While Ernid and Elora cleaned the house, Ernid was visited by a friend who climbed the window she was washing. A walking shadow that could fit in the palm of her hand.
It knocks on the glass until she notices it and smiles, "Oh, you're finally here! I was wondering if you'd come today. Wait here, there's someone I want you to meet. She's my best friend."
She immediately runs downstairs calling out to Elora, "Elora! Elora! You have to see this!"
A minute later, she returns pulling her along, "Okay, okay, I'm coming. What's so important?"
"Hurry up before he leaves again."
"Who!?"
"Tiny!"
"...who?"
Their footsteps could be heard banging on the floor, rushing to the room. When they burst through the door, Elora stops in her tracks and Ernid goes to pick up the shadow.
"Ernid, what am I looking at?"
"Well, I call it tiny because...uhm... it's tiny."
"Okay, but what is it?"
She plays with it by gently brushing her finger as it dances around in her hand.
"I don't know to be honest. It came to me the night Grey didn't come back home and it's been coming every other day since. Oh, it taught me some really cool stuff too, even magic!"
"...magic?"
"Here, I'll show you!" she says excitedly and runs to the glass lamp on the nightstand. She taps her finger on it, a mark appears on the glass, and with a whisper, "Shatter."
It breaks into hundreds of tiny pieces that float around her finger, like planets orbiting the sun.
This leaves Elora completely speechless, but she was amazed. Then Ernid whispers again, "Reform." and the lamp was put together in the blink of an eye.
It had no cracks and showed no evidence of ever coming apart. "See? Cool, right?".
Her smile was so innocently bright that Elora didn't know how to react.
"The shadow...taught you that?"
At that time, Grey was being transported out of the city on an oxen-drawn wagon. Fiera sits in front of him and just stares with a smile.
While looking at her face, the image of a burning house and a dragon flashes in his head. It was a memory that angered him, cracking a frown between his brows.
He rattles his chains with a glare and she laughs, "Try harder."
The Cane carriage had already left ahead. When they neared the gate, a man drops from over the wall and lands on top of the cage. His attire was simple, a baggy white shirt, tugged in brown leather pants, coupled with black riding boots.
He looks over his shoulder at Fiera, her smile never faded, "May I help you?" she asked.
"Yes, get off, I'm stealing this cage."
"And you are?"
"Still waiting for you to get off."
"I wonder if my escorts will agree with that." She scoffs and gestures the knights but sees them stepping back.
It wasn't out of fear or cowardice, it was unconscious, something inside commanded them to show respect. The man steps off the cage and stands tall in front of her.
"They fear me, as they should. They may not know me, but humans will always recognize the presence of a celestial."
As Fiera stands, black scales grow over her skin and dark flames bloom from those scales, followed by the rise of her horns, "Men will never change it seems."
"This isn't wise, Dragon Queen."
An explosion of black flames shakes the wall and a body comes flying out, straight to Emberle's window.
It was heard by most people around the area, even Johnathan in his office.
Emberle had snapped back to her mind and got up from beneath the man.
He fluffs his head and exhales, "Sonuva...seems humans have forgotten their place. That really hurt."
Emberle was running her hands on the walls, stumbling and coughing from the dust to get up, "What-what's happening?"
"Emberle, are you okay?" Merlin goes to help as fast as he could.
"Merlin? H-help me, I can't see, why can't I see!?"
She then hears Eve whisper in her head, "*If all you see is darkness, then darkness you shall become.*"
Her heart sank as she tripped into Merlin's arms, but his curious eyes were glued to the man on the edge, ready to leap.
"Icarus the light chaser," he says, "what business could you possibly have with mortals?"
"You need not be concerned, spell caster. I am not here for your queen."
He jumps out, back to the gate.
Grey's chains rattled harder as he tried to free himself from a cage that was now upsidedown on the ground.
Fiera emerges from the dust of her attack that had split apart part of the ground.
"Celestial, he said," She chuckles, "A little disappointing if I'm being honest. I hope Marcos forgives me for that."
She grabs Grey's cage and throws it back on the wagon, the gates immediately open and they hurry through.
But somewhere in the darkness, Emberle could hear Grey's voice again. Having lost her sight, all she could do was call out to him.
"Grey! Grey! Where are you!?"
"*Are you okay?*"
"I'm fine, just tell me where you are."
"*No, they're coming for me, don't come.*"
"Your Highness, it's dangerous for you to walk around like this. You should rest." Merlin suggested.
Emberle wasn't listening however, she just brushed off his hands and slowly found her way to the broken window.
Grey's voice got louder the closer she got to the edge, feeling the breeze of an open space, she steps back and takes a deep breath.
"*Don't chase after me.*"
"Emberle, stop! Please think this through! You won't make it far in your current state and I advise against using any type of magic for the time bei-."
Once again, his warning fell on deaf ears. Emberle jumped out without a second thought and shouted, "[oversight]"
She was now able to see the life force of every living thing around her, but either than that, she was swimming in an ocean of darkness.
Her malice propels her in the air.
"What is she doing!?"
Johnathan had gone to Marcos to report what was happening and ended up watching with him from the window of the throne room.
"Let her be, worst-case scenario they outrun her and leave her behind."
"Best case?"
"She frees him and leads him back into our hands. Either way, there is no direct harm to her or Fiera."
"But what about the intruder?"
"Trust me, they can handle him as well, plus, they've already left the city. It's out of my hands now."
Marcos says this as he walks out the door with a cup of wine, leaving Johnathan alone.
Emberle crashes straight into the edge of the wall and spins in midair to the other side, then descends.
Along the dirt road, Fiera finds Icarus waiting patiently ahead of them. He was throwing rocks to kill time as though he had been waiting long.
Her skin turns once again and she laughs quietly to herself, "Oh, silly me. I thought I got rid of you the first time."
"Look, I just want the boy."
"Ah, you meet a fine man for the first time in centuries and he asks for the one thing you cannot give. The world truly is cruel."
She charges without hesitation, using her dragon claws as a weapon trying to scratch him, but it seemed easy for Icarus to dodge.
He then pushes back his dark hair and reveals one of his eyes glowing golden.
"Stop! I command you."
The fierce glare penetrates her heart and she found herself unable to move. "It doesn't matter how much you deny it, your core will forever be human," he adds.
He goes to the wagon for the cage but a giant hawk just suddenly appeared out of nowhere and clawed it before he could even blink.
Having been distracted, the spell on Fiera was broken. With an angry grunt, she completed her transformation into a dragon. Her growl parted the clouds as her wings raised the dust and she took to the skies.
"... You've got to be kidding me." (Icarus)
Before he was swept up, Grey's eyes met with Emberle's for a split second and a pained expression was reflected in his eyes.
She came running with her hand held out and tears leaking. He could hear her calling him over and over in his head.
"Grey! Stop! Don't go?"
His last words came out in a fading breath. Though they were merely thoughts, Emberle felt that breath, "...I told you not to come."
And like that, he was out of reach, once again leaving Emberle in tears.
She tries to summon the malice again and fly after him but she falls and tumbles in the grass field. She had used too much of her magic, now Eve requested payment.
Gasping and unable to move, with a dry throat and fleeting consciousness, she knew it was over. A single tear slid down her cheek as the black on her hair slowly grew to cover her whole head.
Merlin steps up next to her with a blood pack and drops it in front of her face, "I told you to refrain from using her power, we no longer have blood to spare. If you lose control, we will pay the price."
The hawk carried the cage over rivers and mountains, trying to lose the dragon Fiera who eventually caught up.
She stuck her hind claws in the cage as well and growled at the bird. With a flash of light, the hawk was now a black dragon like the Queen herself.
They struck fangs at each other while holding on to the cage, fighting to bite and get the other to let go.
Their struggle ripped the cage open and snapped the chains binding Grey inside, he fell silently to his doom.
Or so they thought, Icarus caught him. He was running below them the whole time, unable to feel fatigue or tardiness, his speed had no equal.
They tumbled together in the trees hitting rocks, stumps, and the like. Until coming to a painful stop of hitting a massive boulder.
For a moment, neither of them was able to move. Then Icarus stood up first, covered in bruises as was Grey.
He could still hear the growls of the dragons at a distance, but the chirping of birds made them seem further than they were.
"Uhm...just making sure but, you are Grey Harrison, correct?"
He asks the frightened Grey, whose heart beat like a drum. He murmured and mumbled, trying to crack apart the remaining chains. "Ah, my bad, I forgot you couldn't speak."
Icarus pulls out an iron hilt that springs into a sword engulfed in a white flame.
"Believe me, it's nothing personal. Frankly, I'd rather not be doing it but...to the heavens, you seem worth my salvation." He says as he holds up the sword,
"It won't hurt...well...that's a lie but you'll stop feeling the pain in no time. I'll just leave it in your chest and you can go to sleep for as long as it sticks. Fine, right?"
Grey murmurs and starts biting on the piece of wood in his mouth. The cuffs on his hands refused to break and the shackles around the legs remained intact.
Before Icarus could strike, he heard the trees break apart and one of the dragons crashed just at a distance. The other one came and picked up Grey in its claws, he grabs the chains on his legs and it flies off.
"Oh come on! You couldn't leave us alone for one second!!?"
The other one rises with a mighty echoing roar and with a flap of its wings, it was back in the chase.
"Fiera! Stop! You're going to get us killed!"
*"Grrr! Nobody asked you to come!"* She said in a grumbling voice.
"Oh, so even as a massive pile of reptile flesh you still speak!"
*"I'll kill you!"*
Its flaming breath warms the air as it tries to burn the queen out of the sky. She does her best to avoid him but she is eventually hit from above and they descend.
They tumbled in the mud of a rice field, the queen turned back to normal. Behind them, a light flashes for a second, and what was once a dragon in the sky was now a brown-skinned man splashing on the mud.
Icarus and Fiera stand first from the wet ground covered in mud.
"You..*spits*...of course it's you." (Icarus)
"I meant no disrespect, light chaser, I'm just here for him."
The man points at Grey, who was still on the ground.
"So they sent for you too?"
"No, you misunderstand. I am not here on orders from above, I simply wish to return what was stolen."
"You mean the boy? I'm afraid I can't let you take him. He is my mission."
"With all due respect," He says as he steps closer, "I was not asking."
Icarus steps closer as well, "With as little due respect as you can imagine, neither was I."
As they looked each other in the eyes, Grey was still kicking in the mud.
Fiera stepped in, clapping her hands twice as a signal, "Boys, calm yourselves. I do not tolerate brutes in my nest."
When they looked around, they noticed that the women tending to the rice field were all now looking at them and their skins grew red scales with the bloom of flames.
Without even realizing it, they had reached their destination. The town of Fiera.