Chapter Text
I can already tell I'm gonna have a lot of fun writing this.
Part One:
The Dragonet Prophecy
Six years later...
Windracer yelled out as he was thrown against the wall by an infuriated Kestrel. It was time for his dragon-fighting class, and it was going just as he expected.
"Fight back!" the SkyWing yelled out, her talons swiping dangerously close to her student's chest.
Windracer gulped nervously. "Well, maybe if you tried to be a little less violent, I could...OW!" He cried out in pain as Kestrel's back left paw stomped down on his tail. "You said stomping tails was cheating!"
"I'm your teacher," Kestrel snarled. "Nothing I do is cheating!" She swung her tail at him, yelling out instructions. "Roll right! Use your fire!"
Windracer tried to follow her orders, but he ended up tripping over his own wings and rolling the wrong way. The next thing he knew, Kestrel had him pinned against the cave wall.
"Are all NightWings this useless or ARE YOU JUST DEAF?!"
If you keep yelling like that, I will be soon, Windracer wanted to say. But he knew saying that out loud would be like asking Kestrel to burn his oversized wings to a crisp. He winced as the SkyWing's talons dug into his scales.
"Why don't you use those mind-reading and prophetic powers of yours? That's the kind of dragon we need for the prophecy!"
She suddenly yowled in pain as a set of teeth sank into the vulnerable spot near the end of her tail. She turned her head to find a young, female SandWing holding her tail in her talons and glaring at her.
"Stop bullying Windracer!"
Kestrel sneered. "Trying to save the dragon you wanted to kill when you were just hatched, Arid? Just as well. Mutant dragons like you two ought to stick together."
Windracer gained enough of his voice to protest. "We're not mutants!"
The SkyWing scoffed and let him go. "Class dismissed. I'll mark another failure in your scroll, NightWing."
Windracer sighed. Another typical day of fighting class. He was more adept at studying scrolls and strategizing than actual claw-to-claw combat, but Kestrel didn't care. If it were up to her, he'd be the most powerful of all the dragonets, because he was the oldest and he was a NightWing with mystical powers.
He could read minds and see the future. But those abilities weren't particularly useful in the heat of battle, not when his life was flashing before his eyes and Kestrel's mind was full of angry thoughts all jumbled up together and zipping around her head like a swarm of bees.
Windracer groaned as he picked himself up off the cave floor and slinked out of the cavern.
"You know," Arid said as she walked beside him, "you really need to start sticking up for yourself one of these days."
Windracer held his head. "Yeah, I know. But how can I do that with Kestrel stomping around and spitting fire at me for every day of my life? If I wasn't supposed to be a part of some Big Heroic Destiny, she'd have killed me a long time ago."
Arid sighed. "Well, at least you're brave enough to stand up for others. But you don't have to do it for me; I can handle myself. Bog and the twins...maybe not so much."
He ducked his head further so she wouldn't see him blushing. He'd had a rather large crush on the SandWing dragonet since he was old enough to start noticing females. He never told Arid, of course, because who knows she'd think of him then. He certainly didn't; most of the futures he'd seen were about small and pointless things, like what they'd be having for dinner next week.
"Well," he sighed, "Kestrel's right about one thing, at least - you don't look like a normal SandWing, and I'm nothing at all like the NightWings I've read about in the scrolls. What if there's something wrong with me?"
"Nothing's wrong with you," Arid said fiercely. "And there's nothing wrong with me, either! We're just different, that's all. If Kestrel doesn't like it, then that's her problem, not ours."
Still, there was something not quite right about Arid. Not only were her scales much too pale - snowy white instead of sandy yellow - but her eyes were sky blue instead of glittering black. Then there were the spikes - several sharp spikes on the back of her head and the tip of her tail, near the poisonous barb that all SandWings had.
As Kestrel always said, Arid appeared to be some kind of mutant. But her egg fit the instructions in the prophecy, so she was their "wings of sand," whether the Talons of Peace liked it or not.
Of course, there were no "wings of rain" in the prophecy at all. Everyone under the mountain had heard how the RainWing twins - Marmoset and his sister Mango - were supposed to be a last-minute replacement for the SkyWing egg that had been lost years ago. Kestrel and Dune called them mistakes and growled at them a lot.
Nobody knew if the prophecy could still work with two RainWings instead of a SkyWing. But from what Windracer knew about SkyWings, he was glad they had the mischievous and prank-loving RainWing twins instead of another grumpy, fire-breathing Kestrel under the mountain.
Lagoon was a typical SeaWing. She loved spending most, if not all, of her time in the river, where she would catch fish and light the caverns with her luminescent stripes. But she always spoke in a secretive tone of voice, and she didn't always like talking to others.
Then there was Bog. The MudWing that had hatched from a blood-red egg. Big-hearted and soft-spoken, he loved food more than almost anything else. While his friends were having the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner, Bog's idea of a well-balanced diet was exactly eight square meals a day.
But if anyone was likely to mess up the prophecy, it would be Windracer, not any of the other dragonets.
"Besides," Arid continued, "we're all a little weird. Bog's always hungry, the twins can't count past five, and Lagoon likes to sleep in the river every night. And it's not our fault we look the way we do, or that you can't control your powers most of the time."
Windracer scowled a little. "Thank you for summing that up."
He wouldn't tell anyone, but aside from his mind-reading and foresight powers, Windracer also seemed to have some form of magic. He discovered it by accident a few years ago, after yet another failed battle training session with Kestrel. He'd retreated into his cave and found a small pile of scrolls littering the floor. Being too tired to clean them up himself, he had jokingly commanded the scrolls to put themselves back up on the shelf...and that was exactly what happened. He hadn't known how he'd done it, but it worked again when he ordered a small rock, about the size of a blueberry, to fly up to the ceiling and then settle into his talons.
Now that he was older, he'd read scrolls about that kind of power. It was called animus magic; it was rare, but very powerful, and dangerous if used for the wrong reasons. Windracer didn't use his magic very often. He had a small wooden bowl that doubled the amount of whatever was in it (as long as it was asked politely), a beaded bracelet he made himself that protected whoever was wearing it from any harm, and an ordinary stick that made whoever was holding it invisible.
Windracer mostly used that last one to hide in his cave and read his scrolls undisturbed, as his friends would think he was absent and go to look for him somewhere else.
"Hey, guys!"
Windracer snapped back to reality at Lagoon's friendly greeting. He and Arid had reached the study hall, where they normally studied scrolls before turning in for the night. He smiled. It felt good to be among his friends. "We should probably do a quick study session before we go to bed."
"But studying is boring!" Mango complained. Windracer didn't need to read her mind to know that she and her brother were trying to come up with new, cool ideas for pranking the other dragonets.
Lagoon shrugged her wings. "Then we'll make it more active. We'll act out how the War of SandWing Succession began."
Bog groaned in disappointment as he finished what was left of the cow he'd been having for dinner. "Why can't we just turn in early? I'm beat!"
Marmoset laughed. "Yeah, I'm with Bog. What's the point?"
Lagoon shushed them. "Quiet! I'm assigning parts. Now, Arid will be Queen Oasis, since she's a real SandWing...more or less." She avoided Arid's glare by turning to face Bog. "You can be the scavenger, and this will be your claw." She picked up a broken stalagmite piece from the cave floor and handed it to the MudWing. "I'll narrate the play. So, the rest of you will be the princesses. Windracer, you'll be Blister, the smart one. Mango will be Burn, the eldest, and Marmoset, you'll be Blaze, the youngest."
"But I had to be Blaze last time, too!" the male RainWing whined.
He was once again shushed by the SeaWing. "Stop complaining and play along! Ahem. Years ago, there was a great and mighty SandWing queen, named Oasis."
Arid puffed out her chest and strutted into the middle of the room, gathering a pile of rocks with her tail. "I am Queen Oasis of the SandWings. No one dares to challenge me for my throne, for I am the strongest SandWing queen who has ever lived!"
Windracer wouldn't admit it, but he absolutely loved the way Arid sounded so strong and brave and royal. It was like she was meant to be a queen.
"Don't forget the treasure," Lagoon whispered, pointing at the loose rocks Arid had gathered earlier.
"Right," Arid said. "I'm such an important queen, I have so much treasure."
Bog took this as his cue to leap in, wielding the stalagmite piece in his claws. "Did someone say treasure?" he bellowed with all his might.
Arid didn't even flinch. "Grrr! What's this pathetic little scavenger doing in my kingdom? I'll eat him in one bite!"
Bog shrunk down in fear. "Eep!"
"No!" Lagoon called. "You're not supposed to be scared! Okay, yes, you are, but not that scared!"
Bog nodded and swung his stalagmite in a circle. "Squeak, squeak, squeak! And other annoying scavenger noises! I'm here to steal treasure away from a magnificent dragon!"
Mango started giggling so hard she had to lie down and cover her face with her wings. Marmoset was also making faces like he was trying not to laugh.
Arid and Bog kept up the fake fight for a while before the MudWing drove the SandWing back against the wall and thrust the stalagmite between her neck and her wing, pretending it went right through her heart.
"Argh!" Arid howled, making Windracer jump. "Impossible! A queen defeated by a lowly scavenger! My kingdom will fall apart! And my daughters...what will they do...?" She collapsed to the ground and let her wings flop lifelessly on either side of her.
Her least favorite part of her role as Queen Oasis.
Bog laughed and gathered the rocks in his talons. "Squeak, squeak! The treasure is all mine!"
Lagoon cleared her throat. "When the three SandWing sisters entered the treasure room, they found the treasure gone and their mother dead as a doornail."
At her signal, Windracer, Mango and Marmoset stepped over to where Arid was lying motionless. The female RainWing clasped her talons together and let out a fake cry of anguish. "Oh, no! Our mother is dead, and the treasure is gone! But worst of all, none of us killed her! Who should be queen now?"
Windracer stood up tall to save whatever dignity he still had left after six years of nearly being roasted alive by Kestrel. "I, Blister, was about to challenge her. I should be queen!"
"I, Burn, am the oldest and strongest," Mango said loudly. "I should be queen!"
Marmoset hesitated before speaking his line. "I, Blaze, am the youngest and would have the longest reign. I should be queen!"
Lagoon looked at him expectantly. "And...?"
The male RainWing sighed before adding, "And I am also, by far, the prettiest."
Even the usually serious and hard-to-humor Arid couldn't help laughing out loud at that.
Lagoon quickly pulled herself together. "And then they pick their armies and all that boring stuff."
Windracer was the next to compose himself. "It's actually not all that boring. Not when you've gotten the handle on how it all works."
Mango groaned, "Here we go again."
Windracer ignored her. "Burn is allied with the SkyWings and MudWings. She's big and scary, and could squash her youngest sister like a bug. If she becomes queen, she'll probably keep the war going just for fun. Blister is allied with the SeaWings, and is smarter than both of her sisters put together. But she's most likely plotting to become queen of all the tribes somehow. Blaze is the SandWing favorite, and she also has an alliance with the IceWings. Problem is, she's about as smart as a concussed sheep."
Marmoset glared at Lagoon. "You know I hate playing as her."
"So, who do we choose to be the queen?" Bog called out from his position across the room, sitting atop the pile of rocks that were supposed to be the treasure in their little play.
Arid stood up and shook her head. "None of them."
"Well, we have to choose someone," Mango said. "Who do you think's gonna be queen, Arid? You, yourself, and you?"
That earned her an indignant snort and a death glare from Arid.
The female RainWing gulped. "Just an observation."
Suddenly there was a thundering crash from the central cave. They heard the entrance boulder slam into place, and then the rumble of heavy footsteps. From the extra squish-flap sound of them, the dragonets knew it had to be Webs.
"What's going on?" Bog asked.
Windracer shook his head. "I don't know. Let's go see."
Lagoon disappeared into the river with a nearly soundless splash. A second later, Bog dove in after her. MudWings couldn't breathe underwater like SeaWings, but they could hold their breath for up to an hour. So whenever the dragonets wanted to spy on their guardians, Bog and Lagoon could use the river to get closer than the others.
Windracer slowly crept through the shadows, down the tunnel that led to the adult dragons' cave. Marmoset and Mango's scales darkened, not quite matching the mottled gray-and-black rocks, but close enough to not be spotted. Arid's pale scales stood out like a sore claw; she tucked herself under Windracer's dark wings and inched along with him.
He couldn't help the flutter in his chest from how close she was. He was glad that SandWings couldn't read minds, or else Arid would probably hear, She's right next to me, three moons she's right there, don't screw this up, whatever you do don't you dare say or do anything completely stupid.
It wasn't too hard to find the guardians. From the way Kestrel was shouting, the entire SkyWing kingdom might hear her.
"Coming here? With no warning? After six years, suddenly he's interested?" A jet of fire shot out of her snout and blasted the nearest rock column.
"Well, it's his prophecy," Webs said. "I guess he wants to make sure they can actually stop the war."
His prophecy. Arid thought for a moment before it dawned on her. They're talking about Morrowseer.
Windracer knew that name. Morrowseer was the NightWing who had delivered the dragonet prophecy ten years ago; they had learned about him in history class.
Dune snorted. "These dragonets? Then he's going to be very disappointed." He eased himself onto a flat boulder, stretching his foreleg stump and mangled wing toward the fire. The big SandWing dragon never discussed his scars or how he lost his foot, but it was easy to figure out with a war going on and everything.
Yet another reason why the war needed to end. Because there were too many dragons who were injured and dying for a throne that had nothing to do with them.
"We've done our best," Webs said. "The prophecy chose those dragonets, not us."
"Does he even know what happened?!" Kestrel demanded. "Does he know about the broken SkyWing egg and the two stupid RainWings?! Or the mutant SandWing, or that useless, good-for-nothing NightWing?!"
"I'm not worried about Arid," Dune said. "We followed the prophecy's instructions. We can't control that she's the way she is. But the RainWings...he's not going to like that."
A deep growl rumbled in Kestrel's throat. "I don't like it, either. I never have."
"Marmoset and Mango aren't that bad," Webs argued. "At least, I think so. They're not the brightest, true, but they are full of energy."
"You're overestimating those two," Dune snorted dismissively. "They're lazy and useless like the rest of their tribe."
"And they're not SkyWings," Kestrel snapped. "We're supposed to have a SkyWing!"
Windracer wished that the twins didn't have to hear all that. The guardians never hid how they felt about Marmoset and Mango, but the two RainWings never seemed to notice. They had to have noticed now, when it was all spelled out for them.
"Well, all of the SkyWings that were supposed to hatch on the brightest night are dead!" Webs cried. "What was I supposed to do, lay an egg myself?!"
Windracer had wondered about that. It seemed odd that the prophecy called for a SkyWing when all of the eggs that were due on that fateful night were destroyed. Furthermore, there wasn't an IceWing in the prophecy at all. If the IceWings were involved in the war, then why wasn't there an IceWing Dragonet of Destiny? Shouldn't all the tribes be represented?
"Did the Talons say when he'll arrive?" Kestrel asked, pulling Windracer's attention back to the conversation.
There was another crash, louder than the first one, which made Webs jump in surprise. "Evidently, right now!"
The three adult dragons hurried down the tunnel leading to the central cave. Windracer waited until they'd fully vanished from sight before starting after them, waving a wing at his friends to follow.
He didn't know what he was expecting when he walked into the central cave, but what he saw almost made him pass out.
An enormous dragon, black as a bottomless pit, loomed out of the shadows of the entrance tunnel. The NightWing looked bigger than Kestrel and Dune put together, and he was five times more terrifying. The silver star scales on the underside of his wings curled inward like a snail shell and glittered from a great distance, casting a cold glow. The footfalls from his heavy talons echoed throughout the cavern, and his black eyes held a sharp, threatening gaze.
Morrowseer had arrived.
This story is supposed to cover all of the first arc, so there will be some scenes from the books that will be omitted so this doesn't end up being ridiculously long.
Any of you who want a list of the dragon-turned characters who have appeared so far, here it is:
Auburn - Valka
Windracer - Hiccup
Arid - Astrid
Lagoon - Heather
Bog - Fishlegs
Marmoset and Mango - Tuffnut and Ruffnut
I can just as easily stop doing that, if you wish.
I didn't originally plan to have Windracer be an animus, or for Arid to not be a normal SandWing (you can probably guess how). The ideas just came to me as I was writing.
Reviews are appreciated.