Light shot out of the end of the focuscope at just the right angle to burn straight through my dual hearts. Warmth flooded my chest, raced along my limbs, all at once healing and destroying every inch of my body. The heat was too much to take in this form, so I released it, morphing into the draconic body that was meant to take this power. My head bumped the focuscope, nudging its beam off the altar.

A thunderous crack split the air. Cursing, the emerald kapi shut off my light once more. I blinked at the dark room as I waited for my vision to clear.

"The head elder's going to kill me," the kapi said in a squeaky voice.

Blinking away the last of the spots, I winced as I saw a deep crack in the floor at the base of the altar. I cautiously stepped down from the altar, not wanting to make the crack worse with my massive feet.

"Sorry. I bumped it." I shuffled my wings. Leaning in close, I peered into the crack. It had gone right through the floor to a basement below. Hopefully, no one had been vaporized. It looked like a crypt, so if anyone was vaporized, at least they hadn't been alive when it happened.

The emerald kapi leaned against a column as if he was weak in the knees—despite the fact that he didn't have any knees. He stared at me in awe. "It's worth it."

Aster grimaced as he moved to pat my wing. "I sure hope it is, because we can't afford to fix this, Mars."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not completely without means." I clamped the base of one of my wing feathers in my beak and ripped it out. There was a little blood, but I was still buzzing with magic and healed instantly. I laid the nine-foot wing feather in front of the kapi.

Backing away, I glanced toward the corner where the borin priest had disappeared to. "So... could you not tell anyone we were here? Or at least, that we're traveling in these forms? I don't want a lot of attention on us."

"Oh- of course." He leaned down to gingerly touch my wing feather. Wincing, he drew his hand back quickly. "This should do quite nicely to convince everyone I haven't gone insane and bore a hole through the floor for fun." As he straightened, he fiddled with the sleeves of his robe. "But, might I ask you another favor—a picture of you and me, just for posterity's sake?"

I nodded. "As long as it's quick."

"Yes, yes, it'll be quick, I swear." He rushed off through a side door.

Aster chuckled. "It's nice being in the loop for once." He patted the translation necklace. "I think I'll have to keep this on me." He pulled on my coat, buttoning it right over the necklace. The coat was tight enough that I could hear the stitches strain when he kept buttoning it down.

The emerald kapi raced out of the side door with a box camera and a tripod. He hurriedly set it up and gestured for Aster to come over.

"Please take the picture." He handed Aster what looked like a button attached to the camera by a wire. He slithered over to my side and looked back at Ast. "Does it look good?"

Aster squinted into the back of the camera. "I think so. Do I just press the button?"

"Yes, of course." The kapi grinned at me.

I gave my best draconic smile at the camera, which flashed with a fairly loud shutter sound. Almost immediately, the kapi was slithering over to look through the camera lens again. That was faster than I'd expected. Their cameras weren't quite as ancient as I'd thought.

"One more, just for luck." He slithered back and looked at the camera with a more stately expression this time.

As soon as Aster pressed the button and the shutter sound finished, the kapi launched into a round of questioning that didn't really surprise me.

"So, do you pass as a Mystican all the time? I can only assume you don't show your feathers that often, or you would risk revealing your identity. Do you usually pass as a borin, or...?"

"A human, actually." I wanted to leave and get to relative safety, but I couldn't help but feel guilty after scaring him half to death and burning a hole in his temple's floor.

"A human, really?" He produced a notepad from the depths of his robes and began scribbling furiously. "Is he...?" He nodded at Aster.

Aster waved. "I'm half human, half void dragon."

The kapi's eyes lit up. "I always theorized it was possible for dragons to breed with Mysticans, but the others say I'm mad. Legend says Friwa was my sixth-great grandmother. No one believes the legend, but it could be true, couldn't it?"

I shrugged. "I've never met Friwa." And I was pretty sure Friwa was just a myth created by combining the traits of a lot of different flame dragons from over the years.

"Yes, but you could theorize." He tapped the pencil against his knuckles and looked back at Aster. "Forgive my rudeness, but how on Mystica is it possible for a void dragon and a human to mate? I understand many flame dragons and even some wave dragons can shapeshift, but I've never heard of void dragons doing it."

"I'm guessing he used a shapeshifting charm."

"Fascinating. Is cross-species mating common now that species numbers have fallen to near-extinction levels? Are you two mates?"

Before I could think of an answer to that juicy question, the temple's doors crashed open. Half a dozen red-and-gold-uniformed borins aimed funnel-shaped handguns at me and Aster. Their faces hid behind semi-transparent whitish shields strapped to the opposite arm. Two of them fell back when they saw me, but the rest stood firm.

"D-don't shoot," the emerald kapi insisted as he rushed out with his hands raised. "She's a dragon, and she's perfectly welcome in SPD. You were called in error."

"In the event of a dragon sighting, the dragon is to be taken into captivity for preservation of the species—order of the Grand Chancellor," the front-most borin said, as if he was spouting some memorized rule. Under his breath, he added, "Never thought I'd have to use that one."

"You're carrying lethal weapons," the kapi said, his voice two octaves too high. "If you kill one of the few remaining members of a protected species, the Grand Chancellor will have your heads."

I crouched, trying to look less threatening but still keep my large size in case I needed to charge out of here. Nudging Aster with my wing, I met his antsy gaze and nodded subtly at my back.

His lips tightened. He shifted his weight toward me.

The head borin whistled, and his group seamlessly holstered their guns while unhooking metal whips from their belts. The whips crackled with electricity. They advanced on me, whips and shields held tightly.

"There's no need for violence." My voice brought them to a sudden halt. "I'm going to get out of here and escape. The only question is how much bloodshed has to happen in the meantime." I jerked my beak at the kapi. "I suggest you take your camera and hide."

He swallowed. "That's a very good idea." He rushed his camera out of the way and cowered by the focuscope's controls.

I looked back to the enforcers, who were obviously frozen in shock. "Well, what will it be?" I felt Aster climb on my back and settle between my shoulder blades.

He wrapped his arms and legs tightly around my neck. "I'm ready when you are."

Straightening, I reared up until I could easily look down at every single enforcer. "Look, men, I have no desire to kill any of you. I just want to walk out of here peacefully and be on my way. But I will defend myself if necessary, so I highly suggest you get out of the way."

"It talks," one of them breathed.

I scowled. "Of course I talk. I'm not an animal to be taken to one of your conservation reserves." Dropping back into a comfortable stance, I moved toward them. As I advanced toward the front doors, they parted like the sea before Moses. "Good choice."

Something stung my left leg and kept stinging it. Shaking my leg furiously, I whipped my head around to see one of the borins go deathly pale as his whip flew from his hand. Shaking my head, I kicked the whip away and marched out the temple doors.

Any comforting feeling I might've gotten from the cool, bubbling fountain in the town square or the warm mid-morning sun was immediately overcome by the cacophony of screams that announced my arrival.