MasukNARRATOR
In the Grand Castle…
Looming over the castle, the Dragon parted its jaws. A torrent of fire surged forth, pouring straight into the open Great Hall. The blaze roared like a living force, swallowing the space in a violent flood of heat and light.
The sigils carved into the walls ignited at once, flaring with a steady glow. Their magic held firm, shielding the structure and the sylphs within from the worst of the flames. But the in
GILDEONHis father stepped toward them. “I met Ghulik here in the Dark Plane.”Gildeon’s questioning gaze snapped to the goblin.“Ghulik came from another dimension,” he said, ducking his head slightly. “As Master already knows.”“Yes,” Gildeon replied. “You told me you fell through a portal by accident and ended up in Earthland in ancient times.”He remembered their first meeting well enough. A cave in Shamibar. The war between salamanders and sylphs was still in its infancy. At first, he’d thought Ghulik was one of the last beastlings left alive. Later, he discovered that no one else could see or hear the goblin. He then realized he was a supernatural creature from another world.Back then, Ghulik had said he couldn’t remember how he’d ended up in Shamibar after escaping a life of servitude to witches in Earthland. Gildeon had guessed some
GILDEONHe remembered what Yonah had told him: once he recovered the dagger, the path into the Shining Keeper’s domain would reveal itself.The Fallen Immortal had given him nothing else. No map. No warning. Just that the chance would come when it came.Standing here now, Gildeon had to wonder if Yonah had seen all of this coming.“How do I get there?”His father turned and motioned for him to follow.Gildeon threw one last glance at the shifting projection on the wall. His eyes searched for Araheen. He didn’t see her. Relief came fast and sharp. Kohina and the others were missing too. That told him enough. They were likely together somewhere, trying to stop their people from gutting each other before there was anything left to save.That might buy him time to end this once and for all.The passage tightened as they moved. The walls folded inward until it felt less like a corridor and mo
GILDEONHe stopped dead.Seeing his father was the last thing he had expected when he stepped into the Dark Plane. For a second, his mind refused to take it in.“How?” he asked, the word rough in his throat. “Are you real?”Then the realization hit him. Back then, Daego had never truly returned from the Dark Plane. He and the thing that had worn his shape had only been sealed inside it.“I am, son.”That single word landed harder than any blow. Son. Daego smiled, and something in Gildeon’s chest gave way. For a moment, he was a child again.“Are you alive?”Daego shook his head once. “Not as a mortal lives in the breathing world,” he said. “I’m a spirit now. The plane took me in. I became part of it.”Gildeon’s mouth tightened. His lips trembled despite himself. “You know it’s me?”Daego ste
GILDEONHe didn’t wait to watch the situation turn worse. He shifted at once, flesh and bone cracking wide into his full dragon beast form, and went straight for Garud. He meant to kill it. Yonah’s dagger was in that thing’s body, and he would stop at nothing to take it.He hit Garud hard enough to shake the ruins.His jaws closed around the creature’s side with a wet, splintering crunch, and the force of it drove them both through the half-broken spine of the citadel. The air filled with the scream of shearing metal, the roar of breaking rock, and Garud’s shrill, furious cry as Gildeon dragged it through what little was still standing.Garud fought like a trapped beast. Its great wings beat once, twice, then the feathers changed. Each one hardened into steel with a ringing, murderous sound. A storm of them slammed into Gildeon’s hide. Some skidded off his scales. Some punched in between them. A few dro
ARAHEENHer mother had warned her about this. If Zephyr ever forced his way through the sigil, there was only one measure left. It would cost her. She had prayed she would never have to pay it.But right now, there was no other choice.She drew the sigil needle and cut it across the mark hidden on her forearm. The air around her turned sharp and bitter, cold rising fast enough to sting her lungs. Her Awakened core shuddered inside her, then broke loose in violent pulses. Ribbons of teal light tore out of her body in hard, whipping bursts and shot toward Zephyr. They wrapped him from throat to ankle, binding his arms, his chest, his legs, locking him in place like chains forged from raw will.Zephyr’s indigo eyes lit up. His face pulled tight with strain, every line in it hard and furious. Indigo fire bled across his skin as power surged off him in waves, battering against her restraints. He tried to tear through them by force.
ARAHEENThe girl could not have been older than six or seven.Her being here still made no sense to Araheen, though at this point the whole operation had become strange enough that she should have stopped expecting sense from it.“Where’s Zephyr?” she asked.“I can’t let you hurt him.”The child stood her ground when she said it. Small body. Steady eyes. No fear in the words.“Why?” Araheen asked. “Who is he to you?”The girl said nothing.Araheen stepped closer and crouched in front of her. “Little girl, I don’t know who you are, but Zephyr is dangerous,” she explained. “He means to hurt people. He means to tear apart the balance of the natural world. I’m here to stop him.”The girl tipped her head. “He isn’t a bad person.”“How can you say that?”“I know it.&
ARAHThe tentacles wrapped around her arms and legs, but not before she managed to release her owls and wind tattoo from her skin.A foul secretion oozed from the slick, rubbery coils, burning wherever it touched her. The suction cups latched on hard, pulling at her
ARAHYoung Araheen screamed. The sound tore from her throat like it had clawed through every cell of her body. She collapsed to her knees, hands trembling, mouth frozen in a silent wail of horror.Arah wept with her. It didn’t matter that she was only witnessing a m
ARAHA month had passed since the incident with Jeric. She’d kept Cora in the loop about what really happened, and in return, Cora helped her spin the lie for their ever-curious friends, Mabel and Tonio. The two were easily convinced that Jeric had been a distant nephew of
Many Years Ago (Part 2)YOUNG ARAHEENShe sat up at the foot of her mother’s effigy, her small feet dangling over the edge of the crystal tomb.Feviel eased himself onto the marble seat across from her, his owls shifting comfortably







