The War of Eternity

Chapter 15

Moonstone's POV

Moonstone was floating somewhere between time and space. It was like her spirit had floated outside of her body when the pain of the queen suddenly leaving her had been too much. Now she was just drifting alone in cool, soothing darkness.

She wondered if this was what it felt like to be dead. If so, it wasn't so bad. She could float here for the rest of eternity.

Suddenly, a face appeared in the darkness. It took her a minute to realize it was Starclaw. Though, it didn't look at all like the Starclaw she knew. Her sister was always so calm and relaxed, only fierce when she needed to defend Moonstone. Her eyes were always kind and understanding pools of yellow.

This image of her wasn't anything like that. Her stance was tense and trained for battle. Her eyes were cold and cruel with flecks of evil. It made her want to erase the picture and start over with the Starclaw she knew.

Then it all came back to her, everything that had happened. With that painful reminder, she drifted up out of the inky darkness and back to reality.

Her eyes snapped open only to find the battle was mostly over. It was clear that the dragons had won. Why did that make her a little bit happy?
Oh. It was probably because of the queen's influence that still lingered inside of her. Would it ever go away? Or would she always feel this fierce pull to destroy every wolf insight?

Then she realized the queen wasn't inside of her anymore. But if she wasn't inside of Moonstone, then who was she inside of? Her sharp eyes scanned the wood-lined hallways until she found her mark.

She could recognize that cold stare anywhere. Wait. That looked like Starclaw! What was the queen doing inside of her!?

Moonstone suddenly was on her talons, wondering when she had gotten up. Before she knew it, she was running over to Starclaw before she could even comprehend what was happening.

Starclaw —or rather the queen— suddenly swiveled her head towards her, making her stop dead in her tracks. All of her fears of the queen from when she was in that prison came rushing back to her, and she couldn't help but a small whimper of fear.

"Ah. There's my little minion. Having fun on your little break from my clutches?"

She managed to get herself together and glared at the queen, "of course I haven't. You have my sister!"

The queen snorted, "this creature is not your sister. She is simply a thing you grew up with. You have no connection to her at all. I bet the only reason she has kept you this far is that she felt bad for you."

"That's not true!" She cried but couldn't help wonder what if it was true. Has Starclaw been just feeling bad for her this whole time? She shoved all of those thoughts out of her mind. This was not the time. "I can guarantee that she thinks of me as her sister. She is amazing and kind and would never let me think of her as a sister if she didn't think the same thing back."

The queen made his "tisk" sound and said, "they have brainwashed you haven't they? Don't worry. We can fix that."

She growled. "I don't want to be 'fixed.' What I want is for you to get out of my sister and leave my home and tribe alone."

"You think they care about you?" The queen cackled, "you poor naive child. They couldn't care less about you. I bet if you left, they would be happy or wouldn't even notice your gone."

Moonstone opened her mouth to answer and say that wasn't true but... what if it was true? The wolves did hate her, and her attacking them —even if it was against her own will— proved they have every right to.

"Aw. Finally, realizing how unloved you are? Well, it won't be like that for you in the dragon mountains. Everyone would welcome you with open claws. You'll never have to see these horrid wolves ever again."

She was tempted to. Way more than she would ever admit, but then she looked at Starclaw/Errier and felt all her hate for the queen and her subjects even more. So, she growled and said to her in a snarling tone, "I will never join you or your subjects. Being your so-called 'subject' has just shown me more how horrible and lifeless life is in your village. You are the worst queen I have ever seen, and I'm tired of you hurting my village! So read my lips, I will never leave the wolves no matter what they say about me!"

With each word she spoke, the queen

looked more and more furious, and once she finished, the queen made a circling motion with her claws. She heard a loud clang as pain shot through her head, and then everything went black.

                                                                    . . .

Moonstone felt like she was on fire. Every limb being scorched to nothing but ashes. All her fur and scales melted off like a fish being cleaned. When it felt like nothing of her existence was left but charred bones, she jolted back to reality.

She found out after a lot of struggle that she couldn't open her eyes. It felt like some of the fur on her face was plastering them shut. Her body was not much better. Every limb was covered in sweat as she had just flown a three hundred-mile race. It felt like she had been cooked to the bone, and something was caked on her head and legs.

"Moonstone? Moonstone, are you finally awake?" Asked a very familiar voice. She couldn't place it, though, seeing as her head felt like it was swimming in mud.

A cool cloth swept over her face, and then she was finally able to open her eyes. She looked up to see a familiar red scaly face hovering over her.

"Oh my gosh, Moonstone, don't scare me like that! Do you know what kind of stress you've put me through? I haven't even had time to go to my weekly scale polish appointments. That's how busy you've kept me."

"Well, I'm sorry. It must have been such a tragedy for you." She said wryly, trying to sit up and epically failing.

"I know! You owe me for this. I'm thinking three scale waxings and two claw massages will mostly make up for this."

"Not a chance scale breath," she said, using the nickname she had made for him during her first week at Flameneria. "You'll be lucky if you even talk me into one of those things."

"Fine, but so that you know, I am extremely offended that you won't reward your knight in shining armor."

She snorted and tried once more to stand. This time she felt a burst of fiery pain go through her, and with a yelp, she fell into her back once more.

Birds usual annoying smirk faded to worry, and he crouched down beside her, "are you alright? I'm serious here. What happened?"

That's when it all came back to her. All her pain and sadness knowing that her sister, her best friend, was now controlled by possibly the evilest creature in the world. The fact that her village, her home for her entire life, was now taken over by the dragons and used as a prison for all of the wolves in her village.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Bitod said, his snooty voice turning to compassion and concern as a tear trickled down her cheek. "However strange and mysterious you are, I realize that the great triumph over the wolves has somehow upset you. If you're a dragon, like you say you are, you should be happy about that. So you're not a dragon, are you?"

She let out a sob. She couldn't take this anymore. If the queen still wanted her to keep this a secret, then she shouldn't have done this to her family. "No," she said quietly. "No, I'm not a dragon."

"Then, if you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

She sighed, she didn't have the energy to explain everything right now. So instead, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off into a nice, deep sleep. Where it was safe. Where it was quiet. Where it was peaceful.