World Rising

Chapter 12 / Strangers

The scarred golden dragon got to his feet, muscles rippling beneath his scales.

"My name is Dawn," he said shaking the sand off his wings.

"Nice to meet you Dawn" Atlantis replied. 

"By any-" Adder cut her off.  "Is there somewhere we can stay?" 

"Yes," he replied. "it's not too far If you can keep up."

Dawn launched into the sky trying not to think about how Cadmus and Saphira had left him to drown in the dark water.

Don't cry, it's not like they ever cared about you in the first place. you've always been the third wheel.

A tear ran down Dawn's face. He scrunched up his snout trying to stuff his emotions down, but still, he couldn't push away the feeling of loneliness.

You should be used to this feeling by now

                                                                                           .  .  .

Firefly watched Dawn as he flew south. His glimmering golden scales and icy blue eyes were stunning, but as they flew on she could feel ever-growing waves of sadness coming off of him. Dawn's despair was in his eyes and movements, so much that he was encased in an aura of loneliness and heartbreak. 

Firefly wanted to help him and clear the sadness shrouding him, but she had no idea where to start.

She flew next to him, studying his icy eyes with concern. Dawn's eyes glistened and his face was scrunched up as though he was trying to stuff down his sadness with no success. 

He deserves to be happy. I promise that someday I will help you be happy.

"Hey, Dawn? Are you okay?" Firefly asked, her green eyes glittering with concern. 

Dawn looked startled by the question as if he'd never had anyone ask him that before.

"Oh! Um, y-yeah I'm fine," Dawn said in a rush.

"Anyone can see that you're lying," Firefly looked at him.

"What! No!" he said hurriedly

"mmhm" she looked at him skeptically.  

"Is it really that obvious?" he murmured.

"Yeah," Firefly said.

"What!?" Dawn yelped

"I'm seeing that you're about to hit a treehouse that you're probably leading us to," Firefly said

"What?!" Dawn stopped and clumsily landed on the balcony. 

Firefly walked through the yellow curtain and stopped, gawking at beautiful intricate wood carvings of dragons, deer, wolves, and birds. Dawn walked in and stood in front of a large wood carving of three dragons and a wolf. Two adult dragons stood behind what looked like Dawn as a dragonet, hugging a wolf.

A bulletin board showed a picture of a large dragon and other pictures pinned around it. Knives and spears were lined on a table. 

A whistle startled her. Dawn was now looking out the window. A bald eagle's screech answered his whistle. Dawn turned away from the window, a Bald eagle perched on his tail.

"Moons above!" Firefly yelped

"This is Cyclone," Dawn said 

Cyclone screeched and fluttered to the ground in front of her. 

Cedar looked over Firefly's shoulder, "Whoa, is that an eagle?"

"EEP!" she squeaked.  

Cedar pushed past Firefly and walked around the treehouse. 

"This is pretty cool," Cedar told Dawn, inspecting a dragon sculpture with moss and flowers sprouting along its body. "How did you do this?" he asked, looking back at the muscular golden dragon.

"I added a thin coating of clay mixed with wood, and a little bit of magic," Dawn said, grinning mischievously.

"Magic?" Cedar gaped at Dawn. "Do you have magic?"

"A little," Dawn answered shrugging.

He opened his palm. A small glowing orb danced in his talons, and lights circled his wrist.

Cedar looked like he just had seen an entire forest grow into tall sequoias in a matter of seconds.

"Why are you so surprised? Don't you have magic?" Dawn asked, extinguishing the orb of light.

"Only a few of us, but even then it's rare," Cedar told him.

"And it almost always causes trouble," Scorpion said eyeing the golden dragon warily.

Atlantis shifted uncomfortably.

"Alright!" Dawn said clapping his talons together and making Adder jump. "We should probably get you guys some cloaks. You guys look nothing like Sun Dragons."