The tunnel was gradually getting colder.
Virgo flexed her talons and continued walking, feeling mounting excitement in every step. The Ice Kingdom seemed to be calling to her: beautiful snowflakes were already drifting closer to her, and breathing in the cool air was the literal breath of life. She used to need to frostbreath an item and hold it near herself to know how cold felt like. But this was much more different.
She lifted her head, seeing the sparkling white snow falling gently into the tunnel.
She admired it. She, although being an Ice-Night hybrid, had never seen snow. She opened her mouth, her black forked tongue poking in and out. She inhaled again and flew up.
This is it.
She walked forward, every step as if letting out the excitement. This was the Ice Kingdom. She wanted to yell and fly and soar and be cold and sparkly.
She saw the ruins of the ice cliff, and snuggled into the snow. It was elegantly cool, and she felt much more sparkly. She laughed suddenly.
Rolling around in the snow, she couldn't hide her happiness at being in the Ice Kingdom. She stretched her entire body to feel the beauty of the kingdom. In the distance, welcoming homes sparkled.
She decided to burrow deeper in. The glacial feeling of the snow felt like it had been waiting for her. Then, she flew up, feeling more ecstatic than she had ever been.
And that was when she bumped into another IceWing.
"Agh!" the IceWing scolded. "Why are you so excited!? And who the heck are you? Why have I- oh."
The IceWing saw her scales and her NightWing snout.
"I'm Virgo. You?"
"Mink. Princess Mink, if I may,"
Virgo tried bowing and flying at the same time.
"Don't do that, Virgo," Mink scolded. "I command you not to! Anyhoo, Snowfall wanted me to find a companion to go to Jade Mountain Academy to. I'll take you to her,"
"Thank you, Mink,"
"I think we're gonna be besties!" Mink smiled and flew. The sophisticated yet beautiful Ice Kingdom seemed to be her norm, while Virgo had to try hard not to marvel at literally everything because the Ice Kingdom seemed to be better than the Rainforest Kingdom. It probably was, too.
Virgo noticed that the houses changed, bit by bit, from not-so-elegant houses to sophisticated manors.
"Hurry up."
Virgo hurriedly closed her jaw and caught up with Mink.
"And here we are! Queen Snowfall's Palace."
Queen Snowfall's palace was by far the most imposing structure ever.
At least a thousand shades of blue glimmered, and even the snow, white and serious, looked like it had a sheen of blue in it. Spires and towers and windows were everywhere: the surface looked impenetrable, and the lights of the palace shimmered blue-green-silver, like captured starlight, mesmerizing and hypnotizing. Virgo was too carried away looking up to realize she was walking right to it.
Virgo gasped as she lowed her head. The columns were carvings of dragon wings, and there were smaller dragons carvings, all in ice. And the most magnificent of them all: a tree with light globes hanging on them, gently swaying in the arctic wind.
"Gift of Light," Mink commented. "Get one of the globes."
Virgo nodded and took one, but her mind was still spiraling in different directions.
The entire courtyard, to summon it up, screamed WE ARE ICEWINGS AND WE ARE PROUD which was a pretty good message.
I am an IceWing. Virgo thought to herself. No more NightWingness. She wanted to devote herself to this amazingly structured kingdom.
Mink walked quickly and impatiently, while Virgo tried to take literally everything in.
Suddenly, someone appeared.
Mink ignored the dragon and swerved across. The dragon looked at Mink with an unreadable expression, then regarded Virgo.
"Hello, little one," she said. "I am Queen Snowfall of the IceWings."
Virgo gasped in an undignified way and tried bowing, spreading her wings and crouching her forelegs.
"And what is your name?" Queen Snowfall asked.
Queen Snowfall was the spitting image of Queen Glacier.
"Dragonet?"
"S-sorry!" Virgo stuttered. "I'm Virgo, daughter of Iceberg and Constellation,"
"Iceberg?"
"Yes, Iceberg,"
"He is the brother-in-law's son of my mother's sister,"
"He's a prince?"
"It just so happens, yes. My mother's sister, however, married a royal MudWing instead of a fellow IceWing. The MudWing's brother then had a son named Iceberg. Iceberg hated MudWings and flew to the Ice Kingdom at the age of two. Quite a trip, for a young IceWing. He looked full IceWing, behaved full IceWing, and had no MudWing qualities other than his wings.
Iceberg, however, was very moony. He left after a few years, and I have no intention of seeing him, because I've never known who he was other than the Gift of Order. You are a daughter of him, I see." Queen Snowfall scrutinized Virgo.
She sees me as a threat.
"So yes, in a way, Virgo, you are a princess."
Virgo realized she and Queen Snowfall were walking, and that they were already in the palace.
"In no way!" Virgo cried. "I am no princess because you're the queen and you're the best queen the IceWing's ever gotten and I have no intention of being queen, so that does not make me princess!"
Queen Snowfall smiled. "Thank you. Now, excuse me, I have... matters to attend to." She said evasively.
Mink barreled past Queen Snowfall in the most undignified manner ever.
"Mink! I thought you were a princess! What the positive heck are you doing pummeling into the Queen?"
"Zip it," Mink replied. "You're a princess,"
"Mink," Queen Snowfall said warningly. "She's going to Jade Mountain with you,"
"I don't care! She's a threat to your throne!"
"I don't want the throne!"
"You do!"
"Don't!"
Queen Snowfall bared her teeth. "She won't win in a fight, either way."
Mink glared at Virgo. You're a threat to me, she mouthed. Queen Snowfall didn't notice as she was busy writing something on a piece of scroll.
"Firn!" Queen Snowfall called.
A crystalline female IceWing with clear white scales and hints of blue here and there came over. Mink became noticeably quieter, less twitchy, like she was trying to be composed. "Yes, Queen Snowfall?"
"These are your new clawmates. You and they will represent IceWings in Jade Mountain academy. Also, can you take this to Queen Glory? Go to the tunnels," Queen Snowfall added.
Firn nodded, and she spread her wings.
"One more thing. Firn, how are Glaze and Floe doing?"
"They're doing fine," Firn smiled, as if touched by the Queen's question.
Queen Snowfall smiled back and flicked her tail. Immediately, a few IceWings hurried over and Snowfall discussed something with them in barely audible voices.
But Virgo heard the words 'silver', 'pristine' (though she didn't know if it was the name or anything), and 'targetting'.
YOU ARE READING
Wings of Fire: the Angel Hybrid
Fantasy[the Angel Hybrid, book 1 of my WoF fanfics. Cover art is mine.] - Virgo has a messed up family, to put it mildly. She's a hybrid, but she looks nearly nothing like a NightWing. She's named after her grandmother, and she lives in the outskirts of th...
