The Dragon

After her generous captor returns upstairs, she picks up one of the elixirs first and heads to the mirror to check her current state. As she stands there before the mirror, she looks at her once pearl-white skin which is now an angry orangish brown. Her cyan eyes take in the appearance of her face, the left half of it is badly blistered with deep red blotches traveling down the right side of her body. Seeing how damaged her skin is, draws tears from her as she holds the precious elixir to her chest, silently praying to herself, "Please let this potion heal some of the damage..."

Pulling the cork out of the vial, Summer then tilts her head back and swallows the bitter contents. Returning the cork to the vial, she watches the mirror carefully for any changes to her skin. Several seconds pass by as the heavily damaged areas heal a little bit, still leaving a large area of blisters and burnt skin. With a happy, thankful sigh, she hurries to the box and grabs another two potions before returning to the mirror.

It takes twenty vials to restore her skin to her normal pearl-white color, looking at her rose-colored nipples and the burned-off hair around her pubic mound, saying with a raised eyebrow, "That actually looks rather nice down there... Now I will keep digging around through the crates he left out and see if there is anything that will let me fix my hair..."

As she sets to rummaging through the open crates, pulling out several pearl-handled brushes and combs before finding a pair of golden scissors, a straight razor, and of course a hand mirror. One thing that surprises her, however, is an ornate, gold and silver makeup box that used to belong to a great-aunt of hers, drawing a chuckle from her as she says, "I hope those two crooked relatives got what they deserved in the end."

Once she sets everything aside, she begins to get her hair back under control, saying, "Sorry hair, but Charred Princess went out of style millennia ago..."

It takes her three hours to get herself cleaned up and looking nice once more before she digs into the chests of clothes, managing to find a pair of lace-up open-toed solid silver stilettos with a three-inch heel having a padded leather sole for cushion and silver silk laces along with a butter yellow dress that looks like something a high-priced girl would wear at a brothel. With her choices greatly restricted, she has no choice but to wear the rather revealing dress, grumbling, "I hope I don't catch anything from this dress..."

When exhaustion takes its toll on her, she starts heading to the upper level when a glint of light catches her eye. Turning to see what it was, she sees her silver and diamond-studded tiara on the ground near the large pool of water. Heading over to it slowly, she returns it to her head and makes her way to the tunnel.

After reaching the top, she sees the dragon lying in front of two piles of treasure in clear view of the cave's entrance and looks for a place to lie down to stay warm as her arms start to feel chilly. With the only option being beside the dragon, she walks towards her captor and carefully steps between his right forearm as his head circles around to the right.

Cosmic feels something touch him and cracks his eyes open to see what it is, and finds that it is only the princess making her way beside him to keep warm. With nothing else to worry about for right now but his gift to complete, he pulls his right arm in closer and breathes in, then lets out a deep rumbling breath as he lets himself slip into sleep's embrace.

When morning comes, he looks at the princess slumbering away somewhat peacefully when he remembers the dream he had of flying among the stars above the world and smiles as an idea comes to his mind, thinking, 'I know just how to complete my gift to her now, all I have to do is find the perfect one to make it work...'

Waiting for the sleeping princess to shift away from him so he does not wake her when he gets up, the chance arrives a half hour later as she rolls over onto her right side and rests her head on her hands. Quietly getting up and heading over to the hollowed-out boulder, he pulls out the clear crystal heart and puts the boulder back in place before heading out of his den. Spreading his wings and taking flight, he makes his way up to the snow-covered peak of his mountain and hovers just above it. Closing his eyes and using his intuition to search for the star with just enough energy to imbue the crystal, his body slowly rotates in the air while he continues to hover.

Minutes later, he stops turning and looks up into the sky at a faintly flickering star just barely within his strengthened vision, saying, "There you are, now...I shall take your life force..." Raising his claw and holding the crystal between three of his claws, he begins to concentrate on his inner magic to begin drawing the life out of the star and into the heart.

An hour later, somewhere far from the Milky Way Galaxy

Tinker Bell is helping Clank and Bobble fix up a few damaged baskets when she hears one of her friends tell her about Queen Clarion calling an emergency meeting, and flies over to Fawn as they both hurry there, asking, "What happened Fawn?"

Tears stream down her face as she remembers what she and the others witnessed, struggling to keep flying as she just wants to curl up and cry over the loss, saying, "Y-You will find out after we get there Tink, I promise, but it is not good news."

Confused, she follows her to the pixie dust tree as she notices the fairies that went to the mainland, are holding each other closely. Taking a seat on one of the leaves with Fawn, she looks around to see that Queen Clarion has tears in her eyes as well and feels a pit form in the bottom of her stomach, saying, "Whatever happened can't be good because the Queen looks really sad."

Doing her best to keep herself strong for her fairies, Queen Clarion lightly dabs her eyes dry and takes a deep breath to steady herself, saying, "Please quiet down everyone, I have distressing news to share with you all." She looks around at the gathered fairies and continues while the ministers quietly shed their tears, saying, "Some of you may have seen a bright flash a half hour ago, that bright flash was caused by the star circled by the mainland, going supernova and destroying every planet around it. Regrettably, we have lost our duty to bring seasons to the mainland, but do not lose hope. We will search for a new land to help bring the seasons to, please take some time to grieve while the ministers and I work on our search plans."

Tinker Bell's face falls as her heart breaks at hearing that while tears start falling down her face, saying in a remorseful tone, "No..." She then looks up at the queen and asks, "Is everything really gone, Queen Clarion? Even Elizabeth and Dr. Griffiths?"

The queen turns to Tinker Bell and sighs sadly, nodding while saying, "I'm afraid it is true Tinker Bell. When I got word from the fairies that managed to make it back before the first wave hit, I gathered the other ministers and went to see what became of the mainland. When we came within sight of the planet the mainland was on, we got to watch the awful sight of the planet's atmosphere burn away followed shortly by the planet breaking apart into pieces. When we saw that, we knew immediately that all was regrettably lost on Earth."

As fairies all around start grieving together, Fawn hugs Tinker Bell to her tightly as she breaks into wailing cries, saying, "I know how you feel Tink, we are all here to help each other get through this."

In a faraway galaxy with Cosmic as he heads to the meeting area

Cosmic is almost to the volcano when he sees dragons still coming in, holding the completed gift in his left hand so that none can see it before he presents it to his love. When he spots his love off to the side, he heads directly to an open spot so that he can walk over to her.

After he lands, he hears other dragons comment about how he looks like a porcupine's ass in the morning or tease him about the pet princess on his head, not letting them get to him, he continues on while ignoring the pain the bolts inflict upon him that are still within his right side.

When Sulfur Hide looks at Cosmic Seeker, he sees the bolts lodged within the dragon's side and says, "So my niece speaks the truth about the threat from these biped's new weapons, are you unable to take them out?"

Cosmic slowly shakes his head, saying, "I am capable, I just didn't have the time due to a gift I was preparing for Sky Wing."

The Arch Dragon looks up at the elf, saying, "It took you so long to acquire a princess?"

He shakes his head and says, "No, milord. The gift I was preparing is far more precious than a mere princess, I assure you it is quite special indeed."

Sulfur Hide nods and then gazes upon Cosmic Seeker, saying, "I should hope so or you would risk insulting our bloodline... Share your tale in complete honesty so we can assess the danger the bipeds pose to us."

Cosmic nods and then starts his tale, saying, "Well, I was trying to think up ideas for my gift when I decided to go for a fly to get inspiration..."

When the Arch Dragon hears the end of the tale, he looks away deep in thought, saying, "This is most troubling indeed that they were bold or stupid enough to fire first despite the law..." He then lifts his massive claw that holds the blood-stained projectile and gazes upon it scornfully for several seconds before tossing it into the lava bed to melt away. Turning his gaze back to the injured dragon, he asks, "What are your thoughts regarding the issue with the bipeds?"

As he looks down thoughtfully, he looks back up and speaks up, saying, "Milord, I can't help but feel that the age may be turning in favor of the bipeds. My thoughts regarding the matter are that if the bipeds desire freedom from dragon rulership, then we should make them prove themselves worthy of it through battle."

Sulfur Hide takes several minutes to think his idea over before finally sighing and saying, "I had a feeling something was different..." He then looks up and gazes around at the others around the large caldera, saying, "There is indeed wisdom in your suggestion, so I shall acknowledge it." Raising his voice, he then says, "ON THIS DAY, LET THE WAR OF SCALE BEGIN! GO FORTH IN PAIRS, GROUPS, OR BY YOURSELF AND TELL EVERY SETTLEMENT THAT THE WAR FOR THEIR FREEDOM HAS BEGUN, BUT START THE ATTACKS TWO DAYS AFTER THE NEWS HAS BEEN DELIVERED. WE SHALL FIGHT THEM WITH LIMB, TOOTH, FLAME, OR MAGIC AND DISCOVER IF THEY DESERVE FREEDOM! IF THEY CAN FELL ME AND MY BEST SOLDIERS, THEY PROVE WORTHY OF IT!"

While the other dragons begin roaring out cheers, Cosmic Seeker turns to his lover, calling out loudly, "SKY WING! I COME TO ASK YOU TO BE MY MATE AND BRING AN OFFERING!"

Walking out into the open area, she stops in front of him as shivers run up and down her body at her lover being so public with asking to be her mate, saying clearly, "I AM HERE, PRESENT YOUR OFFERING FOR ME TO DECIDE YOU WORTHY OR UNWORTHY TO BE MATED TO ME, COSMIC SEEKER."

The moment of truth is upon him as he reaches his left hand out and gently lays the now blue and brightly glowing crystal heart on top of a flat stone saying, "I carved this crystal heart from the very top of a mountain made of crystal and empowered it with my magic to allow it to call forth a shield to guard you from all that means you harm. The once-clear crystal came from a mountain that overlooked the city which had attacked me first when I came to get the mountain's peak, after being hit with several bolts, I took my leave to drop the crystal off at my den to carve it before returning to the city and laying waste to it."

Sky Wing approaches the gorgeous blue crystal heart as her heart flutters, saying, "I FIND YOUR GIFT REMARKABLE AND CHOOSE YOU TO BE MY MATE, COSMIC SEEKER." She then begins to reach for the crystal heart.

A small, silver dragon with a golden headdress covering her head uses a silver staff to whack dragons in her way and leads the other dragonesses out into the opening, shouting, "HOLD THY CLAW SKY WING!"

She stops just before touching it and pulls her hand back, turning to the head priestess and asking, "What reason do you find to keep me from completing the ceremony, wise one?"

As the head priestess uses the staff like a walking stick, she looks at the crystal heart and says, "ONLY ONE ISSUE I OBJECT TO IS ABOUT THE GIFT AND THE DRAGON YOU ARE ABOUT TO TAKE AS YOUR MATE! THE CRYSTAL HEART IMBUED IS PURE AND HONEST TO PURPOSE, THE ISSUE RESIDES IN HOW IT WAS MADE THAT WAY."

Cosmic turns to the priestess and attempts to speak, saying, "I do not understand, wise one. There was nothing wrong with what..."

Using her staff to whack the end of one of the bolts, she hears him gently roar out in pain, shouting, "SILENCE! YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, BUT I DO!!" While she stops near his shoulder, the others continue walking and encircle the male dragon as she continues, saying in a loud, clear voice, "THE STAR WHOSE ENERGY YOU TOOK BELONGED TO A SOLAR SYSTEM BLESSED WITH LIFE. WHEN YOU TOOK THE LAST BIT OF LIFE FROM THAT SYSTEM'S ONLY SUN, THE MASSIVE STAR WENT SUPERNOVA AND REDUCED THE ENTIRE SYSTEM INTO RUBBLE. ONLY A SINGLE PLANET IN THAT SYSTEM HAD LIFE, AND THAT CRYSTAL HEART IS TAINTED BY THE BLOOD OF THOSE THAT CALLED IT HOME. THE NUMBER OF THOSE YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ARE SO FAR BEYOND COUNT, I AM SICKENED TO CONSIDER YOU A FELLOW DRAGON!"

The entire caldera is deathly silent at her words as he lets his back legs bend, leaving him sitting on the ground with a look of shock on his face as he says quietly, "I...I didn't know." Then turns to her slowly and asks, "What is to be done, wise one?"

She looks at him with a deep frown, saying, "Exile of the highest order." Hearing gasps from around the caldera, she then starts slowly tapping the ground with the base of her staff in a slow rhythm of three taps, delivering her decision while the others follow the rhythm smoothly as they focus on combining their magic. Joining her magic with theirs, she says, "Cosmic Seeker, as the head priestess I hereby expunge you of your name and grant you the draconic name of Reuladair Rionnag, known in common as Star Reaper. As a constant reminder of the innocents you indirectly slaughtered with your action, we hereby curse your body permanently with the main color of black with a blood-red undercoat and claws to match. You shall be tasked with making things right with others you have also befouled before your penance begins. Any last words before the magic is cast and you are hurled from this planet, Star Reaper?" while still maintaining the magic and the rhythm.

Star Reaper nods and lowers his head to the ground, saying, "Off you get, Summer."

Not wanting to leave her master's side, she clings to his spines, saying, "I don't want you to go master..."

Swiftly rolling his head to his left, he sends the elf to the ground, saying, "Well too bad, you don't have a say." Using his left hand, he picks up the elf with his thumb and forefinger then lightly tosses her over to his mate, looking up at her saying, "I, Star Reaper, hereby surrender to you, Sky Wing, my home and entire treasure hoard along with the elf, Princess Summer Raelordiel including the deal we made." Lowering his voice so that only his lover can hear him, he says, "Be sure to enjoy the contents of the large hollow boulder for me and take good care of the princess, she's been through a lot." Bowing his head to his love, tears begin to slip down his face as he says, "I'm sorry for failing you, dear, I hope you find another mate more worthy than me and have a large clutch of eggs. Farewell."

Unable to even respond due to her throat closing up and tears running down her face, she looks down and quickly grabs the elf as she tries to get back to her former captor. When she hears the priestesses all slam the ends of their staffs on the ground, the spell is cast and shrouds him in a golden light to begin changing his body. She manages to force out, "I will...goodbye...my love." just before a beam of light shoots him up into the sky and away from the surface, taking the crystal heart with it.

Needing to grieve, Sky Wing holds the elf in her grasp and takes to the sky as fast as she can towards the mountain given to her by her banished lover. When she is a fair distance away, she starts sobbing as the elf cries out for her master, thinking, 'They didn't have to be so cruel!'

Star watches helplessly as his former home world gets smaller while he hurdles through space rapidly with his back facing the direction the golden light is taking him, feeling sorrow and shame hit him hard as he slowly begins to comprehend just what he's done, thinking, 'I wish that I hadn't drained the energy from that star...'

Time loses all meaning as Star Reaper is carried through the vast emptiness of space when he feels something pushing inwards on his whole body, incidentally driving the bolts deeper into his body when the sensation magnifies a hundredfold. The sensation then is reversed as he feels himself being pulled in many different directions simultaneously, becoming agonizingly painful when he senses himself moving even faster. Cracking open his eyes with his inner eyelid closed, he watches light flow by him so fast it forms tiny beams of multi-colored light.

The light beams entrance him, allowing him to momentarily forget his sorrow and grief as the beams abruptly end. Still inside the spell's golden light, he watches as he is shot out of a void where there is a ring of rock surrounding it. The rocks are slowly being pulled in as one swiftly disappears inside the black hole, hearing small rocks hit the shafts of the bolts and bounce away spinning into space.

As Star Reaper looks around at the area around him littered by rocks and a few scattered clouds of different colors, he passes by one rock as large as his mountain. Noticing a twisted chunk of metal tower in one location, his heart sinks as he realizes this must be what remains of the life-blessed planet he destroyed. When small pebbles begin to slam into his hide and turn to dust, he pays no heed to them as they cause no pain or damage to his hard scales.

However, he lets out a roar of pain when he passes right next to one that forces the bolts in his side to bend out of its way, causing the arrowheads to further damage his inner body. He then winces in pain as his back collides with a rock roughly the same size as him, fracturing a few of his scales.

Just when Star Reaper thinks the ordeal is over, he turns his head just in time to watch as a rock three times the size of Sulfur Hide's caldera slam into his right side squarely with full force. Growling out his pain, it is magnified tenfold when something much larger than him sandwiches him from the other side, driving the bolts fully into his body and sending the glistening, blood-smeared mithril tips poking out the other side of his body which tears a painful howling roar from his throat. Feeling his bones starting to creak in protest at being crushed between the two rocks, they strike each other with a loud crackling rumble as they break into much smaller pieces.

As he passes the numerous chunks of destroyed planets, a piece the size of his body slams into his back and disintegrates, drawing a pained grunt from him. With several of his scales breaking and flying off into space, he hopes that he survives this trip when a fast-flying chunk half the size of the rock that broke several of his scales slams into the side of his head and knocks him out cold.

Several months later, leagues away from Pixie Hollow...

Vidia travels with a group of fast-flying fairies toward a new sector that hasn't been searched yet when an odd yellow glow catches her eye and stops in her trail to find its source, asking no one in particular, "Umm, what was that?"

Another fairy stops the group and turns to her asking, "What was what?"

She looks at the fairy and says, "I saw a yellow glow from the corner of my..." She then spots it again and quickly turns her head to see a golden trail a great distance away, pointing at it quickly, saying, "There!"

The fairy from before turns to look at it and spots it, gasping as she says, "It's the golden comet!"

A different fairy looks up at it and smiles saying, "The Gold Comet is a sign of good luck!"

Vidia narrows her eyes sceptically at it and observes it carefully, saying, "I seriously doubt that is what it is." As it continues its path, she watches it strike something that changes its course towards their direction. Turning her head to the others, she says, "Its course has changed and is heading our way, let's head back until it passes."

The others hesitate to answer as one fairy says excitedly, "WE SHOULD! THEN WE CAN LET QUEEN CLARION KNOW OF IT PASSING BY!"

She tries to get them under control but fails as they begin to head back toward Pixie Hollow, looking back to keep track of the comet's location. Seeing it making its way closer at a snail's pace, she says, "We need to move faster, it might be a great distance away but it is gaining on us."

The fairies fly as quickly as they can, making it back when they can see the flickering of the light coming off it. When they fly past the village, they spread the news of the comet's sighting to the other fairies. As they continue sharing the news, Fawn smiles and decides to fly over to let Tinker Bell know of the sighting.

When Fawn sees Tinker Bell's home in the distance, she spots her friend repairing a wagon and waves to her calling out, "TINK! TINK!"

Tinker Bell looks up from her friend when she hears a boom sound from above and when a sparkle in the sky catches her attention. Shading her eyes to investigate the glint, she spots something falling from the sky toward her friend and cries out while racing toward her, "FAWN, LOOKOUT!"

Fawn looks up and shields herself with her arms from the large, black, object while screaming in fear of being crushed by it when something tackles her out of the way just in time to feel a gust of wind blow her a distance away. When she opens her eyes, she finds herself in a dust cloud and coughs asking, "What?"

The tinker fairy hugs her friend tightly, saying, "I made it just in time to save you from that falling thing...whatever it was."

She hugs her friend back gratefully, saying, "Oh thank you Tink, thank you so much."

When the dust settles and clears the air, the two separate and turn around to look at the object embedded in the dirt as Fawn flies around the large, thick, black object asking, "Uhm...Tink? What is this thing that nearly crushed me?"

Tinker Bell looks at the thick edges of the black object curiously, saying, "I don't know, Fawn. One thing I am sure of is that it is part of something else because this entire side is damaged, let's use some of our dust to try to get it up off the ground."

As the two fairies work together, it takes them a few minutes when other fairies join in and help them pry the object up out of the ground when Fawn looks it over. She gulps nervously and says, "Uhm Tink, I think this is a scale because it has the same shape somewhat similar to that of a fish or a lizard. I have no idea what it came from but I think it is safe to assume that the creature this came from is bigger...much bigger."

The tinker fairy then says, "Let's take this to the Queen and show it to her, she might have an idea what creature this came from."

Together, the group of fairies guide the scale to the tree, only to arrive amid a large gathering of other fairies with Queen Clarion already there talking to a group of fast-flying fairies.

Queen Clarion hears the news about the sighting of the Gold Comet with a hopeful, yet neutral expression on her face when she sees something large being brought into the tree. When she recognizes it, her eyes go wide as she looks it over closely.

Tinker Bell then approaches the queen, saying, "Queen Clarion, this fell from the sky a few minutes ago, nearly hitting Fawn until I managed to tackle her out of its way. We had to use dust to get it up out of the ground, hearing from Fawn that it is a scale from a large creature. Might you know what creature this came from?"

Calming herself down as it is just a scale, she sighs out in relief and then lays a dainty hand on the scale. Feeling some faint traces of magic and warmth from it raises new concerns as she nervously says, "I do indeed recognize the scale, it belongs to a race of creatures that once called our world home known as Dragons. Their race was a young, and very hostile one that constantly fought amongst themselves for power."

Fawn shudders and holds Tink close, asking, "There aren't any dragons left here, right, Queen Clarion?"

A shiver snakes its way down her spine as she remembers the ancient history, saying, "No Fawn, there aren't."

Curiosity gets the better of Tinker Bell as she asks, "Do you know what happened to them? Were fairies here first or were the dragons?"

Queen Clarion smiles softly before letting it slip away, looking at Tinker Bell fondly, saying, "We were the first here, Tinker Bell, though it was us fairies who were responsible for their violence." Turning away, she heads to the center of the group of fairies, saying with a slight frown, "This history has been left forgotten for many years and is many eons old, but I shall share the tale with you all now due to necessity. Fairies were the first to call this world home, among a few other races such as gnomes, sprites, and elves." Gathering her thoughts, she continues and says, "Fairies back then were not the same as we are today, they were pranksters and quite mischievous without any magic. There was no purpose for them so they filled their time with causing trouble or stealing from the other races, but things changed when they learned magic from books they stole from the elves. Tired of being treated like pests and vermin, the fairies of yore used the magic they learned to get back at the others by altering the bodies of hundreds of Iguanas. Helping their brains to evolve and infusing their bodies with raw magic, they began to gain sentience and sapience in short order. Using them to wreak a little chaos upon the other races to make them treat them like equals, they never understood their folly until the iguanas began to mutate beyond their control and sprouted wings. Things became even worse for the other races as they turned into dragons the size of a tiny mountain and learned how to breathe fire, devolving into wild, vicious beasts that attacked anything that they laid eyes on. Sadly, as the other races fought back against them, the Gnomes and Sprites fell into extinction when the dragons gained the awful ability to breathe fire hot enough to melt a mountain...blue fire." Thinking back to her younger days, she reminiscently says, "Dragons capable of blue fire are ones to be the most afraid of..."

Getting the feeling that she knows much more than she is letting on, Tink asks, "Uhm...Queen Clarion, I don't mean to be rude...but were you..."

Turning her head to Tinker Bell, she sighs sadly and says, "There? Yes, yes I was." She flies around in a slow circle with her hands in front of her, rubbing her arms gently as she says, "I was only a few years old when Dragons gained blue fire while fairykind was being driven to extinction, I was playing in a meadow of lillies with four of my friends until a ground-shaking roar tore across the sky. My friends and I took off for our homes, finding everyone gathering what they needed and running away to where they could survive the dragon's inevitable attack."

She then spreads her hands apart and begins to weave them through the air before her, continuing her story, saying, "My parents were lorekeepers of our race and collected the history of the fairies into a single book that made me look so small at the time, then hid me with the few children there were deep underground. Before our parents sealed us away, my parents left the book in the cavern and told me to keep it safe. When they were closing the entrance, they told us not to open the door until the air inside grew cold.

Fawn watches in awe as a massive object starts to materialize on the floor before the queen, pointing it out to Tink, who is already staring at it curiously, saying, "Is that what I think it is, Tink?"

Queen Clarion then continues her story as the book her parents left in her care fully materializes, saying, "The last time we saw our parents, we heard a dull roar followed by a bright blue flash before everything went dark and quiet. When the door started glowing a soft red, the temperature inside grew to searing temperatures. As they persisted for several hours on end, we thought we would be baked alive. However, it did begin to cool down gradually to become quite cold inside the cavern, allowing my friends and I to finally open the door to head outside. When we left, we looked around to see what happened to our parents and the village, and saw absolutely nothing as far as our eyes could see but black stone and ash. There was no sign of our parents anywhere, no trees, flowers, or grass. The area was completely empty of all life and sound until Mother Dove landed before us with tears in her eyes, sharing the story of her survival after falling victim to the blue flames. When the elves reached our island, they saw the destruction left in the dragon's wake, and told us of their plan to banish the dragons to a faraway place where they would trouble no one ever again. Mother Dove even offered her help to send them away, so we began working together to save what remained of our world. When the preparations were made, the elves pulled out the final ingredient to cast a worldwide spell to send them somewhere else. As they added it into the cauldron, the lead elf told us of their intentions to leave the world to the fairies. We were too slow to stop the spell's completion and watched as a massive wave raced forward, taking the surviving sapient species with it. Once they were gone, we worked on repairing the damage but that is a tale for another time."

She turns back to the floating dragon scale, saying, "The appearance of a scale as fresh as this one concerns me greatly, for we no longer have the vital ingredients to banish them from our world should they return."

Unable to fight her curiosity and hope, Tink speaks up and says, "Maybe we could use something else in place of the ingredients we are missing!"

Queen Clarion raises her hand to her chin, thinking it over and saying, "That is a good suggestion, Tinker Bell. We will need to find a replacement for the elves' magic along with a dragon's mutated blood. I hope that no dragons do return here, but we should be prepared, should it ever happen."

Just then several horns sound out, followed by a scout flying into the canopy saying, "The Golden Comet is approaching, come watch it pass by!"

Picking the book up with some of her dust, she follows the fairies above the tree to watch the comet pass by. Scanning the sky for the comet, she locates it below the second star and smiles, thinking that their luck is changing. As the comet grows even closer, she senses something different about it but cannot figure out what it is exactly. When her eyes watch it rapidly heading to pass overhead, she realizes that the comet will come dangerously close to their world. It isn't until the comet enters the atmosphere, trailing black smoke in its wake, that the fire goes out and reveals it isn't a comet at all...but a dragon black as night, saying, "Oh no..."

Fawn and Tinker Bell both watch wondrously as the dragon slowly sails through the air from the south, suffused in golden light that fades away to leave a glittering yellow trail of dust in the air. Watching it pass overhead back first with its wings trailing through the air helplessly, following it with their eyes as they rotate to see where it will land.

When she sees it getting close to where the biggest mountain splits, she watches helplessly as the dragon's shadow passes over the top and easily missing it. However, a strong gust of wind catches them all by surprise, sending her and the other fairies cartwheeling through the air briefly before regaining control. Tink looks to where the dragon passed to see the wake pass over the mountain's Eastern slope and cause snow to start sliding toward the bottom, but hearing a deep boom echo from deep within the winter lands and gasps crying out, "WE NEED TO GO SEE IF THEY ARE ALRIGHT AND CHECK THE ROOT!"

Queen Clarion agrees with the idea and calls out, "GATHER YOUR WARM CLOTHES AND PUT THEM ON, THEN HEAD TO THE BRIDGE AND LET THE WINTER FAIRIES FROST YOUR WINGS!" She then makes her way to her home in the tree to put her own winter clothes on.

After gathering their warm clothing, the warm fairies head over to the bridge to get their wings frosted so they can fly without worrying about their wings breaking.

Once their wings are all frosted, Queen Clarion leads the group over to where the Pixie Dust Tree's root is at in the Winter Lands. Looking around, she doesn't see much damage except for around the mountains where avalanches were caused.

When the fairies reach the area where the root is, Tinker Bell sees her sister and races towards her crying out happily, "PERI, YOU'RE OKAY!"

Periwinkle hugs her sister back just as tightly, happy to see her, saying, "Of course, the avalanche surprised us, but the most amazing thing is that massive black dragon that sailed right over us. I'm glad that you are alright as well, we saw the trees on your side bend before the wind hit us."

As the two sisters hug, Sled looks at Fawn and asks, "Did any large scales fall in the warm lands?"

Fawn nods saying, "As far as we know, just one that was about to hit me until Tink saved me. Was your scale just as large?" Seeing a group of fairies pushing the large scale by, she points to it saying, "Oh they brought it with us."

Sled looks over at the scale in shock and shakes his head saying, "What landed here were small broken fragments, but they were the same color as that scale right there. Is that a whole scale?"

Parting from hugging her sister, she looks over at Sled and shakes her head, saying, "No, it isn't. That is just a large chunk from a scale from a dragon that is far larger and more dangerous. How did Lord Milori already know what it was?"

The animal talent winter fairy says, "He was with Queen Clarion before she was the Queen of all fairies, and that there was no Pixie Dust Tree until after the dragons and other races left this planet." Looking down at the large red spot of dried blood on the ground, he sighs and says, "Despite how violent the dragons were, I wonder how badly this one is hurt."

Fawn cocks her head and asks, "How can a creature so large and capable of melting mountains with its blue fire be hurt by anything?"

Sled sighs and points at the large spot saying, "I don't know, but it is bleeding because that was not there until after the dragon passed over us."

Overhearing the conversation, Queen Clarion and Lord Milori fly over to the group as she speaks up, asking, "Do you know where it landed?"

He turns to the queen and says, "From how high it passed over this mountain, I would guess it landed near the glacier. However, due to how it didn't use its wings to fly and was soaring through the sky back first, I think it would be a safer bet to say the dragon is likely unconscious."

Curious, Tinker Bell asks, "Can we please go check to see if that is indeed the case and find out how serious the injury is?"

Unable to make a decision, she turns to her lover and asks, "What do you think we should do, Milori? You saw as well as I did the aftermath of the dragon's attack from long ago."

Thinking carefully about the issue and the possibility of it being unconscious, he sighs and hesitantly agrees saying, "It would be wise to know how big this dragon is and what we might be faced with dealing, however, we must avoid getting too close to it in the event it wakes and starts to attack."

After ordering the other fairies to stay put, the five fairies fly in the direction the dragon was headed. When they get within sight of the glacier, they clearly see that the dragon had crashed into the side of the mountain just past the glacier.

Lord Milori looks at the new cracks running from the large crater in the mountain's side, saying, "That must have been quite the impact to leave such a deep crater in granite."

When they get closer to the crater, Sled notices more red stains on the side, saying, "There's more stains on the side, and there are smears heading down to the foot of the mountain."

The dragon comes into view, earning a gasp from Fawn as Tinker Bell looks on in wonder, asking, "Can we get a little closer? Something doesn't look right with the left side."

Hearing about Tinker Bell's legendary curiosity from his love, he sighs and urges the snowy owl to get closer to the downed dragon, saying softly, "This is as far as I dare to get to this dragon, I forbid any of you getting any closer than this."