Wings of Fire: A Twisted Future - Broken Visions

Chapter 10

Quietkeep couldn't move, his claws instinctively digging into the earth. He knew he had to move, but he couldn't. The other dragonets were already running, yelling as they did so.
"Everyone, get up, now now now!"
Permafrost's unmistakable gruff voice, and Quietkeep was surprised she hadn't lost her voice.
"Quick, it doesn't matter, go, Flounder!"
Bracken's voice, for once tense and scared.
But Quietkeep couldn't run. He just couldn't. He felt a sudden stabbing pain in his head, and he shook it, the realisation coming back to him. The NightWing whipped around, his ears folding back even more to see nobody had noticed he was gone, or no one had bothered to turn back and save him. Though, the feeling would've, honestly, been mutual.
Quietkeep began to run, feeling the wind kick up and push him back, for once fighting against him instead of with him. He hissed as leaves and pebbles zipped by, hitting his scales. And then—
A sudden huge gust of wind pushed him up into the air, and Quietkeep unfurled his wings to use that to his benefit. The dragonet dared a glance behind him, and he suddenly wished he hadn't.
The mountain was literally splitting in two, one half quivering as it struggled to stay up, the other crumbling and sliding toward the valley with such speed and force, tilting and crushing trees in its way. Quietkeep glance back and took a deep breath.
And he roared.
It echoed throughout the forest, and lamps lit up in tents not too far away. He'd head toward that. Quietkeep titled his wings, soaring to the sound of fear: shrieks of terror, gasps of horror, roars of alarm.
Dragonets swooped back into their tents to evacuate just as Quietkeep thudded down, and the sigh grew a lump in his throat. The dragonet darted into his tent, shaking the firefly jar and stuffed it into his bag. Alright, this would be harder than he thought; dragonets ran around, flapping their wings and swishing tails and spitting and hissing and whimpering and crying.
Quietkeep tried to stuff all his things as quickly but efficiently as possible. He breathed a tiny sigh of relief when he manages to stuff it all in, clipped the rolled up hammock to his right side and ran out.
Discord.
A storm of thoughts...
Dragons yelled as they stepped over the embers, lashed out at SandWing tails, and swooping into the air after Fennecs and Sorrowsoarer, the two teachers already escorting the first patrol back toward Jade Mountain.
Dragons then turned and screeched, pointing at the huge wave of dust and rubble rolled toward them. Dragons were still packing, panic clearly rising in them.
No time for this, Paradise! Just leave that alone...
Where is Topaz?!
Tumbleweed, Tumbleweed, WHERE IS TUMBLEWEED?
And finally, above it all... somehow much, much louder than the rest...
Where is Permafrost?!

Panic. Quietkeep didn't know the IceWing well, but he didn't want someone from his Winglet to die or get hurt or anything. He ran around camp, calling for her, whilst others were still basically doing circles around the campfire in their panic. They wanted to flee, but Pondweed said it was safer to wait.
But dragonets didn't care. Many of them, what looked like approximately two Winglets, swooped into the air, beating their wings as fast and as hard as they could. Pondweed roared with such fury that the deep scarlet spreading across her scales looked vibrant even in the dark and dust. Cardinal pulled her aside just as her wings unfurled, and she turned her head with a confused and tense expression. The two exchanged a few words, then Pondweed gathered one or two dragonets and dashed into the forest, probably searching for Permafrost. Quietkeep glanced around, searching for the rest of the Jade Winglet. Raven, check, Flounder, check, Mango, check, everyone else that didn't seem so important, check. Only one missing, which was Permafrost.
I can't leave her here. I can't let only three dragons after her, I have to help.
And with that, Quietkeep swooped into the forest. He couldn't see much, only the grey trunks of trees, a lot of dust, and the nearing wall of stone ready to clash with the dragonets. He had to find her, and fast.
How does a failure like me find a hero? How how how how... Uh... th-th- thoughts!
Yes, thoughts! He could listen for her thoughts! It was the one thing he could to to save Permafrost. The NightWing leapt into the nearest tree, perching on a branch, and closed his mind around the world. Somewhere... a hum, a fuzzy hum somewhere to his left. That was all he needed right now.
Quietkeep bounced off the sycamore and bounded toward the hum, a striking pain slicing his brain as he tried to deafen the roaring of the collapsing mountain, but the 'small' earthquakes and the tumble of rocks was the primary one could hear, especially if what you were looking for was an almost silent hum in the dark.
It seemed like ages of running in meaningless circles before Quietkeep noticed the shimmer of white, red and blue scales ahead. Perfect.
With a nervous chuckle, Quietkeep skidded to a halt beside the silver dragon with shimmering scales, and noticed that Permafrost was knocked out. There was a dark blue bruise on her temple and a large branch beside her head, cracked and splintered where it must've hit her. Pondweed's hibiscus-red turned bloody when she noticed Quietkeep, but it got a little hint of gold and blue in there as she took a deep breath.
It doesn't matter now, Pondweed, you'll deal with him later.
Well, that was bad, but could never compare to the avalanche that was right to the South, only about a minute away. The RainWing teacher, SeaWing, SkyWing and NightWing together carried the IceWing between them, though she was heavy and large, and the avalanche was getting nearer.
A cry of terror echoed from camp, and a silver dragon leapt into the air and flew toward the dragons. Avalanche. He flapped his wings to stop and turned around, reaching for the wounded IceWing's face. She looked at peace, so peculiar since they were a half a minute in front of death.
Pondweed flashed her scales in an odd pattern, red, blue, purple, white, silver and then slithers of green snaking along her veins and limbs.
Almost instantly Cardinal along with the rest of the dragonets, the Jade Winglet, Quartz Winglet and Copper Winglet. The SkyWing teacher hissed something at Eel and Heron. The MudWing nodded, horror lighting up his face for just a moment...
And a very painful, stiff wall slammed the dragons down to the ground.