The Queen

Chapter 3: The Nest

I let out a shriek of terror as my wings quivered to their tips and I dove back onto the cliff followed closely by my three siblings. Abruptly, perhaps it was instinct, we all immediately turned into shadowy figures and blended into the dark rock, barely perceptible as my siblings shook with fear. After a brief moment, I realized how idiotic and we must all look, and I unfurled my wings and straightened myself. Mother had landed onto the ledge at this point, and she looked... weary.

"Mother, what was that?" I asked as I tried to get rid of the faint shaking in my voice.

She sighed. "That, Yin, was our queen."

Mystic poked his head out next. "Mother, she sounds scary. Why is she so loud?"

Mother looked incredibly weary. "She is calling us back to the nest. We must hurry, or she will send someone to fetch us from the island personally. Come along now, younglings. We must be heading back now."

I nodded and gently nudged Phantom. "C'mon, Phan. We gotta go."

Phantom poked her head out and glared daggers at me. "That's a terrible nickname!" she protested.

"Deal with it, little sister." With that, I shoved my tail under her and flung her into the air. She yelped and frantically found her balance, wobbling in the sky. I laughed and flew after our mother in the direction of a cloud of fog and the shape of a volcanic island, Eclipse and Mystic hot on our tails.

* * *

It was dark by the time we arrived at our destination, but I saw almost immediately why Mother had referred to the island as "the nest". The entire place was practically swarming with other dragons, all ages, colors, and shapes. Except the hatchlings, I noted. In fact, the four of us were the youngest here. Another thing I noticed was that every dragon had some sort of food clutched in their talons, speared on their claws, or held in their mouths.

Mother, who had barely spoken a word beyond telling us of how the queen ruled since we took off, stopped in the air with a startlingly grim expression. "Listen carefully, all of you. When the time comes to present yourselves to the queen, she will ask you to fly across the mouth of the volcano. You must not fool around. Do not circle, do not wobble, and most importantly, fly, don't glide. Phantom, you've had a little trouble flying, but show her that you are a true Fury."

Phantom looked scared to be singled out. "What? B-b-but why?"

Mother flapped closer. "Phantom, you are observant. You may be the youngest and the runt of us, but you have sense and you can figure out the raids easily and you will be most likely to improve our lives. Mystic, you are the calmest, you are likely to be a prominent figure in the colony, the one to give a voice of reason to others. Eclipse learns quickly from everyone and is quick to solve problems and improvise, should we need it. But you, Yin... you are the best of us. You would make a great leader, should you be chosen for second in command. You have the greatest potential to be noticed by the queen."

I straightened my shoulders. "We will not fail you, Mother. What do you want us to do?"

Mother smiled faintly. "Follow me," she said, and dove downwards to where the stream of dragons had mostly thinned out by now. I glanced around nervously. The space was incredibly cavernous, with stalactites hanging from perches where dragons cowered in fear, which only made me more wary and apprehensive. The cave was like a hollowed out cylinder, I realized, surrounding a glow of red-ish orange fog. There's something in the fog, I mused.

It took a second for most of the dragons to realize our presence, but upon seeing Mother, many tense wings and curled talons relaxed. Mother acknowledged them with a nod before landing onto a ledge that seemed closer to the heart of the volcano than the others. She gestured with her tail for us to join her, and we all landed with as much grace as we could muster, being under the scrutiny of the nest, after all.

Mother took a deep breath before letting out a loud roar that we all knew meant that she was announcing her presence and bowed. "We have returned!"

A few seconds passed before a rumble caused a tremor in my wings. I glanced down into the void, and a shadow passed over the glow before a truly enormous dragon poked her head above the fog.

Phantom let out a faint squeak and tried to make herself smaller. I subtly tucked my wing under hers and nudged it up slightly. She shook like a leaf in a storm and set her shoulders in a firm line.

"New blood, I see," the queen rumbled. "Introduce yourselves, younglings."

The four of us shared a glance. I coughed slightly before stepping forward and bowing low like Mother had before. "My name is Yin, your highness. I am the first-hatched."

I sharply poked Eclipse to go next. He glanced at me before mimicking my stance and bowing. "My name is Eclipse. I am the second-hatched." We both glanced at Mystic.

Mystic squared his shoulders. "I am Mystic, your highness. I am the second youngest," he stated, before also lowering his head.

Phantom took a deep quivering breath, and with an encouraging smile from me, she, too, stepped forward. "I am Ph-phantom, your highness. I a-am the youngest," she called with a barely perceptible stutter in her words and she quickly bowed.

The queen narrowed her twelve eyes, her gaze lingering on my glowing scales the longest before they drifted to Phantom, who glowed like a ghost. "Rise, hatchlings. I am the Queen, born of the race of the Deaths, but seeing as your mother and I are great friends and that she made me your godmother, you are allowed to call me Aunt Crimson."

The witnessing dragons all around us gasped in unison. Mother didn't say that she was close with the queen! My jaw had dropped. The others had similar expressions on their faces, and Mother smiled slightly. She smacked each of us once over the head with her tail. "Not in front of the other dragons, though," she warned us sternly. "She must keep an aura about her, and of course, few others were willing to have such high stakes if the raids failed. However, Crimson," Mother lowered her voice slightly. "Do try not to scare them too much. I already told them of the testing, and they're well and properly informed of your techniques, albeit somewhat exaggerated."

The four of us blinked in shock and relief. "However," Mother raised her voice, "they know that we must all obey the leader and the consequences of disobeying." Mother sent us a stern glower, and we all frantically nodded. She had drilled the stakes into our brains at that rate.

Crimson smiled, a toothy grin that was somehow both threatening and charming at the same time. "Good. Let's begin. To your ledges, all of you! Let us witness the next generation of Furies go through the test to become one of us!"

The rest of the dragons all said in unison, "One of us!"

The queen nodded in approval. Mother inhaled deeply, wings spread and a calm look on her face. "It's good to be back," she said, before gliding down to join some more Night Furies on their ledge.

Word Count: 1257 words

Whew, this took a while, unsurprisingly. This story is going to take me while with school and my perfectionistic grammar. Also I'm kinda juggling multiple stories at once outside of Wattpad, stored safely in my brain. I'm sorry!

-HELLOWORLD