Shifting Sands (Jade Mountain Fanfiction)

NOTE: Any OCs or story plot mentioned is my own PLEASE DO NOT STEAL OR EDIT.
NOTE: This takes place after book 15, “The Flames of Hope” and the course of events is as follows: a majority of the Pantalaan dragons have returned to their own continent making sure to keep connections tied between the two continents, Winter has returned to Jade Mountain along with Moon, Qibli, Kinkajou, and Turtle, things are pretty much like they were in Moon Rising except minus Darkstalker, and there are now openings in some of the winglets where dragonets (such as Carnelian, Icicle, or Sora) have either died or left the school so notices are going out to tribes that there are now openings to send students as a replacement in any of the winglets)
PROLOGUE
Vulture sat motionless in the silent chamber. His recovery had not been the easiest thing to go through. Darkstalker had muddled his brain over and over through the casting of multiple spells before dumping him in the middle of the desert, through the use of yet another spell. His brain being laced through with multiple second personalities created by Darkstalker, he attempted to find his way to the Scorpion Den which turned out to be impossible since he couldn’t even remember who exactly he was. He nearly gave up hope of ever being normal again when a shape appeared on the horizon. The shape as it turned out was another dragon, although it was an odd one at that. Its scales were deep blue like a Seawing’s but all along its back ran a mane of pale IceWing spikes. What Vulture found to be even stranger was the fact that this dragon of water and ice was flying directly through the middle of the desert alone. The strange dragon had apparently noticed Vulture since it had begun circling and presently landed beside him. 
“Are you alright?” the odd dragon queried concernedly. Vulture clutched his horns in his talons and desperately tried to grasp hold of at least one of the personalities that were spinning through his head.
”No,” he gasped finally when he caught a glimpse of the original Vulture inside his head.
”What- what’s the problem?” the dragon asked anxiously, peering at Vulture with his wings tense as if he was ready to bolt at the first sign of danger.
“Darkstalker! My-my head!” he roared within the split second that his mind stopped spinning. Then he was plunged beneath the flood of personalities again. The dragon immediately flung open the bag which was hanging around his neck and pulled out an amber colored earring. 
“Qibli,” whispered a faint voice in back of his head. Then the dragon speared the jewelry into Vulture’s ear and the world snapped directly into place. 
“What did you do to me?” Vulture roared.
”I didn’t do it!” the dragon cried jumping backwards. “Remember? Darkstalker?” he said lightly tapping his skull. Vulture glared at him but he could now remember all that Darkstalker had done thanks to this odd dragon. So, maybe it would be the best thing to not kill this dragon for now.
”Hmm. You’re right,” Vulture finally stated, before spinning around and taking off into the air.
”Wait. Aren’t you even going to say thank you?” the dragon called after him, but Vulture never turned back.
Now that he had his proper mind back it didn’t take him very long to find the Scorpion Den and get himself situated. He needed to track down Darkstalker and figure out a way to kill him but first there was something entirely more important. Digging through his treasury, he found his best animus touched object (at least now that the Obsidian Mirror was gone) and brought it into his main chamber where he now sat alone. The long scepter glinted in the firelight, appearing somewhat similar to the Eye of Onyx. It had the same iconic wing structure which curled around the gem set in the middle. The only difference was that this gemstone was a pale blue diamond, set on an ordinary staff, rather than a cool orb of black obsidian. Vulture brought the sparkling jewel close to his mouth and inhaled. He wondered if it was safe to use, considering it was enchanted for him by Darkstalker after all. “A signet of our alliance” Darkstalker had called it. Enchanted to bring anything Vulture had lost back to him, Darkstalker had said. 
“Now it’s time to see if he was telling the truth,” Vulture muttered to himself.
”Bring me the Eye of Onyx,” he commanded at the stone. Nothing happened. He growled underneath his breath. Stupid enchantments. Then something came to Vulture’s mind. He had never even LOST, let alone held the Eye of Onyx, so it technically couldn’t come back to him. 
Well, that was a lousy waste of an enchantment, Vulture thought. Then a tiny spark lit up in his mind. There was something he had lost. Something that had been taken from him by a moonblasted, lowborn, stupid, outclaw.
”Bring me my grandson,” he told the scepter. The diamond radiated blue light that washed over the walls and filled Vulture’s eyes.
”Bring me Qibli.”
CHAPTER 1
Her eyes shot open. What. Was. That. No, it was just a dream. It had to be. But, why did it feel so real? She put one talon to her head and groaned. The image of white eyed dragons taunting her played in her head over and over again. She could still hear them laughing at her for who she was, their talons tearing at her multicolored scales. She closed her eyes momentarily and grasped her horns in her claws. When she opened them again she became aware of the sun cascading brilliantly across the orangey-yellow floor of the cave and she let out a quiet sigh. Slowly, as she took in her familiar surroundings, the odd out of place feeling faded, and she gazed at cave walls she had lived within for most of her life. Peering out of the cave entrance she could see bright, golden sand dunes and the faultless blue sky adorned with feathery clouds. Limestone breathed in the warm sunbaked air and then turned back to her small ledge of cool stone, thinking maybe she could get a few more hours of sleep before her mother woke up. Too late.
“What are you doing? "rose the voice from the opposite side of the tiny cavern. She turned and looked her mother in the eye. Boreal, the Sandwing-Icewing, had been the only parent she had known, and quite possibly the only dragon. That was possibly because her mother avoided most dragons at all costs due to the fact that she visibly belonged to more than one tribe. It was true that her mother had a slightly odd appearance, her tan scales clashed with her silver Icewing spikes along her back and her Sandwing tail-barb seemed very out of place along with the fact she had frostbreath instead of fire. Or maybe her mother just hated other dragons.
“I was just stretching my wings, ”she responded, knowing Boreal would never take “I had a bad dream” as an answer.
“Hmmm,” the Sand-Ice dragon responded skeptically. Boreal looked at her from tail to wings like she had many times during her life as if she was doubting that this shy, uneasy dragon could really be her daughter. Then she turned away and walked to the cave entrance where she dug her talons into the ground, gathering a claw-full of the pale sand in them. Taking this she blew the softest mist of frostbreath, or possibly as much as she could in the intense heat, onto the sand clumping it together. She then patted the sand down over her Icewing spikes, making sure they were flattened down and no silver shone between her tan scales. Boreal only did this when she was going somewhere and needed to pass as a Sandwing even if it was just from far away. That’s when Limestone remembered. Today was the day. Today was the day she had been dreading for so long. Today was the day she was going to Jade Mountain. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go to school or even that she wanted to stay with her mother. It was just that, going to school meant she would have to be around other dragons. Maybe it was just because Limestone had lived so much of her life isolated and all the dragons she had met were cold and calculating. Yet, even Limestone, a dragonet of five, knew that there was something about her that made other dragons avoid her. It didn’t seem fair because most dragons didn’t even know Limestone belonged to more than one tribe. Which was crazy because Limestone was a dragon of not two but three tribes. Her mother for some reason had fallen in love with a Rainwing whom Limestone had never even met and after some big argument or something Boreal decided to run away from the rainforest and live in the desert instead. However, the reason that no one but Boreal knew she was a Sandwing-Icewing-Rainwing was that Limestone possessed color changing scales which she had inherited from her father. She also had fire and frostbreath, which hardly seemed possible because how did fire and ice coexist within a dragon? Yet, somehow it was possible and the only downside was that Limestone switched from Sandwing moods to Icewing moods, which merely meant that sometimes her scales would radiate heat like a Sandwing and sometimes they would be cold to the touch like an Icewing. She had also had the venomous fangs of a Rainwing and the poisonous tail-barb of a Sandwing. Limestone hardly knew how this was possible and she figured she should see these things as a gift but instead they burned her on the inside and made her wonder if anyone could ever want to be around someone so….confusing. She was terrified of anyone ever finding out the secret she held in her talons. Limestone was convinced that if anyone did they would automatically hate her. Well, more than they already did anyway. For this reason, Limestone purposely kept her scales a light peachy gold color, camouflaged the Icewings spikes which ran along her back, and made sure her tail-barb and dusky brown Sandwing sail remained visible. That way, no matter who she really was, no one would ever see her as more than a Sandwing. She could, if she had wanted to, appear as nearly any other dragon she desired except maybe a Seawing or Pantalaan dragon. When she had been younger she had been thrilled at the prospect of her abilities. She thought and thought and thought about all the things she could do with them, until one day Boreal told her a story about a Rainwing named Chameleon, who had somehow found out how to transform himself into other dragons. She told about how this Rainwing’s abilities only drove him crazy and made him power-hungry until he had to be stopped because the extent of his evilness had grown so much. Limestone never dreamed of doing anything great after that. In spite of the fact that she was such a young age, Limestone knew even dragons like her mother weren’t fond of her. She figured that if her own mother didn’t like her, then what would other dragons think about her? Especially if they ever found out she was cursed in such a way. That was why, when Boreal had announced Limestone was to go to Jade Mountain, she was immediately filled with a sense of impending doom. Limestone was snatched out of her thoughts when she realized Boreal was staring at her with an expectant look on her face. 
She must have said something, Limestone thought, somewhat embarrassed.
“Yes, I’m ready,” she blurted out loud, going on a wild guess as to what may have been asked. Surprisingly, she must have been right because Boreal looked satisfied and said,
“Good, then we’ll leave now.” 
Boreal turned and swept out of the cave briskly, giving Limestone barely a moment to catch up. They jumped up and out into the bright sky and Limestone stretched her wings as far as she could, soaking up the warm brilliancy of the sun. For a moment, however, she had a strange tilting feeling of vertigo where her mind whispered that she couldn’t really fly. Limestone shook herself again. Stupid lingering dream feelings. Flying was wonderful really. Being out and above the sand dunes, flung into the sky by warm air current, and letting just the tilt of your wings choose your flight pattern. The warm sun fell in a beautiful curve across the tips of her wings and she let a thin smile cross her face as she let miles of desert pass away beneath her. A blurry line of mountains appeared in the distance and a twinge of anxiety clutched at her heart once more. She snorted out a heavy cloud of smoke from her nose and breathed in deeply. Her mother flew on steadily in front of her, never pausing to look back. When Jade Mountain finally became distinguishable from the others, Boreal whirled around to face her daughter.
“Here. Surely you can find your way now. I am going home,” she said formally as if she was addressing a servant rather than her daughter.
“DO NOT,” she added with an extra glance at Limestone, “Do not follow me back. I don’t want to see you until you are done at this moon forsaken school. Do you hear me?”
Limestone nodded, her eyes glued to the ground.
“Good,” she growled. Then Boreal turned and flew away, right out of Limestone’s life. Limestone felt her eyes burning but she blinked fiercely and forced herself to stare at the mountains looming ever closer. She beat her wings harder trying to push away the stinging pain which had embedded itself like a tail barb in her chest. Her talons eventually touched down on the stony ground near the entrance to the mountain and she pulled her wings tightly around herself. A black dragon with a huge smile suddenly popped out of the cave and smiled brightly at Limestone. It took Limestone a huge amount of concentration not to flinch. After all, it was normal that dragons should be friendly when she first met them. Not much longer after that though.
“Hi! I’m Fatespeaker,” she said, flashing a smile so bright it could’ve illuminated a dark cave.
“You must be the new Sandwing. Limestone.”
Fatespeaker looked at her expectantly, apparently waiting for an answer.
“Oh, yes that’s me,” she said a bit more quietly and shaky than she had meant to.
“I can just call you Lime if you would like,”Fatespeaker offered.
Limestone’s heart gave an excited shiver at the thought of actually having a nickname or something that made her seem like she really belonged. She smiled for the first time at the Nightwing.
“Okay, sure.”
“Great!” said Fatespeaker, shoving a scroll into Lime’s talons. “Since it’s your first day at school I understand you’re probably going to feel a little jittery so you don’t have to go to class with the rest of the winglets today. You can talk to any of the teachers here if you need something. Or me of course,” she added with another glimmering smile. “Tomorrow you’ll be doing classes with Jade Winglet, and Tamarin and Pike who don’t have enough dragonets in their winglet to go to classes alone.” She paused and thought for a moment. She was muttering as if she was trying to think through something. Lime caught something about a Mudwing switching to Tamarin’s cave and then Fatespeaker turned back to her suddenly. 
“Okay, your sleeping cave is the fifth cave on the right in the second tunnel.”
“Right. Okay,” Lime said quickly and walked away before Fatespeaker started muttering again. Nobody was in the hallways at the moment since classes were already in session. She rushed into her sleeping cave and seeing that the ledge was the only bed which appeared fairly unused, she flung herself onto this and wrapped her wings around her head. It was quiet for quite some time and then a gong sounded somewhere in the caves and the halls outside filled with noisy, chattering dragonets. Someone scuffled in her cave but Lime kept her head covered hoping whoever it was would go away. For a moment, she felt eyes concentrated on the back of her head and then whoever it was walked away. Slowly things calmed down again and Lime felt herself drifting into sleep. What woke her was the growing feeling of intense hunger within her stomach. She opened her eyes slowly and they adjusted to the darkness around her until she was able to make out the sleeping forms of two other dragonets. In the shadows she couldn’t make out what tribe they were but neither did she care. As silently as she could she slid off her ledge and into the hallways, wondering if she could find the prey center on her own. She wandered through the hallways for much longer than she would’ve liked and began to think maybe she was lost until she turned a corner and found herself bombarded suddenly by bright shafts of moonlight. Here the cavernous mountainside opened out into the world, displaying blue moonlight falling on pale blades of green grass. Inside the cave a river ran along the ground and tufts of shaggy mountain plants had sprung up here or there, giving the place an overall friendlier appearance. Lime breathed in deeply and identified the scent of fresh-picked fruit and berries against the harsher tone of newly spilled cow’s blood. Smelling the latter, her head jerked up and she now saw a dragonet was perched on a nearby outcropping making a tidy meal of the cow she had scented. He hadn’t seemed to notice her yet and his eyes were fixed on the bright moons hanging in the sky above with a rather sad expression. Then he blinked, looking back down at his prey, and the expression was gone. Moonlight was reflected harshly from his pale blue scales, and sharp Icewing spikes ran down the full length of his neck. Lime backed up abruptly, getting the distinct feeling she was interrupting something serious, and turned to leave the cave. However, her claws must’ve made a scuffling sound on the stone because she heard the dragonet breathe in sharply, and then the sound of wings unfurling hastily.
“Stop,” said the Icewing in a pure, slippery voice.
Oops.
“Just exactly how long have you been standing there?” he hissed.
“Um. Not long really. I mean- I was just hungry,” she blurted, turning around. He was standing a dragon-length behind her with a disgruntled look painted on his face. He folded his wings softly, apparently deciding it had been the wrong time to act threatening.
“Oh.”
“You know what, I'm not really hungry. I think I’ll go to bed now,” Lime said, stepping away.
“Wait. Sorry, I was just- I wasn’t expecting anyone else to be here. You know?” he said hastily. Lime stared down at her talons. “I’m Winter,” he said after another moment. Lime glanced up and realized he was staring at her expectantly.
“Oh, I’m Lime,” she said quietly.
“Really? Lime the Sandwing? Isn’t that a bit… well, Rainwingy sounding?” he said, arching his brows.
“Um, well, it’s Limestone, really,” she explained, feeling embarrassment rise beneath her scales. There was an uncomfortable minute of silence as if neither of them knew quite what to say and then Winter glanced back at the cow he had just been eating. He snatched it up quickly in his talons and tore it in half.
“Do you want to share this with me? I don’t feel like finishing it anyway,” he added hurriedly when he noticed Lime raise her talons to politely decline.
“Um, alright,” she said, feeling slight discomfort worm its way through her stomach at the thought of actually being included. She was glad she had practiced so hard at containing her Rainwing scales because they definitely would’ve been flying off the color spectrum by now. As she raised the cow to her mouth, however, her anxiety and excitement dropped a bit since her stomach was no longer heaving itself in vicious circles. When her portion of the cow was finally gone, she stretched her wings and gave her most convincing yawn. Winter turned to look at her and she felt a pang of guilt.
“You know, I’m pretty tired now. I should probably try to get some more sleep before tomorrow,” she said, feeling in her heart now that it wasn’t completely untrue.
“Oh, you probably should, "he said, almost belatedly. “It’s your first day here isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is, ”she said, and then not finding anything else to say, she turned to leave.
“Goodnight then, "he called as she slipped out of the cave. She turned back for a split second and tried hard to make her face smile although it felt more like crying.
“Goodnight, ”she said suddenly before darting away. Intense emotions flooded her chest as she fled through the halls to her sleeping cave. Happiness over being noticed warred with extreme fear and the doubt that it could never last. Once he knew who she was… If he ever found out… Well, he would hate her.
CHAPTER 2
Limestone woke up to the color of intense yellow flooding the cave around her. Immediately she thrust her talons over her eyes to block out the searing brightness. Her efforts were rewarded by the squeals of what sounded to be a dragonet only slightly younger than her.
“Moon! She’s finally awake! Come on! We have to find out who she is! And where she’s from! Ooo, and if she wants to walk to class with us!”
“Woah, Kinkajou, calm down,” said another voice gently. Lime removed her talons from over her eyes and saw for the first time the bright yellow Rainwing and Nightwing with silver teardrop scales by her eyes that were her Clawmates. The Rainwing jumped towards Lime and dazzling pink started swirling through her scales.
“HI!” she nearly roared at Lime. “I’m Kinkajou! And this is my best friend, Moon,” Kinkajou said, flicking her tail towards the Nightwing.
Best friend, Lime thought, with a throb of pain in her chest.
“My name’s Lime,” she said slowly. She noticed Moon was staring at her quizzically. Lime stared back at her for a moment and Moon turned away quickly.
“Lime? Isn’t that a Rainwing name?” Kinkajou asked, tilting her head at Lime.
“Well, my name is Limestone, but it’d be nice if you could call me Lime.”
“Ohh, I understand now. And of course we can call you Lime,” Kinkajou said enthusiastically. “Well, now that we all know each other we should probably head to class. Wanna walk with us, Lime?”
Know each other, Lime’s mind echoed sardonically, Like anyone could ever know anything about me. 
Then she realized Kinkajou had asked a question.
“It’s fine. I mean I can walk by myself.”
“Please?” Kinkajou begged, her face falling in disappointment. Lime opened her mouth and then snapped it shut as a Sandwing poked his head into their cave. His golden snout was dusted with a sprinkling of light brown scales and an amber teardrop shaped earring was in his ear.
“Hey Moon,” he said casually, although Lime detected a hint of warmth in his eyes when he looked at the Nightwing. “Hey Kinkajou. Who’s this?” he asked, giving Lime a friendly smile. However, when she looked at his eyes she got the distinct feeling he was reading her soul like he already knew everything about her. She shifted uncomfortably. 
“This is our new Clawmate, Lime! She’s so great,” said Kinkajou excitedly. It seemed as if she had already forgotten to be disappointed with Lime.
“Lime?” the Sandwing said, tilting his head at her. “Like, isn’t that-”
“Her name is Limestone,” Kinkajou cut him off, and she looked slightly like she was defending Lime.
“Oh,” the sandwing said, seeming to understand. “Hi, Lime. I’m Qibli,”he said with another charming smile. He turned to Moon again and grabbed her talon. Lime felt her heart wince.
“Come on, I have something I want to show you. You too Kinkajou,” he said grinning. Then he seemed to remember Lime was in the room and he turned towards her with a slightly apologetic look on his face. “Oh, you can come too if you want.”
Kinkajou smiled hopefully at her and she shrugged resignedly.
“Okay,” Lime said quietly.
“Wait,” said Moon quickly. “Won’t we be late to class, Qibli?”
“It won’t take long, I promise,” he said with another very warm smile. Moon grinned back at him. Lime squirmed inwardly. Then Qibli turned and began pushing his way through the crowded hallways with Moon close beside him. Kinkajou was walking so near to Moon’s tail that she nearly trampled it but Lime tagged behind, flinching if someone’s wings so much as brushed her. Finally Qibli led them into a large cave that smelled strongly of rosemary and spices. A piece of slate was mounted in one end of the classroom showing the different skeletal outlines of dragons and a various assortment of potted plants sat in one corner.
“Isn’t this the Herbs and Healing room?” Moon asked, giving Qibli a quizzical glance.
“It is,” he said, striding over quickly to the plants. Gently he bent the stems aside and pulled another, larger pot out of the group. “Look at this. It took me forever.”
Moon gasped.
“Qibli-”she started and then broke off uncertainly.
“Shh,” he said, raising a talon gently. “Just look.”
In the clay pot sat seven flowers, each a different color and shape. In the middle sat an ebony black flower speckled in silver. Its petals were soft and flowing, brushing gently against the pale golden-yellow adenium, curled down gently above it. Right beneath the two caressing flowers was a vibrant rainbow flower with pointed leaves. Beside the pale yellow adenium was a blueish-white one which made Lime tilt her head. She felt sure she had seen those colors somewhere before. She just couldn’t remember where. Crouched in a ringlet around these four were three more flowers colored copper, green, and brown. Lime glanced over at Kinkajou and noticed the tiny Rainwing was swirling with eye melting colors.
“It’s us,” Kinkajou said with a note of understanding in her voice. “It’s the Jade Winglet.”
Qibli nodded, a huge grin breaking out over his freckled face.
“Qibli, how?” Moon burst, genuinely amazed. 
“I spent a lot of time here after school. It took me a while to get the dye to soak into the flowers.”
Moon, who was now probably smiling harder than Kinkajou, hugged Qibli suddenly and whispered “I love it” into his ear. Qibli embraced her back and Kinkajou turned a soft velvety pink in adoration. Lime stared down at her claws, wishing she hadn’t come with them. It only hurt when she saw people being, well, friendly with each other. She turned away thinking it might be less painful if she found her class on her own. She started to edge backwards for the door when she saw Kinkajou elbow Moon and Qibli. Moon quickly let go of Qibli and both of them backed away from each other before Qibli finally spotted Lime.
“Oh!” he exclaimed, a guilty look clouding his eyes. “Don’t worry, Lime, I’ll grow a flower for you,” he offered, smiling as if that fixed everything. Lime glanced at the flowers for a moment, pondering what it would be like to be included in something for once in her life. Then she shook her head. It would never last.
“It’s alright. I should probably go to class now anyways,” she added, backing away again. She stopped. Qibli was just… staring at her. She shivered. It felt like he was trying to read her soul like it was written on paper. He reached out suddenly and grabbed her talon in his. The world stopped. No one…No one touched her. Ever. It wasn’t a thing that happened. Her mother hated her too much to even brush a wing with her and other dragons she met always seemed to hate her for being raised differently. But this… This was different. She would’ve flinched if she had been able, would’ve pulled away, and run away through the halls, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even move.
“Please,” Qibli said gently. “We want you to come with us.”
Lime opened her mouth to speak but any logical answer that she could’ve said flew from her mind. She nodded. Qibli released her talon and smiled. A feeling similar to basking in the sun flooded Lime’s chest and she longed to believe things could stay like this. It almost seemed as if it might, but she knew better than to think that. 
“See that wasn’t that hard, was it?” asked Kinkajou with a nudge. 
Suddenly the loud gong sound which Lime had heard the other day echoed through the halls. Kinkajou pounced on Moon’s wing and began dragging her out the door.
“Come on, come on, come on! We’re gonna be late,” she called back to Qibli and Lime. Moon and Kinkajou quickly disappeared within the throng of dragons, and Lime was left to plod slowly through the hallways.
"So," came a voice from Lime's side suddenly and she nearly jumped before turning to see the speaker. Qibli was still walking beside her, keeping pace and staring at her intently. Lime felt another odd shiver in her chest at the thought that someone was actually taking the time to notice her. "How come I've never seen you before?" he asked. "I mean, okay, I know I don't have time to meet every Sandwing in the kingdom but surely the desert isn't that big."
"I live in a cave with my mother on the edge of the desert," Lime responded, staring down at her talons.
"Hmm," Qibli said thoughtfully.
"She just doesn't like other dragons," Lime rushed to explain. She turned to Qibli for a response but he merely stretched his wing forward. She then saw that they have reached the entrance to their first class and realized that Qibli had been motioning for her to walk in before him. Limestone nodded, feeling a tiny bit embarrassed about being acknowledged before entering the classroom in front of him. Moon and Kinkajou were already sitting in a group with green seawing across the room and Limestone nearly sat down alone before Kinkajou looked over and began waving her wings vigorously at her and Qibli. Limestone settled down carefully next to Kinkajou and her wings prickled uncomfortably as Qibli sat down on her other side. It was too good to be true. It would never last. 
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)