She was absolutely beautiful.
Scales—no larger than the palm of my hand—shrouded her sinewy frame in shades of a cloud-free sky with chasing colors of wisterias looming from the roots. Their tips were more rounded than Arok's spiked scales but not as round as a spy wing's.
Perhaps she was a new type of dragon that Pangea had yet to introduce.
The dragon's opaque claws scraped against the stone below as she took another step toward me.
Between her flaring nostrils sprouted a spiked horn approximately the size of the dagger from my first trial, followed by smaller spikes traversing up the bridge of her snout, between her narrowed eyes, before spreading across her forehead like a field of lethal barbs.
Six mighty horns protruded from each side of her head, each one slightly smaller than the last. The barbs extended in varied sizes around the horns and further around her head like a crown of wild water frozen in time.
She moved with the grace of a cat, her steps barely noticeable through the ground that should've naturally shifted under her weight. She wasn't as big as Torrach. In fact, her horns barely reached halfway up his long neck, but the energy spilling from her was as if standing before a being of monstrous proportions.
I held my breath when she stopped less than five yards from me. I desperately wanted to step back as the dragon's warm breath washed over me like a desert wind, but I stood my ground.
One sign of weakness, and she could incinerate me in a matter of moments. Pangea had told me to stand brave, so I did.
The dragon eyed me carefully, scrutinizing every tiny gesture and every involuntary flexing of my muscles. I didn't look away.
She snarled at me, baring her pointed fangs where small remains of her last meal were wedged between crossing teeth. The air before me filled with a stench of rotten fish and death that nearly made my stomach churn.
Her wings lifted from its idle state along her body, spreading and revealing a pale blue membrane and deadly hooks sprouting from the thumbs of her wings. They looked sharp enough to sever someone's head from their body with one swift and precise swing.
The long tail swiped across the ground, curling around her left hind leg. The tip was also covered with deadly spikes, just like her head—the purest killing machine.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when she lifted the tail before slamming it into the ground again.
She growled as if displeased with my performance and lowered her head. White-hot fear snaked around my throat when the dragon opened her merciless jaws, revealing endless depths of darkness.
I hadn't passed her assessment. She was going to reject me, and the spirits could finally lay claim to my overdue soul.
Time slowed; panic threatened to tear my lungs apart. Would she dismantle me? Summon a hurricane to tear my flesh from my bones?
Instinct urged me to run, but as soon as I shifted my weight, I felt fingers wrap around my arm and hold me back.
I didn't look away from the dragon, but I knew without a doubt that it was Pangea—a warning for me not to move.
Did she want me to die?
There was no more time for me to escape, so I shut my eyes and prepared myself for the end awaiting me.
Moments passed, and no excruciating heat struck me—no sharp pain tore through my flesh.
I hesitantly cracked open one of my eyes only to find the dragon's jaws shut closed, and its snout was now barely inches from touching me.
The pupil inside her golden eye had gone from a cynical slit no wider than a blade to a rounded window of curiosity. A sudden breeze brushed my clammy skin, the familiar sensation unexpectedly soothing despite my situation.
My heart stopped thrashing like a rabid animal from one instant to the next. The ice freezing my veins thawed, filling my core with warmth and calmness.
The chaotic fear from before faded, gradually replaced by an odd sensation of completion the longer I stared into the dragon's gentle eyes.
My body relaxed, and the breath I had withheld since the first whiff of demise grazed my nose released. I shouldn't have done that.
The dragon's pupil narrowed again, and she whipped her head back to open her jaws again. The harrowing thought of death barely hit me before a roar shook the ground and made the air rip past me like the currents of a hurricane.
I shielded my eyes, my insides coiling as I strained my muscles in order to stand against the wind whipping around my body.
When the dragon finally stopped screaming, the echo remained in my ears as a pitch of anguish and a void in my chest.
The dragon narrowed her eyes at me once again before turning her back on me. She spread her wings and took off toward the twilight sky.
Silence rolled over us like a thick, noxious blanket. Adrenaline fled my body as I realized my life was no longer in immediate danger.
My legs gave under me, and I fell to my knees. I swallowed breath after breath, heaving in air to cool my burning lungs and calm my racing heart.
Piper didn't rush to my side like usual; neither did Caiden or any of the others. I didn't blame them, though.
My body trembled with such force that I couldn't possibly imagine moving my feet more than an inch. The others had witnessed the exact same thing as I had. I doubted they could move their limbs more than me.
"My deepest apologies, Willow," Pangea said.
I urged my eyes upward, but Pangea wasn't looking down at me. Her eyes were fixed forward, following the shadow of the dragon—my dragon—still racing toward the crack in the roof.
"I would have warned you to approach this meeting differently if I had known."
What was she talking about? She did warn me. Not that it helped much.
Pangea sighed and rubbed her face as if what just happened truly bothered her. Then, she squatted and grabbed my hand.
"Your dragon is not like those you have met thus far," she explained, the glint in her eyes flickering with concern. "We call her kind Armor Wing. There are not many of them left in these caves, and they usually keep to themselves with little interest in socializing.
"Their scales are harder than diamond, virtually impenetrable. They are the last line of defense and also our deadliest weapon. However, the scales they shed can be used as effective armor plates for humans as well.
"The war you know as the Grand Escape was not exactly as the history books describe. It was originally a war between First-bloods and Iridis before the dragons discovered that the sudden uprising from the First-bloods resulted from the darkness whispering chaotic perspectives into the ears of those without powers. This realization is what caused the dragons to retreat to this island, not the war itself. However, that war resulted in great loss among the dragons—most of all the Armor Wings."
Torrach walked beside Pangea like a protective guardian, but not even dragons could guard against nightmares and haunted history.
"Desperation from each side caused minds to lose respect for life and the history that has given us all life. It was discovered that Armor Wings tend to shed their scales faster under unfavorable living conditions, such as starvation, dehydration, and lack of sunlight. Many Armor Wings were captured and tortured for harvest of their scales.
"Dragons live long lives, and not a single egg has hatched another since their isolation from the rest of the world. Those who remained either experienced their peers slowly dying at the hands of ruthless humans or were mere hatchlings who watched the same happen to their parents.
"Many Armor Wings today carry deep resentment for humans for what we once did—your dragon is presumably the same."
My heart became as heavy as a stone, plunging to the seemingly endless depths of my stomach.
How terrible. How could anyone be so cruel to torture an innocent soul for their own personal gain?
"She was one of the hatchlings who witnessed her parents slowly perish before her at the hands of her mother's soul-bonded Iridis," Torrach explained, his eyes a mix of anger and sadness. "She has a particular reason for her hatred, too. However, that is all I can tell you. The rest is for her to reveal."
"Her name, too?" I thought.
"Yes."
I flinched. I hadn't thought to consider that he might actually hear that.
"A dragon's identity is for themselves to reveal when they're ready, not for other dragons to tell," Pangea explained, so I guess she heard the conversation, too.
I clenched my jaw, internally debating with myself whether my next question was appropriate or not. However, it was much too relevant to leave out if the darkness was fast approaching once more.
"Pangea," I said, not daring to look directly at her. "I know nothing can ever mend the scars those terrible experiences must've inflicted on her soul, but does that mean that she will never accept our bond?"
Surprisingly, Pangea's lips curled into a reassuring smile. "Not necessarily," she said, helping me to my feet again. "A fully bonded soul can rarely reject their other half entirely. It will likely take time, and you will likely have to prove yourself worthy more than once, but there is still a possibility that she will accept you eventually—hopefully before the upcoming war."
That was a little reassuring. I could already feel the hollow emptiness inside me—as if part of my soul had been taken from me since she turned me away. To imagine living like this forever felt almost impossible.
However, she also deserved to choose whether she wanted this bond or not. I understood that her trust would be difficult to gain, which it also should, given what she had been through.
"Meanwhile," Pangea added, waving Piper over to give me a hand. "The lot of you have had a long and rather eventful day. I could imagine a good night's sleep would be favorable before we begin tomorrow's training."
I stopped in my tracks as I reached for Piper's offered hand. "Training?"
Pangea nodded. "Time is scarce, and you have much to learn in many aspects of your training as a Golden Warrior. However, I will explain further tomorrow. Tonight, you will eat and sleep. Follow me."
Piper grabbed my hand and wrapped my arm around her neck to follow the queen. "That was like surviving a real nightmare, you know that?" Piper whispered, her movements still stiff and slightly unpredictable. "Dragons are scary."
I wasn't going to argue with her there. Dragons were far scarier than the stories written in ink and those Dad used to tell me when I was a kid.
"What did you do to anger the spirits like this? We have not had a single moment to breathe since we left the golden castle, and now... An Armor Wing. Really? Couldn't you have bonded with a Feather Wing or something simpler?"
I chuckled. That experience must really have shaken her to the core. She already babbled like a waterfall, likely not even considering her words before they spilled past her lips.
"You don't have to come with me tomorrow, you know," I said, suddenly feeling the faint pinch of guilt tugging at my nape again. "I'm sure Queen Pangea won't mind if you need an extra day off."
"Of course, I'm coming tomorrow," Piper said, pouting as she adjusted my arm and hugged me tighter to her body. "What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't?"
"A tired one," I joked.
Piper shrugged. "You're not getting rid of me, Aldwyn, and that's that."
I chuckled but didn't try to convince her otherwise again. I didn't have the energy.
We walked for a few minutes, passing clay stone after clay stone, sometimes even stepping across a patch of grass as if a dragon had shed a tear that offered the barren land a touch of life. We walked until we came to a corner of red clay, climbing along a seemingly endless wall.
Numerous caves had been carved into the face at various levels. I could see no stairs, so maybe the caves were connected from the inside.
"This is where the bonded sleep, preferably with their dragons, which is why the openings vary in size. However, since these circumstances are rather unexpected, I believe it is safe to assume you may prefer to sleep in the same cave, so—"
"Yes!" Piper, Alia, and Caiden exclaimed simultaneously.
I arched my brow and looked at them both. Alia avoided my gaze, but Piper and Caiden both held it firmly as if to tell me that I was left with no other choice.
Pangea smiled. "Very well. I will have the others prepare two caves. It is good to see that you have supportive friends, Miss Aldwyn. You might need it in the upcoming days.
This woman was a riddle. She said these wild things with such indifference in her voice as if death was merely a regular spirit that came knocking on her door at once a day. Fear didn't seem to be in this woman's vocabulary, so I could only assume that what was coming could only be tenfold worse than what tomorrow would bring.
"We typically access the caves by means of our dragons, but your powers will work just fine as long as you don't accidentally access another dragon's cave."
There we go again. Indifference.
"Now, regarding food, we have—"
The air suddenly stirred again, beating around us like waves of dust.
A moment later, two dragons landed on the free area before us: a brown Feather Wing with claws of silver and a row of green feathers cascading down its neck, and a Spy Wing with purple scales shimmering with a hint of blue.
From the Feather Wing descended a woman whose features were as sharp and ruthless as the metal she commanded as an Earth Iridis. Her dark brown hair had been twisted into a tight bun on the top of her head, the elastic stretched to its absolute limit. Her nose dipped a little around the tip, and she had a scar across her jaw.
From the Spy Wing dropped a golden-haired man with strong features that made him seem as if an artist had carved him from stone and wished him to life. He looked only a few years older than us, too.
"Holy spirits," Piper muttered, her mouth slightly gaping. "What does that man eat for breakfast?"
"I apologize for the delay, Pangea." Holy mother... Even his voice had Piper drooling all over herself. "I went to secure the shores and get a read on the Lagyssal's location relative to the island. It also took me a minute to find the sulking bad-mouth here, as you requested."
Pangea cleared her throat and straightened her back. "Welcome back, Apollo. Thank you for taking over while I tended to our new arrivals. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bone to pick with a certain Earth Iridis. So, if you could explain our schedule and daily arrangements for our guests, I would much appreciate it."
Pangea's voice had grown cold and wrathful. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that lesson, and—assuming that the woman who dismounted the Feather Wing was Reza—Reza also did seem to contemplate whether to make a run for it.
"By all means," the golden-haired man said and stepped aside.
Reza didn't have the slightest moment to consider her choices. Pangea teleported from her place beside me to Reza's side in a matter of seconds and hauled Reza aside while shouting curses that I could've lived a good life without knowing.
"Well," the man—Apollo—said. "I guess I should introduce myself."
He stepped closer. "My name is Apollo, previous manipulator of sound. And this lovely lady is?"
He stopped in front of Piper, who giggled like a schoolgirl as a streak of blue shades painted strokes across her cheeks. "Piper," she finally managed to utter. "Piper Weldon. Water Iridis."
Apollo offered her a boyish smile that made even my knees soften a bit. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Weldon," he said before turning to me.
"And assuming by the golden smudges on your mended skin, I feel safe to assume that you are the newest addition to our small army of golden warriors," he said.
I couldn't help but smile at his charming face. "I guess you could say that," I said, chuckling. "I'm Willow—previous wielder of air and now..." I paused, unsure what to say next. I didn't know what my new powers even remotely resembled.
Apollo seemed to catch my reluctance and stepped in to break the awkward silence. He took my free hand and raised it to his face.
Heat shot through me when he pressed his lips against the back of my hand, embarrassment threatening to tear open my fresh scars. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Willow. And do not fret.
"It took me a while to identify my star-blessed powers, too. But now, I know that the star granted me the ability to wield the shadows of the very darkness we hope to defeat soon. We will find your gift, too. I promise."
Did he just say that he wielded the shadows?