Smokeseer held her breath, clutching the precious egg closer to her chest, flapping her wings furiously. She warily eyed the skies behind her; error was a fault that would not be allowed.

Below her were the mountains at the base of the Sky Kingdom. Smokeseer flew only a few winglengths over the tall peaks, hoping to lose any pursuers in the winding valleys should she need to. It may not be the best type of cover, but it beat being exposed in the open sky.

The young NightWing knew that if something were to happen to lead any scouts to the Scales of Fate's hideout, she would not be treated with mercy. The high commander, an imposing and scarred, battle-ready NightWing by the name of Triumph, had done his time in the war before deciding to create this little movement. 

Of course, the movement had only been formed after Smokeseer's own prophecy during one of the 'break' periods in the war. The young NightWing had learnt, though, that apparently the fact it was her prophecy was a detail long lost in the gruff NightWing's own pride. Probably because he's a pompous git.

Smokeseer's mind flipped over to the other guardians, who had each been tasked with finding the other prophecy eggs. Macaw had gone to get the RainWing egg, of course; Himalaya was searching for the IceWing egg ("why's your dumb prophecy so vague about that egg?" Smokeseer had heard Himalaya complain many times over); Diamondback was out to retrieve the SandWing egg; and a SeaWing called Stonefish was hunting for the SkyWing egg. 

Smokeseer sighed, blowing ringlets of smoke out of her nostrils. The three moons were all full in the night sky, which was rather unhelpful if she was to escape any scouts. At least she could blend in with the night sky, unless she were unlucky enough to be exposed by the silvery light of the moons.

She glanced down, her eyes following the mountain crags until she found the tell-tale decline. Smokeseer descended, the whoosh of air stinging her eyes. She blinked, trying to clear them.

Smokeseer landed with grace in front of a hidden boulder. She folded her wings and rapped her claws six times on the boulder that protected the entrance.

A latch pulled back, moving the boulder just wide enough for Smokeseer to see a strikingly cobalt eye, pupil slit like a wildcat's. A voice hissed, "What is the victory when you win a long forgotten battle?"

"The key is Triumph," Smokeseer hissed back. She hated the password, as Triumph had set them himself. It was like they honoured him. Like she had thought before though, whose prophecy it really was didn't matter. Apparently it also didn't matter that it ought be she to run this operation.

A loud CLICK was heard and the boulder rolled away fully, revealing the resentful IceWing guardian, Himalaya.
He scowled at the newcomer. "You're the last one here," he growled, then turned and lead Smokeseer deeper into the cave. Smokeseer followed him and, once she was inside, heard the scrape of rock against rock as the boulder was rolled back into position by a mechanism known only to the guardians.

The two followed a passage that lead to the main cave; a cavernous opening with a high ceiling. There, Smokeseer saw the others assembled around the nest holding the eggs. Triumph was waiting behind the others, impatiently flicking his tongue in and out of his mouth, and twitching his tail.

"You're late," he growled at Smokeseer, who nodded bravely. 

"I had to shake some SkyWing scouts off my tail while passing by their territory, Triumph. I made sure I wasn't followed and took the long way round."

Triumph hissed and nodded, motioning for Smokeseer to put the egg down in the nest with the others. Smokeseer bowed her head slightly and set the egg with gold wisps down in the clutch. She scrutinised the other prophecy eggs with interest, before joining the other guardians. She took a seat next to the most colourful dragon under the mountain.

"How'd it go?" She asked Macaw, who snorted in response. 

"Fabulously. The rest of my tribe don't even count their eggs, which is atrocious."

Smokeseer nodded. She liked the RainWing. They had become friends when they were assigned to guardian duty. Out of them all, she was the nicest to Smokeseer.

The young NightWing sat back and allowed the others to tell their stories. 

"I found the NightWing egg exceptionally quickly, despite your prophecy's... utter lack of detail," Triumph boasted, and Smokeseer held back a snort. Triumph really was too far up himself. "I remembered the legends saying of a secret NightWing village on one of the outside islands around the volcanic island. It was abandoned, save for one black egg."

Even though Smokeseer disliked the other NightWing, she had to commend him on finding the egg so fast; especially since she (admittedly) didn't give him that much to work on.

"I stole the SandWing egg from the Scorpion Den," Diamondback spoke next. "It was buried deep in the sand, far out of sight. It has to be the prophecy egg," she insisted, though Smokeseer saw her glance doubtfully down at the pale egg.

"I snuck into Hawk's mountaintop hatchery and successfully stole the SkyWing egg," Stonefish explained simply. "I made sure I wasn't followed."

Smokeseer nodded. Though Stonefish was mostly grumpy and no-nonsense, he was also a dragon of decency and honour.

Himalaya snorted and looked down his snout at Stonefish.

"Well. I happen to be Rockhopper's grandson. I know a lot of IceWings. I had to cash in a few favours, but I got the IceWing egg, as you can see." He used his whip-thin tail to point to the said egg, which was mostly white, but it had strange black dots covering the shell. Some of the dots were arranged in groups together, and there was one outlier. Smokeseer was proud of her prophesying abilities when she realised the egg looked like a singular die. 

"So that's what 'roll of dice' meant," Macaw pointed out. "Cool."

Smokeseer recalled Himalaya boasting about his bloodline before, plus the rankings; how Himalaya had apparently been "first position first circle" before he was recruited. Smokeseer often wondered if Himalaya ever thought giving up those rankings for peace was a bad trade.

The NightWing heard the words of the prophecy trampling her brain again and shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts out.

"I found the VoltWing egg in a misty cave up where the air was thin. It's a black egg with gold wisps; I'm confident it's the prophecy's egg," Smokeseer gestured toward the egg in subject, which sported whirls of gold on its overall black colouring.

Triumph let a ring of smoke curl from his nostrils. "Wait here until they hatch. I have business I need to attend to in the meantime. I'll return in six years, to make sure everything is under order. Do you understand?" The NightWing growled in a tone that suggested this matter was only open to one possible answer.

"Yes, Triumph," the guardians spoke together.

With that, the commander of the Scales of Fate turned and flew to the boulder, and a second later he was gone, leaving the five guardians to await the eggs' hatching.