Opal hated Sapphire.

Period.

It wasn't because of the sharp words, the selfishness, or the utter lack of respect;
It was because she made Opal feel hated. And that was something that even the soft fur blankets in her room or the glow of three moon globes could fix.

Sure, she had never been the most popular dragon in the kingdom, but she had friends from other tribes, and of course, Queen mistral had always been ready with an open pair of wings and an attentive ear.
But now she was gone, and without her to arrange meetings-parties-with the other tribes, Opal was alone. And isolated. Even worse, Sapphire had forbidden her from leaving the castle, before she was done enchanting the ring, so she was forced to wander the cold, empty halls alone, like a fish stuck in a cave. Maybe it was for the best. Ever since Mistral died, all the Icewings had been furious at her. They thought she could have stopped the plague, save the queen, help her tribe like she was supposed to! They didn't listen to her quiet whispers of;

"She told me not to."

So not only was she a fish in a cave but there were sharks outside, waiting to eat her.
Well, she did have someone to talk to.

Mother,
Her brain whispered.
But she couldn't. After all these years of seeing her in the halls and dismissing her as another snobby royal, she couldn't let herself suddenly burst into her room in tears. She couldn't help giggling at the thought of it. It was a disgusting laugh, high and squeaky. Bitter and cold. But it was something. Still, her laughs fell short as her gaze dropped to the sparkling opal ring on her bookshelf, glistening in the light of her many moon globes, picked in an anxious frenzy. Why couldn't Sapphire have asked her for something like that? She never told anyone, but Frostbite's gift was her favorite.
This just proved even more that she clearly wasn't an Icewing.
She had been so busy staring at the glowing ring that she hadn't noticed her talons stepping towards the door.
She screamed internally as she fell towards the hard ice door but luckily pushed it open at the last second.
Crunch.
Okay, maybe not so lucky.
She cradles her injured wrist as she pushed her weight onto her left foreleg.
Great.
Of course, she just had to injure the wrist she wrote with.
Her wrist hurt. A lot. She stumbled down the dark halls of the castle, dragging her useless wrist along with her, until she finally collapsed in her favorite place, right next to the moon-orb tree. She didn't really know why, but when she was near it, she felt a little stronger and a little less scared. Maybe that was for all Icewing's, but she liked to think the magic was just for her. A little wave from her fellow animuses, a push back onto her talons. A; Hey, we're here. You're not alone.
She sure felt like it.
Something's she just wanted to cave in on herself, hide in the folds of her wings and hope no one noticed.
She leaned back on the tree and heard a small crack.
She gasped, and leaned forward, but not before a whole branch fell off the bottom of the tree!
"No," she whispered.
"No, no, nonononono."
She bite her lip, hoping it would hold back the tears.
Nope.
A single tear, clear as glass, splashed on the ground, right where the tree's roots would be. It sank into the ground.
A voice shrieked; "No!" And her head whipped towards the sound.
The last thing she saw was a shockingly beautiful pair of grey-blue eyes, wide open.

And then the ground exploded.

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Hi! Your favorite author, back at it again! I finally finished a new chapter, and gotta be honest, I'm pretty proud! I hope you guys like it! If you don't want my head to explode like the ground, I wouldn't mind a vote! "Puts on sunglasses and looks like this ―>😎"-IggyTheAwesomeImp

❤️-(The one and only)Luh