The Story of Artemis- Wings of Fire

Chapter 8

Artemis arrived at Jade Mountain sooner than she expected. It would've been longer on her own. After she left with the group, it was only a day until the peaks were visible. Her heart raced at the sight of it, and she couldn't believe it. She was finally there.

Mamba glided over to Artemis, looking half asleep.

"My wings are aching." She complained. "I think they're gonna fall off."

Artemis chuckled at the dramatic Rainwing.

"I'm serious!" Mamba continued. "Everything hurts." She groaned, turning a sympathetic blue.

"At least we're here." Artemis added. Mamba scowled at her, beating her wings and irately adjusting the bag over her neck.

Jade Mountain loomed overhead, and Artemis and Mamba were the first of the group to land at the school. As soon as her talons touched the ground, Artemis was shocked with a sudden wave of excitement and nausea. It puzzled her enough that she wobbled on her legs.

"Easy there." Shadowbender's voice broke her moment of nausea. She blinked and looked over at him. He flashed her a grin as he landed, nice, but somewhat pained. As if he forced it. He folded his sparkling wings.

"Excited?" He asked.

"Nervous." She answered, still a bit weirded out by his glancing behavior.

"Eh, there shouldn't be much to worry about. You'll be fine."

Artemis arched a brow, he smiled again and waved at her.

"Well. I gotta go check in. See you around, Artemis."

She stood for a moment, waiting for the buzzing sensation to fade away. She didn't even notice the groups of dragons starting to arrive. Artemis would've been trampled by a Mudwing if Mamba hadn't shoved her out of the way.

She yelped, tripping back and falling onto her friend. They both fell in a heap of scales, and soon found themselves laughing. Mamba's laugh was weird, a shrill, silly laugh. It made Artemis laugh even more.

"Okay." Artemis struggled to speak in between giggles. "We...we have to go check in." She laughed. Mamba just nodded and chuckled, pulling Artemis up, pulling back their tangled wings and tails.

"Thanks, Mamba." Artemis said. Mamba giggled.

"No problem, Arty."

She smiled fondly at the nickname. She never had been given one before.

They both got to their feet and took a moment to look at what was before them. Arriving in groups of three, dragons from each tribe showed up for the new winglets. Shimmering Icewings, rowdy Mudwings, regal Skywings. Of course, the tempered Seawings. Artemis' eyes wandered to the group of Sandwings.

One was chasing a smaller one with their tail, and the other was sitting there embarrassed. He glared down at them both, his own deadly tail flicking back and forth, as if deciding who he'd stab first.

He was a light tan with black stripes running down his side. His onyx eyes drifted back and forth from a pale yellow Sandwing, and a larger tan Sandwing with a messy frill. He was shouting something at them, but obviously wasn't being heard.

He stuck out his tail, which instantly tripped the furious yellow Sandwing. She yelped and flipped head over tail, landing a few dragon-lengths away. He started laughing loudly, obviously pleased with himself.

The pale yellow Sandwing stood, and shrieked in outrage. "Oryx!"

Artemis growled to herself.

What kind of sloth brain trips another dragonet like that? Her thoughts fumed. He could've cut her with his barb! Wait, are Sandwings immune to their own poison? No.. I remember reading about that.

She kept thinking, until out of the corner of her eye she saw Mamba vanish.

"Mamba?" She called, looking around the cluster of dragonets. Desperately searching for her signature ruby red and black scales, Artemis gazed into the crowd. Many red Skywings, but no red Rainwings. Yet.

Assuming she'd been left, Artemis decided to venture to the sign up area by herself. After she slipped past various dragonets, and nearly stepping on a Mudwings tail, she finally made it to the entrance.

Once she got inside, she gawked at all the detail. Flowers decorated the stone walls, and glowing lantern-like things lit up the bright hallway. A banner hung from the walls that boldly spelled out Welcome New(er) Students! In bright pink and purple flowers. This was nothing like the caves she was used to.

She peered into two tunnels. In one, a new, large map was displayed, showing all of Jade Mountain. She admired it for a second, but continued on her way. Across from it was an intricate map of Pyrriah itself.

As she walked down the hall, she looked around for the sign up desk. She noticed a couple dragonets were squished together by a small room.

So she guessed that's where the sign up room was. She gazed around, standing behind a male Icewing and Rainwing who was Gecko, she remembered. The Icewing had his wings halfway spread, so it was impossible for Artemis to see the dragon at the desk. What made him want to take up so much space anyway?

Minutes later, the Icewing finally left. But Artemis still couldn't see the dragon at the desk. She sighed and shifted on her talons, and soon enough, Gecko left. Obviously pleased with something, considering the wide smile plastered on his face.

"Hello?" Artemis called.

With some shuffling and a few ouches, a dragon poked their head from behind the desk. Artemis was greeted by a pretty Nightwing. She had stark black scales and a purple-blue underbelly. There were silver star scales scattered all over the underside of her wings. Around one of her ankles, some of her tail, and she even had some clustered by her eyes. That reminded Artemis of Shadowbender. She radiated such an excited, visible aura that it made Artemis dizzy just by looking at her.

"Hi!" The Nightwing exclaimed, dropping a few scrolls from her talons, breaking her gaze and busily picking them up again. "I'm Fatespeaker! How can I help you?" She askedwhile she stuffed scrolls into small square wall pockets.

"Um. I need to find out my Winglet?" Artemis guessed, not quite sure how to respond.

"Your Winglet! Of course! Now, what's your name?"

"Artemis."

"Artemis? Ooh. Cool name." She stated, suddenly turning serious. She pivoted around and started sorting through scrolls. She hummed to herself and suddenly jerked up.

"Artemis!" Fatespeaker handed her two scrolls. "Here is the welcoming scroll and a guide scroll. It's got the map on it. Read it whenever you're confused about how things work, y'know."

Can I read it now? Artemis thought, slightly annoyed.

"I guess you read a lot. As most of us Nightwings do." She paused. "Anyways...welcome to Jade Mountain! And...Wow! You're in the Opal Winglet! Interesting group! Well your room is down the hall, make a left, and it's four caves down. I really hope you like your clawmates." She cheerfully stated.

"It was nice meeting a fellow Nightwing, thanks Fatespeaker." Artemis smiled slightly.

"No problem." Fatespeaker said. "I'm here if you need anything at all." She assured her, right before turning to face an impatient-looking bright green Seawing.

Artemis took a deep breath. You can do this. She thought to herself. Just new dragonets. You can do it.

With that, she followed Fatespeaker's directions. Walking down the hall, taking a left, and walking four caves down. She stopped at her room entrance, her stomach doing small somersaults.

"Stop it, you." She told it. Artemis must be crazy.

It's going to be fine, just like you said. Now get in there and make some new friends.

Artemis' eyes widened, and she quickly glanced around her. That was someone else's voice...No. She just needed some sleep...Shaking it off, she set her jaw and confidently walked in to meet her clawmates, for better or for worse.