Dragon Prince: A Warrior's Journey (Under Editing)

Chapter Eleven: A Sky Mage

Everything felt a little more hopeful at the first streak of dawn. Rayla decided that they should all rest by the cave before they continue on with their journey. Through the sparse canopy of leaves, the light of the rising sun shone through in sharp rays of gold. The air was warm, that even the clouds that hung in the sky were stiff with warmth. All the animals were huddled in their nests and dens, trying to keep themselves hidden from a single searching human in the depths of forest. The only creatures that dared be out were a few rabbits that munched on the leaves, and a few skittering squirrels, searching desperately for spare acorns on the forest floor.
But the moment was ruined from the sound of wet leaves were crunched underfoot as a single figure walked carefully through the almost soundless woods. With one hand is his chained weapon that he carefully held onto. His brown eyes searched through the trees, looking for one sign. He soon saw a trail of footprints that's deepened by the rain and mud.
Then they heard a soft, but distinct rustle coming from outside of the cave. Someone — or something — was stalking them.
"Shhh... Somebody's coming our way," hissed Rayla, who's on lookout duty.
Ezran, the baby dragon, and the grumpy glow toad hid behind the mentioned boulder, while the Sky Perian stayed in front of the unconscious Callum and the young elf placed herself in front of them.
Sierra perked up when she heard quiet footsteps coming from outside and a massive hush went over everyone. She inched closer in front of Callum and placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, trying to catch a glimpse of who it is without accidentally being discovered.
Rayla placed her finger to her lips and drew her weapons. "Who's there? Show yourself or I'll greet you with my pointy friends!"
Sierra kept Ezran behind her as he peeked out from around the cave opening. They saw a tall, strong man with a weapon attached to a chain. The man has dark skin and jet-black curly hair. He looked familiar.
"You." Rayla stopped to size the man up, recognizing him at an instant.
Then the man saw Ezran. He placed his weapons on the ground and raised both hands, as Ezran stepped out of hidden with Sierra in front of Callum, with Zym on one side and Bait on the other.
"I'm not here to fight," The man said to them, but mainly Ezran. "General Amaya — I mean your Aunt Amaya — sent me. My name is Corvus." He walked slowly toward Ezran, who nodded at the elf to let them know to stand down. Rayla narrowed her eyes and frowned, but she relaxed slightly and lowered her weapons, and let Corvus passed. Sierra stepped back a bit, her eyes seemed wary towards Corvus.
Corvus paused when he got near Ezran. A strange quiet hung in that pause, and somehow Ezran felt that this moment was a cusp, though he didn't know what was coming next.
Then Corvus dropped to one knee and bowed. "I am here to serve the king." Corvus's action made Ezran become frozen and confused. "King Ezran."
"But I'm not the king. I'm just a prince," Ezran said as the realization was started to sink in. "My dad is king."
Corvus was silent. Ezran started to panic. "Wait, that's not what you're saying? He isn't..." Ezran inhaled deeply and looked over at everyone that he traveled with. Sierra looked stricken with shock and empathy, while Rayla had tears falling from her face. "Did any of you knew?"
"I've only heard a few rumors about the assassination," admitted Sierra. "I thought you knew."
Rayla nodded sadly. "Me and Callum both know."
Ezran shook his head, still in disbelief. Everyone had known about his dad, and they'd all been keeping it from him. Did they think he couldn't handle his father's death? He was king now — he was going to have to handle a lot of serious problems.
"I'm going for a walk." As Ezran walked away from them, Corvus tried to follow him and ended up being blocked by Sierra.
"Leave him," said Sierra softly to Corvus. "It takes time for such a scar to be healed. He'll heal in time, but let him recover in his own time." She sighed and met his eyes with her sad, empathetic gaze. "Trust me. I would know."
Sierra walked towards Callum and placed a hand on his chest, she smiled sadly when she saw Zym resting near him. She felt worried about Callum as she listened to his rapid breathing. It almost sounded as if he was drowning in a stormy ocean or something.
Sierra started tracing a shimmering rune shape in the air. As her fingertips moved, arcs of light formed, creating the glowing curves of the ancient, powerful symbol.
"Fulgur Pulsus." All at once, the shiny rune disappeared and the spell happened as she kept her hand on Callum's chest. It sparked with a crack keeping still as if she was feeling what was wrong with Callum.
Sierra's eyes widened with horror, but she quickly strengthened her resolve to help him. "He needs to be purified, the dark magic is in his heart and it's killing him slowly." Sierra let out a breath as she gazed at Callum. "I'm going to need to use a spell that's usually used on Storm Dragons."
Sierra started tracing a shimmering rune shape in the air. As her fingertips moved, arcs of light formed, creating the glowing curves of the ancient, powerful symbol.
"But isn't it dangerous?" Rayla asked.
"We'll see." Sierra's eyes flashed with electricity. "Sanitatem Fulgur Percutiens." Lightning came from all directions as the lightning travelled into Callum's body. He started pulsing a jerking upwards into her hand, leaving a smoking mark on his chest as he took a deep gasping breath, but still remained unconscious as purple smoke left his mouth and dissipated into the air before sagging.
Sierra sighed and smiled at the others. "He should be fine."
"Oh, thank goodness." Rayla sat down next to Callum and started wiping the sweat off of his brow.
Sierra soon heard an eager yipping sound from near Callum. The young dragon tackled his Sky Flenimu aunt with affection, giving her zappy kisses and rubbing himself against her as he made happy puppy-like sounds, before Sierra pried the dragon off of her playfully. Yet, the little dragon didn't stop and continued to give Sierra love and affection by rubbing against her.
After everything was cleared out, Corvus started pacing back and forth outside the mountain cave, furious with himself. It had been hours, and the young king had still not returned.
"The king is missing," Corvus told them.
"He's not 'missing,' he just went for a walk," said Rayla while polishing her blades.
"And he hasn't returned, and we don't know where he is," Corvus said.
"Right," said Rayla.
"That is the definition of missing," Corvus said.
Rayla counted on her fingers, putting things together. "Yeah. You're right. He's missing."
"We shouldn't have let him go," Corvus said. "We need to find him."
"Aren't you a tracker?" asked Rayla. "Isn't this your whole job?"
"Yes." Corvus was a terrific tracker. He hadn't wanted to budge in on the young king's mourning, but now King Ezran had been gone too long. Corvus would show them exactly what he could do. "I shall bring the king back safely. You have my word."
Everyone watched as Corvus left to track down Ezran into the woods. Sierra exchanged a look with Rayla, who looked slightly amused of the tracker.
"Should I have told him that Ezran knows how to communicate with animals?" Sierra asked, feeling uncertain about the situation.
"Don't worry." Rayla smiled at her hybrid friend playfully. "He'll find out eventually."
Sierra shrugged as Zym gently nipped at her fingers playfully. "If you say so."
After a while, Corvus soon returned to them with a horrified look in his gaze.
"What's wrong?" asked Rayla. "What happened? Did you lose his trail?"
"No," Corvus said. "It's worse that."
"What do you mean?" asked Sierra.
"King Ezran's trail ends," Corvus said. "Very clearly and very badly. His footprints are replaced by banther tracks. The king has been eaten by a banther."
The two girls bursted out laughing at Corvus's news of the young king. He clearly doesn't know the young prince as much as they do. Sierra almost fell off of the boulder if it wasn't for Rayla catching her. Rayla was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face. "Great job; you've lost the King of Katolis."
"This isn't funny," Corvus said, scratching his beard. He'd been prepared for the girls to pull their weapons and magic on him. They were certainly unpredictable. "Why are you laughing?"
"Your king happens to be a very special boy. He can talk to animals," said Rayla. "So, if there are banther tracks, it means Ezran caught a ride on the banther, not inside the banther."
Once their laughter calmed down, they watched as Corvus walked off with a chafed expression as he returns to his search for the young king. Those minutes have become hours. Sierra sat down next to Zym and Bait by her sides. But Rayla was growing frantic with Callum's lack of response and started hugging him.
"Callum, wake up!" Rayla yelled. "You've got to stay with me! Please come back. It doesn't matter what you did before. I just want you to be okay again."
But Sierra noticed that Callum's cube was glowing bright blue on its Sky symbol in Callum's backpack and Callum has woke up in Rayla's arms.
"Wake up!" Rayla repeated. "I can't lose you like this. You mean too much to me. Callum, I—"
Callum sat straight up and looked directly into Rayla's eyes.
"What were you saying?" Callum looked at Rayla in confusion, while Sierra tried to keep her amusement at bay.
Rayla didn't respond to his question. Instead, she disentangled herself from Callum and stood up. She looked around at the cave, at her feet, and outside. She looked in every direction, but Callum's direction. Rayla cleared her throat.
"Oh, you're awake now," said Rayla. "You're even looking cheery."
He sat up straighter. "I have it! I understand the Sky Arcanum!" Without waiting for a response, he hurried out of the cave.
Rayla, Sierra, Zym, and Bait hurried after him.
"You understand the Sky Arcanum now?" Rayla raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the left.
"The arcanum isn't one simple thing," Callum said. "It's all the things. They just had to come together, you know? It's like, when I had the primal stone, I held the power of the Sky in my hand, but now it's gone. But Rayla, the whole world is like a giant primal stone and we're inside it! I'm inside Sky Magic, but it's also in me, with every breath I take." Callum walked towards the edge of the cliff.
"That kind of makes sense," said Rayla as she came up beside him.
He has a blue spark flew from the tip of Callum's finger. Callum started tracing a shimmering rune shape in the air. As his fingertips moved, arcs of bright blue light formed, creating the blue glowing curves of the ancient, powerful symbol.
"Aspiro." Callum exhaled. He pushed all the air out of his lungs, and he could feel the difference. It wasn't a normal breath. A powerful blast of wind erupted from his lips. The wind rushed around his eyes and nipped at his cheeks.
The magic wind swirled and grew stronger. Callum closed his eyes eyes and grinned as it gusted around him. When he'd had enough, Callum let the magic gently die down. He took one last deep breath, then opened his eyes with a smile.
"That was amazing," Sierra whispered, amazed by what she had saw.
But immediately, Ezran was walking up the path to the cave with Corvus a few feet behind him.
Rayla ran over to them. "Ezran, you're back!" She hugged him.
"He was gone?" Callum asked, confused.
Ezran beamed at his brother. "Callum, you figured it out! You can do magic again!"
"That's incredible, Prince Callum," said Corvus.
"Thanks," Callum said. "Who are you?"
"You missed a few things while you were out," Rayla told Callum. "This is Corvus. He's on our side now."
"I've always been on the same side," Corvus said. "I serve the young king."
"What?" Callum furrowed his brow, but a flash of realization entered his eyes and he turned to Ezran.
"I know about Dad," Ezran said.
Callum looked at his feet. "I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I tried to, but I just couldn't."
Ezran didn't reply. Ezran looked at his brother with tears in his eyes before throwing himself forward and wrapping his arms around his neck to hug him tightly. Sierra smiled to herself as she watched the brothers hugged each other tightly.