This is another picture taken by my mum, it was taken in Llanberis in Wales. Like the photo in the previous chapter, this has nothing to do with the places described in this chapter but the ruins fit in with the chapter.

I lie in bed, in the darkness. The memory swirls in my mind, the screams echoing in my head. The four of us decided to stay in the same room tonight. After emerging from the violent memory, we just wanted to stick by each other's side. After we awoke, we wondered around the ruined corridors silently and even went to our old rooms. It was hard, seeing our childhood so broken and damaged. With so much blood, fear and loss. I can't sleep. When I close my eyes I just see my friends getting killed. I stand up. My siblings snore softly next to me. It had taken a while for them to get to sleep but now they rest. I smile at them and look out of the window. The moon shines in the night sky, bright and shining.

"Are you okay?" my brother moans. I spin around to look at him and smile softly.

"I'm fine, but I need to run and release some energy," I tell him. He nods in understanding as I grab some clothes to change into. He turns as I change into black training trousers and a long sleeved top. I do not want to run in the beautiful white lace night dress.

"Don't be too long and take your weapons with you," he says as he stands and walks over to me. I chuckle.

"Yes dad," I joke, pulling on the weapon straps and attaching my weapons to my body. The two long slim swords, the two daggers and the spear which it's in the narrow cylinder. We had made sure to bring them with us, just in case.

"Isla, I'm being serious," he says. I sigh.

"I won't be too long, go back to sleep. I'll be back before you know it," I smile at him. He sighs and nods his head.

"Please, just be careful." he looks concerned and I frown. After remembering being so vulnerable and the horrors of our past, I can understand why my brother is much more nervous.

"I'll be fine," I say. He nods his head as grab a long black cloak and leave the room. Silently I walk through the corridors which are silent. I don't want to wake anyone up. If Princess Kayleigh or Lady Indira see me, they might send me back to my room. Same with Aspen. When I get to the balcony, I look out over the city. It looks beautiful under the bright white light of the moon. I look behind me, making sure that no one else is there. Though I can already tell that no one is nearby who is awake. I can hear soft breaths from those sleeping and slow rhythmic heartbeats.

I leap over the balcony edge. I love the feeling of falling, how the wind whips my hair around me I feel like I weigh nothing. It is the closest I get to flying myself without shifting. Too soon the ground reaches me and I land softly on my feet. Straight away I take off running. It doesn't take long for me to be out of the city and into the mountains. I am very fast, moving at a blur almost. It feels good to run like this again. It is something I haven't done since the forest before we came to Shadow. I run around the lakes and climb up the huge rock faces with ease and I enjoy the feeling of freedom it brings me. I come to a stop however when I realise that I stand on the mountain summit opposite the ruined palace that was my home. Somehow, I had ended up here again. I step toward the edge of the mountain I am standing on, a large vertical rocky wall is beyond it, falling all the way to the ground. Without taking my eyes of the ruins, I sit down with my feet hanging over the edge and sigh. The moon is bright enough for me to see it pretty well. Part of me doesn't want to see it, to be reminded of it. The other part of me wants to look upon the place I grew up in.

As I stare, I let my mind wander. Though we have all remembered that day, I feel like parts of that night still hasn't been unlocked. As the memory played, I spoke, touched and danced with Enzo, yet as I think now, I cannot remember what he looks like. It was all fuzzy around him. What breaks my heart, is apart from that memory, I can't remember anything else about him. From my reaction in the memory, where I saw him die, I could feel how deeply it affected me. I was distraught, heartbroken. He was my best and closest friend. Yet as I think about it now, I don't feel massively sad because I don't know him, I don't remember him. I still feel sad because he is a child who was taken too soon in such an awful way but I cannot remember my friend, he is a stranger. I think back to lots of parts. My mother shouting to me as we were about to teleport away. What was she saying? I know somewhere I remember, but it is blocked somehow. Though I may finally know how this all began for the four of us, there are still a lot more questions that need answering. There are still lots before that night that I don't remember, there are still holes.

"Little Dragon girl," a deep voice says, cutting me out of my daydreaming. My heart races wildly in my chest upon hearing that familiar voice. My breath quickens and butterflies tingle in my stomach with nervousness as I stand up. Slowly, I turn around to the speaker. Standing there is the man who chased us from the island. Wearing a black leather vest like top, covered in straps which hold a variety of gleaming silver weapons which shine beneath the moon.  The vest shows his muscular arms which I can tell hold a lot of strength. His black leather trousers are also covered in weapons and his black boots also are lined with spikes. Black metal also sits over his body. Over his wrists, hands, shoulders and is built into his leather vest, protecting his vital organs. The black metal around his hands is also covered in spikes. Over his head, is a thick black hood which hides his face underneath. The man before me is tall and a mountain of muscle and strength. He is also extremely heavily armed. My eyes dart to a huge metal sword hanging from his belt and the other assortment of blades all over his body.

"Little Dragon girl," he sighs again, taking a step closer to me. I take one back, knowing that there is a large drop behind me, not that it bothers me. I am too shocked to say anything as he pulls out a long sword from its sheath. The wide metal blade gleams and the serrated edge catches the moonlight. Black lines make their way down the metal and across the handle. As soon as the blade is free, I can feel its evil. I can feel its darkness and power. Something has been done to this sword to make it very dangerous. I want to reach for my swords, but I feel like any sudden movements and he will attack. My breathing is heavy as I watch him. I can't believe he is here, in my lands, on Shadow. How did he get here? The whole coastline surrounding our country is guarded by either magic or shifters. None is left unguarded, that is what Princess Kayleigh told us. Yet, here he stands in front of me. His hand is sturdy as he holds the blade.

"I told you I will find you, you will not escape me again," his voice rumbles. He takes a step closer to me and I have nowhere to go without taking a tumble off the cliff. Or I could shift, but that is the last resort. Fear spreads through me as he hands grip the sword tighter. I don't see his attack coming. His boot swings out, kicking me powerfully in the chest. I feel my bones crunch as my body flies off the edge. The world spins as I tumble toward the ground, yet I manage to land crouch on my feet, my chest already healing. I let out a hiss, feeling the scales form around my hairline and canines sharpen. I know that my eyes will be white with exception of the diamonds pupil. I am quick to rip the cloak off my body and pull out my two long swords. He lands in front of me with grace. His hood has fallen off to reveal a black skeletal mask. Its bones are angular and sharp teeth make up the mouth. The eye sockets are black and a black hood surrounds his head and neck underneath, not allowing me to see any of the skin around his head. It is terrifying.

"No one is coming to save you this time," the deep voice says behind the mask.
"You are all alone," he almost growls.

"I don't need people to come and save me," I spit as I spin my two long swords in my hands. I attack, trying to take him by surprise. My movements are fast, but he manages to block them with his sword. He too swipes for me but I spin and jump out of the way. With my two fast moving blades, I manage to cut him a few times, though he is able to stop me from getting anywhere that actually counts. Every time a slice at his skin, he carries on like nothing happens, like it doesn't even hurt. Our blades collide in a cross in front of us, only inches from each others face. I look up at the black mask then snarl, slamming my foot into his chest with as much strength as I can. He flies back into the stone cliff face, making it crack slightly. Without hesitation he is on his feet and jumping for me again. With the lake behind me, I use my water. He doesn't react as water rises from the lake behind me. Before he can reach me, I slam the water into his body, causing him to fly backwards. Surrounding him with my water, I freeze it, locking him inside. He struggles and I can tell that the ice isn't going to hold him for long. Picking up my blades, I run. Racing up the bridge which leads to the palace, I jump over the huge missing chunk and land on the other side. A huge cracking sound echoes around the mountains and I turn to see that my attacker has escaped and is catching up to me. With a pounding heart and adrenaline rushing through my veins, I race to the giant broken doors of my ruined palace. It is dark inside, but my eyes are quick to adjust. As I race through the stone corridors, I can hear him closing in behind me. I make my way through corridors, trying to lose him. Though I don't remember everything about this place, some parts of me know where to go and where things lead. Somehow, he is managing to follow me and he is gaining. Quickly, I spin my head around to look behind me and gasp when he appears around the corner. I push my self harder. Suddenly, a force grabs my hair. A shriek escapes my mouth as I am pulled violently to the floor. His blade glistens above me and I quickly role to the side. It hits the stone where I just was laying with a loud clang. I swing my legs, knocking his out from underneath him. He falls heavily on his back. Whilst he is down, I take off running again. I don't know what to do. I can't keep running because he will catch me. I also can't keep on fighting him because he is stronger and better. Using my powers will also tire me out. I come to a stop in the ballroom, pulling out my swords. Here is where I will fight him and at least try to injure him enough to get away. A few seconds later, he walks slowly from the corridor, his heavy blade in his hands. Then, he charges. The clanging of metal  fills the silence as our blades again clash. I duck and block his attacks. I try to cut him, to find the weak points in his armour and defence, but I can't. A stinging sensation fills my arm and I gasp, stumbling back. A frown crosses my face when he stops fighting me. Slowly, I look down at my arm. the cut is deep and black. Looking at his blade as see that the black lines are now covering other parts of the blade. The part of the blade that cut my skin as I can see the blood woven in with the black goo. What is this stuff? I can tell it is bad as my arm really hurts and I begin to lose sensation. I look up at the masked man and run. My body feels weaker and my running is slower than before. I turn around and see he is only walking after me. As I turn my head back around, my vision starts to spin. My feet tumble and I have to reach the wall so that it can keep me up. Ahead of me is the balcony we landed on earlier and I come to a stop, looking down at the lake below. It looks blurry. I spin around to see him come out to the balcony.

"What have you done to me?" I ask as my legs begin to numb. He says nothing as he continues to walk toward me, except I now see two of him as my vision doubles. I lift my body onto the stone barrier as he steps ever closer.

"You can't escape me now," he tells me. My body loses its strength and I tip back and start to plummet. This time I am scared as I fall. I can't feel my dragon or my power and those are the things that protect my body from breaking when I land. An "Omph" escapes my mouth as I land on something soft. Confusion fills my mind for a second before I see soft brown feathers.

"Alina?" I ask, looking down at the beautiful big bird. She lets out a shriek and I smile. I look back at my palace and watch as the man fades into the distance.

"Thank you, Alina," I say as I look down at my arm. My vision still spins as I look at the deep cut which is completely black. Black vein like lines also travels away from it, like this poison is spreading around my body. I grit my teeth and put my fingers in my cut. I can feel the poison. It is like a thick black goo. Slowly, I pull. I let out a scream as the goo seems to latch onto my skin. I pull harder and it digs deeper. As I pull it from my skin, it shrieks. A high pitched scream of sorts. With all my strength, I pull and I watch as the black veins slowly begin to retract. It hurts so much, but I dare not stop. As the poison begins to exit my body, I feel myself becoming more aware again. With an elastic snap, the goo is ripped from my arm until it is one giant bloody black ball in my hands. What do I do with it? Already feeling my strength, powers and dragon return I decide to freeze it. That stops it from letting out its cry. I look at it somehow sensing that this black goo is almost a living thing which needs destroying. I can't just drop it anywhere, it needs to die.

"Alina?" I ask. "Can we stop for a little bit please?" I say. She swoops down to the ground and I slide off of her. I find some dry wood around and start a fire. I could take it back to Toryn and get him to burn it, but he can't know about what happened tonight. No one can. As the fire begins to grow, I place the black goo inside. It screams again, though this one is like it is in pain. I block my ears as I watch the goo curl in on its self and slowly disappear. It is very strange to witness. Then it is gone. I blow out a breath of ice to put out the flames then walk back the large eagle.

"Alina," I say as I run my hand over her beak. She nudges me. "Please, may you take me back to Aspen's palace?" I ask. She nods her head and sinks to let me onto her back. With a powerful bust, she takes off into the sky.

"Thank you, Alina. For saving me." I tell her. She shrieks again as she glides effortlessly in the sky, taking me back to my family.