Shadow Falling

No Longer Untouchable

Shade found it difficult to keep up with Passion. She seemed to be in some sort of frenzy, pushing herself to go faster, faster, faster. His weak lungs were beginning to burn, but he really didn't want to get left behind. But neither did he have the voice to tell her to slow down.

They soared over the trees. Eventually, Passion started to dive. Bracing himself, Shade followed.

Once they were below the canopy, Passion shot through the branches at a speed that Shade could not physically follow. The only thing that allowed him to even attempt to follow was the fact that Passion's scales had shifted to an eye bleeding yellow that cut through the green foliage.

He thanked that color as he scrambled after her.

When he finally caught up with her, he found her sprinting through a small, grassy clearing. There was a small cave just outside the clearing, and in that cave there were three dragons. There was the little dragonet Shade knew was Destiny. One was another Rainwing, her scales shifting languidly through the entire color scale. The other was an Icewing.

The very Icewing that Shade kept seeing in his mind whenever he touched Passion.

They all turned in unison upon seeing Passion barreling toward them. Jewel's head appeared from thin air, looking at her sister with curiosity.

Passion leapt upon her father, then pounced on Destiny. The dragonet squealed and tried to toss her off, but Passion had already moved on. After brushing up against her mother, she sprang at Jewel, who was now fully visible.

"Don't!" Jewel screamed as Passion hurled herself upon Jewel without hesitation.

Both the Icewing and the Rainwing jumped to their feet, eyes filled with fear. Passion bowled her sister over, and together they tumbled end over end into the grass. Though some of the grass blackened with frost, Shade could see that nothing was happening to Passion at all.

"Passion, get off! I'm hurting you!"

She scoffed. "No, you're not! Look!"

She held Jewel's talons in her own, and her younger sister looked down in shock and awe. She hesitantly touched her sister back, her scales turning a brilliant shade of yellow. Grinning, Passion enveloped Jewel in a hug.

Noises of surprise escaped both of the dragons that Shade assumed were Passion, Jewel, and Destiny's parents.

"How are you doing that?" their mother asked, astonished.

Passion pulled away only slightly, draping a wing over her sister, who was practically glowing with joy.

"I'm an animus!" she crowed.

The silence that followed was deafening. Passion's father had a look on his face that Shade couldn't quite place, something between the greatest of pride and the starkest of terror. He probably knew the dangers of his dragonet being an animus.

Or maybe he was hiding something.

Passion didn't seem to notice, but continued to explain.

"I can touch her now! I can make it so that we all can touch her and no one has to worry about being hurt by her frost scales ever again! Mother won't get anymore scars and she doesn't have to be kept far away from us anymore!"

Her mother and Destiny were looking on in awe. From the deep longing in the older Rainwing's face, Shade could tell that she desperately wanted to hold her dragonet. Probably for the first time ever. She had walked forward, standing right in front of her two oldest daughters. Now that she was closer, Shade could see the series of black scar tissue on her front legs.

Her father looked torn, and he didn't get his words out fast enough. Passion was already casting another spell, making her mother and youngest sister immune to Jewel's scales. Ever so slowly, their mother reached out to her dragonet with trembling talons. She held onto her daughter, talons unmarred by frost burns, tears streaming down her snout.

Jewel was immediately buried beneath hugs from her siblings and mother. Tears that froze upon her scales kept welling out of her eyes. Then Passion extricated herself from the tumbling mass of dragons and approached her father. Her eyes are practically glowing with happiness.

"Can I do it to you, too? Please?"

After a moment, her father nodded. Passion's scales flashed a rainbow of color before saying her spell. Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, her father had darted forward to scoop up Jewel. Watching this, Shade felt a little hollow. He missed his parents. He missed being held.

It felt like a long time before Passion was able to escape her family again. She bounded over the Shade, eyes still bright. She jumped upon him, knocking him to the grass. An explosion of tawny fur and blood erupted in his mind's eye. Okay, so maybe he didn't miss being touched.

Passion brought her parents' attention over to him, and he couldn't help but cower away from the glittering black eyes of her Icewing father. There were so many stories in his tribe about the animosity between Nightwings and Icewings. He could only hope that because Passion's father was no longer a part of his tribe that he wouldn't attack.

"Shade! This is Paradise and Hoarfrost! My parents!!" she said excitedly. "I told you about him, remember??"

Paradise smiled brightly, and started talking with Shade. He didn't really know how to respond most often, so just nodded along. Passion had gone off to wrestle with her sisters. Shade couldn't help but notice that Hoarfrost's eyes seemed clouded as he watched his clutch of dragonets.

In the middle of a wrestling match with Jewel, Passion shot out of her grasp and over to her parents, bumping into Shade just enough to send another flash through his mind. Passion's claws, slick with crimson blood. He shivered. What was this? Could he stop it?

"I forgot to tell you! I found a couple of scavengers! I made them speak Dragon! That's how I found out about my magic!"

Hoarfrost looked alarmed, all while Paradise was feeding off of Passion's enthusiasm.

"That's what we need to do! We need to go back and talk to them! Come on, Shade!!" Passion cried as she jumped into the air. "I'll be back soon, Jewel!!"

Shade turned to follow when he felt a talon on his shoulder. Immediately there was a flash of glistening ice fields in his head, Icewings flying over the broad expanse of white. He turned to find himself nose-to-nose with Hoarfrost. His eyes were so intense, staring directly into his own.

"Keep an eye on her please." he said quietly. "Animus magic can be very, very dangerous. Don't let her use it too much, please."

Shade nodded slowly. Hoarfrost released him, and he hurried to follow Passion.