Wings of Fire: The Shifting Sands

Chapter 1: Darkthought

Five Years Later...

The rays of sunlight gently warmed Darkthought's face, changing the color of his scales from black to a light grey. Slowly, he blinked his eyes and sat up, yawning. The grey, colorless cave he lived in was same as always; the uneaten prey pile in the furthermost right corner, a collection of interesting tidbits he had collected in his little cave that branched off the main one, and Bullfrog, his MudWing father, snoring from the third cave. He stretched his wings, and watched the glittery silver scales reflect off the cave. 

What'll I have for breakfast today?  he wondered. A cool breeze caressed his face from outside the cave, and a longing filled him. When will he wake up? I want to go hunting. He turned and crept into his father's cave, watching the brown dragon rest. 

Smiling, Darkthought left him, spread his wings, and leaped out of the cave. He looked around, and spied a group of white sheep, merely dots on the green landscape, which was streaked with grey rocks. 

He folded in his wings, and dove towards the sheep, drawing a breath of fire as he extended his talons. The sheep bleated in terror and galloped down the hills, and almost made it... except for one. Darkthought's claws sunk into the wool, and the skin. He gripped and flew up towards his cave, snaking his tongue in and out, tasting the air. He heard rustling from Bullfrog's cave, and hurriedly he licked the blood off his claws. He breathed a gentle plume of flame onto the sheep's carcass, setting the wool alight and cooking the meat inside. Not that Bullfrog really cared if his meat was raw or cooked, but still...

"Darkthought! Where'd you get the sheep?" asked Bullfrog blearily. The big MudWing rubbed sleep from his eyes with the back of his talons, then focused his eyes on the NightWing dragonet, and the toasted body of a sheep next to him. 

"Where'd you go?" Darkthought knew that Bullfrog wouldn't care as much as he would if he was fully awake. Darkthought didn't answer. Bullfrog's gaze moved on the dead sheep; the big MudWing's brain was always partially on when he woke up.

"Can I have some?" The MudWing winced as his damaged leg rested on the floor. His left forearm had been scarred quite badly by another dragon, and his right wingtips were blackened and twisted. This had happened before Darkthought was born, and Bullfrog didn't want to talk about it. Also, Darkthought had realized, he didn't want to talk about anything from before he was born.

"Sure," said Darkthought. He tore off a leg and began gnawing on it, shoving the rest to Bullfrog. The MudWing happily ate it in four bites, consuming the entire thing before Darkthought had even swallowed his first chunk. Bullfrog then began to stretch casually, while Darkthought finished the leg of mutton.

 "Come on, Bullfrog!" shouted Darkthought, and he leaped out of the cave, roaring to the sky. Bullfrog followed, his giant brown wings stretching wide, catching large currents of air. "Where are you going?" shouted Bullfrog over the wind. 

"To the sea!" yelled Darkthought. He liked water, and it was just three hour's flight. The MudWing, though, had other ideas. 

"It's too far," Bullfrog yelled. "Maybe another day," he added as Darkthought's wings drooped. Darkthought flew back towards Jade Mountain, to spend the rest of his day inside the cave.

Two moons were rising opposite the setting sun, and Darkthought was watching them from a ledge, his head rested on his front legs. The moons were so beautiful, and he felt that he had some connection with them, and yet he didn't know what. He knew that Bullfrog didn't care as much as he did. The MudWing was messily devouring the rest of the dinner he had caught, and Darkthought could see the tusks and snout just out of the entrance.