by Sariah Skye
I snorted. “No way. Not going to happen.”
Nicodemus grinned menacingly. “And what are you going to do about it? We're hundreds—you're only a handful! We'll take you over and add your magic to our own, making us more powerful yet!”
“You realize they were in there for a reason, right?” I questioned him. “Because they deserved it?”
He chuckled. “Did they? Did they all? You might want to question that one. The Court has been sending dragons into the Shadow realm that didn't meet its agenda for thousands of years... dragons that did nothing wrong except, exist! The rest of them came voluntarily when tired of the drivel the Court was promoting.”
“What sort of drivel?” Maxxus demanded.
Nicodemus smirked. “All in good time, dear friend. All in good time.”
From the ground nearby Kiarra yelled defiantly. “You won't get away with it!”
Nicodemus roared, throwing his head back and letting out a torrent of gruesome laughter, causing the Shadow tendrils all around him to hiss and shoot outward. He paused in his laughter and looked directly at Kiarra spitefully and said, “I already have.” And with a huge gesture of one of his wings and another burst of his Shadow fire magic. What was left of the veil holding in the contents of the Shadow realm opened and out flooded a torrent of darkness. Like a breaking dam, the Shadows poured out rapidly.
Dozens of other Shadow forms came pouring out; they were obviously dragons, but I couldn't recognize them, they were shrouded too much in Shadow by this point. I swallowed nervously, exchanging a glance between Maxxus and Gabriel.
“Capture them. Kill them—I don't care. Just silence them!” Nicodemus ordered, and the Shadowforms slithered to us.
Kiarra was on her feet; Daniel and Finnian by her sides and we circled together as the Shadows neared us.
Finnian tossed something up in the air, like a firecracker in appearance, but it burst over our heads and rained down what looked like white glitter. As it fell on us, we felt a warming sensation anywhere it touched that counteracted the dankness of the evil Shadows, giving us a momentary boost.
“This is it!” Maxxus roared. “Give them everything you've got!” He drew out his large sword from its hilt and we all followed; my dagger, Daniel and Gabriel's swords, Kiarra's shiv and even Finnian appeared to have some weaponry; some throwing stars. I'd have to question about that later—if we survived.
I clutched the dagger near my chest, feeling its power vibrate through me. With a newfound sense of control, I raised my head defiantly at the Shadow dragons threatening to overtake us.
“Can we even kill them with these?” Gabriel asked.
“One way to find out!” Maxxus charged forward at a Shadow nearing us the fastest.
“We can't kill them!!!” Kiarra protested, but she was too late, Maxxus was already attempting to plunge his sword into the first Shadow dragon he saw. The form screeched out in terror as a dark, blood like substance poured out from its chest and it fell to its knees only briefly before switching from its dragon form to its human form; healing a good majority of the injury. The dark eyes of the Shadow form gleamed in the portal light with triumph.
“We're outnumbered!” Kiarra called out in panic. “What are we going to do?”
“Anything we can, give 'em all you got!” I shouted.
The Shadows lunged at us then and the battle had begun.
Gabriel was beside me summoning up his plasma balls in one hand and raised his sword with the other. Maxxus was charging towards another couple of Shadows, crying out loudly in a battle cry slashing at anything that got in front of him. I didn't wish to leave everyone behind but the largest of the forms came slithering right towards Gabriel and I, hissing and snarling. I clutched my dagger by my side and shot balls of light at the tendrils snaking for us rapidly, while Gabriel flung his plasma balls at it. The Shadow form paused and cried out in a moment of pain when hit, but the wound healed quickly and he kept on charging for us.
“There's more!” Kiarra shrieked, pointing as dozens more Shadow dragons came pouring out of the portal. Now there were at least five Shadow forms for every one of us.
“Spread out!” Finnian called “We're harder to target!!!!” Finnian, armed with his throwing stars and his endless bag of magic began fighting with a form that attempted to overtake him. He tossed a handful of dust at it as it breathed out. The creature cried out in pain, wincing but still advancing. Finnian tossed one of his stars at the injured area and the creature cried out in horror, falling back. This gave Finnian a chance to work on the next one.
“That's it!! We need to insure it first with magic and then use weapons!” I called out and that was enough for everyone; we started fighting them off.
Nicodemus chuckled as he slithered out of the room. Maxxus attempted to go after him, but he was stopped by two of his own Shadow dragons.
“Leorah!” Gabriel had three on him by my side. He sliced repeatedly at them and attempted to throw his magic, but trying to hold them off, he wasn't succeeding.
I raised my dagger at the one closest to me. I shuddered at its proximity as I was overcome with bouts of violent chills. I felt my wings jut out besides me and flutter lightly as if pulling all the warmth in the room. I felt a burst of strength. I attempted to summon a light ball, but wasn't having much luck.
Gabriel saw what I was doing and tossed one at me. “Here!” I caught it deftly and exhaled my magic on top, tossing it back to Gabriel, who deftly spun it in his hands, watching it grow. Before he could throw it, though, the nearest Shadow tossed its own magic at him—a burning ball of Shadow, somehow and it hit Gabriel directly in the side. Gabriel cried out in pain and dropped his magic.
I felt a creeping sensation as a tendril crawled up my leg. I stabbed my dagger at it and flicked a small surge of electricity I conjured at it. It squealed in terror and disappeared in a puff of black smoke. I grinned briefly, but my moment of triumph was short lived as a Shadow dragon called out. It was attempting to combine its form with Gabriel, who was briefly nursing the injury he'd just sustained.
“No!” I lunged forward with my dagger and stabbed at it in what I assumed was the shoulder area; it was hard to tell because the Shadows had disrupted much of its original form. Gabriel from on the ground summoned another energy ball and tossed it to me. I caught it my hand and enhanced it with my own magic before tossing it at the Shadow dragon before me.
It flashed momentarily from its Shadowform to its normal dragon form—I could see the agony in the blue dragon's face before me as our combined magic hit him; his face was contorted with pain as he fell to his knees.
Out of nowhere, Maxxus had deftly pushed me aside and plunged his sword into the side of the blue dragon and the dragon cried out in extreme terror as it collapsed to its side, flickering back and forth between its Shadow and its regular form.
“How'd you do that?” Kiarra cried out, as she, Daniel and Finnian were attempting to ward off a handful of Shadow dragons. Daniel would stab at them with his sword, making long gashes in their ethereal hides and Kiarra would toss her water magic at him repeatedly. Daniel continued to slice at the forms in front of him. But they would have a handful of moments only before the Shadow dragons regained their strength, bolstering their wounds with their Shadow form and lunging at them again.
“If you can hit them with their opposite magic they will switch quickly back to their forms; giving you time to injure them severely. Then, you can take them down—for the moment!” Maxxus called back as another Shadow form inched towards us.
“But, how can you tell?” Kiarra cried out, struggling.
“Guess!” Maxxus shouted.
Finnian took the lead and tossed more magic at one. It must have been some light magic because for a brief second his yellow dragon form showed through indicating that he was normally an air user. Maxxus saw this and darted off towards the three of them, raising his palms up from the ground and summoning Earth from under the stone floor, causing the area
around him to rumble and shake. He threw the magic deftly at the form and it shrieked in horror, giving Daniel time to slam his own sword down on the poor, Shadow controlled dragon, bringing it to the first bit of normal flesh it touched; one of his front legs. The gray dragon collapsed on his side momentarily.
“Great it'll take all of us just to fight off one Shadow—and look!” I cried out, hearing another wave of Shadow dragons and Shadow forms come slithering out of the portal.
“Just help me!” Gabriel was summoning up his light magic in his palms and wielding them in to large masses of light. I took his lead and willed my magic to join with his. Together we tossed our enormous energy mass at the two Shadows directly in front of us. They shrieked in terror as they fell to the ground. And we took the opportunity to stab at them with our weapons; they sang in the air a valiant song as they sliced their way down into their opponents…
It didn't appear to matter for us; these Shadow dragons were susceptible to light magic. We continued summoning up our light and plasma balls. I'd bolster it with my magic and we'd slam it into the Shadow, followed by directly attacking it with our weapons.
In ten minutes we'd only taken down a handful of Shadows; and they continued to come.
“There's no way we're going to be able to take on these by ourselves!” Kiarra called out. Even with Maxxus' help and Daniels strength they were still having trouble taking down more than one at a time; there had to be a better way.
Suddenly, from nearby there was a popping sound followed by footfalls and a familiar voice called out, “You look like you could use some help!”
I temporarily forgot what I was doing as I swiveled around to see my brother's red drake form emerge from a portal that had appeared on the opposite side of the throne room.
“Braeden!” I called out.
My brother smirked from across the room. “I brought help—I hope!” Out of the portal emerged several dragons of all colors and sizes, who appeared healthy and ready for battle.
Kiarra called out and I could hear a clink as her knife fell to the ground. She'd heard me and turned around, shouting out Braeden's name.
My brother briefly took his eyes off me to stare with perplexed confusing at her. But it was short lived as a Shadow caught her off guard and was enveloping her in its form.
She screamed as the form over took him and brought her to her knees.
With a roar, my brother nimbly leaped across the room to her aid.
Finnian was trying to without success to blast it with his concoctions but it was having no effect. “Leo!” He called, and Gabriel and I abandoned the Shadow dragons we were working on momentarily to assist Kiarra.
“Light!” Gabriel handed his sword to Daniel, who was busy agilely slicing at anything that came near him; even if it didn't subdue the forms it slowed them down slightly as it took a few moments for them to compose their Shadow forms. He summoned up two large masses of light, chanting loudly something unintelligible. “Now!” He called out, and I exhaled my magic and shoved it towards the huge mass of light and together we pushed it towards the Shadow form and Kiarra.
The form shrieked on impact and so did Kiarra as the form let go of her and recoiled. The light magic seared into its Shadow form like a fuse that had been lit; it crackled and fizzled like a tree in a forest fire until its normal form was revealed: a small, white dragon was now crumbling on the floor.
Within seconds, two dragons behind me were by the side of the injured dragon. One of them was breathing her white healing fire on the collapsed form, the other was trying to tend to Kiarra who was pushing him away. “No!” I'm fine.
Maxxus turned to the nearest dragon, and Braeden. “You need to injure them physically—with a weapon—and then use your magic. If it's the opposite magic it will take them down.”
Braeden and the other dragon—another red one, though darker and more maroon in color then Braeden—they both nodded.
“If it's not their opposite magic it will only subdue them for a short time!” I exclaimed.
We were joined by the rest of the dragons, and Braeden began shouting out orders.
Finnian grabbed me quickly. “We need to shut that portal again or at least, slow it down.” He turned to Gabriel. “You will be okay a moment?”
Before Gabriel could reply, Finnian flung his arm in the air and everything around us stopped.
“What?” I began, confused. Then I remembered: Loremaster magic.
He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes with his shifting ones. His normal ocean blue irises had changed to a nearly white silver. I wasn't sure what that indicated but I could almost feel the foreboding coming off him in waves. “It will be easier to close the portal this way. Or at least slow it down so we can gain an edge.”
“Why can't we keep it like this and take them all out?” I asked, like it was the obvious thing to do.
“My magic won't hold long... the Shadows are disrupting me. I hear their call in the back of my mind... all the terror I've caused as a demon... all the shame... I hear the voices...” Finnian's voice was almost distant. He shook himself out of his daze. “But I can hold it long enough for you to mix your magic with mine and at least put a temporary spell on the opening... make it slow down. It should help you enter as well and retrieve the queen without letting you get targeted, but you won't have time.”
I swallowed. “Just me?”
He nodded. “I have tried to use this magic on everyone else; it's only allowing me to use it on you. You're the only one that can do this.”
I nodded, summoning up my courage from deep inside. I bit my lip, trying to quell the fear and call up my resolve.
“You will only have a brief time to find her—minutes at best. Then you need to run when I call you and exit or you'll be trapped. I can only hold the spell for a bit—so as to keep the opening slowed for now. If you can't find her in that time frame, I'm afraid she is lost,” he said, with a sullen look.
I nodded again. “But what about—” I motioned to the scene around me: it was utter chaos.
Braeden's group of dragons had just been given orders and, despite their hesitance upon seeing Maxxus and myself, they did as they were told and were beginning to engage the Shadows.
Kiarra was being helped up by my brother and they both wore expressions of relief—that the other was still alive and well—for now.
Maxxus and Gabriel were engaging two Shadow dragons nearby.
“They're just going to have to keep holding them back as best they can. You have the right intention mixing your magic with the physical fighting. Unfortunately, we need spirit and light magic to really take them out,” Finnian explained. He glanced briefly at the handful of dragons that had come through Braeden's rogue portal; there were a handful of white, silver and gray and yellow dragons. “Hopefully they'll have enough magic to hold them back.”
“It's odd—they're not really aggressive. It's like they're moving like waves, enveloping anything they touch... they're mindless,” I mused. “I figured they'd be more combative like Nicodemus—” I turned briefly to motion to the cruel black dragon but I noticed he had somehow disappeared. “Shit...” I said under my breath.
“No, they're not.” Finnian heaved a sigh. “I think it's because it's the dragons that were forced over; they're just acting on impulse; whatever the Shadows are telling them to do. But I know that there are more aggressive forms that we haven't encountered yet; I have read about them in Loremaster books. Shadow forms that fight and use their magic and have super strength. These,” Finnian motioned to the Shadow dragons around us, “are merely drones still.”
I frowned. “Does that mean—”
“I don’t know what it means, but if they're not aggressive there might be a chance they can be saved, but I don't know. If they aren't injured too badly...” Finnian winced then, appearing to be in a struggle. He shuddered. “You need to go, now Leorah.”
I gulped, but nodded solemnly. I turned towards t
he portal, but a hand grasped my shoulder gently.
Before I could fight it, Finnian pulled me into his arms for a deep, comforting hug. I returned the gesture, resting my cheek against his chest and listened to his strong heartbeat. Heartbeats.
My gaze flew upwards as I raised a brow. “Two heartbeats?”
Finnian smirked devilishly. He shot me a wink at me before wincing. “Go now, Leo... I can't hold this magic much longer.”
“When this is over—you need to talk some more about...you. This is... this is...” I trailed off, stymied. I sighed, turning towards the dark portal in the center of the room. I stepped towards it slowly, summoning my magics from deep down inside as I did. I called up my light magic and my power of intent, intending to manipulate myself into warding off the Shadow forms sure to be inside.
“Oh hell no!” I heard Daniel cry over the din. I turned to see him running, sword clutched at his side, to join me before the portal.
“What are you doing? And how are you able to...” I motioned to everyone around—Shadowed and Shadowless—who were virtually motionless to the eye.
He shrugged. “I'm not sure, but I'm glad I am. You are not going through the portal yourself!”
I scoffed. “What do you mean, I'm not? You can't come in here, you're only human.”
Daniel glowered at me before fixing his expression into a defiant one. “I may be only human, but I still possess some skills! As well as I seem to be a repellant for those pesky Shadows.” As if on cue, the Shadowforms around us moved again, slowly. I turned to Finnian clearly struggling to hold the magic; his expression one of full stonefaced concentration, then relief as the magic could finally be stopped. The Shadows slowly parted for us.
“Don't argue, just go!” Finnian cried. With a wide gesture of his hand, time was restored.
“But—they need you here!” I protested to Daniel, nodding towards his brother and Kiarra on the opposite side of the throne room, attempting to fight off a handful of Shadows.