Unshattered

Chapter Two

As Hvitur told him the story of Burn trying to kill him, how he stole his egg from the SkyWing palace, how he almost died from Burn's deadly talons, Soaren's wings drooped.

He thought that all his life that his parents had died because of Burn and that Hvitur was the one who had rescued him from being in the SandWing's clutches.

"But very soon," the IceWing said sadly, "I will die."

Soaren's eyes began to fill with tears, like kaleidoscopes of liquid streaming down his cheeks. His arms leapt at Hvitur and wrapped them around him.

He couldn't bear the thought of him dying because of some venom on his face, it wasn't fair, he was only trying to save him after all.

"No," Soaren sobbed. "I refuse to let you die."

Hvitur sighed deeply as Soaren slowly let go of him and wiped away all his tears as if he didn't cry at all. The SkyWing sat down with deep thoughts on what had happened in his past as an egg.

I was stolen from the SkyWing palace? My egg was the largest in the mountains high? Is that the reason why my wings are enormous?

Even though all SkyWings' wings are quite magnificently large, Soaren's wings are much bigger than any other dragon you'd come by. His wings are just about larger than himself.

It didn't look wrong in anyways — he still looked like a normal SkyWing with huge wings, it's just that he couldn't get the idea of having these wings and not being able to use them at all.

Well, maybe except for other purposes such as covering himself; using them as his second pair of arms; flapping them in his face on the hottest days, or wrapping them around Hvitur to either protect him (though that wouldn't really be necessary), or giving him a hug, which he does quite daily.

"I'm going to die whether you like it or not," Hvitur said stubbornly. He pointed to his blinded face. "This scar is going to reach my skin eventually, meaning it'll poison my blood and kill me; and there's nothing you can do about it."

"But I hear there's a cure to SandWing venom in one of the scrolls you gave me!" Soaren protested. He turned his head to a stack of scrolls that laid there lousily. One piece of parchment quietly fell from the stack and unrolled on the floor and beneath Soaren's talons.

"Aha," the SkyWing muttered, reaching for the scroll with his talons and squinted his eyes at him, reading what it said and explaining it in his own words. "There's a cactus you can find in the Kingdom of Sand called a brightsting cactus; it's juice can heal SandWing venom, slowing its process and basically makes the dragon NOT DIE."

Hvitur thought about it for a moment. "The Kingdom of Sand wouldn't be the best place to go. The new queen is still getting the hang of things, and I don't think she'd be in the mood for dealing with a SkyWing." He scratched his temple. "But I hear there's some of the cactus in the Rainforest, and the RainWings are harmless — though the NightWings...not so much. Queen Glory would most likely welcome you with open wings but keep an eye on you...hmmm...."

"Then I'll go to the Rainforest," Soaren said courageously, sticking his chest out. "I'll ask Queen Glory for a little bit of the cactus juice and return right back before you know it."

The IceWing wasn't so sure about the idea; even though the Rainforest Kingdom is nearby, Soaren could come across things he shouldn't be coming across with.

The SkyWing has a high chance of running into trouble, and he doesn't know how to fight or defend himself. The only thing he could do to survive would be to outsmart whoever the pursuer was.

No problem.

Right?

"Mmm hmmm..." Hvitur mumbled sleepily. But with a sudden clank of the bottles, he jolted wide awake with his eyes larger than the moons. He muttered something worriedly as a dark shadow conquered his face. He soon looked up again and said, "Well, alright. I think you're ready to finally go out into the real world. But if it's alright with you, could you possibly travel to the Sea Kingdom first? It's just that you may get hungry and could use a fish or two, we don't have any more food left here...I think."

Soaren could feel from the IceWing's tone of voice and his facial expression that it wasn't that main reason he wanted him to journey to the Sea Kingdom first before going to the Rainforest. But he nodded in agreement and smiled, he felt that he'd already been missing Hvitur even when he hadn't left.

He looked up at the edge of the pit, glaring at the opening with a face full of determination.

I'm finally going to leave this place. I'm finally going to see the world. I'm finally going to spread my wings.

He looked back at Hvitur, who was still lying on the ground helpless and in need, something that Soaren would always try to get rid of. He hugged Hvitur with a sigh.

Don't tell anyone who you really are, Soaren. He told himself. Just act like a regular old SkyWing looking for brightsting cactus, that's all.

He let go of the IceWing and said, "Goodbye,"

Ready or not, here I go.

Second Chapter up! Don't worry I'm just gonna have word counts at the end of chapters now so you don't have to read these boring, no-purpose AN.

—BookDragon

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