Chapter 8: Whispers From A Gleaming Isle

Prologue
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"The isle calls another poor soul." A tired voice sighed out from a dark pocket hidden on the edge of a glistening cavern. "But they do not come.... Not freely. Why is this?"

Her eyes flared open, a splintered violet, deep as the fields of lavender she once called home.

She rose slowly to her feet, trotting with a tired precision to a dimly-glowing crystal protruding from the stone wall.

"Show me the one in which ash and snow battle within." She whispered while staring intently at one of the large flat faces of the crystal.

It continued to glow for a moment, before the light within vanished completely. The dragoness stared blankly at the stone, a baffled look in her cracked eyes.

He snout curled in visible frustration, revealing razor sharp fangs, also broken and splintered, causing unnatural and terror-inducing peaks in them.

"He must come here, and I know how to bring him to us." She looked upwards into the cavernous expanse above herself, smiling as she gazed upon the hundreds of small gemstones, shimmering like faint stars above.

"Some day, I'll be able to see them all with my own eyes...." The light faded away as she ran her talons across her snout, leaving the cave in complete darkness once more. "Some day...."

She shook her head, laying on a nearby stone obelisk, closing her eyes and picturing the face of one of the dragonettes that had been traveling with the dragon of frozen fire.

"Everest. They called her Everest." She mumbled to herself, feeling a strange breeze as she blinked open her eyes.

"Get away! Go away!" Everest was screaming out in obvious terror, fleeing from inky-black tendrils that reached from the ever-rising water below.

"Get OUT!" Everest lashed out, the strange tendrils retreating as if abiding her command, leaving her floating in the now still water.

Something was still off, the dragoness thought to herself; *No dragon should have dreams like this, nonetheless a small dragonette.*

"I said, get out." Everest growled into the dark, a large wave of nausea rolling over her skull as if the dragonette was trying to push her out. "Stay out of my head! I told you I don't need you!"

Everest roared out in fury, snapping the dragoness back to her small tower in the cavern, unbalancing herself in the panic and tumbling to the stone floor below.

"Once more.... I need to do this quickly." She spoke quickly, hopping back up to the obelisk and wrapping her claws tighter around a small sapphire stone, before appearing back in the flooded cave beside Everest.

"I know you are still here." Everest growled out, her eyes darting around in the mist of the nightmare.

"The isle once filled with all forms of life,
Now the gems are all you may find within,
But all dragons have their own pain and strife,
Free me from stone and healing can begin."

Everest's eyes shot all around, looking for the source of the voice, but the dragoness had already cast the small stone to the cavern floor below, trembling at whatever the small dragonette had done to her. *How had she cast me out so easily.... What monsters does he travel with....*

She looked up once more at the now black ceiling far above, wondering if her wish would ever come to fruition.......

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"Ah!" Everest  exclaimed breathlessly as she tumbled out of the large cot  that she had claimed as her own while recovering from the days prior.

As she hit the floor, she heard a groan as Tidepool shook off the chains of sleep to scowl at her.

"What now." Tide shot across the room, her voice quiet and tired, trying not to disturb the only other dragonette that continued to sleep; Ember.

"......" Everest stared at her talons, and rubbed her horns from where she had landed, uncertain what to tell Tidepool, or if she even should. "It's nothing, just a bad dream."

Tidepool rolled her eyes, and Everest heard her begin to snore only moments after having curled back up atop her own cot.

She sat in the large hut quietly, staring out a woven window on which the small pot she had marred the days prior was now sitting, a tiny multicolored flower sprouting through the soft, brown soil.

She stretched out her legs and rose from the leafy bed, trotting slowly and silently to the door, glancing over her shoulder to make sure none of the others had heard her before creeping out.

They had been given use of a hut that had long since sat empty, and after much hesitant disapproval, Orion convinced the queen to allow them to stay as long as they needed.

She sat on the edge of the platform surrounding the large wooden hut, listening to the countless sounds of the night: The chirping of nocturnal creatures, the skittering sounds of the insects flying through the branches around her, and the soft breathing of dozens of sleeping dragons in the other homes around them, barely audible through the leaves.

She looked up, and saw the stars above shining down through the thin canopy above her, each with their own set place in the sky, a certainty she wished she felt as she sat, lost in thought.

"Peaceful, isn't it?" Orion's quiet voice cut through the silence, bringing Everest back to the present, looking to her left and watching as his emerald green scales began to fade into view from the dark of the night.

"Yea, it's nice." She paused, hesitating as she looked down at her talons, wishing that it could stay so peaceful forever. "Orion,  I have something to ask...."

He turned his gaze from the surrounding trees towards her, curiosity sitting in his ruby eyes.

"......" She sat fidgeting with the vines that were woven between the branches that had been formed into the platform, uncertain how to even begin. "I... heard someone in a nightmare...."

"Was it someone you knew? Or a different dragon?"

"I don't know who it was.... They said something about an island.... And healing?" She dug her talons into the wood below them, her eyes twisting in an expression of confusion and fear.

Orion sat beside her, looking just as confused. A few moments passed before his expression seemed to be piecing something together.

"Healing.... Island.... Tempest!" He exclaimed quietly, catching Everest off guard.

"What?" She stared at him, still visibly confused, her talons in small ruts in the woven sticks below. "What about him...?"

He stood and began to pace feverishly;"The island, I didn't think of that! Everest, there is an cluster of islands on the Westernmost point of Scaloña, the Magic Peninsula as most dragons have taken to calling it. Very weird spot from what I've heard." He continued to ramble as Everest tried to take all this in.

"So why is this important...?" She retracted her talons, the deep grooves below them bending back into shape. "And what does this have to do with..... Him?"

Orion shook his head, collecting his thoughts before pacing back over and sitting beside Everest again. "The Peninsula, it's where the crystals come from, like the necklace Amphias had, and where dragons affected by them can be.... Found."

Everest's eyes began to widen with the realization of what he was saying, hopping to her feet with an exclamation of hope before clamping her talons around her own snout.

She looked around, listening for any dragon she may have disturbed, before resuming the hushed tones of the conversation. "Can we help him?"

Orion looked down into the dimly lit clearing, watching the silhouettes of the occasional dragon shift through the night air. "I don't know. The dragon you heard seems to think so."

Everest paused, her mind racing with dozens of questions, and having no answers for any of them, she turned to Orion once more.

"Where is this island?" She questioned with a set of decided eyes. "And how can we get him there?"

Orion pulled a small scroll from a pouch draped over his front shoulder, spreading it out to reveal a map almost identical to the ones in the village the dragonets had met in.

He pointed with a thin talon to a small cluster of black shapes, obviously drawn with charcoal onto the map. "This is our village. I'd prefer if no one else knew about it by the way."

He grinned, drawing a line across the map with his claws, landing on a strangely shaped cluster of islands, the largest of which was promptly named "The Magic Peninsula".

"That's where you have to go, as for how you'll get him there..... I don't know. Maybe your friends can help with that?"

Everest paused, feeling the shimmering rays of the dawn sun crest through the canopy around her. "Thanks Orion, for everything."

She jumped out towards him, wrapping her talons around him in a grateful hug. "I mean that. I hope you know it."

He grinned, waiting until she had finished with her goodbyes before responding; "You still owe me for saving you the first time, so don't go out and die on me now, alright?"

She giggled a bit, his stupid comment breaking the serious atmosphere. "Fine, fine. Try to look after the flower for me, you know how rare they are."

He rolled his eyes, shooing her back towards the hut. "Yea, yea, I know."

"I mean it!" She raised her voice slightly above hushed tones, grinning and adding in a threat jokingly: "If it's dead when I get back, you better hope you got better at hiding."

Snorting quietly in amusement, he faded back into the shade of the trees, leaving her alone on the walkway.

She sighed, pushing her way through the small vine doorway into the home once more, being met almost instantly with a sideways glance from Tidepool, who was already awake.

"Can you help me wit~"

"Yes, I know already, I've been waiting for you to say something about leaving for days, this place is a little too.... Leafy.... for me." Tide butted in, walking over to a small pot, before pulling out a set of thick, woven ropes.

Everest tilted her head in confusion, before pacing over slowly to Ember, who was still fast asleep.

"Hey.... wake up...." She shook Ember slightly, whispering alone not working. "Come on, it's time to go."

"Five more moons...." She mumbled back, extremely groggy and obviously still affected by whatever the healers had given her and Tide.

Everest glanced back at Tide, who had begun wrapping Tempest in a makeshift pouch, similar to what they had used for fruit, but on a much larger scale.

"I'm... oh... hi Everest... beautiful green moon we have, right? Why do you have spiders on your horns...?" Ember's delusional mumbling brought her gaze back over, the poor over-anesthetized dragonette speaking in circles.

"Come on, get up, you should be fine if we get you moving." She groaned out, pulling Ember to her talons, adding "I hope" under her breath.

As the dragonettes took off away from the distant sunrise, Everest glanced back towards the village, catching Orion's talons waving alone in a farewell against the canopy cover.

"Can you stop staring and watch where you're going?" Tidepool's strained voice brought Everest back to reality, pulling a still-tired Ember sideways and out of Tide's way.

"Thank you."

Everest glanced back once more, spotting Orion as he faded into the verdant canopy of the village.

The group flew for hours, and after a while, even Ember began to come around, curious as to what was going on.

Tide motioned that she was fine with carrying Tempest, and motioned for Everest to go explain.

"We might be able to help Tempest, so we're going to the Magic Peninsula to see if there is anyone who actually can."

"Oh! We get to see the forest again?" Ember began to grin, her pointed teeth showing her excitement at going back to clearer skies. "I love forests, but the Jungle was a little too crowded for me, I don't know how they do it honestly."

Everest smiled back at her, thinking to herself how much nicer it was with the jungle behind them all.

She shot a glance back at Tidepool, who was now a little ways behind, and motioned for Ember to slow down a bit.

"Tide, are you alright?" Everest shouted back at Tidepool, who was beginning to drift towards the sparse hills below.

"I'm..... fine...." Tide's exhausted voice was barely audible through the wind and space between them as she began to grow nearer to the ground. "Keep going...."

"Come on Emb~" She was cut off by a flash of orange scales darting past her towards Tidepool. "What?"

"You're too hesitant for your own good sometimes Everest!" Ember's voice called back with a hint of sarcasm.

Everest took off in pursuit, watching as Ember sped off towards Tidepool.

"She's super fast...." Everest mumbled, trying to mimic the movements she made to catch up, but to no avail.

As she got closer to the two, who were now obviously arguing, she could pick out pieces of the conversation.

"We have to keep going! He's not getting any better!" Tide snarled out at Ember, pulling the vine harness tighter around her shoulders.

"Then at least let one of us carry him, you're exhausted and it shows." Ember shot back, trying to calm Tidepool down.

"I'm fine, I just had to catch my breath." Tidepool tried to pace her breathing to hide the panting and fatigue she felt.

"Tide, we won't get anywhere if you completely tire yourself out, it's not like we're going to hurt him on purpose." Everest was finally close enough to butt into the conversation, meeting Tidepool's determined glare with her own.

There was an awkward pause between the trio as they neared the ground below, before Tide finally cracked. "Fine..... But.... be careful."

After much checking and rechecking by an overly cautious Tidepool, the group started off once more for the edge of the forest in the distance, now visible over the last of the hills.

They flew until the sun began to set over the horizon ahead of them, both blinding them, and signifying that there wasn't much light left to travel in.

Ember seemed to let out a sigh of relief after landing, having been the one carrying their precious cargo for the last hour or so.

As Tidepool helped Ember undo the tightly-woven harness around her shoulders and wing-joints, Ember crept into the small den they had chosen to take refuge in for the night.

"It's empty, looks like it used to be a bear den maybe a year or two ago." She mumbled to herself, before turning and repeating her thoughts aloud to the others.

Ember and Tidepool carried Tempest's lifeless, unmoving body into the cave, laying it down on a dense bed of moss, before proceeding to claim areas of their own for the night.

The three split up jobs, each one collecting something different for the overnight stay in the empty den.

Tidepool, much to her discontent was sent out to gather food, returning with a medium sized Hillrun Ram, and a gullet full of assorted fish from a nearby pond.

Ember returned with a few large bundles of sticks and logs from the forest, piling them near a small firepit that the trio made before setting off.

Lastly, Ember returned to the group with a pouch full of vines and other assorted plantlife, which in addition to being used to fuel the fire, she planned to use to make a new pouch for their travels, having lost her previous one in the Jungle while looking for Amphias.

Sitting across the cavern from the opening to the outside world, Everest spent an hour weaving, wrapping vines around one another over and over, fitting the pouch over her shoulder and between her wings to check it's size and to make sure it fit.

"It looks nice, another skill you pick up from the village?" She jumped, looking over and spotting Tidepool's Emerald eyes peering across the cavern at her.

She looked down at the satchel, setting it on the stone floor and stretching her talons out ahead of herself in fatigue.

"Surprisingly, no. Ethrox taught me how to do it, back when we were just hatchlings."

"Really? Ethrox? That blind oaf of a protector?" Tidepool smirked, joking aloud.

*She really misses him, she hides it, but she's missed the easygoing blind dragon we all used to know before.....*

"Hey, Everest, you alright?" Tidepool chuckled, her talons waving in front of Everest's eyes.

"Wha~ Sorry!" Everest snapped back to reality, not even having realized that Tidepool had walked across the cavern to sit next to her.

Tide held back a snort of laughter as Everest tried to collect herself. "Sometimes you get really spacey Eve, you know that?

A thankful smile crept across Everest's snout as she wrapped her wing around Tide in a hug, before picking up the pouch once more.

"So, Everest, do you think we can fix him....?" Tide's voice seemed strained, and as Everest looked over, she could see tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"We will Tide, there has to be a way." Everest wrapped Tidepool in a tight hug, feeling the tears roll off the crying dragoness's snout, and onto her shoulder.

"I hope so.... I miss him.... We only just got him back...." Tidepool spoke between sniffles, her talons sinking fiercely into the soft moss between them.

"It's alright Tide, he'll be back to us again soon." Everest sat still, not moving from the embrace that she had wrapped Tidepool in.

She closed her eyes, and felt Tidepool set her back down, taking the satchel from her talons and laying it in the moss beside her as she drifted off into sleep.

"Thanks Eve....." Tidepool mumbled gratefully, before Everest slipped completely into her dreams.

Everest found herself in a dark cavern, pitch black, and eerily quiet. She had been in the same cavern countless times before, but something felt different.

She padded around in the dark for a while, hearing nothing but the echoes of her talons across the smooth, stone floor of the cave.

"You're not the one I expected, but you'll have to do for now." An unfamiliar voice whispered from the darkest corners of the cave around her all at once, causing her to drop to her stomach as a splitting pain seemed to radiate through her skull.

The voice mumbled to itself, speaking quieter this time: "Sorry about that, I always forget that most dragons aren't used to voices other than their own in their dreams, and that we need to be careful not to hurt you all."

Everest collected her thoughts, standing and looking around through the dark, trying to find the source of the voice.

"I would appreciate it if you would just sit and listen to me for a moment." As the voice spoke Everest felt herself forced towards the ground in a sitting position, unable to move or to even speak.

"Now, I will speak quickly as it seems that you have other dragons quickly approaching where you are sleeping, but...."

The voice seemed to pause, as if carefully constructing her next thought.

"Look towards the star of an ancient city,
Work with the one who only gives pity,
He studies unknown, and help will he give,
For the family he lost, himself, he will never forgive."

The voice paused once more, before continuing:

"Beware the dragon with eyes like stars alight,
His powers unmatched only one will take flight,
For when he comes there will be only pain,
Through suffering much learned all will gain."

Everest heard the voice sigh, before a faint snap was heard. With the small noise, Everest felt the weight lifted from her muscles, allowing her to stand once more.

"I hope you listened well, as I wouldn't want to come back and make sure you hear me next time." The voice spoke one last time, before the cave fell back into a deathly silence.

Everest paced around the cavern for a while more, thinking on what the voice had said: *Star of an ancient city*..... *Eyes like stars alight*..... *What does that even mean*

She stopped, listening for anything that could signal that the voice was still there, but only heard the dripping of water echoing across the empty cavern.

Everest sighed, and tried to force herself to wake up as she had practiced so many times before. If it was early enough, she could take a walk before the other's even woke up.

As she closed her eyes and focused on waking, she felt a cold set of talons wrap around her snout.

Blinking awake, she was met with a concerned frown, baring small, protruding fangs from either side of its snout.

A frantic whisper rang in her ear as the talons over her snout tightened, muffling the scream she had tried to release: "If you're going to try and cause a fuss, then we're going to have to take you unconscious."

Everest's eyes widened in fear as she felt a familiar prick between two of her scales, fading back into sleep.

As her eyes began to close, she caught a glimpse of both green and magenta on the dragon's jaw, along with..... *was that a vine?*

"Grab the afflicted one, we'll carry these three." His voice faded away as she fell back into the void of sleep.