The Dragon Prince The City of Smoke and Night

Chapter Five A Difficult Mission

The first dream since Naima arrived in Lux Aurea came. She gazed up into a storm of raining fire. She tried to hide, but she was pinned to a stone table by yellow bandages. Ephai appeared beside her, chanting an incantation and gray lines snaked down her skin. As she writhed in pain, he summoned a razor sharp knife in the air over her body. "Stay away from Karim, Princess of Sun and Ocean," he warned. "He has a momentous destiny to fulfill." The knife fell and it was about to stab her in the stomach before a familiar voice called her name. "Naima." She jolted awake. Rayla sat on the edge of her bed. "Are you okay? You look a little out of it," she said as a Cuddlemonkey crawled out of her pouch. "Just another nightmare," she assured. She petted the Cuddlemonkey. "Hi there, little cutie." "Stella, meet Naima," Rayla told her pet Cuddlemonkey. "Pleased to meet you, Stella." Redpaw, who had woken up from a nap, noticed Stella and sniffed her gently. The two little primal creatures played together. "Aw, look. They're friends already." Naima and Rayla smiled at the sight of their pets playing happily. "So what are you doing here?" "Your aunt and uncle sent a letter to me and my friends so we can learn more about Ephai," she explained. "Thanks, Rayla," Naima replied. "The sooner we learn more about him, the better." Naima and Team Zym were sitting in the castle's meeting room. "You all need to understand what we are going to tell you," Inaya said with a grave look on her face. Fahari and Safiyah nodded with agreement, knowing she was telling the truth. "The day where Ephai descended into darkness is a tragic story. It all started years ago, before Naima and Safiyah were born. When Kelilah and I were about Naima's age. We were practicing for the annual Hotcat Race when a terrible storm hit. Kelilah tried to land her Hotcat but the winds were too strong and it sent her off course, causing her to fall off of her mount and tumbling into the lake at Duren, one of the Human Kingdoms. A human Ocean mage's apprentice saw she was drowning and dove into the lake to save her. His name was Adir. Grateful, my parents appointed Adir to be Kelilah's bodyguard." Inaya smiled, reminiscing. "Very soon, their friendship blossomed into romance. Even though Adir was a human, he was the kindest, most wholehearted, humane man I had ever known. He was smart, funny, and had a love for learning new kinds of magic." Soren nudged Callum. "Hey, just like you, Callum." "Soren, ssh! What happened next?" he asked. "But our royal advisor, Ephai, was jealous of Kelilah and Adir's relationship. He believed that he should be with Kelilah, instead of Adir. But he was evil minded and wished to only marry Kelilah out of power so he can take the throne for himself." "So he can be free from his servitude," Naima recounted. "He told me that he would rule my family's throne like his great grandfather and he would find a way to wipe out the Human Kingdoms for good." "Yes. But when he found out that Adir had received my parents' blessing to marry Kelilah, Ephai flew into a jealous rage," Inaya said. "He decided if he couldn't marry Kelilah then he would just have to make her like him. He started to learn dark magic in order to strengthen his Sun magic and he became as heartless and power mad as his ancestor altogether. By the time he perfected his magic, he slipped death berry juice in my parents' drinks and attempted to drug Kelilah with a love potion but Adir exposed his plan. And we banished him for his treachery. During the years, the Sunfire Elves discovered that Ephai is the great grandson of the first king of Lux Aurea who started the War of Blood and Ash and he became known as Ephai the Execrable. Then he arrived at Duren and-" She cut herself off and looked at Naima sympathetically. "You and your friends know the rest. But what you didn't know, Naima, is after your father told you to run, your uncle and I came to your house and defeated Ephai by mummifying him in magical bandages to put him under a dreamless sleep and banished to Charringmoure. Then we erased him from our history as punishment for his crimes and his story faded into legend. Little did we know, he was patiently planning his revenge against the House of Gentlekind. We thought he would stay asleep forever. But we were wrong. Now he has awoken from his sixteen year long sleep and is out for our family's blood." The crowd grew tense after hearing Ephai's story and heard Naima groan painfully. "Naima, are you-" Callum's question was cut off when one of the windows burst open and a strong gust of wind blew inside the room, knocking Naima to the ground. The wind transformed into a shadowy mass and Ephai appeared. "I hope I'm not late," he said. "I love a good story, especially when it's mine." Fahari pulled Inaya and Safiyah closer. He turned his attention to Team Zym and chuckled. "My, my. Isn't this deliciously exciting? The team who brought the dragon prince back to his mother. In Naima's family's castle. I'm a little starstruck." With the swiftness and the agility of a shadow, Ephai slowly teleported himself in front of Naima, who was rising up to her feet. "Why, if she isn't the heir to the Gentlekind throne herself," he said. "I love the new look. Look what sixteen years had done to us. You are an angelic nymph and I, on the other hand, am a pile of burnt flesh and rags, only to live off the fear of the women I enslaved to maintain my devilish handsomeness." "Why are you here?" she asked. He was disappointed that Naima was not showing any fear of him but he continued. "I've come to collect a new slave in my home and you are the perfect candidate." Ephai was about to touch Naima but he heard a voice called out. "Leave her alone." He turned to see Karim and Janai, their weapons in hand. "So you must be the remaining descendants of Queen Aditi," he replied, laughing. "I've been waiting to meet you for so long, especially you, Karim." "You have?" Karim was surprised that this stranger had an unusual desire of meeting him and his sister. "Indeed. Aaravos and I heard about your squabble with Janai, Karim," Ephai told him. "He has great plans for you." He touched his shoulder with a chilly tenderness before Naima used her father's staff to splash him away with water. She lifted her arms to find them tattooed with gray lines. The same ones from her dream. "Impressive," Ephai said in a sarcastically amazed voice. "Even after I placed the insecurity curse on you, you still didn't lose your will to fight back." "What did you do to me?" "I cast a curse on Naima that whenever she feels negative emotions, such as anger, fear, stress, and my personal favorite, doubt, those gray lines on her skin will drain her from her magical abilities until she is reduced to an ordinary human." Team Zym gasped. But Naima refused to give in to Ephai's gloats. She stood up and walked up to stand beside Janai. "It doesn't matter what you do to me. I won't let a curse slow me down and I know that my friends and I will find a way to stop you. Being a Sunfire Elf is not about having abilities connected to the Sun Primal or training to be a warrior. It's about fighting for what's right and never giving up. The camp Janai and her people are building may not be as great a capital Lux Aurea once was before Viren and Aaravos corrupted the Sun Nexus but she knows it in her heart that she and her people will not lose hope and they will rise from the ashes of their destroyed home like a phoenix, renewed and unchanged." The gray lines on her arms disappeared as if they were driven away by Naima's brave speech. "Such beautiful, encouraging words," Ephai mused. "You undoubtedly have your mother's inspirational optimism. Let this be a warning to all of you. I'll give you six days until Karim agrees to join forces with me and the Fallen Star. If he accepts my offer, I'll lift the curse." "And if I refuse?" he asked with an arched eyebrow. Ephai smiled menacingly like it was obvious. "Then you can watch Naima

come to the same sticky end as her parents did before her." He disappeared into the darkness. None of the group looked at each other, nor spoke. They were stunned by Ephai's warning. They had to figure out what ominous plan Ephai was cooking up with Aaravos and they needed to start now.