Darkstalker - The Brightest Futures

The Brightest Future is the best version of Wings of Fire. This is basically a retelling of Darkstalker. I will be using similar lines and phrases from the book, but I am not claiming the book as my own. I hope you enjoy it!

-Grain the Seawing

PS: Lines and phrases from the book will be **bolded** so you (and I) can tell the difference between Tui's writing and mine.

## Prologue: Arctic

**“Prince Arctic?”**

**A silvery white dragon poked her head around the door, tapping three times lately on the ice wall. Arctic couldn't remember her name, which was a kind of faux pas his mother was always yelling at him about. He was a *prince*; it was his *duty* to have all the noble dragons *memorized* along with their *ranks* so he can treat them according to exactly where they fit in the hierarchy.**

*Well,* he thought, *I'll learn her name soon enough. She’s somebody in the First Circle, and I’m sure to remember her.*

**Perhaps he should enchant a talisman to whisper in his ear whenever he needed to know something. Another tempting idea, but strictly against the rules of IceWing animus magic.**

**Animus dragons are so rare; appreciate your gift and respect the limits the tribe has set. Never use your powers from falling asleep. Never use it for yourself. This power is extremely dangerous. The tribe rules are there to protect you. Only the IceWings have figured out how to use animus magic safely.**

**Save it all for your gifting ceremony. Use it only once in your life, to create a glorious gift to benefit the whole tribe, and then never again; that is the only way to be safe.**

**Arctic shifted his shoulders feeling stuck inside his scales. Rules, rules, and more rules: that was the IceWing way of life. Every direction he turned, every thought he had, was restricted by rules for limits and judgmental faces, particular for his mother's. The rules about animus magic were just one more way to keep him trapped under her claws.**

Arctic looked at the IceWing. **“What is it?”** he said with an annoyed face.

**The messenger looked disappointed -** Snowflake, he remembered. ***“'**Your mother sent me to tell you that the NightWing delegation has arrived.”*

**Aaarrrgghh.  Not another boring diplomatic meeting.**

**“I can't possibly be expected to attend then,” he said, waving his claws at the translucent walls of his room. “I only have three more weeks to prepare.”**

**"Well,"**said Snowflake,**"she did mention that…"** She trailed off at his scowl.

**“But she doesn’t care,” he finished.**

**The poor dragon looked profoundly uncomfortable between a prince who outranked her and a queen who outranked everyone. Arctic sighed.**

**“Alright,” he said, sweeping shards of ice aside with his tail. “I’m coming.”**

Snowflake **stepped back with relief.** As they walked, Snowflake gently distanced herself from him until they were on opposite sides of the hall.

Arctic tried to remember all he knew about Snowflake. **This was the one his mother had chosen for him to marry. Respectable family, loyal, likely to have a daughter who could replace Queen Diamond one day, since he had no sisters or aunts who might try for the throne. Snowflake was probably the real reason he’d been dragged on this trip.**

**She was pretty in that boring glassy way his mother liked, but he had gotten absolutely no sense of her personality at their one prior meeting. He was a little afraid she might not have one.**

“Arctic,” Snowflake suddenly said. She stopped and outstretched her claws until they looked like she was ready to kill someone. “I have an idea, but you must promise not to tell anyone. Understand?”

“...Yes.” This was strange, stranger than that scavenger incident. Nobody told him what to do; he was a prince; he told others what to do. But he was intrigued.

Snowflake hesitated, then spoke gently. “I think the two of us should escape. Tonight. We can fly away to a neighboring kingdom, maybe to the Sky Kingdom. I’m tired of all these rules, and more importantly, I don’t want to get married.”

Arctic nodded. “I understand. But I can’t imagine breaking all those rules, and leaving the Ice Kingdom. I don’t think I should go. I have a reputation to uphold.”

Snowflake was appalled. “So, you want to stay? Be forever crushed under Diamond’s talons? Never have freedom? Have no choice?”

Now *that* got him thinking. “I’ll sleep on it, and I’ll tell you tomorrow. Then we can leave,” he said after a while. Snowflake nodded solenmly. “I’m glad you’ll contemplate this.”

**After a few minutes of walking, they stopped at one of the flight ledges and looked down at the dome below them. In the gathering dusk it glowed from within, like firelit marble covering most of the plain between the palace and the ocean. Snow dusted the outside and the ground; all around it more crystalline flakes were falling softly from the sky.**

**The ocean itself was gouged with streaks of orange and gold as a sunset on the distant western horizon. Dragon wings sliced the air like darting bats as hunters dove to catch dinner in the sea for the welcoming banquet tonight.**

**Arctic and Snowflake flew down to the entrance of the guest dome. Inside, he knew, it will be warmer than he liked, heated by the bodies of the fire-breathing NightWings and also by the gift of diplomacy. (Created by an animus named Penguin over fifty years ago, chatted his overstuffed brain. He had studied every animus gift in detail, trying to come up with something new and original for his own. Which was perhaps why he didn’t have room in his brain for the faces of dragons he barely knew.)**

**The Dome itself was not an animus gift though; these blocks of ice had been carved by ordinary IceWing talons. It must have taken ages, and he wasn't entirely convinced that it wouldn't all melt on top of some fire-breathing guests one day.**

**Maybe I can improve the dome as my gift, he thought. An indestructible welcome dome for any allies or guests from other tribes. he dismissed the thought almost as soon as he had it. It was derivative and not nearly as impressive** ​​​​​​**as he wanted it to be. He wanted his gift to be one that IceWings would marvel about for centuries after he was gone — like Frostbite's gift of light.**

**They landed with a crunch on the snow, but just as they were about to enter the tunnel into the dome, a dragon came charging out.**