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His feathered wings beat fast as he clutched the large, fragile egg closer to his chest, checking behind him every so often. This was a stupid plan, having an IceWing infiltrate StormWing and HeatWing territory to recover the prophesied egg, which was now in his talons. It pulsed every so often, close to hatching with every passing second, and he pushed himself to go faster. He had to get back.
The clouds rumbled above him, lightning pulsing through the grey sky and towards the ground with unfathomable speed. They were pissed, only more motivation for him to get back as soon as he could.
A large, warm force pushed him out of the sky and to the ground, and Hvitur skid face first into the sand with a soft thump. Three SandWings landed next to him, one of them laughing. He opened his eyes to see a large drop inches away, and the egg too close to the jarring drop. He went to move towards it but a large talon held him down.
“Did you really think it would be that easy, IceWing?” the largest SandWing asked, dipping her head down to look him in the eyes.
He only snarled, readying his frostbreath before a blast of fire hit him right in the face, and he screeched in pain. The larger SandWing grabbed him with her talons by the neck and pulled him up, face to face.
“You’re one of those peacemakers, aren’t you? Disgusting,” she snarled, and he only glared back, still in pain.
“They really exist?” one of the other SandWings asked, but the leader gave no response, she only threw Hvitur back into the sand before looking at the large egg pulsing in the sand.
“What have we here… the egg you stole from my allies for your stupid prophecy,” she growled, picking it up oh so carefully before holding it up to examine it, smirking.
“Don’t you dare…” Hvitur hissed, glaring daggers at her, but it meant nothing.
“So fragile… so innocent… oops!” she laughed, watching it drop into the dark abyss below them.
Hvitur screeched, and the leader gripped his neck tighter with one talon, before snapping one of his wings with the other. Pain flared all over his body, and he tried to break free of her grip to no avail.
“So much for your little prophecy,” she snarled, before throwing him into the abyss after it.
She watched him fall before turning to her companions.
“Pitiful. Let’s go,” she snarled, before spreading her wings and taking off into the brewing storm with her fellow SandWings.
And then it was silent. Everything was murky, almost hard to reach.
Hvitur clutched the stone closer to his chest, panting heavily as he heard the cracks and pops of his bones being put back together, the burns slowly fading. It wasn’t going to fully heal, but this was better than nothing.
Too close.
His eyes darted to the now shattered and battered egg beside him, and he cursed to himself.
Now what.
His mind wandered to a certain place that might have what he needed. He stretched his mostly healed wings, wincing at the dull ache. He could make it, he had to be fast.
Beating his wings once more, he took off towards the Rainforest.
-----
He really shouldn’t have flown to the rainforest, his wings and limbs screaming in pain as he pushed himself, now clutching the color changing egg. He had almost been caught, as it was hard to hide from something you couldn’t see, but a quick spell fixed that.
And that spell only added to the pain and weakness he was already enduring. He should’ve been more careful, more preservative of himself and his magic, and now he was wearing himself thin. He wasn’t a powerful animus or well trained, and if he wasn’t careful there could be permanent damage for using his magic so much.
But he had to, he had to fulfill the prophecy, to save so many innocent dragons.
He approached the hidden cave, rain starting to pour down and only add to his pitiful state. He could hear the other guardians whispering amongst each other, most likely wondering why he was late.
“I’m here!” he called, stumbling into the room.
All three dragons turned to him, their impatience turning into shock as they got a better look at the IceWing. His feathers were out of place and his wigs sprawled to either side in a limp state, the egg still clutched tightly in his talons and pressed against his chest. He looked tired and weak, various scratches and bruises his magic couldn’t heal decorating his body.
“What happened?” Webs asked, running over to him as Kestrel noticed the egg and snarled.
“That doesn’t look like a StormWing egg,” the StormWing snarled, tail lashing. Hvitur shook his head, trying to catch his breath as he sat down, passing the egg to Webs.
“I know-” he started, coughing before continuing. “Burn… she almost killed me… smashed the egg, I didn’t know where else to go-” he explained, Webs gently placing the egg next to the others; a NightWing, a SandWing, and a SeaWing.
“So you decided to steal from the RainWings?” Kestrel spat. “Of all the tribes, you chose the most insipid, cowardly dragons on Pyhrria!?”
“At least we have an egg!” Hvitur argued, looking down at the smaller but powerful StormWing.
“Oh great, our strong and powerful StormWing dragonet was replaced with a fruit eating pacifist! You-” Kestrel stopped when they heard loud talon steps coming towards them. A redwood colored MudWing ran in, covered in deep gashes and wounds, clutching a MudWing egg like it was her lifeline, before promptly collapsing onto the floor.
“Asha!”
The guardians rushed over, Webs and Dune trying to stop the bleeding while Kestrel grabbed the egg and put it with the rest. Hvitur examined the MudWing in shock, barely seeing any of her scales under all the wounds and blood. The worst ones were the deep gashes in her neck and chest, oozing dark red blood in an amount that was most certainly fatal.
“Got ambushed,” Asha wheezed, having trouble breathing. “Blister and… Blaze’s armies… fighting… almost got the egg… but it’s safe now.” The MudWing’s eyes started to glaze over, her breathing starting to halt, and Hvitur couldn’t keep standing there doing nothing.
He clutched her right talon in his own, closing his eyes and focusing, imagining her wounds and scales knitting back together and back to how they were before, feeling the magic surge through them.
“Hvitur wait!”
He could barely hear Webs as the world started to fade, his strength gone. He let go and collapsed to the ground, hearing Asha breathing normally once again. He wasn’t sure how fatal that final push of magic was, but it was worth saving her life. He knew how much the prophecy and the dragonets meant to her, and he didn't want her to miss out on that.
Everything finally faded away, and he was left with nothing but a silent darkness.
-----
“Idiot,” Kestrel said, bent down by the unconscious IceWing. He was still breathing (ragged, but still breathing), his scales dull. Asha was much better off now, the gashes less in size and depth and most of the minor cuts and bruises now gone, like they had never been there in the first place.
Both had been moved to a cave to rest, laid on soft moss and leaves and their wounds treated and bandaged.
“They both made sacrifices, and because of them we have the eggs. The prophecy can be completed,” Dune rumbled, walking out with the other two guardians.
“I hope you didn’t forget that we still have a RainWing egg instead of a StormWing egg,” Kestrel reminded him with a snarl, clearly still upset. The three arrived at the five eggs, gathered in a nest under the skyhole. The moon shone down on the eggs, making their shells glow as they pulsed, ready to hatch. “The prophecy-”
“It doesn’t matter. StormWing or not, they can still complete the prophecy. There’s no time to retrieve another StormWing egg, and I’m sure the Sky Kingdom will be on high alert after having one egg stolen already,” Dune interrupted, staring down at the eggs as he spoke. “We have four out of five, that’s good enough.”
Kestrel snorted, but didn’t argue back. It would be up to the four to stop the war. If they trained them right, they would have no problem fulfilling the prophecy, and the stupid war would be over.
They turned when they heard cracking, the MudWing egg splintering as a small talon clawed at the shell, the first egg to hatch. It had begun.
She had to have faith.