"Is this thing safe?" Eos asked, hesitating to accept her mother's hand, inviting her to the ominous platform formed by Pangea's star-blessed powers.
"Perfectly safe," Pangea assured her before wrapping her fingers around Eos' and pulling her the last foot across.
Eos shrieked, the fear whetting the razor-sharp pitches riding the wave of air, making even Torrach wince as Eos landed in her mother's safe embrace.
"See," Pangea said, laughing at Eos clinging to her patched robe. "Perfectly safe."
Caiden carried Alia to Pangea's magic platform next, followed by Art, who still seemed hesitant to move closer than necessary to the lost queen.
"Ready?" Piper whispered, adjusting my arm around her neck.
I snorted. "I've survived three royal trials less than prepared; I've sailed across half of Heliac, defied death more times than the spirit-crossers would probably sanction under normal circumstances, and somehow bonded with a dragon. I think I'll survive stepping onto a magical platform."
Piper tilted her head and looked at me with a sympathetic smile slightly curling her lips. "That's not what I meant, Will," she said. "I meant to ask if you were ready to accept that ridiculous title and embrace this new reality. It wasn't too long ago that your original world was turned upside down, and you were pushed to participate as an enacting suitor in the Crown Trials, which must've been hard enough. A golden warrior, on the other hand, is a crazy responsibility."
An invisible weight seemed to settle across my shoulders as the last word skipped off her unraveling tongue, making my feet heavy and my back stiff. None of her thoughtless statements were observations I hadn't considered, but hearing it from a second mind made it so much more unbearable to consider.
I had spent so much time adjusting to the title of royal suitor and learning to harness the fraction of my power it took for me to get by in those same royal trials. I had barely learned to teleport—let alone control it—when my blood changed... again.
I had barely learned to embrace my Iridis powers, and soon, I would come to find a set of new powers slumbering within me—new powers that I would have to learn to tame while still struggling to manage my original ones. Not to mention how Queen Pangea had spoken of this looming darkness, planning to extinguish the spark of the star that lights this world and snuff out life as if time was short.
My head had started pounding, and I doubted even Kaoru could ease the pending headache.
"Hey," Piper suddenly said, lightly nudging me with her hip.
I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, scarcely noticing the apologetic shimmer in her eye and the hesitant crook of her lips.
"Forget what I just said. You know how I tend to blab mindlessly when I'm nervous," she said, and I finally noticed the faint beads along her brow and the damp hairline. If I held my breath and isolated us from the world around us, I had no doubt I would hear Piper's heart thumping wildly in her chest and her breath straining to work through her clenching throat. "I'm sure you'll be great and master this mysterious power in no time, just like you did during the trials."
I pinched the tip of my tongue between my teeth. Piper's high thoughts of me were flattering but exaggerated.
I may have learned to manage my air powers and no longer had to fear spawning random hurricanes, but claiming that I'd mastered them was a stretch.
I wasn't stating that my accomplishments weren't noteworthy. Considering the time and resources I had been given, I was proud to have reached this level of control, but I still had a long way to go.
"And, I mean," Piper added, snorting with pinching brows and flaring nostrils, "you've bonded with a dragon—a real dragon. How awesome is that?"
An unbridled chuckle welled up my throat. "You're technically bonded to a dragon, too, you know," I said as we took our first step toward Pangea's magical platform.
Piper rolled her rich eyes. "But our souls haven't yet synchronized or whatever. As I understood from the Lost Queen's long monologue, dragons and Iridis won't be able to identify each other and the thread that connects them before that happens, if it will ever happen."
A genuine laugh made my heart flutter, just like Tristan's goofy stunts used to do. "Ever the optimist, Piper."
She only shrugged as we crossed the boundary between the clay stone and the strange ebony surface. "Facts are facts. I actually prefer the term realist."
The serious tone in her voice only made me laugh harder.
I wiped a blinding tear from my eye and automatically glanced around to observe how the others were doing. My heart sped up, leaving my pulse to feel like it was chasing the fleeting sun at dusk when I caught Caiden's marine eyes silently resting on me. The gentle smile curving his lips made my skin tingle and my fingers a little numb.
It had been a while since he'd looked at me like that—with so much affection and no hint of that smothering concern that had recently sprouted deep roots in that intense gaze.
I ripped my eyes from him, trying to hide my burning cheeks from discovery. Could my smile be all it took for that irresistible glow in his energy to return?
"The landscape below is entirely constructed by the dragons. Each little den of clustered environments represents the residence of one or more dragons sharing the same or similar elements," Pangea suddenly said, clenching Eos in a motherly embrace. "Most of the day, the dragons move among each other, passing across territories and socializing across elements—much like Jonathan aspired Heliac to become if only humans could've worked past their egos. Only during the night do the dragons retreat to their respective elements to recharge efficiently."
Pangea stretched her hand in front of her, her palm facing the ground. She traced an invisible circle, and the platform started to move.
I inhaled sharply, heavily relying on Piper's steady hands to keep my knees from buckling and my recovering body from diving head-first over the edge.
"Raelyn," Pangea shouted, her eyes scouring over our heads.
I looked behind me and noticed Raelyn still standing on the unyielding stone floor beside Arok.
"Gather the others," Pangea continued. "We will be there shortly.
Raelyn nodded and turned to face Arok. As if completely synchronized in thoughts, Arok kneeled, lowering the wing closest to Raelyn at the same moment she jumped to grab the shoulder joint of Arok's wing. She effortlessly pulled herself up, carefully placing her feet to support her balance until she sat firmly at the base of Arok's neck as if she truly belonged there.
Arok stretched his wings and lowered his head. The next moment, he jumped off the ledge with Raelyn still on his back.
My stomach dropped, my heart skipping to my throat as a sickening wave of anxiety left me winded. However, when the air finally caught Arok's leathery wings, Raelyn didn't fall; she looked as balanced on Arok's back as Arok looked gliding through the air, following each micro-adjustment as if she could feel Arok's next move like a reflex.
Torrach jumped after them, his heavy body looking less graceful in the air, but his wings carried him without fail. However, instead of following Arok and Raelyn as they drifted further and further away, he stayed beside us, following the platform with keen eyes.
I briefly flinched when his gold-rimmed eye shifted to watch me. "Look ahead, young one. You do not want to miss the view, or you will shortly lose your way in here."
I would never get used to hearing that inside my head and knowing it was an actual dragon speaking to me—Pangea's dragon.
My stiff neck made it hard to twist away from the dragon flying beside us, but I forced my tensed muscles to work despite the knitted tissue.
A low rumble seemed to sound from Torrach, but I didn't look back to acknowledge his huff. Instead, I fixed my gaze on the world passing beyond the edge of Pangea's platform.
The air changed each time we entered a new territory based on a new environment. First damp, then scorching heat, followed by a refreshing gust of wind.
Repeat.
But no frost—never any frost or the scent of fresh sea breeze. Not that I ever wanted to smell the wind of the sea again, but the lack of it did puzzle me slightly.
The ocean was the source of the dragons birthed by water. The other elements were apparent, but not water, although I could still hear it.
"It is just beyond the pillars that line the back of the cave, Miss Aldwyn," Pangea said, her lips pulled into an amused grin.
I blinked, looking at her with a confused shimmer in my eyes. Pangea only smiled wider. "You're craning your neck," she added. "You're looking for something, and since I have yet to tell you how to identify the dragon now eternally bonded to your soul, I assumed that you're searching for the most apparent element missing from this beautiful scenery.
"The ocean passes through an entrance in the back of the cave, providing a sanctuary for the dragons that thrive in the salty depths and inside icy caves formed along the cliff-side walls. Thus, once the sun sets, the colors saturating this space will no longer shimmer in deep blue and that enticing arctic shade until the sun rises once again."
We suddenly turned sharp right and began descending. My stomach tingled as if a thousand butterflies were fluttering their delicate wings against the sensitive walls of my stomach.
I couldn't tell whether it was because of gravity teasing my body's comprehension of the space around me or the excitement of meeting others like me, sending tremors to travel along my crawling skin.
"This area has been terraformed by the earth dragons," Pangea said when we approached a flattened area of rocks and plain grass fields. "This is where the golden warriors reside and train. And the caves carved into the closest pillars are where we sleep."
We landed on the ground, and the platform vanished under our feet.
"It's not much, but we—"
The air suddenly stirred, and roars filled my ears. I raised my hand to shield my eyes from the winds whirling dust and dirt to life and stealing the air from my lungs.
The ground seemed to give a little when five—no six—enormous, winged figures landed on the ground a little less than twenty feet from us. Torrach and Arok were among them, but I didn't recognize the rest.
My heart drummed loudly as four humanoid bodies slid down from the dragons' backs, landing gracefully as if they were dismounting a horse—a very big horse.
They were laughing and talking, but I couldn't yet hear about what, and by the time they stepped out of the dragons' shadows and into the fading light, they stopped to acknowledge their queen.
"Impeccable timing, Raelyn," Pangea said, stepping up beside me. "I see you managed to rally most of the crowd, but I see neither Apollo nor Reza."
Raelyn sighed and rubbed her seemingly damp neck. "Apollo went to find Reza, but they haven't returned yet. I suspect he might have exploited the order to complete his shift to scout the island. You know how he is."
Pangea snorted. "I don't doubt it—troublesome boy. Regardless, I want to introduce the attending warriors and their bonded dragons to our new family addition: Willow Aldwyn."
The woman—whose copper curls had been pulled back into a massive braid starting from the tip of her tall hairline and ending right above her waist—rose to her toes as a lively smile tugged her lips into a grin.
I sucked in a startled breath through my clenched teeth when the woman suddenly stood inches from me and grabbed my hand before I could retreat.
"Hi, Willow!" she exclaimed, clenching my hand so tight I had to bite my lip not to flinch. "I have been dying to meet you ever since I finally got through to you all those weeks ago. How was your journey?"
I looked at her as if she'd sprouted a tail.
Got through to me? I had never seen this woman in my life before. Could she have been there during the trials? I had met so many people whose faces remain only as blurry images in my memory.
"Let go of her, Ariyah."
Ariyah's face contorted into a grimace of pain as the sun-kissed man behind her grabbed her ear and tugged upward.
"You let go, Cal! Ouch! What did I do to deserve this, you bully?" Ariyah shouted, letting go of me to grab Cal's wrist.
Pangea chuckled beside me and crossed her arms over her chest. "I guess we could start with these knuckleheads. The red-haired enthusiast is Ariyah—previous manipulator of sound and bonded to Céol, the purple Feather Wing in the back."
I craned my neck to catch a good look at the purple dragon. Its long body was covered in violet feathers, a faint shade of pale blue brushing tips framing its wings. On top of its head was a collection of longer feathers between two twisting, opaque horns, giving the impression of a mighty mane that stretched down the back of its neck.
"Stating the obvious, Feather Wings are dragons covered in a suit of feathers instead of scales," Pangea explained. "Their slender frame makes them light compared to other classes and allows them to fly long distances without the need for frequent breaks. According to Torrach, they once served as efficient messengers, carrying important information between realms."
It felt safe to assume that Kaoru must fall within the same class as Céol since they shared similar traits and suits. I itched to ask whether Pangea knew about Kaoru, but I held back. If Kaoru's existence was to be revealed, it was Art's decision—not mine.
"Ariyah came to this island a few years after me, and we have since perfected her power to lead other golden warriors here."
Right. She had been a sound manipulator. Like Pangea, the star must've granted Ariyah new powers, too.
"We call it dream-walking," Pangea clarified. "She has the ability to enter people's minds when they sleep and affect dreams and memories."
I froze. What a terrifying ability.
"Her reach is limited, and she can only vaguely manipulate memories—not delete or make new ones. She can, however, enter someone's dream and send them a vague message or offer them guidance."
A long-buried memory of a strange dream I had weeks ago flashed past my eyes. "Can she take other forms in the dreams she enters, or can she allow others to enter the same dream?"
Pangea eyed me with a grin. "You're not easily fooled, Miss Aldwyn. Yes, the golden warriors seem to share a stronger bond that allows Ariyah to enter our dreams regardless of distance. Still, yours has been particularly difficult to reach. We've speculated that it may have to do with your new powers, but it was difficult for us to establish a connection strong enough for uninterrupted communication. Your vivid mind kept pushing back, disturbing my attempt to guide you and changing scenarios. It was a miracle we got through because we haven't been able to reach you since."
So, it was Pangea in that dream. I couldn't exactly remember what had transpired; it was blurry and faded, but I remember her voice.
"The disciplined soul is Calderon—an Electricity Manipulator now bonded with Saogahail, who belongs to the class of Spy Wings.
"Their long, narrow wings and tiny scales allow them to soar through the sky almost undetected by the most sensitive ear. They are valuable assets for silently infiltrating the enemy's territories."
Only one of the dragons adequately fitted that description, and its tiny scales were as black as night and the membrane of its wings an amber shade. Its snout was narrow and lean, with tiny spikes positioned along its cheeks and down its back.
"Calderon is what we call a Tracker. Once he has identified the unique attributes of your aura, he can track you to wherever you hide. He is still new, so he has yet to learn how to pinpoint your exact location once close enough. So far, he can only give an estimate limited to an area of 100 feet."
"Funny, Pangea," Calderon said, giving us a lazy, unamused smile behind his heavy stubble as he effortlessly kept Ariyah from punching him in the gut.
Pangea ignored him and lifted her eyes to look beyond the fighting couple. "You have met Raelyn and Arok," she said, nodding toward Raelyn, who lifted her hand to wave awkwardly. I wasn't sure whether I should return the gesture, but Pangea continued before I could decide. "Kova arrived not long after Ariyah and is bonded to the Sun Dragon, Cathax."
I assumed Cathax was the yellow dragon right behind her and that her original power was related to light, given the shade of her dragon.
Kova untangled a hand from her crossed embrace to wave a silent greeting and offered me the faintest hint of a smile. I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I had an off feeling that she wasn't a woman who took anything lightly.
"Kova has been gifted the power of shape-shifting, which means that she can take the form of any living creature she has come across before, although she has yet to learn how to control unique features. We are currently working on partial shifting."
Piper, who had been silent since we landed, spoke up. "Can she turn into other people, too?"
With a curled brow, Pangea craned her neck to look at Piper, who hadn't wavered from observing the dragons before us.
"No," Pangea said when she didn't get the intended response from Piper. "As I mentioned, Kova has yet to learn how to craft unique features when shifting, so when shifting to a human, she can only take her own form."
Piper chuckled nervously. "I see. That makes sense, I guess."
I suddenly realized how damp Piper's palms felt against my skin. "Are you okay, Piper?"
"Naoki came to this island three years ago," Pangea continued before Piper had a chance to answer me. "Unfortunately, his encounter with the storm and the Lagyssal proved more challenging than what the others went through."
"You don't have to sugarcoat it, Pangea." A man with amber skin and coarse, black hair stepped forth, a wry smile plastered on his youthful face. He couldn't be more than twenty-five. "I got caught in the storm and fell off my boat. Unfortunately, I hit one of the shallow areas closer to the island, and my arm got stuck in a reef. Fortunately, I am a Botanic, so growing another arm was never really the problem."
Naoki smiled smugly when he lifted his hand and presented a green, moss-covered arm with leaves shifting vines composing five flexible fingers. It didn't look entirely like a normal human hand, but I was impressed, nonetheless. It had to be difficult and exhausting to perform such delicate control continuously.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Aldwyn," Naoki continued, bowing as if I were some royal princess. "Let me introduce Sahya—my beautiful dragon and life-long companion."
The massive green dragon stepped forth. It had granular scales like Torrach and wings twice the size of its length. Sahya likely belonged to the class of Might Wings, too.
However, Sahya didn't have horns; instead, it had antlers the color of oak wood. I squinted my eyes and noticed gray specks scattered like raindrops across Sahya's back.
"You're probably wondering what power the star has granted me, and prepared to be amazed," Naoki said and stepped closer. "You're wind, right?"
I nodded, planting my feet solidly against the ground to keep myself from stepping back as Naoki stepped uncomfortably close.
Pangea sighed, but she didn't tell Naoki to back off, so I assumed it was at least somewhat safe.
I felt Piper tense beside me when Naoki reached out and placed his thumb against my brow.
For a moment, I felt as if every speck of energy was sucked out of me and I would collapse at any moment, but the nausea faded faster than my body could react. Next, I saw a small sphere of dust and dirt whirl in the middle of Naoki's green palm.
"Are—are you doing that?" I whispered, knowing for certain that it wasn't me and that Pangea wasn't even looking in this general direction.
Naoki grinned, amused at me, before he let me go, and the sphere vanished into thin air. "We call it Transference. Essentially, when I touch another Iridis, I can absorb their powers and use them as I see fit. I have to practice, so I can't just walk around and apply other powers as if I'd been doing it my entire life. Also, I haven't been able to absorb any star-granted powers yet, but we're working on that."
I opened my mouth to express how ridiculously impressive his powers were when Tarroch's voice echoed in my head.
"Step away from the new blood, Naoki," Torrach commanded.
Naoki looked up as if to defend himself against the dragon when Torrach sent him a warning glare that sealed Naoki's lips shut.
"She is here."
Pangea shoved Naoki away from me, pushing him to the side before turning to face me. "You must let go of her, Miss Piper."
Piper didn't as much as waver an inch. "If I let go, she'll fall. She still hasn't fully recovered, and I'm—"
"This is not a request, Piper," Pangea suddenly hissed, quickly untangling me from Piper's arms.
I raised a hand before Piper could spit a curse at Pangea because I felt the eerie desperation in the queen's voice. "I'm okay, Piper. I can stand."
Piper hesitated but eventually let me go.
The burden of supporting my weight by myself again made my knees scream and my muscles cry for mercy. I wasn't sure how long I could keep standing, but I sensed I needed to endure for as long as possible.
"Who is coming?" I whispered to the queen, whose pale face had etched worry into every tense feature.
"Your dragon."
"What?" I said, my jaw nearly dropping as panic started bleeding from my heart to my paralyzed joints.
"Don't slump," Pangea added, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. "Raise your chin and straighten your back. Appear strong."
"Why?"
I thought the bond was a blessing from the star, designed to bring dragon and Iridis together to fight the darkness, plotting to sniff out its light. Why would I be afraid of meeting this supposed other part of myself?
"The bond is strengthened with the star's blessing, but the dragon still must acknowledge you. They may not be able to bond with another Iridis again, but if they believe your bond is more of a liability than an asset, they will reject you."
My heart was beating like crazy now, and my throat had started constricting. There was no way that was going to happen—not after all we'd been through. But what if it happened? What then?
"Do not worry," Pangea added when my breath turned shallow. "Torrach didn't accept me at first either. I was scared and confused. I will always carry the scars of my mistakes, but I am here to help you through it. Now, do as I suggested and stand straight."
I did as she told me, forcing my body to work through the pain, but my mind was a chaotic mess, filled with dread and thoughts of nightmares.
How could she tell me not to worry when she'd just revealed that those scars on her face were no unfortunate accident?
Torrach had given her those because she hadn't been enough. How could I ever hope to be enough when not even the greatest queen Heliac had ever witnessed wasn't?
The dragons before me stepped aside, revealing pale blue scales and two golden eyes that narrowed at the sight of me.