Power-A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter Three

The night had passed. Now, dragonets from all over the academy were getting to their classes. At lunchtime, when dragonets from every single winglet gathered outside to eat, Orca and her brothers met up. "Hey, Orca," Dolphin said in a friendly voice. "Hello," Orca said. "Blackout totally likes you," Starcrafter said. "Remember when we visited Grandmother and Grandfather in the Night Kingdom? He was there, staring at you." 

Orca closed her eyes and tried to remember when they had visited Skytoucher's parents. They were two kind dragons who didn't mind Skytoucher's relationship with Seashell. Ah, there. Orca remembered him. He had been the neighbor, the one with the silver, amethyst-studded neckband. When the family had gathered to eat outdoors, he had been watching them from his house. Watching Orca, specifically. 

"It's just because I'm pretty," Orca said loftily, tossing her head. "Everyone stares at me like that." She and her brothers laughed. Orca saw Blizzard standing a few feet from them, her mind pondering whether to join them or to stay away. Orca, who did not want her friend feeling unsure of what to do, called her over. 

After a few minutes of eating fish, Orca caught a cold, sharp mind heading over to them. Frost's mind. "I would like to sit with Blizzard," he said in a disdainful voice. He probably hated Orca for being like Darkstalker. "You can sit with us, IceWing," Starcrafter offered, spreading his wings. Frost's mind grumbled for a few seconds about sitting with lowborn NightWings, but then he settled down beside Blizzard. Orca felt a sharp headache blaze through her head. She clicked her teeth together and grabbed her head. "Orca?" Orca felt Blizzard grab her wrist. The sudden cold helped the bonfire raging in her head. Orca slowly sank to the ground, clutching her head. 

Visions, awful, terrible visions were dancing in her mind. Frost was in all of them: Frost, standing over the NightWing throne, his talons stained red. Frost, leading an army of IceWings across Pyrrhia to conquer all of it. Frost, still hating the NightWings for "stealing" Prince Arctic and destroying every last one of them. Innocent baby NightWings screaming as frostbreath touched their faces, wings, legs, tails. Their homes being frozen and smashed to the ground. Their parents falling under wickedly sharp talons.

Nothing had ever, ever been able to hurt Orca so much. No visions had ever, ever been this painful. She looked up at Frost, who was watching her with his sky-blue eyes. Although she could not see his feelings outwardly, on the inside he seemed a bit concerned. She's not a full NightWing, he reminded himself. She's half SeaWing, so she deserves only half the hate. 

Do I have to use my magic on him? Orca wondered, getting to her feet. Do I have to enchant Frost to stop hating NightWings so he doesn't commit genocide? Mahogany's words ran in her head: Darkstalker was the one who invented enchanting dragons like inanimate objects. If Orca used her magic on Frost, everyone would see her as the actual second coming of Darkstalker. She would be enchanting his brain. But isn't that for everyone's good? For my father, my grandparents, my cousins? All those tiny, new-hatched dragonets? Didn't Darkstalker think he was doing everything for the better? 

She stuffed the rest of her fish into her mouth and trudged back to her sleeping cave. She took a stick that she found outside and enchanted it: I enchant this stick so that whenever it touches me, it heals all of my injuries. She touched it to her head. The brain-scorching headache faded away. Orca felt like herself again.

She heard sharp claws clicking on stone. Blizzard ran into the cave. Her mind was very loud. Is Orca okay? What happened? Did she see something horrible in Frost's brain? How does she feel about his hatred towards NightWings? Orca slid Blizzard's thoughts into the ocean in her mind.

"What happened, dear?" Blizzard asked, grabbing Orca's talons. "I saw visions of Frost doing terrible things," Orca said mournfully. "It hurt so much. Nothing ever hurt me like that before. But I'm fine. I used my magic to heal my headache. My soul is safe: this necklace protects me from damaging it." She fingered her necklace as Blizzard let go of her talons and paced around the room.

"What was Frost doing in your visions?" she asked finally, turning her head. "Murdering NightWings," Orca said softly, looking at the ground. "Leading an IceWing army to kill NightWings. Committing genocide. Killing tiny dragonets, old dragons, injured dragons. Not sparing anybody." Orca stood up. She remembered her kind, laughing grandparents, who had sent her wonderful gifts on her birthdays and gave her delicious treats when she visited. They never did anything evil, but Frost would kill them anyway.

Blizzard wrapped her wings around Orca in a hug. The chill of her scales gave Orca energy. "It will be okay, friend," Blizzard said gently. "With your visions, we can steer him on the correct path. He will be fine. He won't kill any NightWings. He won't lead any armies. I will challenge my mother for the throne a few years after I'm done with schooling. I will win because I am a wonderful fighter. I won't let Frost do anything against the NightWings, even if he is ruling the kingdom beside me. I promise." Orca smiled into her friend's kind eyes. "Thank you," she whispered, leaning into Blizzard's chilly scales. BONG! BONG! BONG! The dragonets heard the gong sounding. "Time for math class," Blizzard said, folding her wings and grabbing her math scroll. Orca nodded, grabbed her own math scroll, and followed her royal friend to math class. I'm so lucky that I have Blizzard, she thought. I don't know what I would do without her.