Eternal Ebony

Chapter 12

There was a royal ball today, and Frostbite was getting ready. He had to look perfect. He polished his scales until he could see his reflection. He grabbed a fabulous breastplate from his own stand. It was a lovely gold one. It matched his scales typically, but now he wasn't so sure. Whiteout was just pacing behind him. They were in a room in the palace, getting ready. It was tall, and was built only a few days ago. It was designed to look like the arctic. It was built with Opallines in mind, and Oblivion told them it was for them. Whiteout looked at the armor Frostbite was holding.

"I'm no sure about that one," he said. He pointed at it, and it immediately changed to silver, to Frostbite's relief. Now it would blend well with his scales. Whiteout was ready, personally. He wasn't even wearing anything. He didn't have to. Dragons typically did not wear fabric because their scales would rip it. Females did, though, because their scales were less rough.

"I'm going to see how it's all going," Whiteout called behind him. He spread his wings, checking them. Then they folded against his sides and he walked into the hall. There were more Opallines there now. They had been coming in, and there were a few just checking themselves in the reflective white pillars outside. They looked at Whiteout and gasped. He wasn't normal anymore. Instead of the classic black-grey eyes most Opals had, his were electric blue. His scales didn't send off pink and green light anymore. Still blue. His wings: blue. That was how that spell had stylized him. He liked blue. It was his favorite color. Especially since he didn't really grow up with anything else. He entered the hallway outside, which ran directly into the throne room where the celebration was to be had. Oblivion was racing around to different courtiers and decorators, who were getting everything ready. The room looked amazing. Ebon was pacing and worrying at her talons. Abalone spotted Whiteout and bounded over to him.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully. She flapped her wings a little. "Do you like it?" She was wearing a simple blue cape attached to a gold semi-plate that ran around her neck. The center of the plate was stamped with a sapphire. She had a small tiara sitting on her head. Whiteout smiled and gave her a cheeky bow. She laughed.

"I love it," he said. He saw Oblivion smile out of the corner of his eyes. Abalone frowned thoughtfully. "You look so plain! Don't you want to look your best? You are going to be announced to the public."

Abalone was right. Again. It was infuriating, but more helpful than anything. Whiteout sighed.

"I guess so," he muttered. "I wanted to make something. But I don't have any ideas."

"Well," Abalone said. "Let's go find some! Let's look in the library first. I'm sure they have books in there with pictures or something." She strutted purposefully toward the library, beckoning Whiteout after her. He bounded into place beside her. After they entered the library, they began looking through books. They stacked up some interesting ones on a table nearby. Finally, Abalone called to Whiteout, who was across the room.

"I think I found something," she said. She pointed excitedly at a picture of an old magic noble. He was wearing a gorgeous breastplate. It was a simple steel color. But it flare out around his shoulders, and a piece of it ran down his back in frightening spikes like a spine. Abalone tapped her chin.

"We could make some adjustments," she said. Whiteout gave her an are-you-serious look, and Abalone smiled and rolled her eyes. "Okay, a LOT of adjustments. Let's see what else we can find."

They sorted through the books again, and Whiteout found an image he liked. It was an Opalline in itself. How could it go wrong? Opallines tend to be thin, yet muscular, so it could be hard for dragons of other kingdoms to make anything for them because they weren't used to doing so. But this picture displayed an elegance. This breastplate did not cover the entire chest. Rather, it was more of a decoration than an armor piece. A white band ran down the center of the dragon's chest. It ran off in loops and spirals and ended in sharp points. It was big, but some of the scales shone through, and Whiteout and Abalone liked it.