Page 44 of Stolen By Dragons

"I'm sorry," she gasped between sobs. "I know we all feel like this.”

"Hey, no," Chris said gently as he moved quickly to kneel in front of her. "You don't have to apologize for missing your family. Besides, you have kids, a mate.”

Zephyr nodded, his usually mischievous expression replaced with one of sincere compassion. "We all have people we left behind. It's okay to miss them."

As Lydia's sobs gradually subsided, we found ourselves sharing stories of home. Chris spoke of his estranged pack, the pain of rejection still evident in his voice, but also the underlying love he still held despite it all. Zephyr regaled us with tales of fae mischief that had us all laughing despite the weight of it all. He told us of his parents and his sister, who had married into royalty amongst their people. He wasn’t close with her anymore.

I told them about my dad, how exasperating he could be with his constant attempts to set me up, but how I knew it came from a place of love. And I spoke of Dana, my best friend, imagining her frantic worry at my sudden disappearance.

“My daughter had a crush that she was struggling with, we were working through it, along with cyber drama. It’s tough, doing all that whilst helping her with her first shift. It’s never easy, it’s painful. Just another thing a poor young teen needs to worry about with puberty. I hope my husband, Paulo, is doing okay. I hope he’s reached out to my mom for help if he needs it while I’m not there,” Lydia said with a shake of her head. “I hate not knowing if they’re doing okay, that I can’t tell them I’m fine.”

“Same here. It’s the not knowing that’s the hardest,” I admitted.

“Makes me think of the old days, when people went to war and all they had were letters. People must have been beyond anxious back then,” Chris said.

“You’ve all become too reliant on phones and the internet in all honesty,” Zephyr said. “I’m glad the fae aren’t too keen on such things even now. Some of us, those who spend more time in the human plane, have adjusted and use it more, but the rest of us don’t care for it.”

“Sounds nice, in a way,” I murmured as I finally sipped my tea. Lydia was right, they were sweet but not overbearing, and the flavor was unlike anything I’d ever had before.

We continued sharing stories and our pasts, making sure not to let any one of us get too down. Zephyr was the main one trying to keep us elevated, but as the night wore on, our laughter gave way to a somber silence despite our best efforts. The weight of our situation, the enormity of what we were preparing to do, settled over us like a heavy blanket.

Lydia had given us a few refills of tea, offering other flavors, but now, there was nothing that could lift the shadows clutching at us.

"Do you really think we can do this?" I asked, voicing the fear we'd all been dancing around. "Awaken ancient dragons and then save two worlds? How does this elemental magic even fit in to it all? What’s our part? They’re so vague about it all.”

"We have to," Lydia said, her voice stronger now. "For our families, for everyone we left behind. We have to try."

“As for our magic, who knows, maybe we need to wield it against the shadow creatures,” Chris offered. “Fight alongside the dragons and Dracarians.”

“The Dracarians have strong magic, they’ll be able to battle well,” Zephyr agreed. “I think perhaps the dragons are the oneswho will handle the majority of it all, we’re just the ground troops alongside the Dracarians. Our job is mainly to get the dragons on the field. Perhaps our elements will work with the dragons?”

“I just wish the Dracarians weren’t so vague,” I repeated my frustrations.

“Honestly, they said it’s been a long time since the dragons were around, and I asked Eirian once, he said the Dracarians don’t have super long lifespans like one might expect. A few hundred years at most,” Chris shared. “So maybe they honestly don’t know. They’re going off what their Seer told them.”

“Didn’t realize you and Eirian were buddies,” Zephyr said with a wry smile.

“We’re not, I just asked him once, like how Zephyr found out about the Seer,” Chris said with a shrug.

“Yes, because a few hundred years isn’t long,” I muttered. “Whereas shifters and witches are the ones most similar to humans, right?” I clarified, and both Lydia and Chris nodded.

“They can live an extra few decades, although some witches use magic to appear younger, they still normally only live a little longer, unless they perform black magic, which is forbidden. Most covens will stop their own if they discover that, or the Council itself,” Lydia explained, and I nodded. It was still incredible that there had been a whole other race, other species, living amongst humans that I hadn’t known about.

“The Trial is nearly here, how are we all feeling?” Chris asked, his voice low as he focused on the grand picture.

“Terrified. My magic is barely useable, we don’t even know what it is,” I said in exasperation. I’d tried not to dwell too much on it, hoping answers would come with awakening the dragons, but it was overwhelming and gut-wrenching.

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out before the big battle. Honestly, I’m hoping we’re not even ground troops, that our job is just toawaken the dragons and then we get sent on home,” Zephyr said hopefully, and Chris scoffed.

“As if we’d be that lucky,” Chris said.

“We can always hope,” I said as I pursed my lips.

“Whatever happens, we need to stick together. We’ve got a good group here, and I’m more than thankful I wound up with you guys,” Lydia said as she rested her hand on my leg and nodded at us all. “Because this whole thing would’ve been hell if we didn’t have one another to lean on.”

“Yeah, imagine if we’d only come on our own, or they’d kept us all separate.” Chris frowned at the thought, and I shook my head.

“We stick together,” I said firmly, echoing Lydia. “We’ve got this.”

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