A World Upside Down - WoF Jade Winglet AU

Catalyst - Qibli

Why does everything have to exist?

Mountains and hills stretched onward for as far as Qibli could see. The ground flew past below him as he tactically surveyed the land for any obvious or inconspicuous Immortals prison.

He really didn't want to be heading back into danger, but the others were with this danger, so he might as well join them, if he couldn't rescue them.

We wouldn't be in this scenario if the Immortals didn't exist. Well, they wouldn't exist if Darkstalker existed. Man, if Pyrrhia was non-existent, the same would be with Darkstalker.

Qibli realized soon that maybe existential questions weren't the most ideal.

But if that happened, then Thorn and Kinkajou and Six-Claws and Turtle wouldn't be around either.

And Moon. Maybe Winter too.

Did I really just think of Winter as being on that level? Three moons, if Qinter is a thi-

His train of thought was cut off as he caught sight of something gleaming off in his peripherals.

A piece of metal? A glance of an IceWing? Qibli swooped down to a treeline nearby, ready to investigate what he saw.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how it's seen), a tiny pool of water only twice the size of him shimmered in the sunlight, glowing brightly compared to the terrain around it.

Score one for SandWing intelligence.

At this moment, that very water surged out into the air, showering Qibli. When he shook himself off, he raised his eyes to be startled by ruby and amber scales flying away from the area.

Not the first time someone's fled at the sight of me.

Did they see me? Was I in their personal space? Why was a dragon even here? What is this?

He approached the source of water and stuck his arm in. A narrow tunnel led down beneath him, and Qibli estimated that it was the same full-dragon size in diameter.

A path that dragon took. It goes underground. There's gotta be something important beneath, since that SkyWing couldn't have held their breath for long.

The chances of the prison being where Qibli was were low, he realized, but he really didn't want to be upset at himself if it actually was here, so he braced himself to check it out.

Just as he was about to dive in, Qibli noticed something in his peripherals, near the horizon above the desert.

An IceWing, flying south.

Qibli recognized that dragon. The way he flew, the shape of him, the slivers of glances Qibli caught of pouches.

Cirrus was returning from the Ice Kingdom, most likely ready to report to Darkstalker.

Hell, of course. Need to hurry this up.

As he watched the fleeting dragon travel away, Qibli remembered he needed to check out the underwater tunnel, so he sluggishly walked back to it.

If Cirrus informs Darkstalker of IceWing information, Darkstalker might use this to wage war on them, if he had enough intel. We could warn the IceWings, but they would just prepare themselves, or maybe even retaliate.

Three moons, how can we prevent another war?

We? I'm just a normal SandWing. Feel like the others would do better.

Qibli stared into the dark water, braced himself, then dove in.

Going days without being in contact with anything cool (with the exception of Winter) made this water feel freezing to Qibli. It did relax his scales after hours of flight, but he didn't want to dwell on it in case it was secretly harmful to him.