Chapter 1: Thoughts

The night was calm in the Realm of Dragons. In the Dragon Cave everyone was asleep. Every dragon that is; Velicity Dragonrider lay awake, restless. Her blue dragon, Skywing, was dozing peacefully beside her outside of Velicity’s small cabin.

     Velicity gave a sigh. Thoughts of the Prophecy swirled through her mind like a waterfall, churning and splashing down, drowning her in troubling thoughts of the Prophecy.

     What can it mean? Do I have to go back to Earth? The blue egg of dragon silver . . . the blue egg must be Skywing and the dragon silver is most likely Silverwing. So . . . Skywing will take me to the sea on Earth? That makes no sense. Who is the Dragon Guardian?

     They kept her awake until a late hour, when she finally nodded off to sleep, exhausted.

*****

     The next day dawned bright and cool. A rare early morning mist swirled along the damp rocks like grounded clouds. A large golden dragon stepped out of the Dragon Cave’s entrance. He beat his wings to warm up his muscles and the mist-weakened sunlight shone a pale gold through his wings.

     This dragon’s name is Goldenflame, Leader of the Dragon Council. The Dragon Council consists of usually seven dragons, each dragon representing a different Element of Nature. The Council works together to make decisions for the entire Cave and also maintains order in each separate Element Tribe of Dragons.

*****

     Near the cabin where Velicity lay, Skywing stirred slightly. Velicity woke up quite suddenly. Her mind was foggy due to the lack of sleep from last night. Then she remembered Waterdance’s Prophecy and her mind was alert once more.

     Velicity decided to take Skywing for an early morning ride to clear her mind and attempt to rid herself thought of the prophecy.

     “Skywing! Wake up!” Velicity whispered softly.

     Skywing stirred again and blinked open a sleepy eye. He rose to his clawed feet that were now as large as Velicity’s head. Velicity recalled the pre-battle flying sessions from her flying mentor, Hawkflight. Skywing obediently lowered his great head and Velicity stepped onto the highest part of his tail that she could reach and climbed onto Skywing’s wide back. She positioned herself in the comfortable hollow between his shoulder blades and his sinewy neck.

     Velicity gave Skywing the okay signal through his mind and the sapphire dragon spread his ethereal wings and rose into the cerulean sky. Velicity’s auburn hair whipped into her face as she whooped with delight.

     Skywing felt fully awake now that he was in the air again. The morning sun was just beginning to rise above the distant mountains. The watercolor sky was a gentle rose hue. Here and there, wisps of clouds were the only imperfections in the beautiful morning sky. Skywing felt a joy only a flying dragon could feel; it was almost as if the sky and he were one, linked together by the feeling of freedom.

     Velicity noticed Skywing begin to climb steadily until they almost reached the clouds.

     It’s a wonder I can still breathe at this altitude, she thought vaguely.

     The pair soared on for about an hour, not worrying about anything, not even the prophecy. Then, minute pinpricks could be seen distantly. Skywing said, Look, on the horizon, I don’t know what they are but they are coming in fast!

     Velicity looked, there was nothing; she squinted and barely saw the diminutive specks though they were indeed approaching rapidly. Skywing stalled in midair, rising and falling gently from his constant wing beats. When the specks were several wing’s length away, Skywing said, They’re Diamond wings! I’m going to land.

     Velicity was bewildered. What were Diamond wings? She soon found out and she didn’t like it.

     The creatures, Velicity saw, did have diamond-shaped wings and looked somewhat like dragon but instead of scales, they had tough leathery brown skin and yellow eyes. Velicity also noted their barbed tails and needle sharp teeth which were shaped for piercing flesh.

     “L-let’s go into the trees for now, maybe they’ll just pass by.” They landed quickly and ducked under a grove of trees conveniently close by.

     But instead of passing over head, the Diamond wings circled above where they hid. There were about a dozen of the large predators.

     The largest one spotted them sheltering under the trees and dived straight at them with a chilling cry.

     Skywing shot into the sky with Velicity still hanging on desperately. He breathed what looked like silvery light at the Diamond wings who rocketed up into the sky to avoid the jet of light. Most of them got away, but one unfortunate Diamond wing was caught in the blast and burst into rays of light and disappeared completely with a shriek.

     By then, the others were already circling back to counterattack.

     They fly extremely well; almost as good as a dragon . . . though that doesn’t help us in the least bit, thought Velicity.

     Hang on tight! Skywing thought to Velicity before going into a spiraling dive to avoid the attacking Diamond wings.

     “Why are they attacking us?!” shouted Velicity over the wind.

     I don’t know, they usually avoid dragons. Diamond wings usually eat birds, small animals, and even phoenixes if they can catch one, replied Skywing glancing back to see the Diamond wings still chasing them. It was clear that Skywing did not have the stamina and speed to out fly the predators.

     Skywing and Velicity were now in what seemed like nowhere, no trees, no clouds, no hills; the ground was expressionless and so was the sky. The only feature around was the blazing sun which was now at the 10 o’clock position.

     Out of nowhere, Velicity felt and saw a ripple, then they were gone . . . and so were the Diamond wings.