Animus War book 1: Sand in the Glass

Animus War books
==Preface==
Written by FenTheMudwing!
Coding by Streamy Gamer Cat!
Do not edit/steal! (Unless you just want to fix my grammar or spelling, which is pretty flawless)
== Characters ==
=== Main Characters ===
Valerian (WillowandtheWoof)
Chris (Bullfrøg)
Fen (FenTheMudwing)
Redsnapper (Everyone)
Dandelion (Europa99)
Tar (Icetiger101)
Pyre (The Streamy Gamer Cat)
Willow the IceWing (WillowandtheWoof)
Ember the Skywing (FenTheMudwing)
=== Supporting characters ===
Salamander (Europa99 and FenTheMudwing)
Pangolin (FenTheMudwing)
Wallflower (TheUnFathomable)
===Groups===
Sand Serpents
== Prologue ==
Pyre heard a loud bang from outside. She stumbled awkwardly to the window, trying to reach it so she could peer outside. Where's mommy? She wondered, panicked. She jumped and grasped the windowsill with her little talons. She heard another loud bang. Startled, she lost her grip and fell to the floor.
Now she heard screaming and shouting. The tips of bright orange flames shot into the starry night sky, blocking the stars with dark gray smoke. Pyre jumped again, flapping her wings like she'd been practicing. She got ahold of the windowsill and scrambled on top of it. As she looked outside, she gasped with horror.
All over the ground, fellow SandWings lay in puddles of deep red blood. Other, unfamiliar SandWings were knocking down doors and coming back out with their arms laden with treasure. Pyre's lip trembled as a tear slid down her snout. One looked around and spotted Pyre. She yelled something to another SandWing, pointing to the house.
Pyre's eyes widened, and she lost her grip and falling to the ground. She heard a loud bang on the door. All her muscles tensed with panic and indecision. Should she try to open the window and run? Should she hide? Should she try to fight the dragon? Too late, the door fell to the ground in a cloud of dust.
Pyre coughed, fluttering her wings nervously. A large SandWing with a scar across one eye stepped through the dust. The one that spotted Pyre earlier stepped in behind him.
"What should we do?" the dragon asked nervously.
The larger dragon examined Pyre thoughtfully. "We can't kill her... but the dragonet would make a fine addition to the Sand Serpents. Knock her out," he replied.
Pyre backed away slowly. She tripped over an abandoned doll, bruising her elbow on the dirt floor. The female dragon walked closer, her brow furrowed. Pyre felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, and just like that, all her memories of her parents, her friends, her home crumpled to dust.
==Chapter 1==
Pyre laughed, the wind stinging her eyes. She looked down on the mountain range below them. Some of the taller ones were tipped with little hints of snow leftover from the winter.
Pyre was on her way to Jade Mountain Academy, where Thorn had let her attend despite her... "criminal" record.
She did a quick corkscrew in the air, pulling into a dive. Pyre looked up and noticed she was falling behind. She climbed back up, panting for breath.
"Well aren't you excited," said her escort, Pangolin. He had been quiet for most of the flight, scanning the landscape for potential threats.
"It's not every day you get to meet twenty-seven new dragons, twenty-four of them from different tribes," she answered simply. "Then if you take into account that I'm going to be meeting the dragonets of destiny, who count for, like, a million new dragons!"
Pyre pulled up, then dove down into a sharp dive. She couldn't wait until they arrived to the shiny ray of hope in the distance called Jade Mountain Academy.
----
They swooped down on a deserted mini-plateau next to the entrance hall during dawn, so no one else had arrived yet.
"Now, what are you going to do when you first go in?" Pangolin quizzed Pyre.
"State my name and purpose, then ask for an introductory scroll, map, schedule, and/or directions to my sleeping cave," Pyre recited impatiently. She had flown across half the continent in two days, she was not wasting time on a quiz about things that should be common sense.
Pangolin gave her one last squint, inspecting her and making sure she was ready, which was so not necessary.
"Fine, go! But remember be wary! And pranking your clawmates is exactly the thing not to do!" Pangolin called after Pyre as she rushed off to the entrance. She was so excited, she overshot her landing and crashed into the ground in the cave.
"Oh!" said a voice.
Pyre looked up and instantly recognized the small gold shape of Sunny rushing to her aid.
Sunny! I'm meeting a real dragonet of destiny! Pyre thought.
She tried to stand up, but her knees buckled and she fell back down.
"No no no! Don't try to stand! Here, come with me," Sunny said, helping her up.
Pyre looked around and saw Sunny was setting up a banner that said "WELCOME STUDENTS!!!"
Sunny led her to the right, where a doorway led to a hallway branching off from the entrance cave.
Sunny made an abrupt turn right into another cave. This one was large, although not as large as the welcome cave. The ceiling was eight dragons high, and ten dragons could probably stand wingtip to wingtip from Pyre to the opposite wall, where a RainWing ate a banana lazily.
"Hey Coconut," Sunny said exhaustively. "This dragonet had a... crash. Could you give her some stuff?"
Coconut put down his banana with a sigh.
"I thought the dragonets were going to come like... later some time," Coconut said. His voice made Pyre really fidgety and bored.
"Yes, but this dragonet must have come early or something-"
"I'm right here," Pyre interjected.
"Oh," Sunny said, rubbing her temples. "Sorry. I... haven't had much sleep. Coconut, can you take her?"
"Sure," he answered lazily. He flicked his tail at a nearby bed while he walked away to do something important (Pyre hoped).
Pyre walked over to the bed and used a nearby scroll rack to boost herself onto it. She noticed Sunny had walked away.
Great, she thought. Alone with the most boring dragon in the universe.
Coconut came back with a slate and a slate pencil in his talons.
"So, what happened to you?" Coconut asked Pyre without looking up from the slate.
"I-I had a... crash landing you might say," Pyre answered, embarrassed.
Coconut made a very poor attempt to hide his giggles.
Pyre shifted her wings uncomfortably, quickly becoming fidgety. Coconut was so...
Coconut put the slate down on the table and lifted Pyre's wing, then muttered something to himself. He then poked at Pyre's ribs a bunch. He picked up the slate again, writing something on it in sloppy writing.
"So... can I leave now?" Pyre asked. Coconut either didn't hear her or didn't care.
"You've got a dislocated shoulder bone and two broken ribs, but nothing but a bit of herbs and rest won't solve. You'll have to stay here for the rest of today, though," Coconut said, still reading his stupid slate.
"WHAT!?" Pyre exclaimed, suddenly standing up, then wincing as a pain flared up from her sides.
Coconut raised his eyebrows at her in an I told you so way, then walked over to his table at the far end of the room to finish his banana.
Pyre sat back down cautiously, then huffed in frustration. "What can I do then!?" she asked Coconut.
"Read a scroll," Coconut answered, flicking his tail at the small scroll rack next to her bed (still not looking her in the eye, which was annoying).
Pyre huffed again. She leaned over and plucked a scroll called Jade Mountain Academy: A History.
This was going to be a long day.
== Chapter 2 ==
It was probably the worst day of Pyre's life. NOTHING happened! One time a MudWing named Salamander came in and asked if Coconut needed anything, but of course, Coconut was... ugh. She had tried to sneak out of bed once, but Coconut caught her, and that was the end of that.
For the whole day she watched enviously as students passed by laden with a pile of scrolls, making their way to their sleeping cave to settle down. Meanwhile Pyre had to sit there, reading a stupid scroll about the changes Jade Mountain Academy went through. She didn't want to read about how their were new common rooms for each winglet. She didn't need to know about the releasing of Darkstalker and the increasing of enrollment letters they got that year. Why was she learning about the school? She was already there! What else did she need to know?
----
She woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes slowly. Coconut stood over her.
"You can go," Coconut said in his slow, slow, slow voice.
Pyre jumped out of bed, suddenly alert. She looked around frantically and noticed a pile of scrolls next to the bed. She hastily scooped up all the scrolls and started running in the direction of the entrance cave, quickly searching for an introductory scroll.
"Aha!" she yelled as she found it. She unrolled it to a confusing map with multiple floors and "common rooms". She was expecting sleeping caves with two to three dragonets per cave!
Pyre studied the map and found a room labeled "Opal Winglet common room" on the second floor, and apparently there should've been an entrance to the second floor near the ceiling of the entrance hall. She looked around and spotted an opening about three dragons to the roof of the cave, where stalactites had been cleared for more space.
"There!" she said out loud, her voice echoing loudly throughout the entrance hall.
She quickly lifted off the ground, eager to meet her new winglet.
When she rushed into the doorway of her common room she realized the flaw in her plan.
Everyone was asleep. The sounds of snoring filled the common room from three sleeping caves branching off from the common room. The introduction would have to wait until tomorrow.
She studied her map and found her sleeping cave was on the far left. She quietly sneaked in.
The room was fairly large. The circular cave was about two dragons wide and four dragons tall.
On the far wall was a rock ledge near the ceiling, where a coppery SkyWing snored loudly. To the left was a shallow pool where a teal SeaWing slept half submerged. To the right was a pit of sand, which laid vacant. Next to each was a chest (for all those scrolls?).
She first dumped all her scrolls into the nearby chest, then walked over to the sand and laid down. It was soft and warm, and Pyre wanted to stay there forever.
So much for first impressions.
----
Pyre woke up the next day very, very slowly, hesitant to get out of her warm pit of sand. She stood up and stretched, yawning.
Pyre peeked out of the doorway, then jumped with excitement.
Outside were six dragonets of all different colors, seated around a circular table.
She immediately identified which tribe as which by their colors.
The MudWing had warm chestnut scales, with taupe mid-scales and beige under-scales. His horns were umber and his eyes were a bright amber, which was uncommon for MudWings.
The IceWing was mostly snowy white with a blue tint, which was common. However, her eyes and horns were a darker shade of blue than most IceWings. She also had some scars on her belly and a peculiar wrist-band of rocks.
The SkyWing was mostly copper with lighter brass under-scales and darker bronze horns, which was uncommon. She also had amber eyes, which was fairly common.
The NightWing was pitch black, with silver horns and dark green, mysterious eyes. He also had odd silver teardrops next to his eyes, which Pyre had never seen before.
The SeaWing had dark teal overscales and turquoise underscales. His horns were midnight green, and his eyes were bright cyan. He had a tear in one of his wings and a scar on his arm.
The RainWing was small and skinny, and was shifting colors very much from pale blue to white to lily green. His eyes were darting from dragonet to dragonet, eyes narrowed into slits.
Pyre took a deep breath, then padded out.
"Oh, sleeping beauty is awake," said the SeaWing immediately.
"What?" Pyre asked, baffled.
"You were sleeping all morning. It's already noon," explained the SkyWing.
"Oh," Pyre said, embarrassed.
"It's fine, come have a seat," the MudWing said, gesturing to a chair to his left.
Pyre walked over nervously, sitting down between him and the NightWing. When she sat down the NightWing looked down, avoiding her gaze.
Pyre cleared her throat uncomfortably.
"So, what are we talking about?" she asked.
"We were talking about our schedule," the IceWing said, gesturing to the a blackboard on the wall next to the cave entrance. "It's really cool. They have a whole system planned out. Today we're pretty much just... sitting here and talking."
"Oh... how about we introduce ourselves? I'm Pyre..."
"I'm Fen," the MudWing said.
"My name is Willow," the IceWing piped in.
No one else was volunteering.
"I'm Ember," the SkyWing offered.
"That's Tar," the MudWing said, pointing to the shy NightWing. He waved shyly at Pyre. "The grumpy SeaWing over there is Seiche-"
"I can introduce myself!" Seiche interjected.
"Oh, yes, sorry to inturrupt your introduction," Fen said sarcastically.
Seiche fell speechless. Pyre tried unsuccessful to hide her smile.
"And that one over there is Coffee," He continued, pointing to the wary RainWing. 
There was another awkward silence.
"How about we go to the prey center?" Fen asked.
"Sure!" Pyre said immediately, eager to end the uncomfortable pause.
Pyre walked away solumly, wondering if her winglet would ever like her.
==Chapter 3==
The Prey Center was loud, noisy, and totally up to Pyre's standards.
It was a mammoth cave open to the air on one side, looking out over a mossy, boulder strewn slope, towering cliffs, and faraway peaks. There was a low wall of rocks built across the bottom of the opening - useless against dragons, of course, but perfect for keeping prey inside. A fast flowing river swept along the wall opposite the opening, disappearing through an archway to the next cave.
There were lots of other dragons as well, including one Pyre recognized.
She bounded over to him, eager to see a familiar-ish face.
"Salamander!" she said when she reached him. "Hi! Remember me? I was that SandWing in the infirmary!"
"Oh, hey," Salamander answered, only half paying attention. He was craning his neck, looking for someone. "Have you seen a MudWing named Fen? Super smart? Sarcastic, even?"
"Yeah, he's in my winglet," she said, gesturing to Fen. He saw, and waved at them to come over.
"Fen!" Salamander exclaimed, leaping into his arms. "I've missed you so much! I can't remember my clawmates' names."
"Calm down," he replied, giving Salamander a friendly nudge with his snout. Pyre wished she had siblings like that.
Pyre walked over to them.
"So, you've met my brother?" Fen asked her.
"Yeah," she replied. Willow and Ember started walking over. Tar shuffled behind them nervously.
"So get this," Willow started. "I found this new rock to put into my wrist-band! It's all cool and colorful! This one might actually be an opal! Can you believe that!?"
Pyre's ears pricked up. Willow's voice faded to the background as she tried to discern that voice. It was a male voice she had never heard.
"Don't do it. Trust me. I know two things you might do... although I don't see what causes it. I know you will attack someone, though i don't know who. I know one of them might an enemy of similar blood, the other a color you already despise. A rival, if you will," he said.
Pyre looked around at the other SandWings in the cave. Surely their SandWing senses picked it up, too?
There was only one other, and he was talking to a pinkish red SeaWing.
This time, it was a different male voice, whispering a response.
"You don't know what you're talking about! I have power like more than you can imagine. Don't you start issuing threats! I'd watch your back if I were you!" he said. This time Pyre felt a chilling feeling in her bones. One very horrible, like gravity was reversed.
The feeling of animus magic.
"I've got to go," she said, interrupting Willow's story about her opal, trying to find the source.
She pushed her way through the croud, bumping into two NightWings.
Instantly she felt the world tilt-y feeling again. She looked up into a pair of violent, forest green eyes framed by jet black scales.
She backed away from the snarling NightWing, realizing the animus magic was coming from him. An earing glinted in his ear. Tar was behind him and to his right, his eyes widened with fear. When he looked at Pyre, his eyes seemed haunted, like seeing Pyre from beyond the grave.
Dragons all around them were turning their heads now, wondering in confusion where the strange feeling was coming from.
Pyre heard an audible cracking noise, and she could bet everyone in the cave could hear it now, SandWing or not. She flinched as a pebble hit the top of her head, bouncing to the floor. She looked up, confused.
Pyre's eyes widened.
The two large stalactites that hung over Tar were cracked at the base, spraying dust everywhere.
A couple of other dragons started looking up too.
It wasn't a descision Pyre made consiously. Her talons were off before she had a chance to think. In one swift move she ran into Tar, the force pushing them both back into more dragons. At the same moment, the largest of the two stalagtites fell to the spot where Tar had been a moment before.
----
The cave erupted with the sounds of screaming dragons, all trying to fly away through the openening. The second stalagtite came crashing down, seeming to swerve towards Tar. Pyre pushed Tar away from her for the second time, her heart racing.
All of a sudden, a loud booming noise filled the cave. Pyre stopped and covered her head as debris and dust came raining down on her.
The cave fell silent. Pyre opened her eyes slowly, and saw she was left alone with Willow, Tar, Ember, Fen, Salamander, the other NightWing, and an IceWing, RainWing and SeaWing she didn't know. She noticed the SeaWing was the one talking to the SandWing earlier.
Everyone was staring at her.
Everyone.
Willow was the first to break the unnatural silence.
"Woah..." she breathed, her mouth agape.
Tar was looking at her, his eyes widened. His teardrop scales shimmered in the sunlight.
Why is he looking at me like that? Pyre wondered. Pyre felt like Tar could hear her thoughts... was that possible? There was a rumor about the last battle of the IceWing/NightWing war, where all dragons suddenly was able to read each other's minds. Was this similar?
Pyre never noticed how Tar wasn't just black, he was more in dark, border-line-black shades of green, and his eyes were dark, mysterious green with lighter green flecks.
Pyre paused awkwardly, her muscles tensed."So... yay me?"
==Chapter 4==
The whole school was buzzing the next day, all recounting stories of "Pyre's great rescue" but only the ones who stayed actually knew what happened. 
Pyre lay in her sand later that night, thinking over the events of that day.She was sure the stalactites swerved specifically to hit Tar. And then, when Pyre pushed Tar, the stalactite... exploded? How had that happened? 
"Pyre!"
Pyre's ears pricked, trying to pierce the tangible darkness. She looked around, straining her eyes. Pyre wished she was a SeaWing or a NightWing, with eyes that could see in the dark. 
"Pyre!" the voice whispered again. This time a talon shook her shoulder, shaking her awake. "It's Tar! I... I hear something."
Pyre listened harder, trying to figure out what Tar was hearing.
"I don't hear anything," Pyre replied.
"You wouldn't. It's not that kind of sound. It's... I can... read minds," Tar said awkwardly (maybe? it was hard to tell in the dark)
"Woah..." Pyre breathed. "What kind of... how does it... nevermind... later. What did you hear?"
"Someone's thinking very... violent thoughts. My mindreading isn't that strong, but I think maybe... something about... embers. I'm not sure, but it might be a name. Something about Ember. Isn't someone in our winglet named Ember?"
Pyre breathed a small plume of flame, looking over at Ember. Tar looked, too.
Ember was sleeping on her side, snoring lightly. With each exhale she blew a bit of smoke.
"Yeah," Pyre replied. "But who's thinking it?"
"It doesn't work like that," Tar replied. "It's more like... ugh. Inner voices are hard to judge. For example, your inner voice kinda reminds me of Sunny. But I think it comes from next door."
"But that's where you sleep..."
"No! I mean the next common room. I think it's the Diamond Winglet's room."
"Are we going in?"
"Sure..." Tar was looking at her wierd, perhaps reading her mind. Pyre wondered what he found in her head.
Now that she'd had time, Pyre's eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness. They walked as silently could, sneaking out of the common room into the hall. The headed off left, towards the Diamond Winglet common room. They made another right turn, looking into a common room similar to theirs. 
Tar motioned to the cave to the far left, creeping silently. Pyre wondered if NightWings had padding on their feet to help sneak around.
Inside they found Salamander sleeping in a pit of mud with his tail draped over his head and a Rainwing star-bursting with bright pink and red.
Tar shook his head silently. They snuck out and tried the next cave. This one held a pinkish whitish SeaWing in a shallow pool, a SandWing in a pit not unlike Pyre's and a SkyWing nestled on a ledge low to the ground.
Tar shook his head again. This next one had to be the one. It held only two dragons, an IceWing sleeping on a bed of thick snow (how that was possible, Pyre wasn't sure) and a NightWing in a bed of ferns and mosses. The NightWing was twitching in his sleep, his eyes closed but his mouth muttering silently. Tar looked at Pyre and nodded. 
"What's he thinking about?" Pyre whispered anxiously. She noticed he was the NightWing who threatened Tar in the Prey Center.
"Dark things," Tar muttered. Pyre could not fit him in with the shy dragon she first met. "Things like murder. Things like... magic."
Pyre stared at the sleeping NightWing. She walked forward a little, wanting a better look through the darkness. Suddenly she felt a strangely familiar lurch in her stomach. She jumped back, panicking. 
All of a sudden a loud horn boomed through the cave, reverberating out of the common room and into the halls. 
"RUN!!!" Tar shouted, dashing out of the cave. Pyre came out soon after. She could hear the stirring of other dragonets scrambling out of bed to find the source of the noise.
The booming noise went off again, this time louder. Pyre stopped abruptly as dragonets rushed out of the Diamond Winglet common room. Dragonets from the Opal Winglet were also coming out now, blocking the way. Tar looked how Pyre felt, his eyes wide with fear. Could he hear the panic of all the dragons around them? Pyre looked around, searching for any sign of the animus NightWing.
Pyre backed away slowly. She tripped on Willow's talons, bruising her elbow on the stone floor. She had a sudden flashback of flames, of a scarred face looking down at her, of screaming and death and panic, which didn't fit the situation at all.
Willow helped her up just as an enraged NightWing burst through the crowd. Clay forced his way through the side of the crowd that Pyre was in, with Sunny not far behind him. 
"Valerian, stop!" Clay said to the NightWing.
"Someone was in my room! I know it!"
"Nothing to see here! Everyone go back to bed," Clay said to all the dragonets crowding the cave. Everyone slumped back to their respective sleeping cave, no doubt wishing some action would happen. Valerian looked around, searching the crowd for any sign of the intruders. Tar caught Pyre's eyes worriedly. He gave her a look, which could have been a Valerian knows look, an I want to protect you look, or, if Pyre was reading him right, an I love you but there's nothing I can do about it look. Pyre was never very good with... looks.
Pyre started walking away, hoping Valerian wouldn't notice her. As she left, she heard Valerian scream one last threat.
"I will find you!" he yelled out. "You've just made a very dangerous enemy!"
==Chapter 5==
When Pyre woke up the next morning, she was the only one awake. She crawled out of bed, feeling... not refreshed. She sat down at the table, debating on what to do. She finally decided to go to the Prey Center.
She walked out the door, then saw a dark shape farther up the hall.
"Hello?" Pyre asked him. The figure turned around, and Pyre noticed it was Tar. His teardrop scales shimmered in the light. He quickly turned back around and darted down the hall.
Pyre hesitated a moment, then shot after him. Whatever was going on was definitely better than eating. She ate yesterday anyway.
She followed Tar out into the Entrance Cave, the light momentarily blinding her. She squinted, blinking a couple of times. She looked around, thinking she lost Tar. Finally, she spotted him edging towards another hallway across the room closer to the ground. She quickly followed him, eager to find out where he was going. 
This hallway was familiar, and she realized it was the one Sunny lead her through on her first day.
But Tar didn't stop in the Infirmary. He kept going, the hallway now twisting and turning and making Pyre claustaphobic. She noticed the hallway also started sloping down tunneling deeper into the mountain. This section of the hallway had scrolls hanging on the walls, all with different quotes from famous dragons.
Where is Tar going? She wondered as she followed his dark shape.
After what seemed like forever, Tar turned right.
Iridescent green sunlight washed over Pyre as she stepped inside. Scrolls were everywhere, stacked in cubbyholes along the walls and in more racks and cylinders around the enormous cave. Every corner had a spot to curl up and read in; sometimes a rock ledge, sometimes a pile of moss, sometimes reeds and cattails, and (to Pyre's delight) a couple pits of warm sand dotted the floor of the cave.
Sunbeams filtered down through windows, covered with something thin enough to let light through, but strong enough to keep the wind and weather out. They were a light shade of green with emerald veins running through them.
Leaves, Pyre realized.
"Hello?" a voice asked.
Pyre looked over at the source of the voice, a dark NightWing with a leaf bandage over his eyes. 
"H-hi, I'm Pyre," she answered. "I'm a student here. A-a-are you Starflight?" 
"Yeah," Starflight said, relaxing a bit. "Were you looking for something in particular?"
"Someone, actually," she remembered, searching the library for Tar.
"Oh," he replied, sounding dissapointed. "Well, ask if you need anything."
"Okay, I will."
She started walking in between the aisles of shelves, searching for Tar. (She was also browsing the books a bit)
Finally, she found Tar in the Nonfiction section. He was reading scroll titles, every once in a while choosing one and stacking it in his arms. he turned around, then blushed when he saw Pyre.
"I guess you found me," he said.
"You weren't hard to find," she teased, walking over to see what he was reading.
"i-I got to go check these out," he said, quickly running to Starflight's desk.
Pyre walked over to him, now getting suspicious. An IceWing looked up from his icy perch. Pyre felt a sudden rush of déjà vu. She hurried after Tar, now checking out his scrolls.
She snuck up on him, peeking over his shoulder.
"Animus Power and How it Works? Animi of the Ages?" Pyre asked him. Tar jumped out of his scales, his eyes wide, his wings flaring, displaying the silver star pattern underneath.
A RainWing head popped out of nowhere on a patch of leaves and moss, with some sort of white material on his snout. He narrowed his eyes at them. His scales shifted in assorted shades of dull purple, grey, and brown. 
The IceWing still had his nose in his scroll, but Pyre could tell he was secretly listening. Why was he so familiar?
"Yeah," Tar mumbled, aware of the attention. "I'll tell you later."
The purple RainWing vanished, camouflaging well into the moss under him. Pyre could still feel his eyes tracking her and Tar.
"Let's go," said Tar, grabbing the scrolls and walking hurriedly out of the library.
Pyre started following him, curious.
Then she paused. She heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, trying to find the source. as soon as she turned around, the footsteps stopped. She squinted her eyes, searching for anything. Suddenly, so quick Pyre might have imagined it, a flash of dull emerald green flared in the shape of a dragon.
Pyre squinted some more, then hurried off to Tar.
More dragonets had started waking up, making their way to the Prey Center for breakfast, so the hallways were packed. Weaving their way through the crowd of dragons, Tar and Pyre slowly made their way to the common room.
"So why are you checking these out?" Pyre asked as soon as they stepped through the doorway.
"I was thinking if we could learn more about him, then maybe we can stop him," he replied.
"Who?"
"Valerian,"
"Oh..."
"I think we should start searching, we only have today as another 'exploration day', so lets 'explore' animus magic," Tar said, grinning.
"Yeah, we could each start reading one, and we could compare no-"
Pyre was interrupted by a sudden loud squeaking noise, coming from out in the hall. They heard some dragons yelling out in the hall.
Pyre and Tar exchanges glances, then ran out. Immediately Pyre spotted the problem.
A crowd was forming a loose circle around a group of five dragons, a MudWing, a NightWing, a SeaWing, and two IceWings. 
And a scavenger.
Pyre had never seen a scavenger before. It was about as tall as up to Pyre's shoulder. It's hair was shiny and black, having a faint brown tint. It was trying to escape the claws of Seiche, who was trying to snatch it up. The NightWing, who Pyre nervously identified as Valerian, was also grasping at the scavenger.
The darker and smaller of the IceWings, who was Willow, was trying to seperate the two. The MudWing, Fen, was yelling at them both, clawing at them. 
The other IceWing was also trying to break the two up, but as he spotted Pyre, he whipped around. A lobe earing glinted in his ear, and a black rogue-like bandanna with the word "skull" written on it. His eyes, pale and white, were staring straight into Pyre's, and she got a horrible sense of déjà vu. Where did she remember him from!?
Tar rushed in to help, Pyre not far behind him. Pyre jumped onto Valerian without really thinking. She shifted her center of gravity towards the ground, hoping to ground him. She only succeeded in shifting him off balance a bit before he righted himself. All of a sudden, Pyre was lifed off Valerian's shoulders up towards the ceiling. 
Pyre got a sick feeling to her stomach, floating above the battle like this. She saw Tar abandoned Seiche to attack Valerian, while Willow, Fen, and the IceWing all tackled Seiche. The combined efforts of all (well, most) of the dragonets took Seiche down. Pyre wriggled around, trying to escape the invisible grasp holding her. 
Pyre watched with awe as the IceWing pinned Valerian's wrist to the ground. 
"I enchant the rock to fold around Valerian's wrist, trapping him," the IceWing said dramatically. Pyre was wondering whether he expected anything to happen, when the floor seemed to grow, stalagmites popping up as if in super speed, encasing Valerian's talon and partly up his forearm. The IceWing stood up, looking grimly at Valerian. Valerian thrashed around, trying to escape, causing more stalagmites to grow further up to his shoulder, further pinning him down.
The IceWing looked up at Pyre and flashed a brief smile, then she fell to the ground with a thud. 
"I'm Chris," the IceWing said, holding out a talon. Pyre shifted nervously, wondering whether to reveal her identity while Valerian was so close. Could he really do anything with just her name?
And my tribe, winglet, social status and age, if he was paying attention, Pyre thought.
"I'm Pyre," she said, shaking Chris's hand.
"Hello!? A little HELP would be nice!" Fen yelled, him and Willow still holding a squirming Seiche. The scavenger was huddled behind Fen, shaking. Chris snapped his fingers, and Seiche was encased just like Valerian.
"Well," Chris said, breaking the unnatural silence. "I had better go, man, but it was nice meeting you."
Chris started walking away, then paused. He looked back at Pyre and flashed her a smile.
All of a sudden Pyre felt the world-tilty-wrongness feeling again, except this time the strongest yet.
The world seemed to fold inwards on Chris, light and shadow attracting towards him. Then, with a flash of black nothingness, he was gone. Little cracks seemed to remain in the air, as if the world was a scroll and somebody had crumpled it up too many times. 
Pyre turned towards her friends, feeling queasy. Fen looked thoughtful, Willow looked worried, and Tar looked... angry. Ember poked her head out of their common room, checking out the scene.
"What'd I miss?" she asked wryly. 
==Chapter 6==
After the whole scavenger fiasco, Pyre ventured into Fen and Willow's room. 
When she walked in Fen was lying in a pile of reeds and cattails, a scroll in front of him. He was reading intently, so absorbed in what he was reading he didn't notice when Pyre knocked on the doorway.
Willow was lying on a thick bed of snow, fiddling with her bracelet, looking bored. She perked up when she saw Pyre standing in the doorway.
"Hey Pyre," Willow said.
"Hi," Pyre answered. She glanced around the room and noticed a small bed of furs in the corner. On the bed, the scavenger sat, staring at Pyre.
"Thanks for helping us earlier," 
"No problem..." Pyre trailed off. Chris had done most of the work anyways. The thing that annoyed Pyre most was how Chris only "saved the day" after Pyre arrived, like he was showing off. He could have been of some serious help before Pyre arrived.
"So..." Willow started. "I think Chris might like you,"
"Oh... about that..."
"He's kinda cute, don't you think?"
"Well, you're an IceWing, too, so that's different. Besides, it's not like I like like Ta-Chris," 
Willow immediately jumped up, her eyes wide. Fen's ears pricked, but his nose remained in his scroll.
"You like Tar?" Willow breathed, not because of secrecy, but because her voice didn't seem to be working right.
"No, no, no, no, no," Pyre said, half to Willow, half to herself.
"But... but I thought..." Willow stuttered.
"I have to go," Pyre said hurriedly, not feeling like she wanted to be part of this conversation. She also had just realized Tar's room was next door, and he could read minds. 
She shuffled out of the room awkwardly, thinking about their brief... "conversation."
She decided to go to Tar and Coffee's room. Inside, she found him curled up on a rock ledge, reading Animus Magic and its Consequences. He looked up when she walked in. She blushed, remembering the conversation from earlier.
"Is there room?" Pyre asked.
"Sure," Tar answered, passing her a scroll. Coffee looked up from a hammock strung from the ceiling. He narrowed his eyes at Pyre, then at Tar. The grey of the stone walls crawled up his talons.
Pyre awkwardly stood there for a moment, then lay down on the floor. She looked up at Tar. His dark green eyes were focused on his scroll. He occasionally marked something with a pencil.
Pyre focused on her own scroll, but something didn't let her concentrate.
More and more scrolls had been read, and no information was found. They found some dragon named Darkstalker that could have been either Valerian or Chris's ancestor. They also found an animus IceWing named Frostbite who didn't go insane, as well as other IceWings after her.
After sifting through the pile several times, Pyre's eyes were starting to droop. She got up from the mess of scrolls, yawning.
"Well, I should go get some sleep," Pyre said to Tar.
"Yeah," he replied.
Pyre trudged out of his room and into hers, not really wanting to confront Seiche after the events of that day. When she walked in though, the only person inside was Ember, stretched out on her rock. She waved at Pyre when she walked in.
Pyre walked over to her sand, eager to sleep. She lay down, sinking in. She felt so stressed, between Chris and Tar and Valerian, she felt like she wouldn't be able to sleep, but sure enough, her eyes closed shut for a night of worried nightmares.
----
Pyre was walking through stone corridors lined with tapestries of blue white and gold. Every corner looked the same, every fork familiar. After what seemed like an eternity, she reached a courtyard filled with sunlight. She was momentarily blinded, and when her vision cleared, what she saw was incredible. 
The coutyard was grassy and lush, with tall palm trees and cacti everywhere. Scattered around were huge rock outcroppings, jutting into the sky. On it were SandWings, tons and tons of SandWings. She approached them cautiously, laying down on a rock. She spread her wings, letting them absorb sunlight. 
She closed her eyes, sighing contentfuly. When she looked up again, there were no walls, just sand, sand, sand. A light desert breeze wafted over her. 
Quite suddenly, all the sand started rising, or maybe she was sinking. She felt terror grip her lungs as sand submerged her ankles, swallowing her up. She lifted her wings to try to fly away, but discovered they were on fire, flames licking away at them and ripping huge holes. She shrieked, flapping helplessly as the sand crawled up to her chest. 
she jumped, trying to get into the air, but skeletal arms shot out of the sand to drag her in. Skeletal heads came up as well, their jaws shuddering as they tried to breathe. She tried to push them off, but they clawed at her, dragging her in until her head was swallowed up. 
Everything was black in the sand. She felt it softly pushing her on all sides. Then she was floating. 
She felt an eerie silence, as if her ears were stuffed with cotton. Something glittered at her through the dark. A pair of teardrops, silvery and bright. They were followed by dark green eyes and dull silver horns. The shape of Tar finally shimmered before her. He was staring at her sadly, like he knew something about her that was horrible, but unavoidable. 
"Too late," he whispered to her. "It's too late. Pyre listen to me very carefully," 
Pyre's ears pricked, Tar's voice piercing through the darkness like a lazer beam. 
"You have to wake up. Valerian i... Chris has gotten a hol... you might do somethi... plea... I..." Tar's voice flickered in and out, his eyes urgent. "NO! Yo... sto... PYRE WAKE UP!!!" 
Suddenly Tar disappeared. Pyre was left feeling lonely, before she heard another voice echoing through the darkness. This one was cold and forbidding, but somehow relaxing and soothing. 
"Shh shh shh shh shhhhh... Don't listen to him, man," The voice said. Something about it made her queasy. It wasn't even that creepy a voice, Pyre just got this... feeling. Like a headache mixed with throwy-upy-feeling. 
"Don't worry..." 
Somehow Pyre wanted to worry. 
"Who are you?" Pyre asked the voice. 
"I'm a friend, dude! Trust me..." 
Pyre was shoved forcefully into a sleep without dreams for the rest of the night, not feeling at all alright. 
==Chapter 7==
When she woke the next morning, Ember was hovering over her, her brow furrowed. She was blocking the light, which Pyre was thankful for. Tar was next to and behind her, peeking over her shoulder worriedly. Seiche was lying down in his puddle, his back to the other dragonets.
Ember had started talking to Tar now, not seeming to notice Pyre had woken up. They both looked anxious, and were talking in hushed voices. Pyre's eyes felt so heavy, and she found them drifting closed. Wasn't there something she was supposed to do? She felt like there was something she meant to ask somebody...
Her eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly, accidentally bonking heads with Ember on the way up.
"AAHH!!!" Ember yelled, leaping back. Tar's eyes were wide, startled into paralysis. Pyre rubbed her head, very much regretting her descision.
"Sorry," she apologized to Ember. Ember was still rubbing her forehead, eyes squinted. "Um, Tar I-I have to talk to you," Pyre said with a nervous glance at Ember.
"Sure, what?" he replied, tilting his head at her. "Is it... OH..." his eyes went wide as he realized what Pyre wanted to talk about.
That was creepy. Pyre thought. It was unsettling to realize that the one person she knew to read minds was also the person she... COWS! COWS! COWS! She quickly shut down that train of thought when she spotted Tar tilting his head at her.
"How about we talk outside," he said, interrupting Pyre's unsettling thought.
"Sure,"
They walked outside the cave, into the common room. There was no one there yet. What time was it? Pyre wiped sweat from her brow. Her scales were sticky and warm. Why did she feel so hot? Tar wasn't, and Pyre was actually meant to be in the heat.
"So..." Tar said, sitting down. Pyre took a deep breath and sat down beside him.
"Were you... by any chance... in my... dreams somehow?" she said awkwardly. It was hard to say that sentance and sound sane at the same time.
Tar glanced around uneasily, looking for any eavesdroppers. Finally, he gestured under the table. Pyre looked under, then gasped at what she saw.
Clutched in Tar's hand, glinting with an eerie blue light, was a saphire, carved into an elegant star. Pyre shivered, her stomach feeling uneasy.
"A dreamvisitor," Tar whispered to her, soft as leaves. 
Pyre gasped. Tar quickly shushed her, his eyes darting around the room.
"How?" Pyre asked, her head spinning. Where did he find it? How did he find it?
"I um," he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "I... found it... on the slopes below the mountain. It was all covered with frost and almost buried, but I got it." 
Pyre raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed very evasive about the question.
"That's kind of unspecific," muttered Pyre, her eyes still locked on the dreamvisitor. 
"Shouldn't you be more worried about what I said to you last night?" 
"I didn't hear what you said last night," Pyre hissed at him.
"Why not?"
Pyre kind of wanted to slap him at that moment.
"You kept... fading! I don't know how dreamvisitors work!"
"Shh!" Tar's eyes seemed very spasm-y.
"Sorry, if doesn't matter. What's was it you said yesterday night?"
"I said- wait, I hear someone, there righ-!!!" He yelled, just as a seemingly invisible force pinned him down. Pyre only saw a flash of white and a little blurriness before Tar was pinned to the ground. 
Before Pyre knew what she was doing, she was on the ground, wrestling with the air. She noticed there looked like there was a gap in Tar, like he'd been cut in half.
Wait... it couldn't be...
It was. Her talons reached out and brushed seemingly invisible scales. It was a RainWing. A strip of white thingy was hanging around his neck and snout, but other than that he looked exactly like the floor below.
It was an odd feeling wrestling with thin air, but eventually Tar and Pyre were able to wrestle the RainWing to the ground.
"Show yourself!" Tar demanded. Pyre, not knowing what else to say, nodded vigorously. As she did, her headache grew worse.
At first she thought he hadn't changed at all, before she realized he had gone from brown/grey to purple/grey. It was a very... subtle change. And now that Pyre saw him, she realized it was the same RainWing who had been following them from the Library.
"Who are you?" asked Tar. Pyre noticed the dreamvisitor was on the table. Open. Exposed. Not wanting to draw attention to it, she scooted slowly over in front of it.
"I-I'm Wallflower," the RainWing whispered. He glanced over at Pyre. Tar, maybe sensing something in Wallflower's mind, turned to Pyre, too. Pyre shifted, her scales still feeling sticky. By now she was basically stuggling to stand.
"What?" Pyre asked, shifting her wings.
"What Winglet are you in?" Tar asked Wallflower.
"Agate," he replied, his eyes now resting on the doorway to Pyre, Seiche, and Ember's room. Tar gripped the edge of the table for balance.
"Why is that signifigant-" Pyre turned to Tar. Something wasn't right. Tar was still looking at Pyre, but now his eyes seemed to be in a sort of haze, like he was seeing through Pyre, through everything.
Pyre began to get the feeling something was wrong...
"Tar?" Pyre shook his shoulder, to no avail. Pyre whipped around, squinting at Wallflower. "What did you do to him!?"
"I-I didn't do anything! you know him better than I do!" he retorted, shooting up to his feet. Pyre felt nausiated, holding the table for balance. Tar was muttering some words now, still staring off into the distance.
"Ember... kidnapped... midday... secret..."
Pyre wasn't listening, she was trying hard to think, but it felt like her eyes were popping out of their skull, or like her brain was suddenly a kangaroo rat, bouncing around and making NO SENSE!!! 
From what seemed like far away, she saw Tar collapse on the table, his fist unconsciously grabbing the dreamvisitor.
Pyre's brow furrowed, as she tried to remember what she was doing. Did she have a fever? It didn't feel like one, but more like something was in her brain, and her body was trying to force it out. Was that crazy? maybe that was just her sickness talking. Whatever it was, it made her knees buckle. 
She collapsed onto the floor, loosing vision rapidly. Wallflower's eyes darted in between Tar and Pyre with indesision. Out of the corner of her eye, Pyre saw Ember walk in confusingly. She looked from unconscious Pyre, to a twitching Tar, then Wallflower, croutched in between both of them.
"What's going on?" Ember asked, eyeing Wallflower suspiciously.
"I- they-" 
"Nevermind, you're not being useful," Ember ran over to Pyre, then picked her up. "You- um-" Ember stuttered, struggling to talk. Wallflower nodded, then ran over to pick up Tar.
Pyre stuggled for consciousness, but her eyes really wanted to close. She struggled for one last breath as her mind slipped to black.
"Ember," Pyre started. "Watch out..."
Ember gave her a worried look, before taking her out into the hall towards the Infirmary.
==Chapter 8==
"... side... I'm going for... NO, he's a... why..."
Pyre opened her eyes groggily. A ray of sunlight was hitting her face, temporarily blinding her. She sat up and rubber her eyes, smacking her lips. She felt really wierd, but she pushed that aside. She examined the room and saw that she was in the infirmary. It suddenly hit her that she had woken up way too many times in this infirmary. 
She looked around for the voices that woke her up. She saw Ember and Wallflower standing over Tar's bed, right next to hers. They were talking in hushed voices, but Coconut probably wasn't listening anyways. 
"I think maybe just because he's less evil than-" Ember started in a hushed voice.
"Yeah, but Chris just gives me the creeps," Tar replied. "Also, I think he did something to Pyre." They all glanced at Pyre, only to realize she had woken up.
"What are we talking about?" she asked them. They all exchanged glances nervously.
"The whole school is pretty much dividing itself. Some people think Chris is a good choice," Ember explained.
"And some people think Chris is a slug and thing Valerian is okay," Tar retorted impatiently, like they'd been arguing for... a long time.
"Why are people taking sides in the first place?" Pyre asked, baffled.
"Well, people want to be protected," Wallflower interjected. "There are two power hungry forces, and eventually they'll clash. Two power sources never do well together." 
"So, who's side are you on?" Ember asked her. Tar and Wallflower both leaned in intently.
"Well..." Pyre started, scratching her neck. 
Quickly, before she could say anything, a loud clanging noise echoed through the halls. Unlike Valerian's alarm, this one sounded bigger and grander, rather than the eerie scratchiness. 
"Our first class!" Tar shouted, running out into the halls. Ember glanced at Pyre, shrugged, then ran after him.
Pyre squinted over at Coconut, wondering if he'd let her go, but found he himself had fallen asleep. She turned toward Wallflower to make a joke, but found he had walked off with the others.
Great, she thought. Alone with the most boring dragon in the universe.
Not again. Ignoring her returning headache, she ran off down the halls, following the black, orange, and grey scales of her new friends.
----
Pyre didn't know where she was going, but apparently Tar did. She followed her new friends out into the hall and past the library. After several twists and turns, Pyre wndered how she was ever going to find her way back. Finally they arrived, or so it seemed. The hall ended in a huge archway, and inside lay a beautiful paradise swathed in sunlight.
They were in a massive cave, thrice as big as the Entrance Cave, taller than it was wide. A hole in the roof wreathed in stalactites angled rays of sunlight into the dragonets' eyes below. The walls of the cave were almost completely covered in vegetation from various regions. Pyre spotted a cactus up high on a ledge, kelp dropping down below, and a vibrant red flower as big as her talons. She noticed most of the plants were from the Rainforest, but not exclusively.
The floor was covered in sand, but not dry sand, like the desert, and not damp like the beach. This was the soft, cool kind you found in the wash, when all the water has dried up. She immediately lied down, going so fast a couple dragonets near her snorted sand.
After a couple seconds, she got up and dusted herself off, shaking the sand off her wings. She saw most everyone had gathered near the center of the cave. She bounded over, then winced as her brain felt like it was wobbling in her skull. She gripped her temples and walked over to the group. There, she saw everyone was sitting in a semi-circle around a green SeaWing, only a tad older than they were. He had a wooden bowl sitting in front of him, worn down through time. Pyre saw that her whole winglet was already there, plus Valerian, Chris, Salamander, and a RainWing and SeaWing whom she didn't recognize. 
She sat down in between Tar and Fen, sighing as she sat down in the cool sand.
"So, how was your trip?" asked Fen with a grin.
"What do you mean?" Pyre asked, her head foggy from her hheeeaaaddaaacchhhe!!!
"You three were gone for, like, forever," Willow interjected from nest to Fen.
"Oh, um, I'm fine, just a f-f-fever," Pyre answered uncertainly, unsure herself what it was.
"Hmm..." Fen answered skeptically. He eyed Pyre up and down, pausing at her eyes. "A fever you say?"
"Yeah, I-"
Pyre was interrupted by a loud SKWAK. Everyone looked around for the source of the noise, a light atmosphere of confusion in the air.
Pyre looked to the green SeaWing in the middle, whom she recognized to have a scarlet macaw resting on his shoulder.
"Look!" Pyre said, pointing at the macaw. Everyone's heads turned toward the red bird, it returning their stare with another loud shriek. 
"Glad I got your attention," The SeaWing said warmly. He sounded weary, as if he'd been through a lot. He was sitting with a slouch, as if he's just barely forced himself to come today. "I'm Turtle, I'll be teaching you guys about... nature stuff. Any questions?"
A red and white SeaWing from across the semi-circle raised his talon.
"Yes?" Turtle asked. He perked up a tiny bit.
"He thought nobody would like him," Tar whispered from over Pyre's shoulder.
The SeaWing stood up tentatively.
"By nature, you mean... zoology and botany?" The SeaWing asked. Turtle looked mildly shocked.
"Yes, plus maybe biology," Turtle replied.
Fen smirked. "Smart," he whispered. Tar raised an eyebrow at him, then exchanged a look with Willow.
"What's your name, O' helpful one?" Turtle joked.
"Redsnapper," the red SeaWing answered. He sat back down, fidgeting with his tail. He whispered something to the RainWing next to him.
"Okay, well we're going to start with birds this semester, right now with me I have-"
The class was interrupted by none other than the most boring dragon on the planet, Coconut.
"Excuse me, but may I speak to Pyre?" Coconut drawled, holding a bag in his talon.
"Y-yeah," Turtle answered, raising an eyebrow. "Pyre, you can go."
Pyre trudged over to Coconut. He lead her into the hallway.
"I have something for you," Coconut said, handing her the bag. Pyre took it and opened it, finding a jar of pale green paste inside. "Your body has contracted some sort of undiagnosed virus, and it's trying to fight it. You'll get headaches from time to time. Also, make sure you're always near someone, so if you faint you don't hit the ground, like last time. Speaking of which," Coconut took a long scrap of white cloth from a pouch around his neck. "May I?"
"May you what?" Pyre inquired.
"Bandage your arm," he said politely, gesturing to her right arm Pyre, looking down, found a long scrape on her forearm, a couple scales hanging on a hair-thin string of... ugh. Pyre cringed and quickly look away. How could she not notice that!?
"Yeah, sure," she said, closing her eyes and holding out her arm. Coconut wrapped it in cloth, then secured it with a pin.
"Don't swim, and rub the paste on your forehead two times a day," he informed her.
"Yeah, got it," she said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Come to the Infirmary in two weeks, okay?"
"Mmhmm, yeah, can I go back to class now? Yes? Got it BYE!!!" Pyre quickly limped back inside, leaving Coconut speechless.
She ran through the doorway and trudged over to them, going significantly slower due to the sand. Excruciatingly slow. Everyone was looking at her. SCHOOL.
When she arrived at the semi-circle of dragonets, she sat down in her spot, blushing a little.
"Anyways, Pyre we were talking about what we hope to learn this semester," Turtle explained politely.
"Could we talk about Valerian and Chris? I mean, they're both right here," said the RainWing, her tail lashing.
"What's there to talk about?" asked Turtle, his eyebrows furrowed. 
"Nothing!" Valerian and Chris both yelled at the same time.
"Just, there have been disputes about who's more powerful, me or Chris. Obviously it's not a competition," Valerian explained.
"Thank you!" Chris exclaimed.
"But if it was, I would win," Valerian smirked.
"Well, you aren't exactly comparable," Turtle explained. "You're from different tribes, with different powers."
Everyone exchanged glances. Did he really not know? 
"Dude, we're both ani-" Chris started
Valerian mumbled something, and Chris suddenly went silent. Turtle look from Chris, to Valerian, to Chris, to Valerian, to Redsnapper, to Valerian and finally, to Chris again.
"Oh no..." Turtle breathed. He shook his head slowly. "Sorry, class is cancelled," Turtle mumbled, running across the sand. 
"What was that about?" Pyre whispered to Tar.
"He knows about them," he replied solemnly. "He's going over to tell Tsunami."
Pyre's stomach lurched. She was glad she didn't have breakfast. Or dinner. Or lunch. Did SandWings ever eat?
It wasn't long until the murmuring began, buzzing like a broken beehive.
"So, elephant in the room..." Fen started.
"This is ridiculous," Valerian mumbled, stomping out of the room. Chris shrugged and flew out of the sky hole. 
"Who do you side with?" Tar asked Pyre. She noticed that Fen was half-listening intently.
"Well um..." Pyre didn't know... who did she side with?
Chris, duh! a thought popped into Pyre's head. What!? where did that come from? They're both horrible, backstabbing... but... Chris hasn't really done anything... he is kind of creepy though... but it's obvious, right? RIGHT!? 
==Chapter 9==
At lunch Pyre walked over to the Prey center. She hadn't eaten in a while, so she was probably hungry... well she should eat something at any rate. 
When she marched inside the Prey Center was in various states of dismay. There were fruits scattered all over the floor, some squished, some not. A goat lay disemboweled on a stone ledge across the room. A huge tuna fish lay near the stream, and a decapitated boar's head lay right in front of her. 
The most noticeable thing was that there was no one there. Not a soul. It was like everyone just put down their food and-
Pyre's train of thought ended abruptly by a loud bang and a cloud of smoke. She ran over to the window and looked out. 
Valerian and Chris stood in a battle stance, a glare in their eyes... well, Valerian's eyes. Chris's eyes were sort of, creepy-shiny-cold. A circle of dragonets stood around them, most of them with their wings out if they needed a quick escape.
Valerian's mouth was steaming from a fresh blast of fire, evident from a small flame in the grass nearby. A loud hissing noise came from Chris's throat, followed by a blast of frostbreath. Valerian roared as it hit him square in the face, sending him flying into the crowd. 
Everyone was hushed. Valerian held his face in his talons, shaking a little. Chris stood over him, hopefully feeling guilty.
Valerian looked up at him, snarling. Half his face had a pale white film over it, feathering patterns branching out from the middle. His eye was iced shut, and a mini icicle hung from his ear.
Some people in the crowd heard it and backed away. With another blast of fire, Chris was blasted into a group of SkyWings behind him. His tail and wings flapped about, but he was too low to the ground to take flight. He crash landed at a MudWing's feet, who from where Pyre was standing was unrecognizable. He helped Chris to a stand, looking warily at Valerian.
Chris, now sporting a burn to match Valerian's frostbite, glared at him. Putting his palm on a small boulder to his side, he uttered an enchantment.
"I enchant this rock to strike Valerian the NightWing in his face!"
At first, Pyre didn't think it mattered much, until she realized he probably had frostbite. If hit in the right place, it could shatter his face like glass.
Valerian spun backwards into the crowd, putting as many obstacles between himself and that rock. He jumped off a cliff and spiraled into a nearby ravine. 
Pyre, hoping for a better angle, jumped out of the cave and swooped down. She could eat later.
----
Pyre came to a hover above the ravine, surveying the damage. Unfortunately, it was too deep and she couldn't make out any details. She heard the wing beats of more spectators arriving, but she didn't hear the whistling of the rock flying toward her.
"Move!" a voice yelled from the crowd. Pyre whipped around and scanned the crowd. It wasn't until she looked up that she saw a huge stone speeding in her direction. She dove downwards, just in time for it to skim her tail. Whipping around she saw it change course and fly down into the ravine.
Yikes, that's gotta hurt. Sure Chris is obviously right, but... frostbite, Pyre thought.
Without any further thought, she spiraled down after it, the wind buffeting her wings and stinging her eyes.
Crags of rock flew past her, a few of them wreathed in light green vines. As she neared the bottom, it got darker and darker. The walls of the crevasse got a little grayer here, and they just got darker and more like bedrock. What felt like several hours later (but what was probably a few minutes) she reached the bottom, and when she did Valerian was nowhere to be seen. All that was there was a very acute carved statue of a NightWing. Pyre got closer to examine it, and now that she thought of it, it kind of looked like Valerian.
With a sudden jolt, she remembered the rock plummeting down after her... well, Valerian.
She glanced up, almost afraid to look. She gasped when she saw that it was much closer than she thought. She leaped out of the way, and looked back just in time to watch the statue crumble to a pile of debris. 
She turned her back to it, shielding her face with her wings. A couple of light pebbles struck her back, but not as hard as she would have thought. 
She craned her neck tentatively, trying to get a look at what used to be a statue. 
"Bravo, bravo!" a voice (probably Valerian) exclaimed sarcastically from the shadows. 
Pyre whipped around, her eyes searching the dark crevasse for signs of life. Unfortunately, her eyes were better suited for blinding light, not nearly pitch black. 
"Where are you?" Pyre asked, uneasy. Because of the high walls, his voice echoed everywhere, making it impossible to figure out where he was. Or maybe it was just magic. 
She kept scanning the shadows, until she saw Valerian hunched over his statue, the frost catching what little light there was. 
"Hmm... Chris's rock was dumb," he muttered. 
"I've got to admit, that was clever," Pyre said. "What'd you do?" 
"I enchanted the rock to identify the statue as me, why?" 
"Just curious," Also, I need to buy myself time until my friends get here, because without them I won't survive.
 "Still need to figure out..." Valerian muttered to himself. Pyre's headache was getting worse, she felt like she was seeing from really far away. 
"F-figure out what?" Pyre asked, struggling to speak. 
"I was just wondering weather it's possible to enchant a living thing. I was going to try on that MudWing's scavenger, but then I realized scavengers are dumber than sheep." He said MudWing like how he might say Creature. Pyre felt a stab of anger at Valerian. Or maybe it was just Chris- okay, totally random train of thought!
 "Scavengers aren't that dumb-" 
"I obviously need to test it on something... something smarter," his gaze shifted over to Pyre. Pyre's vision wasn't all that great at that moment, and she wished she hadn't left Coconut's stuff in her cave. Finally, she got what Valerian was saying. 
Tar! Get down here NOW!!! Pyre thought as loudly as she could (however you think loudly). 
"M-me?" 
Valerian completely disregarded her comment. 
TAR!!!
 "No, I would miss the element of surprise..." he muttered. "Speaking of which, I should erase your memory-" 
He was interrupted by the sound of wingbeats; seven dragons were flapping down towards them. Ember, Fen, Willow, Salamander, Redsnapper, Redsnapper's RainWing friend... and Tar. 
"You have the right to remain silent!" Fen yelled. Tar dove toward Pyre, clutching a brown paper bag in his talons. 
"You took a while," Pyre said, rubbing her temples. 
"Yeah, I had to grab this," he replied, handing the bag to her to her. He was looking at her like when she first met him; like this might be the last time he saw her. 
Everyone else was already on the ground, facing Valerian. 
"Hey everyone!" he exclaimed with fake excitement. His eyes were scanning the crowd. 
"What's he doing?" Pyre whispered to Tar. 
"Looking for... the weakest? What's that about?" Tar replied under his breath. Pyre's stomach lurched. That could only mean one thing. 
"Ember, watch out!" Pyre yelled, rushing at her. 
==Chapter 10==
The sun was almost directly above them, marking the midday mark. Pyre's talons stirred up dust as she darted in Ember's direction.
Ember turned around to her, an eyebrow raised.
"Pyre, calm yourself," Ember said to her.
Pyre reached them and slid in between Ember and Valerian. If he used magic that probably wouldn't help, but...
"Pyre stop freaking out, the headache is making you delirious!" Valerian said, a devious smile plastered on his face. Somehow his voice was still dark and distant, even with the feigned kindness. 
Pyre held up her talon, breathing heavily.
"Just a... second..."
"Watch out for what?" Ember asked her. Pyre's knees buckled and she landed on Ember's shoulder forcefully. 
"Tar.. had a... a mini-prophecy," she whispered under her breath (which was basically the only she could talk right now).
"Um, no I didn't," Tar said, weaving his way through the group.
"Y-you did, Wallflower was there, right Wally?" she said, before realizing that Wallflower hadn't followed them. "I-I-"
"She just needs rest!" Willow chimed in. "I read this thing in this scroll that sleep deprivation can aid to diseases, so..."
"But- but,"
Tar gasped, falling to his knees. He was breathing heavily, his eyes glowing a faint green color. When he looked up, his expression was grim, and his voice sounded like a thousand dragons speaking instead of one. 
"Ember... kidnapped... midday... secret...
Embers fly from the abyss below 
a captor with a face of snow
with midday he comes and goes
a secret revealed of betrayal and woe..."
His voice came out all scratchy and weird at the end, like pushing boulder uphill. On that happy note, he collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Pyre felt the same way inside.
"Well I'm all one for theatrics, but I've got things to do," Valerian exclaimed, a manic grin on his frostbitten face.
He raised his talon in the air, the ravine somehow getting darker and darker. Some sort of black wind swirled around them. Suddenly there was a bending, warping feeling to the universe, and Pyre heard Valerian's voice as clearly as if he were standing right next to them.
"I enchant Ember the SkyWing," he growled. "To be sent to the Caves of Anguish!"
"What!?" Ember yelled. "Where's that?" but her voice was drowned in the swirling mass of darkness. Pyre reached out her talon to grab her arm, but it felt like she was fading in and out of reality.
The world collapsed inwards, into darkness, and unfolded again into the bright midday sun, both Valerian and Ember missing form existence. 
Pyre had to squint to stay awake now, but she felt herself slipping away. She collapsed onto the floor next to Tar, somehow not feeling the impact. 
----
When Pyre came to, she was back on her lovely dune, the warmth soothing her.
She rubbed her aching temples, then flinched when she realized her forehead was smeared with the stupid paste that Coconut gave her.
She opened her eyes, looking around for Ember, when she realized that Ember... well, Ember was "gone."
"So, you're awake," Tar said softly, standing in the doorway. He walked over and sat next to Pyre, then prompty stood up.
"I hate sand. It's course and rough and irritating and... it gets everywhere," Tar explained.
Pyre giggled. She'd never heard something so... unbelievable. She felt like she could possible spend forever with this dragon-
COWS, COWS, COWS!!!
"Have you been doing research?" Pyre asked.
"On what?"
"The Caves of Anguish."
"Oh, that. Listen, about the... prophecy, and the secret unearthed..." Tar hesitated.
"W-what?"
"I- I really l-l-like you, I mean, that's not- I'm saying I-we're not going to leave you. Remember that, but..."
"But what?"
"Chris- he knows about everything. And I mean everything. Well, everything you've seen."
"Tar, what are you saying?" 
"I think... Chris enchanted you... and is spying on us... from your eyes."
"So that means-"
"Yeah, Chris knows everything."
"Everything?"
"Everything."
==Epilogue==
Fen sat in his room, reading a scroll. Not just any scroll, a mythology scroll. Next to him were a whole pile of other scrolls, reaching almost to his shoulder. His scavenger, Cocoa, sat beside him, patiently eating part of a cow Fen had charred for him.
Willow sat on her snowy shelf, staring at the ceiling, every once in a while snorting a few snowflakes in the air. She was fiddling with her bracelet, like she always did when she was thinking.
Fen was looking for any mention of the Caves of Anguish, the place where Ember had been sent by Valerian. There seemed to be almost NO mention of it throughout history.
He sighed, putting the scroll down. He took into account what he knew. He knew it couldn't be a real place; or maybe it was, but historians never considered it to be true. This based of the fact that all of the geography scrolls he'd read didn't say anything about them.
Also, he knew (if it was real) that it was really far underground, or near a volcano, because there had to be some molten lava near or around it, judging by the line: "Embers fly from the abyss below,"
And because there are NO active volcanoes on the continent, he had to assume that it was far enough underground that there was some mantle leakage, unless...
There was a rumor of the NightWings' secret home...
An island...
A... volcanic island...
He would have to look into it. This was the first good lead he'd found since he's figured out that the "face of snow" was a reference to Valerian's frostbite, which would probably leave a scar. If Fen had more time, he might have been able to stop that, but it looks like now it'll stay forever. Actually, he'd probably use his magic to heal himself. I wonder why he needed to kidnap Ember. Pyre might know, she was with him for a while before we got there, and it seemed like she already knew somewhat of Ember's capture...
Fen's mind went on like this, thinking and thinking and thinking. He ended up drifting off to sleep, restlessly dreaming of fires, and he was chasing Ember but she was chained up, being dragged by Valerian through endless doorways. He woke up several times that night, panicked and breathing heavily, until at one point he couldn't go back to sleep.
Hold on Ember, we're coming...
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Content (FenTheMudwing)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Genre (Prophecy)
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)