𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥 ☁️

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆

He had been waiting all morning.

Nothing.

Come on, by all the silk, where are you Bumblebee?

Atlas was pacing his room, quietly so that he didn't disturb a sleeping Foxglove. His snoring distracted Atlas from the plan he was forming in his mind, making him, countless times, want to throw something at his friend's drooling face, but angrily, he shook the thought out of his mind.

Atlas charged out the door in frustration and sat down opposite Sunset and Cosmo for breakfast.

Atlas's wrists had been tingling all morning, more than usual. It was like tiny needles were stabbing him from underneath his scales. Unluckily, this time enough pain surged through his body that he yelped in pain, startling Sunset from her boar.

"Atlas, are you alright?" she asked me in a tired voice, bags under her eyes. Atlas felt guilt consume him like a raging wildfire burning a gaping hole through the veil that had once been innocent. Atlas knew why Sunset was so tired. Atlas had had a restless sleep the night before, tossing and turning, fiddling his talons while possible outcomes for their quest flashed through his mind, each like a seed of despair, being planted into his head. Sunset had been listening at his door in worry, nearly all night she was taking shifts of making sure he was okay. Once she had to barge into the room in fright as Atlas had gasped loudly in pain from the pricks under his scales, Atlas had to spend a long period of time convincing her to go to sleep, but he could tell she ignored him.

"I'm fine" I lied, pursing my lip as I flicked through the page of a history book. 'The tales of the abyss' He read, scanning the fancy gold text covering the front of the book. As he lightly read some of the paragraphs, his heart skipped a beat.

"Wait..." Atlas abruptly blurted, not holding in the questions any longer. "It says here that the breath of evil was fully defeated a couple of years ago... by Luna" I gaped, staring opened eyed at the name. Blue's sister was the one who defeated the breath of evil? How did I not know this? I thought, but Cosmo's voice washed out the mysteries of his mind.

"So how is it back?" her quavering voice managed to whisper. She looked towards Sunset and she shrugged. "Who knows, I guess we'll have to find out one way or another..." She replied through a mouthful of food, Cosmo laughed and Atlas, reluctantly, laughed too, how could you not?

"Hold on..." Cosmo said again, pondering and rereading the words on the books countless of times. "Didn't the prophecy say all the tribes would drown?" Cosmo exclaimed; her quavering voice more balanced now. "Yeah, what about it?" Atlas asked casually as if Cosmo had said "Cow's moo, right?" Atlas's worry-free tone had made Cosmo death stare him, making him look away harmlessly.

"What about the Seawings?" She continued. Sunset had now become lost in her thoughts too, but Atlas still didn't get it.

"Oh, you dopey banana slug!" Cosmo snapped, but in a sort of loving tone he had never heard her use before, or maybe he had imagined it. Atlas ignored the insult and continued to stare at her blankly.

"Seawings breath underwater!" Sunset and Cosmo declared at the same time. "Oooh" Atlas realised what they were saying now.

"So, if Seawings can breathe underwater, how can they drown?" Atlas contemplated as if he had fully gotten the question the first time. Cosmo rolled her eyes. "Exactly," she said, dropping her mango in a dramatic way.

"Well, any ideas of what they'll do?" Bumblebee questioned from behind him. He looked into her honey-kissed eyes, and she smiled gleefully at him and felt his face instantly become burning hot.

'Breath. Everything's okay, I'm smiling' Atlas thought calmy in his mind, taking deep, controlled breaths. This was a trick he had learned from Luna, they had been friends when he visited Pantala a year ago, and he had met Dusky and, while Dusky was a few years older than him, they still had fun.

Atlas must have been lost in his mind for a while because when he re-opened his eyes, Sunset and Cosmo had left the room and Bumblebee was sitting next to him which startled Atlas, making him jump slightly off his chair.

"Oh, you silly silk brain" She joked with a laugh that strongly reminded him of Dusky. I gaped at her unconsciously, imaginary fog crowding my mind as tears started to form in my eyes from exhaustion. "Wake up sleepyhead" She whacked him in the head with her wing, and he was surprised how strongly she did it too if she was just joking around. "I'm up, great, fine" I heard my voice declare without much notice and waited sleepily for her to say something.

"Well?" She questioned him, making her usual 'can't you already guess what I'm about to say?' expression. She sighed at his lack of an answer. "Oh, come on Atlas, are you ready?" She asked, flailing her yellow and blacked striped talons in the air.

"Oh, right. Yeah, let's go" I answered emotionlessly and stood up and followed the Hivewing into the fresh air. I took in a lungful of breath, and my worries floated out of my mind. "Where are we headed?" I asked her as I lifted off the ground, my fatigued wings beating indignantly.

"Circle Eden and look around for suspiciously ominous dragons? Then afterward we'll search inside. Deal?" She asked, looking into my bloodshot eyes. "Deal" I repeated.

We beat our wings, and I couldn't help but notice Bumblebee was fidgeting nervously.

"What's up?" I asked her, genuinely concerned.

"I don't know..." She replied anxiously. "I just have this overpowering feeling that something bad is going to happen..."

Again, I am so sorry for the short chapter. I'm as tired as Atlas lol, I've had a headache nearly all day. But I promise my next chapters will be lengthier :)