NightWing tunnels

The NightWing tunnels, also referred to as "portals" in the series, were passages created by the NightWing animus Stonemover. The NightWings used them to travel between essential locations easily. There are currently two known tunnels, both leading to the Rainforest Kingdom. One is from the NightWing island, and the other from the Kingdom of Sand.

Description

The tunnels are found near a small waterfall splashed into a tiny pond. A stream no wider than a dragon tail burbles at the top of a waterfall and away from the pond at the bottom. Thick brownish reeds choke the slimy surface of the pond. The top of the waterfall is flanked by a pair of tall dark trees, as fat around as the columns where SkyWing prisoners were kept. Their trunks are so brown that they were nearly black, and their branches begin far overhead, so they looked more like black pillars than trees.

The tunnel to the Kingdom of Sand in a boulder twice the size of Morrowseer leaning "almost too casually" against a tree, like someone had placed it there. The hole to the tunnel is dark, with stone edges, and just big enough or a full-grown dragon to pass through. A moss curtain partly covers it. A faint wind whistles out of the hole, like a storm howling on the far side of the world. The entrance on the Kingdom of Sand side is found north of the SandWing stronghold and surrounded by a semicircle of dull green cacti. Each cactus is half as tall as a full-grown dragon, with tiny thorns as sharp as fangs, and were later revealed to be the brightsting cactus. A few dusty white flowers bloom between the freckles. The wind covers the hole with new sand everyday, blocking and hiding the entrance. The walls inside the tunnels are long and made of smooth stone. There are many sharp turns.

The second tunnel, to the NightWing island, is in a huge tree on the other side of the stream. One cannot easily notice the hole if they have not been looking for it, as it is well above eye level, carved into the tree at a height where most dragons would have to look up to see it. The other side of the tunnel opens to a cave on the black-sand beach of the NightWing island. The entrance was guarded with several armed NightWings. The tunnel spiraled up and around, with just enough space to fly. The air in the tunnel was warmer and wetter closer to the rainforest, with the chittering of insects and monkeys reverberating off the walls.

After the events of The Dark Secret, a layer of ash covers the floor of the tunnel leading to the NightWing island, and the space is so dark that it is nearly impossible to see, with faint gray light scraping the walls on either side. The shape of a huge, petrified dragon made of hardened ash looms in the tunnel, its wings outstretched and its talons reaching forward. It's implied to be Morrowseer. Around the body, there is a tunnel clogged up with ash that an average-sized dragon could barely squeeze into, and a floor of cooled lava that is still warm.

The tunnels give those passing through an indefinably uncomfortable, tingling feeling in their scales when they are near, described as an "awkward wrongness" or the feeling of when one is not supposed to be there. Winter later confirmed that this was the result of animus magic.

The original purpose of the tunnels was to help NightWings (and potentially extra SandWing forces) make traveling quicker between mainlands, specifically between the rainforest and the volcanic island. The tunnel connecting the NightWing island to the Rainforest Kingdom was intended to be a passageway for the NightWings to arrive immediately at the rainforest, either for hunting or a potential takeover invasion. The tunnel connecting the Rainforest Kingdom to the Kingdom of Sand was created so that Blister's forces could arrive as backup for the NightWings during the takeover.

History

The tunnels were created by Stonemover approximately two years before the dragonets of destiny hatched. After Stonemover created the tunnels, he flew away to Jade Mountain to live the rest of his days as a hermit without using any of his powers. He enchanted his animus magic so it affects his scales instead of soul, resulting in about half of his body becoming cold, unmovable stone.

Shortly after the dragonets of destiny were introduced to the RainWing village, they discovered a strange tunnel inside a boulder, curtained with moss and leading to a location just miles away from Burn's stronghold.

When the NightWings captured Glory and fourteen other RainWings, they were taken through another tunnel in a tree that leads to the NightWing island. She eventually escaped the NightWings with the help of Clay and Deathbringer via the rainforest-NightWing island tunnel. Later, she led her army through this tunnel to the NightWing island. Both tunnels are presently still intact.

Trivia

• The tunnels give off a weird sensation, as if one is not supposed to be there. This sensation grows stronger as one steps farther into the tunnels. It is the same feeling one gets from physical contact with someone wearing the Pyrite mask.

Gallery

• 
  The tunnel leading to the Kingdom of Sand from The Hidden Kingdom (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes
• 
  The NightWing tunnels leading to the Kingdom of Sand and the NightWing island on the Rainforest Kingdom map from A Guide to the Dragon World, by Mike Schley

• Art by Mike Holmes, from the Wings of Fire Graphic Novels
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References

fr:Tunnels Animusés pl:Tunele Nocoskrzydłych