Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Chapter Ten

"QIBLI!" Sunbeam shrieked then dodged a blow from the creature's bladed razor claws swinging at her neck. He didn't move, Qibli was lifeless. Was he dead? He couldn't be...could he?

"Qibli, don't die on me!" Sunbeam gasped through dodging and ducking from the horrendous monster. Fear swelled up in Sunbeam's lungs and she couldn't breathe. Something horrible was going to happen to her. She couldn't fight this monster. She couldn't survive this horrible evil.

"GLORY!" Sunbeam shrieked as loud as her lungs could muster. "HELP!"

Sunbeam was too slow for the creature's swing this time. Tearing open her leg, the monster with bright, red, evil eyes gashed Sunbeam's leg and she cried in agony. Seconds later, Glory, Thorn and Cactus came zooming down the tunnel, teeth bared and talons extended.

Only able to glance at the blurry, ghost figure dragon for a second, Glory and the others had to stop and process. But, by the time they were done, the evil smoke dragon had vanished.

...

One hour later

Sunbeam gingerly rubbed her wound that had been covered in damp mud that Cactus had dug up from the already damp ground. She gazed anxiously over to unconscious but living Qibli breathing in and out.

Sliding over to Cactus, Sunbeam gave him a thankful smile and nodded to him politely. He nodded back and returned a small smile. Glory was pacing around in circles and Queen Thorn had pressed two talons into the dips of her eyes, thinking hard.

"One thing's for sure," started Glory breaking the silence, "we can't go into groups anymore. We have to stick together."

"No, that won't work," Thorn sighed. Before Glory could ask why, Thorn started to explain. "Someone has to stay with Qibli. Cactus must be with me and Glory is the only one strong enough to fight right now, along with me and Cactus. But I am absolutely not leaving this group and the three of us, SandWings can't fly out of this STUPID CAVED IN THING THAT USED TO BE MY SANDWING TERRITORY FULL OF STUPID TUNNELS THAT HAVE CRAZY DRAGONS THAT TRY TO KILL YOU!" She growled with rage and a wisp of damp sand swirled from one of the tunnels.

"I have a possible solution," offered Sunbeam limping to her paws.

"I may have seriously hurt my leg...but one of the CloudWing powers is that our wings never get tired from flapping, no matter how hard or how heavy the things are that we carry. Anyway, my point is, I can fly nonstop and go get help. Any help from any dragon. I don't think it will be hard to miss or believe what happened here. Then we can get you out. I can go to the SeaWing Kingdom and retrieve help from there. It shouldn't take super long." Explained Sunbeam.

After a long moment, and exchanging glances, Thorn created paw motions to Cactus. After she was finished, Cactus nodded solemnly and gazed at Sunbeam.

"That sounds like a good plan." Thorn acknowledged. "If you can do it, we need you to go get Queen Coral and a squad of SeaWings for light and back up."

"Yes, I can do that. I'll also get as much back up as quickly as possible. Maybe I'll try to find Tsunami and Moon and Kinkajou and everybody else. But I won't keep you long."

"Ok, that works," Glory nodded seeing no other way. 

Cactus's stomach bellowed a gurgle.

"And maybe bring back some food and water," Glory gave a nervous chuckle.

Sunbeam nodded seriously then wasted no more time.

"I'll go as quickly as I possibly can." 

...

The sky had revealed itself as Sunbeam flapped hard up and up, her wings carrying her without strain. Sunbeam breathed a sigh of relief. It was so good to see the sky and the clouds and the sun again. But there were no SandWings in sight. Only wisps of dust brushed across the ground. The gap in the ground yawned broadly; it almost reached into the IceWing Kingdom. 

Sunbeam flapped hard, heading for the SeaWing Palace.

Reluctantly, Sunbeam gazed over to the Ice Kingdom in the distance. Should she go over there to see if Sunbeam could retrieve back up there too? She could try to look for Winter and explain that she was a friend of Moon and Qibli. 

No, focus, Sunbeam. Queen Thorn gave you strict instructions. Sunbeam thought sternly. 

But would it hurt to go after? Or maybe...was the Ice Kingdom destroyed too, just like the RainWing Village and the SandWing Kingdom? 

Were both continents destroyed by the mysterious creatures or creature? 

But many questions buzzed in Sunbeam's mind. Who is the evil/evils. Will our continents be destroyed? What is going to happen to all of those missing dragons? Where are my friends? Is my tribe safe? My tribe.... Sunbeam thought. My tribe needs to help us. But how? Wouldn't the evil just take them too? And...me?

Sunbeam's mind whirred with so many questions, that she didn't even realize after many hours of being trapped in her thoughts, she was coming up to the SeaWing Kingdom. It was as though her wings had a mind of their own. Sunbeam mused that thought multiple times. 

Not knowing exactly where she was going, Sunbeam dove down into the water, gills peaking out of her neck, and paddled with a strong current, pulling her to what Sunbeam thought was going to be the SeaWing Palace.

Oh, Creator, why have you allowed these horrible events to happen? Thought Sunbeam. What do I do? 

After several minutes of aimlessly swimming around, Sunbeam thankfully, to her relief, spotted a SeaWing, nervously guarding the borders. 

As Sunbeam paddled up to the guard, he halted her, with a confused but expectant face. 

"Are you Sunbeam?" 

"Y-yes I am." She stuttered. "How did you know?" 

"Princess Tsunami and Prince Turtle knew you'd come. We are in desperate need. Princess Tsunami and Prince Turtle said that she might have a clue of what the evil is...but we need to hurry. There is no time to lose."