A Promise To The Stars

Chapter Five

When Sulphur awoke, he craned his neck to look around, still in the forest. Phew, he thought to himself, it wasn't just one of those dreams again... he took a deep breath and glanced over his shoulder, only to see Amber cradled in his wing. He then nodded to his thoughts, and attempted to fall back asleep but a voice rang throughout his mind.

"The word's out," it spoke in a daring tone, as if the owner of it had been right next to Sulphur's ear, whispering to him. He gulped, and swiveled around, looking from left to right with a menacing hiss.

"Who said that?" he barked, being careful as to not awake his sleeping sister who was now clutching onto his claw tightly. A ringing fit of snickering came from above, and Sulphur carefully took his wing from beneath Amber, craning his neck upwards to see a silvery dragon dangling from the vines in the tree.

Sulphur backed up, flinching with fright as the dragon gave him a friendly smile, and twirled himself around like a piñata being suspended from the branch above. "Hello," he said with a brisk cough, slowly raking his claws down the vine to get a better glimpse at Sulphur.

The hatchling backed up with a menacing hiss, his wings flaring with curiosity, only making his opponent chuckle. "Who are you?" Sulphur hissed protectively, and stood in front of Amber in a defensive stance. "Oh, that isn't of any importance." The dragon scoffed in a mocking voice, it was unidentifiable as to who he was mocking, but sounded somewhat familiar.

Whoever this was, Sulphur didn't trust him one bit, and he felt a hiss of fire come up his throat. "Not so fast, buddy." It mused and a thin, transparent band came waving down to snatch Sulphur's snout, bringing it up to face him.

"Handsome." He snorted, and the band unravelled itself and caught back to its owner. "Who are you? Tell me." Sulphur roared, attempting to sound as threatening as possible, he sunk his talons into the grass.

"My name is Silver, and don't be so pushy. You won't impress your date over there if you keep up with this attitude." He barked a laugh, and swung himself upwards to perch on the branch, staring side-ways down at Amber who was curled into a spiral.

This mysterious figure started to dip down right in front of Sulphur, squinting at the marks on his lower back, which were in the shape of a serpent. He gulped, and immediately decided to retreat back into his tree. "Don't read my mind." He blurted out, and covered his snout with his talons.

"R-read minds?" Sulphur gulped, and felt his whole world crumble as he took another glimpse back up at Silver. He gave him a sharp look, as if his eyes were the edges of blades, and shook his head in disbelief. "You don't know- oh. I see... Do not fret about that," he gestured his talons in a shaking motion whilst taking a step back.

"You have absolutely nothing to worry about, it's just an old prophecy that you're in – but don't worry, it's fake. Completely and utterly fake." He sneered, and Sulphur had the sudden feeling that slugs were edging their way into his scales, he felt tingly and he narrowed his dark eyes.

"A prophecy you say?" he asked, leaning forwards to meet Silver's desperate eyes, as he struggled to find a response. "N-yes, yes, a prophecy, but it is far from real. Utterly fake." He spat the last word as if it were a lie, and crept back up into the tangling vines.

"If anyone finds out about this, you'll have to save your own scales, because I'll be out." He pointed towards the sky, and swirled his claws in a motion of him flying.

"But, I assure you, nothing is wrong, and as long as you don't go shouting out to the world that you're a part of the elemental prophecy, you should be clear." Silver gave him an assuring grin with a nod, and peered down towards Amber.