help me find answers to my questions. She will also be secret friend.” She said. It took a moment for the enchantment to show up, Frostfire oddly excited. Suddenly, a little gray dragon took shape on screen. “Whoa, uh… Hi, I’m Mouse!” It said. “Umm… how exactly did I get here? I thought I died in the great Sandwing war. Also, why am I so small and weird?” Mouse said, confusing Frostfire. Mouse made a weird face before bursting into laughter. “I’m just kidding! My name IS Mouse though.” She said. Frostfire took a moment before realizing she just been pranked by the very thing she enchanted. She felt kind of stupid, but nevertheless happy. 
Frostfire smelled the scent of… venom and burning metal? She opened her eyes immediately. Her surroundings were a huge, stone, gray castle. She was standing the balcony of a tower of the huge castle, the dark gray storm above her sounding thunder like crazy and the sharp, cold wind slicing against her ears. Frostfire looked over at the tower directly across hers and saw a huge, glowing contraption, she couldn’t recognize. She heard screams coming from the courtyard below her tear through the sky. She heard the clangs of swords clashing together. ‘It’s just a nightmare, nothing scary.’ Frostfire assured herself. Her talons clunked quietly as she walked over to look down from the stone castle balcony. “What the moons?!” she exclaimed as she saw scavengers warring against dragons. Not just any dragons, all of Pyrrhia’s dragons, and some unknown ones too. “Wha… What is going on?!” Frostfire asked herself. She turned around, only to be surrounded by scavengers. But these scavengers were bigger and scarier, sending chills down her spine. ‘They’re just scavengers, what’re you scared of Frostfire? You can kill them as easily as you can eat them!’ She said to herself unconvincingly. Suddenly, one of the scavengers stabbed at her. 
Frostfire narrowly dodged it and slashed back at it, wiping it out, but not killing. She then swiped at the horde of scavengers in front of her out of her way, and flew as far as she could, as fast as she could. Suddenly, she heard wingbeats after her. She turned her head to see who was chasing her. As soon as she turned her head, she saw a spear directed toward her face. She ducked and turned her whole body to see who was chasing her. She prepared to breathe fire, expecting to see an evil dragon. Instead, she saw the weirdest thing. Scavengers riding the dragons chucked sharp, jagged spears at Frostfire, narrowly missing. Frostfire spat venom at the dragons. The dragons. They looked like they were in terrible shape, with their boney body, their terrible, yellow, cracked claws and horns, and their bloodshot eyes. Frostfire flew as fast as she could, suddenly being hit by one of their rough spears, piercing her leg. Frostfire screamed awake, her throat hurting terribly, cold sweat sliding down her slender neck. She looked around, her vision throbbing. A sharp pain sprouted from her leg, something sharp and round. Frostfire checked what it was, seeing it was a pottery shard.  She looked up a little, seeing shattered pot pieces scattered across the floor. Her headache hurt a little more, Frostfire wincing even more. Her lips felt cracked and she felt so hungry. Suddenly she heard clattering from the top floor. 
Frostfire grabbed a large, sharp pottery shard and focused her ears. She could hear familiar voices, but her ears were not acting well. Her talons clasped around on the pottery shard, it’s jagged features on its side digging into Frostfire talons. “Who… Who are you!?” Frostfire yelled upwards. The clattering stopped, followed by the sounds of talons climbing down the stairs from the loft. “Oh, thank the moons!” Hurricane said with relief, dropping several potions on the ground. “Finally you’re awake, you were writhing in pain and torture, I swear!” Island said, sighing with immense relief. Frostfire dropped the shard onto the ground, a stain of blood on it for holding it so tight. “It’s just you guys, okay, nice to know…” Frostfire said, feeling extremely tired for some reason. “Is there… Is the…” Frostfire stuttered tiredly. “Is there what?” Hurricane asked. “Is there an energy potion?” Frostfire said. “Here,” Island said, handing her a glowing icy blue potion. Frostfire gulped it down in three chugs, then dropping the glass bottle to the ground. “I was lucid dreaming,” Frostfire said, just now realizing what really happened. “That’s… nice. Umm, are you still gonna hang out here or…” Island asked. “Nah. I’m going to practice… brewing potions.” “Oh, I almost forgot!” Hurricane said, digging into her bag. She brought out a small poster, which had a nicely painted portrait of Fern on it, with small text on the bottom announcing an animus contest. 
“Yeah, that’s what originally came here for, but then we saw you… Er… Lushid dreaming.” Island explained to Frostfire. “Lucid, dreaming.” Frostfire corrected. “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, have you guys SEEN the Sea Kingdom! It’s BREATHTAKING!!” Island said dreamily. “She will NOT stop talking about her stupid field trip, I swear.” Hurricane groaned, rolling her eyes. “Also, I have a secret to confess to you guys.” Island said, blushing. “Oh what, that you… Uh.. Secretly are a princess? You… Started a business? Oh, I know, I bet you found your DAD!” Hurricane blurted. “No, I fell in love.” Island said, hurt. 
The sisters spent the rest of the day chatting away in the sunlit treehouse, talking of their stories and adventures and locking away secrets they couldn’t mention, at least not tomorrow. 
CHAPTER 6    (Mixed Views)
   “Rise and shine my dragonets!” Rose exclaimed in her beautiful voice, the one she used for singing. Frostfire always woke up first to the curves of Rose’s voice. This time she woke up extra early. It was the day. 
   Island always wakes up second. But she was energized unlike usual. She polished her scales swiftly, fondling with her midnight black pearl necklace, Aquarius’s gift. Today he would be coming to visit the Rainwing kingdom. Island giggled at the thought. Today was the time. 
Hurricane opened her eyes as the last of them to wake up. She knew she would be the star in her family, she knew the benefits of finishing off this stupid contest. Today, she would be able to take on every enemy in her way. 
Bengal guarded the Prism Leaf Stadium while it was being set up in the crisp, rainy morning. The droplets of clear, cold water splashed onto his royal blue scales, waking him up from his drowsiness every few seconds. Today would be an interesting day. 
FROSTFIRE
   “Over here.” The servant said, leading Frostfire to the fancy tent which Frostfire would accessorize in. “Thank you.” She said, entering the wide changing room. “Be ready in twenty-five minutes, also it’s required to wear the green gradient sash with a golden button. Thanks.” The dragon said, leaving the room and closing the curtain right after finishing her sentence. “T-thanks,” Frostfire said awkwardly. 
Frostfire turned her head away from the tent entrance and faced the clean vanity and an open chest with neatly folded clothes inside, including the well-crafted sash. There was also a small stone bowl filled with water for polishing and washing their scales, a dead sapling with jewelry hanged on the branches, and a rack with armor hanging neatly on it. Frostfire went over to the chest first and immediately saw the well-woven sash made with clearly the finest silk. It held all the shades of green, with small dots of brown, hot pink, vibrant royal blues, tangerine oranges, and midnight blacks, all woven as shapes representing the tiniest of flowers.
She moved her eyes onto the delicately crafted golden button, with the most detailed image of Queen Glory on it, a revolutionary queen, the first one to rule two dragon tribes, and she was only a dragonet. Frostfire put it on slowly, careful not to rip anything as she clicked around her neck. She matched her scales to a dark green, with light green highlights and flowers near her claws. She clicked on iron gauntlets with emerald highlights and matched her scales to the silk sash. “I guess I’m ready,” Frostfire said. 
   
HURRICANE
   Hurricane entered the pleasant tent, neatly decorated with armor, jewelry, and armor. She put the sash on, feeling every second because of the smooth silk feeling like water running over her talons. “What is this made out of?” She whispered to herself in awe. She looked at the armor, neatly clinging onto the rack. She stepped toward the fine armor, which obviously took hard work crafting. She fitted the gauntlets onto her talons, making her look even more intimidating than ever. Hurricane grabbed iron tail armor and an iron breastplate and took a glance toward at the weapons alongside the armor, and looked at the fine craftsmanship. She grabbed the iron sword with a gray diamond outline, and a silver hilt, matching her iron gauntlets. “I could use this,” Hurricane said, the sash flowing with the wind from the rainstorm. 
ISLAND
   Island clicked on a silver necklace decorated with silver hibiscus flowers with sapphire centers. She wore the beautiful necklace along with her midnight black pearl necklace, representing her Nightwing and Seawing heritage. She wore the silk sash, the silk reminding her of that squishy sea creature Aquarius showed her in the Sea Kingdom.  She would be seeing him today again. She smiled warmly at the thoughts. She clicked on an iron breastplate and walked outside, grabbing a sword forged with sapphire, outlined with diamond. Island walked outside. “I’m pretty confident about my luck.” Island mused to herself. 
FROSTFIRE
Frostfire stood on her pedestal while the Rainwing kingdom yelled at the few flashy dragons on their pedestals, competitors. Frostfire had no idea how the crowd’s vocal chords could take this much yelling, and more importantly how long her eardrums could take the sound. Seriously, she swore her ears would ring forever until the day she died. ‘Enchant the crowd to shout less.’ Frostfire enchanted silently. The crowd yelled for a few more seconds and then stopped. ‘Thank the moons they stopped.’ Frostfire thought with immense relief. She wondered how long she would have to wait before she saw her sisters, and just when she thought that, her two sisters appeared. 
ISLAND 
   
   
 Island was glad the outside cheering stopped. She didn’t even realize the shouting until it stopped, along with the ringing in her ears. It gave her a headache. A small dewdrop from the rainstorm dropped onto her snout, surprising her a little. “Dragons, dragonets, WELCOME TO THE ARENA!” Fern bellowed, which made the crowd go hysterical. Luckily, it was shorter than she first heard. A light layer of fog rolled in, matching the dark gray sky, which rumbled slightly with small hints of lightning and thunder. 
“Great, a thunderstorm. Just what I needed.” Island muttered as Hurricane appeared out of her tent, fully geared top to bottom. ‘That’s a whole lot of armor Hurricane.’ Island thought. 
           THIRTY MINUTES LATER  
   
HURRICANE
   Hurricane was genuinely bored of the same speech she was always excited about when she was at the arena. She memorized from the first line to the last by heart. But those days were over. 
   “LET THE MATCHES BEGIN!” Fern hollered at the top of her lungs, horns blaring and the dragons screaming with excitement. The twisted metal gates opened slowly, but the creatures running out weren’t. Suddenly, Hurricane was shoved down, and face planted into the ground.  
   A claw slashed into her face, barely giving her time to respond. ‘Nightwings drove mad? Rainwings with forced black scales? What are these?!’ Hurricane said, being shoved against the wooden wall of the arena. She opened her eyes and saw something, not dragon. It was more ghostly figure shaped like a dragon, black with dark purple accents. The thing slashed at Hurricane’s underbelly, which was guarded with only the armor straps.
All the gold, iron and silver clanked onto the dusty brown ground, only a helmet, four gauntlets, and tail armor left on Hurricane’s body. “Well, that'll be a big challenge.” Hurricane said.
FROSTFIRE
    Frostfire quickly learned that you have to surprise attack the ghosts to even give them a scratch. She already saved a few other dragons from a brutal attack, but some already dead. She camouflaged in an unnoticeable corner of the huge arena and pulled out her mirror.
“Mouse?” she asked desperately. “Yep. You hafta use your magic, but please leave me alone. Trying to nap here.” Mouse yawned. “How did you know what I was going to ask?” “You gave me the abilities of all the dragons in your sleep. Apparently sleep-enchanting works.” Mouse answered the confused Frostfire. Frostfire sighed and grabbed a small iron dagger coated with a mysterious oil that changed color every time she turned it.
“Enchant this dagger to wield the ability to kill twists,” Frostfire yelled, loud enough for the crowd to hear. She heard the crowd chat to themselves, “No way!” “She couldn’t possibly be an animus!” “I don’t believe it!”. Frostfire ignored their murmurs as she dashed gracefully across the arena, slashing at the black and purple ghosts, amazing the crowd at the same time. 
ISLAND
As soon as she saw Frostfire enchant the dagger, Island had a strong feeling that she was an animus too. She nervously fumbled with her shield, but then held it up with her claws and said,
“Enchant this shield to make a forcefield around the dragon holding it, and that it will protect it from any attack!”. She then felt a light thrum in the shield. ‘No way! I really am an animus!’ Island thought excitedly.  She held up the shield, a light blue forcefield spilling around her, like a waterfall. A ghost ran up and slashed up to her, but failing because of the radiating forcefield. The crowd ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ at Frostfire’s dagger and Island’s forcefield. ‘
‘Poor Hurricane! She might not be an animus!’ Island thought with pity. Island looked away and tackled the ghosts, unaware of the enchant Hurricane yelled.
HURRICANE
    Hurricane knew it was her turn to make an enchant for the crowd. She clicked off her gauntlets and held them up. “Enchant these gauntlets to become a prison for these ghosts and lock them in forever!” She said, throwing them to the ground. A soon a the tip of it touched the damp sand, a bronze prison sprouted up, sucking the ghosts in with a powerful wind, and the prison door shut closed. The crowd sat still in their seats, their eyes filled with awe with the fact that three animus dragons are right in front of them.
“Well,” Fern bellowed with excitement. “It seems that the Twists’ cage can leave now, GUARDS!” Hurricane sat down, but not tired. She looked over to see her sisters trotting over to her, unbuckling their armor which clinked onto the ground. The skies cleared up, leaking sunlight onto the sandy floor of the arena. “What are the odds!” Island exclaimed. “Ya think!” Frostfire yelled. Hurricane closed her eyes, breathing in the air.  
Chapter 7
Bengal was shocked as heck when he saw three Rainwing animus dragons, right in front of him.  Frostfire glanced at him to see if he was still with her. Now, he definitely was. Her flower crown made her look even more gorgeous, even if it was slightly burnt with the Twist’s fire. 
“Guards, search the arena for any corpses,” Fern said corpses like it was the most disgusting thing she’d ever heard. The alive dragonets trudged away while Frostfire and her sisters huddled together to talk. Bengal couldn’t hear anything since he was so far away, but he could hear fragments. 
“Why didn’t you tell us Frostfire?” or “I’m an animus! I’m an animus!” or “Nobody can challenge us now! We’re too powerful for anyone!”. Bengal looked around the arena and saw a corpse. He walked forward to carry it, and suddenly realized who this was. It was his best friend Macapuno. A large tear rolled down his face as he stared at his dead friend. “MACAPUNO!” he yelled, which caught the attention of Frostfire and her sisters. “Bengal? Is everything ok?” “No, it’s not! My friend was killed by a Twist, so no, I’m not ok.” hollered Bengal, as more tears slid down his royal blue face. “No, I’m not ok,” he said weakly. He heard Island mutter, “Start raining cold raindrops.” Suddenly, the sky turned a light gray slowly, and he felt the humid temperature melted into a cold, sharp, pain. Just like the grief he felt inside. “Macapuno…” He muttered sadly.
      Bengal wailed at Macapuno’s funeral. He stuttered when he acknowledged him and kept to himself the entire time. “Bengal, I brought some food for you, It’s Macapuno’s favorite, ube macapuno cake… I’ll leave the plate here if you want it.” Bengal glanced at the slice of cake, which made him remember Macapuno’s birthday. Macapuno threw a slice of cake in his crush’s face by accident, which was really funny, especially because Bengal told Macapuno’s crush on her after the birthday party. When Bengal remembered Macapuno’s face and smiled slightly only to remember that he’s gone. Bengal started to cover his face and cry for the forty-fifth time in this single day.
        The next day Bengal went to Queen Fern to tell her what happened.  He poured his little heart out on every detail, telling her what happened. “Oh, that is unfortunate. I’m very sorry about that, but it isn’t my fault he signed up for this animus competition.” Queen Fern said, obviously looking very bored and uninterested while talking. Bengal couldn’t believe this. He had respected her for years, and this is what he gets? He would have grabbed the nearest spear and stabbed her if it weren’t for Frostfire and her family to barge in and interrupt. Their voices were muffled, but Bengal knew it was them. “Dad, why did you bring all that cooking stuff?” “How much jewelry do you think we’re gonna get?” “We’re going to be adopted heirs of Queen Fern! This is so exciting!” Suddenly, the door flung open, hitting a guard by accident. “AHHOUCH!” yelled the guard. “My apologi-” “WEEE'RREEE HEEEREE!” Frostfire was interrupted by her energetic little sister Hurricane, which burst into the hallway like a scavenger running for its life. “Holy moons! This place is so huge!” yelled Hurricane. Aquarius and Island walked in together, looking at each other like gold jewelry. But Frostfire yet again steals the attention of Bengal, which he runs over to hug. “Whoa! Hey Bengal! You doing ok?” “Yeah, I’m doing good,” Bengal replies. “Are you here to move in?” “Yep, I got my suitcases to float on their own instead of having to carry them. Pretty smart right?” “Being an animus is amazing right? You get to do the impossible every single day… That’s called amazing!” “It is pretty cool, besides the fact you have to worry about your soul. That part kinda sucks, but the rest is great.” “Three servants, please introduce the family to their rooms, the rest of you go set up the banquet for tomorrow and one of you send a bouquet of  hibiscus, mango flowers, and Cinderflames in honor of this Macapuno’s death.” Announced Queen Fern. “Well, I’ll see you later Bengal,” said Frostfire. “Ok, see ya,” said Bengal, wishing she could stay.
            
      Chapter 8
                   Island couldn’t believe it! She was moving into the Royal Rainwing Palace! “It’s  so beautiful Aquarius! Look at the throne Fern’s on! This is pretty!” a servant approached Island and her family. “Umm, hey… I’m here to show you your rooms. If you’ll follow me…” “HOLY MOONS WE GET OUR OWN ROOM?!” shouted Hurricane.  “That does sound really pleasant,” said Frostfire. “Can I cook in the royal kitchen, Queen Fern?” asked Spruce. “Yes, you may. You might even join in as a royal cook, seeing as you have the experience of starting a little restaurant,” replied Fern. Spruce seemed overjoyed by Fern’s compliment and immediately started jumping around. “Rose! Can you believe that? I could start my own little restaurant!” “Oh Spruce, I believed that you could do that a long time ago,” and kissed him on the cheek. “Mom, we’re RIGHT here! Stop the lovey-dovey stuff! Eugh!” complained Hurricane. Then, Island walked right in front of Hurricane, and kissed Aquarius. “ISSLLAAAND! What the moons!? That’s gross.” Hurricane complained again. “Act more mature, Hurricane. If they love each other, they love each other. Jeez, respect them.” Frostfire fired back. Hurricane groaned and walked up to the servant. Island thought, ‘This is it! I’m going to be a Rainwing heir.’ 
            Island nearly busted down her new room’s door. “Whoa there, calm down!” chuckled Aquarius. The main color of the room was mostly a faded sky blue, some parts light cyan. There was a nice, tiny bookshelf next to a pile of pillows, which Island suspected she would be sleeping on. The windowsill looked like the most comfortable place to relax in. The little mahogany table looked smooth and sturdy, which was perfect for Aquarius to sharpen his sword on. “Oh Aquarius, this is perfect!” “I know, but I can’t stay, and you also know that,” replied Aquarius sadly. Island remembered that and kissed him again. They Island crashed onto the pile of pillows and read a book while Aquarius sharpened his sword on the table, tiny sparks flying onto the table. Soon, it was dinnertime, the sunset outside casting a pink and orange glow into the room. Island put her book away, while Aquarius put the sword in the sunlight, admiring its sharpness and look. “I swear, one day you’re going to marry that instead of me.” chuckled Island. “Maybe I will,” Aquarius joked back. Island rolled onto her feet and went over to Aquarius’s sword. “Not if I marry it first,” she said. “My precious!” exclaimed Aquarius, laughing. “Marry me, sword!” Island laughed out! “Noo! My sword!” Aquarius said, hugging the sword with a big smile on his face. Island couldn’t take it anymore and burst out laughing and giggling hysterically, which Aquarius did too. Frostfire opened the door and saw Island squirming on the ground, giggling while Aquarius’s head was lolled back, laughing like crazy. “Hey lovebirds, it’s dinnertime. You should get ready,” said Frostfire, trying not to snicker at the way they were both laughing. “Ok, we’ll both be there right Aquarius?” giggled Island. “Yeah, we’ll be there” snorted Aquarius.
                          Their first royal dinner looked mostly like Spruce’s cooking, which was fine, but surprised Island. She didn’t know Spruce had the skill of a royal cook, not to mention the fact that he filled nearly the entire table with his food. The quiet hum of chatter filled the large dining hall, which was bigger than the throne room. Island ate her food while taking in every detail of the dining hall. The chandelier hung from the ceiling like a delicate, diamond earring. The wooden beams seemed a thousand years old, smoothed and glossed over with a mysterious oil. The potted plants were bright green, only the veins standing out from the bright green of the leaves, glimmering in the dim torchlight. Island ate her food slowly, savoring all the miniature explosions of flavors Spruce had made. After her meal, she sat on her chair, only then noticing Aquarius scraping some food into a glass jar, and putting it in a sealskin pouch and standing up to leave the room. Island stood up and walked over him, only to realize he was going to the balcony, which portrayed the starry night sky. It was like a huge canvas, smothered in navy blue ink, with little bright stars slowly appearing, and the moon casting its mystical light upon the jungle, making it look like waves of dark, dark green. The mountains in the distance, barely showing against the inky blue night sky, looking like mere stage props. A small breeze containing the faintest hint of sea salt and the juices of lemons and mangoes. The humidity chased away the usual night time chills, like a dragon chasing its prey. The usual iridescent colors of the jungle were gone, faded into a pallet of dark and dull colors. “Do you want to fly for a bit?” Aquarius asked. Island glanced at night sky, inhaling the jungle’s fresh air. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I want to fly.”
CHAPTER 9
            Hurricane awoke to the sound of a toucan. Her eyes opened slowly, taking the bright light in as she opened them. The sound of swords clanging together snapped her eyes open. She looked down from her window and saw two dragonets about the same age as her, sword fighting. One of them had a strained look while the other one had a big toothy grin while fighting. Hurricane moved her head back into her room and put on a silky amber colored scarf and a bronze gauntlet to match her tan scales. She exited the palace and went to a nearby stream and splashed her sleepy face with cold water, which quite refreshed her. Then she flew to the platform where she saw the dragonets sword fighting. She swiftly grabbed a sword and barged into the current sword fight, surprising both dragons. “Come at me, pretend I am a thief that just stole your treasure, and don’t go easy.” Hurricane said. The two dragonets steadied their balance and tried to tackle Hurricane. She dodged easily, looking disappointed. “She said with your best, not with your blind stupidity.” spat the coach, looking annoyed at her students’ lack of skill compared to Hurricane. “My turn,” Hurricane said. She dashed straight at them, as if she were to tackle them back, so the dragonets stood together, side by side and braced themselves. But then suddenly, Hurricane turned, sparks flying from her talons scraping against the smoothed stone, and lightly cutting the first student on the area right under his wing, and leaped up into the air, jabbing the second dragonet on her spine area, and landed almost soundlessly onto the platform. “This is the skill I’m looking for in you coconut-brained toucans!” the coach exclaimed harshly. The students flinched at the insult like she was wavering the sharpest sword in their faces.  Suddenly, the coach walked over to Hurricane with a sword. “Of course, I need to see if you have the skill or my dragonets are weak as a scavenger.” said the coach as Hurricane leveled her sword. Suddenly she dashed toward her with lightning-fast speed, barely giving time for Hurricane to dodge. As soon as the coach stopped, Hurricane jabbed into the coach’s side, a small trickle of blood sliding down her scales. “Ah,” the coach said smoothly, obviously trying to hide her happiness and pain. “After 28 years, someone beats me. Someone has finally beat me, Vine, this makes me finally feel what joy is again.” said the dragon. Hurricane released the sword from her flesh and stood back, looking at the coach in her frozen expression. “Hello? Are you alive? I didn’t mean to kill you, I’m sorry!” Hurricane exclaimed hurriedly. “I cannot die from such a cut, child. It is like a cut from the thinnest paper ever, do not worry.” The coach said smoothly. “Now, do you know who you just beat?” the coach asked as she craned her head to face Hurricane. “Umm, a sword fighting coach?” “No, the sister of Fern. Sergeant Major of the Rainwing Army. A.K.A, Vine.” 
                  Hurricane could barely even breathe. ‘The sister of Fern, right in front of me. Who knew?’ Hurricane thought. “I fought with little strength, let’s go another round, shall we?” asked Vine. “S-sure.” Hurricane stuttered.” Vine wiped off the trickle of blood from her side and grabbed her sword. Hurricane leveled hers and prepared her muscles for dodging for Vine’s charge. Vine charged and Hurricane was right about to dodge when Vine flew up and dove toward Hurricane, her sword pointed at her face. Hurricane sidestepped when Vine was extremely close, and jumped on top of Vine, body-slammed her and poking her with her sword. “Ah, beat me again.” She said, satisfied. “Seems so,” Hurricane replied. Hurricane got off of her and stood up straight. Vine stood up and held her sword up. “IF you beat me again five times in a row, I will make you a general of a section of an army,” Vine promised. “But, what about Fern?” Hurricane asked. “Fern said she would take care of all the queenly things while I take care of war and attack stuff, though she does attend war meetings,” Vine explained. Hurricane understood and started pondering the offer Vine gave her. “Ok, but only if you shorten it to three rounds, each we are given a different weapon. And no death allowed.” Hurricane bargained. “Hmm… All right. I agree” she said, a hint of suspicion entering Hurricane’s mind. “Ok, tomorrow.” Hurricane said. “Tomorrow?” Vine repeated to herself. “Tomorrow.”
                       
                    Hurricane polished her bronze gauntlet. ‘Becoming a general of a section of the royal Rainwing army, amazing.’ Hurricane flew down to the blacksmith, the heat of the fire drying the humidity around it. “Charcoal, are you here?” asked Hurricane. “No, but I'm here!” piped a hyper voice. “Oh, hey Coal,” Hurricane replied to the voice. A yellow head popped out of the side of the blacksmith’s hut. “Hey Hurricane!” said Coal. “Oh, hey,” Hurricane replied. She needed the old man’s tips for sword fighting and other types of combat. This pipsqueak mostly enjoyed baking and forging, and hated sword fighting. “Hey! I heard about your spar with Vine, did you seriously beat her?” Coal asked excitedly. “Yeah, I did, where is Charcoal?” Hurricane asked, ignoring  Coal. “Why do you need my dad? He’s consulting with the queen right now, he said he’ll be back.” Coal replied, innocent and clueless. “Oh moons, Coal I gotta dash. I’ll see you later.” Hurricane said hurriedly. 
                “You should stop annoying me Charcoal, I said I’m replacing you, you cannot go against my answer.” Fern said sternly, clearly annoyed. “I am the best Sandwing blacksmith in Pyhrria, you can’t just get rid of me.” Charcoal replied desperately. “Well, I found a good Skywing blacksmith, probably better than you, so shoo.” Fern replied. Charcoal’s face looked crestfallen like he just saw his blacksmith place just burn down, and all there was was black dust, the same color of his mysteriously murdered wife's ashes. “You can't do this to me,” Charcoal growled, anger burning in his eyes. “Of course I can,” Fern said. “In fact, you should be respecting MY decision and giving ME more jewelry because I am the first Rainwing Queen in HISTORY to EVER allow fire in this kingdom.” Fern said in the most annoying voice thought possible. Charcoal looked defeated, every scales burning with rage. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS!!!” Charcoal roared, guards struggling to hold him back. Fern’s eyes glinted with annoyance. “I have a deal, if you appear in my sight once, you will be executed. If you find me, is what I mean. If I find you, you will be beaten till you faint. Deal?” Fern said with a sick face.  ‘No, Queen Fern can’t do this! I have to do something!’ Hurricane thought. Suddenly Hurricane stumbled onto the scene.
“If I defeat your sister Vine, Charcoal will stay here for as long as he wants to!” “Why? This crummy old dragon is too old to be here. Why do you need him, and why do you want to defeat my stupid sister? Seriously, there’s no point.” Fern rambled. Hurricane twitched her eye. This was the queen ruling us all? ‘The Fern I remember wasn’t like this, so what happened?’ Hurricane thought angrily in her head. But something did seem off though, Fern usually radiated power, but Hurricane couldn’t sense anything. In fact, Hurricane couldn’t sense anything anywhere. ‘Could this dragon have captured Queen Fern and stood in as a fake, with no dragon noticing?’ Hurricane thought intensely. ‘Fern’ creaked her head to face Hurricane with her onyx black eyes. Wait, Fern had brown eyes with gold highlights in them, like sunlight shining on smoothed, brown leather.
The onyx black eyes barely shined, like it was in a dark cave. “Ugh, stop staring at me with that disgusting eye twitch, it’s seriously annoying me.” ‘Fern’ said. Hurricane shook her head, apologized and went to her Frostfire’s room and told her what she thought. 
“I thought so,” Frostfire said. “Wait, you knew about this?” Hurricane asked. “Well, I theorized it, and everything adds up. Fern doesn’t radiate power like she used to, much more sassy than mature, her eye color is different, and Fern’s usual color for day is a light, mint green with some raspberry and sky blue scales, and for her night color, she’s always a dark royal blue with some pale yellow scales and some icy blue scales. This ‘Fern’ is always a luscious green, with some dark green and mint scales. That’s my evidence that we have a fake for a queen.” Hurricane compared the evidence, it was true. Fern is gone, and nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER 10
            Frostfire stayed awake all night, reading a story from her Opal mirror. ‘Sapphire yelled at her dad. ‘Father, no! Don’t go to war, you’ll die! I’ll even use the magic word! Please! Please, dad, please!’ but Sapphire’s dad only looked back with a sad, toothy smile. ‘It was nice knowing ya kid. I love you so much.’ He said, and walked out the wooden door of their hut.’ Frostfire didn’t notice the small tear that rolled down her cheek, a small droplet. It reminded her of the first husband Rose ever had, Mahogany, shutting the small wooden door of their hut. “I always loved someone else, scavenger brain!” Mahogany would yell. Frostfire flinched in pain of that memory. Another small tear spilled onto the pillow. Suddenly, a face popped on the screen.
“Master, are you ok?” asked the electronic voice. “Yeah, I’m fine Mouse. It’s just a sad memory.” Frostfire replied to the voice. “Oh, I see. Master, you should also get some sleep, it’s very late.” Mouse said. Frostfire agreed and smiled at her, closing her eyes. 
              Frostfire was encased by honey. ‘No, not honey, what is this?’ Frostfire thought. She poked a talon into the weird stuff. ‘Invisible clay? What is this stuff?’ Frostfire thought with intense curiosity. She opened her eyes and saw that she was encased in a clear clay, like a glass window that covered her entire body. She looked at her surroundings the best she could and saw that she was on a field with a starry night sky above her, and a small stream down below the hill she was on. Frostfire pushed out of the thing she was stuck in, and when she turned to look at it, she saw it was a foggy, diamond, crystal shape. 
She touched it again, the clay feeling for a moment, and it disappeared. ‘What is this? Where am I? Is this a dream?’ Frostfire asked herself. She turned around and around, looking at the glorious night sky, then looking down the hill to see another dragon who seemed to be made of… pure light? Suddenly, light flashed against her eyes, and she woke up. Frostfire looked around her room as if she trusted nothing anymore. She grabbed the Opal Mirror and started shaking it. 
“Mouse, Mouse! What happened?” The gray freckled dragonet face appeared on the screen of the mirror, looking very startled, confused, and a little sick from all the shaking. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHAT?!” Mouse yelled. “I just had a really confusing dream, I would like for you to explain it,” Frostfire said. “Ok ok, stop shaking me! I’ll explain I’ll explain!” Mouse exclaimed. Frostfire explained her dream to Mouse thoroughly, even adding tiny details to help paint the scene of her dream better. Mouse had a serious face listening to Frostfire’s story, and after a while Mouse finally gave Frostfire an answer. 
“You had a vision, not a dream.” Mouse said with a grim face. “What’s with the face Mouse?” Frostfire asked. “Well, that dragon you saw? It might not even be a dragon. And it probably isn’t something weaker than any of us, even with animus magic.” Mouse said, her face dead serious. “No way, I can just enchant them to be weaker tha-” “No, you can’t. They have a power stronger than Animus dragons, possibly an army of them. I can sense it from the details of your vision.” Mouse said, her face even more gray than usual. Frostfire’s tiny smile vanished. ‘A race stronger than us, that can’t be possible! Dragons are the strongest creatures on the face of this continent, What could possibly be stronger?’ Frostfire wondered as she started to fall asleep.
                Frostfire delicately landed on clean, white marble. Her eyes opened, taking in the blinding light. When she could finally see, five huge dragons sat in front of her. There appeared to be three females, two on the left and one on the right. The first male was in the middle while the other sat next to the female on the right.
“Frostfire, was it? Honored to meet you.” said the dragon in the middle. “Wha… What is this place? Are we on top of… Clouds? Where am I!?” Frostfire exclaimed. “Yes, we are on clouds, specifically the gods’ palace. Oh, where are our manners! I apologize sincerely, my name is Corric, god of emotions, strength, life, and leadership.” said the dragon in the middle, ignoring the shocked, confused face of Frostfire.
“I’m Nora, the goddess of space, time, thoughts, and wisdom.” said the female left of Corric. “I am Mwena, goddess of all nature, science, and the five senses.” said the female dragon next to Nora. “I am Zarot, the god of healing, pain, peace, and tools.” said the male dragon right of Corric. “I am Sarlan, goddess of animals, entertainment, war and music.” said the dragon next to Zarot. 
“What are gods and goddesses?” Frostfire asked. “Well, we are celestial beings stronger than even animus dragons,” Nora explained. “How? Animus dragons can just wish for anything and it can just become true like I can just say for you to turn into the tiniest lizard in the world and you just become one in an instant.” Frostfire fired back, unsure. 
“Well, I can make you an emotionless dragon without even being an animus, you see we’re kind of like… The kings and queens of animus dragons.” Corric explained poorly. “How much time until I wake up?” Frostfire said, trying to change the subject. “You have one more minute, but I do have a message for you to keep in your head. The gods are coming to the land of Pyrrhia.”
           Frostfire decided to go tell Hurricane and Island about her ‘dream’, since clearly she had to tell someone. She scurried through the beautiful palace, making small rips in the dark green silk rug. Suddenly, she bumped into somebody. “Moons, Frostfire! I didn’t know you were THAT fast!” A familiar voice said. Frostfire looked up. 
“Hi Island,” Frostfire said. “Hey, what’s the rush? I didn’t hear about any events going on.” Island said, slightly confused. “Get Hurricane, I have to tell you guys about my dream,” Frostfire said hurriedly. “Gee, what is it with you and your dreams? Mine are just weird, like this one time I was a blue cow. I did not know why.” Island said bluntly. “Island, seriously. This is kind of… I don’t know, IMPORTANT!?” Frostfire shouted through gritted teeth. “Okay, okay, calm down! Moons, I’ll get Hurricane!” Island said, slightly annoyed.
Frostfire sat in her room, holding a necklace that changed color like the dagger in the arena. ‘Should I make it soul protecting? I’ve never lashed out at anyone like that.’ Frostfire wondered. She threw it back into the jewel chest. ‘Maybe tomorrow.’ Frostfire thought again. The door to her small room suddenly flew open, leaving a dent in the wall.
“Whoops. Sorry,” Hurricane said. Island rolled her eyes which led to Hurricane glaring at her as they sat down next to Frostfire. “So what was you boring dream about?” Hurricane asked. “Actually, I have two things to talk about. Both subjects are pretty serious.” Frostfire said firmly. “Wow, okay. Calm down.” Hurricane muttered.
Frostfire threw open her jewelry box, revealing all the shiny treasures inside.  “We’re making soul protectors today, kids.” Frostfire said grumpily. “Choose your treasure,” Frostfire said with sarcastic happiness. “Who hurt you?” Island joked as she picked up a silver wristband. “My use of animus magic, probably.” Frostfire responded coldly, reaching for the same necklace she threw in there. 
“Enchant this wristband to protect my soul from the effects of me using my animus magic too much,” Hurricane said, holding up a golden wristband with designs of lightning and clouds on it, representing the power and honor of the Skywing kingdom. Frostfire looked over to Island, sliding on the silver bracelet, shining with its designs of waves and hibiscus flowers, perfectly resembling the peace of the Seawing Kingdom. Frostfire looked down at her necklace, then tossing it back in the chest. 
It didn’t represent her.
She looked around with her angry, wise eyes, pondering if the enchants had already affected her. Finally, she saw something. She picked up the thick animal bone, staring at it curiously. “Eww,” Island complained. “That HAS to be at least a THOUSAND YEARS old!” Hurricane sneered unusually.  “Enchant this bone to clean itself, carve itself into a stylish gauntlet, and to always keep me sane when I use animus magic. Also, enchant it to be indestructible and protect me from any kind of harm caused by any dragons, besides my family.” Frostfire droned. 
The bone separated into an elegant gauntlet, as yellow as the moons. Frostfire slid the gauntlet over talons smoothly, looking hauntingly as if Frostfire had no arm, just bones. “Okay girls, onto my dream.” Frostfire said while Hurricane and Island shuffled nervously to stand up and escape the soon to be boring conversation. 
‘Enchant the door to lock itself and cannot be overridden by animus magic. Also enchant it to unlock itself when I say the word ‘bioluminescent’,  and enchant it keep all my conversations silent to dragons outside.’ Frostfire enchanted as she watched her sisters try to unlock the door.
“Not funny Frost! Not funny!” Island said as she sat down. “I originally wanted to go check out the library for any hint of the gods, but… I decided to tell you guys!” Frostfire said with sarcastic enthusiasm. 
“Wait, wait, wait, so the gods created nature and stuff?” Hurricane asked, confused. “Yep. That’s what I was told.” Frostfire said, ignoring the huge storm brewing outside. “Hmm. That’s odd, it’s sunny outside, why are dragons screaming? And why is there thunder?” Island remarked, her voice slightly concerned. Frostfire heard her door knock. “Bioluminescent,” Frostfire said bluntly, the door opening. “You guys gotta see this,” Bengal said, his scales bright green instead of royal blue. Frostfire looked behind him and noticed the panicking maids and servants and guards all the green scales hurting her eyes. 
Bengal grabbed Frostfire’s arm, dragging her outside, her sister's close behind. As soon as they reached the outside, Frostfire’s face shined with awe unlike her sisters’ faces which her fading into a greenish color. The dragons they stood in front of her huger than any adult dragon Frostfire had ever seen. And more importantly, they were the gods.  
Chapter 11
Bengal was surprised how unsurprised Frostfire was when she greeted the gods, possibly as big as Darkstalker was. Possibly bigger than him. He shoved away the thoughts, running to Frostfire’s side, grabbing a jagged wooden spear. 
“Corric?” Frostfire said, her eyes gleaming and aching with curiosity. “Nora, Mwena, Zarot, and Sarlan?” Frostfire stammered, her scales overjoyed with the color of golden sunflowers and rippling wheat flooding her body with bits of azure blue, like shards of the sky seeping through the flower and grain. 
“Hello Frostfire of the Rainwings, Mudwings, and Icewings. Nice to meet you.” The huge dragon in the middle, supposedly Corric, rumbled gently, also acknowledging the excited look of Frostfire. “I have SO MUCH TO ASK! I am so excited!” Frostfire said, stamping her feet excitedly. Bengal made a hesitant face, trudging over cautiously as if there were so invisible trap in front of him. 
“It’s okay, Bengal, we don’t bite.” Sarlan said, her scales reflecting a warm amber light. Bengal somehow eased up and almost fell forward, stumbling to a bedazzled Frostfire. “Frostfire, how do you know these dragons?” Bengal whispered, lime green still scattered across his body. “It’s weird but… Well… I know them… from a dream.” Frostfire stuttered awkwardly, bits of crimson resonating peacefully among her other colors, which were surprisingly a calm color instead of the usual neon color of Rainwings, which personally hurt Bengal’s eyes. 
Bengal shook his head and ignored the beauty of Frostfire and faced Corric. “What are you?” He squeaked loud enough to sound brave. Corric smiled warmly while Sarlan and the others (except Mwena)  looked greatly amused. “We are… celestial beings, as the dragons from Pantala might call us.But none of you know much of that place.” Corric rumbled. 
“But you know a lot of that place right?” Frostfire said excitedly. Corric looked down at her, wisdom shining in his eyes. “I know much. We know much. We can satisfy your curiosity.” Corric said, a gleaming marble scroll suddenly appearing in his talons. He bestowed it upon Frostfire, her talons quivering with joy. “If the scroll is not enough, then Nora can come with you. She knows almost everything.” Corric said while Nora walked up to Frostfire. “I know the most relaxing place in the rainforest, perfect for both of us.” Nora said, inspecting the scroll in Frostfire’s talons. 
Everything was happening so fast. Bengal couldn’t keep up his mind. Frostfire had been gone for an hour, her brain probably being blown up with facts and details and other interesting stuff about this weird continent named Pantala. Bengal was worried. He wasn’t sure what ‘gods’ or ‘celestial beings’ were, but he was highly suspicious of them.
What’s even worse is that Frostfire knew about them, but she didn’t tell anybody. Wouldn’t that be something important? In fact, was Bengal important to Frostfire at all? Bengal stuffed his head in the pillow pile next to him. His mind was going into overload. 
“You need water buddy? Too humid for you?” Banana asked, handing him a jug of water. “No thanks,” Bengal replied. “Just… bored.” “Bored? BORED!? HOW CAN YOU BE BORED!? WHAT THE MOONS DID YOU NOT SEE THE GIGANTIC DRAGONS COME DOWN FROM THE SKY?” Banana hollered, extremely surprised. Bengal groaned in response. Banana dumped the water on his head, agitating Bengal. 
“What the moons!” Bengal said, reaching for a towel. “Maybe the heat really DID get to you! How could you react so… boredly?” Banana muttered just enough for Bengal to hear. Bengal groaned, extremely tempted to put a knife to his throat. “Don’t have to react that way,” Bengal said, suddenly noticing rustling leaves. He reached for his spear, glueing his eyes in the direction of the loud rustling. 
“Do you hear that sound, Banana?” Bengal asked. There was a silence. “Banana?’ Bengal asked, releasing his eyes from the still stare, suddenly facing a black ghost. There was a cold silence between the two beings. Suddenly, the ghost hissed and attempted to stab Bengal with its jagged talon. “Stay back, Twist!” Bengal shouted narrowly avoiding the attack. 
He unsheathed the dagger, rolling beneath it,  driving the dagger through the Twist’s underbelly. He hit something solid, with caused the twist to screech loudly. Bengal panted, then diving on top of the twist and stabbing it with his dagger.
The twist shrieked horribly in pain, then dissolving into dust, swirling around Bengal, which revealed the knocked out body of Banana, his body covered in bruises. The scales near his talons and at the ends of his tail and at the edges of his wings were white, which swirled with the bright yellows and greens on his body. 
“Nice work,” Sarlan’s voice complimented Bengal. Bengal looked over his shoulder to face Sarlan, now a normal sized Skywing. She trotted over elegantly, doing twirls, all doing it silently. She inspected Bengal with her scarlet eyes, skimming over his royal blue body. “Well muscled for a Rainwing, excellent skills in fighting, yes, good…” Sarlan muttered. “What are you inspecting? My muscle level? My bicep power? What?” Bengal asked with a hint of sarcasm. 
“Actually, I am. I’m checking if you’re fit to join my League of Warriors. I’ll explain during feast time, in which Fern’s going to be hosting.” Sarlan said, poking her head at Bengal’s wing. “Uh, could you stop?” Bengal asked, uncomfortable. 
Sarlan suddenly crunched her sharp teeth on Bengal’s tail. “EEOW! WHAT THE MOONS!?” Bengal said, suddenly feeling something powerful radiate beneath his scales. It seemed to fill him with power. 
“There, you’ve been Hexed.” Sarlan said, dumping a potion that seemed to burn away Bengal’s pain. “Hexed?” Bengal asked, shivering at the soothing feeling of the potion. “Yeah, Hexed. It happens normally on a different continent, Astraptes. It’s when a god... Uh… Well… It’s when they let a dragon… let’s say ‘ascend to higher form of power’. Yeah, that works.” Sarlan explained poorly. “Yeah, that doesn’t explain much of anything.” Bengal said bluntly.  “Eh, I’ll explain it tonight. See ya!” Sarlan said, twirling away, blasting through the thick jungle leaves. Bengal looked in the direction for a few seconds before waking up Banana. 
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“Tonight, we feast for the arrival of the gods!” Fern hollered across the dining table, raising her goblet, Rainwings standing up from their seats, copying Fern’s actions. Frostfire had just returned from her ‘learning session’ with Nora, and was happily chatting away with her. 
Bengal snacked on meats glazed with oil and fruit drizzled with mango honey. He watched Frostfire laugh in a fake tone with other royals and had short conversations with her sisters and Nora. The gods told jokes that even Bengal couldn’t resist laughing. He would admit, he was fond of the gods, but he was suspicious of one of them. 
Sarlan twirled over, now in the form of a grapefruit colored rainwing. “Okay, now I have time to explain what being hexed means.” Sarlan said, sipping a glass of mango blossom nectar tea. “Y’know you did have time to explain during midday, right?” Bengal said, his face slightly annoyed. Sarlan waved a talon, as if dismissing the matter gleefully. “I have a better explanation now. Basically, I gave you the ability to achieve a special kind of super strength.” Sarlan explained poorly, again. “That still doesn’t explain much, but okay.” Bengal said, snatching a cup of grapefruit matcha infused tea.
Sarlan made an impatient face. Her cheeks the color of gleaming tourmaline and emeralds. “How is this so hard to explain?” Sarlan muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes. “Basically, you’re a normal dragon with no powers, right?” Sarlan said. “Yeah,” Bengal replied bluntly. “Now that I’ve Hexed you, you have the ability to achieve super strength.” “Elaborate?” “You have to do three things that represent your bravery and strength. Just any random thing.” Sarlan said. “But you’ll never be able to get it if you don’t do it.” Sarlan said, the green and the orange fading from her scales. 
Bengal nodded his head, half-understanding it. “Why don’t you just give it to us in the first place, it would honestly just save much more time.” He remarked stubbornly. Sarlan’s scales had mini bursts of bright emerald green, carnelian orange, and only a few scales of onyx black and ruby red. “We don’t give it to you for a reason.” Sarlan spat. “If we straight up gave it to you, we don’t know what would happen. This is based on pure trust, kind of a tradition of ours. If we’re really unsure, we check the future, but we feel that’s somewhat disrespectful, so we don’t do that. That’s why we had our so-called ‘trials’. Actually, you know a good example? Darkstalker. We decided to give him animus powers, but he used them in horrible ways, but after 2000 more years, guess what! We resurrected him because we forgave. But guess what happened. Terrible things. This is why we have the trials, we don’t want others to misuse power.” Sarlan ranted with explosions of red on her scales. 
Bengal let the information sink into his brain, fighting back the urge to make his body go neon acid green. Sarlan closed her eyes and forcefully changed her scales to a calming light blue and dark purple gradient. She smiled genuinely, apologizing, then dancing back toward Zarot. Bengal snatched a big tambaqui sashimi, ignoring the irritated face of the servant. He wondered how much the gods knew, and what they could control. ‘I must’ve underestimated them, didn’t I?’ Bengal thought, the night breeze blowing softly. 
Chapter 12
Island was now officially part of  the Royal Rainwing Public Event Planning Committee, RRPEPC for short. It was a weird acronym, but other than that Island loved this job.  She was friends with almost everyone in the committee, and she loved decorating the Arboretum. It was hard work, but in the end it was always worth it because the area always looked so beautiful.
Today, she was decorating a platform for the Gods. Fern dubbed it as a ‘temporary living space’ for them, but Island knew that Fern wanted them to stay here forever in the jungle, since they already did so much to help keep the area alive somehow. The trees seemed greener, more flowers flourished, and the animals seemed more lively than usual. Even the sloths. 
Island dumped mounds of dirt and filled them with flower seeds. She poured fresh river water on them, and concealed the mounds of dirt with leaves. She watched others decorate the platform with small pillows and blankets made of the finest and exotic exported fur traded from Icewings and Skywings. The platform was beautiful, in Island’s opinion.  She breathed in the fresh jungle air, the bright rays of sunlight flourishing her with energy. She was about to collapse and nap forever, basking in the warm sunlight, when suddenly she ruslting and close after, screaming in the distance. 
‘That can’t be a howler monkey… Can it?’ Island thought, as she fumbled to stay awake.  “Umm… I’m going to take a break for a few hours… Is that okay?” Island asked shyly, dropping more various random flower seeds into the dirt mounds. One Rainwing flashed neon green, signaling that it was good. Island nearly dashed off the huge platform. The screaming was a little louder, slightly hurting Islands ears. The screaming was suddenly cut off, making Island worry even more. 
She dive-bombed onto the jungle floor, the leaves rapidly and violently brushing against her scales. She landed with a thud, looking around the rainforest. She looked at the stream next to her, slightly shaken at the trail of blood contaminating the stream. She proceeded to glance up to see a dead Seawing, a deep gash in the area of her heart.  
She ignored the horrified twisting in her stomach, and proceeded to walk up to the body. She examined the stabbed area, noticing a multiple scavenger claws lodged in the gash. “Moonsbegotten scavengers, killing my own tribe.” Island cursed, moving her eyes to the huge connected lump to the body. ‘Wait, that’s not a lump.’ Island noticed, touching it with her talons. 
“Oh my moons, it’s an egg!” Island exclaimed, her stomach twisting and flipping. This little dragonet’s poor mother was killed by multiple scavengers, most likely out of fear. Island stomped her talons in rage. She couldn’t let this poor dragon live on her or his own. Someone had to take care of it. And that someone was going to be her. The idea struck like a lightning bolt, shocking her so suddenly. She almost dropped the egg thinking about it. Island trembled at the thought of being a parent, especially at this age. 
Island cleared her mind. Was Aquarius here? She had to see him. Island soared up into the air, narrowing her eyes at the tropical coastline. She flew as fast as she could, emerald leaves tickling her talons. Everything flashed by her, green, brown, neon pinks, yellows, and other colors. She finally dipped down to land on the warm sand, but ended exploding the sand everywhere, a sand-mushroom cloud cascading around Island. 
“Well that was certainly a grand entrance, if you ask me.” A familiar voice said. Island lifted her head, trying her best to ignore the aching in her wings and pain in her legs. “Well no duh,” Island said, brushing sand off her snout. Aquarius chuckled, but noticed the Seawing-Rainwing egg in Island’s talons. Aquarius had the most astounded look Island had ever seen in Pyrrhia. “Y-Y-You d-didn’t tell m-me that you were w-with e-e-egg…” Aquarius stuttered, His whole body shaking uncontrollably. 
“It’s not mine, don’t worry.” Island said, putting the egg down on the sand. Aquarius nearly toppled onto the ground, but caught himself. “Then who’s is it?” Aquarius asked, his voice questioning. “That’s the thing,” Island said with a quiet voice. “I don’t know. When I got to the scene, there was a murdered Seawing with her egg next to her stomach.” Island said, looking over the egg with motherly care. 
“I think we should keep it,” Aquarius blurted. Island was startled for a moment. Would that be a good idea? What would happen? ‘So many things could go wrong, which is what I don’t want.’ Island thought intently, an unreadable expression on her face. “Let’s keep it. Let’s raise her in the Rainforest Kingdom. But I have a condition…” Island said, hugging the egg closer to her warmth.  
“What what is that condition, m’lady?” Aquarius said charmingly. “My condition is… Er…” Island hesitated. Aquarius made a worried face that said, Go on, tell me! Island sighed. “She must never know what happened to her true mother,” Island breathed, noticing the uncomfortable look forming on Aquarius’s face. “Are you sure about that?” He asked, his claws fiddling with the sand. Island sighed. “Yes, I am.” Aquarius seemed uncomfortable, but agreed. Island gave him warm smile, “Awesome,”
_________________________________________________________________________
The first egg has hatched, with a different egg sitting next to it. “Mommy, Mommy! MOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMY I’M HUNGRY!” Piper shrieked from her sloth fur bed. Island came in with a glass bottle of apple sauce and tiny chunks roasted salmon. 
“Here you go sweets,” Island said, sliding the food on to a wooden plate in front of Piper. “Thank you mom!” Piper said, digging in. “She’s quite the bundle of energy,” Aquarius said. “I noticed,” Island sighed. Their egg hatched months after the incident, and was named after a few seabirds seen near the jungle beaches. The couple also decided to give Piper a brother, Aquarius. 
“Named after you,” Island said, gazing at the shimmering egg while leaning into Aquarius affectionately after Piper went to sleep. 
SEMI CHAPTER
Dazzling loved being queen, but she had plans to execute. She already got a few parts done, but not most. Right now, in this beautiful inky night, she wrote in her diary that repeated her plan to kill every tribe (except Rainwings), but she didn’t know how. 
“Queen Fern?” A small voice said, followed by a light knock. Dazzling ignored the servant, and continued writing. ‘I have successfully switched bodies with the real Fern and locked her up in the modified prison Darkstalker made for us years ago, like I said I wouldn’t. Thank the moons I remembered to put that silencing spell on her or else-’ “Queen Fern! This is urgent!” The voice said, louder.
Dazzling snarled loudly to tell the servant ‘go away’ and ‘I’m busy’ and ‘don’t come in or I WILL snap your neck’. Apparently the message didn’t get across to the Rainwing, and she somehow opened the locked door. “How did you get in?” Dazzling said, not even trying to hold in her frustration. “I’m sorry Your Majesty, but we have urgent news.” The male stomped, trying to look as menacing yet nice as possible. Dazzling closed her diary. “What is it that you must interrupt my important matters. “I-I’m sorry. It’s my fault, but I think it’s pretty important.” a shy voice said, a female trudging out from behind the male Rainwing. “Oh?” Dazzling said, shooting the small female Rainwing the scariest glare. “I-I… Umm.. Er..” The dragonent stammered, whimpering from the death glare Dazzling shot. 
“We found a dead Seawing body,” The male said, shooting an equally withering glare at Dazzling. Rage burned away every single thought Dazzling had in a single moment. “THIS CLOSE TO OUR TERRITORY? DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT? WHAT KIND OF DRAGON COMES TO OUR TERRITORY, ESPECIALLY A SEAWING! A SEAWING! GET OUT OF MY ROOM YOU CONNIVING, LYING DERANGED LIZARDS! HOW DARE YOU EXPECT YOUR QUEEN TO BELIEVE SUCH A STUPID LIE!” Dazzling bellowed at the top of her lungs. The male flinched and the female scurried out of the room like it was room full of Twists. 
The male shook his head. “I am Arachnid, captain of a guard station. I am here to report my wife’s findings.” Arachnid said firmly, casting a withering glare at Dazzling. Dazzling shrank her menacing size and snarled. “Fine,” She said. “Show me this dead Seawing.”
_________________________________________________________________________
“So you weren’t lying,” Dazzled spat, her stomach churning slightly at the bloody gash. “How did she get into our territory and why?” Arachnid asked, thinking Dazzling would give an answer. “I have no idea,” She growled, examining the scavenger swords. Perhaps the original plan would be executed.
_________________________________________________________________________
Fern sat in silence, her sturdy shackles still confining her. She longed for light. Any light; moonlight, torchlight, or sunlight. Ooooo, sunlight. The very thought made her tremble with glee. ‘When will I leave?’ Fern asked, yearning for even a ray of light to touch her scales. 
CHAPTER 13 
Hurricane had been observing Fern over the weeks. “I confirm her a counterfeit queen.” Hurricane said to Coal, throwing down notes onto a small table. “She executed Gramps…” Coal said, reading the notes. Hurricane winced. She had witnessed the rare and unfair execution of Charcoal, the palace blacksmith. He had been replaced by a much more experienced (Which Hurricane despised to admit) yet boring a grumbly Skywing who seemed to hate everyone in the palace except Fern. 
“Okay, do the notes matchup?” Hurricane said, trying to clear her thoughts. “Yeah, they do,” Coal said, shuffling through the pages. Hurricane kind of wished he had said something else because she really didn’t want to believe that something terrible happened to the real Queen Fern. Hurricane sighed. “Okay, we’re going over to Frostfire’s to develop a plan to expose the fake. Don’t do anything stupid.” Hurricane said, snatching the papers out of his talons and stuffing it into her bag.  
They trotted through the halls, silently stepping on the silk carpets and evading groups of night guards. They sneaked up to Frostfire’s door and attempted to knock quietly. “What do you want Hurricane, it’s literally midnight.” Frostfire said grouchily, almost throwing open the door. “I took notes while observing Fern. I’m determined to get her overthrown.” Hurricane said, pulling out the ruffled papers. Frostfire examined them carefully. “Come in, I’ve been taking some notes as well.” She said, glancing around the dark halls in case of anyone else. 
The two stepped into the barely lit room, the ground full of pillows. “I heard something weird last night.” Frostfire said, sitting next to Bengal, who was sleeping soundly. “What did you hear? I heard Queen Counterfeit yelling at her servants.” Hurricane whispered, shutting the door behind them. “They weren’t servants. They were normal residents of this jungle. I spied on them.” Frostfire said, handing a paper to Hurricane. “Did you hear what they said? I just heard death threats from ‘Fern’. She was very loud.” Hurricane said, intently reading the notes in the dim candlelight.   “That’s another thing. What we know of the real Fern, or rather the ruler that ruled our kingdom for a year, wouldn’t screech at us because their subjects are ‘idiots’. That’s why we’re spying tonight, both of us. The hybrid can stay here.” Frostfire said, shuffling the notes into a neat pile while pointing to Coal, the Sandwing-Nightwing. 
“Why?” Coal said, his hurt face making Hurricane internally cringe. “Because your scales are brighter than an Icewing’s and you’re literally going to be a fourth moon compared to the dark hallways.” Hurricane said harshly before Frostfire could say anything. “Rude, but true.” said Frostfire. “Plus, you are pretty huge compared to us. Not really an ideal trait for stealth.” That was true, as Coal sort of loomed over both sisters, his bright golden scales shining as bright as the candle. 
“So?” he started. “I can act as a distraction for the… the… Uhm… the Queen? That’s the one you want away, right?” Coal said awkwardly. “No, you can’t come. Sorry.” Frostfire said, exiting the room with Hurricane following close behind. They changed their scale color to match the dark atmosphere and slipped into the quiet halls, barely making a whisper as they tip-toed near Fern’s room. They could hear loud scribbles, as if furiously writing something. ‘What is she writing that’s so important?’ Hurricane thought questioningly. Hurricane creeped a little closer and then ended up stepping on a twig, it’s snapping sound echoing through the silent forest. 
“WHO’S THERE!?” The queen’s shrill voice screeched. The two of them froze, not one of them even moving a single atom on their body. Hurricane never liked being scared, but she was, her brain pouring panic and fear all over her. ‘FLEE!’ it screamed. But she stood there, still as a deer. Before the two could retreat, they heard the door creak.
“Sorry, your majesty. Coal, Aquarius  and I were taking a walk through the halls. We just couldn’t bear to miss out on such a clear night.” Island’s voice said. Hurricane felt surprised. Did Island know that they were sneaking out? Was there another- Coal. ‘Argh, that stupid idiot told her everything, didn’t he!’ Hurricane thought furiously. 
“Well, he saved us, so you should spare him the ‘why would you do that!’ nonsense.” Frostfire said, her bone gauntlet shaking. “I added a few more enchantments.” She said. Hurricane swore she was smirking. “W-Whatever. Just focus on our mission.” Hurricane said, genuinely angry at her sister. 
“Well don’t be so loud! People are trying to sleep or finishing up their work!” The queen whispered loudly and coldly. “I’m sorry, your majesty, but I couldn’t see through the- AHHHHHH!” Island’s scream tore through the air, causing a chain reaction of howler monkey screams. “Twist! TWIST!” Coal’s voice shouted out. Frostfire muttered something quickly and dragged Hurricane with her, and they slipped through the walls like water through paper. Hurricane was dazed by Frostfire’s magic, but recovered more quickly. She scurried up to Island, who was struggling to fight the twist, which seemed to possess her slowly, but surely. Meanwhile, Aquarius and Coal had to fight off a possessed Fern with superstrength. 
“A double twist attack!” Frostfire shouted, hints of panic in her voice. Hurricane felt panic lurking around in her head, but decided to leap toward the twist wrestling with Island. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine! Help Aquarius!” Island said as she struggled to fight off the twist. “Hurricane, you go off to fight Fern, I’ll help Island.” Frostfire said, helping Island pry the twist off of her. Hurricane nodded then dashed towards Fern, who threw Coal against the wall. 
“Are you okay?” Hurricane said. “Yep,” Coal replied. “Just a hundred broken bones here.” “I’ll get you healed soon,” Hurricane said, concerned. “But I have to fight Fern. Aquarius is struggling, probably.” She turned around to tackle Fern, the impact somehow knocking her out in one hit. Black and purple seeped out of her body, and the Rainwing Queen was back to normal. Fainted, but normal. 
Island limped forward from behind Hurricane, spooking her. “Aquarius,” She rasped. Island looked horribly sick, her scales were gleaming with a nauseous purple, coursing through her body. “Oh moons are you sick?” Aquarius said, holding up Island. “Did everyone forget about me? Seriously-” Coal’s sentence was cut off by dying coughs, thin trails of blood from his mouth. 
“Oh moons,” said Frostfire. “Why is everyone dying?” “Oh shut up Frost,” Hurricane shot back, healing Coal with magic. “You know what, everyone should go back to their rooms for tonight,” Island said, her voice dopey. “Guys, what do we do about Island?” Aquarius asked. “I’ll heal her and then contain the twist virus into a bottle so I can study it.” Frostfire said, examining Island’s body. “I hate doctors,” Island said, struggling to stand up. “Hey Aquarius, take care of our dragonets pleassee…” Island said, fainting, a crusty, black goop oozing out of her tail. 
The most awkwardest of silences hushed the hallway immediately. No one dared to say anything, because the big question was written as clear as the moons in everyone’s head. “DRAGONETS?” Hurricane boomed suddenly, her voice pure shock. Aquarius looked almost like a statue, his eyes wider than the three moons combined. Frostfire looked bewildered. “Dragonets? At this age? WHAT.” Frostfire gaped, standing as still as Aquarius. “I’ll t-t-t-take q-questions tomorrow,” Aquarius stutterd, dashing off. “Wait, take this.” Frostfire said, throwing a bottle with what Hurricane guessed was an enchanted elixir. Aquarius caught it, and ran off to Island’s room. 
“Well then,”Frostfire said, clearly disturbed. Hurricane didn’t want to speak anymore. “URGHHH…” Fern’s voice spoke. “Moons we are forgetting everyone else, aren’t we?” Frostfire said, suddenly aware of Fern. Fern looked worse than Island. She was covered in the ooze, crust in every bit of her scales. She wheezed, and it was the most terrifying thing Hurricane ever heard.
“Ah, you’re scared.” Frostfire remarked, acknowledging the pale green zig-zags rippling across Hurricane’s scales.  Frostfire pulled a bottle of the elixir from a pouch Hurricane hadn’t even noticed and poured the mystifying liquid all over Fern’s body. “I have to go somewhere,” Hurricane said. If there were twists out there that could kill dragons like this, then she had to tell other tribes first. But where first?
‘The Skywing kingdom is struggling, I could go there first.’ Hurricane thought. “Can I come! Please!” Coal asked, a cheerful looks on his face. Hurricane was surprised, then swiftly noticed the small leather bracelet tied around his arm. ‘Seriously Frostfire? Did you predict this would happen or something?’ Hurricane thought with slight annoyance. “Fine, just don’t act stupid.” Hurricane said, trotting back to her room. 
CHAPTER 14
     Island snapped open her eyes, consciousness falling back to her. She was floating, surrounded by sick purple mist. It felt like spikes closing in on her brain, pain surrounding her head. She managed to look up, her headache worsening. She saw sickening purple thorns, scattering around her. Were those Twist screams in the background? “Wake up, Island.” The voices whispered simultaneously. “Wake UP!” “Eek!” Island yelped, jumping out of bed. Her scales were burning hot, her head pounding, her muscles weak. 
“Island, everything’s fine.” Aquarius’s voice said. “Aquarius?” Island said with a dazed voice.Frostfire stood over the now awoken body of Island, her face clearly grumpy. “What’s that face for?” Island said, trying not to sound dopey. Frostfire sighed heavily, orange flourishing over her body. “Well,” She started, “You mentioned one detail of you and Aquarius having dragonets. Now, this is my opinion, but that’s pretty big, correct?” Frostfire said. “So what, I have dragonets? I promise there won’t be a noise problem.” Island replied, fiddling with the blanket. “I have a more specific and different worry, actually.” Frostfire said. “For example, one of them gets killed. Murdered. Imagine the emotional toll. You’d do anything in your power to get revenge correct?” Frostfire explained, Island nodding with a concerned expression. 
“Except, you have a power. A  huge power. You’d get your revenge, which could affect you mentally, depending on how much you loved your dragonet and how ‘evil’ the punishment was. I predict you’d become mentally insane and try to murder a bunch of dragons. Not okay, am I correct?” Frostfire said, sipping some tea. Island felt shattered. Would she do that? Could she do that? Island questioned everything in her head, feeling sad. “That’s just my thoughts though, that might not happen. I don’t know. Have a nice day.” Frostfire said, finishing her drink and leaving the room. 
The door shut and Island sighed. She was not happy. Island glanced over to Aquarius for support, but even he looked a little distraught. No one said anything. There wasn’t anything to be said. A thin tear slid down Island’s snout as she circled the theory in her head. Murder. Kill. Dragonet. Emotional toll. “What are we doing Aquarius?” she cried. Aquarius trudged over to Island. “Frankly, I don’t know,” Island thought of Frostfire’s words. What would happen if she murdered so many innocent dragons? ‘A huge punishment would be waiting for me,’ Island thought. 
It was new day, new chores, new feelings. Island decided to have a chat with Frostfire or Hurricane (depending on who she saw first) about any other feelings she had. She trotted glumly through the halls, strolling past the training military. She walked around the corner of the hall, a burly Rainwing crashing into her, a group of Rainwing guards behind him skidding to a stop.
“Hi, sorry about that, um, have you by any chance seen Hurricane? She was supposed to be training us in stealth skills and combat skills today.” The dragon said, small swirls of rose curling around his talons. “Er, no, actually. I haven’t seen her yet.” Island replied, shuffling away from the guards, who she heard swooning over Hurricane about her ‘flawless assassination techniques’ and intelligent ‘interrogation’ methods which Island knew Hurricane took from Frostfire. Island continued down the hall, strolling towards Frostfire’s room. She knocked on the door, smelling the scent of something amazing, wafting through the edges of the door. The door unlocked suddenly, and Island walked inside, seeing Frostfire drinking the drink, which gave off the beautiful scent. 
“Hello sister, you have more to share?” Frostfire said bluntly, staring out at the incredible view her room had. “N-no, just depressed lately. Aquarius decided to leave last night after an agreement we both had and I just… I feel sad.” Island said, slumping onto a pillow. “Ouch,” A muffled voice spoke. Island jumped as a body shimmered into vision.
“You just had to sit on the pillow on my back didn’t you?” Bengal said, sounding very sleep deprived. “Er- sorry. I’ll sit somewhere else.” Island said, sitting at the small table next to Frostfire, gazing across into the emerald jungle. Frostfire glanced over to meet Island eyes.
“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Frostfire started setting down the brown drink. Island felt intoxicated by the earthy smell. “Do you know where Hurricane is? I haven’t seen her since the twist incident.” Frostfire said, disgruntled. Island shook her head, now wondering where her sister was. 
‘Well, wherever she is, she must be happier than me,’ Island thought, sadness dripping color over her scales. She thought of the possible death of her children or Aquarius. That will damage her feelings forever. ‘Then I won’t let it happen in the first place,’ Island thought with complete certainty. 
SEMI CHAPTER 4
Copper trotted through the moonlit forest, collecting forest berries and hunting bunnies and squirrels while silver light poured through the narrow crevices the thick forest leaves created. ‘Mother and Father, no, the Queen will be proud of my cooking skills!’ She thought as she found a bee hive and started harvesting honey in a jar. Tomorrow would be her brother’s birthday, and she was at the age where it was optional for Skywings her age to complete 10 traditional trials (‘acknowledged and chosen by the queen herself!’) Copper thought joyfully) to have a head start to become an official in the great Skywing Palace. 
Copper twirled, her body exploding with joy. She was finally on her 9th trial! Her parents told her if she managed to defeat the 10th trial in time, she would be the youngest royal in Skywing history! Copper twirled again, berries and nuts spilling out of her bag. She noticed every cooking material in the forest with her sharp eagle eyes. 
She, however, did not notice the creature following her.  
Copper hummed loudly as she headed back to her campfire and dumped her collected materials. Her father built the place, a full-on kitchen built on a large stone platform in a large forest clearing. She dumped the materials on the floor. Copper lit the fire in the large furnace, and began cooking up a bunny stew. 
The large, twisted creature inspected her thoughtfully, similar to how Copper examined her hunts. “Too old,” She muttered, throwing it in the river. “Too small,” The Twist inched closer, careful not to disturb the dragonet. It sneaked up behind her, then bit her tail as hard as he could.
Copper screamed, and it was the most horrifying thing she heard herself. She shrieked as black goop filled every inch of her body, pulsing with pain between her body. The twist inherited the body. She did it! She finally made his first meal as a Twist. “Just right,” Fern’s voice echoed in the dragonet’s body, before she melted into the same black ooze, now reforming itself to become a twist larvae.
CHAPTER 15
Hurricane dashed through the jungle with Coal, rain beating down on the two dragons. Thunder boomed overhead while lightning struck down trees beside them. ‘Probably shouldn’t have brought that iron dagger’ Hurricane thought briefly, wet leaves smacking her face. Animals were screeching and screaming, their shouts louder than anything Hurricane heard, 
“How long until we’re at the border?” Coal asked, his warm scales next to Hurricane’s. “I don’t know,” Hurricane said. “And I don’t care, as long as we keep running, we’ll get there soon enough.” Hurricane said, leaping up into a tree and jumping from branch to branch. She disliked traveling this way, but it was more efficient, no matter how much she didn’t want to admit it. 
Coal groaned loudly as he continued running from below. Hurricane turned a violently bright shade of red. “Don’t lose me, just keep following my red scales!” She shouted from overhead, leaping swiftly. “I don’t think I can lose you if you’re that bright!” Coal shouted jokingly. 
The two continued running that night, slightly dodging lightning bolts and falling trees on fire. They arrived at the border, flying high and escaping into a nearby forest without any storm. 
Hurricane landed elegantly while Coal crashed down onto the forest clearing. “That was smooth,” Hurricane remarked sarcastically as Coal, stood up, staggering. “Hey, at least I… I…” Coal attempted to fireback. Hurricane snickered, her body hurting from exhaustion. “I’m really tired though,” Coal said, yawning. “That explains the bad landing.” Hurricane said, brushing aside dirt. “Hey, couldn’t you just enchant the floor to become a big comfy bed or something?” Coal said, lying uncomfortably on the ground. “Exactly what I’m doing,” Hurricane said, enchanting a pile of dirt to become a comfy mattress she can sleep on. 
Just as Hurricane settled down, she heard a sound. It was and oozy sound, followed by melting, like the sound of lava being poured over vast forests. Except it wasn’t lava. Hurricane tried to ignore the desperate wanting to sleep and rest. And she would, but not now when there was potential danger. 
The melting sound was louder, sending chills over her spine. She looked around into the surrounding trees. Hurricane grabbed a rock, which turned into a balanced sword in her talons. Suddenly, a droplet of… something dripped on her tail. And another drop. And another one. Hurricane whirled around to face her enemy.
The twist was merely the size of a dragonet, purple acid dripping from all around her.  ‘An easy one to defeat. There was literally no reason for me to get scared.’ Hurricane said, lowering her blade. She reached into her pouch for an elixir, when a heavy creature slammed it’s body on her. 
Ooze covered her body as she screamed for Coal to get up and help her. “Coal! COAL! COAL GET YOUR LAZY TAIL TO WAKE UP AND HELP ME!” Hurricane screamed, struggling to keep the twist off of her. Hurricane twisted her head to look at Coal. Was he breathing? Why were his scales darker all of a sudden? “Coal?!” Hurricane said, finally pushing off the twist. She scurried over and flipped over his body. 
Hurricane screamed and she saw Coal. Everything about him was dying as goop leaked out of his scales. “Save… Yourself…” Coal said. Hurricane’s vision was weirding her out as Coal’s appearance shifted from Charcoal to Coal. She snapped herself out of her trance and pulled out her elixir. “Elixir, I command you to grow to ten times the size you are right now and dump yourself on everyone to heal them,” Hurricane said, throwing the elixir. 
The potion kept growing larger in size towering over the fighting beasts down below. Suddenly, it fell down, flooding everyone with it’s magical liquid. The ooze that started dripping out of Hurricane and Coal’s scales washed out of their body, as well as the two other twists. 
Hurricane’s body felt purified, as if she took a ten hour bath and washed out every bad germ that ever existed in her body. She shook off the remaining elixir on her body and looked at the other two. The dragonet twist was now a shimmering copper in the rising sunlight, the other dragon was a striking ruby color. 
‘They were victims too?!’ Hurricane thought, slightly surprised. Her mission seemed more important by the second. 
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)