Everything is moving in slow motion. I am running toward the enemy. They race toward me. Their black armour has no shine to it. No hint of light. Their skeletal masks show no kindness.  Only evil. They are terrifying. I look beside me on either side of me. Watching as my people charge by my side with weapons drawn. The rhythmic thump of our feet hitting the ground as we run is all I can hear. Everything else is background noise as I focus on the enemy rushing toward us. Closer and closer they get and they just get bigger and bigger. I feel so small as this huge mass of darkness rushes toward me. Then, there are the monsters. Monsters that have been let off their leashes and are charging through the NightShade ranks straight for us.

There is silence for a few seconds. All I can hear now is my own heart racing loudly in my ear. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins and I am scared. Very scared. My lips have dried along with my throat. I can feel my hands shake as I hold my sword. My eyes widen and I take a quick, deep breath as the NightShades completely fill my vision with weapons outstretched and the bright lights of their deadly spells flashing around us. I scream and jump forward, swinging my sword. I knock the spear away from the first NightShade I encounter and arch my sword. It swings into their neck and takes their head clean off. There is a large oomph sound as both sides meet. Swords clang and the sound of exploding spells and screams fills the air. I breathe heavily as I look around me. It is complete chaos. With wide eyes, I can't help but stare. My breathing is loud in my ears as everyone clashes in one giant mess. I let out a shout as a NightShade runs toward me, wildly swinging an axe. I duck underneath it and ram my sword into their chest. It pierces their armour easily and blood sprays everywhere as I pull the weapon out again. Something slams into my back and I stumble forward. I twist around and clash my sword against another NightShade. I kick out at him and dodge another blow. As I am about to strike my own blow, a Shifter running past swings their axe into his head. They pull the axe out and carry on fighting, leaving the NightShade's body to fall toward me in a bloody heap. Come on, Isla. Get a grip! I say to myself as the bodies pile up around me. Though I can't help but watch for a few more seconds as NightShades and shifters run around each other in a chaotic mess. Another NightShade runs toward me, only to be cut off by a spear ramming into his chest from behind. his body rockets forward as the spearhead buries into the ground and leaves his body hanging limply from it.  My breathing is heavy in my ears as I watch my people die around me. I watch as their limbs are cut from their bodies and blood sprays out of gaping wounds. I let out a shout as I jump out of the way of a monster. It is one of the huge, black furred beasts. Its limbs are thick with muscle and the long claws at the end of its feet curl sharply and are lined with Black Root. Lots of little red eyes all target me. It opens its mouth and lets out an enormous roar knocking me to the ground. Layers of teeth, covered with more Black Root line inside its mouth. I gasp and clench my hand around the hilt of my sword a little tighter. It charges toward me, the ground shuddering as it runs. I have fought one of these monsters before. Only a few days before we were even found by the shifters. I can do it again. I just can't rely on my powers and strength this time. I charge for it. It rears and aims to stamp on me. I slide under its belly. A scream leaves my mouth as I drag my blade along its stomach. Once I am out from under it, I spin round to it. The beast is on its hind legs, clawing at the huge gash down its stomach. Blood is soaking its fur as it leaks from the open wound. That isn't what is causing it to scrape its belly, however. Ice crawls out from the wound, spreading over its body until it can't move anymore. I stare wide-eyed as the ice creature begins to crack and it explodes into a million shards. I bring up my shield to block my body from the shrapnel of sharp ice. With wide eyes, I look down at my glowing blue sword. I smile and charge further into battle. Grunts leave my mouth as I cut my way through NightShade soldiers. I duck under their weapons and slice at their exposed flanks. Any I don't kill in the first blow can't escape the ice that crawls from their wounds and consumes their bodies.

I somehow manage to find Toryn in the huge chaotic mass of fighting bodies.

"Isla!" he shouts as I near him. I watch as he slices a huge gash into a NightShade's side. They drop their weapon and clutch at their wound. Then they scream as their body begins to smoke and a deep burning liquid consumes their body until they are nothing but ash.

"Toryn!" I shout with relief as I make my way over to him. As I run, I cut down more NightShades. My sword is spinning in my hands as I flip and twist over enemies until I am finally at my brother's side. He plunges his blade into the chest of another NightShade. I reach for one of my throwing blades and launch it at a NightShade that was sneaking up on him. Toryn turns to him just as he topples over.

"This is chaos, Isla!" he shouts at me. "We aren't getting anywhere!" he continues. I nod my head, looking further into the battle. I can't see much ahead beyond the ocean of NightShades still heading toward us. "Are you any closer to shifting?" he asks.

"I haven't really had time to try!" I shout back at him. "For now, you and I are going to have to stick together to try and make our way through. If we can get to the King then maybe we can end this!" I tell him. "Where is Tanya!" he points in another direction. Tanya is being completely surrounded by NightShades. But it doesn't seem to affect her as she flicks her whip around her whilst wielding her sword. She moves with such fast precision with every blow and manoeuvre. I am surprised the NightShades are still trying to get to her.

Toryn and I don't even have to communicate as we race toward her. I slide along the ground as a NightShade swings his weapon. As I slide, I pull out my daggers, slicing at his legs. As I do so, I kick the shins of another. He flies to the ground and I bury the dagger into his skull. Pulling the dagger out of the dead NightShade, I spin my arm behind me as the NightShade whose legs I had sliced topples to the ground. His chin landing on my dagger. He lets out a sickening gurgle and I flip him off of my dagger and jump up to my feet. As I do so, I drag my dagger up another enemies torso then twist to kick at another. My foot connects with their throat and there is an odd crunching sound as the NightSHade drops his weapon to clutch at their neck. More come toward me and I swing my sword, arching my back and twisting. I cut into about five NightShades as I do this and ice begins to crawl along their bodies. Finally, we get to Tanya. She lifts up her helmet, her golden eyes glowing behind it and her breathing heavy.

"We are getting nowhere!" she yells.

"I know," I shout back at her. I spin around, bringing my blade with me as I slice down another NightShades torso. He screams as he falls to the ground.

"We need to get to the NightShade King!" Toryn shouts.

"Isla! You need to shift!" Tanya says. "Concentrate, we will protect you!" she bellows. Iona rushes over to us and I smile from beneath my helmet. She's okay. Her double headed blade is a blur as she spins it in her hand. She cuts away NightShades with just flicks of her wrists.

"Iona, protect Isla!" Tanya orders. Iona doesn't say anything. She just rushes over to Toryn and Tanya. The three of them have their backs to me as they fight away enemies. I need to shift! If I shift, then the spell will be broken and we will all have our powers again. I take a deep breath and look down at the icy sword that Toryn and I made together. Obviously, there is still some magic leaking through the power blocking spell as my sword is still full of it. I take a slow deep breath as I try and connect to the magic. I feel the Heart of Shadow thumping against my chest. The source of all shifter magic. Though I may be blocked from accessing that magic, it is still connected to me. The battle around me slows and I think of water. I think of how the ocean waves crash against the cliffs. I think of how the streams trickle over small pebbles and crash in huge waterfalls. I imagine the rain as it hits my skin. How the water droplets tickle as they run down my body. Then I think of how I water consumes me. How it surrounds me when I am enveloped deep into the depths. I can almost feel its cool touch. Then my thoughts change. I smile as I imagine being in Dragon form. How my limbs would feel after stretching for the first time in years and how I long to feel the breeze dance over my scales as I lift my wings and take off into the sky.

The Heart pumps against my chest and I feel a small release of magic. Like it has slipped through a crack that is in the Kings spell. I smile as my chest warms. I imagine seeing the world from above, from my own dragon eyes. I imagine how my wings would... A loud, childlike scream interrupts me and I look up with horror.

"BONE CRAWLER!" Toryn shouts. The four of us jump out of the way as it buries its huge clawed foot into the ground where we were just standing. I look up at it. It is bigger than the one we fought in the forest all those months ago. It towers so high above us and its long bony legs stretch over a great distance. Its pasty white skin has been cut and oozes more black root. It is terrifying as it looks down at us. With its clammy white skin stretching over empty eye sockets and cracked bloody mouth surrounding too many teeth to fit inside it. Thousands of thin, pointed teeth. I growl and charge toward it. I slice at its leg and it screams. I wait for the ice to crawl over its body, but nothing happens.

"Toryn!" I shout, putting away my sword and drawing my two daggers. I bury them in its legs and pull my body up. The creature tries to kick me off with its other limbs but Tanya on the ground keeps cutting at them. Toryn and I use our daggers to climb up the legs of the bone crawler. Even as we do so, the beast does not seem to weaken. Tanya and Iona jump out of the way of its stamping feet, but other shifters are not so lucky. Especially when it sweeps its neck down and bites them in half, spitting out the other halves. Toryn and I jump up onto its back. It shakes violently, trying to get us off. We try to run along its spin, but it moves to much.

"Isla!" Toryn shouts, burying his sword deep into its back. The creature screams again but still doesn't relent in its attacks. He holds out his hand and I take it, tightening the grip on my weapon. Toryn grips his embedded sword tightly and nods his head. I nod back. He lets out a shout as he puts pressure on the sword, swing around it. He builds up momentum fast. Even without dragon strength, he is still strong. He swings me and when we are lined up with the creatures head, he lets go. I go flying through the air, landing on top of its head. I shout and try to push my sword into its skull. It takes a few attempts, the bones hard to protect its brain. But with a final burst of strength, I plunge it deep into its head. The creature screams a final time before beginning to crash to the ground. I yank on my sword, twisting the falling creature away from the Shifters to make it dive into the oncoming NightShades. I am thrown off the creature upon impact causing me to violently role across the floor. Disorientated, I stand up. NightShades surround me but instead of stopping to fight, they continue to run toward the shifters. I see why.

He is walking toward me. With a sword drawn, he steps closer and closer. Robes of black sweep around his black metal armour. His black skull mask fills me with terror. I gulp, reaching for my ice sword. Only to realise, that it is still buried in the skull of the Bone Crawler. I turn to look back at the dead beast. A NightShade tries to crawl up the head of the beast and grab the sword. No, they can't get hold of it! I make a move to get it but stop. As soon as the NightShade grazes the hilt, he screams. He clutches his hand and brings it up to his face, watching as ice consumes his hand and crawls up his skin. Once his whole body turns into ice, it explodes and ice shards fly out. They fly at such a force that shards embed themselves into passing NightShades who then turn to ice themselves. When they explode, the same things happen and the process repeats. I smile. It seems that my sword didn't like being touched by anyone but me and I must have broken through the magic a little more. Resulting in the swords magic becoming more powerful. My victory is short lived as I turn back to face him. Now, he isn't walking toward me. He is in front of me. He lifts his leg in a blink of an eye. It slams into my chest and I fly backwards, landing roughly on my back. The wind leaves my body as I struggle to breathe for a few moments. I grab my two smaller swords and force myself up. My breathing quickens as he charges at me. I spin my swords and take a deep breath before running toward him.