Winds in the dark (Wof fanfic)

Prologue

Every mother worries, it's a natural feeling that most species endure. But Nacreous was ninety percent sure that no mother worried like she did. She had seven and a half baby dragons to care for, and only one other parent to help her.

Not only did she have to worry about her kids' wellbeing, but she also had to protect them, their father, and herself from her OWN parents. She didn't intend to start a full-blown war between herself and her parents, but for SOME REASON they decided they didn't want their disappointment of a daughter to be a mother.

They didn't want to deal with the apparent embarrassment of the rest of her family seeing her little cluster of 'failures' wandering around their town aimlessly. And for that they thought; what better way to get rid of them than to KILL THEM WITH OUR OWN CLAWS.

Now, she was forced to suffer the consequences of their ABSURD actions. Nacreous huffed and sighed, wishing this had never happened. Her wings flapped on endlessly, carrying her across the massive border between the kingdoms of sand and sky.

She could see her father's shadowy figure about a couple hundred metres away, his claws wielding sharp knives. She breathed heavily, grasping a small, rust-coloured egg between her talons as she and the familiar dragons eons ahead of her fled for their lives.

I knew they wouldn't like them, but I expected better than that. What kind of monsters would attempt to murder an entire family that was RELATED TO THEM?!! Just to spite their daughter. Poor dragonet.. he's still an egg... The dragoness peered down at her egg, the baby inside moving about under the ever-thinning shell.

He's getting restless, we have to get away fast. Her wings flapped on relentlessly. She had one advantage; her parents were old and tired easily, but she was a young, fit individual with particularly large wings. She nosedived and banked around a mountain, flying through the small cave systems. "Hang on little baby, we'll make it soon", she huffed.

Nacreous swooped this way and that, ducking under stalactites and squeezing through small openings. She burst out the end of the cave system, into a cold, late night atmosphere, her enormous orange wings soaring above the pristine, deep ocean below. The moon drenched her body in bright, pure rays of moonlight as she flew silently across the ocean, almost like a barn owl in pursuit of prey.

She saw her pale-coloured partner, Cumulous, swoop down to land somewhere out of her view behind a range of mountains in the distance. Nacreous pushed even harder to catch up with him and her other seven dragonets. She tucked her wings in and barrel dived to gain extra speed, which made her cut through the sky like a fish through water. Soon she was hovering above the mountain her loved ones were last seen nearby, peering around.

She couldn't see much in the dark, but there were a few structures that looked like lookout towers. All of a sudden she saw a familiar blast of light, there!, the sky had been lit up by a plume of fire coming from Cumulous' mouth. As she veered downward, she saw where he was hidden; his pale yellow-orange head was poking out from a well-concealed tunnel entrance.

Her face lit up with a spark of joy, and her bloodstream filled with immediate relief. She gently passed the egg to its father, who looked at her worriedly, and walked a couple metres into the cavern before collapsing to the floor, shivering violently and losing her consciousness. "NACREOUS! Someone get a healer!" Cumulous yelled, streaks of fear in his voice. A concerned yellow SandWing rushed over to the limp crimson dragon sprawled across the floor, her scales covered in bags of medicinal supplies.

She pulled out a tiny white object which she snapped above Nacreous' nostrils, instantly waking her. She sat up fast, grabbing her nose. Her partner put his arms around her weak figure, helping her sit comfortably, tears gushing down his face uncontrollably. She smiled, "Cumulous you doofas", she said softly. "I'm just glad to hear your voice", he said happily.

The SandWing healer spoke her words, "After a brief examination I've come to the conclusion that this dragon is merely exhausted and terrified, with some rest and care she should be fine". The SkyWing pair sighed with relief, and their many dragonets hurried to join them.

Soon they were toppled over by seven small dragons, and the group sprawled onto the ground in a parade of giggles. Some of the younger dragons got distracted by a nearby dragonet structure that extended a couple hundred metres into the cave system. There were countless cat-sized dragons galloping and playing along the paw-sculpted play equipment.

Nacreous noticed dragonets from all of the most common tribes in the area: SkyWings, SandWings, multiple MudWings, some SeaWings, even a few IceWings and Pantalan tribes! What really shocked her was the NightWing and pair of RainWings playing house with her own children.

Those tribes lived on the other side of the continent! What were three of them doing here? And what even was this place! She had never been here or even heard of it before. She walked over to Cumulous, confused.

"What is this place? I don't recognise anything here", She asked solemnly. "This giant cave system is like a sanctuary for war refugees, abuse escapees and anyone trying to flee from danger. The knowledge of it is passed down from generation and onwards to protect those who have nowhere else to go, so that's why you and your family probably didn't know about it," Cumulous lengthily explained.

"That's such an awesome idea! I can't believe this was just here the whole time and I had no idea of it!", She replied, a sense of pure bewilderment in her voice. Cumulous passed her a town information brochure that he picked up from a pouch attached to the wall. It read:

Chutzpa
(Choot-z-pah) The town of rejects.
Chutzpa is our town, formed by a family of SandWing refugees during the beginning of the War of SandWing Succession seventy-five years ago, and over that time it has been massively expanded from a small cave to an entire massive underground city with over
500 000 inhabitants. In the city centre there is a mountain that is opened to the sky but hidden well enough that the enemies we run from will never find us. We live here in the creatively made sanctuary for those who were unfairly rejected. Learn more from our friendly locals and find your way with the map below!

– All the best, the leading group.

Nacreous stared at the map in awe, the cave expanse went for entire kilometres! The place was massive, and oddly beautiful. There were places to live and sleep in spread everywhere, shopping markets, pet sellers, many places that sold delicious prey items and even huge community gardens.

Suddenly Nacreous felt a paw grasp her shoulder excitedly, and she turned to see her partner jumping around like a child in a candy store. A bolt of fear shot through her, "What? what is it? Is there danger?!", She said, struck into a panic. "No, no it's the egg! Its HATCHING!!", He exclaimed.

She squeaked with unexpected joy, holding his paw, and watching the shell slowly crack and splinter apart. Soon a tiny dragonet was sitting in a pile of destroyed eggshell with a confused expression. "Hi little Whirlwind! I'm your mama", Nacreous smiled, holding out her arms lovingly.

"Arwk?", the miniscule dragon squawked. He took some wobbly steps forward and jumped into his mother's arms in delight. The mother dragon silently cried tears of love as she embraced her hatchling.

Nacreous passed him to his father, "Hiiiyyeee! Hi baby!", Cumulous cried, holding him tight. "Welcome to the world little one!"