Warm sunlight greeted Tristan’s eyes as he awoke, with the small waves on the shore touching his feet. He groaned and sat up. Looking around, the shorelines had nothing but sand and coconut trees—and behind him stood a tropical forest. Seagulls squawked above him in the morning skies. Was he on an island? Gondra must’ve brought him here after showing him those visions from the past he had no idea about.Tristan thought he felt an object in his hand. His eyes widened in realization as he found Draphiron’s core in his palm. The small sphere faintly glimmered in frost blue. So it had not been a dream at all. The serpent was real … and that meant his request was too.“Protect,” Tristan muttered to himself, staring at the core. What must he protect? The core? The dragons? More questions had confused him more, but only one marked his thoughts; why him? Out of all the people in this world … why did Gondra choose a bitter, selfish man who could not even protect his disabled younger sister who
The White Forest was darker than a moonless night, but Kael’s light ball had shown the path through the silent trees. He kept his head low, his eyes stealing glances at Luna’s boots beside him as they walked. They had become wordless ever since they separated from Lucas and Robert. Even now, he still had anxieties and fear that he had just made a huge mistake, considering how dangerous it was to let Lucas freely walk around with no one but a young swordsman to watch him over.Kael swallowed in his throat, wondering how he would begin a conversation with her. Should he ask how she had been? No … Luna had reported what had happened to her. Perhaps he should ask if she had already eaten. Would that be too weird?Kael took a deep breath before he opened his mouth to speak—“How have you been?”Luna’s voice froze Kael’s jaws as he raised his head. He found her looking confused, her eyes blinking under her furrowed brows. “Why do you look shocked?”Kael realized he still had his mouth open,
Become a Ka’ern …Become a demon …The phrases kept on repeating inside Arth’s head as he took a stroll along the stone bridge, supported by two columns of pillars that reached up towards the arched roof. The path was narrow but long. It connected three towers; from the left wing to the center tower of the castle and then to the Right Wing. Arth paused in the middle of the bridge towards the Left Wing, leaning his elbows on the stone ledges. His thoughts ran only through his discussion with the Demon Lord earlier.Arth had asked Lord Ander an amount of time for him to decide. Him being truly fortunate, as his bloodline was the only thing that kept the Demon Lord from killing him. Though Lord Ander gave Arth the freedom to roam around the castle, he could feel he was still being watched. It might’ve been Shadowhunter who’s following him.Again, Arth shook himself to return to focusing on his options. If he’d become a Ka’ern, it would prevent the entire Legion from opening the portal to
Though broken and destroyed, the ruins were magnificent. Tristan stood on the wide balcony, taking the view of the entire city with the cool wind blowing against his face, sending his silver hair into a flail. He glimpsed the shattered structures and walls, all made of white stones, with the bones like mountains on every corner of the street. Then his eyes traveled towards the group of dragon hunters right below him, each equipped with a leather vest and a white cape.Tristan caught his father, speaking a command to the group. Seeing him had made his heart remember all the memories he had with his father, all the good and bad ones, but the good memories had caused more pain that tightened his chest. He wouldn’t dare recall every one of them. Those had been buried already in his past, as every time he tried to remember, the scene of his family’s death had kept on stopping him, drawing his full attention to the pain that it had caused.Tristan decided to take a stroll around the ruined
Kael awoke, breathing in the chilly morning air in the forest. He found himself sitting on a large branch with his back leaned on the trunk. But as he looked around, he couldn’t spot Luna. He tried to remember what happened last night, but it only brought him pain. Luna did not seem to enjoy talking about their feelings, or only his feelings. She had just shut him off while Kael was already expressing what he felt for her. The topic must’ve made her uncomfortable.Kael stood from his branch and searched around and below him. Countless branches surrounded him, with no movement or sound, and looking down, he only found snow that blanketed the ground. And so he climbed down. His boots crunched against the snow as he landed, before he made his way to look for Luna. Walking further, he thought he smelled the stench of a corpse ahead, so he continued.Kael found Luna standing behind a big tree. He was about to speak, but then Luna touched his lips with her finger and shook her head. At that
Glacies Materia …Arth replicated Frostcalibur multiple times, then he launched them to counter the incoming shadow daggers, hitting each one that produced sharp ting sounds. Panting, he whispered a curse. Shadowhunter was close to killing Arth and Elicantris by a sneak attack from behind. He had to be more careful to protect Eli. She had her Ascendant summoned; a ball of light floating around her with her enchanted book opened. Both of them had to go against Shadowhunter.Arth looked around as he stood over the castle’s inclined roof. He couldn’t see every shadow because of the darkness, but Eli’s light had helped him locate which places Shadowhunter could make his next attack.“Eli, don’t go near any surfaces,” Arth yelled, gripping Frostcalibur tightly.Shadowhunter was hiding … and he could be everywhere. Arth brought one foot backward and cast Ice King’s Footprint on his shadow, as he sensed the enemy approaching. He was about to move, but then …“I told you, human … your tricks
Galloping down the street, Tristan’s sharp gaze focused far ahead. His grip on the reins tightened as he spotted the group’s arrival in the gatehouse. Seeing Bow had darkened his face. After what the man had done to him, he could not let this opportunity to pass. Revenge was all he wanted.The hot wind of noon had brushed against his face, with his silver hair flailing. All the memories from that ship had returned; from the moment Bow had him chained into an anchor before pushing him to drown at the sea. Why the hell would he do that? It’s what Tristan was dying to know, now that Bow had arrived. He recalled the man mentioning that he had worked together with Tristan’s father as dragon hunters. And now that he found out his father was the leader of the dragon hunters, Bow must’ve worked under him.Tristan had not forgotten about Lewis also, who had been kidnapped by those hunters. Seriously, why did they have to do these? After all of what they’d been through … Tristan had never expec
Kael glanced at Gared’s sharp face, shone by the light ball at the low table between them. The mage had offered bread and butter, and Kael already had two slices for his hungry stomach. Chewing his third, he listened with Luna to Gared’s report.“You said you didn’t come here alone,” Luna said, “so where are the rest of you?”Gared flipped through the pages of his journal and replied, “Five knights and three mages, including me … Magus Jade had to have me protected to be certain I’d survive, so I can return and report to him. On the second day of our journey, we decided to split up to have a wider range of coverage in the forest. I went with two knights and a mage, while the other group had three knights and one mage. Then …” His eyes fell to the journal and sighed. “That night where we agreed to gather, not a single member from the other group came.”Kael and Luna looked at each other with worried eyes. “What happened to them?”Gared turned the page and read it for a second before rep