REYN

Draconic shadows flitted across his nightmares. Light from the descending sun bled into the clouds and cast them into red shadows — a fortelling of a day at sea for Hanekan sailors. Reyn took shelter in a corner of his small room, barely able to fit a bed and desk together. Away from the grate soaked in blood, he hugged himself to take hold of the warmth escaping him from the tiny slit of a window on the wall. Roars of dragons drowned out the seabirds who warbled down at the harbor. Ship bells tolled for departures and arrivals through the entrance of the gulf.

Leave me alone... I know I won't ever be a dragon...

His voice failed to scream in his own mind long after a housecarl brought him to the throne room.

Tapestries burned the scales of stories. In flight to the sky to escape the inferno and breathed out their might onto the ground below. Lightning stretched across the rafters in ages past. Flames died in the ocean and cast no light upon him and his little room.

Lord Soren hasn't come back...

Reyn sank into his seat on the edge of the table, with Gustul on the other side, lips pursed in thought as his fingers ran over the table's jagged wooden lines. Forgotten, Reyn read the runes of power on the door of black oak and glanced at the bubbling throne behind Father, who took a seat on a temporary wooden chair. Dragon forged steel burned in the light of the sun. Father ignored him, a lowly mouse, but he failed to guess how long his flimsy peace would last in the razor-sharp teeth of a dragon.

He waited for the end — for when Father discovered the truth.

Metal dug into his fingers, but he couldn't let go of the grate.

In his dreams, a dragon of sable scales and burning coals, circled around him.

Father sent a single odd glance his way, and Reyn kept himself low and out of the way. He jumped when the oak doors burst open to reveal the housecarl who tore ribbons out of the prisoners back. "Your Grace." They bowed low, and the blood on their hands tore at his throat. "A contingent of Storm Wardens have come at your decree."

One single hand-wave drove the housecarl to the side.

Warriors bathed in golden light and grey studded armor filed in, one by one but in harmony. One of them, the Avaerilian who carried themselves on the icy wind and rescued him and Fenrer Pyren. Their crescent blades formed in the crimson mosaic surrounding them. It drove the clouds of hopelessness into the light. His heart screamed against his rib-cage, and he shuddered in his chair when another tall figure left the ranks. Horns rose from the top of their head in ink swirls along the bone to skewer the tallest man. Gemstones embedded into the tips and provided support for the golden jewelry hanging off them. Furry ears pressed against the back of their head, the Storm Warden at the head of an army asked in a cold voice, "Why have you closed off your port, Thormar? Your men won't allow us safe passage back to Euros."

"King Thormar, Faehariel," Father corrected, and the tall Warden narrowed their eyes as their thick ears straightened at the correction. "I know the Storm Wardens labored themselves to stay out of conflict but I cannot let anyone leave Sivaport at this time."

Warden Faehariel frowned. "You cannot keep us here. We hold no loyalties. You must let us pass through to Euros."

"If you deign to leave, I will not permit you to return," he explained. "Turn after Turn you spirit away able-bodied Hanekans on a fruitless endeavor. The strength of the Derelicts have dwindled over a hundred turns, so I will not allow you and yours to act and steal away young warriors for your death sentence."

Reyn noticed some of the Storm Wardens eye each other in confusion, but Faehariel folded her arms and never backed down, standing in the light Lord Soren left behind. "You need not lecture me on history few lived. I was there when the Pact of Hundred was written. We may go wherever we must, wherever we're needed to combat the threat. Kings have no hold over us — have no sway in our decisions — as it has been since the written Pact decreed by the Elder Convocation."

Silence strangled Reyn when the darkness in Father's storm rested on every single Warden behind her. It fell on the Avaerilian Warden, whose pupils fell into beaded slits of stress. His feathers fluffed out, but Neven Lotayrin gave no further reaction than the one his body made.

"I was not aware the Wardens took those from the frozen wastes," Father mumbled. "You know the law, Warden Commander. Every single Naveeran who passes through Haneka must be subject to a search. If it has nothing to hide, you are free to leave."

The law... he uses it to drag those prisoners down to the dungeons... to the grate...

Ice broke apart to reveal the alarm beneath, but the Storm Wardens responded in turn. In one, synchronized movement they drew their crescent blades. Another man left Neven's side. Rage boiled the deep browns, and fury lit his voice, "Why would we hide anything? You're the one who sits his fat ass on a throne and ignores the plight of his people," he snapped. "You want this Warden? You're going to have to crawl over my rotting corpse — and you better hope I don't turn into a draugr before you get there, Your Grace."

Reyn swallowed at the flaming audacity of his fellow Hanekan.

Father scowled. "What is your name, boy?"

He drew out another shortsword with his own twisted expression. "I am Kemal Tyronai."

"Ah..." Father straightened himself out. "You're Lord Tyronai's older brother and one of the sons of Bersun. You gave up your claim for a pointless duty." Unfazed by Kemal Tyronai's consuming fire, Father shook his head. "Oh, I bet your father is proud of that. I recall one of the last things he said to me. He wanted you to be around to guide your little brother before he took that unfortunate sea voyage."

Kemal took another step forward, his knuckles wrapped around the hilt of his sword. "You meant he voyage you sent him on, you bloodthirsty lech." One more step forward, and any closer, Reyn readied to dodge the incoming, hopeless attack.

"Welcome to the sea, boy," Father growled. "I'll be sure to tell Stigan the fate awaiting Wardens — what remains he shall expect of his beloved older brother."

Kemal took one last step forward, but Warden Commander Faehariel swiped her hand into his chest to prevent his approach. "Hold, Warden Tyronai. Remember your oath to the world. Do not break it on something so beneath your vows." One more nudge into his chest, Kemal returned to Neven's side, who held his head low as the beaded pupils flicked from side to side to the crescent blades ready to protect him. Faehariel took the steps to the table. "You labor under the presumption that I cannot act, but believe me, King Thormar, I have seen kingdoms rise and fall long before you were born. I have seen Derelicts lay waste to entire lands. You're a small king on his throne playing the game. I have seen hundreds of you. Hundreds who met their end, and the Derelicts remained. For this, I shall labor instead to remind you." One more step, and her shadow engulfed Father and her horns glinted in the broken sunlight. "If you ever do anything to threaten or harm my Wardens again, I will consider you nothing less than a Derelict to be erased from the world." Her hand raised to her shoulder, and the Wardens behind her sheathed their blades. 'If you try to stop us, I will demonstrate what happened to those hundreds of kings I've outlived."

Some of the housecarls jolted at her proclamation, but she headed back down the steps to return to the line of Wardens. "We leave on the morn," she stated. "I pray to the Ancients for this kingdom to know peace. If you reject the help of the Wardens, then there is nothing we can do for your blackened heart."

Gone were the beacons of hope.

Housecarls dragged him back to his room, and left in the corner he tried to calm his beating heart. But without the Wardens, those Derelicts... It plagued his mind when Fenrer rushed to shield him from hunger, but no monster matched the one living in the heart of Sivaport.

Nowhere is safe. He wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. He sat in the shadows of his lamp and lifted his head. I... I have to warn Lord Soren about Father. He'll know what to do. He can bring back the Wardens.

Trapped on all sides with nothing but a loose brick to release him from his cell, he waited to hear further steps of guards, then in the silence, he ran. Muscles fluttered with wings and taken breaths. Reyn choked at the memory, but grabbed a cloak gathering dust in his box of clothes, whimpering when he shouldered and tied it around his neck. Yes, Lord Soren. I have to get to Lord Soren. I have to warn him. Everything screamed for the mouse to hide, but he pushed down the slope and into the pantry. Meat sizzled with spicy tang inside the oven spits. One of the cooks watched one of them with their arms folded. He rushed out the door with their back turned to him, nothing more than a mouse stealing deeper.

Reyn dove behind pillars and stuck to the shadows to avoid housecarls. He failed to recognize parts of the castle — stuck to his room and rarely allowed past the throne room. He shuddered when a housecarl went past his hiding spot. They're hunting for a mouse...

His voice never bounced along the course stone.

Trust no one.

His voice didn't matter and never worked.

He tore from the shadows, but ran into someone's leg and a large shadow.

No!

He scrambled out of their way, but it wasn't Father though they shared the same auburn locks.

It was Gustul, who stared at him in confusion.

No. No. No.

He had no chance to scream when Gustul lunged for him to scoop him up with ease and rested a hand on his mouth. He squirmed, but his strength failed him against his older brother's. Into the dark, monsters chewed and gnawed and opened up his back as Gustul rushed through the dark corridors. No! I just wanted to warn Soren! He kicked and threw a flurry of fists into his older brother's head, but Gustul ignored it all.

"Ancients, when did you get so squirmy?" Gustul hissed with a shake, but he raced not into the dungeons, but down a different wing of the castle. Spirals of lightning circled a small, empty dome. It glimmered at Gustul's approach, who slammed his palm into the center of the rune. Reyn stopped swinging when it slid in a circle to push them out of the constricting walls of the castle. On his feet, he twisted to Gustul, who rested his hands on his knees.

Gustul motioned at the distant gate. "Is that what you're looking for?"

Reyn stared at his older brother. "I... I need to go to Lord Soren."

Gustul nodded. "Yes, Lord Soren. Road outside the gates. Follow it until you reach the river. It will take you straight to Sungrove. Here." He tossed a small packet of sugar cubes into his hands. "Give my horse some treats while you're at it."

He hesitated when Gustul straightened out and swept his attention over the castle grounds.

"Gustul—"

"Run, Reyn," Gustul bit and nudged him with his knee when Reyn approached him. "Trust me. Anywhere is safer than here for you."

"But—"

"Go!" he snapped, and Reyn jumped out his reach. "Find Lord Soren... Tell him..." Despair filled his brother's brown eyes as he went back to the castle. "Tell him I know I'm a screw up, but he's taught me so many things, and that I'm thankful for that. Tell him that I hope... this will show him he didn't waste his time on me. So, go. Find him."

"But—"

Gustul closed the hidden wall on his face.

Reyn stood there, alone. He drew his cloak around himself and followed the inner wall to the cliffs. In the distance Pyren's massive statue held the first flame on the edge of the gulf, where Kolis' statue sat on the other side with the second fire. Anchors to a giant barrier to keep out the monsters of the sea. Waves crashed against his ears as the tips of masts crawled along the harbor. Housecarls patrolled the palisades, but he kept to the shadows, never a dragon, but a mouse.

Feed his horse, through the gate and down the road. Follow a river, to the creek and find Sungrove...

Hood up, he raced for the castle gates as fast as he could without drawing the attention of guards. Storm Wardens moved in tandem. Golden light protected him from the dark. Reyn pushed himself into their ranks and grabbed the hem of Kemal Tyronai's armor, who didn't acknowledge his presence.

Neven Lotayrin noticed him.

Reyn met the confused sapphires, but relief spread through his chest when neither of them said anything and Neven returned his gaze to the imposing gates which trapped the people outside. Free from the first hurdle, it was onto the next — the marble gates of Sivaport. He broke free of the Wardens, but he hesitated to observe the behaviour of the people. Most got out of their way. Whispers raised into the salty air to drown out the crashing foam against the cliffs. He nodded and ducked between alleys and lamplight. Underneath laundry lines and through outside stalls. His heart raced with the taste of freedom.

Weakness spread through his knees and he smacked against the cobble street.

He breathed in the salt and cooked fish and faced the castle on the cliffs. Its lighthouse doused without guidance.

Reyn whimpered with the touch of the cold steel grate, but raced past a lady who dropped a basket of fish into one of the stall's coolers. He raced for the walls of Sivaport, closing in on his last hope.

I need to get to Soren. Soren will protect me.

Housecarls searched people who fought to get through the gatehouse and stables. Black clouds rumbled in the evening sky, and his chance faded the longer he hesitated. Reyn raced into the stables when one of the housecarls lunged at one man, who tried to fight them off. He winced when one of them threw a punch into the man's jaw with a shout, but he forced himself to ignore them to grab Gustul's horse, who whinnied in agitation, though when Reyn offered the sugar cubes, they allowed him to clamber into the large saddle.

His lack of riding experience proved his undoing, clinging onto the horse's neck when it burst out of its stable and farther from the gates. Road. Follow the river. Sungrove. He found the reins and tried to direct the horse, who followed his non-verbal command. He didn't stop, not with the dragon on his tail.

He didn't stop. He never would.

Find the creek Fenrer pointed out. Find it and follow it too.

Wolves howled a mournful song as the horse raced against the road's muddy slack, and he tried to remember the path Soren took. Shadows danced along the trees as he raced for the ridges and into the valley of Sungrove county.

Ash slammed into his nose, and he frowned when the horse trotted into a slowed stop. It squirmed and beat its hoofs with an agitated huff. Off its back, he frowned when it hovered underneath a tree, ears pinned and the whites of its eyes showing. Rain slammed into his head, but he pushed without his ride. It drenched through his cloak and into his skin. He trudged his boots through the mud. Ignoring the ache in his legs, he broke through the forest and into the grove.

Ruins.

Ruins and bodies.

Embers and charcoal scorched the stone walls of warmth. Bodies slumped against each other with arrows pincushioned into them. Axes and cleavers dug into skulls to tear out their throats.

"Lord Soren!" Thunder drowned him as he pushed through the front gate. He faltered at the twirling smoke and the silence, and the stench of blood. It oozed through the rain and mud at his boot, and he whimpered. "Soren!"

Lightning crackled.

"Soren!" Reyn cried and rushed for the town center.

Mounds of bodies sat about and bloodied the marble fountain as rain washed it into rivers of muck. Reyn moved for the giant estate on the hill, where one half caved in from an unlit fireball. He frowned at the crest of Sungrove on some of the armor, though their faces caved in with maces. Spears stuck through the back of one facedown in the mud. As he drew through the battlefield, some wore no crest at all.

No... everyone is... Father did this, didn't he? I have to find...

"Soren!" He screamed and rushed closer to the estate. "Soren!" It collected in his throat, and he screeched. "Fenrer!"

He stopped on the plateau of the hill, where uncrested bodies rested in different states of damage, and he came to a stop at the shape in the center of the desolation.

Soren, an unmistakable giant of a warrior.

Arrows stuck out of his back as he laid in the mud, facing the home he failed to reach — the family he died to protect. Blood matted his black hair and slipped onto the wolven pin in his braid. One arrow slammed through his heart. Reyn rushed to his side and placed his hands on his side. "Soren! Lord Soren!" Tears cracked lightning down his cheeks as he pushed and pushed. His weakness failed to awaken the giant of Haneka, and not a hint of life breathed into his chest.

Dead.

No... No...

Fenrer Pyren, a child who looked so much like Soren without the beard and height.

Lightning left a mark on his heart. "Soren... Soren, please..." He drove the heel of his hands into his eyes with a sob, but then crawled closer to rest his hands back on his side. "Soren..."

Darkness washed into his vision with the wail of Sungrove.

"I am so sorry, hatchling."

Reyn jolted at the new voice, but found himself no longer in the heart of Sungrove. Dragons landed on the peaks of the great mountains, but the black dragon sat on a lower platform. Coal burned in their eyes as it craned its neck to him with a quiet huff.

His head burned when it crawled down its platform to slink onto his level as its nose touched his.

"If you had the strength to take another step... could you create a spark?"

A spark...

"In the toxin of despair can wings take form. In the deep pits of the abyss, light shines. Reyn Kolis, blood of my blood, look upon me."

Reyn sobbed and scrambled out of the black dragon's touch. "I'm weak," he rasped. "Don't hurt me, please... I know I'm not a dragon. I'll never call myself a dragon."

"No, not yet..."

Reyn faced the burning coals.

Wings the size of mountains shielded him from the rain and endless twilight sky. Air whispered with old power and crackled with static. Another dragon of opalescent scales landed nearby with a tilted head of curiosity. "Reyn Kolis," the black dragon asked. "If you had but the strength to take another step, could you create a spark?"

Reyn sniffed. "What... do you mean?"

The black dragon touched his brow with his massive, scaled nose. "It is time to learn how to be a dragon, blood of my blood."

"Who are you?" Reyn whimpered and shrank underneath the massive shadows. "Are you... Are you Lord Soren?"

Warmth rippled into the coals, nothing more than a soft campfire than a raging, bloodthirsty inferno. "No. I am much closer to you than you believe. In our greatest dark is when we find the strength to take another step — and what we are truly made of."

The opal dragon slinked behind him, and he scrambled to face them instead. "It is the Law of Aeoniir. Law of the Blood and Spirits," her voice overpowered his mind. "To fall, or to fly, and forge a covenant."

You are weak. You'll never be a dragon.

Flames scalded the prisoners. Soren, who tried to get home before a cruel arrow pierced his warm heart. Each person who fell to protect Sungrove from a monster.

Lord Soren, who tried to teach him to be strong.

I can't.

He burst into tears when the she-dragon wound around him.

"I can't fly." He sobbed. "I can't do anything! If I was... maybe... Lord Soren could've... None of this would have happened! I can never be a dragon! I know I can't!" He found his voice to cry, and never roar. "I'll never be a dragon!" He sniffed and shuddered when the opalescent dragon gazed down at him.

"Hatchlings must grow into dragons," she pointed out, and stretched out her sparkled wings. "Do you wish to fly with me, Reyn Kolis?"

He longed to free himself of the grate.

Reyn jolted at the memory and gazed at the black dragon. Steam escaped through its nose, but none of its anger befell him. "It was you... I heard you..." He jumped when a claw nudged into his side, and he climbed onto the back of the opal dragon. His tears added to the lightning and rain. Murals glowed to feed the one on the peak. He faced the black dragon. "You didn't tell me your name."

Lightning crashed when their mouth opened wide.

Did...

Did that dragon just call himself... Kolis?

He held on tight when the she-dragon took to the skies.

"Saphir. Speak my name, Hatchling. Speak it, forge the connection, and I shall come," she whispered to the heart of lightning above the mountain as it crackled and sent bursts into the clouds to deliver the promise of a storm. "Look into the truth."

I'm too weak to behold it...

"Say my name, and give yourself a chance to fly."

I am weak. I will never be a dragon.

"Open your heart, Reyn Kolis."

Images of a rainbow bloomed at the tips of the lightning arcs. Blood splattered across the clouds, but they burst into the twilight skies as Saphir flew higher and farther from the pain. His heart swelled with the fallen spark.

Thunder cracked to a sharp reality.

He screamed when ethereal arcs grew around him as he clung onto Lord Soren. Lightning scattered into the buildings and exploded the rest of their broken roofs. Fire stretched through his bones and immolated his veins as the storm responded to his call. It slammed into debris around him and bounced into balls of energy. His mind seared as he lost his strength to wail, and Saphir held onto him with a claw.

He waited for the end.

"Reyn, there is naught you can do for him now. Leave him to his rest in the halls of Velteraiia."

"He didn't deserve this, none of them did!" He screeched out his flaming justice. "It's my fault!"

"There is nothing you could've done, Reyn."

Her voice soothed the lightning, and he gripped onto her claw when she tugged him from Soren's side.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he begged and the world darkened. "Get me out..."

"Where?"

"Anywhere." He fought to stay awake in the field of lightning. "Anywhere..."

Stormy skies waved one last goodbye as Saphir wrapped her claws around him to stop his descent into the bloody mud.