Wings of Fire #1: Sahara's Destiny

Chapter 5

Sahara looked over every scroll in the library. She'd never seen such a huge place. Racks upon racks of scrolls filled up most of the space. In the center, there was a sitting area to read. "You like this place?" Heatwave asked her.

"Yeah, I could really get used to this." Sahara answered. "Did the same dragon who built the entire village make this too?" Heatwave shook his head. "Then who?"

"Um. . .Well," he stammered. "Pearl." Sahara tilted her head and frowned. Something wasn't right when Heatwave stammered like that. What could possibly be so bad about a dragon named Pearl? "Who's Pearl?" she wondered.

"Pearl was a very good SeaWing." Heatwave explained. "She made this library and many other things."

"Was she an animus?" Sahara quizzed.

"Yes, she is. Here's something else, Pearl is Dolphin's sister. Younger sister to be exact." Heatwave said. Sahara liked the fact that Dolphin had a sister. She bet they got along really well.

"Yeah, she was a good SeaWing." Ivy muttered, rolling her eyes.

Sahara glanced at her and tilted her head. "Was?" she echoed.

"Until she started overusing her magic. She used it to the point she turned evil." Ivy told her. "Then we had to banish her." Sahara winced at the fact they had to get rid of Pearl. She seemed so nice. But she overused her magic to the point where she didn't have any soul left. Sahara remembered when Heatwave told her to use her magic wisely. Or when Dolphin said to enchant something to protect your soul. Pearl didn't do any of that. "If you really want to hear what happened to Pearl, Stargazer is about to tell her story regarding the incident." Ivy informed.

"Where can I find him?" Sahara asked. "And, what does he look like."

"Stargazer is a blue and black NightWing." Ivy described. "You should be able to find him somewhere near the gathered dragons back at the campfires." Sahara nodded and made her way out the library. In the colorful streets, she walked over the large bridge and tried to find the gathered dragons. She flew over some campfires, but didn't see him. Then, she started to hear talking below her.

"Your going to go see Stargazer, too?" a IceWing asked the SeaWing beside her.

"Yeah, I heard he's good at story-telling. Just too bad that's not his name." the SeaWing said. "Storyteller or Foretell? I like Foretell."

"Foretell." the IceWing picked. Sahara followed the two dragons all the way to where all the gathered dragons were. There were RainWings, IceWings, NightWings, and SeaWings gathered around a large campfire. There was only one SkyWing and no SandWings or MudWings. Sahara landed next to the SkyWing and sat on the same log. The SkyWing was a dark red with darker red pattern scales. He had cream-colored underscales and the flaps of his wings were dark red. He had brown eyes and black horns, claws, wingtips, and spikes. The SkyWing smiled down at her and she smiled back. Wow, all the dragons here are super nice, especially the SkyWings. Sahara thought with amazement. There were two NightWings sitting on a log, higher than the rest over the fire. One was black and blue while the other was black and purple. Sahara knew the one on the left was Stargazer, but she didn't know who the other was. They both had teardrop scales on the corners of their eyes and the NightWing on the right had white freckles on her snout.

"Hello everyone!" the second NightWing announced. "Great you all could make it. For today's story, we're going to be telling the story about Pearl." All the dragons whispered and slightly gasped.

"Your getting ahead of yourself." Stargazer broke in. "We need to introduce ourselves to the crowd. Especially the ones who don't know us."

"Okay. Well, hello. I'm Moonglobe, Stargazer's younger sister. Besides, there's no need to introduce him, because you know him already." Moonglobe introduced. Sahara didn't see it at first, but when she was looking at Stargazer, she saw a huge, jagged scar on his right side. He must of been in a fight. She guessed. She looked for more scars, but only saw that one.

"Twenty years ago, Pearl was a very famous SeaWing." Stargazer began. "She had a great reputation and dragons adored her."

"Pearl loved it here. She built the Fountain of Many Wishes, the library, and many other structures." Moonglobe said. Stargazer and Moonglobe took turns telling the story and they seemed to enjoy it. "Everything was great. . .Until she snapped." Moonglobe said with a sigh. "That day, she had used her magic to where she'd lost most of her soul."

"Dolphin had come to me and worried about how Pearl was going to turn evil all day. She said that we should give her a special object to replenish her soul and keep it safe. I wasn't so sure about it. I knew Pearl well enough to figure not to try and give her anything. She won't accept it. But Dolphin insisted that it would work. So that day, we told Pearl to meet us in one of the empty tree huts. Me, Ivy, Dolphin, Heatwave, and Owl were there, waiting for her. A while later, Pearl showed up and Dolphin walked up to her younger sister. She told Pearl about the special object and what it would do for her. Pearl refused the gift and told her what she really wanted. Dolphin also refused and Pearl glared at us. Dolphin told her about how dangerous she was and if she didn't accept the gift, she'd stay that way forever. Pearl snorted and said she wasn't going to accept anything we ever gave her. She didn't want our lousy gifts. Dolphin then had no choice but to tell her she was too dangerous to be around and we had to tell her to leave. Pearl became outraged.

"Pearl had something form in her talons before it changed into a spear and she charged at us. I went in first and tried to stop her. She ended up jabbed me with the spear and I collapsed to the floor. She went for Ivy, Owl, and Heatwave, but Dolphin managed to get the spear and pin Pearl to the floor. Ivy grabbed four different vines and tied them to Pearl's neck and legs. Then, Dolphin enchanted them into chains that would banish her to the bottom of the sea. Then, Pearl started to dissolve into mist as the vines became chains. Afterwards, she was gone. She's been under the sea for twenty years now and she's still there till this day." Stargazer told them.

Sahara had listened to the entire thing and she was now in shock. That story made her think twice about ever using her magic too many times. "The moral of the story, don't overuse your magic." Moonglobe informed.

Sahara felt bad for Pearl and wished she could go and talk to her. Sahara could convince her to accept Dolphin's replenishing gift. Her talons started to twitch and Sahara held them up. Now, they started to shake tremendously and she couldn't stop them.

Suddenly, she heard a roar and saw a IceWing dive towards her. Sahara shrieked and tried to move out of the way, but the IceWing flew into her and lifted her off the ground. "Hey!" she demanded. "Put me down!" The IceWing looked down at her and back up. Where is she taking me? The IceWing flew her through the city and bright lights. Her talons were shaking severely and Sahara started to become worried. The IceWing flew into a large healers' hut and set her on a flat table.

Then, a SkyWing and MudWing came beside them and gave Sahara a wary look. "It's happening." the IceWing panted. The MudWing looked at Sahara's shaking talons and held them in his. "I haven't seen talon shaking like this in years." he observed. He was a chocolate brown with tan underscales. His yellow eyes studied Sahara and glanced back to the SkyWing.

"Me neither." she agreed. She had dark red scales and light red underscales. She had yellow pattern scales and wore a golden-chained necklace with a ruby on the end. She also had blue eyes and also wore a black bracelet on her left wrist.

"Then what's causing it?" the IceWing demanded impatiently. Both the MudWing and SkyWing shrugged and the IceWing growled. Suddenly, Sahara's talons stopped shaking and she was able to move them again. "Thank goodness. It was probably just a minor animus thing, Polar." the MudWing sighed. Polar was a white and blue IceWing with some pink icicle horns and on her wings and underbelly. Her claws were white and had blue shading on the ends and so did her wingtips. She wore a earring with a pearl attached on one ear and had a pearl necklace around her neck. Polar sighed and twined her tail with Sahara's "Good." she smiled.

Polar doesn't even know me. Sahara thought. But she cares about me. They heard wingbeats and Polar uncoiled her tail. "Sahara!" Fennec's voice called. No, not now.