Prologue
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A small river ran through the cave in which a lone dragon sat. The water a frigid flow of near ice, shooting by as she stared into the water.

She let out a low chuckle, the shadows of the stalactites hanging above her shrouding her scales from the glow of the fiery red crystals dotting the roof of the cavern.

She thought about what she had been doing, and wondered if she should reveal herself to him.

The clicking of talons nearby made her raise her head, looking around, but not knowing where they came from.

"Ah, I see, you wish to continue to stick to the shadows, correct?"

Silence enveloped the cavern as her voice faded from the echoes, and she only got darkness in return.

"I assume you are here about our new friend. The one who will finish it."

She heard talons scrap on the stone floor off in the distance of the cave, still unable to locate its origin.

"Well, just know that he is more powerful than we could have imagined, and he is able to communicate the same way I can, though to what extent I do not know."

She heard a low cackle, as the talons of her hidden visitor crept away, echoing to the farthest reaches of the cavern, where she knew she could exit.

The dragoness peered back into the water, wondering if her new "Friend" was awake yet.

"Don't worry, everything will go according to plan...." She whispered as the flaming crystals faded out, leaving the cave in darkness.

"I see now that we have a long road ahead of us, for the journey is just beginning."

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Tempest's mind flared to life, but he did not recognize where he was. He couldn't see anything amidst the terribly dark mist surrounding him.

"Ah, so you are the one I've heard so much about." Rasped a voice from deep within the shadows.

The scales along his spine bristled with fear as he felt a piercing gaze examining him from every angle.

Mustering whatever courage he could from within himself, he spoke, trying to sound more fierce and confident.

"W-Who are you, and where did you take me? He spoke into the darkness, not knowing where to direct his voice.

"Oh, my dear dragonette, I did not take you anywhere, for you see, I can find you no matter where you flee. I can invade the darkest depths of your sleeping mind, and crawl though every crack!

The dragon's voice shrieked this statement, making the chill run down Tempest's spine once more. This wasn't a caring dragon looking to help him.... And it surely wasn't the one he heard speaking to him occasionally.

Tempest tried to force the darkness to dissipate, trying to bring forth the flames that he had felt in the forest before.

He thought again of the terrible creature that night, the dragon with no care for the tiny fox kit, and he felt his scales begin to exude a warming glow again.

The fog immediately around him faded slightly , and briefly through the darkness he saw the shrouded features of a large dragon, much larger than himself, stalking through the shadows.

"I see now that you are not one to be underestimated, however, this power is child's play compared to what I am capable of." Following this statement, the darkness grew closer once more.

His fear beginning to outweigh his anger now, the glow of his scales began to dim, ensnaring him further within the grasp of darkness.

"Oh, what a fragile and helpless dragon you are." Whispered the voice of the dragon in his ear.

He snapped towards the voice, seeing nothing but more distorted mist, and hearing the cackle of the dragon now surrounding him once more.

"I think I'll keep you as my helpless little plaything while I shred your little village apart." He heard her sneer from the shadows.

Suddenly he could feel himself falling, spiraling through the darkness. Looking around he saw nothing but endless blackness in every direction.

"Night night little beast." He heard the voice say condescendingly from above him. "I'll be sure to kill you last."

Looking around he began to see images appearing through the darkness, along with familiar voices.

"Tempest! What happened!?" He heard Tidepool's voice echo through the darkness, seeing a view of Everest's conflicted and worried face.

Another image showed a large fire in a forest below, and dragons fleeing in all directions.

"You lead them to us!" A dark green dragon yelled at Ethrox.

More sped by, seeing the dragonettes and Ethrox over and over, everytime saying something he'd never heard them say.

He also heard one question over and over....

"Has he showed any life....?"

And the most common answer was from Tidepool. "No.... But I'm not going to just give up on him.... We need him...."

The dragonettes looked different as the images went by, they slowly became less small when he saw them beside Ethrox.

What had happened...? Who was the dragon they were so worried about...?

These thoughts echoed through his own mind as the conversations and images flooded in from around him, each one more worried and frustrated than the last, broken by the occasional silence or whispering.

Suddenly one image was much larger than the rest. He saw Tidepool's snout angled towards the ground, tears running down and dripping to the floor.

"Tempest..... Please come back..... We need you here.... I need you here...." Between the tears she looked up. "I'm sorry for what I've said.... Just.... Please wake up...."

Her emerald green eyes were full of pain, the tears streaming steadily from them, forming a pool on the stone floor beneath her.

She moved closer, and the image vanished.

Tempest was stunned by this display he had witnessed, and looking around him, noticed that there were no more images or voices flooding in from the darkness.

He felt a sudden warmth on his side, not fierce like the warmth he had felt in the forest before, but a soothing feeling.

He closed his eyes and tried to place where he had felt this before, before remembering the man who held him as they slept.

He smiled, moving as he fell slightly to try and feel more of the warmth. He felt a cold below him now too, and realized that he was no longer falling.

Blinking his eyes open, he saw Tidepool, inches away from him, her tail wrapped around his, and still crying. He lay as still as he could, as to not frighten her.

He found nothing but distress and sadness in her thoughts, many events that he had no clue had happened, and vast places that he had never seen before.

Tidepool began to ground herself in reality, her thoughts becoming very negative and critical of herself.

"Why would I still hold hope.... He hasn't responded once in the time he has been unconscious..."

Tempest looked once more at Tidepool's face, watching now only the occasional tear roll off her snout. Wondering if he should try to console her or wait for her to notice him on her own.

Acting purely on instinct alone, he pulled her tail closer, now fully entwined with his.

Her face immediately looked more relaxed, before her eyes shot open, startled by what she had felt.

"Tempest!" She shouted, launching off her haunches into his side. "You're back! I'm so sorry!" She continued to exclaim, burying her snout into his side and now crying furiously once more.

Out of breath from being tackled, be tried to speak back, but now realized how extremely sore he was.

"Can we go on a walk and talk...?" He said to her. She nodded quickly, trying to dry her snout before leading him from the small cave they had been in.

"Ember and Everest chose to go hunting for food, so they won't be back for a while, and Ethrox is over in his cave, napping." She motioned to the other side of the dim, cavernous cave they were now in.

Tempest looked around while she led him to the exit, wondering where they were, and what had happened while he was asleep.

"Tide.... what happened?" He asked her as they pressed out of the vine-covered hole to the outside world.

They were standing in a dense jungle of sorts, vines and large, looming trees surrounded them. Birds singing in the distance, and the other noises of the surrounding area suddenly crashed into him like an auditory wave.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tidepool exclaimed. "I don't need to lose you again."

He shook his head quickly, clearing his head and nodded to Tidepool.

"So, like I was saying, after you passed out we received word that a large group of rather grumpy looking dragons was headed towards the village." She paused "We decided that it would be best to move you ... the prophecy apparently needs all four of us."

He shook his head again. "So where are we?" He asked curiously, keeping pace with her.

"I'm not sure exactly, I know we have been hiding around the center of the continent. I only know that for certain because of this terrible jungle." She scoffed, swiping at a cluster of vines ahead of her.

"I only have more questions, but most of them can wait." He looked over, seeing that Tidepool had stopped moving.

"Sh. Don't move." She said in a hushed tone, and he froze. "Can you feel that? The eyes watching?"

He closed his own and tried to feel any thoughts of other creatures nearby, but felt nothing but concern from Tide.

"I know the feeling, but I don't hear anyone else." He spoke back in a rushed and quiet tone.

"I guessed as much, but it always feels like something is watching us...." She was abruptly cut off as a large toucan flew above them.

Tempest hid his laughter as best he could, but it wasn't enough. She shot him a nasty glare and started walking again.

"So where are we going?" Tempest asked, dropping back into a walk beside her.

"Oh, you'll see." She said with a smirk. "We're getting close now.

"Okay but...." He began, only to be cut off once more.

"Just be quiet and follow me from here." She said quickly, shooting up into the air.

"Uh.... I'll try...." he mumbled to himself, spreading his wings for the first time.

*How do I do this?* he thought to himself, looking up at the waiting silhouette of Tidepool through the dense cover above.

Not wanting to look silly in front of Tidepool already, he began to beat his wings in an up and down motion like she had done with such ease before.

Not moving, he looked up and noticed that she was gone. "Tide? Where are you?" He asked, squinting up into the dark canopy overhead.

"Boo." He heard from behind him, and he jumped foreword.

It was Tidepool, with a large grin on her face.

"That was really mean!" Tempest said, scowling at Tidepool Who now seemed to be much smaller.

"It worked though." She said, continuing to grin at him, "Look at where you are."

He looked around himself and noticed that he was hovering around four feet above the ground.

"Terror sometimes helps us discover new things about ourselves." She said, hopping up and moving again above him into the canopy.

He followed her very poorly, smacking into vines and branches along the way, mainly hitting his right wing.

Suddenly what seemed to be a wall of rock appeared before them in the jungle, and Tidepool led them straight up it.

Landing at the top he sat down, breathing really heavily, a few small scratches dotting him.

"So why did we come up here?" He said, turning around to face the ledge where she had landed.

"Come up here and you'll see." She tapped her talons on the rock ledge above him.

He sighed heavily, before jumping up to the next ledge.

"Whoa....." he breathed out the word as if it were a whisper. "What is this?"

They sat looking upon an engraved slab of obsidian, showing three dragons. Two seemed to be in fighting stances facing each other, while one lay on the ground behind the smaller of the two.

"I don't know what it means, maybe a record of a historic battle from ages ago." She said, not taking her eyes off the grand stone. "I've only been able to make out one word from the four below, the rest are too faded..."

"Revenge." The word sent a shiver down his spine as he realized what was happening in the carving.

There was a deafening silence between them for a short while before a loud rumbling could be heard.

"What was that?!" Tidepool exclaimed sharply, her eyes darting around.

"Oh, sorry, I think that was me...."he laughed a little. "Is there anything nearby to eat...? I haven't since I first got to the village ..."

"The others should be back by now, though I should have told someone you were awake, they might be panicking."She had a scared expression. "Besides, Ember said that she really wanted to meet you, and she has been waiting a long time."

Tempest hopped up into the air after Tidepool, trying harder this time to not hit so many things during the flight. He followed as close as he could, not wanting to lose her in the dense canopy of the trees.

They flew for what seemed like forever to Tempest, by the tie they had landed in the small clearing outside the cave his wings were shaking with exhaustion.

"Is it always that hard ...?" He said, out of breath and panting, trying to stretch out the cramps that were beginning to form.

"No, I'm a little surprised that you kept up with me though, you haven't exactly had much practice." She grinned, fixing a few larger scratches on his right wing. "Now, I will warn you that Ember is really rambunctious, so try to stand your ground when she comes at you."

"Wait, wha-" He couldn't finish, as the moment he entered into the cave he was knocked sideways by a flash of orange and red scales.

"It's you!" He heard a shriek in his ear as the fear began to build, along with a pain from hitting the ground moments before. "We've been so worried!" The shrieking continued.

"You might want to get off of him...." Tidepool's voice echoed into his ears, feeling the weight shift off his side slightly. "He doesn't do well with surprises...."

"Ow! He's really cold!" He heard the voice shriek again, before the weight vanished. "That's not very friendly of you!"

Groaning and standing up he caught a glance of Ember talking to Tidepool a few dozen feet away.

*She is really fast.* He thought to himself, wondering if that was how she greeted all of the dragonettes.

"Oh, right!" He heard her voice echo as she darted back over to him. "I'm Ember, sorry for jumping on you... I was just so excited!"

"It's fine." He mumbled back to her, wondering again to himself what made her so special. "Tempest."
Ember moved to the back corner of the cave, where she added some small objects to a large pile of something.

"Tempest, you said you were hungry, right?" Tidepool's voice snapped him back to reality, coming from another pile near the one Ember was at. "You should come try these."

As he walked over he saw her devour something in one swift movement, something similar to the ridge along her back sliding down between her teeth.

"What are those?" He said, now within sight of the pile.

"Fish, and they are delicious, here, catch!" She tossed one over, catching him unaware as it smacked into his snout, leaving a slimy substance behind as it hit the floor.

"Sorry." She said, as she picked it up and handed it to him.

He made sure to sink his claws in as he saw her do, feeling how slippery the creature was and thinking how easily he could lose it.

He grimaced as he brought it to his teeth, gagging slightly at the texture of the scales and fins as they passed over his tongue.

"They are really nice if you just eat them quick." He heard her say as he forced it down his throat, gagging once again at the taste.

"Is there anything else?" He asked very quietly, watching Tide point to the two other piles.

"The meat is over where Ember is, and the pile in the corner is assorted fruits and berries." She said, adding, "But those are really small and dangerous if you're not careful."

"Dangerous?" He asked, wondering how they could possibly hurt him.

"Just ask Ethrox about the color and you'll be fine." She said, grabbing another fish and wolfing it down as he walked away.

Reaching the third pile, Tempest grabbed a few of the items that he could see, a slender yellow fruit he had seen on his flight back, a branch with a few dull orange berries, and a green and yellow hued fruit he had knocked off of a similar tree while flying back.

Taking his choices into the largest of the five rooms, he wondered how he should ask the large dragon about them, and if Ethrox even knew he was awake.

As he was about to speak, he heard a voice in the dragon's mind forming a question he was going to say, so he waited.

Finally Ethrox spoke: "Seeing how I heard the two of them speaking in frantic tones on different occasions today, I presume that you are awake and here before me." His voice was much more hoarse and raspy.

He nodded, and realizing his mistake, spoke quickly. "Y-Yes. I was wondering what fruits weren't dangerous."

Well, I don't normally do this, but seeing as you are the only one if the group eating it, I'll show you."

He brought out a parchment, and unrolling it, placed it blindly between the two.

"This is a list of all of the known fruits, their physical descriptions, and what they do. I kept it around because I used to enjoy these items, but seeing how my vision is gone, I have no use for this anymore."

He paused, as if reminiscing over the past, before sliding it towards Tempest.

"I want you to have it, you will find more use in it than I will, besides, I can tell just from smell which fruits are which now, and I will warn against eating the dull orange ones you have, their scent is very sharp, telling me they are Firefang berries, very dangerous."

Tempest looked at the list and picked out his three choices.

-FireFang: Dull orange berry that grows sparsely in the mother-plant. Highly toxic to dragons as it will increase the production of their elemental breath, causing it to harm them from the inside.

Mango: A di-hued fruit commonly found hanging from trees in a humid environment. Very sweet taste and succulent flesh.

Banana: Long fruit commonly found in humid and tropical locations, hanging in tight clusters. Can be eaten with the leathery skin, or it can be removed to reveal the soft center within.

Tempest set the berries to the side, but popped the mango into his mouth.

Still feeling hungry after that, he decided to try the banana, and popped it into his mouth like he had the mango, immediately regretting not removing the outer layer.

Picking the skin from his teeth, he carried the berries outside, where he tossed the whole branch into the woods.

Returning to the open cave after carefully tucking the scroll into a small pouch he had found hanging outside the cave, he heard Ember frantically whispering.

Straining, he picked out her thoughts and what she was so concerned about, and rushed over to see hear it himself.

"I don't know where she is Tide! We split up to look for food, and that was right after we left at dawn! We can't leave her out there overnight, we don't know who or what is out there!"

"Calm down, we will find her, but not by panicking." Tide responded, forming questions to ask Ember. "Where do you two normally go for fruits? That's what she was after, right?"

"Yea, but that was forever ago, she couldn't have gotten lost that easily, she's the best of us with directions!" She Snapped back, pacing furiously.

"Let me help....."Tempest broke in, getting a strange look from Ember, and a concerned look from Tidepool. "I can help find her...."

"Tempest, no, you need to stay around here and rest, you just woke up today...." Tidepool shot back, trying to cover up his secret from getting out.

"How can you help anyway? What are you two alluding to? I don't care what it is, help me find her!" Her voice echoed with a slight hint of an emotion Tempest couldn't pick up on.

Tidepool sighed heavily, and spoke directly to Ember. "Listen, he can't tell you what he is referring to, but he can help, so just follow us."

She took off towards the cave entrance, grabbing Tempest by the wing.

"Ow! Could we not be so rough!?" He exclaimed, pulling himself free and trying to keep pace and listen as they took off into the sunset through the trees.

*Where are you Everest?* He thought to himself, but hearing no response other than his own mind.

Beside him Tidepool was scanning the ground, looking up to see Tempest's face and reading nothing but focus.

Ember was flying very quickly, diving through the trees and scanning the ground.

*Where is she? Why can't I hear her?* he thought to himself.