Dark Despair (Book 2: Together Forever)

So close

4 months

Mala's POV

I was sitting down at the edge of a cliff watching the sunset, it was one of the few times I got to get away from ruling when I saw three shapes fly straight up the cliff and land behind me.

They shook out their wings and turned back towards me.

"She seems nice." The female black dragon said.

"I agree." The white dragon said.

I could only understand what they were saying because I'd bonded with a blue-grey Skrill, I called Stormcloud. Most of the Defenders had bonded since Astrid had joined us.

"Hello. What are you doing here?"

"Do you think she understands us, Mist?" The female black one said again.

"How, in the name of all the stars in the sky, would I know?" The white one, whom I presumed to be Mist said. The male black one remained silent, seemingly assessing the situation.

"I can understand you. My name is Mala and this is my island, my people are called the Defenders of the Wing. An Eruptodon makes sure that our volcano doesn't kill us, we call him the Great Protector."

"Oh. Sorry. My mate, Mr. Namless and I are searching for Mr. Nameless's home. My name is Mist and this is my mate, Eclipse. And he doesn't remember his name so we call him whatever." So I was right. The white female is called Mist. 

"I should've introduced myself." The other black dragon grumbled.

"How long have you been looking? And what species are you? You look familiar by I can't quite place it."

"Mr. Nameless and I are Night Furies and my mate is a Light Fury. We're cousin-species."

"Eclipse! Stop calling my Mr. Nameless! You know how much I hate it!" The male shouted.

"Mist started it!" She exclaimed.

"What!? Eclipse!" Mist shouted back at Eclipse.

"Anyway! What are we supposed to call you if you can't remember your name, Oh-great-one?" Eclipse said playfully.

"It's better than Mr. Nameless." He grumbled. I watched as they squabbled. Well, they've clearly been together for a while. They acted as close friends would.

"Okay! Oh-great-one it is!" Mist and I tried to contain our laughter. Keyword: tried.

"What! No! I'm not being called Oh-great-one! And Mist, this isn't funny! Control your mate, she's a menace!"

That just made Mist laugh harder.

We eventually calmed down until we saw the face the male Night Fury was making at Eclipse which made us burst out laughing again.

"So..."

I slowly contained my laughter enough to respond, "Mala."

"Right. Mala. So, we're looking for..." She shot a look at the male, "Oh-great-one's family and home. Any ideas where we should go?"

"You could try the Hidden World. I've been told by a friend of mine that there are a lot of Night Furies there. Well... not a lot. But the remains of the species." I watched the male glaring at Eclipse and clearly he wasn't really paying attention to what I was saying. Eclipse eventually noticed and started sticking her tongue out at him.

"Uhhhh... Is this normal?" I asked Mist.

"Oh, yes. They act like hatchlings."

"We heard that!" The two Night Furies shouted in unison and turned their glares on Mist.

"See! This just proves my point!" Mist said and gestured at them with her wings.

I raised my eyebrows at them. They all act like two-year-old hatchlings. "So would you three like to stay in the village for the night?"

They glanced at each other nervously, "Umm... we'd prefer to sleep in the forest, but thank you." Mist explained.

"Fair enough, well, I hope to see you all tomorrow."

I watched them fly towards the forest and I walked towards my village.

???'s POV

I watched as the moon rose. It reminded me of my sister. Moon.

*flashback*

I was sitting down and looking at an ocean and saw the moon setting behind the horizon. I looked up at a woman who held me in her arms.

"Isn't it beautiful, Honey?"

"Why's it goes 'way?"

"It needs to sleep, Darling."

"Why's it sweep in da day?"

"Because the Sun sleeps at night and the Sun asked the Moon to light up the night so that people would be able to see."

"Ohh!"

*end of flashback*

Who was that woman? Why was I sitting on her lap? Why were we watching the moon set?

I wish I knew everything I'd forgotten. Sometimes these flashbacks were overwhelming.

The Next Day

"...so you should head North-East. You won't miss it. It's a giant waterfall. According to my friend you just have to fly through it and there you are, the Hidden World."

"No wonder The Fury Killer never found it." Mist snorted.

Mala had explained how we'd get to the Hidden World, which was about a month's flight from here. We'd said hi to her Skrill, Stormcloud.

"Well, goodbye, Mala. Nice meeting you and thank you for your help." We called out as we flew towards the Hidden World.

"Goodbye!" For the first time since our journey began we knew exactly where to go.

29 days later

We had almost arrived at our destination when out of nowhere I heard a familiar whooshing sound.

"Bola!" I shrieked, but before I could get out of the way it had wrapped itself around me and I fell into the ocean. I was dragged onto a ship and when I tried to fight back I felt something prick me and everything started becoming fuzzy and I blacked out.

Mist's POV

We'd almost reached our destination. We had flown over a sea stack and then heard a whooshing noise.

The male shouted, "Bola!" And we immediately flew out of range, but not before we saw him get dragged onto one of the ships and pulled below deck.

Eclipse and I flew onto the sea stack that was too tall to get on top of without flying.

"What's the plan?" Eclipse asked me.

"We follow the ships until we can figure out how to get him out of there without anyone dying."

I looked at Eclipse fearfully. As much as we teased the male Night Fury we still cared about him. Stars above, he was practically our little brother. 

After she saw my look she wrapped her wing around my shoulders. "Don't worry we'll get him back."

I looked her in the eyes, "Promise?"

"I promise."

"Even if it's the two of us against the world, Eclipse?"

"Especially if it's the two of us against the world."

She leaned her head against mine as we held each other tight. We've walked through the darkness together and soon we would walk through the light.