𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚜 [ꜱɪᴢᴢʟᴇ] | 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

|| Chapter 10 ||

Warm sunlight hit Sizzle's cotton nest and she shifted in her sleep. She then blinked out of her slumber and the light that was flickering and phasing from the leaves in the tree tops enhanced her crimson eyes making them dazzle. Sizzle raised her head and stretched out her wings, her red markings glinting in the morning sun. She looked around the sleeping chamber at her winglet and observed everyone while she started to wake up.

Vine was lying in his hammock with his swirling tail hanging off from the side. Secretstalker was sighing to herself in the other room. Gentoo shivered while he was sleeping on his back when Sizzle found pretty ironic because he was an IceWing and he shouldn't get cold. Coast looked the cutest when she was sleeping though. The beautiful SeaWing was curled up in her seaweed bed with her pale sky blue scales having a soft glow to them. Her tail was laid over her adorable small snout and her eyes were squinted shut. 

Sizzle finally got to her talons and she brushed off the little specks of sand that were caught in between her pale golden scales from the cotton bed. The sand dragon walked down the steps into the kitchen like area where she spotted Snail. The MudWing noticed her walking down the spiral steps and smiled kindly, "Good morning, Sizzle!"

"Morning, Snail," Sizzle yawned, "Is anyone else up yet?" Snail shook his head. "Not that I know of. You ready for classes today?"

Sizzle walked up and grabbed an apple from the wooden fruit bowl and rested her forearms on the oak countertop. "Well, I've been homeschooled, like, for my entire life so I don't really know what to expect," she explained to Snail and took a bite of the red fruit, apple juice flooding into her mouth.

The MudWing nodded and rubbed the beige scales under his eyes. "Don't worry, it's my first day of school as well! So we're both in the same boat!" Sizzle grinned at the kind mud dragon.

"Since we're both kind of brand new to this thing, do you want to walk around the campus? I mean like the different classrooms and the main prey center and everything," Sizzle asked and Snail agreed excitedly. The two of them headed out of the Wood Winglet House and walked down the rope bridge to the main school, which was of course in the gorgeous treetops.

It was late morning and Sizzle and Snail visited all the classrooms and they both voted on their favorites. Sizzle enjoyed the history classroom because it had many maps of Pyrrhia and details on each tribe and she always found this subject fascinating, especially when she was a younger dragonet being homeschooled. Snail preferred the music room over any of the other classrooms to Sizzle's surprise. Snail was explaining how he played an instrument called a cello and it made the coolest music.

They entered the prey center and Sizzle was laughing as Snail was trying to tell her how cellos were the best things to ever exist. "Seriously, you can pluck the strings too to play it, I'm not joking! I'll show during music class. We have that today," Snail titled his head when she gave him a puzzled look. "I don't think I have music class today. I checked my schedule yesterday. Huh, it must be different for each dragon." The dark brown MudWing shrugged. "That's alright! Our whole winglet can hang out later!"

Sizzle grinned and decided to take a look around the large prey center. There were several different varieties of fruit, vegetables, and types of prey scattered across the tables and there were a few dragons hanging around and eating breakfast. One dragon caught Sizzle's eye however. It was Sunbeam! Sizzle hasn't seen her since she fled Lion's house and she grabbed Snail by his arm and brought him over to her SandWing friend. 

Sunbeam looked up and Sizzle couldn't quite tell what her expression was, but then she blinked and looked at the least excited to see her. "Sizzle! You're okay! I haven't seen you in a while! And, erm, who's this?" the rich brown SandWing gestured towards Snail. 

"Oh Beam, this is my good friend Snail! He's in my winglet along with two of my other friends. Snail, this is Sunbeam," she moved her wing to show the MudWing and he waved kindly at her. 

"Hi Sunbeam! Nice to meet you."

"Oh, um, you too," Sunbeam shifted a bit uncomfortably. Sizzle knew she never loved meeting new dragons, only because she's just a bit shy sometimes.

A loud bell rang and it echoed across the whole platform, thankfully interrupting the awkward silence.

"Well, that's my cue. I think we all have to head to class. Um, see you later, Sizzle!" Snail quickly said and dashed off to his first class of the day.

Sizzle met up with Gentoo and Coast in literature class which was the first period of the day. The teacher was Cinder, a bright orange SkyWing, and to start off the class she made everyone introduce themselves and name their age. When it was Sizzle's turn, she got up from her desk, nervously and looked at everyone around the classroom. She gulped and looked at Coast almost the entire time. 

Coast just made her feel safe.

"Um, hi there. I'm Sizzle. My close friends call me Siz," she remembered the dumb nickname Barren gave her a while ago. "I'm seven. Actually... I'm eight! It's my Hatching Day. I nearly forgot!"

"What?!" Gentoo and Coast exclaimed simultaneously. 

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gentoo immediately questioned. "I didn't get you anything!" Coast replied sadly. She then shook her head. "It's fine! We'll celebrate later at the Winglet House!"

Sizzle blushed intensely at the idea that Coast wanted to throw her a party and get her gift. Was there any other dragon more adorable than her?

Cinder cleared her throat. "Thank you, Sizzle. And Happy Hatching Day. You may sit down now. And I would like the three of you to please engage in our first lesson." The SkyWing teacher continued speaking but Sizzle couldn't focus when the cutest SeaWing on Pyrrhia kept on whispering a "Happy Hatching Day!" from right next to her.

Both Sunbeam and Sizzle were making their way to the last class of the day, which was in the library. Snail also mentioned to Sizzle that he had the same class as well so she was keeping an eye out for them. 

Sunbeam was happily chatting to her and gave her a very pretty necklace as a hatching day gift. "Wow! Beam it's gorgeous! Thank you!" Sizzle smiled and gave Sunbeam a quick hug. Beam blushed slightly and replied with a quick, "You're welcome!"

They made it to the library and it seemed as if they were the only two dragons there. Sunbeam raised an eyebrow. "Where is the rest of our class?" she asked just as the second bell rang, meaning that everyone else was late. Sizzle was observing the shelves of scrolls, quickly taking her eyes off of Sunbeam. Then, there was a dark flash that crossed her vision and she immediately spun around to Beam. "Did you see that?" From the shaken look on Sunbeam's face, Sizzle knew the answer.

Sunbeam and Sizzle creeped quietly to the back of the library and Sizzle clearly spotted a midnight black tail swerving around the corner, followed by an almost inaudible, muffled grunt and a loud splattering sound. The rich brown SandWing standing next to her shivered slightly in fear and Sizzle counted under her breath, "1...2...3." and they both turned the corner.

Sunbeam let out a piercing scream.

Snail was propped up against the wall, a blade in his chest, an open wound on his head, his fresh blood splattered across one of the book shelves, dying the scrolls an grueling dark red. He was clearly dead.

There was no other clues. Besides the mysterious shadow. Sizzle was too shocked to feel anything at the moment. She stood there like she was stone while Sunbeam turned away from the gory scene.

Snail so nice to her and she was happy to call him a friend. And now, he was just...gone. And she didn't even get to know him that well.

What a hatching day.

A/N

GOSH this is a long chapter!!

And I'm going to miss Snail :,<

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this long awaited update!

Until next time!

-Vii