"Moraine!" Peak shrieked as blood spurted out from the dragon's neck. He tried to pry whatever was on the back of neck off her with his claws.

I turned and saw that teeth had lodged themselves into the dragon's neck, and those teeth belonged to the same dragon that had snatched the box out the sky last night.

This was a VolcanoWing assassin, and they had their jaws firmly planted on the back of Moraine's neck.

As I jumped over the back of the long chair, the black dragon let go and bolted out the cave. I followed them, hoping that this dragon would provide some answers about the Vulcan.

As I followed the assassin through the tunnels that wound throughout the mountain, I realized that these tunnels weren't like the ones Vent showed us through – those that went back into the palace.

These tunnels headed somewhere else. Perhaps to the outside world or the funeral peak?

Turning a corner into a tunnel the assassin went through, I nearly crashed in a StormWing carrying a basket. I stopped myself in front them, stubbing my claws on the stone.

"Ow" I hissed at myself.

The StormWing looked at me, stunned yet befuddled. "Are you okay?"

I looked around, not even answering them. Where did you go?

"Are you lost?"

No answer from me.

"Did something happen?"

I didn't answer them again. I sniffed the air, hoping to get a whiff of that VolcanoWing's scent.

The intersection mainly smelled of StormWings, but there was a hint of VolcanoWing... There!

I bolted past the StormWing into the tunnel, which had a gradual upward slope. As I raced up the tunnel, I could hear waves crashing against each other from outside.

I was close to the sea, and the VolcanoWing would be arrested there.

When I reached the top of the tunnel, I could see the VolcanoWing was at the mouth of it, near the sea. But they were surrounded by... OceanWings? What were these dragons doing here?

"Where are they?" a green dragon demanded the assassin.

The assassin just shook their head. "Like I said, I don't know who 'they' are. You're asking the wrong dragon."

"Do you know where you last saw them?"

"In the gathering area, deep in the mountain."

"How do we get there?"

The assassin gave them a look. "Why are you asking me this?"

'Should we...?', the green dragon flashed to a green-brown dragon. They nodded, and the green dragon explained all to the VolcanoWing as the green-brown dragon turned around, supposedly looking for someone else, and spotted me.

"The dragons we are searching for are here, and they've wronged us for generations. They've ripped our families apart, starved us, killed those who speak the truth."

'There!' the dragon flashed with their tail stripes to the others and charged at me.

Crap!

I spun around to flee back into the mountain, but a hood that smelled of underwater plants was shoved over my head, and stumbled to the ground, nearly tumbling back down the tunnel. It was dark like the deepest blue, but greener.

As I landed on the floor, I heard a crack come from my chest, and panic shot through me. Had the egg broken? Did I just kill my little sibling?

I clawed the back of the hood, but I felt talons on it, meaning that someone was trying to hold it down onto me. But why?

Teeth sank into my tail, and talons pinned my down to the floor. I couldn't move, couldn't do anything. What did they want with me?

I saw flashes of light from outside the hood in patterns, meaning that the OceanWings were speaking to each other in Marine.

When the last flash was over, I felt myself being dragged by these guys to the mouth of the tunnel. They should've targeted the assassin, not me!

"Hey!" I heard a voice bark from tunnel. It was Peak, but he had come too late.

One of the dragons hissed at him. "This does not concern the MountainWings."

"It does now", he growled and breathed a storm-like wind from his mouth at the dragons. I could smell his breath through the wind, and it smelled of rancid carnage.

As I was forced backward to the edge of the cave, I briefly saw flashes from outside the hood before something slammed into my head, and darkness took over.

_______________

The water is a deep blue, and silver light streams into it.

She sinks to the bottom of the ocean, no will her body to surface.

The light is moving farther out of her grasp.

She knows she must surface on order to survive, so she musters her strength and claws her way up through the water.

The silver light gets intense as she breaches the undercurrents of the deepest blue...

______________

As I open my eyes, I saw pulsing colors of pink and blue around me.

Am I dead?

It looked like I wasn't, as I sat up and groaned.

'What happened?'

I looked around at my surroundings, and I saw I giant palatial reef in front me, surrounded by cliffs on all sides, the only light coming from bioluminescent coral and pulsating jellyfish. The coral of the reef was rotting, long sheets of moss were draped over its pinnacles and sides. Stone vents popped up out of the stony floor, spewing heat into the surrounding area.

Dragons were all over the cliffs, but these dragons weren't ones I knew. They were in colors I didn't know, a mishmash of different waters.

I was back underwater. But where was I? Maybe the dragons in front of me might help.

As I took a step, a blue dragon's head popped into my view, and they looked pissed.

Get back in there, scum, they growled at me.

Not wanting any trouble, I obeyed and realized that I was in an alcove like Mother was in Mistral's palace, and it was guarded at all angles by OceanWings.

Where was I? If I'm being held prisoner by these dragons, what do they want from me?

The blue dragon was still staring at me, fury in their eyes, and their gaze wouldn't let go.

The alcove was small, able to house three dragons who were curled up to each other comfortably. But why hold one dragon here instead of multiple ones?

Something felt "off" about my chest, and I looked down. The harness and my little sibling's egg were gone.

No.

I curled myself into a ball, clutching my horns with my claws and letting myself fall to the ocean floor.

'I failed you, Mother. I failed to protect the future. Our family.'

The heat from the vents burbled around me, wrapped me in the gentle anger of the deep.

How was I supposed to deal with this? Losing my sister and being so far from home?

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a dragon swim towards me. They had pale blue scales that were nearly white like water filled with light, and their membranes were pale pink like the insides of seashells. Perhaps they could tell me why I'm here.

One of the dragons guarding the mouth the alcove let the newcomer pass. As they approached me, I uncoiled myself from being a ball, straightened myself, and bared my teeth at them.

The pale dragon stopped. So, you're the new dragon Coral dragged here, they mused. Fascinated how she chose you instead of any of the others.

Who's Coral? I demanded. And why am I here?

You will learn soon who mysister is, but for now, get comfortable here. You're dealing with theUndercurrents now.

Originally published: 03/28/2023 (typed up (final) manuscript of chapter 8, book 1 to page); edited: (WIP)