(Book 2) Legends of the new world: Silent death

Chapter seven: among the shadows

Shade stood atop a ledge that stood over jade colony, providing an excellent view of the civilization that the seltas built. Behind him stood Velkhana, the snow empress, Valomyr, the dragon in shining armor, and Namielle, the water dragon. "Well, where do we go next?" Namielle said. "We are going to need to take a shortcut in order to get to the center." Shade said, pointing a forearm at a path that would surely keep the four monsters hidden from sight. "Well what are we doing then? Let's go that way." Valomyr said. Shade kept his frustration to himself as the three elder dragons flew down towards the path, alerting a seltas that had wandered onto the path. "Hey, your those three elder dragons that our beloved queen emerald wants dead!" The seltas yelled. "Dammit." Valomyr cursed. The seltas prepared to scream and alert the rest of the colony, when the seltas suddenly froze. Then, the head of the seltas slowly began to slide off of its body, effectively being beheaded. Shade landed behind the corpse with an annoyed expression on his face. "Do you see why we need to be stealthy?" Shade said. "Yes." Valomyr said, lowering his head. Shade started forward, causing the four monsters to resume their trek to the center of the colony. After an hour of sneaking through the colony, the four monsters reached the center of the colony. "This is where Queen emerald resides within the colony." Shade said. "Good lord, it barely looks stable. How has it not fallen apart yet?" Valomyr exclaimed. "Queen emerald knows a thing or two on construction." Shade said. "Well, I wonder what this weapon looks like." Namielle said, stretching her wings. "You will find out soon enough. Sneak your way into the chamber where the weapon is being held, I will distract Queen emerald." Shade said, starting forward. The three elder dragons followed him inside the cave that led to Queen emeralds chamber, eventually reaching a crossroad that led to the queens chamber, and the chamber of the weapon. "Well, this is it. Good luck on retrieving the weapon." Shade said. "Good luck to you to Shade." Velkhana said. The elder dragons darted down the path that led to the weapon, leaving Shade alone in the cave. Shade was about to enter Queen emeralds chamber, when he suddenly stopped. "Is what I am doing worth it? Am I really going to throw my life away like an ingrate?" Shade thought to himself. Shade had once again become conflicted. Shade could not decide what to do next. "If I distract Queen emerald, Velkhana and the others will escape with the weapon, but at the cost of the entire colony. If I report them to Queen emerald however, I could be free of torment for the rest of my days." Shade thought, pacing back and forth. Suddenly, Shade heard a voice. "Hey! What are you doing near the Queens chamber!" The voice said. Shade looked over to see two seltas guards approaching him. "Do I choose my home, or do I choose my allies?" Shade thought. Shade suddenly remembered something. Queen emerald had told him that allies would only hold him back. Shade then saw that he was allies with his targets, which could destroy any chances of freedom of Queen emeralds torment. "Even if Queen emerald was lying about allies being bad, how do I know that those three elder dragons aren't lying themselves?" Shade said. After giving it more thought, Shade came to a decision. With a heavy heart, Shade crawled towards the guards, ready to make the greatest sacrifice he would ever make.

Velkhana was darting among the shadows, careful not to be spotted by any of the guards. Namielle and Valomyr were following her, staying close to each other in case of any possible confrontation. "I wonder how Shades doing back there?" Velkhana said. "He's probably distracting the queen right now, so let's stop fooling around and find that weapon." Namielle said. Valomyr and Velkhana nodded. Soon, the three elder dragons reached the chamber where the weapon was held. The three elder dragons entered the chamber, and were In shock at what they had found. The chamber was a huge cavern that housed the corpse of the first Xeno'jiiva. "T-th-that's impossible!" Valomyr said in disbelief. Namielle was speechless. Velkhana however, felt something that wasn't surprise. She moved closer to the corpse of the first Xeno'jiiva, and looked at its chest. Whereas the rest of the Xeno'jiiva was a dull gray, it's chest was emmiting a bright, blue glow. Velkhana was almost hypnotized by the light. "Wait a minute.... the rumors were true?" Velkhana said, placing one of her front legs on the dead Xeno'jiivas chest. "Apparently so. I thought that tall tale Shade told us was a lie." Valomyr said. "Why would you think that?" Namielle asked. "I don't trust him. He tried to kill Velkhana in the previous day, and now he expects us to forgive him." Valomyr said, firmly grasping the ground. "Well maybe he was being genuine. Maybe he saw through Queen emeralds lies and decided to change." Namielle said, whipping her head to face Valomyr with a frustrated expression on her face. "Will you two please stop arguing and come over here!" Velkhana shouted at the bickering elder dragons. Namielle and Valomyr immediately silenced themselves as they ran up to Velkhana. "We need to amputate this things heart from the looks of it. If what Shade said about Xeno'jiiva reproduction was true, then we don't have a second to lose." Velkhana said. The three elder dragons prepared to dissect the enormous elder dragon corpse, when they suddenly heard the sound of an insect crawling. They turned around to the direction of the sound, only to see Shade standing at the chambers entrance. "Shade? What are you doing here?" Namielle said. Shade simply lowered his head. The three elder dragons then heard a loud thundering noise coming from the tunnel. Then, to the elder dragons horror, saw Queen emerald storm into the chamber, with a plethora of seltas guards following her. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the little thieves that want to steal my weapon." Queen emerald snarled. "Shade, what's going on? What are you doing?" Namielle said, suspicion drenching her voice. "I'm sorry.... I had to do this for the good of the colony." Shade said. Namielle's eyes widened in horror. Shade had betrayed them. "YOU BACKSTABBING SON OF A BITCH!" Valomyr roared. Velkhana and Namielle had a look of sadness on their face as the seltas guards surrounded them. "Shade.... why would you do this?" Velkhana said. "This is who I am. I cannot betray my queen, even if she put me through hell." Shade said, his voice starting to choke up. Namielle and Velkhana knew that fighting the guards would be suicide, so they surrendered without problem. Valomyr however, was roaring in fury, trying to get to Shade. Shade could only watch as the three monsters were dragged off into the bowels of the colony. "Shade, thank you for doing the right thing. Those criminals would have destroyed the colony if it weren't for you." Queen emerald said. Shade was silent. "Now, as promised, you are free to return to your home. Your debt has been paid off." Queen emerald said. Shade said nothing as he crawled away, wanting nothing more than to forget about his betrayal.