In a deep blue sky the color of sapphires, five figures soared through the clouds. They moved like flowing water, as synchronized as anyone could ever be. Occasionally, one might shoot a lightning bolt or a burst of fire or ice, or do a flip in the air, just for the fun of it.

These were dragons.

And, riding on the backs of them, were five humans in their late twenties, one for each dragon. They called to each other and laughed often, daring each other to do crazy stunts and shouting whenever one of the tricks succeeded.

Every once and a while, one of the figures would scan the ground for any signs of danger, but none of them were too worried. They were happy. They were peaceful.

“Race you to that boulder over there!” Alyssa—one of the humans—called. She pointed to a large boulder jutting out from the rolling hills, pretty far away from where she was flying. Her dragon, Shimmerwing, arched her back and dove towards the rock. The others all followed.

Alyssa urged Shimmerwing on, the wind whipping back her long dark hair and stinging her green-silver eyes. A dark shape to their side leveled out with their speed.

“Hey,” said Jay nonchalantly, stretched out over his dragon Cloudburst, looking totally at ease. His black hair looked perfectly windswept. He winked at Alyssa with green-blue eyes and then sped past her.

"Oi!" Alexus, with his blond hair and light green foxes eyes grinned mischievously at Alyssa, trying to catch up to her speed. Alyssa had one advantage, however: her dragon was a Sky Dragon. Alexus only had a Sharp dragon.

"Eat my cloud dust!" Alyssa shouted. Shimmerwing flicked her tail and they sped after Jay. Alyssa would not let him outrace her for the fifth time in a row, though her chances didn't look good. Jay was almost fifty feet ahead of her. Alyssa risked a glance over her shoulder and grinned. Her friends were far behind, with Turi--Alexus's sister--in dead last. Alexus had given up trying to outstrip her, and was sitting up on his dragon Percival, spreading his arms to catch the wind. Alyssa felt like doing the same--the breeze felt amazing--but she couldn't rush her chances of winning against Jay.

She turned back to the rock. Jay had almost reached it.

"One last bit of speed?" Alyssa asked Shimmerwing.

"You bet," the Sky dragon answered.

They shot forward at blinding speed, and managed to land on the boulder a second before Jay.

He laughed. "You beat me!"

Their friends landed behind them, one by one.

“No fair!” Turi called, jumping off her dragon Evergreen. “You guys got a head start!”

“Technically, you only made it because the others sped up and you like extra speed,” Sunset speculated, patting her dragon Taras on the nose. She smirked and ducked Turi’s attempt to swat her.

“I tied with Alyssa,” Alexus said, grinning his crocodile grin and shooting Alyssa a glance with raised eyebrows, meant to annoy her. Percival snorted.

“I didn’t see anything coming towards us,” Shimmerwing butted in. “Did you guys?”

All of them shook their heads.

These friends were a part of an elite group of warriors, handpicked by the King himself, called Aetherites. Their current mission was to guard Queen Amari, the last human royal alive. She had received an anonymous message tied to a PixiDragon in the morning, warning her that there was a plot against her. Unless someone stopped it, the message had said, the Queen would be dead the next morning--and she had no living human heirs.

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Alyssa and her friends had set out immediately, but so far they had not found anything. Turi thought the message might be a fake, meant to cause fear among the Palace. Still, the friends could not call off the mission based on small doubt—especially if ignoring it meant the death of their Queen.

Sunset suddenly furrowed her brow. “For some reason, I now have this weight in my chest—like something bad is about to happen, but I don’t know what.”

“Don’t worry, Sunset!” Alexus grinned at her and bowed, sweeping an imaginary hat off his messy, blond head in a jaunty move. “Us Aetherite bad boys would never let anything happening to you distinguished ladies. Am I right, guys?”

Everyone laughed, but Sunset still looked worried. “This isn’t a joke, Alexus! I’m telling you, something bad is going to happen!”

Taras purred reassuringly and nudged Sunset’s shoulder with her snout. “Alexus is right, in his annoying way,” she said softly, shooting Alexus a reproachful glance. “We would never let anything happen to you.”

Everyone nodded, and Sunset’s shoulders started to relax. Maybe she was wrong…

Then, every hair on Alyssa’s body stood up. The dragons sensed it too, and surrounded their humans in a protective semicircle, growling.

And then the plains erupted into chaos.

Dragons, at least fourteen of them, flew out from behind tall rocks and trees. Sky dragons, Earth dragons, Fire dragons, Water dragons, and even some of the subspecies, like Rock dragons and Sharp dragons, launched themselves at the semicircle, snarling and slashing. These dragons were born for battle, and they had the element of surprise. However, the Aetherites were the best trained warriors of the Kingdom of Terrarestria. It was almost an even battle.

Alyssa drew her trusty sword, Evenwood, and stepped into the battle alongside her friends. She cut down a Sky dragon who was trying to backstab Alexus, then felt a stinging pain on her back. She turned to look and saw smoke curling up from her armor. A Fire dragon lunged at her, and she held up Evenwood to block his sharp talons as they slashed at her.

Shimmerwing came to the rescue, tackling the Fire dragon and using her Sky dragon abilities to knock him off of his claws and smash his skull into a rock.

"Are you okay?" Shimmerwing nudged Alyssa to her feet. Alyssa nodded, and they both ran back into the battle to help their friends.

It only ended when a cry rose up from the midst of the battlefield. The two sides separated in confusion, revealing a woman crying over a body. When the rest of the Aetherites realized who it was, they backed off and came to the woman’s side.

“No,” Alyssa sobbed, surrounded by friends who were trying to comfort her. “Jay, no! No, no, no, I refuse to believe that—that—”

“Blue Jay is dead, Alyssa,” Shimmerwing said softly. Tears were racing down her own cheeks. She put her wing around Alyssa’s shaking body.

“We’re still with you,” Turi said, putting a hand on Alyssa’s shoulder reassuringly. Then Alyssa rose to her feet.

“WHO DID THIS?” She shouted, scanning the crowd of dragons, tears running down her fair cheeks. Some of the dragons in the crowd she recognized: Sparthai, a soldier in the dragon army; Tijan, a servant to the Queen; Virsae, one of the kitchen staff, and several others, all thought to be loyal to Queen Amari.

“I did,” hissed a voice in the crowd. The dragons parted to let a huge, silver-colored dragon stalk towards the Aetherites. She spread her long, graceful wings and gave them a cruel, sly smile. “I killed your cute, naïve friend, I organized the ambush, and I will be the one who kills the rest of you and your…beloved…Queen!” Every word was coated in malice. "I will dominate the earth with my own dragon race, a new one: the StealthDragons!"

Alyssa's eyes widened. She recognized this dragon: Zaerux, the first dragon to shoot spikes and have freezefire. As the silver dragon approached, Alyssa noticed her talons sank into the earth. Were her claws retractable? Alyssa was too angry to think straight.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!” Alyssa screamed, throwing herself at Zaerux. Alexus held her back, but he was also shooting daggers at the silver traitor.

“Why?” a voice punctured the argument. “Why do this, Zaerux?” Sunset worked her way through the crowd and gazed at the silver dragon with unreadable eyes.

“Dragons have been under the feet of humans for too long,” Zaerux hissed. “You force us to do your bidding, giving us no other choice. I will change history. I am the first Dragon Queen!”

The other dragons cheered. “Long live Queen Zaerux!” shouted one.

“NO!” The Aetherites screamed, and attacked as one.

************

A day later, the Aetherites returned to the Palace, severely wounded and exhausted, to find it in ruins. Dragons were torching it to the ground, attacking the humans and the dragons that were still loyal. The entire city had been razed. Flames danced through the trees and the grass, claiming innocent lives.

“What are we going to do?” Turi cried, tears streaming down her face. They had barely won their own battle, having managed to trap Zaerux in a chasm using magical chains. They did not know how long they would hold.

Alyssa sheathed her new sword, the blade made out of one of Zaerux’s spines. All the Aetherites looked at her in dismay, grief etched in their features.

“We,” Alyssa said, looking at all of them, “are going underground, where it is safe. To the Caves.”