Ashley was lying on the ground, the flat and hard floor hurting his back, his eyes directed at the bright blue empty sky.

He blinked a few times, then rolled over himself and slowly stood up. He felt the sandy floor crunch under the sole of his shoes. He raised his left arm to cover his eyes from the sharp light of the sun and looked around.

All he saw was an endless emptiness, there was no cloud in the sky, and he was alone. He looked at his feet to search for his backpack, but couldn't find it anywhere. He looked around with confusion, but all his sight fell on was an infinite plane of stone covered by a thin layer of desaturated sand.

He shivered, despite the aggressive lighting, he was unbelievably cold, and he could feel a light breeze stinging through his clothes.

He saw a small shape that was sticking out of the ground and started walking toward it. Each step he took felt heavy, and was spreading yellow dust around his feet. After what felt like long minutes of walking, he arrived near the carcass of a jeep, a camouflaged vehicle of yellow and brown colour. It was lying on the ground in a crooked way, there was a form of rust forming, and it was missing a few of its wheels, the whole shape was bent weirdly.

His heartbeat started to speed up, and he felt his guts tighten up.

He walked closer to the jeep and started to move around it from behind, holding his breath. The vehicle had been completely blown up on the front right, bits of metal and paint were scattered everywhere, on the ground, you could see the black ashes of an explosion.

Pieces of shrapnel had shredded the car from front to back, and the front seat had been almost detached from the chassis.

Ashley covered his mouth with his hand, a strong sensation of uneasiness and dread took him. He laid his sight on the blackened shape still tied to the seat.

He gulped, and almost choked, his heart sank.

"Holy shit-"

His voice was nothing but a weak whisper.

The silhouette had two of its limbs completely ripped off, only leaving red flesh and white bones exposed to the air. Metal scraps had pierced through the body, the green clothes of the corpse were barely visible behind the blood and ashes that were covering it.

He felt tears taking up his eyes, and slowly, he looked up. The head of the dead body was limp, shrapnel stuck in the neck, and the helmet of the military officer was knocked in a way that was hiding its face from Ashley.

"S- sir ?" He asked faintly, his breathing becoming more and more uneven.

The carcass had absorbed most of the projectiles, and you could see the driver seat behind it almost unscathed, as if it had shielded it. Ashley raised his hand to move the helmet but couldn't manage to reach it with his hand, suddenly feeling weak.

He stayed in this position for a few seconds, his breath becoming heavier each moment that passed, then abruptly turned around and threw up on the ground.

His sight blurred as he lost his balance and struggled to stay on his feet. Once he managed to get back to his senses, he heard a loud splash coming from under his feet. Looking down, he saw a puddle of blood expanding from behind, he raised one of his feet in confusion letting the sticky substance drip from his shoes.

He turned back, splashing more blood around, only to see the carcass of a huge Sand Dragon at the place where the jeep was previously standing. Ashley's respiration cut, and blinked multiple times at the sight of the dragon, which looked more like a pile of broken flesh and blood fountain than an actual living thing.

The Sandwing's tail was cut, and its throat was open like it had exploded from inside, but it didn't prevent it from opening its eyes and fixing Ashley with an intense glance.

His eyes widened and jumped back quickly, he tripped on the ground and fell backwards, covering his clothes in soaking blood, and his mouth let out a silent scream of fear.

Then, the floor started to shake and a huge circle cracked around them. Enormous stone pillars raised from the ground around the two, high enough to be as tall as skyscrapers, they were all attached to each other with abnormally wide metal chains. Between those, high-curved bleachers surrounded the area and formed what looked like an oversized Roman arena.

Ashley's chest was rising and lowering at an ecstatic pace, he was now frantically breathing, and his eyes were darting around to search for an escape.

"Well well well, looks like we have gotten more meat for my entertainment." A voice said above him with a sick tone.

He turned his head to face the voice and saw another very large dragon leaning above him from a balcony on the side. Its scales were made of rubies, and its mouth was constantly letting out fire through the teeth.

"N- no ! I can't !" he shouted internally, now pushing with his feet to get away from the Sandwing corpse that was dragging its way toward him, the flesh of its opened neck scratching the ground in a rumbling manner.

He choked in panic, rolled over himself and crawled away in a frenetic way. Until he heard a 'click' when his hand slammed into the ground, and at that exact moment, the whole world stopped.

He looked down, there was a circular metallic object hidden in the ground, covered by the sand. It was a landmine.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't blink.

He couldn't breathe.

He felt his lungs empty of air, and they couldn't fill up again, he tried to force himself into breathing again, he tried to spit and cough as much as he could, but nothing did.

Then.

"shhhhh" He heard a soft voice say, and it sounded like it came from everywhere at the same time, but for some reason, it felt reassuring. "You're okay." It continued. "We're safe now, small scavenger. You're fine."

Ashley managed to catch breath again, and took long respirations, slowly reestablishing a normal heartbeat rate.

He closed his eyes, feeling like a large blanket was folded back on him. Whatever that was, he felt warmness coming from it, and slowly, his mind eased, the images slowly fading away from his memory. His body stopped shaking as he didn't feel cold anymore.

When he tried to look again, there was nothing, and eventually, he fell into a dreamless sleep.

When he woke up and opened his eyes, his view was blocked by a golden membrane. He tried to lift it off, but it was too heavy. He rolled over on the side and saw the large dragon right beside him, with one of its warm wings gently folded around him.

Sunny's chest was rising at a calm pace, her yellow scales reflecting the light of the moons.

He saw her green eyes open as he moved, she blinked a few times, then lifted her wing to allow him to move. He stood up and stretched, cracking his articulations, quickly, he had to relax, being remembered by his left arm that he was hurt.

He looked down, his backpack looked a bit crushed due to his weight. He noticed he wasn't where he had originally laid down to sleep. The ground he had chosen earlier had been stomped on and the bushes around it looked like they just witnessed the falling of a mountain. From there, he could smell an uninviting scent coming from it, and a sensation of disgust immediately took him.

"Thank you." He said to Sunny. Never in his life had he been more grateful toward someone who barely knew him. She nodded in acknowledgement.

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He walked to the river and crouched on the ledge. He plunged his available hand in the water and cleaned his clothes from the dried dirt as well as he could. He took a drink of the somewhat clean water and started unfolding the brown bandage on his left arm.

He noticed a moving shape within the water, it was Tsunami, she had slept on the floor of the river, and was now walking out of it.

Ashley felt droplets hit his face as she rose from the surface. She moved smoothly, but her face was sad. When she noticed the human, she turned her head to him.

"I have decided that you being a Scavenger, everything you say is nonsense. And thus you were lying." She lifted her chin with a fierce look as if she was trying to impress him, but he kept silent. She wasn't really believing what she was saying, and those thoughts were probably there to cope with what he had said to her, but all he did in response was give her a small nod.

She turned to the camp where Clay was waking up and looking around, taking notice of his friends.

Ashley took his attention back to his wound, he grabbed the fabric sheet and submerged it. The water all around it turned into a brownish red as the river washed the blood away.

Ashley looked at his arm, for some reason, the forearm didn't hurt anymore. But the sliced part of his arm was still stinging him like a hundred knives, and it didn't look better than the other day. The injury was still a mix of flesh, crusted blood, and clothes. He tried to wash it with water, but each try resulted in him gritting his teeth from the slicing pain that it induced.

Still, he managed to clean bits of the wound and detach some mud that had stuck to it through the last day. It looked messy, from close, you couldn't even tell there was a living arm beyond that, for as much as it was 'living', because he noticed his skin was turning pale on his forearm. At least it wasn't bleeding anymore, so that was that.

That's when he was recovering his arm with the now wet piece of fabric that he heard Clay behind him.

"Guys, where's Glory ?" The Mudwing asked in a panic.

"What ?" Sunny looked around, confused.

"I don't see her anywhere !"

"Hugh... I knew it." Tsunami said, walking closer.

Ashley blinked a few times, still in a barely awake state and trying to process the situation. He wrapped his arm in the fabric again as Clay and Tsunami started arguing about Glory's reason for disappearance.

"Maybe she didn't feel welcome." Tsunami said. "Thanks to this clodhopper." She marked a pause. "That's you dopey."

"Oh." Clay confusedly answered. "What did I do now ?"

"Gee, let's think." Tsunami continued. "Oh, oh, wouldn't it be amazing if psychotic Peril was our 'wings of sky'. Maybe she's the fifth dragonet we've been waiting for our whole lives. Let's just toss aside Glory, like Morrowseer wanted us to, and replace her with the first Skywing who comes along."

Ashley finished wrapping the bandage and turned around, and the first thing he noticed was a blurry shape near him. He squinted his eyes but had a hard time discerning it better, but he managed to see what resembled a dragon blending itself with the environment.

Well, here's Glory I guess.

"I didn't want to replace Glory." Clay said in an appalled tone. "I just- I thought Peril might fit in with us- but all of us ! I never wanted Glory to leave ! Besides, wait." He clutched his head. "It was Glory's idea. She said Peril might be our Skywing."

"Yeah, well, you weren't supposed to get so excited about it." Tsunami said, at the same time, she looked in Glory's direction quickly, her sight hovering above the ground where Ashley could see her stand on.

She got back to Clay. "Yeah, well, you weren't supposed to get so excited about it."

"What ?" Clay sputtered. "That's not fair. It's like I'm in trouble for failing some kind of secret test only girl dragons know about."

"I didn't know about it." Sunny objected.

"I never did !" Clay almost yelled. "I wouldn't do that. Nobody told me it was one or another."

"That's true." Sunny added. "I never thought anyone meant we'd have Peril instead of Glory. I thought we'd all fulfil the prophecy together."

"Of course you did." Tsunami answered. "We always know what you're thinking."

"Ouh, that's not a good move." Ashley whispered as he moved toward Glory, approaching the scene. He saw the camouflaged dragon jump, probably taken by surprise.

He saw Sunny's back spines flare up. "Do we ?" She said almost in a growl, but Tsunami had already turned back to Clay.

"You know Clay would never let you down, neither is he ever gonna give you up." He couldn't help but laugh in his head, knowing perfectly what he did. The unconscious mind was truly amazing sometimes. "He would fight the world for you if he had to. Hell, you should know that his inconsiderate heart would give his life for any of you."

He felt Glory shift a little but didn't manage to catch anything with his eyes.

"Glory's probably on her way to the rainforest right now. I bet she figures we're better off without her."

"But that's not true." Clay protested. "She one of us. The prophecy doesn't say we can't care about anyone else. She's the reason we did all this, why we escaped in the first place. Doesn't she know that ?"

"Good grief." Tsunami said. "Is that supposed to make her feel better ? All of this is her fault ?"

"No, not like that." Clay said. "I mean, I'd do it again. I'd do all of it again, and more, and anything, to make sure she was all right. I'd do the same for any of you." He looked down at the mud squishing through his talons.

"Ah, you see ?" Ashley whispered again, he heard a light sigh coming from his right and smiled.

He saw Tsunami open her mouth again but stepped forward before she could say anything. "Enough." He said more loudly. "I think point is made, no need to push it further."

"We have to follow her. Forget the delta and my family and all that. We'll go to the rainforest and find her, right now." Clay said in an almost desperate tone.

Sunny looked from Tsunami, to Clay, to Ashley, and back.

"You see ?" Ashley said, looking at the solid piece of air beside him.

"Yeah, ok..." Glory said. Her scales faded back to their original colour, making her look like she walked through an invisible portal, she locked eyes with Tsunami. "You were right. For once."

She brushed her wings with Clay's. "Thank you, that was sweet."

"You were there the whole time ?" He said, jumping back.

"I was trying to decide if I should leave." Glory said. "I thought you wanted me to, but Tsunami said you didn't. I'm sorry, I was just- really mad."

"Well, now I'm really mad." Clay huffed. "That was a mean trick."

"It was Tsunami's idea !" Glory said. "Be mad at her."

"Oh, thanks." The Seawing said.

"I'm mad at you both !" Clay stomped over to the river. "Come on Sunny, let's go plan a clever; rotten trick of our own."

"Clay." Glory called out to him as he walked away.

"We should keep swimming anyway." Tsunami said to her. Sunny rushed to Clay.

"It's crazy how you can forge such formidable bonds in so many years." Ashley said with sarcasm in his voice, he turned to the two dragons still standing near him while Sunny went to talk with Clay who was covering himself with mud. "You've lived more than six years with each other, aka your whole life, you should know better than this."

Glory stared at him with a slightly aghast face. "Are you scolding me ? You talk like you know him more than me."

Ashley chose not to answer, and scowled, giving her a stern look. He turned around and grabbed his backpack, then walked to Clay, who was walking into the river with Sunny on his back, like they did the other day. He could feel Glory and Tsunami glance at him before they finally decided to move and join the river.

He climbed onto Sunny, and soon enough, they were going at a fast pace along the river's currents. Ashley didn't bother to cover himself with mud this time, his clothes would hide him well enough with the distance, even Sunny couldn't bother to cover herself as much as last time.

The swim went smoothly, Clay used his wings to propulse himself and stay on the surface, making the landscape around them move like there was no tomorrow. Looking at Clay, you could see the excitement in his gestures as he was getting faster with each brass. And when the Sun finally hit the horizon and shined its bright light on them, he only got faster.

Ashley felt himself getting warmer, the rising Sun in front of them making a beautiful blend of colours in the sky. After that time in the palace, it was nice to finally be free outside again.

Slowly, and steadily, he raised on his feet, embracing the wing coming from upfront.

"I'm loving this." He thought, he looked down and saw Sunny look at him with a wondering glance, after what a smile drew across her face.

That's when Clay chose to accelerate, which nearly threw Ashley off.

"Sunny ! Hang on !" The Mudwing shouted with excitement, prompting her to tighten her grip and look back at the front.

Ashley followed her gaze and saw what looked to be a sharp end to the river approach at a concerning speed.

"Wait ! Slow down I can't-"He tried to shout, but the wind took away his words, and Clay was already on the edge of the cascade.

"Oh shit." He told himself, and Clay launched himself with a strong wingbeat into the void. He felt his feet detach from the dragon below him, and weightlessness took for a moment as he was completely detached and realized in horror what was happening. Then he was slammed onto Sunny's back as Clay took some height, gritting his teeth as he felt his left arm crushed painfully against the dragon, and he started sliding backwards.

He scratched his hand on her scales, trying to get a grip, but his hand wouldn't catch, and he felt his heartbeat speed up to an unhealthy rate.

Eventually, he caught on one of her back spikes, his legs flying in the air. He kept it that way for a few seconds, getting his breath back, then started awkwardly climbing back her spines like a ladder. He reached the base of her neck where he wrapped his shaking hand, making sure he wouldn't fly away this time.

Just as he tightened his grip, he heard Sunny cry with horror, alerting him and Clay. Both Ashley and the Mudwing followed her gaze and looked down.

All he saw at first was mud, an ugly mud to say the least. But then, he noticed everything else that wasn't originally a part of the environment. There were white and brown limbs of dragons coming out of the unwelcoming ground. Shattered bones were sticking out of the mud, bodies with broken wings had crushed on the ground, probably due to a hard fall. And the river at the bottom of the waterfall was taking on a much less nice appearance, mixing its water with the twisted mud and blood from the recent carcasses.

They were flying over a battlefield, probably just a few days old, and it was littered with dozens of dead dragons.