The Prophecy:

    When the sun and the moon align

    And the tides of war surge

    A dragon shall emerge from the heart of war

    Scales and blood of all the life shall fight wishing hope and light

    Born of rain and night

    Forged in sand and sea

    Cast of mud and ice

    This dragon will proceed when the land is soaked in weeping blood and tears

    This dragon will proceed when the war has lasted great terrible twenty years

    And all the ghosts of dead plead

    All six royals of nothing but greed

    All shall fail to face the discovery

    That there is a fate of great power

    And they’ll have to bow to something stronger and higher 

    The one dragon with hope so bright

    Brighter to end any fight

    The light will arise

    While the darkness will flee

    Knowing whatsoever it will never be

    And all the world will be rested in peace

    For victory lies not in defeat

    But the wings of power

    One day to be

    There was no hope. The bright pale gold scales like desert, hid in the gloomy darkness of the night. The thunder boomed, making the dragon flinch, but he knew that there was no point in being frightened. There was much more danger for him to await. Lightning flickered across the dark sky as he narrowed his eyes, staring at the gleam of amber and gold wings far up in the clouds. Wait a minute…wings?                            

Sirocco’s heart started to thump quicker. Was someone there? He glanced at the golden object he had been clutching. He just needed to fly over the mountains, and then he and the egg would be safe. However, he had a weird feeling he was being watched. Sirocco looked back and saw the figure was gone.

The golden object scintillated from the moonlight catching the eye of the enormous dragon hiding in the clouds, watching Sirocco. “Another one of those pesky rats again,” growled Gloomscale, her eyes full of anger. “Hehe! Rats!” chuckled the dragon next to Gloomscale, who looked like he had a really bad sunburn and then had covered himself in mud. He kept on laughing like he was having an asthmatic 

fit until Gloomscale glared at him. “Shut up, you idiot!” snarled Gloomscale. “Say anything else or I’ll do the same thing I did to all those dragons who tried to prove me wrong!” Gloomscale smirked at the very thought of it. What she did to those dragons must’ve been bad, because the dragon next to her didn’t say a word after and started banging his head on a rock. Gloomscale acted like this was perfectly normal behaviour. Gloomscale flicked her poisonous barbed tail and plunged into the heart of the storm. “Quick Mudrase!” she shouted, and the Mudragon who looked like he had an awful sunburn, followed after her.

Sirocco looked up and saw the two dragons heading towards him. However, it was too late to escape. Gloomscale and Mudrase dove to the mountain ledge. A piercing shriek echoed off the mountains as their talons seized the wriggling dragon. “Bind his mouth!” Gloomscale ordered as Mudrase threw a chain over the Sandragon’s snout, clamping his jaws together. Sirocco let out a muffled yell. “You won’t be using your sandstorm breathing on us, Sandragon!” whispered Gloomscale as her tongue slithered in and out her mouth. Mudrase giggled stupidly behind her. Gloomscale ignored him. Sirocco looked at Gloomscale and saw a hint of hunger in her eyes. It was the hunger to defeat him.

 “You thought you could escape me that easily, didn’t you?” Gloomscale said. “I’m not blind you know, I have eyes. When I saw you hiding like a scared mouse eluding 

a hungry cat I knew you were hiding something. Something important…” She eyed the golden egg and then snatched it out of Sirocco’s reach. “Yes. This egg is about to hatch, but I have never seen any egg like it.” She thought for a moment as the raindrops drummed on her head. “Unless…it’s the one…”    

    She glanced at Sirocco who was averting eye contact, and then at Mudrase. “You don’t suppose…” muttered Gloomscale. Gloomscale looked back at Sirocco. “Unwrap his chain!” Mudrase carefully pulled the chain away. “If you dare try to use your sandstorm on any of us…” Gloomscale drew a line across her neck with her talons and pointed at the egg. Sirocco winced. “Tell me Sandragon, do you believe in the pathetic prophecy from that ancient Nightdragon?”

    “Haven’t enough dragons died from this war that you royals have started in the first place?” Sirocco mumbled as the rain pattered on his scales. “Why can’t all you kings and queens have a truce? Does only one kind of dragon have to rule the dragon kingdom? The prophecy says-”

    “I don’t care what it says!” Gloomscale interrupted. “I’m not letting a bunch of words tell me what to do. We can have peace when the other queens and kings know who to bow to, which is me and I am the queen of Mudragons.” Her venomous tail was an inch away from Sirocco.

    “You’re so stubborn like Queen Sahara that Sandragon and the other queens and kings, obviously too stupid to admit I’m the real leader,” muttered Gloomscale under her breath.

    “It’s coming, whether you like it or not,” said Sirocco with ferocity in his eyes. “Really?” Gloomscale teased. “Is this egg part of your pathetic prophecy?” Sirocco went quiet. Gloomscale lightly tapped the egg. “Hello?” she called. “Is there a dragon in there to save the day? Are you ready to end the scary war?”

    “Leave it alone,” Sirocco choked. “You make me laugh,” Gloomscale snickered. “Now tell me, no one would ever dare to harm this dragon egg, right?”

    “You wouldn’t,” Sirocco gasped. “No ‘wings of power' to help save the world anymore,” Gloomscale said. “What a sad, sad story.” She started tossing the dragon egg from each sharp talon to the other. “That means I have to be very, very careful with this terribly important, precious little - oops!”

With an exaggerated lunge, Gloomscale pretended the egg was slipping through her claws…and she let it fall into the misty darkness below. “NO!” Sirocco shrieked and he flung towards the egg, but Gloomscale slammed her colossal claws on his neck. “So much for your heartwarming, tragic little movement,” Gloomscale smirked. Sirocco threw off Gloomscale, and dove to catch the egg. “Hey, stop!” screamed Gloomscale.

 “Even if that filthy dragon in that egg survives… it’ll be far too late for you!” Her talons ripped Sirocco’s wings, shredding them as he screamed in agony. The pain was excruciating. Sirocco, neglecting the pain in his wings, took off in the night.

“I don’t believe that dragon one bit! Does he really expect me to believe that a small dragon that hasn’t even been born yet to become a great warrior or something?” Gloomscale huffed. “Should we go after him and steal the egg?” Mudrase mumbled, half interested in a fly that was circling him. Gloomscale stood there, considering it. “That Sandragon’s probably not going to make it in time to land, so I wouldn’t bother. Anyways, he seemed pretty weak even before I ripped his wings, so no wonder if he would be more frail after getting his wings teared up in little pieces.”

Gloomscale spun around and set back into the night, her strong wings pushing back the cold, damp air. Mudrase suddenly came to notice that his leader had gone, so he spread his wings up in the sky. He took flight, but failed to stay stable against the rough wind, which led to him falling hard onto a mountain ledge. He stood up again and soared into the night, not noticing the tortured screams of the wounded dragon that echoed through the night.

The rough breeze tried to push Sirocco to the bottom. Sirocco resisted the urge to stop and let himself fall and die. Then his death would be quick and perhaps less 

painful. Even while these tempting thoughts buzzed through his head, he ignored them, because he knew the egg would never be secure. He pushed on and on, knowing that he couldn’t stay alive in the end, but the egg had to. The pain in his wings grew, until the fact that he was screaming in anguish and closing his eyes in pain. 

He looked down at the ground, trying to distract himself from the throbbing pain in his wings, but it did not help him any better. Down below was a war, which he made out from the agonizing screams and crimson red which he thought was blood. Sirocco gritted his teeth and yowled in anger. Why did these royals have to do this to everyone? All they had was greed and self-will! They just wanted to own the land and force dragons to come to their side and fight for them! They would threaten to kill their families if they didn’t, and if any of them argued or tried to escape, it would be instant death straight away. He used his rage to push himself further. 

This egg that he was holding could be the one to bring these dragons who were forced to fight to their senses. The dragons could instead unite together and convince the royals to stop. This dragon in the egg could convince the dragons out there to stop doing all the royal’s bidding. It could convince the royals that there was no point in fighting if their ‘slaves’ weren’t doing their dirty work.

Sirocco finally arrived at the rusty, rocky cavern that he was to go to. He gently placed the egg on the ground and laid on the floor. He looked up to find two other dragons standing over the egg and Sirocco. “I-I have b-brought the egg,” Sirocco wheezed. Sirocco tried to get up but instead failed and fell on the floor. “Oh my! We should bring you inside so you can get some treatment-” began one of the dragons, her whole body quivering.

“No! There is no point. My last breath is awaiting me soon. But promise me that this dragon in this egg will live and stand up against the royals. That it will end this war.” Sirocco said while gasping for air. “Hope is a powerful thing,” he whispered so softly that only if you listened carefully you would hear. The two dragons above stared at him, wondering if he was to say anything else. They then realised that the dragon was well and truly dead.

“Is he d-dead?” questioned the dragon who had spoken before, even though she knew that he had. “Yes Siltara, I believe he has sacrificed himself for the egg,” whispered the other dragon. “Does this mean Zephyr, that we wait?” asked Siltara. Zephyr nodded. “We wait for this dragon in this egg to be our light of hope, the one dragon that will show others who to follow after. This dragon is our only hope,” he said. The dragon inside didn’t know that he was the one who was destined to end the war. He didn’t know that he would be the one that all the dragons would praise. He didn’t know he had the strength of wings of power.

Dracarus wished he never existed. He also didn’t think that he was the dragon to put a stop to the war. How he wanted to though. He wanted to be all glorious and mighty, become a hero that everyone would adore. He wanted to stand up in front of all the dragons and prove he was important and a winner. The thing was, he was quite the opposite. He was considered a loser here. All he would do here was trip all over the place and make a fool of himself and mutter things like “sorry” or “my bad,” even though that wouldn’t make any difference even if he didn't say anything. 

    Don’t even get started on his combat training. All he could do was just avoid the attacks (barely), and maybe just try and use all the countermoves and moves that he had seen his other friends do, even if they didn’t work that effectively, and hope for the best for a distraction to come and disrupt his training. Dracarus was alright for fighting, but “alright” wasn’t going to stop the war and the kings and queens from fighting. He needed to be legendary and extraordinary. He was quite big, so he was supposed to be the scary, tough one. The older dragons wanted him to be terrifyingly dangerous. Dracarus felt as dangerous as a carrot.

“Fight!” his opponent howled, and flinged him across the cavern. Dracarus crashed into the rough, rock wall and scrambled up again, trying not to fall over. There were 

     bruises on his stormy grey scales, and his glowing blue eyes were itchy, which were caused by the dirt that had escaped into his eyes. Silvery talons raked at his face and he swiftly ducked away. 

    “What are you doing?” the icy blue dragon snarled, her talons ready to strike. “Stop holding back you chicken, and find your killer beast in you and let it out!”

    “I’m trying to!” Dracarus said, barely eluding the razor-sharp claws. “Maybe if we stop and sit down, we could have a talk about it-” She lunged for him again. “Come on! Roll right! Use your fire!” Dracarus tried to duck under her wing to attack her from below, but of course he rolled the wrong side. One of her talons smashed him to the floor, and he yelped in pain.

    “WHAT RIGHT WAS THAT, USELESS!” Nerida bellowed in his ear. “Are all dragons in prophecies this stupid! OR ARE YOU JUST DEAF?"

Well, if you keep that up, I soon will be, Dracarus thought. The Icedragon lifted her claws and Dracarus stood up, every part of him aching. “Maybe if you could quiet down and stop screaming in my ear, I could actually do better,” he protested, licking his sore talons. “We could try fighting without all the shouting and-” he stopped, realising that Nerida was making an oddly strange sound with her mouth. At the last second, he realised that she was about to use her ice breath, so he threw his wings over his head, and heard the ice blast the rocks around him. 

“Coward!” Nerida boomed as she stamped down hard on his tail. “OW!” he yelled, resisting the urge to kick Nerida, but that would lead to another fight and he was in too much pain. “Why can’t I fight one of the others!” he asked. “They’re nearly my size!” The other dragons didn’t cheat (well, most of the time). They were fine. Dracarus actually quite liked fighting with them

    “Oh really? Which opponent would you prefer, the lazy Raindragon who only uses his idiotic jokes during fights or the short Sandragon who is as harmful as a rabbit?” the older dragon questioned. “It’s not Sunny’s fault she’s small. She’s really tough too! Also, River's not lazy. He’s just not into fighting. Also-”

    “STOP YAPPING AND GET DOWN HERE!” Nerida roared. With a yelp of alarm, Dracarus leaped over to Nerida. “Where’s that inner beast in you? We need that to show in you! That’s what dragon we need for the prophecy.”

    “Yeah, whatever I guess,” Dracarus mumbled.

Dracarus didn’t get it. How in the world was he supposed to fight and stop the war without anyone’s help? Why couldn’t there be someone else with him by his side to fight the royals and end the war? But no, the dumb prophecy said only he had to. He was supposed to do everything. This was terrible because Nerida expected him to do the whole lot, which wasn’t very fun when it was time to train. He just 

    wanted to be normal, just live a normal life without any “He’s the one!” or “He’s going to stop it all!” because honestly Dracarus didn’t feel like he could do anything. Especially when he was fighting Nerida. Dracarus wanted to show Nerida some rage but the only thought that came to his mind was, It’ll all be over soon, and I can have dinner. So not the most heroic thought.

    “Stupid prophecy, telling me what to do!” Dracarus murmured. Nerida eyed him suspiciously. “What did you say?” asked Nerida. On no! Nerida took the prophecy very seriously. She took it as important as her life and if she found out anyone insulted it, let’s just say they’ll be lucky to find themselves alive after a few seconds. Especially with Nerida’s life-threatening antics. “You say about it? I-I mean me say, w-wait n-nevermind!” Dracarus rushed, panic rising. “I-I d-didn’t say that! I would n-never! I love the prophecy! I-I’d even take it out for lunch or something! To show my appreciation! Y-yeah, that’s how m-much! Haha!” 

Dracarus realised that was a dumb thing to say, so he added it to his “stupidest things said to Nerida” list. He forced a laugh, but Nerida’s glare cut through his nervousness. He let out a strained chuckle, wishing he could disappear. Nerida looked disgusted. “No wonder you’re such a brat, I’m surprised you even have friends,”

    “Leave him alone!” a Seadragon growled. “Or I’ll bite you just like yesterday.”

    Tsunami’s blue scales glistened like glass, and her jaws were clenched like they always did when she was mad. The Seadragon had a deadly look in her eyes, making it look like she was planning to kill. Nerida bared her teeth at Tsunami and examined her bite mark from before. “Aren’t you sweet saving your little friend who can’t do anything, apparently relying on you. How adorable!” Nerida mocked. “I warned you, if you dare-” Tsunami began. “Oh my! I’m so scared! Fine, I guess I’ll leave you and your friend around here, and he can discuss how good he is at fighting, right?” Nerida interrupted, a hint of sarcasm in her words. Dracarus didn’t answer. “Toodles!” Nerida called. She walked off and cursed under her breath.

    “I’ve never seen Nerida be mean! It's so not like her!” Tsunami sarcastically commented. “Heh! Don’t make me laugh! I’ve already broken my ribs!” Dracarus grinned, trying not to show how pleased he was that Tsunami had saved him again. “Your ribs are not broken,” Tsunami said while rolling her eyes. “Dragon bones are really hard. You’re fine.” There was a sudden hint of concern in Tsunami’s eyes. “Are you good though?” Tsunami questioned. 

Dracarus wanted to tell her how he felt like a failure and he didn’t think he was the one for all this. He wanted to say about all the things that Nerida had told and how she thought he couldn’t do anything. 

     He wanted to cry and weep and say how hard it was for him, Instead Dracarus said “Yeah,” and pretended absolutely nothing bad was going on.

    “That’s good!” smiled Tsunami like a beautiful overgrown fish. Dracarus felt like a gawky grey blob next to her. “You know, I don’t get why this prophecy wanted me to become this murderous dragon to end this war. I don’t like setting things on fire, or freezing others or flapping around in circles biting dragon necks. I’m not scary at all! I’d rather eat my own leg than deal with this!” Dracarus complained. “We’re not going to let you eat your own leg!” taunted Tsunami. “W-what n-no! I meant it as an expression, like-” Dracarus started. “I know silly! What I meant was all of us, River, Clay, Starflight, Sunny, Blizzard, and me, will be in this together with you, because we’re friends, and one problem you’re facing and have to fight, and you think it is just for you to solve, it’s actually something we have to solve with you. We will end this pointless argument with the kings and queens and stop the war for once and all together. I don’t care if the prophecy doesn’t mention any of us in this quest because that’s obviously not stopping us!” Tsunami interrupted. “Gee, thanks!” Dracarus said, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt. 

“Well, we better head the others, they’re probably waiting for us.” Tsunami said. “Yeah, and I’m sure to avoid Nerida because-GAHHH!” Dracarus had jumped from the hot breath behind him and had thrown his wings over his head. 

    “Who’s there?” he yelped. “What’d I do? I’m sorry!” A small gold snout poked his back between his wings. “Calm down, dumbo!” Sunny said. “I just wanted to tell you that you all have to come to the study cave, Starflight told me to tell you.” Dracarus twisted around to see her, the smallest of the dragons. “Oh great, I already told Starflight that I was busy, and he still expects to study more!” grumbled Dracarus. “He said it was important!” Sunny said. “That’s what he always says!” whined Dracarus. “Come on Dracarus, we still have to go!” Tsunami nudged him. 

    Dracarus groaned and followed after Tsunami and Sunny. He looked at Sunny giggling with Tsunami. There was something not quite right about the littlest Sandragon. Not only were her scales too golden, but her eyes were amber instead of glittering black. Worst of all, her tail didn’t end with a poisonous barb like every Sandragon had, but curled into an ordinary point like most dragon tribes. As Nerida had often said, Sunny was completely harmless… but Dracarus had always doubted it. Sunny had her very own strength in her own way, and he couldn’t help thinking that there was something more to this dragon. More to that small smile and her ability to make anyone feel happy. 

As Dracarus walked, he noticed Sunny not as the small dragon who sometimes was quite gullible, but as a strong, valiant warrior hidden between her sweet laugh and 

    her golden scales. No matter how many reasons there were to argue that this dragon was too naive or posed no danger at all, Dracarus simply did not believe it. There was certainly more to this dragon.

    The wall of the cavern was rugged and uneven, the stalactites hanging like ancient chandeliers. The three walked on as the cave was split in three ways. Dracarus, Tsunami and Sunny walked off to the left and smelt the familiar aroma of the moss and musty soil. The air was cool and damp. 

Dracarus remembered arriving at this cave. He couldn’t remember quite much but he remembered the aroma he smelt when he arrived. The older dragons found the other dragons together and decided to bring them all to the underground cave. They were stolen by the royals but thankfully the older dragons had found them, during the search for him. Dracarus had barely made it, but he was lucky enough to be brought to safety here. A dragon had sacrificed himself to bring Dracarus to safety, which was the reason he was here at this very moment. He was taken here in this underground cave and lived here with Tsunami, Clay, Starflight, Sunny, River and Blizzard, away from the royals that were on a search for him.

    Dracarus felt a pang of guilt every time he thought about the dragon who had sacrificed himself. The memory of his near-death experience still haunted him, leaving him shivering in fear and doubt. Dracarus didn’t quite know what to say of him nearly dying. As they walked, Tsunami glanced at Dracarus. “You okay?” she asked, noticing his pale face. Dracarus nodded, though the memory of sacrifice weighed heavily on his mind.“It’s just that-”

     “RIVER, HOW DARE YOU THROW THAT!” a similar voice howled. “Calm down Blizzard! I just-”

    “I swear, if you throw any of your little bug pals at me again, I will literally pick you up and throw you in the bin where you belong!” Blizzard yelled. Sunny and Tsunami snickered. Dracarus walked over and saw a whole colony of insects scattered around the room. 

    “What-” Dracarus began. Blizzard was glaring at River like she wanted to throw him on the other side of the planet while River was smirking in the corner. Starflight was crawled up into a ball a few metres away from them, absorbed in a book while Clay was standing next to Starflight looking very troubled. Tsunami and Sunny raced to the room. 

    “Erm, what exactly happened here?” Sunny asked.  

Blizzard looked at Sunny and then looked back at River, and she looked like she wanted to punch River all the way into outer space. “This idiot over here decided to 

    throw his bug friends at me for a little laugh. The thing is, I don’t find it rather funny.” Blizzard grumbled. “Gee Blizzard, learn to take a joke!” River said while rolling his eyes. “LEARN TO MAKE ONE!” Blizzard snarled. 

    Clay cleared his throat and nudged Starflight. “Ehem, so Starflight, why did you tell us to come over here?” Clay asked. Starflight yelped in surprisement and looked across the rock cave with the small crystals adorned in the rocks. He yelled again. “When were those bugs here?” he questioned. “Come on Starflight, make it quick!” Blizzard snapped. Starflight stopped for a while. “Oh yes, it’s about the… well, the prophecy,” Starflight said, while he whispered the last bit like he didn’t want anyone else to hear. 

Oh great. Dracarus hated the prophecy more than anything. Even more than doing work that Starflight told him to. It’s just that it was pain knowing that a bunch of words had chosen his future, and it was not all good and happy. He had to become a murderous dragon and end the war. Dracarus also hated it because whenever Starflight brought the prophecy, he talked weirdly like he was trying to avoid something and acted all strange and mysterious. He sometimes would mutter things like “there’s more to it” or “there’s no more time” which disturbed and confused Dracarus. 

    Tsunami paused and cleared her throat. “We all know that the prophecy was created by an ancient Nightdragon, right? She was known for her visions. She was the best of them all. She saw a dragon born of rain and night, forged in sands and seas, and cast from mud and ice, who would end the war.” Tsunami whispered. Sunny looked confused. “Well what does that mean?” Sunny asked. Starflight drummed his claws on the crystal table. “We know that all dragons are grouped into six tribes. They are Sandragons, Raindragons, Icedragons, Seadragons, Nightdragons, and Mudragons. Just like us. Sunny is a Sandragon, Clay is a Mudragon, River is a Raindragon, Blizzard is an Icedragon, Tsunami is a Seadragon and I’m a Nightdragon. Pretty simple. Except a very special dragon, which in this case Dracarus. Which means that Dracarus has all sand, rain, ice, night, mud and sea, just like it says in the prophecy!” Starflight explained. 

    Dracarus didn’t really think he was quite special. The only thing that he had which could have been described as ‘special’ would've been his excellent talent of eating two cows in one minute. He could eat three but it would just give him hiccups. Unfortunately, Dracarus didn’t believe that eating cows would help him fight the royals. “The part where it talks about the land is soaked in weeping blood and tears, it’s probably the war that’s going on.” Clay thought out loud. “The thing is, when is Dracarus supposed to stop the battle? When will he know when to go?” Blizzard questioned. Everyone turned over and looked at Dracarus. 

    Dracarus felt quite awkward. He was the centre of attention. Dracarus really wanted a huge giant to come and take him away so he wouldn’t have to deal with this mess. “E-e-erm, w-well, I s-s-suppose…“ Dracarus stuttered. “I-I mean it says in the prophecy when it has lasted twenty years or something I have to go, and it only has lasted around seventeen…” Dracarus wondered if he had to wait three more years to go out into the world and suddenly become an influence to all the dragons out there that he doesn’t even know, and tell them to listen to him because he is the dragon of the prophecy. He wondered what he would tell them. Maybe to go and kick all the royals’ butts. No… that sounded childish. Maybe they would just know to follow him. 

“ ‘One dragon to end the fight’ the prophecy says. Well that means three more years until I leave you all and go and get myself killed.” Dracarus muttered.

    “Dracarus you will not get yourself killed, you hear me! Anyways, we all will go together to stop the war together even though the prophecy does state there is only one dragon to end the fight. I mean it didn’t really include us but maybe it’s just not that specific?” Tsunami smiled reassuringly. Starflight nervously chuckled. “Umm, y-yeah! There is only just that prophecy! Heh! W-why would there be any more?” Starflight stammered. 

Dracarus’ eyes widened. “What do you mean-” Dracarus asked, confused. 

    “Oh, n-nothing! Anyways, heard of the tale where three dragons found out about the tiny people? I remember when we tried to act it out. I had to be one of the people. Now that I think of it, it’s hardly fair! A real person would be way smaller than me. In one of the books I read, it says people have no scales, no wings, and no tails, and they walk on two legs, which sounds very unstable to me. The book also said that-”

    “OH MY GOSH, WE KNOW!” Tsunami snapped. “We were there all for the fascinating lectures about them. Don’t make me come and bite you, Starflight.”

    “I’d like to meet a real person!” River said. “I’d rip off its head! And eat it!”

    “Poor, hungry River,” Tsunami teased.

“You know what I’ve been thinking?” Blizzard said. “Is it about one of my great jokes? I have a good one about a-” River requested. 

“NO YOU BUFFOON!” Blizzard scolded as she gave him a sidelong glance. “I never asked for your opinion! I was going to-” 

“Is it about one of my marvelous jokes? Do you remember what I did to you last week?” River interrupted. Blizzard had a sharp, dangerous look in her eyes as she scanned the room to spot anything that she could use to hit River. “Will you SHUT UP! Stop cutting in while I’m talking! If you don’t shut your mouth, I will literally glue your mouth closed! ” Blizzard screamed. Clay looked concerned. “You two, stop fighting or else-” 

“C’mon Blizzard! Just admit I’m the best! With my great humour I don’t think anything is as cool as me,” sniggered River. Blizzard's normal iridescent pearl blue face turned as red as a beetroot and she growled like she wanted to pounce at River.

Sunny closed her eyes and covered her ears, like there was a bomb nearby. “Here we go again,” Tsunami grimaced. 

“WHO SAID YOU WERE COOL! I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU! STOP CARRYING YOURSELF LIKE THE WHOLE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND YOU!” 

“WHAT is going on in here?” 

Nerida’s booming voice made all seven dragons jump to attention. Sunny slipped as she tried to scramble to her feet, and Starflight jumped forward to catch her. “I thought you were studying, not YELLING!” she bellowed. Blizzard looked over at River and snarled at him. “This is all your fault!” she mouthed. River shot a look of annoyance. “Says the one who was yelling this whole time!” he whispered. Blizzard huffed. “Yeah, and that was because of you! You were yapping too much!” Blizzard exclaimed. Nerida eyed them both. “Oh really! Well, you weren’t letting me speak!” River argued. “WHAT? LETTING YOU SPEAK? I WAS THE ONE TRYING TO TALK ALL ALONG AND YOU WERE THE ONE INTERRUPTING ME!” boomed Blizzard.

Dracarus looked over at Nerida. Her breaths came in short bursts, nostrils flaring with every exhale. She looked like she had the urge to turn River and Blizzard into ice sculptures and place them in a museum for display, but she must have put that thought out of her mind due to the fact that Blizzard was already a Icedragon. Icedragons aren’t affected greatly by ice. Dracarus thought Nerida could’ve whacked them instead with her tail, but he decided it was not a good idea to bring that up to her. “ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!” thundered Nerida, her eyes flashing with danger. “Uh oh!” Sunny whispered nervously. Nerida bared her sharp teeth at River. “River, if you can’t keep your mouth shut for five minutes, I’ll find a way to make it happen. Consider this your final warning.” River rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine,” he muttered. “I’ll keep quiet… for now.”

“Ugh, I don’t know how Cascade dealt with you! She must have easily made you quiet!” scoffed Nerida. Nerida suddenly gasped and covered her mouth with her talons like she had said something rude to a royal. Dracarus was puzzled. “Who’s Cascade?” He looked over at River who looked startled. His eyes were widened and he looked pale, paler than the time when Nerida had forbidden any pranks that included doing science experiments with cows, baking soda and toilet paper. “Umm,” River trembled. “Just a friend of Nerida.” Dracarus knew he wasn’t telling the truth. 

Dracarus looked around at everyone else, and they looked as confused as he was. Starflight was glancing at Nerida and River with a strangely quizzed look like he was trying to figure something out. 

Nerida cleared her throat like nothing had interrupted her. “Anyways, Blizzard sweetheart, if you spent half as much time listening as you do yelling, we might get somewhere. Now, why don’t you put that effort you have somewhere in you to good use and help us by not yelling so loud that the whole cave is shaking? Or do you need a special invitation?” Nerida snapped, breaking the silence. Blizzard grumbled something about how it wasn’t her fault, but she nodded.

Nerida let out an exasperated sigh. “Alright, listen up, you overgrown lizards,” she began, as she scrunched her face in annoyance. “I don’t know what circus act you think you’re putting on, but this isn’t time for your petty squabbles.” She fixed her gaze to all the dragons, making Sunny whimper softly. “The rest of you, don’t think you’re off the hook. I’m sure that any idiot would know that. Now get to work! But only if you stop acting like bickering fools.”

“I’d rather be a bickering fool, than listen to this old hag!” Tsunami mumbled under her breath. Nerida narrowed her eyes. “What did you just say?” Nerida growled. 

“Nothing,” groaned Tsunami. Nerida eyed Tsunami suspiciously and walked out of 

the study cavern. “I think we should go to sleep before Nerida comes barging in, ready to tell us off again,” Clay whispered. “You can say that again,” Tsunami grumbled.

As Tsunami, Blizzard and Sunny walked up the stone and diamond stairs that were enchanted to look like the glistening stars in space, Dracarus, River, Starflight and Clay walked to the small cavern room to the right of the study cavern which was dimly lit with dark blue chandeliers shaped like tiny dragons floating on clouds. It was sparkling ever so brightly, but beautiful like the night sky. Dracarus saw Starflight smiling to himself, gazing at it with pride. Well, he was a Nightdragon. Each day, their room changed which was really extraordinary, as he would always keep Dracarus hyped up. One day it would be decorated like a rainforest, and the next day it would be mud themed, with little emerald green stars on the brown walls with a large dragon breathing fire the colour of green lantern on the ceiling lighting up the room.

 It sometimes was weird, like the time it was covered with cooked cows and other treats. Dracarus had found himself in the middle of the night standing beside a cow, with his jaws wide open ready to take a humongous bite. Much to his disappointment, he found himself with a bad toothache and a discovery that it was actually just rock. Dracarus was still quite hungry, so he sneaked out at night but 

got red-handed by Siltara. She wasn’t mean like Nerida, so it was fine and he had no punishments, but she warned him not to go wandering at night again. 

Dracarus looked over at River, after hearing him mumble something. He looked sad and his eyes were puffy and red like he had cried. He crawled onto the floor and curled up into a little ball, and closed his eyes. Was he okay? Dracarus wondered if it had anything to do with that name Nerida had brought up. Cascade. 

River had always been the happy one. The one who would joke around all day. Dracarus sometimes thought to himself if River ever had any troubles at all. Other than the fact of not coming up with a good enough joke or prank. Sometimes he thought he saw a glimpse of something between that smile. Something more dark. Something sad. He thought he just imagined it. Until now.

Dracarus walked to the small cosy mat and fell asleep on it, hoping the next day would be a brighter one, with no problems at all. No fighting with Nerida, no mention of that annoying prophecy, and no dangerous, life threatening situation that could kill any of them. The next day would obviously be normal with no troubles… right? How very wrong he was.

“Get up before I punch you!” someone yelled. Dracraus woke up with a start, far away from his little dream world. “WHAT! NO! I don’t want the spiders to force me to skate!” Dracarus yelped, as he waved his wings around frantically. “Relax, there’s no spiders, or any skating ones,” River laughed, who seemed to have recovered from what had happened the day before. “What is going on in your head?” 

“Says the one who thought a shadow was a fire-breathing chipmunk last week!” Dracarus scoffed. 

“Good point,” said River. 

Dracarus felt glad that River was himself again. River absolutely enjoyed playing jokes on each of them, even though Dracarus himself quite did not. He even made Clay, the calmest dragon in the group, lose his temper. One time River had camouflaged (as it was one of his abilities as a dragon of rainforests) and had thrown chunks of food at Clay. Clay was confused on how these random cooked cows randomly came flying at his face until he realised it was River. River then turned visible again and walked over to eat, but found himself standing in front of a raging dragon holding a cow, ready to whack him. Clay had chased River all over the cave until Dracarus and the others were rolling on the floor laughing. They found out that Zephyr had put a stop to it. 

Zephyr was the head of the dragons who always protected them. He was very humble and nice, the dragon who really understood the pressure that Dracarus had. Dracarus had always admired him.

However, Zephyr was more than a protector. He was a friend to all of the dragons. His patience and wisdom in his words always calmed Dracarus. One time when Dracarus was a small dragon, he cried that he wasn’t the best at breathing elements. He wanted to be better than Tsunami, because she was the ultimate water breathing champion (according to her) and would always boast to everyone because instead of fire, a cold powerful wave would be surging out of her mouth, just like a real tsunami. Dracarus had challenged Tsunami even though he knew he was the worst at breathing fire, water, ice or anything in the history of breathing elements, but he just was too annoyed to care. Dracarus had just breathed a small flame slightly bigger than a grain of rice, while Tsunami had breathed a large wave that literally washed Dracarus away. 

Dracarus started crying and squealing so loud that he thought he had gone deaf. All his friends were just staring at him except Tsunami, who was rolling her eyes and muttering things about how stupid he must have been to think that he was better than her. 

Zephyr had walked in and brought Dracarus and Tsunami away from the others so he could have a little talk with the two. Siltara and Nerida had taken care of the others.

Zephyr lovingly looked into the eyes of the two and stared into the distance. The two had exchanged glances, confused about what was going on. “Remember, young ones,” Zephyr said, no louder than a whisper, as the scorching sun’s rays fell on his pale ivory face. “The strength of a dragon lies not just in its fire, but in its heart.” he whispered softly, as he patted his claws on his heart. He suddenly became interested in a butterfly that was the colour of dusky lavender that was flying over the cave’s opening entrance. He looked at it sadly, then stared deep into the cavern. He turned around. 

“Trust in your destiny, for even if it is written in the stars, the one in your heart is really the one that knows the best.” he hushed as he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes and looked at Tsunami and Dracarus and smiled gently, as tiny wrinkles formed around. His smile then vanished. He looked concerned. “Sometimes, even if the path seems shrouded in shadows, the closest ones are those who remain unseen.” He stood there for a minute. Dracarus could hear the distant voices of the younger dragons, as well as Siltara and Nerida, a peaceful, everyday sound that seemed to hide nothing sinister.

 Zephyr shuffled unexpectedly causing Dracarus to jump. Zephyr then nodded and closed his eyes. “The closest ones are those who remain unseen,” he repeated.

Dracarus thought of that memory often. What had Zephyr meant? Dracarus had a feeling that Zephyr wasn’t really talking about the fight of the competition that Dracarus had argued with Tsunami then. He was talking about something else. Something he couldn’t really put his claw on. Dracarus switched to his senses and walked over to Clay and Starflight. Starflight was giving a whole summary about a book to Clay, who looked like he was trying very hard not to fall asleep. 

Clay was a dragon that always listened. He was the most mature out of all of them. He was like the oldest brother out of a whole family of siblings, the one who was the most sensible of them all. He always would listen to anyone, no matter what. However, there is sometimes an exception to that rule, which is Starflight. He could talk for months about all the books he read, and he could memorise every single sentence in a book. The only dragon who wouldn’t get bored would be Starflight, himself.

“Did you read the book about mystic creatures in the universe? Wow, that really fascinated me! Apparently, the bird of paradise, often known as a phoenix, has healing powers in its tears. The phoenix dies by bursting into flames.

 After burning to ashes, it is reborn from those very ashes. Also, I learnt something outstanding about-” 

“Yeah, yeah! Whatever you say! I think we can talk about those eagles later, because I have a great prank to play on the others,” River interrupted Starflight, as he smirked to himself. “River, they’re called phoenixes! Anyways, as I was saying, the-MMPPHH!” 

River had suddenly clamped his talon over Starflight’s mouth, stifling his words. “Shhh! Do you want them to hear us?” River whispered urgently, as his eyes darted around to make sure no one had heard them. Starflight tried to protest, but all that came out were muffled grumbles. “Just follow my lead,” River continued, removing his claw and giving a mischievous grin. “This prank is going to be legendary!” 

Everyone sighed, knowing once River had made up his mind about something, there was no stopping him. “Fine, but if something goes wrong, you’re taking the blame!” Dracarus muttered, shaking his head as he tried to ignore River’s dramatically triumphant march. “I’m not sure this is a good idea, but I’ll do it,” Clay mumbled reluctantly.

Dracarus, River, Clay and Starflight headed out of their room, and quietly tiptoed across the study cavern, making sure to be so silent that you could hear a pin drop. 

“Why am I even here?” Starflight grumbled, but after River gave him a don’t-make-me-come-over-there look, he was quiet. Dracarus suddenly made a wheezing sound. River looked toward him with alarm. “Dracarus, d-don’t! Don’t cough! Keep it in, or else we’ll get busted. Remember, we have to walk up the stairs carefully and scare them, and coughing won’t make it any better.” Dracarus managed to escape some words. “B-but I don’t t-think I can hold-” Dracarus suddenly let out a violent, raspy cough that echoed through the cavern room. “Oh, for the thunder of the skies! Couldn't you have let that in for more than that? They’re sure to have heard that!” River whined. Dracarus shrugged sheepishly.

“GAHH! Who’s here?” a voice shrieked.

The four of them exchanged glances. That wasn’t Sunny, or Tsunami. Not even Blizzard. The voice sounded oddly familiar but quite not the same. It was sweet and charming but laced with fear. River stepped forwards and saw Siltara hiding in the corner of the room next to the bookshelf, looking pale. The older dragon was staring at the mess of books scattered around her. Dracarus had seen her scared before, but this was different. “W-What?” Starflight stuttered, as his eyes darted around the floor like he had seen the ground talk. “What are you all doing at this time of hour?” Siltara asked, her voice softening at the sight of the four dragons. “The real question is what are you doing here at this hour?” River questioned. 

Siltara avoided River’s eyes, glancing at the books on the floor. “I came to get something I left here the other day. It was dark, and I accidentally knocked over the books. I was just putting them back when you arrived.” she explained. Dracarus looked over at Starflight who was too busy staring at all his books in distress. Dracarus thought Starflight was acting a bit too dramatically for just the books, but he did love them quite a lot. 

“Well, I better be going, or Nerida’s going to come looking for me,” Siltara said, glancing at the door to ensure no one was there. “Yikes!” River whispered as he watched Siltara scurry out of the cavern room. “Don’t want Nerida’s nosy snout here,” he continued. Dracarus gulped. Ever since the fight before, Dracarus didn’t quite want to interact with Nerida. She was so intimidating, with her piercing gaze. The thought of speaking to Nerida made his scales tingle with anxiety. Dracarus didn’t want to tell anyone because he thought they might think he was a jerk for being scared and might tease him, even though his friends would never be rude to him like that. Right? 

It would be easy to think that each one of them would stand up for themselves if Nerida was being rude to them. Tsunami would snap back and growl at Nerida fiercely, maybe even threaten to drown her. Clay would try to calm Nerida down with reason even though that might not work that well. Starflight would probably