Prologue: A Second Prophecy

Farsight soared through the dark skies as fast as her wings would carry her. Her mind was a jumble of emotions and worry weighed heavily on her. What would happen if one of the other NightWings found out that she had left without permission? They would be furious that she had compromised the location of the Night Kingdom by leaving.

And what would become of her dragonet who had been taken by Morrowseer weeks ago before it had even hatched? Could she really trust the Talons of Peace to care for her dragonet? Would her dragonet really be able to shoulder the responsibility of guiding the NightWings' plans to fruition?

She had always been told how immense an honour it was to be the mother of the dragonet who would change the fortunes of the NightWings forever. But she didn't want that honour-she just wanted an ordinary life for her dragonet, a chance for it to grow up in a normal, loving family instead of being all alone. She knew it was selfish of her but a part of her didn't care.

But these were eclipsed by something far more concerning. Her thoughts this night were not of her own dragonet but of another. Tonight, she searched for the Wings of Sky. She had been spending time in the NightWing archives of late to try and bury the pain at the loss of her child. It was there she had made a chilling discovery.

All NightWings knew the Dragonet Prophecy to be false. It was merely part of the greater plan to seize the Rainforest Kingdom for their own uses. The fact that they had managed to fool all the tribes of Pyrrhia into believing such bogus was laughable to most of them. Personally, Farsight had never liked the idea-it was too cutthroat, too ruthless to sit well with her. But if it provided a quicker end to the dreadful war that ravaged the land, she was willing to live by it, even if it was nothing higher than deception. Or so she had thought…

For within the depths of the NightWing archives, Farsight had uncovered a scroll detailing a second prophecy. At first, she hadn't quite believed what she was seeing. But something about it struck her as too much of a coincidence. Her mind wandered to one of the most disturbing parts…

'Second, a hatchling stolen on Brightest Night,

the Wings of Sky obscured from sight.

From shadow to free her no matter the cost,

for without the black dragon the cause is lost.'

The similarities were unmistakable. The hundreds of years-old scroll had used the exact terms found in the Dragonet Prophecy; the Brightest Night, the Wings of Sky. It couldn't have been pure chance.

And if she had understood the rest of the scroll correctly, something terrible was poised to happen. It spoke of the rise of 'the Dark One' and all sorts of omens of doom and darkness. Who was the Dark One? Could it be one of the three SandWing sisters? Or was it something worse, something infinitely more cruel and dreadful than even them? What did this mean for the NightWings? Could their false prophecy spell more dire things to come? What did it mean for all of Pyrrhia?

All she knew was that the SkyWing dragonet was somehow involved. She had to find it before it was too late! But she was so confused. The scroll had spoken of 'the black dragon' and the SkyWing dragonet as if they were one and the same. But that was impossible! The only black dragons were the NightWings! Worse still, she had no idea where to start looking for the dragonet. For all she knew, maybe the Talons had already abducted the dragonet and it was already too late.

She decided her best chance would be to go to the Sky Kingdom. If there was anywhere she would find a SkyWing dragonet, it would be in its own homeland. She flew high, her obsidian-coloured scales helping her blend in with the dark thunderclouds. She hoped that, even if she was spotted, her status as a NightWing would provide her with some form of diplomatic immunity. A flash of lightning lit up the skies and it began to rain. In the darkness of the sky, the raindrops took on an inky hue and as they streaked down her scales, Farsight could not help but think how closely they resembled blood seeping from open wounds…

"You there!" a voice called. "Stop!"

Farsight cursed under her breath. She had been careless. The lighting had illuminated her silhouette! She hadn't even thought to try and fly above the clouds!

She turned to face her pursuer. It was a SeaWing and he was closing fast! Farsight decided she couldn't outrun him and so she hovered there, waiting for him to arrive.

"Wait a minute," the SeaWing gasped as he got a better look at her. "You're a NightWing!"

"Yes, I am," she snapped, trying to mask her fear with irritation. "And I'm on urgent business regarding the Prophecy so I'd appreciate if you didn't slow me down."

"The Prophecy?" the SeaWing asked, suspicion dawning on his features. "That wouldn't by any chance have anything to do with Queen Coral's kidnapped dragonet, would it?"

Farsight hesitated. "Of course not!" she snarled. "What would you know about the Prophecy anyway?" She was lying through her teeth now. Had the Talons really abducted a Princess?

"All the same," the SeaWing said. "I'm going to have to take you in for questioning. You can either come quietly or we can do this the hard way."

Oh dear, thought Farsight. She hadn't expected this. What do I do? She briefly considered making a run for it. But who knew if there were more SeaWings patrolling the area? Maybe she could intimidate him into letting her go.

She never got a chance to try. Suddenly, a feral, howling screech tore through the black skies. Both Farsight and the SeaWing spun around to find no less than sixteen ominous dark shapes descending upon them from above!

Farsight got a better look at them. They weren't dragons! Or at least they looked nothing like any dragons she knew of. Each of them had small fur-covered torsos paired with disproportionately huge bat-wings tipped with cruel-looking claws. They bore no resemblance to the reptilian features of a dragon and had wickedly sharp fangs and bulbous glinting eyes that jutted forwards from their heads.

More shocking were their riders. Each of the bat-winged creatures bore aloft a lone rider in the saddle. Scavengers! But closer inspection revealed them not to be scavengers at all! Instead, they were bulkier and their posture was more stooped than a scavenger's and their features bore closer resemblance to the howler monkeys in the forest. Not scavengers then, but Apes! Each Ape was clad in furs and rudimentary leather armour and bore a jagged longsword. The sporadic flashes of lightning that momentarily illuminated their countenances along with the twisted, horned helms that adorned their brow, gave the riders a cruel, almost demonic look.

The SeaWing never stood a chance. He was quickly swarmed under by the attackers and hacked to pieces in a flurry of claws, teeth and flashing blades. To Farsight, it looked as if he had been dragged into a miniature tornado of beating wings and scything claws. His ravaged remains fell limply from the swarm of bat-creatures which then closed in on her.

Terror overtook Farsight and she beat her wings as hard and fast as she could. Her pursuers' large wings gave them the advantage of speed but Farsight's desperation spurred her ever onwards to outrace even them.

As she looked back and saw that the creatures were struggling to keep up, some semblance of rational thought returned to her. What were these things? Why had they attacked? All these questions and more raced through her mind.

But for the single moment she was distracted by pondering these questions, she failed to notice the dark shape looming in the cloud cover just in front of her. Too late did she try to veer off to avoid her cleverly-hidden enemy.

As the NightWing plowed towards them, the Dreadwing executed a perfectly-timed flip and the Ape rider, now inverted in his saddle, extended his sleek blades to rake at her wings as she flew by. He didn't even have to swing his swords, only hold them there as the dragon's own momentum allowed them to slice cleanly through her wings.

Farsight stalled in the air as her wings were suddenly separated from her and she plummeted towards the ground which rushed to meet her. Her last thoughts as she fell to her death were for her dragonet.

The Assassin watched with clinical professionalism as the dragon he dispatched hit the ground with a sickening 'thud'. He cleaned his blades on the side of his scabbard, wiping away the blood with contempt. The other Apes eventually pulled up alongside him on their Dreadwings.

"Two of you," he ordered. "Go down there and make sure that dragon is dead."

"But nothing could survive a fall at this height," one of the Apes protested. "Why bother, sir?"

"You heard the Dark Master," the Assassin snapped. "We're to clean up all traces of the SkyWing dragonet. The NightWing and SeaWing being this close to the Sky Kingdom couldn't have been a coincidence. Make sure she's dead. I'm not leaving anything to chance."

His glare told his subordinates all they needed to know of the consequences of protesting and the Apes hurried off to carry out his commands. Never once did the Assassin consider that the dragon he killed might have had a family; a lover who would never hear from her again, an unborn dragonet who would never get to meet its mother. Instead, he turned his mind's attention to the oncoming squadron of SkyWings that had just entered his peripheral vision.

Just another bunch of dragons to kill on this long night, he thought. With that, he sighed and issued orders to his squadron commanders and prepared to repeat the murders they had just committed.

Author's Note:

Hey guys, the sequel to Wings of Sky is finally here! But don't worry if you haven't read or understood any part of the first installment, the way I've done this is that it can serve as a standalone story all on its own.

So how did you find the prologue? Perhaps the Assassin isn't as warm and nice as everyone thought him to be. Perhaps Farsight wasn't killed by SkyWings but rather was found dead in the Sky Kingdom after going to find the SkyWing dragonet? As you've probably already guessed, this will have a darker tone than the first installment. As it should for the Dark Master's return is nigh and, soon, the SandWing War for Succession will be the last thing the dragons of Pyrrhia will have to worry about.