The Ultimate Wings of Fire Discussion and Roleplaying Group discussion

((Hello! Here we are @Just-the-Bookworm))

Shadowmaker slunk through the shadows. Hunger gnawed at his stomach and his hunting instincts were at its height. He heard the rustle of small game and quietly moved in that direction.

A pheasant had landed and was searching for food. With remarkable swiftness, Shadowmaker swooped onto it and ate it without thinking twice.

-Rissa shuddered, she hated the forest at most times and by herself was worse. ‘How did it come to this?’ She thought remoursefully, landing when her stomach growled loudly-

Shadowmaker perked up at the sound of an intruder. He knocked an arrow to his bow and stalked in the direction of the noise. He faded into the shadows as most-all NightWings can and continued to move towards the noise.

" An IceWing," Shadowmaker thought, "This far from the Ice Kingdom? She can only be either lost or searching for something...or someone. "

-Rissa whipped her head around, her striking blue eyes searching the shadows, she had heard a bow load, she swears she did. Curious but cautious she approached the noise, ice breath rising in her throat-

Shadowmaker just barely managed to hold his tongue and not let slip something rather crude.

"She heard you load your bow," Shadowmaker scolded himself, "For moon's sake your supposed to be stealthy."

Shadowmaker barely breathed as backed up slowly to a tree, still hidden from view. He was standing close enough that if the IceWing advanced, he could easily either rush behind the tree and escape, or swiftly kill the other dragon.

-Rissa’s ears lifted and she tilted her head like a curious puppy, ‘who could be making the noise?’ She wondered silently and kept advancing though the icy glow of her breath lit her jaws aflame with their cold light-

Shadowmaker decided that the dragon was not that big of a threat, although the IceWing had definitely heard his bow load. However, he could tell that one false move on his part, and he would become a very unappetizing popsicle.

He slowly slid behind the tree, but did not realize there was a crow sitting on a branch behind him. Shadowmaker knew that the crow would betray his position, so he stood still. But too late. The crow decided that now was a good time to fly and crow. Shadowmaker cursed under his breath, not even trying to suppress it.

-Rissa flinched and her startled gaze followed the crow, her ice went away for a moment as she was more concerned with the bird-

Shadowmaker panicked as the crow cawed its head off. He lost his cool and with the IceWing so close to him, he panicked. He did not care that he was clearly visible to the IceWing. He drew back the arrow knocked in the bow and aimed it at the IceWing. "That is close enough." he growled.

-Surprised she flicked her head to the Nightwing, who she could now slightly see- “Woah- um- sorry-“ -She stammered before lowering into an attack crouch ‘I got this.’ She thought, her eyes narrowed to slits-

"Now see what you have gotten yourself into, just by not loading you bow correctly and being next to an insane crow." Shadowmaker scolded himself.

The NightWing kept his bow aimed at the IceWing. Fire burned in the back of his throat, ready for use if need be.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” -She demanded through narrowed eyes, her ice returning to form a eerie blue light in her throat ‘How did it come to this!?’ She though panicked-

"I am the one who should be asking you that," Shadowmaker retorted, "After all, a NightWing this far south-east is not that uncommon, given that the Rainforest Kingdom is almost next door. Why in the three moons would an IceWing travel so far away from their cold, icy home?"

Shadowmaker did not lower his bow as he said all this, although it was a wee bit uncomfortable with his talon pressed against his cheek.

“We-well I am on a mission.” -She said in a slightly convincible fib-

"Oh?" Shadowmaker drew out the word, raising an imaginary eyebrow in the process, "And what in the three moons would Snowfall ever want with the rest of Pyrriah? From what I understand, she still does not do much with the other dragon tribes apart from sending some IceWings to Jade Mountain Academy."

Shadowmaker's consciousness suddenly slipped into his jumbled past.

"Oh no not now!" Shadowmaker thought as he pulled himself out of the abyss that was his mind by suddenly changing the direction the arrow was pointing slightly and shooting a crow on a branch behind the IceWing.

"Take the crow! Your welcome!" Shadowmaker called as he ran. He dropped a knife in the process, but he did not care. Just go somewhere safe before...

Shadowmaker lost consciousness as he dropped and rolled into a cave.

-She yelped as it flew past her and ignored the crow, chasing the Nightwing.- “Hey! Wait!” -She chased after and found the cave, seeing him limp inside she went to his side- “Oh my moons!” -She panicked-

Shadowmaker's eyes were closed, but it was clear on his face that he was alive, and not in a peaceful mood. All Shadowmaker could see were fragmented memories.

A SandWing, a few years older than himself, pressing a talon to something near him. Maybe his head? Fighting with a NightWing, was he an enemy? Duskbringer bleeding, the life draining out of her. Duskbringer, standing over him, a ghost.

Shadowmaker looked up at the IceWing. How was it that his sister could age so much in such a short time, even after she died? Shadomaker got up.

"Duskbringer?" He asked, but then realized his mistake. The dragon he was looking at was not the ghost of his sister. It was the IceWing he had seen earlier. He reached for his knife, but realized it was gone. He ran deeper inside the cave.

“What in the moons!?” -She sprinted after him, using her ice to make a faint glow so she could see-

Shadowmaker heard the IceWing after him. He saw the cave glowing faintly with blue light behind him. He ducked into another cave, breathing fire behind him, mainly to scare off the IceWing. He quickly hid behind a stalagmite, blending in as much as possible with the little shadow it would cast once the IceWing entered the cave.

"Why is she after me?" Shadowmaker thought, "I am clearly dangerous. She knows I could have easily killed her, does she? And why didn't she kill me when she had the chance?"

-Rissa yelped and scrambled away from the flame, it catching her right shoulder and burning for a moment, she yowled in pain and backed against the cave wall, blowing some ice on the burn to help. Now instead of chasing him, she waited for the pain to subside. ‘What the moons!?!’ She thought-

Shadowmaker realized the fire had hit the IceWing. He did not feel remorse per-say, but he felt like he should help the IceWing. But the IceWing would surely kill him now. At the same time, the IceWing had all the reason to kill him after he had nearly hit her with an arrow, and he was unconscious, but she did not.

"Probably against the rules of IceWing chivalry or whatever," Shadowmaker thought, "But now that I am able to fight, she will try to kill me. But there's something about her, something that holds innocence, or even just kindness. Is that why my broken mind mistook her briefly for the ghost of Duskbringer?"

Shadowmaker slowly crept out of his hiding spot, still blending in the shadows as much as possible, but trying to look more cautious rather than stalker-y, which was very hard for a NightWing who had spent most of the life he could remember stalking through the shadows, sneaking up on prey and trespassers, especially when sneaking up on an IceWing, who might still think that NightWings are enemies.

-Hearing talon steps she looked up, eyes wide, she let the cool blue glow light up the area around her face. She still couldn’t spot him, ‘Is he going to attack?’ She thought slightly panicked, she fumbled for her own weapon before realizing she had dropped it a long while back when running-

Shadowmaker decided that if he were to approach the IceWing, he should do it less-stalker-like. He walked over slowly, and tried not to blend into the shadows as much, but still kept part of him blended in order to hide should the IceWing attack.

He took out a jar of a poultice to help with burns and placed it on the ground a few meters away from the IceWing. Then he crawled backwards quickly, waiting to see what she would do.

-She tilted her head slightly and went forward to the jar to sniff it, her eyes glittered with a sense of relief- “Oh! It’s a poultice!” -She applied it to the burn and sat down, tail curled over her talons in content-

"I was scared," Shadowmaker said, sounding awkward. He had not spoken to anyone except to scare off some trespassers, "I didn't want to hurt you with the fire."

Shadowmaker looked around, senses acute in case this IceWing had some fellow travelers nearby. He did not want to be caught here.

“It’s okay, I shouldn’t have gave chase” -She apologized, flicking her wings in dismissal-

Shadowmaker shook his head, "I don't blame you. You were angry, I could have killed you."

Shadowmaker still could not put his finger on what exactly he had seen in the IceWing that made him mistake her for an older version of the ghost of his sister. It was unnerving.

"Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance?" Shadowmaker asked. He tried to sound more like he was asking a question out of curiosity, not out of suspicion, but failed miserably.

-Her ‘eyebrows’ raised in surprise- “Well- uh- it kind of seems dishonorable to kill a dragon while he sleeps- and also I didn’t need to” -She muttered-

"I am supposed to be dead, since two years ago." Shadowmaker answered. He felt himself slip into his mind, and was about to slip into it again, when a small bird flew into the cave. He spat a blast of fire upwards, away from the IceWing, and quickly jumped onto the bird and ate it. It would keep him out of the abyss of his mind a little longer.

“What-?” -She started to ask before Rissa’s eyes darted to the crazed feeding of the Nightwing, slightly taken aback she shut her jaws and watched in stunned silence-

Shadowmaker ate the bird quickly. In a few seconds there was no sign that the feeding frenzy had ever occurred apart from a patch of soot on the floor and wall. Shadowmaker looked at the IceWing, "What are you staring at?" he asked, but not sharply.

“You- sorry, I’m not used to fire yet-“ -Rissa rubbed the back of her neck with her talon, her wings were tensed at her back, this entire night had been surreal-

Shadowmaker nodded, "I should have known an IceWing would not be comfortable around fire," was all he said.

Shadowmaker walked to the cave entrance. The light from the outside made him look even more dark thank he already was. He picked up his bow, shot an arrow into the wilderness, and walked after it. Soon he came back with a half-eaten stag.

“Great moons! Your a good shot!” -Rissa commented surprised with her maw open slightly-

Shadowmaker only nodded. He looked at the sky, Dusk is coming soon. Better get to a safe place. Shadowmaker decided that he would have to find somewhere in this cave to survive his next mindfall, as he liked to call it. The stag had revived him enough to do that, but there was no avoiding the dusk mindfall.

Shadowmaker set down what was left of the stag a few meters in front of the IceWing before he walked deeper into the caves, looking for a place to rest.

-Curious and also needing a place to sleep Rissa ate the stag with a sweet relish of her satisfied hunger and a small smile before following the Nightwing further into the cave-

Shadowmaker heard the IceWing follow him. He did not fully trust the IceWing, and did not want to give her a second chance at killing him, despite what she said. He remembered that IceWings do not have as good night-vision as NightWings, and he turned into a dark tunnel. He found a dragon-sized nook behind a stalagmite and curled up in it. He accidentally knocked over a few stones as he made himself comfortable, the sound betraying his position. Before he could do anything about it, he felt himself slip into the abyss that was his mind once more.

-Rissa heard the Nightwing settle in a nook and she stopped a few paces away and curled up, unfazed by the darkness other than the fact she didn’t like not being able to see. She didn’t think much of the threat the Nightwing could be, before falling asleep-

More fragmented memories flashed through Shadowmaker's mind as he slept.

A dragonet hatching. Was it Duskbringer? The body of a skinny dragonet in his talons. Who was it? Carving an snake armband from mahogany, where was it now? Duskbringer, screaming for help. Duskbringer, bending over him, sewing up a cut on his stomach, where did he get that? Why was there no mark left behind from that? Duskbringer, dying. NO!

He shot up and looked around. He was shaking.

"Duskbringer!" he nearly shouted, then he whispered, "Duskbringer! Duskbringer.... Duskbringer."

He remembered where he was. He was in a cave. There was an IceWing near him. Who was she? Probably lost. He remembered accidentally shooting fire at her in fright. The burn mark was still there. He looked outside, and decided he should go hunting. He heard that IceWings had voracious appetites and he himself should be well fed to postpone another mindfall.

-Rissa didn’t awake to the sudden screams, much more tired form her journey than she had left on previously. Her scales were almost invisible in the dim light, her form rising and falling with her steady breaths-

Shadowmaker looked in the direction of the IceWing. From what she could make out of her form, she was still fast asleep. "Good," he thought, "she didn't hear me. She does not need to know I am completely broken. If she asks about that other time, I would just say I was delirious. "

Another part of his head said "Why do you care? She'll leave you cuz she has better things to do than hang around with a creepy NightWing."

Shadowmaker's other part couldn't answer that question. Why? He shook off the thoughts and walked outside. He found his dagger and special carving knife which lay at the entrance to the cave, having fallen out of his satchel as he ran from the IceWing. A lone wolf blundered into his field of vision and quickly became acquainted with the correct end of Shadowmaker's dagger. He brought the wolf back, and was suddenly hit with a wave of drowsiness.

"NOW you want to sleep?" Shadowmaker said to himself, but he was already drifting away, falling on the soft body of the wolf.

((Geez, that was a lot. Time skip? ))

Yes please)

-Rissa yawned, her eyes still shut fast. Slowly she sat up and stretched her body in a delicate arch, blinking her pale eyes open rapidly she blearily looked around-

“What the moons?” -The Icewing muttered, looking around, hardly able to see-

Shadowmaker jumped at the sound of the IceWing waking, his senses more acute than usual. His dawn mindfall had been the worst one this moon-cycle, and that was saying something, given that all mindfalls feature the death of at least one dragon, usually Duskbringer. This mindfall had fragmented memories consisting almost entirely of gory scenes.

He realized that the IceWing might have seen him lying down on the body of a wolf like a psychopath. He got up, took out a knife from his satchel, and began cutting the pelt off of the wolf.

"Act busy. Act busy. Act busy." Shadowmaker thought.

-Rissa finally glanced over, hearing the slicing of the knife- “Oh! You got prey?” -She asked, chipper this morning as she blinked away her sleep-

"Yes," Shadowmaker replied tersely, "Wolf meat is not very good, but it will do."

He finished the final few cuts to get the wolf's pelt off. He would have to clean it eventually, but he assumed that the wolf's meat was more important. He was about to present the meat to the IceWing, but a brief period of rationality got the best of him. This IceWing probably would not take too kindly to his current eating habits. He continued preparing the meat for consumption.

-The Icewing walked over and gazed curiously down in the dim light. Rissa sat herself down and coiled her tail around her back talons-

When the meat was mostly presentable, Shadowmaker held it out to the IceWing, "You can have it. I'm not hungry."

He took some branches close by and with some twine, made a frame on which to stretch the hide. When the wolf pelt was placed on the frame, he carefully started to scrape off the fat and blood from the wolf skin.

"What brings you here, so far away from the Ice Kingdom?" Shadowmaker asked, looking up briefly from his work.

-Rissa murmured a thanks to the Nightwing before eating slowly, she swallowed and answered- “The queen sent me, I already told you.” -She prayed the dragon couldn’t see the beads of cold sweat on her scuffed looking scales, as if she needed to roll in some snow-