Hybrids of Hope or Hell

Chapter One : Calla Lily

Cuckoowasp tilted their head curiously towards the noisy cluster of plants. The wide deep blue eyes slowly expanded into a full dragon as the hiding Nightwing emerged from the bush. She was tall and slender, small stunted horns sprouted from her silvery-grey scales. The silver colouration was only broken by her jet black wings, a silver line clinging to the outsides of her starry wings. Her sea coloured eyes evaluated Cuckoowasp with a mixture of caution and curiosity.

"Who are you?" The pale green dragon questioned the shifty silver scaled dragoness. Cuckoowasp made sure to keep their words stern, making a point of aiming their dangerous tail at the Nightwing.

Raising their deep black talons, the Nightwing spoke defensively, "I'm Eclipse. Who the dark are you?" Her voice was low and smooth as she spoke, something Cuckoowasp wasn't expecting from such a small dragon.

"That's none of your damn concern. Why are you here?"

Eclipse raised her eyebrows at the hostile tone of the unfamiliar, strange looking dragon. "I should be asking you the same thing. I don't recognise you. I don't think I've even seen anyone like you before...Who are you?" The dragoness fluttered her eyelids as she asked the question once more, opting to clasp her from claws together in an exaggerated innocent gesture.

"Have the all-knowing Nightwings never seen a Hivewing before?" Cuckoowasp's tone was teeming with sarcasm as they slowly backed away from the grey dragon.

Blue eyes widening, Eclipse spoke in surprise, "you're a Hivewing? I've never seen a Hivewing that..." she looked the other dragon up and down for a few seconds before continuing her statement. "No Hivewing I've ever seen looks like you."

The strange dragon hesitated for a moment before responding to the awkward statements, "I don't know why I look like this but I know my tribe doesn't want any part of it." Cuckoowasp kept their face and tone intentionally cold as to not give any emotion away to this stranger.

Eclipse tilted her head curiously, "your tribe doesn't... want you? Why?" She took a tentative step forward, her wings fluttering behind her gently as she tucked them in.

"I don't know. They were never polite enough to tell me. My father is a regular hivewing and so was my mother, that was before she died in the tree wars that is."

The dark silver dragon gave an expression of pity, and maybe even a tinge of sympathy. "So they treated you badly? Just because you look different?"

"That about sums it up." Cuckoowasp bluntly replied, a little baffled at how this was a new concept to the similar aged nightwing. However, maybe nightwing's were just 'too superior' for that, they thought to themselves.

Glinting metallic scales shone in the afternoon light as Eclipse nodded before casting a cautious look around the seemingly vacant woodlands. "So, then... are you all alone now? Have you seen other hivewings since?"

Cuckoowasp's pale green head casually tossed over their shoulder, trying to disguise their fearful action of peering around the woods at the very mention of their tribe. "No, not since I almost died of exhaustion flying to this place."

"You almost what?!" Eclipse exclaimed, stepping forward as appalment spread across her face. "Why would you do such a thing? No dragon can fly across the sea by themselves, especially without stopping for long periods of rest!"

"It's not like I had much of a choice..."

A horrified mix of disbelief and shock glinted in her midnight blue eyes, "no choice? Are you serious?" Flabbergasted silence strangled the strange dragon's words for a few moments as she stood there dumbfounded. "You really had to fly for days and days all on your own? Are you crazy?"

"No, but the dragons who want me dead are, hence the flying to a whole other continent thing..." The unusual hivewing began to wonder if there was really any point of explaining their situation to this dragon. Pity started to swell in the nightwing's eyes, her gaze landed empathetically onto Cuckoowasp's own grey ones.

A sudden thought exploded into Eclipse's head and she looked as if she wanted to slap herself for not remembering earlier. Leaning in closer as if there were other dragon's around to hear, she whispered into the hivewing's pierced ears, "have you heard of the 'Hybrids of Hope or Hell'?"