From Heat and Humidity

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Wings of Fire (by Tui T. Sutherland). This is an original FanFiction.

Part One-Heatwave

When Heatwave awoke this morning, and looked at the pictures of his parents’ families, he thought about the past. It has been a long time since the Great SandWing War, he thought. More than 2,000 years. He rubbed his sleepy, bleary eyes and slid of the camel skin blanket he was laying on. He stretched out his long and wide SkyWing wings and was grateful for the space in his room in the palace. He turned towards the mirror and looked back at his tired expression and scowled. He thought about his mother, Ember, who he missed, as he ran his talons across his long, twisty horns longingly. He also thought of his father, Coyote, and curled his tail, barb and all, with disgust. He doesn’t deserve to be thought of, Heatwave thought. I’m glad he’s gone.

He turned away from the mirror and walked towards his blanket. However, instead of getting on it, Heatwave reaches underneath it and grabbed a hidden item. Pulling it out into the light, he curled up onto the blanket and held the item with care. It was the last thing his mother had given him, and it was a ring. Heatwave always wore the ring unless he was sleeping, and it was the most personal item his mother gave him, besides a picture of the two of them. He held it up to his eyes and studied it, wondering what the strange designs on it meant.

Suddenly, a sharp rap on the door was heard. As Heatwave quickly slid the ring onto one of his talons, a dragon on the other side of the door spoke up. “Prince Heatwave, a messenger has come to see you immediately. Please come with me.” The dragon said.

Heatwave didn’t like the way the mysterious dragon was rushing him, so he curtly replied “After I’m done getting ready,” then added sceptically “Thanks for being patient. I’ll be out in a few hours.”

The mysterious dragon on the other side of the door muttered something, and the door vanished. It was a SandWing wearing a hood that covered his identity. There was also something glinting underneath the hood in the light, right under the jaw. At first, Heatwave was confused as to why the door disappeared without a trace. However, after a second, he could feel something in the air- as if something magical happened. Then, his scowl wiped off his face with fear, realized, No. An... animus!

The hooded dragon seemed to have his expression changed, almost like he smirked. In an oily voice, he lifted his tail in a threateningly way and said, “If you don’t come with me right now, do as I say, or make a sound, bloody and magical things will happen to you. Don’t say a word! You got that?” Heatwave nodded, fearing for his life and unable to return to his normal scowling face. Animus dragons were not to be kept alive when it came to SkyWings, and right now he wholeheartedly agreed. With no other choice, he ducked his head, shut his mouth, and followed the other SandWing out his room. Then, something was forced over his eyes as soon as he got out, and Heatwave felt for the briefest second pain in his head before he crumpled to the ground.

Part Two-Parrotfish

Parrotfish, who had her nose buried in scrolls, was busy reading about the Great SandWing War. She thought, how could any dragons not want to just live in peace? and I wonder what it would be like to be a dragonet of destiny and even wow, there sure weren’t many hybrids at all. I’ll have to ask my parents about that.

Suddenly, the door burst open and a small dragonet swam like an arrow towards Parrotfish. “HeyParrotguesswhat!” The tiny dragonet said. “It’stimefortheanimustestI’msoexcited!!!!!”

Parrot laughed. “Calm down Stargrass,” she said. “I can barely understand you!”

Star took a deep breath, then carefully said “It’s time for the animus test! I wonder if I will be one too.”

Parrot nodded, and thought the reason we’re here at the SeaWing palace is for this test. I do miss the rainforest. She replied, “I can’t wait to see too! You haven’t tried anything, have you?”

Star shook his head truthfully. “I wouldn’t want to break the tradition! Besides, we need to go nownownow!” he said, speeding up again.

Parrot sighed. She really wanted to finish her scroll, but that could be done later. She thought, it’s my duty to attend this, not only as royalty, but as a sister too. “All right, let’s go,” she said. Parrot looked in the mirror once more, adjusting her pearls and changing her color to an appropriate blue-indigo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • ~ • ~ • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the test, Parrotfish and her family, other than her brother Stargrass, lines up along the island shore watching all the young dragonets. He was colored an excited lime green, and was placed in the middle of the line but closer to the end. Soon, the tests started. The long-used phrase, “I enchant this coconut to lift in the air and return to my claws,” was used repeatedly. Parrot remembered when she took the test and discovered she was an animus, but right now she forced herself to pay attention to the dragonets. The first dragonet, negative. Likewise the second and third. The fourth and fifth were not animus dragons, nor the sixth. Almost halfway there, Parrot thought. And close to Star too.

A small rustle behind Parrot caught her attention, and she flicked her ear, turning. A mysterious SeaWing wearing a hood started to rise from the water, muttering something. Parrot opened her mouth to try and tell her parents about the strange dragon, but nothing came out. Startled, she was about to tap her mother on the shoulder when a shiny glare was reflected into her eyes from something under the hood and the jaw of the hooded SeaWing. Shielding her eyes, Parrot noticed the dragon point at her, mutter some more, and I wonder what happened to Star was the last thing she thought before everything went black.

Part Three-Heatwave

*in Heatwave’s mind* I see blackness, feel restrictions, feel a bump on my head, taste blood, hear... screams? Suddenly, I open my eyes and they dart around, which leads me to wondering where I am. *out of his mind* Loud screams sound in nearby proximity and it gives Heatwave a headache. He can’t turn his head, but he looks as far as he can with just his eyes and what he sees startles him. About five dragons are huddled around a table, where there is another dragon doing all the screaming. Heatwave struggles against his bonds, scowling and thinking I need to get out of here before that happens to me too and my head hurts... so much... Then he sighed. Apparently, he could not escape my bonds and that was a problem. Also, I’m a prince! Heatwave thought. I need to act like one!

He noticed my headache growing lighter and he wondered why. Then Heatwave realized there were no more screams. That was the creepiest thing he had noticed all day. Apparently, that meant the huddled dragons were done, so they backed away and he had my first chance to look at the new dragon. It’s a female, Heatwave thought, and a maybe a hybrid like me. She was definitely a SeaWing, because of her webbed talons, dangling chin thingy, and royal spirals on her wings. At first, since she was white, he thought she was all SeaWing. Then, a slip of blue- like a little bit of mist- hovered over some of her scales for a second, and then he knew she was a RainWing too.

The poor dragon had passed out, and Heatwave’s expression softened at her pain. The little blue mist quivered and started moving, and his eyes followed it up her neck. There he noticed lots of dots and blobs that glowed faintly and were glowing pulsating as if to a beat... a heartbeat. The mist continued still, and his eyes left the blobs and followed it some more. A silvery flash glared in Heatwave’s eyes, so he lost sight of the blue mist for a moment while he squinted, but luckily the glowing blobs from before as well as his black eyes helped him to see through the brightness after a second. What he saw then made him gasp.

The mist had stopped under a silver collar, but choker would be a better expression. Wrapped around the dragon’s neck in the form of thorns, Heatwave looked closer (as best he could with all these restraints) and realized they were actually threaded through her neck like a needle and thread. I can’t even begin to understand her pain, he thought while shuddering with revulsion. Then another thought struck him-what if that will happen to him too? With him deep in his thoughts, his unfocused eyes noticed the mist seemed to quiver. Heatwave looked back at it while slowly moved upward, all the way to the dragon’s jawline, fading the whole way not by bit. Finally, when it reached the jawline, it disappeared. However, his eyes still followed upward, and he looked into her face.

She was really quite pretty, with a both smooth and angular face at the same time, but in a perfect way. Her sleeping face made Heatwave want to cry with the pain stored there, although he has never cried in his life before. However, with great unfortune, dragons flew down to him and surrounded Heatwave, now blocking his view of the dragon lying next to him. Averting his gaze and looking up at their tools, he knew that the fate of the collar would happen to him too. Heatwave gulped, fear making his eyes whiter, and screamed.

He tried to wake up the dragon beside him, thinking maybe since she’s part Rainwing, she has venom. It could be risky, but what other chance did Heatwave have? Suddenly, a split splat splat could be heard, and he hoped with all his heart that it was RainWing venom. Then a few dragons beside him, holding the thorn choker tools, seemed to start silently screaming and run around. They frantically made signs with their claws, and somehow a choked dragon muttered, but nothing happened and the dragons who got nailed with venom died dramatically a few seconds later.

The Mutterer, which Heatwave decided to call all the dragons like that, looked around with a stormy expression which almost made him want to laugh. Muttering something, the Mutterer rose up from the ground and flew off. Behind him, the wounded dragon stepped towards Heatwave in an almost dizzy way, reached out to him, and all his bonds disappeared. In disbelief, he knew-but wished he didn’t-that the pretty dragon in front of him was an animus. Saddened, he looked away, not realizing she was about to fall. When she did, Heatwave turned around and tried to catch her, but he only caught her head. She smiled slightly, and closed her eyes.

Part Four-Parrotfish

(Before her collar was put on)*in Parrot’s mind* A flicker of life comes back, and I take a deep breath. However, the first thing I feel is pain, and I wish I could escape it. I can feel a headache, and it throbs. I try to wiggle, escape the pain in my mind, but I’m held back. I don’t know why or by what, but I’m restrained and I can’t break free. Suddenly, physical pain explodes on my neck and I wake up. Gasping, my eyes dart around and I notice a group of dragons around me. They hold tools in their claws and have metal bands around their necks. Two of them are performing something on my neck which is causing the pain. I force my eyes to look down and I see them threading the metal through my neck, and I try to escape, fight back, anything. I even try to create a quick enchantment. However, another shot of pain, blinding me, causes me to scream out and wail. All I can think of is the pain... in my head and from my neck. Blackness starts to crowd into my vision from the corners of my eyes, and I can’t think. I gratefully accept sleep. *out of Parrotfish’s mind*

While Parrot slumbers, she dreams about the past. Of her time in the rainforest with her friends, exploring the oceans with her family, and reading. As she dreams on, the dragons around her back away and assess their work. Using their claws, they communicate with one another. If Parrot or Heatwave could understand them, they would be saying “Good job threading that,” “She was quite a loud one,” and “Hope the next one is easier.”

Parrot stirred, but the dragons around her were oblivious to her actions. Slowly, she opened one of her eyes just a crack and observed her surroundings. With the dragons once huddled around her dissipated, she could catch a glimpse of another dragon on a similar table nearby. The dragon was a male, who she could immediately tell was a SkyWing and SandWing hybrid. He was looking at her too, so she quickly closed her eyes.

Doing this, Parrotfish did not see the nearby dragon get surrounded by another group of dragons just like her. Darkness spread across her closed eyelids again and she thought it meant more sleep. However, when she heard screams, her eyes snapped open and noticed her neighbor obscured from view with dragons probably doing what they just did to Parrot. Luckily, her mind was much clearer than before because the pain made it sharper, so she could not only aim perfectly at the backs of the huddling dragons but also enchant the venom to not be affected by any other enchantment. She did this, rightfully guessing there was an animus amongst the group.

Every single dragon that got hit by Parrotfish’s venom died, and the one who she suspected was an animus looked furious. She could also see the male dragon again, much to her delight. She quickly freed herself from her restraints and started walking to the male hybrid, but she could barely walk straight because her legs had not held Parrot’s weight for a long time. Pointing at the male, she mumbled “I enchant this dragon to have the ability to free himself from any physical bond he wishes to.” Unfortunately, the spell took more energy from her than she thought it would so she tumbled to the ground. The hybrid in front of her didn’t notice her falling until the last moment, so he quickly had to dive to catch her head.

As Parrotfish looked up into his eyes, full of confusion and sadness with a hint of something else, she smiled at him. Then the fatigue of the day-the choker around her neck and the enchantments she made caught up to her, and she fell unconscious. A second before she did though, she might have heard the dragon holding her head whisper, “My name... is Heatwave.” Her mouth quickly raced before her mind went blank and she said, “I-I’m Parrotfish.” Then all she saw was black and she could only hear silence.