The volcano island was not a peaceful place, at all.
Crowbat, Sparrow, Lotus, Mothra and Rubber, the other 5 dragonets from the Animus winglet of Jade mountain, as per their mission, were flying above the volcanic forests. The sky above them were filled with dark clouds. The volcano didnt erupt, but it was active. The last eruption was about 50 years ago, when the nightwings lost their old home. But this place was now home to the day empress Celestial, who've been a savior of dragonkind for ages.
The ancient scrolls used to say about Celestial and Lunar's legends but the traces were very less. They existed more than 2500 years ago, but then went into hiding for the sake of the dragontribes. Animus magic was not for normal dragons back then, but only the 2 empresses possessed that magic, ruling over Pyrrhia and secretly Pantala for a thousand years. Lunar's pride and sense of selfishness drove her away from her own instincts, transforming her into a more evil version of herself. The legends say, her name was "Nightmare Moon", who refused to lower the moon and fought Celestial for the eternal night. But Celestial sealed Nightmare Moon in the 3 moons and went into hiding herself.
Nightmare Moon was said to have deep black scales with navy blue underscales and wings tinted blue, the night stars shining bright on her scales and the aura off her icey-spikes looking like a wave of the eternal night. She had strong armor carved with the dark magic Lunar possessed. Celestial didnt have such magic or pride, so far. Before she went into hiding, she passed down a fraction of her powers to the Icewings, the Sandwings and the Skywings, which is the very well known Animus magic. Animus magic was only 1/20th of the magic Celestial possssed, since her capabilities were far beyond what animus could do. She set the limit that a dragon using animus magic will begin loosing a part of his soul per spell he casts. This was so dragons wouldnt corrupt themselves.
But 50 years ago, Celestal and Nightmare moon had another battle in the moons, as Celestial successfully saved her sister from the dark magic reigning over Lunar's heart. They decided to come back home for everyone's own good, to once again protect the dragons conquering the lands.
So it was Lunar's duty to look after her sister now. That is exactly why she sent the 5 dragonets to come to this volcanic ash lands of flames. But the 5 didnt like flying accross this deadland.
"This place is all sulfur and death", Mothra said with a sigh. "My majestic wings would look un-attractive in this air of ash". "Mothra, we're not here for sense of beauty and fashion", Crowbat pointed out. "We're on an important mission by the empress, so consider yourself lucky of being useful", she said. Mothra's facial expression was annoyed as she sighed again with hint of annoyance. The others didnt care as long as Mothra didnt do anything else.
They crossed the forest lines and were on the sea, ahead of them was the stony volcanic island of Celestial. They had to be careful because steam would rise out from anywhere on the sea, and it was enough to burn a dragon alive. But as they were entering the volcanic zone, they noticed a group of armored skywings down below, discussing about something. They had orange and yellow armor, proving to be from celestial's army.
"Do you guys see that?" Rubber asked, looking down at the skywings. Sparrow looked down as well. "Should we go inspect it out? They are of Celestial's army as well, so they might come of help to understand what is wrong with the empress", Sparrow pointed out. "Your right", Lotus said. "We should go check it out". The others agreed as they swooped down gliding, landing infront of a huge pile of rock ahead of the skywings. Sparrow walkee ahead and growled to get attention of the chanting skywings. "Hello, it is us, the dragonets from the Jade Mountain Academy's Animus winglet", Sparrow started. "We were assigned to come here over a mission on the queen. But we would like to know what the chattering is about here since it sounds like something important is happening".
The skywings looked at each other, anxiety and frustration on their faces. They looked like they were hesitant to say something. But then a skywing with tangerine scales decided to defeat her frustration and speak out. "We're glad you guys are here, but there is a huge problem. The empress suddenly behaved really odd and mean with us. She was dealing with some matters with her chancelor, but then she flashed out in anger all of a sudden and her scales shifted to that of white, and her eyes gave the most threatening gaze of all." The skywing said. "She claims to have her new title, Daybreaker.."
"Daybreaker..." Sparrow knew this was no good, something had taken over Celestial, an evil magic, or something unknown. Rubber stepped forward, with a face of concern. "What did she do after that.. really weird scales transformation?", he asked. "Well..", the skywing began with her explanation. "She said she'd take all over the continents and let the sun shine forever so it never sets down. She vowed to destroy her sister, Lunar, the night empress, and she ordered all of us to begin the battle planning. Most sandwings in the army were on her favour. One of them claimed to be a cult of the day and told us to vow to Daybreaker. Her magic has evolved to a dangerous form, most of the skywings and the sandwings decided to be by her side since shes even more powerful than before, tho her cold attitude is pretty annoying. But us here, we're afraid to join her.", the skywing said as her scales shiverer, Sparrow could see the fear in her eyes as she continued.
"She killed one of us for denying her offer, so we're forced to be in. We believe she is not herself and her sister, Lunar must find a solution to bring her back to her sanity." The skywing said. The fear on her face reflected further, worrying the five dragonets.
"I believe, this is just like Lunar", Lotus started, as others glared at her. "Remember our history scrolls teaching us about a bit of their past? How Lunar let her pride and guilt take over her soul and turned into Nightmare Moon?" "What are you trying to mean here, Lotus", Crowbat asked, her wings creating a buzzing noise. "What i'm trying to say is, Daybreaker maybe the evil version of Celestial and we need to stop her just like Celestial stopped Lunar", Lotus said with a worry. The others were silent, but Lotus was right.
"But she will kill us if we disobey", the skywing said again. "There's no way we could escape her wrath." "Dont worry", said Crowbat. "As long as we are here, we wont let her get her claws on you. We are getting out now before she realises. We can't let the Solar army sense us", Crowbat said with a fuzz, her wings buzzing like a bee.
The skywings exchanged glances, then looked at the dragonets with hope in their eyes. The femal skywing smiled. "Thank you", she said with a heavy breathe. "Very well", Mothra's wings spread. "What are we waiting for? Lets esscape before they see us!"
The others nodded. They needed to get out of here as soon as possible. Daybreaker wasnt anyone easy to deal with, they couldnt fight someone with extra-ordinary animus magic, so they need Lunar, someone capable of equal magic with Daybreaker. It was almost midnight with the 3 moons shining. As they were about to take flight, they noticed the strangest phenomenon.
Something strange, which has never happened to Pyrrhia for the last 2200 years. Despite being halfway through the night, the sky was turning orange, and lighter. The moons didnt rise down, but the sky was enlightening. "Whats that?" Rubber asked, as everyone glanced at the direction of the light.
The sun, rising from the east bright, early by 5 hours 30 mins. This has never happened ever in the history of pyrrhia known so far. "What in the 3 moons...is that", Sparrow said with wide open eyes of shock. The sun rose up fast within a few seconds, then rose up equal to the moons, making the moons look like black orbs, as the sky took an un-natural colour of pale blue with dim of light. The skywings and the 5 dragonets, stared with fear and shock, having the slightest idea of the chaos and war that awaits them.
The first eclipse after 2200 years, has finally risen.