Prologue
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" Oh, what shall I do with this little fly I caught in my web today?" A voice pricked with madness called from the shadows. "Wandering alone through my jungle is a very dangerous you know...."

Everest tensed up, unable to move. She was wrapped tightly in a strand of vines, holding her snout shut and immobilizing her.

The vines moved seemingly on their own, not by control of an outside force, ensnaring her in the trees shortly after she and Ember split up.

She could see no other dragons around her, but could feel eyes peering at her from the dark, the eyes of the one who caused this, the eyes that the group had felt so many times before.

"I'm curious little dragonette, what is your group doing so far into unclaimed land? What are you looking for here?" She could feel the dragon's breath now creeping over her ears, a sour smell similar to rotting fruit emanating from it.

She was suddenly greeted by a flash of scales and a pair of eyes before her. The eyes were fierce and maddened, a black shroud where the white normally was, the pupil a deep red surrounded by a tainted green.

"Ah, I can feel it... Your fear, the terror you feel from not knowing your future. It's a wondrous rush, isn't it?
The eyes turned to a spiteful scowl, before vanishing completely.

"Ah, but who am I to judge? You are my next guest, and I only wish to try something on you." Everest heard maddened laughter as a crystal appeared before her, a thin glowing gemstone, hanging from a frayed thread.

"Back before they exiled me.... I found this wonderful little crystal, and I have seen the cursed things that it is capable of.... What it does to others who wear it...."

She felt a cold tremor as hidden talons brushed down her horns, slipping the gemstone over her snout and around her neck, seeming to grow tighter and tighter, until it stopped.

Her eyes widened in fear of what the dragon may have just done to her, unknowing of this "curse" she had mentioned.

"Now... my fearful little whelp, we will have to wait. Stay here for me while I search for your friends...."

She heard a muffled beating of wings, barely audible as the rush of wind came over her, signifying that the dragon had left.

"Sorry for this." A new voice rang beside her, a thin prick of pain stinging the small gap in her scales behind her ear. "But we can't risk you making too much noise."

As Everest faded into blackness, she saw a thin glimmer of matted green scales on the ground beneath her, talons as brown as the mud they stood.

"Take her to the village, quickly, we have to get this thing off her." The voice spoke again.

Then, only silence.
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"We have to keep looking!" Ember's voice cried out, her eyes the only thing visible through the darkness that was settling down through the leaves above.

"You all are just going to give up and leave her out there....?" She shouted across the dim clearing at Tidepool.

"No one said anything about leaving her out there! But by Coraleus what good is searching in the night?" She snapped back at Ember, hostility and tension in her voice.

"We don't need the light! We have Tempest!" She remarked. "Who seems to have a lot of secrets he's hiding from us, maybe he knows where Everest vanished to!"

"Don't you Dare accuse him of this, he wasn't even awake when she disappeared, and he's been with me since he woke up!"

Ember stepped back, realizing what she said she shot a glance at Tempest full of remorse, and retreated to the opposite edge of the clearing.

"Goodnight." Tide's voice rang out from somewhere to the left of him, the entire clearing now shrouded in darkness as the sun set over the distant ridge.

*I wish they wouldn't argue like that.... We're all just tired.... That's it.... Tired.* His mind was clear, not wanting to hear their abrasive and harsh thoughts, mixed together with fear and remorse.

Tempest woke in the middle of the night to a distant rustling through the bushes, and without thinking, crept off quietly after it.

*Everest, is that you....?* He thought to himself, nearing the origin of the sounds quicker than he expected.

He whispered quietly, trying to get the noise's attention. "Everest, hey... wait up...."

Jumping out towards the noise he smacked into what he thought was a tree hidden in the brush, but looking up, he saw nothing there.

A stench like the leftover fruits from Ethrox's cave flooded his nostrils, causing him to gag almost instantly.

A lone thought suddenly leapt into his mind, shrouded in madness and wisps of loss and fury. They could only see it for a split second, but it was enough for them to see the suffering whoever was close had been through.

A set of  blood red pupils appeared before him suddenly, peering back towards him with malicious curiosity.

"Another dragonette? Just my luck, since the other one slipped out of my grasp, not that it matters much... the gem will claim her soon enough." The eyes vanished as quickly as they appeared, and Tempest felt a pressure on his rear leg, trying to pull him into the brush.

Looking back, he saw only a small vine, which he lashed out at, slicing it at the base.

"Oh, you are much more fun than she was. All she wanted to do was plead for me to stop and try to escape." Her cackle rang through the brush around him, quietly enough as to not alert the others sleeping in the distance.

*What does she mean? Crystal? Who is the other dragone-* His thoughts stopped instantly, and he blurted out loud. "What other dragonette have you taken?"

The eyes appeared again upside down from a low hanging branch about five yards away. "Oh, that pathetic little fly? Why do you care so much? Oh, unless you are one of the ones she was crying out for...." The eyes flashed with a spark of amusement before disappearing once more.

"You.... if you hurt her!" Tempest lashed out at another vine, more and more circling around him, creeping closer and closer as time went on.

"Answer me! Where is she!" He started to raise his voice more and more, tendrils of smoke starting to come off of some of his spikes.

"Careful now... you wouldn't want to start any fires in the middle of a forest, would you? Besides, you might wake up our new friends!" Her maniacal laughter was much louder now.

Two bundles of vines appeared high out of his reach, much larger than any of the single vines after him.

Looking closer, he could make out the shape of two dragons in the bundles, vines wrapped around their legs and necks.

He reeled backward, another vine grabbing at his tail now. In his shock he inhaled sharply, coughing at the overly potent smell of rotten fruit, and feeling a sharp prick under one of the scales on his neck.

Almost instantly he swooned sideways, almost falling into the dirt under him. "What..... Did you do to me...." He said numbly, losing sight of his surroundings.

"Oh, trust me little one. You'll be fine. Another addition to my web...." He heard one last cackle before slumping over into the dirt and breathing in the wretched smell once more.

"Hey, hey! Wake up!" Everest heard an unfamiliar voice, along with a sharp prodding in her underbelly. "Slimenose! Get up!"

She mumbled nonsense about only being asleep for a few more minutes, before rolling off the cot with a sharp exclamation of surprise.

"Ow! What was that fo- Who.... are you?" Looking up and rubbing her snout she realized that she wasn't back in the cave with Ember and the others.

After a few moments her claws darted up to her neck, and she felt the strain of a braided rope digging into her throat.

"Who are you! What did you do to me?!" She shouted, darting towards the window of the small hut she was in.

"Don't!" A voice said, but it was too late, she crashed through the small braided window and out into the dim dawn light. "Someone get her!"

"Stay away from me!" she shouted back, feeling the eyes of dozens of dragons turn to watch her from the other smaller huts scattered around.

Looking down she realized that there were dozens of the same huts littered in the trees below her, down to the ground far below. Looking up she saw the clear sky through a thin layer of leaves and branches.

"Gotcha!" She heard a voice exclaim as a pair of invisible claws tackled her from the side. "Can you just calm down?" The disembodied voice spoke sharply, pinning her down against a large tree branch.

"I promise that I'll explain where you are if you just listen to me for a short while. Deal?" The voice, which she now had identified as a larger dragon, obviously male lessened his grip a little allowing her to be able to breathe freely.

Before she could answer she felt a tug against her leg and saw a braided rope of vines being tightened by an experienced pair of talons, tying knots swiftly and cleanly.

"Now don't scream" She heard a short, innocent laugh as she was tugged free, swinging through the air back towards the hut she had rashly torn through earlier. "I'll come over shortly.", the now distant voice called to her.

She heard a rustling all around her as if dozens of large dragons were moving all at once, going back about their morning as if nothing had happened.

"Thanks.... I guess...." She said, "Whoever or whatever  you are..." speaking to the floating pair of claws that was now untying the rope from around her legs.

"You're welcome" A younger female voice spoke quietly, a pair of soft, yellow eyes appeared, looking up from her work for only a split second, full of life and emotion before finishing the task and vanishing from sight.
"Stay out of trouble now, Orion will  come up to talk soon." She heard the dragoness's footsteps fade off as she reached the edge of the platform and vanished into the canopy.

Looking around, she felt no extra eyes watching her and let out a sigh, reaching back up to her neck and trying to get under the twine. 

After a few minutes she sighed a second time, foregoing the feeble attempts and deciding to look around at her surroundings.

She noticed a lot of braided furniture, the cot she was placed upon, along with two others that sat empty between her and what seemed to be the main door.

The room was lit by a container made of translucent leaves hanging from the roof by a thin braided vine rope. Within the jar were a cluster of glowing insects, the light put off by them encasing the whole room.

There were assorted plants littered around the room, hanging from the ceiling, in small clay pots on the ground and next to the cots, and even some in some of the windows.

One of such pots lay shattered on the ground beside the cot she was in, her rash choice to leap through the window sent it cascading to the ground, shards of hardened clay being sent in every direction.

A flurry of small clicking noises sent her eyes back to the door, only to see a pair of violet eyes disappear back around the corner, out of sight.

"Go in"

"No, you go in!"

"It's not my job this time, it's yours."

She heard an audible groan as a second set of eyes appeared around the frame of the door, emerald in color, they seemed afraid.

"I don't bite...." She mumbled, just loud enough for them to hear from outside. "You can come in if you have to..."

"I'm sorry!" the second pair of eyes dashed into the room, sweeping the broken clay pottery into a small basket, and replacing the plant on the ground into a new one.

This new pot was still shining as if it had been molded this morning, the blue-gray clay glistening in the light of the lantern above.

"Can you try not to break any more of these?" She snapped back into focus to the glowing green eyes which were now hovering at the side of the cot she was laying on. "They are kind of a pain to make, and I would just appr-" They stopped, seeing that they were rambling.

"I've gotta go, see you around!" The exclaimed, darting back off through the door, the small basket trailing after them.

She sighed to herself, wondering what all these dragons were doing so deep in the forest. "Shimmerwings.... I wonder what they look like." The idea of the hidden tribe clicked in her head and it was all she could do not to lose herself in endless questions about them.

She felt a release from her throat while lost in these ideas, and before she could register what was happening she felt the rope pulled free from her scales.

"What? What just..." She turned around only to see the newly placed pot teetering on the edge of the window, about to fall outwards. "No no no!" She exclaimed trying to grab it before it fell to the ground far below.

Her talons scraped across the fresh clay, leaving a small groove in the bluish surface, and giving the pot the slight push it needed to be sent hurtling from the window.

Not wanting to break the promise to the small dragon so soon, she dove out the window after the pot, spiraling downwards towards the ground below after it.

As both she and the pot were about to slam into the mossy ground at the center of the clearing she wrapped her talons around the piece, using her large wings to slow her fall and roll as she landed, a technique that Ember had shown her in the weeks prior while hunting for large jungle birds that liked to dive to escape predators.

"Impressive" A familiar voice called out from above. "You've definitely got some talent hidden behind those timid eyes."

Looking up she saw a dragon not much larger than herself, a matted green in color  with strange brown markings that seemed to run down the spines on his back and across the thin limbs of his wings.

"Come on, let's get back up to the infirmary one more time, we've got a lot to discuss." His bright cherry red eyes gleamed back at her before he turned and shot off up towards the hut she has crashed out the window of twice already.

Flying up after him she felt the same numerous eyes burning through her scales, watching her every action from the moment she crashed through that window the second time to the moment she walked back through that doorway into the infirmary.

She walked over to the cot by the window and placed the scarred clay pot back on the window, the deep grooves from her talons had given it a spiral pattern from the base to the rim where the packed dirt had started to come loose.

"It gave it some depth, it looks good." The green dragon's voice spoke clearly from across the room, sitting on the third cot closest to the door. "I might have to request they do that to some of the replacements, the plain smooth surface gets boring after so long."

His innocent grin radiated back across the room, watching as she went back over and sat on the first cot.

As she sat down he spoke again, posing a question at her. "Do you know where you are now?"

"I think I do..." She responded.

"Good, good, I don't want you to think that we are some savages like that spineless cockatoo out in the jungle."

"Oh, I couldn't, not after you go that thing off my neck."

There was a concerned pause, as he looked desperately at her throat.

"We need to find her. Now."

With no more words than that he shot off out the door, calling out behind him, "Follow me, quickly!"

Everest scrambled to the edge of the platform, feeling the dozens of eyes watching her turn to fear as she leapt off the platform and crashed through the canopy after him.

As she trailed him she thought on the amount of panic he showed at what she had said, and how concerned he looked.

*Hadn't someone from the village removed the stone?* She thought to herself. Thinking back however she didn't remember feeling the burning eyes of any of the village's dragons watching her.

Snapping back to reality Everest narrowly dodged a spiny, misshapen tree, only to slam into the larger dragon's back, sending them both hurtling to the ground.

"Can you watch where you are flying?" He hissed in a hushed tone, shaking off the mud and twigs from the crash. "I suppose we had to land anyway, but pay attention, we're close."

He crept forward through the dense brush, motioning with his tail to follow him.

Everest paused for a moment, before hesitantly following his orders.

*He was so polite just a minute ago..... What happened?* She thought in the back of her mind, now putting much more focus into tracking his near-invisible movements through the bushes.

Following the dragon into a small empty clearing she attempted to get his attention before moving forward.

"What's going on? I don't even know you name and you seem panicked about whatever happened back there, wasn't it someone from your tribe that got the necklace off me?"

He looked back, his bright red eyes showing signs of fear and anguish.

"No, no one in our village knew how to get that thing off you... it being gone means that Amphias took it back."

"And is that a bad thing?" Everest replied, not fully understanding why he was so upset about this.

"That means that she considered her experiment on you a failure...."

He paused for a moment before continuing his statement.

"....and she has a new dragon to torment."

Everest's golden eyes widened with a new understanding of what he was saying, releasing his tail and allowing him to continue leading them both through the brush.

*Don't let her have found Ember too.* This thought repeated itself over and over in her mind as they crossed two more, progressively larger clearings.

As they entered the fourth clearing she felt something different, she heard a noise she couldn't quite place, and looking ahead she saw that he had heard it too.

He looked up, and let out a two toned whistle that sounded remarkably similar to the jungle birds that she and Ember had been hunting just the day prior.

Looking up she saw two clusters of dense vines, both of which were now dangling by frayed connections, as if a hidden force had severed them.

She felt a strange draft as if more dragons had rushed past her. Looking down she only saw Orion staring up at the two dangling bundles.

"Be sure to catch them this time, we don't need to treat broken bones again." he mumbled out loud, confusing Everest further.

Hearing one of the vines snap she looked up to see a flash of blue through the dense cluster as it crashed towards the ground, and realizing all too late she rushed towards the spot where it was going to land.

As she got closer she felt a large weight crash into her for the second time today, pinning her down by her throat.

She managed to cry out in a muffled shout as the bundle was about to land, closing her eyes and weighting for the cracking sound of a body smashing into the dense dirt.

She waited for what seemed like an eternity, before opening her eyes to see the bundle floating in the air.

"What..." She groaned out, looking up to see Orion's eyes glaring down at her.

"You and your rash choices almost got two dragons injured." He mumbled fiercely down at her. "You think I didn't know what was in those bundles before I had them cut down?"

He released his talons from her throat once more, allowing her to stand as the second of the two bundles cascaded to the ground.

"Let me see them, please, let me see them." She pleaded, looking to Orion and hoping there would be some form of empathy in his eyes.

Much to her surprise that was all she saw, the anger and disgust from a moment ago had vanished, and he nodded, seeing that she was desperately looking for someone.

She darted over to the first cluster, knowing well who would be in it, but still wanting to confirm her suspicions.

"Tide... why were you out in the jungle....? You hadn't ever left the cave..... You insisted to be by Tem~" Her eyes widened with a new fear, tripping as she rushed over to the second cluster of vines.

Pulling the tendrils back she saw Ember's childish face hiding in them, still unconscious.

"No.... don't tell me...." She mumbled to herself, darting off towards the brush leading to the next clearing.

As she passed Orion she thanked him for his help, and paused only to tell him that she would return to the village shortly.

Although against his better judgement as a leader, he saw the concern in her eyes and spoke only once as he sent her off.

"Stay safe, and make sure you come back, I have my own questions."

She turned to make sure they had left before creeping into the next clearing, which much to her surprise was barren and lifeless.

Looking upwards she saw no more of the vine pods that the last clearing had held, and so she decided to creep onward through the brush on the far side, hopeful to find another opening.

As she entered the undergrowth she heard a familiar cackle, one ripe with madness and insanity.

*Please let him be safe.... For Tide's sake....* Was her last thought as she broke through the brush into the next clearing.

Before her laid an all too familiar body, covered in glowing protrusions and splintered horns and spikes.

As she rushed over she felt the grasp of multiple vines latch onto her legs, stopping her in her tracks.

"Look who returned to save the day, the pathetic little fly." The voice she knew all too well from the days prior echoed across the large clearing, her tainted green eyes appearing above the lifeless corpse. "Too bad you were too late to save this one."

Everest watched as she kicked his body down the small incline towards her, his eyes splintered and cracked, the necklace around his throat humming with a new life.

"Tempest! Wake up!" Everest cried out hopelessly, thinking very well to herself that Amphias had killed the poor whelp.

Much to her surprise, however, the dragonette's body stirred, the end of his tail twitching with life.

She watched as he worked his way to his feet, slowly rising from the dirt and gravel.

As she was about to speak, the same maniacal cackle broke the silence. "It finally worked! It's been so long since one of my experiments hasn't died!"

Everest sat silent, confused as to the excitement that Amphias had shown, before looking to Tempest, who had stood remarkably still through the whole statement.

"Go ahead little one, ask him how he feels." Amphias's voice appeared in her ear, the smell of rotting fruits pickling at her snout once more.

"Tempest....? Are you alright...?" She whispered quietly, not being able to make herself speak any louder out of fear.

His head turned towards her, his expression glossy and emotionless, before turning to that of rage and hatred.

As he began to walk towards her she heard a crashing as Ember and Tidepool  smashed through the brush on either side of her.

"Ah, the two other pathetic whelps have come to try and save you" Amphias replied snidely at Tempest, watching the two new dragonettes with s growing hatred. "Even though I want to stay to see how this plays out, I don't want to intrude on such a happy reunion, have fun!"

After the sound of her crazed laughter had disappeared into the growing dusk, Tidepool and Ember worked quickly to cut Everest free.

"What happened?" Tidepool asked her, her eyes not leaving the spiteful husk of Tempest in front of them. "What did she do to him?"

"I don't know.... But it has to do with the necklace..." Everest's exasperated voice answered, not knowing what to do.

As Tidepool took a step foreward Tempest hissed at the trio, his teeth holding the same shattered appearance as the rest of his body.

"You..." His strained voice cried out at Everest. "Isn't this what you wanted?" The memories of all she had said and hoped for while he was asleep rushed back to her as he began to speak.

"Tell them.... tell them how you hoped to be free from this prophecy...." She covered her ears, but it wasn't enough, his words burned through her scales with a truth and fury she couldn't stop. "....and how much you just wanted to run away like a coward!"

She leapt foreward at him, shouting out in unkempt rage and anguish. "Shut up! Why won't you just shut up!"

As her claws connected with his snout, she felt a strange tingling from the tips of her talons, and with it, his eyes glossed over and he fell to his side, asleep once more.

Tide's concerned voice whispered behind her. "Everest.... What did you do...."