//I have recently added a dragon height estimator to the InterCons Information Book, which is in my profile along with this story for you to reference any time. Here is a link to it as well: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/8dfhbnikuh

//Also, there are errors in some previous chapters from before I began italicizing thoughts. I will be fixing those at some point.

//In case you would like to privately message me, my Discord username is freedomnuke3.

//Anyway, on with what y'all've been waiting for...

"Watermelon, wake up."

"Mnuhh."

Leopard was (unsuccessfully) trying to wake his friend from his sun time nap.

"Haven't you napped for long enough already? I have."

"..."

"Watermelon! We were going to go exploring with Wonder today before it got dark. Remember?"

"Mmmm."

"C'mon!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Watermelon, didn't you always want to go exploring when you were old enough to fly, too? Well, now we've practiced our flying enough that we can do that."

"I did, but right now I really wanna sleep. You can go exploring with your girlfriend if you want."

"Wonder isn't my girlfriend! We're just friends!"

"Mm-hmm, sure."

"I mean it!"

"Fine, whatever you say, but I'm staying here."

With that, Watermelon rolled over in his hammock.

Alright, fine, Leopard thought. Be that way.

Leopard headed off towards where the three of them had agreed to meet up that afternoon. It seemed, however, that only two of them were going to be honoring that agreement.

Leopard had been surprised that Wonder had been so willing to make friends with himself--with RainWings in general, really. Most NightWings (or at least the ones he had experienced), even as young as he was at three years old, all seemed to hold some sort of grudge against his tribe for some reason. He couldn't understand why.

Wonder, on the other hand, did not. He still had no idea why she was different, and he lacked the courage to ask her about it. He wasn't complaining, though. She was great.

We're not in love. I just like her a lot.

She was already there waiting for him.

"Hey, Wonder!"

"Leopard! There you are. What took you so long? And where's Watermelon?"

"He wouldn't get up from sun time. He said we should go ahead without him."

"Huh. Well, you're here. That's good."

"Yes! I mean, yeah."

"You're excited. I guess we should get going then."

"Sure."

They took to the air, still under the tree canopy, which was luckily easy for them since they were still relatively small at their age. They'd have to learn to maneuver more carefully around the trees as they age, though, but that was a problem for later. Today was a day to have some fun.

They flew around for about an hour or two before they decided to stop in a clearing where a patch of sunlight was able to make its way through an opening in the canopy. Their exploration hadn't been as eventful as they thought it would be.

"Other than that stream we found, this has all kind of looked the same," Wonder started.

"Yeah. I'm not really sure what I was expecting."

"Me neither."

"Well, now what do we do?"

"I don't know. I would say we could keep going, but we should probably get back before night. I'm also a little exhausted from all the flying and dodging trees. What about you?"

"Yeah. I felt good while I was flying, but now my wings hurt a little."

"Maybe we should stay here for a while before we fly back."

"What should we do until then, though?"

"I don't know. What do you RainWings usually do?"

"Well, outside of sun time, we play games. It's usually hide-and-seek."

"Well, I don't think I'd do so well at that."

"Oh, right. Umm... we could gather fruit. I'm pretty hungry after that. You?"

"Yeah, I could eat."

"Alright, then let's do that."

"Hang on, do you hear something?"

"Hear what?"

"That buzzing. It sounds like it's coming from above the trees somewhere to the south."

"What way is south?"

"That way."

"How do you know?"

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"It's the afternoon and the sun is on that side of the sky. Haven't you spent enough time in the sun to know that?"

"My eyes are usually closed, though. Wait, I hear it too."

"It sounds like it's getting closer. I don't remember learning that any tribe makes that sound. Is there some sort of rainforest bird that can make that buzzing sound?"

"I don't think so. I've never heard it before. What if it's some sort of scary monster?"

"Whatever it is sounds really scary and like it's almost here. What should we do?"

"I don't know! Maybe it'll just fly over us."

"We should probably hide just in case! Camouflage yourself!"

"Where are you going to hide?"

"I... Uhh..."

Just then, a large grey creature passed over the gap in the canopy.

"Oh no, I think I can hear it coming back! Find somewhere to hide!" Leopard shouted.

Wonder tried to sprint to the nearest patch of foliage but tripped on a fallen branch.

NO!

In desperation, Leopard did the only thing he could think of and lunged at Wonder to try and hide her with his wings. He had no idea whether he would actually be able to hide her as well; he hadn't practiced this sort of thing all that much.

That didn't matter, though, since he only managed to cover a little over half of her body in his desperate haste. Her head, neck, and part of her back were completely exposed.

It was too late, though; the unknown creature had returned and was circling overhead.

Please go away... or don't see us... or something.

Just then, a loud crunching sound rang throughout the clearing.

Both dragonets shrieked. Leopard got off of Wonder, and the two of them bolted as fast as they could in random directions in an attempt to escape the "monster" that seemed to be diving through the treetops to prey on them.

We're dead.

We're dead.

We're dead.

Just run.

Only a couple of seconds later, however, there was another crunching sound, followed by the sound of sticks raining down on the ground.

Then there was complete silence.

What happened?

Both dragonets were frozen in place for several seconds. Neither even dared to breathe, let alone say anything.

Where is it?

Leopard cautiously began looking around the clearing and the surrounding trees. The fact that he wasn't camouflaged anymore as a result of his panic didn't even cross his mind.

There.

He spotted the thing sitting on one of the lower branches of a tree. He couldn't tell exactly, but it looked mangled. He looked at the ground below it and saw pieces of what looked to be the same material it was made of.

Is it dead?

He cautiously walked over to the material on the ground.

What is this?

There was no blood. It wasn't flesh. It didn't seem like metal, stone, or wood. The closest thing he could think of was bamboo from how it looked in the places it was broken, but this obviously wasn't bamboo.

"What are you doing?" Wonder whispered from behind a nearby tree, startling him.

"What do you mean? You should stay hidden."

"Why don't you do that yourself?"

"I a--"

Wait.

THREE MOONS! I haven't been camouflaged!

Okay, calm down, nothing's happened. Maybe it really is dead.

"Well, nothing's happened, so I guess we don't need to hide," he finally managed to say.

"That's a pretty risky way of testing that."

"Uhh... well, uhh... it had to be done. Now we know it's safe for you too."

"Uh-huh. Is it dead, then?"

"I think so."

"Where is it? I'm assuming that's not all of it."

"It's up there." He pointed to the branch above him.

"Up on that branch?"

"Yes. I think I'll go up and look at it."

"What? Shouldn't we go get an adult or something? Maybe even Queen Glory? What if it does something to you?"

"That would take too long and we wouldn't be able to find it again. I think we have to figure this thing out ourselves. Besides, we're supposed to be exploring, remember?"

"Well, then I guess I'll go with you."

"You don't have to."

"I will."

The two dragonets flew up to the branch the strange thing was on. They awkwardly tried to position themselves so that they could both see it, with each eventually sitting next to the other on the two prongs of a fork in the branch.

It was about their size, but its shape was very odd. They couldn't see any joints, at least as far as they could tell given all the damage. The injured places looked fibrous and dry rather than fleshy and bloody--it even looked like it may be hollow--and it didn't smell like meat at all. Its body was rigid, like some sort of exoskeleton. Neither of them understood how it could even move.

"It doesn't look like any sort of animal. Is it some sort of animus-enchanted object?" Wonder observed.

"Animus?"

"The magic dragons who can enchant things. How little history have you been taught?"

"Uhh..."

"Never mind. Have you ever seen this stuff it's made from? It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen."

"I've never seen it before either. It reminds me a little bit of bamboo where it's broken, but it's not bam--"

"IT'S MOVING!"

"What?"

"That thing!"

There was a strange bulb attached to the carcass of whatever this thing was. They watched it rotate one way before rotating back the other way--scratch that, rotating back towards them, apparently. They could now see that this bulb had some sort of face, the most notable features of which were a circle of glass covering something behind it and another similarly-sized reflective circle.

Both dragonets once again sat in silence, this time staring at this thing.

Is it watching us?

Unbeknownst to Leopard, it was, but not in any way he could conceive of.

=== Back to Stanley ===

There was a long period of relative silence as everyone stood staring in awe at the monitor.

Is that?

The silence was finally broken by the inevitable.

"I don't want to say I told you so, but... well, actually no. To hell with that. I definitely want to. I absolutely fucking told you so! Oh, sure, 'be real.' Yeah, well look at what's really there. I was--"

"Alright, alright, I get it, you can shut up now."

They look weirdly familiar but not at the same time.

"I'll only stop when you admit that I was right and not crazy."

They look like...

"Rrrrr... Fine, but just this once, and I had every reason to think you were crazy--key emphasis on 'you,' considering your usual shit."

Are we where I think we are?

"My genius, you mean?"

How is that possible?

"No, I absolutely and unequivocally don't."

Wait, who cares whether it's possible?

"You sure?"

This means we know at least something about this place!

"Yes, I'm--"

"Everyone, I'll be back!" Stanley shouted out of nowhere before bolting out of the room.

"The fu--" was the last thing he heard before he was out of earshot of the room.

Stanley had originally planned on sprinting to his living quarters, but that plan did not last long. It turns out that IT infrastructure technicians typically are not that used to sprinting long distances. Stanley wasn't, at least.

Okay, maybe speedwalking is fine.

Actually, no, first I'll catch my breath.

Okay, now I can speedwalk.

He still managed to be out of breath again by the time he reached his destination.

Regardless, he unlocked and barged through the door before immediately hitting his knee on a table.

Who moved that there?

Wait. I did.

Dammit.

The commotion was loud enough to get his son to come out of his room.

"Oh, hey Jimmy."

"Hi, dad. What happened?"

"Uhh, that's not important at the moment. Say, could I borrow those books I gave you for a bit?"

"What, Wings of Fire? What for?"

"Uhh, official corporate business, actually."

I mean, technically...

"I just started book six--"

"You can finish it later." Stanley walked past Jimmy into his room.

"But dad..."

Stanley took the entire series from his son's bedside table.

"I'll get them back to you as soon as I can," Stanley said on his way out.

On the way back, Stanley opted for a normal walking pace. He returned to find the room once again full of chatter.

"I'm back."

"Who are you again? No, just kidding. Why the hell do you have a bunch of books?"

"Are the dragons still there?"

"No, they eventually left, or at least they moved out of where we can see by panning the camera."

"Do you have a picture of them or at least remember what they looked like?"

Everyone else in the room had gone mostly quiet at this point, except for a few stray whispers, as they turned their attention to this new conversation.

"Yeah, we can get a picture from before, and also yes, I think so."

"Look at the dragons on the covers of these books," Stanley said while holding up books three and four. "Didn't those look like these?"

"Umm..."

"These two tribes are called RainWings and NightWings. I think--"

"Tribes? What are you on about?"

"I think we're in the world from this book series."

"Oh, that's why you have a bunch of books. You didn't answer bef-- Hold up. What?"

"We're in the Wings of Fire world."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Fairly."

"Well, congratulations! You get to write up a report on these events and your findings. Thanks for volunteering."

Fuck.