Wings of Fire: The Eldest Tribe

== Wings of Fire: The Eldest Tribe ==
=== Prologue ===
The swamp was eerily silent.
Agrias unfurled her antennae, using them to try and sense movement in the pale fog that hung above the mud like the faintest remnant of an IceWing's breath. But there was nothing- nothing but the sounds of squelching that came from her talons and those of her SandWing partner.
"I hate this," the SandWing grumbled, lifting up one of her rose-colored talons and watching as the green-brown slime dripped off of them. "It's gross and humid and wet, and just ugh. Remind me why you wanted me on this trip again?"
"You wanted to come, Aphrodite," Agrias replied, not meeting the SandWing's eyes. Her antennae quivered as she looked around. "It was my idea to trek through Lake Scorpion's swamps, I'll admit, but you came along! If I remember correctly, you thought it would be 'cool.'"
Aphrodite grunted, huffing a bit of flame, and fell silent, gazing through the fog with her amethyst-colored eyes. Aphrodite was a SandWing in build, Agrias thought, but she definitely wasn't in color. Aphrodite had pale pink scales to rival Agrias's own, polished to a glistening sheen that matched the rose-quartz necklaces and bands that Aphrodite wore. It was a surprise when she found out that the SandWing wasn't a hybrid, or at least named after rose-quartz, Agrias reminisced.
But suddenly, her partner's footsteps stopped, jolting Agrias from her daydream. "Aphrodite?" Agrias asked, turning around. For a moment, Agrias worried that the dragoness had been taken by something, a silent creature that her antennae couldn't pick up, but she felt a huge rush of relief as Agrias spotted her partner staring at a tree. It looked kind of dead, as far as Agrias could see, with fur-like moss hanging from its branches
"It's weird, isn't it?" Aphrodite remarked, tapping the green-gray wood with one of her talons.
"What about it?" Agrias asked, walking over to the tree with a soft squelch-squelch. "It's just a tree."
"You really haven't been to Pantala in a while, have you," the SandWing scoffed in reply. "I thought Wasp got rid of all trees- except for the ones in the Poison Jungle and her private greenhouses."
Agrias inhaled sharply as she realized the SandWing was right. "Let me take a closer look."
She carefully rounded the tree, nearly falling off the edge of the path into the murky waters that the tree was growing in. Wait… the tree was growing out of the water? Agrias leaned in… and yep, the roots of the tree were exposed, piercing the water.
"A mangrove," Agrias explained, tracing one of the long roots with a claw, feeling a shiver as she did so. She looked up and gasped, spotting that the fog was starting to clear up ahead, revealing a lush, dark forest of more mangroves, as well as a lot of other ferns, grasses, flowering bushes, and of course, deep-brown mud that rose out of the murky lake at random intervals, making a sort of path.
"Whoa," Aphrodite gasped, coming up from behind Agrias. "Has this been here the whole time?"
Agrias didn't reply; rather, she started towards the forest. It was shallow and warm, her talons sinking pleasurably into the soft sand and clay beneath the surface. Agrias began to wade, swimming towards the area as the water grew deeper.
Aphrodite scoffed, flapping her long wings a couple of times before gliding toward Agrias.
The two floated together, admiring the beautiful, lush scenery around them. Golden fireflies flickered in the air, adding to the peaceful, silent, warm atmosphere that the forest gave off. At one point, a firefly flew into Aphrodite's snout, causing her to violently sneeze in order to get it out. "It isn't funny," Aphrodite tried to protest as Agrias tried to stifle her giggles at the scene, but eventually the two burst into laughter at the pure hilarity of the scene.
Eventually, though, they made it to a mud-and-fern-covered island in the middle of the mangrove woods. It was beautiful there, with pearl-white and luscious pink flowers blooming everywhere, brilliant green foliage, and fireflies flashing like magical glitter. The only ugly part of the island was the water that surrounded it, but even that was brightened up by the scenery it reflected.
"You do know you could have used your wings, right?" Aphrodite pointed out, poking Agrias's rosy butterfly wings with her claw. Agrias shied away with a laugh.
"I keep forgetting I have them," she admitted.
Aphrodite raised her brows. "You got them two months ago."
"I know," Agrias laughed. "I just spent so much time without them that it's kind of been a habit to not use them."
There was a moment of silence as the duo looked around the island, scanning out their surroundings.
"I wonder how all of this got here," Agrias said breathlessly, admiring the sheer beauty of the land. It was a paradise, somehow, with glossy silver fog hovering gently over the water.
"Me too," Aphrodite replied, "but don't forget that you're here on a mission."
"Let me guess, you forgot it?" Agrias threw her partner a look.
Aphrodite let out a grunt that said yes.
"Right." Agrias set down her bag and pulled out her scroll. "It says that 'reports explain that strange creatures have been spotted roaming in these woods.' But neither the origin of these creatures nor their appearances haven't been documented yet, so that's what I'm- we're- here to do."
"Alright." Aphrodite started to look around. "Does your scroll say anything about where they were spotted?"
"It just says that the creatures were reported to be within the swamps by Lake Scorpion," Agrias frowned. "Nothing more- I guess we have to find them manually."
"That’s annoying."
"I know- we don't really have much of a choice, though."
Aphrodite exhaled a bit of flame, barely missing a few of the fireflies who were fluttering through the air. "I guess we'd better get moving, then."
"We should check around here first," Agrias suggested longingly. "It's very luscious, and-"
"You're just saying that because it's pretty here." Aphrodite replied with a smirk. Agrias smiled. Her partner knew her well.
"It's awfully romantic," the SilkWing replied shyly. "We could stay a little longer, right?"
There was a pause, a beat of silence as Aphrodite froze in her tracks. Immediately Agrias felt terrible- she knew that Aphrodite was awfully touchy about their relationship, and often tried to hide that the two of them were partners in front of other dragons. Agrias was more open about it, of course, but Aphrodite's parents and friends didn't approve of… such relationships, and had set Aphrodite up with a male SandWing against her will. And despite her spiky don't-come-close-to-me-or-I'll-flame-you personality, Aphrodite cared about other dragons, and she didn't want to hurt her family- even if it meant she couldn't be with Agrias. It was complicated, and Agrias didn't understand the whole thing, but she knew that Aphrodite got twitchy if she mentioned being romantic.
It didn't mean the two of them didn't love each other. They did- at least Agrias hoped they still did. They laughed together, they made jokes with one another, and gave each other gifts, and visited and adventured and everything they loved to do together. Agrias always got this sparkly I love you feeling around Aphrodite, and she did too. Their relationship was perfect before Aphrodite had broken the news to her parents a month ago.
"Look, Aphrodite, I'm sorry," Agrias said. "We can just go- I'm so sorry, that was awkward, forget that I said that, let's just leave. Okay?"
Aphrodite didn't reply, staying frozen in her tracks.
"Aphrodite?"
Aphrodite stayed silent, strangely silent. It was unlike her, and creeped Agrias out.
"Aphrodite, please stop, you're scaring me," Agrias pleaded, bounding toward her partner. "Let's just leave, and-"
Agrias stopped.
Something was wrong.
Aphrodite was frozen in her tracks, her purple eyes glossed over with a mossy-green sheen. Agrias tapped her, but she didn't move. She was stuck in a position, as though she was about to talk, and she was touching the rose-quartz necklace that Agrias had given to her as a one-year-relationship-anniversary present. When Agrias put her talon on her partner's shoulder, she quickly pulled it away: it was cold. It felt like she was touching an IceWing, not a SandWing.
Fear began to well up in Agrias's throat. She turned back towards her bag, only to find that it was gone. Quickly she opened the scroll, skimming through it to find more information.
"Scouts have been sent into the swamps to find out more about these creatures." she read, her voice shaking.
There was a violent amount of splashing from the water around her, kicking in Agrias's adrenaline. She read faster.
"Some were sent for various reasons, and others went on their own accord."
The sound of talons - talons? - began to pound on the island ground. It was big, whatever it was, Agrias's antennae had furled out instinctively and could feel the vibrations from this creature. Aphrodite had seen it- that's probably what made her freeze like that…
"None of them ever came back."
"That's right, little one."
Agrias dropped her scroll in shock.
The last thing she saw before she blacked out was the face of a strange green dragon, staring right back at her with six dark eyes that were shrouded by a tangled mane.
=== Chapter 1 ===
It was a stormy night on Pantala.
The sky spat thousands of raindrops onto the lush savanna, bolts of lightning flashing through the smoke-gray clouds like a SeaWing's scales. A roar of thunder echoed throughout the grassy plains, through the nine Hives, frightening young dragonets out of bed and into the waiting talons of their loving parents. Or they just sat there, coiled up in their silken blankets, paralyzed by fear.
Ghost sat at his desk in his Jewel Hive office, rhythmically sketching random lines across a sheet of parchment, imagining these hypothetical scenes with a sort of cruel pleasure. This office was his main one (it had been relocated from his previous Wasp Hive main location) but he had offices in all of the other tribes.  It was messy and full of paper, the musty dust glittering in the air, but it was cozy nonetheless.  The flickering flamesilk light on his black-ink streaks combined with the random sounds of thunder gave him a sort of frightening thrill. It wasn't the same as the fear-thrill he felt while on the job (Adrenaline, the scientists called it, but he preferred to call it the fear-thrill, since that's what it was), but it still gave him chills down his spine, making his spikes stand on its end.
It was a rare moment, a time when Ghost didn't have a case to solve. This was fairly uncommon, as he was the most well-known and arguably the best detective in all of Pantala. He would always finish his cases fast and move on to the next one without a pause for celebration. Most detectives would take a moment to get attention for the great things they did, but not Ghost. There was always more cases to solve, so he would rarely go to the parties that his clients threw in celebration, and when he did, he would politely excuse himself as quickly as possible, running back to his office to begin his next job.
But on this particular stormy night, Ghost didn't have a case to research.  He had no clues to uncover, no evidence to examine.  For a moment he felt a jolt of paranoia, worrying that his enemies might have dirtied his name more than it already was, as he once was the dragon who found criminals for Wasp, but he dismissed this thought with a scoff.  His clients knew he was reliable and would defend his name if the rival detectives tried to smear it.  He got the job done, and if he didn't, it was because his client was in the wrong and the victim they were chasing was actually innocent. 
Ghost chuckled to himself, remembering a particular case where his client had gotten angry at him after the client had tried to make Ghost frame an innocent dragon for the crime the dragon himself had committed.  I thought you were supposed to do whatever the client wants, albino scum!  The client had shouted furiously, his tail raising threateningly.  You do whatever "Her Majesty" wants! Why can't you do something simple for me?
Most detectives might have felt intimidated or frightened by this ruby-red HiveWing, who was twice Ghost's size and four times as mean, but Ghost had been simply amused- he'd seen much worse while on the job.  Because I'm a dragon of principles, Ghost had replied. I may be neutral minded- I don't give a crap about who is in the right- I will do my job to find the committer of the crime, and if the suspect is found not guilty and the client guilty, then I have the right to dispatch the client as long as I have sufficient evidence.
Ghost laughed as he remembered the pure fury of the HiveWing as he'd been swept away by the brainwashed guards.  The laugh was almost maniacal, punctuated by the roar of thunder from the storm outside.
And suddenly, a polite knock sounded at the door.
"Come on in," Ghost said in his gruff, deep voice with a hint of amusement.  "I'm pretty sure that the sign on the door says 'no need to knock.'"
The wooden door swung open.  Ghost didn't look up from his doodling, already aware of who the visitor was.  The polite, light steps, the way her tail lightly brushed on the ground, the aura of nervous royalty around her, it was obvious.
"Queen Jewel of the HiveWings," Ghost swept his talons across the parchment, leaving a black-ink flourish behind.  "It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
The HiveWing bristled her wings, apparently surprised that he was aware of who she was without even looking up.  "Detective Ghost," she replied in her melodious, high voice.  "I do hope that you're not busy."
"No, Your Majesty, I have no cases at the moment," Ghost replied, looking up.  "I do hope that I haven't offended Your Honor in any way that you might interrupt my flow of customers."
Queen Jewel bristled her wings again.  "Please, just call me Jewel," she said through her teeth, a bit of flustered nervousness in her voice.  "I- I'm not quite used to all the formal titles that a queen is called- and I personally don't like them."
"My apologies." Ghost stood up, meeting Jewel's eyes with his own, brown-red ones, watching as she unintentionally looked away and stepped back.  He was used to it- he didn't look like the other HiveWings, hence his odd name. "Your cousin had much different priorities than you, it seems."
"So you did work for Wasp, then," Jewel deduced, struggling to meet Ghost's eyes. "Why?"
"She paid and she paid well," Ghost said simply. "While others may not like the idea that I chased down criminals that Wasp wanted me to take down, I never actually supported her cover-up-hiding-things she did with the LeafWings.  I had no part in the covering-up, I only captured criminals that I was certain had actually committed a crime."
"And if she wanted you to frame someone?" Jewel asked.
"Never," Ghost replied.  "I'm a dragon of principles- I don't care about who you are or what you have done, as long as you didn't commit the crime and I have evidence to prove it, you get off scot-free.  Wasp and I had our disagreements, but she eventually caved, because what else was she going to do?  Hire a new detective, that will ask for more and never get the job done?"
"I would think that's what she would do, but I presume she had other staff on backup in case you refused," Jewel replied. 
"I suspected so." Ghost nodded.  "But you're probably not here to ask about the way your cousin and I worked together.  So why are you here?"
Jewel took a deep breath- whatever it was worried her. "I don't want to talk about it… here," she said, waving her talons about the musty, paper-filled room.  "No offense, but it's a mess in here."
"I understand, Your Majesty," Ghost replied with a bow of his head.  "Where were you thinking about talking?"
Jewel buzzed her wings yet again- probably because of his use of "Your Majesty," Ghost presumed.  "I was hoping we could go out and get a coffee together.  Not in that way," she added embarrassedly, noticing the amused grin that Ghost was giving her.  "Just as coworkers.  Friends.  You know what, I'm bad at this," she said, flustered, as Ghost was on the verge of laughter now. "Let's just go discuss it over coffee."
"Alright," Ghost replied, amused.  "Crime over coffee."
The duo went to a coffee shop that Ghost had never been to. The owner was a cheery SilkWing who had probably had too much coffee that day, he'd never met anybody more excitable than she was.  The SilkWing led them to a secluded table, chattering all the way. 
"Queen Jewel, it's so nice to see you again!" the SilkWing chirped, jumping ahead and nearly tripping Ghost with her wings.  "Do you want your usual?"
"Yes please, and something for my friend as well," Jewel replied, nodding at Ghost to signal him to order something.
"I'll take a plain black coffee," Ghost said.
The SilkWing nodded.  "Here's your table, Jewel," she said, motioning to a sweet, obscure little table with a window overlooking the savannah.  A silk curtain covered it so it looked like a decoration rather than a spot where someone would sit and eat.  Ghost squeezed in and Jewel followed close behind.  Ghost was surprised to find that there was actually a lot of room in the little nook, despite its outside look. 
The SilkWing pulled the curtain tight with a grin. "I'll be back with your coffees soon!" she said before flouncing off to serve the next customer.
Jewel settled down, relaxing.  "The Cozy Corner is my favorite coffee shop in Jewel Hive, and one of the few SilkWing owned businesses that were up and running before my cousin stepped down from rule.  Bluet- the SilkWing who just led us here- is the owner and one of my best friends, and she had this little corner constructed after I became queen so I could have coffee here anytime without being bothered."
"Did Wasp ever discover you allowed SilkWing businesses?" Ghost asked curiously, surprised to know that there any SilkWing owned businesses at all during Wasp's rule.  Wasp was strict about what jobs SilkWings could or couldn't have, and SilkWing-owned businesses were pretty much illegal.
"Oh, for sure," Jewel replied with a laugh. "She- though reluctantly, I must say- allowed me to keep the Cozy Corner and a few other ones up since she knew they were my favorites and that I would annoy the venom out of her if she didn't."
Ghost chuckled.
The curtain was suddenly pulled back as the SilkWing- Bluet, Ghost remembered- appeared with their coffees.
"A plain black coffee for you," Bluet said, handing Ghost a ceramic mug full of steamy, dark coffee.  "And your usual, Jewel," Bluet added, placing an obnoxiously large ceramic mug in front of Jewel.  Ghost couldn't see what was inside- it was topped with an inconceivable amount of whipped cream, sparkling, jewel-like sprinkles, and various syrups, and topped with a sugar-spun bee.
"Thank you," Ghost and Jewel told her.
Bluet flashed them a smile.  "Of course.  Let me know if you need anything!" She quickly tied the curtain shut and left the two of them alone.
"I used to come down here all the time during mass-Hive commands," Jewel said, pulling the mug closer to her.  "I would  mass-order sweets from the HiveWing owned sugary shops, just to annoy them for no reason, but since they weren't in the building, I would come down here to get this and wait."
"That is a lot of sugar," Ghost remarked, taking a sip of his own coffee.  "What even is it?"
Jewel licked a bit of whipped cream off the top of the mountain of sugar. "Honey-vanilla latte, with double whipped-cream, sprinkles, the expensive sprinkles, caramel syrup, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, maple syrup, this sparkly golden paper stuff I think they call "gold leaf," and topped with a sugar bee from the best SilkWing sweet-maker around: Sugar Ant." 
"Wow, that is… exotic," Ghost commented, not sure how else to describe the truly cavity-inducing drink, which, judging by its contents, must be the most expensive drink in both continents. 
"Says the dragon with just plain black coffee," Jewel scoffed. "Seriously? Not even a squirt of vanilla?"
"I like the bitterness," Ghost replied, pretending to be hurt.  Jewel laughed.
"Well, we're not here to talk about our questionable taste in coffee," Jewel said, taking a sip.  "We're here to talk about a case that I think might be the worst case you'll ever take on."
"I doubt it." Ghost sipped his coffee. "Hit me."
Jewel sighed, apparently troubled by the news. "Ten HiveWings, seven SilkWings, three LeafWings, and a handful of dragons from Pyrrhia- their tribes are unknown- have all disappeared in the span of the past two months."
Ghost's eyes widened.  He swallowed his drink, savoring the bitter taste. "Where?"
"The swamps near Lake Scorpion," Jewel replied. "The first few SilkWings were from before we tried to go across to Pyrrhia when my cousin was crazy as heck, but the others went there for different reasons.  Some to see if there were any seeds to plant for the Leaf-Silk kingdom, others to find the dragons that went missing on those missions, and others for more reasons. The Possibility Adventure and Mystery Society -PAMS for short- even had to get involved, which is why some of the missing dragons are Pyrrhian rather than Pantalan."
"The swamps by Lake Scorpion," Ghost mused. "How could so many dragons, in such a short amount of time, get lost in an area that's barely bigger than a couple of Hives?  It's not even the Poison Jungle, three moons.  Are you sure they haven't returned, Jewel?"
Jewel hesitated.  "I've been checking," she replied.  "None of the HiveWings have returned.  I checked with Queen Hazel-Queen Sequoia retired- and the council of the Leaf-Silk kingdom, and the LeafWings and SilkWings haven't returned either."
"Hm." Ghost took a sip of coffee as he thought. "Any evidence or suspects?"
"No, except…" Jewel sipped her coffee as she pulled out a book.  "The HiveWing scientists have been doing research on those swamps since my cousin was thrown out."  She handed the book to Ghost, who flipped through it.
"Strange creatures… odd shapes, there appears to be trees…" muttered Ghost as he skimmed the pages.
"Yes," Jewel replied.  "There have been many reported sightings of odd, serpentine beings in the fog of the swamps."
"How do you know they're not lying, or that they're just shadows?" asked Ghost, looking up.
"My head scientist, Doodlebug, saw them, and she's rarely ever wrong- she's the one who wrote that notebook," Jewel said, causing Ghost to flip to the cover. "She went to investigate and left this book behind- it's the only thing she did.  She's been missing for about two weeks now."
Ghost sat there for a moment, thinking.
"Well?" Jewel prompted.
"I think," Ghost said slowly.  "If all of these reports are true, and there are strange creatures in the swamp, then there's a high chance that they all are dead."  Or that the Breath of Evil somehow came back from the dead and is trying to regain strength, he thought, but didn't mention that. "So there isn't much I can do, Jewel.  I'm sorry."
Jewel looked crestfallen.  "Can you at least go and see what the cause was?" she begged. "At least bring back the bodies, so their loved ones know."
Ghost sighed, thinking.  He really didn't want to go and do this case, especially since it seemed fruitless and more like a su*cide mission than a mystery, but he didn't really have much else to do.
"I guess I have room for a new case," he decided. 
"Thank you," Jewel replied, relieved.
"Let everyone know that I'll be out for the next- I don't know, week or so?- to do this case," Ghost said, setting down the notebook and some money to pay for his coffee.  He stood up.  "I'd ought to go and get packed."
"Wait- you should probably take this," Jewel said, offering him the notebook.  "As evidence, I guess.  And to help you navigate the swamps."
Ghost took the book, nodding respectfully to Jewel.  "May Clearsight smile on your rule," he said.
Jewel nodded respectfully back.  "And on your efforts as well," she replied.
Ghost opened the curtains, unaware of what he was getting himself into. 
And far away, in the swamps of Lake Scorpion, an odd dragon smiled.
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Genre (Romance)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Genre (Mystery)