A Mirage that Wasn't

Part three of When You're Done with Prophecies! I hit HUGE writer's block, so please, just read it. I don't need comments. (I would like if you did) \*cough cough\* I don't. As always, enjoy!

Part one: When You're Done with Prophecies

Part Two: Frozen Whisper

Part Four: In the Undergrowth

-Purplecocoa

## Prologue

"Shh, quiet Whirlwind. You can hunt after this."

The LightWing crept slowly towards her prey, a deer. She narrowed her eyes, and the deer moved slower. She crept towards it, and pounced. It didn't stand a chance, and she killed it quickly. Whirlwind flapped her wings, shrieking, and started to fly away. "Whirlwind! Come on, can't you wait!" She shouted at the hawk.

She sighed and started flying towards it. As soon as she breached the tree canopy, there was an explosion. Startled, she looked behind her, to find a burning forest. She started to blink away tears, with the realization Whirlwind had been trying to save her. Her eyes began burning, and she turned away to follow her hawk, never once looking back at the burning kingdom.

## Return to JMA

Mirage looked in dismay at the body. It was dotted with strange holes, but that wasn't it. It was how that was the only way the dragon could have died. There were no burn marks, no scratches, but long, red, welts across the scales. Beside him, a queen. No more than a dragonet, but nonetheless, a queen. A queen from the legendary Lost Continent. Just a few hours ago, he had been asleep. Then he received a letter, asking him to attend an "academic achievement" party. It was a meeting. Because the Lost Continent, or Listoria, existed. Such a pretty name. Right now, there was the dead dragon matter. Falling Ash, a mysterious dragon from Listoria, bowed his head and spoke hurriedly. "Queen Snowfall, may we leave? We must return the dragonet to our home."

Snowfall dismissed us with a wave of her talon. We all bowed, and exited.  *Man, I can't believe* scavengers  *did that.* As soon as we left the palace, Falling Ash told us where the next dragon was. "The LightWing is in the desert." He said.  *My house.*

Of course, Starflight insisted we return after every mission, so back to JMA we went. Wonderful. I was itching to get a move on, but Starflight kept asking about the queen, and it went on for what felt like a millennia. Then Falling Ash and Frozen Wind went into an empty cave for another few millennia. Then they  *finally* came out. "Queen-" Falling Ash flinched, "sorry, Frozen Wind will stay here." He said.

Starflight looked extremely pleased, and began asking Frozen Wind questions. "If you don't mind my asking, Your Highness, what was your kingdom like, are there any special traditions..."

Mirage noticed Frozen Wind looked extremely uncomfortable. "Um, Starflight?" Nirvana asked nervously.

She was the only one who hadn't been to JMA. "Hmm, yes Nirvana?" He asked in answer. "Frozen Wind is mute." She said.

"Oh." Starflight dimmed considerably. "Well, you might as well prepare for your next mission. Where is it?"

"The SandWing Kingdom. A LightWing this time." Falling Ash said with a face of stone.

## Pyrrhia Oddities

The LightWing glanced around. She had landed in a desert after a tiresome flight. Nothing like Listoria. Some dragons passed. She faded, until she wasn't there when she was. Reading dusty scrolls helped, it helped her hide. Whirlwind circled above, just another bird in the sky. She began following the dragons, none of them not even twitching. She recognized a StarWing, another StarWing-ish dragon, FrostWing-ish dragon, a FernWing-ish dragon, a sandy yellow dragon, and a sort of LightWing-FlameWing. Such an odd place.

## Writing in the Sand

Mirage yawned. They were almost to the SandWing Kingdom , and it had turned dusk. Falling Ash had told them to make camp right there. He settled down. "We can stay here the night, and look for the LightWing tomorrow." Falling Ash told them.

Without another word, he fell asleep. Mirage couldn't. He blinked. Did he imagine those eyes in the shadows? Probably. He fell asleep thinking of dragons who flew with no wings, flying among shimmering black dragons.

"CRACK!" A sudden sound woke Mirage up. Of course, he was the only light sleeper. Wolf was snoring softly, Apache was twitching, Nirvana just kinda lying there, and Southwind was clicking. Probably a dream. Festus the little robot looked so confused, he had to stifle a giggle. He found a cactus-free clearing, and walked over to sit by a bush and gaze at stars. Just before he reached the bush, it shook. *What was that?* Something rushed past him. "W-who's there?" He asked shakily.

The sand behind him shifted. *YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW. I NEVER EXISTED.*"Why?" He asked, but the spirit was gone. He just knew it.

He turned to get Falling Ash, and looked behind one last time. The writing was gone. Great. He turned and walked back to Falling Ash. "Falling Ash, we need to talk," he whispered.

"Hmm? What was that?" Murmured a half-asleep Falling Ash.

"There was some sort of spirit that drew on the sand after I asked it who was there and the writing said I didn't need to know it existed, so WAKE UP" he whisper-shouted.

"You had me at 'spirit'" Falling Ash said. "Was it writing like a dragon? There are more than one kind of spirit."

Mirage nodded. "Chances are, that was an invisible LightWing. One of the old legends. A stronger LightWing was able to slow light bouncing into your eyes, preventing you from seeing them temporarily.

## Mirage

The LightWing watched, Whirlwind on her shoulder. She thought going invisible was something every LightWing could do. She sighed, rustling leaves. The StarWing stopped talking. In one swift motion before she could react, pulled her out. "Found our LightWing." He said. "Who are you?"

"Princess Glitter of the LightWings. Skip the bowing, it isn't needed." Glitter replied.

Falling Ash opened his jaws, all that came out was a screeching noise. Glitter too. They fell to the ground, and woke all the others. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" Nirvana and Wolf jinxed.

"WAHHHHH" Southwind. Festus released a high pitched noise.

"Wah'?" Obviously Apache.

"WHAT!!! WHAT!!!!" That was Iris.

Mirage shrugged. *What's going on? Why are they screaming?* They stopped. Falling Ash and Glitter slowly got up. "What happened to your scales?" Iris asked.

He looked at them. There was no more ripple. Glitter's scales were softly glowing in places. Falling Ash's face darkened. "Back to Jade Mountain. Now." So they did.

"Oh! You're back!" Starflight said in relief. "Something happened to Frozen Wind!"

"Great Moons! Her frost melted!" Falling Ash said in despair.

"We're becoming Pyrrhian!"

## Epilogue

A scavenger walked into a cave, squeaking. "Another tribe gone? Good. Both continents shall suffer. Oh, little Falling Ash. You're still just a dragonet. After all, you cast me away." The voice hardened. "Despite my being the perfect hybrid. Kill the FernWings next."

Claws scraped the ground. The scavenger walked out, squeaking to others, who appeared out of nowhere like a RainWing. The dragon chuckled, like bubbling brook, as red eyes as red as a blood moon gleaned in the darkness.

"They don't know what's coming."

## Author's Note part two

I feel like these will slowly get larger. Thanks for reading!
-Purple