As we flew over the ocean I thought about what I had said.
Maybe there is another Night Fury out there somewhere. Maybe he isn't the last one. I thought.
It would be fantastic if we could find another one of him. Then he wouldn't be so lonely. Provided, he has Starlight, but one of his own kind... then Grimel wouldn't have killed them all. There would be two left and not just one.
I contemplated this as we checked Stoker Island, Icefang Island and Sky Island, our newly found one. Everything was as it should be, no disturbances, all the dragons were safe and unharmed.
He is coming. I thought.
Grimel hasn't, and isn't, going to give up that easily.
I knew that a war was coming, I knew that it would happen. We couldn't let Grimel get to the Hidden World. We had to protect it, and in order to that we needed to know where he was.
"Joel!" I said over the rush of the wind.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"We need to scout the ocean. We need to know where Grimel is." I said.
"You mean go towards him?" Asked Joel, disbelieving.
"Yes. We need to know where he is so we can protect the Hidden World." I said.
Joel looked at me for a second before agreeing.
"We just need to... you know... be careful." He said, sounding reluctant.
"Yes." I said, rolling my eyes.
"I know."
I then dived down below the clouds and flew low enough that we were skimming the water. I knew that we were taking risks moving towards him, but we needed to know where he was, what he was doing, and most importantly he strength.
How many ships? Soldiers? Enslaved dragons? Deathgrippers?
"I just hope this doesn't go wrong." I told Nightstar.
He growled in agreement and I smiled.
At least someone has faith in me.
I had to admit, however, that I did feel apprehensive. I didn't know what we would come across. He had recovered from our attack on him and his forces on Sky Island by now, I was sure of it. He probably had more enslaved dragons to.
This might have been a very big mistake. I thought as we soared over the water.
As I looked around I noticed that it was steadily getting foggier, and the clouds darker.
"Stay on your guard." I told Joel.
Nightstar growled uncomfortably.
"I know bud." I said.
"I don't feel good about this either."
All of a sudden a rock spire loomed ahead of us. Nightstar turned sharply to avoid hitting it and found yet more spires.
We turned and twisted our way through them, managing not to hit any. Beside us Joel and his Light Fury were also dodging the rock spires. When we finally came out on the other side of the death trap what we saw amazed and terrified me at the same time.
A stronghold lay on an island, and that stronghold was surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of ships, dragons in cages on their decks with guards patrolling them, sentries keeping watch from the top of the stronghold.
They had found Grimel's secret hideout.
My heart began to beat faster in my chest as I looked out over the mass of ships.
"Joel, we need to regroup on one of the rock spires." I said.
He nodded and we flew up to one of them. As soon as we landed I dismounted and crept closer to the edge of the spire so that I could see all the ships.
"We can't take him alone, but with the other dragons I think we could destroy it." I said.
"We need to free all of the other dragons, to." I said.
"We need the other dragons first, though, even before we free the dragons from the ships." Said Joel.
"You're right, but we should do a quick scouting mission to see what we're up against." I said.
Nightstar spread his wings and lifted off, Starlight following close behind him. They flew just below the clouds to avoid being seen, Starlight in camouflage and Nighstar blending in with the clouds above them.
"There are so many..." I said, trailing off.
I was horrified at just how many dragons there were.
He really is obsessed with capturing them all and killing their Alfa. I thought.
Suddenly a crossbow bolt came flying out of nowhere, narrowly missing Nightstar. Shouting voices could be heard from below on the fortress.
"We have to go!" Shouted Joel, turning Starlight towards the rock spires.
More guards came out and fired dragonroot arrows at the dragons. I could see Deathgrippers approaching us from the direction that we needed to go.
"We can't go that way, it's blocked by the Deathgrippers!" I shouted.
"We'll have to fight!" Said Joel as Starlight with a violet plasma blast at the Deathgrippers. Nighstar roared and harnessed the power of lightning, electricity crackling along his body and thunder cracking overhead.
He shot a plasma blast in front of him and disappeared through it. He came up underneath a Deathgripper and shot a plasma blast at its exposed underbelly. He then circled back around and shot another plasma blast at it, hitting the red and black dragon right in the face.
It went down and Nighstar turned around for another attack. Starlight came out of nowhere and tackled the Deathgripper in front of Nighstar and brought it down.
With the Deathgrippers distracted Nighstar shot a plasma blast at the fortress itself, sending multiple guards flying. He then glided over the flames below them to help Joel, dodging a dart of some kind.
Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my side as we leveled out and flew once more over the scene. I sucked in a breath and looked down. My heart leapt. It was a Deathgripper venom dart. I pulled it out my side, grunting in pain, and suddenly felt weak and disoriented.
"Nighstar..." I whispered.
Then I was falling through the air, Nighstar plunging after me. The guards below shot everything they had at the Alfa, driving him back. He gave me one last desperate look before he joined Starlight, riderless.
The last thing that I remembered was falling into freezing cold black water.