Danger of the Shadows

Crystalspine Reaches

Spirit followed The Arcanist with excitement bubbling up inside her. She could feel nervousness flowing off Caywa in waves. The Arcanist's tail trailed along the ground. He had led them into a small cave that seemed to go on forever. The tunnel's walls seemed to be slowly shrinking toward them. Spirit felt very enclosed here. She thought about what the Arcane Clan would look like. She imagined pink trees and glowing purple flowers everywhere. Dragons flying high toward the sun and resting on soft wool beds. Little lizards climbing bushes and birds cawing in the distance.

"What if Arcane dragons don't like me because I can't fly? What use is an imperial dragon without flight?" Caywa whispered.

"I bet they'll love you," Spirit replied.

"Imperial dragons are supposed to be great flyers. Especially ones with galaxy patterns like me," Caywa worried.

"Well, remember what you saw in the gemstone? You'll have a happy life," Spirit promised. "I will make sure you do." Caywa half smiled.

"But I will miss all of our friends back in Earth Clan," Caywa confessed.

"Same, but now we are adult dragons. We can make new friends!" Spirit shouted optimistically. Secretly in the back of her mind, she was wishing she could go back and be in Earth Clan with Caywa, Demon, and Riptide forever. But she couldn't let Caywa know. All Spirit's life she had been the one dragons go to when they need to be cheered up. She and Caywa kept following The Arcanist in silence. After a couple minutes of walking, Spirit saw purple mist around her claws. An opening at the end of the tunnel was bright compared to the rest of the cave. The mist continued to spread. Spirit jumped up and hit her head on the cave ceiling. She fell to the ground and coughed. She stood up. The mist continued to circle around her. She couldn't see Caywa or The Arcanist anywhere.

"Caywa?" Spirit called. The mist filled her lungs. She tried to cough it out but her vision was completely covered in the purple mist. The mist made her feel sleepy. She lay down and fell asleep.

"Spirit! Are you okay?" Spirit blinked open her eyes. She squinted against the bright sun. An obelisk dragon looked at her in curiosity. He had small white horns in the back of his head and a mane like a lion. Diamond-like scales were scattered across his body and wings. He had a broad face and light blue eyes. A deep violet bow was wrapped neatly around his right horn and another on his hind leg. Spirit stood up and stretched. Her legs and wings felt achey.

"You must be Spirit." the obelisk dragon smiled. "I am Crumble of Arcane Clan." Spirit noticed that Crumble was still quite young, but older than herself.

"Where am I?" Spirit asked.

"This is Crystalspine Reaches," Crumble answered. He spread his wings and Spirit looked around her for the first time. Large pink crystal spikes reached high, piercing through the clouds but all the points pointed in the same direction. Spirit was on a ledge of one of the spikes and a large cave was carved into the spike. Beneath her, water crashed against the crystal. Spirit felt energy passing through her head in waves. When the energy was so strong, she lurched forward.

"What was that?" Spirit panted, suddenly out of breath.

"That may be the warping energy that brought you here, or the rune energy. If it is the rune energy, it'll pass. You'll get used to it," Crumble explained. "After you're done taking it all in, I'll be waiting at the cave entrance." He flew over to the cave and sat down at the entrance. Spirit took deep breaths until she had enough energy to stand up. She didn't think she would ever get used to the energy. Another energy wave came over her. She gasped and opened her mouth. Bright pink smoke came out. Spirit felt herself hover but was not flapping her wings. She could not close her mouth and just watched as the strange smoke flew up. Spirit felt her energy being sucked out quickly. She wanted to get Crumble's attention but felt powerless. Spirit kept hovering for a couple more heartbeats until she finally closed her mouth and dropped to the hard crystal floor. Her eyes started to burn.

"Crumble!" she shouted as she squeezed her eyes shut. "Help!" She heard Crumble's loud footsteps scramble closer to her.

"Spirit, what?" Crumble asked. "Oh. Be right back. Stay." He ran off and left Spirit alone with so many questions. Closing her eyes was seeming to help, but she could still see the shining crystal spikes under the sun. Crumble headed for the cave and went inside. A large room was carved into the crystal and dragons were playing and flying around. Crumble turned and trotted into another room but this one only had one dragon in it. Shelves of books and tablets lined the walls. A brown imperial with green lines all over his body was reading from a stone tablet.

"Tree, we have a problem with the new dragon, Spirit," Crumble reported. The brown dragon, Tree, looked up from his reading and put it down.

"Show me," Tree commanded. His voice had a growl to it, as if he was very very old. Crumble nodded and led Tree out of the room, through the main room, and toward Spirit.

"What's wrong with me, Tree!?" Spirit yowled. Her eyes kept burning and she squeezed them shut tighter.

"How do you know-" Crumble stammered. He pointed from Spirit to Tree and back to Spirit.

"We may talk about that later," Tree hushed him. "For now, we have a problem." Spirit felt Tree's claws run along her back. He picked her wings up and placed them down. Tree pried her mouth open and examined it. "This might hurt, but I want you to open your eyes." Spirit shivered.

"I'm cold," she whined.

"Open your eyes," Tree repeated. Spirit gulped and opened her eyes. She expected extreme pain but nothing happened. Everything was pink, but other than that, Spirit felt nothing.

"Why don't I feel pain?" Spirit asked.

"I don't know," Tree answered. "But let's get you inside." Spirit blinked and everything was back to normal colors. She shook her head and flew after Tree and Crumble.

"How did you know Tree's name?" Crumble wondered.

"I- I don't..." Spirit stopped flying and landed.

"You've never met Tree. You didn't follow me, did you?" Crumble looked at Spirit in confusion. "What did the room Tree was in look like?"

"Like a... library," Spirit replied.

"And you didn't move when I left?" Crumble checked.

"No, but I... I felt like I was walking there and... I didn't move but... I saw myself walking into the cave and..." Spirit clutched her head. What's happening to me!?

"Spirit... calm down. We can talk about this later, you need to rest." Crumble lowered his large wing as a ramp for Spirit to climb up. Spirit hopped onto his back and lay down. Crumble was 3 times the size of her, but she didn't feel threatened by him. Crumble slowly followed Tree with Spirit riding on him. Why did this have to happen? Why did it happen when I got here? What's wrong with me? Where is Caywa? Why did I know Tree's name? Why can't I be normal?