Wings of Fire: The Prequels

2.1

Cloudwatcher was supposed to be dead.

On the brightest night, several eggs were supposed to hatch. Prophesized to hatch. And the most wicked of the three SandWing sisters, Burn, tossed one of these eggs off of the cliff that she sat on.

By some stroke of luck, a stray NightWing was flying by as this happened. He caught the falling object out of reflex, keeping his grip tight as he put on a burst of speed to get away from the screaming IceWing. Looking down at the stray object when he was out of sight of where it was thrown, the NightWing nearly fell out of the sky when he saw it was an egg. Not just any egg, a SkyWing egg. And not just any SkyWing egg, the SkyWing egg.

Tightening his grip a little, the NightWing made up his mind. He would take care of this egg. It didn't matter if the prophecy was real or not, no egg deserved to be crushed.

Twisting into a dive, the NightWing dove into one of the various caves dotting the valley's sides. When he landed, he continued walking as he navigated the maze of tunnels. After a while of walking through the labyrinth that would confuse most, the NightWing eventually emerged into the open air and onto a ledge. The area in front of him was a small meadow and forest hidden behind the mountain peaks, rock ledges and a few trees clinging to the mountainsides covering most of it from the air. Jumping off of his ledge, the NightWing glided down to the meadow floor.

Landing perfectly, the NightWing didn't pause to admire the meadow as he darted into the forest. The NightWing stuck relatively close to the mountainside, watching carefully until he came to a few familiar trees. Two of them were beside a cave, the others covering the sight of the dark hole. The NightWing jumped down into the cave, landing with a soft thump. Despite his night vision, he found himself lighting a torch.

The cave lit up, showing three entrances. One was to the NightWing's room, one was to an unclaimed cave, and the third was to a giant cave with a small underground pond. Speaking of the unclaimed cave, the NightWing darted into his room to get a spare fur blanket before moving to the unclaimed cave.

Placing the fur on the ground, the NightWing bunched it up into some type of a nest before sitting in front of it. Behind him, some of the wind pushed at him while a few of the raindrops from the room's skylight landed on his back. He used his wings to block some of the whether from the egg, watching the egg closely as he waited.

Eventually, the egg started rocking a little. Tiny crack after tiny crack appeared on the egg, making the NightWing hold his breath. Suddenly, the shell exploded apart as the dragonet burst out of its prison.

In what little light he had, the NightWing could see that the dragonet was mostly crimson although he had highlights of dark orange that were most prominent on his wings, snout, and shoulders. The most interesting part about the little dragonet was that he had a few copper scales on his forehead, the light orange around them creating a diamond shape. The two colors created an ombre effect that greatly stood out against the dragonet's crimson scales.

The little dragonet let out a chirp, staring up at the NightWing in awe. Before the NightWing could speak, the dragonet let out a trill and start grabbing towards the skylight. Glancing at it, the NightWing chuckled before turning back to the dragonet. "Hello, little one," he said, his voice attracting the dragonet's attention easily. "I'm Courtesy and I think I'll call you... Cloudwatcher, Cloud for short. I have a feeling that you're gonna help change the world, little Cloud."

Cloud, of course, didn't understand and instead tilted his head at Courtesy. "Urr...?" he spoke in baby dragonet. Courtesy chuckled at the other's lack of understanding, standing up and starting to walk away.

Evidently, the dragonet didn't like that. "Mmurr!" Cloud pounced on one of Courtesy's talons, growling as he tried to pin it down. The remainder of his egg was left to topple over, tumbling out of the makeshift nest and cracking a bit more.