The Bright Future (2.0)

I Wonder...

"Bye, Mother, bye, Whiteout, I'll be back soon." Darkstalker swept towards the door, stopping to kiss Whiteout's head. 

"Farewell, wise, dear, brother," replied his sister serenely. She leaned over and took the uneaten hawk wing from Darkstalker's plate, then added it to her own and attempted to attach it to the rabbit she was eating.

Darkstalker swung open the door and flew to Clearsight's cave first. He found her window and knocked on it with a claw. Clearsight's face appeared after a few moments. "I'm heading to Fathom's room, will I see you there?" asked Darkstalker.

"Sure," said Clearsight, then swung her window curtains shut. Darkstalker heard her grumbling as he flew away. "Gosh, can't a NightWing get any sleep around here? The sun hasn't even set yet!"

He arrived in front of the palace. After orienting himself, Darkstalker set off for Fathom's room. 

Darkstalker found the SeaWing prince on his balcony, gazing listlessly into the distance. "Hey, friend," greeted Darkstalker, landing with a thump beside Fathom. "What's up?"

Fathom jumped slightly. "Oh, uh, hello. I was just thinking about... you know."

They both bowed their heads and shared a moment of silence and solitude for the fallen Prince. Though they had barely met Bloodhawk, Darkstalker had foreseen many possible futures where himself, the prince, Fathom, and Clearsight were great friends.  

"Well, I was thinking this morning when I couldn't sleep," said Darkstalker finally. "And I remembered hearing that the one thing animus dragons can't do is bring other dragons back from the dead. And now, I wonder--"

"If that's true!" said Fathom excitedly, catching on. "Maybe it is possible, just no one has written it down yet!"

"Exactly," said Darkstalker with a gleam in his eyes.

"I let you out of my sight for five minutes," complained Clearsight, landing beside them, "And you boys are talking about summoning dead spirits?"

"Yep," agreed Darkstalker happily.

Clearsight groaned. "Look, we're all upset about Bloodhawk, but it's not--it's not right to try to bring him back. Death is a natural process that's bound to happen to all of us at some point."

"Not me," cried Darkstalker. He whirled his wings out and drew himself back. "I, Darkstalker, will be the longest-lived dragon IN THE WORLD! I will never die! EVER!" 

"Sure," grumbled Clearsight. "Sure, sure."

"You just wait, sad-snout, wait until we're king and queen," said Darkstalker, landing on all fours again and bumping her neck with his snout. "Wait until we're king and queen, and Fathom is our Royal Best Friend, and Bloodhawk is back, and we're all ruling Pyrrhia happily, and nobody's sick or hungry or lonely, because we'll fix that!"

Darkstalker grabbed Clearsight's front talons and spun her around, and soon enough, they were both laughing.

"Oh, Darkstalker," said Clearsight when she was set down, "We should show Fathom."

"Of course," said Darkstalker. Fathom tipped his head curiously as he drew something out from his black leather pouch. A scroll, a jar of ink, and a stone. "This," said Darkstalker, lowering his voice to a whisper, "Is my secret to staying good. Observe."

He set the rock in front of himself, dipped a claw into the ink, and wrote, I enchant this stone to turn into a silver ring with a pearl in the center. 

Fathom watched in awe as the rock did exactly so. "But--does that affect your soul?" he asked.

"Not at all," said Darkstalker proudly, slipping the ring onto his claw. "Brilliant, isn't it? Let's go find you one, then get to work on bringing our friend back."

"I don't think this will--" started Clearsight.

"Shhh." Darkstalker pressed a claw to her snout. "Everything will work out perfectly.