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EDIT: The following text contains major spoilers for the current draft of Wings of Fire: Revenant. A lot of this will be changed in the rewrite (most notably a lot of the dialogue will be scrapped and redone) but I felt it was still fair to include a spoiler warning.

You can start reading Revenant here:
Wings of Fire: Revenant - PrologueNone of this was real. Darkstalker knew his mother was dead. He had known that first time he saw her form on the enchanted map travel into the Ice Kingdom and grow still. She was gone. That was why the IceWings had to pay. That was why Arctic had, had to die. His mother had been taken away from him, and it wasn't fair. Except now she here, unchanged, as though his last memory of her had been plucked from his mind and made real. Her eyes shone with all the love she still had for him, and when she put her talons on his he knew she could be no one but his mother. He needed her to hold him, to tell him it was going to be all right, to tell him that he wasn't evil and he hadn't lost his soul. But she didn't. Not really. Darkstalker thought back to the soul reader, and the tiny grains of black sand showing just how much goodness he had left. He had taken every precaution, done everything right, and yet it hadn't saved his soul. He thought back to the holes he had sensed inside his father, and wondered now what it must look like inside him. Was there anything left now but a vast, empty chasm where his soul should have been? But that couldn't be right! It just couldn't be! He wasn't evil! He did all of those things to avenge his mother and protect his tribe. Isn't that what any dragon would do? What any dragon should do? Besides, he had always known that the future he was heading for would be worth it. When he was king of Pyrrhia there would be no war, no killing, and no one would ever have to feel scared or hungry or in pain ever again. He could fix all of that, and when he did no dragon would care what it took to get there. They would be grateful to him and love him and want him to be around forever to watch after them. That thought had always kept him going, always reminded him that the light at the end of this path would be worth any darkness he had to pass through. Yet as he looked down at his mother, he was reminded again of the fear and disappointment in her eyes that told him she knew exactly what he had done to his father. She didn't seem to care at all about what Arctic had done to her, and what he might have done to their tribe. She blamed herself for getting captured, and scolded him like a petulant child for offering to avenge the torture she had been put through. She still loved him, but she didn't trust him, and he couldn't yet see a future where she would support him as king. And if he didn't have her, who did he have? He looked at Moon. His dearest friend, in fact his only friend while he had been trapped in the mountain. It had meant so much to find her, to have another dragon he could communicate with, and have hope that one day he might be free again. But she, like Foeslayer, would never stand by his side as king. She hadn't understood at all when he tried to tell her he'd only cast the spell on the IceWings to protect the tribe, and she'd plotted with her friends to sabotage him. Did she just not need him anymore, now that she had them? Did she even care about him at all? He needed Clearsight. He missed her so much it hurt, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't bring her back to him. She was gone of her own volition, to live and die without him thousands of years ago. Without her, he had no happy futures. No dragonets. No great love. He was alone. Darkstalker felt a hole inside of him so great that he began to wonder if his soul truly was gone, and it was at that moment that Moon told him about her vision. She described an ordinary dragonet growing up in the rainforest, with friends and family and a deep love of strawberries. This perplexed Darkstalker; what did any of this have to do with him? It was only when his mother passed him one of the jewel-red fruits that he finally started to put the pieces together. "Wait," he said. "You think the dragon in your visions is me?" "You without your powers," said Moon. "You without your memories. A new you, with a chance to start over." Darkstalker snorted, little puffs of flame shooting out of his nose. "Why would I ever give up my powers?" he said. "I'm the most powerful dragon Pyrrhia has ever seen! Everyone wants to be me!" "I don't," said Qibli. "Me neither!" said Kinkajou. "Evil and smug and fat-headed and evil, no thank you!" "I'm not – " Darkstalker started and then fell silent. His mind went back to the soul reader. Seeming to sense his distress, Foeslayer settled her tail over his and patted one of his free talons gently. "You could be happy," she said to him. "You could be loved." "But you have to choose it," Moon said. "You're the only one who can make it real. Imagine it, Darkstalker. If you turn yourself into a different dragon, you could actually do good things for the world." He shook his head vigorously. "That's ridiculous. Without my powers? What do I do, make pie? You must be joking. Couldn't I do more good things with my powers intact?" he asked. "Like take Pyrrhia into the glorious future I've seen?" "I'd rather have pie," Kinkajou said. Moon shook her head. "The future of Pyrrhia is not your own personal scroll, waiting for you to write it, Darkstalker. The only future you control is yours. And you have not brought happiness to the dragon tribes. We don't want that future you see if we have to travel your dark path to get there." Darkstalker spun the strawberry in his claws for a moment, thinking. Was this truly a chance to start over? He wasn't sure how it could be. His powers were a part of him, as much as his scales or his wings. Without them, what would be left of him? "Do it," Foeslayer said quietly. "Become a dragonet again. I'll take care of you. I want to. We'll be happy this time." "All I see this way is darkness," he said, touching his forehead. He'd been able to look into his future from the moment he hatched, and the idea of traveling a path he couldn't see was terrifying. "Darkness is all the rest of us see if you do become king," Moon said. "But this way – " "No," he said. "I can't. I can't do it. I won't." Moon blinked, looking bewildered. "But my vision – I'm sure this is the path you choose." Darkstalker's tail lashed back and forth, throwing off his mother's. "I don't want to lose all my memories! I'd forget Clearsight ... she'd be even more gone than she is now!" He rose to his feet. "No, I'm going to be king. King of the whole continent. King of all the tribes! That's my future; I've seen it a thousand times!" "Darkstalker, please," Moon pleaded. "I know there's good in you still. If you listen to it, you'll choose this for yourself, I'm sure you will." Darkstalker's heart burned with hurt and anger so great it made his talons shake. His mother and his best friend wanted to erase him from the world! They wanted to take away his memories and his powers and leave him in darkness! "You are a bunch of small-minded little lizards," he said, rising to his full height and spreading his wings. "What, did you think I'd taste a strawberry and decide, mmm, wow, that's worth giving up my magic for?" He looked down at the tiny fruit in his claws and ripped off all the green leaves. They must think he was exceptionally stupid to fall for a trick like this. "Or did you have Turtle enchant this? Or perhaps another secret animus I don't know about? It doesn't matter, you boring, ordinary creatures. I can't be enchanted by anyone! I'm smarter now; I've made myself completely safe. Nobody's animus magic will work on me. Which means nobody will ever be able to stop me." He threw the strawberry in his mouth and swallowed it, casting a dark look at his mother. "Actually," said Kinkajou, "there is one dragon's magic that will still work on you."He glowered down at her. "You're wrong." "I'm right," she snapped back. "Oh, really? Whose?" She glared right back, and her scales were the color of burning strawberries. "Your own." Kinkajous upended her pouch and poured a tiny pile of scraps of paper onto the ground in front of her. My scroll! But there shouldn't have been anything left! "What?" Darkstalker said, choking. "But how – I didn't see – " "I know," Kinkajou said proudly. "Never saw me coming! Taken down by a ball of fluff! Who's insignificant NOW, frogface!" Darkstalker felt a shifting and pulling of his bones, and he realized suddenly that his whole body was shrinking. He turned to look at his Foeslayer, the feeling of betrayal alighting in him like it had the moment Clearsight slipped that bracelet on him. "You knew," he gasped to his mother. "You helped her." "Of course I did," she said. "What else could I do? Send you to your room? Extra chores for a week? Somehow neither of those seemed particularly apt for this situation." She patted his shoulder, and he realized with a jolt that they were now about the same size. "It was this or leave forever and never see you again. I decided we'd both be happier this way." Darkstalker tried desperately to counteract the spell. I enchant myself – Darkstalker – to keep all of my memories! I enchant myself to keep my powers. I enchant the strawberry to have no effect. I enchant myself to never have eaten it. I enchant myself to never have agreed to come here! None of it worked. He'd already lost his magic. "But my powers!" he cried. He nearly choked on the words as his voice came out higher, his lungs shrinking in his chest. "All my magic ... can't I keep any of it? The mind reading? Wait – " Darkstalker held up his front talons, watching the claws get smaller. "Sorry, Darkstalker," Qibli said. "You had more than one chance to use them wisely and well, and you chose not to." Darkstalker realized suddenly that everyone's thoughts had grown quiet and far away, and after a moment he couldn't hear them at all. He tried reaching out to sense the future, but all he could see was what was right in front of him. Without my powers I'm not me. I don't know how to be anyone else. I've never wanted to be. "I really thought he was going to choose this for himself," Moon said, tipping her head at Darkstalker, who was still steadily shrinking. "Oh, I knew he wouldn't," Kinkajou said. "But I couldn't tell you my awesome plan, obviously." "You told her, though. Why didn't he see it in your mind?" Moon asked Foeslayer. "You don't raise a mind-reading son without learning a few tricks about how to hide your thoughts," Foeslayer said calmly. The anger and betrayal in Darkstalker's heart was being rapidly replaced by sadness. They were barely paying any attention to what they were doing! Did they even care? Was he really so undeserving of any compassion? "Didn't I help you?" Darkstalker said in a lost, small voice, looking up at Moon. "Didn't I save dragons, too? I'm not evil ... I'm not ... " Help me, please! Moon. Mother. Prove to me that you still care about me. Prove to me that you can still see my soul. "Not anymore," Kinkajou said. Darkstalker felt his mind growing fuzzy, parts of his memory going suddenly blank. He fixated on Clearsight and realized he couldn't really remember anything that they had done together. He could remember feelings, he could remember how much he loved her, and he could still clearly see her face, but the memories themselves were gone. He held onto that image of her as hard as he could, but even that was slowly being pulled away from him. No! Don't let me forget! Don't let me be lost! Don't let me go into the darkness! His sense of self was now a tiny pinprick, surrounded by feelings and desires he could no longer identify. There were dragons looking down at him that he thought he recognized, but he couldn't remember their names. He saw the face of a dragon in his mind, but he didn't know who she was. He knew he was desperately upset and afraid, but he didn't know why. Then, just like that, Darkstalker was no more....



Part One:

    Night had fallen by the time they reached the Claws of the Clouds Mountains, and the storm was beginning to reach full strength. Thin veins of lightning appeared in flashes of blinding light, as if invisible talons had reached down to slash open the sky. Great blue-gray clouds rolled in, thunder growling restlessly in their bellies. The mountain range stood in sharp relief against the horizon, each flash illuminating the peaks like rows upon rows of jagged teeth.
    Peacemaker felt the chain looped around his wrist give a powerful jerk as Kinkajou desperately attempted to free herself from the links of metal wrapped tight around her mouth, neck, wrists, and wings.
    “Stop that!” Peacemaker snapped, giving his end of the chain a tug so violent it nearly caused her to topple to the ground. She shot him a poisonous glare, clouds of scarlet and black rage dancing among the myriad of other colors parading across her scales.
    “Now be still…and don’t worry,” Peacemaker hissed, the edges of his lips drawing up into a sickly smile, “your prince charming will be here soon enough.” With that the young dragon threw back his head and breathed a tower of fire up, up, up into the sky. He turned back to look at her, his blue eyes as cold as the wind which blew in from the Ice Kingdom in the dead of winter. “I think that ought to get his attention, don’t you?”
    A growl rumbled in Kinkajou’s throat, but the chain around her mouth prevented her from speaking. Among the other colors dancing across her scales were whorls of pale green fear, purple confusion, pale blue worry, and, most surprisingly, generous blots of dark gray, the color of sadness. Even now, as she glared venomously back at him, he could see an underlying sorrow in her dark green eyes. A sadness which showed even beneath her anger, and a question spoken without works: “Why are you doing this?”
    A painful twist seized Peacemaker’s heart, his head clouding with unwanted memories. Kinkajou encouraging his clumsy first attempts at flight. Kinkajou bringing him his favorite fruits when he was sick in bed. Kinkajou eating his sad little burnt pies and relishing every bite. Kinkajou sitting and listening to him talk about the things he knew he could never tell Hope or Moon, because they’d worry too much. He remembered once when he was very young he had suddenly decided he wanted to have color-changing scales like a Rainwing, and so Kinkajou had made up some dye from rainforest berries and let him be whatever color he wanted. When the other Nightwing dragonets made fun of the rainbow scales beneath his wings, Kinkajou had mimicked his colors for at least a month, stating that if anyone made fun of him, they’d have to make fun of her too. His heart ached with the memory of her walking side by side with him, glancing challengingly around at the other dragonets, as if daring them to make a snide comment.
    Peacemaker grimaced. What was he doing? This dragon was his friend!
    He shook his head fiercely, a whole new set of memories suddenly crashing down on him like ocean waves. No! This was her fault! She had masterminded his enchantment, tricked him, stripped him of his powers, his memories, and even his very identity. She had deceived him, pretending she cared about him, pretending she was his friend, and all in the name of making sure he never learned the truth. Well, he knew the truth now, and he would not be swayed by foolish sentimentality.
    Just then a flash of luminescent scales appeared on the horizon, getting closer and closer until an emerald green form materialized from the darkness of the mountains and the storm.
      Kinkajou’s scales turned suddenly pale green and white, an amalgamate of terror and distress.
    Turtle was close enough now that they could hear his heavy, clumsy wingbeats and see the desperate confusion written all over his face. “Peacemaker, what are you doing?!” he demanded, his eyes fixed to the chains looped around Kinkajou’s body.
    “Stay back!” Peacemaker snarled, flaring his wings so that the rainbow scales flashed threateningly. “Don’t come any closer!”
    Cautiously, Turtle lighted down on the cliff opposite them. It was uncanny how much the young Seawing looked like his ancient ancestor, Fathom. Fathom, the dragon who had stolen everything from Peacemaker…from Darkstalker. Fathom, the dragon who had been rewarded with the happy ending he had denied his so-called friend.
     “Peacemaker, what’s going on? What are you doing with Kinkajou?” He looked as if he wanted to believe this was all some kind of elaborate joke, but the fear in Kinkajou’s eyes told him it wasn’t. The Rainwing was now balancing on her back feet, craning to get a good look at Turtle, as if her stare alone might be able to communicate to him that he should run away and never look back. Turtle looked past Peacemaker at her, his eyes so desperately confused and fearful it was almost pathetic.
    His gaze fell back to Peacemaker, back to his altered gaze and poisonous expression, and the realization suddenly came crashing down on the Seawing like an avalanche of ice and stone. “Three moons…you know,” the Seawing breathed.
    “Know what?” Peacemaker snapped. “That all of you who called yourself my friends betrayed me? Stole my powers? Stole my memories? Stole my life?! That you pretended to care for me when all along you told me nothing but lies?!”
    “But I wasn’t…I didn’t…”
    “No, you didn’t. You’re not clever enough for that. But she did,” Peacemaker said, gesturing to Kinkajou with a wave of his tail.
    Turtle’s chest heaved with increasing desperation. “But…that…that wasn’t her fault. She had no choice. Darkstalker he….you…you were killing dragons, brainwashing them to follow you…you were going to take over all of Pyrrhia.”
    “Oh, so brainwashing is only acceptable when you’re taking down an ultra powerful supervillain, is that it? Are there any other special rules you ‘heroes’ are entitled to?”
    “That’s…that’s not…”
    “That’s exactly what it is!”
    “But…but what else were we supposed to do? You…you didn’t leave us any choice” the Seawing’s voice was shaking so hard he could barely speak.
    “You should have done nothing. I had great plans for Pyrrhia. A united kingdom, my tribe restored to full strength, and me as their king, leading them towards all their best possible futures. That’s the future I saw. That’s the future I still see.”
    He gave the chain a sharp jerk, and Kinkajou was forced back down onto all fours. “I am fully prepared to make this dragon pay for everything she stole from me…” he paused, a distant roar of thunder breaking the silence, “unless you and I can come to some sort of…understanding.”
    Turtle was silent for a long moment “What kind of understanding?”
    “You recognize this chain? It’s the one your sister enchanted to send to Queen Thorn’s prisons in the Kingdom of Sand. As long as Kinkajou is bound with it, none of your magic will work on her, and only I know the location of the key. If you try to use your magic to kill me or remove me in any way, then we both fall.” He raised his arm so Turtle could clearly see the chain double wound around his wrist. “And she can’t fly. Only I can free her, so don’t get any bright ideas about trying to outsmart me. We both know you’re not capable of that.”
    Turtle looked from Peacemaker to Kinkajou about twenty times in the span of about half a second. “What is it you want?”
    “It’s simple. You change me back to the way I was, with all my powers intact, and I won’t kill her.”
    Turtle’s gold-flecked eyes widened with horror. “I…I won’t! I can’t!”
    “You can. For all your limited imagination and even more limited brain power, you are still an animus. Any spell that has been done can be undone, as you more than proved when you got your powers back.”
    “No! I won’t do it!”
    “Then you’ll watch the dragon you love die,” Peacemaker hissed, holding a single claw a hair length from Kinkajou’s neck.
    “Peacemaker, please! You can’t do this! Kinkajou is your friend!”
    “There is no Peacemaker! It’s an enchantment. A prison of flesh and blood. I am Darkstalker and none of you are my friends!”
    A bolt of lightning ripped across the sky with a roar that shook the stone beneath their feet. For a brief moment a flash of white light reflected in the tears rolling down the Seawing’s face.
     “Make your choice, Turtle. Does she live, or does she die?”

A scene from the climax of my as of yet nonexistent Peacemaker fan fiction, Wings of Fire: Revenant (if you're new here, you can find related pictures in my gallery). Peacemaker gets back his memories of being Darkstalker and kidnaps Kinkajou to use as leverage against Turtle so that he will return him to his original form. Only one dragon can stop him, and she's in a race against the clock to reach him before it's too late. I was really inspired by the climax of Phantom of the Opera (Down Once More), hence the title.

I'm actually really, really proud of how Turtle came out. I've never drawn a full body Seawing before, and I'm really glad that he turned out so well. Rainwings are the hardest tribe for me to draw (don't ask me why, because I don't know) so I'm also happy that Kinkajou didn't end up looking like a total disaster. I had way too much fun with the lighting, just so you know.

No critique desired. Please respect that.

Wings of Fire belongs to Tui T. Sutherland

The art belongs to me, and you are not permitted to steal, trace, copy, reference, or otherwise redistribute it in any way. I also do not want to see this posted on RP sites, Facebook, YouTube, etc. without my permission. That's still art theft.

Description

EDIT: The following text contains major spoilers for the current draft of Wings of Fire: Revenant. A lot of this will be changed in the rewrite (most notably a lot of the dialogue will be scrapped and redone) but I felt it was still fair to include a spoiler warning.

You can start reading Revenant here:
Wings of Fire: Revenant - PrologueNone of this was real. Darkstalker knew his mother was dead. He had known that first time he saw her form on the enchanted map travel into the Ice Kingdom and grow still. She was gone. That was why the IceWings had to pay. That was why Arctic had, had to die. His mother had been taken away from him, and it wasn't fair. Except now she here, unchanged, as though his last memory of her had been plucked from his mind and made real. Her eyes shone with all the love she still had for him, and when she put her talons on his he knew she could be no one but his mother. He needed her to hold him, to tell him it was going to be all right, to tell him that he wasn't evil and he hadn't lost his soul. But she didn't. Not really. Darkstalker thought back to the soul reader, and the tiny grains of black sand showing just how much goodness he had left. He had taken every precaution, done everything right, and yet it hadn't saved his soul. He thought back to the holes he had sensed inside his father, and wondered now what it must look like inside him. Was there anything left now but a vast, empty chasm where his soul should have been? But that couldn't be right! It just couldn't be! He wasn't evil! He did all of those things to avenge his mother and protect his tribe. Isn't that what any dragon would do? What any dragon should do? Besides, he had always known that the future he was heading for would be worth it. When he was king of Pyrrhia there would be no war, no killing, and no one would ever have to feel scared or hungry or in pain ever again. He could fix all of that, and when he did no dragon would care what it took to get there. They would be grateful to him and love him and want him to be around forever to watch after them. That thought had always kept him going, always reminded him that the light at the end of this path would be worth any darkness he had to pass through. Yet as he looked down at his mother, he was reminded again of the fear and disappointment in her eyes that told him she knew exactly what he had done to his father. She didn't seem to care at all about what Arctic had done to her, and what he might have done to their tribe. She blamed herself for getting captured, and scolded him like a petulant child for offering to avenge the torture she had been put through. She still loved him, but she didn't trust him, and he couldn't yet see a future where she would support him as king. And if he didn't have her, who did he have? He looked at Moon. His dearest friend, in fact his only friend while he had been trapped in the mountain. It had meant so much to find her, to have another dragon he could communicate with, and have hope that one day he might be free again. But she, like Foeslayer, would never stand by his side as king. She hadn't understood at all when he tried to tell her he'd only cast the spell on the IceWings to protect the tribe, and she'd plotted with her friends to sabotage him. Did she just not need him anymore, now that she had them? Did she even care about him at all? He needed Clearsight. He missed her so much it hurt, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't bring her back to him. She was gone of her own volition, to live and die without him thousands of years ago. Without her, he had no happy futures. No dragonets. No great love. He was alone. Darkstalker felt a hole inside of him so great that he began to wonder if his soul truly was gone, and it was at that moment that Moon told him about her vision. She described an ordinary dragonet growing up in the rainforest, with friends and family and a deep love of strawberries. This perplexed Darkstalker; what did any of this have to do with him? It was only when his mother passed him one of the jewel-red fruits that he finally started to put the pieces together. "Wait," he said. "You think the dragon in your visions is me?" "You without your powers," said Moon. "You without your memories. A new you, with a chance to start over." Darkstalker snorted, little puffs of flame shooting out of his nose. "Why would I ever give up my powers?" he said. "I'm the most powerful dragon Pyrrhia has ever seen! Everyone wants to be me!" "I don't," said Qibli. "Me neither!" said Kinkajou. "Evil and smug and fat-headed and evil, no thank you!" "I'm not – " Darkstalker started and then fell silent. His mind went back to the soul reader. Seeming to sense his distress, Foeslayer settled her tail over his and patted one of his free talons gently. "You could be happy," she said to him. "You could be loved." "But you have to choose it," Moon said. "You're the only one who can make it real. Imagine it, Darkstalker. If you turn yourself into a different dragon, you could actually do good things for the world." He shook his head vigorously. "That's ridiculous. Without my powers? What do I do, make pie? You must be joking. Couldn't I do more good things with my powers intact?" he asked. "Like take Pyrrhia into the glorious future I've seen?" "I'd rather have pie," Kinkajou said. Moon shook her head. "The future of Pyrrhia is not your own personal scroll, waiting for you to write it, Darkstalker. The only future you control is yours. And you have not brought happiness to the dragon tribes. We don't want that future you see if we have to travel your dark path to get there." Darkstalker spun the strawberry in his claws for a moment, thinking. Was this truly a chance to start over? He wasn't sure how it could be. His powers were a part of him, as much as his scales or his wings. Without them, what would be left of him? "Do it," Foeslayer said quietly. "Become a dragonet again. I'll take care of you. I want to. We'll be happy this time." "All I see this way is darkness," he said, touching his forehead. He'd been able to look into his future from the moment he hatched, and the idea of traveling a path he couldn't see was terrifying. "Darkness is all the rest of us see if you do become king," Moon said. "But this way – " "No," he said. "I can't. I can't do it. I won't." Moon blinked, looking bewildered. "But my vision – I'm sure this is the path you choose." Darkstalker's tail lashed back and forth, throwing off his mother's. "I don't want to lose all my memories! I'd forget Clearsight ... she'd be even more gone than she is now!" He rose to his feet. "No, I'm going to be king. King of the whole continent. King of all the tribes! That's my future; I've seen it a thousand times!" "Darkstalker, please," Moon pleaded. "I know there's good in you still. If you listen to it, you'll choose this for yourself, I'm sure you will." Darkstalker's heart burned with hurt and anger so great it made his talons shake. His mother and his best friend wanted to erase him from the world! They wanted to take away his memories and his powers and leave him in darkness! "You are a bunch of small-minded little lizards," he said, rising to his full height and spreading his wings. "What, did you think I'd taste a strawberry and decide, mmm, wow, that's worth giving up my magic for?" He looked down at the tiny fruit in his claws and ripped off all the green leaves. They must think he was exceptionally stupid to fall for a trick like this. "Or did you have Turtle enchant this? Or perhaps another secret animus I don't know about? It doesn't matter, you boring, ordinary creatures. I can't be enchanted by anyone! I'm smarter now; I've made myself completely safe. Nobody's animus magic will work on me. Which means nobody will ever be able to stop me." He threw the strawberry in his mouth and swallowed it, casting a dark look at his mother. "Actually," said Kinkajou, "there is one dragon's magic that will still work on you."He glowered down at her. "You're wrong." "I'm right," she snapped back. "Oh, really? Whose?" She glared right back, and her scales were the color of burning strawberries. "Your own." Kinkajous upended her pouch and poured a tiny pile of scraps of paper onto the ground in front of her. My scroll! But there shouldn't have been anything left! "What?" Darkstalker said, choking. "But how – I didn't see – " "I know," Kinkajou said proudly. "Never saw me coming! Taken down by a ball of fluff! Who's insignificant NOW, frogface!" Darkstalker felt a shifting and pulling of his bones, and he realized suddenly that his whole body was shrinking. He turned to look at his Foeslayer, the feeling of betrayal alighting in him like it had the moment Clearsight slipped that bracelet on him. "You knew," he gasped to his mother. "You helped her." "Of course I did," she said. "What else could I do? Send you to your room? Extra chores for a week? Somehow neither of those seemed particularly apt for this situation." She patted his shoulder, and he realized with a jolt that they were now about the same size. "It was this or leave forever and never see you again. I decided we'd both be happier this way." Darkstalker tried desperately to counteract the spell. I enchant myself – Darkstalker – to keep all of my memories! I enchant myself to keep my powers. I enchant the strawberry to have no effect. I enchant myself to never have eaten it. I enchant myself to never have agreed to come here! None of it worked. He'd already lost his magic. "But my powers!" he cried. He nearly choked on the words as his voice came out higher, his lungs shrinking in his chest. "All my magic ... can't I keep any of it? The mind reading? Wait – " Darkstalker held up his front talons, watching the claws get smaller. "Sorry, Darkstalker," Qibli said. "You had more than one chance to use them wisely and well, and you chose not to." Darkstalker realized suddenly that everyone's thoughts had grown quiet and far away, and after a moment he couldn't hear them at all. He tried reaching out to sense the future, but all he could see was what was right in front of him. Without my powers I'm not me. I don't know how to be anyone else. I've never wanted to be. "I really thought he was going to choose this for himself," Moon said, tipping her head at Darkstalker, who was still steadily shrinking. "Oh, I knew he wouldn't," Kinkajou said. "But I couldn't tell you my awesome plan, obviously." "You told her, though. Why didn't he see it in your mind?" Moon asked Foeslayer. "You don't raise a mind-reading son without learning a few tricks about how to hide your thoughts," Foeslayer said calmly. The anger and betrayal in Darkstalker's heart was being rapidly replaced by sadness. They were barely paying any attention to what they were doing! Did they even care? Was he really so undeserving of any compassion? "Didn't I help you?" Darkstalker said in a lost, small voice, looking up at Moon. "Didn't I save dragons, too? I'm not evil ... I'm not ... " Help me, please! Moon. Mother. Prove to me that you still care about me. Prove to me that you can still see my soul. "Not anymore," Kinkajou said. Darkstalker felt his mind growing fuzzy, parts of his memory going suddenly blank. He fixated on Clearsight and realized he couldn't really remember anything that they had done together. He could remember feelings, he could remember how much he loved her, and he could still clearly see her face, but the memories themselves were gone. He held onto that image of her as hard as he could, but even that was slowly being pulled away from him. No! Don't let me forget! Don't let me be lost! Don't let me go into the darkness! His sense of self was now a tiny pinprick, surrounded by feelings and desires he could no longer identify. There were dragons looking down at him that he thought he recognized, but he couldn't remember their names. He saw the face of a dragon in his mind, but he didn't know who she was. He knew he was desperately upset and afraid, but he didn't know why. Then, just like that, Darkstalker was no more....



Part One:

    Night had fallen by the time they reached the Claws of the Clouds Mountains, and the storm was beginning to reach full strength. Thin veins of lightning appeared in flashes of blinding light, as if invisible talons had reached down to slash open the sky. Great blue-gray clouds rolled in, thunder growling restlessly in their bellies. The mountain range stood in sharp relief against the horizon, each flash illuminating the peaks like rows upon rows of jagged teeth.
    Peacemaker felt the chain looped around his wrist give a powerful jerk as Kinkajou desperately attempted to free herself from the links of metal wrapped tight around her mouth, neck, wrists, and wings.
    “Stop that!” Peacemaker snapped, giving his end of the chain a tug so violent it nearly caused her to topple to the ground. She shot him a poisonous glare, clouds of scarlet and black rage dancing among the myriad of other colors parading across her scales.
    “Now be still…and don’t worry,” Peacemaker hissed, the edges of his lips drawing up into a sickly smile, “your prince charming will be here soon enough.” With that the young dragon threw back his head and breathed a tower of fire up, up, up into the sky. He turned back to look at her, his blue eyes as cold as the wind which blew in from the Ice Kingdom in the dead of winter. “I think that ought to get his attention, don’t you?”
    A growl rumbled in Kinkajou’s throat, but the chain around her mouth prevented her from speaking. Among the other colors dancing across her scales were whorls of pale green fear, purple confusion, pale blue worry, and, most surprisingly, generous blots of dark gray, the color of sadness. Even now, as she glared venomously back at him, he could see an underlying sorrow in her dark green eyes. A sadness which showed even beneath her anger, and a question spoken without works: “Why are you doing this?”
    A painful twist seized Peacemaker’s heart, his head clouding with unwanted memories. Kinkajou encouraging his clumsy first attempts at flight. Kinkajou bringing him his favorite fruits when he was sick in bed. Kinkajou eating his sad little burnt pies and relishing every bite. Kinkajou sitting and listening to him talk about the things he knew he could never tell Hope or Moon, because they’d worry too much. He remembered once when he was very young he had suddenly decided he wanted to have color-changing scales like a Rainwing, and so Kinkajou had made up some dye from rainforest berries and let him be whatever color he wanted. When the other Nightwing dragonets made fun of the rainbow scales beneath his wings, Kinkajou had mimicked his colors for at least a month, stating that if anyone made fun of him, they’d have to make fun of her too. His heart ached with the memory of her walking side by side with him, glancing challengingly around at the other dragonets, as if daring them to make a snide comment.
    Peacemaker grimaced. What was he doing? This dragon was his friend!
    He shook his head fiercely, a whole new set of memories suddenly crashing down on him like ocean waves. No! This was her fault! She had masterminded his enchantment, tricked him, stripped him of his powers, his memories, and even his very identity. She had deceived him, pretending she cared about him, pretending she was his friend, and all in the name of making sure he never learned the truth. Well, he knew the truth now, and he would not be swayed by foolish sentimentality.
    Just then a flash of luminescent scales appeared on the horizon, getting closer and closer until an emerald green form materialized from the darkness of the mountains and the storm.
      Kinkajou’s scales turned suddenly pale green and white, an amalgamate of terror and distress.
    Turtle was close enough now that they could hear his heavy, clumsy wingbeats and see the desperate confusion written all over his face. “Peacemaker, what are you doing?!” he demanded, his eyes fixed to the chains looped around Kinkajou’s body.
    “Stay back!” Peacemaker snarled, flaring his wings so that the rainbow scales flashed threateningly. “Don’t come any closer!”
    Cautiously, Turtle lighted down on the cliff opposite them. It was uncanny how much the young Seawing looked like his ancient ancestor, Fathom. Fathom, the dragon who had stolen everything from Peacemaker…from Darkstalker. Fathom, the dragon who had been rewarded with the happy ending he had denied his so-called friend.
     “Peacemaker, what’s going on? What are you doing with Kinkajou?” He looked as if he wanted to believe this was all some kind of elaborate joke, but the fear in Kinkajou’s eyes told him it wasn’t. The Rainwing was now balancing on her back feet, craning to get a good look at Turtle, as if her stare alone might be able to communicate to him that he should run away and never look back. Turtle looked past Peacemaker at her, his eyes so desperately confused and fearful it was almost pathetic.
    His gaze fell back to Peacemaker, back to his altered gaze and poisonous expression, and the realization suddenly came crashing down on the Seawing like an avalanche of ice and stone. “Three moons…you know,” the Seawing breathed.
    “Know what?” Peacemaker snapped. “That all of you who called yourself my friends betrayed me? Stole my powers? Stole my memories? Stole my life?! That you pretended to care for me when all along you told me nothing but lies?!”
    “But I wasn’t…I didn’t…”
    “No, you didn’t. You’re not clever enough for that. But she did,” Peacemaker said, gesturing to Kinkajou with a wave of his tail.
    Turtle’s chest heaved with increasing desperation. “But…that…that wasn’t her fault. She had no choice. Darkstalker he….you…you were killing dragons, brainwashing them to follow you…you were going to take over all of Pyrrhia.”
    “Oh, so brainwashing is only acceptable when you’re taking down an ultra powerful supervillain, is that it? Are there any other special rules you ‘heroes’ are entitled to?”
    “That’s…that’s not…”
    “That’s exactly what it is!”
    “But…but what else were we supposed to do? You…you didn’t leave us any choice” the Seawing’s voice was shaking so hard he could barely speak.
    “You should have done nothing. I had great plans for Pyrrhia. A united kingdom, my tribe restored to full strength, and me as their king, leading them towards all their best possible futures. That’s the future I saw. That’s the future I still see.”
    He gave the chain a sharp jerk, and Kinkajou was forced back down onto all fours. “I am fully prepared to make this dragon pay for everything she stole from me…” he paused, a distant roar of thunder breaking the silence, “unless you and I can come to some sort of…understanding.”
    Turtle was silent for a long moment “What kind of understanding?”
    “You recognize this chain? It’s the one your sister enchanted to send to Queen Thorn’s prisons in the Kingdom of Sand. As long as Kinkajou is bound with it, none of your magic will work on her, and only I know the location of the key. If you try to use your magic to kill me or remove me in any way, then we both fall.” He raised his arm so Turtle could clearly see the chain double wound around his wrist. “And she can’t fly. Only I can free her, so don’t get any bright ideas about trying to outsmart me. We both know you’re not capable of that.”
    Turtle looked from Peacemaker to Kinkajou about twenty times in the span of about half a second. “What is it you want?”
    “It’s simple. You change me back to the way I was, with all my powers intact, and I won’t kill her.”
    Turtle’s gold-flecked eyes widened with horror. “I…I won’t! I can’t!”
    “You can. For all your limited imagination and even more limited brain power, you are still an animus. Any spell that has been done can be undone, as you more than proved when you got your powers back.”
    “No! I won’t do it!”
    “Then you’ll watch the dragon you love die,” Peacemaker hissed, holding a single claw a hair length from Kinkajou’s neck.
    “Peacemaker, please! You can’t do this! Kinkajou is your friend!”
    “There is no Peacemaker! It’s an enchantment. A prison of flesh and blood. I am Darkstalker and none of you are my friends!”
    A bolt of lightning ripped across the sky with a roar that shook the stone beneath their feet. For a brief moment a flash of white light reflected in the tears rolling down the Seawing’s face.
     “Make your choice, Turtle. Does she live, or does she die?”

A scene from the climax of my as of yet nonexistent Peacemaker fan fiction, Wings of Fire: Revenant (if you're new here, you can find related pictures in my gallery). Peacemaker gets back his memories of being Darkstalker and kidnaps Kinkajou to use as leverage against Turtle so that he will return him to his original form. Only one dragon can stop him, and she's in a race against the clock to reach him before it's too late. I was really inspired by the climax of Phantom of the Opera (Down Once More), hence the title.

I'm actually really, really proud of how Turtle came out. I've never drawn a full body Seawing before, and I'm really glad that he turned out so well. Rainwings are the hardest tribe for me to draw (don't ask me why, because I don't know) so I'm also happy that Kinkajou didn't end up looking like a total disaster. I had way too much fun with the lighting, just so you know.

No critique desired. Please respect that.

Wings of Fire belongs to Tui T. Sutherland

The art belongs to me, and you are not permitted to steal, trace, copy, reference, or otherwise redistribute it in any way. I also do not want to see this posted on RP sites, Facebook, YouTube, etc. without my permission. That's still art theft.