Two years ago...

Bloodworm Hive was burning again.
Decades after its first famed fall, a spark ignited in the lowest level of the Hive, and soon enough the flames were dancing across the walls. The light of the flames illuminated the abandoned grasslands surrounding the Hive. The new structures hadn't been enough. It was burning to the ground again.
Only a level above the raging fire, a dragon was wide awake.
She could hear the crackling and hissing below her. She froze with fear and scrambled to wake the others. In mere seconds the entire Hive had erupted in chaos. Dragons rushed down with buckets of water, attempting to drown the flames, only to return in vain with an empty bucket. Others evacuated, streaming out onto to the newly constructed webs. A few fluttered on enormous wings down to the surface, yelling as though the fire would obey their commands.
One dragon watched it all unfold.
His plan had worked perfectly. Bloodworm Hive had thought they were so prepared for anything, they had stopped trying to reduce the risk of fire. They didn't check every dragon that entered for weapons or fire. They wouldn't even notice if a dragon waltzed in holding a sign that said, I'm setting fire to your hive tonight!
He'd carefully plotted every step of the plan. First, he'd flooded the Lady's bedroom, forcing her to move to the lower guest bedrooms, on only the second level, so she would send the hive into a panic when the fire started. Next, he'd gathered as many dragonflame cacti from SkyWing vendors on Pyrrhia as possible. He'd placed them strategically on the ground floor of Bloodworm Hive. After lighting a long fuse, his colleagues had plenty of time to sneak away from the Hive before it was engulfed in flame.
The dragon tapped his claws together. This was only one part of his grand plan. He could do nothing but hope at this point that the other tribes would come to the aid of the poor former inhabitants of the Bloodworm Hive. He could pick them off one by one, and with overcrowded and chaotic cities full of distraught SilkWings, it would be almost too easy.
He watched as the flames finally blasted up to the rest of the Hive, which melted to the ground in slow motion. Dragons shrieked as they watched their home disappear into a storm of ashes and smoke. The webs had long since dropped to the floor, and a huge mob of dragons was gathered on each side of the ruins. Flaming bits of debris shot up from the pile of rubble occasionally, chasing the crowd of dragons farther and farther away.
In all the confusion, nobody noticed the faint silhouettes of dragons flying towards a jagged opening in the grasslands.
A wing of MudWings, SkyWings, SandWings, and HiveWings crept into the damp cavern. A dragon crept out of the shadows, his black scales barely visible in the darkness.
"Shadowcaller," a pale gold and white SandWing growled. "Have we done well enough for you?"
Shadowcaller gave a grim nod. "Yes. Yes indeed, Springbok."
"General Springbok," the SandWing grumbled, his black eyes narrowing to slits.
The NightWing shifted his stance. "I'll call you what I like."
Springbok let a growl rumble in his throat before turning to his wing. "Acacia's wing should be returning soon," he grunted.
"Returning from where?" Shadowcaller asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. "They should have been with you."
"Acacia needed to visit the Poison Jungle," Springbok replied, avoiding the big NightWing's gaze.
"She what?" Shadowcaller hissed, a spurt of flame bursting from his mouth.
"She went to visit the Poison Jungle," Springbok replied, backing away. His gaze flickered towards his soldiers, who were standing uneasily in front of the cave entrance, all staring down at the floor.
"And you let her leave?" Shadowcaller demanded, taking a menacing step closer to Springbok.
The SandWing gulped, his eyes darting around the dark cave.
"I gave you very specific orders, and you let our entire second wing go wandering off in the forest?" Shadowcaller roared, lunging forward and seizing Springbok by the throat.
Springbok whimpered and arced his tail at Shadowcaller, his eyes wide with fear. Behind him, his dragons were still, frozen by their fear of the NightWing.
"Answer me!" Shadowcaller demanded, slamming Springbok's trembling body to the cave floor.
"Y-yes," Springbok stuttered, his words raspy.
Shadowcaller tightened his grip on the SandWing's throat, and he made a strangled choking sound. The other dragons backed away, desperately avoiding Shadowcaller's line of sight. Springbok was trembling under the massive NightWing's claws.
"I gave you a chance," Shadowcaller breathed, loosening his grip a bit and slowing his breathing. "And what do you do? You let the other wing—the wing that is also under your command—abandon mission at the last moment! Do you know what will happen, Springbok, if you continue to be so incompetent?"
Springbok whimpered. "Y-yes, sir," he choked out.
Shadowcaller nodded. "Well, we can't have that happening, can we?"
Springbok squirmed, as if he could worm out of Shadowcaller's grip, but the NightWing just squeezed his throat tighter. Desperate, Springbok jabbed his tail at Shadowcaller's underbelly. He flung Springbok to the side before his venomous barb could stab him. Springbok cowered against the rocky wall, trembling from his horns to his tail-tip.
Shadowcaller pulled back his forearm and began slashing his claws downward at Springbok's exposed white throat when a voice rang through the cavern.
"Shadowcaller!"
He dropped Springbok, who lay twitching on the pebbles, and gazed up at the voice.
"Acacia," he whispered.
In a flash, he lunged forward and wrapped his wings around hers. Startled, the elegant olive green dragon stumbled backwards. Shadowcaller caught her wing his star-specked wings, pressing his snout to hers.
"You're back!" he breathed.
Still looking stunned, she nodded her head, putting on a queasy smile. Her big brown eyes stared into his, full of anxiety and fear, mixed in with love.
"Put Springbok in the crystal cove," he called to the wing of dragons still cowering against the cave walls. "We'll deal with him later." He turned back to Acacia as the other dragons hauled a yelping and whimpering Springbok away. "Why'd you leave?"
Acacia blinked up at him. "We knew the others could handle it," she replied coolly.
"Bud why did you have to visit the Poison Jungle?" Shadowcaller pressed.
"New recruits," Acacia said, her eyes shining with pride, flicking her tail at a few unfamiliar dragons at the front of the wing.
"How many?" Shadowcaller asked, trying to count the new dragons.
"Five," she answered before he finished. "The timing was wrong, but they couldn't agree on any other time."
Gently, Shadowcaller released her. The dragons were trudging back from putting Springbok in the far cavern. He cleared his throat and flitted up to a ledge in the cave wall.
"The first gaze of our plan is complete," he growled, his voice ringing through the cave. A few dragons let out muffled cheers. He went on. "Next, we will journey back to Pyrrhia." His eyes glowed with anticipation. "They'll pay. They'll all pay for what they've done to me."