Rivynn couldn't understand why she and her brother, Rain, were kept chained away from everyone else. They were told it was to keep them safe from the shadows... But what if that was a lie?
~~~~~~
Rain hadn't told her... but the shadows were real...
"My lord," the puny little man bowed but by the apprehension in his voice, Torrent could tell he did not bring good news.
"Well, human, have you found her yet?" his deep voice reverberated off the crystalline cliff sides that skirted the steaming lake where he lay, partially submerged.
"My men and I have searched diligently," the vassal started, choosing his words carefully. "But still... we have found no trace..." There was no good way to put it.
"Then search harder!" he snarled, rising from the water. His pale blue scales glistening in the fading light as he towered over the man. "A dragon does not just vanish into thin air!"
"But my lord, it's been so long..." he stammered.
The great reptilian monarch's eyes narrowed dangerously and his jaws parted slowly, just enough to show the steam seeping from between his razor-sharp rows of teeth. "Did I not warn you what would happen to your precious people and lands if you failed?"
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"Please, we have not given up hope."
"I did not ask for hope!" He roared, the ground quaking at the sound. "I want her found!"
The man scrambled for cover as the monstrosity boiled the lake's water with his rage, bathing itself in the burning mist.
"I swear I will destroy one pathetic village after another until she is found!"
"Wait! Please! We will keep searching, I swear. But I have other news... news that you have long waited for..." he called from behind the safety of a boulder.
"Choose your next words carefully, human," He snarled, burning steam now pouring from his mouth like a poisonous fog.
Cautiously he stepped into sight, cowering, head bowed. "We heard..." he gulped. "A rumor - a whole village in the Freelands was attacked by a child shadowling."
"That is not news!" the dragon interrupted impatiently. Those little monsters had been plaguing the human realms since his kind had first entered these lands.
"But the child was described as having white hair with a single strand of black on the right side!" the man quickly added.
This particular detail immediately captured his interest and he leaned closer. "Go on," he coaxed, sensing there was more.
"At the same time, it was reported that the Draycent had collected a little girl of exactly the same appearance and that she was so powerful, she nearly destroyed the city Ullin with lightning and blue flames."
"They are siblings?"
"The evidence strongly suggests so," the man nodded, shifting uneasily.
A low growl rumbled in the dragon's throat as he tried to digest what he'd just been told. After all these years, that man still evaded him; a man with hair as white as the Draycent but distinguished by an odd strand of black among the hair on the right side - the curse mark of a rift... the rift.
"What is he playing at?" he muttered uneasily.
"There is more, your greatness," the little man spoke again, hesitant to interrupt his musings.
"Out with it then!"
"This could mean nothing. Truly. But you told us to keep an eye out for anything strange among the shadows..."
"Yes?"
"You know how I said the boy shadowling attacked that village? He didn't kill anyone. Not a soul."
"That's impossible." The wretched creatures lived only to kill and create more darkness to feed off.
"Instead, he cursed them - with blindness."
At this news, a shudder ran through the dragon's body and he slowly started to shake his head. "No. No. No!"
"My lord?"
Straining to keep his rage in check, he turned to his serf. "The information you have brought me has extended to you and your people a measure of mercy. However, you will keep searching for my daughter. Also, have someone watch the girl child. If anyone new takes an interest in her, send me word immediately."
"Thank you, my lord! And what about the boy?"
A bitter snarl crept across the dragon's mouth as he answered. "Kill him. I don't care what it takes. Tip off the Draycent Hunters even. But he must die."
