In the magical realm of Luminara, where witches, angels, werewolves, fae, and vampires coexist, Solene leads a double life as a gifted witch and daring spy, wielding the rare and dangerous magic of mindweaving to unearth corruption.
When a deadly at...
Her breath came in ragged gasps as she tore through the forest under the cover of night.
The glow of the moon, once a symbol of magic and hope, cast dark silhouettes that seemed to claw for her.
The roar of fire consuming the forest was a deafening discord of crackling wood and sizzling foliage, as relentless flames licked hungrily at the towering trees.
Her legs burned, each step a jolt of agony, but she willed them to move as fast they could go.
She was running out of time. Her kingdom had fallen and now she was their last hope.
The Shadows gave relentless chase, their slithering hiss and the Shadow Dragon's roars a maddening echo of the peril closing in.
Her lungs were raw from screaming. Blood seeped from countless wounds, staining her tattered clothes and the trail beneath her. Her eyes stung with tears she could no longer afford to shed.
All around lay the fallen bodies of her comrades, their lifeless eyes a silent plea for vengeance. A massive dragon lay among them, her once vibrant scales dulled to stillness. She knew them all-- their mates, their children, their hopes and dreams. She knew their pains. The only comfort she had was that perhaps they were no longer in pain, and would never feel pain again.
She was the only one left to avenge them, but first she had to secure their future.
Ahead loomed the hatch, the most sacred grounds in the Kingdom of Nevayaä, for all dragonkind, where they laid their eggs and raised their young.
Now a tomb for too many of their greatest warriors and innocent citizens.
Her eyes fell on the broken bodies of an armored warrior cradling three small children. They had died instantly. Though she could not bear children herself, among her people, children were rare miracles loved and cared for by all.
She gritted her teeth against the pain, against the despair threatening to drown her willpower.
They died protecting this place.
Protecting her kingdom.
Her home.
Their sacrifices will not be in vain.
The faint pulsing glow of dragon eggs promised a resilient flicker of hope amidst this sea of darkness. She sensed their collective magic, as vital as a heartbeat.
As if sensing her rising hope, the shadow creatures surged around her, their forms a writhing mass of darkness that seemed to devour the very light around them. They were nightmarish beings, their eyes glowing with a malevolent hunger, and their twisted, amorphous bodies shifting and coiling like living smoke. Each touch of their ethereal tendrils siphoned life from everything they encountered, leaving behind a trail of withered plants, crumbling stones, and lifeless bodies.
The air grew cold and heavy with the stench of decay, the atmosphere poisoned by their presence. Their whispers, a cacophony of ancient curses and promises of doom, echoed in her mind, threatening to dismantle her senses. The power they wielded was not only physical but psychological, feeding on fear. They could latch onto the mind and amplifying feelings of dread and hopelessness until even the bravest heart quailed.
She silently summoned the power of the dragons, hearing it sing as it coursed through her like lava. She welcomed the familiar heat growing in her chest, rising up through her throat like a warm blanket placed on cold shoulders. Hot gas burst from her open mouth, exploding into a whirlwind of fire that scorched all the creatures and reduced them to ash.
At last, she reached the dragon eggs—over a hundred of them, nestled in the dim light. Some were years away from hatching, others so close to breaking free.
She closed her eyes and sank to her knees, the feel of the warm earth a welcome sensation. With trembling hands she cradled the egg closest to her, stroking its jeweled protective shell. She let her tears fall freely now.
She made it.
Her body screamed at her to rest, but her skin prickled from the cold chill of black magic. She felt a dreadful power wrapping around her throat with phantom hands, suffocating her.
"Leave the eggs and flee with your life", a vile voice taunted from the gloom, booming in her ears. "Or rot here amongst your dead."
The Shadow Dragon, the harbinger of death from a twisted world of endless night, had finally come for her. Her heart pounded a ruthless cadence, as her lungs fought for each breath. She trained her features, her very soul to survive and fight.
Her fallen kingdom, her loved ones long perished from this genocide and these precious eggs galvanized her to a final, desperate stand.
Even though terror gripped her body, her resolve was stronger. The phantom hands around her throat felt her fire first, releasing her with a horrible shriek as her body burned with the heat of a dying star.
Jaw relaxed, she faced the monster taking shape before her.
At the center of a nightmarish horde of shadows loomed the Shadow Dragon, an immense and terrifying figure that seemed to be the embodiment of darkness itself. Its scales were like blackened steel, absorbing all light and warmth, while its eyes burned with an unholy fire. With each breath, it exhaled clouds of toxic shadow, capable of reducing the strongest warriors to ashes. Its roar, a sound that reverberated through the very fabric of reality, spoke of untold destruction, the unmaking of worlds and the end of all things.
"You will have... to kill me first." She gathered the power of the eggs, just enough magic to form the hottest dragon fire she had ever breathed.
The darkness incarnate closed in, and she unleashed all that she had left.
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