Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Journal log 1

By FierceTeeth of the NightWings.

Hello, I guess. I’m not sure how to start things off, however I have found some scrap pieces of paper and have gotten the urge to write my thoughts down on them. So, HERE I AM I GUESS, writing my thoughts down on old dusty paper that'd probably fall apart if I press too hard. But, what I have to say is too hard for me to vocalize right now. Things have been strange for all us NightWings the past few weeks. As much as I want to forget all that has happened, I feel it is also important to write down and I need a way to put my thoughts together so my mind doesn’t run wild. Right now, hundreds of NightWings are just wandering around the ruins of the old City of Night, all in a stunned state. All processing what in the three moons has just happened as we tend to our wounds. So let me explain what has happened from my perspective the past three weeks. 

Actually, this story started about eight months ago. For generations us NightWings lived on a volcanic island, 8 months ago it was about to explode and it would’ve killed us all. We were weak, we were dying, suffocating on ash, half starved and now we were facing complete extinction. Less and less healthy NightWings were hatching and our Queen, BattleWinner, didn't help in increasing our numbers. She was ruthless, executing anyone for the smallest disobedience or if she considered them a liability. 

We had a plan to overwhelm the RainWings and take over the rainforest, we were desperate and we felt like we had no other choice. If we asked the other tribes for help, they would’ve seen how weak we really were and would've likely taken advantage of that. Especially since we had been gloating about how superior we are to the other tribes for so long, despite that feeling more like a lie the longer we spent on that island. So we did what we thought we had to do in order to survive, that’s all we really wanted and we’d do anything in order to live.

While we did end up in the rainforest, it didn’t go at all how we expected. Our queen had died when the volcano finally did explode, along with dozens of others who had all gotten trapped or hit by molten lava. Thanks to the Dragonets of Destiny helping the RainWings stand their ground and our cowardly princess bowing to the RainWing Queen, Glory. We became a second rate tribe, being bossed around by RainWings. I wasn’t having it. HOW COULD OUR PRINCESS BETRAY US LIKE THAT? She was a weakling from the start, she never could live up to her name, Greatness. 

I looked to my right and left. Beside me was StrongWings, my partner, and to my other side was PreyHunter, a reliable NightWing. I whispered to them my plan and we instantly put it into motion. While everyone was freaking out, we sneakily grabbed the weakest of the Dragonets of Destiny, Sunny and snuck out. PreyHunter had a useful enchanted item, called the Obsidian Mirror and it allowed us to spy on any dragon. We checked on the other Dragonets of Destiny once we were a safe distance and they didn’t even notice that Sunny was gone, they were too distracted dealing with all the NightWings. Kind of almost felt bad for Sunny, but it gave us the edge we needed.

We were going to give up Sunny to one of the SandWing princesses, we were going to end the war of the SandWing succession, I was going to save the NightWings, free my tribe from RainWing control and bring us back to greatness as its new queen. However, Sunny managed to slip from our grip. No biggie though, we still knew where the other Dragonets of Destiny were hiding. During the succession war, everyone was after the Dragonets and any information about them would have granted us so much in rewards! So the three of us pushed on.

This journey was hard for us. We were weak from malnutrition and we kept wheezing up soot that had been deeply rooted in our lungs. We had to take constant breaks from flying, just so we wouldn’t pass out. Even StrongWings, the strongest one out of the three of us and who had never flown so far before, struggled the whole way. Nights when we slept were the worst, we didn’t know who or what might find and attack us. It felt so cold without the extreme heat of lava around us and it constantly rained for the first few days of our trip, soaking us to the bone. 

It didn’t help that StrongWings wheezed as he snored and PrayHunter kept snivelling in his sleep as he repeatedly had the same nightmare about his mother force feeding him after he had refused to eat. I can understand why she did that though. On the island, food was scarce and who knows how long it would be until she could get another piece of food to feed her child. So few dragonets are born each year and less lived to adulthood, we couldn’t afford one dragonet starving to death. 

Slowly, we left the rainforest, flew over the mountains and made our way through the hot desert. We felt more comfortable where the air was hot, but the winds were harsh, blowing sand in our eyes. I swear, I can still find specks of sand in my scales, IT’S SO IRRITATING. Eventually we arrived at the Scorpion Den, where we planned to find ourselves a messenger to inform Princess Burn that three NightWings have knowledge about the Dragonets of Destiny that would help her win the war. 

We were brought to Thorn, this was back before she became the new SandWing queen. Back then, she was the leader of the Outclaws. In return for sending a message to Burn, she demanded to know where MorrowSeer was and PrayHunter informed her that he had died. She didn’t seem to like this answer, she lunged at him as she yelled, demanding that he tell her the truth. This frightened PrayHunter and he fought back out of self defense, then Thorn STABBED HIM THROUGH THE HEART. Killing him for telling her the truth and defending himself when she attacked him. 

This of course spooked StrongWings and I, but we stood our ground. We were at least going to go down fighting to our last breath. THEN SUNNY CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND INTERJECTED. She confirmed that MorrowSeer had burned to death when he was swallowed by lava, his large body unintentionally blocking most of the lava from seeping through the tunnel into the rainforest. Sunny convinced Thorn to spare us, instead we were locked away in a cell and fed small lizards. Things had not gone to plan AT ALL, but at least I had StrongWings by my side. They had put us in the same cell, so that was nice I guess. Though that also meant I was stuck beside his annoying, snoring snout! Not that I minded too much, but there wasn’t much room and he was snoring RIGHT IN MY EAR.

Two weeks later, when Thorn became queen, we were moved into the palace dungeons. Again we were locked in the same cell, next to a ranting, raving SandWing that had been driven mad with how long they’d been there. However we were well fed and we were permitted an hour a day out into the arena to stretch our wings and get some fresh air, under strict supervision of course. But things were still not how they should’ve been and even more was now wrong. The SandWings were given an Outclaw for a queen instead of the strong warrior with a birthright to the throne, Princess Burn. 

After almost seven months of observing the guards, plotting and eating dried camel meat, WHICH I BECAME QUITE SICK OF, I managed to convince a guard to set us free. They were a SandWing named Saguaro and they were loyal to a secret fourth SandWing heir, one with a birthright. Onyx, the secret daughter of Prince Smolder. She was so secret that even Smolder apparently didn't know of her existence. Something else I should note before I move on, a few days before we were set free, I felt a tremor in the earth. It felt distant, so I didn’t think much of it at the time, but little did I know that this was something. Or rather someone, that would not only get in my way, but change everything. 

Saguaro and Onyx had already allied with the crime ringleader Vulture, who had taken control of the Scorpion Den after Thorn and her gang moved out. I promised I could get them all of the NightWing tribe on their side if they helped me free my tribe from the RainWings. I got four dragons. StrongWings, Saguaro and two others. Not that it mattered anyway. We just needed to get in, rally the NightWings together and I was going to challenge Queen Glory for the right to be the NightWing queen. Win, free the NightWings, make the RainWings bow to us instead. Then fly back to the Scorpion Den, this time with the NightWings, then we’d all storm the castle, get rid of Thorn and put Onyx on the throne. Then our tribes could go on living with everything restored to how it should be and everyone’s happy!

At least, that’s how it should’ve gone. OF COURSE NOTHING IN MY LIFE GOES RIGHT AND I COULD NEVER DO SOMETHING GREAT! I just wanted to be my tribe’s hero, to do something important, to be someone. However nothing could’ve prepared me for what happened next. In those past seven months I had grown stronger and healthier, I was ready to take on Glory. I just needed the others to distract that traitorous DeathBringer, but the one who stood in our way wasn’t DeathBringer.

Oh no, it was none other than FREAKING DARKSTALKER??? The most nightmarish of all NightWings, the crazed animus dragon that made himself invincible and used his magic to kill others in horrific ways, the one whose name was only ever spoken in hushed whispers. The very dragon of ancient tales that would make dragonets cry and grown NightWings willingly throw themselves into the volcano if they ever saw. WAS. STANDING. IN. OUR. WAY. 

He didn’t scare me though, I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me from saving my tribe. Besides, the NightWings deserve a proper queen, not a lousy RainWing or a nightmare of a NightWing. But before I could do ANYTHING, he used his magic to turn a vine into a chain that wrapped around four of us, it felt like a snake constricting our limbs until we were secure. One of the SandWings was spared, but I saw their eyes gloss over as they became complacent and was sent to give Vulture a message. I was trying not to freak out as I felt his dark magic constricting me, for a moment I felt like all self control was slipping away. Then eerie calm, like everything was normal, even though something deep within me was screaming that something was horribly wrong. 

He brought us before Queen Glory and revealed to us that he was DarkStalker. StrongWings had always been afraid of him, so naturally he started freaking out and DarkStalker used his magic to force him to bow and pledge allegiance to him. I wasn’t gonna let this stand, I was willing to challenge DarkStalker, he didn’t scare me. But he did manage to charm me with help from his magic, he seemed so alluring as he told me about the Lost City of the Night and promised to take me there, it was so hypnotic.

Looking back, it feels sickening. He made me forget everything else I ever had, my will, my dreams and my relationship with StrongWings, I was no longer myself. I didn't even register when we were led into a dark, cramped prison and I was put in a cell separate from StrongWings. I barely seemed to care less as Saguaro yelled at me for a solid hour about how much I had messed up. I didn’t care about anything else, all my mind was on was going to the old NightWing kingdom and helping DarkStalker restore our tribe to greatness.

He released StrongWings and I the next day, I flew next to DarkStalker as we led about a quarter of our tribe out of the rainforest and to the talon peninsula. When we arrived, everything seemed so amazing and grand! We were once something grand and we were about to be again! Of course all this was a false illusion created by DarkStalker, we didn’t realize how much everything was crumbling apart.

What really makes me want to throw myself into the heart of the volcano on our old island home, is what DarkStalker would do to me next. I didn’t react as he told me how much I reminded him of ClearSight, I didn’t, no couldn’t resist as he used his magic to mold me into the perfect copy of her. All my memories were replaced with hers, I saw them all, especially the ones with DarkStalker. She truly had loved him once, but he manipulated her, used her, tricked her and she left him when she uncovered his lies, revealing what he really was. AND WITH GOOD REASON TOO, BRO IS TOXIC. I’d rather put up with my annoying brother then look at DarkStalker's smug face again! 

Thanks to some convincing from Moon, he gave up trying to make me ClearSight, but it left me dazed and confused. My mind was foggy and I wasn’t sure who I was supposed to be. For reference on how recent this was, THAT HAPPENED LITERALLY YESTERDAY! It makes me feel so sick. He then sent me to pass on a message to the IceWings that we were declaring war. Just hours later, we met the IceWings at Jade Mountain to fight.

There were a few thousand IceWings and only several hundred of us, we were greatly outnumbered. However, we had DarkStalker and he had enchanted us to be stronger, more durable and fast. For our smaller number we were decimating the IceWings, though they had also been weakened by a plague that DarkStalker had cast upon them. We all stopped as we suddenly gained the ability to hear each other’s thoughts and fears. They were just as confused, scared and manipulated as we were. It was so overwhelming and irritating. 

Then just as suddenly, all of us NightWings present at Jade Mountain were teleported to the Black Diamond, a huge open area in the middle of the City of Night. DarkStalker then teleported himself back, leaving the rest of us confused. For some reason my annoying little brother, StarFlight and his equally annoying girlfriend, FateSpeaker had been teleported along with us. With DarkStalker gone, they announced to us that he had been using his magic to manipulate us and that our choices were not entirely ours. 

We just scoffed and looked at them with disgust, how could these two NightWings be having such traitorous thoughts? They explained that our unwavering loyalty to DarkStalker was because of the enchantment he put on us and that they had animus-touched earrings that made them immune to DarkStalker's spells. StarFlight called out to me as he held out a duplicate earring as he begged me to put it on. I reluctantly agreed, only to prove him wrong and to make him shut his annoying snout. 

I attached the earring to my ear and instantly I felt my mind clear. I hadn’t realized that there had been this dark fog clouding my mind, but now it was gone. I had to fight back tears as the realization of what I had gone through finally dawned on me and I flew over to StrongWings as quickly as I could, begging him to put on the earring as well. He hesitantly took it from me and put it on, as he did I could see the look in his eyes clear and brighten. We hugged and cried, finally free from DarkStalker's control.

The other NightWings looked at us confused, but started taking the earrings that StarFlight and FateSpeaker handed out. They only had a few dozen, so we had to pass them around. As each dragon put one on, they’d start to cry, some would curl up and start screaming, some looked sick. It was so jarring, our tribe was not used to expressing so much emotion, we were so used to hiding how we really felt behind false superiority. On the island, whenever a NightWing would start crying, someone would hit them upside the head and yell at them to stop showing weakness. But right now, we were all too overwhelmed by despair. 

There was no yelling or punishing each other for crying, we just huddled together as mass hysteria took over us. We screamed and cried until we simply became too tired. I saw my brother and his girlfriend standing there, hugging each other. I wanted to yell at them for not letting us exist in peaceful bliss, but StrongWings wrapped his huge wings around me, holding me in a gentle but firm hug. I just collapsed into him, I was so exhausted and I missed him. He was still much bigger than me, but I have grown a bit since we had left the volcanic island. We’re not so boney anymore, not as filled out as we should be, but we’re not the skeletons we used to be. We are more healthy, stronger, and we have fresh air to breathe. There is food, there is shelter, we are home, we are free from DarkStalker's control and for now we are safe.

I hope he doesn’t come back, but it’s been a few hours now and there’s been word going around that he disappeared. Good, DarkStalker better stay away. StrongWings is currently curled around me, snoring. Oh great moons how I’ve missed his snoring. It’s not as labored anymore as our lungs have finally been cleared of soot, but there is still a bit of a raspy edge as his large rib cage rumbles. 

As I’ve been writing this, other NightWings have been clearing out, heading back to the rainforest and Queen Glory. Glory had allowed us to make our own choice of whose rule we wanted to live under, and made it clear that we were welcome back anytime. Though I don’t think that invitation will extend to me and StrongWings, given that we did plot to murder her. I give up on that now, I’m simply too tired of my plans being foiled. It seems like at every turn of my plan to take control of the NightWing tribe, something would come along to stop me. I GET IT NOW UNIVERSE, you made your point clear that, that is not the path you want me going down. 

BUT I STILL PLAN TO LEAD. There’s about 27 of us still here, there’s this large cave in one of the mountains that we’ve all roosted up in as all the old buildings are too unstable to be staying in right now. StrongWings and I went up here to get away from all the hysterical dragons and others just started joining us. At first I wanted to yell at them to go away, but I’m too tired for that, besides they are being pretty quiet so I guess I’ll put up with them. I recognize a few, like DeadlyClaws, SmokeSeer and a few others, the rest are just faces I’ve seen in passing. Everyone else seems to be choosing to return to the RainWings, pathetic. Even without DarkStalker we can still transform this place into something livable!

Though some of us choose to stay, so I guess we can get things going and see if anyone else decides to join us. For now we are just resting for the night, it's just starting to get dark. Some, like StrongWings, have already fallen asleep. Some snoring, simply too tired to dream, though I can hear someone in the back, tossing and turning. Muttering something about fighting DarkStalker, I hope they win against him! Someone needs to beat that guy up, even if it is just in a dream. I can hear someone else AND THEY WON'T STOP COUGHING! They're currently downing their fifth bucket of water someone else brought them, trying to stop the coughing, nearly drowning themself in the process.

That's about all that I can really hear, anyone who is still awake is either silently staring off into nothingness or whispering words of comfort. It's strange how much we've changed in just several months. Normally we'd be snarling at each other for being too close or yelling SHUT UP! Or just resolving to straight up violence. To be honest that's mostly me. I want to snarl and yell! I want to shove that coughing dragon's head into the water filled bucket and hold him there until he actually drowns, just to SHUT HIM UP! But I'm just simply too drained to get angry, and StrongWings has wrapped himself completely around me, holding me in a death grip.

I suppose some of the others are too tired to care as well, but I suspect that some of them have grown soft. On the island we had to be tough, it was a kill or be killed world. Though I guess we're not on the island anymore, are we? Well good riddance, I'm certainly not going back! Now we can build a new life for us here, in the ruins of what we once were long ago. Yes I still believe that we can regain what we lost one day and I'm going to be the one to pioneer it! To build us a place we can call our own! Not a small patch of loaned land. A place where we can grow, to be healthy and strong! To not have to live in constant fear of death, safe from DarkStalker's manipulation. Where we can just live in peace. Yes, that's all I really wanted for my tribe, that's all any of us ever wanted. That we've dreamed of.

It will take a long time to make that place a reality. We have a lot of work a head of us, but one step at a time and we'll get it done for the future generations! Though the beginning of that will have to wait until tomorrow, I'm exhausted. I'm also running out of light and paper. I wrote a LOT, wow. I didn't think I had THAT MUCH to say! I guess I just needed to rant about things for a while. It did seem to help me not yell at anyone by keeping me busy. Someone else did notice this and was supplying me with more paper as I wrote, but they've gone to sleep now. If I find more paper I might write some more, it's actually nice writing out my thoughts and reading over what I wrote. Certainly helps to get an insight into my mind, especially since I don't tend to share my thoughts. But I think that's enough for now. I got some string to tie all these papers together, so I'm going to do that and go to sleep.

Good night.

-FierceTeeth

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Journal log 2

By FierceTeeth of the NightWings.

Well, I'm back at it again! I found this room in the old library full of empty papers, it looked like where they had made and printed books. Anyways I brought a bunch of them home. Oh! Yeah each of us have our individual caves or "homes" now, so that's nice. There's a bunch of small series of caves that make up a few rooms of a home carved into the rock. We were actually already living in some of them, but now that we're no longer affected by DarkStalker's magic, we see that things are a little more run down than we first thought.

So we picked a bunch of nice ones in a hilly area on the south end, just above the cliffs. Partially because these were some of the better ones and mostly because these ones were close together. I knew the others have gotten soft, I KNEW IT! Though I guess I could forgive them for wanting to stay as close as possible, especially considering all that we've been through and all that we've lost. Each other is all we got left really. As much as I hate to admit it, even I'm afraid of losing them, I MEAN I wouldn't be able to start working on fixing this place on my own! I JUST CAN'T! This has to be a group effort unfortunately.

Anyways, when we all woke up the day was spent exploring everything and seeing things for how they truly looked. Sure, we knew things were in ruin, you'd expect that after a long time. We just didn't realize how wrecked everything truly was, DarkStalker must've used his magic to make this place seem much greater. It's hard to explain, but it was like we had been dreaming, we were just not seeing things clearly. Is the best way I could put it anyway. Especially for me, considering I wasn't even myself!

While everyone was just stumbling around in awe at the mess everything was, I went off on my own to clear some of my thoughts. All of ClearSight's memories still linger in my mind, I haven't spoken to anyone about my time as her, not even to StrongWings who I usually confide in. No, I couldn't, they wouldn't understand anyway. Sure we were all manipulated by magic, but no one else had been distorted as much as I had been. EVERYONE ELSE AT LEAST GOT TO STAY THEMSELVES, but, not me.

It had only been about a week that I had been her, living in the palace with DarkStalker as he tried to mold me into the perfect version of ClearSight. One that acted like her, but that loved him despite all his wrong doings. IT MAKES ME SICK! Even if I really was ClearSight, he was still trying to make her into something that she wasn't. Though a few times he enchanted her to have all of her memories, just so the two of them could talk.

DarkStalker would plead with her that he had changed, to give him a second chance, that they could be together again. It was pathetic really. But ClearSight had lost all her love for him a long time ago, she had lived a long life without him. She had seen all the evil he had done, what he could've done and she could see it all again. It was so surreal seeing all the possible futures, weaving though them like a spider weaving a web. ClearSight hadn't gotten to explore them much, but she saw me! She saw DarkStalker releasing the enchantments on me, seeing her turn into me. She knew that he had turned me into her!

It was so weird seeing the future before it happened. When I was finally turned back into myself, DarkStalker had erased all of her memories from my mind. But ever since putting the earring on, that had removed all of his enchantments, I suddenly remembered everything. I remember all her memories as if they were my own. I know my way around everywhere, I had seen the City of Night the way she had seen it long ago. How grand it truly had been once. Now just crumbling ruins.

It's kind of saddening to see it now with knowledge of how it originally looked, I just flew around looking at everything. Every so often I'd get a quick flash of one of ClearSight's memories. The places she'd play as a little hatchling, the library she cooped herself in while she sorted through the infinite, ever changing future. Being so excited yet terrified of going to school, meeting DarkStalker for the first time, falling in love with him, blissfully unaware of what was to come. She made friends, spending time with them, things seemed to be going well, but then suddenly everything started falling apart around her. She scrambled to pick up the pieces, but things were breaking faster than she could fix them, she was growing desperate, and she was forced to make a difficult decision, she had to put an end to DarkStalker.

He was so trusting of her while she placed a bracelet on him that would put him to sleep, he was still smiling so lovingly at her as he collapsed unconscious. Only a hint of betrayal in his glossed over eyes. She watched as the mountain fell atop of him as he blissfully slept in a dreamless sleep, waiting for everything to finally stop crumbling apart. And when the dust settled she flew off, leaving everything behind. She flew across the sea, from island to island she flew, trying to get as far away from him as she could. She found a new land with new dragons, she fell in love with them, she wanted to protect them, she became a mother to a whole new tribe, she combed through the possible futures, carving out the best path for her children and their children and so on. But all the while she kept an eye out for DarkStalker, she grew so afraid of him returning, that he'd appear somewhere in the timeline, chasing after her, terrorizing the dragons of this new land.

As much as she still loved him, she was so scared that he'd grow jealous and kill all her children. But time passed, she grew old, her descendants many and the timelines began fading, there was no sign of DarkStalker, at least as far as she could see. Closing her eyes for what she thought would be the last time, surrounded by five generations of her kin, she faded away into oblivion. Suddenly she snapped awake again, all her children were gone, she was her younger self again, in the ruins of her old home. Was this one, final vision? "No, it's real." A deep rumbling voice cooed and she looked up, gasping in shock. Towering over her like a small mountain was a large Nightwing, at least many times bigger than Queen Vigilance had been, making her feel helplessly small. It was DarkStalker, ClearSight was suddenly flooded with visions she couldn't stop. All timelines, all possibilities of the near future, both good and bad.

She saw him magically changing her before letting go and turning back into me, she saw him draining power from other animus dragons, she saw NightWings and IceWings fighting in a fierce thunderstorm. She saw a SandWing whose choices could drastically change the timelines. The IceWings being driven to extinction and DarkStalker sitting on a throne made of their skulls, the SeaWings being driven very deep underwater, never to resurface, she saw the SkyWings mountain kingdom crumbling apart, the RainWings forced to live in fear, forever invisible. The MudWings always starving, the SandWings gone mad and the NightWing tribe split in two.

But she also saw the storm disappearing, a RainWing with a strawberry? What the- how does THAT lead to a good future? Anyways she also saw DarkStalker somehow permanently turning into Night-RainWing hybrid with no powers or any memory of his past, and hugging his mother. Which ClearSight thought was cute, I'd like to disagree though, he should've just been destroyed. I swear if I see that dragonet I will chuck it into the volcano on the old NightWing island and be done with it, but MAYBE I'm just biased! Can you blame ME? Must I reiterate that he turned me into a puppet version of his dead ex! Sure it's nice that DarkStalker has potentially been rendered powerless and turned into a helpless dragonet, but it's still unsettling knowing what he used to be. What if he somehow remembers who he was and regains his powers, THEN WHAT? By all moons I don't want to see that dragonet.

In other news though, StrongWings, the doofus that he is, got slapped in the face by a fish. Absolutely hilarious and it was in front of EVERYONE! I was rolling with laughter, I haven't laughed like that in a while. We then ate the fish as an act of vengeance. Everyone that's here seems to be starting to settle in a bit, we all got our own little homes and lots of feisty fish to eat as StrongWings found out. Not much happened with the others today though, just a lot of moping around in stunned silence. Things have been quite intense lately that now the metaphorical storm has settled we don't know what to do, everyone is just waiting for SOMETHING ELSE to happen and honestly, me too. It's going to be a while before we realize that things are fine now.

I did see in one of ClearSight's visions that there's a very bright future ahead for us here and the key to it had something to do with me. What it entails or how to get it, I don't know, but I'm determined to try to steer us down that path. If this is what I'm destined for, then so be it! I will embrace it, because all I ever wanted really was to bring our tribe to greatness again. And if that means painstakingly rebuilding our tribe in the shadows of the ruins of what we once were, I'll do it! StrongWings told me he's planning to enlist a clean up crew to start clearing away some of the rubble tomorrow, I think that is a good start. Get these dragons ACTUALLY doing something instead of wallowing in misery! I'll see if I can get patrols and hunting parties organized too, this could really work, IF EVERYONE COOPERATES THAT IS. If they don't I'll set their butts on fire, we're not going to get any work done if all we do all day is sit and cry!

I think this is starting to become a habit, writing down my thoughts and stuff. It is weirdly calming for me, and I admit, helpful for expressing things I don't express aloud. The home StrongWings and I have is fairly small, just a front kitchen/living room area and two bedrooms. I'm using one of them as a sort of office space which is where I am right now. I can hear StrongWings already snoring in the other room. Everything was dusty before, but StrongWings put his powerful wings to good use and cleaned the dust out of everyone's homes and put fresh wood into each fire place. BlackRose was also the only other NightWing doing anything actually productive today, she had found a bunch of herbs and started burning a bunch of them in our new homes to help get rid of the rotting food smell from all the left behind food that we had to clean out.

Now our homes are clean, they smell nice and they are warm. It's the little things really, one little thing at a time. Brick by brick, that's how we're going to rebuild this place! And hopefully we can get something going here. Well I'm going to go join StrongWings for the night.

Until the future,

FierceTeeth.

Chapter Text

Journal Log 3

By FierceTeeth

It's been a few days since I had the urge to write anything down, well here I am now! So I guess I'll give a little update report on what's been happening. Personally, I could be doing better. I keep looking over my shoulder expecting DarkStalker or THAT dragonet to be behind me, but nothing. Although one time StrongWings was behind me and I smacked him in the face with my tail, he DEFINITELY DID NOT SCARE ME THERE! I was just mad at him sneaking up on me like that! Other than that things are going fine! Absolutely FINE! NO I AM NOT STILL DISTURBED BY WHAT DARKSTALKER DID TO ME, NO I AM NOT HAVING NIGHTMARES ABOUT CLEARSIGHT'S VISIONS, I'M TOTALLY FINE!

Anyways- things at home are going great. We noticed that there were hinges that doors used to be on, so StrongWings spent a WHOLE DAY making everyone new doors and honestly they're not half bad. Defiantly helps to keep the cold wind out, it's certainly cold and wet here. Not humid but somewhat warm like in the rainforest, not dry and scorching hot like on the island, no it's just WET and DAMP and COLD! How did our ancestors live like this? THREE MOONS! I guess it's just because we're so used to be living beside lava, that now everything just seems so cold without it. Better than slowly dying though.

As cold and wet as it is, the air feels so fresh. Now we're not breathing in ash, but salt water. Which seems to be helping to clear our lungs. And as weird as it is, it seems so right, like home. Because, well it was, this is the environment our tribe was built for, apparently. Though everything is quite a mess, but StrongWings did manage to organize a clean up crew! StrongWings, has of course become the head of the crew. Makes sense, he is THE physically strongest out of all of us here. Magic doesn't count though, YES I AM LOOKING AT YOU FEARLESS!

Speaking of which, Fearless is the youngest member of the newly founded clean up crew. She was previously attending Jade Mountain Academy where my annoying brother works as the librarian. When DarkStalker came, he had enchanted her bracelet to give her super strength and at just 5 years old she joined in the fight at Jade Mountain against the IceWings. Where she was throwing IceWings around like they were nothing, until one managed to damage her wing when they hit her with their frostbreath. Now with permanent damage to her wing she is unable to make the flight back to Jade mountain and so has decided to stay with us.

Now she's throwing giant boulders five times her size around. Which is honestly quite the ridiculous sight, even if you know about the bracelet! Oh yeah that tiny, scrawny dragonet? Yeah she can lift these giant boulders like they're nothing! You'd think we've gone mad already! But all the ridiculousness aside, she's undoubtedly a big help. Even if that is just the ENCHANTED bracelet that's really doing the heavy lifting and anyone can wear it to become super strong. JUST SAYING! But we'll let her have it, she did just lose her ability to fly after all.

Other members of the clean up crew include: SkullCrusher, the father of my annoying brother's just as equalling annoying girlfriend, FateSpeaker. He also is one of our assigned hunters. Which I also do and I keep inventory of everything we catch to make sure everyone gets equal amounts of food. SharpEars is also a part of the clean up crew and hunts. He had his earring enchanted by DarkStalker so that he had better hearing and could play music, he's been making the evenings a little more lively with violin serenades. He is also the father of BlackStone, one of our five dragonets. AllPowerful is another clean up crew member, contrary to his name, he is not all powerful. He also does patrols around the territory.

AshBreath is apparently the dragon that kept coughing that first night. While growing up on the volcanic island, he had somehow breathed in so much ash that it's now so deeply rooted in his lungs that he has a hard time breathing. He also cannot breath fire, all that comes out is smoke. So, his name is AshBreath. When he's not sticking his snout into the sea, he's helping with the clean up crew, well, until he starts wheezing that is. The final member of the clean up crew is IronClaws and his name is also quite literal. And by that I mean he has a literal metal claw, let me explain.

So when he was a child he tried to touch one of the lava streams and well that badly hurt one of his claws, so a metal one was made for him. Now your probably wondering, hypothetical dragon from the future that's sticking their snout in places it shouldn't be. Why do AshBreath and IronClaws have such ironic names? How could their mothers have known, did they have future sight? No, the answer is actually pretty simple and sad to be honest. But on the island, many NightWing mothers had gotten into the habit of not naming their dragonets until they were at least a year old. It was easier that way, so that you wouldn't be too attached to a dragonet if they were to die. Unfortunate, but that's how it was. Though, he got his metal claw enchanted by DarkStalker so that it would grow with him and act like a normal claw, but also that he'd be a skilled blacksmith, and he made the new hinges for all the doors.

Moving on, I already mentioned a few hunters, but yes I did manage to get a rotation of dragons that hunt and gather food. Mainly for those who can't hunt but also to make sure everyone can get their share. So lets introduce them. DeadlyClaws mostly dedicates himself to patrolling around the ENTIRE territory, which takes him about a quarter of the day, each lap, so he can only do four laps each day. But while on these laps he's caught a few things, he's also been noting each animal he spots. He's seen squirrels, mice, rock rats, other rodents, porcupines - which he says not to eat after he came back with quills stuck in his face and claws. He's also seen raccoons, rabbits, goats, sheep, wolves, deer, elk, several different kinds of birds and tons of fish swimming around in the water. Which is all good to know, especially his warning about the porcupines.

BlackRose is the wife of DeadlyClaws and the mother of BoneCruncher. She also does some hunting, but she mainly forages for herbs and other things, like plants that we can eat. She also acts as our doctor and has been treating everyone's frostbite injuries, she was not at all happy when her husband came back full of porcupine quills. BlackRose has told me that she was thinking of making gardens where we can grow extra food if we can get anything to plant. FateSeer is FateSpeaker's mother and the wife of SkullCrusher, both of whom are also some of our hunters. FateSeer is also working with BlackRose to try to find a suitable place to plant things, being a part of our exploration crew that Wisdom, another hunter, put together.

Eclipse is certainly keeping herself busy by partaking in almost all the jobs we have assigned. She is on rotation for both the hunting and patrolling parties. She also is a part of Wisdom's exploration crew and is being taught by BlackRose about all the different herbs, spices and foods. Eclipse had her necklace enchanted by DarkStalker to make her a great cook, apparently she proclaimed that while she was a fighter, she was a cook at heart. She had saved the few recipe books we had from the volcano before it exploded and had somehow already ransacked the old library here for every book related to food. Unfortunately we don't have much to work with right now aside from meat and a few herbs, but she did cook some meat over a fire. At first I was like "WHY DID YOU DO THAT YOU JUST BURNT PERFECTLY GOOD FOOD!" but then she made all of us try a piece of it and three moons it was good! Though I imagine it'd be much better with the proper herbs and spices.

So now we're getting some of our meat cooked and have been having dinner together in the newly named cook house, where we store our food and where Eclipse cooks for us. Though I still enjoy some fresh kill with StrongWings in our home. We were just eating off the floor like we normally do, but we've started sitting at this stone table that's been carved out between the kitchen and living room space, where there is a lifted stone slab for sitting by the fire. There's also matching slabs for beds in the other rooms, though I bet they would be much more comfortable to rest on when they're covered in pelts. We had to get rid of all the old ones that were originally in our homes because they were falling apart.

Fortunately though, Crescent is working on amending that. Taking the furs off the animals we hunt and is working on making the first batch of pelts. She's also a part of our hunting rotation and has joined Wisdom's exploration crew. BoneCruncher, the son of DeadlyClaws and BlackRose, is not a hunter, but is a skilled herbalist and had his silver bracelets, that he totally didn't take from the treasures that were left here, enchanted to make him a very skilled gardener. Which, he is working with his mother on the gardening project and will be taking the lead of once it gets started. He has also adopted two of the five dragonets we have, Abyss and Fang.

The final few on the hunting rotation are; IronClaws, who I already mentioned, his sharp metal claws certainly come in handy when taking down bigger prey. DaggerTail works side by side with IronClaws when he patrols or hunts. And he had made her a piece of tail jewelry that had a dagger end so she can stab prey with her tail like a SandWing does, minus the venom. Lastly we got WolfFang, who has recently gotten into a relationship with Moonless and is getting quite good at hunting wolves. Moonless is not a part of the hunting rotation as we already have enough! But she is the final member of Wisdom's exploration party, also helps to care for and teach the few dragonets we have.

Which Raven also does when she's not on patrol, and she is the mother of Echo, one of the dragonets here. Echo is not yet a year old and is one of the last NightWings to hatch on the island, having lived there for the first two and a half months of her life. Which was enough time for her to be traumatized and now she hates loud noises. Because of that we have to keep her out of earshot of the clean up crew, otherwise she'd bolt and we'd all have to spend a good part of the day looking for her. Yes that happened, no we're not letting that happen again. She is a really good hider though, could've been a spy if she wasn't so skittish, but luckily for her we don't have a need for spies.

Of course we also managed to organize a patrol rotation, which both StrongWings and I are a part of and we scheduled when everyone's rotation would be. Except for DeadlyClaws, who decided on his own that he'd patrol the entire territory, which I mentioned takes a while, AND he'd do it every day. Let's see how long he lasts doing four laps everyday, though the information that he has been gathering about animals, terrain and weather patterns have been very helpful. But he did make another discovery that he made when flying over the area known as DarkStalker's Teeth, which is a stone region, devoid of life that separates us from the rest of Pyrrhia. I didn't know why it was called that or why it was named after that good for nothing DarkStalker, but when I searched through ClearSight's memories I found out the sickening truth.

Oh how I wish I didn't look, but I did. Apparently DarkStalker had put a spell on this land and that spell was one of the last straws for ClearSight. We must've been so enchanted by DarkStalker's promise of our old home that we didn't see what we were flying over. Not until DeadlyClaws flew over it with fresh eyes did we know about the literal hundreds maybe even thousands of dead IceWings. All in various stages of decay and mummification. Some were reduced to bone, but some were still relatively fresh, dating from several months ago to hundreds of years. The spell was to kill any IceWing that came too close to the City of Night. I suspect it goes all the way around, fortunately if that's the case those IceWings at least drop into the sea, but not here. It must've been an endless cycle, an IceWing would come by, see it's dead comrades and go investigate, only to join them in their fate.

We've decided to make sure that area is constantly being patrolled by a team of two in order to keep any living IceWing out. Not because we don't want any IceWings in our old kingdom, though we certainly are not on friendly terms, but so that we DON'T HAVE TO CLEAN UP ANYMORE BODIES THEN WE HAVE TOO! As whoever is assigned to that area has to chuck at least one IceWing corpse into the sea, each, at least once a day. Which at that rate, will take several years to clean up all the bodies and who knows if we'll even get every bone? There might be few dozen tucked into little crevices that we won't find until years later. Yuck, I hate that this is a thing we have to deal with, THANKS A LOT DARKSTALKER!

HeartStriker is a NightWing I haven't talked about yet, she is the mother of PreyHunter. StrongWings and I don't know how to tell her the truth. I mean how do you tell a mother, that her ONLY child that survived to adulthood, was killed by the soon to be Queen of the SandWings, Thorn? FOR NO GOOD REASON EITHER! It's not like it was in combat or anything, NO! He was slaughtered for telling her the truth and Thorn didn't like that truth, but violence was so unnecessary! So HeartStriker has just been moping about during her patrol rotations, wondering where her son could be, swearing that he survived the volcano. Which he did, but he wouldn't live for very long after that. How do we explain that to her?

Eclipse, quite the busy bee, I decided it would be best for her to be back up after I saw how many roles she was taking on. STOP OVER WORKING YOURSELF! AllPowerful, Raven, IronClaws, DaggerTail and WolfFang are all also on patrol rotation. That's ten NightWings in total and five areas to cover. We got two over at DarkStalker's Teeth, one on the north shore, one on the south shore and one along the Talon Peninsula. Of course DeadlyClaws does the entire territory, so seven dragons are actively patrolling at a time and three on standby. Not very many dragons, unless others decide to join the patrols. But not many are willing out of fear of being assigned DarkStalker's Teeth, fair, but also COWARDS! Everyone is still quite on edge, we don't know if we will be attacked or not. The IceWings also have the earrings that were enchanted by Prince Turtle of the SeaWings to protect the wearer from any and all of DarkStalker's magic. So as long as they are wearing one of those earrings, the IceWings can pass through the shield.

IT'S USELESS, DARKSTALKER'S TEETH WON'T EVEN PROTECT US FROM OUR GREATEST THREAT! The one thing it could have been useful for! Nullified! And if the IceWings decide to finish what was started we wouldn't stand a chance, it'd be a massacre! So we've devised an escape route if an IceWing attack were to happen. They'd most likely come from the north shore or DarkStalker's Teeth, so we'd flee from the south shore over to Jade Mountain, warn the NightWings there. Then flee to the Rainforest Kingdom, warn the NightWings there, they may have gone soft, but we're not leaving them behind. Then all flee to the old NightWing Island, if there's one place the IceWings wouldn't follow us, it's to that moonforesaken volcanic island. Let's just hope that doesn't happen.

Another possible threat is DarkStalker's return, in the event of that we kept our protective earrings. I've kept the one my brother give to me and I even sent a letter to him the other day requesting more for the others who didn't have one. So we're at least safe from DarkStalker's magic, though he could still very easily crush or burn us. And the escape plan is about the same, since he doesn't even know of the island's existence, let alone where it is, but he could very easily learn if he were to read our minds. But honestly I prefer the IceWing invasion to DarkStalker's return, though I have a sneaking suspicion that he most likely got turned into that powerless little dragonet I saw in ClearSight's vision. Either way I hope neither thing happens.

We got two more NightWing's that decided to stay here, mainly because like Fearless, they cannot make the trip. SmokeSeer is my old teacher, the one that was just blind enough that he couldn't see what was happening in the back of the class. Despite not being very old, his eye sight had gotten poor from sticking his face over the lava, trying to study it. His name used to refer to his adventurous spirit, now it refers to how his vision is like trying to see through smoke. After one too many sparks to the eyes, he was reassigned from researcher to teacher. He was so grumpy and his classes were so boring that I snuck out of as many as I could. Honestly I don't regret doing that, that is how I ended up meeting StrongWings. Nowadays SmokeSeer just mopes about like HeartStriker, and well most of what he was teaching is basically redundant now anyways. He just teaches the basic history of Pyrrhia, math and science now. He used to also preach about NightWing superiority and spin his lessons in a way that painted the NightWings as the smart, noble heroes we thought we were, by the moons have we been humbled since.

The final member of our settlement here is LostSight. When he was very young, he was badly hurt when he got hit by a wave of lava. Most of his face is melted and his wings are damaged from trying to shield himself. Injuries from the lava were quite common, even from before the volcano exploded, but if one were to be badly disfigured, the old queen would deem them useless and have them thrown into the lava to "Finish off the job". So, LostSight was kept hidden from the queen and most of the tribe, his mother was one of our healers and she would secretly steal supplies to treat her son. Keeping him alive all these years and was determined not to leave him behind when the volcano exploded, strapping him to her back with rope.

The rest of the tribe were not too happy about the reveal of his existence, believing that precious resources were wasted on him and the RainWings disgusted by his disfigurements. So his mother made a veil out of vines and leaves to cover his face and when DarkStalker came to take whoever joined him to the Lost City of Night, she brought her son along in hopes his injuries would be magically healed. But DarkStalker never did get too it and LostSight's mother was one of the few that died during the brief battle with the IceWings at Jade Mountain. Raven, who was a close friend of his mother and one of the few that knew of his survival, took LostSight under her wing and has been caring for him since. And those of us here are certainly more excepting of him then the rest of the tribe back in the Rainforest. The more dragons the better after all!

Though last night, as we ate Eclipse's cooked meat and listened to SharpEars's violin solos, we discovered that LostSight is a very gifted storyteller. Effortlessly weaving a story that matched the tone of the music, spinning a sing-songy tale of adventure and hope. It was quite the inspiring story, everyone was so enthralled by it. And when it concluded we cheered and begged for more, to which he obliged, coordinating with SharpEars to spin another story. It was great seeing everyone relax and forget about our worries for a while. Little by little, things are getting better.

Until the future,

FierceTeeth.

Chapter Text

Journal Log 4

By FireceTeeth of the NightWings.

So, this entry is going to be a little different. It's been about a full week now since everything happened and today we got some unexpected visitors. No, not an IceWing attack or DarkStalker's return. It was Queen Glory, some RainWings, DeathBringer, some of the Rainforest NightWings, Queen Thorn and some SandWings. Also Sunny, who is Thorn's daughter apparently, MoonWatcher, the NightWing who everyone now knows can read minds and see the future.

But there was another dragon whose arrival here made me feel sick, Qibli, the SandWing from ClearSight's visions whose choices could change the future. And I also recognized the RainWing with a strawberry from the visions too, I overheard Glory calling her Kinkajou. So they're both here I guess, and I have to act calm because no body else knows! Well except Moon, who I could tell was reading my mind. Moon and Qibli are the only ones that know that I had been turned into ClearSight as they were the ones that convinced DarkStalker to release me from the spell.

I also overheard Sunny talking briefly with Fearless as everyone came over to see what was going on, even the ones that were on patrol came as soon as word spread of our visitors. Sunny told her that the academy had been briefly shut down to recover after the battle that took place there a week ago. But that she was welcome to come back once they opened up again, if we can find a way to get her there. The idea is either StrongWings or Clay carry her over, which could work. And to my surprise Fearless agreed with it, I thought after everything that she didn't want to go back, but she does. She assured me that she still called Renewal her home, but wanted to at least finish the school year and will come back as much as she could to help with the clean up crew. Fair enough I suppose.

Anyways, why were all these dragons here? Well StrongWings and I were being put on trial for our crimes. Should've seen that coming, I knew that we weren't in the clear, but I didn't expect them to come so soon! So the trial was set up. Queen Glory and Queen Thorn were the judges, Sunny was our defendant of course, the lousy DeathBringer was the prosecutor OF COURSE! MOONS ABOVE! Why was that so predictable? Then Moon and Qibli were scribes, they kept awkwardly glancing at each other as they sat on the other side of their respective Queens. I mentally yelled at Moon to "STOP OGLING AT HIM AND FOCUS ON THE TASK ON TALON!" to which she instantly refocused to her scroll.

To defend our tails since clearly in the moment we'd probably instantly criminalize ourselves, I decided to let Sunny read out the first entry of my journal. Apparently my new weird habit of writing my thoughts down might save us, or at least lessen our sentence, because I JUST KNOW THAT DEATHBRINGER IS GOING TO TRY EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO VILLAINIZE US! We've done bad things yes, but hasn't our tribe as a whole done bad things in an attempt to save our lives? I mean DeathBringer over here was an assassin sent to kill the Dragonets of Destiny, one of which included Glory who he is now tail over talons for! So really he's a hypocrite if he thinks that we should be imprisoned for THE SAME CRIMES HE ATTEMPTED TO DO!

Luckily Glory also noticed this hypocrisy when he made his case against us and shut him down real quick. Though we weren't still in the clear, because while he was a bit of a hypocrite he had proven that he had become a better dragon, but had we? This is where Sunny came in to save our tails ONCE AGAIN! Moons above, why? So I handed her the first little bundle of papers, still tied in the string, that I had written on that fateful day one week ago now. Putting all my trust into those written words to convince the two Queens before us to release us of our crimes. Now what were these crimes? Kidnapping, betrayal, escaping imprisonment and attempted murder, not great.

So the following is a mixture of some excerpts from Qibli and Moon's transcripts of the trial and some of my personal reactions after the fact.

Queen Glory: Alright then, Sunny whenever you're ready.

Sunny (Reading FierceTeeth's journal): Ahem, "Hello, I guess. I’m not sure how

to start things off, however I have found some scrap pieces of paper and have

gotten the urge to write my thoughts down on them. So, HERE I AM I GUESS,

writing my thoughts down on old dusty paper that'd probably fall apart if I

press too hard. But, what I have to say is too hard for me to vocalize right now.

Things have been strange for all us NightWings the past few weeks. As much as I

want to forget all that has happened, I feel it is also important to write down

and I need a way to put my thoughts together so my mind doesn’t run wild.

So It began, I'm not going to write down the whole trial just the important parts where things actually happen. But I did want to put this here because at this point, I admit I was quite nervous. Both about the fact that this paper is our only chance of salvation, JUST WHEN THINGS WERE FINALLY STARTING TO LOOK UP FOR US! And for some of the things in there I was not quite ready to share, but now it was being read aloud to about FIFTY dragons against my will. But left with no other choice, I just buried myself under StrongWings' giant wing and hoped it was enough to hide how anxious I was. I didn't want to appear weak in front of all these dragons! I didn't want their eyes on me as Sunny read.

Sunny: "For generations us NightWings lived on a volcanic island, 8 months ago

it was about to explode and it would’ve killed us all. We were weak, we were

dying, suffocating on ash, half starved and now we were facing complete

extinction. Less and less healthy NightWings were hatching and our Queen,

BattleWinner, didn't help in increasing our numbers. She was ruthless,

executing anyone for the smallest disobedience or if she considered them a

liability."

While all the NightWings were unfazed by this part, just solemnly nodding their heads, the RainWings were expectantly distraught. Even though they had been living with us for 8 months now, and some of them had even been of the island for a while themselves. A lot of RainWings didn't know the full extend of the conditions we were in. But what shocked me was the reaction of the SandWings, they looked sad for us? They live in a pretty harsh environment themselves and for years had cruel Queens. So why did they pity us?

I would later be told by Qibli that it's because things weren't that bad for them, even when times were rough. Their tribe was healthy and thriving, while ours was sick and slowly dying. And they only pitied us more and more as Sunny read on. They didn't know that we were suffering, no one did, that was the point. To hide our suffering and pain behind a mask of smug superiority, which had shattered. Glory had been doing what she could to hide how weak we truly were, but the truth is slowly coming to light and now it's being revealed to the SandWing tribe.

They weren't to pleased though when they learned that we had briefly kidnapped Sunny, their new princess. But were surprisingly understanding at the reasoning. Though one dragon shouted about where PreyHunter was, this of course caused a small disruption from HeartStriker as Queen Thorn, Sunny, StrongWings and I all shared awkward glances.

Random SandWing: Where is this PreyHunter? He should be put on trial too!

HeartStriker: PrayHunter? My son! I knew he had survived the volcano! Please!

Where is he? I must know what happened to my son!

FierceTeeth: Uhh, it's a little later in the paper.

Queen Glory: Well, if that's the case. Sunny, please continue and everyone,

please no interrupting.

Of course no one else yet knew the truth and I could see Thorn getting a little nervous. Good we might be able to get her off our case with pure guilt!

Sunny: "This journey was hard for us. We were weak from malnutrition and we

kept wheezing up soot that had been deeply rooted in our lungs. We had to take

constant breaks from flying, just so we wouldn’t pass out. Even StrongWings,

the strongest one out of the three of us and who had never flown so far before,

struggled the whole way. Nights when we slept were the worst, we didn’t know

who or what might find and attack us. It felt so cold without the extreme heat of

lava around us and it constantly rained for the first few days of our trip,

soaking us to the bone."

I was expecting to hear snickering at this part, but to my surprise the SandWings only had looks of concern. Odd. I don't think any NightWing present were expecting to get any sympathy from another tribe. Well here we were! I GUESS!

Sunny: "It didn’t help that StrongWings wheezed as he snored and PrayHunter

kept snivelling in his sleep as he repeatedly had the same nightmare about his

mother force feeding him after he had refused to eat. I can understand why she

did that though. On the island, food was scarce and who knows how long it

would be until she could get another piece of food to feed her child. So few

dragonets are born each year and less lived to adulthood, we couldn’t afford one

dragonet starving to death."

Queen Glory to HeartStriker: Is this true?

HeartStriker: Yes! I was only trying to feed by baby! He was refusing to eat the

food I got him, but I had nothing else for him!

Queen Glory: What was that condition of the food?

HeartStriker: I scavenged it, the small animal had to have been dead for a few

days at least from what I remember.

Queen Glory: So you couldn't find fresh food?

HeartSriker: That's the freshest I could get him.

DeathBringer: Sorry to interrupt, but how is this important?

Queen Glory: I am just simply trying to collect information on the living

conditions your tribe had been in. You should know this by now.

DeathBringer: But I've told you lots! It was terrible living in that place!

Queen Glory: I need to know more than one perspective you know and since

PreyHunter isn't here, I need all the information on him because he was

involved in this. Anyways the no interrupting extends to you too DeathBringer.

Oh how I enjoy seeing that self righteous NightWing get put in his place. But Glory is right, getting more evidence on what our lives were like on the island is helpful and it's helpful to our case too. Giving other dragons a reason on why I made the choices I did and tried to do the things that I did. Pity, as much as I hate revealing our weakness, we could use this pity to our advantage and just maybe we'll be in the clear.

Sunny: "We were brought to Thorn, this was back before she became the new

SandWing queen. Back then, she was the leader of the Outclaws. In return for

sending a message to Burn, she demanded to know where MorrowSeer was and

PrayHunter informed her that he had died. She didn’t seem to like this answer,

she lunged at him as she yelled, demanding that he tell her the truth. This

frightened PrayHunter and he fought back out of self defense, then Thorn

STABBED HIM THROUGH THE HEART. Killing him for telling her the truth and

defending himself when she attacked him."

And there was the moment I was waiting for, the bomb drop. Of course at this HeartStriker wailed, becoming hysterical, crying and screaming at Thorn for taking her son's life. She was then dragged away by Wisdom and Eclipse, good, let them deal with her because StrongWings and I certainly didn't know how to bring it up. Of course DeathBringer tried to spin the blame on us.

DeathBringer: Why did you not tell her what happened to her son?

FierceTeeth: HOW DO YOU BRING THAT UP! What did you want me to say? Oh

yeah by the way your only surviving child was killed by Queen Thorn for no good

reason! I'm not good at being the barer of bad news! Do you think you'd have

done better?

DeathBringer: I- uh … okay fair enough.

Then all eyes turned to Queen Thorn as she hung her head.

Queen Glory: Is this true?

Queen Thorn: It is, I was so full of rage at that time. I reacted impulsively

on that anger.

DeathBringer: So you're admitting your at fault for PreyHunter's death?

Queen Thorn: Yes, and there was no need for it. I'm sorry, truly. FierceTeeth,

StrongWings, I had held you in my prison for long enough, for no good reason of

my own. Only on Queen Glory's behalf. I absolve you of the crimes I hold against

you. But tell me, how did you escape or is that also explained in this letter?

FierceTeeth: It is, though you may want to evaluate your guards, there are some

that are not loyal to you.

Queen Thorn: Yes, I expected such. I will deal with them, thank you for telling

me.

Well there goes Thorn off our backs, but I suspect Glory won't fold so quickly. Besides we have nothing to guilt trip her with, so we're going to solely have to rely on pity. Which as merciful as she is, she isn't going to let us off easily. Sunny also confirmed her part in the situation and continued on, getting to the part were Saguaro freed us. Thorn mentioned something about more crimes being pinned on her. Oops, sorry for pinning more blame on you Saguaro, but you kinda dug your own grave there by helping us in the first place.

Along with the other SandWing that had been captured with us are apparently next on Thorn's list of trials, having been transferred from the prison DarkStalker made to the Stronghold dungeons. After them is the "ranting, raving SandWing" that had been in the cell next to us in the Stronghold dungeons had apparently been identified as Prickle, the sister of Palm who was the mother of Onyx, the secret SandWing heir. Prickle had been misidentified as Palm, was imprisoned without a trial and forgotten down there after Queen Oasis's death.

Next came the part that I was honestly really dreading, our encounter with DarkStalker and what he did to me. As Sunny read the words aloud, an uneasy silence fell upon everyone as their eyes all turned to look at me. StrongWings quietly tucked me back under his wing. We had all been manipulated and terrorized by DarkStalker, but out of everyone in Pyrrhia, I was the most manipulated, physically and that was only what I had written down. But what I did write down was getting us sympathy.

Sunny: "On the island we had to be tough, it was a kill or be killed world. Though

I guess we're not on the island anymore, are we? Well good riddance, I'm

certainly not going back! Now we can build a new life for us here, in the ruins of

what we once were long ago. Yes I still believe that we can regain what we lost

one day and I'm going to be the one to pioneer it! To build us a place we can call

our own! Not a small patch of loaned land. A place where we can grow, to be

healthy and strong! To not have to live in constant fear of death, safe from

DarkStalker's manipulation. Where we can just live in peace. Yes, that's all I

really wanted for my tribe, that's all any of us ever wanted. That we've dreamed

of."

As Sunny concluded there was nothing but solemn silence for a few minutes after as everyone took everything in. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Glory broke the silence.

Queen Glory: Is this what you really think, FierceTeeth? Is this what you truly

wanted for your tribe?

FierceTeeth: Yes, it is. I tried taking it forcefully because I wanted to prove

myself a strong NightWing, capable of leading! But those all failed, I give up.

Except here I have a chance to actually do some good for my tribe, build us our

own home where we can grow into a truly strong and healthy tribe once again!

StrongWings: I agree, we have it nice here. This used to be our home and we

want to do everything we can to rebuild it.

Queen Glory: Alright, if that's what you truly want now, then you can do that.

DeathBringer: What the? You're seriously forgiving them? After they tried to

overthrow you? Are you at least going to give them some sort of punishment for

that?

Queen Glory: I can do both, I can forgive but also give them a punishment. You

are forgiven for your crimes, but as for your punishment. You are now officially

in charge of the rebuilding of your tribe's old home, which you must dedicate

yourselves to doing and must care for the dragons here as the leaders of this

settlement. I'll send you supplies and food. I expect to see progress made in the

coming months. Do you understand that this is how you will be repaying my

forgiveness?

FierceTeeth: Alright, Fine! I'll do it.

StrongWings: Seems fair to me.

MoonWatcher: Ow! Ah!

Queen Glory: Moon? Are you alright?

MoonWatcher: I- ugh, yes, I am. I just had a vision.

Queen Glory: What is this vision about?

MoonWatcher: About this place, a very bright future for the NightWings just

opened up. Here, the NightWings will thrive and grow into a healthy tribe.

FierceTeeth: And this future opened up because StrongWings and I are now in

charge?

MoonWatcher: I can't see the details, but it has something to do with you, yes.

FierceTeeth: I admit, while I was ClearSight I saw a vision, the same vision you

just had. One of a bright future for the NightWings. I don't know how to get

there, but I want to try to steer us down that path.

MoonWatcher: Trust in yourself and in what happens.

I still can't believe that actually happened. StrongWings and I are now officially in charge of leading our little settlement into a prophesied bright future that we have no clue how to get to. "Trust in the process," Moon says. WELL I DON'T HAVE THE PATIENCE! Guess we'll just have to see what happens from here! But things are looking up, we get to stay here and for the time being things seem like it'll be alright. I hope we can get to that future. In the meantime though, I'm going to go celebrate with StrongWings now, he wants to take me out for a romantic evening, just us.

Until the future,

FierceTeeth.

Chapter Text

Journal Log 5

By FireceTeeth of the NightWings.

Last night was wonderful, I'm not going into detail about everything in case this gets read, but it was nice. It was the most relaxed and happy I've felt in, well, ever. StrongWings had set up a little beach side dinner for us under the stars. Laid out on a moose pelt that Crescent made were a bunch of plates of food. The RainWings had brought some fruit with them that Eclipse cooked along with the meats and used some herbs that were found on the border. As well as having made a special juice and something called sushi, which is basically just sliced raw fish and dried kelp, all set out on wooden plates that StrongWings had made.

Ever since he had made the doors, woodworking has become a sort of hobby of his and he has quite a gift for it, which is surprising since on the island there are no trees to have practised with. But I'm not complaining, his creations are quite useful and I was very pleased at his efforts to set this all up for me. So we laid there together under the stars, picking from our mini buffet as we talked and I finally opened up to him about my time as ClearSight and all that happened to me. During which, I hate to admit, I cried. A lot. StrongWings is the only one who I feel safe letting my guard down with, I can let out all my emotions and he won't call me a weakling.

He just quietly wrapped me in his wings as he hugged me and let me cry into his shoulder. Now I'm not used to intimacy and well neither is he. Despite being together for a couple years now, we haven't been that affectionate with each other, it just wasn't how NightWing relationships were on the island. Most of the couples only came together out of necessity for more dragons, not many of them were formed out of genuine love, but ours was. One of the rare few that were made out of actual love and care for each other.

And well, we let ourselves be a little more affectionate to each other because we're not on the island anymore, it's not life or death, just love. We can take our relationship where we want and we want each other for life. We survived so much together and StrongWings has always been by my side. No matter what happens to us, we'll be talon in talon, together through it all. I love him, I always will. And under the stars, we renewed that love for each other.

But I'll stop there, because you don't need to read that, dragon that is totally snooping in what's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! You know when I first started writing this, the idea of a hypothetical dragon reading this seemed stupid to me, but after the first entry got read aloud at the trial yesterday, well I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility anymore. Especially since I realized I'm basically writing about historical events and that some excerpts from my journal could be in a history curriculum someday! Moons above! Imagine if that actually happens, IT BETTER NOT!

Anyways, we got some more SandWing visitors this morning right after breakfast. They were delivering a whole bunch of gifts from Queen Thorn. They told us that some other SandWings were planting a whole bunch of desert plants for us to cultivate around an oasis near the border. Stuff like coconut trees, cactus, Aloe Vera and other plants, which we were very confused about why. What use would they be to us and well turns out they're actually very useful! The sap of Aloe Vera can sooth burns, cactus water while not the best to drink is actually the antidote to SandWing venom, this thing called Swordleaf root is a good remedy for headaches, the coconuts contain drinkable water and when the white parts are dried can make for a sweet treat.

Water, food and medicine? Those are actually pretty good plants, but that's not all they brought. A whole lot of fabrics and camel pelts which Crescent snatched up and says she'll redistribute to us she just has an idea for these, okay whatever. Though there was one special piece of fabric for LostSight. Apparently during the trial a SandWing noticed him, and his dried leaf veil that was starting to fall apart and barely covered his injuries, and took a whole bunch of measurements of him.

I don't know how they did this in one night, that SandWing must've not slept, but they had made him a cloak and veil out of a beautiful dark blue fabric with gold trim and silver patterns along the back made to look like the starry night sky. And this was really well crafted, the veil was connected to a hooded cloak. it wrapped around his body with a slit for his wings and arms with straps on either side, holding it to his body. It was long and there was a slit for his tail at the end and it also draped over his wings, fully covering him. SharpEars said that he now really looks like a mystic storyteller and Moonless agreed, stating that he reminded her of the Prophetess, an old NightWing tale about a powerful foreseer.

Then LostSight said that if he had been born with foresight powers, that he'd spin his prophecies into short stories with hidden meanings. This then started a conversation about NightWing powers and what we would do with them if we had been born with them. Sure, we have some enchanted items that DarkStalker gave us, but those aren't real NightWing powers and they're attached to the jewelry we wear, not us. Raven wanted mind reading powers so that she could understand her daughter, Echo, better and maybe even help her overcome her fears.

Meanwhile the SandWings gave Eclipse a bunch of camel meat, a literal TON of spices and a couple SandWing recipe books. So I guess SandWing cuisine is on the menu for the next few days. We used to be a bit of a culture center of art, knowledge and food and apparently Eclipse wants us to become that again. To which I said "SLOW DOWN WE'RE STILL RECOVERING!" and Wisdom came in and said "I think what FierceTeeth means is that we should focus on our tribe first before we think of hosting other tribes." WHICH IS WHAT I WAS SAYING! Was I not clear?

Anyways, Wisdom has been trying her talon at being a therapist and has been holding group sessions the past few days to help us with the trauma we experienced, both from the island and from DarkStalker. Now she's pestering me about private sessions since my experience of being turned into a puppet ClearSight was revealed. I'm not sure if I want to do that, but StrongWings is encouraging me to at least try it out, so I'll THINK ABOUT IT! Defiantly not still having nightmares about DarkStalker and ClearSight's visions! NOPE!

The SandWings also brought some new glasses for SmokeSeer to try on after his old ones got destroyed during the evacuation from the island and he never got replaced till now, he'd just been wearing his broken glasses for the past 8 months apparently. As well as supplies, tools and even some toys for the dragonets. The final gift was for HeartStriker, it was a large wooden box covered by a beautiful tapestry of a NightWing roaring fiercely. Along with a note from Queen Thorn.

Dear HeartSriker of the NightWings

I cannot express how deeply sorry I am for taking your son from you. I don't know if you could ever forgive me. When I think of your son I imagine how I might feel if that was my daughter I had lost forever. So I hope the least I can do is return him to you, let you give him his final rites. I had some of my guards retrieve him from the Scorpion Den's graveyard. I hope you're able to find peace, you were a great mother. You did all you could for your son to live, I applaud that, it's not an easy feat. Even in good conditions, let alone what you had to survive, but despite that you did well.

From one mother to another,

Queen Thorn of the SandWings.

Moonless said she had found a book on old NightWing burial traditions during one of the exploration crew's trips into the library. The book stated that a funeral service was held in the deceased NightWing's honor and final rites were read, followed by a precession into a series of very deep caves called the catacombs, where the remains were laid to rest. DeadlyClaws added that he may have found an entrance to these caves, but didn't explore very far, having marked it for the exploration crew to investigate.

So after the SandWings left, IronClaws got to work making a plaque which read "PreyHunter, 4,999-5,011 AS, beloved NightWing and son of HeartStriker, was needlessly killed by Queen Thorn of the SandWings. We will never forget." Then attached it to the crate that held his corpse and we had a small funeral. It wasn't an exact recreation of an old NightWing funeral as this wasn't very planned, despite the grim situation, we had a sense that we were regaining a small part of ourselves by partaking in an old NightWing tradition once again.

On the island, a dead dragon was just chucked unceremoniously into the volcano, it was a "No time to mourn, now get back to work!" sort of thing. But here, we let ourselves mourn. So it was quite awkward for everyone since we were not used to letting ourselves express our emotions, we're all used to the whole spiel to "Just suck it up, NightWings don't show any weakness. We are superior and strong! Not weak! You're not a weakling ARE YOU?" So we have a LOT to work through and relearn, which is another part of the reason for Wisdom's group therapy sessions.

Of which she held a brief session during the funeral, prompting us to share how we felt about PreyHunter's death. Personally, I don't feel sadness, but RAGE over his passing. He did NOT need to die! It was an unprovoked attack and Thorn is going to having to do a LOT more apologizing before I ever forgive her. The consensus amongst everyone is a mixture of sadness and anger. Then Wisdom went on about forgiveness and the cycle of revenge. Okay, WHATEVER miss let's hold each other's TALONS and share our FEELINGS like RainWings! I hate to admit to the others, but it did kind of help to learn that I wasn't the only one feeling angry. ONLY A LITTLE!

We decided it would be best if LostSight and SmokeSeer stayed behind with Fearless and the other dragonets while we went into the catacombs. This was mostly because of Echo, the book described the catacombs as maze-like, so if Echo bolted, well we'd probably never find her. Raven told me along the way that she's thinking of getting a harness like the one Queen Coral of the SeaWings keeps her youngest on. Maybe we'll send a letter to Coral for one, Prince Smolder of the SandWings is said to be working on a new mailing system to help with returning all the intercepted letters his sister, Princess Burn had been hording.

It was noontime when we reached the tunnel entrance somewhere along the north shore in a rock wall, it was dark and steep, with a weathered sign a little ways in reading "Catacombs". With sticks lit ablaze, we cautiously entered the foreboding cave, unsure of what we'd find. Wisdom and her exploration crew leading the way. The cave looked like it had actually been carved out by talon and it took a little while before we found anything. It was a fork in the road with a sign that read "← Royal and High ranking NightWings, Common and Low ranking NightWings →", we turned right down to where the common NightWings were buried.

The tunnel turned and winded downwards, deeper and deeper. It took a while before things opened up and there they were, the remains of our ancestors. Their bones filled these deep pits nearly to the top, while their skulls were stacked in a macabre mosaic along the walls. It was kind of disturbing to be honest, we weren't expecting anything to be on display, especially not like this. We found a room to the side that had little nooks in the walls where boxes were placed, it seemed like a thing that only those who could afford a wooden box did.

We found a gap just big enough to fit PreyHunter into and after one final goodbye we hightailed it out of there as fast as we could. I don't think Wisdom's exploration crew would be too keen on exploring down there anytime soon, at least not the commoner's side, the Royal's side sounds like it might be more of a proper tomb according to the book on NightWing burial traditions. Still, it was so creepy down there, it felt like we were disturbing long dormant spirits. PreyHunter is the first NightWing buried down there in over two thousand years.

BlackRose, the only one with any rational mind this entire time tried to assure us that all we were disturbing was dust, but several of us swore we heard distant whispering. Even I was freaked out when I thought I heard a voice calling my name. Moons above, were we relived to finally reemerge! To our surprise the sun was beginning to set, we didn't think we had been down there that long. To us it didn't seem more than an hour or two, NOT SIX WHOLE HOURS! Just another reason to be creeped out about the Catacombs, and who knows! Maybe DarkStalker cast a spell on that place, I don't like that idea, makes it even creepier.

When we returned, we decided to skip dinner and call it an early night. While we were gone, SmokeSeer and Fearless had ransacked some of the food stores to feed the little ones and LostSight lulled them to sleep with his stories. So they were fine, but the rest of us got thoroughly spooked. Wisdom is going to host another group therapy session tomorrow morning, topic is the Catacombs, I MIGHT join that one. Anyways, I'm going to cuddle a little closer to StrongWings tonight.

Until the future,

FierceTeeth.

Chapter Text

Journal Log 6

By FireceTeeth of the NightWings.

My nightmares are getting stranger. Usually it's nightmares about DarkStalker returning, sometimes he just teleports back in a cloud of black smoke, more angry than before. Sometimes it's THAT dragonet slowly approaching me no matter how much I run away and when he finally reaches me, he grows and contorts into a more nightmarish version of DarkStalker. And he takes control of the NightWings again, including me. Turning me into a puppet he could mold and change for his own entertainment.

Nightmares of ClearSight's visions of an alternate timeline where DarkStalker had won, mostly about how the NightWings would've been terrorized. Some nightmares are about the IceWings attacking, but not the living ones, no. I mean the thousands of dead ones coming back to life. More clawing their way out of the sea in order to attack us, seeking vengeance against us and all the while ice rains down, keeping us trapped to the ground.

The typical nightmares about being back on the island, which I am used to. Though the ones where the Lost City falls apart around us, the ground breaking apart as sea floods and consumes the gaps, are jarring. We just found our old home, we don't want to loose it again, just like we had lost the island. Those ones sometimes feel too real, but the one I had last night was odd. It was still nightmarish, but it felt different then the others for many reasons.

I dreamt I was back in the catacombs, but this time I went down the royal's side, following a voice that was calling my name. The same one I heard calling me before in the catacombs. I followed it through the dark tunnel which felt like forever, slowly it got louder, the voice became two, then three and more slowly joined in. Until there had to be hundreds of voices calling my name in unison, but then all fell silent all at once when I stepped into a chamber. In the middle was an open casket and on either side were pits full of bones. I crept closer to the open casket, peering inside I saw, myself?

It was an older version of me, weathered by time. Dressed head to tail in jewelry made of silver and obsidian stones. Suddenly the bones in the pits on either side started rattling and skeleton dragons began to crawl out. All chanting with a teasing tone, "Until the future, FierceTeeth!" The voices began overlapping as they all spoke those same words, taunting me as I turned to run back down the tunnel. It was long, winding and dark, the voices never getting quieter, like they were following me, though I never looked behind. I just kept running until I found myself in another chamber. This one had nooks in the walls for caskets, but they were empty of all but one. PreyHunter's.

It was in the middle of the floor, the tapestry was missing, I watched as the lid began to rattle and pop open. The undead dragon slowly crawled out. His body looked deflated, his eyes sunken, dried and bloodshot. He smiled at me, his gums were rotting and the open gash in his chest had turned purple. PreyHunter looked like a dragon that had been dead for months. As disturbing as the sight was, I was relieved to see a familiar face. I grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking his stiff body as I demanded to know what was going on and why OF ALL DRAGONS was he here? He just grinned, coughed out some dust and sand. Gross. And in a quiet, raspy voice he told me something truly unsettling.

"The spirits down here are awake, our bodies rot, but our sprits are restless. Our souls roam, able to enter dreams and deliver messages." And I was all like "But what does this have to do with me? Why me? What message are you trying to give me!" But he just kept grinning, his eyes having never blinked, not once. Then what had to have been literal thousands of voices joined in, their voices overlapping with his as he simply said, "Until the future, FierceTeeth." He began laughing in a why that sounded like he was choking, his face contorted into a pained smile. I let go of him and backed away as the voices continued to say the phrase "Until the future, FierceTeeth!" over and over, faster and faster, louder and louder. The voices overlapping, but never drowning out PreyHunter's awful laughing.

I woke up with a jolt, StrongWings shaking me awake as he called my name. The moment he noticed I was awake he pulled me in against his chest, where I was finally able to let myself breathe. Asking if I was alright, which I was now, safe and sound, wrapped in his wings. Then he told me that I had been thrashing around, repeating "Until the future" over and over and that he was unable to wake me up for quite a while. AshBreath ran in, splashing us with a bucket of cold seawater to which I yelled "I'M AWAKE NOW!" at him. He sheepishly wheezed out an apology and ran back out. Now soaking wet and defiantly awake, I glared at StrongWings with a silent "Explain yourself." look in my expression. To which he told me that he panicked and got "help". Unfortunately that "help" WAS A MINUTE TOO LATE!

Though I guess StrongWings was just trying, he was just an absolute doofus about it. But that is what I like about him, he's the brawn, I'm the brain. Together, we're a duo. He then gently asked me what I had been dreaming about and I told him everything. From the voices, the dragons of bone, the future version of me, to the restless spirit of PreyHunter and what he had told me. Silently StrongWings held me closer for a bit as I calmed down, before telling me that he thinks I should give the therapy a try. And with a sigh I said "FINE!" in the most exasperated tone of voice I could muster. StrongWings just laughed softly and told me that breakfast should be ready soon.

So out we went, gathering with the others for breakfast. Eclipse served dried camel meat on sticks. However StrongWings had requested that we get a different meat, since we were sick of eating camel meat. So we got deer meat on sticks instead, though it was cooked with the same spices as the camel meat. A small contained fire was lit and we all sat down around it in a circle to eat. HeartStriker laid out on a blanket, this will be important later. Wisdom handed each of us a piece of paper to write down what we wanted to talk about regarding the catacombs, I wrote down my dream I had. As we chewed the last of the meat off our sticks, Wisdom turned to me and asked if I would like to go first. I ripped off my last chunk and tossed my stick into the fire. I shrugged and through my teeth as I chewed, I said, "Sure, why not?"

So I recounted to everyone, in as much detail as I could recall, the horrid dream I had. FateSeer, the ever superstitious type, then proceeded to begin hyperventilating, saying that we really did awaken our ancestors spirits, as her partner SkullCrusher tried and failed to calm her down. DaggerTail interjected with her own interpretation of my dream. Stating that perhaps it was a glimpse at my future, my social standing and the legacy I would leave behind. Well I did have an idea that it had something to do with my future, thanks for stating the obvious! But the social standing part struck me, in the dream future me was buried on the aristocrats side. Perhaps I become Queen? As if reading my mind, DeadlyClaws told me that I would have to prove myself and earn the title. Well I GUESS we'll have wait to see what happens, and find out which one of us will be laughing.

Moving the conversation swiftly on, Wisdom turned to HeartStriker and asked if she had anything to say, since PreyHunter was a big part in my dream. To everyone's surprise, PreyHunter had appeared in her dreams as well last night, same unsettling description. Which only added to our suspicions of his spirit actually being awake and perhaps the spirits of the other dragons down there too.

Except HeartStriker's dream had a much different tone than mine. She had found PreyHunter sitting on a rock a little ways away from the entrance to the catacombs. He was staring up at the night sky and had wrapped the tapestry that was on his casket, around his body. She approached him, calling out his name. PreyHunter turned to her and smiled sweetly. "It's nice to be home, isn't it mom?" As he spoke, dust and sand dripped out of his mouth. HeartStriker had nodded and joined her son on the rock, pulling him into a hug.

"I missed you," She sobbed. "I'm so sorry I wasn't a better mother."

"You couldn't be," He replied. "You were already the best mother I could've asked for."

WELL YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUB IT IN! Your mother was great and all as much as she traumatized you! I may as well have been just a shadow to my mother! THOUGH I GUESS she was also traumatized and stuff too. Just an endless cycle of pain and suffering, at least we can try to break that cycle now and be better than our mothers to our children. If I ever become a mother to more than one child, I will try my best to give each equal amounts of attention. My mother needlessly sacrificed her life to save a SeaWing from two SkyWings and when her body was retrieved, it was thrown into the volcano. If our theory of how a spirit becomes awake by having to be buried in the catacombs is true, then that means I'll never get to reconcile with her. NOT THAT I CARE!

This is where HeartStriker's dream takes a weird turn. Apparently I had appeared briefly in her dream, entering into the catacombs. PreyHunter then wrapped the tapestry around his mom as he told her that he now had to go talk to me, and followed me in, saying "Until the future," as he disappeared into the tunnel. The creepiest thing about all this? When HeartStriker woke up, she was wearing the very same tapestry as a blanket. We didn't believe her at first, that was until she got up and lifted the blanket she had been sitting on, so we could see it.

It was the tapestry.

WHAT KIND OF ANIMUS LUNACY IS GOING ON HERE? That was the last thing any of us expected. Naturally we started freaking out, even BlackRose, the most level headed of all of us had a shocked expression on her face. FateSeer started screaming at this point, Raven clutched a frightened Echo tight so she wouldn't bolt away, Fang started crying, BoneCruncher looked like he'd be sick, SharpEars WAS sick and a mix of shock and fear amongst everyone else. I personally was annoyed, like CAN'T YOU JUST REST IN PEACE AND LEAVE THE REST OF US BE, PREYHUNTER? Though I guess what he did for his mother was touching, at least that's what we told ourselves once Wisdom finally got all of us to calm down. But he was totally just messing with me, he didn't have to make me go through all that. THANKS PREYHUNTER!

After everyone shared what they wanted to discuss, the rest of the therapy session was quite boring, Wisdom was making us do these calming exercises. Just when I was starting to enjoy the drama! Regardless, I MIGHT go to another one of these just for the drama. After about half an hour of this, we all dispersed to our usual daily tasks. FateSpeaker came to visit her parents, FateSeer and SkullCrusher. She also brought us our order of enchanted earrings, now everyone here has one to protect against DarkStalker's magic. One thing to note though, both HeartStriker and I already were wearing these earrings, so whatever magic is cast upon the catacombs is not DarkStalker's at least. But then, who else could've enchanted the catacombs? Raven also handed FateSpeaker a letter to pass on.

Dear Queen Coral of the SeaWings

I know this letter must seem unprecedented for you to receive, but I have heard of the harness you designed and I was wondering if I would be able to get one as well. If that's not too much of an issue, we'll trade you some moose meat in return. I request this because my little one is quite easily frightened and often runs off. I'm hoping a harness would keep me from losing her.

Thank you.

From Raven of the NightWings

So hopefully if we do get that harness, we wouldn't have to worry about Echo bolting and us not being able find her. She nearly ran away today during the panic, having wriggled free from her mother's grasp. However she didn't get very far. Somehow, despite not being able to see, LostSight managed to catch her. Wrapping her up in his cloak as he began to tell some of his stories, eventually the other little ones curled up under his wings as well and Fearless sat beside him, writing down his stories. Both Fearless and Moonless have been working on documenting the stories he's been coming up with. Moonless has even been learning how to book bind, she's bound all my journal entries into a book made of wood and leather, both materials StrongWings and Crescent supplied. So now I have a proper book and tons of empty pages to fill!

Two of the little ones, Abyss and Fang, reminds me a lot of my brother and I. They are half siblings, same mother, but different fathers. Just like StarFlight and I, though StarFlight still has his father at least. Our mother is dead and I never knew who my father was. All three of Abyss and Fang's parents are dead, their fathers died during the last two years of the war and their mother died when the volcano exploded. This setup of one father and two different mothers is not that uncommon, all in a bid to produce more dragons that at least had some little variation of DNA. This has also led to the female population of NightWings somewhat outnumbering the male population.

Another thing that makes StarFlight and I differ from Abyss and Fang, is our relationship. My bother and I are not close in the slightest, I can barely tolerate his existence. Since he was an egg, I had been competing with him for attention and greatness. He had his destiny just handed to him, where as I, I HAVE TO WORK TO GET IT! My destiny better be greater than his if I have to earn it myself. Maybe one day I'll be the NightWing Queen, THEN WE'LL SEE WHO IS DESTINED FOR GREATNESS! Meanwhile Fang and Abyss are best buds, playing together, getting along and neither one out shines the other. Well I guess you could say that's because there isn't really anything big planned for them, that we know of, other than being founding members of a brighter future for the NightWing tribe. But who knows what the future will bring or tear apart.

We still haven't figured out a name to call our settlement yet. A bunch of names have been thrown around, but none of us seem to agree on one, we all have our own opinions. Though what we can agree on is that we want it to be something hopeful sounding, like the inter-tribal towns of Possibility and Sanctuary. Our goal is to be as big as those towns someday. A place where a few hundred happy, healthy NightWings to live sounds like a great start. Though we are still very far from that and our old home is still very delicate, it'll take a lot of work, a lot of dragons and quite a few years to get everything repaired. ONE GOOD ENCHANTMENT DarkStalker seems to have made, that were only now noticing, is that the place is very slowly repairing itself. However IT'S SO SLOW! Slow enough that we still have to do a lot of the heavy lifting ourselves to be able to see any progress in the next few months, but at least we have some magical help.

Animus magic is both a blessing and a curse. Especially regarding DarkStalker, he had every chance to use his magic for good and he did, most so in ClearSight's memories from when they first got together. But he also used his magic for his own selfish gain, magically manipulating dragons to get what he wants, to control them and gain more power. But even in his darkest days he still casted good magic, letting himself think that he was the hero. He thought those small good deeds would outweigh his bad deeds, making him a hero, pathetic really that he didn't realize that he was making himself into the villain of the story. And his own arrogance potentially causing his downfall. Something that I've realized recently, is that the future I saw when I was ClearSight of DarkStalker turning into a dragonet, was the only future where he was stopped that appeared. So does that mean? No I don't like that, KEEP THAT DRAGONET AWAY FROM ME!

Anyways, StrongWings is calling me to bed now, so I'm going to join him. I need to think of a different sign off for now because to be honest I am quite sick of "Until the future", so goodbye I guess,

FierceTeeth.