Days merged together, merging into one as they became harder and harder to tell apart. Lydia's mind was a sharp, shattered mess. She'd been flying all night, as far away as she could get until she no longer could hear the roars of pain and anger from Landslide, the screams of horror from the towns foalk who had made their way into the forest and stumbling upon the painted scene of murder. She felt tired, oh so tired. How much she wished she could just fall asleep and wake up back home in the safety of the mountain, in the comfort of her parents arms. For everything to just be a dream, a horrible nightmare that simply plagued her dreams for one restless night.

But she knew that wasn't the case, she wasn't sleeping. This nightmare was a reality. The NightWing princess couldn't wake up, a dragonet trapped in a world of horrors. Everything was going wrong, everything bad that could possibly happen, was happening. Things that were only meant to be paranoia, things that weren't supposed to happen.

After flying till dawn, she couldn't anymore, all but collapsing onto the soft grasses below her in a small clearing surrounded by thick woodland. She could hear moving water, her parched throat begging for something to drink, but she couldn't move as salty tears stained down her cheeks, making her tired eyes sting and release a new track of fresh tears as her chest heaved with weak, heart wrenching sobs that ripped themselves from her sore body.

She let her eyes slip closed for a moment, but when her eyes opened the night stars were gone, being replaced by the early warmth of sunlight as the sun began to rise, chasing away the cold that still nipped at her scales. Lydia pulled her sore wings closer to her body, trying to warm herself up even as her shoulders and forewings screamed out in protest.

The little NightWing wanted to cry, wanted to scream, but she could only quietly weep to herself as her muffled cries were carried off by the gengle palm of the breeze that ran along her spine, as though trying to comfort her.

Moonglobe was gone, just like Fatefinder. The two dragons she saw as friends, gone. In a matter of days, just like that.

Her mind wandered back to Fatefinder's death. The young NightWing royal guard in training laying in a pool of his own blood, his throat slashed and gushing, his honey brown eyes lifeless as they stared up at her. Then Moonglobe, his lean body trapped under the heavy branches of the tree, Landslide standing over him, snapping his head sharply in one direction, making his neck snap. Her mind then seemed to picture every death she's seen. The dragon drowning underwater, the one who fell from the sky with the orange dragon trying to catch them, the SandWing impaled on a silver statue as her wife screamed out in horror.

They all flashed before her eyes as if she were flying through the treeline, rays of sunlight blinking in front of her before they quickly went away, leaving the limp dragonet to herself.

Why is this all happening? She asked herself, gritting her teeth as she felt more tears swell within her sore eyes. She shouldn't have any tears left to cry, but she still somehow did, though the tears were thin and far apart, but they still fell.

The world felt empty as she looked around with her blurry, tear filled eyes, hoping to see one of her friends appear and reassure her everything was alright. Would she be able to see Moonglobe? Why couldn't she see Fatefinder? Were either of them here?

The little NightWIng swallowed roughly as she tried pushing herself up into a sitting position, her body screaming at her to stop as she sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, a sigh of relief escaping her once she was settled. "F-Fatefinder?" She tried, her voice a whisper, her heart pounding with exhaustion within her chest, "Moonglobe?"

Nothing.

The world around her was silent. The early rays of sunlight painting everything in a warm, golden glow. Low hanging trees covered in lush leaves, turned yellow and casted long shadows across the grass that glistened, coated in early morning dew that made each blade of grass shimmer like tiny opals in the sunlight.

"Moonglobe?" She called out a little louder, feeling like a baby bird calling out for its parents as it grew restless and hungry from within the safety of the nest, but she wasn't safe, not until she got back to her own nest. Back home in the mountains with her parents: Queen Animosity and King Charming. "Fatefinder?"

Still nothing, just the early singing of birds as they woke with the rising sun, letting out chirps and chittering cries to welcome its warmth with joyful songs. Lydia felt defeated, as if she had lost everything, but she hasn't, not yet at least. I need to get home, the princess told herself as she sucked in a breath, standing up. "I need to get home." she said out loud this time, repeating it to herself, "I need to get home."

And that was what she was going to do. The little NightWing, the princess of the NightWing's with a destiny to fulfill, was going to go home, where she belonged, where she had been taken from. A feeling of guilt washed over her, as if she were abandoning someone, but she shook her head and turned to look off ahead of her, her large ears pinning back along the sides of her head as she could see a towering mountain, its peaks reaching into the clouds. It looked small from where she stood, like a tiny hill, but she knew it was much larger than that.

With the feeling of being watched looming over her shoulders like a shadow, she began to take her first, sore steps in the direction she needed to go: The Mountains.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Lydia was getting by, it was slow, but she was getting by and slowly making progress. The first day was the slowest, her shoulders aching too much for her to take flight, one especially, the one where branches dug painfully into her scales. So, she walked, but had to take breaks in order not to drain herself of any energy she had left.

She had managed to catch herself a small rabbit, though the thing looked old, half starved and blind. She didn't feel as though she caught it fairly, but her mother had taught her to never take food for granted and to get it wherever she could get it. Nonetheless, it filled her for the night and lasted her until the morning.

When she awoke from where she slept, in a small hollow log that was just big enough for her to curl into, she felt like she was being watched. It made her spines rise along her back, rattling with a shiver as they clicked and tapped against one another. Click-tap-tap-click-click-tap-tap. It felt heavy, like she had bricks and heavy stones settling on her shoulders.

Her ears perked up, her earring brushing against her scales, the cool metal helping her to focus on the sounds that she could hear from where she was inside of the small hollow log. The NightWing forced her spines to stiffen, keeping themselves still, spiked up as she listened.

There was nothing.

Everything was still, her ears ringing deafeningly as they tried to find anything, anything at all, but she couldn't hear anything. There was nothing. The bird's were quiet, not one making a peep or even a little chirp or tweet. There was no rustling of any breeze, no branches creaking or grasses and crowns of trees dancing softly in the wind.

She felt a strange sense of deja vu, as if she's felt this before.

Lydia's ears pinned back against the sides of her skull as she turned to look out of the exit of the hollow log she had taken shelter in the previous night. She slowly tucked her wings in, pressing them against her sides as she slowed her breathing, even with her heart beginning to pound loudly within her ears, racing painfully within her chest, making it feel tight. Has she been found? Had Landslide found her? Was Quickstrike looking for her? Surely he was.

Quickstrike found her with seemingly no problem when she first had tried to run away, so whos to say he wasn't outside there now, waiting for her to wake up and take her back ho- to his home, his home in the village, not her's. Or has Landslide found her? The MudWing was surely even more furious than before, having her face on fire and her eyes clawed at, by a dragonet no less. A large dragon like her would find it as an embarrassment, one that would need to be corrected. And Lydia knew what having it 'corrected' meant for her, and the thought alone made her grit her teeth.

I can take a quick peek, she told herself as she calmed down her breathing once more, the hollow is dark, they shouldn't see me. If some dragon was even out there at all.

Maybe she was just paranoid? The little NightWing sure did hope she was just being paranoid for once in her life. All those times she was told not to worry, that everything was fine, that there was no danger and that she was okay, that she was safe. She wished her mother and father would be cooing those gentle nothings into her ears right now.

How much the little princess missed her mothers stoic, calm, and steady voice. Her fathers loving, warm, and dramatic tones. She missed them dearly, and it made her heart ache, making her think back to Fatefinder and Moonglobe, two more dragons she missed dearly, but in a different way. Her parents weren't dead, but her friends were, her two only real friends she's ever had in this newly shown, beautiful and bright, yet brutal, world.

With a sharp breath, she twisted herself around in the hollow tree, trying to make as little noise as possible as every little movement she made felt like the whole world could hear, she swore her heart could be heard by the stars and the moons that were currently resting behind the sea.

Soon, she was facing the exit of the fallen over hollow tree. The sun was shining, the world looking calm and peaceful, as if everything was still asleep, not yet having woken up. With how silent everything was, it felt eerie, too still, too quiet. The feeling of being watched only grew as she snuck a little closer towards the entrance, the sun just a mere claw length away from touching the tip of her snout.

She wanted to cross the last shuffle in order for it to warm her scales, but she held back, thinking of it as a death sentence as her mind swirled with three simple words:

Watched, Hidden, Hide. Watched, Hidden, Hide. Watched, Hidden, Hide.

Those three words tumbled and swam inside of her head, repeating over and over again like a bird's song, the same or similar notes being made over and over again inside of her head.

That's when she saw it. A robin, sitting atop a low hanging branch. The bird was small and round, with large beady eyes that seemed to gleam in the warm sunlight, reflecting a look of pure innocence. The bird's feathers were brightly coloured, nod muddy or dirty, looking wellkept and fluffy like that of a chicks. It's feathers looked fluffy as they puffed out in a childlike way, its head chocked to the side as it looked at Lydia, its gaze looking curious as it watched her. Its round black-brown eyes meet her wide, sparkling scarlet ones.

As she watched the small bird tilt its head from side to side watching her, it looked to be copying her. When she would tilt her head, it would tilt its own back at her, like a dragonet copying the movements of an adult.

Was this what's been watching me? The princess wondered as she watched the little bird as it took flight, flapping its round, fluffy looking wings as it began to fly away.

Lydia moved out of the hollow log, turning to watch it as her legs itched for her to follow it, like she was meant to follow it. The little robin landed on a thin branch, turning back around to look back at Lydia with a high pitched "chirp!"

Lydia blinked, straightening up slightly as the spines along her back rose up again. Do you want me to follow you? She thought as the robin turned back around, taking a leap as it started to fly off again in the same direction as before.

"W-wait!" Lydia croaked out, her voice feeling unfamiliar in her own throat after not using it since her first night from flying. The NightWing gave chase after the little robin that fluttered past the trees and weaved through its confusing maze of branches.

"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!" The robin chittered and sang as it flew, so whenever Lydia would lose sight of it, it was easy for her to find it again.

She dashed around a moss coated boulder, running through a thick patch of towering ferns and bushes. Brambles pulling and tugging on her scales when they would get snagged, pulling at her cloak as if they were trying to hold her back, trying to make her really work for it.

"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!"

The robin seemed to be flying further away as she felt one of her hind feet get snagged, the brambles wrapping around her ankle and nearly resulting in her tripping if her wings didn't flare out and flap furiously to keep her steady as the straightened herself once more, pulling to get her leg free.

"Wait!" she cried out, pulling her leg free with a SNAP from the thin brambles. "Slow down!"

The little fluffy robin didn't seem to listen as it flew ahead of her, weaving and twirling, spinning through the thinning trees as Lydia continued to give chase, her black cloak flaring out around her like a blanket of starless night as she ran.

"Find her. Find her. Find her" a voice rang throughout her ears, "Ocean. Down. Flower."

She kept running, pushing herself to follow the robin through the thinning trees, a fierce look of determination beginning to shine through her scarlet red eyes, burning like fire, her ears pinning back and wings unfurling, giving her little boosts from the wind.

"Deep below. Hidden in greens."

She could hear her own breathing as time seemed to slow, the robin flying ahead of her, looking off in the distance.

"Find the flower who is awaiting to be seen."

Lydia burst through the treeline, the leaves pushed out of her way, letting the warm sunlight wash down on her like a blinding tidal wave, but that didn't stop her from letting out a gasp of surprise and shock when she saw Moonglobe right in front of her, mere inches away from her snout. The odd looking IceWing's pearly white face that blended down along his neck into a starless black, his solid blue eyes that looked into her own with a wide look of surprise.

She skidded to a halt right past, no, right through him, and spun around, her ears perked up as a smile tugged at her lips.

"Moonglo-!"

He wasn't there. Lydia's face instantly dropped, her wings tucking in close as her ears pinned down dawn. Was she just seeing things? Was he never there? No, he was there, I saw him! But the oddly coloured IceWing was not there, it didn't even look like he was there to begin with. He was gone. It was just the treeline she could see, the grass stretching out, thinning as it became patchy as it turned to sand.

Sand. she blinked as her heart felt painfully tight within her chest after seeing Moonglobe.

The sound of softly rolling water reached her ears, the chirping of the robin growing distant.

With her ears slowly rising back to their normal position along the sides of her head, she turned around, gasping in awe at the sight before her. She was along the shore, a beach covered in warm sand that seemed to glow a warm and welcoming yellow as each tiny grain brushed up against her talons, warming up her cold claws and clinging to them as they were coated in the early morning dew she ran through when chasing after the robin through the forest.

Clear sparkling water, nearly as clear as the cloudless sky above it, rolled softly up the beach along the sand. Pearly white foam bubbling along the edge of each tiny wave, outlining it in sparkling while that bubbled quietly along the shore when the waves retreated, making room for the next ones to come and greet the shore. It sparkled as it moved, reflecting the warm sunlight that shone down on top of its moving surface.

Lydia has never seen the Pyrrhian shores before, she didn't even know she was this close to the shores. How....how was she along the shores of Pyrrhia? She shouldn't have been anywhere near the shore. She was heading for the mountains, she was sure she was close to MudWing territory near the center of the continent! But if she was.....then how...?

"Lydia"

The NightWing dragonet sucked in a gasp as she turned back to look over her shoulder, her scarlet red eyes widening as she met sparkling obsidian ones. The SandWing who saved me from Morpho, the one who had me dream hop.

"It's you...." her wings drooped slightly from where they tensely held themselves up as she stared at the slender, dull coloured SandWing before her, who met her surprised face with a calm look of her own.

The SandWing didn't say anything after that as she looked back out towards the ocean, her expression giving nothing away as to what she was thinking about. Lydia followed her gaze, but all she could see was the endless water that stretched out until it touched the sky far off in the horizon.

"Have you never seen the ocean before?"

The SandWing's voice startled Lydia, looking out of the corner of her eye, she could see her dull silhouette standing by her side. Her tall, slender frame reminding the NightWing princess of a SkyWing, only shorter. Which she can now say she has actually seen, and not only from a distance from the few small holes within the mountain back home that could be used as windows for the tribe hiding away inside.

"N-no," she admitted quietly, the SandWing looking at her out of the corner of her narrow, black eyes in acknowledgement. "I've never seen it before, until now."

The dull SandWing hummed, the sound rumbling softly within her throat, "I've seen it many times before."

"You have?" I thought most SandWing's didn't leave the desert, their kingdom. They hated how much colder and humid the rest of the world was, preferring the dry climate of their home.

"Yes," the SandWing nodded her head, "though, it was a long time ago."

"When you were...?" still alive.

"Mhm, when I was still," she waved around one of her long, slender talons with a boney wrist, "you know." Alive went unsaid as the two dragons looked back out towards the calm sea. It felt relaxing to look at. Calming her fluttering, racing heart that continued to pound heavily within her chest like a sack of tiny pebbles and stones.

Off in the distance, flying high within the clear, cloudless sky, Lydia could see birds of all shapes and sizes flying through the air. Some soared, others dived down to fly across the water's surface. One bird that Lydia couldn't see was the robin, it seemed to have just disappeared after she came face to face with Moonglobe, then the SandWing who helped her escape from Morpho and that HiveWing that almost seemed to be fused with him.

The thought of those two brought the vision of their merged face to her mind, making her shiver, her spines quivering at the thought.

"What's on your mind?"

The SandWing calm, smooth voice startled the little NightWing out of her thoughts. Turning in surprise to look at the taller dragon who sat beside her, their long barbed tail coiled and laid across their talons in the sand. The barb was a long, thin, dangerous weapon and the perfect shape to impale a victim between their scales and inject their poison that could kill a dragon either within a matter of hours, to a matter of days, depending on where and how they were stung.

"I was just thinking about some....things."

"Some things?" they asked, leaning their head down a little lower to meet her gaze, "what things?"

"A...." she paused, should I tell her about everything? Everything I'm thinking about? Everything that's happened? "A lot of things."

The SandWing was quiet for a few moments, looking at Lydia with a thoughtful look in her narrow, black eyes that reminded Lydia of a snake. Cunning, sharp eyes that watched everything around them, hardly missing anything. A thought seemed to cross through their mind that made their lips press into a thin line as they looked back towards Lydia, away from the ocean ahead of the two of them.

"Are you thinking about what has happened?" Lydia looked back up at the other dragon, meeting her gaze.

"What-"

"The attack in the forest, the one with you and your friend with the MudWing."

"Y-you...." she felt her heart stop at the mention of it, "You know what happened?"

"I was there when your friend, the NightWing, tried to warn you. He was stuck in a time loop but managed to get out when he realized you were in danger."

Lydia's mind seemed to wander back to that night. The dark moonless sky, the looming trees, the pounding of thundering footsteps behind her and Moonglobe as they ran, the tree falling down, being pinned under the branch as it dug into her shoulder, Landslide standing before her, Landslide standing over Moonglobe's still body, the sicking SNAP she heard as her own deafening scream rang throughout her ears as her vision grew blurry with how hard she cried. Attacking Landslide, burning her face and clawing out her eyes, the anger she felt bubbling inside of her, her own voice sounding like a thousand dragons roaring in fury and rage.

"-ia?........Lyd.....-ia?"

She couldn't hear clearly, her eyes were closed, screwed tightly shut as her spines quakes and quivered. When she opened her eyes as she felt someone grasping her shoulders, she let out a horrified, shuddering breath as she was back in that dreaded hallway of dark black stone bricks, shadows looming everywhere as ahead of her was a single torch, flickering tauntingly at the end of the hallway.

"Follow the torches," the voice was back, speaking in her ear and making her freeze as her heart beated heavily within her chest so much so that she felt as if she would suddenly break, shattering like a mirror. "Follow the torches."

A sharp whooshing sound split through the air as an object hurtled in Lydia's direction. With a sharp cry, rearing up onto her hind legs as her wings flared out around her as the object, a spear, shot towards her though the dark and over the torch, straight for her chest, her heart. With a silent scream, she felt its sharp head pierce through her chest, through her body and out between her shoulder blades as a face lunged forwards out of the dark.

Morpho.

Just about one third of his face was covered in the golden yellows and shimmering blacks of HiveWing scales, a horn forming in the center of his forehead, his horns smooth and pointed, one of his antenne gone. One of his once dazzling blue eyes were as black as an abyss, an endless pit of nothing that gleamed in the dark as a wicked smile stretched across his face, his teeth bared in a threatening grin-like snarl.

"Find her! Find her! Find her! Find her! Find her! Find her! Find her!"

The voice roared in Lydia's ears as the face of Morpho merged with the HiveWing before her spoke.

"You won't EVER find her! I'll make sure you don't, if it's the last thing I do! It'll be on the top of my list for when I return!"

Her body felt cold as everything went dark, tinted blue. She felt cold, oh so cold, as if she were encased in ice. Her lungs felt tight, no air being able to make its way to relieve her of the feeling as she felt as though she were floating, the world around her muffled yet silent. She was underwater, in that awful vision again. The dragon drowning under the cold waters surface, sinking deeper in the cold depths as a dragon crashed through the waves, reaching out with their serrated talons, trying to grasp hers as a cry left their jaws, the bubbles quickly rising to the surface and past their round silver glasses that wrapped around their horns.

But this time, there was no dragon who crashed through the waves to try and save her, even when they were too far away. She was alone. All alone, under the cold depths of the water that seemed to swallow her whole, pulling her down as she felt a current pulling on the tips of her shuttering spines. It began to gently pull her, sucking her into a current that seemed to change the world around her in an instant. A world of blue seemed to whisk by her, dark coloured rocks and vibrant plants whisking past her so fast that she nearly missed them as her vision blurred.

"Lydia?"

She could hear a voice calling her, claws grasping her shoulders, pulling her.

"Lydia!"

With a gasp her eyes shot open, blinded by the bright sun above her as she coughed. She was on the beach again, the waves calmly lapping at the shore innocently as she clutched her throat with her claws, sucking in huge gasps of air as if she had been deprived of it. Her body felt weak, numb, cold. She felt so cold as her wings tucked closely to her sides.

What is going on? She felt like she was going to break, going to shatter, going to slip away, trapped in those moon forsaken tunnels with only the light of torches to endlessly guide her for an eternity. Why is this all happening? Why is this all happening to me?!

"Lydia, Lydia listen to me!" The SandWing was gasping her shoulders, her dull coloured talons gripping her tightly. "Are you with me again? Can you hear me?"

"I-I-" she couldn't get anything out as she felt her throat closing up. Lydia felt herself being pulled up, wings wrapping around her. She was frozen, her eyes wide from where her head was pressed into the SandWing's shoulder. Time seemed to still, the world growing quiet, the only sound being waves gently lapping at the shore.

"Something's wrong, I know there is." The SandWing spoke, their voice sounding calm and soothing within the NightWing dragonet's ears as she felt tears bubbling within the corners of her eyes, making her vision blurry. "Let it out, little seer of the dead."

And at that, she broke. Breaking down in the SandWing's arms as she felt her talons rub up along her spines, gently pushing them down to lay flat against her back. As she cried out all her frustrations and fears, telling the dead SandWing about everything, the older dragon remained silent, letting her let it all out.

"Why is this all happening!?" She screamed as thick tears rolled down her face, "I just want to go home, I don't want to be apart of some stupid prophecy! I just want a normal life, I just want to be normal! I want to have friends, to go to school, wake up to the warm sun rises each morning, not having to worry about saving my tribe someday. I just want to be normal! Why can't I be normal!?"

Lydia screamed, she cried. She let everything out as it felt as though all of her emotions had finally bubbled over, crashing down on top of her like a raging tidal wave.

And the SandWing was still there, she didn't disappear, holding her close like her parents would. She didn't whisper gentle nothings into her ears like her parents, instead, the SandWing hummed a soft tune as her body seemed to rock gently, back and forth, in a soothing motion.

When she began to finally quiet down, no longer having any tears left to cry out, only quietly whimpering, that's when the SandWing that gently held her spoke up.

"You shouldn't be forced to deal with this, you're too young. Dragonets shouldn't have any involvement in adult affairs." Her voice was gentle, yet firm. Her grip tightening around Lydia. "Dragonets shouldn't go through what I've had to do."

That last part was hissed under the SandWing's breath, but Lydia didn't pay any attention to it as she saw flashes through her red eyes. A dragonet having to go out into the markets to steal in order to help her parents with day to day meals, servants of the palace, taking her to work with them when they couldn't afford a dragonet-sitter, an accident in the palace, a furious princess, fire, so much fire, her arm was burning, her jaw felt crooked and her horn gone. When she blinked, it was all gone and she was back in the SandWing's gentle yet firm arms.

"I don't want to be a part of a prophecy," Lydia's voice was quiet, a soft whisper that barely slipped past her raspy throat. "I just want to go home, I want my family."

They were quiet, the two listening to the soft sounds of the waves, the chirping of birds that sang softly into the still air. The SandWing's grip around Lydia never faltered, holding her gently yet tightly, her claws lightly tracing over the NightWing dragonets smooth black scales, running down along the sides of her quivering spines.

"You're a dragonet, this is too much for one child to have to go through."

"I just want to go home," then she realized something, "but..."

"But?"

"If I go home, I'll still be a part of this prophecy, I'll still need to save my tribe, I'll still be a princess who will become queen some day."

When the air grew still, the world around her going quiet, Lydia looked up. Her scarlet ruby red eyes met the calm, sparkling back ones of the SandWing holding her. The SandWing had a thoughtful look in her eyes as she looked down at the dragonet held within her slender arms.

"Here's one thing I learned when I was around your age," the dull coloured dragon began, her tail coiling with Lydia's in the sand, giving the dragonets tail a gentle squeeze, "family are those you care about, those you want to keep close, keep safe. To love and cherish, no matter what. Some may be your blood, others might be creatures who don't even understand you. Your family are those you choose to have with you, blood or not. Family is what you want, what you make of it. You get to choose who your family is."

"I get to choose who my family is?" she felt confused, "but my family are my mom....and my dad."

"Those aren't the only ones you can have as family." Before Lydia could speak up, the SandWing continued, "Anyone can be your family, Lydia. Your two friends, Fatefinder and Moonglobe, could be your family. They care for you, and you care for them in turn."

"Fatefinder and Moonglobe...?-"

"-Can be your family." The SandWing told her, using one of her long talons to gently hold Lydia's chin, making her meet her solid black gaze. "You." they rubbed one claw along Lydia's jaw gently, "choose who your family are. So, Lydia, If your parents aren't treating you right, aren't listening to you. You don't have to follow them just because of your blood. You follow them if you agree with them, do not allow yourself to be forced into situations you do not want to be in."

"But the prophecy-!"

"Will happen when it happens. I don't believe in prophecies, nothing they've said has ever done anything." she said as she waved a talon in dismission, almost like a bored queen would. "They just might predict the future through lucky guesses."

She snorted at that which made the SandWing's pointed ears twitch as a small smile tugged upon her lips, but it was clear she was trying to hold it down as she continued. "What I'm saying is, that you don't need to have a prophecy tell you what to do, things will happen however they play out. You cannot see into the future and make the best choice, what you need to do is listen to your heart, Lydia."

Lydia was silent for a few moments, thinking over what the dead SandWing had just said to her, looking down at her own oddly coloured claws for a second, then two, before looking back up, her tears now having long since dried.

"You keep saying my name," she pointed out, "but I still don't know yours." They blinked down at her, their ears perked up in realization as their slim, narrow eyes widened a little before she let out a thoughtful hum, as if questioning whether or not to give Lydia her name. "It's only fair you give me yours, since you know mine."

"Many dragons know your name without you knowing them, little NightWing. What's the difference with you not knowing mine, compared to not knowing theirs?"

"I don't know them, they're just faces to me." Saying that made her think about Moonglobe, and how he put dragons names to faces.

The thought made her smile a little as she thought about the odd coloured IceWing. When she found him, if she ever found his ghost, she bet he would be overjoyed at being able to finally see Fatefinder, having a face to put to his name.

"But, I know you, at least a little, and I don't want to keep calling you The Mysterious SandWing in my head," she explained to her, "I want to put a name to your face."

After a few more moments of silence, the SandWing's shoulders seemed to sag. At first, Lydia thought she was going to refuse to tell the NightWing her name, until she spoke, her voice smooth, calm like the water that softly rolled along the shore. Her black eyes gleamed brightly in the sunlight, making them sparkle like obsidian.

Lydia saw the SandWing's body flicker, almost like those MudWing ghosts that followed behind Landslide throughout the village. Her body distorting as her jaw became crooked, one of her horns missing along with one of her arms burnt off above the elbow, making it a scaly stump.

As soon as she saw it, it was gone, making Lydia believe she hadn't seen it at all as her eyes grew heavy, her head resting upon the SandWing collar bone as their claws grantly held the back of her head like a newly hatched dragonet. Her spines no longer quivered and shook, instead they laid down flat along her spine, relaxed and calm from the SandWing's reassuring words.

"Rattlesnake."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

When Lydia awoke, she was back in the log. It was dim, but sunlight shone brightly out of the exit, its warm golden rays shimmering as they touched the dew covered grass outside. The soft singing of birds filled Lydia's ears, almost as if the world was greeting her back into the world of the living, the awake.

Rattlesnake, her mind pictured the slender, dull coloured SandWing. She was happy to have a name for the other dragon's face.

The small NightWing began to make her way out of the fallen hollow og, letting the warm sunlight wash across her face in a wave of golden glow. She had to blink her sparkling ruby eyes in order to adjust to the sudden bright light that shone down through the lush canopy. The leaves gently rustled in a soft, fluttering breeze that snakes its way between her spines, wrapping around her horns as it flowed past, leaving a trail of the welcoming, cold breeze.

"Chirp!" Lydia's head snapped immediately towards the sound, her eyes meeting the brown gaze of a fluffy robin, sitting upon the edge of a branch, staring at her. It was the little robin for her dream. The robin looked just as fluffy as before, its bright orange head tilted as it looked down upon the princess before it. "Chirp!"

"Hello." she quietly whispered, scared she would spook the little bird.

The little robin fluffed up its wings with a shake of its round body. "Chirp!"

The grass weaved itself around her individual talons, wrapping around her claws as she slowly stepped out further into the sunlight, towards the robin that watched her with little chirps and whistles as it tilted its head back and forth.

I'm awake, right? She asked herself silently as the little robin let out another string of chattering chitter like chirps. This is not just this dream repeating?

Her delicate heart wasn't hammering loudly within her ears, it was actually quiet, calm. The SandWing's- No, Rattlesnake's, soft humming tune filled her ears, the ghost-like feeling of long talons gently tracing her back scales in feather-light touches running up and down her back. Lydia didn't see the dull coloured SandWing, but that didn't mean she wasn't there, it didn't mean Moonglobe and Fatefinder weren't there. Somewhere.

"Chirp! Chirp!" The little robin sang as it flapped its wings, as if it were shaking off raindrops from its fluffy feathers. With the gentle push of the small breeze that fluttered through the trees, it took off into the air, its light brown feathers looking to turn gold in the warm sunlight.

She watched the little bird fly off into the sky, weaving through the trees twisting branches before it reached the warm, orange sky, with peachy coloured clouds that innocently rolled across it in thin streaks. It was heading in the same direction it had in her dream.

Am I close to the ocean then? She already felt her legs begging to move, following after the little robin as it chittered and chirped.

The little NightWing felt like she was back in that dream, about to run out into the open shoreline, would see Rattlesnake again, be comforted by the slender SandWing and then wake up to the robin, and everything would repeat again and again and again. But the more she ran, following after the little robin that flew ahead of her, leading her, the more she realized that this wasn't that dream. She was awake, she was here, in this curent time.

Wait, she started to slow down on her chase after the little bird ahead of her. Why AM I following the robin? Why does my body want to follow it? Why do I need to follow it?

She soon slowed down from a swift sptirnt, to a quick trot, to a slow walk until she came to a stop. Looking up at the sky, the bird continued to fly off in the distance, growing smaller and smaller, until it was starting to become a small dot in the sky.

"You don't need to have a prophecy tell you what to do." Rattlesnake's voice rang throughout her mind, echoing through her thoughts and ringing sofly in her ears.

I don't need a prophecy, she puffed her chest as she looked up at the sky. To tell me what to do, but.....she felt her ears lower, her earring brushing against her scales as she looked back over her shoulder into the deep, lush forest behind her. She, for once in her life, felt as though she got to choose what she wanted, chose what life she wanted.

That left her with two options:

Follow the robin, that seemed to pull her off towards the sea. Listen to the words that have rung throughout her mind ever since that nightmare, since she received that note, and find the flower.

Or,

Go home, back to her family, and be the princess her tribe needs. The princess who is destined to save her tribe and reunite the NightWing's under a true queen.

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- MindlessTyper