Adventures of the Crazy-Lace Winglet, Chapter 3 (book 16 spoilers)
Chapter 3: The Treasure Hunter’s club
Heatwave awoke to the first rays of sunshine beginning to creep through the window of his cave. He stretched elegantly, and peered over the edge of his sleeping shelf. Desertglass and Rust looked as if they had been awake for a little while already, and were chatting about something boring and not gold-related.
“Well well, what kind of shenanigans are you two up to this morning? Hopefully, nothing that will shut down classes again, cause if I'm going to get in with the popular group, im going to have to actually meet other dragons, and it's kind of hard to do that when the whole school is on lockdown because of rogue toxic pets.” Because of how many new winglets had been added to the school, some classes now hosted multiple winglets at the same time, up to three or ever four winglets in certain classes. The agate winglet took all of its classes together, but some of its classes were shared with other winglets, which gave Heatwave the opportunity to meet the most popular dragons from other winglets as well.
“Morning Heatwave!” Said Desertglass a little too enthusiastically for Heatwave’s liking, “No, no crazy shenanigans today! Razorblade is caged and his weapons are removed, so no more students falling out of the sky anytime soon!”
“Yeah, tell me about it!” Said Rust, “Remind me never to antagonize ancient magic toys anymore!”
Razorblade turned to peer at Heatwave from inside his cage, then turned to Desertglass.
“Friend?” It squeaked in a curious tone.
“Yeah! He’s our friend as well!” Said Desertglass.
Razorblade turned back to Heatwave, “Shiny Friend!”
“Thats right!” Heatwave said smugly, “I think im starting to like your pet, Desertglass! It knows whats up!”
Desertglass just chuckled, and Heatwave hopped down from his shelf.
“Well, on the subject of meeting popular dragons, Im headed out. Time to make a name for myself here at the school!” Heatwave turned to Razorblade before he left, and winked with a smug expression. Razorblade tried its best to imitate Heatwave’s expression, which was hilarious to watch.
Before classes started, Heatwave sauntered around the busiest areas of the school, making sure to flaunt all of his gold. He had decided to wear his best treasure today, because first impressions were everything in a new school! He caught a few dragons staring and whispering as he strutted around proudly. ‘They are so jealous of me!’ He thought to himself.
Eventually classes started, and as heatwave went from class to class, he started keeping a ranking of how popular each student seemed to be on one of his blank scrolls (of course, he took the number one spot by a long shot!). Eventually, classes let out for lunch, and heatwave strutted off to the prey center. Upon arriving, he looked around to see who was there, and noticed a small group of students who seemed to rank fairly high on his list were all grouped together discussing something. Heatwave listened in from a distance to see if he could hear what they were talking about, and it seemed like they were discussing different types of treasure. This was perfect, Heatwave was a self-proclaimed expert when it came to treasure!
‘If these guys like treasure, they would be honored to have me and all my gold in their group! Let's see what they are all about then!’ He thought to himself. He sauntered proudly over to them.
“Well hello, fellow students! I couldn't help but overhear you discussing treasure, and I simply had to come say Hi! I am a bit of a treasure connoisseur myself!” He said, showing off his golden accessories.
“Hello there!” Said a regal looking Icewing with royal blue stripes along her sides and an extravagant diamond necklace, “We are the Treasure Hunter’s club! My name is Shimmer, Im head of the club, that’s Fauna, our vice president,” She gestured to an elegant rainwing with blue and pink scales with accents of lemon yellow, little diamonds embedded among the scales around her eyes, and diamond earrings that matched her face scales. “And these are our members, Sumac, Frostburn, and our newest member, Shadowhunter.” Shimmer continued, gesturing to a pale green leafwing with a few red patches and stripes in her scales and emerald-studded horn rings. Next, she pointed to a strange dragon who had the build of a skywing with icewing neck spikes, scales that were perfectly divided in half with deep red on his left and pale blue on his right, and a silver shackle on his left wrist with one large sapphire in the center. The final dragon Shimmer pointed at Heatwave recognized, Shadowhunter was the nightwing from his winglet, whom he'd met yesterday at show and tell. Shadowhunter’s main scales were a stark midnight black, while his neck and underbelly had a fancy purple gradient. He had a bit of purple on his face as well, and the silver teardrop scales by his eyes that some nightwings had. Today, he was wearing a fairly simple looking earring, much less elegant than the other member’s treasure Heatwave thought.
“Hey Heatwave! Nice to see you again!” Said Shadowhunter
“Can I join the club? It looks like fun! Is there an entry form or something I need to fill out?” Asked Heatwave.
“Its not really the kind of club you just sign up for,” Explained Shadowhunter, “To join, you need to have a special, unique piece of treasure to show.”
“Oh well thats easy, take your pick, I have plenty of treasure!” heatwave twirled around so the members of the club could see all his accessories.
Shimmer and Fauna looked a little skeptical, they turned to each other and murmured amongst themselves for a moment, then Shimmer spoke.
“You certainly have a lot of treasure, Heatwave, but it's not exactly unique. All those accessories can be easily purchased at most sandwing jewelry shops. Our treasures are unique to us, either talon-made or one-of-a-kind, and they all tell a story. Its not about having the most treasure, but about having something unique to you. But Ill tell you what, you seem to be very passionate about treasure, so if you can find or make something that is truly unique and tells an interesting story, you can totally join us! Remember, its not about the value, but about the uniqueness.”
Heatwave was taken aback. How could his treasure not be unique enough! It was much fancier than some of the treasure some of these dragons had. “Hey, how is Shadowhunter’s earring more special than my gold? It looks pretty generic to me!” He said frustratedly.
“It may look generic Heatwave, but this is no ordinary earring. This is a genuine Qibli earring from during the time of the Jade mountain prophecy and Darkstalker’s return! I found it at a pawn shop one day while travelling, some Icewing must have been pretty desperate to pawn something like this! But don't worry Heatwave, I foresee that you will bring something truly unique to the table if you really search!”
“Hmmm… Ok, I will admit, that is pretty cool, Shadowhunter. Alright then, I will be back with the coolest, most unique treasure you all have ever laid your eyes upon!”
Except, Heatwave didn't know where he was going to find something unique enough to compare to a literal Qibli earring. He was never much of a hunter, he came from a wealthy Sandwing family and was able to afford to buy lots of treasure, which was much more convenient than searching for it.
‘What am I going to do? I can't let these guys show me up!’ He thought about it for a moment, then something came to mind, ‘Wait a minute, Desertglass has been dragging home all kinds of unique stuff! He must be some sort of treasure hunting guru! I bet he could help me find something that would get me a ticket into the club!’
He looked around the prey center to see if desertglass was around, but didnt see him. He did, however, spot Rust hanging out in a corner sharing some prey with Dirtdobber and Nightshade. He walked over to see if Rust had seen Desertglass anywhere, since they seemed to be pretty good friends.
“Hey Rust, have you seen Desertglass anywhere? I need to ask him something.”
“Hmm, I think he was here a while ago, but he left before you got here.” Said Rust.
“Since he's half Rainwing, I’d wager that he's probably down at the recently installed Suntime Beach with most of the other rainwings.” Said Nightshade.
“Man I dont understand how Rainwings can get most of their nutrients from laying in the sun!” Chimed in Dirtdobber, “I mean, sure, laying out in the sun is nice and all, especially if there is mud involved, but food is food!”
Heatwave thanked them and headed off to find the beach. Suntime Beach was an artificial beach that had been constructed by a river just outside Jade mountain where rainwings could have their suntime and Seawings could swim in the water.
As Heatwave approached the beach, he immediately knew Desertglass was there, as he was nearly blinded by the reflection of the sun off of his wings. He found Desertglass sprawled happily on the sands of the beach. While most rainwings preferred to have their suntime in the trees and vine hammocks that had been installed around the beach, Desertglass loved just laying out in the middle of the sand, satisfying both his rainwing half and his sandwing half at the same time. As Heatwave approached, Desertglass lifted his head and smiled at him.
“Oh Heatwave, I'm so glad they installed this beach! I mean, suntime AND sand? It doesn't get much better than this!” he said with a stretch and a yawn. “Wanna join me? The sand is great!”
“Maybe another time, DG,” Heatwave said, “I actually came down here cause I needed to ask you something.”
“Sure, what did you need?”
“So there is this club of students that are all about treasure hunting, and Id really like to get in with them, since they seem pretty popular, but they say you have to have a unique piece of treasure to join, and apparently my gold isn't unique enough. But I noticed that you have brought back lots of interesting trinkets lately, and I was wondering if you could possibly help me find something interesting so I could join their club?”
Desertglass pondered for a moment, “Hmm… I dont know, you were kind of rude to Rust yesterday. Could you make things right with him first?”
“Of course! Ill totally apologize and stuff!”
“Ok, then later today after classes let out, meet me and Rust back in the sleeping cave, and give Rust a genuine apology. If you do that, I’ll help you find something that will blow their minds!”
“Ok, I will.”
Later that day, Heatwave returned to the sleeping cave where Desertglass and Rust were waiting already. He didnt like apologizing, he thought it made him seem weak and therefore less popular. But at the same time, he did kind of feel sorry for treating Rust the way he had before show and tell yesterday, and he did really want that treasure, so he would make an exception today.
“I hear you had something you wanted to say, Heatwave?” Asked Rust.
“Yes, I… ok Im sorry for being rude and calling you names yesterday, it was uncalled for and I shouldn't have done it, I really mean it. I promise I wont call you Two-face anymore, it was insensitive.” Heatwave felt awkward talking so humbly, but at the same time, it felt kind of good to get that off his chest.
“Thank you for the apology, Heatwave, I forgive you. Also, you can still call me Two-face if you want, at first it was annoying, but to be honest, it kinda started growing on me. Even I gotta admit, its pretty creative, and a little funny too.”
“Ok, but I promise that from now on, I'm only calling you that as a friendly nickname, ok Two-face?” He said with a genuinely friendly smile.
“Haha, ok Heatwave.”
“Alright, you held up your end of the deal pretty well, heatwave, so ill take you on an adventure, as promised.” desertglass said happily.
“Are you sure you want to show him the secret?” Rust said, hesitantly, "He's cool with me now, but remember what you said about too many dragons finding out?”
“Dont worry, I trust him,” Said Desertglass, “Plus, its like you were saying yesterday, everyone deserves a chance. We thought Nightshade was a little frightening at first, but we gave him a chance, and he turned out to be really cool. Plus, Nightshade did go on to save your life.”
“Well, its hard to argue with that logic, ok then, lets give him a chance.”
Desertglass pulled the compass from his pouch and explained it to Heatwave, just as he had to Rust on the first day of school. Heatwave was in awe.
“Wow! That's a unique treasure if ive ever seen one! I bet that would blow Shadowhunter’s earring out of the water! And you think this can really help me find a cool, unique treasure?”
“I know it can! Watch this. Take me on an adventure, please.” Desertglass asked the compass. The bone needle began to spin, but this time when it found a direction, rather than one gem lighting up a solid color, both the yellow and light blue gems flickered on and off. “Huh, that's weird. It's never lit up with more than one gem before. I wonder what that means?”
“Maybe the treasure is twice as special and twice as unique! Come on, lets get going! This is exciting!”
As it would turn out, they had quite a flight ahead of them. Rust had decided to tag along in case they needed his help to move whatever it is they found. Eventually, they discovered why two gems had lit up: the compass was leading them to the border between the sand kingdom and the ice kingdom. It's a good thing that it was the end of the week, because it took them all night to reach the border. They were all pretty tired when they arrived so they decided that after that they would camp there and return to Jade Mountain the next day. They did however want to locate the treasure first.
They tracked the compass to a cave, and as they entered the cave and began to explore, the pearl on the compass lit up.
“Oh look! Its going to be an enchanted treasure!” Said Rust.
“Wait, you mean that thing can find animus-touched objects?!” exclaimed Heatwave.
“Yeah, that's how we found Razorblade.” explained Desertglass.
Heatwave was excited now. An Animus-touched treasure would surely be unique enough to get into the club! Once the compass began spinning in place, they all three began to dig. Eventually, Heatwave felt something cold and hard, but he was confused when he pulled it out. It appeared to be some kind of silver neck band with a pale blue gem embedded in it. But it was in terrible condition, it was dented and scratched up, the gem was cracked, and there was a large chunk of the band missing. Nevertheless Heatwave shrugged and put the busted-up accessory on.
“Wait WAIT!” Desertglass warned, but Heatwave had already put it on.
“What, what's wrong?” He asked.
“That thing is enchanted, but what if it was destroyed for a reason? What if it had a BAD enchantment on it? Like a curse!”
“Well, I don't feel any different, I think it's fine.” Heatwave said with a shrug.
“Hmm… I'd still be careful if I were you. Last time we found an enchanted treasure, it tried to kill me!” Added Rust.
They all made camp that night, and the next day they returned to Jade mountain. Since it was now the weekend, Rust and Desertglass rested most of the day after the long flight, and though he was sore as well, Heatwave wanted to find the Treasure Hunter’s club that day. Around noon, he went to the prey center, but this time he was only wearing the beat up neckband, no other fancy gold accessories. Nobody stopped and stared or whispered today, but that was ok with Heatwave, as he felt that after this adventure, and after apologizing to his friend, that he had a much better understanding of the true value of things. The club was at the same place it had been the day before, and heatwave approached much more humbly this time.
“Hello again. First thing’s first, I would like to apologize to Shadowhunter. Im sorry that I called your earring generic, it is actually quite nice, even apart from its awesome story.. It definitely deserved to get you into the club.”
“Thank you, Heatwave. I see you have something quite different today, what is the story of that neckband?”
“Well, It certainly isnt the most elegant treasure, but over the past two days, I feel like I have gained a better understanding of the true value of not only treasure, but of my friends as well. I originally only wanted to join this group because you all seemed pretty popular, but from apologizing to my friends and going on a journey with them, I learned to understand that popularity is irrelevant when it comes to genuine friends, and even if the neckband is busted and worthless, I did learn a valuable lesson in the process and had quite a wonderful journey with my friends, and I think that story and my journey is what makes this neckband special. Because whenever I look at it from now on, ill remember my adventure with my friends and it will remind me to be more understanding of others and to be more humble myself. Thanks for listening to my story.”
Shimmer cheered and the rest of the club applauded Heatwave, “Now THAT is a unique and special story! The true value of that neckband was in your journey to become a more understanding dragon, congratulations Heatwave, I hereby grant you an official membership to the Jade Mountain Academy Treasure Hunter's Club!”
“There is one more thing I'd like to ask, Shimmer,” Said Heatwave, “If its not too much to ask, if they are interested, would it be ok if my friends Desertglass and Rust joined as well? They certainly have some unique treasures with unique stories, and if it weren't for their help, I wouldn't have learned to understand the true value of a dragon or found this neckband, and im sure they would enjoy it as well.”
“They sound lovely, and the more the merrier! How about you talk to them about the club tonight, and if they are interested, have them meet us here at lunch time tomorrow with their treasures, and we can hear their stories as well. If they do that, id be more than happy to add them to the roster as well!”
“One last thing, if someone’s story, say, happened to involve a secret that would do best to not leave the club’s ears, would you guys be able to keep a secret?”
“Heatwave, I promise that all secrets shared within the Treasure Hunter’s club will stay within the Treasure Hunter’s club, unless the secret’s owner chooses to share it outside the club. But that is to say, if your friends have a secret, I can guarantee that neither me nor any of my associates will spill the beans.” Shimmer said with a genuine smile.
“Thank you, Shimmer. I will ask them tonight.”
That night, Heatwave returned to his cave and explained the club to Rust and Desertglass, and they were eager to join as well.
“You didn't tell them about the compass, did you?” asked Desertglass.
“No, I didn't tell, I was only making sure they would be trusted with the secret if you chose to share it with them.”
“Ok, thank you for that.”
“Hey, what happened to wanting to get in with the popular crowd?” Asked Rust, “We aren't exactly popular, Heatwave, wont that mess up your image or something?”
“I don't care about that anymore, Ive come to understand the true value of a dragon after our talks and the adventure, and popularity isnt worth it if it means excluding others, so from now on, im not judging dragons based on popularity, im just going to enjoy hanging out with my friends, and if other dragons think that makes me unpopular, than they can eat their tails!”
“Well said Heatwave!” Agreed Rust and Desertglass.
“Shiny Humble Friend!” Squeaked Razorblade while hopping around excitedly inside his cage.
Before falling asleep that night, Heatwave burned his popularity list. ‘I don't need this anymore,’ He thought, while gazing at the busted neckband which he was holding in his talons, ‘I understand now’.
Updates/notes:
Apologies for the lack of art included with this chapter, I expected to have some done in time to release with this chapter, but it was delayed, as I am currently wrapping up a collab event for another subreddit and had to mostly focus on that, and I didn’t want to delay this chapter until I finished the art, so for now here is the completed chapter 3, and the next CLW post I make will be cover art for chapters 1, 2, and 3, and possibly some concept art as well, hopefully that will release sometime during the next week or so. And from now on, starting with chapter 4, each chapter post going forward will include a cover art piece to go with it.
Things are starting to get pretty interesting, I can’t wait to fully flesh out this story, I have some big plans ahead for all these characters, so stay tuned, and as always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy CLW!
-EA, Phoenix Motion Initiative