To Be Where I Have Been

Prologue: Darkestnight

Sometime in the reign of Queen Battlewinner...

Darkestnight the NightWing hurried through the forest as silently as she could with the stolen eggs. The queen would never be able to kill her daughters. Her sons would never have to be prohibited from having heirs. That is, so long as she kept the eggs.

There were five of them, and she clutched them carefully to make sure she didn't drop them. She could hear shouts behind her, and she sped up. No, she thought. I won't let them get you! You're better off with us. She spread her starry wings and took off into the night. The ocean loomed ahead of her, and she picked up speed, summoning the void. Lightning cracked across the sky and it started to rain hard as Darkestnight opened the crackling portal. It was a rip in time, a gash torn in space, glowing black and blinding purple. She dove headfirst through it, closing it behind her.

She immediately materialized on a small tropical island. It was still storming, since Animus Island was only about 50 miles off the coast of Pyrrhia, but she was safe here. No one could enter Animus Island who had not been granted permission from its creator, which was Darkestnight. She had poured every ounce of her magic into making it, enchanting herself to be barren of animus powers in the process. She was no animus, but she was the protector of this sanctuary.

"Welcome to Animus Island, little ones." Darkestnight said to the five NightWing eggs. "You'll be safe forever with me and the others here, and when you're older, you can take your place as the rulers of the Night Kingdom. You will restore the throne that was rightfully yours, but peacefully. You will not take land for the NightWings, but you will make some peacefully through negotiations. You are the future of Pyrrhia!"

At least, she hoped so.

Chapter One: Starstrike

Starstrike was the eldest. He usually went by the name Star. He liked being the eldest, especially since he was the only normal NightWing of all his four siblings. No powers, no weird special effects, just a plain black NightWing with grey eyes and no colored underscales or anything.

His siblings were another story.

The second oldest, Moonshadow, or Moon, as he was called, was a powerful prophet with a silver moon on his forehead and inky black scales with glittering silver star designs. His eyes had no pupils; they were bright silver, and looked like eerie, glowing metal globes.

The third sibling, Solarflare, whose nickname was Solar, was a powerful mind reader with deep blue underscales that shimmered and flashed, with an eerie moving effect as if there was phosphorent blue liquid moving beneath her black scales.

The fourth sibling, Galaxyswirl, who went by Galaxy, was an animus with eerie ice blue eyes and black swirls that moved across his purplish-black scales like RainWing patterns. They moved faster depending on his moods, and starbursted in different shapes.

Whisperingwind

The youngest sibling, Whisperingwind, was the oddest of all. She was an albino, and heartbreakingly beautiful. She had a tapered, elegant face, large, bright rose-colored eyes, a small, slender, lithe form, large, graceful wings, pearly opalescent white scales that glittered and flashed with rainbow colors in the light, and galactic, swirling dark patterns on the undersides of her wings that swirled with black, deep, phosphorent blue, vibrant purple, and flashing, glowing silver scales. The galaxy-like patterns on her wings moved slowly, like a night sky, and made a startling contrast to her white scales. Whisper, as they called her, was no doubt the most beautiful dragon in Pyrrhia. Starstrike didn't know very many dragons, but Whisper's delicate beauty was somewhat magical, and powerful, in a sense. She was very shy, and no one knew what her powers were yet, but they had often seen her gaze into the sky as if she was communicating somehow with nature, or intuitively sense others' deepest emotions, even when they were barely aware of them themselves.

It almost scared Starstrike sometimes.

Altogether, the five siblings were no doubt very powerful, and Starstrike took it upon himself to be their leader, since he was the only one with no powers or anything special. He was relatively good-natured and mild, but a strong leader to his younger siblings.

One day, Starstrike's life on peaceful, secluded Animus Island changed forever.

"Hey, Star! Darkestnight wants us for something. Not sure what, though." Galaxyswirl yelled, panting as he ran down the pathway into the garden.

"Oh, hey, Galaxy..." Starstrike said offhandedly. He was distracted by the red-brown bird he was studying. Galaxyswirl punched him in the shoulder.

"Come on!" Galaxyswirl insisted. "She wants us RIGHT NOW."

Starstrike sighed and followed Galaxyswirl into the mountain caves that was Darkestnight's home. He was surprised when he saw the other six inhabitants of Animus Island there, too. "What is it?"

Darkestnight motioned that he sit down with his siblings. He picked a seat near Solarflare. "What's going on?" He asked.

She just shook her head. "I'll tell you later." the mind-reader whispered.

"Well." River the SeaWing rasped. "We have an announcement to make."

"Well get on with it already, then! Don't keep us waiting!" Galaxyswirl suddenly burst out.

Every head turned to stare at Galaxyswirl. Starstrike stifled his giggles. Silt the MudWing sighed. "You may be quiet now, Galaxy." Darkestnight said in a sharp, warning tone. "We've decided that it's time for you to go to the Mainland."

The siblings gasped. "WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!" Only Moonshadow, the prophet, looked amused, like he had already known. Of course he already knows. Star thought, inwardly rolling his eyes. Moonshadow always did that. He was secretive, smug, and cool-mannered.

"We will not come with you, also." Darkestnight explained. It will be completely up to you to depend on your survival and achieve your goal. You remember what you are supposed to do, right?"

Everyone nodded. Starstrike sighed. If he had to hear what they had been raised to do ONE MORE STUPID TIME, he would explode. He just knew it.

Solarflare giggled. Of course she had heard everyone think that, Star thought.

"You will not need to bring anything with you except for these." Darkestnight gave each sibling a necklace. Starstrike stared at his. It was a black cord with a strange silver shape on it that looked like a swirl edged in small points. It glowed faintly in the light.

"These necklaces are enchanted, and very dangerous. Use them only in your greatest need, when nothing else will help you, and you will know what to do. Above all, do NOT let them fall into the wrong hands. Guard them with your life. Do you understand? Good. You will go NOW."

Out of nowhere, the portal Starstrike had seen Darkestnight use before opened up, sucking him and his siblings in it. Distantly, he heard Darkestnight say, "Best of luck, my NightWings."

Then everything went black.

Chapter Two: Moonshadow

The siblings came to in the middle of a forest.

Moonshadow, the dragon with the starrry scales and the moon on his forehead, looked around in awe. "Wow." He gasped. He hadn't foreseen this. They had landed in the middle of a rainforest.

"Where are we?" Galaxyswirl mused.

"I don't know... Wait. Where's Whisperingwind?!"

Whisperingwind was gone! Moonshadow raised his wings and shot up into the air, his siblings following. "WHISPER? WHERE ARE YOU?!" Starstrike shrieked. The siblings were, needless to say, very protective of their younger sister.

Finally, they found Whisperingwind in a sunlit clearing. Her lustrous rose-colored eyes were focused on a large stone covered in moss. "I have come, Hathariah..." She whispered.

"Oh! There you are. We were worried sick!" Solarflare exploded. "Don't go running off like that."

Moonshadow studied Whisperingwind, then said, "We'd better go explore the place. This must be the Rainforest Kingdom."

Just then, Whisperingwind turned around abruptly. "Servants of the Lady Rain-On-Leaves. We come in peace."

RainWing guards materialized in the trees. "Who are you and what do you want, NightWings?" One of them asked, ignoring Whisperingwind.

"We have come to see your mistress." Whisperingwind murmured. "I must tell her of the soaring larks of the lake. Kothohaskari."

The RainWings gave her a weird look. "You mean you want to see Queen Glory?"

"Take me to the Lady of the Golden-Green."

The RainWings looked at each other and shrugged. "Okaaayyyy... Come on. We'll take you to Glory."

The RainWing queen was large and powerful-looking, and looked generally a lot fiercer than the other RainWings. "NightWings. What were you doing in one of our forbidden territories?"

Moonshadow looked at Starstrike, not sure what to say. "Ummm, we didn't know it was forbidden. My apologies, Queen Glory."

"We are the Kothohaskari. We come from an island hidden from the eyes of the Hathariah." Whisperingwind spoke up. "The Kothohaskari have never been to the Hathariah mainland. We are the Children of Animus Island. Forgive our ignorance, Lady Rain-On-Leaves of the Golden-Green."

Queen Glory studied Whisperingwind for a moment. "Interesting. Are you siblings?"

Moonshadow nodded. "What she means to say, Your Majesty, is that we aren't from Pyrrhia. We were sent here, and we don't know anything."

Queen Glory was silent. "Is this Animus Island what we would call the Lost Continent?"

"No, Your Majesty." Moonshadow decided not to give too much information. He didn't trust the RainWing queen.

"Okay then. You may leave the Rainforest Kingdom." Queen Glory said sharply.

Moonshadow looked at his siblings for a moment. "What are we supposed to do?" He whispered.

"Let's... leave." Solarflare said, then took off flying.

Moonshadow sighed and followed him. It was their first day there and they got kicked out of a kingdom. What next?

Chapter Three: Solarflare

Solarflare looked behind her. "She's the queen of the NightWings and the RainWings..." She explained. "I don't know how that happened, but... Well, our mission was to overthrow Queen Battlewinner and find a place for the NightWings besides Battlewinner's plan to take over the Rainforest Kingdom. But the NightWings led by a RainWing... That's just wrong."

"I agree..." Starstrike sighed. "But what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know." Solarflare admitted.

Just then, Solarflare heard something from the rainforest around her. It sounded like a thought...

I wonder when Malice will let us launch an attack... This is sooooo boring.

Solarflare's head snapped that way. "What..."

"Is something there?" Starstrike asked, his brow furrowed.

Solarflare slipped into the forest, stalking towards the thought. She motioned for the others to follow her. As she got closer the thoughts got louder. She finally saw a male NightWing with blue underscales and black eyes. She glided around a tree and waited, listening to the thoughts.

The NightWing carelessly slumped on the ground, picking at his claws in a bored manner. I wish we could get something else to do. Something to look forward to other than that ONE assassination attempt tonight. Booooring...

Solarflare edged closer, then suddenly launched herself at the NightWing, easily knocking him to the ground. The NightWing whimpered, staring at her in shock.

"Who are you? What assassination attempt is going on?" Solarflare demanded.

"How-What...?" The NightWing stuttered. Oh. Three moons, she's a mind reader.

Solarflare pressed her talons on his neck. "You have ten seconds to tell me."

"Okay! Okay! Alright! I'm part of a group that's going to try to assassinate Queen Glory tonight."

Solarflare didn't move her talons. "Now THAT sounds like it wouldn't be a waste of time. What do you guys think? Are you up for joining a group of rebel ruffians?"

"Wait- But we're supposed to do this through peace-" Galaxyswirl said, but he was cut off by Solarflare.

"I don't CARE what we're supposed to do!" Solarflare yelled. "We're not ROBOTS, or pathetic PROPHECY DRAGONETS. This is MY LIFE, and I'm going to do what I want with it, not what a STUPID bunch of guardians told us to!"

Silence.

"Alright, pathetic NightWing. Take us to your leader."

Chapter Four: Galaxyswirl

Galaxyswirl looked around warily as the strange NightWing led them through the forest. Trees were so close around them, he was constantly pushing his way between them.

Then, the forest cleared out, and Galaxyswirl saw a huge clearing ahead of him. A crumbling stone ziggurat loomed in front of him, majestic and ancient against the rainforest backdrop.

Soon, a large female NightWing with vibrant blue and purple underscales and blue-purple eyes came out to meet them. "Greetings. I am Princess Malice of the NightWings, daughter of Queen Battlewinner, and rightful heir to the throne. I presume you want to be part of my rebellion group?"

"Hold on a minute." Galaxyswirl said. "We're Queen Battlewinner's heirs."

"You are? How... Interesting."

"We'll be glad to offer any services we can, Malice." Solarflare said. "In case you were wondering, I'm a mindreader, Moonshadow here is a prophet, and Galaxyswirl-" She pointed to him with a smirk. "Is an animus. I know you don't want to waste your soul on enchantments besides big ones, so you can go ahead and use him for the smaller stuff."

"What?!" Galaxyswirl nearly shouted. "I'm not going to be ordered around with enchantments!"

"Well, if you really want to help, dear long-lost brother, you will give whatever you can give." Malice hissed with a dripping smile.

Galaxyswirl didn't say anything, but shifted back slightly.

"Well." Starstrike said, breaking the silence. "I guess we'll join. It seems like a good idea..."

"And we want to help with the assassination!" Solarflare broke in.

Galaxyswirl gulped. He didn't think this was a good idea.

"Well, if you want to help, then you can start your training as Soldiers tomorrow." Malice said. She met Galaxyswirl's gaze, then swept into the ziggurat. Galaxyswirl didn't like the look in her eyes.

The siblings followed her into the ziggurat, and Galaxyswirl realized that this must be the Soldiers' room. NightWings milled about, and more than a few had their gaze trained on Whisperingwind. Starstrike seemed to notice, and snarled at a couple NightWings with their jaws slacked. Galaxyswirl moved protectively in front of his younger sister.

Malice ignored them. "Get ready. I don't think I'll take anyone besides... You five. Get some rest. I think there should be a change of plans. We're leaving tonight."

As the siblings walked out of the ziggurat, Galaxyswirl remarked, "I think I'll stay out here, if you don't mind." He didn't want to train with the Soldiers, so he strolled off a bit into the forest. He sighed as he slumped against a tree. "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

"I don't know." Came a soft whisper from beside him.

Galaxyswirl looked to the side and saw Whisperingwind there. Her tail coiled around her like a cat's, and she leaned against the tree in a way that was both graceful and delicate. Too delicate. Sometimes Galaxyswirl wondered that if someone were to push her too hard she would shatter like glass.

"What do you think we should do?" Galaxyswirl asked. Whisperingwind was enigmatic and hard to understand, but she was extremely intelligent.

"We can't do anything at the moment. The Dark-Scale princess has too heavy of a veil."

Galaxyswirl stared ahead, not responding. He knew that his sister was right. "What should I do if Malice makes me use my magic?"

"Is she your queen?"

"No..."

"You can decide who you want to serve."

"Can I?"

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bushes, and a distracted-looking NightWing nearly ran into them. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

Galaxyswirl and Whisperingwind looked up at him. He was sort of small and not very impressive, with greenish-black scales and mismatched eyes- One green and one purple. He was oddly handsome, and froze when he saw Whisperingwind.

"Am I, um, interrupting anything?"

Chapter Five: Whisperingwind

Whisperingwind stared at the handsome green-black NightWing. His mismatched eyes gave him an odd effect, and Whisperingwind thought she could see an acacia in them, its branches outstretched through spring and autumn. For the first time, she felt her mind twist like a salmon, making it harder to think. Her mouth opened slightly as she stared blankly ahead.

"No- You're not..." Her tongue felt heavy, and she searched his eyes, trying to feel his emotions, although the green and the purple made her image of his feelings distorted and shattered. "You're hard to read." She faltered plainly.

Galaxyswirl grasped her shoulder and steered her towards the clearing. "Heh. Maybe we should go now."

Whisperingwind did not object, but looked back. "Who is the acacia?" She whispered.

"The acacia?"

"In your eyes- the Summer and Autumn acacia."

The NightWing stared at Whisperingwind. "Who are you?"

"Whisperingwind."

"You have the Winter and Spring acacia... I've never..."

"Fascinating."

"I'm Stonethrower." Stonethrower looked at Galaxyswirl. "Is this your sister?"

Galaxyswirl moved closer to Whisperingwind. "Yes. She is. Now, if you'll excuse us..." He tried to move Whisperingwind towards the clearing, but Whisperingwind shrugged him off in an unwonted gesture.

Whisperingwind stared into Stonethrower's eyes again. She could faintly see the wavering image of the acacia. She remembered that whenever she looked at her own reflection she could see an acacia in her eyes, with Winter and Spring in it.

Stonethrower held her gaze. "Is your brother..."

"He's not one of us. He is pure, though. We are two of the Kothohaskari."

"What in Pyrrhia are you talking about?" Galaxyswirl interrupted. "Come on, Whisperingwind, we should get going." With that, he forcefully took his sister away into the clearing.

Whisperingwind looked back over her shoulder as she complacently walked away. She met Stonethrower's eyes again, and she knew that she would see him again. The wind through his acacia seemed to whisper it.

Chapter Six: Starstrike

"Alright, troops!" Malice called as she paced in front of the NightWings. "Our assassination begins tonight. Tonight, we, the NightWings independent, will overthrow Queen Glory forever! We will restore our dignity as a tribe! This night, troops, this night will be written in history books from now on!"

Starstrike swallowed, watching Malice nervously. He wasn't sure what he thought about this assassination. But he knew there was no backing out of it.