Tempest Unleashed

Chapter 4: Blackfire

I woke up a while later to an ache in my wings and snout. I looked up at my surroundings. I saw a lot of dragons in a huddle whispering about something. I tried to stand up to join them, but my knees had a different life goal at that moment. I toppled back to the ground, banging my snout against the cold, hard stone floor. "Ow!' I yelped, rubbing my poor snout. The bright pink RainWing sped over to me and said, "Hey, you're awake!" Moon calmly walked over and said sternly to her, "What are you-" She noticed me and brightened. "Tempest! You're awake!" Her happy expression turned to nervousness. She asked, "How do you feel?" "Ooh, Tempest, pretty name." (That last sentence was the RainWing, obviously.) "I feel fine. Why?" I said as I stood up from the ground. Moon looked nervously at the RainWing dragonet. She took a deep breath and looked back at me. "Well, you're still you, but ... well, here's a mirror." Moon handed me a diamond-inlaid mirror with a mother-of-pearl handle. I took the mirror, closed my eyes, and looked. I took a sharp breath when I saw. My horns, they're ... black. Moon explained, "When I saw that your horns were turning black, I looked in the library and found out that you have a rare disease called 'Blackfire'. If you leave it untreated for too long, ... well, you die." I took a sharp breath when I heard this. My stomach let out a long, painful growl of protest. I winced as I said, "Oof, I'm hungry." A voice came from the doorway. "Hey, Tempest." I turned to look at who was standing in the doorway and saw Winter. I couldn't help the little jump my heart gave when I saw him. Moon apparently saw the look on my face when I saw Winter and that he was returning that look. Her worried expression turned to a sly smile. "Kinkajou, come on, we've got to get to class." She said, taking Kinkajou by the talon and leading her out of the room. I glanced towards where the whispering group was earlier and saw empty space. When I looked back at Winter, he was standing a little bit closer, and my heart started beating faster and faster as he took another step and another, until finally, he was standing right in front of me. We sat down and looked at each other silently until Winter looked down at his talons and broke the silence by saying, "Um, Tempest, I need to tell you something." My heart was beating as fast as a scavenger running away from a dragon. Still looking at his talons, he mumbled quietly, "I ... as soon as you slammed into me and I took my first look at you, I, um, I ... I loved you." My heart was beating impossibly fast as he looked into my eyes and took one of my front talons. I thought, Were his eyes always that deep blue that looks as if thin ice was forming over a moonlit lake in the forest? Were his scales always as white as a harbor seal's coat of fur? With his voice now as clear as a glacier, he said, "Tempest, I love you a lot. At first, I thought you were just a conniving SkyWing, but then, I realized that we're the same dragon in different ways. I want to be with you, even if you don't love me back." Before he could pull away, I said, "Winter, how could I not love you? You're kind at heart, I know you are, and you are the only dragon I would ever want to love." We smiled at each other for a moment, and then both leaned forward at the same time, closed our eyes, and almost kissed, but a sound made our eyes snap open, lean away from each other, and look around for what was making the sound. I recognized the sound. "Bells." I breathed. "Only one. We have to get to clas-" I felt something sharp puncture my neck right where a major vein was in my neck. I grunted, and immediately after I did, Winter did, too, and we fell to the floor, unconscious, but after a while, we both woke up, pondered what that was for a moment, and ran out of the cave to class.