𝒜 ℋℯ𝒶𝓇𝓉 ℴ𝒻 𝒮𝒸𝒶𝓁ℯ𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒮𝓉ℯℯ𝓁

Chapter Thirty Two - Asher

Chapter Thirty Two - Asher

The moment the shadows began to move, a chill ran down my spine. I had been watching the Moonlight Dragon, waiting for something, anything to happen—some sign of finality, some signal to strike. But instead, the forest itself seemed to come alive. Darkness spread across the clearing like tendrils of smoke, creeping along the ground, curling around the feet of my knights.

I heard their startled cries before I saw the panic in their eyes. The shadows gripped at their legs, pulling them off balance, and some of them stumbled backward, swords raised in confusion. The moonlight that had once lit the clearing now felt dim, barely illuminating the chaos unfolding around us. It was as if the forest was fighting back, taking the side of the dragon.

"What's happening?!" one of my knights shouted, his voice tinged with fear as he struggled to free himself from the creeping shadows.

I gripped my sword tighter, my instincts telling me that something was very, very wrong. My eyes darted from my men to the dragon, still lying on the ground, motionless. It was wounded, vulnerable—this was supposed to be over. I had struck it down myself, and yet...

The shadows twisted around my boots, tugging lightly at first, then more forcefully. I swung my sword at the dark tendrils, slicing through them, but they recoiled like living things, only to return stronger. It was as if they had a mind of their own, feeding off the darkness of the night. My heart pounded harder in my chest, not from fear, but from a growing realization—this was no ordinary dragon.

The Moonlight Dragon wasn't just lying there in defeat. It was waiting.

I turned back toward the creature, my pulse quickening as I scanned the clearing. The dragon's form shimmered faintly under the weak moonlight, its dark purple and silver scales glinting ominously. The wound I had inflicted still bled, but there was something off. The dragon wasn't dead, nor was it dying. It was waiting for something.

My gaze narrowed as I searched for the answer, and that's when I noticed it—the shadows. They weren't just attacking my knights; they were converging around the dragon, wrapping around its massive form, almost like they were shielding it.

Then it hit me.

I had heard stories about the Moonlight Dragons, about their connection to the shadows, their ability to manipulate darkness itself. But those were just stories, weren't they? My father had always dismissed such legends of their shadow powers as myths, as nothing more than tales told to scare children. And yet, here I was, watching it happen right in front of me.

I felt the air shift, a heavy tension pressing down on the clearing. The dragon began to move, slowly at first, as if gathering strength. Its massive head lifted off the ground, and I could have sworn its eyes—those glowing, piercing eyes—locked with mine for a brief moment.

And then the shadows exploded into motion.

Before I could even blink, the dark figures of blobs lashed out violently, knocking two of my knights to the ground. The rest of my men were struggling, yelling in confusion, their swords swinging wildly at enemies they couldn't see. Panic was spreading fast, and I knew I had to act before it consumed us all.

"Get back! Regroup!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the chaos. "Hold your positions!"

But even as I gave the order, my attention snapped back to the dragon. The shadows had fully enveloped it now, wrapping its body in a swirling vortex of darkness. And then—before my very eyes—it began to shrink.

At first, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. The dragon's massive form was growing smaller, its scales fading into the shadows that surrounded it. I watched in stunned silence as the creature began to change. Its hulking figure twisted and contorted, bones and muscles rearranging themselves with unnatural fluidity. The sound of snapping bones filled the air, but it wasn't the sound of a creature in pain. It was the sound of transformation.

It was shifting. The Moonlight Dragon was becoming something else.

No, not something else. Someone else.

I could hardly believe it. The dragon was turning into a human.

The shadows clung to the figure, shrouding them in a dark cloak that covered their form from head to toe. The once massive wings and tail were gone, replaced by the slender silhouette of a person. The cloak billowed around them, and I couldn't make out their face—just a dark hood that hid their features. But I knew, deep down, who this was.

The Moonlight Dragon had taken human form.

How could I forget?

For a moment, everything around me seemed to slow down. The sounds of the knights' struggles faded into the background, and all I could do was stare at the figure before me. I had hunted dragons my entire life, trained for this very purpose, but I had never seen anything like this. My father had spoken of victory, of eradicating these beasts from our lands, but how could he have prepared me for this? How could anyone?

I clenched my jaw, determination flooding back into me. This didn't change anything. Whether it was a dragon or a human, this creature was still my enemy. It had killed before, and it would kill again if I let it escape. I wouldn't fail—not now, not after all this.

But before I could move, the figure darted into the shadows, swift and silent as a ghost.

"Stop them!" I bellowed, but the knights were too slow, too disoriented from the chaos that still clung to the air. The dark figure moved with inhuman speed, disappearing into the dense forest before anyone could react. I cursed under my breath, my grip on my sword tightening as I sprinted toward the edge of the clearing.

Branches whipped against my face, the underbrush slowing my pursuit, but I wouldn't let the Moonlight Dragon—whoever or whatever they were—slip away so easily.

I needed answers.

I needed to know what I was truly dealing with.

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