Chapter 2: New Continent, New Beginnings
The sound of Boa's wingbeats neighboring her own above the depths of the tumultuous blue ocean was the most promintent thing that kept Firefang in her partial state of reality. She was far too preoccupied with scrutinizing over the map to salvation. A map leading to a supposed haven she called 'Pantala.' According to the All-Knowing Map, Pantala was now less than an hour's flight from their current location... Firefang sighs once in slightly premature relief. She was elated with the idea of finally having her paws on dry land as she turned and called out to her younger brother.
"Boa! Hurry up! We are not that far from the lost continent now!"
"My wings are tired, that's not my fault!" He gasped, rushing back to her side. "I wish Tortoise and Mother could see it."
The memories of several days prior felt far too much to bear, yet they came crashing down like the waves below.
Tortoise is being drowned by the SeaWings, her body thrashing to get out.
Her mother Jewel, with a spear through her heart. The dragonets watch in horror as her eyes go blank with her wings askew, like fallen leaves.
The queen is falling from the palace, unable to fly.
Boa and Firefang crouch in a pool of lava gradually being surrounded.
The shrieking, and the blood, all the blood everywhere.
The annihilation of the BeastWing tribe.
Of course the two hybrids had to survive.
Maybe some got away...?
"Firefang?"
She jolted as she looked back up, the images of her horror still fresh in her mind. It felt... it felt as if she had never quite left that place. As if the impending peril was still looming over her brother and herself, just waiting for the perfect moment to destroy whatever miniscule sense of saftey they had escaped with. Firefang blinked, forcing her weary gaze to focus upon the scene ahead of her.
At long last.
They were arriving at land. Endless, cascading, welcoming, land. The specific part of it that they were approaching was known as...Dragonfly Bay? This was the best place to rest, the Map informed her. She and her brother veered toward the left beachside-front of the bay, landing on the cool, hard, earth. Firefang shook the dirt and dust off her wings as Boa landed beside her.
They looked at Salvation in wonder. Map had told her that there lived two tribes, and beware of the yellow and black variety. They were not to be meddled with. But with their luck, they would probably run into one soon. Or two. Or a swarm, like in the distance.
Was that a hallucination too?
She looked around at their immediate surroundings. Other than the rocky carapieces of the bay walls, all that there was of note was a moderately small cavern mouth. Firefang quickly scanned the perimeter before abruptly taking hold of Boa's talon and rushing away. She did not know if this place would properly conceal them. She sighed inwardly, coming to her own decision.. They needed protection. Boa looked up at her perturbed expression and frowned, his ears drooping.
"Do not tell me we have to–"
"Boa, this is for the best." Firefang placed a second talon on his.
"But you know what it is doing to you!"
"I am aware, brother."
Firefang's ears twitched as she closed her eyes. Just as she had suspected. Wingbeats, which resembled more of a low and repetitive hum, could be heard in the near distance, followed by muddled voices and talonsteps.
"Shhh."
Boa silenced his fidgeting as Firefang mustered up the tingle of the animus magic in her paws. All she had to do was recite the incantation she created years ago while holding Boa, and they would be turned to stone. But only temporarily. A dragon need only to touch one of the statues, and they would be free from their monolithic slumber. She never knew this spell would help in such a predicament, only creating the resting places at Tortoise's request for her games of hide and seek. She wished she could go back to those simpler times.
"Who's there?" a nearby voice called into their cavern.
Hurry up, Firefang, her mind called out to her. She recalled the incantation as she heard the slither of tails against the rock floor, the buzz of their wings. Buzzing? That's... odd. I'll have to ask Map later. She held on to Boa's talon tightly as she began chanting in a hushed whisper:
"The sleep of stone, bring us to our own, and shall anyone touch our place of rest, we shall be set free from their test," Firefang intonated. She could feel the cool rush of the rock across their scales, Boa having shut his eyes and jolting from the feel. He does this every time...
The talonsteps got ever closer, but the stone was far quicker.
"Whoa, what is this? A statue of some sort." A yellow dragon, who oddly resembled the like of a honeybee, strode into their cavern just as the rock reached her mouth. The last thing she saw before she shut her eyes was the dragon-bee staring with a look Firefang couldn't distinguish. (Shock? Horror? Confusion? She would have to ask if she had ever received the chance.) The yellow dragon took out a notepad and started to jot down notes on the rocks that were Boa and Firefang, she seemed entranced by them.
Finally, oh finally, did the stone consume her, however, and she fell into the lull of its sleep.
