Winter2023

The man signalled for Jonas to come and sit in the chair beside him. Despite how desperately, he desired to reunite with his friend, who was only a few metres away, his obedient nature took over and marched him over to the seat. The man spoke up. “My name is Atticus. I know very little of the goings-on outside of our haven here in the Atrium. I was not even aware that there had been other survivors, other colonies, after the Great War.” Jonas was intrigued. “If you don’t mind me asking, but, I have never heard of a Great War. Also, what is the Atrium? How did you get here? Did you…?” Atticus raised his hand, putting a stop to Jonas’s outburst of questions. “I apologise for my outburst, Sir. I… I have received countless memories, glimpses of the past, and yet I have never even heard of a Great War.” Atticus muttered to himself.

Atticus turned to face Jonas, staring him in the eyes, before releasing an audible sigh. “My friend, the reason why you would have no recollection of the Great War, or any events that led up to it, is because every man, woman, and child who resided on Earth at the time was murdered brutally by the Fractal Bombings of 3017.”

The moon hung in the sky like a Japanese lantern, illuminating Dawn. Apprehension filled her body as an icy wind whipped against her silver scales. She dived through the rocky outcrops. She could almost sense the ominous bodies peering behind her. She observed the flowing mountain ranges just below her, planning her actions carefully. The mountain tips glowed pale silver in the moonlight. Suddenly, she dived, plummeting in a steep nosedive. She landed hard, her bones aching. “Boom, boom, boom,” the last thing she heard was the sound of footsteps.

Her eyes flickered open and she immediately knew she was in the open air. Iridescent stars blinked down at her, beautiful really. When she moved, pain shot up her leg. A bad sprain. She looked around her, her eyes setting on a horrible sight. Blood painted the walls, Dismembered limbs littered the floor. Small pieces of wing had been savagely ripped to shreds. Lying limp on the floor, was a deep blue dragon. Fresh blood poured from deep open gashes. It was a horrific scene. As she flew through Jade Mountain, she wondered, how did that happen?

The cool glow of the moon gently lit up the night sky as her claws rested peacefully on the craggy rock. Under the three full moons, she glowed beautifully. It was the brightest night! An almost godlike aura shone around her. She glowed strong like a beacon. As she closed her eyes, she felt a surge of sorts. It felt like the wind was passing through her. She exhaled deeply, wisps of pure light drifted lazily from her mouth. She began to feel a growing sense of affinity with everything. Her usual aloof expression was gone, the world was her oyster! As she sat in deep relaxation, she could sense something behind her. “What is that?” she muttered to herself.
“Ha! We got her,” a deep voice spoke as a bag closed around her vision. 

A door yawned open as she was shoved onto hot sand. A sinking feeling filled her stomach as she tried desperately to get up. She felt a sharp prod in the back as she was transported into the middle of the arena. The arena itself was very large. It was hard to perceive a sense of scale. What seemed like kilometres of forest, sand and water spanned the length of the arena. The heavy shackles dropped off her legs as a voice yelled, “Let the games begin!” She quickly dove into a dense bush as several ThunderWings began scanning the arena for her. The same sinking feeling from earlier increased, they were looking for her. She quickly sunk into an affinity with everything once more. She could sense that the majority of the dragons were looking through the sprawling desert, a task that would take them a while.

As she focused on other things, she could sense a dark, more powerful figure approaching her. Using her powers, she tried to get him to look into a different bush. To her surprise, he did. Seizing the opportunity, she slashed at his neck with her claws, opening deep gashes and blew a heavy stream of air at him, sending him flying backwards. Fire seared across her back as she shot into the sky. The ThunderWing guards tried to close the gap, but they couldn’t stop her. She flew swiftly north, back to the mountain ranges with a horde of ThunderWings in hot pursuit. 

She started to feel faint, yet she still flew on. She only just realised how thirsty she was yet she still flew on. Eventually, she started to wear down, faster than her pursuers. Another blast of fire scorched her back, sending ripples of pain up her body. She knew that if she continued at this pace, she would quite literally fall out of the sky. Normally, she could easily outrun this mob but in these conditions, no. She would have to find another way. She abruptly dove towards the ground, swerving and ducking through the mountain ranges. This was the terrain that she knew best. Adrenaline surged through her body. Out of nowhere, another silvery dragon burst out in front of her and blew superheated air at her pursuers. It knocked one of them out of the sky before they had time to react. Then the dragon sprang at the remaining dragons. It was a bloodbath. Four massive dragons against one. The pale dragon struck first opening deep gashes along its throat. It threw its dead corpse at another, knocking it off the mountain. Then it held another one up and ripped out its throat, instantly killing it. The last couple of ThunderWings attacked him, breathing fire and he responded with a blast of wind, effectively deflecting the fire. He then dealt with the remaining ThunderWings in rapid succession. The other dragons didn’t stand a chance. 

The dragon then turned to Dawn, “ I am your guardian, if you need me, contact me through the stars, you will know what to do,” he said, “ I trust you have discovered your fate weaving powers?”
Dawn nodded nervously.
“Good,” he said. With that, he flew off into the sunset.

Dawn had never had parents. She had always had to take herself to Jade Mountain Academy, go to sleep by herself and be alone. Her guardian was the closest thing that she ever had to a parent and he had just flown away. Deep lines of emotion temporarily disfigured her face as tears welled in her eyes. She may have no parents but deep inside, she knew it would make her stronger… eventually.     

The vast palace of the TinyWings could be seen from the TitanWings trench. The two tribes had been at war for nearly a decade and still no peace had been declared. Two TitanWings would have the chance to be heroes of their tribe, or become a pile of corpses. Massive and Bighead crept across the forest until the cover of the trees stopped. Massive took out something that looked like a mini green barrel. Bighead looked quizzically.
“They call it a dragonbomb. Can blow up about seventy-five square feet. Engineered by our very own scientists,” explained Massive.
“Reckon it will be enough to distract the guards?” asked Bighead.
Massive shrugged. “It’ll have to,” he replied. He carefully cut a red wire and threw it at the opposite wall from the one closest to them. Within seconds the wall went up in flames.
“Now!” Massive urged.
Bighead raced to the gate and rammed the brick wall with his iron head. The wall collapsed under the immense pressure and the pair crept inside. Massive and Bighead weaved through the maze of corridors and halted abruptly in front of a silver door embedded with diamonds. The handle was an elegant rose-gold colour and the door curved into a beautiful arch. Bighead ignored any of the door’s costly features and charged at it with his iron head like a bull in a China shop. Massive could hear the thumping footsteps of a nearby horde of TinyWing guards approaching, but his anxiety was paused when the crash of metal cascaded down onto the floor. Massive and Bighead stepped inside and found the Queen sitting majestically on her grand throne. Massive smirked his biggest smirk yet. They were an ant’s step from completing the task. Without warning, Bighead’s face was planted into the white marble floor. Suddenly, an icy cold talon seized his shoulder and shoved him to the ground. He found himself facing about a dozen TinyWing soldiers. I’m screwed. 

Massive was surprised the Queen didn’t execute him on the spot. He was locked up in a tiny cell with tiny bars and tiny chains that were cemented in the ground. He had no idea where Bighead had gone and depression and boredom were starting to kick in. When he came round, he knew that planning an escape was essential. But escape was just as easy as trying to swim in lava. He spent the next few days attempting to claw at the loose limestone bricks with a few sharp bones from dinner and he was actually making decent progress, but he would soon find out that his hard work would come to nought as he was going to be put on trial. 

On the third or fourth day of being inside a now nearly rotten prison cell, Massive was actually pretty happy to be let out. He was taken along a dark corridor that looked like a hallway to hell. On the walls hung daunting tapestries that looked as if they were all trying to tell a muffled secret. Eventually the hall let out to a platform and a small stadium with an array of spectators already there. On the platform, was the Queen sitting every so nastily on her priceless throne. The guards shoved Massive onto the floor below the veranda. The guards retreated and a hush fell over the crowd.
“Hello and welcome, my fellow subjects,” said the Queen in her usual booming tone. “Today, we have an interesting court case. This dragon, Massive, was attempting something only a worm would do. In fact, this dragon is a worm, just bigger and fatter!” she chuckled. 
An appreciative laughter came from the crowd.
“So, back to the point, can you guess what he tried to do? Oh, yes he did. He tried to kill me. Tried to. So should I now kill him?”
A roar of approval came from the crowd.
“Very well. Execute him!” Three guards strode into a nearby room and brought out an immense dragotine. Two guards dragged Massive onto the dragotine while the third prepared to pull down the anchor. 

“Any last words?” the Queen mocked.
Massive’s breaths came in short gasps. He saw his name painted in a scroll on the Worst Failed Assassination Attempts. He struggled to think of his loved ones. He lay still, and closed his eyes.
Suddenly, the roof above the stadium gave way and then a heavy object slammed against dragotine. The wooden frame splintered making Massive as free as a little bird. Before he knew it, a disk was going into the Queen’s artery and after a few long minutes there were only a handful of dragons left in the stadium. A dead corpse, a few loyal soldiers, and a lot of TitanWings. Though he was still sorry for screwing the mission up, Massive was on top of the world. But as he was prancing about, he saw a familiar looking face.
“Bighead? Why the hell are you here?”
“Massive. Oh you’re alive; thank the gods. I escaped by pretending to be dead in my cell until the guards eventually threw me away and then I went to tell Queen Rheia that you were in trouble.” 

A nearby explosion interrupted their reunion. Another one struck significantly closer. The ground split in half and a gigantic dragon emerged from the crevice. It slashed and slammed at everyone. Blood painted the walls and limbs littered the floor. Within a few seconds, it was just Bighead and Massive, facing the mysterious dragon. But whatever it was, its big, beady blue eyes told Massive that it had no pity nor mercy for anything. 

Jonas pulled himself up from the ground and felt his body quickly become limp, like a dead pile of meat that was dropped down from the aeroplane when he was back in the community. Jonas didn’t know if it was the right choice to come to Elsewhere. “Maybe it would be better if I had stayed at the community; all I have done is given Gabe a slow, painful and lonely death,” Jonas muttered, just quiet enough that Gabe couldn’t hear through his frosted ears. Jonas couldn’t feel his body and he had lost control of his legs.

Jonas slipped down to the bottom of the hill and Gabe fell numb in Jonas’s arms. Jonas could feel Gabe’s heart quickly slowing down until it was only a small pulse that Jonas could barely feel. Jonas was quickly losing feeling too and he couldn’t feel his legs anymore. Then Jonas fell straight onto the ground; he could barely feel Gabe and his mind was blank. Gabe fell over into the cold snow, but, to Jonas, it was all just a blur as his eyes were beginning to puff up and he could barely see in front of himself. He felt Gabe stop moving and his face had turned blue.

Jonas uttered a whisper, “Gabe, it’s all going to be okay,” However in Jonas’s mind he knew it was all over, all that he could hope for was that people from elsewhere would find him and Gabe and help them. Even that possible hope was fleeting. He saw a range of blurred figures atop the small, snowy hill, looking down on Jonas and Gabe and their disgusted glares showed only malice. Then, seemingly on a whim, one of the figures on top of the hill sprinted towards Gabe, only just managing to stay upright, and quickly the others followed. Jonas felt two boots made of rough silk traversing his back, then felt an army more march over his back, leaving bruises over his skin.

After successfully retrieving Gabe, the group quickly took a few dozen steps, as quickly as they possibly could, as if they didn’t want anything to do with Jonas, as if they would be infected with some sort of disease if they got too close. Jonas heard one of the figures whisper something, “What should we do with him? It looks like he is from the community.” Jonas heard other figures start bartering over what to do, “We should just kill him, like we do with all the other kids who come from the communities.”
“But Rosemary was such a nice child, I am sure we all regret get rid of her,”
“No, Rosemary was the worst of all that came – she asked question, she was weak, she couldn’t pull her weight, and worst of all, she tried was the receiver of memory,”
“Then it’s settled, let’s just kill him!”
“No, it’s not settled! We should sell him to the gang, people from the community fetch a high price with them.”
“He’s on death’s door, just leave him, the wolves will appreciate it.”
“Are you sure, if they eat him, they may develop a bloodlust for humans and come for us next?” “The wolves already feel bloodlust for every animal, big or small, smart or dumb, tough or weak, from the community or from the world!”
“Okay, but then what should we do with the little one?”
“He probably doesn’t remember anything, let’s just keep him.”
“Sure, he’s harmless enough, and if he is too much trouble, we can just sell him.”

The group of figures quickly scuttled away, over the hill. Jonas couldn’t move; he was so tired from walking that it felt like his whole body was made of lead. He waited till nightfall but his body was still unmoving. Short, catlike, figures appeared from the bushes, wielding large fangs dripping with blood. They quickly approached him and circled around him. A large, old wolf appeared before him. It let out a deathly cry and all of the other wolves pounced on him! His eyes were soaked in blood, he saw his limbs being quickly torn off and ligaments flying through the air.

Before he knew it the wolves had eaten his whole lower body! Jonas still couldn’t move, he couldn’t even speak or let out a cry of pain. He just lay there. Jonas thought something, he finally understood that the pain must have been annulled in the memories, because even though he knew the whole of history, he had never felt something so painful. He felt his conscious slip away, into a warm feeling of nothingness.

Jonas awoke, wearing rags and muddy in a place he had never seen before. The dirt was stained red from blood and a murky river and he saw a humanoid figure standing before him, pulling him towards the river and over it as he was pulled into a horrid chamber filled with torture devices of all kinds. Jonas looked at the figure that had brought him here. “Ahh! What are you!” cried Jonas in surprise and fear. The figure wore filthy black rags that covered almost every part of his body and he held a long scythe in his right hand, and in his left hand he held what Jonas had originally thought was a lamp. “You’re the Reaper!” screamed Jonas.
“Welcome to Tartarus,” the Reaper groaned. And the Reaper pushed Jonas forward and quickly disappeared. The Reaper muttered one thing before he disappeared, “Welcome to your eternal damnation for one who committed the greatest crime.”
“What did I do?” screamed Jonas, mustering all the strength in his withering body,
“You disturbed the system, the greatest sin,” the Reaper said in his horse voice and before Jonas could ask another question bony hands grabbed Jonas and pulled him back into the infernal abyss, never to be graced with the feeling of happiness again.

As the sled sped through the snow, the music grew louder and the lights grew stronger. They had arrived at a street in Elsewhere and Jonas recalled the word “Town”. As he looked around, he noticed he could hear voices further inside. Gabe shook awake and began to cry and screech. Jonas shushes the child in fear of being heard. They crept around the buildings to see people with runners on their shoes! They were sliding around on ice. Intrigued, Jonas walked out and began to go on the ice with Gabe, not fearing what could go wrong. However, as soon as he stepped on it his foot he slipped over and his head collided with the rocky ground below him. Jonas looked up and admired the starry sky, then, he blacked out.

When he woke up, he was surrounded with people in masks and blue scrubs. He jumped out of bed and realised that Gabe was gone. Jonas yelled, “Gabe! Gabe where are you?” The doctors calmed him down and told him that Gabe had been taken to a room to be treated for frostbite and hypothermia. Jonas hopped out of bed and followed the signs to attempt to find Gabe, though questions ran through his head like runners sprinting down a track. What is this place? What are they doing here? Why are they doing this? Where is Gabe? Jonas ran out of energy and realised that his stomach felt like a bottomless pit. He was starving. As Jonas groaned in pain, the doctors sprinted over to him and examined his wounds. One of the doctors said, “You are in Aregia and the year is 2568. You are in a hospital as you were found unconscious in an ice rink. We need to see verification that you are the guardian of this baby.”
Jonas stared at them and asked, “What do you mean verification?”
The doctor replied, “You cannot take the child home without proof that it is yours.”

Jonas looked around and realised that all people here had the light eyes, which is unusual compared to the community he had spent his life in. He looked around and pondered all of the different sounds, scents and sights that he was observing at the time, his mind drifted over all the different and unique different uses, as he has never seen so many. His mind eventually refocused to the task at hand. The doctor repeated, though sounding more frustrated than before, “We need proof of ownership of this child.”

She pulled out a prick and stabbed Jonas in the hand; pain coursed through the different muscles and ligaments as though something was inside, stabbing a thousand different needles. The pin that she used made a beep. Then, her jaw dropped in what looked like a mixture of confusion and excitement. She hobbled off as though she was trying to avoid suspicion.

Jonas stood back up and explored the maze he now knew was a hospital. He wandered through many different rooms, all with different machines and technology inside. He looked up and spotted a sleek metal sign – he had entered Ward 23. He scanned the different rooms, looking for Gabe so that he could make his escape, though it was difficult with so many different thoughts running through his head, like why did he still have his memories? What is with all of the different people with different skin tones and different haircuts and so many more different things!

He calmed himself and continued the search, then, he looked in a room and saw Gabe. He had cords hanging out of him, blood flowing in and out of him and different machines beeping and showing different patterns of lines and numbers and pictures. Jonas’ heart began to rush, worrying that all the work to save Gabe was for nothing and that Gabe would die. Jonas burst into the room, though he noticed someone else in there. “Sign this,” she said, “You are the guardian of this child, correct?”

Jonas snatched the clipboard and wrote his name, and like magic, Gabe’s wounds began to heal at an exponential rate, the machines began to slow down beeping and blood stopped pouring out of him. Within a matter of seconds, the baby sat up and crawled towards Jonas. Jonas, amazed, picked up the small child and left. As he headed outside, he heard the music again. Interested in it he walked toward it, then, BANG! Explosions shook the earth, fire licked the futuristic homes, screams echoed throughout the town. Jonas looked up and spied a fighter jet, an exact replica of what flew over the community all those years ago. They were after him and they wanted him back. They were coming.

Jonas ducked into the nearest shelter of a home, he looked around and saw multiple different artefacts that he was unsure of. He saw a family sprint into a door, gunshots spraying through the windows, blood spraying over the clean, white tabletops in the homes. Jonas, still holding Gabe, sprinted into the room behind the family and found a long staircase that led straight down. The walls spiralled and became more warped the further he went, the paint become more subtle, the walls were dirtier and the staircase began to become more rustic. After following the staircase down for five minutes, he reached the bottom and saw a woman with a rifle, holding the family hostage. “Hello Jonas,” she said in a sly voice, she turned around. It was the chief elder.

Prologue

“No, No, No!” I myself, the majestic Queen Swift cried. The news reported that Queen Oasis was dead. Was killed by a scavenger. And now a war had begun. Oasis was an amazing friend, and a fair ruler too. At the Council of Queens, about a year ago, the Wings of Pyria and myself signed a treaty that banished them to an island that once entered, could not be left. It is called The Paradise. Why? Because the last queen of them blew up the ThunderWings.

It is not fun, being stuck up here. We can’t leave, and probably never will. So, I cried some more. Something struck my mind, just then. Dragon eggs can slip through! I have two eggs, named Blitz and Cintra. Cintra is unique. Even though she had a father in Wings Of Pyria, she is part ReefWing, a creature from a different planet. How it happened? I don’t know. Blitz, however, is very interesting. He was blessed with animous. This means he has magical powers beyond belief, and can’t die of age. I know he was gifted for a reason. I feel it. I am going to die soon so I need to save food for the poor trapped dragonets here. I quietly sobbed and kissed my eggs. With one light motion, the eggs were falling in the pond.

The Prophecy of Dawn

One to fight, one to fall,
One to finally rule them all.
Of all the power,
Of all the land,
Two dragon eggs fall in the sand.
In a world full of wonder,
Now dawns the world of thunder.
A powerful being in its girth,
Here lies the battle of Central Earth.

Part One – Normal Life

Blitz swiftly hiked up the hill. Dashing through the trees he quickly stopped. He noticed a small tawny figure rustling in the bushes. Upon noticing he quietly snarled at the plant; he felt menacing as he towered over the bush. The figure came clear as it pounced at Blitz. “Get away!” He quickly yelled.

Oh. It was only his sister Cintra. “Oh silly,” she teased, “Didn’t see me coming?” He thought for a second but growled as he told her to follow. The sun faded away as time passed. As the jungle-like forest slowly transitioned to hills, their village dawned upon them. He wondered how they got here a year ago. Clearly they weren’t ReactaWings, so it deeply puzzled him.

Cintra looked scornfully at their cobblestone home. “Why do we stay? I want to see the world!” He wished he could, it is not that they are forced to stay.

Everyone in the village wanted to leave. One problem; there is nowhere to go. A big war had happened, whipping out almost everything. Only the ReactaWings survived.

He had a lovely dinner of ten chickens. His bed was old, older than him. The house was originally owned by their “parents.” Apparently they had died in the war. Anyway, it was his sleep time, so he slept.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick……ZWA-BOOM!
He woke up to the clamber of an interdimensional portal. Yay.

Part Two – The Beginning?

Cintra curled up next to him. He couldn’t blame her; he was petrified. As the portal towered above them, a mysterious figure peered through. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard, “Must kill.”

They quickly dashed through the guard’s legs and into the portal. They saw massacre, horrible bodies in blood seeping into the sandy shore. This didn’t scare them, but the Titan Wing did. These SeaWing-like dragons fiercefully battled the Titan Wing something or another, but only in vain. The beast was destroying their homes and the dragons. Looking around Blitz noticed something peculiar.

It was the strange SeaWing creature, but with a crown. He appeared to save a little dragonet, completed that, only to be crushed by a round of….missiles? “I don’t like this, Cintra,” he whispered.
“Me neither, let’s find shelter,” she responded.

But it was too late. The SeaWing creature blasted at them with a massive wave, but only hit Cintra.

Cintra was blasted into the air. She cried, “No!” but was already out of sight. That creature killed his only family and Blitz was furious. He yelled as he leapt onto the dragon and attacked. He swung his claws and stabbed with his barbed tail and hit him with his lovely radioactive spikes.

That very dragon disappeared into dust. He wondered, what am I? And passed out.

He woke up in some kind of cavern or cave. “Where am I? Who’s there?”

“Ma…ma…ma…me.” Stuttered a mysterious voice. Blitz looked around. He saw a small ReactaWing, about his age, in front of him. “My name is Atomic and I am a ReactaWing,” Atomic said.

“Hello Atomic, my name is Blitz. I am not sure what I am.” After about an hour, he finally discovered what he was – he was the legendary Wings of Pyria, and he was part of a mythical prophecy.

He was a living legend.

Thunder boomed loudly overhead and lightning streamed across the sky as one dragon flew quickly through the clouds. Light was a Thunderwing, a new species of dragon that had been hiding on top of the tallest mountains in Pyhiria. Their Queen had said that they didn’t have an alliance with any dragon tribe or Queen, but most suspected they did have one with Blaze and the Icewings. Due to this they were now the most feared dragon tribe as they could summon thunder, shoot lightning out of their tail spikes and breathe fire. Light was the most feared Thunderwing, though. As a hardcore, killer assassin, he had forged his reputation by single handedly taking out a Mudwing and Seawing patrol. But now he was on a new, far more dangerous mission. His goal was to find out where the Nightwings lived, and destroy them. At still only twelve years old, he was the most feared dragon in Pyhria. Flying over the desert now, Light muttered to himself, “I hate this stupid weather,” as the clouds cleared and the sun rose over the mountains.

Suddenly he was attacked. They came from the side, knocking him out of the air. As Light tumbled to the ground, he got his first good look at his opponents. The dragons that had attacked him were Skywings, and there were four of them. Just before Light hit the ground he spread out his wings and flew up into the air. Looping around and coming up behind the Skywings, Light used his tail to electrocute the closest Skywing, before burning the other three to death. An electrocution from a Thunderwing would lead to automatic death. This is what happened to the first Skywing as his corpse tumbled to the ground. Only one of the Skywings escaped automatic death and his corpse was found a few miles away from the spot he had been burned.

For the next few hours, Light flew through clear skies and thunderstorms before finally taking a rest on an island close to the Nightwings volcanic home. The Nightwings lived on a small volcanic island surrounded by clouds of ash. The reason Light had taken the longer route rather than the tunnel that connected the Nightwing kingdom to the Rainwing kingdom, was because that tunnel was always either guarded or sealed off by the Nightwings. Light was shattered from all of the flying, but he muttered to himself, “I might just have a quick rest,” before collapsing onto the sand.

Light woke many hours later in a dusty cell that smelt of rotten fruit. As Light inspected himself, finding lots of cuts and bruises, the lock on the door was released and a massive Nightwing, who could barely fit through the door, came through the door. “We know what you came here to do,” he said, “This is your final warning,” and with that he left the small room, leaving no trace he had ever been there.

Hours later the room was heating. It got to the point that Light knew he must be in a volcano chamber. Gingerly with his left talon, he felt a click and the latch on the door released. Then, with all his remaining strength, he pushed the door open. Looking down the long, deserted corridor, Light saw dragon bones scattered across the floor. “I have to get out of this dump,” Light told himself. After checking there were no Nightwing guards walking down the corridor, Light made a dash for the exit on his left. 

When Light poked his head outside, he was shocked. The living conditions the Nightwings lived in were disgusting. Most of the Nightwings that he could see were very dirty and chocked on the ash cloud. Light knew he had to get out of this dump before the Nightwings saw him. After checking the area to make sure that he wouldn’t be seen if he tried to escape, Light made a dash for the nearest rock. Unluckily for Light, two Nightwing guards flying overhead spotted him. One of the two guards alerted the other Nightwings by screeching, “Help! A prisoner has escaped!” The other Nightwing dived in to try and tackle Light. Unfortunately for the Nightwing, she did not know that Light was a trained assassin. As soon as they were about to collide, Light ducked out of the water and delivered over 500000 volts of electricity to the Nightwing’s body, frying her brain instantly. Light used the distraction to fly into the air and away as her Nightwing partner stared in horror.

4 hours later…

Bloody and bruised, Light was now bowing down before his Queen. “So Light, what happened?” Queen Sapphire asked.
“I’m so sorry your majesty,” Light replied, “It is like they knew I was coming because I was ambushed.”
Queen Sapphire was one of those dragons who you never knew what they were thinking. With the interrogation part over, Queen Sapphire ordered Light to leave the room, before declaring war on the Nightwings.

“Where’s Jonas gone?” thought Fiona worrying about him. Jonas has been missing for a few days now without any sign of him. “Asher,” Fiona asked in a stern voice. “Are you worried about Jonas?”
“Not really,” he replied, “He’s eventually going to be found by search officials. Plus, he would also need to have food and water so he’s eventually going to come back.”
“Good,” Fiona stated.
In the past few days, the elders decided to put a big metal fence around the community so no one else could escape. Suddenly, without notice, a sound came out of the loudspeakers, “Everyone immediately go inside!”
The streets were completely empty as if they were abandoned. Planes flew high without notice above the community. “Fiona,” whispered Asher, “I feel like there is something fishy about this.”
“Me too, we need to get to the bottom of this and we need to find Jonas,” replied Fiona.
Soon they embarked on their journey to get to the bottom of the secret of where Jonas had been. After the speaker went sounding a signal that you can get to your day to day life, Asher and Fiona went to the Annex room where Jonas usually went for training. The Annex room was heavily guarded but luckily for them they disguised as mail men and went in. “Now, the Giver, tell us where Jonas is and how we can get him back.” demanded Fiona.
“Calm down little girl. Jonas has gone to let the memories free so everyone can feel for them-selves.”
Suddenly a rush of memories came through. “This changes everything,” thought Fiona.

After Jonas and Gabe passed all the checks from the hospital, they were sent to a couple with one child where they remained happily until they grew up and got jobs with freedom. But there were a couple of things that took them a while to get used to, like not having to share feelings or dreams, not having to apologise for everything and getting to eat as much or as little as they liked.

Jonas entered the small town. It was a lot different to The Community. Little Gabe was still in his arms when he entered.
“Hello young lad, is that a baby there? I can help with your accommodation. By the way, I am the town mayor, I am always here to help.” Jonas was quite startled; he had never seen a place with this many colours before. Did this ‘mayor’ person not know what a new child was?
“I am very confused as I have never seen so many colours before. Can you lead me around?”
“Why certainly, brave lad. You must be a boy from The Community ten miles away. Our town always fears that place. It is so different; people go missing there all the time.”
The mayor certainly knew a lot about The Community. The mayor told me about how this place celebrates Christmas. “We always have a big town meet-up, and the children, like you and Gabriel receive presents and have fun in the snow.”
“Do children have jobs here?” asked Jonas. The mayor replied with a no, that children have fun and love their family.

Love, that word again. Jonas wished he could have a family that loved him. He wanted to live here with the colours and the snow, and most importantly, a caring community with no strict rules and harsh punishments.
“You can stay in the hotel. They say that you can see the rainforest from the rooftop!” With no hesitation, Jonas ran up the stairs to his room and slept well for the first time in ages.

When he woke up, he was treated with his morning meal in bed. It was then that he found out what would be his favourite meal. “Here Jonas, have some pancakes. Remember to add the maple syrup, it’s scrumptious!” Jonas had a bite of this weird-shaped food and he suddenly recognised it from a memory about breakfast that The Giver had given to him.  It almost makes him cry thinking about The Community for two reasons – mostly because he hated the way people were treated and how harsh the rules were and another reason is because he missed The Giver. He was such a friend of Jonas’. But… he reminded himself that he should forget as there was a new life to be had and many new things to do and enjoy.

When Jonas got out of bed, he was welcomed by the Mayor again.
“Hi! How was your night? Did you sleep well? Oh, I just love new guests.” Jonas said that he was fine, and that he had had the best sleep in a while. When he had a chance, he immediately asked where Gabriel was. The Mayor then took him to the place where he was.
“I decided that even though he is still young, he should go to school as a boarding student. You can visit him any time. You did say that Gabriel couldn’t learn so they would kill him?”
“Yes,” Jonas responded. He told him that they must have said that to cover up that he is wicked smart. With all that, he realised the evil plans of The Community.
“He has already made a few friends! Coincidentally, another refugee from The Community, an eight year old called Caleb is taking care of him.
“They said that he drowned in the lake though.”
“Well, they must have lied about it.”

I couldn’t believe it! My town had so many secrets!