Wings of Fire; The Creed

Chapter 2

Boris glared with harsh intensity at her invisible tail that he had in his talon. She nervously made herself visible again. Boris' claws were now starting to dig painfully into her tail. When she appeared, she must have startled Boris because he jumped back, scraping his claws against the weak spot on her tail. She winced at the sharp pain as she tried to hide the excruciating agony she was feeling. She did not need one of her clawmates thinking she was weak and helpless.

I am strong. I am fierce. I am Starburst.

This helped her calm down enough to face Boris again. She glared at him, hoping that was enough to keep him from asking any questions.

"Starburst," he asked in a cautious tone, "why were you invisible?"

"Mind your own beeswax, you frozen coconut," Starburst shot back.

Boris just rolled his eyes, but he didn't ask any further questions. He walked away from her, slowly dragging his whip-thin tail, the icicles on his neck and tail clattered together.

Starburst shrugged and continued toward the Prey Center. After a few more turns down the halls, she could hear the loud dragonets in the Prey Center. When she entered the Pray Center, she immediately regretted it. It was crowded with loud dragonets, all competing on who can have the loudest conversation. It gave Starburst a splitting headache, which didn't help her now sour mood. Even worse, somehow the loud SandWing NightWing beat her to the Prey Center and was now surrounded by a small gathering of dragonets that were crowding him with questions.

Starburst shuddered at the thought of crowds all asking her questions and judging her every move. That was not something for her. Diamondback did seem comfortable with it. That was very unsettling personally for Starburst, but she was not the one with the scrutinizing eyes on her, so she didn't care.

She attempted to lay low and make her way to the opposite side of the cave. She was watching the crowd of dragons and Diamondback carefully, but she must have gotten distracted or something because the next thing she knows is that Diamondback was approaching her with a trail of dragons following him.

"Hey Starburst! We need the winglet to meet up in the Great Hall in a little while. Do you think you can meet everyone there?"

The whole crowd of dragons looked from Diamondback over the Starburst. She felt as if there were a thousand ants crawling around under her scales. She cleared her throat, her eyes nervously bolting from one dragon to another.

"I, uh, sure. I will head there right now."

He nodded and walked away, bringing all the judgmental eyes with him. She blew it. She was supposed to be this grumpy, tough, fierce dragon, but instead, she acted like... whatever that was.

She liked to be alone and away from all the judging eyes. She would rather stay away from other dragons in general if she had the option. Dragons can never be trusted. They will turn on you when they get the chance.

She picked up a small rock and tossed it aside. Rage was filling her brain, but she remembered from her training that you should never let your emotions control you.

She arrived at the Great Hall, where Artemis and Bubble were already sitting. There was an awkward atmosphere hanging in the air. Starburst hated it. It brought back some bad memories. Memories that she has attempted to bury deep, deep in the corners of her mind.

When she was younger, she was always the odd one out. There were plenty of hybrids in the rainforest now, with both tribes starting to live together in peace after years of distrust. She was not the only one that looked like this. There was Brilliant, Nightstar, Colorshifter (not the most creative in her opinion), a few more, and the most well know of all, Princess Firefly.

There were only a talonful of dragons she actually trusted in the world, and Prince Firefly was at the top of that list. Ever since her... social experiences in the rainforest when she was younger, she has had trouble ever trusting others.

She shoved any rising thoughts back down and sat down next to Bubble. He was at least... tolerable. He reminds her of Coconut a little, but just a tiny bit faster. He was very static, and he processed things like his thought process was walking through thick mud.

I have been hanging out with that MudWing way too much.

Diamondback was eagerly pulling Boris toward the group. Boris didn't look like he was pulling back from Diamondback's grip, but he also didn't look like he was going willingly. He was kind of just trying to stand there.

"Ok," Diamondback said with a struggling voice, trying to pull on the muscular IceWing. Diamondback wasn't visibly any less muscular than Boris, but he was small than the glimmering IceWing prince.

"Now that everyone is here, it is time to discuss."

"But. Not everyone is here. Where are Copperhead and Aella?" Artemis chirped quietly.

"Aella was being all smug and stuff, and she said she was too busy to deal with my stuff like one of my fellow street rats," he said with a low, frustrated growl, "and Copperhead said he would rather say here."

Bubble shyly raised his talon into the air, catching Diamondback's attention.

"C-Can I join Copperhead with staying here?" Bubble asked nervously.

Artemis giggled at the statement, causing Bubble to blush. This confused Starburst. How was that funny? How was hiding in a safe, boring, old mountain funny?

"Um, yeah..." Diamondback started. Bubble started to perk up, getting his hopes up about staying here.

"... no," Diamondback finished.

"Ha!" Starburst laughed. Now THAT was funny.

"We need you Bubble."

Bubble looked down at his talons, "I am not entirely comfortable with using my animus magic again."

Artemis reached out and pat Bubble on his shoulder, probably trying to comfort him.

"Bubble. You are not just your magic. I need your quick thinking, your loyalty, and your bravery. It will come in handy if we ever find that SkyWing again."

Bravery? Loyalty? Bubble? Those don't mix. Well, not that I'm aware of. But of course, the time when he stopped the knife before it hit Artemis.

Bubble looked back up at Diamondback, who was now smiling kindly at Bubble. Bubble looked absolutely shocked.

Boris cleared his throat loudly getting everyone's attention, and ruining the moment, not that she cared. But there was something in the air that lingered. Something that Starburst never felt before.

"So," Boris spoke up,"what's that plan you were yapping on about while dragging me her