Scorching

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The Scorching, as shown in The Lost Heir Graphic Novel

The Scorching is an early period of time in Pyrrhia when the dragon tribes warred and took over Pyrrhia from the scavengers, the dominant life form at the time. It is mentioned several times throughout the Wings of Fire series, in The Dragonet Prophecy, Moon Rising, and Darkstalker. It is also mentioned by Webs in Darkness of Dragons Before Thrush asks about Darkstalker.

Dragons use it as a measure of time. For example, Moonwatcher tells Darkstalker in a dream that the current year is 5,012 years since the Scorching (5012 AS or After Scorching) in Moon Rising. The seven Pyrrhian dragon tribes (RainWings, NightWings, SandWings, IceWings, SeaWings, SkyWings and MudWings) were formed afterward based on their according abilities and habitats. Each tribe appointed a queen, allowing dragons to form complex societies, which made it extremely tough for scavengers to kill individual dragons.

Nearly five thousand years later, a scavenger managed to kill Queen Oasis, proving that scavengers can still hold the potential to kill dragons.

In Moon Rising, Webs mentions that scrolls contain many versions and interpretations of the Scorching - some versions have even been described as "legends" and "fairy tales" as when scavengers were dominant, they had many more resources and therefore had much more opportunity to do things that would be described as “insane” to dragons today, since scavengers are now focusing more on survival than contraptions and crafts.

Trivia

• Clay once called the Scorching "The Scalding" in his dream while Starflight was dreamvisiting him, much to Starflight's annoyance.
• Dragons keep track of the date by counting the years since the Scorching, as shown when Moonwatcher mentioned that five thousand and twelve years had passed from the Scorching.
• It is said by a young Darkstalker's talking scroll that after the Scorching, Pyrrhia was in a state of almost constant warfare. 
• It is revealed by Webs in Darkness of Dragons that 500 years of transformation and resettlement occurred after the events of the Scorching. However, Webs was interrupted by Thrush and never got to finish the details.
• Peril noted that Osprey was born before the Scorching in The Dragonet Prophecy. This is a joke because it has been a little more than 5,000 years since the Scorching, and she clearly used it as a metaphor to imply that Osprey is very old.