"Come on! We gotta go!" Sky made flips in the air, and the wind currents sped up.
"Right. You're carrying the books."
As we soared over clouds and around mountains, at a really REALLY slow pace, I glanced down at the ocean. The sea green colours below me called to me, but I ignored it.
Suns, I was TIRED. I was pretty much dozing off when we were flapping slowly across a sea. Me, Winter and Windstorm were yet again, yes again, covered in mud,but the dark blue areas where we were injured was left out. Hopefully it wouldn't be enough to spot from a distance.
Blackberry was now a Skycloud, the pale whitish blue scales gleaming in the reflected sun. It was sunset now, and the purple pink rays streamed across the sky, welcoming the night. The moon.
Anyways, did they seriously leave out that amazing ability of having the powers of the dragons the Shadowgrounds shapeshifts into? I needed to know THAT.
Blackberry zipped ahead of us, checking the sky for unwanted dangers. Even though Sky had a huge load on her, she flew way faster than us too.
Granted, two injured waterblasts. We were slow as it was already. Winter had begged Marsh to let us swim in the sea. His reply:
"Gosh no, we're gonna lose you. Y'all will fly- I mean swim- to who knows where. Even if Sky followed in the air, she can't keep track. You three blend in way too much with the ocean, and that looks super suspicious already."
A Skycloud hovering a tail above the sea. Pretty suspicious, I guess.
At dusk, Blackberry motioned us to land. The sand slid in between my talons, scraping gently against me. The soft breeze caused the palm trees to sway.
Winter began dragging himself towards the water, me and Windstorm followed.
"Don't... drift off or something!" Ash yelled after us. "Water." He grumbled. "Never seen the appeal." Lashing his tail, he folded his wings neatly and the fire burning on them faded a little. Marsh, Blackberry, Sky and Ash retired to the trees. The moon cast a weak light to the water, but my night vision saw the tropical fishes swimming through the coral reefs. We slipped into the water with a small splash, and the aquatic animals looked at us for a mere second before they and swam in the opposite direction. As I tucked myself into the seabed, a family of crawfish began cautiously moving away, trying not to be noticed. Slow watersnails.
Lucky for them, I was too tired to hunt, although I was super hungry. When was the last time I ever ate? After the fight we barely had enough time to escape. Blackberry was the last to leave and she said that she had collapsed our little grotto. R.I.P. The mudbugs disappeared into the rocks, congratulating themselves with their amazing stealth and speed.
Rrrrrrgh. Could the claws of sleep grab me already? Why did I always feel so awake when I was in water or it was night? Was this a Shadowground thing? Why did I always have problems with sleep? There better be a reason.
I got out of the water. I also couldn't feel water's appeal right now.
"Rich coming from a Waterblast."
I hissed and lashed my spiked tail, relaxing when I saw my aunts purplish black head sticking out of the trees.
"And yes, it is a Shadowground thing." She agreed.
"We can read minds, blind dragons, AND WE STAY AWAKE AT NIGHT?" I growled. My Waterblast side was literally clamouring to sleep, but my Shadowground side was like: letS StAy uP For THe rEsT Of tHe nIgHt iNsTeAD!
Blackberry sighed. "We were created to stop nightmares."
Say what?
"Legends state that there are only about 5 Shadowgrounds left on earth. Their shapeshifting abilities stretch of one more animal other than only dragons and humans. A wolf cub covered in blood."
I gaped at her.
"If another dragon sees the Shadowground, the Shadowground is either able to curse or to bless the said dragon... but so far, I take that you have been blessed." Blackberry smiled weakly. "No fights ever since you seen one, right?"
When the cub was howling, was it the curse or the bless being given to me?
Let's hope that Shadowground blessed me.
Hope.
An idea flashed through my mind.
"No, the Shadowgrounds can only do it once, before returning to the moon." Blackberry said firmly. "Go sleep."
Yep, I had enough scary Shadowground stories for the rest of my life.
Now I could see the water's appeal.