OK. BTW, THIS ONLY GOES TO CHAPTER 5. I'll post chapter 6-8 soon. Have a great day!
Prologue: 80 years ago (4,933 AS). The horrid stench of death and sulfur filled the air. The Icewing contrasted from the black dragons surrounding him. He walked down a long tunnel and out. On the other side was the Kingdom of Sand. He sat, and waited, and waited. Finally, his Nightwing mate, Twilight, came out. "He's going to hatch tonight. I know it."Graupel whispered to Twilight. "How do you know it's a male?" she asked. "Just a feeling," he replied. "Now, c'mon. we need to go." Graupel and Twilight spread their wings and took off to the Ice Kingdom.
It was nearly pitch black. The Ice Kingdom was so cold for Twilight, so cold, frost started to appear on her horns and scales. "Brrrrr!" she yelped. They landed near a small village and started walking towards a small igloo-like home. "Hello, Marten?" Graupel called. "Yes?" Marten asked, yawning. "The egg." Twilight answered."Oh! Yes!" Marten said excitedly. "Come on in!" Marten led them to a window in her home and waved her talons towards the small nest she had for the egg.
Then, a crack splintered across the egg, the shell was white, speckled with black. Small claws popped out from the crack, pulling the shell apart, then a snout, the dragonet's eyes popped open, they were a light brown. He crawled out of the egg, blinking at his parents. "Hi, Jackalope." Twilight whispered. "Jacka...what's a jackalope, and you named it already?" Graupel queried. "A jackalope is a rabbit with antlers, and yes." Twilight explained. Suddenly, Jackalope grasped his skull and flared his tiny wings, whining. Visions of pain, blood, father dying, old siblings being cruel to him, attacking other dragons, even killing. "What's wrong with it?! Graupel screeched. "He had a vis- a vision," Twilight gasped. Our 7th son is a seer.
Chapter 1, 20 years later, Possibility.: Jackalope's long, ridged talons scrabbled across the stage, another dragon crept up into the stage with him. Moonheart. She was a blue tint around her talons and wings. "Jackalope, I'm nervous." she whispered. "It's fine," Jackalope answered back with a wide grin, showing all his dragonet teeth, which, in fact, he still had. "Ok, you ready?" he asked. "sure." she replied back after a moment. She walked over and sat behind her drumset. Dragons in the crowd booed them. A SandWing in the back looked over. He was a musician also. "Hey, that kid's not that bad, I'mma go see if he wants to talk to me." (srry for the short ahh chapter)
Chapter 2, a few hours later: Jackalope met Badger, the SandWing, at his home. Badger was showing him his guitars and stuff. "I'm hungry, I'll be right back." Jackalope suddenly announced, walking towards the door. "You don't.... want a sandwich or something...? "Uhhhh... no." Jackalope walked out and slammed the door.
About half an hour later, Jackalope returned, carrying a box with a flatbread pizza inside. He grinned oddly at Badger, then sat down. "Whassup with your teeth, man?" Badger asked, raising an eyebrow. Jackalope frowned at him, looking insulted. "Sorry man, I didn't know, are all nightwing's teeth just like that or somethin'?" "No," Jackalope grumbled. "I'm just like that." "Wait... you're not just a nightwing, are you?" Badger challenged. He grabbed one of Jackalope's wingtips with a talon and lifted it up. He studied it intently, then let it go back down and started looking at the long, white spikes along Jackalope's back and on the tip of his tail. "Are you.... half Icewing?" "Yes," Jackalope replied. "My father is an Icewing, my mother is a Nightwing." "Hmmm... interesting, I thought the Nightwings and Icewings hated each other." Badger responded. "They do. My parents don't hate each other. My mother was banished from the isla-" Jackalope suddenly cut off. "Secret. Can't tell you where nightwings live. Almost forgot." "Nightwings live on an ISLAND? Like a NICE BEACHY one?" Badger seemed exited. Jackalope covered his mouth with his talons. "Uh oh. Well, now ya know, but NO NO NO NOT A NICE ISLAND. BAD ISLAND, BAD ISLAND, ME LIVING ON THE ISLAND, EQUALS ME AND MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS DEATH. PROLLY MY DAD TOO. Thats why me, my mom, my dad, and my 9 siblings live here." Jackalope quickly blurted out. "Jeez man! Chill!" Badger exclaimed, throwing his talons up. Jackalope sat up and padded to the door, waved, then left.
Chapter 3: Jackalope’s wings slumped as he walked home. He sighed loudly and he opened the door of his home. Moonheart greeted him as he walked in. “Hi, Jackalope!”
“Hey.”
“How was it?” She asked. “Fine.” He answered. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Y’know, I’m just gonna go to bed.” He grumbled.
He stumbled sleepily into the bedroom, Stretched his wings, curled up, and fell asleep. A few moments later, he was awoken by Moonheart flopping into the bed next to him, but fell asleep again soon after. His dreams, well… nightmares, were filled with visions of a small SandWing dragonet, named Rosette, he saw having a dragonet with her in some of them, but also he saw himself killing her. This was far in the future, he could tell. He shifted uncomfortably in his sleep, thinking of that. Then visions of a small, wingless lavender dragonet. He saw himself saving her, healing her. But how? Then he saw a melting dragon, oh no.. this seemed way sooner…. A MudWing and SkyWing hybrid….He looked farther into that vision. The hybrid’s name was Alligator. He was… rude. He killed him by… magic? He didn’t know. It was weird.
Jackalope’s eyes fluttered open. He yawned, and realized it was morning. Moonheart was… gone. His head popped up. Where was she? He hopped up, looking around frantically. He saw a note lying on the counter in the kitchen. Scrawled upon it was; “Out to catch food! Be back soon!” He sighed in relief. Jackalope sat and waited, fidgeting with the note in his talons. He heard wingbeats in the distance and saw Moonheart, carrying a huge deer looking animal. He padded to the door. “WHAT IS THAT!?” He called. “ELK,” She answered back, yelling. “CAN YOU HELP!?” He nodded and took off, towards Moonheart. He helped her carry it back to their home.
“Mmm, this is good, eh?” He asked, tilting his head, smiling. Moonheart nodded. “Yes.” He started picking bits of fur from his teeth and flicked a piece at her. She giggled, picked a piece of fur from her chunk of elk, and flicked it back at him. “Hey, ya wanna go into the forest? It looks really…” He tried to think of a word instead of pretty. “...Neat, with all the colorful leaves!” “Sure…” She replied. She walked to the door and Jackalope followed. They took off and dived into the forest below.
Moonheart and Jackalope landed with a soft thud on the forest floor. He breathed in the crisp autumn air. Ahhhh. He thought, scrunching his talons in the dead leaves. He swept leaves into Moonheart’s face, making her sneeze. She swept leaves back at him, and he dodged them, chuckling. As the leaves softly brushed the ground he heard a quiet sound, like a twig snapping. His head snapped up, looking around. “What was that?” He whispered. “I-I don’t know.” Moonheart answered. Then they heard soft crunching, like dragons were coming towards them. “It was us.” Said a hissing voice, coming from the trees surrounding them. Three SkyWings materialized from the trees, wearing armor. SkyWing soldiers, Jackalope! You knew this might have happened! Fight! He lashed his tail at one of the red dragons, blood spraying out of their snout. He grabbed their horns, ready to snap their neck, when another SkyWing tackled him. He blasted a weak plume of flames into their face, enough to melt it a bit, though, and they fled. Moonheart! Where is she!? He saw the other two SkyWings pinning her down, about to kill her. Jackalope thrust himself through the air and into the SkyWing about to kill Moonheart. The attacker yelped in surprise as they were tackled. He dug his claws into their neck. Then he bit them in the throat. They went limp and collapsed to the ground in slow motion.
I’ve killed a dragon. Oh no… The last SkyWing looked at him in fear and took off as fast as their wings could carry them. I wasn’t supposed to kill them… I didn’t mean to, it was just instincts. I don’t know what’ll happen now.
Chapter 4, four hy later: “SHUT UP, JACK,” The copper colored dragon snarled, glaring at him through his spectacles. “YOU’RE SO STUPID!” Jackalope retorted back, slashing his claws across Alligator’s hind leg. “Guys… stop, please.” Moonheart whispered, her wingtips shaking. “JUST GO AHEAD AND LEAVE THEN, SUPERSTARS!” Alligator stormed off as Moonheart and Jackalope left.
“What’s wrong with that walrus face?” Jackalope grumbled. “He just thinks you’re really stubborn. He’s yapped about it to me before.” Moonheart chuckled. “Phht! Stubborn? Please…. Wait… me?” “Yes, you!” She flew closer to Jackalope and brushed her wing against his. He squinted at her.“Sooo,” He asked, “What do ya think… this show is gonna be like?” WITH SO. MANY. DRAGONS. AHHHHGH. WHY DO SO MANY DRAGONS LIKE US NOW!? His mind screamed. Moonheart looked away from him, frowning. “Fine,” She mumbled. “I just think I’ll be a teensy bit OVERWHELMED.” “It’ll be okay… probably..” He assured her.
They both walked up to the stage, nervous. Jackalope swallowed hard, looking out at the…what… how many? LIKE TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DRAGONS!!! Well, maybe like… five hundred…THAT’S STILL FIVE HUNDRED TOO MANY!
“ERM…..*clears throat* Erm… hello. I’m… Jackalope….. and… this is Moonheart. AHH! WHAT KIND OF INTRODUCTION WAS THAT!? His eyes darted over to see Moonheart waving pathetically. He took a deep breath. Okay… let’s… just pretend.. They’re not there…. He noticed a very unnatural looking RainWing. They were red and black. Jackalope didn’t know much about RainWings….but it didn’t seem good that they were those colors. They were also moving closer every time he looked away, then he couldn’t see them anymore. Jackalope picked up his guitar. Okay… OW! He felt a sudden fiery pain in his throat. He looked down to see reddish-purple blood all around his talons. His blood. Oh no, oh no, OH NO!!! I NEVER THOUGHT OF OUT OF ALL THE POSSIBILITIES, THIS WOULD BE THE ONE THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! He collapsed to the ground. Please, PLEASE, heal….please…
He figured that obviously wouldn’t work….
But it did.
His scales started knitting back together. And heartbeats later… he was completely healed. Everything except the blood was gone. And he saw the RainWing again. They were standing across the stage, fear etched across their face. “You- you’re an animus. Uh-oh… I wasn’t assigned an animus…” The RainWing stuttered. Jackalope knew he was an animus, and he knew animus magic could do anything, though his parents had told him not to use it, because he could end up like The Darkstalker… He slammed his tail across the assassin’s face, breaking their nose and knocking them down. He pinned them down. “How DARE YOU!” He snarled, infuriated. The RainWing had changed from red and black, to pale green and white. Then, Jackalope whispered something. His throat started glowing an eerie pale blue, and huge flames hurled out of his mouth, into the RainWing’s face, killing them in an instant. He looked down at the melted, charred face of the assassin. As he looked down at them, a thousand images flashed through his head. “AHHGH!” it felt as if a spear had been forced through his skull. Images of another RainWing assassin, Him, dead. Moonheart, dead. “AHHRGH…” His nose was bleeding. “So,” He raised his head, wincing. “Shall we get on with the show?”
Chapter 5: “YOU KILLED SOMEONE!?” Alligator snarled, lashing his tail. “Uh… they were going to kill me? Don’t you care about me?” Jackalope asked. “How did you kill them?” Alligator challenged, ignoring him. “Magic. Ani-animus magic. Alligator’s jaw dropped in shock. “Wh-what? ANIMUS MAGIC?!” Jackalope nodded, waiting for him to say something else. “In the scrolls I’ve read, SkyWings killed the animus dragons. Which sounds like a great idea. SkyWings don’t like unusual dragons. Also, they won’t end up massacring dragons, like Albatross. And no one knows what happened to the Darkstalker… he killed his own father…” “You-you’re not going to kill me, are you?” Jackalope shuddered. “Yes….” Alligator growled. He jumped at Jackalope, pinning him to the stone floor. Jackalope tried to wriggle away, but he couldn’t. He was helpless…. Or was he? Alligator was biting into his wing, and he could hear crunching. “AHHGH!” Jackalope whined, tears of pain streaming from his eyes. I enchant my attacker to melt, killing him. Just as he thought that, he heard a scream of agony above him, Alligator’s face was melting, exposing his muscles. “WHAAAT DID YOU DO…. AHHGH….HELP MEEEE….” Jackalope saw the pure fear in his eyes.
Then Moonheart walked into the house, unknowing of the dying dragon she would walk in on. As she saw the muscular blob of scales writhing painfully on the floor, she screamed, petrified. “ALLIGATOR!?” His bones were exposed. “WH-what?! Jack! What happened!?” She looked to Jackalope who was lying on the cold stone floor, his wing gruesomely twisted and bleeding, a look of relief on his face. “Oh…. thank the moons….. Moonheart…..he tried to kill me….” He trailed off, his limbs collapsing. Oh no oh no oh no! Heal! Heal! His flesh and scales started knitting back together, and his wing was fully healed. Moonheart stumbled back. “Wha- WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?”
“You saw what happened when I killed that RainWing. I’m an animus. Alligator tried to kill me because of it.”
“Whoa…”
“Yeah, whoa.”
Moonheart ran a talon down his wing, feeling it where a couple moments ago, it was gruesomely twisted up and broken. “Awesome,” She exclaimed. “We should show this to your parents!” “No no no, NO NO NO! HORRIBLE IDEA! I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO USE IT!” Anxiety made it feel as if bile was rising in his throat, and he forced it down with a hard swallow. “I cannot use it, well…. I’m NOT SUPPOSED TO!”
“You’re… not supposed to?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Why?”
Jackalope swallowed, trying to explain. “Well, animus magic is like…. Well you can pretty much do whatever you wa-”
“ANYTHING!?”
“Well… yes, but it comes with a price.”
“Ooh… spooky.” Moonheart joked.
“Stop! This is serious! Anyway, Animus magic comes with a price, you can lose your soul if you use it too much. Also, it can’t bring dragons back from the dead. SeaWing Prince Albatross, who lived 2,000 years ago, almost killed the entire royal SeaWing family. The only survivors appeared to be Prince Fathom, who was also an Animus, and Princess Pearl, who later became queen. I must decend from the sister of the Darkstalker, Whiteout. to be an Animus. She also lived about 2,000 years ago."
"Whoa. cool."
"Moonheart, you sound like you're paying zero attention to what I'm saying."
"Sounds like a booooring history lesson."
Jackalope fell to the floor all of a sudden, Visions of a dragon three times his size, a NightWing. They kinda looked like him. They were climbing out of a mountain. They were an Animus, too. Then he heard something, a voice, screaming: "DARKSTALKER!"
tysm if you took ur time to read this. I rlly appreciate it <3