Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A dragon carried an egg through the night, Hvitur held the egg tight in her arms like a child, singing a tune to himself as he walked. Eventually, he reached the bridge. That’s great, he should be near the hideout now. However at the bridge, a figure was resting on one of the rails. It didn’t interject to Hvitur’s passing, however once the icewing reached the end of the bridge, the figure called out.

“Where do you think you’re going?” It was a female voice.

Hvitur immediately turned around and grasped the hilt of his sword, but it was too late, Burn had already her sword drawn out and was already running towards the poor icewing. With immense speed, Burn struck against Hvitur, who had a split second to put his blade against hers, Burn’s powerful double-edged sword was much stronger than Hvitur’s flimsy katana, however the steel stood the blow.

“You thought that you could get away with stealing an egg from my ally!? Not a chance!” Burn exclaimed as she pulled her sword back, committing to a second strike aimed at the egg. This one, however, Hvitur sidestepped.

With agility, he attempted to slice Burn’s throat, however in the blink of an eye, the princess seemed to disappear into thin air.

“Not fast enough.” she snarked from behind Hvitur, who had to do a flip over her head to avoid her sword’s tip going through his chest. This risky maneuver put the egg into some serious danger, however it was the only option.

If only Hvitur could call out for help, Webs. Nautilus, anyone… but he was alone. This was his mission and he would stand by it till the end. After defending a single blow however, Hvitur’s katana already showed irreparable damage, he could only imagine how long it’d last before it snapped.

Burn still wasn’t done, however, swinging madly at the icewing who dodged as many blows as he could, parrying the others. However, after an exchange of swings, their swords collide, and Hvitur’s katana snaps, leaving him with only half a sword. Blister grins, her sword was much thicker and more durable than her opponent’s, it was only a matter of time before that happened.

The icewing didn’t give up however, in a desperate attempt, he committed a strike against Burn’s chest, which was blocked by Burn’s gold chestplate, hidden under her clothes. Hvitur cursed at himself mentally and jumped back, gaining some distance between the attacker and himself.

“You have no chance.” Burn taunted. “Surrender, and I'll make this quick.”

“I’ll die fighting,” he said with confidence.

Burn dashed at him, in an instant, and before he knew it, Hivtur found Burn’s sword going through his chest, leaving him gasping for air as his lungs filled with blood as she ripped her sword out of his ribs. Weak, he fell to the side, rolling over to look up at the stars one last time. Burn meanwhile, calmly stared at the dying icewing, as if waiting for him to bleed out.

Hvitur still couldn’t grasp Burn’s immense speed, she went through him and he didn’t feel a thing until his eyes regained focus, it was like a flash. He always knew princesses and queens were powerful but surely not THAT powerful, right? At last, the icewing exhaled for the final time, falling in eternal slumber.

Several hours later, a skywing passed by. She gazed over Hvitur’s body, and then looked around. “So the egg is gone…” she said in a low voice, taking off her hood and exposing her bright yellow eyes to the moonlight. She looked at the ground, seeing the empty shell of what once was the prophecy egg. She walked up to it and kneeled down, inspecting it.

“Dammit!” she cursed. “She must have crushed it…” she looked around again, as if expecting someone.

“I’m here.” Webs said, coming from behind a tree. “Wanted to wait a bit in case you were followed.”

“And what would you do? Cower away like always?” Kestrel said, angry.

Webs swallowed dry and looked at the body with a gaping wound on his chest. “Burn.”

“How would you know?” Asked Kestrel.

“Who else carries a sword this big?”

There was silence.

“Doesn’t matter, Hvitur’s dead, so is the egg… so is the prophecy.” Kestrel said in a grim tone.

“I’ll find a replacement egg.”

“What? At this height of the championship? There 's no way.” Kestrel said.

“Rainwings don’t guard their eggs very well, this will be our solution.” Webs said confidently.

“A rainwing!?” Kestrel exclaimed. 

“Yes, a rainwing. What other option do we have, Kestrel? Think of all the lifes we’re losing on the battlefields, if we don’t find a replacement egg, what will the world be left to believe in? They need this prophecy, the Talons need it, I need it.”

Kestrel grit her teeth. “Fine.”

Webs sighed. “I promise, this will be the most dedicated, intelligent and combat-ready rainwing egg I can find.” he said before disappearing in a gust of wind, running as fast his legs could towards the rainforest.

“A rainwing egg…” Kestrel scoffed. “Such… ugh.”

Chapter Text

“Swing faster!” Kestrel yelled at Clay.

“I’m trying to!” he responded, branding his sword frantically, hitting the tree faster and faster.

“Doesn’t look like it!” Kestrel pressed, until finally the double-edged sword flung out of Clay’s hands and hit the stone walls of the temple.

Clay flitched and awaited the scolding, however this once, Kestrel just crossed her arms and sigh, nodding in disagreement and deception. She walked away, mumbling something to herself while Clay was left surprised, but happy he didn’t get scolded again for letting the sword fall out of his grip.

The temple was a calm place, built atop a  mountain, above the clouds. You’d need a whole set of climbing gear just to get there without unnatural agility. Luckly, most of the Talons of Peace, even being pacifists, were very well trained. The dragonets were raised there ever since hatchlings, the walls of the temple, no more than two meters tall, were their limit. It didn’t matter much, with the gigantic drop just outside the gates, the stone walls serve little purpose. Clay walked over to the small pond in the center of the garden where they trained, Tsunami was practicing inside of it, swinging her sword against the water.Clay looked at it and set aside the pond.

Tsunami surfaced to greet him, her soaked kimono dripping as she walked out of the pond. “Did Kestrel yell at you again?” she asked.

“No she just… turned around and left.” he said, looking at the temple doors, seeing Kestrel going in and shutting them behind herself. “That’s really weird.”

“Hmph, at least it is better than her scolding you.” Tsunami replied, sheathing her sword back.

The two stayed in silence for a bit.

“Are you sure the prophecy is true?” he asked.

“Of course! I just wish they treated us more… nicely.” she said, looking at the temple gates, always locked. Whenever Webs or Kestrel left or entered, they either jumped over it or seemingly phased through the bars, both techniques the young dragonets were never taught. They were taught one thing and thing only so far: how to swing a sword at a piece of wood.

“I feel like if I learned how to fight like a Mudwing I'd do better.” Clay comments, Tsunami nods.

“Me too, I wish Webs taught me how to fight like a seawing.” Tsunami comments before walking to Clay’s side and sitting next to him in the grass.

“Doesn’t the dampness make you uncomfortable?” asked Clay.

“Not at all, I'm a seawing, water is my natural element.” she responded.

There was a bit of silence before they heard Kestrel yell their names from within the temple. Clay and Tsunami both knew that meant she wouldn’t be scolding just one of them, but the entire group, all at once. Starflight was likely on the last of the three floors, in his room, reading. Glory was probably with him, and Sunny was likely playing some board game with Dune. They all headed to the main floor, it was empty as always, with the dragon statue in the middle, Kestrel in front of it. As the dragonets slowly grouped, Dune also came downstairs, using his cane to stand up.

Once they were all together, Kestrel finally spoke, still facing the statue instead of them.

“We will go on a trip.” was all she said, before turning around. “Pack your things, we’ll leave by the morning, no questions-”

“Where are we going?” Sunny asked, innocently.

Kestrel grit her teeth in frustration. “On a trip.”

“I thought it was too dangerous to leave the temple.” Sunny continued, luckly, Dune intervened.

“That’s enough questions.” He said, in a more passive tone, however still grumpy.

Sunny opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself, not wanting to further anger Kestrel. It was clear she was in a weird mood, she seemed more worried than angry at the dragonets, like she always was.

“As I was saying…” Kestrel continued. “Pack your things, we leave soon.” 

With that, she left, going out of the main door and jumping over the main gate, disappearing into the clouds below the temple.

—

Packing wasn’t exactly an easy task for the dragonets, they had little stuff but just enough so it wouldn’t all fit within their backpacks. Starflight already occupied half of his available space with scrolls, leaving little space for anything else he might want to carry.

“Tsunami, can you lend me some space in your backpack?” he asked while seeing her sitting on her bunkbed, already done packing.

“No, you should manage your own space better.” she responded, dangling her sword above the edge of the bed.

“I will lend you some space!” Sunny excitedly said, bringing her half-empty backpack to Starflight, who started putting in his favorite scrolls for the trip.

Clay didn’t have much to pack, most of the dragonets weren’t as interested in reading as Starflight, so their preparations were somewhat quick, only the stuff that couldn’t fit would be left behind. He packed in a fresh set of clothes, one or two scrolls to keep his mind busy, and a crude sleeping bag. Most of the other dragonets did the same.

They were as ready as they could be for this mysterious trip.

—

Webs was waiting for Kestrel at the bottom of the peak, she arrived quickly, jumping from stone to stone, all the way to the summit’s bottom.When she landed aside him, she asked.

“Are they coming?” she said in a worried tone.

“Yes, the troops should be here by night.” he said, looking towards the cloudy skies.

“Shit!” she said. “They were supposed to take at least a full day.”

“It’s what our spy said, seems like they may have found a shortcut.”

There was silence. “What now?”

“Leaving would be too dangerous.” Kestrel said. “We’ll need to defend the temple. Here.”

“I hate this idea…”

Chapter Text

The night feel upon the temple rather quickly, the dragonets were taken to bed, their room was locked from the outside and Dune went to the garden to meet with Kestrel and Webs. However this time, they were accompanied by two other dragons: Nautilus and a Skywing.

“What’s happening?” Dune asked, slowly making his way towards them.

“The temple’s under attack.” Kestrel replied.

Dune looked around. “Is it?”

“They haven’t arrived yet, but they will shortly.” Nautilus said. “It’ll likely be the best Skywing troop they have, if they suspect this is where the dragonets are being kept.”

Dune gulped.

“Don’t worry.” Webs assured his friend. “We’ll keep you and the dragonets safe, once we relocate them to the new hideout in the cave, the temple will stop being targeted and you can have peace.”

Dune sighed, he always lived in the temple, ever since he was cripled, at least. The place wasn’t big, it was a three floor temple, the top floor was accessed via a trapdoor and a ladder, and it served as the dragonet’s room. The second floor was divided into a small hallway coming from the stairs and two rooms, one of wich was their living room and the other was Dune’s room. The main floor contained only a fountain in the form of a dragon holding a sword on one talon and a flower on the other.

“We should prepare.” Nautilus said, taking out his two Sais and twirling them in his hand.

“I don’t know what damage you expect to do with that.” Kestrel said, looking at the weapons the seawing held.

“Webs, have you ever sparred with her?” Nautilus asked with a grin.

“No sir,” he answered. “Besides I… stopped using sais.” he said with a hint of shame, pulling out his sword from its sheath, a long semitar with an ondulated edge.

Nautilus seemed kinda disappointed, but nodded in agreement.Suddenly, a gust of wind came from behind them, causing them all to turn around with their weapons drawn out. They see an ominous figure, a few centimeters taller than the rest of them. The figure had two bright yellow eyes, and wore a black kimono, adorned with several gold necklaces and rings. No one other than…

“Scarlet.” Kestrel hissed.

“Kestrel.” Scarlet replied. 

“S-She’s Queen Scarlet?” Webs asked, lowering his sword and taking a step back. “How did she… why…”

“You little summit was no match for me. As for why, figuring several of my troops mysteriously disappeared when looking for the dragonets of destiny and their hideout, I assumed it’d take more than a mere troop to find them. And I was correct, it truly would take them an eternity to climb to the top.” Scarlet said, unsheathing her longsword, which was very similar to Kestrel’s blade.

Inside of the temple, the dragonets were immediately startled wide awake by the sound of the clashing swords outside, rushing to the small window they had, Clay, the tallest of them, was the only one able to peek out.

“What’s happening?” Tsunami demanded.

“They’re fighting a skywing… I can see Webs… Kestrel… another seawing and another skywing.” he replied, using the best of his abilities to describe the ongoing conflict.

Outside, Kestrel was pinned against a wall by Scarlet, who was about to strike, however was stopped by Nautilus jumping on her back and holding her in a choke, attempting to stab her heart through the thick chestplate she was wearing. However this failed as she quickly got a hold of the situation, throwing Nautilus against one of the trees in the garden and turning around, spotting Webs hiding behind said tree.

“Webs! Help us!” Nautilus said weakly as he recollected himself, but Webs didn’t respond, hyperventilating.

“What’s your problem!?” Exclaimed Kestrel as her and Scarlet exchanged blows, their swords clashing in the air.

Back inside…

“Webs is hiding behind a tree…” Clay describes. “Kestrel is yelling at him.”

Tsunami growls, disappointed that a member of her tribe was acting with such cowardice.”If it was me down there-”

“We would die.” Glory cut Tsunami short. “If the adults are struggling, us kids would surely be massacred. Even the five of us together.”

“The other skywing was kicked into a wall!” Clay exclaimed, amazement in his voice.

“If they’re fighting against Ketsrel and Webs, they can’t be a great person…” Starflight reasoned.

Outside again, Kestrel struck against Scarlet, her sword vibrating from the impact from steel against steel, Nautilus and the other skywing closed from behind, however before their blows could hit Scarlet from behind, she vanished in another gust of wind.

“She’s using Minuano!” Nautilus advised.

“Yes, we KNOW!” Kestrel replied as Scarlet reappeared in front of her.

Back with the dragonets, Clay was confused. “They said she’s using… Minuano…” he said, not fully understanding what that means. 

“Is it a technique, or a weapon?” Tsunami asked, equally confused.

“It’s a cold wind that accomits the south of Pyrrhia.” Starflight replied.

“Wow, she’s using cold wind, better watch out.” Tsunami replied in a sarcastic tone.

“BUT,” Starflight continued, lifting his claw up. “It’s also the name of a technique, Minuano, also known as ‘cutting wind’ is a technique that allows the user to transport himself almost instantaneously, slashing through anything that may be in between.”

Back outside, Scarlet disappeared for a brief moment, appearing behind the skywing as the dragon suddenly barfed out blood, falling onto the ground with a big slash across their chest and neck. “The skywing died!” Clay yelled, inadvertently getting the attacker’s attention as she looked up towards the palace’s last floor, spotting Clay. “Uh oh, guys we’re in trouble.”

Webs finally mustered the courage to act, using a less effective and less trained version of Minuano, he vanished from behind the tree, appearing in front of Scarlet and attempting to slice through her neck, however the queen parried his blade and shoved him to the side, lifting her sword over her head and striking down at the seawing, who was paralyzed by fear.Nautilus came just in time, drop kicking the monarch, causing her blow to miss and hit the floor aside Web’s head, giving the Seawing enough time to disappear.

Dune was in his room, locked, in complete fear, wondering what sort of horrible torture Scarlet would make him endure if she finds him. With one member down, and now Scarlet knowing where the dragonets are, the steaks couldn’t be any higher for the trio or, well, duo. Webs was once again hiding this time inside the temple, rushing up the small ladder and opening the trapdoor with his key.

The dragonets all looked surprised towards him.

“Webs, what are you doing here?!” Clay asked.

“Aren’t you supposed to be defending the temple?” Tsunami asked, voicing her anger and frustration.

“About that…” he said, suddenly grabbing Tusnami’s arm.”You need to come with me.”

“W-What!?” Tsunami asked, trying to free herself from Web’s grasp, but it was surprisingly hard. He had a hint of sadness in his eyes.

Before any of the dragonets could protest, they both vanished in a gust of wind.

Chapter Text

While the conflict unfolded, Webs silently sneaked out of the temple using Minuano, albeit much less trained in it, he could use it effectively enough to take both him and Tusnami out of the temple, landing in a flat patch of stone amid the summit’s otherwise sheer cliff edges.

“What are you doing!” Tsunami yelled, freeing herself from his grasp, then stumbling over and falling. “I feel sick…”

“Minuano tends to make the inexperienced feel weakened once using it. It is after all a rapid shift in space and speed.” Webs says, calmly.

“Where… are you taking me…?” she asked, still dizzy.

She suddenly pukes on the food, bowing down in discomfort. Webs looks away.

“I am taking you to the sea kingdom.” he replied shortly.”I can’t let YOU die in the temple. You’re my ticket back to the kingdom.”

“What are you… talking about…” Tsunami asked, still weak. However before she could muster the strength to do anything, she collapses on the floor, almost unconscious. Webs sees this and picks her up, putting her over his shoulder and holding tight. 

“Don’t worry.” he said, jumping from the rock they were in and landing on another, then another, repeating the process all the way to the bottom.

—

Back at the temple…

“You are NOTHING!” Scarlet yelled at Kestrel.

Nautilus, seeing the losing battle unfold, decided to save what was most important, the dragonets. He ran inside the temple while Kestrel holded Scarlet off, however he was met with the dragonets already rushing downstairs. They met him midway through the flight, they all looked very alarmed.

“Webs took Tsunami!” Clay said.

“W-What? Only her?” Nautilus asked, suddenly, Kestrel was sent flying, crashing through the fountain and lying almost unconscious at the floor. Nautilus looked way more alarmed, but taking them upstairs would only seal their fate. “I’ll keep her busy, you guys, run!”

“To where!?” Glory asked.

“Anywhere but here, there’s a path leading down the summit!” Nautilus yelled, getting both of his sais. “I’ll hold her here!”

Nautilus then sprinted at Scarlet, tackling her down and shoving her face on the ground. The dragonets hesitated, but they didn’t have much choice, with Tsunami gone, their best line of offense vanished, and Kestrel was too injured to keep fighting. They all decided it was better to go back for their backpacks, however as they were going upstairs, Dune suddenly left his room, holding a semitarr. “What are you doing, GO!” he said, going down the stairs himself, seeing the fight breaking out.

They couldn't, not without preparations . With haste they ran upstairs and grabbed their backpacks, running down and witnessing a horrible sight. Nautilus was bleeding, he had cuts on his shoulder and Dune was knocked away into the ground, where Scarlet pinned him down with her foot, lifting her sword over her head and-

“Stop!” Sunny blurted, Scarlet suddenly froze in place. She slowly turned to look at the dragonets, an evil grin on her face.

They all knew what was coming up and with a dash, Scarlet appeared right in front of them.

However before Scarlet could enact her blow, Kestrel threw a piece of the fountain at her, hitting her in the head and distracting her enough for the dragonets so they can run past her, attracting all her attention to Kestrel.

“Your fight is with us, let them go!” she yelled, still weak.

“Fine, I suppose I’ll kill you all first, then go capture them!” she said in a maniacal tone before dashing towards Ketsrel in a bad sprint.

Chapter Text

The clash continued, Kestrel was agile, but even her was getting tired of praying that many blows, even more after being thrown through a solid block of marble. However her resilience is still remarkable, on the contrary, Nautilus had a deep cut on his shoulder and arn, making it much harder for him to fight and on top of that, he didn’t have Minuano. Since it was useless underwater, seawings weren’t trained in it.

Kestrel wasn’t going to last, the dragonets knew but as they rushed past Scarlet and to the gate, pulling on it’s bars, they quickly remembered it was always locked. Panicking, they started pushing and pulling in unison, trying to force the bars to bend and maybe the gate to open, however it was futile. That was when Kestrel took notice of the issue, using her remaining strength, she pushed Scarlet away and used Minuano, rushing to the dragonets and slamming her sword against the lock, shattering it.

“Go!” she yelled, pushing them out of the gates as they hastily rushed down the slim trail that went wiggling down between the stones, all the way to the bottom. 

It was so thin they had to walk behind each other, carefully to not stumble down. They didn’t look back, but they could hear the clashing of swords that was ongoing at the top of the peak. They ran down as fast as they could but the bottom was still far away, there was not a chance they’d make it there in time. And they were right.

Not a minute later, they were found by Scarlet who appeared behind them and hissed out in a chilling voice.

“Dragonets of Destiny.” she said, causing them all to freeze in place. “Oh don’t be so alarmed, Aunt Scarlet’s here.”

The chills went up and down their spines as they heard that name, anticipating what may come next…

—

“Treat them nicely will you? These prisoners are EXTRA special.” Scarlet told the guard in charge of the carriage.

They were all taken to the troops in the bottom of the summit, where they were thrown into cages hooked up to horses, the cages themselves were small and made out of iron, and were just big enough to fit the dragonets in while giving them some walking space. Kestrel and Dune were put in separate cages, and Nautilus had presumably escaped, seeing he wasn’t with them. They started moving quickly, the cages being pulled by two horses each, with several guards around the prisoners. With much free time in their hands, the dragonets got to talking.

“This is the worst day ever.” Clay said, his voice and head low.

“No doubt.” Starflight added. “Do you know what they do to prisoners in the sky kingdom?” he asked, eyes wide in terror. “They make them fight! I-I can’t fight a full grown prisoner, they’d… they’d…” he said, hyperventilating, slumping over to the bottom of the cage.

They were all worried, however they still had at least a good week before they were officially in the skywing prison.This last moments were all spent in a mix of anger and worry. They had no idea what to do or how to react, they were trapped in a small space, making time crawl to a halt. The first and second days went by without any incident, however on the third, Kestrel had recuperated a good amount of her strength back and attempted an escape. With all her might, she breathed in and rammed the cage’s door, slamming her body against it. The guards, visibly alarmed, had to shut her down, using their spears and swords to poke at her through the bars, making her bleed until she collapsed, exhausted and in even more pain.

At last… they had arrived.

Chapter Text

The skywing prison was no ordinary one. There were no bars, feelings or chains, the prisoners were just left in small islands of stone in the middle of the sky, without much space to even walk on to begin with. The dragonets were separated, Tsunami and Starflight were easy to spot because of their different colors, however Sunny and Glory were mysteriously missing… Clay worried himself, pacing back and forth.

“What to do, what to do!?” he asked himself. “I can’t get to them.”

The only way he could possibly get from one stone to another would be an incredibly long jump, something that’d take years to master and perfect to the point of being useful. He had no chance of escaping. From, his position, he could see the arena, a massive coliseum with plenty of areas to sit and watch… it was designed so even the prisoners could see the fights, however Clay couldn’t see them unless he squinted.

He knew he wasn’t getting visits for a long time, so he sat down and concentrated, maybe meditation would make time go by faster, yeah that was it. He’d meditate for the rest of his days, maybe he’d achieve some enlightenment before he got sent into the arena to die, maybe some secret technique would be revealed to him if he concentrated enough.

But meditating was hard, he just couldn’t quite clear his mind…

—

“How’s my little prodigy going?” Scarlet asked her guard.

“Well she’s uhm. Doing wonderfully, learning new skills faster than ever!” the guard responds, moving out of the way as Scarlet walks through the extensive labyrinth of white marble corridors, decorated with statues and intricate carvings. 

The sky palace was a colossal structure with no roof, and an enormous labyrinth of walls and corridors, all made of pristine white marble, always cleaned. Statues adorned the hallways, majestic dragons holding swords and shields, with the dusky gray sky shedding light down on them. Scarlet made her way through the maze of hallways, entering a room behind two marble doors. Inside of it, a small skywing, no older than five, furiously fought a sandwing prisoner, armed with two semitars. 

The small skywing swung her sword with incredible precision, giving the adult a workout in defending himself from every blow. Finally, the small dragonet cut through his defenses and stabbed him in the stomach, following the attack with a  gash to the neck.The body of the prisoner fell, splashing the marble with blood.

“Bravo Peril! Bravo!” Scarlet applauded.

“Thank you, Miss Scarlet.” Peril responded, sheathing her sword and bowing down.

“You’re no doubt a prodigy, so young, yet so talented.” Scarlet said, putting her hand on Peril’s head.

Scarlet and Peril left the room, walking side by side. They walked through the corridors for quite a while, no words spoken between them, until they reached a small garden with bright blue flowers and a center cherry blossom tree, with its pink petals falling down as the wind blew.

“Peril, have you heard of the Dragonet Prophecy?” Scarlet asked.

“Five dragonets, born to end the war.” Peril said, looking at the flowers, she kneels down to touch one of them before Scarlet holds her arm, stopping her.

“Now, now, sweety, it's a poisonous garden.” Scarlet reminds her, causing Peril to carefully walk away. “Don’t worry, it's perfectly safe, as long as you don’t touch anything.”

They walked among the paths of the garden, Peril noticed that the cherry blossom had tiny spikes growing out of its trunk.

“Lethalia.” Scarlet said. “A tree with a paralyzing venom.”

“Sounds horrifying.” Peril said, stepping behind scarlet as if she was hiding from the tree.

“Back to the prophecy, it seems we have captured the special dragonets.” Scarlet said, peaking Peril’s interest as she looked up to her adoptive mother. “I plan to put some of them against you, see if they’re really what they’re cracked up to be. Just a… friendly spar.”

Peril looked confused, she was never put against anyone her age, she was used to fighting full grown dragons in all their might. She was a prodigy, they said, she needed challenges to surpass. She was trained in all the elite techniques most dragons couldn’t dream of getting taught, Minuano was one of them. At just five years of age, became the youngest to learn the technique and master it.

“I’d like that.” Peril said, her eyes wide in terror while looking at the deceptively beautiful tree.

Chapter Text

Tsunami slowly opened her eyes, coming back to consciousness only to find herself tied to a tree in the middle of the forest, with her mouth gagged by some ropes as she suddenly woke up, struggling against her bindings to no avail. However she could see Webs, sitting on a tree trunk that had fallen. He looked serene, devoid of any guilt, with his eyes half closed and his semitar in hand and some cuts on his white kimono.

She tried to scream, but it came out very muffled and disappointing. However it was enough to startle Webs awake as he looked around, only to turn his eyes to Tsunam. “You’re awake, I’m glad,” he said. “You’re probably wondering what’s the meaning of this, well, if i told you it’d spoil the surprise.” he said, walking up to Tsunami and unbinding her from the tree, still keeping her hands and legs restrained as he put her over his shoulder, even with her struggling. He was much stronger than he appeared, able to outpower Tsunami almost effortlessly despite her intense training. 

He started to walk, taking her with him as they ventured through the forest. Tsunami resisted, yelling and crying but to no effect on Web’s resolve, his consciousness was clear. However they were on enemy territory, which meant they were bound to run into some skywing… probably why Webs was avoiding the road. However eventually they came across a lone train station, with two skywing guards taking post. Webs laid low and attempted to stay hidden in the foliage, but then…

“We see you seawing.” one of them said. “Those colors ain’t gonna blend well with green.”

“heh, you caught me.” Webs said, slowly standing up. “Guess it ain’t your lucky day.”

Tsunami was left on the floor amid the foliage, she couldn’t see much but she could spot Webs moving up to the guard at walking pace, without his sword in hand. As the guard unsheathed his sword, the seawing took out two kunais from his belt and threw them at the guard, hitting him in the throat and chest. The other guard quickly unsheathed his sword and stuck at Webs, who took out his sword at incredible speeds and blocked the hit. More guards came out of the station, two or three, Tsunami couldn’t tell because of the leaves blocking her vision. What she did know however, was that there was a lot of screaming. And not from Webs.

She had never seen him fighting, he always cowered away from Kestrel and even Dune, he seemed so afraid defenseless… What was going on?

–

Clay was still collecting his thoughts in his “cell”. He looked around, with more attention this time. The palace was entirely made out of marble, and it was a colossal build, several time staller and wider than the small temple he grew up in. He remembered somewhere in a scroll that said that queens usually built large palaces and structures to show off their powers and this was certainly doing the trick just right.

The pillar he was standing on was also made out of marble, however it was unpolished and dirty. From his standpoint, he could see the entrance to the palace, a gigantic white door, ‘guarded’ by two massive statues of queen Scarlet. He imagined how long it took to sculpt those, let alone the whole palace out of the mountain, brick by brick. However his thought process was interrupted when two guards got to his cell, jumping from pillar to pillar with immaculate agility. They unlocked his chains and took him by his arms, without saying a word, they started jumping from pillar to pillar again, making Clay’s stomach upset. As he was on the verge of puking, they finally landed on a safe marble catwalk that wrapped around the arena and into the palace. Once the doors swung open, the insides were a blinding white as the dim sunlight reflected off every surface and into Clay’s eyes.

They took him trough the maze of hallways that seemed to have no end of purpose. They passed several doors, all with the same colorless aesthetic, the only things of color were the red banners with the skywing symbol on them. After walking for so long his legs felt tired, the guards finally stopped, and opened a door, flinging him inside and closing them behind him. This room had a wonderful glass ceiling with an intricate engraving on the floor, instead on the plain marble he had seen everywhere up until now.

“Hello.” Said a child’s voice.

Chapter Text

Peril looked at Clay, Clay looked at Peril.

They both looked at each other up and down; Clay was still wearing the dirty Kimono from the night he was captured, while Peril was sporting a clean one, with a belt holding her sword around her waist. They were both sporting sandals although Clay’s were very simple and rudimentary.

“Hello…” Peril said, her voice low, but echoing throughout the chamber.

“Hi.” Clay responded, his voice even lower.

Peril bowed down. “It is an honor.”

An honor? Oh, that is right; Clay remembered he was a Dragonet of Destiny. It always felt more as a burden, he could not leave the temple because of it, and he could not have friends of his kin or his age. Throughout his short life, he never felt special in a positive way. Regardless, he was surprised someone in the Sky Kingdom recognized him as something special.

“Shall we begin?” Peril asked, taking a second sword off the ground and tossing it to Clay. He took the blade and inspected it… It wasn’t a double edged sword like he grew used to. It was lighter… a broadsword.

“Can I uhm… get a different sword…?” Clay asked, leaving Peril confused.

“But this is your tribe’s sword.” She responded as if it was obvious.

Clay knew that different tribes had different weapons and different styles of fighting, but since only Kestrel trained them, they only learned how to fight like Skywings. He gulped as Peril unsheathed her sword, he had no idea what to expect… and in an instant, she popped in front of him, ready to strike.

By sheer instinct -or maybe luck- he swiftly blocks her strike with his blade, causing a metallic sound to echo throughout the room. Peril follows this strike with a second one, which Clay blocks by little, so little in fact that Peril’s blade pushes his and makes a slight cut on his cheek.

In despair, Clay searches his mind for any techniques or teachings that could get him out of this, but no avail. Instead he seems to only freeze himself further, as he finds his body unable to move… yet time seems to slow down, he can clearly see Peril slowly raise her blade over her head and strike down at him… and just in time he can move his blade to counter hers.

It was as if a whole world had opened to him. Yet in some strange way, he felt like a spectator, as if his body was moving on its own. What was this? Was this something that came with being a Dragonet of Destiny? Again and again, he blocked the blows that Peril threw against him, however in none of those times he had any control over his own flesh.

After what felt like an eternity, Clay snapped out of it as a voice called.

“Peril!” Scarlet called, both of them stopped fighting. “Are you having fun with our little guest?”

“Yes Miss Scarlet.” Peril responded, calmly sheathing her blade and bowing down. Clay was still frozen in place and exhausted now.

“Ahem.” Scarlet voiced while sending a glance towards Clay. “It’s common to bow in the presence of a queen.”

Clay snapped back and instantly bowed, earning a nod of approval from Scarlet.

“I can tell you two will get along just fine…” Scarlet continues with a grin on her face.

--

Being guided through the palace was way different than being dragged across it, Scarlet was calm… deceivingly so.

“We’ll get you a clean set of clothes.” Scarlet told clay while running her hand across his shoulders.

“T-Thanks….?” Clay was confused, weren’t they prisoners?

“Oh and don’t be afraid to ask for anything. Your friends will join you soon…”