Unshattered

Chapter Twenty Two

"So, do you think Queen Thorn will punish her?" Deathbringer asked Glory, attempting to stroke Silver's back at the RainWing's hut.

Her sloth peacefully hung from a small branch by the window, with Glory slapping the NightWing's talon away from her cute, beloved little pet.

"Get your smug talons off of Silver!" She hissed as Deathbringer flinched back with an eye roll.

"Sorry, my queen. It won't happen again."

Queen Glory nodded in approval. "It better not,"

After those three words, everything fell silent, but the queen and her bodyguard seemed to be biting their lips and puffing out their cheeks with small sniggers.

The next thing that happened, they both burst out into laughter.

They didn't notice Aqua standing in the corner of the hut with an expression that looked like it said, Moons bless these dragons, they've gone crazy. Crazy, I tell you.

The SeaWing looked down at her magic shell in her talons and sighed.

She heard wingbeats and turned around and saw Soaren and Moondrift fly in.

Moondrift's face read, There's something one of us has been needing to tell you. This is serious, so stop laughing and LET US SPEAK FOR MOONS SAKE.

And Soaren's nervous look was telling Aqua, Dear moons, Moondrift better not mess this up. So NERVOUS, NERVOUS NERVOUS, NERVOUS.

The hybrid bowed to Glory, who tilted her head at her after she and her bodyguard stopped laughing.

"You're being strange. What happened now? You never bow to me." The RainWing said.

Soaren sighed even before Moondrift stepped aside to let him do the talking. He stood tall and tried to be brave when he was about to confess.

He bowed as well, making Glory tilt her head even more.

"Okay, seriously guys, what's going on?"

The SkyWing lifted his head to meet Glory's emerald eyes.

"Moondrift has read my mind and..." he looked over at the hybrid and thought to her, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO WORD THIS? THIS IS SO MUCH PRESSURE.

She shrugged, but Soaren knew that she had the entire speech planned and practised in her head, and he didn't even need to read her mind to know.

"And...?" Glory pressed, gesturing him with one talon to continue.

"She knows that I'm..." Soaren trailed off again.

HELP ME SAY THIS PLEASE. It just doesn't feel like the right time and place, he thought to Moondrift, who frowned at him.

"Nope," she said stubbornly. "You are telling her this instant no matter how inappropriate the timing and place is right now. Just DO IT."

He sighed and shot her a scowl.

"I'm the SkyWing that 'shattered' ten years ago. I didn't die, I survived, and Hvitur had been taking care of me for ten years in a pit with no light."

Everyone stayed silent; Moondrift shifted uncomfortably from talon to talon as Glory blinked at him.

"So you must have found out that I was your...replacement." She sighed. "I guess my friends wouldn't want me anymore, now that they have their 'wings of sky'."

Soaren shook his head vigorously. "What? No! I'm sure your friends would still want you! I just had to tell you sometime soon. And Moondrift figured that right when I found out you were my replacement, that I should tell you straight away."

"Yup," the hybrid nodded.

Deathbringer put a wing around his queen. "Don't worry, Glory, that doesn't make you any less special."

Soaren just wanted to say, "Awwww," right there and right now, but he didn't think it would have been best to do that.

The RainWing let out a deep exhale. "It's alright. He survived, we should be happy for him. He could have been dead and if it wasn't for him, Sahara might have murdered more dragons. You don't have to feel bad, Soaren. I'm not mad."

Her scales turned a calm blue as she looked at Aqua. "I forgot you were there. Moondrift told me you didn't steal the dream visitor and that the SandWing had just tried to frame you. I'm sorry we didn't believe you sooner."

Soaren felt so relieved to have not been pushed down deeper from the pressure that was put on him just by confessing a secret.

Then his eyes went wide. "HVITUR!"

He pulled out the brightsting cactus and started panicking. "No, no, no, no! It'll be too late by now, he'll be dead...."

He fell to the ground and covered his head with his arms. "No. No, no, no, no, no..."

Aqua walked up to him and took his arms off his head and looked into his eyes.

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I can get you to him,"

She held up her enchanted shell.

***

Soaren was at the pit with Aqua. It was as messy as ever; bottles of liquid were shattered as no medicines spilled from it. Soaren near cut himself when he almost stepped on a shard of glass.

The scrolls that were stacked in an unorganised way, were all torn, dirty and worn out, scattered across the ground and all were unravelled to show the smudged ink.

Aqua gasped at the sight.

The SkyWing's eyes immediately landed on Hvitur, who was writhing in the corner of a shadow.

"S-Soaren?" He croaked.

"HVITUR!" Soaren cried, rushing to the IceWing's side.

The red dragon's eyes began filling with tears as he took out the cactus.

"I'm SO sorry I took so long," he sobbed. "I can't believe I got distracted from trying to save you..."

Hvitur gently held on to Soaren's talons. "It's alright. I never would have expected you to be back here even less than a week."

"Then why did you let me go?!" Soaren moaned, clutching the ice dragon's cold talons tightly. "You're letting yourself get killed!"

"Because," he tried to breathe, knowing it was too late for the cactus to heal him.

The severe SandWing scar was slashed deeply across his face, reaching his neck and chest as well.

"...because I think it's about time you start living in the world..."

With that, Hvitur's cold, now lifeless eyes stood still, breathing his last breath as he soon ran out of it. His body dropped and laid there. Dead.

"No!" Soaren cried again, grabbing the IceWing's shoulders and hugged him. "You were like a father to me,"

Aqua's head hung low behind him, looking away from the pool of tears that quickly formed on the ground, wetting the ruined scroll and making the shattered glass bottled four a little.

Soaren turned to the SeaWing with deep, watery eyes.

"Can't you do something?" He pleaded desperately. "You used your magic to bring back Moondrift, can't you do the same for him?"

She shook her head sadly.

"I was only able to bring Moondrift back because there was a spell put on her that made her die, I just removed the spell and it allowed her to breathe again." She sighed. "But Hvitur is dead because of SandWing venom. And animus magic cannot bring back the dead."

The SkyWing wiped a tear from his eye as he slowly let go of the IceWing.

"What am I supposed to do now without him?" He asked, he still had a breaking voice.

Aqua smiled. "You're going to finally live your life,"

-1211 Words