New shiny fanfic by Malice. A mystery-thriller. WIP
Prologue[]
In the nighttime splendor of the Ice Kingdom, the moonbeams made the ice glow blue. It perfectly disguised the two shimmering ice-toned dragons that slowly crept outside the borders of the city.
One of them, a pale silver IceWing with dark blue eyes the color of the arctic ocean, dragged his hind foot in a heavy limp, leaving a trail of dark blue blood behind him. He panted slightly, and his muscles quivered with exhaustion as he pulled himself up to the Great Ice Cliff.
"Where to now?" He rasped to his companion, a white dragoness with a steely, hard-boned face. "We've got nowhere to go."
The dragoness didn't reply. Her cold grey eyes stared listlessly into space, unfocused and unseeing. Finally, she murmured, "I can feel a tunnel... Beneath us. It's a long way down, but it will get us out."
The silver dragon grimaced. Some luck that he had a blind IceWing for a guide. "How far below us?"
"I don't know." She said bluntly. Her sharp features slacked, and her sightless grey eyes dilated. "Wait... It's right here." She moved her front talon forward about an inch, carving a mark into the ground. "Let's go."
The silver dragon sighed and closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness into the ice. The ice below them slowly started to shift and move, sliding away to reveal a deep tunnel in the ground. He raised his talons slowly, his eyes still closed, and the ice rose into the air, a shimmering canopy that glowed in the moonlight. The dragoness's face lit up with a look of pure rapture, as if she was seeing the beautiful display. Then the silver dragon carefully lowered his talons, and the waterfall of ice silently fell to the ground a couple feet away, dissolving in a cloud of glassy glitter.
"Now we can go."
The dragoness led the way, stepping decisively, as if she could clearly see the warped and ridged ground ahead of them. Behind her, the silver dragon limped slowly, his injured leg making a rattling sound behind him.
"Where are we going?" He questioned, looking up at the softly scooping walls of the tunnel.
"Freedom." The blind dragoness whispered, her hard-boned face set with steely determination. "See, we're almost there. I can feel the light getting warmer."
Sure enough, the tunnel was getting lighter, and silvery strands of moonlight fell through sparingly from some unknown opening in the distance. It was only a couple more minutes before the two IceWings stepped out of the tunnel and into the freezing open air.
The silver dragon closed the entrance the same way he'd opened it, then turned to the dragoness. "Where to now?"
"You had said that before, but there was a way to travel. Now you have said it again, and there must once more be a path in the night."
The blind dragoness's soft, whispery voice and poetic words never matched her sharp, stone-hard face. The silver dragon watched her, his deep blue eyes filling with concern.
"We'll be okay. The Moonlight Order will find us."
Chapter One[]
Being a hybrid isn't as easy as people make it seem.
It means that, one way or another, your parents were outcasts from each tribe, but still chose love over reputation for some odd reason. Then they decided, for some delusional reason, it would be a great idea to have kids so their children would be shamed for life- living proof of a social crime.
Trust me, I know firsthand how hard it is. My dad was a respectable NightWing before he fell madly in love with a beautiful RainWing and left his life behind to marry her.
You all know how it goes next. It's the same every time. They had me, then they realized what a bad idea that was. Breaking under the cultural shame of my existence, they decided it would be best if they left me in the middle of Possibility (probably assuming it was the safest place for a hybrid) and ran away together, never to see their daughter again.
It really sounds so heartbreaking, but I never had a strong relationship with them anyway. The real hard part is that they left me in Possibility, when I was a young dragonet. Possibility is more hostile than people will usually tell you, filled with gangs and crazy dragons trying to kill you.
Just because it's diverse doesn't mean it's safe.
I learned how to fend for myself, though, and mainly just hung around town, eating scraps, fighting when I had to, and keeping my biggest secret carefully to myself.
However, someone found out that one secret- the one that my mother had warned me about before she left, the one that had saved my life sometimes, but could also cost me my life if I wasn't careful. The secret that swirled through my dreams at night and fought to escape my control in the daytime.
It changed my life.
It all started on a blistering summer day when there were particularly more visitors than usual and the dust from the sandy roads floated into the air, making several visitors hack and cough.
I wanted to yell to them, telling them that if they just stood there like idiots then of course the dust was going to make them cough. But I stayed mildly in the shadows instead, keeping to myself and making a point not to cause trouble. I remembered vividly what my mom had told me before she left- Don't talk to newcomers. Don't criticize them. Leave them alone. If they talk to you, then get out of the way and ignore them.
I'd heard it a lot more than I would've liked. It was fairly good advice, though. I hung by the village well, squinting from the glare. My eyes still hurt from the sunlight, so I drew back into the dank shade from under the small roof of the well. The visitors and villagers mingled absently, very few dragons actually walking somewhere decisively.
I froze when I saw a flash of deep blue through the crowds and the dust. I tucked my tail into the protection of the shade, rigid with fear. I knew that color. He was usually around at this time of day, but... I didn't expect him around this part of town, especially on a day like today.
I squinted at him, and my heart dropped when I realized that I was right. He was a SeaWing with dark blue scales that had flashes of dull green in between them. He had scars crisscrossing his face, and the webbing on his talons was ripped and torn.
It was Reef, the craziest, most dangerous gangster in town. I hunched behind the well, hoping that he wouldn't see me.
Alas, it was not to be.
Reef kept making his way towards the well, and I kept my eyes glued on him as he slowly turned my way. My heart stopped when his eyes met mine, and I wondered if these were going to be my last moments alive.
"Skyfall? What're you doin' around here?"
I gritted my teeth and slowly stood up, facing Reef. "You gotta problem with it?" I muttered, looking him straight in the eye.
"Yeah sure, I got a problem with that." Reef growled, stepping forward and towering over me. Despite the fact that he was a SeaWing, one of the shortest tribes, and I was a NightWing/RainWing, two of the tallest tribes, he was freakishly tall compared to me.
It certainly didn't make me feel better that I could see a fight coming. I felt a familiar fire stir deep inside me, and I tried to cut down my panic. Not now...
Reef turned his head towards the lines of shops on the sides of the road, his glassy eyes flickering from alley to alley. Suddenly, without warning, he grabbed me by my neck and tossed me like a rag doll through the air into a shaded alleyway next to an abandoned shop.
I winced as I landed with a crash, but did not cry out at the electric pain shooting through my body. I staggered to get up, seeing Reef advancing towards me. As if melting out of the shadows, about five other gangsters joined him, all staring at me with cold, unfeeling eyes.
My breath caught in my throat as I shakily got to my feet, my vision skewed from the pain. I was vastly outnumbered. "Hey, Reef..." I rasped. "Please, let's talk this out..." I staggered to the side, looking for any possible ways to escape.
I was cornered. I was going to die alone, with no one else in sight other than ten gangsters.
"You gonna die this time, Skyfall. I ain't gonna let you get away with it any more." Reef hissed, casting a shadow over my face. His accomplices crowded around me, waiting for the kill command from their leader.
"What... What'd I do to you?" I gasped, my blinking at him. The fire in me was kindling again, the burning, bitter internal flame that had plagued me since my birth. I can't lose control now! I thought, panicking.
Reef laughed, a crackling sound with no mirth. "Wanna reminder?" He jeered, leaning in closer. I couldn't help noticing the gleam of his razor sharp claws, and how close they were to my throat. "You came into my part of town more times I'll count. Took food from my gangs. Picked fights with 'em. Now you're gonna die. Happy?"
I choked out a laugh, but it sounded more like a gagging cough. "Alright, I admit it, Reef- but still, I coulda been helpful to yer gangs if you'd-"
"I want revenge, Skyfall." Reef interrupted. He turned to the gangsters. "Go ahead, boys."
Just as the gangsters went in for the kill, the churning fire inside me I'd been fighting to suppress won control. My vision rimmed with black, and the shadows from the alley sides twisted into solid form and grabbed the gangsters, twisting around them like ghostly shadow hands. "NO!" I screamed, trying to control the shadows. But it was too late- they had gotten out of my control, and I wasn't going to be able to get it back. The strands of misty shadows wreathed around the necks of the gangsters, choking them slowly. Reef, who still stood in front of me, stared at me with wide eyes as he was strangled by the shadows. I felt a strange, dark urge to laugh as I saw him crumple to the floor, gagging. Reef, the king of gangsters, was powerless before me.
I stepped forward to him, as he stared silently up at me with an expression of horror. "Seeya, Reef." I couldn't help saying as I watched him die at my talons. "Tell 'em where you're going that Skyfall sent you."
Since I'm guessing you've never seen that happen before, let me tell you- it's one of the creepiest things I've seen in all my years at Possibility. It's kind of a horrible burden to have on me- a dark power that escapes my control sometimes. I don't like fighting, much less killing, so sometimes it terrifies me how much I change when I'm using it.
It's almost like... It turns me into a monster.
I didn't have time to worry about that, though. As soon as the shadows dissipated and everything was back to normal, I had a handful of dead gangsters laying strangled on the ground. Now that the shadows had gone, it made me feel sick looking at them. Some of them, I knew, could've been good dragons if they'd gotten another chance.
I sidestepped carefully around the bodies, silently making my way out into the market place. Almost immediately, I ran straight into someone I could've sworn wasn't there a minute ago.
"Oof!" I cried, stumbling backwards and looking up at the large crimson SkyWing I'd ran into. No, wait- I could see he had a NightWing scale pattern and teardrop mind-reading scales. Obviously a hybrid. And a mind reader. That wasn't good.
"That was a very interesting demonstration, Skyfall." The SkyWing/NightWing said. "My name is Crimson." He held out his talon for me to shake.
Utterly stunned, I shook his talon. "Ah... You saw all that?"
He smiled slightly. "Yes, I did. Also, you're right. I am a mind-reader. And I have a proposal for you."