Darkness ran through the tunnels, trying to get to his egg. He knew it was hatching tonight, his mate had told him. Dreamcatcher would likely be in the hatchery tonight, unlike most of the females on the island, who were not allowed to go near the precious living eggs after they had laid a cracked one, for fear of contamination.
When he got there, he saw that the egg had already gotten a small crack down the middle. A tiny claw poked out. "What should we name it?" Dreamcatcher asked. Crack. A little black head pushed out through the shell. "I think it's a he" Darkness pointed out. Dreamcatcher nodded. "I'll name him Stonemover" she said.
--+--
When Stonemover was just two years old, he had already read (or had his parents read to him) almost all the scrolls in the limited NightWing library. Dreamcatcher was sitting with him when they finished the last scroll (well, of the scrolls Dreamcatcher would show her child). "I wish there were more scrolls" Stonemover said. "I wish more scrolls would appear! I wish these pebbles would turn into scrolls for me to read." He fingered three pebbles.
And then, Dreamcatcher watched the stones change. They elongated and turned a pale tannish white, and Dreamcatcher realized what had happened. Her child, Stonemover, had used magic. He was an animus.
--+--
"What?" Darkness asked. "He's an animus? Really?" Dreamcatcher pulled out the three scrolls. "I saw him make these from pebbles. Look." She gave Darkness the scrolls. Darkness looked at them. Geography of the Kingdom of Pyrrhia, Tales of the Lost Continent, and The Animus Histories. "What is this? I never saw these in our library. He has to have made them. We must tell Queen Battlewinner now."
--+--
Dreamcatcher presented the three scrolls to the queen. Stonemover was hiding under her wing, shivering. She couldn't blame him, she had done the same the first time she had seen the queen. And the second time. And the third time. And a whole bunch of other times. Queen Battlewinner was an imposing figure, huge and tall. Her green eyes would stare hard at a subject, and it was impossible to lie in front of the piercing eyes. "This – this dragonet, uh... Stonemover... um... he's an... animus..." "Impossible" Queen Battlewinner rumbled. "There have been no NightWing animus dragons in generations. Why would one show up now?" "Umm... I... uh, saw him make scrolls out of rocks, and... uh... I think Darkness traced our family history back to Whiteout, the... brother of The Darkstalker, who was an animus... so, um... he's an animus too..." "Show me" Battlewinner demanded. "Um... Stonemover, can you tell these pebbles to fly into the air and return to your talons?" She scooped up a talonful of pebbles and presented them to Stonemover, who had his face buried in one of his new scrolls. "NO. I want to read." "Look, Stonemover, the queen wants you to" "Fine" Stonemover said. "Pebbles. Fly around the room and return to my talons." The pebbles lifted out of his talons, floated around the room, and returned to the talons of the dragonet. The whole room fell silent. "I admit I was wrong" Battlewinner said. "The NightWing tribe has an animus now"
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Legends: Stonemover
FanficGrowing up on the volcano as an animus, Stonemover had a big important destiny to fufill. But he does not realize the true danger of his powers.
