Sweet Dreams [OPEN TO NIGHTWINGS]

It was the natural state of the NightWings. The dark had come, and stars glimmered along the sky as a bright aurora broke out in ripples along the abyss that is space itself. It was the very epitome of the night, just how Eros liked it.

Lovely. Truly.

The female beat her large, bat-like wings through the sky, feeling free as she became one with the night. It was a beautiful night, much more visually pleasing than most others, and while Eros was not much of a flyer, she did not want to miss the opportunity of basking in the night's beauty this day. She flew at a leisurely pace, silent like an owl in flight as the sky's natural light caused her scales to shimmer, mimicking the auroras amongst her. Eros grinned. This. This is one of the many things that makes the NightWings remarkable. We live amongst the stars, the auroras, the moon itself. We live in the night like no other dragon can. The night is our disguise, our advantage.

Eros tucked her wings to her sides and dove gracefully to a spire, flaring out her membranes to slow herself to a stop as she perched herself upon the rock. The NightWing coiled her claws into the stone and looked up at the sky. She could see shapes of other NightWings flying above her, a truly glorious sight. The dark dragoness licked her claws, thinking about whether she should keep flying or return to her nest.

Thunk

A wooden marionette in the shape of a large bird landed in a heap near the base of the spire and had distinctive markings decorated on it's frame. The undergrowth shook as a lanky, elder NightWing with a noticeable limp
went over to it quickly and turned back towards the direction he just came from.

"How far this time Zara?!" Yelled out by a distant dragon.

A crazed grin overtook the lanky dragons face, "An extra 20 feet!"

"Very good!" The voice responded back and a short time later two more elder NightWings arrived. "Very good indeed." All three looked very similar to one another, as they were indeed siblings, but noticeable differences helped to show who was who. The first had a lanky build, one set of horns, gray side manes, and a crazed look to him. The largest had the physique of a Guardian, two menacing sets of horns, a gray mane and bearded mane, tusk-like horns, and large scars to show it. And the last one, looked the most normal with his physique though seemed to be the oldest of the three upon closer look. Three sets of horns, short graying beard, and old scars on his arms said Guardian, but the book he carried with him marked his rank as that of a Scholar.

"Seems the adjustments proved useful for increased glide time." He walked over to the fallen puppet and picked it up casually to inspect it. "Pity that the landing still requires work." None of the 3 have noticed the female dragoness sitting at the top of the spire above them.

Eros was first alarmed when she heard a thunk against the rock from down below. Her frill flared in surprise, but it flattened yet again against her neck as she looked down and noticed three NightWings at the bottom of her perch. The beautiful female tilted her head in curiosity. They appeared to be elderly and looked very much alike. Eros had a hunch that the three might be close relatives.

Before going down to greet them, Eros moved her neck to preen her scales, hoping to look presentable. It could never hurt to make a good first impression, especially for NightWings. Then, in a graceful movement, the dragoness swept down the spire, appearing right in front of the three males. A sickly sweet grin spread upon her snout.

"Good evening, gentlemen." Eros bowed, spreading her wings into an elegant arc in a polite greeting before standing upright yet again. "Are you enjoying these twilight hours as much as yours truly?" The pretty female giggled. Conversing with fellow members of her Tribe was always enjoyable.

"Hmm, a different leg joint maybe?"

"Or something extra! Like retractable claws!"

"This...again? Not every marionette is going to have a weapon."

As the three conversed among themselves is it shortly became interrupted upon the dragoness's entry. It was certainly impressive, her appearance no less impressive as well, and each one returned the greeting. "The twilight is certainly beautiful tonight indeed, milady. A night such as this is always a pleasure to view, among other beautiful sights tonight." A polite tone the oldest, Balthazar, responded with and seemingly the one to voice the other twos similar thoughts.

On a cliff's edge, Cyclone looked up to the night sky while Typhoon watched the ocean. They had finally gotten use to the more nocturnal life that Nightwings led, but they still didn't feel quite at home. They missed the den that they had been adopted in, Sting's old home. Who knew what it looked like now? It was then that the pair heard some voices, and both turned in their direction. The twins eyed each other before slowly approaching, seeing a group of dragons.

Tenebris walked as the vast invisible ocean of moonlight overhead seemed to fall only just upon him, here and there a slender broken steam of the moon's light seemed to clash against the intersecting branches and trickle to the earth, forming small white pools among the clumps of laurel. These leaks of light however were few and served only to accentuate the vast darkness of Tenebris’s environment as he continued to make his way through one of the many thick woods found within the the realm of the Ebonwing Isles, he allowed his imagination to free his time as he thought of all the unfamiliar shapes within the darkness, both beautifully uncanny to menacing. The solitude and silence in the heart of the Isle's had the portentous conspiracy of the very night itself, those oblivious to the tranquillity of the night couldn’t comprehend how even the most commonplace or familiar objects take on another character in the Twilight.

Tenebris noted to himself how the trees grouped themselves differently, drawing closer to one another as if in fear. Even the silence now seemed to have a different quality than the quiet of the day. The air seemed to be full of half-heard whispers, notes of strange nocturnal birds which made the woods their home and the meeker cries of even small animals who Tenebris could only of assumed had fallen into a sudden encounter with a lurking predator, and even still there seemed to be sounds without a name, forms without a substance. The Archon relished in it all, the mystery and magic of the night was something only few appreciated, yet it was the very thing what made and defined him and his kin the Nightwings. His graceful figure finally reaching his destination within a small clearing at the end of the vast expanse as his musings came to a halt.

Extending his wingspan, Tenebris found pleasure as the Moon’s full gaze was cast upon him, its silver rays seemingly paying him tribute to his form. The unique reflective speckled effect of silver upon his wing membrane seemed to imitate the stars of the night sky, it would seem that from above even in the darkness he would appear as if a small constellation of the stars beauty was fixated to the ground longing to join its brothers and sisters in the sky. Basking in the moon’s brilliance Tenebris would be brought back to reality as his eyes through his peripheral at the corner of his sight saw several figures below a rocky plateau spire, turning his eerie sapphire glare towards the figures he noticed six of his kin, but upon closer inspection he realised it was five with one having a unique deposition of having two heads.

Regarding the others, he once more folded his wings as he strode forth, despite his slight limp he attempted to carry himself regally, he wore no ornaments of note apart from a single silver ring adorning one his horns. In silent scrutiny he's examine those before him in silent scrutiny before bowing his head in a fashion of mutual respect and acknowledgement. He had not expected to see so many gathered here, in fact he was expecting solitude yet the Archon found some warmth that others of the tribe now had the confidence to congregate openly which was restricted as of late due to the fear of the Monsters lurking upon the mainland. While Tenebris did not know those in this group personally, he greeted them all the same as equals "Brothers and Sisters, tis' certainly a pleasure to discover upon company". It was true that some may recognise him initially, however, unlike the murals and other depictions of himself, Tenebris was not the noble refined image which was displayed in his representations, since the fall of the Capital, the Archon now had a mutilated vicious scar across the right hand side of his maw and several disfiguring scars upon his right side, stretching from his back foreleg to his wing joint, none the less he appear no less dignified for it, with his usual apathetic solemn visage.

[Bump]

Cyclone and Typhoon both looked up in amazement at the dragon that flew in. They sat to his right, carefully eyeing all the scars along his body. It was a sight they'd never seen before, but something was familiar about him. The pair soon walked in front of him. Cyclone curiously darted her eyes around his form, trying to see if there were more scars, while Typhoon seemed to just be thinking. Maybe trying to understand him. Finally, the pair sat in front of him, smiling.

"Hiya."

"Hello."

"Your scars are cool."

Before he could say more a most unexpected arrival took his immediate attention, to which he could immediately tell they were the Archon Tenebris. Even from what he heard of the NightWing leader and seeing him now, the tone of voice all but confirmed it along with how he held himself solemnly. All the elder could do was simply bow back in kind to hide his surprise. "The pleasure is well received to this old scholar and his brothers."

His other sibling, the one with a Guardians physique, bowed as well. The lanky one, called Zara, had his attention more on the two-headed hatchling and both asking their questions without realizing who they were talking to."Ahhh, the joys of being young."