Wings of Fire: The Forgotten World

chapter 10

By thedragonshifter
Pleiades's PoV

Crack! Lightning flashed across the pitch black sky over the Smoke kingdom as two huge dragons clashed at the foot of the collapsed Smokewing palace. Their scales were as black as the night sky, and their wings and white as pearls. Then, as the larger if the two dragons managed to defeat the smaller one, the younger dragon fled from the scene, heading away from the Smoke kingdom...

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The light from outside was blinding as Pleiades opened her eyes after the encounter with the green-white Cloudwing dragonet. But, he wasn't just any dragonet; he was the Cloudwing prince. Her mind still lingered on the truthful things that he had said about her, and then it flickered back to the dream that she had last night. Why would I dream about Smokewings? She chose to ignore it.

The environment outside came more into focus once her eyes adjusted to the light, and she could see that small clouds dotted the blue sky. The trees bent and swayed in the harsh wind. Any dragon could tell that a storm was coming, a bad one. She sighed, turned her head towards the dark rocky walls. Am I feeling creative today?

She waddled groggily to the jagged grey wall and observed older drawings that she had made when she was younger. I've improved over the years. The drawings on this portion of the wall looked like fat circles with sticks attached to them. It was obviously her younger self's attempt at drawing a dragon.

Pleiades looked fondly at the old picture, and for the first time in years she truely smiled. It felt weird on her face, like her face had been stuck in one position and then someone had forced it into a different one. It felt so unnatural that she had no choice but to wipe the smile off, even though it felt nice to smile, to actually be happy for a few moments.

She took her eyes off of the old drawing that she had scraped into the stone and lifted her talon to the spot next to it. Then, she pressed one claw to the stone and began to carve out a the beginings of a dragon. It had a broad, square-like head and long curvy horned at the back. The dragon also had no wings and spikes on its neck and back. A Sunwing.

As Pleiades stared longingly at her picture, she realized how much she missed her home. But I can't go back. I will be murdered if I go back. She looked away from the Sunwing that she drew on the wall and scanned the rocky surface further down. It was almost completely covered in drawings except for one area at the end by the entrence to the cave.

I have nothing better to do right now. I decided that I'm not leaving my cave anymore, so I wont leave my cave. Pleiades trudged over to the blank spot next to the entrance and though about what she would draw, but as she placed her talon on a particularly lumpy rock, there was a terrible grinding noise. At first, she didn't know where the noise was coming from until she realized that the rocks in front of her were moving. Some of them dissappeared and some of them shifted to the side. They appeared to be opening into a different room.

Dust plumed into the air, blocking Pleiades's vision. When the noise stopped, she assumed that the rocks were done moving. First, she stuck her talons out in front of her, and where the wall should have been, there was just empty space. Then, she waved her talons around, clearing away the dust and squinting into the new room.

Finally, the dust cleared away after a few minutes of stupidly fanning her talons around, and what she found inside was a little anticlimactic. On the grey floor was a random piece of parchment, a silver colored staff, a pair of shackles, an earring, and a bracelet. For a few moments, Pleiades just stood in one spot, looking at the objects with a confused expression until she took a closer look at each of them.

For some reason, the more she peered at the object the more creepy the mysterious room felt. The air seemed to stir in every direction even though there was no wind, and the objects seemed to be staring back at her as she stared at them lime they had a mind of their own.

"What are these?" She muttered to herself as she walked in between each of the objects, being careful not to touch them. Schh schhc schhsh! There was a sudden scratching noise behind her, and when she whirled around, her eyes widened in surprise as words seemed to be appearing on the piece of parchment. One by one, tiny black words write themselves on the old paper, and they read,"These are all animus touched objects."

What? Pleiades peered at the staff, and then at the shackles, earring, and bracelet. "Animus objects?" She spoke aloud, looking expectantly at the paper. Yes. She walked back the the animus paper and sat in front of it. "Umm... What do you do?" She asked the paper, and just as expected the paper answered. I am a piece of animus touched paper enchanted by Hemlock, the Cloudwing prince, to answer any question as truthfully as possible. This is so cool! She flicked her ears in excitement.

"Ok paper, what does that staff do?" She asked. It is an animus touched object enchanted by Hemlock, the Cloudwing prince, to teleport the user wherever he or she wants to go. Her eyes flicked to the pair of shackles, but she could probably guess what they did. "And the talon-cuffs?" They will bind any dragon the user wants to immobilize. She continued to ask the scroll question and it turns out, the bracelet gives the user super speed and strength, and the earring gives the user impenetrable scales.

This stuff is amazing! But, can I even touch them? With a nervous glance at the magical objects she turned to the scroll," Can I, a dragon with deadly acid scales, touch these objects." Nothing appeared in the scroll for a few moments before words began to appear. These animus touched objects are physically indestructible.