Where the Sun Falls

WHERE THE SUN FALLS
"Once I get my wings and silk, I belong to them forever..."
I will be redoing this soon
Introduction
Iridia isn't normal. As long as she can remember, she could see things, and not all of them were good. When she undergoes metamorphosis, she realizes that gaining her wings and silk means losing her freedom.
Imperial knows she can help Iridia, but she doesn't know how, and being with Iridia is dangerous. The smaller dragoness herself isn't, but the life she lives is.
Queen wasn't supposed to leave the hives, but she wasn't supposed to kill a HiveWing either, even if they killed her precious dragonet.
Chapter One- Forty Years Ago
The rose-red dragon behind the counter of the Jewel Hive SilkWing Postal Office was obviously taking his time. His wings were drooping and his eyes were practically closed. Queen really wanted to fly across the room on her new wings and smack him around a little, as his dithering was holding off the revelation of her job assignment.
Instead, she sat down, her tail twitching angrily. There was a bright green dragon in front of her, that was also taking his time. He kept reaching for scrolls before replacing them to grab another. Not so accidentally, Queen poked him in the back and he whipped around with a snarl. "By the hive, can't you just wait your turn!" he spat at her. "I don't need dragonets bothering me!"
"He thinks that he's so special because he works for Jewel," said a voice behind her. Queen turned to see a golden dragoness with black stripes and dipped her head at the HiveWing.
The green SilkWing snarled again. "It's Lady Jewel."
"And you're just a SilkWing so shut-up butterfly brain" she spat back. Turning back to Queen she said "What are you here for?"
Queen pointed to a stack of letters at the far end of the room, pretending not to be offended by the HiveWing's comment.. "I'm waiting for my job assignment."
Suddenly the striped HiveWings pivoted and flew across the room, making the working SilkWing at the desk duck as she flew overhead. She grabbed a pile of letters and started thumbing through them. "Hey SilkWing, what's your name?" she shouted.
"Queen." she replied as the HiveWing tossed her a letter. Queen turned it over in her claws, peering at the seal, which depicted Queen Wasp standing over a dead LeafWing and SilkWing.
"Well, that isn't a name I hear too often for someone like you" she said, turning to fly away. Someone like me? Queen thought, shaking her head, she said "And your name is?"
"Varroa" she replied, flying away in the clear blue sky.
Queen peeled the frightening seal off of the letter and carefully unfolded it. Part of her thought that if she opened it gently, then her assignment would be better. Her gaze scanned the crisp paper and she reached for a flamesilk lantern. The paper that had captured her attention for so long only read: Servant: Wasp Hive.
Disappointed, she flew back to the webs where her parents resided. The sun was setting over the savanna, the needle sharp grasses spearing the horizon. It was beautiful, but probably the last time that she would ever see the sunset this way again.
For something that determines that rest of my life, there isn’t much too it, she thought, landing on the webs and digging her talons into the sticky, mailable material.
Queen entered her parent’s house, nodding politely to her mother who was standing in the entrance. She headed off to her hammock towards that back of the house and flung herself over the edge, spreading out her wings over the silky strands. She let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes in a long blink. This is the last time I’ll be here, she thought, twirling her claw around a strand of silk. She fell asleep grasping her last shred of home.
Chapter Two- To Fly so Free
Iridia shook out her long neck and glanced back at her wing buds. Jagged fear shone in her soft red eyes, but at least they weren't filled with horror like usual. She sucked in a sharp breath and looked at her talons that were drumming against the paper-like floor of the hive.
Once I get my wings and silk, I belong to them forever, she thought ruefully.
"Don't worry" said a soft voice behind her. "SilkWings have been doing this for generations. Even Tussock did that and he's afraid of his own shadow, although in his defense, he doesn't look all that great." Imperial was hopping back and forth from talon to talon and swinging her tail to some invisible beat. "I even did it, but then again, I'm not afraid of anything!"
Iridia turned to look at her, dragging a claw along the worn floor. "Think about how many dragons have gone into the Cocoon, and came out with their wings and silk, only to be given to HiveWings for the rest of their lives." She sat down, feeling dizzy and a little nauseous.
"SilkWing! Get moving!" called a demanding voice from down the passageway. "Some dragons actually have a life worth living!"
Imperial growled, her tail lashing behind her and her wings fluttering angrily. She opened her mouth, but stopped when Iridia rested her tail over her back. "Don't get in trouble for me. Like you said, it's just metamorphosis". She trotted forward, and the once harmless Cocoon swallowed her whole.
"I'll be with you, always." Imperial promised, but her words were lost to the wind.
.
.
.
Iridia wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to be doing, but it seemed like she was doing it wrong based off of the look on the HiveWing's face. He led her to a spot near the wall and pushed her down with his spear, walking away to the far corner of the room. She looked up and saw Imperial in the stands. She was leaning so far over the edge that it looked like she was about to topple over.
She glanced around, noticing two other SilkWings in the room. One had bright orange scales and the other was a teal color with glowing orbs where her silk would come out.
Imperial had said that there would be two HiveWings guarding the room, but she must have been mistaken because there were six, which seemed like a bit too much to guard three SilkWings in their metamorphosis trances.
She let out a gasp of shock as a felling like that felt like an entire ocean washed over her. Threads of soft, silvery silk spiraled out of her wrists, twirling into nebulas and galaxies filled with stars. So many stars. Too many stars. The soft strands wrapped around her wrists like chains, growing heavy. Flames danced in her eyes as another dragonet let out a shocked scream. Red, orange, and black scales filled the room and the blurry shapes of HiveWings scurried past her, shouting words that were lost to the waves. The storm crashed over her as a dark figure lunged for her throat. Glistening fangs and claws and a crooked smile.
.
.
.
Imperial sat over the railing, leaning over the edge so she could get a better view of Iridia. There were six guards in the Cocoon, and all looked way more attentive than usual. She knew that Iridia was... odd to say the least, but she wasn't dangerous. She could never be dangerous.
But the HiveWings weren't looking at her, they were all staring intently at a teal-colored dragoness who had threads of fire spiraling out of her wrists. She didn't know that HiveWings had attention spans large enough to concentrate on something for more than five seconds.
As the warm, fiery silk spiraled out of her wrists, the HiveWings began to shout and Imperial backed away, shaking her head in disbelief. Flamesilk, she thought, her mind spiraling.
It was dumb luck that Imperial herself wasn't a flamesilk. According to her father, she had two relatives that were: Her grandmother's sister, and her great grandfather, which left her with a six percent chance of becoming one herself. Of course, she wasn't, as she was still at Bloodworm Hive, not wherever the flamesilks disappeared to.
There were a few other SilkWings on the balcony, and they were all reacting similarly. The green dragon looked confused and anxious; the others looked like they understood better. "Flamesilk Imperial muttered under her breath, catching the green one's eye. He turned to look at the dragons behind him. "What's flamesilk?"
In the panic, Imperial spread her wings, ready to fly away, but hesitated. Should I leave Iridia alone? she wondered, hovering in the air. Her decision was made for her. A swarm of HiveWings sped towards that balcony, pushing the SilkWings down with their spears.
Imperial roared and beat her wings fiercely at the HiveWing atop her. "Do I look like a flamesilk!" she screamed at him.
"Our orders are to subdue all SilkWings on this level of the Hive" he said, fiddling with his claws nervously. "I'm sorry about that." He looked generally apologetic, but Imperial wasn't about to forgive him until she knew that Iridia was safe.
"What's going to happen to the cocoons down there?" she asked, trying to crane her neck to see over the railing.
"They'll be fine. The only one we are interested in is the..." he trailed off and Imperial locked eyes with him.
"You’re only interested in the flamesilk" she finished for him.
"I didn't know if I was supposed to tell anyone, but I suppose you already know." He traced a nervous claw in a grove in the ground.
Imperial relaxed. Clearly this dithering dragon wasn't a threat to her or Iridia. Once this was cleared up, she could go home and visit Iridia's cocoon for the rest of the week. There was nothing to worry about.
A sharp voice pierced through the now clam air. "I ordered you to sedate them!" it screamed. "Get too it or I’ll jail all the SilkWings here!"
The guard flicked his tail nervously and Imperial noticed that sharp stinger on it.
"I... I really don't want to do this. They recruited me because of my ability. I just want you to know that I never enjoyed it."
It's better than going to jail. At least this way I can see Iridia again. She nodded firmly and tensed as he raised his tail. That's all that matters.
.
.
.
Imperial awoke in a small room with smooth pale brown walls covered in posters of howling LeafWings and frightening looking fugitive SilkWings. There was a white desk made of ivory set in one corner, and a large golden dragon perched behind it. She wore ruby rimmed glasses and a small scowl, and although she was only tapping her claws against the ivory desk, it felt like she was calling forth an invisible army upon Imperial.
When the HiveWing saw her movement, she stood up with her wings held beside her. She was still scowling when she adjusted her glasses and made a clicking noise with her tongue.
"Good morning SilkWing" she said stately. Her wings fluttered and a gleam of sharp silver shone behind them. Imperial craned her neck to see what it was, but the dragoness stepped to the side. "They obviously made a miscalculation when they estimated when you would wake up. I guess they didn't consider that SilkWings are naturally inferior, and therefore weaker." Imperial let the insult slide off her as she stood up on shaky legs. The golden dragon narrowed her gaze and put a talon forward, stepping on her wing. Imperial froze and stared back. The dragon arched her eyebrows in a questioning way. "I would have even expected even the weakest SilkWing to stop me when I do this" she said, digging her talons in and tearing at the soft wing. "I guess you're even weaker."
Imperial longed to fight, but she knew that attacking a HiveWing authority would be a worse fate. The HiveWing stepped on her talon, and she was sure that she felt some small bones break. She stifled a scream but stayed still. Eventually the HiveWing stepped back, grabbing a copper colored key off of the ivory desk. "Let's go SilkWing!" she shouted, giving Imperial a shove.
The golden dragon led her along a dark hallway lined with bars. Imperial peered into one that contained a dark, coral colored HiveWing shrieking with rage. The stone tablet in front of the cell read: Velvet- Awaiting trial on the charge of murder. Before she could read more, she was whisked away.
At a juncture in the hallway, the golden HiveWing handed her off to an older guard, at least fifty or more years in age, and a bright red color like polished rubies. She wore a belt of increasingly sharper daggers, and led Imperial down a dark hallway.
After what felt like an eternity, the red dragon opened a large, solid door that led to a small, white walled room with no accessories. She shut the heavy door behind her and stroked a dagger with a wicked, gleaming point. "Sit down" she ordered, not asking.
Imperial sat, but twitched her talons and glanced at the door out of the corner of her eye. The blood red dragoness sat down, and almost kindly asked "What's your name?" When Imperial didn't answer, the HiveWing slipped a piece of paper into her talons. Warily, Imperial lifted it up to her eyes and read Where the sun falls. She whisked out of the room as the nervous guard from the metamorphosis entered. He fiddled with his claws again and led her out of the room. He kept looking back over his shoulder, not suspiciously, but to make sure that she was still there.
Imperial thought for a moment before deciding to ask the jittery HiveWing who the older dragoness was. “Who was she?” she asked, looking at her claws.
“I don’t know” he mumbled, “sorry.”
Imperial hesitated before asking her next question. She was pretty sure that she could trust the HiveWings, but pretty sure wasn’t entirely sure. “Do you know what ‘Where the sun falls’ could mean?” she asked, staring intently into his eyes to gauge his reaction.
He jumped at her words and quickly muttered that he had no idea before hurrying down the hallway, not even stopping to make sure that she was keeping up.
Imperial knew that he was hiding something, but he clearly didn’t appear to be a threat, or an important one at that. She hurried through the dark hallways, her wings drawn tightly against her body. Eventually they reached the sunlight in all its bright and blinding glory. The sharp rays of sunlight stabbed at her scales but she welcomed it, turning in a tight circle to soak it all in. The beautiful rays hit her face and she reached her neck up, soaking in its glorious warmth.
more flying in soon...
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (Copperrose14)
Category:Genre (Short Story)
Category:Fanfictions
__NOTOC__
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)