Wings of Fire - The Third Continent

Chapter 3

Venus stretched.  Beetle was still in his cocoon, and her dream was fresh in their mind.  I'll tell everything I can.  Auran and Dia were still sleeping.  Dia opened her eyes and looked at LeafWing.

"Do you actually think the NightWings can do it?" she asked.

"Yes," Venus said.  I hope Sandspirit will be okay.  "How were you caught?"

"It was at school," Dia said.

Dia was sitting at a desk, listening to her teacher drone on about the history of Valore.  He had promised that they would eventually learn about the repercussions of the intercontinental war between the three continents, but nothing of the like had happened yet.

"Dies?" he asked.

Dia looked up, fighting the urge to correct him.  "Yeah?"

"Who created the Correction Area?" he asked.

Dia paused.  She hadn't wanted to be asked this question.  The Correction Area was one topic she wanted to avoid her whole life.

"A...uh...an AntlerWing?" she responded.

"What was his name?" the teacher probed.

"Malus?" Dia responded.

"Correct," the teacher confirmed.  "Surprising for you, Dies."

"Dia," Dia muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" the teacher growled.

Dia stood up.  "I'm not going to hide anymore.  I don't care if I'll be taken to the Correction Area.  She/her.  My name is Dia."

"Well enough," the teacher said.  "Class dismissed.  Everybody leave except Dies."

Dia would've stood up and left, but she knew it would cause even more trouble.  She refused to look at Auran, however much she wanted to.  She couldn't drag the SpotWing down with her.

"Auran, you should leave," the teacher said.

"No," Auran said.  "My gender changes.  I'm going with her."

Dia stopped speaking as she saw the other dragons listening.  Venus looked at them too.

"Were you listening?" Dia asked.

"Not like there's anything else to do around here," Auran said.  "And Sandspirit and Venus deserve to know."

Auran turned to Venus.  "How'd you get here?"

Venus explained what had happened.

"Inmates, it's breakfast," a guard came walking in.  He nudged the dragonets out and to the meeting hall, barely paying any attention to Beetle.

Four grueling days passed before Venus saw movement in Beetle's cocoon.  They nudged Sandspirit awake, pointing to the cocoon.

"I think he's finishing his metamorphosis," Venus said.  "What do we do?"

"I think he should know," Sandspirit said.  "We can tell him our plan and what he missed."

Beetle's wings were the first thing to come out of the cocoon.  Then his head, before the silk fell to the floor and revealed him completely.  He stretched and yawned.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"Six days," Venus said.  "We managed to come up with a plan, but you have to be ready."

"What is it?" Beetle was fully awake now.

"Do you know if you're a flamesilk or not?" Sandspirit asked.  "Try shooting some silk at the wall."

Beetle tried to shoot a stream of silk out, but it didn't go for as long as he planned.  Venus reached out to grab it, but he blocked them.

"This looks like flamesilk," he said.  "I didn't try to make it safe."

Beetle grabbed it.  It felt warm in his talons, but it didn't burn him.

"What's the plan?" he asked.  "Something's up with my silk, but I can do it."

"What do you mean something's up with your silk?" Sandspirit asked.

"It's not coming out in constant streams like SilkWings'," Beetle explained.  "I can shoot it in bursts, but that's all."

"As long as the silk doesn't burn you, you should be fine," Venus said.  "Once you're ready, we can wake Dia and Auran and get out.  The doors are blocked by flamesilk."

"Let's go," Beetle said.

"You don't need to rest?" Venus asked.

"I need to do the opposite," Beetle was practically bouncing on his feet.  "I haven't moved for six days."

"Okay," Venus said.  "Sandspirit, take my skyfire.  If all else fails, I can't have it on me."

"Right," Sandspirit said as Venus woke the other dragonets.

"The guards aren't paying any attention right now, and we can quickly fly away," Dia said.  "I'll lead the way."

She breathed a stream of fire, melting the bars.  "Come on."

The dragonets followed Dia to the exit.  Glowing silk strands were crisscrossed in the entry way.  Beetle closed his eye before running through, the dragonets behind him.  He shook himself before opening his wings and flying.

"Okay," Dia banked towards the mountains, everyone behind her.

They all landed in a cave, Venus making the entrance hidden behind vines.

"You can do that?" Auran breathed.  "Wow."

"Both my parents can," Venus said.

"This place is amazing," Sandspirit said.  "What is everything on the walls?"

"We found it like this," Dia said.  "It's our old language."

"We dropped it after-" Auran started.

"A dragon named Clearsight came," Venus said.  "This is practically the same language as Pantala's old language."

"They're right," Beetle said.  "I recognize it.  Clearsight was much smarter here.  No one would find this and couldn't corrupt it like Queen Wasp.  But this stops a few hundred years ago just like the Book of Clearsight."

Sandspirit suddenly howled in pain.  Beetle looked at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Words started to fall out of Sandspirit's mouth, marching like a poem.

When the sky goes black

Brightened with fire

Look back

Into the past of the dragons that never tire

The dragons must come together

To forever end

The suffering that the different

Must endure

The prime dragonets

When the time of change is nearing

As they will decide

Who survives or meets their demise

"What was that?" Venus demanded.