Wings of Fire: A Twisted Future - Broken Visions

Chapter 1

Quietkeep was perched on the peak of Jade Mountain, staring ahead. the sky was slowly fading from indigo to peach, the twinkling stars vanishing from a dragon's view and casting blinding golden beams into their eyes.
he twitched a wing when he heard claws scrape against stone, and Quietkeep turned to see his mother there, Quickflight, looking down at her long, narrow snout at him.
"in a few hours you must meet the rest of the academy at the entrance hall," she murmured, her obsidian eyes staring at him intently. quietkeep gave the smallest nod, turning back to the sunrise. more scraping and soon a blanket of night wrapped around him as quickflight wrapped her wings around him. quietkeep flinched, but decided not to glance. he could already see blue-green and white-azure and red-orange flickers on the horizon as IceWings, SkyWings and SeaWings neared the academy. quietkeep thought he could see NightWings peer from the rainforest when he turned his head to see.
the dragonet then flicked his gaze toward quickflight, and he smiled.
"I wonder what winglet you'll have," she sighed into his ear, nuzzling his cheek. "and who you'll be sharing your cave with. what classes you'll have and what friends you'll make." quietkeep nodded, pulling away from her grasp.
"I'm sure it'll be fine..." he murmured, eyeing her from the corner of his eye. the silver scale was almost blinding in the beams of dawn, but it was fascinating.
yes... I'm sure it'll be.
quietkeep squinted at his mother, raising one brow.
"you think so?" he demanded, expanding his wings to push her gently away.
quickflight rolled her eyes, smacking his cheeks with her claws affectionately. they finally settled down, staring at the horizon ahead, as if daring to defeat the sun's glare.
"alright, that's enough," quickflight purred, turning around and padding up to the edge of the peak. quietkeep sighed, turning around, his head still staring at the horizon as he followed his mother. there were SandWings coming from the east, and when he turned back, he noticed mudwings were already disappearing into the entrance hall.
"alright, lets go."
together, they leapt over he edge and spread their wings at the last moment to catch the air. they quickly neared the outcrop, and twisted in the air just as the got to the top of the entrance to dive inside. the two nightwings shot toward a stalagmite and wrapped their tails and wings around them before they got carried any further. quietkeep glanced around, his eyes wide. he'd never been here before, it was pretty.
the walls weren't dull and grey, but a brownish hue, with jades and ambers stuffing the walls, a large golden gong in the very centre of it all, ribbons and tapestries hanging from stalactites.
dragons were greeting all the dragonets, some of them smiling dearly with sparks in their eyes; those were students that probably attended Jade Mountain Academy before.
quickflight cupped her son's cheeks, tapped his nose with her own and sighed at him.
don't invade other's privacies, please.
the nightwing dragonet nodded slowly, grinning over his mother's shoulder as her wings curled around him. but that grin faded when he noticed the IceWings enter, shooting cold glares at everyone. was that...?
permafrost?
he narrowed his eyes at her, but felt a claw slice down his spine when she noticed him and returned the glare, though so many times more harsh and cold than he ever could. did IceWings have a class on shooting the coldest glares? did she pass every test? intimidate everyone with just those crystalline, narrowed eyes?
"alright, I've got to go now, love," quickflight finally rumbled, pulling away from her son. quietkeep couldn't help the qualm gnawing at his stomach as she trotted away, glancing back only once when she was at the edge of the outcrop, and then swung away. quietkeep watched her shape shrink into a speck in the lilac sky. the nightwing dragonet stammered as he glanced around, obsidian eyes wide. what now?
"hi, my name is eel!"
quietkeep jumped, his spines bristling to the bouncy voice. he whipped around, neck arched and eyes wide to see a tall emerald green SeaWing there, waving at him.
"what's you're name, chump?" she beamed at him — she was way too bright... excited. quietkeep stammered.
"uhhh... quietkeep."
eel nodded, searched for his name on a scroll in her talon for a moment, drew a tick and passed him a pouch on a chain with his name painted on a name tag. inside was a library card and a few roasted grasshoppers. he scrunched up his snout. eel beamed once again with her blinding grin, then bounded to greet the IceWings.
biting his lip, he prowled toward a mudwing, sandwing and a rainwing.
"you really should try bananas!" the rainwing, a pale peach and pink mottled dragonet, pressed, holding a bunch of bananas in her claws. "saguaro, you MUST try this!" she shook them in front of his speckled nose, and he squinted with his black eyes at the yellow fruit.
"um... no thanks," he replied, gently pushing her claws along with the three bananas away from him. the RainWing's pink frills drooped, and a lavender passed through her scales.
[i]what choice do I have now?
saguaro sighed, pinching the top of one of the bananas, dragging the thick peel down and watching the colour go back to the dragonet.
"hibiscus, this is the final time I'm eating something just because you look so melancholy otherwise!" the sandwing growled, and the mudwing licked her lips. she probably wanted to eat that banana either way. quietkeep tipped his head and entered her mind.
i would've eaten that either way!
is he actually...
no WAY!
he either likes her or doesn't like to see dragons sad because of him...
I wonder if boar ate that crocodile I gave him...
oh, look, it's milkweed-
quietkeep staggered back, smacking his head. that mudwing's thoughts whirled by so fast! he couldn't even comprehend what they were about!
so he passed over to saguaro, instead. the nightwing blinked to get the fast-moving thoughts off his mind and stepped in.
this is the worst thing!
scorpion would've never agreed to eat this! am I a failure?
oh... what would queen Sahara think of me?
maybe I shouldn't go to school after all.
do I care too much about dragons that aren't sandwings?
but hibiscus is so pure! who'd ever be cruel enough to hurt her feelings.
worse. that was worse. it wasn't as fast as that mudwing's, but the low self-esteem issues seemed to seep into quietkeep, and he had to pinch his scales and smack his head again to get it out. a SkyWing, SeaWing and a NightWing eyed him with confusion and suspicion.
I should stop.... ohhh but what do these dragons think of me?!
grabbing his head to try and purge himself of the other thoughts and finally located these three.
silver scales. can he read minds? why would he clutch his head like that? I should I stay away from him...
ew — what is wrong with this creature? wait till urchin hears about this weirdo!
can peregrine get rid of him? she probably can — maybe at break... and she can just say that it was an accident! maybe that's too harsh? but then I shouldn't risk a mindreader... I'll go to the library later, see what there's to know about those dragons.
quietkeep shook his head as he exited their minds, and opened and closed his mouth in a silent stammer when he realised those three had stopped beside a stalagmite, staring at him. when they noticed the fog clear from his eyes, they scampered away.
quietkeep furrowed his brows, glancing around. what else is there to do? maybe actually join a conversation? or expire the school — seemed like a better solution: no socialising, no eavesdropping, no headaches and no negative opinions from others. perfect.
so that's what he did. the nightwing shot a last glance toward permafrost before he stalked away toward the library — when he reached the towering oak door, he pushed it open to see more dragons here than he expected:
two mudwings were reading scrolls on leaf puffs, that SkyWing had fled here, somehow not surprisingly, another nightwing and a couple of RainWings.
quietkeep decided to keep away from all these dragons. it wasn't safe. were there other mindreaders here? what if they saw his worries?
so the dragonet headed toward the head of the library, a sandwing. she was small, had cute freckles on her cheeks, and no tail barb, with a nasty-looking scar where it should've been. someone must've torn it away at some point in her lifetime.
she hopped when she noticed him and smiled, revealing snowy white, small teeth and pretty large glasses held on by a notch in her frill. her eyes were almond-shaped and a very dark brown, almost black, which crinkled at the outer corner when she smiled.
"hello, my name is fennec!" she introduced herself, giving a little bow and expanding her talons to show the library. "the head of the library! what scroll are you looking for today, young fellow?"
quietkeeper bit his lip — socialising. an... EXTROVERT. oh no. he glanced around. he'd come exploring... this was bad.
"um... do you have scrolls on... any interesting stories?" he asked quietly, glancing up at her and down at the desk awkwardly. she nodded and pointed to a tall shelf to the left of her.
"we have an entire collection of Queen Coral's stories, the legends of ancient dragons..." her voice trailed away as he peered into her mind. how dare he, see into the head of such an innocent dragon?
and the war of sandwing succession, the legends of darkstalker, the return of darkstalker, albatross's...
ok, he honestly expected something a bit more interesting than exactly what she was saying out loud.
he nodded quickly, fluttering off.
"mhm! sounds good, ok bye!" he called, desperate to escape her constant rambling.
"uh, sure, bye bye!"
the dragonet gasped as he escaped her thoughts and words, almost crashing into the shelf. he wailed, grabbing it and quickly hopped over it to gently push it the other way as it wobbled.
"ahaaa!" he shrieked, though he made sure it was quiet and muffled as he clapped one talon over is mouth. silence... some of the dragons near him turned to glance with raised brows and stifling giggles, but he was just relieved that it didn't topple over. imagine that as a first impression!
"ok... we'll see what they have here..."