Darkened Secrets [BEING REWRITTEN]

Chapter Three

Petal didn't look back as she glided between the trees. Her body was flattened out as much as possible to catch the wind. Her wings hardly even flapped as she soared.

She didn't dare fly too close to any tree should there be a cat in it. Nor above the trees should there be a pure dragon flying by. She stayed well clear of the ground as well. The dragons of this colony had little to fear while in the air. But Petal knew she was small enough a hawk might decide she was lunch. In the air or not, Petal was prey to everything bigger than her.

At least until her metamorphosis.

When she would weave her cocoon and sleep for three years. She would grow her legs, her talons, and nearly impenetrable scales. Scales that were as tough as diamonds. Like all spirit dragons, she would develop her own powers. When she awoke, she would be able hypnotize anyone who dared make eye contact with her and have the strength to rival even Queen Seyte of the elemental dragons. Oh, it would be glorious!

But not yet.

It wasn't time for that yet. She still had to find the soul crystals. Soul crystals that still held the dragons who had preserved themselves in order to escape the horrors of the Purity Wars. Wars so brutal between dragon species that many species had gone extinct and several others were currently facing extinction. Like Petal's species.

As far as she knew, there were only two spirit dragons alive. Herself and her mother. If she could find the soul crystals and free those trapped spirit dragons... she wouldn't be alone anymore. Maybe she could even find a friend that was of her own species.

"Petal? What are you doing here?"

Petal turned her head to see a deep purple dragon with black splotches - as if ink had been spilled on him. Electric blue stripes accented in gold creeped across his wings as he leveled a confused golden gaze on Petal. The golden jagged horns on his head seemed to wink at her as she landed on the tree branch above her friend.

"Hello Spike. Fancy meeting you here in the elemental colony's territory where you are exactly where you're not supposed to be," Petal purred. Mischief gleamed in her sky blue eyes as the electric dragon below her shuffled all four of his wings uncomfortably.

"You didn't answer my question," Spike grumbled. Petal flicked her tongue out at him as if she were a snake.

"And you didn't give me the answer to your own question," she chirped. That reminded her... "Aren't you supposed to be gathering more food for the hatchery?"

The hatchery. While in the elemental colony parents created nests for their eyes inside their homes, the sepren colony was far too small to take any risks with eggs. Not to mention the dragon species in the sepren colony were notorious for laying large clutches averaging between fifty five and seventy eight eggs per clutch. Plus the fact if young dragons in large clutches got hungry it wasn't uncommon for them to eat their siblings. So, as to make it easier to care for young and increase the survival rate for young dragons, the colony had created a hatchery to keep the eggs and newborns in.

Petal's mother had come up with that idea after what had happened with Petal's clutch.

"I was hunting here. Chased a rabbit, and now I can't find it," Spike said. Petal frowned.

"That's a huge load of dung and you know it. What are you really doing here?" Petal replied.

Spike groaned. "I forgot about your super nose. Can all Nightmare Walkers smell lies or just you?"

Petal growled, "you're switching the topic."

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

"Liar liar, horns on fire," Petal sang. Spike growled, no doubt remembering the little prank Petal had pulled on him a few months ago when he had first emerged from his cocoon. "Perhaps I should leave another gift for you in your cave."