Lydia laid in bed for a few more moments, her mind continued to swirl wildly in a way she could hardly understand it, but also understand it perfectly at the right time.

Find Her, Find Her, Find Her, Ocean, Down, Flower, she recited the note within her mind as her talons tapped the side of her head. I should write this down.

The scarlet eyed dragonet leaped from the warm comfort of her bed that almost felt suffocating once she felt the colder feeling within her room aside from a torch here or there. With a flick of her tail, she went towards her nightstand, grasping one of her empty scrolls and screwing open a small glass ink pot.

The ink inside of it was a dark, sparkly black. Her father always preferred sparkling ink and he wanted all of them to each have their own colour. Charming chose a dark royal sparkling blue and Animosity chose one the colour of gold. Lydia however, never could truly pick, so she just went with black until she made her choice.

They all went with colours that connect to them, so maybe I should pick red, it matched her eyes and her scales did have a red hue to them, so it would be fitting. I can talk with father about that later, for now, focus on the mysterious dream writing Lydia.

As soon as the ink pot opened with a pop, she got to writing everything she knew down, connecting as much as she could.

Find Her. Find Her. Find Her.
Ocean. Down. Flower.

Find Her - finding a specific dragon, possibly the one in my dreams that I constantly see. The orange dragon with sparkling black wings.

Ocean - either the Kingdom of the Sea, or the surrounding ocean around Pyrrhia.

She paused for a moment, thinking before adding more to that sentence.

Ocean - either the Kingdom of the Sea, or the surrounding ocean around Pyrrhia, maybe even Pantala.

Down - down somewhere. Maybe a cave, or maybe under the water.

Flower - must be the strange orange dragon with sparkly black wings.

Lydia sat back on her haunches with a huff, her forearms crossed, keeping her ink covered talon away from her scales to make sure she didn't get any more onto herself.

I should probably write down the features of the orange dragon, so I don't forget, and she did just that, scribbling down as much as she could remember about the dragon she had seen on multiple connections.

Possible dragon known as "Flower" - slender, tall with orange scales and red talons. Bright golden eyes and stary black wings. Maybe a hybrid between a SkyWing and NightWing.

Maybe the weeping SkyWing was their mother? And the brown shaded NightWing could've been their father. It made sense with how he tried to comfort the weeping SkyWing as she shrieked in pain into the sky, so she wrote that down as well.

She kept writing, filling the scroll with as much as she could while also keeping her talon writing as neat and readable as she could.

Fatefinder needs to be able to read this too, so I can't just scribble, she huffed through her nose in a puff of smoke as she focused, scrabbling for every little detail from her dream that she could remember.

The hallway, the rattling door, the hill with the stars, the two running silhouettes, the blue eyed armour covered NightWing and her warning, the battle between either SandWings or HiveWings fighting against LeafWings, maybe SeaWings, or possibly RainWings.

Lydia continued to write as much as she could, her wings twitching on either of her sides as her shoulders hunched. The bat like limbs creating a barrier around her and her nightstand as she wrote.

Then, she heard the slow click of her doorknob, the sound of her door slowly opening as though it didn't want to be heard. Lydia's wings shot down to hug herself tightly on either side as her head whipped around to see who it was as she felt fear spike within her chest.

The door was hardly open, but she could see unremarkable pale green scales.

"Oh!" It was Morpho, one he spotted her, he put on a smile and opened the door more quickly. His black eyes flashed in a way that caught Lydia off guard. "Your majesty! You're awake! I wasn't expecting you to be up this early into the night, dusk has hardly broken." He smiled kindly at her as his antennae twitched by his horns.

Wait, her mind paused as she looked at his eyes, doesn't he have blue eyes? It was almost instant when she saw the sparkling blue irises locking with hers. Almost like as soon as she blinked, they went back to normal.

That's...odd, there was an uneasy feeling worming it's way into her chest and she didn't like it as the longer she stared at Morpho, the stronger the feeling felt.

"Your father has requested to see you." The SilkWing said, his voice soft and welcoming. "The Queen-" he shook his head, "your mother, sorry your majesty, is giving you a small break from your new lessons today and your father wishes to use it to spend some father daughter time with you."

With all this new training, I haven't had much time to spend with Charming, Lydia thought as she grabbed a small cloth to while away the ink that still clung to her talon, wiping the rest away and turning the soft white cloth splotchy black as though it were the hide from cattle. It would be nice to spend some time with father.

"Alright, thank your Morpho, I'll be out in a few moments."

The SilkWing dipped his head lowly, a small bow before he excused himself from her room, closing the door softly and giving Lydia the change to quickly blow on her writing on the scroll to try and dry it quickly before she rolled it up.

I need to hide this, but where?

No one else aside from her and Fatefinder knew of her dreams and the odd message, and she didn't want it getting out into the rest of the kingdom. Dragons already look at me strangely because I'm the princess with a destiny to save the tribe, I don't want them to have more reasons to look at me strangely or act far to polite to be normal.

Once she deemed the ink dry enough to have the scroll rolled up without smudging it, she carefully, and tightly, rolled it up. Once it was tightly wrapped, she searched for a place to hide it within her room where she wouldn't forget it.

Jewelry chest? Lydia looked over towards the low silver chest that contained most of her jewelry. Even though she didn't wear nearly as much as her father, he was always trying to get her to practically drape herself in jewels like he normally does. No, it would just get ripped apart and flattened in there.

She looked around her room some more, mentally taking places off of her hiding list as she went on, until she looked towards her bed. It didn't have any space below it as it's wooden frame laid flat down against the stone floor. Her scarlet red eyes scanned over it, looking at each fold of her blanket and the positioning of each pillow.

What if she hid it behind her pillows? They'd be light enough to where they won't squish it! It was the perfect hiding spot, at least out of what she had at her disposal.

The princess quickly stuffed the tightly rolled up scroll underneath several of her pillows before she went over to the dark stained wooden table that held her silver tiara embedded with rubies and her double loop silver chain earring that had a hanging piece of ruby. That's one thing that bothered her father about this earring, how there wasn't another one to match.

But it didn't bother Princess Lydia, she quite liked how it was unique. She also liked the feeling it gave off, a powerful one that felt warm and tingly within her mind. She clipped the cold piece of jewelry into her ear and placed her tiara upon her head with its curls wrapping around the base of her horns to keep it in place. That's one thing she hated about tiaras, if you didn't put them on right, they could slip off.

And wearing one means no hanging upside down, she reminded herself with a huff of laughter that tried to escape her jaws, which she clamped shut.

When she was younger she learned that when her dragonethood tiara fell from her horns during one of her flying lesions. It fell to the stone floor of the throne room and cracked in half. Lydia still had the tiara, since Charming didn't want to get rid of anything she once owned.

"Wake up, wake up before the hornet stings."

Lydia flinched at the sound of the voice, it sounded like the blue eyed NightWing from her dream that night. But I am awake, I'm not sleeping, she told the voice, but she didn't get a response in return, just silence.

I need to clear my head, the thought of letting her mind rest, even just a little made Lydia relax ever so slightly, spending time with my father will help, she sighed as she made her way towards the door, blocking out the voice that continued to ring inside of her head, no longer belonging to that of the blue eyed NightWing, instead, belonging to the voice she'd heard over and over again from her nightmare with the torch lit hallway.

"Find Her. Find Her. Find Her."

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

"I've always wanted to teach you to dance my little star!" King Charming exclaimed with a warm and bright smile that went from ear to ear, shinning brightly like the stars do at night. His few bioluminescence scales flashed and glowed happily as he held her talons.

They were within a large stone room, the floors were smooth and felt polished beneath Lydia's talons. The walls decorated in torches with simple tapestries hung beside them. Most of them were of the night sky and the moons, while a few seemed to be about them, the NightWing royal family.

Queen Animosity, King Charming, and herself, Princess Lydia. Most of them were when she was a dragonet, held within her parents arms, but one was of her recently wearing jewelry and sitting in between her two parents.

Within the room were a few other dragons. Some NightWings with instruments within their talons or resting upon the stone. There were also about three soldiers posted within the cave, spearing within their talons as they sat up straight with stone cold faces. One of the soldiers Lydia recognized was Fatefinder, the young NightWing gave her a kind look before focusing once more to look more soldier like.

There was one other dragon within the room too that caught her eye, Morpho. The SilkWing has escorted her there and was now seated by one of the walls, watching with his curious sparkling blue eyes. Though, when he escorted the princess to the dancing cave, he told her to go on ahead and he met back up with her a few moments later before fully taking the lead down the stone torch lit halls.

It felt...odd.

"Come on darling, I want to have the first ever dance with my daughter." Charming brought Lydia out of her thoughts and making her focus once more on her father who was now pulling her up onto her hind legs with his strong forearms.

Lydia didn't expect it and her wings shot out, flapping to stabilize herself with a panicked yelp.

"Don't worry, just relax. Some dragons dance standing normally, while others dance like this. You'll get the hang of it," King Charming reassured her with a smile. "your mother did."

"Mother did? She didn't know how to dance like this?" Lydia asked as she soon had roughly balanced herself. Her hind talons trying to dig into the stone, her wings flared out slightly on either of her sides to help balance her along with her tail that was curled up lightly on their floor, stiff in place.

"Yes, she hated it. Took her forever to learn." Charming laughed lightly as he started to tug on her front talons, making her have to step forward on unsteady legs. Lydia kept looking down to watch her step, but her eyes would always shot back up to meet her father's warm ocean blue ones that never seemed to leave her own. "But she got the hand of it eventually, I believe it was just a year before you were laid."

Charming continued to tug her around, music filling the cave and bouncing off of the walls and then echoing warmly within her ears.

Lydia would stumble here and there, but her father always smiled and laughed, reassuring her and in the end making her laugh as well with each mistake she made.

This isn't that bad, Lydia thought to herself as she continued to dance around with her father, letting her tug her along and instruct her as they went. He would hold her forearms out and up, their wings flaring and flapping as they danced.

"There you go little star!" He praised as he twirled her, this time, she didn't manage to nearly trip over her tail. "You've got the wing of it!" He looked so proud of her, it warmed Lydia's heart and made her smile with joy.

"You're a quick learner, just like when you were a hatchling learning to walk." Her father smiled as the music started to slow, which in turn, their movements did as well.

"When I was a hatchling?"

"Yes, when you were learning to take your first steps a few days after you hatched." He said as the music contained to slow, and with a snap on Charming's talons, it came to a complete stop, the two members of the royal family sitting down on their haunches.

"You did wonderfully dear for you first dance, for next one, make sure to keep your tail curled ever so slightly and stiffer along the parts closest to your body, so it moves with your movement and keeps out of the way of your talons." Her father suggested to her with a warm smile, walking around her and pointed out with his talons where she should focus. "Your wings also can be used for balance, but also to add more to the dance."

"Your majesty?" From across the room, Morpho spoke up as he stood, catching the Kings and Princesses attentions.

"If you wouldn't mind," the SilkWing says with a charming smile as he takes a few steps forwards with a sweep of his tail, "would I be able to have the next dance with Princess Lydia?"

King Charming's bioluminescent scales flickered for a second, sometimes they would when her father wanted to decline something. He was working on trying to muffle them, but clearly her father did not like the idea of her dancing with the SilkWing, who continued on as he made his way over.

"It might be better for her guidance as you will be able to point out anything needed from all angles." Morpho hummed, "and you'd be able to correct them immediately."

What happened this morning still freaked me out, Lydia thought as she glanced back towards her father who looked to be thinking it through, but he does sound right.

"Alright, you may."

Morpho gave Charming a smile before holding his talons out towards Lydia. "May I have this dance, princess?" He asked, his smile not once leaving his face as he spread his wings out in almost sort of bow.

Lydia couldn't help the nervous smile that tugged at her lips as she nodded, laying her talons within his. Morpho pulled her up onto her hind talons, the music starting back up again.

The NightWing let her mind run over everything her father had told her to do. Stiffen your tail close to its base, they started to dance, moving one step at a time almost as though they were spinning around one another as well as with one another, your wings can be used to help balance as well as add flare.

Morpho was good at keeping his movements slow at first, but soon he sped up and Lydia struggling a bit to keep up, but soon enough she got the hand of it and was smiling with excitement. Lydia her more comfortable with the movements so eventually she started to exaggerate some of hers. When they swayed off to the side; she tucked one of her wings close while her other shot out as far as she could reach, matching the arch of her side.

She could practically hear her father's joy as he watched, his smile still broad and his eyes sparkling along with his flashing scales that glowed a light blue-ish teal green.

The two dragons continued to dance, Morpho mainly taking the lead as the music grew in volume.

Then, Lydia felt one of his arms snake around her back as he dipped her down close to the floor, looking into her eyes as Lydia looking into his, a moment of shock shuttering through her since her father didn't show her this move before, but that's not all that startled her.

The world seemed to flash around her, the walls and ceiling turning a bone chilling red that seemed to drip like blood, oozing slowly. The dragon holding her was no longer Morpho, his sparkling blue eyes gone and replaced by a dragon who's eyes were as black as night but starless and haunting.

Their figure was slim, yet broad with sharp edges. Their scales sharp and pointed with a golden yellow colour to them, black stripes raked down their body from their neck all the way down their whip thin tail.

The shimmering and sparkling wings that belonged to Morpho were too gone, replaced by ones that looked similar to that of a dragonfly. Their horns were long and black, a third horn placed just above their eyes upon their forehead, holding to hold in place a golden grown that looked like it were made from honeycombs embedded with jewels.

"Yooouuuuuu" the dragon hissed, their tongue flickering out of their jaws dangerously like a snakes that was tasting the air.

Just as quickly as it had came, the vision left as she let out a scream, Morpho let out a startled cry and let go of her. His large wings flapped to steady himself as she collapsed onto the cold stone floor with a thwack.

The music stopped abruptly, King Charming rushing over along with the three guards, including Fatefinder who crouched down by her side along with Charming.

"Lydia! Are you alright? What happened?"

Should I tell him what I saw? Lydia's mind was racing wildly as she felt her breathing pick up. Ow, that fall hurt, I must've hit my head. Her mind felt torn as she thought, so, she tried to quiet her thoughts down by thinking of something more calming, like the music they were dancing to.

"Maybe that's enough dancing for one day my little star," Charming shushed her softly as she tried to speak. He helped her stand back up, letting her lean on his shoulder with a whine.

"You," The king pointed towards Fatefinder who instantly straightened his posture. "Take her to her room while you go for one of the healers." She told Fatefinder and another one of the guards. The third stayed behind as Fatefinder took Charming's place as a shoulder for her to lean on.

His armour feels nice to lean on, she remarked within her mind as she felt the coldness of the metal smooth her aching skull.

As soon as the two NightWing's stepped foot within the silent stone halls away from the dance room, Fatefinder instantly started to question her.

"What happened? Everything looked to be fine one moment, then the next it was almost like you saw something horrifying."

"I...." I can tell him now, she thought with a swish of her tail as they walked, or I can tell him in my room where I can show him the scroll with everything I've written down. "I'll tell you when we get to-"

"Princess Lydia!"

Lydia felt the way Fatefinder stiffened and they both turned their heads in order to see Morpho running down the stone hall to catch up to them, his talons tapping on the stone. Soon enough, the SilkWing slowed down beside Lydia.

"Princess, I was wondering if I could speak to you in private for a few moments?" He asked with a smile, his antennae twitching.

Maybe he wants to talk about my dreams that I told him about? Lydia felt something weird, like a shadow looming over her shoulder as they all walked.

"Sure Morpho, we can talk in m-"

"How about the door that's to the down the hall from your cave, to the eastern side? There's something there I need to show you."

"Okay?"

Morpho nodded with a smile before taking off, walking up ahead, his pace much quicker than theirs because of his longer legs. "I'll meet you there!" He called over his shoulder before disappearing from view.

The two NightWing's walked in silence most of the way. Lydia could feel that Fatefinder felt anxious, he kept looking over his and Lydia's shoulders and pricking his ears at any noise he heard.

"are you alright?" They asked as they started to walk down the hallway that lead down to the door that belonged to the room Morpho wanted to meet her within. "You're acting strange."

"Something just doesn't feel right." Fatefinder admitted with a twitch of his wings as they grew closer and closer towards the dark oak stained wooden door. "A bad feeling."

As they got closer, Lydia started to recognize the door, it was the one she had passed by many times within her dream she had that night, the one that shook and rattled each time she came near it.

Is it going to shake and rattle like it did in my dreams? She thought as her ears pinned back with worry. Soon enough, the stood before it, but the door was silent and still.

"Let me take a look inside before you go in." Fatefinder suddenly said, making Lydia blink her way out of her own head to look at him, only to see that he was looking straight at the door, his warm honey coloured eyes hard.

"If you want too, do you want me to just...stay out here? Until you've checked it?"

The young soldier nodded, giving her one last worrying glance before he grabbed the doorknob and made his way inside, shutting the door behind him with his tail.

Everything was quiet for a few moments, before Lydia heard a sickening thud from inside of the room, making her spines rise up and quiver.

"Fatefinder?" She called out, "is everything alright?"

No response.

Lydia could feel her heart rate quicken, the constant heavy beating of it rattling within her skull.

"Fatefinder, answer me!" She called out again with a flap of her wings.

Still, no response. Was the door to thick to hear through? Maybe he just dropped something heavy inside of there. She didn't even know what was inside but maybe he just knocked something over, no big deal.

I should go check on him, see if he's alright.

"I....I'm coming in!" Still, no response from the young soldier.

She reached out and grasped the metal handle within her talons, watching her claws curl around its smooth surface. It still felt warm, as though Fatefinder was still holding it. For some reason, a shiver ran down along her spine as a voice whispered within her ear, sounding just like Fatefinder as though he were whispering within her ear.

"Don't! Stay back! It's a-!"

With a twist of her wrist, the door opened and she made her way inside, ignoring the voice and ignoring her bounding headache and shuttering heart.

The sight before her made her body run cold, she wanted to scream, but something heavy hit her over the head, making her collapse onto the cold stone floor with a thud.

The last thing she saw was Fatefinder, laying sprawled out across the stone in a pool of his own blood and a dragon standing over him, a dragon with sparkling pale green and blue scales.

"PRINCESS!"

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- MindlessTyper