I am back! It has been too long since this was updated. I had to focus on school and other things in life, and then I had to reorganize certain aspects of the story, but Alternate is back and here to stay!

Mallard walked into the room with large glass panels showing the countryside. He was in his friend Silvertalon's home. She had invited him over for an unspecified reason. When he walked into the living room, three servants who were cleaning promptly left the room, showing him no eye contact.

Silvertalon, a member of the Anibian elite, was the inheritor of a large steel company that her mother had started called Dalina Steel Works. Looking around, Mallard recognized many of the same luxurious expensive items that were in his own home. Somewhere, a record player was playing jazz music that echoed in the large house.

Just as Mallard was about to announce his arrival, Silvertalon appeared in a doorway. She was a dark purple Nightwing with a skinniness to her that reminded Mallard of some kind of artwork. Just as her name implied, she had painted her talons silver with a special kind of paint-like substance that was new in the market of cosmetics.

"Mallard. It's been a long time." She said in a smooth voice.

"You as well, Silvertalon." Mallard said, folding his large Mudwing wings inward. "Why have you invited me here? We haven't talked in a long time."

"I was recently given the opportunity to join a special group among the elite of Anibia." Silvertalon said, holding up her right talon. On one of her claws, was a golden ring with a design like laurels. "They call it the Grand Enlightenment. A secret society of the wealthy and the powerful. Now Mallard, you struck me as someone who enjoys the finer things of life, and let me tell you, life as a member of the Enlightenment is a fine one indeed."

"What exactly do you do?" Mallard asked. "What is the point of it?"

"Nothing much. Some of the members are pretty religious, but mostly it is to create a bond between the rich of this country so that we may move together as one instead of against each other. We help each other out in times of need and help ourselves as well. Investments, loans, you name it." Silvertalon said with a smile. "Our one and only goal is the betterment of society in Anibia, and eventually across the world."

"And you want me to join?" Mallard asked, looking at the golden ring again.

"Indeed. As we join, we are asked to seek out at least one other dragon and try to get them to join as well." Silvertalon said and handed Mallard a business card for a company called Westfield Investments in the city of Sechattan. On the back, it read Ask for Sky in Silvertalon's writing.

"I'll… think about it." Mallard said, putting the card in his satchel. Silvertalon nodded.

"Now come on." Silvertalon said, walking out of the room. "This wine isn't going to drink itself!"

. . .

As Timber walked into the main office of the border, she stopped in her tracks when she saw the silver-armband wearing APF standing at the desks along with the normal dragons that worked there. As she approached them, she heard one of the dragons talking with Fennec, the Sandwing who was in charge of the Pittchester border.

"…This is perfectly within our jurisdiction since the signing of the Crisis Security Act." Said the Nightwing talking to Fennec. "We have been ordered to be stationed here in case of an event that requires the attention of the Anibian Police Force. You know as well as I do that the humans who tried to kill Boulder may have been working for Balksland. This is out of your control. Good day."

Timber stepped aside as the APF dragons walked out of the main offices. One of them, a Seawing, quickly looked her up and down before stepping out of the building. Timber knew all about the Crisis Security Act the Nightwing had referenced. When the fear of Pyrrhians had begun, members of the conservative party had gotten a bill through parliament that allowed the APF to respond to problems deemed threats to national security. This is what gave the APF the ability to act in places around the country without any other authorization than their own. Other government agencies could not stop them while Anibia was in a national crisis. And ever since the Pyrrhian Catastrophe, Anibia had been in perpetual crisis.

After the APF officers left, Timber approached Fennec, who angrily smacked the ground with her barbed tail. "Well, looks like Pittchester is going to be under APF rule now." The Sandwing said, angrily using her wing to tap a piece of paper left on her desk.

"What's that?" Timber asked.

"It's an order from Pearl, the head of the North Montshire APF Division." Fennec said, disgruntled. "She's ordered that the APF basically take control of everything in the city for the next two weeks. Essentially, the border patrol and Pittchester Police Department are second rate workers now." She sat back down at her desk and stared out the window. "We're going to have to deal with those pricks telling us what to do at all times."

Timber remembered her father's reaction to the announcement of the formation of the APF. He had ranted to Timber's sister Prairie about how the "ones on top" were finally making their move. He was convinced that the APF was about controlling the citizens of Anibia, and not keeping them safe. He had hated Ghastly before he was the commander of the APF, back when he was a politician who commonly made rants over the radio about the evils of societalism, human rights, and Pyrrhia.

Timber's father was drafted into the Anibian military when he was younger and served in the Uzipho War, when Anibia went down to protect its interests in Praebellia. Timber's father was anti-war but did not want to go to jail. He rarely spoke about what he had seen, but everyone knew the war was sketchy, and that the casualty count of the Uziphan soldiers and civilians was much higher than the casualties the Anibians had suffered.

He returned from war a changed dragon. He did not trust the Anibian government. He believed that the rich and the corporations were in control, and even in a secretive cabal that controlled the country. Timber never knew if he believed if it was the Pyrrhians or not.

When the APF was formed, Timber's father kept loaded guns near the doors of the house. He taught Timber and Prairie where the best places in the house to create a blockade with the toxic gas breath of the Grasswings, and how to hide from them if necessary. He was a paranoid dragon, but this was a lot, even for him.

Timber was never as paranoid as him, yet he definitely contributed to her dislike of the APF. They seemed to embody everything Timber didn't like about the country. And since the Pyrrhian Scare took off, they had become essentially a secondary army. They had access to all military technologies, could take control of entire areas without anything stopping them, and answered to almost nobody except their own superiors.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Timber asked Fennec.

Fennec sighed. "Go about your daily duties, I guess. Maybe they'll end up just sending us all home so they can take control of the border and then we won't get paychecks." She muttered. She went back to her desk and began sorting through her papers.

Timber went to the guard's barracks and took her mobile rifle. It was time to stand guard with the APF. As she made her way to the main gates, she passed a man with a hat carrying some heavy wooden boxes stacked on top of each other. He was struggling as the boxes were large and dragon sized. They were bolted shut, so if he dropped them, whatever was in them would not break. As Timber passed him, she could see 'FRAGILE' written on the sides. He was probably taking whatever they were to the guard's barracks Timber had just come from.

"Hey!" Said a voice from above Timber. She looked up to see the APF Seawing from earlier standing on the bridge over the gates of the small wall that separated Balksland from Pittchester. There was another APF dragon with him, a Rockwing.

"I'm talking to you, yinner!" The Seawing called when the man did not look up. The man looked up to the two dragons now flying down towards him. Timber could sense the rise of tension when the Seawing used that word. Yinner. The slur for humans, which derived from their 'yin' soul. Dragons had 'yang' souls, or so the religious believed. If you believed all those old stories about Angels and Goddesses and Souls.

"What is the problem?" The man asked, obviously bothered that he had to stop walking and hold the boxes for longer.

"What do you have in those crates there?" The Seawing asked. Both Timber and the Rockwing APF agent watched the scene unfold.

"Alcohol for the guards and new arriving police." Said the man politely.

"Oh, is that right. Some booze for us?" Asked the Seawing in a taunting voice. He turned his head as the group heard the rattle of a vehicle of some kind approaching them. It was a large truck carrying cargo of some sort.

"Well, you better not spill any!" Cried the Seawing. He ripped the hat off the man's head and threw it into the road, right in the path of the truck.

"No!" The man cried, but he didn't move. Timber knew he wouldn't. If that alcohol spilled, it would mean severe punishment from the dragons. She looked at the hat. She was too far away to get it.

The truck trampled the hat, running it over, destroying and flattening it. The man looked on pained as the Seawing laughed. "What was that for?" Asked the Rockwing.

"Ah calm down Foxhole. It's just the hat of a hornless human." Said the Seawing dismissively. "Now come on. This man's got drinks to deliver, and we've got some Balkish to capture." The APF agents turned and flew back to the top of the wall.

Timber flew over to the road and picked up the ruined hat. The man watched her do it. "Thank you." He said, his gratefulness showing in his dark eyes. "At least you're not all Camaelists."

"I'm sorry about that." Timber said sadly. "I wish things like that didn't happen anymore."

"I'm used to it by this point." Said the man matter-of-factly. "I've been living in Anibia since birth. I can deal with Camaelists like him. My hat can't though." The man said, looking at the remains of his cheap hat.

After thanking Timber again, the man headed off towards the barracks, and Timber flew up to the top of the wall, ready to do her duties, keeping an eye on the APF agents.

. . .

EXCERPT FROM BALKISH NEWSPAPER: "ZAJEGRADE POST"

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION ON ANIBIAN BILLIONAIRE!

By Oker Blatkrilo

The Rockwing millionaire and owner of Anibian oil company, Merces Oil, Boulder, nearly lost his life in an attack during a gala in the city of Pittchester, North Montshire. Just on the border of our own city of Leskovgrad, Rodija. During a speech he was giving about donating money to a relief fund for the families affected by the recent war, a gun was shot through the nearby window, killing a Sandwing bodyguard instead of Boulder.

After the failed shot from the nearby building, a human, undercover as a waiter at the gala, attempted to attack. He was stopped and promptly killed.

Despite being one of the ones to profit most from Anibia's capitalist system, Boulder is a known philanthropist, and the attempt on his life shows the disregard for those who share their wealth in Anibia. It is a shame that a dragon as good as Boulder must fear for his life in a country like that.

This is only the latest in a string of events that show the weakness of post-war Anibia. They are flooding their country with humans from Manholm and even beyond to fill empty positions in the country's workforce, and look what happens! Although they may be our rival, perhaps we can learn something from them, and restrict any more humans coming from beyond!

While many suspect New Star to be behind the attack, let us not forget the Pyrrhians. Anibia has had the most recorded arrests of Pyrrhians in the world due to Commander Ghastly and his federal police force, yet they seem to be struggling the most with the influx of despicable refugees from that hellish continent in the east. To take out Boulder would be a strike against the common dragon of Anibia.

Yet, there is another possibility. Boulder uses his wealth to help the dragons of the country, and those corrupt at the top of Anibia may not have liked that. It is possible that the flimsy government of that corporation-controlled country may have orchestrated this attack themselves.

While this was a strike against our enemy, let it also be a warning to Balksland. We shall restrict the humans, crack down on the Pyrrhians, and forever be glad that we live in a societalist land! It shall be us that survives this conflict of powers, as Anibia will soon collapse itself!

. . .

Timber stood above the gates, watching the small group of dragons wait in line to enter Pittchester. She made brief eye contact with a Sandwing, who was waiting in line with a Nightwing. They looked tired, probably immigrants who had come a long way for work.

It was true, what the Balkish said. Anibia was suffering from a lack of workers, especially the north. Many dragons had been killed or injured in the war, and a war with no winner, has no reparations paid. Many feared an economic disaster in Anibia, spurred on by the rising unemployment. Anibia had started letting more immigrants come in from Balkish aligned countries, Balkish defectors, and even Manholm and other human states from around the world.

Timber was snapped out of her thoughts by someone calling her name. She turned to see another one of the guards, a Rockwing named Copper. He looked a little worse for wear.

"What's the matter Copper?" Timber asked.

"I… I don't feel so well, but someone needs to be down at the gate with the officer." Copper said. "I think I might be sick. Can you go down and be there while Fennec finds someone to replace me?"

Timber looked around at the other guards on top of the wall. With the APF also there, there was an excess of guards stationed at the border, and Timber thought it would be okay if she went down to protect the officer who processed incoming dragons. She gave Copper a nod and flew down to the gate.

As Timber got closer to the Nightwing waiting in line, she used the tactics her father had taught her to make her mind hard to read, but as she got closer, she saw that the Nightwing did not have the teardrops next to her eyes. Timber approached the officer's window. "Copper is sick and I'm here for the time being." She said to the old Icewing officer.

"Well, just stand guard over there." He said, pointing to the other side of the gate. "Make sure nobody tries to run through or attack anyone."

Timber nodded and walked over to the other side of the gate, watching as the few dragons made their way through processing. The officer checked their papers, and if everything was in order, they passed through into Pittchester. If you were from Balksland or any other country that was an enemy of Anibia, the harder it was to get the right papers and passports.

Timber's mind began to wander again. She thought about Polter's new friend, Starfruit. She had been a server at the gala, and she and Polter had gone home together after Timber argued with Polter about the APF and the strange weapon they had so easily disassembled.

It was obvious that Polter liked the Rainwing, although Timber was unsure if she liked him back. She had only met her once. Polter had insisted the two meet each other in the park yesterday. Timber did not know if it was her normal paranoia and anxiety, but something struck her as odd about the Rainwing. She seemed friendly enough, yet any conversation about her time in the Balkish prison and her other friends seemed to be short. Like Starfruit was purposefully keeping any talk about that topic short.

Timber had been friends with Polter since they were dragonets. She cared for him, and didn't want him with somebody who would hurt or betray him, and this optimistic Rainwing was hard to read.

Timber was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by a shout from the Icewing officer, and then the alarm going off. She looked up to see that the Nightwing and the Sandwing who had been at the end of the line were now at the window, and something was happening.

The Sandwing turned around and looked at Timber, an intense look in his eyes. Just as it happened, the official stuck his head out the window and blasted the Sandwing with frostbreath. The Sandwing screamed, and the Nightwing reacted.

The Nightwing clawed the old Icewing's head, sending him screeching back into the booth, blue blood running through his talons as he grabbed his face in pain. Timber grasped her mobile rifle, frozen in place as if she were the one who had been hit with frostbreath.

The two dragons ducked down and began running as fast as they could, trying to make it to the other side of the gate.

"SHOOT THEM, GRASSWING!" The old Icewing cried from inside the booth. Timber aimed her rifle at the two dragons, who stopped dead in their tracks.

"Don't move!" Timber ordered. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears. Her wingtips were shaking. "D-don't move!" She said again, stuttering. A million words were flooding through her head, but that was all she could manage to say.

"This is all a misunderstanding." Said the Sandwing, trying to be calm. "We're not Balkish. We're not Pyrrhians. We didn't do anything." His eyes looked scared. Timber was tempted to lower her weapon. Maybe the officer made a mistake.

"They lie!" Cried the bleeding Icewing from inside the booth. "They were photographed wearing those Earrings of Sola when the Pyrrhians first invaded! I recognized their faces! They are Pyrrhians!"

The Sandwing turned to the Nightwing. "GO!" He screamed. Timber raised her gun again. The other guards and the APF were nearly down to the gate, ready for action.

"Get her!" The Nightwing cried. The Sandwing lunged at Timber, his tail's barb raised into the air. Timber still couldn't fire the gun. She started backing up but she wasn't going to make it. The Sandwing's lunge was good. He probably had been trained.

Timber was thrown against the wall. The Sandwing pulled his barb back just in time. "You seem like a good dragon. I would hate to kill you." He said seriously and pulled the rifle off her arm. He tossed it to the side. "Open a rift!" He cried to the Nightwing. The Nightwing held out her talon and the air crackled around the gate. Timber watched in amazement as the air seemed to slowly open like a wound, lined by a dark light. The Nightwing was concentrating on what she was doing. The Sandwing began to step away from Timber and towards the thing called a rift.

And then, just like at the gala, a massive BOOM sound erupted from outside the gate. Timber could almost see the massive projectile blow through the Sandwing's head, entering through the back of his head by the ridge, and out through his eye. A blast so destructive it almost blew his right horn off. The chunks of flesh from his head splattered on the road, the force of the bullet sending them far.

"COYOTE!" The Nightwing screamed as the Sandwing collapsed. She put down her talon and the light stopped. As she ran over to the body, another guard finally arrived and tackled the crying Nightwing. Timber slowly stood up as the Nightwing was apprehended and arrested.

Timber was shaking, looking at the body in front of her and trying to comprehend what had just happened. She turned and looked at the Nightwing being dragged away by the APF. They were Pyrrhians… She thought, and then she noticed the figure standing on top of the barracks.

A human figure was standing on top of the roof, holding what looked like a large, long, rifle. The human was quickly trying to get down from the roof, disappearing to the other side of the building and out of sight.

Timber felt a tap on her back and turned to see the Rockwing APF agent from earlier, Foxhole. "Are you okay?" Asked Foxhole.

"I'm fine… Nothing happened to me…" Timber said, but Foxhole shook her head.

"Come with me. You need to come report what happened immediately and recover." She said and began walking out of the commotion. Timber timidly followed the Rockwing, who led her to the other side of the wall, where nobody was.

As Timber turned the corner, she saw Foxhole and two other APF agents waiting for her. One of them, a large Aniwing, aimed some kind of weapon at her and fired. Timber felt a sharp pain and only had time to look down and see a needle of some sort sticking out of her arm before she dropped to the ground and the whole world around her faded to black.

"Sorry Timber." Said Foxhole as the Grasswing fell to the ground in front of her. "You saw something that has been deemed a threat to national security."

"Are you sure that was a rift?" Asked the large Aniwing.

"Absolutely." Replied Foxhole. "It's a good thing our dragonhunter struck when he did, or who knows what else those Travelers could have done. Now, we need to get that Icewing officer too, he probably saw the rift as well."

The two other APF agents nodded and left for the other witness. Foxhole stood over the unconscious Timber, hoping that this innocent dragon wasn't about to cause any problems.

. . .

Umber hid behind the door. The APF had finally tracked he and his sister down. They knew about Sora's bombs, but they didn't know about dragonflame cactus, native only to the Sky Kingdom. The pair had just barely escaped Pyrrhia before King Spirit put up his barricade. They had survived Midhalm and had infiltrated Anibia. Sora had taken some of the plant with her, just in case.

Over four years they had been hiding. Sometimes running, sometimes hiding in plain sight. They never found Reed or Marsh or Clay. Occasionally they would find other Pyrrhians in cities, but they could never stick together for too long for fear of being caught.

Recently, they had relocated a small suburban town out west called South Platte. There was very little policing done as there was virtually no crime. It was not the sort of place anyone would check for hideaways.

But somehow, they had been found, and they must have known that Sora was the one who had set off bombs in the city of Morelain, because they were being extra careful. Moving stealthily and checking everything they could in the house while the two siblings hid.

Umber tried to make as little noise as he could as he peeked through the crack between the door and the frame. He could see three dragons in the main room, silver armbands marking them as APF.

"Alright, clear out. If they want to play cat and mouse, let's deploy the wolf." Said a voice. The three dragons suddenly cleared the room, leaving the door open behind them.

They left? Umber thought. He got down from his hiding place and saw Sora in the hallway.

"Umber. I don't know what they're doing, but it can't be good. They might try to deploy smoke through windows or something." Sora whispered. "We need to go now."

CRASH!

Sora's ears picked up as she heard the sudden crashing noise from the main room. Umber knew she had planted a mine made of dragonflame cactus in the entrance to the hallway, ready to explode. He turned his head to look down the hallway and saw nobody.

"Sora. We need to get out of here now." He whispered to his sister.

"Come over here, this window is good." Sora whispered, and the two quickly but silently, made their way to the bedroom. The window was already open, which was good. The two couldn't make any noise.

"Nobody out there. Get ready to fly low." Sora said after checking outside. "We're going to have to leave town again."

"Sorry. New plans." Said a deep, muffled voice from the corner of the room. The two dragons jumped as they saw the figure emerge from the corner. A large dragon revealed himself, only he was unlike any other dragon Umber had ever seen. He had no wings, tail, or horns. Almost his entire body was covered in a strange uniform with armor on it, hiding his scales. Even his face was hidden behind an Anibian military gas mask. "Neither of you are going anywhere, Pyrrhians."

Sora breathed fire towards the dragon, but he simply walked through it, walking threateningly towards Umber's sister. He was wearing two metallic gauntlets over his wrists. His claws had gloves on them with metallic claws, not real ones.

Sora jumped with her tail out, ready to strike, but the masked dragon moved incredibly fast. He struck the incoming Mudwing and knocked her to the other side of the room with awesome force. Sora smashed against the wall and fell to the ground, the lone painting on the wall falling as well.

Umber screamed, and the masked dragon turned to him. "Loud scream for such a small dragon." He said threateningly and stepped towards Umber.

"UMBER GO!" Sora suddenly yelled as she charged the dragon. Umber's mind flashed back to his sister Crane's death. The white claws of Princess Icicle stained in her blood. He wasn't going to abandon Sora and lose another sister. Not today.

Just as the masked dragon was about to strike Sora again, Umber attacked from the side, making the intruder stumble back into the hallway with a muffled growl. Sora slammed the door shut and Umber managed to knock over a wooden cabinet against the door, locking the strange dragon out.

"Come on!" Umber said, running over to the open window. Umber easily slipped out, but it took a bit longer for Sora, whose wings got stuck. Umber tugged on his sister's talons, trying to pull her loose as the banging from the other side of the door got more intense.

"APF! STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!" Yelled a voice from behind Umber. He turned around to see the three APF agents from earlier, rifles aimed at the two Mudwings. The banging on the door stopped.

When Sora was freed from the window and cuffed with Umber, one of the agents got close to them and whispered. "Just be glad he didn't catch you. You lucked out."