Molten Ground: Book 16 Concept

Warning! Spoilers for books 1-15 and possibly Dragonslayer
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== The Darkest Prophecy ==
When peace has lasted 7 of year
and the Night of Shadows is here,
the NightWing attacks will commence
while the RainWings cower in fear
six daring dragonets
will stop the terror in the darkness severe.
Wings of the ocean, the trees, and the skies,
Of each twice multiplies,
From whom the next generation of heroes arise.
Heed the dark, 
Cherish the light,
and you may still have a chance to fight.
== Prolouge ==
“And then you turn them onto their side and repeat the process for any other wou…” “Bong! Bong!” The gong cut Clay short. “That’s it, class! Tomorrow, your assignment is to demonstrate the process on each other.” 
Clay put his demonstration away and packed up his stuff. He had planned an arrangement with Peril tonight in town, but first, he had to stop at the prey center to pick up dinner arrangements. When he entered the place, he was surprised to see most of the Jade winglet there, including his date. The winglet that ran away, Clay remembered. 6 months ago, they had left the school and worked together to do a lot of things, including getting one of them banished from their kingdom, helping Ruby defeat her corrupt mother Scarlet, and reviving and defeating Darkstalker. For the past month, two of them were off doing a “diplomatic mission” to the lost continent, Pantala, for a while after the horde of rainbow dragons came to Sanctuary. Most of these immigrants needed schooling about the traditions of Pyrrhian dragons, and what school just happened to be just over yonder? His school. The past month, Clay, Tsunami, Starflight, and Sunny had to educate hundreds of brand-new dragons, young and old and of every color under the sun about how things worked on this “new land.”
“Hey, Clay,” Peril said in a flirting voice. “What are you up to?”
“Getting dinner,” Clay responded, grabbing a sheep.
They took off, heading for the new town of Jade Mountain Foothills. They flew together over the dirt paths lined with tents, trees, webs, shacks, and shops. But the pair were not heading for the city, but for a large rock overlooking the town of four-winged dragons and a beautiful sunset sneaking its way behind the dual-peaked mountain. Clay circled around, dropping the sheep into a pit and heading for a pile of mud. Peril landed on top of the boulder and laid down, soaking in the setting sun while waiting for Clay to finish his mud bath.
Five minutes later, Clay flew back up to Peril, who had been patiently waiting for him. When he landed, Peril perked up and asked, “Where did you put the goat?”
Clay reached down into the pit and grabbed the sheep. “Do you want to roast it together?”
Later that evening, resting together on the boulder and watching the sunset, Peril asked, “Just theoretically or just in case, what would we name our dragonet if we had one?”
Clay thought for a second, then replied, “Magma, because you have firescales and I’m a mudwing, and magma is sort of hot mud.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Peril said quietly. “I wonder if firescales are genetic.”
“They are, aren’t they?” Clay told her, “Since didn’t your father say that Scarlet hired him because he could have firescales dragonets?”
“I understand that,” Peril countered, “but he's told me so many lies. It’s hard for me to distinguish the truth and the lies from what he has said.”
“I guess all we can do is hope, then,” Clay said as the sun sank below the horizon.
== Chapter 1 ==
Magma had never been so terrified and so excited for anything in his entire life. He both felt he had been born to do this and also felt like he didn’t fit in at all. He had already lived at Jade Mountain Academy his entire life because his father, a dragonet of destiny and one of the school's founders, had worked here for the seven years it had been open, and his son was finally going to learn here.
His mother, Peril, had insisted that he fly around and walk through the main entrance like any other dragonet. When the day came, he fulfilled his parents’ wishes and went through the front entrance of the grand mountain for his first day as a student at Jade Mountain Academy.
“Hello! Here are your scrolls. Your room is in the left wing, and the fifth room on the right. Oo! That’s a face I know!” Fatespeaker said delightedly. “First day, Magma?”
"Yeah,” Magma replied.
“You know the drill. Welcome scrolls, map, like you need it! and your room is right wing, third room on the left. Your clawmates are Alligator and Podzol. You’ll get to know them today. You are part of Jade Winglet.”
Magma gulped hard. He did not like the idea of being put in a winglet where dragonets had died, prophets resided, and almost all of the winglet had vanished in their first year. Nevertheless, he went to his quarters, and there was Podzol.
“Magma!” he shouted, jumping up and rolling back the scroll he was reading.
“Podzol! What’s up?” Magma replied as they exchanged a clawshake. “Do you know anything about this ‘Alligator’ character?”
“I’ve heard he’s some sort of prince.”
“I can’t recall anybody named Alligator in the royal family.”
“Alligator isn’t a mudwing prince,” Podzol said, lowering his voice. “I hear that he’s a hybrid like you.”
Magma gave a confused look.
“No, not a half-skywing,” Podzol added hurriedly at the look on Magma’s face. “Just another hybrid.”
Then, at the worst moment possible, Alligator walked in. Alligator is a large, burly figure with a giant head and a menacing aura about him. He had dark splotches and stripes through his very dark scales that made Magma think that an icewing had attacked him.
As though he had the exact same thoughts, Podzol asked Alligator in an undertone, “Are those frostbreath scars?”
Alligator chuckled in response. “No, they’re not.”
“Then what are they?” Magma chimed in.
“Erm... birthmarks, I guess.” Alligator replied.
“That means...” Podzol started.
“Yep, I’m half Icewing.” Alligator finished for him.
“Hold up, let me guess,” Podzol said. “Your mother is Princess Crystal of the Icewings!”
“Bingo.” Alligator replied. “Now let me guess the both of you. First, I’ll start with the hybrid. Your scales are a deep reddish-brown, and your neck is long and slender. Your wings are too large for a normal mudwing, meaning you are likely a half-skywing. You two know each other, and I heard Fatespeaker say that she knows you well, so you must come here a lot.”
Or lived here, Magma imagined Alligator thinking
“Therefore, one of your parents is likely a dragonet of destiny, and there is no skywing in the five. Your father is Clay, the health teacher here at Jade Mountain Academy.”
Podzol gasped.
“And you, you look like a normal mudwing, and you must know Magma here. Your mother must be Clay’s sister, Pheasant.”
"Wow,” Magma said quietly.
“Now, how are we going to divide up the room?”
“I call the corner!” Podzol shouted, leaping up onto his ledge. Magma and Alligator shrugged at each other and hopped onto their ledges.
They didn’t move from their ledges until it was mealtime. All three of them share a love for food that is common among Mudwings, even hybrids. When the gong rang, all three of them jumped up and shouted, “Food!” in almost perfect sync. They laughed and put their things away as they headed toward the prey center.
When the band of mudwings reached the prey center, it was a disaster, per usual, Magma knew. He had been to this same prey center before. He went to it almost every day of his life. Some days his father would bring the prey back to their quarters: a cozy cave with a window to the outside, which, incidentally, is right next to the prey center.
Today, the cause of the chaos was a very big group of fat opossums. Many rainwings were scared of the opossums, though, among others, but a group of sandwings were either locking them in an arena to fight or trying to eat them, but neither to any avail. Podzol and Alligator were interested in the arena fights, but Magma stayed away from the activity. As he edged away, he blindly tripped over a stalagmite. As he lay there, a light blue seawing around his age walked over to him.
“Do you need help?” the seawing asked. “You look sort of stuck.”
“Yes. Very,” Magma replied. He had fallen on a heap of sand and he could not see her. She stuck out her hand and he grabbed it and hoisted himself up.
“My name is Current,” she said. “What’s yours?”
"Magma,” Magma Replied
“That was a nasty fall. Are you okay?”
“I think so. If anything is broken, my dad can fix it.”
“Who is your dad?” Current asked.
Magma gestured toward the large orange Mudwing who was trying to shoo out the possums. “Clay.”
“Wait. How do I not know you?” Current questioned.
“Because you’re a seawing?” Magma said.
“No, not that. Our parents know each other. My mother is in charge of the school.”
“What? How do I not know you?” Magma exclaimed.
“I know, right? This is absurd! What next? Does Starflight have a daughter we need to worry about?”
“Um…” A Nightwing said from behind them
“Three moons!” Current exclaimed. “Why couldn’t they just introduce us to each other?”
“You’re forgetting somebody,” A nightwing sitting on a throne of stalagmites in the center of the group of nightwings said.
“We’re not forgetting anyone, Firefly. We’re all here.” Current replied.
“Wait. Is that Firefly, the first princess of two tribes?” Magma asked
“Yup. That’s me. The rainforest princess.” Firefly said in what Magma thought might be her “high and mighty” voice.
“Wait up,” a large skywing said. “If you all are having some sort of royal ensemble, then count us in.”
Magma gulped and started to bow, but then remembered that his mother had been banished by the skywing tribe. He stood up tall and glared into the eyes of the speaker.
“Do you not know who I am?” he said more menacingly.
“Cliff, stop scaring him! It’s his first day!” The Seawing following him said.
“Oh. Sorry. What’s your name?” He asked Magma, “And why don’t I know you?”
“Magma. I’ve lived here my entire life.” Magma answered.
“Huh,” Cliff replied. “I believe I have met your mother once, but my mother says that she was enchanted at the time.”
Magma was puzzled. His mother rarely left Jade Mountain Academy.
“And by the way,” Cliff added, “I am Prince Cliff of the Skywings, and this is Current’s aunt, Auklet.”
Auklet waved sheepishly. She looked too young to be someone’s aunt. She and Cliff were barely any larger than any of the dragonets in the group of nightwings hiding in the crevice. Magma estimated that they were about three years older than him. The pair turned around and left. Suddenly, Magma remembered that it was mealtime, so he stalked up on a couple of chickens and lunged at them while spewing fire, cooking them before even touching them.
“What are you doing?” Current cried, “You just ruined some perfectly good chicken!”
“Huh?” Magma looked at her and said, “This is how I always ate meat. My mom can’t prepare it without burning it. Chicken tastes better burned, anyway.”
“Alright. If you say so,” Current flew out of the chamber, leaving Magma to himself to eat until Podzol and Alligator came back.
“Who was that seawing?” Alligator questioned Magma immediately as he ate his chicken.
“She’s the daughter of the headmistress,” Magma replied, taking a huge bite of chicken.
“It’s a good idea to be on her good side, then.” Podzol chimed in. He looked at the clock. “We should head back now. Magma, could you bring this to the cave?”
"Mmessh,” Magma replied, “Shgush gib me a shec.”
When the Mudwings got to their cave, they collapsed onto their ledges and fell asleep quickly.
== Chapter 2 ==
Magma, to his surprise, had the best sleep of his life.
But that didn’t matter, because their winglet had a lot to do today. Their first task was to meet with the headmistress, Tsunami, to discuss classes for the rest of the year. It had been barely an hour after sunrise when their meeting was scheduled with the rest of the winglet. They would meet each other for the first time there. On their way there, they met Yucca and Stardust, two sandings that are in their winglet.
“Hello,” Yucca said shyly to the group of Mudwings.
“Greetings,” Podzol replied. “Where are you ladies going?”
“We’re going to meet with the headmistress,” Stardust said.
“What are your names?” Alligator asked.
“My name is Stardust,” Stardust answered. “This is Yucca. She’s kinda introverted.” Yucca waved shyly in response.
“I think we might be in the same winglet,” Magma inquired. “Are you in Jade Winglet?”
The pair of Sandwings nodded, and then Yucca asked, “How are there three Mudwings in our winglet?”
“Let me explain,” Podzol whispered to Magma and Alligator. “So you know how you two are both sandwings, but you’re still clawmates? We’re in the same situation. I’m the only actual Mudwing here, and these two are both hybrids,” he gestured toward Magma and Alligator. “Magma’s mother is a skywing, and Alligator’s mother is an icewing, so there.”
Stardust nodded as they walked through the doorway to see two silkwings, a leafwing, and an adult Seawing Magma immediately recognized as Tsunami, a former dragonet of destiny and one of his father’s best friends. The classroom is an open one, with a wide-open feel and a waterfall in the corner. Magma remembered the stories his father had told him and that Tsunami loved to sleep in the river, and he wondered whether Tsunami used the waterfall for that purpose. There were various posters around the room that had no definite theme about them: some were posters for concerts that happened three years ago, others were rules and guidelines for the school, and more still were student art projects that Magma thought could’ve been the best of the year because he could see exactly six: one for each year the school has been open, and letters from students and the other dragonets of destiny sending words of affirmation.
Tsunami made an irritated noise. Magma perked up and noticed that she seemed irritated by the visitors. No, Magma thought, irritated by who’s not one of the visitors. His idea was proved correct when two tired-looking Seawings walked through the door. Tsunami mumbled to herself and took up a position in the center of the classroom.
“Well, hello! My name is Tsunami. Some of you know that already.” She winked at the Seawings. “You’re all part of Jade Winglet. Let’s start with introductions.” She gestured toward the blue-green silkwing, who stepped up.
“My name is Atlas,” the Silkwing said. “I grew up on Pantala with both of my parents. My mother is a flamesilk and stopped the othermind seven years ago. I am a silkwing.” Atlas’ eyes moved to look at the silkwing next to him.
“My name is Grasshopper. My mother, Cricket, went with Atlas’ to the Pantala to stop the othermind. I grew up on Pantala with both of my parents, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my sisters Bumblebee and Locust, who are in different winglets here. I am half silkwing and half hivewing. Oh, and Atlas is my cousin!” Grasshopper said smoothly.
“And my name is Ash. I grew up near the remnants of Bloodworm Hive, where my parents met. I am half leafwing and half silkwing.”
“Alright, good introductions, Atlas, Ash, and Grasshopper,” Tsunami replied. “I was on that expedition, too. Who’s next?”
One of the Seawings raised their talon eagerly. Magma remembered the seawing from the day before in their encounter in the prey center.
“Hi, my name is Current. I grew up in Jade Mountain with my dad. My mom has important work to do. I am a proud Seawing, but I can’t really speak aquatic,” Current said. Throughout her introduction, she winked at Tsunami. Magma could see the confusion on the sandwings’ and silkwings’ faces. In his mind, he was dying of laughter, but, to his own amazement, he somehow held it in. Current waved toward the seawing next to her. 
“Right. My name is Stormy, but you can call me Storm. I grew up in the rainforest in the Rainwing Village, but I visit the Sea Kingdom often to meet my grandmother and my uncles. I lived in the Rainforest Kingdom with my parents. Current is my cousin.” Storm said.
Tsunami hummed approvingly and gestured to the mudwings with her wings. Magma and Alligator both subtly looked at Podzol. He stepped up to do his introduction.
“My name is Podzol. I grew up in the Mud Kingdom with my mother and my sibs. My sister, Frog, is in Gold Winglet, and Magma is my cousin.”
“Very good,” Tsunami said, nodding toward Magma.
Magma gulped hard but said nonetheless, “My name is Magma. I grew up here at Jade Mountain Academy with my mom and my dad, who works here.”
“Mmmhmm,” Tsunami acknowledged.
“And my name’s Alligator. I lived in Sanctuary with my parents. I’ve visited the Ice Kingdom several times to meet my aunts. I am half icewing and half mudwing.” Magma flinched as he remembered that he forgot to tell everyone about that.
“Good, good,” Tsunami said, then looked at the sandwings.
Stardust nudged Yucca. Yucca then cleared her throat and said, “My name is Yucca. My parents work for Thorn in the Sandwing Stronghold, where I grew up. I am a sandwing.”
“And my name’s Stardust, but you can call me Starry. I grew up with my parents in Jade Mountain (the town), but I visit Queen Thorn and the rainforest often.”
There was a pause, and then Tsunami said, “Alright, now allow me to lay out some guidelines and ground rules. First off, as I’m sure at least some of you have noticed, this board outlines the guidelines for my classroom. The rest of my friends put me as the head of the school way back, so I pretty much run things around here, as most of you know already. Raise your talon before speaking; no fire, frostbreath, stinging, biting, et cetra, et cetra. You all know the deal.”
The gong let out a resounding ring.
“Class dismissed!” Tsunami finished abruptly.
Magma threw his bag of scrolls onto his back and walked out the door. Since he was fast, he was able to make it out in time before the halls became chock-full of students. Magma remembered a time when there were barely 40 students at the school and six staff members. Now, 50 students are attending the school, with 10 in each winglet, one for each of the new tribes that were discovered mere months after Jade Mountain Academy first opened. These classroom halls were packed to the brim with young dragons of every color, all going in different directions trying to get to their next class. Fortunately for him, Magma’s next class was just down the hallway. Unfortunately, there was a large circle of students the whole hallway wide. Magma also couldn’t take an alternate route because his next class’s door was blocked by a dense wall of young dragons. With nothing else to do, Magma pushed around to get a better view, and what he saw chilled him to his bones. He had never felt so cold. There on the ground was his mother, unconscious. He had to check if she was still alive, so he dashed into the center of the circle and checked his mother’s pulse as screams immediately filled the chamber.
== Chapter 3 ==
Magma didn’t move until he was sure that his mother was alive. By that time, his father was there, and most of the students had left. He is the health teacher at Jade Mountain Academy and has fireproof scales, just like Magma.
When his father confirmed the verdict that she was indeed unconscious, Magma asked, “Why did everyone scream?”
His father replied, “So you know how all the food she gives you is very crispy? She hatched with too much fire, and her twin hatched without fire. Anything she touches burns. This condition is called firescales. She saved my life with it once. Remember my limp and that scar? Nonetheless, we were still grateful that you weren’t hatched with them.”
“What do you think did this to her?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to search for clues, but for now, we should get her to the medical wing. You look for clues; I can take your mother to the medical wing.”
Something hit the floor across the hall. “There!” Magma shouted.
“Go get 'em!” His father replied with his mother on his back.
Magma had never flown that fast in his life, but he was still too late to catch the culprit. In their haste, they left a thin stick. Magma picked it up but kept his guard up in case the someone was still present. He inspected it carefully but only noticed three things about it: it was hollow, it had a notch in the middle, and there was a slimy feather inside. When he looked around the junction, he noticed a trail of 5 more identical reeds laid in a row. In one of them, he noticed a small metal dart. When he touched the dart, the metal melted. Magma gasped. He hadn’t learned much from his father, but after he pulled a prank on his mother, he told them that gallium is a metal that burns when it gets hotter than a skywing's scales. Remembering this, he quickly went to the site of the incident, and, sure enough, he found a puddle-shaped plate of solid metal.
He grabbed his map, which, in an awkward twist of fate, he did need for this, burned it, slipped it underneath the metal, and bent the singed material to cup the volatile liquid. He carefully but hastily made his way through the halls. 
When he got into the medical wing, Magma called, “Dad?” No response. He called again, but there was still no response. 
“Do… Do you need any help?” the healer there asked.
“I’m looking for my father, Clay,” Magma replied.
“Try his room.” Magma shook his head. “Oh… hmm… Well, I haven’t seen him today. What do you need him for?”
Magma explained the whole situation to the healer, whose name is Boto.
“Oh,” Boto said understandably. “Now I see why you need to see your father. However, I don’t know where he is.”
At that moment, they heard the sound of a blowdart firing outside. Magma and Boto dashed out just too late. A giant nightwing was flying outside with Clay on his back, who had Peril on top of him. 
“No!” Magma shouted helplessly as they were dragged to the remnants of Agate Mountain, where they were thrown off of his back. He quickly scribbled something down on a small slip of paper, grabbed the skywing, and took off.
“We should help your father. He looked like he was tossed pretty hard,” Boto said a heartbeat later.
Magma agreed. Boto packed her supplies, asked Magma what sort of symptoms his mother had, and then grabbed some other things. They flew out to see Clay stuffed up and knocked out on top of Agate Mountain.
Boto bent down and started treating the mudwing’s wounds. Magma sat beside them helplessly, wondering what an enormous nightwing would want from a firescales. Magma was also confused about how the nightwing was able to take away his mother without being singed.
“Boto, I need to see Starflight.”
“Go ahead,” Boto responded.
Magma flew as fast as he could to the library. When he got in, he greeted Starflight, the blind librarian, and explained his situation and predicament.
“I know where you can get the information you need. Today, I think they are in the Sandwing Stronghold. Right now, take care of your father, but tomorrow, go to Sanctuary with the rest going on the field trip. There, the dragons you need to talk to will all be in the same place. When you are there, wait outside the Human Village. When you get an opportunity to speak to the Icewing there, tell him that you want to see the Moonwatcher. She has all the information you need.”
“Thank you, Starflight,” Magma replied, though still confused.
“Trust the process.” Starflight reminded him.
Magma nodded. The librarian passed him a handful of passes: five for the rest of the day and a ticket to the field trip to Sanctuary. Magma flew back out to see that his father was bent over, crying, but now conscious. 
“He seemed to have been hit by a rainwing blowdart. Look, here is some of that metal.” Boto pointed at the spot where the mudwing must have been hit.
“But why?” Magma asked.
“I think I know who it is,” his father sniffed. “But I have no clue where he’s taking her, or how.”
“Hey, Dad, it’s all good, but Starflight told me to go on this field trip for information.” Magma showed him the ticket. “Should I still go?”
“Yes,” he mustered. “There is still a lot we don’t know. You go tomorrow; I can handle myself.”
== Chapter 4 ==
*Upcoming*
Category:Fanfictions
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Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)