It's been hours, and the crystals had finally stopped buzzing, dropping lifelessly from the chains, just like any normal pendant.
The siblings stopped running, their muscles sore and their backs covered with cold sweat.
Elias leaned against a tree for support, wiping his face with his sleeve. "Does that...mean we're safe?" he said between coughs.
Eryn leaned forward, trying to rid her dirtied skirts of broken twigs and mud. She turned to face her brother, her complexion pale. She brushed aside the strands of hair that stuck to her slick forehead.
"I...think so?" she answered uncertainly. "Let's keep walking."
Elias swiped at his nose, giving one last look at the direction they ran from and continued through the woods.
It was past midnight, that's what Eryn said, and nearly everything was pitch-black. All around them were trees, trees and leaves and branches that got in their way as they stumbled through the dirt and mud.
Elias pressed the crystal against his sweaty palm. He had no idea what they were doing, where they were going, or what was going to happen. All he knew was to follow his sister...
He knew they couldn't return back to the family mansion ever again. They would not accept them again. They ran away. They were on their own now.
"They were going to sell us," Eryn's voice broke through the silence. "Sell us, or kill us. There's no way I would've let that happen to us."
Elias kicked aside a branch. "How do you know that?"
"If they weren't, did they need so many people to gather outside our place? You heard the housemaid. The 'Madam' ordered it. Why would she suddenly bother about us?" Eryn pointed out. "And after the birth of another child, a child with a tiger spirit, even. He would become the pride of the family. They probably think we just took up space, so they decided to get rid of us."
Elias remained silent, running his sister's words through his mind. She was right...as she always was.
"A stream, Elias!"
He looked up to see a small stream running south, twinkling under the moonlight. He lit up.
They set down their items against the rocks and splashed the cool water on their faces, taking in the satisfaction.
"I should've brought a container to store water," Eryn mumbled, rolling up her sleeves and dipping her arms into the cold.
Elias released a breath and sat down, letting his muscles relax. "Should we rest here?" he asked. "We're quite far away already."
Eryn wiped her hands against her silks and stood up. "...maybe. Just for a while. They might've caught on to our tracks."
Even if she didn't say, Elias could hear the disappointment in her voice and knew she was tired as well. But he couldn't do anything about it.
"Okay..." he replied.
He laid down on his side on the floor, staring at his reflection in the water.
Why do things have to be like this? If his parents haven't thrown them aside in the first place, all would've been good...
He noticed the crystal shining in the reflection and untied it from the belt, examining it just inches from his face. The lightweight item glittered in the dark, making Elias wonder who this grandmaster was.
Was he one of the powerful ones? What was his spirit animal? Is he alive still?
Suddenly, it shone brilliantly, nearly blinding his eyes. "Ugh, what the-"
He heard a gasp escape his sister's mouth, indicating that she was experiencing the same thing with her stone as well.
Elias sat up straight on the ground and held the stone above his head, shielding his eyes.
He glanced over at Eryn, who held the chain with her arm outstretched.
Eryn watched the pendant shine brightly, too bright to be a reflection from the moonlight. All of a sudden she felt an unpleasant sensation gathering inside of her, as if something was being extracted from the soul.
Her arms trembled and she took in a shaky breath as she watched a dim, white light emit from her arms and hands.
The stream of light flowed through her into the pendant before flying into the sky above them, taking the form of a...beast?
Elias stared at the dark shadows traveling from the stone into the air, twirling with the white light coming from Eryn's stone.
Slowly but surely, he saw the mists of black and white take form, just like when he saw the tiger take form in the sky when the youngest brother was born earlier today.
He was hopeful, but what he wasn't expecting was to see two magnificent beasts staring back down at them.
"D- dragons?" he stammered. He felt his heart stop cold.
Eryn's jaw dropped, her expression ghastly.
The two enormous dragons about a thousand times their size loomed above them in the sky, one dark like the shadows and one glowing white. Their heads moved and their bodies slithered around as if they were enjoying their moment of freedom in the air.
Then they stopped, as if they suddenly remembered the twins' existence.
"Ah, Eryn, and Elias... I didn't think our two hosts would be so handsome and beautiful...eh, but you look so exhausted!" the black dragon boomed.
Elias froze. "Y- You...you can talk?" he exclaimed.
The black dragon seemed offended. "Aw, come on, kid! We're dragons! We can do anything! Talking is just a simple matter!" it boasted.
"Shut up, you big-mouthed beast," the white dragon hissed. "You're scaring them!"
"Me?" the black dragon countered, sliding his head back and forth. "Who's the one baring their teeth? I'm trying hard to be nice here, mind you!"
"You want to fight?"
"Oh yeah?"
Elias and Eryn stared in bewilderment as the two dragons bickered with each other endlessly, calling each other names.
Elias darted his eyes from the stone to the dragons and back. He recalled what he read from Eryn's book.
'Dragons are rare...and highly respected...'
Yet, there are not only one, but two dragons before their eyes, fighting with each other like children.
Eryn cleared her throat, and the argument died down.
The white dragon wove through the air towards Eryn, its scales shimmering elegantly. It stopped just inches from her face.
Eryn met its eyes, unsure, but she held her ground fearlessly.
The dragon smiled. "As expected from my host. Stunningly attractive, intelligent, and strong. Worthy of thyself...my name is Aragnes."
The black dragon sniffed and circled around Elias, its eyes deep and challenging. "Why...you are both seventeen. We meant to meet when you turned three?"
It blew a puff of refreshing air in Elias' face. "...I see. The Bai family caused you trouble. That is unfortunate, for two promising children to be thrown aside like this. They don't understand a thing..."
The black dragon's eyes flickered. "My name is Drachnai."
Elias saw from the corner of his eye Eryn standing up with Aragnes' neck curled around her shoulders comfortably.
He turned to Drachnai and reached up with his arm, but his hand passed through the shadows as if it weren't there at all.
Drachnai blinked. "Kid, you want to touch me? Sorry, I'm a germaphobe, I don't like it when people touch me..."
Elias stared.
The black dragon chuckled. "Just kidding, just kidding. Here." He closed his eyes and his form solidified to an extent.
Elias reached up one again, and this time, his hand came in contact with the smooth scales of the dragon. He could feel the shadows brushing against his skin.
"Woah..." he marveled, pushing himself up on his feet.
"Cool, right?" the dragon rumbled, shaking its mane. "How does it feel to have us godly creatures as your spirit beast?"
Elias' eyes widened in surprise. "You...you are our spirit animals?" he stammered. He couldn't believe his ears. He thought that the dragons came from the crystal stone.
Drachnai scrunched his nose as if he just read his thoughts. "You didn't think we came from the little pendants, did you? These stones the old man formed were only to help you out of trouble. It just so happened to help us appear after being stuck inside your souls for so long."
Eryn came up to them, Aragnes brushing against her hair with her head happily.
The black dragon snorted. "Why so clingy, Aragnes?"
The white dragon flashed her teeth. "I like her, that's all. What? Do you not like Elias?" she hummed.
Drachnai bared his teeth. "Who said I didn't like him?"
Elias met eyes with his smiling sister, making the corners of his mouth turn up too. For the first time, they had hope. They weren't alone.
Elias had once wished for a miracle like this, except he didn't really think it was possible, nor did he think the animal residing in their souls to be so powerful. But-
"Oh, kid, stop overthinking about those useless thoughts," Drachnai grumbled. "Do you want me or not? We chose you for a reason...You and your sister have a lot ahead on the path you're about to go down. We dragons must rise."
Elias opened his mouth to say something, but then clamped it shut.
To rise.
That's what Drachnai said.
Dragons must rise.
...and that's exactly what he wanted.