Wings of Fire in MHA

Shoutout to Tannermal, John_A_Mandrake and Zenon00125 for the power stones, appreciate it! If you like this story, leave a review! I wanna know what you think of my work, and I welcome all constructive criticism.

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I really really hated large numbers of people, and with how crowded it was in the outskirts of Atheia I couldn't imagine how horrible it must be inside the city. "Look at all these people!" Fone Bone exclaimed as he adjusted the hat he had found, "It looks like every living thing in the valley has been forced here." Thorn said as she watched the chaos unfold.

"No time to feel sorry for them, they want into the city just as we do." I said as I scanned the crowd. Despite my distaste of being among so many people, this was nothing compared to how many were in attendance at the Sports Festival, so at least the noise wasn't as bad, same for the smell. Despite the area being choked by people and animals, it didn't smell like it, which was a relief.

"Look at the carving on the shrine." Thorn murmured as she pointed at a stone. "This is how grandma Ben appears in my dreams, young and with that exact crown." She said going closer to get a better look. "Remarkable." Fone Bone said once he looked at it, "Not so remarkable." A little voice said next to the shrine. There was a little girl dressed in green who smiled at us, "This is VEN, the first Queen of Dreams!" She said proudly as Thorn nodded, "The first human Queen." "Would you like to make an offering? My prayer stones are of the highest quality." The girl said as Thorn looked at her stones.

I looked at the other shrines she had though, one looked like a large serpent coiled around and eating its own tail, and the other was strange. Like several blades connected at the center spinning. "Excuse me, who is this?" Fone Bone asked as he saw the first stone. "Ah, that is MIM, the first dragon. See how she holds her tail in her mouth? That is how she gives life to the world." She said.

"What is this one?" I pointed to the other stone as the girl walked over, "This is also Mim but her darker aspect. Here she is the Lord of DEATH, the Lord of the Locust. She is both the creator and destroyer, the prayer on this stone is to keep balance." She explained. 

Although I hadn't run into many deities or gods just yet, having one that was both creator and destroyer sounded like a great way to be corrupted by outside influence. It's how I got here after all, I think . . . Maybe the system or Dave did something else behind the scenes.

Thorn and Fone Bone talked a little more with the girl before getting up, before they left she put something in Thorns hand. "What did she give you?" I asked as Thorn showed me the little prayer stone the girl had given her. "Oh no." She groaned then pointed ahead where Smiley and Phoney Bone had somehow gotten their hands on an ox cart full of hay. 

"What are you fools doing?" I asked when the farmer trying to buy hay from them left. "You were supposed to wait for us, we were only gone a few hours!" Fone Bone said as Thorn asked them where they got the cart from, "It was abandoned on the side of the road." Smiley said cheerfully as Fone Bone groaned "Gran'ma Ben is going to be so mad at you." he said before he jumped "Mad at what?" Rose asked as she made her presence known.

"Uh, hello gran'ma." Smiley said in a small voice then it clicked THIS IDIOTS TRYING TO GET US KILLED! "What's hiding under the hay boys? It better not be what I THINK it is." She said menacingly as Smiley gulped. "There's nothing in the hay." He said as Rose turned to Phoney, "Don't look at me, I got nothing to do with this." He said immediately as she turned away from him. 

Pretty soon Rose and Smiley were arguing about Bartleby, because Smiley felt bad leaving him alone despite him being more than able to take care of himself. I didn't pay attention though as I noticed a small boy walk up to us. "Excuse me sir, I hear you want to buy a coyote?" He asked as Thorn and Rose turned to look at him. "Who sent you?" Rose asked as he told her that the baker did, and how with the ghost circles getting closer the people in charge of the city were only letting a few people in.

"Can you get us past the guards with no questions asked?" Rose said as the boy shrugged "How many in your party?" "Five-" "Five and a hay cart!" Smiley cut in as the boy grimaced, "The hay cart will not be so easy, maybe if you know someone IN the city things will go smoother." He said as Rose shook her head, "I haven't had any contact with them in the last year." Rose said as the boy sighed saying much has changed in the last year.

They talked for a bit more before the boy led the way to the gate. The Bone cousins jumped to the top of the hay while Thorn and Rose sat in the cart with me leading the ox along. Soon we got to the gate and after talking with the guard for a bit they let us pass into the city. 

It stunk, horribly. Rose and Thorn didn't seem to mind but I hated the smell, it was like sewage had been smeared all over the place, up on the hay Smiley was complaining about the same exact thing, and Phoney started swearing up and down that there was treasure in the city. "Carter, stay with us tonight instead of going around." Rose said quietly as we came up to the stables, "We are going to visit someone I know tonight, he runs a small rooftop kitchen. He should have answers for us." I nodded silently, already making plans.

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Once the sun had set we left our rooms quietly as we ascended to the rooftops. Though Smiley had been worried about leaving Bartleby behind, he came with us when Rose told him there would be food involved. As we neared the place Rose spoke of, the air started to stink, not as bad as the city but still pungent enough to be a discomfort. Soon we arrived where the roofs dipped into a small hollow, where a man in robes was cooking.

"Come, eat." He said waving us over as he handed us small bowls. "Food is what you need after a long journey." He said as he filled each bowl, "What is it?" Smiley asked, looking at the dubious meal. "It is GOOD." The man said, shaking his ladle at him, "Now be sure to eat it to the last drop. I can foretell your DOOM otherwise."

As we ate the 'food' the old man started to speak, "A darkness has fallen that cannot be lifted. Danger besets us from without AND within, Fate has decreed that this is your doom." He pointed his ladle and shook it at Rose and Thorn. "Fate has decreed that these are the end times and you must SUFFER." He crowed as Phoney crossed his arms, "Fate schmate!"

As Phoney and the old man started to argue about the intricacies of fate I turned to Rose, "This man is the wise teacher you spoke of?" I asked skeptically as Rose shook her head. "This man is respected by the wise as a great dreaming master." She said before yelling at Phoney for being disrespectful. 

I turned back to my inner musings as Rose kept the old man from attacking Phoney over the 'slop' he was feeding us as Phoney called it, it wasn't the best food but it would be filling. I did pay more attention when he spoke of who was running the city.

"The Inner council that watched over the city has been dissolved. They have been replaced by disciples of the Venu who call themselves the VEDU." He grumbled as Rose asked "Vedu? The EYE?" "The order of the dreaming eye." The old man nodded, "They accept as truth only the teachings of Ven, the Human Queen. They have outlawed all dragon lore."

That was interesting, a sect that hates dragons, maybe they could be used. Probably not, since I could feel a little more of my old power start to return. Soon I would soar across the sky again.

Thorn, Rose and the old man talked a bit more about the Vedu and how they were hypocrites since it was the Dragons that told them about Queen Ven in the first place when I noticed something, there was a shadow with nobody to cast it, right there in the middle of them.

"That's strange, I just walked through a cold spot." Fone Bone said as he handed the prayer stone from the little girl earlier to the old man. He had walked right over the shadow, and suddenly Thorn went stiff.

"FONE BONE LOOK OUT!" She yelled terrified as I shot up, she was seeing whatever was casting that shadow! "What is it?" I asked, "It's BRIAR, she's here!" Thorn said before her eyes lost focus as if listening to something we couldn't. 

This was bad but I felt she could handle- shit nevermind. I moved towards Thorn as she started walking towards the shadow on the ground, the others tried to push her back away from it but she kept moving forward unnaturally. "Move!" I told them as I grabbed Thorn by her shoulders and shoved her back forcefully snapping her out of the trance, just before her eyes regained clarity I heard her mumble, "I must seek the Crown of Horns." Then she was back.

As I checked to make sure nothing was wrong with her physically, Rose and the old man were terrified since the Locust had never been able to breach into the middle of the city before. "How were you able to break her trance?" The old man asked speaking to me for the first time.

"My will is stronger than Briars, and my patron as well." I said simply as the old man went and stirred his slop peering into it then looked back at me. "I cannot see your doom, but your path is filled with blood, and DEATH!"

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After that whole mess everyone slept soundly, at least I did. 

The next morning Rose had me stay with them since she trusted the Bones enough to not get into trouble, I remained skeptical however. I still stayed an unnecessary part of the task of keeping Thorn awake so the locust couldn't attack her in her dream. The old man swung by around midday with another old lady named Mermie who brought several types of tea with her.

"Would you like some tea?" She said surprising me so I nodded and drank slowly as the old people fretted about Thorn. She kept wanting to talk but they just wanted to shove more tea down her throat, she looked to me for help but I shrugged. Figure it out yourself. She finally snapped though as she drove the point of her sword into the floor. "Enough tea." She growled as I snickered.

She asked who the one responsible for outlawing the dragon lore was and finally got a straight answer. "Tarsil, the captain of the queen guard. He has always challenged the dragon's authority." He said grimly. Turns out this guy had a ready bone to pick with the dragons since he had even dared to take an expedition right to the edge of the Dragons sacred burial ground.

"The dragons crippled Tarsil for his impudence." Mermie said, shaking her head as the Old man nodded, "They gave fair warning before attacking with open flame." I grinned at that, I always loved humbling those who acted stupid, it gave me a sense of satisfaction. "When the ghost circles first appeared, he openly blamed the Dragons, and ordered his soldiers to destroy all the Dragon shrines."

I finally spoke up, "Seems like this Tarsil is a problem. Maybe fire would solve the issue?" I said but Rose stopped me, "No, the last thing we need is people panicking in the city just because you burnt a tyrant to a crisp. Besides he already knows about us, I kept in contact with him during our stay in BarrelHaven." She said as I sighed then got an idea, "Did you tell him about me?" I asked and she nodded "Yes, but not enough since most of that information is now useless." She said but I grinned, "Then he won't see me coming until it's too late."

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A few hours after Mermie and the Old man left I watched silently as Thorn drew something resembling a crown in the dust of a book before going outside at Rose's call. Wanting to stretch my legs I followed outside and Ted had come to visit!

"Well HOWDY Carter! Did ya lose yer sword? Thorny here tells me you've been usin FIRE nowaday?" He asked, bouncing up and down. I couldn't help but smile at the little bug, "Yeah, I gave Thorn my sword since she needs it more right now, as for the fire, it's something I've been holding onto until the time is right." I said as Thorn and Ted started talking about Lunaria, her mother.

Turns out that she was a good queen, promoting art in the city as well as building public parks and gardens, even a library. "What did you build Rose?" I asked without expecting an answer. "I built the walls that surround the city." She said before passing a message to Lucius for Ted to take. She wanted to pin the rat army that had merged with the Pawans between the people coming from Old Man's Cave and an army that Rose would make here in the city.

"Since when could you muster an army?" I asked once Ted had left, Rose grinned at me "I got you and the Bone boys here without you killing them." She said and I snorted, if only she knew how close I'd been sometimes. "That only deals with your outside problem, you still have to deal with Tarsil." I reminded her and she grinned even wider, "Oh I'll deal with him alright, just you wait and see."

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"Soldiers are looking for us, I TOLD you not to leave those idiots alone." I said as I watched patrol after patrol sweep the streets. "Get away from the window you'll give us away!" Rose snapped as she threw a cloak at Thorn making her put it on. I put on my own cloak when Phoney came in, "Do I HAVE to go?" He asked and I glared at him till he squirmed, then we were off.

We calmly walked the streets as we went to the meeting place, several patrols passed us but none stopped us as we made our way back to the rooftop where the old man had his kitchen. 

I didn't say much when we made it, I was just here to observe as Rose met with all her old friends and acquaintances. Even her old headmaster was here as he came and inspected Thorn, "Ah the Veni-Yan-Cari, let us hope it was worth it." He said before turning to me, "Who are you stranger, I cannot sense you in the dream?" He said. "I am not from this land, your 'dreaming' holds no power over me." I said simply as he grunted then the meeting began.

Rose wasted no time, she told them flat out that Briar had returned and that they needed to prepare. Tarsil had been smart enough to rebuild most of the fortifications that had been destroyed as well as bringing in animals and rationing water.

The problem was the soldiers, other than the Vedu which were small fanatical enforcers, the rest of them were poorly trained and disciplined. Though there were also plenty of mercenaries and a few soldiers left over from the great war who were still loyal to the old kingdom.

They threw around the idea of announcing Rose's return, hoping that those still loyal would turn on Tarsil and kill him for us, as well as using the royal treasury to buy the mercenaries away from him, but only Tarsil knew where it was hidden.

"Quiet, someone's coming!" The old man hissed as frantic footsteps drew closer, the Fone Bone appeared running. "We have to leave now! Tarsil knows we're here!" He said panting as Rose peered into the dark behind him, "Were you followed?" She asked and he nodded, "That's why it took me so long to get here, I had to shake a bunch of soldiers." This wasn't good, we had to leave before things got out of hand.

"We need to leave, now!" I told Rose as she had everyone scatter, leaving the rooftop deserted and silent, save for the slop still cooking in the middle of the roof.

We dashed through the streets like wraiths in the night as patrols slowly started to corner us, turning the corner. Fone Bone jumped onto a barrel and held a shutter open, "In here!" He said as Rose shoved Thorn and the old Headmaster inside, I dove in after them as Fone Bone gently shut it behind me while listening to the patrols outside.

"They moved on, but we're stuck here for a while. I hope Phoney got away." He said as Thorn said the same for the other resistance members. Rose however was more worried about how Fone Bone dragged her headmaster through the window, the headmaster was fine though. He did start to berate Fone Bone for 'awakening' the sleeping princess.

The old bag of bones then turned on Rose and Thorn, he seemed to not think she could save the valley despite being the Veni-Yan-Cari, he even said to just take Thorn back to the farm since she made things more dangerous just by being here.

Fone Bone snapped finally as he didn't like how the old headmaster was talking about Thorn. "Who does he think he is? We didn't need his help before an' we sure don't need it now!" "I have a great deal more experience in these matter than YOU, young man." The old man said as Fone Bone scoffed.

"That's hard to believe. Have you ever been inside a ghost circle and talked to dead people? WE HAVE!" He said, catching Rose's attention, "Dead people? When did this happen?" She asked but he was too busy talking to Thorn, she was surprised since apparently he didn't hear the voices but still believed her when she said she had heard them.

"Only Dragons speak to the dead." The old man said stubbornly, "No human can travel to that depth of the Dreaming and return. EVER!" "I don't know what depth the circle took us to, but my dead mother sent me this message. Seek the Crown of Horns."

That got the old man to shut up as he stared at Thorn in shock. 

"Impossible, no one, not even the royal family knows about the Crown of Horns. It is the Dragons greatest secret." He said finally. "YOU seem to know about it." Fone Bone said as he glared at him, "You make light young man, but even among the HOLY almost nothing is known about this sacred object." He then had Thorn tell him about how she learned about the Crown.

The message had been given to her by farmers who were trapped in a ghost circle, between life and death. Thorn was convinced that the ghost circles weren't fully formed and that there was still time to rescue people from them. "My mother must have thought the Crown of Horns would help us." She said as the headmaster nodded, "I hope I can help you. Almost nothing is known about this object. No one has ever even seen it." I have. I said to myself as the old man went on. 

"The Crown of Horns sits directly upon the veil. Half in our world, and half in the Dreaming world. It is the point of balance, some say it is the very HEART of our world!" 

'Hey what would happen if I put a marker there?' I asked the system zoning out, [This world would never escape the grasp of the Scarlet King. You would also receive all abilities from your previous world as well as other rewards.]

On one hand, I would probably doom this world to whatever the Scarlet King has planned, or I could just protect Thorn until she was queen and then leave after that. . . What to do?

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Once the sun rose up we left the storage room we had hid in. The headmaster went to spread the word of Rose's return as we went up to the ramparts to see if we could spot Briar's army. 

"The streets shouldn't be this empty, something is wrong." I said as Rose nodded. "The people know something we don't, that's why we need to get up to the ramparts quickly." We soon reached the ramparts and made our way to the gate, crouching to not be seen.

"Everything is deserted, even the animals are quiet." Fone Bone said as we looked out into the deserted village. "She's coming, I can feel it." Rose said as Thorn nodded "I sense movement out there, she might be using the ghost circles to cloud her approach."

Before we could do anything else we heard a commotion in the city and looking back, we could see soldiers fighting a swarm of bees in the marketplace. "That idiot Phoney, I'd better not get my hands on him." I grumbled as we heard a commotion down at the gate.

"Hey guard, that little girl is making a Dragon shrine! Don't the rules apply to her?" An old man yelled as a guard in green robes opened the gate and rushed out, letting him slip in as he went to destroy the shrine.

"We have to stop him!" Thorn gasped but I grabbed her arm stopping her, "Rose said to stay put. Briar is almost here and you want to leave the wall?! Have you lost your mind?" I hissed, dragging her away from the edge as she fought to free her arm.

CRACK

Not expecting the hit I whirl around ready to kill, letting go of Thorn who jumps down to save the little girl. I glare down at Fone Bone who suddenly remembers that I have lots of blood on my hands. "S-she told me to, i-i'm sorry." He stammered backing away as I glared at him.

"THERE SHE IS! THE WITCH PRINCESS!" A voice bellowed down below as sounds of fighting broke out. "I won't forget this . . . BONE!" I hissed before picking him up by the neck and hurling him at one of the men beating Thorn.

WHAM

That's one. I jumped off the wall and shot forward once I hit the ground, blowing past a one armed man as I threw the men beating Thorn and Fone Bone off of them and back towards the wall. "Idiot child!" I growled at Thorn as the one armed man drew his blade. "Do you stand with the witch?" He asked as I ignited my fist and created a blade of ice. "You FOOL!" I spat "An army approaches and you worry about a foolish child? No wonder the kingdom fell!" 

He is silent but I can feel the rage pouring off of him. "You are under arrest for the crime of Dragon worship." He declares as his men pick themselves back up and draw their swords, "The punishment is being burned alive!" Before they can move to make good on that though, horns start going off.

WHOOOOOOAH! WHHOOOOOOOOAH!

"It's an attack!" "The Pawans! How did they get so close without being seen?!" I spin and start blasting fire at the building closest to me, no sense in giving them material to repair their siege ladders. "GET THOSE TWO INSIDE NOW!" The man roars and I don't stop them as they drag Thorn and Fone Bone away, they will be safer away from the walls.

"Stranger, do you stand with us or against us?" The one arm man asked. "I stand with you, against the Pawans and the Rats!" He tilts his head "Rats?" Then his men notice the hulking beast running alongside the Pawans.

"Bloody stars!" They curse, "RAT CREATURES!" The man remains calm as Rose reaches the top of the parapet, "Pull back, bring down the gate!" Rose stares out at the vast sea of Pawans and Rat Creatures, dread filling her heart and mind "We're not ready . . ."