Wings of Fire: Possibility

Prologue

T E T R A

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Tetra had never swam this far before.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Her and her siblings had to swim for miles and miles to get to Pyrrhia from the Pantalan Deepwing Hatchery. It was a tradition for all Deepwings (the Nightwing/Seawing hybrid tribe) to swim from Pantala to Pyrrhia, and once a mate was found, swim back to have dragonets.

But Tetra never swam this far on her own before. Granted, it was easier since she could go at her own pace. And she was also bigger, and could stay underwater for longer without getting tired.

However, during this particular journey, she thought it would probably be better to just fly there. Maybe quicker even, since she was a bit on a time crunch.

Though she had to stay under the radar. She knew her brother was sending dragons to look for her. She knew she was disobeying him by making this journey to Pantala in the first place.

It was a predictable move on his part. He was notorious for never doing any of the dirty work himself. Though she could also hear the dragons' thoughts from up above.

Where is she?

How long do I have to fly like this?

Is that a dolphin?

I'm hungry.

When his hench-dragons would eventually dive, Tetra would just dive deeper into the ocean, where she couldn't be detected.

She didn't know who these hench-dragons were, but they had to be some of her brother's laziest goons. It was laughable how little power he had at this moment. But his power will continue to grow. My visions told me.

Suddenly she felt a tingle go through her body, causing her swimming to slow down to a halt. She was close.

But so were the goons. She had to be quick. They would be expecting her to surface at the shore.

So she'd throw them a curveball.

Tetra gracefully leapt out of the water and peered through the fog to see the continent about a mile away. She immediately began to fly towards the land, beating her wings with ferocity.

She made it about half a mile before she began to hear faint wingbeats from behind her. She was found.

But she wouldn't be caught. She couldn't. She had to get to Pantala. She didn't have a choice. She had to warn them.

Tetra dove back down to the waves and began to swim as fast as she could. She could hear the frantic thoughts of the goons behind her. She couldn't help but let out a little smile. She popped out of the water again and started to fly, feeling the thoughts of the confused dragons gave her confidence.

It also distracted her.

Suddenly, she felt a force slam into her side and knock her back towards the ocean. She felt sharp, cold talons stab into her underbelly. They both splashed into the water, and she began to struggle. She couldn't be caught now!

She kicked as hard as she could against her attacker,  feeling his weight lift from her back. She began to swim again, only after feeling his claws slice into her tail. She gritted her teeth and kept going.

She sensed a stronger tingle as she approached shore, and heard the thoughts of dragons close behind. So she crashed through the surface of the water and flew to land, colliding with branches and leaves as she flew through the trees. She had to get further into the jungle, then they would lose her.

Tetra heard a snap of a carnivorous plant as she flew by, narrowly missing her wing. Though it didn't scare her, since she had plenty of practice flying through the jungle before.

Unfortunately the goons hadn't had such an advantage. She heard screams of terror and the snapping of vines and bones as some of the hench-dragons were caught by the plants. She felt a stab of guilt, knowing that they were only doing their orders. Hopefully at least one of them could make it back to school.

Eventually the noises died down, and she was no longer being pursued. She landed in a semi-safe patch of leaves and collapsed, exhausted.

She would find the Rainwings in the morning. For now, she had to rest.