A dark cyclone made of countless abandoned souls swirled above Castle Teufelwald, each one prepared for battle. For a thousand years the fortress stood as a symbol of draconic power. Made of obsidian stone, its mighty spires reached to the heavens like the spindly fingers of an evil hand. Although the war against the Light had lasted for over eighty years, no army could breach its walls or the moat of liquid lava surrounding it.

Deep within its bowels came a bone-chilling screech, the call of the Shadow Queen. Their leader. Her cry summoned Shadows at will and could not be ignored.

Mount Balaam belched endless streams of lava and poisonous gas. But even the giant volcano could not drown out her call.

Come to me, Andor. Another piercing shriek echoed across the desolate basalt landscape. Prove your loyalty.

The Shadow wraith hummed in reply, a deep bass seismic wave that shook the caldera. A single entity broke free from the collective that hovered above the castle like shadowy mist. Andor descended through the stone walls of the castle until he reached the obsidian Throne Room, where the Queen ruled alone over the Shadowfolk.

When she beckoned to him with a welcoming thrum, Andor floated toward her throne. His ribbons of dark ether intertwined like the spidery veins of black ivy, tightly coiling until they formed the semblance of a man.

Though Andor had no eyes, he could sense her draconic magnetism vibrating in his dark soul like music. It resonated through every strand, playing him like a mournful violin. He needed her. The Queen filled a void inside him deeper than any mortal could ever fix.

He would do anything to repay her.

Tall and willowy, Andor bent the knee and saluted his Queen, placing his right fist over where his heart would have thudded. "Your will is my command, Your Highness."

The Shadow Queen spoke in a firm voice dripping with the sweetest honey. "Find Magnus."

Despite his blindness the wraith cast his gaze aside, her command piercing him like a lance. Even now, six years after the Great Split, some physical habits he could not break.

My twin brother? After all this time?

"I beg you, Your Highness. Please do not mention that traitor's name."

The Queen approached Andor with gentle footfalls before lifting his chin with a single finger. He could resist much, but never her human touch. When the fearsome dragon morphed into a goddess with skin of polished bronze, hair as dazzling as gold, and curves as gentle as the twin moons, he couldn't contain his desire to fulfill her every wish.

Though Andor couldn't see her now, he'd glimpsed her many times before.

He would move mountains for her. Massacre entire armies. Wreak havoc and pain on innocents. Whatever she desired, he would do, for she was his greatest weakness.

"Find him..." Her firm command brought his resolve to its knees. "And lead him back to the Shadow."

A heavy silence fell between them.

When she caressed his cheek with her cool hand, Andor leaned into her touch. Only she could understand him. Only she loved him after the collective had shut him out because of his twin's treachery.

Magnus had broken the sacred bonds of family and betrayed his oath to serve the Queen until death. For that, Andor would never forgive him.

But could he deceive Magnus so cruelly in return?

"Never have I questioned your commands," he said in a bass rumble, each syllable even and calculated, "but this I cannot do."

"You will for your Queen."

"Magnus has shut me out." Slowly the Wraith rose to his full height. Though nature had blessed him greatly, he still felt insignificant compared with her. "No spell can undo the Great Split."

"Find a way."

No, he decided. Even my Queen cannot ask this of me.

Magnus had made his choice, and Andor had made his. But revenge played no part in his plan of conquest. His twin had simply chosen a different path to power.

The wrong one.

A faithful knight of the Tower Guard, Magnus lived only for the Light. Never would he abandon Minningen, where the sun graced fertile ground, allowing flowers and trees to bloom beside burbling streams.

No matter how painfully his twin had ripped their soul in half, Andor could not force his counterpart to abandon his newfound happiness. Besides, Fate would show Magnus the error of his ways, and he would come crawling back without any show of violence.

"There is no way," he hissed. "I've tried everything. After he ripped us apart, I have no body, no heart, no mind! Do you think I wish to remain this way? Unable to—"

She shushed him with a kiss.

The magic spell contained within it made the impossible happen—if only for an instant. It changed Andor's Shadow back into a physical body once more. His brother's body. The one which had also been his before the Great Split. Raven-dark waves brushed his broad shoulders, contrasting with his light-gray draconic scales.

Sight! Touch! Actual sound!

"Everything is possible," she said after pulling away from the kiss. "You simply need to believe."

His heart raced. His lungs drew in gasps of warm, humid Teufelwalder air like a man rescued from drowning. His veins hummed with the tingling rush of physical passion.

With unbridled awe he gazed upon his Queen, whose bronze skin glimmered in the dim torchlight. Andor trailed his cool fingertips along her flushed cheek. She shivered. After he'd pulled away from her, confused, she pressed his right hand to her heart. He could feel it, racing like his, as though she'd run into his arms.

It told him everything he needed to know.

Andor traced his other hand along her golden waves, all the way down to her waist. Brazen, he pulled her close. The Queen intertwined her fingers around his neck, gazing at him through long, thick eyelashes in that sultry way of hers that melted his resolve.

Her silver eyes pierced his heart like a blade. Her lips parted with a soft sigh that begged him to kiss her back to prolong the spell. And he obeyed her every command.

Breathless, she breathed in his ear. "Do you trust me?"

"With all my essence," he replied in a soft whisper, nestling into the crook of her neck.

"We need Magnus to win the war."

A deep growl vibrated in Andor's chest, and he pulled away. "You speak of him as I touch you?"

"Long ago I planted the seed in his heart." The Queen cupped his face in her hands. "All you need to do is reap the harvest."

Andor stepped away from her with a frustrated snarl. "You ask the impossible!"

Her smile faded into a chilling glare, one that turned Andor's heart to ice.

No, don't!

Clenching her blessing hand into a fist, the Shadow Queen ended her spell. It ripped his human flesh to shreds like a thousand knives slicing him at once.

Andor screeched. It echoed in the dismal Throne Room like her draconic cry.

Devoid of human emotion of sensation, Andor faded into a wraith once more. He gasped. A very human reflex to no avail. No rush of air filled his lungs, for she had ripped them out along with his heart.

Yet the pain she inflicted made his twisted, broken soul love her all the more. If only he could please her, they could make this forsaken palace into their own version of Elysium.

"Find him," she ordered Andor through gritted teeth, "and you shall have the human body you covet so dearly. We can be together at last. Isn't that what you always wanted?"

Isn't that what she wants too?

Her callous words renewed Andor's resolve. "Not if it costs my twin his life."

Her draconic thrum radiated through the room, vibrating through every strand of his being, relaxing him into submission. Though Andor tried to resist it, he ultimately gave into her will like a frozen man easing himself into a hot bath after a cold winter's day.

"It's not about him," she whispered. "It's about our people. The Light will destroy us all."

He shuddered. "My Queen..."

"That's it," she cooed. "Give your soul to me."

"Your wish..." Andor drew another pointless ragged breath. "...is my command."

"And you shall be rewarded." She cupped his shoulders, drawing him close. "What Magnus has torn asunder, your Queen shall mend once more."

Spidery veins of ether clenched in lieu of his missing heart. His brother would never turn to the Shadow. Never. That was why Magnus had cast him out in the first place. Andor feared what his Queen would ask him to do if his twin refused to follow her orders.

Even more, he feared that Magnus would oblige her. If only to save them both.

Yet Andor could not refuse the call of his Queen. Somehow he would have to find a way to convince Magnus to embrace him as a brother. To embrace the volcanic wasteland as his home and the Shadow Queen as his leader.

Otherwise, it would end them both.

___

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Word count: 1,546/2,000