Days of Death [A Wings of Fire Fanfiction]

Chapter 9: Time

Goldennight opened his eyes. It was three days since Acekiller had revealed to be the heir of Andlat. The group had been moving towards the old HybridWing kingdom, following the ancient HybridWing king.

It was still nighttime and for a second, Goldennight didn’t know why he had woken up. Then he heard voices, he saw the shadows of Kuldr, Sundavr and Vanyali around a small fire. He was still perplexed and confused on being in the presence of real gods, he never really believed in the HybridWing gods, but he knew they had importance within the HybridWing stories and legends.

Curious, Goldennight crept towards them. Stopping behind a small dune of sand, he perked up his ears.

“What I want to know,” Kuldr was saying. “How did you know that Goldennight would be able to anchor such magic?” He glanced off at Vanyali, who was leaning against a staff of some sort.

Vanyali was silent for a moment. “He’s Manin-spawn,” She finally said, before she took the end of her staff and shoved it into the fire, moving the coals around.

“Manin hasn’t been seen in centuries, Vanyali.” Sundavr growled softly. “Most of us think he’s dead, or just vanished.”

“I can sense an old magic flowing through their veins.” Vanyali said. “It’s older than you Sundavr, and even your father Kuldr.”

“Why presume now? He could have done this a long time ago,” Kuldr mentioned.

“If only you could see what I see,” Vanyali said, disappointment in her voice.

Goldennight went back to the place he was sleeping in, quietly. He curled into a comfortable position and reflected on what the three gods were talking about, as he thought, the comfort of sleep took him into its long forbidding arms.

-----------------------------------------------------------

“We’re almost there!” Cairo called out to the group behind him. “Should be behind this ridge.” The group crested the ridge as the sun started to rise to the its peak.

His eyes widened as he saw across the sand below them, an ancient city that has been aged. The remains were broken, destroyed by weather and the grains of time. There was only one place that seemed untouched by time, it was a large dome that was in the middle of the old kingdom.

“It looks just like the new one,” Cobra commented.

“When we moved to the island, we made sure to rebuild it just like our old home,” Cairo said. “The sword should be in front of the palace entrance.”

They flew towards the palace, watching the ancient buildings with curiosity. Snowflake was getting exhausted from the scorching heat, so Nightfighter volunteered to stay behind with her, they would later meet up at the edge of the desert. Vanyali and Sundavr also stayed behind to keep watch and make sure they wouldn’t be followed, so the only ones left were Peacebringer, Kuldr, Cairo, Adder, Cobra, Acekiller and Goldennight.

As the HybridWings and Peacebringer landed, they looked around at the palace courtyard. Cairo took a long stare at all the buildings, Goldennight heard a small sigh from the ancient dragon.

Goldennight heard a small humming noise, he perked up his ears to follow the noise. He walked towards the source as he scoured around the kingdom. He found himself at the palace doors, the humming was the loudest here. Crouching down, he reached out a talon under the unhinged palace doors. He moved his talons around until a sword flew out of the sand below the doors, landing in Goldennight’s talon.

He felt like he was being electrocuted, a surge of energy flowing through the sword to his talon. He cried out in surprise and fell backwards at the sudden pain. His father quickly rushed to him, the ground shook in a violent manner. Kuldr looked around with suspicion, his glowing eyes searching.

“Goldennight, answer me!” Peacebringer yelled.

“I’m fine mother,” Goldennight said, he put a talon to his head.

“I should’ve warned you about that,” Kuldr said.

“You think?” Acekiller remarked, receiving a glare from the god.

Goldennight started to massage his temples to relieve himself of the migraine he was getting, he noticed with panic that some of the scales on his legs were turning a copper colour. His membranes and arms were having the same effect.

Kuldr took one glance at Goldennight and frowned. “Vanyali was right,” he said. “You are Manin-spawn.”

“Okay, what does that mean?” Goldennight asked.

“Well. . .” Kuldr began. “In simple words, you’ve been possessed by a dead god.”

“How does that make sense?” Cobra asked.

“It doesn’t,” Kuldr replied. “He’s supposed to be sort of dead, the god I mean, the one that’s possessing him.”

Memories filled Goldennight’s mind, memories that don’t belong to him. He sees the face of Andlat clearly with a sneering smile, he felt the emotions of another dragon’s life.

“Well, whoever’s possessing me, I think I have his memories,” Goldennight said. “He’s making me see one, I think it’s how he died?”

Goldennight saw Andlat holding someone in a choke hold, the dragon bit down on Andlat’s talons which set him free. Goldennight guessed that that was Manin, he had no idea why he concluded with that.

Goldennight felt his thoughts and emotions merging with Manin, whatever he felt, Goldennight felt too, whatever Manin was thinking, Goldennight heard it clear in his head. Goldennight also saw another dragon who had a similar colour scheme as Manin. Andlat smiled, he roared at the two dragons, a black ball started to form in front of Andlat, the two dragons tried to move away but the sphere blinded their vision before they could. Soon they were knocked back and fell under the might of Andlat.

Goldennight reopened his eyes. “Andlat killed Manin’s brother,” he said to the group. “He wants to avenge his brother.”

“How do you know that?” Peacebringer asked, a look of confusion and worry crossed her face.

“Since he’s possessed by Manin, they share each other’s thoughts and emotions,” Kuldr mentioned. “It is hard is hard to explain without a direct example.”

“Well, we have the weapon,” Acekiller jumped in. “We should find Andlat and finish this.”

Goldennight nodded in agreement, as the other dragons started to take off, he looked back to see Cairo and Adder staring at the abandoned city. “Are you two coming? We could use your help,” Goldennight said.

Cairo shook his head. “I think we’ll stay here, it will be easy to find your way back,” Cairo said while pointed to the sky. Goldennight followed Cairo’s claw to see a huge ash cloud in the distance. “There are. . . too many memories here,” Cairo added. “Good luck, Manin will grant you power only you could dream of.”

Goldennight nodded. “Thank you for your help,” he said as he lifted off. He caught up with the other dragons as they made their way to rendezvous with Snowflake and Nightfighter. “Vanyali, Sundavr and me will go to Mount Darkness and deal with Andlat, we suspect the center of Pyrrhia will we the most logical base of operations for Andlat. Which is sadly Jade Mountain Academy, the rest will go there and fend off Andlat’s skeleton army,” Kuldr said.

“And me,” Goldennight added, which diverted attention to him. “I’ll go with the gods, I have an appointment with death,” he said in a metallic voice suddenly.