How to Find Your Fire

(WoF) Chapter 26: Place

By Puffnut
Starscale's POV

"WHAT?" Starscale stares at TidalClaws with a mixture of horror, disbelief, and confusion in her eyes. "YOU'RE AN ANIMUS AND A MIND READER?!" TidalClaws winces at her sharp tone as Starscale thinks back on everything that had happened this last day. First, she had caused her friends to be captured because she foolishly thought they had a chance of escape through the Skywing champion. And, because she put them in danger, TidalClaws had to kill a dragon. Of course, he didn't know that she knew, but she saw it on his face how tormented he was about it. Starscale sharply clears her thoughts, remembering he was a mind reader. He's not even a full Nightwing and can still read minds while I can't...

And then, after they had been put in cells, Otter had broke and had shouted, "I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU TWO DESPERATELY TRYING TO ESCAPE, WE WOULDN'T BE IN THESE STUPID CELLS. WE WOULD BE HAPPILY SITTING IN OUR ROOM EATING A NICE JUICY COW. I SHOULD HAVE NEVER FOLLOWED YOU! AND NOW I CAN'T RESCUE MY BROTHER! YOU HAVE JUST DOOMED US AND NOW WE WILL NEVER BE FREE FROM THIS PLACE! AND IT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU TWO!"

But, even more surprising was when TidalClaws shouted back, "DON'T YOU MEAN THAT YOU AND YOUR BROTHER WILL NEVER BE FREE? YOU NEVER TRY TO BE AT LEAST A LITTLE NICE TO OTHER DRAGONS AND ALL YOU THINK ABOUT IS ESCAPING WITH YOUR BROTHER AND ONLY HIM. YOU NEVER CARED IF WE BROKE FREE WITH YOU, YOU'D THOUGHT IT YOURSELF THAT YOU WOULD LEAVE US BEHIND!"

Before Otter could retort, Queen Ember came, they saw her kill a dragon, and they had been told they were going to die. For the next few hours, Starscale had frantically whispered ideas to herself on ways to escape, still feeling the hostile feelings directed at her from the other dragons.

She had finally noticed TidalClaws had built some sort of structure when he began saying, "I enchant the rocks on this picture that only after when arranged in this pattern and the dragon using it says the words, 'Take me to a place known as' and then says anywhere on Pyhrria, this pattern of rocks will form an entryway that the user can step into and arrive at the place they wanted to go. After they go through the portal, the dragon must say 'come back, please' and the portal will close and break into a pile of rocks in which will have to be assembled again to use the portal. Then, the rocks will automatically teleport back to the dragon who opened the portal in the first place. No spells from any other dragon will work on this portal except for the spells made by Me, Tidalclaws." Then the rocks had glowed, and Starscale had instantly guessed he was an animus, which made her feel all the more helpless.

Then, TidalClaws had saved them all, and Starscale can't help but wonder what her place on the team is. Otter, despite being annoying, is a good strategist and fighter. Diamond is a daunting four-part hybrid. TidalClaws had just announced he is an animus and a mind reader. Despite Starscale already knowing he was an animus, him saying it out loud and announcing he is a mind reader seems so much more surprising. And... who is she?

"Yeah, I'm an animus and a mind reader," TidalClaws says, shrinking back from the new stares directed at him.

"SO YOU'VE KNOWN WHAT WE'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS WHOLE TIME?!" shouts Otter.

Starscale sighs. She is pretty self-conscious about dragons reading her mind, but at the same time, she is used to it, being in the Nightwing tribe and all. But, she hadn't realized that TidalClaws could read her mind, so she hadn't cleared her mind from secretive thoughts as often as she used to. "We should give him the benefit of the doubt. I mean, if he's so powerful and wanted to hurt us, wouldn't he do it by now?"

Otter scoffs. "For all we know, this is part of some bigger motive and you're helping him." Her glare suddenly turns even more hostile. "You're not a mind-reader too, are you?"

Starscale tries to speak but was interrupted by Diamond. "Of course she's not. She's a Skywing."

Starscale gulps as Otter says, "No, she's clearly a Nightwing and she has been since we met her. Maybe a little Skywing but..."

"Wait.. that means," Diamond says, slowly comprehending. She glares in Starscale's general direction and if she could see, Starscale is sure Diamond would've bored daggers into her head with an icy glare. "YOU'RE THAT PESKY NIGHTWING! I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAS DECEIVED BY SOMEONE SO... SO DECEIVING!"

"W.. wait, maybe we could talk this out?" stammers TidalClaws. Seeing his terrified face, Starscale could only guess what murderous thoughts were running through Diamond's head.

"Wait, she didn't know you're a Nightwing?" asks Otter. She looks around, calculating her options. "I'm out. I need to rescue my brother and I can't trust a single one of you."

As she raises her wings, a roar erupts from far off in the distance, where the shore is. "Uh." Starscale freezes, feeling a chill go through her. "What was that?"

"It sounded like a dragon," TidalClaw says.

"Yeah, we never would've figured that out," mutters Otter sarcastically, but she has a worried look in her eyes.

"It doesn't sound like any dragon I've heard," observes Diamond, tilting her head to hear better if the dragon roared again. "And trust me, I've heard one too many dragons roar in pain in the arena."

Another roar, but this time, it's closer. As the sound echoes through the air, TidalClaws suddenly clutches his head in his talons and groans. Starscale runs over to him. "What's wrong?"

"The dragon... it's coming!" TidalClaws yells frantically. Starscale looks up as another roar shakes the earth beneath her. A strange fuzzy feeling was coming over her and she shakes her head to clear it. As she squints into the sky, she faintly notices a small blue dot in the sky that gradually grew bigger as it soared near. She gasped as she realizes the dragon is huge, almost four times the size of herself. Its belly is a reddish color and it has four small eyes situated on its head. As it lands, even from so far away, the earth shakes and Starscale feels even dizzier.

"What is that thing?" Otter whispers.

I am the Red Death! booms a voice in their heads. And tomorrow, I plan to take control of all your puny minds and destroy everything in my path!