The GlitterPerfectWing Chronicles Vol. 2 (WoF Fanfic)

Chapter 4 (I)

When Grey opened his eyes, he was expecting to see the comforting form of Bristlecone next to him, and maybe he'd have Buzz's wings draped over him. The familiar brown-ish cave walls would stare back at him, and he'd be able to slip out from under Buzz without waking him, then he'd pad over to the cave entrance and stare out at the Savanna and see the cool blue of Beetle Lake.

He did see a cave, though this one was pitch black aside from some glowing moss near where he sat. When he stood up, he shook of droplets of water from his wings. Thankfully his thin wings were uninjured. He spread them out tentatively, and seeing that they weren't sore from struggling, he began to glance around the cave.

He slowly adjusted to the dim lighting, and was eventually able to see that the cave was rather on the small side. There was a tunnel to his right, and there was a small pond to his left. He was about to head over to the pond when a voice spoke.

"So you're awake?"

Grey turned quickly to see the fish-dragon standing in the tunnel entrance. He instantly barred his teeth and assumed a defensive position, his wrists facing the fish-dragon, aimed to blind them with silk so he could escape.

When he looked back on it later, Grey realized this was his first encounter with anyone other than Bristlecone or Buzz. He hadn't expected it to go that way. But then again, he hadn't expected to be attacked either.

"You think barring your teeth is going to scare me off?"

"You ATTACKED me! You can't think I won't try and defend myself?"

The fish-dragon flicked their tail, which Grey noticed to have a dolphin-like fin on either side. He gaped, staring with his mouth wide open.

The fish-dragon snarled. "What? Never seen a dragon before? Go look in a mirror!"

Grey shook his head. "Never anything like... Like you," he said slowly. The longer he looked the more he noticed. The fish-dragon- or was it just dragon?- had black scales on their back, with white scales on their stomach and a few around their eyes. They had a fin on their back and on their tail. But most noticeably was that their wings laid clumsily at their side. They were huge! Grey had no idea how they managed to lug such large wings around, especially in comparison to their small body.

The dragon scrunched up their face. "So," they said, "who are you?"

Grey snapped out of his trance and responded in a snarky sort of tone. "Why don't you tell me mister-I'm-going-to-nearly-drown-someone."

"Drown?" The dragon lifted back their head and laughed, "Don't make such excuses."

"EXCUSES!? I COULD HAVE DIED!"

The dragon stopped laughing and backed down. "You mean... You're not kidding..."

"NO! Why would I joke about that! How could I joke about that?"

"O- oh..." The fish-dragon said. They lifted their talon and pressed down on the bridge on their nose, as if setting a pair of fallen glasses back in their place. "I'm sorry," they said, "my name, by the way, is Baiji."

Grey looked at her skeptically. "Grey," he said.

"So," Baiji said, padding up next to him, "what are you?"

Baiji had an edge of curiosity to her voice, and Grey answered almost immediately with, "I'm a SilkWing. What are you?"

Baiji looked up at him. "I'm an EchoFin. So are there other types of 'wings' where you come from?"

"Are there other types of 'Fins'?"

"Answer my question first."

"Um, yeah. There are. LeafWings, HiveWings, and of course, SilkWings."

"There are three types of 'fins'. StingerFins, JawFins, and then I'm and EchoFin. Can you spread your wing?" Grey nodded and did so. Baiji began inspecting the transparent wing with awe. "Your wings are beautiful, but how do you swim with these? Anyway, I wish mine were like that. I've just got these dull things," she said, spreading out one of her wings, "They fold up nicely when we're swimming but otherwise they're just a nuisance."

"When swimming? Do you swim often? I definitely don't."

"You don't swim?" Baiji asked.

"No, we don't. At least, I don't think so. I've never met another SilkWing."

"What about your parents?"

Grey shook his head. "Never met them. Actually, I've only ever met two other dragons. Three including you. Bristlecone is a LeafWing, and Buzz is a HiveWing."

"Really? Interesting..." Baiji pushed her imaginary glasses back into place again, and then gazed off towards a cave wall, lost in thought.

"I know..." she said finally, "come meet my friends. Then I'll take you back to Bristle-stick and Buzz."

Grey blinked. He didn't see any flaws with this plan. "Sure," he said, "And it's Bristlecone, not Bristle-stick."

"Whatever," Baiji said, "Now tell me more about SilkWings!" She started to walk down the tunnel and Grey followed closely behind, answering her questions as they went and asking a few of his own.

He hadn't been expecting his first encounter with another dragon to go like this, but aside from the whole imma-almost-drown-you thing, it hadn't been half-bad.