Thank you to BanderItchy for letting me use Mysteryfinder, Tideweaver for letting me use Deathsong and Princess Inkheart, PinkRose06 for letting me use Insight, and DeltaTheSeaWing for letting me use Fateseer!! Ya'll are awesome!!
<tabber> |-| Prologue =
Prologue
Deathsong sat at a polished, long table with future war plans scrawled out on long scrolls in front of her. She silently sat at the end of it, her pitch-black, whip-thing tail curled neatly around her claws as she shuffled through two particularly concerning ones.
She was subconsciously listening to her queen's murmuring, something about a gift from someone. Deathsong glanced over to see the young Queen Dignity, a very dark purple NightWing with silver accents and shining scales sitting on her elegant black-and-blue throne. A beam of moonlight shone down from the circle window in the wall above her, illuminating the throne in all its glory. The queen held a diadem with beautiful silver and pearl workings delicately in her claws.
"Then I stepped up to her, and she gave me this," Queen Dignity was saying. Her royal advisor, Swifttail, and her heir, Princess Inkheart, were sitting patiently by her side, listening intently.
"She said it would give me luck as a ruler, and it was an animus-enchanted gift for my recent coronation."
"Animus enchanted?" Inkheart suddenly spoke up, her ears perked. "What did she mean by that?"
"It's some kind of voodoo magic the IceWings and SeaWings have to enchant things." Dignity responded, waving her talon dismissively. "Which means it's quite possibly actually lucky, and not just superstition."
A strange gleam appeared in Swifttail's eyes after that statement. It was something along the lines of awe, but with something mixed in. "That sure is an important gift to get from the IceWing Queen," Swifttail observed. "I wonder why, though. Wouldn't it be valuable?"
"I think she just likes me." Queen Dignity responded confidently. "She did say to be careful, though. Something about evil and in the wrong talons. She shouldn't be worried, though, I'll be sure to take care of this. Moons, it's beautiful!"
Deathsong sighed and looked back down at the scrolls reluctantly. This was the boring part of her job as foreseer, the one that seemed to drag on forever, and she knew she was just procrastinating. She should really get back to work, and she did see that possible upcoming attack earlier...
Suddenly a bolt of pain shot through her forehead. Deathsong yelped in pain and shock, kneeling over and clutching her head.
The three NightWings near the throne across the room looked her way in sudden alarm. "Deathsong, are you alright?" Queen Dignity asked, concern in her eyes.
Deathsong tried to stay quiet and just nod, but something in her brain was just bursting to get out of her mouth. She stopped fighting and spoke, drearily and shaking in a voice that was not her own:
Unheard and unseen,
A force is coming,
One shrouded in green,
A force with the power to overtake,
And when it does, lives are at stake,
The NightWing kingdom and queen will fall,
And the one close and overtaken will rule it all,
Unless they are found,
The four dragonets,
And without them,
The measures of death will be fathomless,
The Seer, the one who sees without sight,
One who will soon learn,
Does not know her own might,
The Scorched, the red, the belittled and mocked,
With him behind and in tow,
The answer will soon unlock,
The Patched, the one who suffered before,
will suffer once more,
And scarred as can be,
Will crawl from the sea,
The Imposter, the one who doesn't belong,
And overtook by the force,
Will bid trust so-long,
Each with something to prove,
Each with nothing to lose,
The dragonets will come, and fast
They will learn the future mirrors the past."
The room was silent.
It seemed Pyrrhia was holding its breath to see what was about to happen.
Deathsong looked up wearily, locking eyes with the queen's horrified face. Deathsong's own expression was quite blank, from shock, she suspected.
"Are you saying..." The queen began, after a terrifyingly long, tense moment. "That I... and my kingdom... are in danger?"
Deathsong nodded solemnly. "It would seem so." She paused. "Unless we find those foretold dragonets, I suppose."
The queen sighed, slouching down and rubbing the bridge of her snout in exasperation. Inkheart and Swifttail, still next to her, looked up at her quietly, both with an unreadable expression.
"Guards!" The queen finally bellowed, jumping up from her throne suddenly and briskly walking towards the door. "Guards! Come forth. Quickly. I have a search party to organize, and fast. Deathsong, leave those scrolls where they are and come along."
|-| Chapter 1 =
Chapter 1
Soulseer was used to "The Thoughts", as she begrudgingly called them. "The Thoughts", the ones that dragons have when she passes by. Usually, they were something along the lines of Why is that almost-grown dragonet with virtually no pupils still walking right up against her mother? Isn't she too old to be doing that? What is up with those pupils? ...Oh. She's blind. Normally all in a span of 3 seconds.
It was completely natural. Every dragon has them, even nice, normal dragons. It was unstoppable, and besides, they couldn't know she could read their minds. Everyone thinks like that when they see someone different from them. It was normal. She was fine. Everything was fine.
At least, that's what she told herself. She wasn't sure, seeing as she had never actually talked to any of these supposedly nice, normal dragons.
Today, though, the thoughts seemed louder and more plentiful than they had ever been before. It was all she could see in every mind she passed. They surrounded her and controlled her. They always had.
No, no. It was all in her head. She was just nervous. More nervous than normal. And it was a school she was passing by, of course, kids her age are going to be more... curious than normal. Of course. It was all in her head.
"Seer?" She was startled out of her thoughts by her mother's voice, suddenly right beside her instead of in front of her.
"We're at the front gates, honey." The voice said. Seer gulped as all the nervous thoughts she had just overcome came rushing over her again.
"Seer, sweetie, you're shaking." Her mom said, concern in her voice. Seer felt a warm talon cup her cheek and tilt her head up. "Listen to me. Everything is going to be okay. Just calm down."
"But what if-"
"You'll have Fauna. She seems like a smart, nice, girl. She'll help you navigate, and soon you'll know the place well enough for you to find your way around yourself. And you'll already have a friend! That's more than most dragonets going into school for the first time have. See, you'll be fine."
Her mom's thoughts said otherwise. She was still intensely worried about Seer, which comforted her and made her more nervous at the same time. Nevertheless, Seer nodded quietly.
"That's my girl." Her mom said lovingly, wrapping her wings around Seer in a hug. "Remember, you'll always come back to me at the end of the day. I love you."
"Love you too, mom."
"Do you want me to wait with you for Fauna? She should be here any minute now."
Yes, please. "No, I'll be fine."
"Alright. Stay here until she comes. See you soon."
Her mom released her. There was a scraping of talons as she walked away, then an unfurling of wings and a rush of air as she took off back home. Seer listened to her mother's mind until she couldn't anymore. She sighed longingly and leaned against the stone pole of the front gate.
She was there for what seemed like an eternity and then some, lost in the passing dragon's busy thoughts. There seemed to be all different ages of dragonets at the school, all different kinds, too. They all seemed to be nervous, but none of them as much as Seer was.
Suddenly a firm talon grasped her shoulder from behind. Seer stifled a gasp and went stiff, all the possibilities of how she could die that second flashing through her head at once.
"Hey, Seer." Said the dragon behind her calmly. "I'm Fauna. You heard of me?"
"Yeah, my mom told me. About you, I mean. Hi." Seer responded breathlessly. She relaxed a bit as the talon pulled off her shoulder, and she turned to face Fauna. Her mind was strangely calm, Seer observed. There didn't seem to be any background noise or subconscious observations, only surface thoughts. That was when she realized all that seemed to be covered by a wall in her mind. Walls around dragon's secrets weren't uncommon, especially with NightWings, but they were normally only around certain thoughts, not a whole half of a brain.
She wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose or not, but Seer was pretty sure that Fauna was hiding something from her.