Wings of Fire; The Creed

Chapter 9

Starburst's eyes shot wide open, and she gasped out loud. She took a few steps back from the guard and struggled to hide her fear. Starburst's heart pumped loudly, that she felt as though everyone on the whole continent could hear her.

"Th-That isn't possible!"

"Oh, but it is!" the dragon laughed loudly, sending deep chills down Starburst's spine.

"Who is she?" Artemis asked with a deep concern in her voice.

"I'm a friend of your little clawmate here."

Starburst hissed, "You are no friend of mine, Bloom!"

Bloom chuckled softly, "Oh, what a joy. The little worm over here thinks they are sooo strong."

Diamondback approached Starburst's side from behind her and stood next to her, meanwhile Artemis was brushing wingtips with Starburst to try to reassure her.

Starburst felt a boost of confidence, but also in the back of her mind felt like this was proving Bloom right. She was a weak little worm, who needed other's to defend her. She didn't need them. She was strong.

Bloom let out a small chuckle, but walked away, leaving them in the queen's hut by themselves.

Starburst looked down at the ground and let out a shuddered breath. She found it hard to breathe and felt dizzy.

This can't be happening. I though Bloom was supposed to be punished, not put in the queen's personal guard!

Just then, another guard walked in. She looked about a year and a half older than Starburst, and seemed very jumpy. She watched wearily as the foreign dragonets mumbled amongst themselves.

What was worse, was when she looked at Starburst. The personality that the guard was portraying was switched dramatically. She gave Starburst a searing glare, and there was a very clear growl coming from the guard.

The guard cleared their throat and announced, "I will be taking you to the visitors hut, and you are not to leave until the queen or king comes and says so. Please follow me."

Everyone followed behind the guard, with Starburst trailing behind. Her mind was wandering. She was wondering what it felt like to not be an outsider. The RainWings were all jerks in disguise, The NightWings were all clearly and openly jerks, and even the hybrids of NightWing RainWings hated her. She didn't know why. Anytime she asked, they would just mumble grumpily about something she couldn't understand and briskly walk away like they had something to do.

They arrived at the visitors hut, which was really just a bunch of small circular huts with a few small bridges to connect them in between.

"Here you are," the guard said to them.

They all filtered themselves in, and explored the hut. There were a few rooms around, each one with a different purpose. There was one room that had a huge pile of fruit, a pile of wood, and a huge, two year old dragonet size wooden bowl filled to the brim with water. Another room with enough hammocks and beds to fit about twenty dragons. There was a small wooden table at one of the ends of the room, with a small firefly jar, giving a small amount of light.

Everyone else spread out to explore their new temporary home, but Starburst stayed at the entrance. She was no visitor. She lives here. Well... Sort of.

Starburst started to walk away when the guard shouted out to her, "Hey! You are supposed to stay here! Queen Glory said that all visitors must stay at the visitors hut until further notice!"

"Well then," Starburst said in a strained, respectful voice, "Good thing I am not a visitor."

With that said she beat her wings and took off. She made her way to the to of the canopy, and lay down. The sun was a huge orange ball in the sky, shining its warm rays down on the last of the sun bathing RainWings. Starburst was hit with the heat from the sun, and she all of a sudden felt very, very tired.

She yawned widely and stretched out. She curled up on the canopy top, closing her eyes and soaking in the sun. Her scales started to do her color shifting dance they always did, and a sense of balance came upon her. The stress of life washed away like mud on talons when placed in a stream.

Time passed and the sun continued to set. Starburst never felt calm, unless she was basking in the sun. Many NightWings found it weird, but Starburst enjoyed it and understood why RainWings love it as much as they do.

Out of the blue, Starburst felt someone come up to her and lay down with their side in full contact with hers. It was very, extremely, terribly, absolutely uncomfortable. The only problem is, Starburst didn't want to get up. She sat there trying to ignore the feeling. Over time, it finally became unbearable.

She kept her eyes closed, but growled, "Get off me."

It sounded harsher than what Starburst meant it to be, but she didn't care much, because it would work better if she sounded more grumpy than she actually was.

"Why should I?" the dragon said in a sleep, yet chipper voice. The dragon adjusted slightly, and lay their tail overtop of Starburst's

Starburst recognized the voice, but couldn't remember from where. She opened here eyes, nostrils flaring, and she was ready to pounce and attack the dragon who was making her get up and adjust.

When she looked over to see who it was, she was caught off guard from the color of her scales. They were purple, which would have been normal, and Starburst would have attacked them anyway, but it was the color of their scales, and the fact that they were purple and silver. This was clearly a hybrid, of a RainWing NightWing.

The dragon was wearing a white lily crown and was resting peacefully along the spot where Starburst got up from.

"Why did you move?" Firefly asked Starburst in a tired voice, while trying to keep her eyes more than half open.

"I was about to hit you!" Starburst cried out with a little amusement behind her voice.

Firefly stood up and stretched. She sat down facing Starburst. Firefly gave a toothy smile and tilted her head slightly to the left.

"So... How have you been Starburst? It has been a while since I have seen you!" Firefly asked.

"How have I been?" Starburst repeated to Firefly, "I have... had a time."

Firefly tilted her head, making Starburst feel awkward, but Firefly didn't pry out more information. She just shrugged and continued on.

"The jungle as been sooooooo boring without you," Firefly says in an exaggerated groan. She falls over on her side giggling at her exaggeration.

"Why? You missed my beautiful face and glorious presence?" Starburst said in a joking tone and standing in a fake majestic pose.

"Always. Now, let me take my suntime! That is an order from your future queen!"

Starburst bowed jokingly, "Yes your royal pain, I mean majesty."

Starburst laid back down and stretched, soaking in the sun, and Firefly lay her head across Starburst's back.

As Starburst started to relax, and the world closed around her, placing her in a shell of quiet and peace, she felt this twinge of guilt, which she could not figure out why.

Her dreams rapidly crashed down to the ground, exploding into chaos. Her dreams were filled with blood, and hate, and RainWings, and NightWings, and overall, just made her feel alone and trapped.

Alone...

Dark...

Forgotten...