“Tell me more.” I shook his shoulders. “How does it work?”
“The . . .spell . . . seals . . . trapped here.” Sage’s eyes closed.
“Tell me more. How do I open it?”
“Your . . mate... Never... let go.” A violent seizure shook his body and his head was hitting the ground below.
I extended my arms, stopping the brutal hits.
“Old man? Sage? Damn it!”
I held him in my arms as his body stopped moving, and with a last sigh, he finally let go. Almost mechanically, I took out one of my knives and focused my eyes on Sages’s face. With one motion, I plunged my blade into his temple.
“May your journey be peaceful,” I whispered and closed his eyelids.
My mate. Alina was my mate. We were mated. Every piece of the puzzle landed into its proper place. In this world of death and suffering, I found someone worth fighting for. We were meant to be together, I knew that for sure. Deep down, I knew it all along.
I stood up, looking back at the castle.
“Ty!” Sol’s voice broke my stupor and I shapeshifted returning back into the night sky.
“We need to go back!”
“Behind you!” Sol shouted and I changed my course, avoiding the teeth of the undead dragon.
I flew to the side and immediately took a hard turn, landing on its back. The monster shook its head and both of us were falling to the ground fast. I shapeshifted and used my blade to kill it and barely had any time to turn back before the impact on the rocks below.
When it was done, I rushed back to Sol who was being attacked by two dragons. With horror, I saw the twomonsters claw his body while pulling him in opposite directions.
“Sol!” I shouted, darting toward them.
I was too late. They tore his body into two large pieces and were feasting on his still warm flesh.
“No!” I attached myself to the back of one of them and quickly turned, killing the beast. The two of us fell, while the last monster was still in the air.
“Sol! Sol!” I repeated, but he was already gone. There was nothing I could see of the other half of his body.
In that moment, the thick, coal black hatred coated my heart and transformed me into something I could hardly control. In just seconds, I was right beside the remaining beast. I shifted in the air and pierced my blade right between its opaque white eyes. While I was falling, my mind registered tiny details that, at that time, hardly had any significance. The ribbons of smoke lifting up into the night sky, someone crying surprisingly close by. The talons of the undead dragon released what remained of Sol’s body, and all I could think about was that I did not see his head. I did not know where it went.
“No!” I shouted, but my tears never appeared, my dragon did not know how to cry.
The castle looked as solid as ever, as if nothing could affect its monumental lines and the calm artificial stillness of the rocks, except, the front doors were wide open. Everywhere I looked, there were smears of blood, torn body parts, organs and bones. My skin crawled when I saw smaller bodies that belonged to women, clumps of hair, and ribbons adorned with fresh winter flowers.
“Alina!” I shouted, darting through the halls.
How could I leave her? Why did I ever leave her?
Fear like I never experienced before rose from within and I could not stop calling her name.
I stumbled into the main hall, where only hours before, Hanoch had greeted us as his guests. The tables were overturned, the tablecloths on the floor, and there were more remains of dragons and people. On the table that Hanoch had occupied with his family, laid his dead body, but there was no one beside him. In the passing moments, nothing made sense, all I could hear was the wild beating of my heart that was overpowering all other sounds. I approached the table, looking at my older brother. His eyes were wide open looking up at the ceiling, his lips parted as if he had tried to say something.
Pain and regret exploded deep in my skull. I lost so much time because I could not let go of the past. The past that Hanoch was not even responsible for. All the years I hated him for being there, for seeing me in my most vulnerable state. In my lowest, darkest moments, I became too selfcentered, too focused on what I was going through. Never once did I consider what it was like for him.
It was too late now.
I swung the door to the second corridor open and immediately saw the massive body of a killed undead dragon, and another monster was eating its flesh. The foul smell of rotten meat hit my nostrils and I nearly gagged. At the same time, the crawler dragon noticed me and bared its teeth covered in black blood.
Moving slowly, I reached for my hunting knife. I only had a moment before the beast pounced on me. In one motion, I made a deep cut in the scales of its throat and thick opaque liquid poured out of the wound. The dragon continued moving closer with its giant head raised, actively protecting its brain from my blade. I bared my teeth and darted forward, jumping on top of the dead dragon’s body and launching myself up into the air. My knife pierced the flesh on top of its head and I avoided the sharp teeth that closed only inches away from my arm. I adjusted the blade, cutting deeper into its skull. The undead dragon froze for a fraction of a second and fell to the ground with a loud thump.
