Gwyneira kept her gaze fixed on her talons as she walked out of the ballroom, the massive golden doors opening automatically for the quintet of dragonets. She wished that the floor was something other than simple black granite with the occasional white streak and vein— something with a pattern that she could follow and become absorbed it. As a young dragonet from Anfeiddreidd, she used to love following the intricate designs of the carpets that paved the frozen stone of her old mountainous home.

She then felt a presence appear at her side, a little closer than the others were. "Don't worry 

Gwyneira, it was probably just some strange accident," Hephastion comforted.

No. It wasn't. It really wasn't. Such were her thoughts, but she was smart enough not to voice them.

Instead, she opted for a meek, "Thank you."

Ahead of them, Euphora, Gawain and Nimueah excitedly chattered about the murder. "Did you 

see the body?" Nimueah questioned.

"I didn't," Euphora whispered. "But I heard something about it being decayed."

They all started walking towards the bow-side transport pod. "But how could a body remain 

hidden long enough in the ballroom to decay?" Nimueah nudged.

"Does it really matter?" Gwain interrupted, flaring his wings to give himself some space as the two ryss's clustered on either side of him. "What does is that he was killed! Like, murdered! And I am totally the one who is going to catch him!"

Despite his efforts, the two dragonets squished the ryn between them again. "Who says it's a he? It could be a merwyss murderess, or perhaps not a dragon at all!" Euphora pointed out.

Nimueah ignored the mountain Prinuae's response. "Sure you will," she teased, and flashed her wings and spines in a dramatic gesture. "I am Gawain, catcher of the great mystery murderer!" 

She bellowed in a dramatic voice.

"Or murderess!" Euphora added.

The two ryss's proceeded to burst out laughing.

As they rounded the circular form of the ballroom, Nimueah suddenly guided her group by the wing over to the wall of the building. Gwyneira was about to walk right on past then, but the water Naturae jumped out and snatched them over as well, dragging herself and Hephastion over to the wall with guiding wings. "What are we doing?" Hephastion questioned once at the building's edge.

The Naturae held a talon to her lips. "Let's be quiet and watch. Maybe we'll be able to see them carry out the body!"

With that, they all huddled against the wall, peeking around the circular form, waiting for the golden gate to open.

Gwyneira tried to position herself so that she could wiggle away, but she quickly found herself squished between Nimueah and Gawain. She could feel their scales against hers, and she felt, more than anything, trapped.

She tried to wait, watching the ballroom entrance, but minutes passed and nothing happened. Her talons itched to slip away. Yet every time she tried to slowly back out of the pile, Nimueah would jab her wing into Gwyneira's ribs, making her stay still and quiet.

Just as she was about to suggest that this was pointless, a creaking groan sounded from just around the bend.

A moment later, several dragons filed out of the ballroom. Leading the parade were the dragons carrying the body on a gurney. To the audible disappointment of her class, the corpse had been covered with a black cloth. Only a tail tip was visible beneath the fabric, and what it revealed widened the eyes of her compatriots.

It wasn't new to her. She had seen the body.

Seen the decay.

Seen the milky, lifeless eyes. The flaking scales. The oozing fluids.

The very epitome of death.

The body quickly disappeared around the other bend of the building. The family of the diseased dragon slowly followed after, the two sand territes looking sad but betraying no tears as they rounded the turn.

"Did you see that?" Gawain shouted as soon as the body and family were well out of range. "It was all decayed! And dead!"

"I'm fairly sure we already established that," Hephastion murmured, staring at his talons.

Alas, the fire volcanic was ignored as the other dragonets, not including Gwyneira, proceeded to repeat everything that had already been stated regarding the body.

"Did you see how the scales were flaking? I can deduce that means that the body was breaking down for at least a few years!" Gawain announced.

Nimueah slapped him with her tail fan on the side. "But how is that even possible? Bodies don't just go and decay for a few years than decide to pop back up in the middle of the ballroom!"

The ash volcanic stared at her as if it were obvious. "Exactly! That's why we need to figure it out."

If it was even possible, the water Naturae's excitement tripled like a pot bubbling over. "YES! We, the elphiren of Governess Emlyn, shall find the ballroom mystery killer!"

Oh no.

"Oh come on, 'ballroom mystery killer'? What sort of name is that?" Gawain complained. "Our murderer needs a cooler name than that! Like... Deathmaster!"

Nimueah twisted her face in disgust. "DeathMaster? Could you be any less creative?"

This has to stop... Before they get themselves hurt, she knew. It was just a matter of being heard. "Guys..."

"Well, got any better ideas, Nimueah?" The ash volcanic taunted, not hearing Gwyneira.

"Guys..." She tried again.

The water Naturae looked like she was thinking hard. "Maybe... Nightstalker?"

Now it was Gawain's turn to look disgusted. "NightStalker? How is that in any way related to our murderer? At least DeathMaster sounded assassin-y!"

"Guys!" Gwyneira shouted, gathering up her courage. Finally the elphiren all turned to look at her. Her courage vanished under their stares. "I... I don't think it's a good idea."

Nimueah looked ready to argue, but Euphora jumped in. "I agree with Gwyneira. I don't think it's smart to go after the killer."

"Oh, don't be such scaredy cababits!" Nimueah argued. "We were there! That means we have the best chance of catching the killer!"

Hephastion looked just as nervous at speaking as Gwyneira was, but he spoke anyway. "Maybe it isn't a good idea... I mean... We aren't even five hundred years old yet... We could get kidnapped... Or killed..."

Gawain looked disappointed. "Not you too! Come on! We have to do this! We could save all of Cepheus Prime! Then we'd be heroes!"

Nimueah started guiding Gawain away from them with a wing, towards the transports on the stern side of the station. "Well, we are going to find the killer, even if you three are too scared. We'll start our hunt tomorrow, right after night mode falls at 24:00 o'clock. Meet us back by the golden gate if you are brave enough!" With that, they disappeared around the bend.

"We can't let them hunt for the killer alone," Gwyneira blurt out. "They'll be killed!"

Euphora nodded in agreement. "It's not safe... We need to find some way to stop them..." She flexed her wings in thought. "Maybe we should warn their parents?"

Hephastion looked indecisive. "Yes, but... We're an elphiren. We wouldn't betray each other like that, would we? They may never trust us again, and a broken elphiren wouldn't be good for any of us. We're supposed to be loyal friends for life."

"But we've got to do something," Gwyneira urged, trying to keep her desperation from showing.

"Well..." Hephastion shifted on his talons. "What if we help them catch the time wraith? Then we could at least try and help keep them out of trouble."

"Wraith?" Euphora questioned before Gwyneira could object.

Hephastion's eyes widened, then a look of realization came upon him. "Oh, yes, sorry. That's what I was calling the killer in my head. I was reminded of the infinity wraiths from Anfeiddreidd... They aren't even creatures, really, just stray entities of dark magic that trick creatures and devour them before they can even realize it. As they eat you, rather than a regular digestion system, they speed up time and make you decay... Or turn to stone... There are a few different varieties, but—"

"It's perfect," Euphora interrupted. "Time Wraith it is."

"Time wraith or not," Gwyneira interjected, "are we really just going to go along with it and help them? I don't think it's a good idea..."

Hephastion bit his lip. "Do we have any better ones?"

Silence.

"So..." Euphora murmured. "I guess we'll all meet up here tomorrow night, at 24:00 o'clock."

Hephastion nodded. "Alright... I suppose I should... Go home now." He dipped his head to them, before turning and padding away, looking almost reluctant.

Once he had left, Gwyneira felt a wing tap her on the shoulder. "Come on," Euphora said. "Let's go."

Gwyneira nodded, and followed the mountain Prinuae towards the bow transport pods.

Gwyneira watched the frosty plains and distant mountains of district two whip past. Behind her, frozen forests dissolved into the summer green woodland of district nine. Yet she paid attention to neither of these scenes as she stood in the transport pod.

She couldn't stop thinking about the murder.

That decay... The look in that poor dragon's eyes...

"Gwyneira," Euphora said, giving her a slight nudge with a wing. "Don't worry about it. It's all going to be okay. You have other things to worry about."

Gwyneira looked up at the mountain Prinuae, seeing the assurance on her kind face. She didn't want to drag her friend down, but how could she just stop thinking about it? About the murder? The death of a completely innocent dragon? "I know," she finally said.

Apparently she wasn't convincing enough. "Just think about something else! Like your appointment tonight— maybe those physicians will finally make some progress!"

"Maybe..." Gwyneira murmured. "But I've been here for centuries and they haven't been able to figure anything out. It took them fifty years just to come to the conclusion that due to my age, a transplant wasn't possible. They've spent another two hundred years trying to put together something artificial, and they've now realized that's impossible. My family moved to Cepheus Prime so that I could get my acariad... Because the physicians here were supposed to be the best. But all they've figured out so far is what they can't do.... Every appointment is the same... I have no reason to believe that they'll have something that will help me this time." She instantly 

felt like shrinking away, embarrassed at having spoken so negatively.

If Euphora was taken aback by Gwyneira's outburst, she didn't show it. "Perhaps, but you can never give up hope. And I mean, you've lived for four hundred and forty-two years without your acariad, your light magic heart, and you've faired— you're smart, doing well in classes. 

Especially nowadays... Magic isn't all that important," she pointed out.

Gwyneira tilted her head back and forth in consideration. "I suppose so..." She rested a talon on the glass of the pod, staring out. "But then again, a few hundred thousand millennia ago, I wouldn't have needed one to perform magic at all."

Before Euphora could reply, the pod came to a halt. They waited for the other creatures to file out before disboarding the transport themselves. Once back out on the black granite floor between the environment districts and the Ring, they walked in silence towards the launch point into the former.

They both padded up to the edge of the launch point— a branch of metal protruding out over the snowy, mountainous district below them. The environment districts took up all the space of the decks below, so that there was room for mountains and volcanoes and flight, which was why standing on the launch point felt like standing on the edge of a massive crater.

Gwyneira spread her wings, and Euphora did the same. With a brief crouching movement for stabilization, they launched into the air. Together they glided out over the frosty plains towards the mountainous region of district three. Right alone the border of the second and third districts, the cold converged on the mountains, making for an area of snowy skyscrapers. The mountains were dotted with artificial cave mouths, all of which led into some house or business.

Here she and Euphora lived.

Gwyneira soon recognized the familiar shape of her own home's entrance into the mountain, near the snow-laden top. She dived for it, and swooped neatly onto the soft white carpet that coated the house's stone floor, the automatic force field recognizing her scale patterns and letting her pass through instantly.

Euphora hovered for a moment outside the entryway. "See you tomorrow, Gwyneira! Wishing the best for your appointment!" With that, the Prinuae whirled around and flew away.

Gwyneira took a breath, and turned away from the mouth, suddenly feeling tired. She made her way through the entryway tunnel, and into the main room, where a cold fire burned in an old fashioned hearth illuminating silver light on a dining table of black glass. She passed by this room into another in stark contrast with the cavelike feel of the prior one— the room was filled with artificial daylight from windows that encompassed the majority of the walls. Hidden cameras positioned on the mountain's surface fed a live recording to the 'windows', giving them a view of the world outside in real time. The center of the large rectangular room sported another black glass table, and a kitchen was embedded into the far wall. To her left a library had been carved into the stone, and to her right there was another corridor that would lead into various rooms.

A narrow, pale indigo snout poked around the corner of this very corridor. "Oh, you're home early?" Her mother crossed over the room toward the kitchen, grabbing something off a counter before going over to the library and crashing one of the two black velvet couches. She signaled with a ridged white talon for Gwyneira to come and set the plate she carried on a low table positioned between the two couches. "How was the ball?"

Oh yeah, the whole murder thing. Guessing from her mother's attitude, she hadn't heard of it yet— having probably spent the day so far with her nose in a book or working on her tablet. I guess I have to explain that now, she knew, despite how appealing a nap sounded.

Gwyneira resigned to joining her mother on the opposite couch. "It was... Unique," she started, not entirely sure how to calmly explain that there was a murder. She eyed the plate on the table, covered with little marshmallow penguins that marched around the plate with a touch of magick. She reached out and plucked one off the plate and nibbled on a wing, enjoying the treat that her mother always brought for her before an appointment.

Her mother cocked her head. "Really, how so?" A mischievous gleam entered her turquoise eyes. "Did Hephastion dance with you?"

Gwyneira took another bite of the penguin. "No, we— we were sort of interrupted." It was just then that the transmitter pyramid pinged— a little black object that could receive and send messages or calls to other pyramids all over Cepheus Prime. "Incoming holographic call— 

Nulrog," the automated box recited.

"Accept call," her mother responded.

A moment later, a full sized holographic image of her father appeared in the library with them, the image projected from the tip of the triangle then bouncing off a reflector on the ceiling so that the image could stand on the ground and even move around the room. "Is Gwyneira with 

you? Haven't you heard?"

Gwyneira tightened her grip on the penguin. "I'm right here, father."

Her mother stood, alarmed. "Heard what?"

The hologram of her father was panting as if he had ran to the closest transmitter pyramid to 

make this call. "At the ballroom— someone was killed at the ball."

Gwyneira wanted to hide under her wings from the glares of her parents. 

~~~~~

Sorry for the delay, guys! Here's the first part of the next chapter-- I wanted to at least give you guys something this week since this chapter is long and I hadn't finished it yet. I hope you enjoy what there is, and please remember to comment and vote if you liked! I'd love to hear what you all think of the story from Gwyneira's point of view...