Wings of Fire; The Creed

Chapter 4

Starburst looked down and focused on herself at that moment. Her breaths were very shallow and fast. She could feel droplets of sweat roll down her scales. She tried to slow her racing heart down, taking deep breaths, and just calming down in general.

She walked over to the water's edge and looked at her reflection.

Who am I? Who have I become?

She looked away from herself, not bearing to look at the reflection. She didn't know who she was. The only thing she has ever known as anger and anxiety.

She never considered the rainforest to be home. She only considered it to be a prison in disguise. It was a hostile and forbidding place one you truly got to know it.

Starburst knew that the queen was trying to get the whole rainforest under control, and nearly has completely fixed it, but the one thing she has never been able to fix is the dragons. You can't control other dragon's behavior, which ends up making it be an unbearable place.

She sighed and made her way out of the cavern. She needed a moment to think.

She followed the small tunnels out to the main halls, where there was a large number of dragonets hustling and bustling about. She merged into the flow of traffic and it led her to the great hall, where there was a large commotion about something, but Starburst didn't give it much of a thought.

She made her way back through the tunnels and arrived at her sleeping cave. She walked in looking for the timid NightWing, but the cave was empty.

They were planning to leave tomorrow... Right? Am I going insane? Probably.

She made her way throughout the school looking for the rest of her winglet. The bright blue sky was shining brightly outside and was blinding Starburst as she walked to the Prey Center. The sunlight joyfully bound its way through the large hole in the wall, filling up the space with grotesque cheer.

The Prey Center was filled with plenty of dragons, but not as many as she was expecting. She walked through it, attempting to avoid as many judging eyes as possible. She came up to the open air hole in the wall, and leaped out into the sky. Maybe they went out hunting? Did they already leave her behind? That is kind of what she told them to do though.

She looked around, spotting a few black dots in the sky, but none with a SandWing figure nearby.

She started to worry that they did leave her behind, when she heard her name being called out from behind her. She twirled around to find the SeaWing from her Winglet flying above her carrying a large net filled with some fish.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a quiet shout, being careful to not attract any attention to her, which she was very grateful for.

She flew up toward the quiet SeaWing, avoiding the smell of the fish that he was blowing in her direction.

"I-I... I was... um... I was wondering if I could... possibly come with... you guys to the... rainforest?" she said, straining on the last word.

He tilted his head at her in curiosity. She looked away with a scowl, trying not to snap at him. She already said she never was going to go with them. Why would he change his mind? He is just going to say no and leave her behind.

"I thought you didn't want to come to the rainforest. Oh well. Sure thing. The more the marrier." he said. He flew down toward the Prey Center carrying the net of fish with him.

He has seemed to be more confident than when she first met him. What caused this?

She shrugged it off and made her way back down to the Prey Center behind him. She landed and followed him through the chaos. All different tribes were running about each other, talking to one another. She hated this room with her whole existence.

They arrived at a small closed corner of the Prey Center, where not many dragons ventured, and she spotted the rest of her frien... she means claw mates.

She growled at herself for thinking that they were her friends. She only had one friend, and even that might be a stretch. They haven't seen each other in a long while. Who knows how much they have grown apart?

They all mumbled thanks to their SeaWing clawmate and grabbed a fish each. Starburst stuck her tongue out in disgust at the fish and walked over to the fruit pile. By walk, she means turns invisible and sneaks over, trying to grab a few mangos and papayas before making her way back to her clawmates.

She dumped them on the rough ground, with a few rolling away, and she turned visible again. One of the rebellious mangos rolled over and brushed the SeaWing's leg, causing him to jump and yelp.

Starburst struggled to keep her serious and grumpy demeanor as both Boris and Diamondback belted out some loud obnoxious laughter.

"Sorry Bubble," she said meaninglessly. She didn't really care much about it. She actually thought it was funnier than anything.

"I-It's okay. I-I-I'm fine," he replied. She gave him a little nudge punch on his shoulder and made an attempt at a friendly smile. She must have punched him too hard because he flinched a little, but he also looked like he was trying to hide the fact that it hurt.

"Didn't you say you wanted to come to the rainforest with us tomorrow?" Bubble asked, clearly fishing for her to tell the whole group about it, but she was not going to start a whole conversation about it. They will end up asking why she changed her mind, and she didn't want to deal with it.

"Yeah... Something like that.

Diamondback looked over and squinted his eyes at her, clearly trying to figure her out. She looked around discreetly to see if anyone was watching, which no one was. Boris was looking off into the distance at the crowd, Artemis was just looking at her fish as she ate it, and Bubble was not so stealthily looking at Artemis like a weirdo.

She looked back over at Diamondback, who was mapping her out, and she bared her fangs at her. He looked at her in surprise and scooted a little bit farther from her.

She immediately felt guilty about it. She just hurt her chance at having some real friends... again. What is wrong with her? Maybe it is the other dragons! NOT HER! They are all judging, evil, meanies.

She sighed and tried to finish her fruit. Starburst had a long night and day ahead of her. She still didn't want to go to the rainforest, but if her winglet was going there, she would know a thing or two about tracking. Plus, if she went back, she would be able to meet up with... her, again.