Wings of Destiny: Throne of Echos

Chapter Five

      Morrowseer growled lightly and pushed Vera off of him carefully. He looks at Huego who has a slight look of agitation and confusion etched on his face. He turns to Vera and bows, "Queen Vera, I have something to tell you, I believe that it is quite important." Vera looked up at him, his face showed genuine concern so she nodded to approve him to speak. "Well, it is about your little.... Quest I suppose." Vera's eyes widen and Noodle shifts on his talons uncomfortably. Morrowseer continues, "It's about that prophecy. I know who created it. And I would warn you, he is not someone to fight with, I would recommend that you do what he says, or at least don't fight him. He would squish you all like little bugs. He also isn't very good at prophecies, no hints at all. I wouldn't rely on the prophecy to find out what it is that he wants." Vera growls quietly before speaking, "Who is the dragon that made the prophecy? How do you know him?" Morrowseer sighs before answering, "I can't tell you who he is, and let's just say that I have had a few run-ins with him myself. But nevertheless I am coming with you guys to help, you could use the help of a full grown dragon." Morrowseer glances around before his gaze lands back on Vera. "I can help you, but if you believe that you can do this on your own, I will not force myself into a situation I am unwanted in." Vera sighs and taps her talon for a moment before speaking, "Fine, you can come with us if you believe you can be useful."

      Morrowseer tugs at a vine that was below his feet and nods, "I suppose we should set camp?" Huego steps in front of Morrowseer and flicks his tail before speaking, "Morrowseer, how did you get here? Did you escape my father or something?" Morrowseer rolls his eyes before speaking in annoyance, "If you must know, he allowed me to go out, I am not his prisoner Huego, whether you like it or not, I am more or less acquaintances with your father now, not just some prisoner." Huego flinches slightly and growls before grabbing a stick. After a moment, he throws it onto the ground and an elaborate and comfortable looking camp appears. There were tents made out of wool, a bright fire in the middle, there were comfortable looking carpets and blankets laid inside the tents, and a closed chest. "What's in the chest?" Noodle asks. "It has food in it, why?" Noodle grins a bit more than he usually does, but he suppresses his excitement before pointing to the chest and asking, "May I eat some? I haven't eaten alllll day and I'm starving after flying." Huego shrugs and nods. Noodle runs over to the chest and opens it, grabbing different kinds of food and stuffing them in his mouth. Vera sighs and walks over to the chest and grabs a loaf of bread, she watches Noodle eat his food in glee and she picks at her bread with her talons.

      Huego walks over to her and lays down next to her, watching her eat. He stares at her before speaking quietly. "Vera, are you sure that you're ready to see Hunter after all of this time?" Vera picks at the bread and looks at the trees of the jungle, the jungle was almost beautiful looking, but Vera knew it wasn't. She remembered how many scouts have died going near the jungle. She believed it was amazing that Hunter was there all this time. Vera sighs before answering Huego, "I don't know to be completely honest. I barely remember his face." Morrowseer walks over to Vera and Huego, he bows before speaking, "Prince Huego, may I please speak to Queen Vera alone?" Huego looks from Morrowseer to Vera and nods before wrapping a wing around Vera and stands up, walking over to Noodle and yanking a papaya from Noodles talons and eating it himself.

     Morrowseer motions for Vera to stand up, so she does, and they began walking. "Queen Vera-" "Morrowseer, just call me Vera, you do not need to be so formal all the time, plus, you're not even one of my subjects, so Vera is just fine." Morrowseer reluctantly nods before restating his earlier words. "Vera, may I ask you a question?" Vera nods and tilts her head. "Well, have you ever fought someone powerful before, someone really powerful, someone that.... Someone that could use magic with no limits?" Vera pauses before speaking in a questioning tone, "Morrowseer, are you asking me this because that is what this dragon is like?" "Precisely." Morrowseer responds. He flexes his wings and studies his talons before looking at Vera. "I should say this before we meet him and you end up hating him like everyone has before, but you look quite like him. You two have the same eyes, but I suppose a lot of EchoWings have eyes like you do?" Vera nods and sighs, "So this dragon, he's pretty strong and pretty evil?" Morrowseer nods as he lays in a patch of grass, "Yes, but he always has.... Motive to put it lightly. He always believes what he is doing is right. May you tell me the prophecy he provided? I may be able to decipher it for you?" Vera nods before reciting the prophecy "Dragons of all shapes and sizes, know when it's time to fight. You all cry and you all die, due to the king of Slag. He keeps you trapped, and he keeps you hungry, but I couldn't really care. If my creations truly failed, then the queens of you shall need to fall. Bring the queen of Echo and the Queen of Mist, and bring all of my new subjects to bow in my bliss. If you do not listen, and you all ignore, then I will assure that all I will hear is your plea to mercy, so bring me my queens, one will be true, and one will be fake, but either way, you all will suffer in my wake." Morrowseer tilts his head and taps his talon on the ground before speaking, "To put into more simple words, he's saying 'Every dragon on this island believes that they can fight when the time is proper. Every dragon here is suffering because of King Cole. He keeps you here, and leaves you with no food, but I don't care about your suffering. If-" Suddenly Morrowseer stops and clutches his head and hisses. Vera walks over to Morrowseer and lays next to him, resting a wing on him. "Are you alright Morrowseer?" Morrowseer nods and sighs, "He's making it so that all I can hear is a sort of ringing, he's watching us I believe, but I'm not sure. All I know is that he 'wants you to figure it out yourself, not with the help of someone who writes prophecies themselves.' He has a thing, this is all for a reason, but he also sees this as a game for his entertainment." Vera sighs, it irked her that this dragon, whoever he was, wouldn't let her know what was going on. It was quite annoying.

      Stupid dragon. If you can somehow hear my thoughts, the EchoWings queens thoughts, screw you! I wanna know what the stupid prophecy is, you idiot! Morrowseer chuckles and shrugs. "Well, if he heard you, he's awfully quiet now." Vera laughs as well and says, "Yeah well, serves em right!" Morrowseer laughs again and smiles at Vera. "You know, I was supposed to have a dragonet, and if they didn't die, and if they were a female, I would've wanted her to be just like you, and.... And if Secretkeeper lied about our dragonet dying, I still would want them to be like you. Brave, smart, funny, courageous, if your parents weren't such jerks, I feel like they would've been very proud of you now. Goodness, that was weird to say, I'm not usually that nice to dragonets." Vera laughs and smiles, "Thank you Morrowseer." Morrowseer stands up and shrugs, "Don't ponder on it long. I was just saying what I believed." Vera smiles and follows Morrowseer back to the camp.

      Noodle was already dead asleep in one of the tents and Huego was settling down in the largest one. Vera gives a polite nod to Morrowseer and he nods back before they both go into their respectful tents and lay down. Vera stares at the outside, listening to the rustle of birds and such, and the smaller dragon species that roamed the island flying around. She sighs as she closes her eyes and tries her best to picture Hunter while she falls asleep. He had yellow irises and black sclera, his scales were black and his fur was red along with his underbelly. He seemed scrawnier than the rest of the EchoWings on the island, and he was very quiet. He used to only say 'hi' to Vera. Vera sighs as she pictures her brother and slowly drifts off into sleep.