The night was quiet and still, the whole kingdom was asleep and silent, or so it seemed at least. In the far reaches of the secluded castle library, a dragon relaxed, a book resting in her talons and a stack of three more piled nearby.

The dragon's thin frame was filled in with lean muscle and scars caused light imperfections on her otherwise smooth and neat scales. Her scales were a pale pastel purple and gold veins laced through them. An obsidian and silver pendant rested neatly against her chest. One of her claws ran absently down the spine of the faded, leather bound book.

She was the champion of her tribe and had been studying and training all day for the Battle of the Champions coming in a short few months. She had spent her time studying the other Champions as best she could from books, or practice fighting with the soldiers when she had the time. With a little more time she was certain she would have a chance. The biggest competition would probably be the female champions from Blounte and Terracana.

Now, she wanted to relax and bury herself in another book, before getting sleep. Lately she had been having trouble sleeping. She was either being plagued by nightmares or restless thoughts. She would always snap awake at night, a chill running up her spine and that heart racing and heavy breathing feeling that you got when some loud noise startled you out of sleep. Then you would try to comfort yourself by saying it was something silly, but your paranoia won't let your adrenaline stop pumping or let you believe it was really something harmless.

She was getting that feeling now. That burning in your back when you know someone is watching. That tingle on the back of your neck when you just know something is about to go wrong. Her heart was pounding so much that it was deafening in her ears. She shifted, tapping her tail on the ground just to have a noise to drown out the beating. Her claws scratched at the page, and she was continually shifting, unable to concentrate or rid herself of the feeling of unease.

A noise sounded, making her jump. "Spiral?" She called, thinking it must be the librarian. "Is that you?" Silence, unsurprisingly, met her question. Now was probably a good time to go back to her room. Or find Wolf. That sounded like a good idea. The burly brown sweetheart was great at cheering, or in her case calming, anyone down. She stood up quickly, fumbling with the book in her talons which fell to the floor with a deafening thud. She flinched, which caused her normally graceful self to clumsily knock over her stack of books. She flinched again at the unnaturally loud noise.

She started to rush off, then heard talons clicking just a few seconds too late on the library's polished stone floor. She stopped abruptly, and so did the talon sounds. She felt ridiculous, she needed to pull herself together, she was beginning to be afraid of her own talonsteps. Nevertheless, when she started moving again, she purposely walked as silently as possible. Her talons were barley audible, but she could still here the clicking, and it wasn't in time to her own talons.

Her already racing heart speed up even more and she shot off, unable to take it anymore. Someone was after her, she knew it. She had long ago memorized the maze like castle passages and she moved like lightning confidently around corners, through corridors, and past empty rooms. The walls blurred past as she navigated through swiftly. That was until someone sent her skidding into the nearest wall.

She was knocked in the side and her talons slid on the smooth stone beneath her, causing her to slide into the wall at full force, knocking her off her talons. She pulled herself to up and whirled to face her attacker. As she spun, the magic flames that filled the torches along the wall, flickered and died down to embers almost instantly, which was impossible. Who, or rather what, she faced made her freeze in her spot.

A darkened figure faced her. The air around had a strange textured hue and rippled, like when the air was really hot. Only she didn't feel any heat. In fact, all the warmth in the air seemed to be sucked out. She was chilled to her bones and she could slightly see her breath in the air. Her chest tightened and she felt an unnatural sense of terror like she'd never felt before. Her eyes widened in fear and she pressed herself against the wall. She was trembling uncontrollably. Recognition was dawning on her, the echo of an ancient tale whispering in her ears.

"N-no! I-it can't be! You're not real!" The figure didn't listen to her cries of protest. It slowly walked forward, coming closer to her, it's lightly glowing eyes cruel and emotionless. "D-don't come closer! Please! I didn't do anything!"

The figure stopped and reached for her, talons stretching out, and she let out a blood curdling scream.

****

Riot was jolted out of her sleep by a dragon gently shaking her awake. Her king, a kind, gentle, and handsome looking white dragon with blue flecks named Falcon, was waking her.

"Riot," he said gently when she made a questioning groan and tried to blink sleep out of her eyes. "Its a guard, he says it an emergency."

"Alright, I'm up." She yawned as she slid out of her room. "Whats wrong?"

"It's Hope, your majesty. Your champion has been murdered." That woke her up rather quickly.

"What?" She asked, astonished. Hope was strong, smart, and confident, not an easy dragon to overtake. That's why she was champion. "Take me there immediately!"

When they arrived dragons crowded around the scene, desperate to know what was going on. Only guards and the queen's daughter kept them at bay with fierce commands. The crowd parted as the queen passed, filling up behind her like a parting in water.

Sprawled across the ground in a pool of blood was Hope, her current female champion. Hope had blood staining her claws and scratch marks on her front legs, suggesting she had fought to some extent. Her neck was so badly ripped that it looked like the murderer had been trying to decapitate her. Written across the wall in Hope's blood was 'This is a warning. I will come for the next one. - Champion Hunter'

Riot's daughter frowned at the scene. "Poor Hope. Her mom is going to be so upset when she finds out." Riot and Amethyst, Hopes mother, had been friends since they were dragonets. Riot had helped raise Hope, and she was like a daughter. It was going to be hard to distance herself from this, but she had to keep going no matter what for her tribe, like she always had to.

She turned her gaze on her mother. "So, do you think it's true? It's signed and everything."

Riot's gaze didn't waver from Hope, taking in every detail that could be important. "I never said I didn't believe before. But," she added, "if it isn't true, if a dragon did this, I want you to find them."

"Of course." She turned and walked off, snapping orders like a general. Riot knew that she was numbing it at the moment. Her daughter would push through now, and grieve as soon as she got the chance.

"I hope it's not true," Riot murmured to herself. "Or Starwings help the next champion."

A/N
So.... I apologize but you guys are basically my lab rats right now(Aww!!! I love domesticated rats, their so cute!!!!!) So I just would like to ask.... does anyone like the story? Is it worth continuing? I'd like someone besides my family's opinion.... So please comment and tell me! Also If all of you who comment like it, I'll try to update every week. Thank you so much! Bye!

Allons-y!

-Crimson