Prologue: Part 5

I was snapped out of my memory by Styrmir waving his hand in front of my face. His multicolored eyes shimmered, wearing the same bittersweet smile he had when we first met. He sighed, leaning his arms over the edge of the balcony of the royal palace.

"I should be getting back to Dralossle soon."

I frowned, knowing he disliked the responsibilities that came with being a king. After all, he was raised in a meritocracy, where strength was all-important, and had eventually come to push everyone away to subvert his expectations of friendship. That being said, I couldn't exactly hold the king of the deities that we worshipped hostage.

"I'll see you off. Walk with me?" I offered.

He turned and looked at me blankly, before jumping off the balcony, leaving me sputtering in indignance. I rushed to the spot he had been standing and looked down. He shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled his eyes.

"Aren't you coming? I want to go to the market again. It's nice there."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Whatever." I said, releasing my aura. In the years that I hadn't seen Styrmir, I had trained and developed my aura, and now its shape was more defined, the translucent red energy taking the shape of a wolf around me. In the blink of an eye, I was next to Styrmir.

The dragon whistled. "Impressive. I didn't even hear you land."

I blew a lock of silver hair out of my eyes. "Ten years pass and you think I'd still be the same as I was when I first learned how to use aura? You really should have checked in once in a while." I scolded.

"Ah, well, you know. Ten years is barely anything to us dragons. Not my fault that your lifespan passes in the blink of an eye."

I stared at Styrmir in disbelief. "How are you still this immature?"

"Dragons live longer, we age slower, and we mature slower. Shouldn't you know this?" Styrmir asked.

"I know that, but I thought with your ascension to the throne and all-" I stopped myself. "Sorry. That was insensitive of me."

"It would have happened eventually." Styrmir muttered solemnly. "The two factions would have eventually fought each other, instead of Iadra and I dueling for the throne."

Despite his immaturity at times, it was moments like these that reminded me of how old Styrmir truly was. At times, he was the playful, cocksure person that saved me from the Aesir. Other times, he seemed like the battle-worn, hardened leader who'd been through hell and back. The pressure he would emit at times, the bitterness in his words, all of it was enough to make me remember who I was talking to.

I silently walked alongside him, at a loss for words. Styrmir stopped at the marketplace, observing the various vendors.

"King Donghai! What an honor it is for you to come visit!" A vendor called out. Styrmir strode over to her booth, tugging me along by my sleeve.

Styrmir's eyes twinkled with excitement as he scanned the various pieces of jewlery laid out for sale. I absentmindedly listened as the two of them discussed the various methods used to craft the beautiful treasures.

"What are you grinning like that for?" Styrmir asked.

"Nothing. I'm just glad you like this place."

"It's very... lively." Styrmir said. "I feel at home here. It's nice."

The shopkeeper suddenly remembered something. "Ah!" she said, pulling out a medium-sized box of some sort. She rummaged through it, apologizing for the mess she was creating.

"I had this made for you and-" The woman hesitated. "Sorry, I just realized I never got your companion's name."

I hesitated, shooting a worried look at Styrmir. He was allowed to be here, but being known as the king of the dragons could cause some commotion, and I knew he hated being kowtowed to.

"Xuefeng." he said.

I stared at him, my jaw dropping in disbelief. I probably looked ridiculous, but what kind of a name was that?

Before I could protest, he clasped the two pieces of jewlery in his hands. "They're beautiful." he breathed.

In his hands were two of the most well crafted pendants I had ever seen. Both had the same design, white and gold chains entwined to a bail and embellishment shaped like two dragon heads. The only difference was in the centerpiece. One had a beautiful, crystal-clear blue diamond in the middle, sparkling with accents of pink. The other had a piece of jade of the highest quality.

"May I try something with these?" Styrmir asked.

"Of course!" The lady replied with a smile.

Styrmir closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments. When he opened them again, they were filled with pure blue mana. I watched as the mana flowed from his fingertips into the two gems, causing them to change color and glow brilliantly.

"Whoa." I said. The accents of pink in the blue gem had completely disappeared, replaced with a pink marking in the center of the gem. The opacity of the jade had completely disappeared, leaving a transparent green gemstone with swirls of various other colors, resembling a galaxy.

The lady running the booth gasped in surprise. Styrmir paid her no mind.

"How much for these?" he asked, looking at me, expecting me to pay.

I sighed, and began to pull out a silk bag containing gold coins.

"I couldn't possibly charge the king's companion, could I? You two were the inspiration for this anyways, take it for free."

I put the pouch down on her stand. "Please accept this," I said with a smile. "These are such beautifully crafted pendants. It would be a shame if you didn't profit off of it."

At this point, the stand had attracted a crowd of onlookers. I could hear them all whispering about my "companion," and how handsome he was. Styrmir clasped the pendant with the blue gem around my neck. The crowd squealed in delight, and I shot them a stern look. I had no doubts in my mind that all sorts of rumors were about to spread.

"Now we match," he said, pointing at my green eyes and his pendant, and then his eyes and my blue pendant.

As we left the marketplacde, I could still hear the commotion and swooning of the crowd because of Styrmir.

"Glad that's over with." I commented.

"You humans are all the same. Infatuated with anything you think looks good." Styrmir said smugly.

"What'd you do with the gems?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Changed them into runes. They last longer and look better that way." he smirked. "If anything happens to you, my pendant will let me know."

"I'm assuming it works the other way around?"

Styrmir shot me a weird look. "As if anything could happen to me." he scoffed.

I hesitated. "Did you not hear?"

"What?"

"The Earth Phoenix was found dead. There's undoubtedly going to be shifts in the power balance of you deities."

"So? Phoenixes reincarnate if they die. Give it a few weeks."

"It's been a month." I admitted.

A wave of mana rippled from Styrmir. I steeled my aura around me, trying to avoid succumbing to the pressure. He noticed my aura wavering and quickly withdrew his mana. I exhaled in relief. Despite training my aura, the pressure he emitted was still too much to bear.

He grabbed my pendant and imbued mana into it, lightning running down his fingertips into the jewel. He turned away once the job was done, and walked in the direction of the mountains, not saying anything else to me. I followed him, and we walked in silence.

When we arrived at the edge of the mountain he sighed. He turned to me with a smile and said, "I'll see you around" and then walked off.

"See you." I whispered to his back.

That night, my pendant glowed a violent shade of purple. I rushed out of the palace, fearing the worst. I could see the same purple light emanating from the mountains that Dralossle was located under. Through my aura-enhanced vision, I saw a winged figure descend from the clouds, and both it and the purple light vanished.

I rushed to Dralossle as fast as I could, accompanied by my two royal guards. They were descended from dragons, so they were able to open the gates to the underground land of Dralossle. As I descended through the tunnels, I noticed that the walls were vibrating.

As we got closer and closer, the vibrations became more and more clear.

"What have you done with King Styrmir?" One dragon demanded.

"We did nothing! It was your foolishness that made you unable to protect him!" Another dragon yelled back.

Arguments like this resounded through the tunnels. When we emerged, the sight was shocking. It was nothing short of civil war. I finally understood what Styrmir meant when he said that the two factions would have eventually fought.

Heiguang was blessed to be a kingdom that hadn't been through any major wars. As a result, I had never bore witness to the gruesome scenes of war; pillars of earth embedded in the hearts of fallen dragons, scorched corpses scattered around the chamber, the screams and gurgling of dragons drowning, cyclones ripping apart crowds of people. It was as if the world itself had waged war on the dragons. The smell of blood and burnt flesh was too much for me to bear.

I collapsed to my knees, retching and coughing. Tears formed at the edges of my eyes. As a child, I was told stories of the subject of our worship, and now I was watching them murder each other in cold blood. I watched as the firey claws of an ash-grey dragon tore into the throat of a blue dragon, spraying blood all over me.

"Enough!" I screamed.

The dragons paid no attention to me, continuing their battle. My head pounded inside my skull. I clutched my head, trying to prevent the feeling of it splitting apart, but to no avail. The amount of mana resonating in the chamber was near unbearable. My two guards pulled me up and demanded that we leave.

"No," I said. "I can't let them kill each other." I clutched the gem in my pendant, hoping that some sort of reaction would happen if I released the mana inside it. Before I could try anything, another winged figure appeared in front of me.

They were clad in pure-white armor, the same color as their wings. They put a finger to their lips and I felt fog seeping into my mind.

"Forget what you saw here," they commanded. "it is the law of nature. We must intervene to keep the balance of the world."

The last thing I saw before waking up in my bed again was the same blinding purple light. It took a while for reality to settle in. Styrmir was gone.