Darkstalker's scroll

Darkstalker's scroll, also referred to as Darkstalker's talisman, was an animus-touched scroll with a black leather binding. It was enchanted over 2,000 years ago to hold Darkstalker's animus power. He created the scroll to be able to use animus magic without the fear of losing his soul to gain Clearsight's trust. By writing on a piece of the scroll, any dragon could freely use Darkstalker's animus power, which Darkstalker later viewed as a mishap. It was taken from him by Clearsight, who gave it to Fathom, who hid it somewhere unknown, though it was likely near the Rainforest Kingdom due to it being later found by Chameleon. He used it to change himself into other dragons and to also transform dragons for Scarlet. The scroll was about one third used, with many parts ripped off. At the end of Escaping Peril, Peril destroyed the scroll by burning it with her firescales, returning Darkstalker's animus powers to him, and freeing him from beneath what used to be Agate Mountain.

History

Darkstalker

After finally figuring out how not to lose his soul (due to using his animus powers too much) , Darkstalker placed all of his powers into a scroll, that when written on, would react in the same way as if Darkstalker himself had cast the spell. The only difference was that it wouldn't erode his soul and cause him to go mad and while the scroll could cast Darkstalker's power, anyone could cast spells with it.

Darkstalker first revealed his scroll to Clearsight and enchanted an ink-well to rise up and touch the ceiling, then return to his talons. After his verbal attempt didn't work he proceeded to write on the scroll, "Enchant this inkwell to fly up, touch the ceiling once, and fly back down into my talons without spilling a drop, then return to normal." The inkwell did exactly as instructed and increased Clearsight's trust in Darkstalker. He also uses it several times throughout the book for various things, such as making himself immortal, controlling his father (Arctic), and making and enchanting jewelry for Clearsight.

In order to write some of his more insidious spells, curses, and enchantments without anyone finding out, Darkstalker wrote in invisible ink between spaces he deliberately left in-between the visible writing on the scroll. Some of the things he wrote in invisible ink were:

• Enchant this goblet so that the first time Fathom drinks from it, he will stop loving Indigo, forget about his oath, and decide to freely use his animus magic again.
• Enchant this dagger to fly into the Kingdom of Sand and kill one IceWing every full moon, in secret, under cover of darkness-and keep doing so for one year, or until I summon it back. Enchant it to leave messages carved near the body warning that the Darkstalker is coming for all of them and soon they will all be dead.
• Enchant this pebble so that when it rolls into the same room as Indigo the SeaWing, she shall be instantly trapped inside of the small wooden carving of a dragon made for me by Fathom.
• Enchant this piece of paper to look like a note written in Indigo's handwriting, with a short, believable message saying she's leaving Fathom and not coming back.

A few more things Darkstalker wrote was his immortality spell, an enchantment on Clearsight's moonstone earrings that would only allow her to see the brightest, happiest futures and block out any truly bad futures that might happen up ahead, and an enchantment that would send Darkstalker a mental twinge whenever someone used his scroll, and a spell to make Darkstalker and Clearsight's history scroll to read aloud to them. There were even some spells that tormented classmates he hated in "small, creative ways". There was also a spell that sent nightmares to haunt Diamond with all the ways that Darkstalker planned to kill her. However, in the last few chapters of the book, Fathom stole and read the scroll in order to figure out what Darkstalker did to his friend Indigo, and just to see what enchantments Darkstalker had done throughout the course of his life. After this, however, it is unknown where the scroll went.

Pre-Series

Darkstalker used the talisman for many things. The talisman was described as being filled a third of the way with enchantments, which Chameleon claimed not to have written any of, meaning that these were Darkstalker's enchantments.

Chameleon was the only other dragon known to have used the scroll pre-series. He used it to make other forms for himself, an enchanted necklace for Peril to get rid of her firescales when it was worn, the Pyrite enchantment, and the earring for Tourmaline which turned her into Queen Ruby. He also used a piece to enchant a severed MudWing head to make it look like Glory's head at the start of Escaping Peril, which ex-Queen Scarlet threw at Queen Ruby during Carnelian's funeral. Using his form of Soar, he had 2 dragonets with Kestrel, known to be Peril and Sky. Due to the fact he was in SkyWing form, his children are full SkyWings, rather than half RainWing half SkyWing hybrids. Chameleon also had a few other known forms: Shapeshifter (NightWing), Cirrus (IceWing), Bog (MudWing), and unnamed forms for each of the other dragon tribes.

Moon Rising

Chameleon (in the form of Shapeshifter) annoys Scarlet by tapping a scroll, most likely Darkstalker's talisman, on stone, which causes her to yell at him.

Winter Turning

The scroll hid Prince Hailstorm as Pyrite, a female SkyWing, for two years, until the necklace containing the scroll piece is forcibly removed by Qibli. However, after being Pyrite for so long, Hailstorm's memories are still an unclear jumbled mess.

Later, Chameleon, in the form of Shapeshifter, attacked the group of dragonets, leaving Kinkajou comatose.

Escaping Peril

During Escaping Peril, Chameleon used the scroll multiple times for Scarlet. Scarlet had Chameleon create a necklace for Peril that removed her firescales, made her completely loyal to Scarlet, and took away all her memories of Clay, and a piece that when put into a dragon's ear, would turn them into Queen Glory. After stealing the scroll from Chameleon, Moonwatcher, Peril, Turtle, Winter, and Qibli argued over whether to give the scroll back to Darkstalker, as Moon had just found out that Darkstalker had enchanted Arctic to disembowel himself with it. Peril burned the scroll but was unaware that if destroyed, Darkstalker's power would return to him.

Darkness of Dragons

During Darkness of Dragons, fragments of what remained of the scroll were used to continue its influence: Chameleon became Bog in an attempt to trick the SandWings to attack the Mudwings and Shapeshifter in defending his transformations. Kinkajou also used the remaining pieces of the scroll that Chameleon used to turn Darkstalker into Peacemaker using a strawberry.

Trivia

• Clearsight said the scroll that Darkstalker enchanted (a history scroll, not Darkstalker's scroll) sounded "just like Professor Truthfinder."
• It is unknown how Chameleon found the scroll, though it was most likely hidden by Fathom near the rainforest.
• It is unknown if Winter still possesses the Pyrite enchantment.
• Invisible ink was first introduced on Darkstalker's scroll.
  • It's possible that Darkstalker enchanted the ink to be invisible, but more likely that he used a substance similar to lemon juice, which only becomes visible when heated up.
• It is possible that Darkstalker felt mental twinges while Chameleon was using the scroll, but he still did not know of its whereabouts.