Prologue
Raven reflected on the the Leaders' plan to abandon the abyss and never mention it, talk about it, and act like it was never there. Raven thought that it was right to stop worshiping the abyss, but she felt that Vole, the current Guardian of the Abyss and Mole's big brother was too hard to leave behind. She thought about a human named Quartz, who was "extremely boring", and Raven would not mind giving him up. Then, she visited Mole, and the two started to talk about how to find "the dragon" that Vole had mentioned in his message from the abyss. They contemplated for a while, and then decided to bring a dragon there, thinking that that the abyss will bring Vole back.
Part One: The Land Across the Sea
Luna was shown how to use a dreamvisitor by Tsunami and used it to visit Swordtail in his dream. The dream was of Swordtail paralyzed in Misbehavior's Way, with Swordtail saying that it was where he needed to be, with Luna objecting to it. She pushed him off the pedestal, allowing Swordtail to move since he instinctively used his wings to break his fall. Luna told Swordtail that they were going to break the mind-control. Luna then asked Swordtail where he was in real life, and he told her he was in Cicada Hive. Luna then agreed to meet him in the Mosaic Gardenafter they broke the mind-control. They talked about the day that Swordtail asked Luna to be his girlfriend, and him sitting on the box of honey drops prior to that. The reunion ended with Wasp forcing Swordtail to wake up, and Luna was brought back to her physical body.
Luna then set out with the rest of the stealth team to find the abyss in Queen Snowfall's vision. They followed the map to the other continent and had a conversation about when to start using the stealth wristbands while flying. Upon landing on the next island, they were attacked by multiple HiveWings and a SilkWing who were under Queen Wasp's control. Using the gift of stealth, Sundew was able to hide part of the team but Tsunami, Pineapple, and Qibli were not hidden and Tsunami and Qibli were injected with the paralyzing HiveWing toxin. The dragons fought, but the visible dragons and an invisible Moon were captured and taken to Wasp Hive. Most of the HiveWings took the prisoners. Four were badly injured, however, and were left on the island. The remaining members of the team talked and decided what to do. Sundew and Lynx ended up following the attackers to try and rescue the captured dragons. The others went to Pantala, and waited for the others.
They ended up in a cave system, and in one of these caves they found a human studying a dragon book. Wren followed the human to their village and learned that the human was named Axolotl. When the dragons and Wren became visible again, they asked Axolotl about the abyss and Axolotl agreed to take them to a village known for worshiping an abyss if the dragons translated a dragon book for them. On the way there they were spotted by Pokeweed who took them to dragons hiding from Queen Wasp. The group was made up of SilkWings from Bloodworm Hive, Jewel Hive and Mantis Hive, as well as Lady Scarab, Lady Jewel, Bryony, Hemlock, and Pokeweed. The dragons were very curious about the newcomers and a young SilkWing named Dusky became very attached to Luna. He said, "It's just me," hinting that he has no family. Luna ended up making flamesilk for the dragons and told them about the 5 kinds of flamesilk: gold silk, firefly silk, glow silk, blaze silk, and sun silk. Tau told Luna and the others about a place she knew where humans got water and agreed to take them to it the next day while Hemlock and members of the Bloodworm Hive Chrysalis agreed to go to Lake Scorpion to watch for the missing members of the Super Secret Stealth Team.
In the morning, Luna met Whitespeck who told her about Dusky's family and Bloodworm Hive. She then left to find the human colony with Tau, Cricket, Bryony, Bullfrog, Sky, Wren, Axolotl, and Dusky. On the way there, however, Raven and Mole kidnapped Dusky, and Luna and the others chased them to the Abyss. Wren talked to them, trying to convince them to release Dusky, but before they could hand him over, Vole jumped from the ceiling and grabbed Dusky, jumping into the abyss.
Part Two: A Secret Buried Far Below
When Luna witnessed Dusky being taken by Vole, she jumped into the abyss, however: she was brought into a strange room illuminated by an unknown source. She then saw the breath of evil growing throughout the place. She followed Vole to an entrance to another cave from which the Breath of Evil seemed to be growing. She realized that this cave was more like a room, with pillars and a throne. She was disturbed by what she saw on the throne: a plant growing from a human holding a dragonet. Luna, thinking it was Dusky, approached closer, but then she realized that the plant was growing through the human and dragon skulls, and they must both be dead. An unknown voice commanded Luna to step back and proclaimed themselves to be the emperor of the world. Luna, while conversing with the Othermind, looked back to the dragonet and wondered about the origins of its tribe since they looked unlike any tribe she had ever seen, seemingly a hybrid. This dragonet was also realized to have leafspeak, which then went to reveal another voice, with the prior voice being frustrated that Dusky was not Sundew. The other voice whispered that it wanted Dusky. Luna looked back at the entrance and realized that the hole she had flown through was blocked by vines now. The first voice then went to mock Luna for thinking she could escape with flamesilk, which Luna realizes was impossible, because her mind would be taken over by the smoke from the vines. Realizing she was trapped, she called for help in vain. The voice claimed they would love more dragons to play with. Vines started to ensnare Luna and Dusky, and they soon passed out.
Next, the two awake in a seemingly dream-like state and they question where they are, remarking that the area looked like Sanctuary. They then hear humans, who are playing among themselves. Strangely enough, Luna could make out what was being said, and a little human boy named Coyote is introduced, claiming to be an emperor. Luna realizes that the group is searching for dragons, with them claiming they have not seen one for at least a year. The humans then move, and Luna follows them hiding, hoping for them to not see her. A human city looms upon them, which startles Luna. The humans talk about affairs with two other Empires: the Diamond Army and the Jaguar Empire. Luna is then worried they have seen her, but it seems they cannot see Luna at all. She tries to touch Coyote and he walks straight through her. Then the whole world goes into a strange haze, and they find themselves before a cave nesting a dragon, one with two wings and orange scales with a yellow underbelly. The unknown dragon cannot see her either.
The humans wait for the dragon to leave the cave and rush inside. Coyote and Cottonmouthare shown to be older, which indicates a passage of time. They come back out with an egg in their arms, with Cottonmouth remarking that he knew a nest was set up in this area. He then asks how many eggs there were, in which there were three, Cottonmouth commands the group to go get the other two eggs, in which Coyote protests to. One of the other humans' questions him, wondering if that would make the dragon notice, to which Cottonmouth responds by stabbing him in the gut and killing him. In the end, they gather all of them, with this knowledge, Luna thinks to herself that the group of humans had something to do with the grotesque-looking human and dragonet on the throne earlier. A shift occurs again, and this time Luna is at a small island, with a different group of humans gathering eggs. The humans remark how other empires are collecting dragon eggs in the hope of using them. More shifts occur, and Luna witnesses many cruelties that the humans inflicted on the newly hatched dragonets. Just then, a group of gigantic dragons came, with multiple scales and identifiable traits with multiple tribes, depicting the common ancestors of each tribe. Luna realizes that this was the beginning of the Scorching.
Dusky is enraged, thinking humans are awful, but Luna defends them by stating not all are the same. She connects this to the HiveWings, and contemplates on how she cannot wish for a genocide of them. Another flash passes and a group of worn-down humans are shown, with Cottonmouth holding a large box. Luna was confident the box held a dragon egg within it, questioning his morality and why he was so greedy for power. The haze of shadow takes over the world again and they are in a lush, sunlit jungle, Luna realizes this was Pantala before the Tree Wars. Cottonmouth is shown again, except he has found the Breath of Evil and claims that he can use it to control the dragon tribes. The humans, skeptical, think that the plant is strange, and creepy. An almost hatched dragon egg is ahead of them in another flicker of the world, and it seems that Cottonmouth is experimenting on reptiles. A voice rings with perfect clarity, stating that it did not like this part. Luna asks who said that, but there was no response. A group of humans' barge in, bringing samples of the plant, and Cottonmouth reassures them that whatever he was planning would work. He demonstrates the power of the plant by making a human bow against his will. This human was notably from another area, which had been in the small island. Cottonmouth opens a box, in which a small head is spotted. Luna remarks that she did not look like any of the tribes, but a mix of a few of them. Cottonmouth is speaking cruelly with the dragon, and Dusky remarks that the dragonet had been named Lizard, and she wanted an actual name from a dragon. Just then, the dragonet spoke to Dusky in Dragon, and stated she did not want him to speak for her. Cottonmouth spoke, in Human, stating that she was interrupting the story. Lizard in response yelled that she hated experiencing the same thing for the past five thousand years. They then seem to argue, and Luna asks if they can hear her and Dusky. Lizard, seeming annoyed by the question, then asks Dusky to give her his memories.
This confuses Dusky, asking how and why he would do that. She states that he must allow her to, and again tells him to give her them. Dusky says no, frustrating her. Lizard then goes on to state that she is the most miserable dragon to ever live, so she deserves what she wants. Lizard says that Cottonmouth got the both of them caught by the plant. Cottonmouth disagrees, citing that Lizard was rebellious and annoying. They then have another exchange of arguing in which they were blaming each other for faults committed. It seems more so that Lizard and Cottonmouth view dragons and humans as toys, with Lizard throwing a tantrum when Cottonmouth suggests killing Dusky. The mindspace is then revealed, which is how Lizard and Cottonmouth were able to allow Luna and Dusky to see their memories and lets them shift the area, Lizard demonstrates this by showing the Weaver Hall, Dusky's school. Dusky wondered how Lizard was able to do this and asked if she had his memories. She responds by saying that he needs to let her have them, and she had seen this through a HiveWing, of which she used to watch Dusky. Luna then requests to see Blue and Swordtail, to which Lizard reluctantly does. The mindspace shifts again, this time towards a HiveWing within sight of Swordtail. Luna asks if Lizard could bring Swordtail to the mindspace, in which Lizard replies she could, but did not want to as it was tiring. Lizard then complains that SilkWings are boring and thought it would be more fun to have new dragons. Luna asks if Lizard felt bad for the dragons she controlled. Lizard snaps and is enraged with the concept of feeling bad for them. She says those dragons could actually live and did not have to be stuck all the time with Cottonmouth, saying how her life is the worst and how those dragons should feel bad for her.
Luna agrees that Lizard's life is awful and Dusky asks if they could free her. Cottonmouth chuckles and Lizard reveals the the only reason they are alive is because of the Breath of Evil and if they were separated, they would die. Cottonmouth then ponders if the mind control will work on the dragons from Pyrrhia. Another shift occurs and they are transported into the throne room of Queen Wasp with Tsunami, Pineapple, and Qibli in front of them, bound and Cottonmouth then commands Queen Wasp to not kill them, and unbind them in which she is defiant to, but caves in. Cottonmouth interrogates the group and demands to know where Sundew is. They refuse to answer, and Wasp proclaims that the invisible one, Moonwatcher, is missing because Cottonmouth assigned the SilkWing elsewhere. Luna thinks that Lynx and Sundew saved her. Wasp then complains that she cannot deal with whatever the invisible dragon was using. In response, Cottonmouth steps out of Malachite, the dragon he had currently been controlling, appears where Wasp was sitting, and forces her to choke herself. Luna is then scared for the group, and pleads to Lizard to free them, but she declines. Luna then offers her memories, tempting Lizard. The group of dragons then attempts to escape, with Pineapple shooting venom at Queen Wasp. Lizard asks Luna if she would really give her memories if the group got away, and Luna again accepts. Lizard then clears a pathway, allowing the group to escape. Luna questions if they were safe and Cottonmouth denies it, revealing that he already has one of them under his control. He then claims they would all be there soon.
Part Three: Talons United
Luna hears Cricket calling to her in the real world, outside of the cave. Cottonmouth uses Luna's real-world body to trick Cricket and the others to go after Sundew, so he could capture Sundew. Luna calls him a monster to which he replies saying that anyone would have taken the chance to be him. Lizard loudly demands Luna to give her memories as promised. Luna worries about what Lizard would do with the memories, before Lizard replies saying that nothing will happen to the memories. Lizard explains that Wasp is only in charge of the HiveWings and is only just one of Cottonmouth's "big toes". She continues, saying that all three of them, Cottonmouth, her and the plant, can control all the mind-controlled dragons. Cottonmouth is just the active one because he refuses to let Lizard control anything and the plant does not have a mind of its own. Dusky then offers to share his memories first to Lizard, which Lizard replied eagerly to. In Dusky's vision, they are brought to Bloodworm Hive. They see Dusky's father trying to make a younger Dusky try and say his own name. He fails to do this as Dusky was only able to repeat "Dada". Dusky asks for a banana before Dusky's father replies that they do not have any bananas. Dusky runs to retrieve a rotting banana that he was hiding and shows it to his father. This vision ends and Lizard is repulsed by the vision and declares it to be "boring".
Luna comforts Dusky after seeing his vision. Lizard calls Dusky's father strange, as it was not very "dragonlike" for a parent to care about their dragonets. Luna tries to convince Lizard that dragons do care about each other, but to no avail. Lizard then demands Luna to give her memories, which Luna hesitantly obliges to. They appear in the art room of Silkworm Hall. In the vision, they see a younger Luna, Blue, Swordtail helping Io with her Metamorphosisweaving idea. Blue is worried that they would get caught which the others reassure him that they would not. Swordtail and Blue go off to tidy the art room, while Io and Luna stay behind. Io wonders where she should put her Chrysalis symbol. Luna gave a suggestion which made Io interested. Swordtail suddenly bursts in, saying that the headmaster is coming. Luna and Swordtail play as a distraction so that Io and Blue could quietly escape from the school and vision ended there. Lizard calls Luna and Swordtail "nitwits" for allowing themselves to be caught. Luna explains that Blue would have been sad if he got caught, so Luna and Swordtail gave themselves away so he could get away. Lizard still does not understand why Luna would care so much about another dragon.
Suddenly, Pineapple appears in the mindspace. Pineapple is initially confused about where he is before Luna tells him that Cottonmouth has taken over his body. They watch Tsunami, Qibli and Pineapple/Cottonmouth escape from the Hives. Qibli reassures Cottonmouth by saying he did the right thing, shooting Queen Wasp. Cottonmouth answers nonchalantly which made Qibli worry even more. Tsunami asks Cottonmouth and Cottonmouth says that they should head towards Lake Scorpion. Qibli is confused on how Cottonmouth knew about Lake Scorpion to which Cottonmouth quickly replies saying that Luna told him. Luna asks if Lizard could jump into Pineapple to which Lizard replies saying she could not, while Cottonmouth was still in Pineapple.
Luna then asks if the leafspeak was her power and Lizard admits that it was all her. Luna realizes that Lizard could let them out, but Lizard refuses. They continue to watch Pineapple's physical body and the others fly until they see a fire down on the ground. The three dragons go down to investigate the fire and are greeted by Sundew, Moonwatcher and Lynx. Sundew is surprised that they managed to rescue themselves from the Hives. She continues saying that they wanted to save them, but they grew worried about Luna and the others.
In the mindspace, Luna convinces Lizard to let her and Dusky be free from the vines, in turn for Pineapple giving Lizard his memories. Lizard agrees, and then they were shown a memory of Pineapple and Jambu cuddling in a hammock. After Lizard finished going through Pineapple's memories, Moon then appears in the mindspace. She explains to Luna that she could read minds and that was why she was in the mindspace, and that she is not controlled by the breath of evil. She finds out that Pineapple had been mind controlled and disappears from the mindspace when Cottonmouth came back to it and saw her. Moon tells the rest of the stealth team that Pineapple is controlled by the Othermind, and Cottonmouth, controlling Pineapple, lies that it was Moon who had the Othermind in her head. A fight breaks out between the invisible dragons. Lynx asked Sundew to turn everyone visible again and she did. Cottonmouth wants Sundew to fly to the abyss, and threatened to hurt Luna if she does not. Sundew agrees to go to the abyss, thinking she could use her leafspeak to defeat the breath of evil. Everyone except Pineapple's physical body is turned invisible again, and they fly to Lake Scorpion.
On the way there, Luna has an idea to try to show Lizard that most dragons are not bloodthirsty and violent and mainly want to love and be loved. Moon and the dragons flying to Lake Scorpion all agree to give Lizard one memory each, using Moon's mind reading. Moon's memory is of her feeling lonely, waiting for her mother in the rainforest, and naming the three moons Imperial, Oracle, and Perception. Sundew's memory is of her meeting Willow for the first time. Lynx's memory is of her playing a fort game with some dragonets from the royal family, and when she became captured, Hailstorm threatened to throw her into the ocean if Snowfall did not give their team the fort. Snowfall says that Lynx is a great swimmer, and that she is not scared of walruses, which Lynx agrees to. Qibli's memory is of him getting stolen from, and an older female dragon standing up for him, saying it was for justice. Qibli then says he would fight for justice when he was older, and changes his mind, saying he would fight now. He runs and sinks his teeth into the dragon who had stolen from him, starting a fight. Tsunami's memory is of her and the other prophecy dragonets arguing over which kingdom was the biggest.
Lizard complains that she hates the memories that they had given her because none of those dragons were anything like her. Luna tells her that this was not true and finds a way to relate Lizard to each of the dragons who had just given her memories. Luna says that what happened to Lizard and the fact that she never got to love anyone was not fair, and Lizard agrees, saying that no one ever loved her, before quickly adding that she did not care whether or not anyone loved her. Lizard says that it seems like loving someone makes you do really stupid things sometimes, which Luna agrees with, thinking about her own friends and how they had risked themselves to save dragons they loved.
Lizard glances around, and then looks back at Luna. She says, in a low, shaking voice, that if Luna cuts the vine that is growing through Cottonmouth's and her physical bodies, then the breath of evil will become a normal plant again, and Lizard and Cottonmouth will be gone. Lizard tells her to hurry up and not waste time asking questions or saying sentimental goodbyes.
Lizard and Dusky play-wrestle on the ground as Luna considers this. She thinks that Sundew could be more efficient with stopping the Othermind, but then realizes that she should be doing all that she can to help save the world. She should be like the dragons whose memories they had just seen, dragons who are brave and leap in to save the ones they love, dragons who do not give up, dragons who do not need rescuing. She does not want to be the one who always has to be rescued.
Luna concentrates on being able to move her physical body. She puts Dusky over her shoulders and starts to make her way over toward the large vine Lizard told her to cut. After an interruption from Cottonmouth, Lizard takes Luna and Dusky to Cicada Hive in the mindspace, where they see SilkWings shouting and asking questions to mind-controlled guards. Lizard then takes them to Lake Scorpion, where three HiveWings and three LeafWings controlled by Cottonmouth have captured Cricket and Bullfrog, as Cottonmouth-in-Pineapple, Qibli, Sundew, and the rest of Luna's friends arrive at the lake. Cottonmouth shows them a HiveWing named Carabid, who Cotttonmouth had been feeding all the breath of evil he could find. Cottonmouth threatens Sundew with Carabid's venom, which he says should be able to absorb a dragon into the Othermind on the first stab, as Luna continues to make her way to the throne where the vine that she needed to cut was. She stops when a group of mind controlled LeafWings, including Belladonna, arrive, and a fight begins at the lake, with the stealth team on one side and the mind controlled LeafWings, HiveWings, and Pineapple on the other side. Luna tries to continue to the throne. In the meantime, Cricket and Bullfrog have been injected by Carabid and are absorbed into the Othermind.
Luna finds the vine. She spins several coils of regular, non-burning silk and then ties it around the segment of vine that was in between Cottonmouth and Lizard's heads. She hopes that by cutting the vine there, Cottonmouth would die, and Lizard would stay alive. Luna hopes that the silk would be able to easily slice through the vine. She finally cut the vine by launching herself away from the throne, throwing everyone out of the mindspace.
Luna and Dusky are in the real throne room again, and Lizard tells them that Luna had cut the vine in the wrong place, and that they have to cut the vine below her head, or else the breath of evil would try to grow back into Cottonmouth's body and try to connect with another being. Luna apologizes, saying that she wants to keep Lizard alive, because she had saved them and should not have to die. Luna suggests that perhaps the breath of evil did not have to be evil or control anyone, Lizard could coexist with the breath of evil, and that Luna could come down and visit Lizard in the throne room. Lizard says that she hated that plan, and she does not want to keep on fighting a weed for all eternity. She says that Luna should just cut the vine in the correct place and get rid of Lizard.
Before Luna severed the vine again, Dusky asks if they could give Lizard a real name, one that they could remember her by forever. Lizard asks if she could be named Freedom. Luna and Dusky says that that was a fitting name, because it would be what Lizard would have, and what she was giving everyone. Luna and Dusky give their final goodbyes to Freedom, thanking her for sacrificing herself to save dragonkind. Luna lets Dusky hold one end of the silk that would sever the vine, and they both pull and sever the breath of evil from Freedom.
After the vine was cut, Luna digs up all of the pieces of the vine left and burns them with her flamesilk. She thinks that it was strange how she had always thought her flamesilk was what made her special, and that she was supposed to use it to save the world, but in the end, it was her regular silk, which could have come from anyone. She, Dusky, and Vole finally leave the throne room where they reunite with Sky, Wren, and Axolotl. They leave the cave and reunite with the other members of the stealth team.
The next morning, Luna visits the Mosaic Garden where she reunites with Swordtail, squishing a box of honey drops in the process. They fly together to the webs with Cricket, Sky, Pineapple, Wren, and Axolotl, the other dragons having gone with Sundew to Wasp Hive in order to imprison Wasp. As they make it to the webs where Io, Burnet, Silverspot, and Blue are, Luna introduces Cricket to her and Blue's mothers, welcoming her to the family. Luna reflects on the fact that she had only started to change the world but admitted that it was not something she had to do all by herself.