Write to Rank 2: Shadow City Under Fire

Round 6: Fantasy with a 'Twist'

Southwest of Shadow City floated a collection of ancient stones, remnants of the collision of the twin moons, Anna and Elsa. Atop these eldritch stones sat the Sentinel Towers. The towers housed the servers of Cyber.Red's war machine, affectionately known as the Chromehogs. The orbital satellites, drones, automatons, and defensive countermeasures all ran off the same lunar crystals which kept the stone islands aloft.

A week before the orc attack on Shadow City, Dawn Amelia Guardian, Dagger for short, had started her maintenance shift.

Dagger sat on the steps of Tower Four, drinking a tea of earth leaf. It wasn't her beloved Chamomile, but it was all the Reef Elves had available. The strange luminescent elves were nothing like their Mafian kin Dagger had been raised among. There was no culture of aggressive sisterhood and riding. The Reef spent all of their free time in meditation and brewing earth leaf. The strange plant grew wherever the light from the ancient floating stones touched. The Mafian worshiped Lady Shadow and the land from which her city grew. The Reef worshiped the broken moons.

A young reef elf ran up the stairs, his long pointed ears bobbing up and down made Dagger think of a rabbit.

"Dawn, Dawn!"

"Dagger, E'llyh. It's Dagger."

"Sorry, Father calls you Dawn Guardian." He looked down at his hands, much of his excitement drained away. "It's confusing."

"The Mafian use their given names within the village and among their sisters. Outside they use their riding name."

"But... but you're not an elf." The glow of the boy's teal eyes made his entire pale face radiate a bluish green light.

"I'm no elf, E'llyh, but the Mafian raised me." Dagger sipped her tea. "You understand."

"No. You aren't an elf so how can you be Mafian. Father says you spend a lot of time among us, but you could never be Reef."

"... that's good to know," she mumbled under her breath. "Nevermind that, E'llyh. What brings you here?"

"Ah, yes! My brothers caught a massive sky eel this morning and father sent me to invite you to noonday meal."

Dagger shook her head. E'llyh's father, Llorys, was one of the Reef elders. He was a tough man stuck in his ways, but he always made sure she ate despite his obvious biases. He didn't like humans and couldn't understand why the Mafian would train one in their ways. It was the source of many a late night fireside debates. For Dagger's part, she didn't understand the old elf either.

"Of course," she said in elvish. "Tell your father I'll be honored to eat with you today. Wouldn't miss it."

E'llyh grinned. He loved hearing Dagger speak his native tongue. Nodding, he ran off to tell his father.

The roar of a skiff filled the air and a ship came into view. Dagger shielded his eyes from the sun as she looked skyward. She wasn't expecting relief for a few months. The small ship landed in a rush of heat and ruffled grass. The loud engines died and the vehicle rumbled like a purring cat, its lunar crystal engine needing to cooldown. All of Cyber.Red's flight tech ran off of the same lunar crystals which allowed the islands to float.

The cockpit lid slid aside and a figure emerged, tattered cloak blowing in the wind. His helmet looked like an angular diamond, reflecting Dagger and Tower Four as she descended the stairs. He hopped down, leather boots and jacket black as his cloak. His codename was Cloak, but he and Dagger were much too close for codenames.

"Ian!" she crowed as she threw her arms around him.

"Hey, Dagger." His voice echoing within the helmet, sounding metallic and cold.