Shadow (Paused and Undergoing MAJOR Editing)

Chapter Eighteen

Shadow

It's been two days, which means that today we set off. Hopefully we'll camp near the volcano; possibly further. "There's a Leap Block here, just like in the elf city." Vitiloki had explained.

'That's why you can't just leap." We nod and begin to trek through the desert. I trip on a sand dune.

"I'll just... Sit... Here, under... The shade..." I pant, taking a sip of water from my bottle. Even in the shade of the dune, I'm boiling.

"Come on," Stefan says. I notice Pustyn and Durpner looking extra worn out.

"Are your sun hats ripped?" I ask. Durpner shakes his head.

"No, but still, this kind of heat is really not good for vampires." he explains warily. "Let's just keep going," I nod at him. About an hour later, I see water and trees.

"Oasis!" I yell. The others nod happily. We've drunk all our water already, so we fill up our bottles and rest a bit under the trees.

"We have to keep going," Nerken says. I grumble a little, but we leave the oasis anyway.

"Hey, it's a lonkey!" Durpner says cheerfully after a while. "Oh, Athena and Stefan, that's like a lion donkey, sort of. Let's ride iiiit!" he shouts. I stare at him. Uh oh.

"He has heatstroke," I gasp. "And it's not the right time. Anyone have any water left?" I ask. Only Pustyn does. She grabs Durpner and tips it into his mouth. We sit down while he recovers. Once he does, we keep on. Eventually, we reach another oasis.

"No time to stop," Stefan says. "Just refill with water and go." We obey.

"Hey, I see the volcano!" I shout as dusk falls. "Let's sleep." We unpack sleeping bags and close our tired eyes.

...

The next morning, we wake up to the sound of nothing. We eat some bread that we packed and get up. Before we can go, I hear footsteps. It's Stefan, back from scouting.

"I just spotted dragons, fire dragons, coming our way! We have to leave! Now!" he screeches. Before we can follow his orders, several blasts of fire are shot in front of us. Four fire dragons surround us.

"Brothersss, ssisstersss!" one cries. "We have found our breakfast! Let'sss eat!" They swoop in like hungry vultures. I blast one with fire, realize it's no use, and try to shoot lightning. I'm not powerful or practiced enough to do it without hurting my friends, though, so I'm only using my daggers. Stefan, though, has the advantage; he's an Abyssal. But he's not powerful, either, and we're losing. Another one sucks a breath in to torch me. I squeeze my eyes shut. Suddenly, I hear an earth-shakingly loud and angry roar. I look and see a blast of white, silver, and blue shoot the dragon tormenting me.

"Leave them!" my saviour thunders. The dragon he shot is sprawled on the ground in front of us, hardly breathing.

"Yesss, okay, we were jusst joking around!" The smallest one squeaks. It grabs the injured fire dragon and slowly flies away. It's two companions tackle an ice dragon, the one who saved me. It roars again and blasts the same substance out, right between them. They yelp and flee. "Shadow!" the ice dragon calls. How does it know my name? Wait.

"Dracoponian?" I ask, shocked. "But- you can talk!" He nods.

"I went to my firsst home, in the mountainsss. A doctor un-curssed me," he explains. "And what you jusst sssaw wass icessilver. It meanss I'm a hero, ass the legendsss ssay." I crack a smile.

"Well, you just saved me." I suddenly notice that his usual spark in the eye is gone. "What happened?" I inquire.

"Heya, Dracoponian!" Echo says.

"What happened?" I repeat. Dracoponian looks at me with sad eyes.

"Sstorm happened," he says. "I wass going to the mountainsss, my old home, when fire dragonsss attacked me. Sstorm, my childhood friend, sssaved me. She took me to the doctor, who healed my sspeech. Then, I found my mother and father. I rejected them. I wasss going to leave, and Sstorm wass going to follow me, but she then convinced me to help rid the mountainsss of the fire dragonsss. I found out about my icessilver. We ssucceeded, but then, right at the end, one of them killed her. Ssso I came back." He tries to shrug it off, but his expression is sad and angry, like he's almost given up.

"I'm so sorry!" Pustyn cries, patting him.

"You're hiding something," Chinglar says unemotionally. "What is it?" Dracoponian winces.

"Um... Remember that sstone, all that time ago, that you found?" I nod. "It'sss an egg. A dark dragon egg," he says. My jaw drops.

"How did we not notice?"Chinglar hisses out of the blue.

"There's something else."

"Yess." Dracoponian admits. "My mother isss Empresss Sscalia of the ice dragonss." I gasp.

"You're a prince?"

"No," he says coldly. "I will never lead the ice dragonss. I can't. Not without Sstorm."

We silently walk for a bit, him following. I suddenly remember to tell him why we're here, and I do. "Huh," he says. "More than I expected." We continue walking.

"I don't feel so good," Pustyn says.

"Me neither," Dracoponian and Durpner say simultaneously. I hide a laugh by coughing. Echo stops walking.

"The heat is bad enough for us, but, like you said yesterday," she glances at Durpner, "it's even worse for you guys."

"Hey, there's an oasis!" Stupid Stefan exclaims, sweating.

"Oh, yeah!" I exclaim. We rush towards it, and it turns to grainy sand. "What..." I start to say, then realize, "It was a mirage." My eyes droop. "Wait. I have an idea." Everyone turns to look at me.

"Yes?" Chinglar asks.

"We should walk at night, when it's cold, and sleep in the day. When we're walking, we get warmer, and when we sleep, we don't notice the heat that much." I explain. Chinglar nods.

"That seems like a good plan. We'll do it."

"Who put you in charge?" Athena asks. "Not me. I thought that Shadow was leading us, not you."

"What?" Echo snarks. "No way!" Dracoponian eyes us wearily.

"I think Chinglar's alright." Durpner scowls.

"No way! Shadow has my trust. She should lead us." I sigh.

"Why don't we not have an official le-" I start to say. Stefan interrupts me, and I growl softly.

"No, no, Shadow. It's alright. I agree with Athena; you've led us before, and we're all in good shape. We didn't leave the human world until the Hunters attacked us for a reason: we were alright, fine, safer than here. But, as we all know, the Hunters ruined it."

"Oh, did we?" a voice asks. I light my hands ablaze and twirl around to find Kenneth- or whatever we should call him- just standing there.