Wings of Fire - The Third Continent

Prologue

A LeafWing dragonet was sitting with Sundew and Willow, the three of them waiting for the others.

"Why do I not have a father?" the dragonet asked.  "I'm just curious.  Like Beetle has one, Sol has one, but I have you two.  N-not that I don't like you two or anything, but I think it's something other dragonets will tease me about at Jade Mountain."

"I don't understand how it happened," Sundew said.  "Willow?"

"Nope," Willow responded.  "You'd have to ask Mastermind or Starflight.  But you are our dragonet."

Blue and Cricket were the first to arrive with their son, Beetle.

"Hey, Venus," Beetle greeted the LeafWing dragonet.

"Hey, Beetle," Venus responded.  They turned to their moms.  "When are we going inside?"

"You can go now," Willow said.  "Just remember, don't get too mad if the other dragons call you female.  It might be worse if they know."

"No promises," Venus said.  "Come on, Beetle.  And you heard what my mom said.  I won't claw your face off if you use 'she'.  At least not for that."

The two dragonets ran up to the entrance of Jade Mountain and were greeted by two black dragons, each of them with silver scales on their heads next to their eyes.

Oh, tree roots!  Venus cursed silently.  I forgot that NightWings were mindreaders.  Clear your mind.  Clear your mind.  Clear your mind.

One of the dragons held back an amused snort.

"Don't worry," she said.  "Take this."

She handed Venus a rock and a satchel, the other one giving Beetle the same thing.

"We have a way to keep your minds safe," the amused dragon said.  "It's skyfire; it blocks mind reading."

Everything was so silent now that Venus was holding the skyfire.  They tentatively put a foot on the grass and closed their eyes.  No plants whispering at all.

"Both ways," they whispered.  Maybe once I get to my cave I can figure out a way to block mindreading without skyfire.  That or everyone will know my secret.

"You'll be sharing a cave with four other dragons," the other black dragon said.  "I'm Fatespeaker and this is Moonwatcher.  Beetle, and Venus, right?"

"Yep," Beetle and Venus responded.

"A hybrid is new to this school as a student," Moonwatcher said.  "So, we're putting the two hybrids in the same cave and winglet.  Would you rather be with Venus or-"

"Venus," Beetle said.  "I know her well."

"Right," Moonwatcher said.  "Just go straight and it's the third cave on the left."

Venus and Beetle followed her instructions and entered a cave with a brown dragon with silver scales on the side of his eyes.  Venus looked at him with suspicion.  Was it another mindreader?  If she was sharing a cave with a mindreader, then they wouldn't be able to drop the skyfire.

"Not a mindreader," the dragon said.  "Unless you consider being able to sense emotions and extrapolate information from that to be mind reading."

"How'd you know I was thinking about that?" Venus asked.  "Is the skyfire fake?"

"Nope," the dragon held up his claws.  "I can't even sense your emotions.  But I don't need to to know you don't trust me.  Keep the skyfire, but only NightWings can read minds."

"You're a hybrid like me, aren't you?" Beetle asked.

"Yeah," the dragon said.  "Name's Sandspirit.  Moonwatcher at the front is my mother.  The psychology teacher is my father."

"I'm Beetle," Beetle said.  "Cricket and Blue are my parents."

"Venus," Venus said.  "Sundew and Willow are mine."

"Oh, I've heard Anemone talk about them," Sandspirit said.  "She keeps on grumbling about how if they can have a dragonet, she and Tamarin can as well."

Venus gave a light chuckle.  "I've heard about her.  The sister of the SeaWing Dragonet of Destiny, right?"

 "She is," Sandspirit confirmed.  "An animus as well.  I think we actually have her niece joining us in this cave."

Once the other two dragons arrived - Turtle and Kinkajou's son, Jaguar; and a female IceWing named Ermine, the five dragonets got their spaces and beds set up just as Qibli put his head in the cave.

"Tsunami wants you in the meeting hall," he said.  "All of you."

They followed Qibli to see the Dragonets of Destiny standing in the hall beside each other.

"The NightWings have warned us about an incoming tsunami," Starflight said.  "It will be best for you all to stay inside the school; this one seems unnatural."

"I will personally claw each and every one of your faces off if you leave the school," Tsunami growled.

I like her, Venus thought.  Too bad she's too busy with managing.

"Please stay in your caves," Sunny said.  "It's safest for all of you."

The sun was setting as Venus stretched.  They would get at least Beetle to come with them.  They needed to see what this whole thing was about.

"Beetle?" they whispered, shaking the dragonet awake.  He groaned, looking up at the LeafWing.

"I'm awake," he said.  "What's up?"

"Let's go check out the tsunami," Venus said.  "It'll be fun."

"Are you sure?" Beetle asked.  "It's not going to be too safe."

"You're not talking her out of it," Sandspirit said.  "And I'm coming with you."

"I'm staying," Jaguar said.  "But hand me all your skyfire.  I can at least keep you safe."

Venus was the last to give Jaguar their skyfire.  "Why should I trust you?"

"Because I could get the skyfire from you if I wanted right now," Jaguar said.

Venus handed Jaguar their skyfire.  "Fine."

"I enchant this skyfire to keep the holder safe and unable to die from any cause," Jaguar said, then started to hand back the skyfire.  Venus looked at Ermine.  The IceWing was still sleeping, not woken up at all.

"She's not going to come with you," Jaguar said.  "I'll stay with her."

"Right," Venus said.  My leafspeak won't work with the skyfire but I can't risk Moonwatcher or another mindreader hearing us.

The three dragonets walked out, being careful to not be seen at any cost.  They stopped at the coast, the water coming in quickly.

"Was this such a good idea, Venus?" Beetle looked at the LeafWing.

"Just hold onto your skyfire and you'll survive," Venus said, a smile spreading across their face.

"I'd take her advice," Sandspirit said.  "We're not getting away from this."

Beetle nodded, holding onto his skyfire satchel tightly and closing his eyes.  Venus did the same before feeling the water wash over them and take them with it.