Eternal Ebony

Chapter 13

The ball began. Courtiers and other members of the castle were invited. They all looked amazing. But they were not nearly as fabulous as Ebon, who sat regally on her throne. She scrutinized the crowd. They all laughed and had fun. Abalone sat excitedly beside her. She chattered busily with other dragonets and Whiteout, who was traversing the hall. Oblivion, on the other talon, was nowhere to be seen.

Yet.

As usual, he wanted to make a dramatic entrance.

"I want to be fashionably late," he'd said. "I want to scare everyone in my new armor piece."

Now the whole crowd gasped as a new, unfamiliar figure strode up the hall toward the throne. He was wearing dark armor, and he had a long cape of panther's fur trailing down his back. The silver midsection clanged softly. It shone in the light and bedazzled the entire crowd. He came to an abrupt stop and bowed deep and low. He removed his helmet, and the crowd laughed. It was just Oblivion, and he spread his wings and turned to them.

"I would like to not only introduce this fabulous outfit," he said. "But I would also like to introduce a friend of mine." He gestured to another dragon following him up the aisle the court created. A female, wearing nothing but a bright fuschia cape and two gold gauntlets. She bowed to them, smiling.

"Meet Voidwalker, famous novelist." The female observed the room. Several dragons squealed with delight. "I have read several of her books," Oblivion continued. "And she is an excellent writer. Voidwalker? Anything you want to say?"

The court looked at her, and she hunched a bit.

"All I want to say is thank you for reading my books. I work very hard on them." The crowd looked on in the awkward silence.

"I would say more," Voidwalker said, more quiet than before. "But I'm not very good at say...talking." She sighed. "See?"

The crowd chuckled before returning to their normal activities. Oblivion climbed onto his throne. As Whiteout watched, Voidwalker pulled out a notepad and began writing something down. Occasionally, she would look up, around the room. He approached her quietly. Once he was next to her, he coughed.

She jumped. "Oh," she said. "I wasn't...Hello. Can I help you?"

"What're you writing?"

"Oh." Voidwalker looked down at the words she had written. They seemed to be notes. "I'm going to write a book on the wonderful adventures of Ebon on her way to the throne. I interviewed her, and found that she had a wonderful, rough time on the path to glory. She's an excellent queen. I adore her."

She looked around the room suddenly, like she heard something. Several dragons were staring at her and whispering and giggling. She leaned down to talk quietly to Whiteout.

"I heard you have a fabulous library? Oblivion told me I could see it. Would you take me there?"

Whiteout smiled and nodded. He spread his wing, gesturing at the hall in the corner, and Voidwalker began walking slowly in that direction. Her cape billowed behind her. It had to be the most colorful thing in the room. The court gawked at her boldness. Because no one else would wear something like that to a ball, Whiteout though, following her She wanted to be noticed among the throng. They arrived in the library, and Voidwalker's jaw dropped. She squealed and ran to the nearest shelf, shuffling through and looking at the book titles. She took out her notepad and began writing furiously. She finished and smiled. She was obviously in awe about the entirety of the library.

"This has to be the biggest library I've ever seen!" she cried. She turned to Whiteout. "I love reading books. When I was younger, I was the fasted, excuse me, fastest, best reader in my entire class. All the time. I had a more advanced vocabulary. Other dragonets always found that read. I mean, weird. They never read as much as I did." Voidwalker's eyes dropped.

"I have to tell you. I don't like being famous. But I can't just drop out of it. I'm a writer. Novel-novelist. I write for my fans. By the way, what is your name?" She brought her notepad out and looked at him expectantly.

"It's Whiteout," he said. He was a little amused. Voidwalker looked down at her notepad and began writing, nodding. She smiled at him. "I like that name. It suits you very well. I like your breastplate. Where did you get it?"

Keep in mind, Whiteout had no idea what to say. He was only one year old. He couldn't possibly say he made it himself.

"I..." he started. "I enchanted it."

Voidwalker looked on blankly. Then she blinked.

"You did what?"

"I enchanted the shell-a Nautilus shell-to grow into this breastplate. You can't say anything, though. They're going to be announcing it soon."

Whiteout watched as Voidwalker slowly nodded and wrote that down. Her mouth was clamped firmly shut. Suddenly, Abalone rushed into the room.

"Hi, Voidwalker," she said. "Whiteout! They're announcing you as soon as you get in there! Let's go!" Abalone gesture toward the door and Whiteout sprinted toward it. Voidwalker lifted her chin high and walked back into the room. Whiteout stood, waiting. Oblivion cleared his throat addressingly, and the party went silent.

"So," he said. "We have an announcement. As you all have noticed, I gained a few changes after Abalone was born. That was caused by her giving me infinite magic." The crowd gasped. "I know," he continued. "So, last week, I wanted to give her infinite magic as well. Her friend, Whiteout, my personal guard, Frostbite's, brother, was allowed to accompany us. He must've thought I was hurting her, because he leaped onto the podium." The audience gasped sharply, and they began whispering to each other.

"You all know what that must have caused. After the spell, my daughter and I were curious. She enchanted an hourglass to glow whenever it was near something magic. It glowed, of course, when it was near us. We backed away, and told Whiteout to step close to it. And it glowed."

The crowd was appalled and fascinated. "So now, we have a new necromancer. This is Whiteout."

The audience examined Whiteout closely, and he felt their eyes prickle on him. He noticed Voidwalker scribbling ravenously down on the paper. She caught Whiteout's eyes on her and smiled. A dragon from the back cleared his throat.

"How do you know your daughter wasn't tricking you?"

Oblivion scoffed. "First of all, for what reason would my own daughter have to trick me? Second of all, the hourglass. And third, Whiteout?" Oblivion nodded at Whiteout. He pointed a talon at the ceiling, gave a smug are-you-serious-look at the dragon who spoke, and the lights abruptly went out. The crowd shrieked, and the royals began laughing. Whiteout turned the lights back on. He spread his wings. Oblivion continued.

"It also appears that he and my daughter fused somehow. Whiteout used to look like all other Opals. But he has been tinted and stylized blue. My daughter has grown spikes on the back of her head. I can't sleep next to her anymore." The audience chuckled and cheered. For Whiteout.