Everson

A soft wind had begun moments before Everson left Octavious speechless. It was blowing through the air and dancing across the branches as if it knew exactly what was going to happen. His pale skin had filled with goosebumps and a hollow feeling had set in his chest. Ever was ahead of Octavious but he could hear the sound of his footsteps trekking behind him.

He could feel every inch of him. His presence was like the sea. It was the tide pulling Ever in and water he would happily drown in.
It had been silent for over ten minutes. He felt like his head was close to exploding. All he could think about was how foolish he was. And the feeling of Octavious's lips on his.

He wanted nothing more in the universe then to feel them again but it was the only thing he could not do. It was the only thing he yearned for and yet he could not even come close to having.

And then, suddenly, "You are a hypocrite Everson Crestwood," Octavious growled from behind him.

Ever froze. Never expecting those words from Octavious. While Ever was very good at suppressing his emotions he wasn't so good at suppressing his temper. And his temper was the worst of all. When he was angry he said cruel things with the intent of hurting people. When people strike him he strikes them back five times as hard. He breathed in and tried to tell his temper to screw off. No such luck.

He turned toward Octavious. Ever saw that his jaw was clenched tight along with his fists rolled up in balls. He'd never seen Octavious so angry. Nobody called him a hypocrite. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

He was looking for a fight? Why? "I do not want to fight Octavious."

His glare did not let up. What was he so worked up about? What had gone through his thoughts in the last ten minutes? "Really? because you always want to fight."

"Not with you." never with you.

"Never with me, huh? Except we fight all the time."

Ever felt like he could not breathe. He felt like Octavious had sucked the breath from his lungs with the intent of killing him slowly. And then the feeling was replaced with cold rage. "Did you just read my mind?"

A flash of guilt flickered through his honey eyes.

"So what if I did?"

Ever lunged at him, moving in a flash of light. He did not do anything other than grab Octavious's upper arms. Over the years they had gotten into plenty of fights but it was always over stupid things, things that did not truly matter in the end. This was different. This meant something. It terrified him. "Stay. out. of. my. head."

"Make me."

Oh. that did not help the flickering flame of pure rage in his chest. No, that did not help at all.

"Why are you being like this?" Ever hissed. He had never seen him this uncontrolled of his emotions. Octavious was always level headed. And now Ever was corrupting him. As he corrupted everything.

"Why are you being like this?"

"What did I do?"

Their faces were extra close now. Anger coming from both of them like heat. Both of their breaths catching as if they had run a marathon.

Genuine and pure hurt transformed over Octavious's face washing away the anger.
"You lie!"

"I always lie!" Ever shouted, suddenly feeling guilty for a reason he couldn't explain. "Why are you acting like that's a big deal?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Because have you ever thought that maybe I feel the same way about you?" Octavious hissed in a fit of rage and pointed a finger at Evers chest. He could feel the burn of it through his clothes. He could feel Octavious's breath on his neck, that's how close they were. He could feel his eyes burning through his. "Have you ever even considered? No, you haven't. I can see it in your eyes. That makes you a hypocrite."

Ever stumbled back as if he had been hit, slapped across his face, or perhaps a knife drawn through his heart. He blinked several times but it seemed that this conversation was really happening. That those words actually did come from Octavious's mouth. Ever shook his head. Didn't he know? Didn't he know that he can't say things like that to me?

"I-"

"Hey!" a shout rang out, sounding a lot like Mara, across the white forest. "We found something!" 

Him and Octvaious stared at each other for agonizing moments that felt like hours, before they rushed over to them in an instant using their light magic for speed. Mara and Nyan were standing in a random part of the forest looking up at the sky.

Mara pointed up as soon as she felt their presence. "Look."

Ever looked to the sky and saw something he had never seen in the light realm before. Butterflies. And not just any butterflies. There had to be at least a hundred of them gathered in the sky and their wings ... their wings were on fire. Though it did not seem to affect them they seemed to be as full of life as every other living thing. That could only mean that the fire was a part of them. And if it was, then that would mean ... that would mean they were from the Shadow realm. It is only then Ever sees that they are staying still and that their positions create words.

Oh gods ...

Don't come for me.

Ever could not fathom what this could mean, he whispered, "Do you think ... Do you think it's from Ryn?"

Nyan nodded soundlessly as she stared up at the flames of the butterflies. Ever saw out of the corner of his eye, her reach for Octavious's hand. They clasped and he saw Octavious squeeze hers into his, their hands fitting perfectly together.

Ever felt like throwing up.

What am I doing? What is Octavious doing? They had no right to feel the way they did. Octavious had no right to say those cruel words to him. To give him even the slightest bit of hope that they were not doomed was not fair. Not when it was inevitable. No matter what happened. They would never be together. Never. Even if Octavious broke up with Nyan, neither of them would do that to her.

Mara turned toward everyone. "What could it mean?"

Evers only thought was that maybe she didn't want to leave. That maybe she went there willingly. Maybe she switched sides. She was pretty cozy with the hot Greer prince warrior.
But he couldn't help but feel it was something different than that ... 

He knew that he was probably the one here who knew Ryn the best, despite her spending more time with Nyan, Ryn told Ever more things about herself.

"She is protecting us," Ever said suddenly.  "I know she is."

"Why? She doesn't think we can beat the Greers?" Nyan teases.

"It's not that," said Ever, trying his best not to look at her. If he did the guilt would hit him like a wildfire. "Ryn is a very logical person, which means she would have thought this through. They have something that makes them stronger."

"The Vad," whispered Mara.

"You think they've found the other half?" Asked Octavious.

"That or they are about to." Ever shrugged. "We need to tell Bash not to steal the Dendarum. We need to tell him before Enyo finds out."

  ***

Avaryn

A few days later, I was walking back from training with Roz. The sun was out today. It was never out here. I was almost convinced the shadow realm had no sun at all but it turned out that it did exist. The light shown through the decorated glass created a rainbow effect on the stone floor beyond me. It was spring. I had realized.

"What month is it?" I had asked Roz earlier. I hated asking something that everyone should know. Something so basic. I hated that I didn't know.

Something like pity showed in her eyes and I thought she was just remembering that I was kidnapped here. She had replied, "I believe in your time it is the seventeenth of february."

It took me a total of seventy-three steps to reach my room from the training room. Sixty-eight if I was in a hurry, like now. Today was the day we left to retrieve the Vad from the mountains. My heart was in my stomach for most of the day with nervousness and because today was ...

I stood in the doorway to my chambers for several minutes. Each time I was in this room it was like a punch to the gut. All I could see was Nisha. I forced her out of my mind and forced myself to stride forward.

I froze when I saw something on my bed. A medium sized rectangular box. I walked over to it, treading slowly. I grabbed the lid and lifted it consciously. Surely a poisonous snake couldn't fit inside this box right? Or maybe it was a poisonous spider?

God, I really hoped not.

Finally, I decided my theories made no sense and I threw the lid off. Inside lay the most beautiful weapon I had ever seen.

Yes, I've gotten comfortable with calling a weapon beautiful.

The dagger that lay before me was pure ... glass? No. something stronger. Perhaps a gem stone of some kind. Half of it was the most soft and purest white you could conjure. It was matte with tiny crystals gleaming from inside it.

The other half was solid black. Obsidian, I believed. It was almost as dark as Raiden's eyes.

And finally the hilt ... the hilt had a butterfly on it. One wing was white and one was black, perfectly sliced down the middle.

I reached down into the box and grasped it in my hand, it fit perfectly like it was meant to be there. Like it had been perfectly designed to fit my palm.

Only then did I realize that there was a note at the bottom of the box.

Since you keep stealing daggers from my weaponry, little thief, here's one of your very own.
Happy birthday,

For a moment everything stopped. And it was only me in this castle, in this entire damn realm. My breathing had stopped seconds ago. I was in shock.

How did he know? How could he have possibly known it was my birthday? But that's not the question that truly mattered to me. Why? Was the real question. Why had he done this? Why did this feel way more intimate than it should?

Why did Raiden even care?

I took a deep breath and decided not to think so hard on this, I decided to push the thoughts to the farthest part of my mind and leave it there. They were unimportant at the moment. I grabbed the dagger, carefully, in case it might break in my hands and strapped it to my waist.

***

Apparently cars did not exist in The Shadow Realm. And we couldn't shadow to the Vad because I guess you can't teleport long distances (which nobody told me this lovely fact) I didn't know what I was expecting but it was not this.

I stared at the smelly creature that smelt like soil. It was at least a foot taller than me. I'd only ever seen a horse once in real life and it was from a very far distance.

I turned to where Raiden stood speaking to the other soldiers who would be going with us. He wore his usual black attire with weapons strapped across his body.

We had not talked since Black rose. And I already knew he was going to pretend it didn't happen. Pretend he did not spill all his feelings out to me, drunk and foolishly. And I was okay with ignoring it. I was okay with ignoring the humanity in him and just seeing  a cold-hearted murderer.

I was going to ignore that he got me a birthday present, I was going to ignore the way it made me feel.

I assumed Raiden told his father I would be going with him and I wasn't sure how that conversation went but i can imagine badly. 
"I'm not riding this," I said to him once he made eye contact with me.

His eyes perk up a fraction. "And why is that?"

"It's a horse."

"No," he said, his voice dropped with sarcasm. He blinked. "Do they not have horses in the human world?"

I rolled my eyes. "They do, but I've never ridden one!"

"Why not?"

"I'm a city girl. We have cars."

"Those death contraptions?" he scoffed. "Unlike you humans we care about our world and we wouldn't corrupt it with those machines."

I rolled my eyes once again.

He grinned, it was his wicked kind of grin. "Don't worry darling, you can ride with me."

"I think I'll take my chances with one of the guards, thank you."

"Oh, but I don't think that's the best idea," he said, fake concern dripping from his amused voice. "You have slippery hands, one of them might end up dead. They'd be much safer if you rode with me."

Though I felt like punching the smirk from his face, I felt some sort of triumph at the idea of me being able to over power one of the king's guards. I believed I could do it. I had changed over these past few weeks. I've stopped ignoring the power beneath my fingertips, I've stopped pretending it wasn't there. I was ready to embrace it.

"Fine."

We were in some kind of stables that were on the edges of the grounds of the castle. It was nearly nightfall and we haven't left yet. I wondered if there was a reason we were waiting for it to get dark out.

From the corner of my eye I saw movement, I ficked my gaze to see Roz stalking towards us. She completely ignored her brother and went straight for me, wrapping her skinny arms around my waist in a hug. My body froze in shock, my arms hanging at my sides. I was never good with physical touch I didn't initiate. Was she really hugging me-?

"Keep him safe," she whispered in my ear, her grip tight as if threatening me. "If he dies in your presence, I will kill you."

I nodded. "Noted."

Her arms dropped from me and then, with one lingering look, she strode away not even saying goodbye to Raiden. There was more to the Ashveild siblings than either of them let on. Outwardly it seemed as if they hated each other or at the very least ignored each other. But they were both secretly protecting each other.

I realized it had to be because of their father. They didn't have a relationship with each other to keep them safe. Because if they did, their father would use it against them. Threaten them. But it seemed that didn't work anyway.

Raiden stared at me and didn't bother to keep the skepticism out of his gaze. I smiled, sweetly, letting him know I wasn't going to tell him anything.

The rest of the guards got onto their horses preparing to leave. The sun was setting now and night was slowly blooming.

Raiden stared at me. "I'm waiting on you, love."

Right.

The dark horse stood several feet taller than me. I grabbed the handle thingy and attempted to lift myself up. No such luck. I tried again, using all my upper body strength and my legs but I failed. I tried again using both my legs but still failed miserably. 

I huffed in frustration almost ready to stomp my foot like a toddler, when hands grabbed my upper waist and lifted me onto the horse with little to no effort. My feet dangled off the beast as I glared at Raiden. "I was going to-"

"I don't have time, Ryn. We need to leave. Now." he stepped up and onto the horse as easily as sitting in a chair. I felt like screaming. I turned my body into a straddling position so either leg was on each side of the horse.

Raiden sat behind me. The warmth of him burning like a wildfire. He reached around me and grabbed a hold of the reins, his arms on either side of me, and then kicked the horse into motion.

I felt myself unintentionally stiffen. My back straightened as I felt ... everything. His chest and muscles were pressed hard against my back. And his warmth ... his warmth never failed to drive me crazy. My head fit just below his chin so it was easy for him to see where we were going.

And of course, he was unaffected. As he was with everything.

He followed after the other guards, there were two in front of us and two behind us as if creating a shield. We headed out of the gates and through a secluded part of the city. Arawyn was as alive as any other night. The gothic structure of the city never ceased to amaze me. And the lights and the strangeness of it all was forever intoxicating. And the knowledge of knowing that I was probably the only human to ever experience this.

Except you're not human. Not at all.

"You called me Ryn," I said to fill the silence and make myself stop thinking about his body and how if I leaned slightly back ...

Shut up!

"So?" It was only then did I realize that Raiden was not unaffected by my close proximity. His voice sounded ruff, like stone against stone. It was hoarse and slightly breathy.

I fought back an arrogant smile. I liked to know that I had some kind of power over him. "You've never called me that before."

He leaned forward, ever so gently, his white hair brushing my forehead. "And what would you like me to call you?" he said, his breath hitting my neck and leaving goosebumps on the skin there. He was teasing me. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"I don't care," my voice was impassive, uncaring, bored.

"Mmh," he murmured, letting his lips linger by my throat. My heart pounded against my chest as if I had run a marathon. My skin was filled with goosebumps and he hadn't even touched me. I hated that he had this effect on me.

And then he leaned away and I heard him chuckle. And the want in me was slowly replaced with annoyance and anger and I remembered why I hated him.

"Thank you," I whispered, after moments. Besides my better judgment, I couldn't help myself. I couldn't stop thinking about the dagger beneath my clothes.

"For what?" he whispered back, his voice floating beyond the night air, the most gentle I had ever heard it.

I smiled. "You know what."

We traveled out of the city and eventually into the misty forest. I watched the trees past by, shadows coming from them and their leaves disintegrating into ash as soon as they fell to the ground. It was actually quite peaceful to watch. When they turned to ash the edges burned, it reminded me of falling stars. Like the sky was falling apart and the world was ending but supposed I wasn't that lucky. I watched them fall for hours before I felt my eyes get droopy.

I was hot. Very hot. My skin was burning, was I back in the fire? But as I opened my eyes I realized I was still in the shadow realm. I was still on a horse. Still in front of Raiden. Only now my whole body was leaned against him. Pressed against him. I was leaning on him for support. Basically using him as a wall to sleep against. And my head ...

Dear god. My head was nestled in the crook of his neck, hanging over his shoulder. My lips turned by his throat.

I felt a tightening in my stomach and I knew it was embarrassment. Maybe if I kept my eyes closed I could pretend I was still asleep and-?

"I know you're awake," he snickered before I could try anything. Missing was the amusement in his voice and instead it was replaced with a rasp. As if he had been holding his breath. Or at least steading it.

I lifted my head from his shoulder and refused to look at him. The guards around us had lit torches to see through the thick forest. A scarlet glow illuminated the mossy ground before us.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything to fill the silence, when an unhuman growl came from the darkness beyond. The horses stopped and whined in fear, kicking up their front legs.

It suddenly felt very cold and I realized the torches had gone out. There was a rustling all around us, as if whatever was out there was circling us.

I turned my face toward Raiden's cautious one.

"What is it?"

His eyes did not leave the forest beyond. "I don't know," he whispered, and then carefully slid off the fearful horse and gestured for me to do the same. My feet hit the ground softly. The guards immediately surrounded us, well me. I suppose I was the weakest link. I wouldn't be if I had Raidens fire.

A jarring roar came from the dark trees, so deep and strong I swear the ground shook. And then I saw it.

Fire.

Fire shot from in front of us as if from a canon. It was twelve feet of flames and burning hot. The trees around us caught flames, the leaves burning like wildfire and then turning to ash. In that flash of light my eyes caught on a moving creature, a snout and purple eyes. Black scales ran across its back, ragged and scarred.

... Dragon.

Dragon! my mind screamed.

"Impossible!" one of the guards gasped, stumbling back, holding his sword out more. "T-they don't travel this far south, They are only in the mountains."

"Apparently not," said Raiden, whose face was steady and concentrated. I could practically see the possibilities and strategy running across his expression.

What I hadn't realized was that he was right in front of me, blocking me from the creature with his body.

The creature had begun circling us, my eyes trailed the giant wings it dragged behind its scaly back and the tail that matched it. It was obviously preparing to kill us, seeing us as prey.

My heart froze in my chest.

Dragon.

Dragon dragon dragon dragon dragon dragon dragon dragon dragon dragon.

Fire breathing dragon.

My mind could not wrap around that word. I've seen a lot of things. And I obviously believed in magic but this ... this was too bizarre. This was too fictional. My mind was blown.

A mythical monster. Right in front of me.
It roared again, a horrible growling noise, like stone scraping against stone and I realized that one of the guards had lunged for it, slicing it with his sword. But the dragon was surprisingly fast for its weight and in a swift motion its jaw unhinged and closed around the guards neck.

Ripping his head clean off.

I put a hand over my mouth, fighting the urge to scream, as his headless body tumbled to the ground.

The monstrous creature kept its eyes on us, waiting.

For what? What was it waiting for? Why didn't it just attack us now?

"How do you kill a dragon?" I asked Raiden whose eyes never left the beast.

He doesn't release eye contact as he said, "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" I hissed, "you're supposed to know everything!"

"Most of the time I do darling but I've never fought against a dragon before."

"Why not?"

He replied flatly, "I find them to be boring in battle."

I glanced up at him. "Really?"

"Of course not it just tore off someone's head."

"Now is not the time for sarcasm, jackass," I hissed and then froze when the beast started circling us once again. What was it doing?

"Why isn't it attacking?"

"I'm not sure," Raiden whispered back as if in deep thought.

"What should we do captain?" one of the guards asked him, practically trembling in fear. And at that moment I realized something. I wasn't ... afraid. There wasn't an ounce of fear in my veins.  The dragon did not scare me.
Its eyes began to glow as it started at us.
Why wasn't it attacking?

"Raiden ..." I started. "Give me your fire."

That made a laugh come from him. "Absolutely not."

"Raiden," I growled. "Just trust me, you can lock it back up when I'm done."

He let out a breath and then finally looked down at me, his black gaze glowing. He glared. "What do you plan on doing with it?"

"Just fucking give it-" I cut myself off when I felt the overwelming amount of power hit me in the gut. The prickle beneath my fingertips finally turned into something more. A spark. Heat ignited in my chest, heat I've missed. The power welcomed me like an old friend and I found myself smiling.

Raiden stared at me weird. His expression changed. "Well what do you-?"

But I ignored him. I was too busy enjoying the rush and sensations flowing through me like a breath of fresh air. I pushed passed him and passed the other guards so I stood at least twelve feet away from the creature.

It stared straight ahead, at nothing, its purple eyes still glowing in the harsh night.

I held my hand out in front of me and I lit the flame in my chest. A hot burning green flame ignited atop my palm, creating a glow in the dark forest. It stayed there, waiting for me to command it what to do. Goosebumps spread across my skin. I've missed this. The fire welcomed me, hugged me, and comforted me, like an old friend. I waited several moments basking in the glory and then I lifted my hand up and threw a flame at the dragon scaled beast.

Fly.

I heard Raiden shout from behind me but I didn't care. The flame soared through the night sky before it hit creature square in the chest. It roared and lashed out with its wing,  almost immediately, but I was fast enough and got out of the way before it could strike me.
What I didn't see was that it was also coming for me with its mouth, in the direction I had shot the flame from.

interesting...

A scream tore from my throat as I realized I was probably going to die but then I felt a hand grip my waist and in seconds I was flying back, a body crashing into mine. I was waiting for the blow of the hard ground but somehow I didn't land on my back, I landed on someone's chest. I opened my squeezed eyes to see a very angry Raiden glaring at me.

Maybe I should close my eyes again?

"You fool," he growled. "You absolute idiotic fool, what were you-?"

"Before you get your painties in a twist I'll have you know that I accomplished two things just now." I got up from the ground and he followed after me, dusting off his cloak till every speck of dirt was gone.

"And what would that be?" he growled, true rage flicking in his voice.

"Well, first of all, the creature is blind," I said, with some smugness in my voice, "and second of all I don't think it's going to attack us unless we strike first. I think it's scared."

Raiden frowned. "How do you-?"

"From what the other guard said, It's a long way from home, and it can't see anything. It's just frightened. If we leave it alone it will leave us alone."

His frown deepened. "You're sure?"

I smiled. "Positive, it didn't show any signs of hunger, or predatory nature, just defense."

He tilted his head, his eyes shown in amazement. "How are you so smart yet so dense at times?"

My smile dropped. "I will feed you to the dragon."

He grinned at my response. "Come on, let's go."

****

Okay sorry this chapter is short and boring the next one is much more interesting I swear.

I hope you like the new cover. It's supposed to me Everson. I have an addiction to changing my covers 😋

See you next week 🥰

-L