"YOU WILL NEVER be stronger than me!"

     Aether's entire body was engulfed in shadow. It couldn't see anything, feel anything. It was numb, enveloped in darkness, unable to force movement to its limbs.

     It hung there for a long time, unmoving, powerless, the shadows swallowing up its figure until it was close to suffocating from the gloom.

     And then . . . it was falling.

     The hybrid could not summon any strength into its wings as it sank through the air, falling straight down. Around it, flashes of light yielded faces it had never seen before, shadows of dragons it had no connection to.

     The largest beam of light is ultimately what caught Aether's attention, and the falling seemed to slow down so that it could get a good look at the images within.

     There it was, a glowing pillar of light revealing a familiar face — it was like looking into a mirror. The hybrid stood on a towering cliff, wings spread wide, staring down at a land filled with rock and shadow. A wasteland.

     Aether peered closer, seeing itself in such a position of power was daunting, and a beautiful silver crown adorned its head, held in place by a woven wreath of thorns. Something was definitely off, not just with the situation, but . . .

     It jerked back suddenly. Wait . . . those eyes . . . why were they—

     The pillar shuddered, and the shadows seemed to close in on it again, tugging at the arms, ceiling around the throat. It saw the image crack at the corners, and made a desperate jerk toward it.

     "I will have this world! It's mine by blood!" That voice . . . that unfamiliar voice was back, ringing in its ears.

     "It never was yours!" Now that one, it recognized. A glorious LeafWing flew up behind the figure of the crowned hybrid. Appleseed, if it remembered her name right. Behind her, blotches images of other dragons were keeping close, aiming for it. But a flash yielded a change, and the image splintered completely, shattering and letting the shards fly.

     "No!" It yelled, pushing forward to grab at the image. "No, what's going on?"

     The darkness returned, only for a moment, and then, Aether was standing alone, surrounded by stone, blood coating its own talons.

     "Aether?"

     That voice . . . three moons, it knew that voice.

     Turning around, the hybrid saw another hybrid approaching it, one that was a rustic copper-orange, one with the same markings as it.

     "Spice?" It croaked, watching them approach. "Oh, moons, Spice. What's happening? Why do I . . . there's so much blood."

     Their expression shifted. "You killed him."

     "What?"

     "You killed Fire Opal." They told it, walking forward. "And Candy Crab. And Peacock. And Mirage." They narrowed their eyes, shoving their nose up against Aether's. "You tore down every single dragon who tried to stop you." Then, they pulled back, staring at it with a mixture of hatred and challenge. "I was the last dragon left who believed you could be saved."

     It stepped back as well, staring at their twin with bile rising in its throat as it watched them brace themselves.

     "I won't make that mistake again." Spice then lunged, jaws snapping for Aether's throat.

     And it couldn't move as the darkness washed over it once again.

     Cracking open its eyes, Aether felt the cold chill of the stone slab beneath its body slowly spreading an icy touch through its scales, leaving its figure feeling numb and uncomfortable. Slowly, it raised its head, jaws stretching into a yawn as it got to its feet.

     As it got up, the young hybrid saw a flash of pale sandy-gold, and looked up to see the SandWing it roomed with exiting the chambers, the tip of her venomous tail vanishing out the door before it could utter a good morning. Rolling its eyes, Aether jumped off the slab of rock and walked around to the foot of it, grabbing its satchel and tying it around its neck for better access.

     Admittedly, the idea of going to classes with these dragons it had known for less than a full day was unnerving, but it figured they would notice if it didn't show up. Unfortunately, this was something it had no choice but to do.

     Silently, it glanced over at the little blue bird sleeping at the foot of the slab of rock that doubled as a bed, and smiled a bit before walking out the door and into the main chamber.

     "Hey, Aether!" It looked up as it exited the room to see the brightly-colored SkyWing striding toward it, smiling slightly. "Have a good night's sleep?"

     "Oh, hi, Opal," it smiled at him and waved, swaying its tail slightly. "I slept fine, what about you?"

     Fire Opal stretched, his huge wings nearly knocking one of the paintings off the wall nearby. "I slept decently, I suppose, but there's a huge difference between sleeping in a nice, soft bed in the SkyWing palace and sleeping on a slab of stone here."

     Aether laughed, "That's very true." Adjusting the satchel which held the scrolls for class, it asked, "where are we headed first?"

     "What class?" He asked, "Uh, Strategic Warfare, I think. With Professor Scorch."

     "That moody old guy with a stuck up his tail?" Another voice piped up, and both the SkyWing and the hybrid turned to see Metalmark standing there, wings folded back. "Ugh, he burned me pretty badly yesterday with his fire. He's clearly deranged."

     Fire Opal nodded. "Agreed. But we don't have much of a choice. I'd rather not send the mean old SkyWing hunting us down because we didn't show up."

     "That was what I was thinking," Aether replied. "Even worse that it's our first class. Who wants to deal with him this early?"

     "What other classes and professors do we have?" Metalmark asked, pulling out one of his scrolls to look.

     "I know we have Geology with Professor Elodea, a MudWing who worked in the mines since hatching." Fire Opal replied. "Apparently she lost her siblings, and without them or a group to take her in, she was deemed useless by her tribe and sent to the mines to work."

     Aether gave him a long look. "How do you know that?"

     He shrugged. "My mom was pretty adamant that I learn about my professors prior to coming here, said something about not needing her favorite prince to be assassinated."

     "Favorite prince?" The SilkWing blinked once, his wings twitching. "Queens can have those?"

     "Apparently so," the prince kept staring down at the scroll. "Look, we have Poison; Administration and Remedy with Professor Sicarius — a SandWing from the Scorpion Den. She was rumored to be an assassin way back when, but retired early when she lost an eye to a dragonbite viper."

     Aether shuddered. "That sounds awful."

     "Yeah," Metalmark agreed. "Who else?"

     "A LeafWing dragon named Konjac is our Botany and Flower Identification professor." The prince continued. "And we have Animal Care and Health with a RainWing named Honeycreeper."

     "What's their deal?" The hybrid asked curiously.

     Fire Opal thought for a moment. "If I remember right, Konjac has a very powerful Leafspeak ability and was the product of an affair between a PoisonWing and a SapWing. His father was the one who raised him in the SapWing side of the LeafWing village, and he was taught by the most powerful dragon there how to utilize the Leafspeak."

     "I read about that ability." Metalmark ventured. "It's amazing how they can talk to plants, tell them to grow."

     "They also weaponize ants," Aether added, "which is pretty cool too."

     "Right?" The SilkWing huffed, "like, why didn't other dragons pick up on that?"

     Fire Opal chuckled. "There wasn't much on Honeycreeper, just that he's a vet for the RainWings."

     "Anything else?"

     The young prince scanned the scroll again. "Professor Scorch for Strategic Warfare, Professor Randkluft for Survival Tactics, Professor Bubbletip for Aquatic Languages and Understanding, Professor Fairyfly for History Since Brightest Night, Professor Pearlcrescent for Art, Color,and Music Theory, and professor Scorchspark for Magical Artifacts."

     "Fun-filled day," Aether responded. "Any hybrid teachers?"

     Fire Opal shook his head. "Not that I can see. They probably can't find enough hybrids to teach."

     The young hybrid looked away. "There are other hybrids, they just don't want to come all the way here." It rubbed the back of its neck. "Only those invited are welcome."

     He tilted his head at it. "Did you leave someone behind?"

     As it headed for the door, Aether let out a soft sigh. "Yeah, I did. They weren't allowed to join me, only I was invited."

     "Who are they?"

     It held the door open for him and glanced over at Metalmark, who waved them on while he rummaged through his own bag. It shrugged, following Fire Opal into the hallway and closing the door behind it. "My twin, a sibling named Spice."

     "A twin, hmm?" He looked quite interested. "And they're . . . non-binary like you?"

     "Oh, I'm not non-binary." Aether replied. "I'm agender, but yes, Spice is non-binary. They stayed behind to protect my — our — friends." It looked down at the floor as they walked. "They weren't invited because, well, my mother hid the fact that hybrid twins were conceived for a good reason."

     Fire Opal glanced at her. "Well, glad to know my mom wasn't the only one."

     It blinked once. "What do you mean?"

     "Well . . ." He scraped his talons over the stone nervously. "I have a twin, too. It's a SkyWing thing." His gaze clouded. "We've always been close, despite the circumstances."

     "Royal hierarchy?" It guessed.

     Fire Opal chuckled. "Even though I'm my mother's favorite son, that just means I'm treated better than my forty-two brothers, not better than my twenty-four sisters, including my twin. She always liked Firehawk more than she loved me, so we were separated at hatching so she could train for her, uh, eighth-in-line duties while I boredly did stuff for schooling."

     "How bad was it, growing up in the palace?"

     "Not that bad," he admitted, "I was treated a lot better than my brothers, mom took special interest in me and often let me sit among her court to observe. She told me that if some freakish accident happened that killed off her and all female contenders, she'd rather it be me on the throne than any other prince. Firehawk always found her doting amusing, but my brothers were always so jealous."

     Aether smiled at him. "Your mom sounds . . . nicer than what I was taught. My mom was always so adamant that SkyWing royals were no good, and I believed her, even more so after she was killed by the queen."

     Fire Opal's eyes widened. "My mom killed yours? I'm so sorry."

     It shrugged. "It was inevitable, in the end. She would have done anything for my father, and they used him to lure her into an execution."

     Something in his eyes seemed to glint, just for a moment. "What was her name?"

     "I don't see why it matters. She's dead and gone, not even a grave to remember her by."

     "My mom's killed many dragons," Fire Opal admitted. "She's bloodthirsty at times, but things got worse after the uprising."

     Aether glanced over at him. "Uprising?"

     He nodded. "You see . . . my great-grandmother was the last queen of the SkyWings, and when she was old and gray, her only daughter died, leaving her eldest granddaughter — my mother — to take the throne without a fight. But there was always some confusion as to if she deserved it, or if the right belonged to her twin sister, Lark."

     The hybrid tensed. "Lark?"

     "Lark was a golden SkyWing, and Tyto looked much the same, only her face was darker, like that of a barn owl." He clarified. "But Lark never wanted the throne, and eventually just . . . disappeared. Many SkyWing followers believed Tyto killed her to secure her place on the throne, but she insisted she ran away, only for her to reveal a few years later that she'd captured Lark and locked her away. Her execution was the day after the announcement, and she was killed for being a traitor."

    "That's not true!" Aether growled. "Sun— er, Lark, was never a traitor to her queen. She just wanted to get away from the rebellion, and she wasn't a princess . . . she was a general! Queen Tyto chased her off because of her relationship with a SilkWing."

     The male blinked twice in surprise. "Your mother was Lark?"

     It lashed its tail in annoyance. "That was her name a long time ago," was the reply, "she changed it to Sunninglark after she was driven to exile."

     "My mother did mention a mockery to name," he admitted. "But I promise you, she and L—uh, Sunninglark, were twins."

     "That can't be," Aether told him. "That would mean my sibling and I were royalty."

     "It would also mean that you and I are cousins," he pointed out.

     The hybrid chuckled softly. "Wouldn't that be something."

     "You know, there could be truth to both stories," the large male pointed out. "There could be lies and truth in either one, it just depends on the perspective." His gaze turned forward. "Maybe your mother was right in the fact that she wanted out, and maybe she was chased away by Tyto for being in a relationship with a SilkWing, but maybe my mother was right in the fact that they were twins, and that she truly believed that Sunninglark was a traitor."

     "I suppose only the moons know the real truth," it sighed. "Whatever happened between those two, Sunninglark died because of it, leaving Spice and I as orphans in the Scorpion Den. My father, an innocent SilkWing who only loved his family, was a casualty in a civil conflict that could have ended years ago."

     The prince said nothing on that, but did curl one wing around the hybrid as they halted at the door to their first class. "Everything will work out, in the end," he told it with a smile. "The sins of our parents don't have to echo on us. We can break that cycle now, and show them that their war didn't continue with us."

     Aether sighed, smiling back at him, though it didn't quite reach the eyes. "I hope you're right, Opal."