Ink and Embers Any pronouns Posted March 25 Posted March 25 19 hours ago, Through The Living Star said: Just a short piece of writing for today.(and by short I mean SHORT) this is without editing too, so… uh… yeah. I hope you enjoy. (Once again I apologize for the double post) They Should Have Known Better Hide contents They should have known better. They should have known not to antagonize me. They should have known I would retaliate. They should have known that they were not strong enough to stand against me. They should have known that any attempt to resist was futile, and that it would only make me even more mad. They should have known that with each crazy antic, my hate would have been stoked. Yes, they should have known better. But I should have known better than to destroy the world. OOOOOOO AWESOME!!!! The character has so much more self-awareness than I expected. This was so much fun to read!!!! 1
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted March 26 Author Posted March 26 22 hours ago, Through the Living Ink said: OOOOOOO AWESOME!!!! The character has so much more self-awareness than I expected. This was so much fun to read!!!! Thank you so much! I've decided to make some formatting things on this thread. 1. Normal short stories will have an edited version underneath so I can see how it has changed with your guys's advice. 2. Mini Stories, like the one I have posted below, will have the word "mini" before the title. These stories will only be about a paragraph or two long. 3. Poems, if I ever post any, will have the word "poem" in front of them. Anyways... Mini: That Moment Spoiler That moment in the air, with the wind rushing around and the breeze fluttering through my fingers, it almost felt like I was flying. I could imagine I was soaring through the air, defying the law of gravity. In that moment, that wonderfully blissful moment, it was all too easy to forget that I was plummeting to my death. 2
Usseewa Posted March 26 Posted March 26 1 minute ago, Through The Living Star said: Thank you so much! I've decided to make some formatting things on this thread. 1. Normal short stories will have an edited version underneath so I can see how it has changed with your guys's advice. 2. Mini Stories, like the one I have posted below, will have the word "mini" before the title. These stories will only be about a paragraph or two long. 3. Poems, if I ever post any, will have the word "poem" in front of them. Anyways... Mini: That Moment Hide contents That moment in the air, with the wind rushing around and the breeze fluttering through my fingers, it almost felt like I was flying. I could imagine I was soaring through the air, defying the law of gravity. In that moment, that wonderfully blissful moment, it was all too easy to forget that I was plummeting to my death. Whoa! I wrote something kinda similar lol Also I like the formatting idea
Ink and Embers Any pronouns Posted March 26 Posted March 26 7 minutes ago, Through The Living Star said: Thank you so much! I've decided to make some formatting things on this thread. 1. Normal short stories will have an edited version underneath so I can see how it has changed with your guys's advice. 2. Mini Stories, like the one I have posted below, will have the word "mini" before the title. These stories will only be about a paragraph or two long. 3. Poems, if I ever post any, will have the word "poem" in front of them. Anyways... Mini: That Moment Hide contents That moment in the air, with the wind rushing around and the breeze fluttering through my fingers, it almost felt like I was flying. I could imagine I was soaring through the air, defying the law of gravity. In that moment, that wonderfully blissful moment, it was all too easy to forget that I was plummeting to my death. TALK ABOUT A PLOT TWIST I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS THAT IS GREAT!!!!! 1
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted March 26 Author Posted March 26 (edited) On 3/26/2026 at 11:08 AM, Through the Living Ink said: TALK ABOUT A PLOT TWIST I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS THAT IS GREAT!!!!! Thank you! Please feel free to ask any questions; I will answer them to the best of my abilities. One thing to keep in mind though, is that the Mini Stories will usually be spur of the moment things, where my head goes during class. Longer stories I will have planned out and have lots of ideas about, so those ones will be the ones that I can typically more easily answer questions for, though I will answer any questions. Edited March 27 by Through The Living Star
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted March 30 Author Posted March 30 (edited) Argh, I know this is a double post. Forgive me. So, I want to know what you guys think. I have several different stories that I am working on, and I want to know which one you guys want me to finish first. (For those of you who actually read my stuff, haha) I'll post a small intro to each of them, and let me know which one you want, if you care Nightmares Part Two (Yes, this does relate to the first story I posted) Spoiler With a flick of her hand, the woman could begin nightmares. She could curse people for life with a single word. She was completely in control. Or so they said. In truth, the woman was growing frustrated. Prisoner after prisoner broke under her nightmares, and her reign had never been so total or so widespread. But still one prisoner remained. The first. Prisoner 0-0-0-1 had come to her lab soon after the beginning of the war, as the woman was just beginning her experiments. She had been thrilled with the prospect of having something important to do, as well as someone to do those important things on. Even now, however, he held out. She had been so sure of herself, thinking that in a few days, the war would be over, and she would have won. That first time he went into the nightmare, she had received pats on the back and congratulations as they waited eagerly for the expected results. They never came. The man came out of the nightmare panting and pained, but clearly still resistant. “You’ve got to do better than that,” he snapped, meeting her eyes. So she did. Each day was something different, a new experiment on Prisoner 0-0-0-1. He was the test subject, and still nothing worked. Each time felt infuriatingly like the first. Practically blind with rage, she had tested the serum on others, and they broke within the first test. So why did this one man remain out of her reach? Journey Spoiler “She’s beautiful.” Lucas Aaronson gazed at his newborn daughter happily. “Yes she is,” his weary wife replied, cradling the tiny girl in her arms. “But Lucas,” the tired mother said softly. “There is something I need to talk to you about.” “Yes?” He asked, not taking his eyes off his daughter. “Lucas, look at me!” “What is it, Eliza?” She began to speak. Neither of them noticed their four year old son hiding in the corner. He only caught a few words. “Divorce… Children… Custody…” He heard his father’s shout. “You can’t keep Thomas away from me!” “Lucas, it’s done! You can’t see him or Reilly anymore.” “Reilly?” “That’s her name.” Eliza gestured to the tiny girl in her arms. Suddenly, Thomas burst out from his hiding place, tears running down his cheeks. “Momma! What’s going on?” “It’s nothing, honey,” She said, setting Reilly down to comfort her sobbing son. When he had stopped crying, she turned to keep talking to Lucas. But he was gone. In his place there was a hastily scribbled note, written on the back of a medical record. Eliza snatched it up and read it as fast as she could. It was a short message, but tears fell like rain as she finished reading. “Reilly!” She wailed, dropping the note on the ground in her haste to catch up with Lucas. “LUCAS!” She screamed as she raced out the door, Thomas right behind her. Eliza- I can’t do this anymore. So I’m taking Reilly with me. You’ll never hear from us again. Goodbye forever, Lucas P.S. We will change our names, so don’t try to find us. Light Spoiler Leap’s hand tightened around his bracelet, and he could feel the light thrumming inside. He quickly pulled the leather band over it, smothering any lingering glow it might have produced. His informant would be less… giving if they knew he was Lightchosen. When he discovered his gift, he was shocked. Him? Blessed by the Heavens themselves? He was incredulous. Why would he be given this gift? Then he realized. He could find them, the one they called the Ainter, and bring him to justice. That was when he started to search. He uncovered so little, it was almost inconsequential. But if his meeting went well, that would all change. Leap shifted his weight from one foot to the other and pulled the cowl of his cloak lower. He could feel a strange disconnect as he watched the light from the broken lamp in the corner slowly filter past. He could use that! He could- No. That would only get him killed. He stilled his now-twitching hand at his side, wishing not for the first time that his informant would ever show up on time. He took a deep breath and, making a quick decision, strode toward the door. Each meeting before this one, his informant had shown up right before he had left. So, should he start to leave now… The door slammed open, and his informant stalked in. Leap hid a grin, and shifted his hand to check on the leather band, disguising the action by scratching his wrist. “Lichen!” Leap said brightly, using the man’s preferred codename. “Are you healthy?” That was a code as well, to make sure that it really was Lichen. “My knees ache and I have a crick in my back, but I am otherwise good.” Leap paused slightly. The use of good instead of well was the proof code, but the phrase about aching knees and a crick in the back was an emergency code, given to signify that someone was in trouble. Leap didn’t know why Lichen used both in one, but it made him hesitant. He inched backwards slightly, fingering his bracelet. Should he use it? No, it was best to check again. “Lichen,” Leap said faintly, “what is your favorite color?” The man paused, face shrouded by a hood, then cursed. “Lights Above, I should’ve known you'd've been tricky, Searcher! I assume that’s another code, no? No point in answering it now, I guess. Lights Cursed man probably gave you a warning in that code I gave you, didn’t he? I knew he gave it up too easily, Searcher.” Leap flinched. No one called him Searcher except… Oh, Lights Above, he needed to get out of here. He took halting steps backward, keeping his eyes on Not-Lichen the whole time. “You’re a very smart one, Searcher. Took us a long time to find you. Now, come with me and there won’t be any problems.” Leap didn’t respond, instead taking the time to move even closer to the exit. He was so fixated on Not-Lichen he didn’t notice the man hiding in the shadows behind him. He took another step backwards, then felt the blade of a dagger pressing into his back. “Just give me a reason to use this,” the man behind him hissed. Leap stiffened, then slumped. What could he do? His bracelet? He started to move his right hand toward it, but the dagger pressed deeper into his skin, causing him to let out a strangled whimper. He never had been good with pain. “None of that now.” Leap nodded sullenly as the gravity of his situation sunk in. Without his bracelet, he was unarmed. He glanced from side to side, searching for something that could be of use, but saw nothing, save for dusty, old boxes that had been forgotten when the owner of the storage building moved out. Leap was marched to the side of Not-Lichen, who removed his hood and ran his fingers through his short blond hair. Not-Lichen has a square face and was cleanshaven, with a small scar that twisted around his left eye. His pale blue eyes glinted eagerly, and he wore a giddy smile. His fancy suit should have been signal enough for Leap to leave, but he had covered it with Lichen’s well worn cloak, which Not-Lichen now shed. “So this is the famous Searcher!” Not-Lichen reached out his hand and tugged Leap’s hood off, examining his face. Leap tried to jerk back, but the point of the dagger stopped him from going far. “Hmmm…” Not-Lichen hummed softly. “Not exactly what I expected you to look like, Searcher.” Leap gave him an angry glare, but Not-Lichen just laughed. “Okay, Stepp, you can release him.” The man behind Leap- Stepp- let out a shocked gasp. “After all we did to catch him? We’re just going to let him go?” “Of course not!” Not-Lichen laughed. “I just said release him. Meaning, take away that dagger I know you have pressed against his back.” Stepp let out an angry grumble but complied. Leap let out a slow breath, stretching his hand back to where the dagger had been. His hand came away damp with blood. “Lights Cursed men,” he said with a scowl. “Couldn’t you just have asked to talk with me?” “Would you have come?” Not-Lichen asked curiously. “No.” “Well that’s the problem,” Not-Lichen said with a smile. “I need you, Searcher.” “Why? Why’d you come?” Leap wormed a finger under the leather band, ready to tug it off. “You, my dear friend, are the last of the Lightchosen.” Leap felt a jolt of terror. “What?” “Yes, you heard me right. You are the last of the Lightchosen. One by one, we took the rest, silencing the lies that came. Once you are gone, no more will remain. Never again will another of these so called “Lightchosen” plague the land with lies. Never again…” Not-Lichen trailed off slowly, turning to look Leap in the eyes. “My name is Ainter. It is nice to meet you. Goodbye, friend.” “You won’t get me that easily!” Leap cried, tearing off his bracelet. Light flooded the room, filling it with a warm glow. He felt a tugging in his stomach as he directed it in a beam towards Stepp, then dashed for the door. He was going to make it! He- a strange, numb sensation flooded his body. His legs collapsed beneath him, and he found himself unable to move. No… No! He strained, stretching a quivering hand towards the door. Footsteps sounded behind him, and Ainter softly whispered, “Goodbye, friend.” Hope (For this one, it is my sort of attempted ending at it) Spoiler “Are you crazy?” I asked. “You can’t kill me. I am in the first words of a child. I am in the first light of the day. I am in the heart of each and every person, for as long as there is man, I live.” He watched me wordlessly as I huffed, out of breath from my tirade. For one who had gone so long without talking, I certainly didn’t know how to stop the torrent of words that came once I started. He met my eyes, then smiled. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before, but this single action sent a chill through me that I couldn’t shake, no matter how hard I tried. “You’re afraid,” he whispered, holding my gaze. “As you should be.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he turned on his heel and stalked out. I wish I could claim I shook it off and kept going, but I sat there, in that dark, musty office for longer than I would like to admit. That round, he had won. Many years later, after many rounds- most of which were won by him- we were nearing the end of our little game. I was weakened. I wouldn’t like to admit so to him, but I was. So, I rested on one particular young girl, who showed great promise. The people watched her carefully, which was what let me rest on her in the first place. “she’ll get us out of here,” they whispered. “She’ll save us.” They all believed in her. She supported me, and I pushed her. She would do it, we knew. I couldn’t resist gloating. I met him in his office the day the girl was to win. “Our game is quite nearly over,” I said, grinning widely. “It is,” he agreed. “Though not for the reasons you expect.” I watched him, unable to hide my glee for long. “I win.” He didn’t respond, instead rifling through a small stack of papers on his desk. “Ah,” he said, putting on a pair of glasses. When had he got those? “Today is the day that girl you rested on tries to rebel, isn’t it?” “How do you know that?” I glared at him until he let out a curt laugh. “How could I not know about it? Everyone’s talking about it, you know.” “Why’d you let her continue then? Why not stop it before it could start?” He didn’t respond, instead taking the time to look over the paper again. “Do you know about horses, old friend?” “Excuse me?” I said, stalking forward. “There is a phrase, one you may know. ‘A single straw can break a horse’s back.’ That is true. Often a single tipping point can ruin something forever.” He glanced up, meeting my eyes. “More than that though, is the weight. Often, a horse that carries less will break less fully, often able to work again. But a horse that holds that much more weight will break that much more. For you see, the weight builds up slowly, until one day, at that tipping point, they don’t break, they shatter.” He smiled faintly, removing his glasses. “What are you going to do?” I asked, feeling cold. “My soldiers should be capturing her about… now.” I could feel the moment she failed. It was tearing, shattering. It hurt so much, but I was alive. “You haven’t won yet,” I wheezed. Yes, I fell hard, but I could pick myself back up. “You see, old friend, I expected this.” He offered the paper to me. I took it and began to read. “A new set of laws? What does that have to do with anything?” “Read on,” he said, nodding. A part of me wanted to do the opposite, out of principle. But I read on, and found myself… terrified. “A law to take any children that have spoken their first word, or reached the age of two- whatever comes first? A law that all marriages must be chosen by the government? What is this?” I started to shake, unable to read on. “This, my old friend, is the death of you.” He met my eyes again and I felt cold. “You see, you said once that I could not kill you, because you were in the first words of a child, and in the first light of day. These laws will be released as the result of an… unfortunate rebellion. And with these laws, no parent will hope for their child to talk again, for it will result in them being torn away- not that keeping them from talking will stop that, as once they reach the age of two they will be taken anyway. “There are laws that you did not read, each making the world worse. It will get so bad that people will long for nightmares, as they are better than living. So you see, no one can hope for a new day again.” I stared at him, horrified. He grabbed my arm, gripping it tightly. “You see, you told me something as well, that as long as there is man, you live. I could not find a single way to combat that. But, I realized, I could twist you. People will live in such horror, in such agony, that they will only hope for the end.” He watched me, perfectly calm. “It should be happening any moment now.” He waited patiently, tapping his hand on his leg. I waited for a while, then, when I was sure nothing was going to happen, I smiled at him. “You failed,” I laughed. Then it hit me. It was a blaze of pain, a haze I couldn’t think through. I collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony. I could hear my breath coming in short gasps, and the pain turned raw. It seared, it tore, it consumed. “You see,” he said, looming over me. “You will no longer be known as Hope. You will forever more be known as Despair.” He grinned, his teeth gleaming white. “A fitting end, I think. As for me, I will go down in history as the man who killed hope.” I could feel the pain. It was like he took all those pieces of me and stitched them up backwards. I could feel myself twisting, changing. As a black haze took over me, I heard one last taunt that echoed through me before I was gone. “I win.” (Also these are all without editing, so just be aware of that) Edit: If no one votes- which is a distinct possibility- I will just work on Nightmares Part 2. So unless someone specifically wants something else, that is what I will be doing Edit 2: Haha, looks like no one is gonna vote. So in two weeks (or once someone else posts so it doesn't look like a completely horrible triple post) I will post the stories I wrote during this time period all at once. I hope you enjoy! Edited April 2 by Through The Living Star Adding stuff 1
Usseewa Posted April 4 Posted April 4 ong much death so depress very [redacted] so restless too forced no happy sorry i was just describing my inner mind— and giving you a post so no triple scoop i just wanna go on a multi-hour walk outside and escape this torture but alas i have a storming assignment to do agh i just want to shhshshshgsgwgwhayuzzhb bbnxbxnznjskwkwowllsmz babwhshzhhxxygzgsggwgwgwvwv sd bdhshsiwiw
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 4 Author Posted April 4 (edited) GLORIOUS. HERE ARE THE STORIES Mini: Trust Spoiler The government official certainly liked coming to our village. Standing on a small step-stool to make himself taller, he begged for us to sign some kind of paper. Most of us ignored him. We had work to do, and it wasn’t gonna get done by listenin’ to some egotistical politician plead for us to trust in him, saying that he would take care of it all. Perhaps if things weren’t as bad as they were, we woulda listened to him. But trust could only get you so far. It was a nice thought, but trust wasn’t any good when your family was starving. Trust couldn’t put food on the table. Trust couldn’t get the work done. Trust couldn’t save our children when the government came for them. Huh that feels really empty. So I'm gonna post some really old stories. These ones are not ones I want for creative criticism, just for you guys to enjoy. The first two are about Wings of Fire *cough cough* @It is I, God., these are the ones that include my all powerful dragon series so you may like them *cough cough*, so unless you have read those books, you should not read them. Old Story: Firefly's Light (this one is literally my first story written, so... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Spoiler “She’s hatching tonight!” The dragons in the castle whispered excitedly. The rainwing-nightwing princess was joining the world. The shell started to wobble. King Firestrike was the first to notice. He had wanted to stay with his wife, Queen Rose, who was sick. But she insisted that he had to protect their child. So, the nervous king protected it so fiercely, that no one wanted to even see the egg. Suddenly, the egg began to rock again. All of a sudden, the egg swayed. The winds picked the egg up, and began to carry it away. It was a mad dash to grab the egg. But no one could. The egg bobbed above their outstretched claws. The wind blasted them so fiercely, that if they even tried to fly, they would be blasted so far away, they would never find their way back. King Firestrike could only watch in horror as the egg floated in the air. He cried out when he realized the truth. His daughter was being born in a hurricane. He feebly tried again to grab the egg, but again, it swayed out of reach. He could only watch, and hope that the hurricane was kind enough to save his daughter. Suddenly, the shell split open in a burst of light, and the tiny princess joined the world. Four years later… “I don’t have to go, do I father?” Firefly asked. “Of course you have to go. You are queen of course! I am only taking care of the tribe until you are ready to take the throne! This will be a good thing!” Firestrike replied. Want to bet? Firefly thought bitterly. “Now, I know that you have a few… strange powers, but don’t let them know. If they don’t know, they can’t use it,” Firestrike explained. She poured her mind into his thoughts. “That’s not what you think! You’re just worried about your precious reputation! How could you father? I know I have powers, so what?” She snarled in his mind. He flinched, not knowing what to say. Even if he had known what to say, Firefly didn’t give him a chance to answer. She stalked away, leaving him to his own thoughts and snarled to herself. Three moons! Why does he only worry about himself? I have nine or ten powers and he is worried about his reputation! She gripped the training rail, where dragons learned how to read minds. It helped them anchor onto the calmest mind if they held onto something in reality. She flicked her tail, furious. Why did she have to go to Sapphire Dune Academy? It was for ‘special’ dragons, her father had told her. She didn’t need a stupid school to help her control her ‘curse’, as her father called it. She decided to complain to her ONLY friend, Lemur. “My dad is making me go to that horrid school! I can’t believe he is going through with it! I know I have nine or ten powers, but I don’t need that place!” Firefly cried. “I know, but he’s just worried about you. You need to control your powers. What were they again? I remember ice, fire, mind reading, prophecy, water, ground, air, time, and invisibility, but that last one isn't really a power, since all rainwings can do that,” Lemur said excitedly. “That’s all of them. But I’m still not going, even if my BEST FRIEND won’t agree with me,” Firefly said, her voice dripping with venom. She stalked away, not wanting to talk any longer with Lemur. She wasn’t really mad at her, but she didn’t want anyone to find out about her secret power. No one could know. She would apologize to Lemur later, but right now she was going to practice. She had come up with a plan. If she showed a lot of control over her powers, her father might let her stay home. She flew out to the forest, in a quiet clearing where no one would find. She decided to start practicing her invisibility. She slowly shifted her scales to match her background. She decided that should practice it in a more ‘stressful’ situation. She stalked along the ground, wriggling through a tight space into the castle. She was going to spy on her father’s secret meeting. She pressed to a wall, making sure that no one could see her, closed her eyes, and listened. “We must get rid of her,” A raspy voice cried out. Firefly recognized that voice. It was her father’s advisor, FastKill. Her tail twitched. Who are they trying to ‘get rid of’? She thought. “Yes, she must die. She is a threat to the throne,” another voice said. She knew this voice, but she didn’t know who it exactly was. She wanted to open her eyes and see who it was, but if she did they would see her. Her thoughts were interrupted by another voice. “Are you sure?” It was her father. “She hasn’t learned what she can do yet. And…” His voice lingered on the word. “She reminds me so much of her.” Firefly listened as close as she could. “Yes, if she does not die, you will lose the throne, and be known as a low-born WORM!” The mysterious voice said again. “ B-b-b-but… Fine, do what you must. Just don’t make me do it. And whatever you do, make sure Firefly is dead by morning,” Her father whispered. Firefly gasped, unable to keep silent. A deep blue spread across her scales, revealing her to the dragons. She spread her wings out, flying out of reach, emotions rolling through her, and flashing over her scales, making them turn so many different colors. FastKill flung a dagger at her, and it flew through the air, seemingly at supersonic speed. Terrified, she instinctively pulled out an energy from her core thrusting it out, and everything seemed to slow down. She tried to move out of the way of the dagger, and found that she moved much faster than it. She easily dodged it, and the other daggers that FastKill flung at her. She flew out the window, and time went back to normal. She cried out saying, “Why would you do this! You were never nice to me, but at least you weren’t a murderer! I’ll come back and kill you!” “No, you won’t,” He said in a robotic voice. Firefly looked into his eyes, and found that they looked dull, and unlike her father’s eyes. Her eyes widened when she realized what had happened. Her father was being controlled. Her gaze drifted to the mysterious stranger. They had flung back their hood, and Firefly gasped, hurt. “Lemur?” She whimpered. “W-w-w-why would you do this? You were my best friend.” “Of course. I had to get close to lower your guard. That way, you wouldn’t suspect when I would kill you.” Lemur’s voice sounded dark, and evil. “How did I not see this? I should have seen a prophecy or something!” Firefly blurted out. Lemur grinned, but in a way that sent chills down her spine. “That was the other reason I had to get close. I can block magic. That is how I am controlling your father. It is also the way I am going to control you!” Lemur yelled, thrusting a talon out. Suddenly, Firefly felt trapped. She couldn’t move, or use magic. She struggled, fighting to get free. She was so terrified that she began to store energy. The energy hummed and buzzed inside her, ready to push out. She flung back her wings, escaped the magic, and let the energy free. The energy went out slowly, starting out as a flicker of light, and then swelled to a blast of light that could blind anyone. In the confusion, Firefly escaped, promising that one day, when she was strong, she would come back and defeat Lemur. Two years later… Firefly trained every day, never stopping. Slowly her powers grew stronger, and she was soon able to use them in any way that she wanted. But, eventually, she decided that she would stay in the small village that she had found. She didn’t want to face Lemur again. Her powers were… terrifying. Besides, she was a mother now. The village that she had found was full of dragons that no one had ever seen before. CloudWings. They looked like they were made of well… clouds. She had fallen in love with a CloudWing named Hurricane. He was the one who had raised the hurricane the day she was born. They had two tiny children, and one egg, that still hadn’t hatched yet. Their oldest child was a one-year-old girl named Clevercloud. Their next was a 5 month-old boy named Twister. They had rainbow wings, and RainWing scales. They had black scales on their talons. Neither of them had been born under the moons, so neither of them had NightWing powers. Firefly loved them anyway. They were funny and adorable. Today, she was going to test them for powers. She gathered them close, so that she could test them. “Now hold still. I am going to pull some energy from your core. This will trigger any powers that you have,” Firefly said. She stretched her wings, closed her eyes, and pushed her mind into Clevercloud’s thoughts. She dug through her thoughts, until she found her core. She harnessed the energy there, and pulled it into herself. She drew her mind out of Clevercould’s, and gave her the energy. Clevercloud shivered. “Am I supposed to feel both cold and hot at the same time?” She whimpered. “No, and Yes! It means that you have two powers! Fire, and ice!” Firefly said excitedly. “This is a good thing?” Clevercloud hissed, pain creeping across her back. “Yes! The pain will subside in a moment. Don’t worry about it. I’m right here.” Firefly soothed. She drew her tail across Clevercloud’s spine. Clevercloud shivered one more time, then settled down. “Now go rest. Triggering abilities is stressful, so you will need to take a break. Your father is bringing your bed so you can watch Twister’s triggering, if you want to.” Firefly told her. Clevercloud bobbed her head, and laid down in the bed Hurricane had brought. Firefly started towards Twister, but he backed away. “Are you going to do the same thing you did to Clevercloud to me?” He whimpered. Firefly slowly nodded. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. You’ll be fine,” Firefly soothed. Twister looked as if he was being betrayed. “Really, it won’t hurt?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “I don’t want you to trigger my ability if it’s like Clevercloud’s.” Firefly snarled, “You will trigger this ability! You need to be able to protect yourself!” In a burst of fear and anger, Firefly told her children her story. Their eyes widened as they heard what had happened. Twister ducked his head in shame. “Alright, do it!” He whispered. Firefly poured her mind into his thoughts, digging around until she found his core. Firefly pulled her mind out with the energy tucked inside her. She slowly thrust the energy into Twister. He cocked his head. “ It feels like I’m floating in a cloud!” He exclaimed. He stretched out his wings, bathing in the sunlight. “This means that you can control the wind, just like your father!” Firefly shouted. You can be safe now, she thought. Hurricane pressed close to her, and their tails twined together. Firefly started to walk towards their home, when they heard a sharp cry coming from the nursery. She paled, and her scales turned to a dark purple color. She started to run, but then realized that she could go faster. She flung out energy, and slowed down time. She ran as fast as she could, zooming past everyone in her way. She made it to the nursery, and set time right again. She looked in, and saw that her egg was hatching! Her scales settled down back to their normal sunset colors. She walked in, and found out that the employee didn’t know what to do, so they yelled. Firefly looked at the last egg, and promised herself that she would protect everyone she cared about. The egg started to crack, and a tiny gray, poofy arm poked through. The rest of the egg splintered, and the tiny dragon slid out. She looked just like her siblings, but instead of being white, she was a strange gray color. Firefly curled her tail around the young dragonet, and carried her home. When they got home, she looked closely at the small dragonet. She decided to take her to the doctor to make sure that she was healthy. Right then, Hurricane came into the house. “Is she okay? I heard the scream and saw you run, but I didn’t know what had happened! Please tell me,” Hurricane hurriedly said. As Firefly told him what happened, the dragonet slowly spread her wings, revealing her chest and talons. Firefly glanced at her and began to scream. The dragonet’s talons were twisted, and black. Firefly collapsed to the ground and lay there for so long, Hurricane thought she was dead. Slowly, she got up. She scooped up the tiny dragon, and carried her out the door. “I am taking her to the doctor!” Firefly sobbed, “ Maybe they can fix her! I don’t know what happened! Before I started talking to you, she was fine!” “Honey.” Hurricane started to say. “What?” Firefly snarled. He mumbled something indistinguishable, and jabbed his talons toward something behind her. Firefly turned around and saw why he was so terrified. It was Lemur. Firefly screamed, as once again she was wrapped in the unforgiving hand of magic. She fought even harder than she had two years ago. But she couldn’t get free. She began to store energy again, but Lemur called out, “No, no, no! No doing that! That is the only thing that can stop my magic! So to stop you from doing that…” Lemur trailed off. Her gaze fixated on something behind Firefly. Firefly paled. The magic released her. She crumpled to the ground, exhausted. She suddenly got up. She lunged, trying to get in front of the magic. But it was too late. The magic scooped up her newborn daughter, squeezing her tightly. “It is easier to bargain, if you have something to bargain with.” Lemur chuckled. “I have your child, and you have your power. Give up your power and I will give up your child. If you even start to think about sacrificing your child, then remember this. She hasn't even been named! Do you think that she really needs to die? And you better think fast, because I injected a poison into her. She will be dead within the hour.” Firefly’s thoughts were going at supersonic speed. How can I save her and my powers? I can’t lose her, but I can’t lose my power! What should I do? Her tail twitched. She began to feel a headache coming on. Three moons! It’s a vision! The headache flared, and the world faded to black. She saw red. Then she saw the streets coated in blood. Dragons dying. All while she sat useless, her powers gone. She saw Lemur cackling, sitting on a throne of skulls. As she came back to reality, she realized what she had to do. I named our child. She whispered in Hurricane’s head. Her name is Cumulus. I will have to sacrifice her. I’m so sorry. Goodbye, my love. Closing her eyes, she began to store energy. After she had stored as much energy as she could, she opened her eyes. “This is where you meet your end, Lemur!” She snarled. She narrowed her eyes, slowly pulsing energy. “I’m so sorry, Cumulus. I wish that you could’ve seen the world like I have.” She flung the energy out, blinding Lemur. She collapsed to the ground. She couldn’t see Cumulus anywhere. She had poured out all of her energy into this. She would die in a few minutes. She decided that she would make the best of the rest of her life. She struggled to get up. She wobbled on her legs. She slowly crept forward, making sure to keep quiet. She lunged forward, ready to finish Lemur. Lemur suddenly flipped around and slashed Firefly’s throat. Firefly gasped, pain rushing through her. She suddenly lunged forward, and snapped Lemur’s neck. She fell to the ground. Warm blood pooled around her. She slowly crawled forward. She bumped into something. It was Cumulus. She slowly stretched out her wings. Wrapping them around Cumulus, she pulsed. She sent all of her magic into her young child. She also sent her last burst of healing magic, leaving her useless, and weak. “Fly… Into.. the clouds… You will be safe.” She whispered. She lowered her head to the ground. The last thing she saw before the world faded to black, was Cumulus, healthy, her talons fixed, flying into the sky. The End Old Story:Outcasts (more elaboration on the dragon species mentioned in the story above. Also, it's not 100% done, but unless someone really wants me to finish it, I'm shelving it for now) Spoiler Chapter 1: Charge Charge stretched his fire-covered wings. Tomorrow was his second birthday. It was also his Finding. He was NOT going to be an Outcast. He was living the good life, and that was not going to change. He launched into the air, and shifted into Flame Mode. His whole body became hungry, orange flames. He glanced toward the dome. It was the only thing keeping the Outcasts from getting out. He grimaced. He was not getting sent there, no siree. He was going to be a FlameWing forever. He landed on a platform, and returned to normal. He slid into a cold, delightful, hammock. He fell asleep quickly. He woke up in a cold, damp, dark cage. Water bound his wrists and ankles. His wings ached. He saw that they were covered in water. Slowly, he stood up. The water yanked him down to a sitting position. “What’s going on?” He yelped as the pain grew stronger. “This is your Finding. Hold still, or the water will spread across your whole body.” Charge’s body froze. He shivered lightly. “We are going to hook you up to a machine. This will determine whether you are an Outcast or not.” An Outcast… A side of Charge’s brain went. Two dragons cloaked in black stalked into the room. They brought with them a machine with many gizmos and geegaws. Charge tried not to move as they pressed a flame covered cord onto his chest. He puffed out his chest, bold, and certain that after that, not much worse could happen. But his talons still shook when they brought out a water form of the cord and put it on his chest. “I’m going to send you a bit of core energy. It will awaken your inner dragon, and you will either be known as one of the FlameWings, or as an Outcast. Now, don’t move. This may shock you a bit.” That was a bit of an understatement. Charge felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He fell to the ground, pain coursing through him. One of the guards cried out. He glanced at his talons, and saw that they were blue. “STOP!” He screamed at his talons. But the blue kept spreading across his whole body. As he glanced into a puddle, he realized that his worst nightmare was true. He was an Outcast. Chapter 2: Spark Spark grinned. It was her second birthday! Anytime now, she would be taken for her Finding! Her whole family saw it as a day of dread, because it meant that you could become a RippleWing (the Outcast version of a FlameWing). On the outside, Spark agreed with them. But on the inside, she really wanted to be an Outcast. She didn’t want to be the same as everyone else. Spark thought it was really lame. A thought occurred to Spark. What if she was a normal FlameWing? That won’t happen. She told herself as she flew to the Finding Platform. Spark dropped onto the platform and stood up straight. “Stay.” A gruff voice commanded. Spark froze. The FlameWing had a black hood over his head. A guard. Spark realized. Everybody knew that if you messed with a guard, nothing good would come of it. “Another Finding is in progress.” The guard said. Sure enough, Spark could hear screams coming from the room in front of her. Is it really that painful? Spark worried. She winced when the screams stopped. The doors were flung open and a guard dragged a limp blue dragonet across the floor. His eyes locked with hers and they seemed to say, “Help me.” The guard flew across the sky, leading the RippleWing to the dome where all of the Outcasts were kept. Why does everybody hate the Outcasts? They’re just different from us. Spark angrily thought. The guard opened the doors and Spark stepped inside. Water flowed around her claws. She sat down and waited. The Finding Machine was sitting in front of her. A guard attached a flame-covered wire to her chest. “Sit still.” He growled. I am sitting still, you idiot. Spark couldn’t help thinking. Then, the guard pulled out a water-covered wire. Spark suddenly remembered that if she did become an Outcast, she would have to look disappointed and scared about it. The water-covered wire felt cold upon her chest. The guard flipped the switch and Spark screamed in pain. She expected to have some sort of weird feeling inside of her but there was no feeling other than the energy pulsing through her. The pain ended. Spark opened her eyes and lifted up her talons. No. She thought. She was a normal FlameWing. Spark had to act happy, of course, so she forced a painful smile on her face as the guard took the wires off of her chest. Spark stepped out of the doors and saw that her family was waiting for her. “See, I told you, Bonfire, that she wouldn’t be an Outcast.” Spark’s mother was telling her father. Spark’s little brother, who wasn’t even one yet, rushed toward her. “Was it scary? Did it hurt?” Pyre, her little brother asked. “Sorta.” Spark said. She didn’t want to scare her little brother. “Soo…” her older brother, Fireblast, said. “You’re not an Outcast… nice sis.” Spark sighed on the inside. She knew her brother was like her. He had wanted to be a RippleWing, and just like her, his dreams were crushed underneath the cold, cruel talons of the guards. Spark endured the congratulations of all her family members. Afterward, she flew to the ocean. It was the only place where she could feel different. She curled up in the sand. She lowered her head, and a few, small tears fell from her eyes. Why, WHY! I had one wish! Why couldn’t my dream come true at least once? Spark thought angrily. Suddenly, her thoughts turned to the blue dragonet before her. Why did he get to be a RippleWing, but not her? I bet he didn’t even want to be one. Spark thought sourly. She slowly buried herself lower in the sand. Finally, all of her pent up feelings came hurtling out of her. Her whole body shook as tears streamed down her face. Talons squished against sand behind her. Spark sniffed and lifted her head. It was Fireblast. Fireblast pressed his warm scales against Spark’s tear-streaked ones. “It’s going to be okay.” He whispered. And in that moment, to Spark, everything seemed okay. Chapter 3: Shadowflight The hooded dragon whisked through the air, flying low. She could not risk getting caught or else the plan would get ruined. She kept the memory of the address blazing within her mind. Her cuff started pinching her wrist. Just a little bit further and the pain in the tail will be gone. She thought. She hoped that the hacker would be able to get it off. If not, she could get in BIG trouble. Something caught her eye on the ground. The hooded dragon dropped down. Something about this area was off. The thing that had caught her sharp eyes was a hole in the shadows. It was a good thing the dragon knew a few things about shadows herself. After she had checked to make sure no one had followed her (she was very sure as she had made her escape as quiet as she could), she hopped through the shadows and dropped into a high-tech laboratory. There was a dragon with welding goggles working at a desk with a mini torch. It appeared to be a DayWing. Ugh, I despise those. Did it have to be a DayWing? The dragon thought bitterly. Last time they had met, she couldn’t tell what tribe the hacker was because they kept their hood up the entire time they were talking. When the DayWing stopped welding the unknown piece, they lifted their goggles up and the shadowy dragon saw that they had two different eye colors, one green and one blue. “Hello!” The hacker said with a strong accent. “Who might you be?” “I’m Shadowflight.” The shadowy dragon responded shortly. “I’m Bright Sky! It’s nice to meet you, Shadowflight.” Bright Sky held out her talon for Shadowflight to shake. Shadowflight kept still. “Okay, not an ‘out-there’ kind of dragon.” Bright Sky mumbled as she went back to her desk. “Excuse me, but are you the hacker?” Shadowflight asked lightly. Bright Sky turned and looked at her. “Well, I really wouldn’t say ‘hacker.’ I think of myself more as a technology expert.” Bright Sky said nervously while fiddling with her tail. Shadowflight slammed her claw down on the desk. Bright Sky examined it for a few seconds then nodded. “Ah, you’re a VoidWing, aren’t you?” Bright Sky asked with a little bit of smugness in her voice. Shadowflight rolled her eyes underneath her hood. “Yeah, I’m a VoidWing, can we please get on with this?” Shadowflight asked irritably while taking her hood off. Bright Sky nodded and brought out her wrench and multiple other tools. She grabbed Shadowflight’s talon, and brought it closer. Slowly, she took apart the cuff. Suddenly, Shadowflight felt a sharp pain just below her wrist. “Sorry!” Bright Sky cried out and the pain went away. After a while, Shadowflight glanced at her now bare wrist. She rubbed her other claw against it. It felt weird not having it there. She glanced at Bright Sky again. “Well?” Shadowflight asked. “Can I leave now?” Bright Sky let out a small laugh. “Of course not. I still have to put this thing back on, ya know. I’m just adjusting it! Now come here. I’ll have to finish the last part while it is on your wrist.” Shadowflight sighed inwardly and thrust out a talon. Bright Sky slid the cuff back onto Shadowflight’s wrist. I really thought I was rid of it. Nice job jinxing it, idiot. Shadowflight cursed herself. She fiddled with it, and suddenly the cuff grew tighter than before! “Nope, too tight.” Bright Sky mumbled. Then the cuff grew so loose, Shadowflight could take it off with ease. “Nope, too loose.” And then the cuff tightened just a bit. It wasn’t so loose that she could just take it off, but it wasn’t so tight that it was cutting off her blood flow. “Now, look here. If you put your talon here,” Bright Sky instructed, showing Shadowflight a small groove in the cuff. “You can leave your tracker where you are, and then they can’t track where you go until you press the button again!” Shadowflight tilted her head in confusion. Why would anyone want that to happen? Shadowflight thought bitterly. Bright Sky sighed, like she could read her mind. “Okay, if you were in your room, and wanted to sneak out, you would press this. It will freeze your tracker, until you press it again!” Shadowflight nodded in understanding, and spread her wings to take off. “You can remove the shadows now!” Bright Sky called. How did she know I used shadows to block the tracker? “Oh yeah, meet me here! Same time next week! I can make a few gadgets for you, to help you sneak out better!” Shadowflight nodded. Now that Bright Sky had fixed her cuff, she seemed like a friend rather than just another DayWing. No, they’re all the same. Shadowflight reminded herself. She took off, and disappeared into the dome. When Shadowflight got there, she saw that the guards were transferring a new RippleWing. Shadowflight narrowed her eyes. The dome was where all of the Outcasts went in but never came out. I got out though. Shadowflight remembered. She flew down to the top of the dome, hidden by the shadows. She turned into her Shadow form and passed through the dome. She darted down, towards the new dragonet. His fear-filled eyes darted around the dome. But then he closed his eyes, and he seemed to calm down. After the guards left, Shadowflight flew down to him. “What's your name, new dragon?” He glanced at his new cuff. He slowly swiped across the screen. He started to talk, not taking his eyes off the cuff. “My name used to be Charge. Now I guess I'm…” He glanced at the cuff's screen again. “Current.” As he said the new name, he wrinkled his snout in distaste. Shadowflight sighed. “Look, Current,” He flinched. “I’m going to get you out of here.” Current sat up quickly. “Isn’t that against the rules?” He whispered. Shadowflight smirked. This time, she wanted to rub this escape in the guards’ faces. She spread her wings and activated every single security alarm in the dome. The air was now filled with buzzes as the guards rushed in. Shadowflight grabbed Current’s arm and pulled him into the air. “Come on! Don’t your wings work?” Shadowflight snarled. Current started flapping his wings and soon, they were at the top of the dome. Shadowflight gathered up her strength and smashed through the glass ceiling. “Three moons! You broke the dome! You’re gonna get in trouble for sure!” Current exclaimed. Shadowflight whipped around. “Do you wanna get rescued or not?” Shadowflight growled. Current nodded. She grabbed his claw again and flew off. Chapter 4: Clevercloud The giant storm was raging. Clevercloud had never experienced so much rain before. She squinted her eyes to see Twister flying ahead of her. “Stop!” She yelled but her voice was drowned out by thunder. Clevercloud was struggling to keep up, but she had to. His Finding had revealed that he was a StormWing. She had knocked out the guards, and they flew off. If they didn’t get away, they would be separated for life. And Clevercloud couldn’t have that. Her mother was dead, her sister disappeared, and her father was sad and broken. Suddenly, she saw a flash of black ahead. It disappeared in an instant. Clevercloud shook her head, certain she was hallucinating. But then she saw it again to her right. Suddenly the clouds cleared, and there were black-cloaked figures all around her and Twister. She screamed, and darted forward, grabbing Twister. Twister swung around, his eyes wide. He noticed the dragons around them. “Hold still or you might be hurt.” The guards said in unison, in that same, droning, robotic voice. She got ready to attack the guards. “Clevercloud.” It took her a moment to realize that it was Twister speaking. “It’s no use. They’re going to beat us anyway. Just… stay back. It’s my fault they found us anyway. I don’t need you getting hurt because of my mistake.” “What? How did they find us?” Clevercloud cried. Twister pointed to his cuff. Clevercloud groaned inwardly. She had forgotten to remove Twister’s cuff. “I’m going to give myself up. Just… live a full life, sis.” He stepped forward a little bit. “It’s me! I’m the StormWing! Just, take me, okay? Leave her out of this! I tricked her into helping me!” He looked back at Clevercloud. “Goodbye.” He whispered. Clevercloud wrapped her wings around him. “I love you.” She whispered back. She clung to him as long as she could, only pulling away when the guards wrenched them apart. Clevercloud began to cry. She lunged for Twister, but the guards held her back. “Oh no. You can’t go anywhere. Despite what that… StormWing said, we still have to question you. Then, we will probably wipe your memories of that awful StormWing.” One guard told her. She saw far off in the distance the dome. Even from this far, it was gigantic, and impossible to not notice. She saw the guards dragging Twister inside. Instead of fighting back, he just bowed his head submissively, and slowly walked in. An anger burned inside her. She would need that later. But now, she had to take care of these guards. She narrowed her eyes at the one who had spoken before. “Are you so sure about that?” She asked, feeling strangely calm. She suddenly pulsed out a bit of energy. Flames licked hungrily at the guard’s hood. Suddenly, it was gone. There, underneath the hood, was a StormWing. He had let go of her when the fire started. She shifted her scales. She took off, and blasted a little bit of fire towards the rest of the guards, just to wreak a little havoc. Then, she streaked toward the dome. Summoning up the anger inside of her, Clevercloud unleashed the light inside of her. She heard glass shatter and she looked at the dome. All of the glass had been broken. Clevercloud realized what she had done and flew inside of the broken dome. She started searching for Twister. Have I killed him? Clevercloud thought frantically. Clevercloud searched the debris for Twister when she finally spotted gray scales. She brushed the dust aside to reveal a motionless dragon. Shock shot through Clevercloud. Was Twister dead?! Twister coughed and Clevercloud breathed a sigh of relief. “Get up, Twister. We need to leave!” Clevercloud shook her brother. “Clevercloud?” Twister rasped. He slowly stood up and looked at Clevercloud. Clevercloud grabbed his talon and flew off. It was a good thing she knew a place to hide. A hidden cave on a beach. “Wait, Clevercloud, stop!” She turned around confused. “We’ve got to get this off first, or they will track us again!” He was pointing to the cuff. “Come on. I’ll freeze it until we reach a dragon who can disable it. Now, shift your scales. We are going to land there first.” “I can’t!” Twister whimpered. “My cuff keeps me from shifting!” “Then get behind me!” Clevercloud shifted her scales, blocking Twister from view. Together, they flew to the forest. When they landed, Clevercloud flicked open a secret panel on an oak tree. Suddenly, she and Twister were down in a lab. There, a DayWing was welding something that looked like a cuff. Twister looked at Clevercloud, and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but they didn't have time for that. “Bright Sky, I need you to fix his cuff.” She pointed to the half-frozen cuff still on Twister’s wrist. “Really? I was just done fixing some VoidWing’s cuff but alright.” Bright Sky asked, fiddling with her tail again. “Alright, but this is for you, Clevercloud. Now come here, Twister.” Twister slowly walked over, and Bright Sky got to work on his cuff. In a few moments, she held up what looked like a pile of wires, and bolts. “Done.” She mumbled. Suddenly, guards burst through the ceiling. Bright Sky quickly pressed a button, and the whole lab shrunk down to the size of a suitcase. She flew up, and punched a hole through the ceiling. Clevercloud followed her through the hole, pulling Twister along. “I’m going to Light Jump. Stand back. Can you guys make it out on your own?” Clevercloud nodded, and shifted her scales. Twister did the same. “Follow me.” Suddenly, Bright Sky became a blazing form of light. The figure disappeared, and Clevercloud and Twister followed silently. They slowly made their way across the forest. Suddenly, Bright Sky reappeared. “This way!” She said, taking flight. She flew to the ocean, and slid her tail along a slit in the rock. The rock spun around. They all got in the small space, and the rock spun around and down they went. They stopped at a room with a bunch of food, chairs, beds, and more! But Bright Sky still froze. “There’s someone else here.” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “Shadowflight!” She squealed happily! A shadowy figure appeared, as well as a small RippleWing. Twister looked closely at the RippleWing as Bright Sky and Shadowflight embraced. He let out a gasp. “Charge? Is that you?” Twister asked cautiously. The RippleWing looked nervous. “Twister?” The RippleWing asked as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. “And, yes, it is me. But my name is Current now.” Twister nodded in understanding. “Well,” Bright Sky announced. “We better get comfy, because it will be a while before we are able to leave. This place is crawling with guards. The only reason they haven’t found us yet, is because I built something to block tracking signals. So, Current, you got lucky. I’ll disable your cuff tomorrow.” So, everyone chose a bed, and wondered when they would be safe. Chapter Five: Root “Slow down, Blaze!” Root tried to yell over the thunder. “Speed up, Root!” Blaze called back. “BLAZE!” Root screamed. “THIS ISN’T THE TIME FOR ONE OF YOUR SILLY CHALLENGES! IT IS SUPER STORMY! I DON’T CARE IF YOU WANT TO FLY THROUGH A CLOUD!” His only response was laughter. Suddenly, Blaze stopped. “I see it. The perfect cloud!” He pointed to a white, puffy cloud. Root groaned inwardly. Just when he had hoped for a completely stormy day, they got this perfectly white cloud. “Come on!” Blaze grabbed Root, and pulled him toward the cloud. Root tried to back away, but Blaze’s grip was too tight. He sighed, and slowly followed Blaze. Blaze gave a yell of delight as they flew through the cloud. Root felt super strange. He felt like he was going to break into little pieces. Then the sensation stopped. His head was spinning, and a nausea was rising in the back of his throat. He looked up, and saw a figure, cloaked in black. He let out a small whimper, and the guard turned and screamed. The black cloaked figure darted off. “Blaze? Are you there?” Root managed to whisper. Blaze gave a soft whimper in response. Root slowly stood up. He shook himself out. Nothing broken. He thought, sort of satisfied. But then he saw Blaze. His face was scrunched up. It was easy to see that he was trying not to cry. His wing was bent at an awkward angle. It was clearly broken. “Can you help me?” Blaze rasped. Root just stood there, dumbfounded. Just then, the guard returned with backup. The dragons roughly grabbed Root, but when they looked at Blaze, their gaze softened. “Take this one to the medicine corner.” One of the dragons commanded. They gently pulled Blaze up, but they roughly shoved Root towards what looked like a castle. He let out a snarl. One of the dragons shoved him again. They dragged him into the castle. Inside, was a white dragon, who was looking sadly towards a small photo. “It’s been one and a half years since you passed, my love.” The strange dragon whispered. “Firefly, what should I do?” Suddenly, the dragon’s head moved up. He gasped in surprise when he saw Root. “Is it? Is it?” His grin widened when the guard nodded. “Hello! My name is Hurricane! Are you from… the other side?” “Um…” Root mumbled. Then one of the guards nodded encouragingly. He decided to trust him, even though he had dragged him into this place. “Yeah, I am. “ It looked like Hurricane’s smile grew even bigger, but Root didn’t think it was physically possible to smile bigger than Hurricane. “Do you know King Firestrike?” Hurricane asked. “No… But you can ask Blaze! I bet he would know!” Hurricane’s eyes narrowed. He suddenly lunged forward, clasping something around Root’s wrist. “Take him to the prison! He has lied to me! If he doesn’t know King Firestrike, then he is not from the other side!” The guards nodded, and pulled Root into a damp, dark cell. Root got a glance of Hurricane hugging the photo of the beautiful dragon. Then, Root was left in darkness, isolated from Blaze. Root paced his cell a few times then sat down and folded his wings over his head. So you’re giving up? Come on, I know you’re stronger than that! Blaze’s voice appeared in his head. Get up! Show me that you’re never gonna give up! Root stood up slowly and spread his wings wide. “I’ll find you, Blaze, but first I need to get out of this prison.” Root said out loud, his confidence restored. Chapter 6: Blaze Blaze found himself dumped into a little area with a bed and some dragons nearby. His wing was killing him and he couldn’t bear the pain much more. He looked at the dragon who seemed to be in charge. Narrowing his eyes, he said, “Who are you? Why am I here? What are you trying to do to me?” He directed the question towards a smaller dragon, who was slowly edging towards him, holding a small vial. The bigger dragon answered him calmly. “I am Cloudjumper. This is my apprentice, Making Clouds. You are here because your wing is broken. My apprentice was trying to press the scale, but you are freaking out. Just hold still.” Blaze yearned to rake his claws down Cloudjumper’s face, but she was helping him, so he tried not to fidget. As soon as she pressed the scale against him, the pain disappeared. “Whoah.” He sighed. “That feels great! Can I have more of those scales?” “No.” Cloudjumper said shortly. “These scales are only for when the king decides we must use them. And they only work on ‘Those from the other side’. Ugh. It always hurts when we have to pluck a scale every year, but King Hurricane ordered it. Now, what type of dragon are you? You look sort of like Firefly…” Blaze cocked his head in confusion. “Who’s Firefly?” Cloudjumper let out a sad sigh. “I suppose that now you should meet King Hurricane. But first, what type of dragon are you?” Blaze puffed out his chest. “I’m a RainWing-NightWing hybrid. And Root…” His voice trailed off as he glanced around. “Where’s Root?” “Meeting with King Hurricane.” Making Clouds darted forwards, and thrust a small package into Blaze’s talons once Cloudjumper’s back was turned. It was a small pouch. Blaze tucked it behind his wing. Cloudjumper turned around and grabbed Blaze’s wrist. “Time to go.” She hissed, pulling him towards a giant castle. Blaze thrashed around, trying to break free, but Cloudjumper had a grip like iron. “Don’t make me cuff you.” She snarled after a minute. Blaze froze for a moment, then continued to thrash. Cloudjumper frowned. “MAKING CLOUDS!” She called. “GET ME THE CUFF!” Making Clouds darted off, and returned with a small silver bracelet. In the center was a giant leaf. All around the leaf were swirls that were shaped like leaves. “Woah.” He mumbled. “It will track your movements and shock you if you try to take it off or run.” Blaze was silent the rest of the walk to the castle. Inside was a throne. Beside it was a large gray dragon. He was frowning and pacing. His frown deepened when he saw Blaze. “Put him in the dungeon. He is most likely lying, just like his muddy friend.” Root! Blaze thought. What did he lie about? Cloudjumper stepped forward. “But your highness, the scale worked. So, he must be from the other side. Plus, he looks like Firefly.” The gray dragon slowly started to smile. “That means he can help me with my new project. But I must make sure he is what he says he is.” He turned towards Blaze. “Do you know King Firestrike?” Blaze nodded. “He is my King! Or at least, he was. Now we have Queen Noble and King Imperial. Noble was the sister of Queen Rose.” The gray dragon nodded. “You are who you say you are. Greetings. I am King Hurricane. Follow me.” King Hurricane began to march towards a locked door. He grabbed a key that was dangling from a cuff on his wrist. He slid it into the keyhole, and opened the door. Inside was a small sleeping alcove, some blankets, and a sleeping dragon. The dragon had a thick clamp around her snout, which was chained to the floor. She had similar bands around her wings. Around her talons were the thickest bands of all, clamped extremely tight around her wrist. He rushed over to her, and put his wing around her. “Are you alright?” He asked.The dragon’s eyes fluttered open. Yes. She thought. Oh. Blaze thought. He hadn’t realized he was using his power. He was born under two moons, and so he had the power to read minds, and track dragons. I know you. The dragon thought, snapping Blaze back to the present. “You do?” He whispered. Yes. You are like me. Not from here. “Yes.” He said, finally looking at the dragon. She was pale blue, with a yellow underbelly and antenna. She had deep blue eyes. She had four wings, which meant she was a silkwing, but she also had little splotches of black splattered across her body. But SilkWings don’t have black. It hit him. “You’re a hybrid!” She nodded. “Enough snuggly time you two. Get up. It’s time to stretch your wings.” Hurricane snarled at the pale blue dragon. She thrashed around, terrified. He unclasped her chains from the ground, and instead chained them to the ceiling, forcing her to fly. “Why are you doing this? How long does it go for?” “Sometimes we make her fly for hours! The guards place bets on how long she lasts,” Hurricane laughed. Blaze snarled, and leapt up into the air. He breathed fire on the chains, but to no avail. Finally, he clawed at the hooks keeping the chains in place. Hurricane let out a hiss. “Leave the chains alone, or face the dungeon.” Still, he clawed at the chains. After a moment, the chains snapped, and the dragon fell to the ground. She had no chains now. “Hello.” She whispered. “I am Skyfire.” She stretched her wings wide. They were a dark blue, with red streaks, and a few swirls of gold. Suddenly, Hurricane pressed a button, and guards rushed into the room. They first lunged for Skyfire, but she swerved out of their reach. She stretched out her talons, and fire streamed out of her wrists. The second it touched the guard, he screeched in pain. Blaze opened his mouth, and sprayed a jet of RainWing venom. The guards fell back, but then more guards charged forward. The first thing they did was clamp firm metal bands around Skyfire’s wrists, preventing her from shooting flamesilk. Then, they clamped a muzzle on Blaze, to keep him from shooting fire or venom. “I warned you.” Hurricane said. “Now, take him to the dungeons. Old Story: Tsunami (this one won an honorable mention in a story contest, though I'm not quite sure how) Spoiler I was watching cartoons when the first warning came. I know, I know. It’s silly, a 15 year old girl, curled up on the couch, watching Scooby Doo. I just needed to feel safe, and for me, the safest I can feel is watching something so silly, real life doesn’t feel so scary any more. My parents were off on one of their fancy vacations. This one was to Hawaii. I didn’t care. Every time I went with them, I just sat in a so-called ‘luxury’ hotel. Technically, my parents were there on strictly business. Somehow, they always ended up with amazing stories and pictures to share though. Eventually, I gave up on going with them. This time was the first day that they actually trusted me to stay home alone. I was so excited. They told me that it was just a trial run. They would only be gone for a day or two. If all went well, I might be able to stay home alone again. All went well for the first day. It was the second day that everything went wrong. I was just reaching the point in my episode where they were unmasking the ghost, this time the Phantom Shadow, when my screen went dark. It stayed that way for a second, then flicked to a storm warning. There was a pretty, middle aged newscaster. She had perfectly straight teeth that gleamed when she smiled, and lucious blonde hair. I had seen her before, but this time it felt different. She smiled a perfect smile, but the smile never reached her eyes. She looked… worried. “This is a storm warning.” What? No way! I thought, rolling my eyes. The newscaster continued, her voice smooth, and gentle. “This message is for the city San Francisco. If you currently reside in San Francisco, you may want to get prepared for a long night. There is evidence of earthquakes in the ocean near you.” I frowned. I hadn’t felt any earthquakes. “It must be a prank.” I mutter, trying to change it back to Scooby Doo. It didn’t work. Whatever this was, I was stuck with it until the so-called ‘threat’ passed. I stood up, stretched my legs, and walked upstairs to grab a snack. After a moment of indecision, I pulled a couple packs of crackers out of the cupboard. I was walking back downstairs to try and change the channel again when the phone rang. I set the crackers on the table, and picked it up. “Hello?” “Oh, Delilah, thank goodness you’re okay!” It was my mom. Her voice sounded panicked. “Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, a bit of worry creeping into my voice. “Weren’t you watching the storm warning?” My eyes widen, and I race downstairs to the TV. The newscaster looked terrified as she said, “San Fransico, evacuate now. The tsunami is coming straight at you.” Panic pierced me, sharp and unforgiving. I gasped for air, but the panic surrounded me, suffocating me. “Oh n-no,” I gasped, clutching the phone with a white-knuckled grip. “Delilah,” My dad said in a dangerously low voice. “Are you still at the house?” “Yes,” I wailed. “Delilah, I need you to listen to me,” My dad said, his voice catching as he spoke. “Upstairs, in the kitchen, there is a thick black bag below the sink. I need you to grab that, okay? That has everything you need. Then I need you to get out of there. Take a bike, a car, whatever. Just get out of there.” “Okay.” Once I agreed, he whispered, “I love you Del. Just get somewhere safe.” Then he hung up, leaving me to face the tsunami on my own. “Okay. Step one,” I muttered to myself. “Get the thick black bag from under the sink.” I dashed upstairs, and opened the cupboard right below our main sink. The black bag was there, hidden carefully in the shadows. I pulled it out, and opened it up. Inside, there was money, clothes, food, and more. Everything I needed to survive was in there. “Step two. Get out of here.” I would have driven the car, if I had known how to drive it. I had failed my drivers test two times in a row, so I hadn’t learned how to drive yet. I raced out to the garage, clipped on a helmet, and started riding my bike away from the beach. As I glided up the sidewalk, I realized it was a good thing I didn’t know how to drive. There were cars everywhere, with traffic clogging up the road. I easily passed most of the cars. They honked angrily at me, but I didn’t care. I just kept thinking, Get out of here. A couple of families took one look at me, and followed suit. They realized it was faster on foot than by car. It didn’t matter to me. I just kept riding. It wasn’t too long before I made it a couple miles inland, where people had made a barricade of sandbags. I didn’t know if it would help, but who was I to judge? I glided past, and kept pedaling. I was biking up a steep hill, when I heard a soft whimper. I glanced back, and saw a medium sized black dog. “You better get going,” I called as I continuted to pedal up the hill. Just when I made it up the hill, I heard the whimper again. This time I turned around completely, and stared at the dog limping up the hill. I noticed it had curled one of its paws to its chest, and was struggling to walk. I bit my lip. I could see the wave rising in the distance, threatening to crash down at any second. Then I looked back at the dog, who whimpered again, and tried to limp farther. My heart broke, and at that moment I decided. I spun around in the road, and let gravity pull me down the hill. Down, down, down I went, picking up speed as I went. When I reached the bottom, I hear a thunderous crash. I kick the bike away, scoop up the dog, and start to tear up the hill. I haven’t made it far before the water crashes over me. I spin around wildly, clinging to the dog. The water pushes me around, with no rhyme or reason to it all. After what seems like forever, my head pops above the water, and I suck in a breath of sweet, delicous air. “Air is so good!” I wheeze, lifting the dog as high out of the water as possible. He yaps happily, and I suck in one last breath before I am sucked below the water again. It happenes over and over. I get sucked down, holding my breath for as long as possible, until I break the surface, get one breath in, and the whole thing starts over again. I am growing tired. I can barely lift the dog out of the water. Eventually, it reaches the point where I can’t lift the dog at all. I am at the mercy of the water. I can feel the dog growing weak, and in a last-ditch effort to save him, I hurl him as far away from me as possible, towards what looks like the floating roof of a house. He lands with a sickening thump, but he lands on the roof, out of the water, where he can breathe. That is more that I can say for me. I never know when my next breath will be. I just wait. I wait, and hope for the best. I curl my hands over my head, hoping that it will stop anything from hitting my hand. This, however, left me open for a blow in another spot. My back slams into something, pushing air out of my lungs. NO! I think, trying to squirm free. My air is running out fast, and trying to get out doesn’t make it any better. I pause, holding still for a second, then try to swim upward again. Yes! I think as I surge upward. However, my happiness is short-lived. After only a moment the water slams me backwards, pinning me again. NO! I swipe feebly, trying to break free, but to no avail. I snap my eyes open, and see that I am pinned against the wall of a house. I haven’t had my eyes open for long before red rims my vision, creeping farther, and farther, until my world goes black. The light is warm. Gentle, even. It wraps around me, pulling me away from the tsunami. But something bites back, pulling harder than the light, pulling me upwards, towards life. The black fades away as my head breaks the surface, and I fill my lungs with air. Every breath hurts, lke there is a giant dumbbell sitting on my chest, but the air is worth it. Life is worth it. Suddenly, I remember what happened. “Who?” I sputter. I lift my head up to find the dog, laying next to me, on what looks like the roof of a car. “How?” I ask. But he just cocks his head cheerily, panting wearily. “How did you even get me on here? I don’t remember you pulling me on here…” I stare at him, half hoping that he will magically tell me everything. He doesn’t of course, but he looks at me so calmly, that I know he understands everything. “Well,” I say, grabbing him, and pulling him close. “I saved your life, and you saved mine. We’re even.” He barks once, and I mistake it for excitement. But then he barks again, and I remember that we are not out of danger yet. The water is pulling back, receding. For one joyus moment I am thrilled. The tsunami is over! But then I remember where we are. The water is receding, and pulling us back with it. If we don’t move fast, we will be sucked out to the ocean with the rest of the rubble. “No, no, no,” I mutter, rallying my courage. “We gotta get out of here.” I say to the dog. He eyes me warily, then dips his head. I scoop him up, and scan for anywhere we can jump. But I don’t see anywhere. All I can see is rubble. “Where do I go?” I spin around faster and faster, until I drop dizzily to the ground. “I don’t, I don’t,” I gasp, my breathing ragged. The panic from before comes back, and this time it is stronger. It strikes hard, making every breath a struggle, a fight for survival. I collapse backwards, hitting the car with a dull thud. I breathe in quickly, trying to suck in air before the panic can strike again. Then the dog stares at me, his big brown eyes gentle, and understanding. He lays his head on my stomach, and there we lay, for eight precious seconds, before the panic has surrendered, ending the miniature war inside of me. “Let’s go,” I say, my voice shaking. I scoop him up again, and this time I survey my surroundings calmly. “There.” I nod my head towards a large house, towering in the distance. “Get ready.” I brace myself, getting ready to jump the second we get close enough. My muscles tense as the water rushes us closer, and closer, and then I jump. While I am in the air, I swear I could feel something pushing me farther, just enough that my feet land on the edge of the roof of the house. “Yes!” I shout. I drop the dog to the ground, and we both dance around excitedly. Suddenly, I drop to my knees and hug the dog. Because even though we almost died, and everything we knew was in shambles, we are alive, and we are together, and in the end, that is what really matters. Uh, hope you enjoy! Edit: I just realized that was my hundredth post! Woohoo! Edited April 4 by Through The Living Star 1
Usseewa Posted April 4 Posted April 4 1 minute ago, Through The Living Star said: I see you too WHAT THE HECK THAT'S SO WINDIN' CREEPY!! MUCH OMINOUS OMG PLS READ MY POST IN NON-ADULT CLUB IF YOU WANT I'M AWARE I'M SAYING THAT ON YOUR WRITING THREAD SORRY
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 4 Author Posted April 4 (edited) 57 minutes ago, Usseewa said: WHAT THE HECK THAT'S SO WINDIN' CREEPY!! MUCH OMINOUS OMG PLS READ MY POST IN NON-ADULT CLUB IF YOU WANT I'M AWARE I'M SAYING THAT ON YOUR WRITING THREAD SORRY Haha no you're good. I already read it Enjoy your many walks (but please do read my stories at some point. That's why they are there) Edited April 4 by Through The Living Star
Usseewa Posted April 4 Posted April 4 2 minutes ago, Through The Living Star said: Haha no you're good. I already read it Enjoy your many walks (but please do read my stories at some point. That's why they are there) UWU just got back and that was epiccc ahhhhh i feel so good :3
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 4 Author Posted April 4 3 minutes ago, Usseewa said: UWU just got back and that was epiccc ahhhhh i feel so good :3 That's great! Please take care of yourself! :3
Usseewa Posted April 4 Posted April 4 5 minutes ago, Through The Living Star said: That's great! Please take care of yourself! :3 i am somehow i think kinda maybe now i am I don't take care of myself as much as i should tho but im sorta making progress on it like genuinely i think 1
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 4 Author Posted April 4 3 minutes ago, Usseewa said: i am somehow i think kinda maybe now i am I don't take care of myself as much as i should tho but im sorta making progress on it like genuinely i think That is amazing! Keep making progress! I'm here to talk if you need! Or if not. I am also here for cringe comedic relief if you need that as well.
Verdance he/him Posted April 4 Posted April 4 You should do these as blog posts to make them easier to sort through they are so cool!
Ink and Embers Any pronouns Posted April 4 Posted April 4 5 hours ago, Through The Living Star said: GLORIOUS. HERE ARE THE STORIES Mini: Trust Hide contents The government official certainly liked coming to our village. Standing on a small step-stool to make himself taller, he begged for us to sign some kind of paper. Most of us ignored him. We had work to do, and it wasn’t gonna get done by listenin’ to some egotistical politician plead for us to trust in him, saying that he would take care of it all. Perhaps if things weren’t as bad as they were, we woulda listened to him. But trust could only get you so far. It was a nice thought, but trust wasn’t any good when your family was starving. Trust couldn’t put food on the table. Trust couldn’t get the work done. Trust couldn’t save our children when the government came for them. Huh that feels really empty. So I'm gonna post some really old stories. These ones are not ones I want for creative criticism, just for you guys to enjoy. The first two are about Wings of Fire *cough cough* @It is I, God., these are the ones that include my all powerful dragon series so you may like them *cough cough*, so unless you have read those books, you should not read them. Old Story: Firefly's Light (this one is literally my first story written, so... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Hide contents “She’s hatching tonight!” The dragons in the castle whispered excitedly. The rainwing-nightwing princess was joining the world. The shell started to wobble. King Firestrike was the first to notice. He had wanted to stay with his wife, Queen Rose, who was sick. But she insisted that he had to protect their child. So, the nervous king protected it so fiercely, that no one wanted to even see the egg. Suddenly, the egg began to rock again. All of a sudden, the egg swayed. The winds picked the egg up, and began to carry it away. It was a mad dash to grab the egg. But no one could. The egg bobbed above their outstretched claws. The wind blasted them so fiercely, that if they even tried to fly, they would be blasted so far away, they would never find their way back. King Firestrike could only watch in horror as the egg floated in the air. He cried out when he realized the truth. His daughter was being born in a hurricane. He feebly tried again to grab the egg, but again, it swayed out of reach. He could only watch, and hope that the hurricane was kind enough to save his daughter. Suddenly, the shell split open in a burst of light, and the tiny princess joined the world. Four years later… “I don’t have to go, do I father?” Firefly asked. “Of course you have to go. You are queen of course! I am only taking care of the tribe until you are ready to take the throne! This will be a good thing!” Firestrike replied. Want to bet? Firefly thought bitterly. “Now, I know that you have a few… strange powers, but don’t let them know. If they don’t know, they can’t use it,” Firestrike explained. She poured her mind into his thoughts. “That’s not what you think! You’re just worried about your precious reputation! How could you father? I know I have powers, so what?” She snarled in his mind. He flinched, not knowing what to say. Even if he had known what to say, Firefly didn’t give him a chance to answer. She stalked away, leaving him to his own thoughts and snarled to herself. Three moons! Why does he only worry about himself? I have nine or ten powers and he is worried about his reputation! She gripped the training rail, where dragons learned how to read minds. It helped them anchor onto the calmest mind if they held onto something in reality. She flicked her tail, furious. Why did she have to go to Sapphire Dune Academy? It was for ‘special’ dragons, her father had told her. She didn’t need a stupid school to help her control her ‘curse’, as her father called it. She decided to complain to her ONLY friend, Lemur. “My dad is making me go to that horrid school! I can’t believe he is going through with it! I know I have nine or ten powers, but I don’t need that place!” Firefly cried. “I know, but he’s just worried about you. You need to control your powers. What were they again? I remember ice, fire, mind reading, prophecy, water, ground, air, time, and invisibility, but that last one isn't really a power, since all rainwings can do that,” Lemur said excitedly. “That’s all of them. But I’m still not going, even if my BEST FRIEND won’t agree with me,” Firefly said, her voice dripping with venom. She stalked away, not wanting to talk any longer with Lemur. She wasn’t really mad at her, but she didn’t want anyone to find out about her secret power. No one could know. She would apologize to Lemur later, but right now she was going to practice. She had come up with a plan. If she showed a lot of control over her powers, her father might let her stay home. She flew out to the forest, in a quiet clearing where no one would find. She decided to start practicing her invisibility. She slowly shifted her scales to match her background. She decided that should practice it in a more ‘stressful’ situation. She stalked along the ground, wriggling through a tight space into the castle. She was going to spy on her father’s secret meeting. She pressed to a wall, making sure that no one could see her, closed her eyes, and listened. “We must get rid of her,” A raspy voice cried out. Firefly recognized that voice. It was her father’s advisor, FastKill. Her tail twitched. Who are they trying to ‘get rid of’? She thought. “Yes, she must die. She is a threat to the throne,” another voice said. She knew this voice, but she didn’t know who it exactly was. She wanted to open her eyes and see who it was, but if she did they would see her. Her thoughts were interrupted by another voice. “Are you sure?” It was her father. “She hasn’t learned what she can do yet. And…” His voice lingered on the word. “She reminds me so much of her.” Firefly listened as close as she could. “Yes, if she does not die, you will lose the throne, and be known as a low-born WORM!” The mysterious voice said again. “ B-b-b-but… Fine, do what you must. Just don’t make me do it. And whatever you do, make sure Firefly is dead by morning,” Her father whispered. Firefly gasped, unable to keep silent. A deep blue spread across her scales, revealing her to the dragons. She spread her wings out, flying out of reach, emotions rolling through her, and flashing over her scales, making them turn so many different colors. FastKill flung a dagger at her, and it flew through the air, seemingly at supersonic speed. Terrified, she instinctively pulled out an energy from her core thrusting it out, and everything seemed to slow down. She tried to move out of the way of the dagger, and found that she moved much faster than it. She easily dodged it, and the other daggers that FastKill flung at her. She flew out the window, and time went back to normal. She cried out saying, “Why would you do this! You were never nice to me, but at least you weren’t a murderer! I’ll come back and kill you!” “No, you won’t,” He said in a robotic voice. Firefly looked into his eyes, and found that they looked dull, and unlike her father’s eyes. Her eyes widened when she realized what had happened. Her father was being controlled. Her gaze drifted to the mysterious stranger. They had flung back their hood, and Firefly gasped, hurt. “Lemur?” She whimpered. “W-w-w-why would you do this? You were my best friend.” “Of course. I had to get close to lower your guard. That way, you wouldn’t suspect when I would kill you.” Lemur’s voice sounded dark, and evil. “How did I not see this? I should have seen a prophecy or something!” Firefly blurted out. Lemur grinned, but in a way that sent chills down her spine. “That was the other reason I had to get close. I can block magic. That is how I am controlling your father. It is also the way I am going to control you!” Lemur yelled, thrusting a talon out. Suddenly, Firefly felt trapped. She couldn’t move, or use magic. She struggled, fighting to get free. She was so terrified that she began to store energy. The energy hummed and buzzed inside her, ready to push out. She flung back her wings, escaped the magic, and let the energy free. The energy went out slowly, starting out as a flicker of light, and then swelled to a blast of light that could blind anyone. In the confusion, Firefly escaped, promising that one day, when she was strong, she would come back and defeat Lemur. Two years later… Firefly trained every day, never stopping. Slowly her powers grew stronger, and she was soon able to use them in any way that she wanted. But, eventually, she decided that she would stay in the small village that she had found. She didn’t want to face Lemur again. Her powers were… terrifying. Besides, she was a mother now. The village that she had found was full of dragons that no one had ever seen before. CloudWings. They looked like they were made of well… clouds. She had fallen in love with a CloudWing named Hurricane. He was the one who had raised the hurricane the day she was born. They had two tiny children, and one egg, that still hadn’t hatched yet. Their oldest child was a one-year-old girl named Clevercloud. Their next was a 5 month-old boy named Twister. They had rainbow wings, and RainWing scales. They had black scales on their talons. Neither of them had been born under the moons, so neither of them had NightWing powers. Firefly loved them anyway. They were funny and adorable. Today, she was going to test them for powers. She gathered them close, so that she could test them. “Now hold still. I am going to pull some energy from your core. This will trigger any powers that you have,” Firefly said. She stretched her wings, closed her eyes, and pushed her mind into Clevercloud’s thoughts. She dug through her thoughts, until she found her core. She harnessed the energy there, and pulled it into herself. She drew her mind out of Clevercould’s, and gave her the energy. Clevercloud shivered. “Am I supposed to feel both cold and hot at the same time?” She whimpered. “No, and Yes! It means that you have two powers! Fire, and ice!” Firefly said excitedly. “This is a good thing?” Clevercloud hissed, pain creeping across her back. “Yes! The pain will subside in a moment. Don’t worry about it. I’m right here.” Firefly soothed. She drew her tail across Clevercloud’s spine. Clevercloud shivered one more time, then settled down. “Now go rest. Triggering abilities is stressful, so you will need to take a break. Your father is bringing your bed so you can watch Twister’s triggering, if you want to.” Firefly told her. Clevercloud bobbed her head, and laid down in the bed Hurricane had brought. Firefly started towards Twister, but he backed away. “Are you going to do the same thing you did to Clevercloud to me?” He whimpered. Firefly slowly nodded. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. You’ll be fine,” Firefly soothed. Twister looked as if he was being betrayed. “Really, it won’t hurt?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “I don’t want you to trigger my ability if it’s like Clevercloud’s.” Firefly snarled, “You will trigger this ability! You need to be able to protect yourself!” In a burst of fear and anger, Firefly told her children her story. Their eyes widened as they heard what had happened. Twister ducked his head in shame. “Alright, do it!” He whispered. Firefly poured her mind into his thoughts, digging around until she found his core. Firefly pulled her mind out with the energy tucked inside her. She slowly thrust the energy into Twister. He cocked his head. “ It feels like I’m floating in a cloud!” He exclaimed. He stretched out his wings, bathing in the sunlight. “This means that you can control the wind, just like your father!” Firefly shouted. You can be safe now, she thought. Hurricane pressed close to her, and their tails twined together. Firefly started to walk towards their home, when they heard a sharp cry coming from the nursery. She paled, and her scales turned to a dark purple color. She started to run, but then realized that she could go faster. She flung out energy, and slowed down time. She ran as fast as she could, zooming past everyone in her way. She made it to the nursery, and set time right again. She looked in, and saw that her egg was hatching! Her scales settled down back to their normal sunset colors. She walked in, and found out that the employee didn’t know what to do, so they yelled. Firefly looked at the last egg, and promised herself that she would protect everyone she cared about. The egg started to crack, and a tiny gray, poofy arm poked through. The rest of the egg splintered, and the tiny dragon slid out. She looked just like her siblings, but instead of being white, she was a strange gray color. Firefly curled her tail around the young dragonet, and carried her home. When they got home, she looked closely at the small dragonet. She decided to take her to the doctor to make sure that she was healthy. Right then, Hurricane came into the house. “Is she okay? I heard the scream and saw you run, but I didn’t know what had happened! Please tell me,” Hurricane hurriedly said. As Firefly told him what happened, the dragonet slowly spread her wings, revealing her chest and talons. Firefly glanced at her and began to scream. The dragonet’s talons were twisted, and black. Firefly collapsed to the ground and lay there for so long, Hurricane thought she was dead. Slowly, she got up. She scooped up the tiny dragon, and carried her out the door. “I am taking her to the doctor!” Firefly sobbed, “ Maybe they can fix her! I don’t know what happened! Before I started talking to you, she was fine!” “Honey.” Hurricane started to say. “What?” Firefly snarled. He mumbled something indistinguishable, and jabbed his talons toward something behind her. Firefly turned around and saw why he was so terrified. It was Lemur. Firefly screamed, as once again she was wrapped in the unforgiving hand of magic. She fought even harder than she had two years ago. But she couldn’t get free. She began to store energy again, but Lemur called out, “No, no, no! No doing that! That is the only thing that can stop my magic! So to stop you from doing that…” Lemur trailed off. Her gaze fixated on something behind Firefly. Firefly paled. The magic released her. She crumpled to the ground, exhausted. She suddenly got up. She lunged, trying to get in front of the magic. But it was too late. The magic scooped up her newborn daughter, squeezing her tightly. “It is easier to bargain, if you have something to bargain with.” Lemur chuckled. “I have your child, and you have your power. Give up your power and I will give up your child. If you even start to think about sacrificing your child, then remember this. She hasn't even been named! Do you think that she really needs to die? And you better think fast, because I injected a poison into her. She will be dead within the hour.” Firefly’s thoughts were going at supersonic speed. How can I save her and my powers? I can’t lose her, but I can’t lose my power! What should I do? Her tail twitched. She began to feel a headache coming on. Three moons! It’s a vision! The headache flared, and the world faded to black. She saw red. Then she saw the streets coated in blood. Dragons dying. All while she sat useless, her powers gone. She saw Lemur cackling, sitting on a throne of skulls. As she came back to reality, she realized what she had to do. I named our child. She whispered in Hurricane’s head. Her name is Cumulus. I will have to sacrifice her. I’m so sorry. Goodbye, my love. Closing her eyes, she began to store energy. After she had stored as much energy as she could, she opened her eyes. “This is where you meet your end, Lemur!” She snarled. She narrowed her eyes, slowly pulsing energy. “I’m so sorry, Cumulus. I wish that you could’ve seen the world like I have.” She flung the energy out, blinding Lemur. She collapsed to the ground. She couldn’t see Cumulus anywhere. She had poured out all of her energy into this. She would die in a few minutes. She decided that she would make the best of the rest of her life. She struggled to get up. She wobbled on her legs. She slowly crept forward, making sure to keep quiet. She lunged forward, ready to finish Lemur. Lemur suddenly flipped around and slashed Firefly’s throat. Firefly gasped, pain rushing through her. She suddenly lunged forward, and snapped Lemur’s neck. She fell to the ground. Warm blood pooled around her. She slowly crawled forward. She bumped into something. It was Cumulus. She slowly stretched out her wings. Wrapping them around Cumulus, she pulsed. She sent all of her magic into her young child. She also sent her last burst of healing magic, leaving her useless, and weak. “Fly… Into.. the clouds… You will be safe.” She whispered. She lowered her head to the ground. The last thing she saw before the world faded to black, was Cumulus, healthy, her talons fixed, flying into the sky. The End Old Story:Outcasts (more elaboration on the dragon species mentioned in the story above. Also, it's not 100% done, but unless someone really wants me to finish it, I'm shelving it for now) Hide contents Chapter 1: Charge Charge stretched his fire-covered wings. Tomorrow was his second birthday. It was also his Finding. He was NOT going to be an Outcast. He was living the good life, and that was not going to change. He launched into the air, and shifted into Flame Mode. His whole body became hungry, orange flames. He glanced toward the dome. It was the only thing keeping the Outcasts from getting out. He grimaced. He was not getting sent there, no siree. He was going to be a FlameWing forever. He landed on a platform, and returned to normal. He slid into a cold, delightful, hammock. He fell asleep quickly. He woke up in a cold, damp, dark cage. Water bound his wrists and ankles. His wings ached. He saw that they were covered in water. Slowly, he stood up. The water yanked him down to a sitting position. “What’s going on?” He yelped as the pain grew stronger. “This is your Finding. Hold still, or the water will spread across your whole body.” Charge’s body froze. He shivered lightly. “We are going to hook you up to a machine. This will determine whether you are an Outcast or not.” An Outcast… A side of Charge’s brain went. Two dragons cloaked in black stalked into the room. They brought with them a machine with many gizmos and geegaws. Charge tried not to move as they pressed a flame covered cord onto his chest. He puffed out his chest, bold, and certain that after that, not much worse could happen. But his talons still shook when they brought out a water form of the cord and put it on his chest. “I’m going to send you a bit of core energy. It will awaken your inner dragon, and you will either be known as one of the FlameWings, or as an Outcast. Now, don’t move. This may shock you a bit.” That was a bit of an understatement. Charge felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He fell to the ground, pain coursing through him. One of the guards cried out. He glanced at his talons, and saw that they were blue. “STOP!” He screamed at his talons. But the blue kept spreading across his whole body. As he glanced into a puddle, he realized that his worst nightmare was true. He was an Outcast. Chapter 2: Spark Spark grinned. It was her second birthday! Anytime now, she would be taken for her Finding! Her whole family saw it as a day of dread, because it meant that you could become a RippleWing (the Outcast version of a FlameWing). On the outside, Spark agreed with them. But on the inside, she really wanted to be an Outcast. She didn’t want to be the same as everyone else. Spark thought it was really lame. A thought occurred to Spark. What if she was a normal FlameWing? That won’t happen. She told herself as she flew to the Finding Platform. Spark dropped onto the platform and stood up straight. “Stay.” A gruff voice commanded. Spark froze. The FlameWing had a black hood over his head. A guard. Spark realized. Everybody knew that if you messed with a guard, nothing good would come of it. “Another Finding is in progress.” The guard said. Sure enough, Spark could hear screams coming from the room in front of her. Is it really that painful? Spark worried. She winced when the screams stopped. The doors were flung open and a guard dragged a limp blue dragonet across the floor. His eyes locked with hers and they seemed to say, “Help me.” The guard flew across the sky, leading the RippleWing to the dome where all of the Outcasts were kept. Why does everybody hate the Outcasts? They’re just different from us. Spark angrily thought. The guard opened the doors and Spark stepped inside. Water flowed around her claws. She sat down and waited. The Finding Machine was sitting in front of her. A guard attached a flame-covered wire to her chest. “Sit still.” He growled. I am sitting still, you idiot. Spark couldn’t help thinking. Then, the guard pulled out a water-covered wire. Spark suddenly remembered that if she did become an Outcast, she would have to look disappointed and scared about it. The water-covered wire felt cold upon her chest. The guard flipped the switch and Spark screamed in pain. She expected to have some sort of weird feeling inside of her but there was no feeling other than the energy pulsing through her. The pain ended. Spark opened her eyes and lifted up her talons. No. She thought. She was a normal FlameWing. Spark had to act happy, of course, so she forced a painful smile on her face as the guard took the wires off of her chest. Spark stepped out of the doors and saw that her family was waiting for her. “See, I told you, Bonfire, that she wouldn’t be an Outcast.” Spark’s mother was telling her father. Spark’s little brother, who wasn’t even one yet, rushed toward her. “Was it scary? Did it hurt?” Pyre, her little brother asked. “Sorta.” Spark said. She didn’t want to scare her little brother. “Soo…” her older brother, Fireblast, said. “You’re not an Outcast… nice sis.” Spark sighed on the inside. She knew her brother was like her. He had wanted to be a RippleWing, and just like her, his dreams were crushed underneath the cold, cruel talons of the guards. Spark endured the congratulations of all her family members. Afterward, she flew to the ocean. It was the only place where she could feel different. She curled up in the sand. She lowered her head, and a few, small tears fell from her eyes. Why, WHY! I had one wish! Why couldn’t my dream come true at least once? Spark thought angrily. Suddenly, her thoughts turned to the blue dragonet before her. Why did he get to be a RippleWing, but not her? I bet he didn’t even want to be one. Spark thought sourly. She slowly buried herself lower in the sand. Finally, all of her pent up feelings came hurtling out of her. Her whole body shook as tears streamed down her face. Talons squished against sand behind her. Spark sniffed and lifted her head. It was Fireblast. Fireblast pressed his warm scales against Spark’s tear-streaked ones. “It’s going to be okay.” He whispered. And in that moment, to Spark, everything seemed okay. Chapter 3: Shadowflight The hooded dragon whisked through the air, flying low. She could not risk getting caught or else the plan would get ruined. She kept the memory of the address blazing within her mind. Her cuff started pinching her wrist. Just a little bit further and the pain in the tail will be gone. She thought. She hoped that the hacker would be able to get it off. If not, she could get in BIG trouble. Something caught her eye on the ground. The hooded dragon dropped down. Something about this area was off. The thing that had caught her sharp eyes was a hole in the shadows. It was a good thing the dragon knew a few things about shadows herself. After she had checked to make sure no one had followed her (she was very sure as she had made her escape as quiet as she could), she hopped through the shadows and dropped into a high-tech laboratory. There was a dragon with welding goggles working at a desk with a mini torch. It appeared to be a DayWing. Ugh, I despise those. Did it have to be a DayWing? The dragon thought bitterly. Last time they had met, she couldn’t tell what tribe the hacker was because they kept their hood up the entire time they were talking. When the DayWing stopped welding the unknown piece, they lifted their goggles up and the shadowy dragon saw that they had two different eye colors, one green and one blue. “Hello!” The hacker said with a strong accent. “Who might you be?” “I’m Shadowflight.” The shadowy dragon responded shortly. “I’m Bright Sky! It’s nice to meet you, Shadowflight.” Bright Sky held out her talon for Shadowflight to shake. Shadowflight kept still. “Okay, not an ‘out-there’ kind of dragon.” Bright Sky mumbled as she went back to her desk. “Excuse me, but are you the hacker?” Shadowflight asked lightly. Bright Sky turned and looked at her. “Well, I really wouldn’t say ‘hacker.’ I think of myself more as a technology expert.” Bright Sky said nervously while fiddling with her tail. Shadowflight slammed her claw down on the desk. Bright Sky examined it for a few seconds then nodded. “Ah, you’re a VoidWing, aren’t you?” Bright Sky asked with a little bit of smugness in her voice. Shadowflight rolled her eyes underneath her hood. “Yeah, I’m a VoidWing, can we please get on with this?” Shadowflight asked irritably while taking her hood off. Bright Sky nodded and brought out her wrench and multiple other tools. She grabbed Shadowflight’s talon, and brought it closer. Slowly, she took apart the cuff. Suddenly, Shadowflight felt a sharp pain just below her wrist. “Sorry!” Bright Sky cried out and the pain went away. After a while, Shadowflight glanced at her now bare wrist. She rubbed her other claw against it. It felt weird not having it there. She glanced at Bright Sky again. “Well?” Shadowflight asked. “Can I leave now?” Bright Sky let out a small laugh. “Of course not. I still have to put this thing back on, ya know. I’m just adjusting it! Now come here. I’ll have to finish the last part while it is on your wrist.” Shadowflight sighed inwardly and thrust out a talon. Bright Sky slid the cuff back onto Shadowflight’s wrist. I really thought I was rid of it. Nice job jinxing it, idiot. Shadowflight cursed herself. She fiddled with it, and suddenly the cuff grew tighter than before! “Nope, too tight.” Bright Sky mumbled. Then the cuff grew so loose, Shadowflight could take it off with ease. “Nope, too loose.” And then the cuff tightened just a bit. It wasn’t so loose that she could just take it off, but it wasn’t so tight that it was cutting off her blood flow. “Now, look here. If you put your talon here,” Bright Sky instructed, showing Shadowflight a small groove in the cuff. “You can leave your tracker where you are, and then they can’t track where you go until you press the button again!” Shadowflight tilted her head in confusion. Why would anyone want that to happen? Shadowflight thought bitterly. Bright Sky sighed, like she could read her mind. “Okay, if you were in your room, and wanted to sneak out, you would press this. It will freeze your tracker, until you press it again!” Shadowflight nodded in understanding, and spread her wings to take off. “You can remove the shadows now!” Bright Sky called. How did she know I used shadows to block the tracker? “Oh yeah, meet me here! Same time next week! I can make a few gadgets for you, to help you sneak out better!” Shadowflight nodded. Now that Bright Sky had fixed her cuff, she seemed like a friend rather than just another DayWing. No, they’re all the same. Shadowflight reminded herself. She took off, and disappeared into the dome. When Shadowflight got there, she saw that the guards were transferring a new RippleWing. Shadowflight narrowed her eyes. The dome was where all of the Outcasts went in but never came out. I got out though. Shadowflight remembered. She flew down to the top of the dome, hidden by the shadows. She turned into her Shadow form and passed through the dome. She darted down, towards the new dragonet. His fear-filled eyes darted around the dome. But then he closed his eyes, and he seemed to calm down. After the guards left, Shadowflight flew down to him. “What's your name, new dragon?” He glanced at his new cuff. He slowly swiped across the screen. He started to talk, not taking his eyes off the cuff. “My name used to be Charge. Now I guess I'm…” He glanced at the cuff's screen again. “Current.” As he said the new name, he wrinkled his snout in distaste. Shadowflight sighed. “Look, Current,” He flinched. “I’m going to get you out of here.” Current sat up quickly. “Isn’t that against the rules?” He whispered. Shadowflight smirked. This time, she wanted to rub this escape in the guards’ faces. She spread her wings and activated every single security alarm in the dome. The air was now filled with buzzes as the guards rushed in. Shadowflight grabbed Current’s arm and pulled him into the air. “Come on! Don’t your wings work?” Shadowflight snarled. Current started flapping his wings and soon, they were at the top of the dome. Shadowflight gathered up her strength and smashed through the glass ceiling. “Three moons! You broke the dome! You’re gonna get in trouble for sure!” Current exclaimed. Shadowflight whipped around. “Do you wanna get rescued or not?” Shadowflight growled. Current nodded. She grabbed his claw again and flew off. Chapter 4: Clevercloud The giant storm was raging. Clevercloud had never experienced so much rain before. She squinted her eyes to see Twister flying ahead of her. “Stop!” She yelled but her voice was drowned out by thunder. Clevercloud was struggling to keep up, but she had to. His Finding had revealed that he was a StormWing. She had knocked out the guards, and they flew off. If they didn’t get away, they would be separated for life. And Clevercloud couldn’t have that. Her mother was dead, her sister disappeared, and her father was sad and broken. Suddenly, she saw a flash of black ahead. It disappeared in an instant. Clevercloud shook her head, certain she was hallucinating. But then she saw it again to her right. Suddenly the clouds cleared, and there were black-cloaked figures all around her and Twister. She screamed, and darted forward, grabbing Twister. Twister swung around, his eyes wide. He noticed the dragons around them. “Hold still or you might be hurt.” The guards said in unison, in that same, droning, robotic voice. She got ready to attack the guards. “Clevercloud.” It took her a moment to realize that it was Twister speaking. “It’s no use. They’re going to beat us anyway. Just… stay back. It’s my fault they found us anyway. I don’t need you getting hurt because of my mistake.” “What? How did they find us?” Clevercloud cried. Twister pointed to his cuff. Clevercloud groaned inwardly. She had forgotten to remove Twister’s cuff. “I’m going to give myself up. Just… live a full life, sis.” He stepped forward a little bit. “It’s me! I’m the StormWing! Just, take me, okay? Leave her out of this! I tricked her into helping me!” He looked back at Clevercloud. “Goodbye.” He whispered. Clevercloud wrapped her wings around him. “I love you.” She whispered back. She clung to him as long as she could, only pulling away when the guards wrenched them apart. Clevercloud began to cry. She lunged for Twister, but the guards held her back. “Oh no. You can’t go anywhere. Despite what that… StormWing said, we still have to question you. Then, we will probably wipe your memories of that awful StormWing.” One guard told her. She saw far off in the distance the dome. Even from this far, it was gigantic, and impossible to not notice. She saw the guards dragging Twister inside. Instead of fighting back, he just bowed his head submissively, and slowly walked in. An anger burned inside her. She would need that later. But now, she had to take care of these guards. She narrowed her eyes at the one who had spoken before. “Are you so sure about that?” She asked, feeling strangely calm. She suddenly pulsed out a bit of energy. Flames licked hungrily at the guard’s hood. Suddenly, it was gone. There, underneath the hood, was a StormWing. He had let go of her when the fire started. She shifted her scales. She took off, and blasted a little bit of fire towards the rest of the guards, just to wreak a little havoc. Then, she streaked toward the dome. Summoning up the anger inside of her, Clevercloud unleashed the light inside of her. She heard glass shatter and she looked at the dome. All of the glass had been broken. Clevercloud realized what she had done and flew inside of the broken dome. She started searching for Twister. Have I killed him? Clevercloud thought frantically. Clevercloud searched the debris for Twister when she finally spotted gray scales. She brushed the dust aside to reveal a motionless dragon. Shock shot through Clevercloud. Was Twister dead?! Twister coughed and Clevercloud breathed a sigh of relief. “Get up, Twister. We need to leave!” Clevercloud shook her brother. “Clevercloud?” Twister rasped. He slowly stood up and looked at Clevercloud. Clevercloud grabbed his talon and flew off. It was a good thing she knew a place to hide. A hidden cave on a beach. “Wait, Clevercloud, stop!” She turned around confused. “We’ve got to get this off first, or they will track us again!” He was pointing to the cuff. “Come on. I’ll freeze it until we reach a dragon who can disable it. Now, shift your scales. We are going to land there first.” “I can’t!” Twister whimpered. “My cuff keeps me from shifting!” “Then get behind me!” Clevercloud shifted her scales, blocking Twister from view. Together, they flew to the forest. When they landed, Clevercloud flicked open a secret panel on an oak tree. Suddenly, she and Twister were down in a lab. There, a DayWing was welding something that looked like a cuff. Twister looked at Clevercloud, and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but they didn't have time for that. “Bright Sky, I need you to fix his cuff.” She pointed to the half-frozen cuff still on Twister’s wrist. “Really? I was just done fixing some VoidWing’s cuff but alright.” Bright Sky asked, fiddling with her tail again. “Alright, but this is for you, Clevercloud. Now come here, Twister.” Twister slowly walked over, and Bright Sky got to work on his cuff. In a few moments, she held up what looked like a pile of wires, and bolts. “Done.” She mumbled. Suddenly, guards burst through the ceiling. Bright Sky quickly pressed a button, and the whole lab shrunk down to the size of a suitcase. She flew up, and punched a hole through the ceiling. Clevercloud followed her through the hole, pulling Twister along. “I’m going to Light Jump. Stand back. Can you guys make it out on your own?” Clevercloud nodded, and shifted her scales. Twister did the same. “Follow me.” Suddenly, Bright Sky became a blazing form of light. The figure disappeared, and Clevercloud and Twister followed silently. They slowly made their way across the forest. Suddenly, Bright Sky reappeared. “This way!” She said, taking flight. She flew to the ocean, and slid her tail along a slit in the rock. The rock spun around. They all got in the small space, and the rock spun around and down they went. They stopped at a room with a bunch of food, chairs, beds, and more! But Bright Sky still froze. “There’s someone else here.” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “Shadowflight!” She squealed happily! A shadowy figure appeared, as well as a small RippleWing. Twister looked closely at the RippleWing as Bright Sky and Shadowflight embraced. He let out a gasp. “Charge? Is that you?” Twister asked cautiously. The RippleWing looked nervous. “Twister?” The RippleWing asked as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. “And, yes, it is me. But my name is Current now.” Twister nodded in understanding. “Well,” Bright Sky announced. “We better get comfy, because it will be a while before we are able to leave. This place is crawling with guards. The only reason they haven’t found us yet, is because I built something to block tracking signals. So, Current, you got lucky. I’ll disable your cuff tomorrow.” So, everyone chose a bed, and wondered when they would be safe. Chapter Five: Root “Slow down, Blaze!” Root tried to yell over the thunder. “Speed up, Root!” Blaze called back. “BLAZE!” Root screamed. “THIS ISN’T THE TIME FOR ONE OF YOUR SILLY CHALLENGES! IT IS SUPER STORMY! I DON’T CARE IF YOU WANT TO FLY THROUGH A CLOUD!” His only response was laughter. Suddenly, Blaze stopped. “I see it. The perfect cloud!” He pointed to a white, puffy cloud. Root groaned inwardly. Just when he had hoped for a completely stormy day, they got this perfectly white cloud. “Come on!” Blaze grabbed Root, and pulled him toward the cloud. Root tried to back away, but Blaze’s grip was too tight. He sighed, and slowly followed Blaze. Blaze gave a yell of delight as they flew through the cloud. Root felt super strange. He felt like he was going to break into little pieces. Then the sensation stopped. His head was spinning, and a nausea was rising in the back of his throat. He looked up, and saw a figure, cloaked in black. He let out a small whimper, and the guard turned and screamed. The black cloaked figure darted off. “Blaze? Are you there?” Root managed to whisper. Blaze gave a soft whimper in response. Root slowly stood up. He shook himself out. Nothing broken. He thought, sort of satisfied. But then he saw Blaze. His face was scrunched up. It was easy to see that he was trying not to cry. His wing was bent at an awkward angle. It was clearly broken. “Can you help me?” Blaze rasped. Root just stood there, dumbfounded. Just then, the guard returned with backup. The dragons roughly grabbed Root, but when they looked at Blaze, their gaze softened. “Take this one to the medicine corner.” One of the dragons commanded. They gently pulled Blaze up, but they roughly shoved Root towards what looked like a castle. He let out a snarl. One of the dragons shoved him again. They dragged him into the castle. Inside, was a white dragon, who was looking sadly towards a small photo. “It’s been one and a half years since you passed, my love.” The strange dragon whispered. “Firefly, what should I do?” Suddenly, the dragon’s head moved up. He gasped in surprise when he saw Root. “Is it? Is it?” His grin widened when the guard nodded. “Hello! My name is Hurricane! Are you from… the other side?” “Um…” Root mumbled. Then one of the guards nodded encouragingly. He decided to trust him, even though he had dragged him into this place. “Yeah, I am. “ It looked like Hurricane’s smile grew even bigger, but Root didn’t think it was physically possible to smile bigger than Hurricane. “Do you know King Firestrike?” Hurricane asked. “No… But you can ask Blaze! I bet he would know!” Hurricane’s eyes narrowed. He suddenly lunged forward, clasping something around Root’s wrist. “Take him to the prison! He has lied to me! If he doesn’t know King Firestrike, then he is not from the other side!” The guards nodded, and pulled Root into a damp, dark cell. Root got a glance of Hurricane hugging the photo of the beautiful dragon. Then, Root was left in darkness, isolated from Blaze. Root paced his cell a few times then sat down and folded his wings over his head. So you’re giving up? Come on, I know you’re stronger than that! Blaze’s voice appeared in his head. Get up! Show me that you’re never gonna give up! Root stood up slowly and spread his wings wide. “I’ll find you, Blaze, but first I need to get out of this prison.” Root said out loud, his confidence restored. Chapter 6: Blaze Blaze found himself dumped into a little area with a bed and some dragons nearby. His wing was killing him and he couldn’t bear the pain much more. He looked at the dragon who seemed to be in charge. Narrowing his eyes, he said, “Who are you? Why am I here? What are you trying to do to me?” He directed the question towards a smaller dragon, who was slowly edging towards him, holding a small vial. The bigger dragon answered him calmly. “I am Cloudjumper. This is my apprentice, Making Clouds. You are here because your wing is broken. My apprentice was trying to press the scale, but you are freaking out. Just hold still.” Blaze yearned to rake his claws down Cloudjumper’s face, but she was helping him, so he tried not to fidget. As soon as she pressed the scale against him, the pain disappeared. “Whoah.” He sighed. “That feels great! Can I have more of those scales?” “No.” Cloudjumper said shortly. “These scales are only for when the king decides we must use them. And they only work on ‘Those from the other side’. Ugh. It always hurts when we have to pluck a scale every year, but King Hurricane ordered it. Now, what type of dragon are you? You look sort of like Firefly…” Blaze cocked his head in confusion. “Who’s Firefly?” Cloudjumper let out a sad sigh. “I suppose that now you should meet King Hurricane. But first, what type of dragon are you?” Blaze puffed out his chest. “I’m a RainWing-NightWing hybrid. And Root…” His voice trailed off as he glanced around. “Where’s Root?” “Meeting with King Hurricane.” Making Clouds darted forwards, and thrust a small package into Blaze’s talons once Cloudjumper’s back was turned. It was a small pouch. Blaze tucked it behind his wing. Cloudjumper turned around and grabbed Blaze’s wrist. “Time to go.” She hissed, pulling him towards a giant castle. Blaze thrashed around, trying to break free, but Cloudjumper had a grip like iron. “Don’t make me cuff you.” She snarled after a minute. Blaze froze for a moment, then continued to thrash. Cloudjumper frowned. “MAKING CLOUDS!” She called. “GET ME THE CUFF!” Making Clouds darted off, and returned with a small silver bracelet. In the center was a giant leaf. All around the leaf were swirls that were shaped like leaves. “Woah.” He mumbled. “It will track your movements and shock you if you try to take it off or run.” Blaze was silent the rest of the walk to the castle. Inside was a throne. Beside it was a large gray dragon. He was frowning and pacing. His frown deepened when he saw Blaze. “Put him in the dungeon. He is most likely lying, just like his muddy friend.” Root! Blaze thought. What did he lie about? Cloudjumper stepped forward. “But your highness, the scale worked. So, he must be from the other side. Plus, he looks like Firefly.” The gray dragon slowly started to smile. “That means he can help me with my new project. But I must make sure he is what he says he is.” He turned towards Blaze. “Do you know King Firestrike?” Blaze nodded. “He is my King! Or at least, he was. Now we have Queen Noble and King Imperial. Noble was the sister of Queen Rose.” The gray dragon nodded. “You are who you say you are. Greetings. I am King Hurricane. Follow me.” King Hurricane began to march towards a locked door. He grabbed a key that was dangling from a cuff on his wrist. He slid it into the keyhole, and opened the door. Inside was a small sleeping alcove, some blankets, and a sleeping dragon. The dragon had a thick clamp around her snout, which was chained to the floor. She had similar bands around her wings. Around her talons were the thickest bands of all, clamped extremely tight around her wrist. He rushed over to her, and put his wing around her. “Are you alright?” He asked.The dragon’s eyes fluttered open. Yes. She thought. Oh. Blaze thought. He hadn’t realized he was using his power. He was born under two moons, and so he had the power to read minds, and track dragons. I know you. The dragon thought, snapping Blaze back to the present. “You do?” He whispered. Yes. You are like me. Not from here. “Yes.” He said, finally looking at the dragon. She was pale blue, with a yellow underbelly and antenna. She had deep blue eyes. She had four wings, which meant she was a silkwing, but she also had little splotches of black splattered across her body. But SilkWings don’t have black. It hit him. “You’re a hybrid!” She nodded. “Enough snuggly time you two. Get up. It’s time to stretch your wings.” Hurricane snarled at the pale blue dragon. She thrashed around, terrified. He unclasped her chains from the ground, and instead chained them to the ceiling, forcing her to fly. “Why are you doing this? How long does it go for?” “Sometimes we make her fly for hours! The guards place bets on how long she lasts,” Hurricane laughed. Blaze snarled, and leapt up into the air. He breathed fire on the chains, but to no avail. Finally, he clawed at the hooks keeping the chains in place. Hurricane let out a hiss. “Leave the chains alone, or face the dungeon.” Still, he clawed at the chains. After a moment, the chains snapped, and the dragon fell to the ground. She had no chains now. “Hello.” She whispered. “I am Skyfire.” She stretched her wings wide. They were a dark blue, with red streaks, and a few swirls of gold. Suddenly, Hurricane pressed a button, and guards rushed into the room. They first lunged for Skyfire, but she swerved out of their reach. She stretched out her talons, and fire streamed out of her wrists. The second it touched the guard, he screeched in pain. Blaze opened his mouth, and sprayed a jet of RainWing venom. The guards fell back, but then more guards charged forward. The first thing they did was clamp firm metal bands around Skyfire’s wrists, preventing her from shooting flamesilk. Then, they clamped a muzzle on Blaze, to keep him from shooting fire or venom. “I warned you.” Hurricane said. “Now, take him to the dungeons. Old Story: Tsunami (this one won an honorable mention in a story contest, though I'm not quite sure how) Hide contents I was watching cartoons when the first warning came. I know, I know. It’s silly, a 15 year old girl, curled up on the couch, watching Scooby Doo. I just needed to feel safe, and for me, the safest I can feel is watching something so silly, real life doesn’t feel so scary any more. My parents were off on one of their fancy vacations. This one was to Hawaii. I didn’t care. Every time I went with them, I just sat in a so-called ‘luxury’ hotel. Technically, my parents were there on strictly business. Somehow, they always ended up with amazing stories and pictures to share though. Eventually, I gave up on going with them. This time was the first day that they actually trusted me to stay home alone. I was so excited. They told me that it was just a trial run. They would only be gone for a day or two. If all went well, I might be able to stay home alone again. All went well for the first day. It was the second day that everything went wrong. I was just reaching the point in my episode where they were unmasking the ghost, this time the Phantom Shadow, when my screen went dark. It stayed that way for a second, then flicked to a storm warning. There was a pretty, middle aged newscaster. She had perfectly straight teeth that gleamed when she smiled, and lucious blonde hair. I had seen her before, but this time it felt different. She smiled a perfect smile, but the smile never reached her eyes. She looked… worried. “This is a storm warning.” What? No way! I thought, rolling my eyes. The newscaster continued, her voice smooth, and gentle. “This message is for the city San Francisco. If you currently reside in San Francisco, you may want to get prepared for a long night. There is evidence of earthquakes in the ocean near you.” I frowned. I hadn’t felt any earthquakes. “It must be a prank.” I mutter, trying to change it back to Scooby Doo. It didn’t work. Whatever this was, I was stuck with it until the so-called ‘threat’ passed. I stood up, stretched my legs, and walked upstairs to grab a snack. After a moment of indecision, I pulled a couple packs of crackers out of the cupboard. I was walking back downstairs to try and change the channel again when the phone rang. I set the crackers on the table, and picked it up. “Hello?” “Oh, Delilah, thank goodness you’re okay!” It was my mom. Her voice sounded panicked. “Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, a bit of worry creeping into my voice. “Weren’t you watching the storm warning?” My eyes widen, and I race downstairs to the TV. The newscaster looked terrified as she said, “San Fransico, evacuate now. The tsunami is coming straight at you.” Panic pierced me, sharp and unforgiving. I gasped for air, but the panic surrounded me, suffocating me. “Oh n-no,” I gasped, clutching the phone with a white-knuckled grip. “Delilah,” My dad said in a dangerously low voice. “Are you still at the house?” “Yes,” I wailed. “Delilah, I need you to listen to me,” My dad said, his voice catching as he spoke. “Upstairs, in the kitchen, there is a thick black bag below the sink. I need you to grab that, okay? That has everything you need. Then I need you to get out of there. Take a bike, a car, whatever. Just get out of there.” “Okay.” Once I agreed, he whispered, “I love you Del. Just get somewhere safe.” Then he hung up, leaving me to face the tsunami on my own. “Okay. Step one,” I muttered to myself. “Get the thick black bag from under the sink.” I dashed upstairs, and opened the cupboard right below our main sink. The black bag was there, hidden carefully in the shadows. I pulled it out, and opened it up. Inside, there was money, clothes, food, and more. Everything I needed to survive was in there. “Step two. Get out of here.” I would have driven the car, if I had known how to drive it. I had failed my drivers test two times in a row, so I hadn’t learned how to drive yet. I raced out to the garage, clipped on a helmet, and started riding my bike away from the beach. As I glided up the sidewalk, I realized it was a good thing I didn’t know how to drive. There were cars everywhere, with traffic clogging up the road. I easily passed most of the cars. They honked angrily at me, but I didn’t care. I just kept thinking, Get out of here. A couple of families took one look at me, and followed suit. They realized it was faster on foot than by car. It didn’t matter to me. I just kept riding. It wasn’t too long before I made it a couple miles inland, where people had made a barricade of sandbags. I didn’t know if it would help, but who was I to judge? I glided past, and kept pedaling. I was biking up a steep hill, when I heard a soft whimper. I glanced back, and saw a medium sized black dog. “You better get going,” I called as I continuted to pedal up the hill. Just when I made it up the hill, I heard the whimper again. This time I turned around completely, and stared at the dog limping up the hill. I noticed it had curled one of its paws to its chest, and was struggling to walk. I bit my lip. I could see the wave rising in the distance, threatening to crash down at any second. Then I looked back at the dog, who whimpered again, and tried to limp farther. My heart broke, and at that moment I decided. I spun around in the road, and let gravity pull me down the hill. Down, down, down I went, picking up speed as I went. When I reached the bottom, I hear a thunderous crash. I kick the bike away, scoop up the dog, and start to tear up the hill. I haven’t made it far before the water crashes over me. I spin around wildly, clinging to the dog. The water pushes me around, with no rhyme or reason to it all. After what seems like forever, my head pops above the water, and I suck in a breath of sweet, delicous air. “Air is so good!” I wheeze, lifting the dog as high out of the water as possible. He yaps happily, and I suck in one last breath before I am sucked below the water again. It happenes over and over. I get sucked down, holding my breath for as long as possible, until I break the surface, get one breath in, and the whole thing starts over again. I am growing tired. I can barely lift the dog out of the water. Eventually, it reaches the point where I can’t lift the dog at all. I am at the mercy of the water. I can feel the dog growing weak, and in a last-ditch effort to save him, I hurl him as far away from me as possible, towards what looks like the floating roof of a house. He lands with a sickening thump, but he lands on the roof, out of the water, where he can breathe. That is more that I can say for me. I never know when my next breath will be. I just wait. I wait, and hope for the best. I curl my hands over my head, hoping that it will stop anything from hitting my hand. This, however, left me open for a blow in another spot. My back slams into something, pushing air out of my lungs. NO! I think, trying to squirm free. My air is running out fast, and trying to get out doesn’t make it any better. I pause, holding still for a second, then try to swim upward again. Yes! I think as I surge upward. However, my happiness is short-lived. After only a moment the water slams me backwards, pinning me again. NO! I swipe feebly, trying to break free, but to no avail. I snap my eyes open, and see that I am pinned against the wall of a house. I haven’t had my eyes open for long before red rims my vision, creeping farther, and farther, until my world goes black. The light is warm. Gentle, even. It wraps around me, pulling me away from the tsunami. But something bites back, pulling harder than the light, pulling me upwards, towards life. The black fades away as my head breaks the surface, and I fill my lungs with air. Every breath hurts, lke there is a giant dumbbell sitting on my chest, but the air is worth it. Life is worth it. Suddenly, I remember what happened. “Who?” I sputter. I lift my head up to find the dog, laying next to me, on what looks like the roof of a car. “How?” I ask. But he just cocks his head cheerily, panting wearily. “How did you even get me on here? I don’t remember you pulling me on here…” I stare at him, half hoping that he will magically tell me everything. He doesn’t of course, but he looks at me so calmly, that I know he understands everything. “Well,” I say, grabbing him, and pulling him close. “I saved your life, and you saved mine. We’re even.” He barks once, and I mistake it for excitement. But then he barks again, and I remember that we are not out of danger yet. The water is pulling back, receding. For one joyus moment I am thrilled. The tsunami is over! But then I remember where we are. The water is receding, and pulling us back with it. If we don’t move fast, we will be sucked out to the ocean with the rest of the rubble. “No, no, no,” I mutter, rallying my courage. “We gotta get out of here.” I say to the dog. He eyes me warily, then dips his head. I scoop him up, and scan for anywhere we can jump. But I don’t see anywhere. All I can see is rubble. “Where do I go?” I spin around faster and faster, until I drop dizzily to the ground. “I don’t, I don’t,” I gasp, my breathing ragged. The panic from before comes back, and this time it is stronger. It strikes hard, making every breath a struggle, a fight for survival. I collapse backwards, hitting the car with a dull thud. I breathe in quickly, trying to suck in air before the panic can strike again. Then the dog stares at me, his big brown eyes gentle, and understanding. He lays his head on my stomach, and there we lay, for eight precious seconds, before the panic has surrendered, ending the miniature war inside of me. “Let’s go,” I say, my voice shaking. I scoop him up again, and this time I survey my surroundings calmly. “There.” I nod my head towards a large house, towering in the distance. “Get ready.” I brace myself, getting ready to jump the second we get close enough. My muscles tense as the water rushes us closer, and closer, and then I jump. While I am in the air, I swear I could feel something pushing me farther, just enough that my feet land on the edge of the roof of the house. “Yes!” I shout. I drop the dog to the ground, and we both dance around excitedly. Suddenly, I drop to my knees and hug the dog. Because even though we almost died, and everything we knew was in shambles, we are alive, and we are together, and in the end, that is what really matters. Uh, hope you enjoy! Edit: I just realized that was my hundredth post! Woohoo! Awesome!!!! I especially loved Tsunami!!!!
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 4 Author Posted April 4 (edited) On 4/4/2026 at 12:23 AM, Through the Living Ink said: Awesome!!!! I especially loved Tsunami!!!! Thank you! On 4/3/2026 at 9:34 PM, Verdance said: You should do these as blog posts to make them easier to sort through they are so cool! Thank you! And I have been debating if I should do it as a blog or not. I just don’t know if anyone would want to read it. edit: after much head debating, I’ve decided to make a blog. Even if no one read it haha. Please look for Written in the Stars in blogs. It will be the same format as here, just with only one story at a time, and if it’s mini fiction, three at a time. Edit 2: So, I've decided that this thread is where I will be posting stuff that I need people to critique on, while the finished stories will go in the blog. Thanks! Edited April 6 by Through The Living Star
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 6 Author Posted April 6 I need some opinions on this Magic System I am creating. So, I call them Lightchosen and Darkchosen for now (I do need a better name though) Basically there are seven types of Lightchosen Benders: Can bend light around them or around other objects. Has a limited range, depending on the strength of the Lightchosen Reflectors: Can reflect light. Have one of two varieties. Blinders or Color Reflectors. Blinders can reflect a concentrated beam of light. Color Reflectors can reflect colors to create illusions. Basic Colorists can only reflect colors as they match the shape of the object they are reflecting. As they grow more advanced, this can change. Refractors: Can refract light so that the object they are refracting appears several feet away at times. As they grow stronger, this can change. (I don’t know how yet, lol) Creators: Can create light. This drains energy, or some power source I don’t know about yet, but the stronger they are the more light they can produce, and the more concentrated it can become. Pressers: Can press light into pristine white objects. These objects can dissolve etc, kind of like Shardblades. They have to connect the object with something, otherwise they have to start over. The first time that they create an object, it expends a lot of energy. If they connect it to something, however, they only use a fraction of that energy to re-summon it. Because of this, pressers tend to wear lots of bracelets, or jewelry. Forcers: Can force light into different areas. Typically used as bodyguards, because without light, almost all of the other Lightchosen become meaningless. Sensers: Can sense when other light is being manipulated. Also used as bodyguards. The way I think I am doing it so far is that there are Dark and Light of each ability, though I don't know how well that would work. Uh... Yeah. I don't really have anything else to say. So, thoughts? Opinions? What works and what doesn't? 1
Factor She/Her Posted April 6 Posted April 6 This is really cool! I think the main thing opinion I have is on Pressers. I don’t quite understand how that works, or would be used. Other than that, this is amazing! You have very good ideas here!
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 6 Author Posted April 6 3 minutes ago, Factor said: This is really cool! I think the main thing opinion I have is on Pressers. I don’t quite understand how that works, or would be used. Other than that, this is amazing! You have very good ideas here! Thank you! Yeah, Pressers are really the hardest for me to explain, and the way I think I am going with I don't know if they'll end up making the cut. Pretty much, you can condense light? Sort of? It was kind of a way for me to let the main character have a sword that they could summon. They have always been the iffiest one, even if I do like picturing the main character having a blade of light.
Factor She/Her Posted April 6 Posted April 6 Ohhhh I see. I was confused and thought you could, like, fill objects with light like filling a metal mind, I got thrown off by the jewelry comment. What you just said makes more sense. now I need to go bye
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 6 Author Posted April 6 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Factor said: Ohhhh I see. I was confused and thought you could, like, fill objects with light like filling a metal mind, I got thrown off by the jewelry comment. What you just said makes more sense. now I need to go bye Yeah I see how what I said could be confusing. Pretty much the jewelry is kind of like what they Connect it to. Goodbye! Edited April 6 by Through The Living Star
Through The Living Star She/Her Posted April 15 Author Posted April 15 Okay guys, I have a new magic system that I need opinions on. Like seriously, I need more than one person to comment please. Even if it is just "oh this looks nice". it lets me know that everything makes sense to other people. Thanks! Amplifiers (Amps) Takers/Thieves Speeders Slowers Amps increase things. Takers decrease things. Speeders speed up processes. Slowers slow down processes. Here is the way that all of the powers work: Internal Self Amplifier: Can amplify certain emotions, such as courage or bravery. Mostly daredevils and stuntmen. I do think this one is a little weak, but they are kind of like Rioters, only they can only Riot themselves. Also known as Magnifyers, for their ability to magnify their own confidence. Internal Others Amplifier: These are Rioters, essentially. They can amplify the emotions of other people. Also known as Boosters for the boosts of confidence they commonly give people. External Self Amplifier: They can increase the strength of themselves. Their maximum is the max strength of all the people they are connected to, added up, divided by the number of people. (So kind of like the average, maybe. I’m still deciding.) External Others Amplifier: They can amplify the strength of others to a maximum of their strength. Doesn’t hurt them at all, but because of this, they tend to be extremely strong on their own, so they can increase the strength of those they are Connected to as high as possible. Also called Flexers, as they tend to be extremely strong. Internal Self Taker: Can decrease certain emotions, such as fear or sadness. They are kind of seen as the emotionless robots, as they tend to Take any distracting emotions away. Also known as Blankers (for the blank, emotionless looks they give.) Internal Others Taker: These are Soothers, essentially. They can take/dull the emotions of other people. Also called Calmers. (May choose a different name for these) External Self Taker: They can decrease the strength of themselves. Their maximum is the max strength of all the people they are connected to, added up, divided by the number of people. (So kind of like the average, maybe. I’m still deciding.) This power is kinda useless. They are known as “Weaklings” External Others Taker: They can Take/Decrease the strength of others. Doesn’t hurt them at all. However, they can only do this to people they are Connected to. This means that they have very few chances to do it, and often work under cover, pretending to be an Amp or the such. They are known as “Drainers” Internal Self Speeder: Can speed up the natural processes of the body for themselves. Commonly called Revivers for their remarkable ability to heal from many wounds that would have previously been unattainable. Internal Others Speeder: Can speed up the natural processes of the body for other people, as many as they are connected to. They are commonly called Healers, as they work on battlefields to heal those who have been injured. External Self Speeder: Can speed up the motions of themselves. They are also called Snappers for the sudden jolts, or ‘snaps’ or speed that come when they use their ability. External Others Speeder: Can speed up the movements of others. Also called Jolters, for the jolts of energy and speed that they give other people. Internal Self Slower: Can slow down the body’s natural processes for themselves. They are typically spies, as they can slow down the body’s processes, making them more resistant to things such as torture if they get caught. Also called the Resisters, for their uncanny resistance to pain. Internal Others Slower: Can slow down the body’s processes for other people. They are typically also used when there are not enough Healers, as they can slow down how fast people are dying. Also called Numbers for their ability to numb pain. External Self Slower: Can slow down the motions of themselves. Kind of a useless ability. Mostly used for people to make others underestimate them. Also called Crawlers, for the crawling pace at which they perform tasks. External Others Slower: Can slow down the motions of others they are Connected to. Also called Brakers, as they cause people to ‘put on the brakes’ and slow down.
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