The Story of Artemis- Wings of Fire

Chapter 18

Artemis flew through the clouds, her mind whirring with wild thoughts as she soared over the mountains. The wind tore at her and kept battering her large body around, she hissed in alarm, searching for someplace to land.

How did this HAPPEN? Was I cursed? Was that Skywing an animus? Will I ever change back? I don't want to be a Skywing! Why, out of all tribes, must I be my least favorite? I need to land. I can't think clearly. I'm not safe. But where to go? What if I'm stuck like this forever? Three moons, I'm living a nightmare.

She shakily dove under the clouds on her new wings, searching for a place to land and think.

I need to get rid of this retched form before any dragons see me.

Her wings were stretched fully in the sunlight as the mountains slowly started to disperse. The smell of pine wafted through the air and swirled around her.

Woods. A perfect place to land. She decided.

Artemis had no idea where she had flown to, but all she was focused on right now was hiding, and getting back to normal. She folded her wings to her side, they flattened immediately as she began to plummet to the forest floor.

She realized she was heading in way too fast, and Artemis flared open her wings to slow her decent. Unfortunately, that only made things worse. So she was sent into a nose dive straight into a tall, sickly smelling pine tree. She held out her talons to soften the impact, so they ended up getting stuck deep in the bark, and the tree crashed to the ground. She slipped off of it, her talons creating deep gashes.

She flapped her large wings to try and free herself as her tail had become entangled.

She managed to pry her talons from the tree, but her tail was still trapped and entangled. It was so much longer than she was used to. She decided to pull with all her might, and succeeded, but the force of her pull knocked her flat on her back.

She landed on her back with a thump, her wings flailed to her sides. She growled in frustration, rolling painfully to her feet and snorting smoke. Artemis shook off the pine needles that coated her.

"Why does my life have to be so frustrating?" She roared to the sky, scaring a family of squirrels out of their nest.

She rolled back over and stomped over to the fallen tree, banging her head on the tree's trunk in defeat.

"Who am I kidding. I'll never get back to normal." She muttered as she watched the necklace dangling from her neck. It glittered in the sunlight. But she realized, the new ruby part of the necklace was gone. It was replaced by the deep purple gemstone, that was swirled with black. She held up her necklace in confusion.

How could've it dissapeared so quickly? What happened to the ruby?  She thought.

She sat back on her hind legs, running over all she knew about the necklace in her head, absentmindedly speaking out loud.

"Solar said it holds the power of four of the tribes. I supposedly had activated half of it." she said to no one, speaking under birds quietly chirping in the background. Perhaps she was talking to them.

"I wonder if that blue light activates it...Maybe when I think specifically about another tribe? Yes. That's what happened all those other times. It happened with the Skywing, I watched it turn to ruby. But why am I a Skywing now? And why is it different all of a sudden? Do I have to think hard enough? Maybe since that one Skywing, Tornado, had touched me." She began to grow hopeful, her idea making more sense to her each minute. Maybe she figured it out after all.

"That's it! Great stars above!" She shouted joyfully to the necklace, shaking it in her talons. "Just..." Her wings began to droop, and she sighed. "How do I change back?"

Touch another Nightwing, doofus. She thought to herself.

"Great." She stood back up. "I just need to head back to Jade Mountain." Artemis looked around, stretching her neck to get a good look of her surroundings. "But...where is it?" She held out her talons, gingerly taking a step. After adjusting her necklace, she began to walk forwards. She had no idea where she was going, but because of the earlier incident she decided to stay on the ground till there was a break in the trees. She did not need to clear the forest, thank you very much.

The forest was buzzing with activity, animals darting through the trees and across the forest floor. She almost stepped on a chipmunk one time too many. Artemis took extreme care to not walk right into the sunlight. Her orange-gold scales would be way too noticeable in the bright sun. She needed to stay low and unnoticed, so she didn't draw any attention. Why couldn't have she turned into a clay-red Skywing instead? That would be much more useful.

She began to feel like her plan would work, because she could clearly see a break in the trees coming up above. Unfortunately, things never went well for Artemis. Not then, not today. Probably not ever, because just as she was about to take off, an angry voice rang out through the trees.

"HEY."

Artemis froze, fear paralyzing her in place. She dared to twist her neck to look behind her, where three Skywings were approaching.

Great asteroids. Looks like I'm seeing a lot of my least favorite tribe today. She thought angrily. Why in all of Pyhrria. Must they be SKYWINGS? I'll have to fight them, won't I?

It was a red Skywing leading two smaller ones, the first a vibrant shade of cherry, and the second a deep garnet. The cherry colored dragonet had rows of pink diamonds embedded in her scales, making her glitter in the sunlight. What solider was ever prettied up like that? It was too much color for Artemis' eyes as well, so she was wincing as they approached.

"What are you doing so far out here?" The lead Skywing dragonet demanded, narrowing his rust colored eyes at Artemis. The diamond embedded dragonet nodded in agreement as she eyed her warily and rather snobbishly. She could feel the annoyance off of her as well as she knew her name.

"I- Uh." Artemis stuttered, searching for a lie to explain.

"And what's your name?" Asked the garnet Skywing. "You don't look familiar."

Artemis racked her brain for a Skywing name. Firestarter? No. Too Nightwing-ish. She blurted the second thing that came to mind, at least when she thought of Skywings.

"M-Melt." She blurted. "My name is Melt."

"Well, M-Melt." The cherry red Skywing rolled her eyes. "What are you doing out here?"

Spying? I was out hunting? She quickly thought of an excuse.

"I was captured?" She guessed. Swiftly coming up with a story to back up her lie.

"Yes. It was terrible. I was out flying at night, and suddenly I was captured by these terrifying dragons. I never got a good look at them since they covered my head with something." She sped up, the lie flowing easily. The Skywings eyed her warily. "I just recently escaped. I'm making my way back home." Artemis finished.

"At night, you say?" The pink diamond Skywing questioned. "It was probably Nightwings." She hissed and poked the other female.

The garnet Skywing sighed. "Tailwind. Just because of what happened with your father doesn't mean you can blame Nightwings for everything."

Tailwind lowered her voice. "You never know, Cardinal."

"Excuse me." Artemis said. "But what happened to your father that has to do with Nightwings?"

Tailwind glared at Artemis, but it was the red Skywing who spoke. "Her father was on a mission for Scarlet when she was ruler. He spotted two Nightwings in our territory. He went to investigate." His voice trailed off. "The Nightwings probably ambushed him. Whatever happened, he was left at the front of the palace with his throat ripped open.."

Cardinal hissed. "Flare..."

Artemis' eyes widened, realization coming into view. No. She thought.

"Those Nightwings murdered my father." Tailwind snarled.

"What was his name?" She dared to ask.

"Lance."