AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A baby appeared at first, cradled in the arms of a beautiful blonde woman I’d seen before today. She was really familiar, but I couldn’t quite see her face as she glanced down at the newborn while a man hugged them both. His hair was as blond as the woman’s. The image faded, only to be replaced by a chubby baby girl. Her giggles danced in the air as she ran through green pastures, she seemed three or four years old at best, while the tan-lavender Dragon and a mature purple one lay on the grass surrounding her—Luna.
The baby girl climbed my new friend’s wing, squealing when she stumbled and fell, bouncing on the membrane once before Luna gently caught her, placing her safely on the grass again. Her parents chuckled from where they sat nearby when their daughter swiftly returned to climbing.
One by one the memories continued, showing the precious little girl growing, until she was probably eleven or twelve years old—a much younger version of the woman I loved.
“Star, get ready!” Evie’s young voice called, running to the tan-lavender Dragon until she reached her wing and jumped on it, mounting her. The two lifted into the sky, flying alongside Luna with Queen Sienna on her back, and the rest of the Sky Legion.
A swell of love and devotion filtered into my chest, flowing freely from my new friend and into me, but it was tinged by raw pain.
“Star… you are a female.”
She nodded, apparently not ready to speak yet. The touch of pain grew through the emotions rolling into my chest, she seemed affected by the memories she had shared with me. Part of me wondered why the memory of Evie, which brought so much love out of Star, was mixed with sadness, but I didn’t want to intrude because of how much it hurt her.
I hadn’t seen Star in the honeycombs since I arrived to Caelisium, which told me she had left Evie’s side at some point, but why?
Becoming still, I respected Star’s silence, and looked to the darkening sky, anxious to get back home.
“Please take me straight to the lairs,”I pleaded with her once the mountains of the Hidden Kingdom became visible.
To my dismay, I found that a part of the mountain had melted into the ground after it was struck by Azazel’s fire breath. A chilling sensation rushed down my spine when Raithian’s words echoed in my mind. He had threatened to raze the mountains that protected our people, and judging by the hole left on the side of the hill—which literally melted under his breath—the four headed beast was more than capable of that.
The devastation continued the more my eyes grazed the land. Scorched patches extended along the green grass and trees surrounding the area, but the most jarring sight was the massive shadow of blood that stained the ground. The earth beneath it was concave, like an asteroid had hit it, but there was nothing there to show what caused it.
Was it Tharion? Fear constricted my throat instantly.
Please let Tharion be safe.
The second we flew into the Hidden Kingdom, anguish, fury, and sadness slammed into me with the force of a wild ocean. The emotions were stronger than anything I had ever felt, overwhelming, all-consuming, devastating. Mind-numbing sorrow exploded inside of me so fiercely that tears immediately stung my eyes. A chorus of crying voices filtered into my head like the echo of ghosts.
My muscles started trembling as Star slipped into the honeycombs, taking me straight towards Tharion, or so I thought. She came out on the other side, flying towards the training field instead, but before I could ask what she was doing, I saw Tharion settled on the grounds, along with every other Dragon in our legion, all forming a circle around something.
The closer we got to them, the stronger the chorus of cries grew, and the more potent the despair became, growing so raw that I could barely breathe.
I jumped off Star before she fully stopped, running towards Tharion. He had collapsed on the outskirts of the circle of Dragons, bleeding.
Not caring about anything else, I rushed to his side, heart slamming against my rib cage, to find the side of his stomach sliced. The puncture almost reached his heart—stopped only by the natural shield of scales that protected it. His left arm and foot were also cut and bleeding, but it didn’t seem as life threatening as the injury pulling the thick skin of his stomach open.
Our eyes connected, and I noticed the jagged rise and fall of his chest while he struggled to pull air into his lungs. A wave of relief coursed through me when he saw I was safe, and I lifted my arms, calling his head to me. Lowering it, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against my palms. A pulse of power left me the second I touched him, and the exchange of energy began.
Except, it wasn’t anything like I had experienced when healed each other in the past.
My golden vision became so brilliant that the world disappeared from my sight, and all I could see was vivid light. Sparks of magic shimmered within the force that danced and swirled, and all I could do was witness its natural power. I wasn’t guiding it though; it was a force all on its own. It already knew what to do, and though it had been gifted to me, I was but a vessel.
My Devenish magic continued to rush into Tharion, but it suddenly stopped. The source abruptly cut off, and then flowed back into me—it had done what it needed. The all-encompassing light receded from my eyes and exhaustion swiftly spread, clinging to me, but my effort was rewarded when Tharion jumped to his feet, like he had never been hurt.
“It is Ember…”His head jerked to the center of the circle, and he joined the others, his energy becoming visible to my still gold-tinted sight when he stood with the other Dragons.
Their joined magic swayed, pushing forwards in unison like gentle waves, settling over what was in the center. Ember.
I ran forwards, zigzagging through the Dragon’s feet, the sorrow gripping my chest with every step as I slipped through the rows their bodies formed. It was their anguish, anger, and loss I felt. Their crying voices I heard. Crossing the healing circle they created, I came to stop in front of the brown and yellow Dragon whose scales normally shimmered like embers floating out of a flame.
This time, her scales glistened with the blood freely spewing out of her broken form.
The muscles of my jaw strained to contain my horror as I took in the broken bones jutting out of the skin on her legs. Her arms were bent in unnatural ways, her chest sunken in as though her ribs had been pulverized and nothing held her frame any longer. Her wings crumbled like paper under a giant’s fist. Ember was beyond salvation, suffering from her irreversible injuries, and yet, the Dragons were trying to heal their sister, to save her.
Tears seared my cheeks as they fell from my eyes, and I placed both hands on her jaw, watching her yellow eyes weakly shift towards me. She looked at me from the side, unable to move her head, wheezing while she tried but failed to draw in air, her broken ribs were probably piercing her lungs.
“Ember…” I whispered, my voice breaking.“What happened?”
