Embers from the sky

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Winter's Moon,
Sun in the Great Sow,
Year 204,
Kreon's Era
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The rain that had gotten the procession cancelled had turned into gentle snowfall by midnight. The occasional bout of hailstones drummed against the mountain walls. Their room was well lit by the Winter's Moon, with dust floating in the single beam filtering through the room's window. The hatchlings were sure they saw something stir within the shadows.

Hess struggled to his feet, shaking his brother's body off himself and sitting upright. The room's temperature had risen to mildly warm. He looked around, wondering what had triggered the eerie heat creeping up his neck. He covered Mae with his own body and bared his fangs at the darkness in warning.

The hailstones drummed on.

A pulse of light shaped in the likeliness of a draconian face attracted their attention to the wall opposing their nest.

It flashed again and again, leaving liquid darkness at its centre. A dark violet dragon head emerged from the central shadows as the rippling pulse lit up the fringes of his face. The millions of lavender mane scales framing its face floated like seaweeds in an ocean current, illuminating the room with their soft glow. When the pair of brilliant topaz eyes opened, a dozen smaller golden dots around them flashed and faded. The creature had no wings to speak of, sending a shiver up Sparky's back.

The dragon gave his mane-scales a shake and gingerly stepped into the circle Hesshad drawn before the wall, its talons making no sound. Streamers of aurorae rose from its limbs, draping his body in silken energy. The fledgeling's hide was speckled with clusters of glowing spots, Hessthought they looked like galaxies and constellations.

He studied the room's dimensions, mumbled something to himself and melted onto the floor on all fours.

"The surface feels wonderful, must be the queen's quarters," said the strange male fledgeling in a sweet voice. He rolled onto his back and crooned as the cool tiles chilled his hide and scales. On noticing the two hatchlings hiding behind their nesting straw, he smiled. It looked like a smile, Hesshoped it was one. There was a part of him that hoped it was a dream. The other part feared that what he was witnessing was real.

"Hello," the fledgeling began as he pulled himself upright, "didn't quite see you back there."

Hess crouched behind the mess of his nesting straw, holding Mae down and hoping that he had escaped the stranger's eye. At least one of them had to survive to tell Gleyssier.

"H-hello," he squeaked, his throat going dry. The fledgeling looked rather unprepared for a fire dragon assassin sent to kill the hatchlings of an influential clan- he had no soot or frankincense hiding his identity, neither were his fangs or talons coated with metal to increase their lethality. And the glowing lavender mane scales fascinated Hesswith their careless dance around the fledgeling's face.

The fledgeling crossed his arms before his body and lowered his head into the space between them.

"So you did summon me on purpose, I had assumed it was an accident. It's sloppy work- you could've added a few more thresholds lest something dangerous decided to pass through. Not bad for a novice however, I'm impressed."

"Call Gleyssier, Hess," Mae whispered. "He must be one of those assassins the guards told us about."

The tip of the strange fledgeling's tail pointed up in confusion as his head cocked. "I'm sorry but what did you call me again?"

Hess tilted his head towards Mae and whispered back, "No, he's too flashy to be an assassin, Mae, he'd blow his cover right away with hair that...shiny. Assassins are masters of stealth, remember that air dragon Gleyssier killed last summer? Either that or-"

The fledgeling interjected their talk, "The two of you are horribly mistaken. I am not a 'Fire Dragon' assassin, whatever that might be, why would you even think that? Do I look and sound feminine to you?"

"Not all assassins are females," Hess replied matter of factly, "it's sexist to think so."

"That's a bad word, Hess, the Governess would wash your mouth with quicklime again," Mae hissed at him, making Hess stare him down.

"No, it's not. Sexism is being a rabid chalcosaur to a particular sex. Pull your mind out of the dunghill once in every while."

"I wasn't even…do something before he kills us."

The strange fledgeling stared at them through drooping eyelids, his listless tail letting them know that he was bored beyond his mind. He rolled his eyes and lighted up the golden spots around them with a long blink. A cloud of dust began to swirl around in his raised palm, the dirt clumping together to form a lime sized ball of earth. He squeezed the ball and a brilliant white light burst forth within his palm, flooding the room. The earthen ball had turned into a spinning ball of flames, around which revolved several smaller dirtballs of various colours like fallen leaves around a whirlpool.

"Those were real runes, Hess," Mae mumbled, watching the spectacle encased within the strange fledgeling's palm. He slipped from underneath his brother's protection and leaned forward.

"Oh pray tell what made you think so, bird-brain, the star dragon sitting in our nesting cave?"

"Star dragon is a term that a simple worker would use to describe us. We are aether dragons, hatchling," corrected the star dragon fledgeling with a condescending air. He blew softly on the fireball, dissipating it into white streamers of aurorae that escaped through his finger clefts. "We breathe burning aether to defend ourselves from Deitoni, Irosquili and Rilnai. As drones, you are expected to know better than your average worker and should use the proper terms. Your fathers should've taught you that by now."

"I don't care what you are," Mae said, his voice gaining an edge with newfound confidence. "You're not welcome here. Hess, send it away or I'm calling Gleyssier on your sorry behind."

"If I knew how to do it, I would've sent it back by now," Hess said. "They didn't exactly write down the sending them back part."

The fledgeling covered his muzzle with his hands. "Goodness, why did you summon me if I wasn't invited to your chamber?"

The was a bit of hesitation on Hess' part to disclose the reason, but eventually, he spat it out. "I just wanted to scare my brother, I didn't expect one of your kind to pop out of the walls."

The aether dragon fledgeling's tail tip hit the air for the second time. "My kind? Are you not aether dragons?"

"No, we're cloud dragons, Mr Aether dragon, we breathe ice."

"Ice sounds ridiculous, little drone."

"Is he stupid, Hess?" Mae mumbled.

"Maybe he doesn't have snow where he comes from. That fire dragon guard seemed to be new to snow too."

Hess hawked and spat on the floor between the aether dragon and the nest, forcing the aether dragon to pull his claws back with a gasp. The water in his spit froze mid-flash, crystallising into a crown of sharp icicles, their tips glimmering in the moonlight.

The fledgeling's eyes studied the patch of ice crystals and turned to the two hatchlings before widening. His tail tapped thrice against the stone floor in anticipation. The golden spots around his eyes flashed to brilliance and the fledgeling's mane scales rippled in the aurorae that emanated from his forelimbs. 

The fledgeling narrowed his eyes and looked at the entrance to their nesting cave. Fumes began to rise from within his nostrils. The hailstorm outside had picked up slack and resumed pelting the mountain.

There was a blinding flash of light when Hessturned to look behind that forced him to shut his eyes. The smell of burning flesh hit his muzzle following a hissing sound and a howl of pain from somewhere over him. When he opened his eyes, he saw a collapsed fire dragon trying to drag herself towards the exit while, sporting a serious burn across her face and chest.

He looked at the space between their nest and the runes. The aether dragon fledgeling had vanished.

Gleyssier and the Imperial guard were the first to arrive at the scene. The assassin growled at them both as she slithered back into the nesting room, only to be apprehended by the Imperial guard.

Gleyssier leapt over her body, picked up the hatchlings and took them to the room where their mother and fledgeling sister rested.

"Stay with Mother," he said, watching his younger sister stir from her sleep as their mother rose from her rest.

"What's going on, Gleyssier? I thought I heard a scream," she asked as her hatchlings ran to her side. She licked their heads and pulled them into the safety of her arms. She responded to the charred assassin being dragged out of the room by baring her teeth, flapping her wings and growling.

"They sent an assassin, Mother. It seems that there was a misfire."

"And thank the goddess for that."

Pruina, the female fledgling looked over her brother's shoulder at the Imperial guard as she hauled the fainted assassin into the guest quarters. Her muzzle wrinkled as the smell hit her nose.

"You're telling us that the fire dragon burnt herself, Gliss?" she scoffed. "Most dragons are immune to their elements. Ever heard of a cloud dragon succumbing to frostbite? Or an earth dragon getting an acid burn?"

Gleyssier paused to think. "Perhaps the assassin isn't a pureblood. Mongrels don't have that kind of immunity."

Hess clamped his mouth shut with his talons lest his brother heard him growl. His best friend Rybon could fly and sing better than any purebred air dragon fledgeling he had ever met. And she was sweeter and better behaved than those snooty, uppity air-heritaged cockatiels who thought themselves superior to mongrels like her.

Pruina voiced his thoughts. "That sounds silly, I've never seen a mongrel die of the cold or get burnt either."

"Well, you're seeing one right now. Care to explain this?"

Mother stayed silent the whole while, watching the Imperial guard propping the fire dragon against the wall and feeding her water.

"Embers from the sky," Hess blurted out. Mae whimpered near him.

"What was that, darling?" asked their mother lowering her head.

"The embers, Mother, they came from the sky," Hess said, snuggling closer to her. "There were runes...and a blinding light and everything just went dark."