The Cindered (Anti)Hero || Book 1

Chapter 7 - The Rainforest

Ronin and Jacques had been flying nearly nonstop to the rainforest for days, and no sign of Cinder behind them. Ronin was filled with anxiety. What if Cinder had been captured, or worse, killed? He had to assume she wasn't able to catch up, just so he could stop worrying, and focus on flying.

Finally, after what had seemed to stretch out for a long period of time, Ronin, Jacques, and Angel had arrived to the rainforest. It was raining. A lot. Ronin held his wings over his head, protecting both him and Angel's head from the rain. For now.

They walked through the forest, barely able to see. Wind blew rain into Ronin's face, making him constantly have to wipe them off of his eyes. There were many trees, as there are in a rainforest. Sounds of birds and bugs could be heard chirping throughout, if you could hear beyond the heavy downpour.

Soon enough, they had found the village. Many treehouses hung over in huge trees, as well as platforms and hammocks. Not many RainWings were seen, except for a few hurrying to a huge egg-like building, and others flying through the trees. 

Most notably was a large pale red SkyWing, with violet talons that extended to fade to a pink up the legs, and wings with a gradient of sky blue, dark pink, and indigo, dotted with white spots that looked like stars. She seemed very out of place, but Ronin assumed she was safer here than in the Sky Kingdom.

The SkyWing looked their direction and seemed quite surprised. "Oh! Hello, new dragons! Or, do you live here? Or, maybe the NightWing village? I apologize, I haven't had the chance to visit the other village. I've really only been here a bit."

Ronin smiled, chuckling. "Quite alright, ma'am. We are new here as well."

The SkyWing nodded. "Pleasure to be meeting you. I am Comet. If you're curious about my legs, yes, I am a hybrid. My dad was a RainWing." She laughed a bit.

Angel remarked, "your colors are really pretty!" Comet smiled. "Thank you! So are yours!" Angel hopped off of Ronin's back. "Guess what?"

"What?" Comet sat, seemingly intrigued.

"I can change colors! My dad's a RainWing!"

"Ooh! Can i see?" Comet asked.

Angel squinted her eyes shut, and almost at once, her scales shifted from her usual indigo-ish blue to more of a navy, with specks of pink.

"Ooh!" Comet replied. "That's neat! I wish I could change my colors like that." She sighed. "Well, anyways, what brings you 3 to the rainforest?"?

Ronin looked at Jacques, making a "what do we tell her?" expression. Jacques gave him an "I don't know, make something up!" expression.

Ronin sighed. "A...friend...of ours told us to meet here. We're kinda just waiting for them to show up." He would shrug.

Comet nodded. "I see. Mind if I ask who this friend of yours is?"

Angel beamed. "Her name is Cinder!"

Comet froze. "C-Cinder?"

Oh, moons, Ronin thought. Is Cinder really that infamous?

Calm down, Ro. Maybe Comet has lived in the Sky Kingdom?

That wouldn't necessarily be good in this situation.

He would curse at Angel in his head, the way siblings do.

Comet looked at the dragons curiously, squinting slightly. "Why would Cinder, of all dragons, team up with a RainWing, HiveWing, and SeaWing? And kids, at that?"

Jacques seemed a bit confused. "Ronin, who exactly is Cinder?" He asked in a way where he knew of Cinder, but did not know what her role was and what she was known for.

Ronin gritted his teeth. "About that-"

Comet cut Ronin off. "Well, anyways, before you question, I have met Cinder. I don't know much about her, but y'know, who does?"

Ronin tilted his head. "You've met Cinder? And survived?"

Comet laughed softly. "I know, crazy. It's a long story."

Angel chimed in. "I wanna hear the story!" Ronin and Jacques nodded. Comet nodded back. "Alright, but really, we should get out of this rain! Here, I'll take you all to my treehouse!" Comet stretched her gradient wings and took to the trees, and the 3 followed. She landed outside of a treehouse with a canopy of leaves over it. She bowed her head, stretching her wing to the entrance. "Go ahead. Guests first."

The 3 walked in, taking in the treehouse. It had everything a den would: bowls of fruit and water, a patch of leaves, which Ronin assumed was used for sleeping, a small gather of sticks surrounded by rocks, which was directly underneath a chimney-like build, which had a lighter layer of leaf, still able to keep out most rain, but let some seep in occasionally. To the side of the cave was a desk, which held rolls of scrolls and tiny flowers in pots.

"Lovely home you have, Comet," Ronin remarked. "Aw, thanks," Comet responded. "It ain't much, but y'know, it's inhabitable."

Ronin nodded. "Yeah. So, may we hear of how you survived Cinder, and how you even know her?"

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- MWAHAHA CLIFFHANGER (don't kill me pls, im desperate :'] ) -