Wings of Fire • Journey of Metamorphosis [Book 2]

scene iii.

I'M DONE! I'M DONE MY PORTFOLIO!

I'm terrified of my results but my motto is to expect disappointment and you won't be surprised XD

Hopefully I'll have more time to write and y'all will get more chapters!

A friendly reminder that Hawker will not stay the same character as is portrayed here. Next chapter is finally the time to start breaking him down >:)

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It was a mistake, all of it. I shouldn't have stuck my snout where it did not belong, he chided himself.

     As he flew back to the sea of tents, his mind was warring with itself. One half was cursing Demi's foresight and his own foolishness, the other already planning its next move. Should he resort to his last plan?

     Both halves were unwilling to accept defeat.

     He spent his time waiting for the debriefing pacing in his tent, aimlessly walking to try and release the stress. Nothing seemed to work – even after five hours, when he'd treaded a shallow line in the shape of a circle around his tent, he hadn't gotten anywhere with his thoughts. He was stuck swallowing the truth: that Dazzling was not here, nor was it likely that she could be in Wasp Hive.

     It wasn't even that he trusted the word of a random HiveWing Lady: Grandfather had checked, years ago. Nothing had come up. If something had been amiss, he would have known by now, and he wouldn't be this desperate for answers.

     He felt as cold and shocked as when he'd first laid eyes on his lifeless father. The reality was staring him dead in the face and Hawker kept turning in circles, trying in vain to convince himself he'd missed something.

     Finally, the third time he'd been reprimanded during the debrief, Hawker forced himself to clear his mind. He couldn't do it fully, as he kept spacing out and returning to the same mental circles, but he actively tried to return to the conversation.

     As the armies set out, Hawker tried to distract himself. He tried to focus on breathing, as they were flying so high that the line of Supermajors guarding the edge of the Central Alliance's territory looked like ants. Beyond the sentries, tents four times as large as theirs squatted in a thick line creating a physical border. Campfires dotted the trench in between but because they were at cloud height, they couldn't smell a thing.

     But not even the idea of the titan creatures sleeping with full stomachs incited any rage in him, for Hawker was busy wrestling with his thoughts.

     Dazzling wasn't at Bloodworm Hive – at least, not to the knowledge of that Lady. She could be in Wasp Hive – maybe Grandfather missed something.

     In the back of his mind, he knew this was not true. He'd had this thought several times today, but every time he thought it, the knowledge that Grandfather had hired the best detectives whispered in the back of his mind. That every dragon of import had been interrogated and questioned. They'd all said the same thing: they'd never heard of Dazzling.

     "Sir? Sir? Minor General Hawker, Sir? You're listing..."

     Hawker blinked himself to awareness, finding that he was veering off-course. With a quick couple of flaps of his wings and a flick of his tail, he was back in formation, but not without feeling a flash of worry.

     "If you disappoint yourself right before the mission, you won't be able to focus..."

     Focus! Hawker clenched his jaws, buzzed his wings, and looked down.