WINGS OF FIRE: Kingdoms Divided

Chapter 9: There's No Place Like Home

She didn't look scared. She looked fearless, but not in a brave way. In a way that can get you killed.

She lunged again, this time grabbing my tail and trying to stab me with it. I gained control and threw her, but she grabbed onto my horns. I threw my head back with a hiss. She swiped at my leg and I hissed in pain. I could already feel the blood falling from my leg. I swung my tail at her, but she ducked and jumped under me. She pinned me to the ground, a crazy look of pride on her face. I grabbed her shoulders and flipped around so I now had her pinned.

"Please forgive me," I whispered, looking up at the sky.

"Forgive you?! Never!" The leader sneered. I glared down at her.

"I wasn't talking to you." With those words, I sent my tail straight through her heat and watched as the light left her eyes and she stilled. Dead.

I turned around and looked out at the rest of my kingdom. Every dragon just sat there. Stunned. But then, someone cheered. And then someone else. Every dragon from our side was cheering. Some of the Rose Followers looked relieved. I suspect their leader was forcing them to fight.

I sighed in relief and searched through the crowd. I saw both my sisters looking at me with wide eyes. It wan't fear in their eyes. They had both seen death thousands of times. No. It was more like...fear of the truth. I had seen that look all too many times.

I flew down to them.

"Hey guys! We did it! We solved the prophecy!" They just nodded. I titled my head in confusion. "You good? Hey, where's Blizzard?" Their eyes widened.

"Blaire..."Flare started quietly. Ruby was looking at the ground.

"No," I said quietly, panic filling my chest. "No, no no no no! He's not dead! He's not!" I shouted. I saw a couple of dragons looking at us, but I only recognized one. Flame, who is the fastest flyer in the whole kingdom.

Both of my sisters nodded instead. I collapsed, my talons over my head as I tried to block everything out. But I couldn't block out their thoughts. And their thoughts were full of his death.

Blizzard is fighting a rogue Skywing. He blasts the crimson dragon in the face with frostbreath. He then looks around for anyone who needs his help. He doesn't see the rogue leader, whose name I now know is RedTail, sneaking up behind him. Her face is full of glee as she charges. She grabs onto his neck.

Every dragon seems to feel that Blizzard is looking into the face of Death himself. They all turn to Blizzard and RedTail. They all watch as she snaps his neck. The sound echoes across the courtyard. They all watch as he falls to the ground. The sound of him hitting the ground is heartbreaking. They all sit there for a minute more, looking at his body which is covered in blood. Then they all return to fighting, as though nothing happened.

I let out a cry of agony and then take off into the sky. I don't know where I'm going, but I know I need to get away from there.

I fly until I find a cliffside that looks out over the sea in the direction of Prantasia. Tears stream down my face as my form changes from my usual Allwing self. My scales turn to a frosty white and the icicles on my neck shift so they're going all down my back. My serrated talons grow longer and the teardrops by my eyes fade. My horns straighten out and my wings shrink. I'm now the same species of dragon as the one I loved. As the one I lost. I let out a roar of pain and suffering.

I hear wingbeats behind me, but I don't look up. I already know who it is. His thoughts are clear.

Flame lands next to me and looks out at the vast water in front of us.

"How are feeling?" He asks, his voice steady yet still unsure. I look at him.

"I just found out my partner died in battle while I was off solving a prophecy that didn't need me. How do you think I feel?!" He looked at me, surprised.

"Do you think it's your fault he's dead?"

"I didn't need to solve that prophecy. But I always have to be the hero! And I hate myself for it! Maybe if I had chosen someone else, I could have stayed. I could have fought! Maybe even saved him!"

"If you chose someone else, you probably wouldn't have found Allfire. If you chose someone else, the war may still be happening and might have spread across Pryhhia."

I sniffed. "You're not here to tell me why it's a good thing I went."

He shook his head. "I came to tell you that Blizzard's body is still at the palace. The Icewings have no rituals for death so they thought he might like it if we did the Skywing rituals. And it's been 7 days. Queen Ruby thought you might want to be the one to burn him." I looked up at him and then nodded. He stood and helped me to my feet. I shook out my wings as my scales shifted back to my normal Allwing self. Flame took off into the sky with me right behind him. He led me back to the palace and up to one of the highest spires of the palace. As I got closer, I could already see bright white scales. I felt tears coming to my eyes as I landed.

I took a nervous step towards Blizzard's body. His neck was now bright blue as it was covered in blood. His eyes were closed and the blue gradient of his scales was extremely pale.

I choked on my tears as I looked at his body. I sobbed before removing my necklace. My scales glowed brighter with the sudden ability to burn.

"Goodbye, my love," I whispered as I rested my talons against his body. I watched as the body slowly began to burn until it was nothing but ash. I used my wings to sweep the ashes into the air before shooting them into the air. They dispersed into the air, leaving only the memory of the dragon I loved.

I pulled my necklace on over my head and then fell back with a sob. Flame caught me as my scales shifted and I turned into an Icewing.

"I'm sorry," He whispered.

"It's not your fault. It was RedTail's and she's gone now. He's gone." I sighed and flew down to the courtyard where the rest of my dragonets were waiting. Pearl leaned against me as soon as I landed. I wrapped my wing around her and sighed.

I may have lost the love of my life but at least I still had my family.

And I could finally rest from all the crazy adventures for a while.

Right?