Wings of Fire; Creature / ✅

PROLOGUE

 Edited ✅ as of 14/03/23

A battlefield was no place for a dragonet.

Lighting flicked amongst the clouds. Thunder boomed in the distance. 

Dragons roared in the sky as they battled. Fire lit the dark midnight sky with orange light as the SkyWings blew hot flames at the IceWings. In retaliation, IceWings hissed their icy death-breath back at SkyWings, gleaming like small, sharp crystals in the moonlight, and the orange and red dragons who were unluckily hit shrieked in unimaginable pain as they fell from the sky. 

Moonlight glittered off the IceWing's shiny moon-pale scales as she huddled with her precious dragonet underneath a cliff face, trying to keep her baby as far away from the battle as she could. As much as she wanted to, the IceWing could not run with the dragonet in the middle of the battle - out of under the cliff, she might be seen as just another fighting IceWing in the eyes of a SkyWing. Also, she knew how much like a SkyWing her dragonet looked - in the moonlight, it'd look like the IceWing was stealing a SkyWing dragonet, just another reason for them to kill her.

A SkyWing slashed his talons across an IceWing's snout; the IceWing used her long, thin tail as a whip to send the SkyWing whirling away through the sky. The IceWing roared with pain mixed with anger as two other SkyWings attacked her. 

The IceWing mother's gaze flicked between the battle, hoping for a heart-stopping familiar face. But she wasn't looking for an IceWing. No, she was looking for a SkyWing. 

Once, outside of a battle, the IceWing had met a SkyWing - but not just any SkyWing. This SkyWing had not been interested in fighting. He had been interested in her. His face had been so gentle as he'd looked at her, his amber eyes so beautiful and shining like twin suns. Every scale on his body was perfect. The IceWing had known right away that this dragon would've been the father of her eggs one day.

And she'd been right. After their secret meetings in the dark, she had laid a single egg. It had hatched a year later, and the dragonet she now was curled around was what had come out of it. As her gaze travelled along the small dragonet, she knew that her love for the SkyWing had not been for nothing. 

The dragonet was dark red, and she had a beautiful lithe form. Her tail started out thick but thinned and thinned until the end where it became whip-thin like an IceWing's. Her claws were ridged like her own - a sign of her IceWing heritage, as no other tribe had sharper claws than an IceWing's. She was the most perfect creature the IceWing had ever seen.

The battle continued above her. The IceWing scanned the bustle, desperately wanting to see him before it was too late. Then her gaze caught on him, and her heart immediately began to speed up again as it always did when she saw him.

He looked as fierce as ever, not the gentle, calm dragon the IceWing knew him as. He sent dragons of her own tribe reeling as he swiped IceWings away carelessly with just a couple of blows from his strong arms. Even though he was harming her tribe, the IceWing felt love and affection bubble up inside of her as she watched him.

"Retreat!" roared the IceWing lead soldier suddenly, batting a SkyWing away and barely avoiding a singed horn as his enemy aimed a fireball at his face. "IceWings, retreat!"

The IceWings struggled away from their opponents. No one even protested as they flew away speedily after their lead soldier. Roars of triumph and mocking words followed the IceWings home as the SkyWings rose their voices in yells of jubilation. The hiding IceWing sighed in quiet relief. Her tribe was safe, and soon, the SkyWings, too would leave, and then she could return to her home.

But suddenly a SkyWing who was scanning the skies for any sign of lurking IceWings, caught sight of the mother, hiding beneath the cliff. "There's one more!" he hissed, then dived towards her.