Hi, Bright here. This is my second fanfic ever, so please don’t judge. Constructive criticism and ideas on how to make it better are always welcome though. Enjoy!
The events in this fanfic occur at the same time as When Stars Attack and The Stars That Don't Shine. Part of the NovaWing AU Board.
Prologue[]
Deep in the Rainforest Kingdom, a forgotten silver egg was shaking, ready to hatch. Out of the egg popped a tiny NightWing dragonet with purple wings. He looked around his surroundings and saw a dark, unforgiving place. Bombarded with feelings of loneliness and longing, the dragonet started to cry.
A young RainWing couple heard the noise and woke up.
“What is that loud noise?” one of them, a female named Bluebell asked.
“I don’t know, Bell. It sounds like a baby dragon crying,” the other RainWing, whose name was Buddelia answered. “Come on, let’s go check it out!”
So the two dragons went outside and went toward the source of the crying sound. When they got there, they were shocked to see the little NightWing. They wondered how he got there and who his parents were. They did not know what to do. An idea sparked into Bluebell’s mind.
“Hey Buddelia, if he is alone and we don’t know who his parents are, how about we take care of him?” Bluebell had always wanted a dragonet of her own to care for, so this was a golden opportunity that she didn’t want to miss out on.
Buddelia thought for a moment. “Sure, why not,” she responded. Then she looked at the dragonet, who was looking up at the stars. She had to admit that he was kind of cute. Bluebell noticed the NightWing’s behavior and suddenly had the perfect name for him.
She picked him up so he could get a closer look at the stars. “Your name is Asteri, may you shine bright like the stars in the sky.”
Chapter 1: The First Day[]
“Come on Asteri, it’s time for breakfast! You don’t want to be late for school, do you?” a loud voice came from the hall.
Asteri woke up with a groan. His mother Bluebell was always like this every day, with her constant energy. He just wanted to go back to sleep, but knew that if he did that, either one of his moms would come in and drag him into the kitchen. With a sigh, he got out of bed.
"Hello, Sunshine," Bluebell greeted him, placing some mangoes down in front of him. "Buddelia will be back anytime soon, she just had to go out and gather some fruit."
Asteri smiled to himself. As much as it annoyed him that his parents did everything for him, he had to admit that it was nice having a family that cared for him.
Bluebell looked at the clock. "Oh gosh. Look at the time, off you go to school," she said as she rushed him out the door. But before he could walk two steps, she suddenly turned him around and gave him a long hug. She watched him fly off to his first day of school with a tear in her eye.
When Asteri got to school, he was instantly amazed and frightened at the sheer number of dragons. He did not want to accidentally get stepped on due to his small size. So he just kept to the side of the wall and hoped that he would not be trampled.
No such luck. A group of NightWings had spotted him and were coming towards him. They had sneers on their faces.
“Hey guys, look at this. It looks like we found a new tribe, GrapeWings.” Asteri was hurt at this comment. He had never been attacked because of his different colored wings before. He backed into a wall and started to shrink down to try to put some distance between him and the bullies.
“Hey! You guys better leave him alone!” someone shouted. Asteri looked up to see a female RainWing about his age. She helped him to his feet. ”They need to learn that just because someone is different, doesn’t give them the right to pick on them.” She then looked at Asteri and realized that she didn’t introduce herself yet. “Oh, I am terribly sorry. My name is Angelonia, but my friends call me Angel. What is your name?” she asked, smiling at him.
“My name is Asteri. It was nice to meet you,” he responded with a blush.
“Asteri, huh, that’s a cute name,” she continued to talk, oblivious to Asteri, who was blushing even harder. She suddenly stopped, making Asteri try to dodge to avoid running into her. “Well, this is my class. See ya!” she said. Asteri was surprised when he looked up. Where she was standing was the exact same place that he was supposed to be.
“Umm... actually, this is my classroom as well,” he revealed.
Angelonia gavie him a quirky smile. “Really, that is awesome, well then, we better go in there before we are late.” Then she thought for a second. “Hey, do you mind if I come over to your place after school, like after dinner or something? That way we can hang out?”
The question came so suddenly that Asteri found that his brain was struggling to form words. He took a deep breath to try to collect himself. “I... suppose so,” he stammered. Angel beamed at him. “Great! See ya then!” They walked into the classroom together, both thinking about their newly made plans.
Chapter 2: A Blooming Friendship[]
At the end of the day, Asteri went home. He was excited to see his new friend. He had to calmed down a bit, he did not want to seem like an idiot in front of her. So, he did the one thing that always calmed him down, he started to look at the stars through his homemade telescope. He thought about what they were going to do together.
“Asteri, it’s time for dinner! Come down here please,” Buddelia called. Asteri sped to the kitchen, surprising both of his parents.
“What’s with the sudden energy, shooting star!” Bluebell teased.
Asteri opened his mouth, but closed it again when he realized that it would be better as a surprise for his parents. So he grinned. “You’ll see,” he told them. Then he sat at the table. Although Bluebell and Buddelia were RainWings, they knew that their son ate meat, so they went to Possibility to buy some meat for Asteri to enjoy. He was happy that his parents took great care of him.
Just then a knock at the door interrupted their peaceful dinner. Asteri jumped up, telling Bluebell and Buddelia that he would get the door, as to not ruin the surprise. Meanwhile, Buddelia and her mate were suspicious of Asteri’s behavior, so while he was getting the door, they discussed what it could be to make him act this way.
“I bet he made a new friend!” Bluebell suggested.
Buddelia agreed, but her idea was a bit more personal. “I think that he has a girlfriend.” They both shared a grin at the thought of their little NightWing growing up and getting himself a girlfriend.
Asteri composed himself before opening the door for his RainWing friend. “Hello Angel,” he greeted. “It’s good to see you. Come on in!” He held the door open so she could step inside. "Wait, how did you find me?" he asked. "Literally all of the RainWing houses are the same."
Angel took a deep breath and smiled. "It is actually quite simple. I just knocked on every door until I found yours. And well, here I am."
Asteri couldn't help laughing at that. He imagined her running around, disturbing everyone's evening until she found the one place in which her friend lived.
When they walked into the kitchen, Angel gasped when she saw the two dragons who were smirking at Asteri. "Oh my gosh, you live with RainWings, no wonder you are so polite!"
Asteri blushed at the compliment. "Actually Angel, these are my parents. Meet Bluebell and Buddelia." he introduced, pointing to each as he said their names.
"Hello, it is very nice to meet you both," Angel said.
"The pleasure is ours. It's not often that Asteri brings a friend over, and a very cute one at that." Angel and Asteri both blushed at Bluebell's words. Actually, if you don't mind me saying, you are the first friend he has ever brought here."
When she said that, Asteri wished he could somehow vanish or die to get out of this embarrassing conversation.
'But enough talking, you two go run along while we tidy up," said Buddelia, who noticed how embarrassed Asteri was getting during Bluebell's explanation. Asteri was grateful to his mother in that moment. He took Angel's talon and went out the door. When she was sure that the dragonets wouldn't hear her, she asked Bluebell her opinion on the two.
“I think they look very cute together, I can tell Asteri likes her, that is easy to notice. Now the question is whether or not he will share his feelings or keep them secret."
Asteri and Angel were in the yard, where Asteri was showing her his homemade telescope. “I didn't know you liked astronomy,” she stated.
Asteri laughed ruefully, “Well, I guess when you hatch on your own in the rainforest with only the stars for company, you take a liking to them.”
Angelonia frowned at that statement. “Ah, that’s so sad. Nobody should leave a dragonet alone like that!” Angel made a fierce face, like she was going to find a way to rip the world into shreds.
“But I am not alone anymore, Bluebell and Buddelia took me in and raised me. And now, I finally have a friend,” he assured her.
“Well Asteri, thanks for the perfect day. It was great!” She then left, leaving Asteri in his yard, smiling.
His parents were spying on them, so when Angel left, they came outside. “So, how did it go?” Buddelia said, scaring Asteri.
“Ahhhhh!!!!” Asteri jumped twenty feet into the air. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” he yelled at them.
“Sorry about that, Asteri. We just wanted to know how it went with, you know, your girlfriend,” Bluebell teased.
Asteri turned beat red. "She is not my girlfriend. She might be my friend, but not like that. We were just hanging out, nothing serious," explained Asteri, who was trying, and failing to hide a blush.
Bluebell just snorted in disbelief. "Yeah right, I can see the way you usually act, and the way you act around that girl is different from the way you act elsewhere. So you might say that you don't have feelings for her, but Buddelia and I see and say otherwise." She then turned around and entered the house, leaving Asteri to ponder at what his mother had just said.
“Do I really act differently around Angel?” he asked himself. He then went in the house, up to his room, and went to bed.
Chapter 3: With Eyes Wide Open[]
The next day, Asteri woke up and got ready for school a lot quicker than the day before. He was supposed to meet Angel outside in ten minutes, and did not want to be late. When he opened the door, he saw Angel waiting for him.
"Hi Asteri, you ready to go?" she yelled as soon as she saw him.
"Yeah, I'll be there. Just give me a sec." he responded. He was really enjoying the last couple of days. He grabbed his thing and rushed out the door, ready for another great day at school.
When they came up to the school, they parted ways. "See ya in science, Star!" Angel said.
Asteri turned as red as a tomato. The only ones who had ever called him Star were his parents, it kind of felt weird hearing his best friend say it to him. “Yeah, I‘ll see you around,” he said. They each went to their first class of the day, looking forward to seeing each other in science class.
Asteri had a small problem. It seemed like his vision was malfunctioning. He could barely see up close anymore. The weird thing is that he could see perfectly fine if the object he was looking at was far away. He thought it was just a tiny problem that would fix itself if he just waited it out. This turned out to be quite wrong.
When Asteri went to science class, he sat down next to Angel. As soon as she looked at him, she knew something was wrong. He was covering his eyes as if he did not want to look at the teacher, which was strange to Angel because science was Asteri’s favorite class.
Suddenly, Asteri screamed in frustration and bolted out of the class, startling Angel. Angel was shocked and worried about her best friend, she wanted to talk to Asteri and find out what was wrong.“Excuse me. Could I leave the classroom to try and find out what is wrong with Asteri, please?”
The science teacher agreed. He as worried about Asteri, too. He was also aware that Angel was Asteri’s best friend and if anyone could find out what was going on with his best student, it was her.
Angel nodded, and then she rushed out of the class.
Angel found Asteri running away to his house. She cut him off, holding him in place. “Asteri, what is going on,” Angel said with a worried expression. “Does it have something to do with your eyes?”
Asteri gasped, then nodded. “How did you know that?”
Angel laughed. “Asteri. You can’t hide things from me. First of all, you are my best friend. Second, I do notice things, I am not an inattentive idiot.” She lowers her voice. “What I want to know is why you will not tell me what is wrong. I can help you. Also, how could you run out of science. The teacher is worried about you.”
Asteri took a deep breath. Then he explained how he could see everything as if through a magnifying glass. That was why he screamed in class, because everything looked as if it was a few inches from his face.
Angel listened to his explanation, then took his claw. “Come on, we are going to see an eye doctor. Maybe they can make something to help you see normally again.”
They went to an eye doctor, who told Asteri that he had a rare condition called Telescopic Cornea Syndrome. She said it was due to all of the countless hours that Asteri spent looking at the stars through his telescope. She then gave him a special pair of glasses that would tone down his sight so he could see normally. He had to wear them at all times.
“First my weird-colored wings, now my eyes. What’s next? Visions of an apocalypse?” he said to no one in particular.
The pair of dragonets thanked her for the help. Asteri was so happy now that he could see. He turned to Angel. "I am sorry, Angel. I did not mean..." He was surprised when Angel cut him off.
"Asteri, how many times do I have to tell you? You are not an inconvenience to me. You need to learn that you can come to me whenever you have a problem. I AM your best friend, I will always be there for you."
Asteri was shocked at what Angel had said. He gave her a big hug. "You're the best, Angel!" he told her.
Angel looked up at the sky, noticing that it was getting dark. "Come on, let's go back home," she suggested. Then they walked back to the rain forest, hand in hand with smiles on their faces.
Chapter 4: Doom Foretold[]
Asteri awoke with the usual nightmares of the night sky plunging down and swallowing the dragons below. He really wished that he could find a way to get rid of them, but alas, that was impossible at the moment. He looked at the clock. It was still very early in the morning, the first rays of dawn still just barely over the horizon. He could still hear his parents snoring away.
Thinking of nothing better to do, he put on his glasses and proceeded to get ready for the day. Then he remembered that it was the weekend. So he went outside to look out his telescope. When he looked at the sky he saw a dark shape falling out of the air. 'What was that?' Curious, Asteri looked through his telescope hoping to get a better look. The shape had dark jet black wings and did not look like any of the tribes Asteri had ever heard of before.
He let out a sharp cry of pain. His head started aching and he crumpled to the grass below. His legs just simply refused to work properly. All of a sudden, a bright image in his mind replayed the nightmare that had woken him up that morning. Then the image faded, leaving Asteri wondering what it was and if there was something else wrong with him. Remembering the conversation he and Angel had the night before, he wrote her a message. Surely she would want to know what was happening. In the message, he asked her if she could come to his house as soon as possible, that something had happened that he needed to talk to her about.
What he didn't know was that Angel was an early riser and was on her way to his house at that very moment. She knocked on his door, and was surprised when he opened the door on the second knock. "Wait...How did you..." Asteri stuttered, looking at the unsent message on the table. "Never mind, just come in. There is a dire situation!" he explained, grabbing her wrist and pulling her inside. Asteri shut the door behind them.
"Asteri, what's going on? Why are you acting like you just witnessed the end of the world?" Angel was confused and wanted an explanation.
"Because I think I just did." he deadpanned.
Angel blanched at Asteri's serious expression. He wasn't one to joke about something this serious. She listened as Asteri explained about the nightmare that he had the night before. Then he told her about what he saw through his telescope and the flash of bright light in his head directly afterwards. He explained that after the flash, he crumpled to the ground while his nightmare from the night before replayed in his mind.
“Well, do you have any idea what it means? Because it sounds like you had a vision of the future.”Angel said when Asteri was done with his explanation.
“No, I don’t. And I hope that what I saw is not the future. All I can think of is that somehow, that weird dragon that I saw has something to do with the end of the world.” Asteri was in hysterics. He really did not want the world to end.
Angel looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. She did not think it was fair that so many bad things could happen to one dragon over the course of a week. Suddenly, she watched as Asteri doubled over in pain. Angel went over to him, but froze when she saw his face. His eyes were no longer the sparkling emerald green she knew; they were milky white. But what scared Angel the most was not his eyes; it was the words coming out of his mouth in a voice that sounded nothing like Asteri’s cute, nervous squeaks.
“Turn your eyes to the lost tribe,
Where the dragons are split in two;
Corruption turns them evil,
They wonder what to do.
Please help these lost dragons find their way
Please help to find a cure;
Or else darkness will rule the day,
And sorrow will endure.”
Chapter 5: Darkness Rises[]
The NovaWings were just in the middle of honoring the death of their greatest general, General Oort. He had served queen Nebula ever since he went into the army. It came as quite a shock to the gathered NovaWings. They thought that he would live forever.
Queen Nebula stood right next to the Stone Spire, where they were about to turn Oort’s body into ashes. “My humble subjects,” she addressed the gathered crowd. “We are gathered here today to honor General Oort. He was a great dragon; strong, brave, and kind. I know in my heart that he will always be remembered, resonating in all of our hearts. May he find his way to the stars and live amongst them peacefully.”
Suddenly, Oort’s body began to be consumed in a bright light. His scales turned all black and he started to move. Everybody gasped. They did not know what was happening, they thought that Oort was back from the dead, which was the greatest thing that could happen.
Oort looked upon the crowd with a malicious expression on his face. When his starlike eyes fell upon the queen, he smiled a wicked grin. “Well, hello Nebula,” he said in an evil tone. “Nice to see you again.” Then he started to run at the queen, claws outstretched, prepared to attack her. The guards noticed this and tried to get between the queen and Oort, but they were too late. The evil general was already on top of the queen. With a quick slicing motion, Queen Nebula was killed. Oort barked out a maniacal laugh as the dead queen’s scales began to turn black.
Satisfied with the chaos that he had caused, Oort took the queen, now all the way black with corruption, and flew away, leaving the NovaWings in panic. He then started to wonder how to destroy Pyrrhia. With the queen in his control, he flew to the mountains, hoping to find a place to scheme his plan.
After circling the mountains a few times, he finally found a cave that was a perfect place to hide out and scheme. He dropped Nebula and blew a stream of fire to see what was around him.
'A little dark, but it will do, for now' he thought. He took a seat and was thinking to himself. "Now what am I going to do next."
Chapter 6: A Perilous Plot[]
Oort was in the middle of creating a dastardly plan to destroy Pyrrhia. It was harder than he thought, he had the queen of the NovaWings, but did not know of his next step. He looked at Nebula, who was hissing and shrieking due to her going crazy. Oort smiled, he finally formulated a plan. What he needed was an army of corrupted.
He knew that the only tribe that could become corrupted with darkness was the NovaWings. He also knew that they would be on high alert due to him killing their queen. So he decided that the best course of action was to sneak around, turning NovaWings into corrupted without being seen. He would then take his newly formed army and try to take over.
He turned to Nebula, a smirk on his face as he prepared to put his plan into action. "Come on Nebula, we have to go! We are going to build an army."
Nebula looked at Oort with a power-hungry look in her eye.
Oort beckoned her to follow, then took off to get more corrupted soldiers, a maniacal grin on his face.
Chapter 7: Chance Encounter[]
"Asteri, where are we going?" Angel asked. She was still confused and a tiny bit scared about what she had seen the other day. 'Why were his eyes like that, and what was with that eerie voice that he used when he recited that dreaded poem?' If she were Asteri, she would lock herself somewhere safe and never come out after hearing what he said. Angel was amazed at how Asteri could still be sane after all of the things that had happened to him.
"We are going to try to find someone who can help us understand this vision, and then we are going to try and stop it from happening." he said. Angel had never seen Asteri so determined before. She kind of liked this change. 'But is he the same sweet Asteri that I met' she thought.