Wings of Fire: A Twisted Future - Broken Visions

Chapter 23

That day was quite uneventful; Quietkeep and his newly formed unofficial Squad, or at least he pretended that Permafrost and Mango were a part of his tiny friend group, were returning from class, exchanging papers and notes and analyzing them to make writing the essays for Literature Class about each other's story easier. Other dragonets around them were also sharing a few words, some of which Quietkeep caught in their conversations, the rest from their thoughts. 

''Remember that the Empress hates the main characters, alright? She sees them as threats and wants to keep them locked up to avoid anything terrible happening,'' Permafrost explained, passing a slice of parchment with notes about her story. Mango took the page and squinted at it, then let out a chuckle. The dark dragonet looked down and raised a brow, trying to comprehend the fact that the IceWings settled on the old NightWing island and that their fortress was built by an animus.

''IceWing animi don't exist anymore, Permafrost,'' Quietkeep pointed out, raising the paper higher and watching the IceWing's head slowly turn toward him with a menacing glint in her narrowed crystalline eyes. Permafrost's lip curled and she snatched the paper away, scowling at the NightWing.

''This is fiction, you cottonbrain,'' the IceWing snarled, fuming freezing frost into his face. the apprehension in Quietkeep's stomach melted away and was replaced by amusement; Permafrost had changed a lot since the beginning. If he'd pointed out ANYTHING wrong with her story only a few weeks ago, she'd have torn him to shreds. However, now that they'd experienced quite a lot together she'd think twice before tackling him to the ground and dreaming about how she could remove his organs one by one and see how long he'd live without them. ''Out of all of us, you should know that fiction can have anything I want!'' 

With a sigh, Quietkeep nodded and kept going. Their caves had to be at the back, did they? They weren't at the end of the tunnel for it led deeper into the mountain but Permafrost and Mango's cave was the furthest, preceded by Quietkeep's cave. Avalanche and Urchin had already gone back to the cave immediately after the last lesson, they always did that everyday, so Quietkeep could be assured that they'd be most likely asleep by now. His guess was only confirmed when he heard their snores and heard their dreams. 

Mango was about to push the spruce door to her cave open when she suddenly went still, her muscles tense and her pupils narrowing, getting almost lost in the teal depths of her optics. The IceWing behind her stiffened up and reared onto her hind legs, eyeing the RainWing for a moment with confusion and suspicion just before her face also froze on a horror-stricken expression and she dropped onto all fours, arching her spine slowly, spines bristling, her breathing picking up speed. Foreboding built in Quietkeep right as he leaped to their assistance and darkness quickly overtook his vision as he fell to the stone floor, his wings flaring out. And then-

Darkness took over and Quietkeep felt the ground shift beneath his talons. With a roar of distress, he plummeted into what looked like the endless abyss. Horror plunging through him like a spear, Quietkeep curled into a ball, tucked his forearms under his chest in a sad attempt to protect himself and flung out his wings, feeling the wind beat against them as he glided down, swaying his tail to keep himself balanced. Finally, something touched his claws and the dragonet forced his eyes open, panting. He saw Mango's wings shimmering from red to green constantly and Permafrost arching her back like a furious cornered feline, snarling and flaring out her wings threateningly.

''Not again!'' she screeched, her tail lashing. Despite her closed off thoughts, Quietkeep could still hear her screaming prophecies and animi prophecies and animi no! in her mind. It was not pretty. At least this time she wasn't tearing out her scales like last time. Suddenly, all the dragonets let out a shrill, thin wail as a hollow voice boomed across the empty void.

Time is changing

Memories are twisting

The past is melting

Futures are shriveling

Hazardous events have happened

Deadly paths await ahead

Dragons puzzle over the truth and false

A curse has awoken

Ancients legends arise from their ashes

A queen of the past, a king of the night

Insanity evoked, a curse from a heartbreak

The world is at war again...

The sky will run scarlet red

The clouds will rain with blood

The earth will collapse and split

Shall lift the curse of a fallen

And save Pyrrhia from destruction

Quietkeep let out a cry as the echoes carried across the abyss and he pressed his talons to his ears, tucking his tail underneath him. Why were they cursed? Who would be so cruel to do this? Why would they do it? What treachery could've happened in their lives that made them want to curse Pyrrhia?

The dragonet yelped as cold claws sank into his shoulder and he looked up to see Permafrost digging into his flesh. Quietkeep shrieked and leaped away, tears dripping from his face, and she lunged after him, grabbing him again. 

''What are you doing?'' he yelled, trying to scramble away from the IceWing. Wait - where was Mango? His heart lurched when he saw the RainWing, devastated on the black floor, most likely taken by surprise. What was Permafrost doing? And why was Mango's shape dissolving into dust- oh. She was forcing them out of the vision. Permafrost's eyes were full of determination and a flicker of sadness as she grabbed a hold of Quietkeep's throat, sank her clawtips in and tore it out. It still hurt unbelievably terribly, though! The dragonet shrieked as pain seared through his neck and he collapsed, his vision blurring.

In his last moments in the void, panting on the black ground, immense pain weighing down on his neck, Quietkeep glimpsed something he would've never imagined or ever hoped for; Permafrost's claws twitching nervously as her talon neared her chest and, with a reluctant, forced swipe, she tore herself down. Quietkeep let out a pained wail, reaching out to her right as she started screaming and collapsed blue blood spilling. 

For a few moments Quietkeep stood there, dazed, his eyes wide and pupils barely specks in the dark purple depths of his optics. Then horror struck him and he reared up, his claws instantly reaching for his neck and feeling around; he'd never felt a greater relief in his life to feel his scales untouched. Mango was vanishing inside her cave, panting, her wings red and smoke piling out of her nostrils. Then Permafrost leaped up as she exited the vision and wrapped her wings around herself, stumbling on her hind legs for a moment before darting into her cave and slamming the door shut. 

Quietkeep had hoped that solving Fennec's mystery would be enough, that finding out why Bracken was gone would be enough, that acquitting Permafrost would be enough.  However, he was clearly wrong. Perhaps Fennec's crimes would be the least of his concerns. There was more coming, and the prophecy clearly prophecied dangers far worse than the librarian.