I held in my screams as I flailed through the hatchery's water, trying to calm the burn down.

The world went round and round in all directions and I could make out an armored figure fighting Anemone through the chaos.

I reoriented myself and quickly checked my tail, which had a red gash throbbing with pain on one side of it, before looking back up.

A black dragon clad in plated metallic armor was wielding some sort of metallic stick that was curved at one end and was forcing it into Anemone's gills. It was almost like stabbing someone's chest, aiming the knife at their lungs.

The skinny dragon that was guarding the hatchery was dead, their body was starting to rise to the top due to gas swelling in their body, backside up. Burn scars like the one on my tail were all over their body, including one deep in their chest.

Anemone was staggering back as she pushed the curved stick the black dragon had back as it was being forced into her gills, burning them.

I charged at the black dragon, plowing into them, and knocking them off-balance. The dragon flailed in the water, trying to reorient themselves, and I grabbed their head, taking advantage of their lack of competent deep-sea swimming.

As I yanked the helmet off the dragon's head, they tried to push my forearms off to keep it on, throwing the stick into the surrounding water.

Anemone! I called. Help me!

I kicked the black dragon in their stomach, and they keeled over in pain, allowing me to wedge my claws into the helmet and pull it off them.

Anemone swam up to me and snagged the helmet, noticing what I was doing.

Together we pulled the helmet off the dragon, and she smacked the dragon's head with her tail. I heard a snap, and the black dragon was now limp in the water.

I looked at back her. I thought you said you didn't have the guts to kill.

Anemone snorted. I said I don't have the guts to execute dragons. Now hold still.

She put one of her talons on top of my head and the other on my jaw. This is going to hurt, she said before moving my jaw back into place in one swift, hard motion.

The pain from earlier came back, but at least now I could tell that my jaw wasn't broken. I snatched some mouthfuls of water to make sure it was working properly before realizing that this was my chance to escape.

I turned around and sped out of the hatchery, leaving the blazing heat behind.

I saw flashes behind me, which was probably Anemone following me with also yelling at me.

As soon as I exited the tunnel and into the main hall, a green dragon staggered backward as a black dragon stabbed them with a curved metallic stick. No blood came from the green dragon, oddly, but I had to get out of here.

I darted around the dragons and to the opening of the reef, my eyes were assaulted with dragons fighting dragons. Blue on black, green on black. Dragons were scrambling to get out of the reef and into the darkness of the trench.

I darted out into the battlefield, a black dragon plowed into me, and I was sent careening before I felt claws dig into my scales and the feeling of fire burned into the back of my neck.

Instinctively, I clawed behind me and I felt my claws snag on metal plates and the fire went into my gills. The more I pulled on the plates, the more the fire dug into my neck.

So this was how I was going to die – in the waters of enemy territory by foreign dragons, stained with blood.

Before the fire completely dug into my gills and I choked on fire, the burning suddenly stopped, and I was pushed down into the trench by claws.

The pain in my gills was great as I regained my balance on one of the trench's cliffs before swimming out into the darkness of the trench.

There were other dragons here, but some of them weren't so lucky when they fled. Blood from the wounds of the living and dead seeped into the surrounding dark water, trailing behind them, or leaving their corpses.

I swam from the cliff into the dark waters of the trench, away from the Undercurrents and a battlefield.

_________

When I emerged from the trench, the light streaming into the water was a dying gold, meaning that it was evening on the surface.

Above the water, I could see silhouettes of dragons attacking other dragons. Some of those silhouettes morphed into corpses as their bodies fell into the ocean from wounds. I recognized that the corpses falling into the water were from different species, from different areas of the world – StormWing and DesertWings from the Island of Talons, MountainWings from the Ridges, ArcticWings from the poles.

I didn't have time to investigate who these dragons were. I had to find out what was going on and I had to find my way back to the capital.

I surfaced the water when the sky seemed clear and found the shape of the trees of the Rachis Jungle in the distance. The roaring of dragons and the smell of smoke could be heard in the distance and the silhouettes of other dragons were heading my way.

I plunged my head underwater to avoid detection and formulated my plan. If I continued north a bit, I would reach the River of Beaks and use that as a starting point to get back to the capital.

I couldn't simply turn around and go back. There were probably more armored dragons swarming the trench, and they would easily detect and kill me in a heartbeat.

I also couldn't surface, because I would end up like those dragons that fell into the water – very dead.

Like the protagonist of Crescents of Fire, the sixth book of Skies of Fire, I had to stay hidden to stay safe.

__________

I continued swimming until the water turned dark blue with silver, when I found a giant reef loom in front of me that looked like a mountain jutting in the ocean.

It looked abandoned based on its state, and there were char marks all over it. Claw marks pocketed it in areas where dragons had tried to claw the coral to stay alive.

It was bigger than the reef in the caverns below and had a jagged spherical shape.

I swam down to the hollow that seemed closest to me and was at my eye line. It was worn smooth my dragon claws over the Turns, despite its jagged exterior.

A grey-green eel that had made its home in one of the cracks in the reef nipped at one of my claws, warning me to stay away from it.

I curled up on the smooth coral floor and let exhaustion and uncertainty take over me.

______________

She swims through the caverns, which are pocketed with scorch and claw marks all over.

The reef in the center of the cave is destroyed, pieces of it lie on the cavern floor. Corpses litter the water, floating to the top due to gas building up in them. The shells of eggs have been destroyed in the hatcheries and their inhabitants are also gone.

There is no life here, save for her only, and only her.

She continues swimming around until she sees some sort of groove within the cavern's walls. She tugs at it with her claws, and it gives way.

A door that leads somewhere else.

She opens the door completely and swims into a trench, lit with bioluminescent coral.

Dragons swarm the reef down here and its cliffs. She is not sure this is real, so she turns around and the door is gone.

She turns around again to face the reef and a dragon swims down her.

Excuse me, they say, do you need help?

Yes, she replies, do you know who the current OceanWing monarch is?

The dragon gives a look at her and arches an eye ridge.

Have you been living under a rock? The monarch is Wave.

Mother's alive, she mutters to herself before asking the dragon where she is and thanking them.

She speeds into the middle of the reef and down the tunnel leading to a stone door in front of a cave.

The dragon guarding the door puts a curved metallic stick in her snout, ready to shoot fire at her.

I'm Tide, she says, Wave's daughter.

The guard studies her before opening the door and letting her in.

Vents line the cavern floor, eggs tucked into seaweed nests surrounding them.

In there was a dark blue dragon who was holding a dark green egg in her claws which was soon to hatch.

Around her chest was a harness and rope made from a clear, white-colored substance that connected her to a small blue dragonet.

Behind her were two dragons – one with dark blue scales and pale blue eyes; the other with pale blue scales, pink webbing, and pale blue eyes. They looked nearly identical, as if they were related to each other.

The small dragonet notices her and scampers up to her.

Tide! the dragonet chirps, elation in his eyes. You're alive!

She lets out a guttural chuckle. She has missed her little brother.

It's good to see you, Swell.

While you were gone, I finished all the books of Skies of Fire.

Oh, did you?

Yes, and guess what? I'm starting some new books!

Which ones?

Swell drops his head, disappointment on his snout. Ones related to Instruction.

You shouldn't mope about them, Wave said. Your brothers and sisters have gone through them, and look where they are-

She was cut off by the dark blue dragon behind her quickly snapping her neck with her talons.

Coral.

The dragon then trampled over Wave's corpse and the egg towards her and her little brother.

The egg was now crushed, the eggshells floated to the top of the cavern as the little green hatchling stayed still in her mother's claws.

She wraps herself around Swell, baring her teeth to ward Coral off.

But the dragon didn't heedthe warning. She opened her jaw like a snake and lunged at her, devouring her whole into darkness.

Originally published: 04/20/2023 (typed up final manuscript of chapter 11, book 1 to page); edited: (WIP)