Wings of Evolution (WoF AU)

Chapter 43

The hunter

Preyhunter watched as the talkative dragon fell into the unknown pit below. She hadn't been his favorite, but it still shocked him to see her there one moment and then gone the next. Feirceteeth was gaping at the hole, and a few seconds later the trap closed with a small click, and it looked just as if nothing had happened.

Everyone stared at the hole for a long moment. Preyhunter's eyes traveled to Feirceteeth, who's talon still rested on the stone that had caused this. Everyone knew that Feirceteeth had an unusually strong prophecy ability, so there was almost no way that that had been an accident.

Future sight drove Preyhunter insane sometimes, Morrowseer had a tendency to hold a certain prophecy above Preyhunter's head. It was annoying, sure, but it was the only reason he'd been adopted, otherwise he would still be stuck mourning his dead parents and trying to get enough time to go to school.

So part of Preyhunter was glad that prophecies and seers existed, but at that moment, he could care less. The only reason he didn't call out all seers right then and there was because his little sister just so happened to have a weak prophecy power.

He looked over at Moon, wondering if there was anything he could or should do about this. She was too busy gaping at the perfectly innocent-looking floor though. She glanced up when he thought about her, giving him a confused look.

You might want to keep track of Feirceteeth, she might have done that on purpose.

Moon nodded, message received.

Feirceteeth eventually got everyone moving, explaining that no one should touch the walls until they were through this stretch of hallway. No one asked her whether she'd done that on purpose, but everyone suspected it.

Except for Strongwings, who was just happy with following behind Feirceteeth like a lost puppy. He did that in a lot of things actually, doing what she did and helping her when she needed it. It took Preyhunter a while to realize that it was more than simply wanting someone to make decisions for him, Strongwings seemed to prefer this because of Feirceteeth herself.

They were odd together, but somehow in a way that was right.

They turned a corner and went down a completely safe flight of stairs carved out of delicate marble, it was interesting to see that fact because everything before that had seemed just like another cave or tunnel, this was deliberate, almost perfect in its construction. As they descended, Preyhunter took a moment to wonder if it was animus made.

The stairs doubled back on themselves, as if to save space, and at the bottom Preyhunter saw the most beautiful room he'd ever laid eyes on. Feirceteeth sighed and stopped before anyone could go forward. "We need to wait, she's not in position yet."

---

Spoken fates

Fatespeaker was annoyed as she traversed the strange tunnel. It had taken her a while to calm down and pay attention to her surroundings, but once she had, the tunnel before her was pretty much the only way forward. She'd tried climbing up the shaft, but the stone was too smooth for her claws to properly catch on it and she couldn't get any leverage.

So Fatespeaker had followed the tunnel, hesitantly moving forward as she breathed out a plume of flames. It was strange to be so far underground.

At one point she found a room, furnished with beautiful wall hangings that her mother would have absolutely adored. It looked comfortable, but also ancient, she felt the nearest tapestry and half expected it to crumble to dust underneath her claws, but it felt sturdy, almost brand new.