Songbird, Book 1: Sun's Arrival

Chapter 2

When the lake's peaceful waters came into view, Thunder Strike slowed down in relief. As she approached the cool shades of the palm trees overhead, Tia collapsed into the waterlogged grass. "I have to rest, just in case other infiltrators attack me. All that power took up a lot of energy in me. It'll take a while to recharge." It was then that Tia looked up into the dark stormy gray sky, and realized something was off. The clouds weren't all moving in one direction. They were more scattered. And it appeared that the clouds were coming... closer??? Tia rubbed her eyes in panic. "Please just be a hallucination, please just be a hallucination!" Thunder Strike thought over and over again, but it wasn't. As the dark gray dragon-like shadows closed in on Thunder Strike, she quickly leaped out of resting position and got ready for a battle.

"Ah!! My old friend, Ike 'ol pal! How have you been?!" Tia winced. "Do not use that name on me, mystery dragon." Thunder Strike slowly turned around, surveying the countless dragons that had suddenly surrounded her. "You have a problem with the way others call you?" That voice spoke again. "NIGHTMARE!!! DO NOT INTERFERE!!! Leave me alone. Period." Thunder Strike used her most threatening voice, but then lowered to a more hypnotic, mocking tone. Nightmare gave a surprised huff, somewhere in the flow of dragons and serpents. "So you do know me. How impressive." Tia hissed. "Well someone as arrogant as Darkstalker would probably be known all over the world." That was when the blow hit. She had expected it. Right before Nightmare's talons reached her skull, Tia twisted out of reach and struck Nightmare's forearm, just in the nick of time. Nightmare roared with fury and spun around. This time, he managed to catch the tip of Thunder Strike's wing, and drag her down to the ground. The two rolled around on the wet grass for a bit, struggling to get on top of each other. Through the crackle of thunder, Nightmare managed to screech "WHAT DID I BRING YOU ALL HERE FOR!!?? COME DOWN AND FIGHT!!" Nightmare's just pretending to be weak... thought Thunder Strike. Smart. I must be really careful with him. Conniving snake. As Nightmare had his head turned, she managed to throw him off balance, and leap into the air. "Smarter than you think, right?" Thunder Strike crowed smugly. Tia was uneasy of what she would do next, but had to risk it. She had to risk it and try to survive. Tia raised her talons to the sky, calling in the storm. I want thunder and lightning. Bring me wind. Bring me a hurricane, As clouds started to form over the entire continent.

"Yes!" Thunder Strike roared. "It's working!" Nightmare stared in amazement at the light show just above his head. The storm thickened. It got harder and harder for everyone to see. The only exception was Tia. She had special vision that allowed her to see through fog and storms, like the name of her species suggests. Thunder Strike watched as everyone gripped the ground to avoid being thrown away by the howling wind. Now all I have to do is kill them, and run away.

Tia knew it sounded easier than it actually was. Her plan was to confuse and distract Nightmare, then kill off most of the scouts before leaving them to their fate in the hurricane. Thunder Strike twisted in midair and tried to land on a scout just a few meters away from her, but missed as the dragon was thrown into the sky, screaming. Eventually, that one disappeared. "Yeesh." Thunder Strike shuddered. Okay... plan B, then. Tia thought. She would fire at dragons from a distance, and make sure Nightmare wasn't nearby. Thunder Strike opened her mouth, coughed out a puff of electricity, and finally managed to spark the fire and plasma inside her. She first aimed at the farthest dragons from her, then moved on to the closer ones. After about ten or so minutes of her shooting at the blind enemies, Thunder Strike's internal electricity and store of power went dry because she used her powers for a literal twenty minutes. In other words, she ran out of gas. Tia choked on the sparks coming out of her jaws for a moment, then coughed violently before spitting out some blood. "OH BY THE MOTHER OF FLIPPIN SPIRIT!!!" Thunder Strike cursed. By using her powers nonstop for the past week, her body hadn't had time to regenerate the electricity and magic. "I need to learn some new spells. With all these new enemies around, the original magic put on me will not hold up for much longer." Thunder Strike realized. "I need to stop the storm to save up some energy in order to even escape this place. And so, as a result, she slowed down the hurricane and left it where it wasn't too out of control so Thunder Strike didn't have to control it. I need to tell my friends what I saw! We'll send a backup wing soon. Tia was ready for whatever the world would throw at her. Or, what Nightmare would throw at her. Either one. Actually, now that Tia thought about it, Nightmare would probably throw refrigerators at her.

Thunder Strike crashed through the pine trees at top speed. I will n o t get caught like that again! Not for the rest of my life! When she reached the center of Silver Wing, her friends were waiting there, soaking wet. They all turned their heads when Tia thudded onto the ground, breathing heavily, with deep scratches all throughout her body. "Mountains above!! What happened to you!?" Stella roared in surprise and fury as Eclipse and Serpent quickly picked up the near unconscious Thunder Strike in a hammock. Thunder Strike coughed. "I-I... I saw Nightmare. He had about... I don't know-about millions of dragons." Tia's voice slowly faded away. Even Thunder Strike herself couldn't hear it. A ringing sound slowly took over her ears and the world around her started going blurry. Everyone looked as if they were swirled around in bubbling, black acid. "He's here..." Tia barely managed to whisper. That was the last thing she remembered before blacking out.

"Is she still alive?"

"I don't know..."

Mother? Father? Are you there? Thunder Strike twitched, or... she thought she twitched.

"I think we should still let her rest. That was a humongous spell performed. Never seen anything like it."

"Will she be okay?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

I d o n ' t k n o w , e i t h e r . . .

Tia sighed internally, closed her eyes, and waited to perish.