The Silken Seer

Chapter 7

"WE are your kin, not that lowly scrap of a dragon. I am your QUEEN!"

"The universe... time... something's wrong. Something I don't know if I can fix."

"Threaten us and your 'barrier' goes up in flames."

"Blue!" "Luna!"

"Who are you?" "I'm Cricket."

"Welcome, Coal. Here to serve me at last?"

"Don't worry, Clearwing. I'll be right here."

Clearwing woke up with a gasp. These dreams were new, and different. While her dreams with the Hive being burnt had been long and elaborate, these were just snippets of words and scales.

Well, except that last one. The last words were paired with Coal looking over her with a soft and sad look on his face as silver silk curled around her. She looked at her wingbuds, seeing that they were even more unfurled.

That was when she realized with a start how soon her metamorphosis was. She was spinning her cocoon tomorrow. It was terrifying to think of being separated from Coal and the flamesilks and the world.

Speaking of Coal, he was right beside her. "Coal," she whispered. The black dragonet just mumbled in his sleep; something about Father and no and five more minutes. "Coal, get up." No response; just more mumbling. Clearwing sighed and rolled her eyes. "Coal, come on, get up, this is really important."

Coal woke up. "Dad, I... oh, hey Clearwing."

"Coal, listen I'm going into my metamorphosis tomorrow. And I'm getting new visions..." she trailed off. Something strange was happening. She let out a small gasp, but the black dragon must've not heard her because he rolled over and said, "Alright, I'm going back to sleep."

Whatever kept Clearwing from seeing into Coal's mind, it had stopped happening, showing her everything: a dream to find his own kind (if there was such a thing), a wish to make more friends, a second personality — like an instinct almost — that was violent and defending, like what Clearwing had seen with Luna and the HiveWings.

And... a feeling for her that was more than just friendship.

It was all too much for her. She laid down, thinking about what this meant.

The feelings Coal has for me... Clearwing thought, well, it explains a lot — why he defends me so fiercely, why he always wants to tell me everything, why he seems to want to be with me more lately... She shied away from her other thoughts.

His 'second personality' explains a lot too, actually. His face with the HiveWings in the flamesilk cavern was probably that leaking though. And Luna; that was the first time anyone had asked what he was, so it probably unnerved him or gave him some sort of shock. And how come, since I've known him, he's been the one dragon I've never been able to read, and now he's the dragon I can see the most of?

She didn't have any thoughts about anything else she saw, so she decided to just sleep it off.

But just before she fell asleep, a thought hit her like a Hive collapsing onto her.

Do I feel the same about him?

Clearwing's dreams were troubled, full of screaming dragons, crying dragons, burning dragons, poisoned dragons, and dying dragons.

Lots of dying dragons.

In her dream, she saw a book. Worn with age and crinkled pages, with a dark blue cover. It sat in an orange-brown HiveWing's talons.