Silver Comet

Eyes, eyes, and more eyes. Everyone staring at her, from everywhere.
Silverstar can't escape the attention of the other dragons, neither friendly, nor unfriendly. Her odd features attract the glares of every NightWing in her village, and every new dragon she meets stares curiously at her, which makes her deeply uncomfortable.
When she finally gets the chance to escape the tribe that hates her, she is suddenly faced with countless new challenges. A new school, numerous unfamiliar dragons, an IceWing bully, the pressure of her hidden powers, and the strange new nightmares that come with splitting headaches paralyze Silver all at once.
The plot thickens with a new, ominous prophecy and unexpected attacks mixing into her first experience outside of the rainforest. And when her friend is framed by a nameless dragon, she and her winglet must leave their school and set off on a perilous mission.
Can she decode the cryptic prophecy with the help of her new friends? How can she prove her friend's innocence? Will dragons finally accept her despite all her flaws?
UPDATES EVERY DAY
This is my first Wings of Fire fanfiction! Please do not edit it without my permission! Thank you, and I hope you enjoy reading this!
Also, I would love to get suggestions or grammar corrections and things like that in the comments, if you have any! Or, just leave a comment if you like it?
And also, this book takes place after Arc 3, so it is like the beginning of Arc 4. Except in this AU, Pantala was not discovered. That is the only thing that is different from the actual book series.
And also, also, this might have mature content, I’m not entirely sure, but it has fighting and stuff, so I put this here just in case.
__TOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__
==THE RELICS PROPHECY==
For future disaster, the ashes rise,
Planning and plotting to end the light.
But two thousand years ago, a spell was made,
For protection that will never fade.
The relic of Night helps dragons connect,
The relic of Ice lets queens reflect.
The relic of Rain heals dragons in pain,
The relic of Sea helps nature sustain.
The relic of Sand finds out what’s true,
The relic of Sky gives strength anew.
The relic of Mud shows sympathy and trust.
Together the objects will make things just.
One dragon coming from each tribe,
Who have met on mountain high.
When the night is ablaze with light,
Seven dragons will make things right.
Find a relic from each tribe,
Unite them in front of watching eyes,
Face the danger that will arise,
And they may be able to stop Pyrrhia’s demise…
==PROLOGUE==
Four years ago...
On the secret NightWing island, a black dragon darted out of the black stone fortress.
In the cover of a shadow of a tall outside wall, she tilted her head and squinted at the sky above, folding her wings in to hide the star-speckled underside. It was almost impossible to tell the time through the dark smoke that covered the sky, but Crescent knew it was almost midnight — the night of her escape.
What was she escaping from? She had more reasons than she had claws on each talon. One — the volcano, seething with death and destruction, right over their heads; two — the immense lack of food; three — the lying and manipulating; four — the unjust and mysterious ruling by their unseen queen; and five — all the island’s dragons’ unreasonable, grouchy, and hard-to-live-with attitudes. Just one of those would make a dragon want to leave their tribe forever.
Crescent hesitated. Forever. The volcanic island was unbearable, but it had been her home for her whole life — she’d never been anywhere else except for the rainforest. She closed her black eyes and shook her head. No. She had been planning for this escape since her parents died. They were the only dragons on this whole island who actually liked her, but after the twelve years they’d raised her and loved her, they suddenly died on a mission on the continent. There was nothing left for her here.
To prepare for her dangerous journey, she’d studied the maps and scrolls about the entire continent of Pyrrhia and planned out her whole escape. She couldn’t give up when she was so close.
She crept forward on silent talons, sinking into shadows, making her way through the deserted island. The smoky black island was usually swarmed with skinny, ill, black dragons. She looked over the rivers of red and gold lava and the rocky black landscape. All the NightWings were in the throne room, where Queen Battlewinner was making an announcement — or rather, Greatness, the queen’s daughter, was doing it for her.
When she was just a short flight away from the black sand beach, she spread her black wings and —
“HEY! What are you doing?” a voice shouted from behind her. She turned quickly, finding Obsidian glaring at her from the fortress’s entrance.
“Uhh…” Crescent glanced around, trying to think of a convincing lie. She had not expected anyone to spot her escaping.
“We should all be in the throne room! The queen is making an announcement!” The other dragon narrowed his eyes at her.
“I… uh… I… got a special assignment from Her Majesty,” Crescent lied.
“Really?” Obsidian said, unconvinced.
“Y-yes,” she said, “and… it’s a secret assignment, so I can’t tell you anything about it.” She fixed her face into a superior expression that most NightWings had permanently glued on their faces. “If you want to know about it, you should go ask the queen.”
“I will,” he sneered. “And she will probably ask me to join this mission right away, so you’d better wait for me.”
Crescent sneered back at him, and she tried to look annoyed and impatient. But on the inside, her heart was pounding deafeningly inside her ears and her mind was praying, Please go! Please go! Please go right now!
To her relief, Obsidian turned and slithered back into the fortress with nothing more than a glare. After listening for any talonsteps coming and finding none, she hurried in the direction of the beach, spreading her wings and jumping into the sky. Crescent shuddered when she thought of Obsidian telling Greatness about her “secret mission”. She had planned to leave the tribe without anyone noticing. But once the rest of the tribe knew what she was doing, they would all be scouring the land for her, and if they find her, who knows what punishment they’ll come up with.
Spotting the rocky cave on the black sand beach, Crescent glided in that direction, landing right in front of the entrance. Fortunately, the usual guards that were stationed there were all in the meeting, and she could sneak into the tunnel unnoticed.
As she stepped into the magically-formed tunnel that connected to the rainforest, the wrongness that radiated from it slithered through her, feeling as wrong as an ice-cold breeze in the middle of summer. Crescent hurried through the stone tunnel, shivering against the unsettling feeling. I will never get used to this, she thought.
Finally, the cave opened wider and wider until she could see the moon-lit rainforest on the other end. She peeked out of the dark hole, high up in a large tree, scanning the area for any RainWings. The rainforest dragons were peaceful and very nonviolent, but she didn’t want any curious dragons stalling her or asking where she came from. She glided to the grassy ground beside the pond and softly made her way to the boulder on the other side. She knew, from hunting and scouting the humid forest, that there was another tunnel that was built to the Kingdom of Sand in the boulder, but she’d never had a chance to go through it.
Crescent gently lifted the moss curtain covering the hole and crept into it. This tunnel emitted the same wrong feeling, and it was equally unnerving. She rushed through it, her claws scraping against the rock. Eventually, she emerged from the tunnel into a small cave, and opposite the entrance, there was a wall of sand.
No! This can’t be! The tunnel seemed to end there, and there was no sign of the Kingdom of Sand except for the overly-large pile that almost filled up half of the cave. Wait… Crescent felt a warm breeze graze over her scales. Her eyes tracked it to the very top of the sand-wall. There was a crack there! It was extremely small, but through it, Crescent could see a starry night sky. Filled with determination, she dug and scraped the sand out and enlarged the crack. She kept doing it for several long minutes until a dragon her size could barely squeeze through.
Popping out of the sand dune, she shook herself from horns to tail until most of the sand between her scales was gone. She turned around and covered the hole again, and then she looked around for any signs of where she was. There! A large structure jutted out of the sandy dunes. That must be Burn’s stronghold! The bulky building was surrounded on all sides by a big sandstone wall. Crescent could smell the horrible dead dragon heads that were mounted on the wall, but thankfully, she couldn’t see the gruesome sight.
She planned to go north, and since the tunnel was north of the SandWing stronghold, she should go in the opposite direction of the dragon-swarmed palace.
And so, Crescent flew for the whole night, her star-speckled wings and black scales making her look like a piece of the night sky. When the sun started to rise, she took shelter in the forests near the town, Possibility. Possibility was located on the Five-Tail River, and it was fought over by the SkyWings and the SandWings. But when they decided to share it, it became a town where dragons of all different tribes lived together peacefully.
Crescent did consider moving there, but there were absolutely no NightWings there, and if she actually went there, most dragons would probably shun her or ask her too many questions. She might reveal the location of the NightWings’ secret home or that NightWings didn’t really have the powers that made them mysterious and powerful. She didn’t want to betray her tribe any more than she already did. So instead, she would live in exile, by herself, alone and friendless. Wait, what was I thinking?
Crescent sighed. I guess this is my fate now. She couldn’t turn back now. But in the meantime, she had to find a place to settle and live. She wanted to go as far away from the other NightWings as possible. So she decided she would keep going north until she found a forest or habitable place with no or extremely few dragons, but only if she was lucky.
She spent the whole day hunting and sleeping in a dense part of the forest. When dusk finally arrived, she left the forest warily — all her senses on alert — and set off farther north.
However, her five senses didn’t seem to be working so well, because only an hour into her flight, she was caught between clashing white and red and orange dragons. Crescent didn’t even realize what it was until it was too late to get away. She swerved around blasts of fire and frostbreath and ducked under slashing claws.
The battle between the IceWings and SkyWings was so fierce that they didn’t even notice the black dragon in their midst, but that could just be because she blended in so well with the night sky. Crescent dodged around most of the attacks between the striking dragons, but she wasn’t quite fast enough and she definitely wasn’t prepared for this.
Several slashes from razor-sharp claws bled into her sides and a burn singed her tail from a spurt of fire she couldn’t dodge in time. Through the pain and shock, she could see many, many dead dragons dropped below, and more were wounded badly. Her stomach lurched painfully at the sight. As a NightWing, she had never seen any battles before. Crescent had no idea of the amount of bloodshed in the war that the NightWings were keeping going.
She was starting to feel faint herself, and when she finally found a gap in between the swarm of battling dragons, she dived, toward the edge of a forest. But her wings felt heavy and moving them was painful. She half-crash-landed into bushes, not far from where the other bodies lay, and felt herself losing consciousness. I’m going to die, just like my parents, she thought dejectedly. I won’t even be able to live the rest of my life.
When she couldn’t fight to stay awake any longer, she closed her eyes. With her last waking moment, she thought she felt ice-cold scales brushing against hers... and she wasn’t even sure if it was just the beginning of a dream.
Crescent woke up in a grassy clearing that was surrounded by trees and under a clear night sky. She felt a little light-headed, but she was much better. Her wounds had stopped bleeding, and they were clean. The grass around her was wet, as if water had been poured over her scales. There was also something cold on her tail, feeling very pleasant against the stinging burn.
Where am I? What happened with the battle? she wondered. Someone must have dragged her away from the bloody fight when she was unconscious. Crescent blinked and lifted her head. She scanned the area — and her gaze stopped on a dragon sitting just a wingspan away, staring right at her.
Her eyes fell on his shiny overlapping scales, which were silvery-white, just like the moon above. The spikes on his back and on the end of his whip-thin tail clattered slightly in the light breeze. The dragon’s eyes were deep blue like the depths of a frigid ocean, and he was staring at her with an unreadable expression.
Her rescuer was an IceWing.
==CHAPTER 1==
Silverstar woke up to the faint sunlight coming from the window of the one-room house.
She sleepily rose out of her moss bed and stood up to stretch, yawning. Her bed was right next to her mother’s large, grassy pile, which was empty at the time, but that wasn’t unusual. Her mother, Crescent, often woke up early before the sun rose. The only other furniture was a couple of wooden scroll racks that held some scrolls.
Silver walked out of the house and into the streaks of morning sun that broke through the leafy, green canopy high above, which lit up all of her unusual features. As she shook herself from horns to tail, the spear-sharp spikes along her back tinkled together, and her wings ruffled in the light breeze.
Like all NightWings, Silver was covered in ebony black scales — well, sort-of. She had inherited her mother’s shiny black scales with the undertones of dark purple, but here and there would be random scales that were veined and speckled with silver. She also had unexplainable teardrop scales at the outside corners of her eyes, which were bright silvery-white.
Night dragons also had silver scales scattered on the underside of their wings, but while their’s looked like a night sky full of stars, Silver’s wings looked like a sky full of white balls of flame. That was because she had way too many silver scales, and they were all the same bright color as her teardrop scales.
In addition to her weird scales, her horns, claws, and spikes on her back and wings were also bright silver-white. Her horns and spikes, she observed, were much sharper than the other dragons’. And, her little three-year-old claws were serrated, which was definitely not a normal trait.
Crescent also told her that her eyes were deep blue, and she could tell for herself that her head was much narrower than the other dragons’.
Silver had no idea why she looked like this, but she had always assumed it was because of her abnormal hatching. Although her mother always refused to tell her about her father, she told Silver countless times the story of her hatching, and she always said it like this:
“On the night of the false brightest night, when two moons were at their peaks and the comet was so bright, it seemed like another full moon, I had kept your egg in my hut. We were just starting to build our village, after the volcano destroyed the island we were living on. However, as I returned from my hunting trip, I saw, in slow motion, the bright comet trailing overhead, and a little piece of it breaking off and falling to the ground. I watched with curiosity as it fell, and fell, but when I saw where it was heading, I immediately panicked and ran to my hut as fast as my legs could carry me. But before I could reach the house and take your egg to safety, I saw the blazing piece of rock burn the small wooden hut to the ground and hit precisely onto your egg. I broke down, sobbing, unable to do anything but watch as my almost-hatched dragonet got crushed. But… it didn’t. For some mysterious, magical reason, your egg did not get crushed. Instead, the black shell seemed to absorb that rock, and then the most amazing thing happened. The rock shattered into little pieces and your egg turned silver. It shined so brightly that I had to cover my eyes, but still, I crept through the wreckage and tried to pick up the egg. As soon as my talons touched the eggshell, it splintered into pieces, revealing a tiny, beautiful, odd little dragonet — you. There you were, sitting in the middle of the ashes and silver eggshell pieces, even though you weren’t supposed to hatch for another five days. And then I named you Silverstar, after your beautiful colors and that shooting star.”
It was a little dramatic, but Silver loved that story because her mother always cradled her in her wings when she told it.
Silver walked around the little house and found Crescent tending to the garden behind their home, just where she thought she would be.
“Good morning, mother!” Silver called, skipping over.
“Good morning, my little star,” her mother replied, wrapping her wings around Silver. Silver knew she was a little small for her age, and Crescent easily dwarfed her. Her mother was three times taller than her, with wings like the rainforest trees’ huge canopies. “Are you ready for school?”
“I’m ready for breakfast,” Silver said enthusiastically.
Crescent chuckled and pulled out two oval, pink fruits.
“Mmm, dragonfruit!” Silver exclaimed, immediately slicing them open with her claws to uncover the white flesh inside that was dotted with little black seeds. Her mother did the same, and both of them started munching on the delicious fruit. They finished their breakfast very soon after.
“Alright, Silver, it’s time to go to school,” Crescent said.
Silver sighed sadly.
Her mother looked down at her sympathetically. “Were the other dragons being mean to you?”
“No,” Silver responded, “not really. It’s nothing, really.”
“Are you sure?” Crescent asked, concerned.
After Silver nodded vigorously and mustered a smile, her mother gave in, but Silver could tell that she wasn’t convinced and still worried for her.
The two of them started walking toward the school, which was near the center of the small NightWing village. The houses were built in separate small areas where some trees were cut down to make room, and they were all connected by dirt paths. They passed many houses that looked similar to Silver’s house; they were all made of wood from the rainforest trees and they all had large, green leaves for roofs. They also walked past a few dragons, going to the trading market, hunting, or bringing their dragonets to school.
The other NightWings used to stare at Silver or whisper to each other obnoxiously loudly about her. But now, they must have gotten bored of her and barely spared her a glance. She unconsciously curled her claws in, hiding the bright-silver, ridged-sharp edge.
That dragon is still disgusted by me. That one over there hates my mother. But mostly, everyone is trying to pretend they don’t see me. None of those feelings were written on the dragons’ faces, but Silver could sense it.
That was because she had an awful secret: she could sense other dragons’ emotions. When she was younger, she used to think that everyone else could do that too, and she was very surprised when Crescent told her they couldn’t. From then on, she always made sure to keep her abilities a secret.
She loved reading scrolls, and she read many that told of the lost NightWing powers of mind-reading and prophecy, but what she could do didn’t fit the description of either. And plus, why would she, of all dragons, be gifted with such magical powers?
At first, her powers seemed more like a curse. She used to get massively painful headaches of emotion whenever she went somewhere with lots of dragons, and whenever she was touching another dragon, that dragon’s feelings would drown out her own, so she didn’t even know what she was feeling.
Silver and her mother entered the town square, where many dragons were gathered or passing by. The center of the village was just a large clearing with normal dirt and grass. A river ran through the area, and dragons collected water from it and swam in it. Throughout the three years, the NightWings had built this humble town along that river. Most of the buildings, such as the homes, were made with the same materials, and they were built in the same simple style, but the dragons who inhabited them decorated them in different ways.
As soon as they entered the square, Silver instinctively wrapped each dragons’ emotions into an iridescent bubble in her mind, and they no longer pounded the inside of her brain. She only left out her mother’s because she liked the feeling of Crescent’s warm, loving emotions, and they never gave her any headaches.
She developed that method when she was two years old, and it helped her be able to actually go into public, not that the other dragons wanted her there. The bubbles still burst when she touched other dragons, but their emotions didn’t overwhelm her anymore.
The entrance of the school was a small courtyard lined with small trees that was filled with NightWing students and parents saying goodbye to each other. Silver immediately encased their feelings in bubbles. She did not want to feel their unkind emotions toward her, and she usually tried not to invade the other dragons’ privacy.
“Alright, it’s time for me to go,” her mother said, twining her tail around Silver’s.
Silver smiled up at her. “Goodbye, mother.”
“See you after school,” Crescent replied, waving with her wing.
However, as soon as her mother was out of sight, Silver’s head drooped, and she walked into the school’s entrance.
The NightWing village’s school was mostly outdoor, with the courtyard and playgrounds for the small dragonets, but some classes were held inside large, wooden huts to block out the sounds from outside.
Silver’s first class was History, which was inside the second-to-last building down the main path. She really did not like that class, partly because it was inside — other dragons’ feelings were a little harder to block out when there were a lot of other dragons in the same enclosed room with everyone’s feelings bouncing around the walls. However, the biggest reason she did not like history class was because the teacher absolutely hated her.
A moment after the school bell rang, she entered the classroom through the wooden door. An old NightWing stood by the entrance, looking disdainfully at Silver as she passed him. Her teacher, Thoughthunter, never hid how much he disliked her. She took her seat in the back of the classroom, pressing her wings close to her body and curling her tail around her talons. 
As the rest of the students filed in, one by one, Silver could tell, from their facial expressions and the way they made a large gap around her, that they still thought the same about her as they did before. Nothing had changed.
Silver could see the way Thoughthunter’s mouth curled into a scowl whenever his eyes passed over her. She recoiled herself until she was as small as she could be, but the silver of her horns and speckled in her scales gleamed treacherously bright. She often wished she could disappear or crawl into a hole whenever she met her history teacher’s dark eyes. Silver had no idea why he hated her that much. She never complained out loud, she usually always followed directions, and her studies were very good. It seemed as though Thoughthunter loathed her just because she looked different from everyone else.
At least it’s the end of the week, she thought hopefully.
In contrast, the teacher’s face twisted into a pleased smile when he looked at the dragonet in the front of the classroom — Freeflier, the teacher’s favorite student. Silver sighed, wondering if anybody would ever like her half that much.
“Alright students, today, we will be having the test on the War of SandWing Succession,” the history teacher announced. Many students groaned exaggeratedly, but Silver didn’t dare join in. “You all should have studied.”
Thoughthunter walked around the room, handing out rolls of paper to each student.
He quickly dropped a scroll in front of Silver, and she said, “Thank you,” politely, but he pretended not to hear.
The whole morning was spent with the dragonets all scribbling on the paper, rushing to finish before class ended. Silver finished her test some time before most of the students, and she double-checked her work. She was quite sure she wrote down all the correct answers — it wasn’t a very hard quiz. So, she brought her completed scroll to Thoughthunter, and he barely looked up at her.
By the time history class was almost over, all the dragonets had finished, and the teacher handed them back their tests just as the bell rang. Silver unrolled her test, and to her dismay, there were a few questions marked wrong.
Who was Blaze allied with in the war?
The IceWings and most of the SandWings. she had answered. But there was a bold red X beside it.
But I’m sure my answers were right! she thought. Maybe the teacher just made a mistake… or several mistakes.
Silver turned toward Thoughthunter, who was preparing for his next class.
“Um... excuse me,” she said in a small voice. “I — I have some questions about my test.” She held out her unrolled scroll. “I — I think you marked some of these wrong.”
The teacher looked at it for a second and then said in a cold voice, “No, those are marked correctly. You got those questions wrong.”
Disbelief filled Silver’s head, and she almost lost her concentration on keeping the other thoughts in their bubbles. “But —”
“I am very busy, and you should be getting to your next class,” he hissed. “My advice is you should study more.”
Silver opened and closed her mouth, and then she turned and sidled out of the room with her head down.
But I did study! she thought once she was outside. She lashed her tail, then paused and headed toward the small school library. She needed to check her answers with the history scrolls, in case she really did get those questions wrong.
However, when Silver read through the textbooks about the recent war, she found that she had gotten all the questions correct.
Outrage surged through her like a bolt of lightning, lighting a fire in her mind. But after a moment of thinking, those flames were doused by an imaginary splash of water, leaving her feeling downtrodden and droopy.
I should have expected this, she thought. I just can’t believe he would stoop so low! Her mind gave a little sigh. How much worse will this get?
Thankfully, her unlucky prediction did not come true as the school day dragged on. After history, Silver had gardening class, where the students continued a project of starting their own little gardens. The teacher for gardening wasn’t as horrible as Thoughthunter, but she always ignored her, just like everyone else.
Then, it was the hunting period for all the three-year-old students. Everyone else was put into hunting pairs, but Silver was always left out of the fun. She was used to it though, hunting like a lone wolf. She successfully caught a rabbit and cooked it, like she usually did, with her fire in a secluded corner.
Afterward, Silver had to go through one more class, and then all the students were released from the school back to their homes.
Silver lifted off of the ground, flying in a direction with fewer dragons, swiftly dodging trees, branches, and the occasional sloth.
When she landed next to her house, she went inside briefly to select a few scrolls from the scroll rack. She then settled on a flat rock that was next to the garden and looked around at the towering rainforest trees that loosely surrounded her home. The light that filtered through the leaves was green, but beams of golden sunlight sometimes pierced through the gaps. Then, she started working diligently on her homework.
After a while, she felt her mother’s feelings close by long before she heard her arrive and come towards her. Silver didn’t know why, but Crescent felt a little anxious and worried, but also confused.
“Mother?” Silver tilted her head at her mother and nudged her wing with her own, smaller wing. “What’s wrong?”
Crescent hugged her and told her, “I just got a message from the queen — she wants to speak with you.”
Silver’s eyes widened. Queen Glory was a very important queen who ruled over the RainWings and the NightWings. Silver had never met her, but she could tell that her mother really respected her and thought she was a great queen.
“Why does she want to see me?” Silver asked.
“I — I’m not sure, but we have to go today,” Crescent replied. Silver felt that something about Queen Glory was making her mother uncertain, but Crescent still didn’t dislike her.
Late that afternoon, the two of them set out for the RainWing queen’s pavilion. It was a large, wooden structure, suspended from the trees, that was in between the forest floor and the treetops. Silver knew that it was also between the NightWing village and the RainWing village, but she’d never seen the rain dragons’ homes before. She expected that they must be beautiful because the dragons that inhabited them were so beautiful.
The pavilion had four wooden columns that were decorated with vines. They led up to a roof made of huge, translucent leaves that came from the forest’s trees. The landing area led up to the entrance, which had purple morning glories on either side.
Inside, the only objects were the queen’s throne and two scroll racks on either side of it. Queen Glory’s throne was just a raised wooden platform that was only a little taller than the floor.
That doesn’t look like the thrones I saw in the scrolls, Silver mused. It looked very modest for a dragon who ruled two tribes.
The queen was sitting majestically on the throne, her scales shifting royal blue, gold, and silver, and she looked younger than Crescent, but she carried herself in a regal way. There was also a NightWing standing behind her. He looked like her bodyguard, but Silver could tell that Glory was extremely important to him and that he loved her more than as his queen. Silver smiled at that warm, fuzzy feeling.
There didn’t seem to be anyone else in the room, but Silver sensed seven more curious dragons standing in a row behind the two of them. She gazed intently at the empty space where she felt the emotions, but it just confused her even more.
Ohh, she realized. There must be more RainWings guarding her.
“Welcome,” Queen Glory said, smiling at them. Crescent immediately went in front of the queen, spread her wings, and bowed deeply, crossing her front talons. Silver tried to imitate her mother, but she tripped over her own talons and almost fell to the ground. Although there were only three other visible dragons in the room, they made her feel very tiny and insignificant.
Glory waved her talons, gesturing for them to stand up. Once they did, she said, “Crescent, how is the NightWing village?”
“Very good, Your Majesty,” Silver’s mother answered.
“I’m very glad to hear that,” the queen said. “And you must be Silverstar.” She looked down at Silver.
“U-um, y-yes, Your Majesty,” she stammered. “It’s — it’s an honor to meet you.”
She was very clear about what she was feeling: nervous. Silver had no idea what she was supposed to say to royalty — she’d never met anyone royal. What if she accidentally said something offensive? What if she did something wrong?
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Queen Glory said, her eyes regarding Silver’s weirdly-colored horns and spikes and speckled scales with interest, but not unkindly. “I asked you both here today because I have made an important decision that I think would benefit Silverstar greatly.”
Everyone in the room paused for the announcement. Silver realized she was holding her breath, but she couldn’t seem to be able to let it out. Her ears pricked to hear what the queen was going to say, and she wondered what would benefit her greatly.
Switching me to another history class? she guessed. No, I’ve never told anyone about that before, not even Mother. Helping me make some friends? Her brain sighed. She couldn’t think of any possible ways that other dragons would want to be friends with her, even if she could change how she looked.
However, what Queen Glory said was something Silver would have never expected.
“I’m enrolling you into Jade Mountain Academy.”
==CHAPTER 2==
Silver was saying goodbye to her childhood home before she knew it.
“It’s a school where dragonets from all the tribes learn together and learn peace,” Queen Glory had said the day before. “My friends founded it and run it. They just made a new winglet, and I want you to be the NightWing in that winglet.”
Silver had no idea why the queen wanted her, of all dragons, to go. She knew that it was a great honor to be one of the few dragons chosen to go to the famed school, but she couldn’t help wondering about all the possibilities.
Maybe she thinks I look weird, and she wants her friends to keep an eye on me, she thought. No, she’s not that kind of dragon. Maybe she wants to keep me away from the other NightWings. But why would she do that?
Maybe she really thinks this will be good for me.
She did not know how being in a big school with forty-eight other dragons would be good for her. But her mother had not objected — although Silver could tell that Crescent was very worried and unsure — so she wouldn’t protest either.
Her mother was supposed to take her to the town square, where they would be flying to the school with the other NightWing students and parents. The new school year would be starting in two days, so they had to leave now.
“Silver, come on,” Crescent called gently from the doorway. “We’re going to be late.”
“Coming!” Silver called. She was rushing around, saying goodbye to all her favorite places and scrolls. She was tempted to take some scrolls with her, but Queen Glory had told her that they had everything she needed and that there was even a library there!
With a sigh, she stepped away from the house and the garden and walked next to her mother. She brushed her wing with Crescent’s wing and the two of them flew through the trees to the center of the village.
As they landed, Silver instinctively curled her claws in, faced with all those dragons. She could see a small group of black dragons crowding around six dragonets. She couldn’t sense them though, because of the bubbles she placed around their emotions. Her mother barely worried about her unusual powers anymore, since she’d learned to control them so well. Silver was glad she developed that method; she didn’t know what she’d do if she hadn’t.
The NightWing’s village square wasn’t exactly a square. It was surrounded by trees and some wooden buildings on all sides, and paths led away from the four corners. However, the main river flowed straight down the center, and a large bridge that was built over it had become a popular gathering place. The usual wooden carts, stands, and traders filled the square, but the bridge was reserved for sending off the dragonets.
Next to the river, there was a large, circular area lined with smooth river stones where the soil was unturned. In the center, a sapling grew, but it looked very out of place. That was because the little tree’s branches and leaves were made of bluish-white ice, and the silver flowers on it pulsed a little, bright light. Silver learned from school that Queen Glory had made an agreement with Queen Glacier and Queen Snowfall, where she exchanged an IceWing prisoner and their punishment for a cutting of the IceWings’ enchanted moon globe tree. It was an act of peace that severed the centuries of hatred between the IceWings and the NightWings. Long-ago, an animus had carved the tree with her own talons and enchanted it to forever blossom beautiful moon globes that give the gift of light to the whole tribe. It had been growing in the NightWing village for almost two years, but no moon globes had bloomed yet.
Crescent and Silver walked toward the crowd, her mother staying beside her. Silver could tell that she wanted to go chat with her friends, but Crescent also didn’t want to leave Silver alone.
“It’s alright, mother,” Silver said. “You can go talk with your friends, I’ll be fine.”
Crescent’s face creased with uncertainty. “Are you sure?” She doesn’t want me to feel lonely, Silver inferred. Crescent knew that Silver had no friends and most dragons didn’t like her. “Maybe you can go talk to the other dragonets who are going to Jade Mountain,” her mother suggested.
Silver wasn’t sure she would be able to, but she still nodded happily at Crescent and watched her go.
She looked around, seeing all the other dragons’ eyes spot her and look away quickly. The other dragonets were so busy saying goodbye to their relatives that they didn’t even notice Silver’s presence.
“Hello,” said a voice behind her. Silver whirled around to find a dragon staring at her. That dragon was one of the NightWing students that went to Jade Mountain, so Silver had never seen her before. She looked a couple of years older than Silver, and she noticed, with surprise, that she had silver teardrop scales on the corners of her eyes too, only the unfamiliar dragon’s silver scales were bigger than hers.
“Uh — um,” Silver stuttered. “Hi…” She was so used to no one speaking to her or regarding her that she had no idea what to do or say.
The other dragon was furrowing her forehead, and she looked like she was concentrating really hard on something. Silver looked around, but the dragon was still staring at her.
Maybe this is my chance to make a friend! she thought hopefully.
“Um, I-I’m Silverstar — Silver,” she nervously said.
The other dragon blinked and smiled. “I’m Moonwatcher, but just Moon.” She still looked like she was trying to dig into Silver with her eyes. “Are you going to Jade Mountain Academy too?” she asked.
“U-uh, yes,” Silver answered. Silver was too confused. The staring wasn’t what all dragons did when they talked to each other, she knew. So, she ended up popping open Moon’s bubble just to get a sense of what in Pyrrhia she was doing.
Moon’s emotions were extremely confused. Maybe she’s wondering why I look this way, Silver thought. But it didn’t seem like that was the answer. She felt relieved when she didn’t sense anything that hinted that the older dragon hated her. But, it was like Moon was trying very hard to puzzle out something that Silver could do and she couldn’t do. However, Silver did find that her confusion had something to do with their matching teardrop scales.
“What are you doing?” Silver asked.
Moon jumped a little. “Oh, sorry, I was just wondering… about something.”
“Does it have something to do with our teardrop scales?” Silver blurted. She immediately wanted to bite her tongue off.
Moon’s eyes widened. “So you can do it!” she exclaimed.
Silver wanted to ask, “Do what?”, but the dragons around them were already hustling around, and Crescent was herding her towards the center.
She didn’t have much time to think about what Moon had done and said because everyone was suddenly starting to lift off into the air. Silver followed her mother, who was following the rest of the NightWings. They did not go out of the canopy though, as Silver had expected. The group of dragons flew straight into the trees, keeping together while dodging tree branches and vines.
After a while of flying, the NightWings emerged from the thick forest. Silver hovered in the air, staring in awe at the bigness of the open world. It was her first time outside of the rainforest.
Wow.
Her bright eyes took in all the amazing sights, from the green, leafy forests to the towering mountains in the distance. The sky above was the most beautiful and clear sky she’d ever seen, and the air currents brushed past her scales cooly. Having lived her whole life on the rainforest floor, the sun outside of the towering trees felt so different. It felt like a warm, golden hug.
Her wings beat the air, lifted up by the wind. Silver brushed wings with Crescent, who was watching her fondly. Her face broke out into a huge smile, and she did several flips in the sky. She wasn’t used to flying in such an open and wide space. In the rainforest, the dragons had to swoop, dodge, and glide around tree trunks, branches, and animals very frequently.
The cold wind felt so different from the moist rainforest air. She lifted her head and breathed in deeply. It smelled like… freedom.
Flying so high up in the air for the first time in her life, Silver managed to forget all of her troubles and worries. Moon’s strange behavior, the anxiety of going to a new place, and the other dragons’ negative feelings toward her all melted away like snow in the sun. My first long flight out of the rainforest! she thought. This is amazing!
After almost half a day’s flight west, the group of dragons landed in a forest near a burbling stream.
“Why are we stopping?” Silver asked Crescent after she landed beside her mother on the soft, green grass.
“We’re going to rest for a while,” her mother answered. “You must be tired. That was your first long flight.” She stroked Silver with one wing.
“I’m not tired at all,” Silver said brightly. She felt like she could keep flying for hours. “But… I am a bit hungry.”
Crescent smiled at her and flicked her tail. “Then let’s go hunt.”
Most of the dragons went off, prowling the forest in search of food, while the other, more tired dragons rested near the river.
After a long rest, the group of dragons set off flying again. Silver wanted to talk to Moon, to ask what she was talking about before, but Moon was always surrounded by so many other dragons.
The second flight was long, just like the first, but Silver didn’t feel tired or bored. Her little wingbeats were rhythmic, carrying her swiftly through the air currents as if she’d been flying long distances for her whole life. Every dragon was silent, saving their energy for flying, giving Silver a chance to think about her life at the rainforest and what living at Jade Mountain Academy will be like. I wonder what being in a cave will be like, Silver marveled.
They flew until night fell, every NightWing’s black scales blending them into the starry sky — everyone except Silver. As her eyes glanced around, the only way she could see the other dragons was by their movements, or if she flew above them. Although she usually hated how different her horns and spikes made her look, she barely felt worried. The huge night sky surrounded her, and soaring high and staring at the stars and the three brilliant moons calmed her in a way that she’d never experienced before.
Landing in a forest at the bottom of a mountain, the wing of dragons found a nice clearing that was covered by a leafy canopy. Silver joined a few other dragons to hunt for food for the whole group. She saw, and felt, that most of the other dragonets were all tired out. Oddly, her wings didn’t feel tired or sore at all.
After dinner, all the dragons went to bed to rest up for the next day’s flight. Silver curled up against Crescent and closed her eyes. Before long, her mind drifted into a deep sleep to the sound of the soft breeze rustling the leaves.
Under the peaceful night sky of Pyrrhia, Silver jolted awake from a disturbed sleep. Breathing heavily, she tried to recall what she had been dreaming about. Her head pounded like the aftermath of a headache, making it even harder to focus.
Terror, despair… and something horrible. That was all she could remember.
Her ears twitched, and she suddenly opened her eyes and sat up. Silver frantically looked around at the unfamiliar trees surrounding her and up at the open sky.
Where am I? she thought, starting to panic. Where are the others? Where’s Mother?
She hurried around the moonlit clearing, looking for any signs of where she was. She clearly remembered falling asleep beside her mother in a covered forest clearing with all the other NightWings. I must’ve sleepwalked, or something, Silver thought.
“Mother?” she called, then paused, straining her ears. “Mother? Where are you?”
Hearing no response in the chorus of forest sounds, she sat down and folded her wings around herself anxiously.
A little while later, Silver stood up and folded her wings back. No, she thought resolutely. I can do it, I can find my way back.
Trying to stop her wings from shaking, she took a deep breath and jumped into the sky, winging above the tall trees. She searched the dark scene around her until she spotted a nearby range of towering mountains, and the wooded forest below it.
Relief flooded through her scales. It looked like the same forest that she had fallen asleep in that night. She could find her way back to the others… hopefully.
Beating her tiny wings, she rose high above the woods and studied it carefully. The three moons were just slivers of silver, shining only a little moonlight to light up the world below, but among the starry night sky, Silver’s white-silver features glowed and shined like they were made of the brightest stars in the sky.
Her face furrowed in concentration as her eyes swept over the trees below. If she could find some kind of landmark or familiar area…
Ah-ha! Silver swooped down in a dive towards a patch of dead trees in the distance. They had passed it a little while before they’d landed for the night. If I can just remember which direction we flew in… She racked her brain for the memories of the flight.
Suddenly, she felt something familiar that made her wings skip a beat. Beating her wings to rebalance herself, she searched for that something again.
There! Silver pinpointed it and started flying in that direction. Looking down at the trees below her, she felt a rush of deja vu run through her. And once she got close enough, she could finally tell what that something was — it was her mother’s emotions.
Silver surged toward Crescent’s panicked feelings, and after a while, she saw a black shape flitting through the shadowy trees.
“Mother!” Silver called, gliding over.
Her mother turned towards her voice, and her face melted into a relieved smile. “Silverstar!” They collided in mid-air, and Crescent enveloped her in a tight hug. “I was so worried! Are you alright?” She started checking Silver all around, peering at her horns, spikes, and scales, looking for any injuries.
“I’m alright, Mother,” Silver said. She looped around her mother and landed on her back.
“Where were you?” Crescent asked, twisting her neck around to look at Silver. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I’m sorry for worrying you,” Silver said apologetically. “I didn’t know where I was either. I think I sleepwalked, and I ended up over there.” She pointed with her wing in the direction of the clearing.
“I’m so glad you’re alright,” her mother said. She nudged Silver with her snout as Silver hovered in the air beside her.
Silver smiled back at Crescent, and her sharp eyes caught the sky brightening in the horizon. “I think it's almost morning,” she observed.
Her mother followed Silver’s gaze and agreed, “Yes, it is. We’d better get back to the others.” She brushed Silver’s wing with her own and they both flew down to the shaded clearing where the other NightWings were just starting to wake up to the lightening sky.
==CHAPTER 3==
“Oh, good, you found her,” one of Crescent’s friends said once they landed, her voice not conveying much concern. Her eyes glanced at Silver for a moment before she flicked her tail and looked away.
Silver looked down at the ground sadly, her wings drooping. Even Mother’s friends don’t like me, she thought ruefully. So how will any dragon ever like me?
The color of the sky hinted that the sun had already risen pretty far, but they couldn’t see it yet because of all the tall trees blocking the eastern horizon.
The NightWings set off shortly after eating breakfast, and they moved in a flapping, black mass, toward the close range of mountains.
After a short flight west, Silver spotted something huge in the distance. Her slender head tilted in the sunlight as she squinted at it. The golden light made her silver horns sparkle and look whiter, and it brought out the purple in her scales.
Using the maps and pictures in the scrolls she’d read, she identified the shape as Jade Mountain, the tallest mountain in Pyrrhia. The two pointy peaks that made up the mountaintop looked like huge dragon teeth, and it dwarfed all the other hills beside it.
Smiling, she brushed her mother’s wing and said excitedly, “Mother! I see Jade Mountain!”
Crescent squinted at the distance. “Really? I don’t see it.” She looked back at Silver. “Are you sure what you saw was Jade Mountain?”
“Hmm,” Silver said, looking back at the mountain. “Oh — no, it’s the rainforest!”
She wrinkled her snout, trying not to laugh when her mother immediately looked forward with an alarmed expression.
Silver bursting out laughing. “Just kidding!” she laughed, dive-bombing her mother. Crescent paused, then smiled and chuckled lightly at Silver.
Another short flight passed, some of the dragons talking to each other and sharing stories to pass the time. When the rest of the dragons saw the mountain dappled with clouds in the distance, they flew faster with new energy. The group only stopped once, by a stream for a drink, before continuing their flight.
Silver sensed that the closer the other dragonets came to their school, the more excited and happy they became. However, the closer they drew to Jade Mountain, the more anxious Silver grew. A tumult of worries rolled around among her thoughts. Will these dragons actually like me? Will they be different from the other NightWings? Will I finally make some friends? What if I do something wrong? What if that makes them hate me? Aarghh, what if I die from a thousand worries?
She also spotted the landing platform before the other dragons did. All of them tilted their wings to angle down toward the landing area, and as they drew closer to the ground, Silver noticed that the place was filled with other dragons. They were all different shapes and sizes and colors, and none of them looked half as nervous as her.
The NightWings landed with multiple thuds on the edge of the tall mountain. They immediately dispersed, saying goodbye to their dragonets separately.
Silver looked around nervously, but none of the many dragons had noticed her weirdness yet. Her dark blue eyes scanned the different dragons in the arrival area curiously. There were some SandWings that just arrived, and the SeaWing students were going into the entrance cave.
She watched the others, thinking, So many dragons… All her worrying almost made her want to go back to the rainforest and the tribe that hated her.
Crescent put her wing around Silver’s shoulders and drew her into a hug. “Silver, dear, it’s time to say goodbye.”
“What?” Silver cried, alarmed. “Already? But — but aren’t you going to go in with me?”
Her mother smiled sadly at her pleading eyes. “No, I won’t. But don’t worry so much. Look, all the other dragonets are going in already.”
Silver turned to look and saw that her mother was right. Most of the NightWing students had gone inside the cave already, and the adults that escorted them here were gathering in a group, ruffling their wings in preparation to fly, and shooting Crescent impatient looks.
“But… I don’t want to leave you,” Silver said in a small voice. “And I don’t want to be alone.”
“You won’t be alone,” her mother replied gently. “ You’ll make tons of friends here.”
I wish that were true, Silver thought mournfully.
“I have to go now.” Crescent twined her tail briefly around Silver’s and started walking away. “Goodbye, my little star. See you soon!”
“Wait — but — Mother —!” Silver said, hurrying after her mother’s departing back. Crescent turned back and waved a final time before lifting off into the air with the other NightWings. “Goodbye!” Silver called to the black dragons who were already far in the sky.
She stayed by a nearby tree for a while, watching her mother fly farther away, until she was just a large speck in the sky. Slowly, Silver turned around and looked at the entrance of the school. It was a little surprising that no one had noticed her or paid any attention to her yet. All of the dragonets were already inside, and she was the only one still in the landing area.
Silver turned back to the sky one last time, and jumped. A group of diamonds was flying towards the school! She paused, rubbed her eyes, and peered at it again.
What she had originally thought was diamonds was actually a wing of white dragons, and they were approaching fast.
IceWings! Silver thought, excited. Out of all the dragon tribes of Pyrrhia, she thought the IceWing tribe was the most interesting, based on the scrolls she’d read.
When she was just about to slide the incoming dragons’ emotions into bubbles, she found out that some of them had spotted her. She flinched, the older adult dragons’ feelings of hatred filling her mind all of a sudden. And they only hated her because she was a NightWing.
They must’ve only seen my normal, black scales, Silver thought dejectedly. She’d nearly forgotten that IceWings and NightWings had a history of hatred and war that only ended after Queen Glory made peace with the IceWing queen.
She quickly rushed to the entrance of Jade Mountain, before the white dragons noticed her odd spines and horns as well.
At least a few of them don’t completely hate me, her voice said from the back of her mind. There were a few of the IceWings who, Silver sensed, did not hate her.
The entryway was now empty of other dragons, and Silver dashed in. Slowing down, she looked around at the enormous room she’d just walked into. She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the dim light. Even with the early afternoon sunlight streaming in from outside, the room was still a bit dark, which made everything a little hard to make out at first.
There were two tunnels on the left wall and two on the right wall. Golden-brown stalagmites littered the edges of the room, and stalactites dripped down from the ceiling, some going all the way to the ground and forming twisting columns. A banner made from large, green leaves strung together said, Welcome, students!, and it was hung from two large stalactites. A giant, bronze gong took its place on the back wall, and it had a design of three flying dragons on it. Beside each tunnel, there was a map of the school that indicated where you were and where the tunnel branched into, and Silver read that this room was the Great Hall.
The whole cavern was illuminated by candles in glass globes that were colored in forest green, canary yellow, and sky blue, which were strung from the ceiling with wires. The colors of the rainforest really made the stone cave feel a lot less bare and cold.
The huge room was filled with dragons, flying up near the wrinkled ceiling and talking with each other in loud voices. She was concentrating so hard on keeping all the dragons’ emotions in bubbles while trying to stay inconspicuous that Silver didn’t notice the black dragon standing right in front of her. She yelped as they both collided head-on. She rubbed her head with one talon and looked back at the other dragon.
“I’m so sorry!” Silver apologized, quickly tucking in her claws. “I didn’t see you there.”
“It’s alright!” the NightWing said cheerfully. “I know, the school is awesome, isn’t it?”
Silver blinked back at her.
The other dragon looked older than Silver, about the age of Queen Glory, and she looked slightly different from the other NightWings. She had silver scales freckled on her tail as well as the ones under her wings. The older dragon also had a row of silver scales encircling her wrist that looked like a pretty bracelet. Her emotions also felt different from the other NightWings’.
“Haha! Just kidding! That’s what I’m guessing you were thinking, but I have no idea.” The black dragon grinned at her. “I’m Fatespeaker, and I’m guessing I don’t know you already because you’re one of the new students!” Fatespeaker leaned forward, peering at Silver’s face. “Wow! You have those silver teardrop scales too! You know, the ones at your eyes?” She tilted her head so Silver could see the silver scales that also marked the corners of her eyes.
Silver glanced at the silver scales, thinking, Fatespeaker and Moon have these silver scales too. Maybe they’re not strange after all. Another thought echoed in the back of her mind. But then why don’t the other NightWings in the village have them?
“Your horns and spikes and scales are such a cool color! Oh, I’ve never met a NightWing with blue eyes before!” Fatespeaker said wonderingly.
Silver had no idea what to say to that. Well, I’ve never met a NightWing who’s this nice and friendly to me, she thought.
“Anyway,” Fatespeaker said. “What’s your name? Wait.” She pressed her front talons to her temples. “I foresee… that your name is Silverstar! Am I right?” She looked at Silver expectantly.
“Yes,” Silver said, nodding and a little puzzled.
“Ha ha ha! Just kidding, again!” the bigger dragon held up a scroll she was holding. “Don’t worry, my visions tell me that you will have a great time here!”
Silver managed a small smile.
“I’m not actually a teacher here,” Fatespeaker went on. “I just help all around, so if you need anything, you can come ask me.” Then she handed Silver two scrolls. “This is a map of the school,” she said, pointing to one of the rolled-up scrolls. “And this is the welcome scroll.” She pointed to the other. “Your sleeping cave, which you will share with your clawmate, is over here,” she said, pointing out a path on the school map.
“Clawmate,” Silver echoed, trying out the word. It sounded friendly.
“Yep! And you will have all your classes with your winglet!” Fatespeaker explained. “ Your winglet is made up of one dragon from each of the seven tribes.”
That sounds terrifying, Silver thought. “That sounds… nice,” she said aloud.
“It is,” Fatespeaker agreed. She turned her head and her eyes lit up. “Oooh! Look, there’s the new IceWing student!”
Silver looked behind her at the entrance archway and saw that the sparkling, white dragons had just walked in. The smallest one was at the front, and was looking around in interest. Then, from what Silver could see, he had a sudden change and started frowning coldly at his surroundings.
Odd, she thought, but she ducked behind Fatespeaker’s wings, which the older dragon had flung up with elation.
“Thank you,” Silver said quickly and quietly to Fatespeaker. She then fled down the nearest tunnel, hoping that none of the unfriendly IceWings had seen her.
Coincidentally, the tunnel she had darted into was the same one that led to her sleeping cave. After quickly checking the map of the school, Silver set out to find her destination, walking through the winding tunnels and past several other caves. Those tunnels were also lit by the glass globes hanging from the ceiling. There were some different colors included, such as beautiful reds and oranges. After a few twists and turns, Silver peeked into the next hallway and saw something that made her spines shiver.
The large tunnel was filled with other dragons, talking and catching up with one another. There was a SkyWing talking to a SeaWing, and two RainWings bounded over to a SandWing. The whirl of voices that filled the hall filled Silver’s ears, and she quickly drew her head back. Dragons were everywhere in there, and unfortunately, it was the tunnel where her sleeping cave was located.
Silver backed up slowly, debating whether or not to go through the throng of dragons. The side supporting not to go seemed to be winning. She glanced once more at the packed hallway and thought, I really don’t want any more dragons staring at me. She still remembered the extremely uncomfortable feeling that engulfed her when all the NightWings used to stare at her and whisper to each other, before they started ignoring her completely.
Taking another quick look at the dragons, she ran past as quick as she could, into the other side of the continuing hallway. After she got a few turns away from the hustle, she looked down at the scrolls she was holding. I wish there’s a place where I could read in peace, she thought wistfully.
Wait! Her head shot up hopefully. There is! Queen Glory said there's a library here! Silver unrolled the map scroll and her eyes swept over it swiftly, searching the paper for the word “library”. Aha! Her claw landed on a cave a few tunnels away from where she was, and she rolled the map up and headed towards it.
Unfortunately, she walked past a few dragons on the way. She kept her gaze on her talons, but she sensed how surprised and puzzled they were when they saw her. A MudWing she passed saw her go by and did not have much of a reaction, to Silver’s surprise.
Silver finally arrived in the corridor leading to the library. The walls were covered by scrolls with inspirational quotes on them. As she walked by, she read a couple of the scrolls, including one that said, The most valuable treasures can be found in a scroll. She strained her neck to try to look at the ones higher up, but she wasn’t tall enough.
After making her way through the tunnel of scrolls, Silver walked into the library.
The large cave was filled with calming green light that was the color of dragonflies. She glanced at the many windows and skylight, which were covered by huge, green leaves that let the light shine through and kept bad weather out. She knew they were leaves because it was the same kind that the NightWings used as roofs for the houses in their village.
The light illuminated countless cubbies, shelves, cylindrical cauldrons, and scroll racks that were filled with scrolls. There had to be hundreds of scrolls in that room.
Every corner of the room had someplace comfy to read, whether it was soft moss and leaves, a pile of reeds, rock ledges, carpets, or rugs of polar bear fur.
And in the center of the room, there was a large circular desk labeled “Librarian” with a NightWing behind it, sorting scrolls. There were many crevices in the desk where scrolls fit perfectly, and Silver estimated about fifty of them. The NightWing behind the desk had a blindfold made of leaves around his eyes, and she recognized him as Starflight, one of the famous dragonets of destiny who founded the school. For some reason, Silver felt a pang of guilt when she looked at his blindfold, remembering that the volcano the NightWings used to live on had caused that when it exploded.
Starflight’s ears twitched, hearing Silver’s small talonsteps as she walked in.
“Hello?” he called. “Who’s there?”
“U-u-um i-it’s me,” Silver stammered, tentatively walking up to the desk. “Silverstar.”
His face relaxed into a smile. “Oh. You’re the new NightWing student, aren’t you?”
Silver nodded, then remembered and quickly said, “Yes.”
“How are you doing?” asked Starflight. “Do you like the school so far?”
“Um, I — I haven’t seen much of it yet, but I really like this library,” Silver said.
“I’m very glad to hear that,” he said with a friendly smile. “Would you like to check out a scroll?”
“I — I can?” Silver asked quietly.
“Of course,” he replied. “Oh, right.” He ducked under the desk and came back up with an object in his talons. “Here you go, Silverstar.”
“Silver,” Silver amended. “Please — um — please call me Silver.”
“Oh, alright,” Starflight said, handing her the small object. “Here you go, Silver.”
“Oh — thank you,” Silver said, a little surprised. The wooden object was rectangular and flat, a little smaller than her talon, and had her name carved backwards on one side of it. “What is this?”
“This is your library card,” Starflight explained. “And you can put it in here.” He brought out a little pouch and gave it to her. The pouch was identical to the ones she’d seen on some of the older students. It was soft in her talons, and it was made of black leather and strung on a silver chain. She put it around her neck, where it hung a little loosely, but it matched her black and silver scales.
“So when you want to check out a book,” Starflight continued, “you choose the one you want and bring it to me.” His talons brushed the many scrolls on the desk. “Every scroll in this library has an engraving on it like the one on your library card.” He stopped at a scroll with “Silverstar” carved on the wooden end. “And then I stamp it in here to show that you checked it out,” he said, unrolling the blank scroll to show Silver. “After you return it, I stamp over it with your library card to show that you’ve returned it.” Starflight rolled up the scroll and put it back in place. “And that’s the system,” he finished.
Silver examined the scrolls and her library card, fascinated. “That’s so cool,” she said softly, tucking the wooden card into her pouch.
Starflight smiled. “Do you want to check out a scroll?”
“Not yet,” Silver said. “I — I just want to read the welcome scroll and the map first. But maybe later.”
“Alright,” Starflight said. “Tell me if you need anything.”
Silver searched for a comfortable spot to read, and ended up trying out everything. She sat on the reeds and the carpets, but they weren’t quite cozy enough for her. She tried the rock ledge and immediately jumped off after. To her surprise, the polar bear rugs were just as comfortable as the moss pile, and so she settled on a rug of soft, white fur in a corner of the room. There were some small mahogany scroll racks beside the rug, and Silver shifted them so they slightly shielded her from view. Then, she unrolled the welcome scroll that she had gotten from Fatespeaker and started reading.
Welcome to the Jade Mountain Academy!
At this school, you will be…
After a little while, she finished the surprisingly long scroll, which contained a guide to the dragon tribes of Pyrrhia. There was a lot of information in it that she hadn’t known before. Silver also really liked the pleasant letter that was enclosed. At the end of the scroll was a list of the winglets, but it didn’t include the newest one yet — the one she was in.
She sat there for a little bit, thinking about what the other members of her winglet might be like. They might be new students too, she mused. It was a little comforting to know that she might not be the only one who was completely unfamiliar with the school.
Then, she moved on to study the map of the school. The tunnels and cave systems throughout Jade Mountain were so large, with many different classrooms and leisure caves. Silver noticed at least four underground lakes and a lot of small nooks and crannies. She read all of the symbols and words over and over two times until she was sure that she had it all memorized.
As her eyes scanned the map one last time, she spotted a little symbol that she hadn’t noticed before. It was a little flame that was labeled “Explosion”. What is that? she wondered.
When her curiosity got the better of her, Silver rolled up her scrolls and made her way to the librarian’s desk.
“U-um…” she said, walking hesitantly up to Starflight. “I — I have — uh — I have a question.”
The older NightWing turned around toward her and kindly asked, “What is it?”
“W-what is the ‘Explosion’? The one on the map?” Silver asked.
“Oh.” Starflight looked a little dejected about that, and Silver wondered worriedly if she shouldn’t have asked. “Well, there was a terrible explosion in the first week of school, when Jade Mountain Academy first opened. That is the cave where the explosion happened. It’s to remember the dragons who had died that day.”
Silver pressed her talons to her mouth, horrified. That’s awful, she thought.
Even though he couldn’t see her, Starflight seemed to sense her reaction. “But don’t worry,” he quickly reassured her. “ Most of the dragons were not hurt, thanks to one of the students.”
“One of the students?” Silver echoed.
Starflight nodded. “Yes, a NightWing named Moonwatcher.”
What? Silver thought. She did? How? She wanted to ask more questions about Moon and the explosion, but she could sense that Starflight didn’t really want to talk about it.
“Um… Can students visit that cave?” she asked instead.
“Certainly,” he replied. “It’s perfectly safe now.”
“Oh, okay.” Silver started retreating backward. “Thank you,” she said quietly as she walked out of the library.
Although she wasn’t planning to, she found her talons leading her through the tunnels to the explosion cave. Her lead of curiosity was pulling her forward, and not soon after, she was standing in the corridor leading to the demolished cave.
She could smell it before she could see it. It was faint, probably because it was old, but the smell of burnt wood and scrolls still lingered around the area. There was something underneath the smell of ashes, and Silver realized with a shudder that it was the odor of burnt scales. The area was also lit by fewer glass globes than usual.
Pacing down the hallway, she came across one other tunnel leading to an underground lake, if Silver remembered right, and then she was standing right outside of the blown-up cave. The entrance doorway was very rough and uneven around the edges, unlike the other archways. There were some cracks and splinters on the walls outside the room, and a few stalagmites that lined the entrance were missing the top half, which looked like it was broken off.
Inside had the look of post-catastrophe. Half-burnt scrolls and piles of ashes were strewn across the floor. Blackened scroll racks were toppled over in the corners. Silver spotted an edge of a map that was bordered with a line of burnt paper. There were also a lot of black, spiky round things that looked very painful to step on. This must’ve been an old history cave, she realized, looking around at the items around the room.
The only clear area was a path that was cleared of all the debris down the center of the cave. Silver slowly walked down the path, which was only about as wide as her wingspan, and she peered at and studied the objects littered around the room. Finally, at the end of the walkway, a rectangular gold plate as big as two of her talons was set into the stone floor. The words carved into it said: In remembrance of Carnelian and Bigtail. Silver looked down at the sign, feeling sorrowful for those poor dragons, who were probably students, just like her, and they were probably very excited to be at this school.
Silver lifted her gaze from the plaque and turned around, starting for the exit. But out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a scroll that somehow wasn’t all burned-out like the rest. It was only a little scorched on its edge, and it was lying right behind a stalactite column and a bunch of blackened scroll racks that were even taller than her.
As she stepped over a few prickly spheres, her talons sank into the layer of ash that covered the floor. But Silver only hesitated for a moment before carefully making her way to the scroll. She stopped in front of it and curled her tail around her talons.
She was just starting to unroll the scroll when her ears flicked and caught the sound of talonsteps by the doorway.
“Who’s there?” a voice demanded.
Silver quickly scrambled backwards, accidentally sweeping up a cloud of dust and ash from the ground. She emerged from the towering scroll racks, sneezing, and turned her head toward the voice.
She started to open her mouth, about to say a quick response, perhaps an apology to a teacher, when instead, she found her eyes locked onto the deep blue gaze of an IceWing.
==CHAPTER 4==
Silver saw the ice dragon’s eyes widen, startled, and she felt her own eyes blink several times and her wings twitch backwards. She wanted to run away, but her feet were frozen on the ground as if the other dragon had breathed frostbreath on them, nailing her in place.
Neither of them spoke for a long moment. Silver realized that he was the same IceWing she saw in the grand hall — the youngest out of the whole group of IceWings. He was bigger than her, and she guessed that he was perhaps a year older. His glittering scales were white and pale blue, like overlapping sheets of ice on a frozen lake. The spikes on his neck, his wings, and along his back were all as sharp as icicles and gleaming in the torchlight.
When she looked a little closer, she noticed that his eyes were not completely blue. There was a shimmery purple mixed in with the deep blue, in a way that made his gaze look like a luminous yet mysterious night sky.
Then, she became aware that she was staring at him, and she quickly looked away.
“I — um, I — I, uh…” Silver stammered, searching for words in her brain, which had inconveniently gone blank. The IceWing across from her started and made an odd, unreadable expression for a moment. His eyes were still darting over her weird looks, and he looked very surprised and puzzled, like most dragons who saw her.
“I — I was just about to… go,” Silver finally said. The other dragon’s piercing stare was making her feel very self-conscious. She approached the entrance hesitantly, looking for a way to slip past him, but he was standing right in front of the jagged archway.
Silver glanced quickly at him again, finding his eyes still on her. Her tail curled inward and she ducked her head as she tried to edge past him.
But all of a sudden, the IceWing flared his wing up, blocking her, and Silver flinched back, startled by the sudden movement and by the rush of chilled air that blew past her scales. She blinked at the white wing in front of her, feeling the cold radiating from his scales. Oddly, the frosty air felt… comforting, and she found herself wanting to lean into it.
“Who are you?” the other dragon asked. His voice was not exactly friendly, but it wasn’t hostile either. She suddenly remembered that he was one of the IceWings she’d felt who didn’t hate her at the sight of her.
“I — I, um —” Silver stuttered. What do I say? she thought frantically. My name, of course! Hurry up! Say it! “I’m — I’m Silverstar.”
He tilted his head slightly, as if that wasn’t quite the answer he was looking for. Then, he slowly refolded his wing and stepped back into the hallway. Silver tentatively followed him out, watching the other dragon.
She stopped in front of him, her mind whirling, trying to decide whether or not to go.
“What’s wrong with the color of your scales?” he asked abruptly. His violet-blue gaze moved to her other silver colors, and he added, “And your horns, spikes, and claws?” Silver winced and curled in her claws as the Ice-Wing’s sharp eyes landed on her abnormal features.
“I — I, uh, I… don’t really know,” Silver admitted. No one’s ever asked me that before! What do I tell him? He was starting to look a little suspicious for some reason. “Um… What’s your name?” she asked, after an uncomfortable moment. He looked a little surprised, as if he didn’t expect her to ask for his name.
“I’m… Blizzard,” he answered warily.
“Blizzard,” Silver mused lightly. He blinked a few times. “That’s a cool name.”
It wasn’t until his face contorted in a way that looked like he was trying not to grin that she realized she’d made an unintentional joke. The burnt smell of the exploded cave was starting to irritate her nose, and she noticed that Blizzard was wrinkling his snout at the ashes in the room.
“Do — do you want to leave?” Silver blurted. “This room, I mean.” She cringed at how awkward it sounded.
Blizzard gave her a curious look, nodded, and said, “Yes.” Then he unexpectedly added, “Do you?”
Silver nodded, and he tilted one wing, gesturing for her to go first. She started walking down one of the three tunnels leading away from the exploded cave, puzzled by his contrasting behavior. Cold and a little rude one moment and not so much the next.
“Is today your first day at Jade Mountain?” Blizzard asked, in a way that sounded casual, but Silver thought it sounded a little too casual, like he was trying to find something out. She really wanted to open up his emotion bubble, but she wasn’t sure if she should.
“Yes...” Silver replied hesitantly. He narrowed his eyes at the path ahead of him, looking like he was trying to complete a puzzle inside his brain. The whole tunnel was filled with chilly air, but it didn’t bother her at all; the expression on his face alarmed her much more.
“Me too,” Blizzard said after a moment, and Silver looked at him in surprise. Then she wanted to whack herself with her wing. I’m an idiot, she reprimanded herself. Fatespeaker even told me that he was the new IceWing student! “I asked Queen Snowfall to send me here,” he admitted. Queen Snowfall — the queen of the Ice Kingdom, Silver remembered.
That thought recalled a question from the back of her mind. “W-what’s it like in the Ice Kingdom?” she blurted, before she could stop herself. She ducked her head, kind of wishing she hadn’t asked that. But the other half of her wanted her to ask, and was desperately hoping for him to answer.
Blizzard tilted his head and frowned, considering her for a moment. And to Silver’s relief, he replied, “What do you want to know?”
She blinked. “I — um — maybe… everything?” she said uncertainly.
He wrinkled his snout in an amused way. “Well… I don’t think I could tell you everything. I mean, all those very important IceWing secrets that I’m supposed to keep do sound like very interesting conversation topics, but…”
Silver started giggling despite her herself, and Blizzard looked like he was trying to suppress a grin again.
A faint sound brought her attention to a tunnel that branched from behind them. Blizzard turned his head towards the corridor too, his tail twitching. Out of the corner of her eye, Silver saw something change in his face.
Before she knew what was happening, Blizzard turned toward her with a stony expression, not looking at her, and said, “I… have to go.”
Silver tilted her head at him. “Oh… okay?” she said.
He started walking in a frigid way, quickly making his way to the next intersection in front. Silver stayed where she was, her spirits falling slightly. Before he turned into the next tunnel, Blizzard faced her again, this time meeting her eyes. She winced at the sudden resentment in his gaze.
The IceWing narrowed his eyes at her. “And I suggest keeping your nose out of other dragons’ businesses. Deceitful NightWings do not deserve to hear IceWing secrets.”
Silver took a step back, shocked. Blizzard turned and left in a rush of cold air, leaving her feeling like she was stabbed in the chest.
Her ears flicked again, and she heard the sound of a swishing tail followed by the clatter of many spikes, this time much closer. An IceWing, she guessed, and alarm flitted through her scales, mixing with the sadness. She started running towards the closest cave she could find, which was a little crack in the wall that led to a small cave that wasn’t on the school map. It was in a shadowy corner of the tunnel, and she almost missed it. Silver barely fitted through the crack, but once she was through, she sat down next to the entrance, curled her tail around her talons, and looked out at the tunnel.
Sure enough, before a few moments passed, she caught a glimpse of snow-white scales glinting in the firelight.
After that dragon whisked past, she breathed a plume of flame to study the cave she was in, which wasn’t very big — it looked like it could only fit about two dragons. Then, she wrapped her wings around herself, determinedly not letting herself cry.
She had felt the hatred from the other NightWings in the village, but no one had ever insulted her like that. (They preferred to ignore her and talk about her behind her back.) And, it was only because she was a NightWing, which wasn’t even fair because she had no idea what her tribe could have done to deserve to be hated that much. But the thing that confused her the most was how weird Blizzard had acted.
At first, he was cold and unfriendly. Then, he started becoming less frosty. And then, he suddenly went all unkind and standoffish.
Silver found herself wishing that she could feel what Blizzard was feeling then, so she could understand him a little better, but she hadn’t wanted to invade his privacy.
If all IceWings hate NightWings that much, she thought dejectedly, then I don’t think I want to meet any of them. She shuddered, thinking about the hatred she might face from the ice dragons at the school. But a new question stalled her train of thought.
Why do IceWings hate NightWings so much? she wondered. The scrolls in the NightWing village only mentioned a war between the two tribes, which took place thousands of years ago. How could that hatred last so long? And didn’t the queens form a peace treaty two years ago? No, it must be something that happened recently. Something that the NightWings did, or something else.
Note to self: Find out why IceWings hate NightWings.
All she wanted to do was curl up and not get up for the rest of the day, but hiding away in this small, lonely, dark cave was not the most appealing option.
She poked her head out into the corridor and looked around. When she confirmed that there were no other dragons around, she slid out of the small crack and started walking down the rocky tunnel.
But before she got a few steps away, she looked down at her empty talons and realized that she didn’t have her welcome scroll and her map.
Where did I put them? Silver racked her brain, and after a moment, she remembered that she left them in the library. She breathed a sigh of relief, but the reassurance did not help cover up the dejection from before.
Taking a turn into a hallway that led to the peaceful library, she wondered if she should ask Starflight about the NightWings’ and IceWings’ history of hatred.
What if Starflight thinks I’m annoying or nosy? she worried.
Starflight wouldn’t think that, argued another part of her mind.
I don’t even know how to ask that question! What if he thinks I am ignorant because I don’t already know? She was starting to panic from the one-sided conversation.
He wouldn’t, insisted her brain. He’s very kind, I’m sure he’ll understand.
Blizzard’s last remark echoed in her head. Blizzard is right, I shouldn’t poke around in other dragons’ businesses, she thought disheartenedly.
But it isn’t other dragons’ businesses, it’s your business too! her mind proclaimed.
But what if it isn’t even what I think it is? What if it really is the two-thousand year-old war? The fiercely hopeful part of her brain faltered. What if that really is the reason IceWings and NightWings hate each other? What if it really is as simple as that?
Then I’d look and feel stupid for wondering about it, she thought.
Well, it wouldn’t hurt to just ask… her mind muttered, trailing off.
As she arrived at the corridor of scrolls, Silver finally decided not to ask. The library was bathed in fading iridescent green sunlight, signaling that it was probably near sunset. Entering the scroll-filled room, she tried to be quiet as she tip-toed over to the corner where she left her scrolls.
However, before she got there, Starflight’s black head popped out from under the desk, and he said, “Hello? Is somebody there?”
Silver jumped. “Oh, um, it’s just me, Silver. I — I left my scrolls here, and I was just, um, getting them. Sorry.”
Starflight smiled and said, “Oh, it’s alright, Silver.”
She hurried to the polar bear fur rug and looked around. Once she found her scrolls, she snatched them up and scurried back to the exit. I wish I could stay in here and read for the whole day, she thought, looking around at the quiet room. She considered it for a moment, then thought, No, I’d better go find my cave and maybe explore the rest of the school — I need to do something other than mope and hide.
“Th-thank you,” Silver said to Starflight. “Um, have a nice day.”
“You too,” Starflight replied, and Silver set off to find the crowded sleeping caves.
She checked her mental map of the school, retracing her steps. As she left the quote-lined walls, she tried to forget her upsetting encounter at the explosion cave, but no matter how hard she tried, it still left a gaping hole in her heart.
Silver paced through a winding tunnel that was shaped like a dragon tail. After the second turn she took, she heard the voices of several dragons up ahead.
She shifted the scrolls in her talons, nervously eyeing the clustered dragons in the corridor. Ducking back outside the sleeping caves’ hall, she took a deep breath, peeked out, and entered the populous tunnel.
What she previously pictured herself doing was walking confidently in there and finding her cave while ignoring everyone’s stares. But what she actually ended up doing was bowing her head and trying to stick to the shadows unobtrusively. Although she tried to use her black scales to melt into the dark, her silver horns and spikes stood out like shooting stars in a night sky.
She cringed as the chatting dragons’ eyes landed on her and widened. Avoiding their gazes, Silver looked down at her furled claws and kept on walking forward. However, to her surprise, the dragons resumed their conversations, and only a few pairs of eyes flicked to her weird looks occasionally.
Feeling a little relieved, she used that opportunity to find where she was supposed to be. She tried to recall where Fatespeaker had pointed to on the map.
The tenth cave on the right, she remembered. This is a very long cave system.
The main tunnel was mostly straight, but it curved and twisted occasionally. Several other tunnels led into the sleeping cave corridor, and Silver reminded herself to use one of those next time instead of walking all the way through the long hallway.
The number of dragons in the corridor wasn’t actually a lot, and the tunnel was far from packed, but the other students were so big. She estimated that nearly all of them were older than her and could trample her easily.
She found her cave close to the end, where another tunnel branched away from the hall. What will my clawmates be like? she thought nervously, stopping in front of the cave entrance. Oh no, what if one of my clawmates is an IceWing?
Maybe they won’t hate me… she thought hopefully — probably a bit too hopeful.
. . .
More coming tomorrow!
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Genre (Prophecy)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Mature Content
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)