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I laughed, and just like that, the mood lightened. “We should get started then, before I slip up again.”
“Agreed.”
Ylena crouched down and slid the bag she was carrying off her shoulder. She pulled out a small clay pot and a wooden flask filled with the herbal drink she’d brewed beforehand. “Normally I would have had you drink this and then ascend the volcano on your own,” Ylena said as she poured the contents into the pot. “But given that you’re only half-dragon, I thought it best that I supervise you, in case something goes wrong.”
I nodded, watching as she used a flame to reheat the liquid. Within minutes, a strong, earthy smell began to waft through the air, underscored by herbal notes that were somehow both sweet and bitter. My skin prickled with nerves as she handed the pot to me, and I swallowed hard as I took it in my hands, staring at the dark contents bubbling within.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Ylena said gently.
I closed my eyes and took slow, deep breaths, visualizing my intended outcome like Ylena had taught me. An image of the ice dragon I’d seen in my last trance formed in my mind’s eye, but this time, her glittering blue form was curled up, her eyes closed in sleep.
The beast was inside me, waiting for me to wake her.
All I had to do was drink the potion, and it would begin.
I opened my eyes, then downed the contents of the pot in one go. The hot liquid hit my empty stomach hard, and I doubled over, nearly throwing it up. Ylena was by my side in an instant, her hand rubbing slow circles across my back.
“Breathe, Adara. Breathe.”
I did as she said, focusing on her touch to keep my mind off the nausea. Eventually, my stomach settled, and I assumed a cross-legged position facing the ocean. Ylena set out the tools she’d brought on a leather cloth in front of me, then settled in a similar position, far enough away to be unobtrusive, but close enough that she could still observe. Her presence faded away as I focused on the undulating waves, my mind entranced by the patterns until they were all I could see.
I didn’t know how long I stayed in that trance, but eventually, I became aware of a tingling sensation along my hip and the side of my thigh. The world shifted around me, everything turning hazy, and an image began to unfurl in my mind’s eye, a pattern the likes I’d never seen before.
Hardly aware of what I was doing, I hiked up the skirts of the dress I wore, exposing the flesh beneath. My skin was burning now, lines of fire etched across the surface that hissed at me like a living thing. I wanted to claw at it, to tear it off, but I ignored the instinct, instead reaching for the knife Ylena had left for me. In one quick motion, I slashed my left palm open. Blood pooled in the wound, but it was not like the blood I usually shed when I was injured. This blood was gem-bright, shimmering with iridescence and thick like ink.
I put the knife down, then reached for one of the needles next. It was about twelve inches long, with an impossibly thin point, but Ylena had already showed me how to use it, so I grasped it confidently. I dipped it into the pool of blood in my palm, then pressed it into the skin covering my hip, following the pattern that blazed there.
Pain burst from the puncture, so sharp and bright I nearly dropped the needle. But it dissipated almost immediately, and the burning sensation on my skin lessened a little as well. Gritting my teeth, I dipped the needle back into the ‘ink’, then tried again. There was another flash of pain, but in its wake, the burning receded again.
I continued on like this, dipping and stabbing over and over until my entire existence was reduced to the tiny, but intense, explosions of pain. The process was both painstaking and excruciating, and echoes of the past danced around me. The children who’d teased me growing up, the mother who’d loved and raised and sacrificed for me, the king who’d killed my father and tried to enslave me, the dragon who’d fought for me. They all tried to drag my attention away, but I refused to give in, keeping my gaze firmly on the task.
Slowly, the pattern began to emerge, taking shape across my hip and thigh. Flames and snowflakes swirled up and down my skin, coalescing into the shape of a dragon. My breath caught as her wings and spikes took form, as her tail thrashed and her fangs gleamed and flames spewed from her open mouth.
Wait. Was this my imagination, or was the tattoo actually moving?
I inked faster, feverishly stabbing the ink into me again and again as I rushed to complete the pattern. Not even the pain was enough to deter me as I worked, filling in the edges, adding little flourishes. I let out an excited whoop as I completed the last line, and the tattoo glowed, a fiery blue that filled me with pride.
The glow brightened, growing bigger and bigger until it rose from my skin and took shape before me. My breath caught as the dragon from my vision floated before me, far larger and more lifelike than before. Her entire body was made up of crystal blue scales that looked like shards of ice, the spikes jutting from her head and along her spine gleaming like icicles on a fresh winter morning. Her eyes were the same cornflower blue as mine, and they burned fiercely as the two of us stared at each other.
Mine,she seemed to say, though no words echoed across the space between us.
“Mine,” I agreed.
I got to my feet and approached, ignoring the throbbing in my leg. The dragon lowered her head as I placed my hand atop her brow, right between her eyes. Energy pulsed between us, and I gasped as light began pouring from my skin—the same golden light from my last vision. The dragon’s form turned incorporeal again, swirling around me as she merged with the energy, turning it from a deep gold to the same fiery blue that had burst from the tattoo earlier.
This was the true icefire. The power that would allow me to destroy Nox once and for all, and save my mother.
The icefire spread all around me, until it filled my entire field of vision, burning away all the other images. Power pulsed through me, and I lifted my head to the sky and roared with the need for release. As I did, my body began to shift, flesh and bones turning liquid and spreading out in all directions. Panic threatened to take hold, but I let the feeling pass through me, embracing the rush as I changed for the first time.
When the light finally faded away, I looked down at myself. Looked at my powerful legs, my icy scales, the iron-hard claws protruding from my digits. I craned my neck to stare at my wings, fully extended, and the spikes running along my spine that led to the long tail snaking out behind me.
I gave the tail an experimental whip, and sent a small boulder flying down the mountainside.
“Hey!” a familiar voice snapped, and I turned to see Ylena standing next to me. Her hands were propped on her hips, and she seemed torn between exasperation and amusement. “Watch what you’re doing, Adara. You have to remember that there are other living creatures around you.”
“Sorry,” I said, or tried to. Instead of words, a strange, croaking sound echoed from my mouth.
Ylena laughed, her eyes sparkling. I noticed the sky behind her was still dark, the palest hints of dawn just beginning to lighten the horizon. “Try speaking with your mind instead,” she suggested. “Think of what you want to say, but aim the words at me, like you’re tossing them in my direction.”
