Wings of Fire: The LightningWing

Chapter 16 - The Arrival of a Friend

Shock knew exactly who was falling from the sky. The LightningWing's wings could catch the wind, so Shock flew quickly up and caught the dragonet. She flapped her wings while Shock held her. "Shock?" She asked, happily batting her wings. "Yes, Mist?" He asked, carefully letting her fly. "Woah! Shock have you found it? Ooh! Do you have the lost gem of Storm?" Shock looked at the dragonets under him and started to slowly fly down. "Come on, Mist. I want you to meet Beluga, and the others." He said. Mist's face brightened and she quickly looked down. "'You mean other tribes? Yay!" She followed Shock down to the dragonets. Paradise still lay, half unconscious, next to Beluga, who hunched over her. She was awake though. Paradise's scales were gray, almost so dark that they were black. In some places she had hints of white spreading her scales. Mist looked confusingly at the slopped RainWing. "What's wrong with her?" She asked, watching Paradise pant, trying to keep her breath. "Bad frost bite." Shock said. Cobra snarled at Mist, then poised her tail. She bared her teeth as Beluga jumped next to Mist and wrapped his wings around her. She giggled. "You must be Mist!" He said, flapping his wings off of her. "I'm so glad to meet you! But how did you get here?" Mist giggled and flapped her wings. "Well, I did just fall out of the sky, didn't I?" Behind them, Paradise tried to stand. She flapped her wings hard to get up. Shock helped Paradise prop herself up. "Oh, I can help her!" Mist volunteered. She fluttered her wings and bounded over to the pained RainWing. Mist pulled up a piece of grass, whispered to it, and dropped it on Paradise. Paradise sprung up and spread her wings, almost hitting Shock in the face. "Life again!" She said, looking at Mist, then cuddling her wings close to her body. "And heat." She said. The horns on her head bristled sharply. Paradise's scales turned a vibrant green, the obvious sign of fear. Toad, Cobra, and Maroon snapped their jaws open and started to gurgle fire. Shock opened his mouth and held in a lightning blast. Mist curled in her wings and hid behind Avalanche with Beluga, and Avalanche prepared his frost breath. Shock could see Mist shiver in fear. Paradise changed her scales to the actual camouflage colors and unhinged her jaw. What did she have to use to attack? Sightseer jumped behind Maroon, who snarled at her. "What are we even griping at?" Avalanche sounded, trying to keep his stance. Shock didn't know, until a dragon the color of yellow burst through the brush. She had dazzling jewels strung across her neck and wings and she was draped in a cover of wool. To be honest, this dragon was beautiful, but she definitely was not a dragonet. Shock signaled everyone to hold their fire, realizing who the SandWing was. "Queen Blaze." Avalanche said, bowing deeply to her. She smiled and pounded on her tail, then frowned. "You upset my ally, IceWing." She shot out her wings and they shimmered in the sunlight. "But boy, oh boy does it feel good to have heat!" She shook her head and pulled her wings back in, cocking her head to look at the dragonets. "Hmm. SkyWing, MudWing, SeaWing, NightWing, and SandWing. You aren't the dragonets of destiny, are you?" She yelled, flapping her wings. This SandWing queen was charming, and at that, she was overly dazzling compared to Cobra, even though Cobra didn't care. Mist hopped out from behind Avalanche and smiled, showing her teeth. Blaze glanced from Shock to Mist and stepped back, flapping her wings. "What are you? Oh, you'd be a perfect pardon gift for my sister, Burn. Even though we are enemies, but . . . wow!" Shock growled under his breath and shot over to Mist, wrapping his wing around her. "We have been called a relic before," Shock glared at Toad, and he smiled back to Shock. "but us LightningWings are devoted to keeping one another safe . . . from queens." Blaze looked down at Mist, but smiled carefully. "I understand. Anyway, if you see those destiny dragons, try to contact me, would you?" Sightseer looked down, but laid her snout on her claws. "Go talk to Queen Glacier, she's expecting them too." With a muffled gleeful yelp, the SandWing heir took off into the air toward the castle of the IceWing queen's. Paradise's eyes followed Queen Blaze until she was out of sight, and then dropped her guard. Then, Shock remembered the pouch, the marble, and the stone. He reached into his pouch and slid out the marble, examining the structure. Mist hopped over to him and looked deeply at Shock, sincerely flapping her wings. Shock wanted to test the marble out, so he gave Mist a worried glance before whispering "Queen Blaze" to it. The marble immediately caught everybody's attention as it floated in the air, then projecting a life-like hologram of Queen Blaze cooing her soldiers to bring Queen Glacier to their fort. Avalanche looked at it in surprise. "That is an animus object?" He asked, flaring his wings. The icy coat under his wings was pure white, twinkling in unison to the light. Shock nodded and pointed at Mist. "She is the first animus LightningWing." Toad gaped in surprise. He flapped his wings and landed next to Mist. "Animus? First? Wha-" Toad peeked at her scales dotted white and looked to Shock. "Which one would be considered what the tribe actually looks like? Like Shock has purple eyes and no white, but this dragonet . . ." Shock quickly let out a snarl. "Mist." He corrected. Mist was peculiar to even Shock himself, but he tried to let it past. He sighed. "I look like most LightningWings, Mist is just, she . . ." Shock thought for a minute. "She is very unique."  Shock whipped Toad's scales quickly, glaring at him. Mist confusingly looked at Toad and Shock before smiling and saying "So you you have the lost gem of Storm yet?" Shock gasped and took out the marble, making it glimmer in the sunlight. "No, not yet." He signaled the other dragonets to fly with him when he jumped in the air. "But we are now."