Eternal Fire

Chapter 5

 The Fire Territory was not as majestic as the rolling waves and the life they hid, nor as magnificent as the hills of the majority of Ballasmara, nor as exhilarating as the wind that blew endlessly. It held a similar stark beauty to the icy North, but utterly different in its approach. Whilst the North was covered in the whitest of snow and the cold icy tones of glaciers, the south was formed from dark volcanic rocks, punctuated by the bright running flow of lava.

But as Air looked upon a small percentage of the population, one that was trained for war, all they could think about was how fragile beauty was. With the wind rushing over their silvery scales, hidden by the thick cloud that seemed to have hung from the sky for all the time (but Air knew that it had not, and will not), they knew how fragile the appearance of balance was.

Now that the fiery power had subsided from taking over their domain, Air was happy to listen in to whoever held such power from a comfortable position. The air that surrounded them would have been heavy on the lungs of a normal, mortal dragon, but Air was fine to breathe in the poisonous gasses.

Movement passed below the dense cloud, which was odd for a mortal dragon due to the risks that would come from being so close to the gasses. Whilst part of them found the unnaturally powerful fire dragon, Air flew down to look at the dragon below. Hovering just within the cloud, Air could see everything whilst none could see their shining scales, but even their silver eyes could not see the dragon that was flying right below.

So a rainbow dragon then, most likely a spy, but for whom?

Dissolving their body, Air followed the hidden rainbow dragon as a small breeze whilst their vision blurred from seeing so many things at once. The process was utterly unnatural and made doing the smallest things hard due to the sheer amount of air that surrounded the world, meaning that it was normally easier to hide in Air's own body.

It didn't take long for Air to find the fire dragon responsible, a young female, with a dark red head and a brighter tail, but what made the small breeze falter was the golden specks that shone on her scales. Interesting.

So that was why that little fiery shadow of a hummingbird came down here for a little while a few years back and visited for short periods of time since. It would be fun to see the others react to this little piece of information, but doing so would mean exposing Air to them. And that would not be that fun, but perhaps a small slight of wind could do it, anyway...

"I am sending her to the front, put her under the direct command of one of the colonels with a unit attached purely for directing the flame," one of the adult fire dragons said, if Air's memory was correct, he was the leader of this nation, but his name avoided their mind. Who could blame them? Air had seen the comings and goings of many leaders of many territories; they couldn't be expected to remember all their names.

But sending the young dragoness to the front worked perfectly for Air's plan, a plan that was forming with each moment that passed. All that Air needed was to see who this little rainbow dragon worked for, then they expected some fun to happen.

And chaos to rule the deities.

That thought would have made a grin form on Air's face if they had a face, but it still filled the breeze with joy. The thought of having some fun, or something interesting to occur to the most boring group to ever exist was something that they had not expected to happen due to their stupid oath.

Perhaps those other two deities had influenced Air's thoughts and actions more than they'd originally thought. It had been bound to happen, but Air was meant to be the calmer one of the three, despite the need for the other two to be sensible; it was often Air that sought the reason. But the opportunity was too good to miss, and perhaps the others needed it to happen.