Wings Of Fire (WOF) : A dark family affair

Prologue

 The night had fallen for a long time and the swamp was silent. Only a few batrachians were croaking, answering each other in turn, creating a small nocturnal orchestra. The moons could be seen in the sky, one of them being completely visible while the other was half covered by darkness. The last one was hidden by the trees of the swamp.

Root was looking at her 4 eggs. They were glowing with the brightness of the moons and resting carefully in a nest of dried grass. "They will hatch soon, my beautiful dragonets will soon be born in this great kingdom that will be their home" she thought happily. She was so excited by the idea of giving birth to children that she couldn't sleep this night. She had dreamed so many times of this moment, of becoming a mother, of taking care of her little lizards and showing them the joys of life. She had discussed this at length with her companion, Alligator. He was quite reluctant at the beginning to this idea, she suspected him to have never considered this possibility at the beginning but in the end he had resigned, not without joy in spite of everything. They had sworn to educate them together but Alligator had been sent to a military camp to monitor the borders. Pyrrhia was at peace, but the Queen, Swamp, had recently reinforced the security of the kingdom by forcing her people into the army without any valid reason, according to Root. But that was the way it had to be, the Queen decided and if she did so, it was for the good of her people for sure.

Several months had passed since she had been watching them every day and lately, all of them were wiggling shyly occasionaly, as if they were excited to discover the world. She was drawn out of her thoughts when she heard a muffled noise, like the beating of wings that came closer and closer. She stood up abruptly and took a defensive stance, as she had learned with her siblings when she was younger. She bent her knees, wings slightly spread, ready to go or attack at any moment. She finally saw the dragon from which the sound came, it was a mudwing and he landed violently on the ground, making the brids fly away, which were sleeping peacefully in the trees. Since Root had never left the kingdom, or only on rare occasions, she immediately guessed that it was a woman by her build. The scales of the stranger were colored a dark brown, reflecting very little light from the moons, and she held an oval-shaped dark object between her claws. It was difficult to describe het because she was hidden in the darkness of the trees. It was only when she staggered closer that Root recognized her.

"Mist?!" she exclaimed.

-Root, my sister, help me!" she cried, her voice broken.

Her eyes, adorned with dried tears, looked at her with panic. She moved closer to her sister. She hadn't heard from her in almost a year now. And now she saw her crying, with dried bloodstains on her scales in addition to traces of blows and scratches on all her body. But the most important detail for Root was that she was in the company of an egg, held firmly by Mist. This one was dark black but was speckled with red like that of a dragon's blood, like the mudwings who, if they hatched from one of these eggs, had the ability to resist  fire.

"It's okay, don't worry I'm here..." Said Root as she took her sister in her arms, encompassing her a little at the same time with her wings, while being saddened and confused. Mist was the big wing of their siblings, she was always unflappable, strong and good at everything she did. Seeing her in that weak position only made her sister's worries grow.

"Tell me what happened to you."

- I would like to tell you everything but I don't have the luxury of telling you what happened to me. I am being hunted, tracked, THEY WANT MY SCALES !

- Easy, listen to me. All right? Breathe in, breathe out...

- I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS I TOLD YOU!" she cut her off before resuming. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. If I am here, it is to give you my egg.

- Your egg?! Give it to me!?"

Obviously she was shocked. First of all because her sister had an egg and then because she was leaving it to her. She already had to take care of her future children of her own. "No, wait a moment and think it over calmly. I'm sure there are other possible solutions.

- I'm afraid not Root, unfortunately... You are my last hope, my dragonet's last hope... She said with emotion. Please don't make things more complicated. I'll come back when it's safer for both of you.

- You can stay here, you know. The Queen will protect you for sure.

- I can't. I have to protect you, your family, and Pyrrhia. The ones chasing me are sandwings. Imagine if they got here. It will be like a declaration of war no matter the reason. I want our dragonets to be able to live in a world at peace. she declared finally, with conviction."

She didn't know how to respond to that. Nevertheless, Root was sure of one thing, and that was that she trusted her sister, "If she says it, it's because she really has no other option to solve this problem. Whatever it is."

"Fine." she affirmed. I will take care of him as one of my dragonets. This dragonet will be a part of my family until you return.

- Thank you. Thank you so much." she said.

Mist admired and fondled the egg, and spoke softly to it. She then gave it to her sister, turned around abruptly and spread her wings to leave. However, she turned back to Root, her eyes filled with sadness at the idea of abandoning what is dear to her. "Can I ask you one last favor?

- Of course. she said reassuringly. Anything you want.

- With his father, we thought about his name.

- And what is it?

- Nightjar.

- It's pretty and original I think. Nightjar... she repeated thoughtfully.

- Thank you."

And she went away. Root did not know how she was going to get out of this situation. She couldn't help but feel reassured while having a bad feeling. She shook her head "bad thoughts are bad for a dragonet's health" she thought while holding the Nightjar egg in her claws. She waited for a few moments before moving to the nest of her four eggs. She added the new arrival, among all the others. To this, the other eggs reacted by moving a little, instinctively, intrigued by the stranger. Like a discussion, Engoulvent answered by moving in turn but in a more violent way, as if she was crying the departure of her mother, as if she wanted to help her mother, now gone in the darkness of the night.

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Short prologue but I hope you enjoyed it. Perhaps it will be rewritted, Idk.

- Just A Guy Chilling