.Elementals.

-88-

"Fancy hide out." I said, grabbing the arm Ethan extended towards me and pulled me on me feet. "Built it yourself?" My sarcasm was strong.

"Do not overestimate me Mastery, nothing of this is my doing."

"my name is still Mystery not Mastery." Seems I saw well, the glint of remaining hope for him to turn into the man he should have been was true, the seed was sown the day I wiped the ground with his body and took root, sprouting high and fast, some people just need their ego to be knocked down to see the light. 

"Well it is fancy seeing you here, what brings you to our little resistance?"

"Little? You are joking Ethan, there have been stories of tunnels spanning the queendom but them being proven real? Amazing." 

"Why don't you let me show you around the hidden kingdom of the halfmen, follow me guests we have many things to talk about."

Halfmen....More like dwarfs or gnomes as our myths spoke of them, when the elm was still here it told me the stories of people half our size that lived deep in the earth, in the rock, a race of miners, cast out by humans long before the first war caused by Aurelius because they were seen inferior, a lot of myths are proven to be true these days aren't they?

The levels of wooden huts and bridges span every available space in the carved out cave, magical torches and fire pits blazing to bring light to this underground civilization.

The halfmen didn't look different from us by a lot, compressed in height but muscles showing through the plates of their armor, rough but well kept beards and hair in braids, this cast of people having lived here, hidden since the day humans turned their back on them but Audrey's and my survival along with the many humans here spoke volumes about their heart, they held no grudges and came to save us in our time of need.

Recounting what lead us here to Ethan cleared up many blanks in the timeline of how Aurelius took over, where the mages had gone too and how humanity's rebellion got out alive.

"So that explains how the queendom fell, after the elm toppled the soldiers still following my commands and I gathered as many people as we could bring to safety, many dying in the process." I felt Audrey grab my hand as he mentioned the elm, silently cradling her iced hand otherwise.

"You changed a lot Ethan and fast but that's a good thing, if not for the man you became many of those refusing to bow to him would have died, keep on going like this and you'll be changed forever."

"That said by the human that turned out the be a silver dragon?"

"Don't remind me." I sighed. "I don't want the news to spread that much."

"A lot of people have seen a silver dragon rising from the castle walls at the invasion, it wouldn't be a surprise if they suspected you to be behind it by your looks and titles."

"I suspected as much." My flames danced across my hand as I raised it. "Doesn't help that now I have this type of flames."

"Yes, it doesn't."

I stalled a little, laying my hand my back before bringing it to my face.

"You fell in some rotten stuff." Audrey pulled a face looking at the black stuff on my glove while my eyes went wide.

I yanked my hand from her and completely loosened my corsets lace with one movement from habit and threw it off before my undershirt to look at my back.

I thought the cut was bad enough as the pain spread but didn't realize the blade had necrotic abilities, blood a deathly black and clotting in slimy blobs, the veins picking up the icky color as the flesh was pale and sickly green and rotten black and purple around the cut.

A cold flash passed through my body as I heard many gasps and someone started throwing up at the sight.

I saw a piece of what was my flesh detach and splat on the ground before I moved to do something.

I pressed my palm completely over it as the same light green wild magic I summoned to heal Em was summoned to my hand again but it didn't seem to revers the effects just halt them, I never trained this and I regret it.

I set my other hand over the glowing one, whispering in Draklian, the ancient form not even Audrey knew, a spell whispered to me by my subconsciousness that was once a dragon separated from me.

A deep black circle seared itself into my skin around the affected area with sigils around the circle forming lines of words racing across my skin and meeting in a point in the middle of my still covered chest.

"Wild mages?" I asked with some urgency as I was no healer nor was I Belladonna who knew all about the plants, I am sure she could have come up whit something.

I felt Audrey's familiar touch on my skin as she grabbed me when a flash of pain made me stagger.

"Gather the healers!!" Ethan barked orders as he grabbed me by my shoulder and flung me over his shoulder before grabbing Audrey's shoulder and just bolting somewhere with many of the guards having followed him until now running after us too.

This old spell didn't nullify the pain nor stop the spread so I can just assume there was something else happening too and it countered that.

Now lets hope I don't suffer to much and will still be able to fight Aurelius.