Page 3 of Vengeance and Fire

“No one told you to speak! No one told any of you to do anything! You’re useless, all of you!” I shout. I am their queen. He was nothing to them.

“He stays exactly where he is. In fact, forget we were ever here.” I call on the shadows, intending to vanish, but they don’t come, and I am left standing there like an idiot on the cliff edge while the soldiers stare on. If they noticed my lack of power, no one batted an eyelid. Good. For the first time in eons I am forced to use my wings. I close my eyes as I call them forth. Bright white wings stretch out behind me. I can hear the audible gasps from my soldiers, some of them have never witnessed me in all my Light Court glory.

“Call the Mages to me. Tell them it’s time.” They all bow, even the ones that were still injured from my tantrum earlier. Bending my knees, I push off the ground and launch myself into the air, not giving the waterfall hiding my brother’s dead body a second glance.

It is time for war. It is time I paid Celestia a visit. King Maddox has much to answer for.

CHAPTERTWO

DRAVYN

Iwander aimlessly through a dark shadowy waste land. The earth cracks under my feet as I drag my body along. The last thing I remember is the lifeless white eyes of the Wraiths as they tore at every inch of my body, stealing my very soul.How the hell am I alive and where am I?I try to find something, anything, that may be recognizable.

I know that once the Wraiths attack a person there is nothing left behind. Then, I had a vision of wings and the sensation of someone carrying me away. Dain. He saved me from my flesh being devoured, but still, I shouldn’t be alive.

I look around at my surroundings, a dark desertlike landscape stretches out before me. Complete emptiness. If I could feel thirst, I don’t think there would be any water to be had. I feel as if I am the only one here. A gentle breeze blows shadowy wisps around me, the only sense of anything tangible. I don’t think I am on Earth. I must be in hell or some in-between place. Purgatory perhaps? If that is the case, then where is everyone else?

The wounds I received from the Wraith attack aren’t healing. It’s a miracle I am even standing. There’s no pain though, so that’s a plus. I walk along, searching for what, I have no idea. My thoughts turn to Cordelia. Did she get out of Incantatia? Did she make it through the portal? I can picture her standing out in the open waiting for me to show up. I feel sick to my stomach at the thought she could have been recaptured, and it would have been all my fault.Baby, I hope you left me behind. Your life is far more important than mine,my thoughts are like a prayer on the wind.

Something bright, like the sun, slowly comes into view. Is this it? Am I going to cross over into heaven? Is there even a heaven or an afterlife for a non-shifting Dragon like me? Suddenly, the soft sound of chanting can be heard, like a whisper on the wind. It makes me halt my steps. The bright light looks to be growing. I strain my ears; I can barely hear what’s being said.

“Dravyn, son of Miriam!” Suddenly, the chanting voices are shouting, as if to get my attention. Hearing my mother’s name has me spin in a circle, searching through the haze that continues to swirl around me. Is she here in this desolate wasteland? I never got to say goodbye. My father never allowed me to return to theBarren Lands. A few months later he told me she was dead. Lost to me forever.

I didn’t have much time to think about my mother throughout my time in Incantatia. Between the torture, and manipulation forced upon me by Maurelle, I began to have a new twisted ideal of what the term mother meant. Maurelle called me her project one minute, and the son she never had the next. I knew it was a way to make me malleable, to ease me into what was happening to me on a daily basis. The need to please her and accept the endless cuts and bruises was easier than resisting. Resistance meant something far worse than what I had already received.

My real mother, she was my only solace. Remembering her arms around me as a child, her voice, her love, and her kindness kept me grounded in my humanity. I could have easily let go and become Maurelle’s true monster. The thought of that made my stomach churn. I could have killed the love of my life, left her in the hands of the real beast in this story. Maurelle is heartless and cruel. I ache for the day when her blood slips through my fingers. I only hope that Cordelia will get her chance to end her. I might not be there to witness it—

“Dravyn, your time draws near. Align yourself with the light. Let him come to you.” The chanting rises higher, echoing around this vast emptiness. The light glows in front of me, beckoning me towards it like a beacon. I find my feet moving involuntarily, as if an invisible force pulls me to the light of it’s on accord. Hands. It feels like hands are pushing my back. I can feel the pressure of fingers urging me on. Looking over my shoulders, I see nothing. I stop. Turning in a circle, I look for something to spring from the shadows to attack me. I have no weapons, no way to defend myself. I am already dead. It doesn’t really matter what happens to me now. I shake my head to clear it, my thoughts feel fragmented, incomplete as I try to make sense of what is happening to me.

“Don’t resist. Let our voices guide you. Let us help you merge with the part of you that’s been lost. Let him heal you. Let him be your guide. With him you are found. Accept him, Dravyn. Align yourself with the light.”The chanting sounds hurried, frantic even, and a part of me feels the need to ask what is happening? I need to know where am I going? What is in the light?

“Hello,” I call out. The chanting drops away to a whisper, but no one responds to my call. I look ahead of me, and the light grows brighter, the closer I get to it the larger it becomes. Like the sun rising over the ocean ofPanlongia. The light begins to take shape. The ground begins to shake beneath my feet as the growing mass hits the surface in heavy thuds. The dry earth cracks from the impact of the expanding form spreading from underneath it and out toward me.

“Go to him.”The chanting starts up in earnest, the volume rising higher and higher. Words I can’t understand, yet I know are spoken with an urgency I can feel. It has my feet moving again. I don’t know what it all means. Maybe it’s my soul pulling me towards the heavens, but I stop trying to figure out the why and let my heart guide me. Suddenly I am running, well, moving as fast as my injured body can carry me. I let the chanting, and the unseen push of hands move me forward until the light was no longer light, but gold.

Golden scales gleam in stark contrast against the gray empty landscape. Muscles ripple underneath powerful legs as the beast shifts its position from standing to kneeling. My eyes climb higher, a long, elegant neck leads up to a massive head, sharp lethal spikes protrude from its snout, forming a V-shaped pattern. The spikes split and travel higher, until they form two curved horns that ascend toward the sky. The gigantic head drops down to me as the beast lies down on the ground before me. Violet eyes, my eyes, look back at me, causing me to gasp with shock.

“Well, fuck,” is all I can say as I scramble back suddenly. It’s like a dream, hell, for all I know it is a dream. The last look at what I could have been. I did desire to see my Dragon as I was dying, the one thing in my life that was taken from me against my will. This is my wish granted. I straighten at the thought and let myself move towards him. He and I were supposed to be one. I don’t fear what was supposed to be mine. With my outstretched hands, I continue to close the distance between us until I can touch the hard, shiny surface of his scales.

“Align . . .”The chanting voices resumes. The golden Dragon that is lying right in front of me suddenly vanishes, leaving a golden essence that begins to twist and turn around me. I stand with my mouth open in shock at the sudden change. Was that it? Just one touch? That wasn’t nearly enough time to mourn his loss.

“Align. . .” The floating voices chant, repeating the same word over and over again. The golden essence moves faster around me, as if it’s looking for a way inside. I turn with it, not knowing what I can do to help, or if I can help at all. Something inside of me knows that this essence belongs to me. My heart begins to pound rapidly, the tug in my chest feels as if my ribs are being ripped up. My mouth opens in a silent scream as I grab at the pain in my chest, black shadows pour out of me just as the golden essence strikes my sternum. The pain multiplies, like red hot pokers striking me all at once, seeking, searching, crawling underneath my skin.

“Help me!” I scream. I don’t know who’s listening, but my body is attacking itself. The golden essence and shadows both fight for dominance, and all I can do is stand here and let it tear me apart. Instead of doubling over in pain, I’m lifted off my feet until I’m levitating several feet of the ground. Spinning in a cocoon of black smoke and gold dust, until I am completely enclosed in a sphere above the ground. Then, all becomes quiet as the pain ebbs, and I suck in sharp breath as I open my eyes.

My body moves on gentle waves of water as I float between three beautiful ethereal figures. The glowing whites of their eyes stare down at me as their hands guide me through the water.

“You have been reborn, Dravyn, son of Miriam.” One of them looks down at me and smiles.

“You have emerged.” Another one says, eyes squinting with glee and excitement.

“You have been made whole.” All three of them say something different, yet they all speak at the same time. They move as one as they lift me, as if I weigh nothing, onto a stone ledge out of the water. I turn my head to the water, realizing I am in a massive cavern, the water is a large lake of shimmering blue. I have no idea where I am, which causes me to panic slightly.

“Where am I? Is this heaven? Hell?” I ask the questions rapidly as the three women stand above me, their translucent robes cling to their wet bodies, leaving nothing to the imagination. Their long silver hair hangs down over their breasts and hips, giving them some coverage. I look away, my only thoughts are of my mate.

“You are where you were born.”

“Arcadia.”

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