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A Catastrophe!
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A Catastrophe!
A Catastrophe!
Parental Controls is blocking me from my own Sea vs. Stars thread!
So, I'll be posting the rest here. Whoever gave input on the second installment of my story, you can put it here.
~~~
A School Meeting was being held.
The large Meeting
Hall was separate from the main building, situated in the school’s flourishing,
though small, coral reef. It was a simply made, though attractive building of
graystone. Two whitestone pillars framed the double doors. Seaweed was wrapped
around the pillars, fluttering in the gentle sea current. The doors were
crafted of stone and the roof was domed. On it were painted dancing blue
dragons against a fiery background. Several years ago, some ingenious dragons
at the one of the royal academies discovered a way to make both paint and clay
dry while underwater: oversized breathing necklaces! Ronilian now wondered if
those dragons had been students at the Sapphire School.
The students swam
into the building, where the stressed teachers sorted them by class. Upon
entering, the water drained away as it had in the Battlinghall, so that the
speaker’s voice would carry to the back of the room properly. Ronilian was
placed on a too-small sitting-stone between Diamondweed and Berayn.
The headmaster,
Pearlclaw, stood on the stage at the front of the room and called for quiet.
“Let’s begin,” he
said, “by singing our School Song.”
The voices of the
students were strained and weak, but Ronilian could still make out the song and
sang as best he could. The song had a mournful, solemn tone.
“Long ago, oh long ago, when our ancestors
first gained gills, the sea was clear, and not fair blue, its secrets not
hidden from view.
“All its secrets but one, as bright as the
sun, though it shines with a fair blue light; it had fallen from the sky, many
eons ago, and left a long-lasting blight.”
Ronilian knew what that meant: the Breach in the Skywall, where
a piece of the sky had fallen to the sea long ago; that piece of sky must be
the one they mentioned in the song, for everyone knew that the stars, which
were attached to the other side of the sometimes blue, sometimes transparent
Skywall could shine in any color, including blue. He also knew that the clouds
tried to position themselves to hide this heavenly flaw, and that seeing it was
a very bad omen indeed.
“This secret, a sapphire, known as Trekal,
was exposed by the sea’s restless currents, and it shone, and the ocean turned to
a majestic blue, a blue of the sky, enhanced with green. From the sapphire was
carved out fair city of old; so we are the Sapphire School.”
The song ended with a proud crescendo. Pearlclaw stepped
forth.
“Teachers and
students of the Sapphire School,” he began, “this Meeting is being held for a
very important reason. And the reason is that Draykalia Ashanah, one of our
dearly beloved teachers, was found in the staffroom, dead. We teachers have not
had time to confer, but I believe that she was attacked. There is a cut in her
chest and some students heard a scream. It looks like a stabbing.
“This is quite
horrible, so for the next few weeks we’re going to shut down school. You aren’t
safe right now; the dragon who murdered Draykalia could be anywhere still on
campus. And whether he or she is or not, it is important that they are found.”
He glanced at the
other teachers, signaling that he was now making an impromptu decision.
“If the culprit
is found, classes will resume. If four weeks pass and the culprit still hasn’t
been found, classes will resume but there will be professionally trained police
dragons posted all over campus. And the rules of safety will be reviewed each
day by your teachers.”
“But you don’t have to find the culprit!” Polypsa was
shouting. “I already know who the
culprit is!”
All was silence.
Pearlclaw observed the frantic draglet with his large gray eyes.
“I don’t need any
volunteering, Miss Polypsa. We adults can figure it out for ourselves.”
As the throng of
draglets pushed their way out of the hall, Ronilian caught Polypsa’s loud
whisper.
“It’s Ronilian! Ronilian Roamson! Don’t you
think that if a new student comes and
a teacher is killed the same day, something’s up? Well I do! And at the very
moment when she screamed, he was on his way up the stairs to the
Battlinghall, I saw him! It was Ronilian,
I tell you, it was him!”
~~~
Something was wrong.
“Something is
wrong.”
Darkness. Heat. A
sharpened blade. Excellent. But –
“Something is
wrong.”
What was that
voice?
“Awaken. Awaken.
Awaken.”
Since when was
she able to read his thoughts? Why was he waking up? She had studied the mind
before – this was not regular -
“AWAKEN.”
This wouldn't do.
“AWAAAAAKEN.”
She sped away,
black water swirling.
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submitted by spiffycat, age 12
(June 15, 2019 - 1:46 pm)
(June 15, 2019 - 1:46 pm)
Keep going Spiffy! I'm lovin' this! It's like a dream come true! (No, i'm not kidding i can't seem to find a good dragon novel anywhere! Does anyone have any recomendations?)
(June 15, 2019 - 7:50 pm)
Seraphina and the sequel, Shadow Scale, are great dragon novels. The writing is really good quality, and it has a very interesting, fresh take on dragons.
(June 19, 2019 - 11:06 am)
thanks!
(June 19, 2019 - 1:00 pm)
TOPTOPTOP
(June 15, 2019 - 7:53 pm)
TOP
(June 16, 2019 - 12:40 pm)
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“What's the report?”
The stars
themselves seemed to tremble as he spoke. Scalegrazer clenched her claws
against the mossy rock.
“Uh – sir – it's
not good. I failed to kill him. I'm sorry. It was as if his mind was calling
out to me – if you know what I mean –“
“Ah.” Morish did
not look worried, but he did seem rather displeased. “Hmm. I wondered if that
might happen.”
“If what might
happen?” Scalegrazer immediately regretted the question. Morish did not usually
take kindly to questions, especially those about his Plan.
Morish gazed at
Scalegrazer. His expression was impossible to read. The wind wailed, rushing
over the rock in cold bursts, and Scalegrazer thought longingly of her home.
He spoke at last.
“Ronilian's
grandfather is under my command. He is one of the captains; it does not matter
which.
“He has a wife, a
rainbow dragon named Nalia. She is the mother of Ronilian's mother. She- Nalia
– has the Mark of Her Kind. Do you know what that is?”
Scalegrazer
nodded. It was true – she had learned about it in school last year. “If a
dragon holds the Mark of Its Kind, it has power over other dragons of its
species. If I had the Mark of My Kind, I would have power over all seaweed
dragons. Marks can be stolen, using specially treated obsidian, though the
Holder of the Mark must die for it to work . . . “
Scalegrazer's
voice trailed off. She looked down at her necklace, with the clear black blade
swinging on the end.
Morish smiled.
“Now you understand,” he said. “Marks are passed on; every other generation.
And yes, more than one dragon may have the same Mark. Nalia has it. Ronilian
has it. Because his ancestors have had the Mark before him, you could hear the
Voice. It is that way with all Marked dragons. And the Voice has power, too-
such as power to awaken its Holder.”
‘But he's not a
pureblood rainbow dragon . . .”
“Yes, he isn't,
which means that usually, the Mark would cancel out. But Ronilian's
grandfather, on his other side, also had the Mark: the Mark of the River
Dragons. So now Ronilian has his very own Mark, which no one else will probably
ever have: the Mark of the Rainbow River dragons. He has power over two species
of dragon.
“And, my
Scalegrazer, there is more to Marks than you think. Ronilian has power over
other types of dragons, too – just not as much. Hybrid dragons have always had
more power than purebloods – I regret to say that I am a pureblood myself – but
when I get his Mark, all will change.”
“But sir, you're
a star dragon, not a rainbow river one.”
“That doesn't
matter! The Marks are flexible! They can change to fit my species. They won't
change entirely, however, and that will be to my advantage. I might end up with
complete power over River, Rainbow, and Star!”
“One more thing,
sir. Does Ronilian know he has this Mark?”
“No. Nalia knows,
her husband knows, I know. River dragons are secretive, and his grandfather is
already dead, so I doubt anyone on the River side of the family knows.
Ronilian's mother might know, but if so I doubt she could do any harm. Now go,
Scalegrazer.”
“Just one more
thing!”
Staraxi's eyes
smoldered, but he nodded.
“Did Draykalia
have the Mark of Her Kind? And why do you need the Marks?”
“Yes, Draykalia
had the Mark. I have one too, now, over all fish dragons; unfortunately those
aren't very common. And as for your second question, that makes two more
things, so I shall not answer.”
Scalegrazer winged
away over the sea, thinking about her master's plan, and wondering what in
Jith's oceans she had gotten herself into.
~~~
Ronilian's eyes opened. His heart pounded hard in his chest,
and the skin and scales of his arms tingled. He did not know why he had woken
up so suddenly; it was as if something inside of him had called to him and
raised him from sleep. As if something had been threatening him.
Something had
certainly been here. The room was too hot, and the glass door was open.
He remembered
Draykalia's death the day before. The thought sent rippling chills throughout
his body.
He sighed and got
up, stretching his wings. His kelp bed was slightly mussed, but beside this and
the open door the room was just as it should be; tablets and scrolls for school
set neatly on the graystone floor beside several books he had brought from New
Riven, a blue-white timeteller floating in the corner, and a small device known
as a songbird. They had been invented by the sarpisons long ago for the use of
recording and storing songs, and Ronilian, who loved to both listen to music
and make it, used it often.
He closed the glass door and leaned against
the polished blue-green wall, wondering whether or not he should tell his
parents.
Light fell on his
face, and he noticed that the window was open, allowing fresh water in. He had
closed the window yesterday; his parents had made him do so after hearing about
the murder. But he had opened it again, secretly, so that a small shrimp that
had been wandering about his room ever since he first came to Trekal (and
probably before) could find its way out.
The shrimp was
out, all right. But there was no guarantee that something else had come in and
tried to murder him.
That settled it:
he would not tell his parents. They would only tell him it was his own fault
for not exercising proper caution and not listening to direction.
He was still
nervous, though, and looked anxiously over his shoulder as he swam out of the
room.
(June 18, 2019 - 5:07 pm)
Wings of Fire is also good if you don't mind annoying romance and crushes. It's super suspenseful. :)
(June 20, 2019 - 4:03 pm)
Thanks guys/gals i'll look into your suggestions!
(June 20, 2019 - 7:41 pm)