Wings of Fire: Lost in Time

Prologue: Under The Light Of The Moons

Moonwatcher:

Moonwatcher stood in the middle of the rainforest, ferns shrouding her moonlit wings, and casting shadows over the shape of a small hut just hidden out of sight. She was small against the figure next to her, who towered so high she might have been a tree herself. Ruby red scales glinted in her movements as Carnelian gave Moon an affectionate brush of her wings.

"It's got to be soon, Moonshine." She whispered in a rugged undertone. Her amber eyes flicked up to the sky.

The stars were lit up by two round, almost full moons shining down on them, giving the clearing a spookily ethereal glow.

"I know." She sighed. "But I've seen so many outcomes, Carnelian. Ones where they grow up alone ... ones where they fight each other on a mountainside ... even ones where two don't know the third."

She gazed down at the eggs in front of them fondly. Two red, with little dark patches and stars, and the third a sort of silvery pearl colour. The struggle they went through to create them was immense, but well worth the effort - before they had settled in the rainforest, Moon and Carnelian had been travelers, and managed to scrape together a lot of lost animus treasure for safekeeping. (Turtle's idea, who said they should have tabs on all the existing enchantments)

Among them was a strange carved egg statue - made of marble, and when they found it, infested with dirt. Not anymore, though. They'd given it to Anemone for safekeeping, and somehow between her and Tamarin, they'd figured out how it worked. Months later, Anemone found herself with egg, and little Lavender was hatched ... then Moon finally knew that was what she wanted.

Eight months later they were here, under the watchful light of the moons, and the eggs in front of them were rocking rhythmically.

"Moon." Carnelian nudged, who had fallen peacefully silent. "Moon, look."

One of the red and black eggs was rocking a little more noticeably, until it fell flat on its side. (face?) Moon gave a tiny gasp and hurried forwards.

Out of the shell, a tiny claw suddenly poked Moonwatcher's snout away, and waved frantically like a vigorous greeting. Then the rest of the dragonet fell out with a tiny squeak. 

Breathless tension.

The dragonet rounded her heavy head to look into Carnelian's eyes, and the SkyWing gently scooped up her dragonet with soft adoration. 

"Lia... are you crying?" Moon asked, barely concealing the joy in her voice.

"Maybe." Carnelian agreed. "Moon... what's her name? You said you'd seen futures."

"Redsky." Moonwatcher said.

But they'd barely got time to admire the name before a tail fractured the second egg and wagged around. The second dragonet was slightly larger than Redsky, with dark carmine scales and splashes of stars all over, and her blue eyes looked beseechingly at Moonwatcher, who kneeled by her daughter's side and placed a large talon on her tiny foot.

"Moonpounce ... I'm your mother," She shot a grateful glance at Carnelian - "One of them. I'm never going to abandon you. I'm never going to leave you alone. You're going to have the best life we can give you." She assured.

And they waited for the third egg, but it was taking it's sweet time.

Finally, the silver shell began to crack, and as Moonwatcher leant close, she could hear ragged breaths becoming louder, louder and louder ... a paw! Half the dragonet lodged itself out of the egg, and then ... it fell still. Moon's heart pounded against her ribcage.

"Moon?" Carnelian breathed, worry edging her voice.

"I don't know." She cut. "I didn't - I haven't forseen this."

That was a lie, but the possibility had been so small she hadn't even considered it. As gently as possible, she freed the dragonet from it's shell and lifted the limp body in her claws. Moonpounce wound around her claws and looked up with a gentle 'awwrkk?'

The third dragonet wasn't breathing anymore.

Moon's claws were shaking as she laid her down, and Carnelian wrapped her close into her sturdy chest, whispering at fast pace in her ear. She let tears roll down her face.

Moon and Carnelian looked down at the third egg with an expression of heartbreak on their faces.

Their third magically created dragonet ... didn't even take a breath before she left the egg. She was dead.

"Moon," Carnelian nudged, a rare harsh sadness showing in her raw voice. "I think now is time to use the amulet."

With a jolt, Moonwatcher realised Carnelian might be right - the cursed amulet they'd found, said to grant wishes but in a twisted way ... users had been warned. But if she spoke right ... there could be no way around it.

And even if her dragonet was different, she'd still love her.

Gently, Moon took off the amulet and placed it around the limp dragonet's neck, though pausing to attach a tiny slip of scroll. Carnelian looked at her inquisitively, but she'd explain later.

"I wish ... for this dragonet to be alive and completely healthy - and to stay that way!" She added. The amulet began to glow, and pulse and spin around... whirring noises filled the air, and suddenly the lights were too bright and the shadows were too dark and everything looked inverted and then! Silence.

Though far from getting to her feet... The dragonet shimmered out of sight.

Alive, but lost in time.