Wings of Fire - The CloudBorn (Fanfiction)

Sunborn Summary

Sunborn was going to be a prequel to Iceborn and Cloudborn, showing the events that set in motion the revolt that almost ended the dragon world as they knew it.

In the prologue we are greeted with the POV of the MoonWings speaking of their brother, the SunWing, and how to save him from the effects of the attack. For in ancient times, Magisalla had another caste of elementals taught by the SunWing, where they learned Cosmic, Time, and Void. The SunWing himself led Magisalla and no one else. These were specially chosen by the SunWing himself, but the SunWing's deadly sin was pride. He failed to see an usurper had wormed their way into the ranks of his students and into the minds of all other Sunborns. For only those descended from the original Demi-god propagated by the SunWing was able to wield it. If SunWing blood flared in their veins, the stars were at their command. This seeded a lust for power within those tainted by the usurper, and they soon rose against their ethereal father and, in a magnificent blast of pure cosmic energy, incinerated their own god until only shards were left. The MoonWings took these shards and created the mask of the Grand Headmaster, where the soul of the SunWing still resides.

As punishment for their "killing" of their god, the Sunborns were reduced to weak dragons with no elements nor ability worthy of the dragon name. They were merely large lizards with wings and vocal cords, nothing more. But one of them was able to stay, a saint of sorts that had tried to warn the dragon gods of the rebellion. His loyalty granted him the first title of Grand Headmaster, and in an act of selfless sacrifice offered his own body as a vessel for the SunWing, so that the SunWing may continue leading his mighty empire.

After this, we enter the days before Blizzard's rising.

Flood is a SeaWing that was born to a couple of SeaWing Magisallians that are based in Pyrrhia. She was born blind and always wanted to know what the world around her looked like. She wanted to search for a way to see, sense no Magisallian magic can heal something she was born with. But her parents were raised in the Cloud Kingdom, their teachings making them skittish and paranoid of the world outside of their base. It is also within this base that we see a ChasmWing, hired by Magisalla to be a scout for the SeaWing spies. One day, Flood runs away from home with no idea where she's going, and finds herself swimming into the Sky Kingdom, where a patrol picks her up. After explaining that she's blind and that she doesn't live in the Kingdom of the Sea, the SkyWings agree to take her in for now until they can find her home.

There, she meets the son of a noble, Cloud. Cloud and Flood befriend each other very quickly, and they start to show something more towards each other. Cloud says that he heard a small rumor of a SkyWing animus in hiding, and that they should go looking for them to see if they can enchant Flood to be able to see. Cloud also helps teach Flood how to fly despite not being able to see. Then, Cloud is assigned to accompany his adoptive mother to a visit to Jade Mountain. Flood joins him, and there they meet Blizzard and Permafrost. The two were accompanying Queen Hoarfrost to Jade Mountain.

Blizzard is sent off somewhere else, so Permafrost, Cloud, and Flood actually become friends. However, this is around the same time that Permafrost starts going a little bit homicidal. During their stay at Jade Mountain, Permafrost is seen becoming more and more agitated at how other dragons were treating Blizzard behind his sister's back. Cloud and Flood try to console Permafrost, which works. For a while, at least. It all started going downhill when Flood overhears Cloud's adoptive mother and that Magisallian cultist (Hoarfrost) that was planning to kidnap Blizzard and Permafrost before discussing their plans to take over Magisalla so they can "Teach Pyrrhia a lesson they need to know."

Flood becomes conflicted on whether or not to tell Cloud and Permafrost of this, as she didn't want to hurt Cloud by telling him his mother was evil and telling Permafrost that he and Blizzard were going to get kidnapped and used as tools. She didn't want to hurt her friends and almost lover, so she kept it hidden and decided to try and stop them once she got her sight. She had Cloud fly her back to the Sky Kingdom, where they meet the SkyWing Inca after saving him from a storm. After some convincing, Inca reveals himself to be the hidden SkyWing Animus and gives Flood the ability to see as a thank you for saving his life. He makes Cloud and Flood swear to never speak a word to the Queen about him.

The two return to Jade Mountain, only to find out that three dragons had died by mysterious circumstances. Knowing their friend's past anger, they confront Permafrost and he admits to it, but convinces them (albeit hesitantly) that those dragons deserved it. But then they witness another dragon being killed after speaking bad about Blizzard, and they confront Permafrost again and try to stop himbut are unable to when he runs away. They give chase but find that he's with Blizzard. Not wanting to die by Blizzard's claws, Flood convinces Cloud to back off and to leave Permafrost to another day.

Cloud says that they should report Permafrost to Queen Hoarfrost, but Flood sees that Hoarfrost is the same cultist from before (She recognizes her voice). Flood, however, doesn't stop Cloud and lets him inform Hoarfrost of what the Queen wanted to hear (That Permafrost is as smart and as dangerous as she needs him to be). Flood and Cloud return to the Sky Kingdom. Cloud feels proud, but Flood feels nothing but dread and regret for allowing fear to silence her. It builds and builds over the rest of the story.

Flood decides to tell Cloud of Magisalla, as she wanted to try and indirectly get him away from Pyrrhia to avoid whatever Hoarfrost and the other cultist was planning. Cloud takes the information of the magical continent well and says that maybe one day he'll go there with her. This leads to their confessions to each other. But then, shortly after in the Ice Kingdom, Permafrost returns and watches Blizzard kill Frigid and then watches her run away. He goes to tell the Queen of what happened to try and justify Blizzard's actions but finds out that Blizzard ran away from the Kingdom entirely. He runs, wanting to find his sister, only for Hoarfrost to catch up, kidnap him, and run.

When Cloud hears that Blizzard murdered someone and that she, Permafrost, and the IceWing queen went missing, Flood breaks down and tells him that it was probably all Permafrost's fault, as it was Permafrost who killed those in Jade Mountain, and that the queen and Cloud's adoptive mother, Summit, who were planning to kidnap Blizzard and Permafrost to take over Pyrrhia after they take over Magisalla. And that it was all her fault, because she allowed him to tell Hoarfrost of Permafrost's doings and helped Hoarfrost further her plans by accident. She apologizes for keeping it from him, that she didn't want him to know that his mother was evil, and she starts to run away in her episode.

Cloud gives chase, but him calling for Flood causes her to crash into a cliff due to distraction. She dies from the head wound, her last words being "I'm sorry. I love you..." Cloud, stricken with new grief, returns to the Sky Kingdom and faces Inca. The grief from finding out that he helped a plan that would probably destroy everything he knows, and that it was his fault that Flood died, and this his friend Permafrost was gone, and his mother was evil... It was too much. He demanded that Inca erase his memories of what happened and replace it with that he was raised by a noble but got the urge to fly to the far east beyond Pyrrhia. Inca reluctantly agrees after a lot of convincing. However, it's shown that it doesn't work, revealed later to be because of Cloud's Sunborn status. In his traumatic episode, Cloud passes out and then wakes up the next day, happy and content with selective amnesia erasing his memories of the events that transpired and the dragons associated with them. Wanting to fulfill his dream of exploring beyond Pyrrhia, he started flying towards the Fire Territory. The chapters end in Sandstorm's POV, when he spots Cloud flying into the Fire Territory.

In the epilogue, we are blasted even farther back in time. Before the creation of the dragons, when Scavengers still ruled the surface. The MoonWings are on an island covered in iridescent sand, as if glass was turned to powder. They speak of how to they are to try and save their planet, for their brother had seen the future of the planet if it were left in the hands of scavengers. The SunWing himself, revealed for the first time to the readers in full form, steps forwards from thin air and says he will scorch the land, breath upon it his fiery breath and return the spires of silver and glass to the stone below them.

The MoonWings, off to the side where the SunWing cannot hear, plan on creating the dragons as a thank you gift. The ending was planned to be dialogue from the SunWing as he looked at a city skyline in the distance.

"Silver and glass. Silver... Glass... Silver glass. If I were to melt it all, would it turn into that? Silver glass? Would the metals and blasted sands return to their rightful, earthen glory? All shall return to silver glass. All will return to the dusts of creation,"