Wings Of Fire : Escapees, FAN SIDESTORY, NOT CANON All events that take place in this sidestory happen during the Wings of Fire: book one and onward The beginning takes place when the Summer Palace wasn’t in ruins, and Queen Glacier had reigned the Ice Kingdom ——————————————————————————

It had been dark and gloomy outside, the wind whistling loudly, so loud one’s eardrums would bleed. Nautilus had been sitting on a beach by the sea. He was a icewing seawing hybrid. His horns and scales shone white, with hints of icy blue on his wings and neck. His eyes teared up from the merciless wind, but he held strong. Slowly, Nautilus stood up. He bit his tongue as his head throbbed with pain because of the wind, giving him a headache. Nautilus couldn’t handle staying out here any longer. He quickly leaped into the ocean, feeling half confident. Then as he had rested on a rock under the waves, and darkness of the abyss consumed him.

Nautilus had fainted on the rock. His gills faintly fluttered at the salty ocean. Nothing could be seen, even being awake. It was mid morning, the sun still lifting itself onto the horizon. Then he awoke. Nautilus soon realized he had fainted and sighed with relief that a current hadn’t carried him away or a dragon hadn’t kidnapped or maybe even killed him. His eyes soon drifted all the way open and the sun had risen fully. The water ahead was open and blurry, strands of sea grass here and there. The water was salty and hurt on his gills and the water was chilling to the bone. Nautilus looked around for another dragon or at least a school of fish when a piece of color caught his eye. After a minute he realized it was coral— and not just coral, a reef! He flipped off of the rigged rock he had slept on and swam to the reef. The fish there stared at him, scared and questionably. They had never seen a hybrid, nor a white dragon in their short lives.

Nautilus quickly snapped up a fish and ate it almost immediately, he was quite hungry. He explored the coral reef for a bit, looking at all of the tropical fish and a couple of sharks. After a while he had grown bored and wondered what he was still doing in the ocean and not exploring the sea kingdom. After all, the Icewings had sent him out to kill a Seawing of the higher class and return with it to the Ice Kingdom, for whatever they needed a Seawing corpse for.. Nautilus quickly shifted out of his daydream and looked out into the ocean waters to see a figure swimming towards him.

He started to swim backward. He knew all of the swimming tricks even though he was raised in the Ice Kingdom’s chilling waters. Teachers there taught him what to do and how to do it. He was only in the second circle, and if he brought this Seawing back with him, maybe he would be raised to the first circle. He continued to swim slowly backward, though the figure pushed forward. He already knew it was a Seawing. But maybe a giant eel looking for its next victim. His own curiosity worried himself, but he just had to know what it was. He started swimming forward to the shady figure. Finally the creature stopped at him, about ten feet away. It was a light blue Seawing, with beautiful glowing stripes. She stared at him with confusion. Then flashed her stripes a couple of times. At first Nautilus was confused, but then remembered that what she was speaking (with her flash) was aquatic, the language the Seawings use underwater. He flashed with his own stripes: “What?.”

She flashed back, awed he knew aquatic. “What are you and why are you here?” “My name is Nautilus, and I am a hybrid between the Seawings and the Icewings. I’m here to find the Sea Kingdom.” Her face looked confused at his presence. “Come with me.” She flashed. Nautilus nodded in agreement and the two began to swim out into the ocean, leaving the reef behind.

When they had swam far enough, Nautilus was amazed at what he saw. Although he had only been to the Sea Kingdom once, he was paying more attention to detail now that he was 6. A large palace loomed over him and the foreign Seawing that had lead him to this magical place stopped swimming. He swiveled around to her and smiled. “Thanks for leading me here. I never caught your name, though.” “No problem. Even if your a hybrid, you don’t deserve to be stranded out there. My name is Mist.” She grinned back at Nautilus. “Well, off you pop.” Mist flashed. Nautilus swam out into the Kingdom. Dragons everywhere from color ranging from deep blue to teal. Some Seawings stared at him, some smiled and waved, some didn’t even pay attention to him at all and went on their way. He maneuvered his way to the very elegant Deep Palace and asked directions to the Summer Palace.

The guards pointed to an island above the water, a large island. Nautilus swam and swam all the way up and made it to the surface. His gills fluttered. The air was nice and warm, although he preferred a small breeze for his Icewing instinct. He took one last breath, and dove down into the secret tunnel that lead to the palace. Nautilus made his way up and down, and finally onto some sand. Oh, how lovely it was. There was a deep blue green palace with an open pavilion on each layer. Every pavilion seemed to get smaller every time there was a new one on top, so the bottom was the largest. Nautilus flew up, up, until he landed on the top pavilon. Two guards were halted into place there. The stare they gave Nautilus looked as if they were ready to kill him and skin him clean, what he thought the Icewings would do to the Seawing Nautilus brought back.

One of the guards had one leg missing and several scars on her chest and wings. She had said, “What’s your business here, hybrid.” “Oh, yes. I’m here to meet with the Queen, I do hope I’m not interrupting anything.” The other snickered. “She’s eating a feast in a few min-.” A large, beautiful dragon plopped herself right down on the pavilion. “Get off his back, you two.” She said. They reluctantly nodded and looked away from him. “I’m queen Coral, join us for the feast today?” Finally, Nautilus was ready to run through with the Icewings order, with no one to stop him.

The very beautiful Seawing with rings on her fingers all kinds of sapphires on her welcomed him. She had the most beautiful pink pearl necklace on as well. “Well, hello!” The Seawing yipped. “I’m Queen Coral, if that wasn’t clear. Your looking a bit pale, care to join the feast?”she said again. Nautilus was greatly surprised and nodded. He stepped toward the large table that stretched across the platform. “What’s your name, dragon?” The Queen had said. “I’m Nautilus.” Queen Coral nodded and smiled. “Well, our other guests are coming here in a minute — why don’t you sit down?” He sat down and smiled at her. She really WAS in a good mood, better than anything he’d imagine. A minute or two later several Seawings landed and sat down, talking and laughing with one another. Once everyone had sat down, blue and teal dragons came in and plopped food down on the long table. Nautilus had smelt everything, but not this kind of food- royal food.

Shrimp, salmon, fish of all kinds! Steak, chicken, lamb, shellfish. Everything was there, even a huge selection of beverages to choose from. Nautilus couldn’t believe his eyes. A waiter asked everyone what kind of drink they wanted and fetched it. He was delighted, trying to block out that he had to kill a Seawing that day at this palace, because where else would he find a higher classed dragon? Nautilus talked with the rest of the Seawings the feast, including the Queen. Then one of the dragons, named Tide, questioned why he was here in the Kingdom of Sea. “Well, the Icewings sent me here to get away from the ice for a little while.” “That’s not a very good excuse.” Tide grimaced. *”Oh no, they might throw me in jail for suspicion..”* Nautilus thought. “Ok, fine. So I ran away.” He admitted. “I see,” Tide bubbled. He was an old Seawing with seemingly serious class. He looked like the kind of dragon that didn’t tolerate hybrids or all the other tribes.Tide growled under his breath.

Once the feast was over, Nautilus had started to stress, knowing NOW was the time to slash someone, most likely Tide and his annoying, droning voice and his annoying questions. He shook claws with the Queen and thanked her greatly. The Queen had been doing a tour of the Summer Palace and took all of the dragons who had just eaten and showed them around. Nautilus followed behind some of the other dragons and glanced at Tide. Tide gave Nautilus a dirty look and kept walking. Nautilus ignored the look and kept walking. He had Queen Coral’s trust, meaning he could act in any way unless he hurt someone.. *”Which I have to do.”* he thought. Nautilus walked near Tide, letting his rigged claws ease out. Then, as Queen Coral and the rest of the group slipped down onto another pavilion, Nautilus grabbed Tide by the wings and threw him down.

Since the last dragon had slipped down already, Tide and Nautilus were alone on the platform. Nautilus slashed at Tide’s snout and gills, trying not to cause too much noise. Tide put up a pretty good fight for someone as old as he seemed, trying to tear at Nautilus’ wings and the weak spot on the tail. Nautilus knew that Tide wasn’t going to survive, and Tide probably did, too. This was Tide’s end, he was pinned down and there was nothing he could have done. Nautilus heaved in a giant breath of salty air, with steam coming out of his nose and curling up to horns. Then as quick as a whip, ice shot out of his mouth and straight onto Tide’s gills and face. That was it. He was done, and Nautilus needed to run and fly as fast as he possibly could, or his eyes would be gouged out, and his teeth would be plucked in front of a crowd.

He grabbed Tide’s body and ran as fast as his legs could possibly take him. He snatched some rope he found on a desk. He used the rope to tie Tide to his back, but his wings still being able to spread. Nautilus dove into the air, landing on the wall and holding on with his claws. He heard a shrill yell from above and froze in place. “GET BACK HERE!” One of the guards roared. Nautilus leaped into the water, feeling both guards behind him. Nautilus jumped into the air when he reached the end of the tunnel. spreading his wings. Tide was a small dragon, but quite heavy on his back. Nautilus had planned to fly straight to the Ice Kingdom, but he had a dragon on his tail. He whirled in the air, trying to throw the guard off, but he stayed right on. Nautilus whipped himself around, facing the attacker. The guard chasing him flew straight into Nautilus’ legs, hurtling him into the sea. He looked at the other guard, starting to jump into the air. Nautilus shot a blast of icy breath at her,and she collapsed.

“Now I’m a real criminal..” Nautilus shivered. He flew faster and faster, not minding the heavy weight on his back. He was on his way to the Ice Kingdom.

The wind got colder and colder. Nautilus loved the sheer arctic bite that had always chilled his scales. He finally made his way to the Great Ice Cliff, the wall that protected the Icewings from any attackers. Whenever a species other than any Icewing (hybrids count) tries to cross over the wall, a spear shoots out and never misses the dragon. Nautilus flew straight over the wall and flew to Queen Glacier’s palace. He landed at the entrance and had the greatest posture, trying to look a little bit presentable. One of the guards glanced at him then took more notice of him. “Nautilus, I presume?” The guard huffed. “Indeed.” Nautilus answered, trying to look stronger as if he’d grown when he was gone. “I’m here to see the Queen. I have exceeded her mission and want to give feedback.” The two guards nodded and looked at the carcass on his back, but tried not to mind. When the guards opened the doors, Nautilus triumphantly walked in, knowing he could be raised to the first circle if he was lucky.

He got directions to the Queen’s room and knocked on the door. “Come in.” Someone barked from inside. Nautilus pushed the doors open and walked in. The room was beautiful. Queen Glacier sat on her throne with class. The throne room had sapphires dangling down from the ceiling like icicles, and had the most grand feel to it. Several guards awaited outside and inside the doors, almost lifeless. “Queen Glacier.” Nautilus said and bowed. “Rise, Nautilus. I do recall sending you on a mission. Do you have my Seawing?” The Queen boomed.

Nautilus rose from his position. “I do.” Nautilus answered back. He slung off the Seawing on his back and onto a table a couple guards brought before him. The Queen’s face lightened up very greatly, making Nautilus uneasy. “My Queen, may I ask why you needed this?” Nautilus finally asked. “Of course! You went through the danger to get it. We need it for an experiment. You get to watch, if you’d like.” Glacier joyfully said. “Thank you. I will be attending.” Nautilus wondered what they would do to the carcass. He felt bad for the poor thing. As Nautilus turned and started to walk away from the Queen, Glacier stood up from her throne and walked over to the table, and looked at Nautilus. “Nautilus, my dear. I forgot to tell you — I’m moving you up to the first circle, come here.”

His heart leaped. Of all dragons, he was getting moved to the first circle, the highest of ranks, the most regal of dragons. Nautilus swiveled around and trotted over to the table where Tide’s body lay. Two guards heaved it out of the room, probably to a lab. Queen Glacier was right in front of him, scales and all. She took off one of the silver rings around his neck and put it on the ground. “Nautilus. You are officially ranked up to the first circle.” Nautilus couldn’t help but smile at her, kindly she smiled back at him. They hugged each other and a guard showed him to a new room he could stay in — in the PALACE. The room had a window, a bed with several polar bear skins folded on top. A desk had also been there, a chest, a closet, and much more little Knick knacks for him to explore. This was it. The life of a first class hybrid. No doubt, this was his true life.

A good night’s sleep, and a grand breakfast made Nautilus very happy. He had leaped from the snow-covered grounds and into the air, the sheer cold wind pressing against his scales. His eyes watered, but he was happy. Nautilus dove into the chilling sea waters and pierced the waves. He swam in the biting cold water, searching for a seal of two. He couldn’t find any, but he was still happy. He couldn’t help but smile. Nautilus picked up some speed in current and shot out of the water. His scales looked as if they had been polished. He was so bright, the clouds reflected his scales like he was a beacon. After a short flight back to the palace, one guard approached his door. “KLINK KNINK.” The door pounded. Nautilus opened the door to look at the stern guard’s face.

“Sir, The Queen is summoning you to the lab. Come with me, please.” The guard ordered. Nautilus nodded and followed him. Walking with perfect posture, the two walked and walked until they reached a room Nautilus haven’t seen or heard of before. “LAB” a sign read above the door. The guard nodded at him and opened the door. Nautilus smiled and went inside, the guard closing it behind him. Nautilus looked out onto the lab. Nothing unusual. Just several desks with sets and paper on them, chemistry sets and new technology not shown to Pyrrhia. There were several huge test tubes, large enough to fit a dragon inside. The test tubes had blue glowing water in it and a light at the bottom, with a latch at the top. Then, there was a room in the back, no doors, but very open. Some kind of table was there, attached to the ground with leather straps that could a dragon down if needed. On the table, it looked likeTide's body. “Welcome, Nautilus!” Queen Glacier boomed.

“Hello.” The Queen was sitting by the table, but pranced over to Nautilus. “So happy you made it! The experiment is going to start..” She showed him over to the table Tide was on. Tide’s corpse looked shrill and dry, not wet and moist like any other Seawing. He had never seen the Queen so happy. Nautilus wondered what the experiment was, that’s probably why she was so happy. What would it be? Dissecting and researching the Seawing’s body? Using several needles and injections to see the results? Look for weaknesses on the body? Nautilus shivered at the fact that there were so many possibilities. “Well, cmon.” Nautilus felt nauseous. “Put these on.” Glacier chirped. She held out a pair of clear goggles. Nautilus put them on his eyes, still dazed at Tide’s body, all shriveled up and withered.

“*I wonder why we need the goggles..*” one half of Nautilus wondered, yet the other half thought: “*This body, this death, it’s all my fault.*” Nautilus snapped out of his daydream and turned to the Queen. “Queen Glacier, may I ask what we are doing to the Seawing?” “Of course. We are going to do a number of things. I don’t even know them yet.” Glacier answered. She shrugged. From some of the doors by the giant test tubes, a couple Icewings came in, equipped with pearly white coats and the goggles they had been wearing. “Stand back.” One dragon croaked. Nautilus and Glacier stood back, two dragons coming to the table. Another dragon came out from the doors with a table on wheels, several shelves on the bottom. It had a white sheet over it, several bumps underneath. She brought the table on wheels over to them.

“This is it.” She said, smirking at the other dragons in the room. The Queen’s face was waiting, her jaw was half open. “Do it already!” Glacier scoffed. All three guards nodded and lifted the cloth off of the rolling table. Several needles and scalpels reflected the light of the room. On the lower rack, there were different instruments to be used. The female Icewing took a needle from the table, it was filled with a neon blue liquid. “This is one of the bigger experiments, are you sure you want to follow through?” “YES! DO IT!”The Queen roared. The female guard injected the fluid into Tide’s carcass. It twitched eerily. Nautilus’ jaw started to drop as Tide opened his eyes.

Tide’s gashed face started to enlighten. His eyes that had been dried opened. He’d been harnessed to the table, but Tide kicked furiously. “WHAT!?” Tide roared. His gills fluttered. Nautilus darted to the wall, trying not to get in the way. The Queen’s face was struck, her jaw wide open. “THIS. IS. INCREDIBLE!” Glacier yipped. “How? How?!” Her face was shocked. All of the guards grinned. “I knew that would make you happy.” The guard boasted. Tide looked around. “But I’m dead..” he said. “How am I alive?!” One of the guards trotted up to him and explained. “Well, it’s a little injection that we created. We sent ou- Nautilus to go fetch a Seawing. It worked.” “Get me out of here!” Tide spat. The queen ignored him, her mind wandering. “Do you want to proceed with the rest of the—“

“NO! YOU!” Tide snarled. He pointed at Nautilus. “I will DESTROY you! Limb from limb!” He threatened. Suddenly Tide started to tear at the harness that held him down. He then tore it off, darting up and throwing down the three guards. Glacier was quick to act. She tried to shove Tide’s body down. “Not today..” Tide snarled under his breath. Tide looked younger than he was before. Before he had life injected into him, he looked old and withered. Even at the Sea Kingdom, he looked old. Now he looked young and moist, like a normal Seawing should be. Tide grappled with the Queen, small blue cuts on her white scales. Tide punched Glacier’s neck, making a “crack!” noise that filled the room. The queen dropped onto the ground.

Tide grinned maniacally and jumped through the lab. He darted everywhere. “KEEP HIM CONTAINED!” One of the guards roared. Two of them ran at Tide, Nautilus following. They pinned Tide down, his tail lashing about. One of the male guards pulled out a large metal clamp from his coat, and snapped it down on Tide’s snout. “Get the wings!” He roared. Nautilus leaped onto his wings, pinning them down. The other guard clamped Tide’s wings so they couldn’t spread. “Put him in the chamber!” The female yelled from the back of the lab. The guards hauled Tide to a large tube and one unlatched the top hatch. Soon enough, Tide was in the large, light blue testing-tube. His wrists and mouth were unclamped, but his wings were still captive. The liquid bubbled on his scales. Soon, the queen stood again and gave the guards a look and swiped her talons onto the tube. They nodded reluctantly and pinned Nautilus to the ground.

“Tie him up and hold him down on the table.” Glacier snarled, wincing at her cuts. Nautilus was very confused. He stood there, shocked, and unable to move. The guards took him from his place and onto the table, Nautilus following with a shocked look. There, they cuffed and chained him down. “You really thought I would let a hybrid into the first circle so easily? That was the easy part. The worst? Ack, I had to hug you..” She scoffed at the word ‘hug’. The queen gave the guards a ‘Well? Do it already!’ Look and they took the ring around Nautilus’ neck. “How come it had to be like this?!” Nautilus blurted. “Well, we’ve done it before, it’s very easy. The Queen that you trust and love, orders you on a mission for something she wants or needs..” The male guard said in a scornful tone.

“And manipulation gets the best of you.” The other finished. Snowfall chuckled, like icicles dripping down his throat. “Well now.” She said, “Let’s get on with the—“ “NO!” Nautilus hissed. “How come you never really experimented on Tide?” “Oh, the Seawing?” A guard answered. “We never wanted something out of the ordinary” He seemed to mock them. “Until the Queen set her eyes on you.” Nautilus huffed, looking around the neat lab, then back to the guard’s triumphant face. “Now, now. Let’s get these experiments going, now! I want the Seawing and this.. creature to switch brains or whatever.” Glacier twirled her claw in the air, tail lashing. Nautilus subtly ripped at the leather bands around his wrists, managing to get one free. “Well, kill me already.” He hissed, his own tail flicking here and there. “Gladly.” Snowfall seized a syringe with a deep red liquid inside, and stabbed it into his shoulder. He flinched at the needle and all the light seemed to drain from his vision.

Soon later, he awoke, his heart racing faster than ever. His adrenaline pushed him upward, ripping the leather straps and throwing down everyone nearby. A roar erupted from his mouth. “Put him in one of those blue glowing things, and drown him in it would you?” The Queen snapped, waving her claw at the tube Tide was in. Something seemed to snap inside of Nautilus when he— when he what? When he died? Blacked out? He didn’t know what happened, but he was alive now, and it felt like nothing could stop him. He spun on the table, thwapping everyone with his spiked tail, and leaped into the lab. “I said, NOW!” Snowfall roared.

The three scientists sprung from the floor and raced cautiously toward Nautilus. Their stern looks and hissing mouths didn’t seem to frighten him. The one thing that did is when one opened his mouth to blast him with deadly frost breath. But before she could, he did. He blasted a load of ice into her mouth, making the two other guard’s heads snap up. “I order you on behalf of the Queen to STOP.” A male scientist snarled. Without any more hesitation, Nautilus slammed his tail against the prism that held Tide, and it shattered reluctantly. Then, he busted through the front door of the lab and barreled into his room, snatched a knife from his desk, and dove out the balcony. “Three moons!” Nautilus swore, panting while beating his wings drastically to his sister’s balcony. He had never truly thought about his sister in a while. She looked a lot like him, but with more silver scales and green highlights.

Nautilus landed on her balcony, and barbarically threw her off of her bed. “Don’t ask questions, we need to leave the Ice Kingdom, now.” She nodded and grabbed a polar bear skin, the two leaping into the blue and white streaked sky. “So, where are we going? Is it an adventure? What’s gonna happen to us?” Seal gasped. “Are we in trouble?” “Yes, Seal, I’m in really big trouble. And if you stay there you’ll be in trouble, too.” The two siblings flew straight over the wall that secured the Kingdom, and soon soaring over the desert. “Little sister, we’re going to go to the Sea Kingdom. We’ll use the secret tunnel and escape the rainforest, then it should be right there. It’ll be a few days flight, but we’ll be safe there.” Nautilus worried that the queen would arrest him immediately, threatening his little sister with weapons for answers. He just needed to hide out, right? What could go wrong?

————————————— Don’t plagerize please I did wrote this fanfic :>