Prologue
The two eggs shone brightly in the moonlight. It was the brightest night of the year, and the eggs were ready to hatch.
The left one was white, light pink, and an even lighter green. It was slightly smaller than the other egg, which was teal and pale red.
No other Rainwing knew they existed, nor did they care. They had their own happy life in their own happy kingdom that they shared with the equally happy Nightwings. Well, they weren’t that happy, but they weren’t that sad, either. Their Queen was Queen Glory, and their King was King Deathbringer. They had two wonderful children, one was a Nightwing/Rainwing hybrid (Otherseer), the other a Rainwing/Nightwing hybrid (Glamour).
They had no idea what was happening.
A small crack appeared on the shell of the larger egg. The crack became bigger and bigger until the top of it fell off, and a strangely colored dragonet looked out. His face was a dark teal and it faded into a lighter teal along the top of his scales. His underscales were striped with white and dark green. His inner wings were a light red, while his frill was light green. His face was white, teal, and green, and his horns were dark magenta. The strange things were his eyes, a very dark and ominous red. He stepped out of the egg with caution, scanning his surroundings.
The smaller egg hatched not long after.
Its small, pink head popped out, and it took one look around the small clearing until it hopped out of the egg.
The small dragonet was beautiful. Her scales were striped white and pink all the way down to the tip of her tail. Her head was light green and a pale blue. Her wings were completely pastel green and her frill was the same. Her horns were a pure white and her eyes were completely black.
The bigger dragonet studied the smaller one, and she puffed out her chest at him and ruffled her frill to look intimidating.
It didn’t work well.
The bigger dragonet tapped her on the head with one claw and she made a purring sound. She walked around the bigger dragonet with pure interest and her black eyes glittering like obsidian. As the bigger dragonet sat down and curled his tail around his claws, the small dragonet curled up next to him and fell asleep. The bigger one shifted into a sleeping position, trying carefully not to wake her up, and fell asleep as well.
As the sun rose before the newly five-year-old dragonets, the small one, now named Soul, sat up and shook Red, the big one. Red groaned, having already been awake.
“Fieh mo’e minuhs...” Red tried to say, but realized that there was something in his mouth. He sat up and pulled out a thick stick in his mouth. He rolled it around and realized that there was a huge spider on the back. Red screamed and threw it across the clearing.
Soul cackled.
“Oh my goodness, that was priceless!” She breathed. “You should’ve seen your face.”
Red rolled his eyes and replied, “I’m pretty sure I could see it in that spider’s forty-seven hundred eyes.”
Soul rolled over playfully. “Happy hatching day!”
“I wish I could say the same,” Red replied, unamused.
Suddenly, Soul’s face turned pale. She stood up and looked around as if she was searching for potential danger.
Red wouldn’t buy it. “I’m prepared for your next prank.”
Soul shook her head without saying a word. Her face remained terrified, which was weird, because if she was playing a prank on Red, there would always be some sort of sparkle in her eyes which meant she was kidding. (Yet Red still always fell for the pranks.)
And then it happened. A flash of black scales engulfing the lightly colored dragonet. A scream calling for help coming from the bundle of black. The terrifying, malicious look in the violet eyes that turned towards Red.
And even more horrifyingly, the feeling of not being able to do anything.
And then, his sister was gone.
