King of The Dragons (Wings of Fire X Monster Hunter)

Part 1: Chapter 9 & 10

(3rd Pov Glory)

Glory stared at the rock. She didn't know how she knew it was not an ordinary hole. It looked like a hole - dark, with smooth stone edges, and just big enough for a full-grown dragon to pass through. A moss curtain partly covered it in a way that didn't look quite accidental enough.

But looking into it made her head spin, as if she were standing on the edge of a cliff in high winds. A faint sound whistled out of the hole, like a storm howling on the far side of the world.

AND STORMCALLER DECIDED TO RUN INTO IT!

"Stormcaller, wait!" she called.
"I'm going to see where this goes," he yelled back, still marching on.
"We don't know if it's safe," she said. He didn't listen.
"Life with no risks is no-" His voice stopped midsentence, as if something had stopped him.

"Stormcaller," she called.
No response.
"Stormcaller!" she tried again, this time was louder.
No response.

She could see that the hole led into a tunnel, but she didn't know where it went.
"What's going on," Starflight asked, climbing up to her. He peered around the boulder, and jumped back when he saw the hole. A tremor shivered through his wings.
"Where's Stormcaller?" he asked, looking around for the older NightWing.
"He went in there," Glory explained, pointing one of her wings at the hole.

Starflight's eyes widened, his wings shivered again. "Why would he do that?" he exclaimed. "I think that hole's horrible. Can't you feel it? There's something horribly wrong with it. Like someone ripped a hole where there shouldn't be one. Don't go near it."

"I think I have to go in it," Glory said.
"You say that like you're not terrified," Starflight said, "but I can see you scales turning the same pale green that Mangrove's just were. That means frightened, doesn't it?"

"Don't try to read my scales," Glory snapped. She deliberately turned herself as black as he was. "It's not a coincidence that this hole is here, close to where at least one dragon disappeared. Maybe Orchid went through - or maybe something came out and got her."

"Um, exactly," Starflight said. "And she was never seen from again, and we don't know if we'll see Stormcaller again either. I'm pretty sure you just made my point for me."

"I promised I'd figure this out," Glory insisted. "Not run and hide the moment we found a clue."
Clay joined them, his wings drooping. His jaws were finally free of the rubbery red fruit. "There was nothing I could do for the sloth," he said. "It was too far gone." Mangrove soon walked up to them.

"Wrrrrrrb," said Glory's sloth mournfully. Glory looked over Clay's shoulder at the still, silvery gray figure on the ground.
"Is it dead?" she whispered.
He nodded. "I didn't want to leave it in pain like that."
"But your not going to eat it?" She tilted her head at him.
"Seems a little heartless, you know?" he said.

"And from the smell of it, it would probably make you sick," Starflight pointed out. "I wonder what bit it, and whether it has any connection to this hole."
Clay noticed the hole for the first time and flared his wings in surprise.
"Creepy!" he yelped. "Why is it so creepy?"
"What is it?" Mangrove asked, his scales then turned back to pale green.

"Glory wants to go in there," Starflight said, rolling his eyes.
Clay stalked up to the hole, sniffed it, and nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, we probably have to."
"No, we don't!" Starflight cried. He curled his wings in toward his body. "That's insane! There could be anything lurking in there!"

"Including the answer to what could be attacking the RainWings," Glory said and then paused for a moment. "And Stormcaller," she added. "I'm going in. You three wait here."
"I'm going with you," Mangrove said quickly. The pale green was being stamped out of his scales, being replaced by his normal purple once again.