Wings Of Fire ~ A Scorching Start

Chapter 5

Chapter 5 ~ "It's our choice if we let it effect us greatly."
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Scorch groaned at chaos in the Prey Center. There was recently a scavenger running around causing almost every dragon to chase after it calling dibs on it to eat. Scorch wasn't interested and wasn't planning on eating a scavenger, although he did hate them for causing the war. Without them, no one would've suffer the pain from what it caused. He wouldn't have lost Eucalyptus. No matter how much Scorch tried, he couldn't let it go.

His talons twitched as he saw the scavenger dodging and running around the dragons. Kill the worthless thing already. What good did it bring? He looked over to the dragons, finally a dragon caught it.

He his glare got colder seeing a NightWing holding onto the scavenger. Two things that are defiantly first on his hating list. Although, this NightWing didn't hurt the scavenger, no, she protected it.

Scorch's glare softened a bit at what he saw. The kind of dragon that he hates, the ones IceWings hate, the ones that Pyrrhia believes that are untrustworthy, was protecting the small, defenseless, and scared scavenger.

Scorch noticed he was having second thoughts about the tribe, but was easily interrupted when an IceWing came by. He saw his cold glare at the NightWing, one with full hatred. It reminded him of what they did to him. Scorch's soft look went back to it's unemotional look with a small glare.

He got up and head straight towards the exit slouching and stared at his talons. He kept walking until it was just silence. That's it, just silence and him.

He sighed calmly at it. It was soothing, and he felt relaxed. He sat down and leaned against the hallway walls. He dipped his head back and closed his eyes. He was no longer tensed up but relaxed.

He couldn't help but notice the sound of water near by. Curious he was, he decided to follow it, finding that it lead to a small passageway. Scorch hummed in a curious way, and followed.

The passageway lead towards the huge cavern. Once he reached it, he admired the beauty in it. The tall stalactites with glow worms, the lake that reflected the glowworms, making them look like stars. He admired it all, and mostly due to the fact he was alone. He felt calm.

He walked up towards the lake, looking down at his reflection. He looked to the side, sighing a bit. Then, he felt his mask slip. It fell down, and splashed into the water, sinking down. He growled, once the ripples calmed down. He saw his reflection again, this time, it was the face under the mask. He glared at his scars, the one that brought back memories.

He snapped his head away, walking away from the lake, sitting by a few tail lengths away from it. Then he realized it, his mask. He looked back at the lake, and walked up to it. Standing by the ledge. He bent down, lowering his head under the water. He couldn't see his mask, it was too dark. He brought his head back up growling. He couldn't swim, so there was no way he can retrieve it.

He sighed and glared at the reflection of his exposed face. He teared away his gaze and began to walk away from the lake. Then he heard a faint splash, he looked back, seeing a SeaWing crawl out of the lake, something between it's talons. It took awhile but Scorch realized it was Ripple.

Ripple looked over at Scorch, seeing they've made eye contact. He gasped and looked away.

Scorch looked back down at his talons, seeing he was holding his mask. He sighed and walked over to him. Ripple took notice and scooted back a bit. Scorch stood in front of the Ripple, he looked intimidating, and was quite larger than Ripple himself. Scorch looked down at his mask, than raised a brow.

"I, uh, h-here...." Ripple handed the mask to Scorch, who took it without a word. He looked down at his mask, ignoring Ripple. Scorch sat down, then saw the problem. The string that held the mask, preventing it to fall off, had snapped. He growled, grabbing the two ends of the string.

"I-I could get you another string..." Ripple offered, Scorch ignored his offer, tying the string together "Oh! Or, you could do that." Scorch looked at Ripple, who was already looking at him.

"Your staring, aren't you." Ripple was caught off guard and looked away quickly "I'm sorry, I didn't me-"

"You didn't mean to look at the scars. What did you expect, a normal face like any other? Not everything that's masked is a good thing, this is what war does to you. And it ain't pretty, it never was." Scorch said flatly, his face showing no emotions, Ripple glanced up at Scorch, he sighed and stared down at his talons "I don't think you look terrible." He began. "We all have scars. They're just something that effected us in the past, either mentally or physically. It's our choice if we let it effect us greatly or not at all..." He said lifting his wing slightly. Scorch saw a scar under his arm that reached towards his shoulder.

"I uh... A SkyWing attacked me during the war. He gave me these scars but I let him live. I don't believe in taking a life of another. So instead of killing him when I had the chance, I spared him. And went to the ocean with the other SeaWings." Ripple reached out to the scar, but let his talon fall. "Some say it was a sign of weakness, I say it was forgiveness, but some of the words hurt. Alot, but I forgave them, but the wounds still sting." Ripple folded his wings back down. "So I hid them."

Scorch was surprised, Ripple just opened to him, like he trusted him. Scorch's face softened a bit, but he quickly hid it before Ripple noticed. He looked over to the side, placing his mask back on, then standing up, heading out.

"Um, I'm sorry... About whatever happened to you. If your still hiding it, then it must've effected you greatly. Just know your not alone." Ripple said.

Scorch stopped at his steps, looking back to Ripple, who was giving him a small smile. "Thank you..." With those two words, it seemed to cause Ripple to brighten up Ripple's eyes. Scorch admired his happy face, it seemed.... Cute, one would say.

Scorch cleared his throat and teared his gaze from Ripple. "Ahem, thank you, for retrieving my mask."

"Your welcome, Scorch."