Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered." ― G.K. Chesterton

Silence was settled all throughout New Domino City that night, except for the occasional wind that dared to breach it, whistling as it passed through black, gnarled trees. The air hung dense, accompanied by a darkness that spread over the earth, thick as oil, and a starless sky the shade of blood.

Aki felt the pressure of the environment as she stood at the city gates. It wasn't just the fact that they were unattended that was strange, it was also that she was even there. She didn't belong there, not in this place. No witch did.

But something had drawn her here. Some-one. A voice calling out to her, by name, from within the city walls. So compelling. It reached her through the stale fog over miles of distance separating her from the king's city. She had to come.

She couldn't say why, she just knew.

The gates opened, silently folding inward on their own with the absence of soldiers. Aki stepped through, moving slowly, the air so heavy it felt like walking through water. Even for the time of night, the city felt barren. As Aki drifted forward, she only passed a few people—though their features were blurred and desaturated into gray—and to her bare feet the street felt cold.

"Aki . . . Aki . . . help me . . ."

The voice again, soft and wispy, a susurrus of pain and desperation.

"Aki . . ."

It kept calling. She heard it from all around her, brushing against her ear as if the speaker's lips were close. She tried to walk faster, but for some reason her legs wouldn't do as she willed. She bobbed down the street with each step, trying to push her legs harder, but she might as well have been running on the ocean floor.

"Aki . . . hurry . . ."

She was trying, but she couldn't find her own voice to reply, to say she was coming, to ask where the speaker was, to ask who the speaker was.

She turned the corner and found herself entering a very long road, and another figure in the middle. It was a young man, close to her own age, down on his hands and knees, one arm wrapped hard against his torso, the ground beneath him growing a pool of blood. His hair was dark and short, but his bangs still managed to hide his eyes.

Aki watched as his blood kept sliding around his arm and dripping into the stain below, wondering how he could make no noise while clearly in pain. He just let his injury cry for him while his head hung.

She might be able to heal him, she realized. When she tried to call out to him, nothing came out. She couldn't even tell if she was breathing. She tried to run, but every step was sluggish and only seemed to take her backward, as if the road were stretching even longer under her feet.

She reached out an arm to try to reach him, but measuring him against her hand only made it easier to tell that he was getting smaller.

"Aki . . . save us . . . save us all . . ."

Her stomach knotted. No, she thought, but couldn't say. Let me save you first!

Whoever 'us' was would have to wait, this boy was dying before her eyes. If only she could reach him!

With a roar that made her stumble to a halt, a massive and deformed dragon emerged from black clouds above her and began a targeted descent toward the boy, its eyes bright as fire, its jaw opening to reveal a black tongue and large teeth.

Aki couldn't move. Her legs were no longer sluggish, they were paralyzed against her will. She looked from the dragon to the boy and back to the dragon. The boy seemed completely unaware of the incoming threat, and she still couldn't speak—or scream. She doubted the boy could run in his condition, but she wanted him to. She wanted him to run and escape so badly.

The dragon's mouth began to grow an orange light that shone behind its teeth while its neck expanded to accommodate the fire building inside. And then with wide eyes, Aki watched the blaze project from the dragon's mouth, billow as it came closer to the earth until it devoured the boy in a blinding conflagration that sent a wave of heat and pressure out as a dome, knocking Aki onto her back to hit her head—

—on the floor of her bedroom.

"Ow!"

She pressed her hands against her throbbing skull as she slowly realized where she was. Her sheets were all wound around her legs like snakes trying to constrict her, and she had to struggle to free herself. As she did, her heart was still pounding, making her breath short and her blood spicy with adrenaline. By the time her legs were untangled, she could look to the window and realize it was just barely dawn.

She wasn't going to try to go back to sleep. She was too awake.

So instead to got herself ready for the morning while the nightmare reverberated through her body. And she knew—she could feel it in her witch's intuition—that it wasn't a simple dream. It meant something. It had purpose.

What that meaning or purpose was, she was much less sure.

Was there a literal beast coming to destroy the city? Who was the boy calling to her? Was he real or representative of something?

After lighting a candle to illuminate her room, she could see that she had to remake her whole bed since her sheets, blankets, and pillows were scattered about. So that was her first task. Soon enough she had flattened the top blanket into a neat fold and fluffed her pillows to stand up at the head. But the mundane motions weren't enough to distract her from her thoughts.

So she tried her garden.

She blew out her candle first and stepped into the lush grass with her bare feet, feeling the cool dew squish between her toes. She was relieved to see the sky was dark blue and glittering with stars, but then with curiosity she walked over to the one spot that gave her a view through an opening in the surrounding trees of the castle. In the dark, she could make out its murky form and the windows glowing from candles and firelights burning inside the rooms. Just seeing it made her heart squeeze.

Bad memories in that city.

Bad, bad memories.

This forest breathed with her and let her be out in the open without the need for caution. She didn't have to hide her red hair or her magic among the trees and flowers because she was one of them, magic flowing in her as it did through their roots.

Humans didn't trust magic, not these days. Not since the war. It was better for everyone that she stay here.

But . . .

"Aki . . ."

That dream . . .

". . . save us . . ."

She couldn't shake it from her mind, nor the sense of foreboding that clung to her shoulders. She looked to the castle again and worked her jaw. Was something going to happen there?

She wanted to argue that it didn't really concern her. She didn't belong on the city, and the people didn't want her there. But there was no one to argue with and no one to confirm for her that it was better to just stay put and not let some cryptic dream pressure her into doing anything unreasonable like stepping outside the safety of her forest.

So she chewed her lip as she wavered, shifting her weight from one foot to another and moaning indecisively. Surely there couldn't be an apocalyptic event today. And yet the castle felt magnetic, its force pulling at her whenever she looked away. Even if she could resist it for now, she knew that eventually, she would succumb. And if that was the case, she should just go now and get it over with—hopefully returning quickly and without incident.

She raised her eyes to the purpling sky, toward the disappearing stars, toward the clouds that came with the daybreak, breathing deeply. She closed her eyes on the exhale and immersed herself in the vibrations of magic she felt webbing through the earth all around her, extending her senses into the smallest flower bud and the oldest trees. Among this web, she was part of the enormous living organism that humans only knew as the world. To her though, it was alive, spreading its energy all around and even into her.

She tried to draw on it for courage too. She was going. In her mind it seemed unnecessary and foolish, but her body was responding to some inexplicable need. She couldn't not go.

Oh, the ways of magic were mysterious indeed.

Getting through the forest had been a simple matter. She was used to navigating her way as smooth and light as a bird. It was the wide, open space that made her nervous. She could be seen there.

But she was at least wearing her cloak, the hood up to hide her vivid hair.

She walked along the dirt roads into the fields that led to the city gates, passing by the early risers who farmed the land. The gate was already open to allow the passage of goods and people, and the guards stood to inspect those they deemed suspicious and monitor the rest.

They noted Aki's arrival with a disinterested glance, one of them even holding up a hand to cover his yawn. As she stepped inside, her lungs were frozen and her body tense. But no one stopped her. No one even looked at her. So she had made it.

But then, now what?

Aside from finding a bleeding boy in the road, she didn't know what she was supposed to look for. So she just wandered around looking for some kind of sign—if there was one to find—hoping it would be obvious.

Here and there she saw open shops, circulating carts, mothers fetching water from the well or milk for their children. She smelled bread baking, but it wasn't enough to cover the distinct smell of livestock that was permanently stamped even into the grout of the stone roads.

She avoided looking at people's faces, even when she was greeted directly. She prayed in her head for them to just ignore her. If only she knew a magic that could do it for her . . .

After an hour or so of aimless wandering, she began to feel even more foolish. Really, what was she looking for? Had she really come here based on a dream? The city didn't look anything like it had: no red sky, no heavy atmosphere, no black clouds. She wanted to hit her head, but she settled for closing her eyes and rubbing her temples.

This is ridiculous, she thought. What the hell am I doing here? She had let a dream and a castle bully her into leaving home. Embarrassing. She groaned.

That's enough, she decided, ready to leave.

And she was really going to. Really. But it gradually occurred to her, standing there with her eyes closed, that she felt something. And the more she tried to get a read on it, the further out she had to reach. And the something just kept going, vibrating through the whole city.

Magic.

Tons of magic. Strong magic. Pure magic. The more she focused on it, the more she felt its resonance against her senses. And the more disturbed she became, because an amount of magic this big had to have a source that was noticeable. But when she opened her eyes and looked around her, there was nothing. Just humans and their stone walls and streets. It didn't make sense.

Well now she was curious—and not in a good way. She continued her wandering, anxiously looking around for something that could produce such energy. And she couldn't imagine what it must be like to be human, unable to feel what she felt, completely unaware of the vibrant life all around them. They might as well be blind.

She followed a lane all the way to an open square full of trading stalls and carts, and there she felt an immediate certainty: the heart of this magic pulse was hidden inside a collection of sealed crates stacked in the back of a cart parked at the mouth of an alley. Now that she had her eyes on them, she could see a glow coming from within—through her second sight for magic that overlayed the physical world.

One particular merchant began to holler from his stall, capturing the attention of people in the square. Taking that opportunity, Aki glided over to the cart and slipped out of sight behind another stack of crates in the alley. Whatever other reason might have brought her here, she couldn't ignore this. So much magic in the hands of humans was not good. Just as humans didn't trust witches, who had their own magic to use, witches didn't trust humans to do anything good with stolen magic.

They had to steal it, after all. Or buy it from whoever stole it, which wasn't any better.

Just as she had snuck into place, a man came into the alley from around the corner. He had a thick scar running down from his forehead, across the bridge of his crooked nose, and the length of his cheek. His lips on that side of his face were scarred into a perpetual frown as well. He bent his knees and with effort, hefted the last two crates by the wheel into the cart with the rest. Then he pat his thighs with his gloved hands, bent his neck from side to side to crack his bones, and then walked around to the front of the cart.

Aki whispered a sigh of relief that he didn't come deeper into the alley to the crates she was hiding behind. She didn't feel magic from these anyway, though. Instead she could smell the earthy flavor of harvested wheat inside.

The man was just about to lift the handles of his cart and get moving, but Aki made a snap decision. As she peaked around the side of the crate with one eye, she wiggled her fingers gently in the air until a sturdy root pushed its way up through the grout between the stones and snaked its way around one of the back wheels, anchoring it firmly to the ground.

The man was confused when the cart didn't move. He clearly thought he was strong enough to push a cart loaded with all those heavy crates, so he tried again, straining against the handlebar. But the root pulled to keep the wheel in place. Taking this as a threat to his pride, the man got lost in the competition between himself and the cart. He took a deep, angry breath, and then pushed with all his might.

And with that much pressure, the cart did move, but not as he wanted. Instead of rolling forward, it swung in an arc with the anchored wheel as the center point, and it swung too quickly for him to correct it, so the highest crate launched off the top of the stack and into the square. It smashed onto the ground two feet from the cart where it broke open, and its contents spilled out.

Aki, like everyone else, looked to see what it was. She crept out to the mouth of the alley, expecting that the man would be too occupied by his lost goods to notice her. And she could feel the color drain from her face.

A wave of large, shiny dragon scales had spread around the broken crate, iridescent in the morning light. Such a pretty color for such ugly contraband.

Hunting dragons had been forbidden in Domino, as had trading their body parts, for at least a decade—since the end of the war that had almost destroyed the whole kingdom. Everyone knew that. But of course, the legality wasn't the main issue. To get that many scales, a dragon had to be killed.

Aki couldn't help seeing herself—and her magic—in those scales. It made her stomach churn. Of course, dragons' magic was of a quality far greater than that of a witch, but still, in moments like these, Aki felt more akin to dragons than to humans. She began to wonder why she even felt bothered at the idea of a dragon wreaking havoc on the kingdom—didn't they deserve it? The evidence lying there in clear condemnation and her own queasiness said yes. And they should get what they deserve before they did anything to her.

Tears burning her eyes, Aki was ready to go. Seeing a strong, glorious creature be reduced to a pile of treasure put a sour taste in her mouth, and she hoped any human who tried to obtain magic from those scales exploded, like a tree being struck by lightning.

And then her stomach dropped.

What if . . . what if it wasn't just humans trying to obtain the magic? What if it was a witch, lusting for even more power?

She didn't know where that thought came from, but it made her freeze. And what made her jump out of it was a sudden hand clamping hard on her shoulder, and then a gruff voice demanded from behind, "What're you doing back here?"

"Bloody ash, Yusei, what the hell did you do? Look at this! Look at your sword! What have you been hacking at with it? A whole damn forest? And some rocks? Every time. You do this every bloody time! I have to resharpen this thing so much it's gonna be paper thin pretty soon! You know there's only so much I can do with this, right? I'm not a miracle worker here. I might as well just forge a new one at this point!"

Finishing his rant, the blacksmith threw a dirty cloth on the floor in a huff. Meanwhile the knight listened patiently, because when he looked at his sword resting on the table, he knew he didn't have much of a defense.

"Crow, you're right," he conceded. Again.

"Damn right I'm right," Crow huffed. "You know how much work it is to make a good sword? And I mean a good sword? Show some respect."

"I have all the respect in the world for this sword. It's the only one that can keep up with me."

The smith crossed his arms with a steaming frown. Knights. They were such a handful. Especially this one. But he dealt with it. Yusei was his long-time best friend, after all. And for all the stress he caused, Yusei was the best knight Crow knew—and he knew a lot. Yusei was a true believer in the knight's vow to be loyal and just, and Crow admired that.

It also helped that Yusei paid well.

"And I know you're the only one who can make a sword that good and reliable."

"Well obviously."

Yusei wasn't the type to flatter, so Crow accepted the recognition, but he wasn't going to let Yusei off easy. He was still ticked from the state he had put his creation in.

Yusei just smiled. He knew how much care Crow put into his labor, so he didn't blame him for his frustration. But Yusei also knew that every time, Crow worked the sword back into perfect shape to serve as his trusted weapon, and he felt Crow's friendship when he carried it. The artistry of the design and the heart of the artist, Yusei greatly appreciated both.

"So how much do you want as a down payment for that new sword?"

When Crow paused to think, a shout from the square erupted. "Stop that girl!" They both snapped their heads in the direction of the hysterical voice. "She's a witch! A witch!"

"Witch?" Crow repeated. The two caught sight of a small crowd chasing a young woman, the hood of her cloak fallen from her head to reveal striking red hair, while the rest of the crowd stepped backwards to put more distance between themselves and the accused.

"What in the—"

Yusei was already off, leaving Crow mid-sentence in an impulsive dash. The sudden motion startled Crow, but then he sighed, unsurprised. "Jeez, isn't it too early for this?" he muttered while pushing his back into an arch to stretch. Then he noticed that Yusei's sword was still sitting on his table, along with a leather pouch bulging with coins. Crow picked up the sword and looked up to Yusei's back as he ran. Then he shrugged. He'd be fine without it.

Shit, shit, shit shit shit!

Aki's heart raced, not so much from the running, but from the panic.

You idiot! You stupid damn idiot! Oh I'll just come check things out, huh? Just a quick in and out, huh? It'll be fine, huh?

The shouting mob behind her was a sick punchline to a bad joke. How the hell was she going to get out of there now? She supposed more magic was a possibility, as a worst-case scenario, if causing even more chaos would have a worthwhile result.

Then she got the dark, twisted idea that maybe . . . maybe she was the dragon from her dream? Maybe she was going to use her magic to lay waste to this awful city? Maybe she had come here to fulfill that role?

Her head swam. Confusion and alarm made the world around her wobble as she tried to stay focused on her path forward. Her cloak was dragging on her, making it harder to go as fast as she was capable. But she kept pushing, the sound of dozens of feet pounding the stones behind her spurring her on. If they caught her, would she end up dismembered and skinned, the pieces of her boxed up into a crate too?

Damn you! she cursed, her vision blurring. Damn you all!

Then she stumbled. She screamed, thinking she had tripped, that her hot tears had made her not see something at her feet. But she was falling backwards.

Because someone had gotten a hold on her traitorous cloak and yanked her back. In her panic, she pulled herself loose from the cloak to escape the man's grasp, but she lost control of her footing and stumbled forward all the way to the ground. The impact shot pain from her knees and wrists through her legs and arms, so when she tried to scramble back to her feet, she collapsed.

And that gave the humans plenty of time to reach her.

Two strong hands lifted her up with firm grips on her shoulders, and then holding her up from behind, the man locked one arm around her throat, squeezing it with the crook of his elbow just enough so that she could still breathe, but not escape. Then the man she had seen with the cart appeared in front of her, his glare menacing.

"You think you can fuck with us? You think we're scared of a little witch like you? Bitch, we hunt dragons! You ain't nothin' to me!"

Aki bared her grinding teeth. She could feel her magic flowing hot inside her. Oh, she was ready now.

You think I'm nothing? I'll show you. You're the one who's nothing!

She was hot and getting hotter, just like the magic in the air around her as it responded to her energy. Her amber eyes started to glow beneath her furrowed brow. She breathed deep, her breath steaming through her teeth against the disfigured face before her, and she began to wave her fingers as her hands hung out of sight . . .

Fwp!

In a blink, the man was gone. Vanished.

But not by magic.

By a flying kick crashing sideways into his jaw, sending him to the ground hard and silencing the whole crowd. The new arrival landed crouched on his feet, close to the beefy man stunned on the ground, with his back facing the two behind him.

Aki's furrowed brows rose, and her surprise made her fingers go still. And then he stood up straight, turning to look sideways at the other man still holding Aki, while Aki stared at him—and felt her stomach plummet.

It was him.

Him!

The young man from her dream!

All the heat drained from Aki as her mouth fell open.

He's real?

And that realization made her eyes jump upward to check the sky, but just like the living, breathing man in front of her, the sky was fine and healthy. No blood or dragons in sight.

"What the hell are you doing?" the man holding her demanded. "Didn't you hear us? She's a witch!"

"Hm, so you say," the knight replied casually before holding up a dragon scale the size of his hand. "But from where I'm standing, it looks like you're the only one who's broken the law."

Aki could hear the man's teeth grind and feel his muscles strain uncomfortably against her.

"Since I'm guessing," the knight continued, "she's not part of your little illegal trade ring."

"Hey, we've got nothing to do with that," he shouted defensively. "We just do deliveries! We don't know what's in any of the crates we get, we just carry them!"

"Oh, I see. Then you won't have a problem telling me who gave them to you, right?" The knight spoke calmly, but his blue eyes were cutting.

"That's . . . N-no," he stammered. "No way. That's private info."

"Well isn't that nice of you, protecting your clients."

"I ain't protecting them, I'm protecting me! Those people are dangerous!"

"Not to brag, but I'd say I'm pretty dangerous too. And I'm the one right in front of you. Listen, I'll even pretend I believe you didn't know about the scales if you give me a name." The knight's expression was set and confident, like he didn't have a fear in the world.

So different from when he was broken and bleeding and begging for help.

The square was quiet as everyone held a collective breath, waiting to see what would happen. Then a shadow grew to consume the knight from behind as the first man recovered and rose to his feet, now with a thick rod in his hands. He looked strong enough to be able to break open a man's skull with one swing, but the knight turned to face him with only a mild frown.

"Fuck you!" he shouted, his pride wounded even more than his bruised jaw. He twisted his arms back, holding his rod with both hands, about to land his swing to the knight's temple. But the young man was quicker and sank a low and powerful punch into the man's stomach and up into his lungs. The man gagged and gasped, dropping the rod as he doubled over breathless. It gave the knight a good opening to grab the man's head and bash his knee up into his face, sending him back down to the ground, unconscious.

Aki could feel the man who held her shaking, but more than that, his tension was making his grip on her throat tighten. She reached up with both hands to tug at his arm, but it didn't budge.

The knight glanced at her and noted her struggle, then set his hard eyes above her to her captor.

"You know, this isn't a good look for you," he said. "Nothing about this screams innocent."

As Aki wheezed to get in her next breath, the man dragged her back a step with him as he pulled out a knife with his free hand. When he had it pointed at her face, he hissed, "I may not be innocent, but I ain't caught. And listen up, witch," he called, tapping her cheek with the side of the blade. "If you don't wanna die, help me out of here, got it? Help me and I'll let you go. Deal?"

Aki leaned her head away from the blade, but he kept holding it threateningly close. She glanced to the knight, who stood frozen in place, frowning. He seemed stuck, as if . . . as if he didn't want to make a move that might get her hurt. But that had to be her imagination. No one cared about a witch's safety. She had to protect herself.

So she waved her fingers.

The knight's mind went into a flurry of calculations. What could he do? And it had to be him. Because he knew no one else would care about the girl if they believed she was a witch. Yusei still didn't know if that part was true or not, but it didn't matter. Not to him.

He was too far away to rush at the man and force his blade away before he cut into the girl. Maybe if he could distract him enough to give him an opening . . .

But then he noticed it. The roots winding their way up from under the stone road and around the man's boots—and the girl's fingers gently waving at her side.

So, she was a witch.

That was actually a big help.

He smiled and nodded to her, hoping she understood his acknowledgement, while the man shouted, "Did you fucking hear me? Get me out of here!"

"Die in some bloody ash!"

With that curse, she had the roots yank his feet forward, sending him falling onto his back with a heavy crash that racked his body. Aki went down with him, but his body cushioned the impact for her, and with his grip on her loosened, she slammed the back of her head into his nose. He gargled and then used both hands to cradle the blood gushing out, giving Aki her freedom. She quickly darted to the side and rolled onto her feet, then smirked as she summoned more roots to burst up and lock around his legs and arms and neck. He roared, and with blood oozing down to his chin, he strained against the roots, and they were still so young and thin that he broke enough of them open for him to sit up and reach for her. A blood-stained beard framed the yellow teeth of his growl, and Aki showed her teeth too as she summoned reinforcement roots to hold his legs harder.

And then came another reinforcement. A gloved hand grabbed the man's wrist, twisted it hard, and then a second hand pounded into the strained elbow, resulting in a howl as the man's head dropped back. And then the knight stepped over the man's legs so he could look down into his pained eyes before he hammered a well-aimed punch into his nose. There was a loud crunch! as it broke even more, and then the slap of his body collapsing to the ground.

The knight grabbed him by his hair and lifted his head to make sure he was completely knocked out as cheers and applause broke out in the surrounding audience. He let the man's head drop back down then stood up to announce, "All right, show's over, show's over. Go on now." He waved to signal for them to return to their normal day.

"What about the witch?" a faceless voice asked from the crowd, followed by murmurs of agreement.

Yusei frowned to all of them.

"I said, show's over."

His tone left no room for argument, so with whispers and more gossiping murmurs, the crowd dispersed, with plenty of curious glances to the witch. With Yusei watching, it didn't take long for the square to buzz with the usual activities.

Which made Aki marvel. She couldn't believe so many people would actually listen to him, one knight, despite the presence of a witch among them. She was frozen in place, stunned, as she looked at this knight's back.

Then he turned to look at her, and she went tense, pushing one foot back in preparation to either defend herself or flee.

"Are you ok?"

Aki blinked, feeling suddenly off balance.

"Miss?" he asked when she didn't answer.

She looked from side to side, just barely moving her head so as not to take her eyes too far off of him. "Me?" she asked.

"Yes, you. Are you ok?"

She stared blankly at him. "Um . . . Yeah," she said slowly, tentatively.

"Good, I'm glad," he said with a nod. Then he held out a hand. "Do you mind if I talk with you for a bit?"

She looked around the square, meeting a few eyes that were surreptitiously glancing toward her.

"You don't have to worry about them," the knight reassured, stepping toward her. They couldn't exactly talk privately, right there in the open, but he could at least create a kind of space just for them. "They'll leave you alone."

She gave him a strange look.

"So, can I ask you a few questions?" he asked, feeling like he was trying to coax a scared, feral cat.

She licked her lips, took a deep breath, and said, "Ok."

He nodded. "Thank you. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Maybe. Where do you want to start?"

"Well, why don't you start with what brings you here."

"What makes you think I'm not from here?"

He smiled. "I would have seen you before if you were. You stand out."

She looked down and saw her cloak in a rumpled pile, discarded after it had been stripped off her. She slowly picked it up and laid it over her arm. "Fair point," she conceded, combing through her hair with her fingers.

"So?" he prodded gently.

"I . . . came here looking for someone," she began. "I thought they were in trouble. But I think I was wrong. I was ready to leave when . . ." She trailed off.

"Do you know anything about the dragon scales?"

Aki frowned involuntarily. "You mean do I know anything about the people who killed the dragon they belong to?"

Yusei nodded with a hard expression.

"No. Just that they disgust me."

"Hm." The knight folded his arms. "You know, I've been trying to catch the ones doing this illegal business," he said with a bitter tone, "but they're very hard to find. If you know something, anything . . ."

She shook her head. "I don't. I keep to myself. Today was just a bad day. I shouldn't have come here." Then she eyed him warily, keeping her guard up. Even with such flattery as calling her "miss", she couldn't let herself trust him.

And he could tell.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, holding his hands up to show they were empty. Not that that made him not dangerous, but it was what he could think to do.

She looked at him with a measuring eye. "Why?"

He blinked. "Why would I?"

"Is that a euphemism for a quick, painless death?"

"Why would I kill you?"

"What else do humans do with witches?" She pointed to the scale the knight had brought with him. "Just like dragons. And I bet knights get great honors if they bring one's head to the king."

The knight unfolded his arms, genuinely taken aback. He was quiet for a moment as he stared her, and as she stared right back.

"I'm not a fan of killing," he said in a low voice. "And you haven't done anything wrong. Being a witch isn't a crime."

Aki assessed his expression. His gaze was deep and direct. It almost made her believe him.

"So you really don't know anything?"

She was inclined to not trust anyone, but his frank eyes were having an effect on her. She sighed and shook her head. "No. I wish I could give you something. I hate what they're doing."

He believed her angry grimace. He didn't need to convince her how repulsive the dragon 'harvesting' was.

"I see," he said softly. "Well, thank you for giving me some of your time. And for a bit of good luck."

"What?"

"With this," he said, gesturing to the unconscious man behind him. "These guys would have gotten away without any notice if you hadn't been here."

"Oh . . . Well," she murmured awkwardly, "thank you too . . . for helping me."

"That's kind of my thing," he replied with a smirk.

His smile completely disarmed her. No one else would smile like that at a . . .

"Well, I guess I'll let you go. You were leaving, right?"

"Uh . . . yeah."

"I'll make sure no one stops you."

". . .Thank you."

"Can I ask you one last thing?"

"Um, sure."

"What's your name?"

For a moment she was confused. Didn't he know? But then she shook her head and scoffed at herself. No, of course he wouldn't know. Nothing else had been the same, why would that one detail have matched?

"Aki," she replied. Then repeated herself because introductions were so foreign she felt strange doing it. "It's Aki."

The blue-eyed knight bowed with a hand over his heart.

"I'm Yusei. I wish you a safe and happy return home, Miss Aki."

Domino's palace was a masterpiece of architecture. Large, towering columns erected on a natural hill that overlooked the city almost as if to protect it, or to command it. Maybe both. It served as a symbol of the kingdom, and the kingdom itself laid out in a circle all around that magnificent castle, like a body and its heart at the center. And then around the city was a natural border, wide mountain ranges like arms embracing its child.

The kingdom was one, but there was a vestige of the second city that used to co-exist within the mountains. An abandoned castle stood surrounded by a wild forest that had overrun the city that was once called Aracnos. Back before the war, when its king, Rudger, was still alive. But when he died, his brother, Rex, the king of neighboring Domino, inherited his crown. And with his newly gained authority, Rex had merged Aracnos and Domino into what was now known as Neo Domino—though most people continued calling it Domino. The royal city hadn't changed, after all, just the lines on the map.

Inside the castle—the living castle central to Domino—a meeting was taking place.

"All right," a young, blond man sighed, sinking into his sumptuous chair. "So, you're asking me for official permission to leave the kingdom again to do some investigating. That about sum it up? Honestly Yusei, at this point I don't know why you even bother coming here anymore."

"Prince, I know I'm insistent," the knight answered, "but dragons are still being hunted. It's not just the injustice of that I can't tolerate, I owe it to Stardust to make it stop. These are his family that are being killed and sold off as parts. And I'll just point out that he's also at risk as long as it goes on, despite how strong he is."

"I know, I know," the prince sighed again, waving a hand. "It's not like I'm happy about it either. That's not what bothers me. It's that you're still so unbearably formal! I mean bloody ash Yusei! We've known each other for a decade now, when are you finally going to start calling me Jack?"

Yusei only answered him with a smirk.

So the prince huffed and waved a hand. "Whatever. If you care so much about it, next time you can ask the king."

"I don't think so," Yusei replied, breezily ignoring the prince's petulance. "It's more important for you to know about this situation, for now."

Jack rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, yeah, right. I'll tell the others in the army what they need to know too." He blew out a breath and changed into a more eager expression. "Ok, so did the two guys confess anything? How hard did you have to go with the interrogation?"

"Oh, they were quick to talk. They told me they had been promised great compensation, but their client gave them an obviously false name, so that's not much help. But they at least told me that they met him in the Black Forest. I can at least do something with that." Yusei frowned in thought. "But you know, Stardust has been getting worried lately. He's been sensing abnormal streams of magic, so something's happening. Something's wrong. And I've got this nagging feeling that someone might be plotting to upset the kingdom."

Jack considered his friend. "You think that would actually be possible?"

"Considering the change in magic going on and the amount of dragon scales being bought and sold, I can't rule it out. And I don't want to just wait and see. I've got to do something."

Jack knew Yusei. He knew that "something" meant protect the kingdom and everyone in it. And he knew that determined look in Yusei's eye, the one he saw right then. There was nothing to do but let him have his way.

"All right. Go do your thing, knight. You have permission from your prince to proceed as you see fit."

He said the last bit with a sneer. Jack didn't like formality forced between them, and Yusei knew it, but he felt a kind of obligation to respect the decorum of the castle.

And maybe he enjoyed annoying his friend, just a little.

Yusei smiled, gave a small bow of thanks, and began his exit. Jack rolled his eyes when Yusei's back was to him.

"I saw that," he said without turning.

Jack's response was, "Good."

Yusei kept his laugh to himself.

"And make sure you come back healthy so I can punch that smile off your face!"

Again, without turning, Yusei lifted a hand to give a backwards wave. "Yes, Your Highness."

"Hey, Yusei. Don't fall asleep on me now."

"I won't," he promised while scouring the forest below him. But it was getting harder to see with the sun sinking into the jagged horizon.

"I can hear you yawning," his partner countered.

"That's how you know I'm staying awake."

Stardust had them flying high enough that each tree below looked the size of Yusei's finger. It was peaceful up there—at least when the dragon wasn't talking.

"I can be more sure of it though when you say something."

"What exactly would you like me to say?"

"I don't know. You could tell me about this morning again."

"Why? I already told you."

"Yeah but it was interesting. You don't come across many witches these days."

Like dragons.

And encountering either one had a tendency to become a dramatic event. Yusei knew. It wasn't just the morning with Aki that had been noteworthy, meeting Stardust had changed his whole life. Even now, after all this time, Yusei wasn't sure how to name their relationship. Was Stardust his friend? Brother? Father? Teacher? Probably all of them. And probably much more.

Right now, Stardust was his ride. He sat at the base of the dragon's thick neck and looked down over the land while massive wings flapped leisurely behind him. From here, he could see so much, but still, there were secrets he had yet to uncover.

"Why don't you tell me if you can you feel anything suspicious?" Yusei countered.

"Because I don't, not yet. But, I guess I could get closer to the ground."

"All right. Sounds good."

Yusei gripped on tighter as Stardust curved gently downward, losing altitude until he touched the tips of the tallest trees with his smooth, armored belly. As he glided forward on outstretched wings, he scrutinized the treetops, every branch, every nest, every squirrel with his big golden eyes. But he noticed nothing.

Not below him.

Then he felt a vibration in his head. "Wait . . . Hang on," he said carefully. "Now I'm getting something . . . It's getting stronger."

The sun was gone. Only the dim light of dusk remained, casting most everything in sight into shadow. Until the darkness was cut by a ray of light shooting toward them from ahead.

"WHOA!"

Stardust swerved sharply to avoid the hit, and Yusei hugged him with his whole body, cheek against his scales.

"What was that?" Yusei asked as Stardust began to rise straight up, the wind pushing so hard Yusei could barely move his head.

As if to answer, a roar rose into the air, and a creature emerged into view, pitch black against the washed-out colors of the mountains and forest. It wasn't armored like Stardust, but feathered, and its plumage thick like a mane. Both Stardust and Yusei gaped when they realized it was a dragon.

Why would it attack us? was the first question Yusei had. But then there was a glint from the dragon's back, and the next question he had was, Is there someone riding it?

Hi! How are you? It's Yugirl here! I hope you've been following me on my social media, and if not, I'd love for you to check out my other sites! You can see lots of drawings related to this fanfic on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

Chapter Text

Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.

Mary Tyler Moore

The day had been such a catastrophe that Aki was ready to dig her own grave just for the peace of it. She should have listened to Sayer, and this failed adventure of hers was the proof. Sayer knew best, he knew this was how things would turn out if she left their home. When the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, she reached her garden, which should have been a relief, but she was too ashamed to feel welcomed. Squirrels, rabbits, and birds of every color passed by, but she barely noticed them. She was too absorbed with her own thoughts as she walked with shoulders heavy and eyes set just ahead of her next step.

She felt like a disaster. Thinking back to it made her head ache and her body burn with embarrassment. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she berated herself, wishing she could rip the day from her memories, or that she could go back to the beginning and choose not to go.

Futile thoughts, of course. She would have to live with it. But, at the very least, she had met that knight. That brave, strong, and—most notably to her—kind knight, kind despite the trouble she had caused.

Despite her being a witch.

If nothing else, that made him seem special, but maybe there really was more to him than just that. And maybe he really was in danger. But she couldn't be sure, even after meeting him. She wanted to ease her shame by thinking that at least she had been able to help get the two criminals arrested and reveal their dragon scale trade. But it didn't do much. Such black-market activity didn't have anything to do with her, and helping stop it didn't do anything for her reputation among the people.

Inside her dark room, Aki sat on her bed, hugging her pillow. After a while she let her body drop sideways so she could curl up, the pillow squished against her body. She wanted to go to sleep and escape the thoughts consuming her. Or maybe she could have another dream, one clearer than the one before, one that could help make sense of the chaotic day. She rolled onto her back and combed through her magenta hair with her fingers. She couldn't stop staring at the ceiling, because even though she felt exhausted, she couldn't stop thinking about the knight. He had to be the young man from her dream, and so maybe that meant there was a connection between the dragon and the scales . . .

But again, she couldn't be sure. What she had seen had been too nightmarish, too apocalyptic to understand.

She sighed hard and put the pillow over her face to block everything out. She didn't like the feeling that destiny was toying with her. If she was supposed to know or do something, then she needed clearer instructions. Locking the pillow in place with both her arms, she rolled all the way onto her stomach with her face buried, trying to get comfortable so she could maybe fall asleep. She filled her lungs, and as she began to breathe out—pushing her thoughts out with it—a roar joined her.

Her head shot up from the pillow. The sound was distant—but not that distant. She held still, back arched, until she heard another roar, and then she sprang off her bed and dashed out to the garden with her feet bare. She searched the night sky above the forest trees until she found movement, and her breath caught.

Even in the dark, she could make out the figures of two dragons. One was black, feathered, its long claws and beak curved. The other was moon pale, polished, its wings long and silky, and something fine like . . . like stardust fell with each flap. She would have admired the beauty of it had the two dragons not been engaged in a fierce battle.

Each one sent bursts of magic at the other, sky blue and dark green light streaming from their open mouths, and when they were close enough, they attacked with their teeth and claws. She was so struck by the sight she couldn't blink or look away. Dragons alone were rare enough, but to see two, and two fight like this was unthinkable. So when she realized that each dragon also had a human clinging to its back, she finally got a reprieve from her earlier thoughts because confusion wiped her mind blank.

Dragons didn't let humans ride them.

. . . Did they?

The fight drew the dragons closer as they attacked and dodged. Aki could feel the wind from their powerful wings, but even then she couldn't look away. They could have knocked down her whole house and uprooted her garden if they got any closer, but Aki was thankfully not that unfortunate. Instead, the dragons chased each other higher, straight up into the clouds. Aki craned her head back all the way to keep watching them. She thought she might lose them if they kept going like that.

And then the night lit up, a radiant green and blue sphere expanding with thundering boom. And as the echo spread in waves across the forest canopy, Aki watched with eyes wide and heart tight as the white dragon fell. The black one seemed able to stay airborne, though with a visibly painful limp. And from there, rather than chase the white dragon down into the forest, it beat its wounded wings to fly away. Aki didn't know if that was a sign of victory or retreat.

The next immediate thing Aki had to consider was where the white dragon was going to land. It wouldn't be on top of her, but it was still too close for comfort. Her heart was racing as the dragon became bigger and bigger in her sight. This was bad, this was so bad, if not for her and her house, then for the dragon and the human on its back. They had started so high up, could they even survive the impact? She wrung her hands wishing she had some kind of magic that could help. She felt helpless just watching, breathing fast, whispering to herself, "Oh no, oh no, oh no—"

It came like a bang, shaking the ground so hard Aki wobbled, and then dropped down against the ground as huge waves of dust and leaves blew over her in stormy gusts. Aki covered her head with her arms until the earth and wind felt steady again, and then she slowly lifted her face. She was covered in dirt and leaves, but she didn't notice, not even when leaves drifted off her back and shoulders as she stood. She wasn't tired anymore, and she had to—she had to—go and see.

She ran. The earth was damp and soft on her feet, and she hopped and ducked as she went to avoid the broken branches sticking out in every direction. After only a few hundred meters, she made it. There, in the center of a fresh crater surrounded by smashed trees, was the dragon. It was so much bigger than it had seemed in the sky, even with its wings wrapped around its body as a protective shield. Aki stood at the edge of the broken clearing and stared for a moment in wonder, because right before her eyes, its torn and bloody wounds were healing, alabaster-white scales and wings smoothing out as if time were reversing.

She had never seen such a perfect recovery, without any evidence of damage at all. Dragons truly were remarkable, their magic uniquely marvelous.

But, oh! The human! Aki jolted out of her wonder upon remembering him. Without thinking, she was about to take a step to try to find him, but she froze when she noticed the dragon staring, through the dark of the night and the forest, right at her with a yellow eye. Feeling her skin prickle, she quickly drew herself behind a tree and held her breath.

It wasn't enough.

"You!" the dragon growled threateningly. "I know you're there. I can feel your magic."

It wasn't a voice Aki could hear with her ears. It was there in her head, deep and male, making her heart quake. And now she realized she had forgotten her cape. She closed her eyes tight and cursed herself while knocking her forehead against the tree.

Well, she knew she was caught, there was no point in hiding. Besides, she was there to help, right? And yet, she couldn't bring herself to move. Would the dragon even believe she wasn't an enemy?

"Don't underestimate me," the dragon continued. "I can still kill a tiny thing like you. If you want to live, you better go. Now."

"No wait," Aki said loudly, hoping the dragon could hear her—her voice felt so small and shaky to her own ears. She held out a hand to show her empty palm to the dragon before stepping out from behind the tree. "I . . . I saw you fall and I came to help . . . if I can. Are . . . you ok?"

The dragon had a long neck, which he held in a curl while looking at her sideways with one eye. He took a moment to examine her, reading her aura, her very soul, she felt. "I'll be fine," he answered, the threatening tone in his voice softened.

"What about . . . I thought I saw . . . someone with you."

The dragon's neck moved like a snake as his head drew down to reach under his wings, which he lifted just enough to create a gap. Aki's hand jumped to her mouth as she gasped.

It was him. It was the knight.

The dragon held him gently between his paws, where the young man struggled to breathe. A branch pierced into his side, dark blood oozing against it and down his armor, which had bent open on the joints from being bludgeoned by the trees. His helmet was gone, and in its place were cuts across his face. And as quickly as the dragon was healing, a pool of blood was growing around the knight.

"Can you help him?" Now the dragon's voice was quiet and strained with fear, and hearing a mighty creature sound so helpless only increased her own anxiety.

Aki bit her bottom lip, and then some instinct in her awakened at the awareness that time was short. She exhaled and hardened herself into a state of determination. "I think so." She steeled herself as she drew closer to get a better look. She calculated quickly and said, "I'll need your help. You'll have to remove the branch from his side—when I tell you. Ok?"

The dragon nodded, and Aki knelt down to remove the rest of the knight's armor from around his abdomen, trying to unhook it carefully but quickly. She kept her focus as her fingers worked through the blood and exposed flesh to remove splinters and his soaked undershirt, so much so that she didn't even notice she was able to see her work because of the soft light of the dragon's wings. Her stomach lurched as her hands became slick and sticky, but she forced it still while gritting her teeth.

"Ok," she said firmly, giving the dragon a nod. So he placed his long snout gently against the knight's stomach while taking hold of the branch between two rows of crocodile teeth. The knight grimaced and groaned. Aki glanced at him. His skin was so pale beneath the heavy sweat covering his face.

"Hang on," she murmured to him encouragingly—prayerfully.

Holding her hands at the ready, she watched the branch jerk out of the knight with the dragon's tug, and as the knight knocked his head back to let out a loud, guttural shout of pain, Aki pushed her hands down against the wet, gouged flesh.

She tried not to let his screams distract her—tried to not imagine his agony—and ground her teeth, keeping her eyes on the blood gushing up from under her hands. It was coming out so fast. She just had to be faster.

Aki closed her eyes. She didn't need them, not when the magic began to flow warm through her. She moved it like a muscle, using it to see through to the knight's blood vessels, nerves, and every little fiber of his body. His pulse wasn't just a beat she could feel with her touch, now she could perceive his heart, his lungs, the flow of his blood and breath clearly in her mind's eye, mapped in perfect detail.

Her hands lit up, and that light spread across the knight's torso. And it sank into him, into his blood and flesh and bone, giving him a new warmth. It encouraged his blood to keep flowing, nurtured his bones back to solid pieces, soldered the gashes and cuts back into smooth skin, but not before the blood that soaked the earth beneath him flowed in reverse back into his body. And with the volume of his blood restored, the light swam with it to all his organs, restoring and rekindling their vitality, until his body was so fresh Aki might have removed years of wear from him.

But the ordeal had still taken its toll, and the knight could only fall into a deep sleep upon being relieved of his pain, lulled by a sweet heat that smelled of roses.

Aki too was exhausted. The light went out with a deep sigh, and her arms felt heavy as she dragged them to her sides. Some of her bangs were loose and messily stuck to the sweat on her face while other longer strands flapped on her hard, ragged breath. But she managed to smile—even laugh.

She had done it. She had really done it.

The knight was alive. Better than alive. He was healed, completely, not a scratch on him, only the damage on his armor left as evidence of the battery he had endured. As a drop of sweat dripped from her chin, she bowed her head and closed her eyes.

"Thank goodness," she whispered. She could have cried, relief pushing against the back of her eyes like ocean waves. She didn't think she had ever felt so accomplished. And after the day she had had . . .

It could be so easy to get addicted to this feeling, this rush, this sense of . . . meaning. She looked ragged, but she was certain that if she looked in the mirror, for the first time she might feel proud of the girl staring back at her. Maybe she wasn't just a mistake, a walking disaster, a hated witch, a . . . killer. Maybe it was possible she could be . . . something else.

Just as cautious doubt began to circle the hope in her mind, a spell of dizziness drained her and she began to fall. But a sleek white paw caught her before she could land on top of the knight, and for a moment she just lay against it, panting. When she was able to open her eyes, at first all she could see was blurry, but then a large golden eye came into focus.

"You're powerful for a thing so small," said a soft voice in her mind.

To hear such a thing from a dragon was enough to bring out even more wonder in Aki. "Really?" she said with a small voice.

"Yes. Not many witches have magic like yours. And we crossed paths at the perfect time."

Aki nodded, her cheek still against his paw. "It's like destiny," she murmured with a laugh.

The dragon stared at her, and his voice in her mind was sincere when he said, "Destiny or not, thank you. If you hadn't come . . ."

Not wanting either of them to think about it, Aki said with a shy smile, "Well, he did save me first."

For a moment the dragon stared, then comprehension brightened his eye. "Ahhh. So you're the one."

"The one?"

"He mentioned helping a girl out in town today. And that she was clearly not from Neo Domino . . . among other things. I guess he was right." Aki felt her face warm at learning that she had been spoken of, and before she could ask what those other things that had been mentioned were, the dragon asked, "What was your name again?"

They both knew she had never given it, but she didn't correct him. "Aki. And what's yours?"

"Stardust. And this is Yusei," he added, gesturing to the sleeping knight he held cradled in his claws.

"Oh." She wasn't sure what more to say. Not just because she was tired, but because talking to a dragon was a bit . . . surreal.

"Aki." She was startled to hear her own name. It was so rarely said. "You may have overpaid a debt to Yusei, and at the same time, I now owe you one too."

Those words felt like a vice grip around her chest. The idea was so unfathomable it caused her discomfort. She felt it slide through her body, making her squirm. "You don't . . ." she mumbled awkwardly, looking away from his gold eye.

"I can't just say thank you," the dragon insisted.

Aki turned her eyes to the knight—to Yusei. It calmed her heart to see him resting peacefully, his breathing slow. "He must mean a lot to you," she said softly.

"He does," Stardust confirmed. "He's my friend."

Friend. The word rang with the comforting tones of trust, joy, and love, making Aki's heart ache.

"By now, he's basically family."

She tried not to let the pang she felt in her chest show on her face. "That sounds really nice."

Stardust's eye focused on her, and she knew he was probably reading into her, and deeper than just her thoughts—a human's soul was as visible to a dragon as Yusei's arteries and veins had been to her. That made her recoil and push herself out of his open palm.

Don't look at me, she begged. Not like that. She could feel his curiosity like a thickening fog, so she tried to redirect his attention. "He must be a good person for you to trust him."

The dragon took the hint and complied. "He is. Too much for his own good. But I suppose that's part of his charm."

Aki laughed, relieved and grateful. "Well, a good man deserves a good rest. I can give him a bed, and food. He'll need that to fully recover."

"He hasn't yet?"

"Well, I've sealed him up and got everything back in its place. But it's still like he just got out of a bad illness. He needs to refuel his body's energy, and that could take a little while."

"I see."

"So please, you're more than welcome to stay with me until he's ready to move again. I'm alone here, so it's safe."

"You'd ask me to put myself in even more debt to you?"

Aki stiffened. "No, that's not—I wasn't even thinking—"

"I'm joking." The dragon's voice conveyed his laughter all the way down Aki's spine.

"O—. . . Oh."

"Yusei would tell you to not mind me. I'm just like that."

"Oh, I didn't know . . ."

"Why would you? We just met."

"Haha, right," Aki laughed nervously. What she had really been thinking was that dragons weren't known for being creatures with a sense of humor.

"Anyway," Stardust said slowly, "are you really ok with us staying with you?"

"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't. Before you two, I always made sure no one even knew I existed, let alone where I live."

"I see. No, I can understand that. Humans can be . . . cruel."

Aki curled a hand tight around her wrist and squeezed. "Yes," she murmured. And then the air filled with their silent knowledge of that truth, weighing the mood down.

"I'm glad you're a good one," Stardust said suddenly.

Aki's eyes darted to him in surprise. And then she looked away with shoulders drooping. How can you say that, she wanted to ask. You just met me.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

She took a deep breath to help herself straighten. "Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some rest too. I'll be better in the morning."

"Hmm."

"And . . . it might be nice to have a little company, for a little while. And anyway I wouldn't be able to stop wondering about how he's doing if you just left now. I want to make sure he's doing well."

"So you're a witch and a doctor."

"I don't think having one patient qualifies me to be a doctor."

"I don't see why not."

Aki rolled a lock of hair between her fingers. "Well, let's just see how it goes first," she said.

"All right. Lead the way." With that, Stardust gently lifted Yusei off the ground and into one of his bent arms, leaving him three feet to walk with. Aki thought about perhaps using her magic to summon some vines to tie Yusei in place on Stardust's back, but she wasn't sure she would have the energy to stand if she did. So she nodded and turned to walk through the forest again, the dragon lumbering slowly behind her with uneven steps, every movement designed to keep Yusei secure and comfortable.

It was on the way back that Aki remembered she wasn't wearing shoes. She would have to wash her feet before going inside. Her mind was occupied with such mundane thoughts, but also remembering her dream, and how anxious she was to make sure the knight lived, and how strange this all seemed. It was too much in her head, so she found it easier to say nothing as she moved.

She ducked under one last branch before stepping into the clearing where her garden greeted her, and the cottage stood cozy in the center. Stardust slithered his neck and body through the trees to keep from knocking them over, and when he too was in the clearing, he extended his wings into the open air to stretch them.

"I like this place," Stardust declared. "Much better than the city."

"Yes," Aki agreed. "The city didn't have any flowers."

"I'm pretty sure the city doesn't even have weeds."

No, she imagined he was right. Within the arid walls of Neo Domino was a life of stone and pavement, dirt and filth, children chasing escaped chickens, soldiers chasing tiny thieves, markets rowdy with livestock for sale and the persistent, competitive hawking of the sellers, dust constantly rising as wheels and feet and hooves trampled the old stone avenues. The air was completely different there. It wasn't a place for Aki—like a plant, she would find no nourishment there.

She took in a deep breath, grateful to be among fresh, living green and earth. And she looked over her garden with delight—and some amount of pride. From the smallest flowers dusting the ground, to the tall fruit trees bursting with their sweet gifts, and the rose bushes releasing their perfume, it felt like home, a place where she could give herself and be rewarded for her labor and love.

The cottage was nestled in the center, where the ground dipped into a shallow valley, and a giant oak covered it with shade. Its wood and stone walls were covered with vines and moss so thick they almost completely concealed it.

And a veil of magic did the rest, making it unnoticeable to the unwelcome eye.

"This place'll be good for him," Aki said confidently, looking to Yusei. "Just need to figure out the best way to get him inside."

Fire. Fire everywhere. The trees, the houses, the animals as they ran to escape it. They ran to the grassy hills and meadows, seeking refuge, desperate to save whatever was left of their singed fur and escape the fiery claws of death that threatened to devour them whole.

No such luck.

Those who managed to avoid the fire couldn't escape the smoke stinging their eyes and noses. They choked and coughed while their blinded eyes filled with tears, but not enough to clear their senses.

And to even last that long required evading the strike of a sword.

Peace was not the foundation on which the kingdom of Domino was built. Nor was it a thread in the fabric of daily life. No, whether on the outskirts or in the central provinces, villages of Domino were marked by a pervasive gloom. But the worst was Satellite, a rather remote village near the kingdom's border. So murky was it, people gossiped that it was forsaken by God—though not forgotten by the crown. The sheriffs always came to collect their due in taxes, and bandits came to plunder the rest. Where the king and castle were rich, the people and homes of Satellite were poor, small, and wretched, packed into tiny, crowded tenements, making a life—and their meals—from scraps.

The kingdom's trash. That's what they were. The no-goods. The scoundrels. The undesirables.

Everyone knew to stay away from there, unless it was for a fight, or to hide, and even then it was risky. The only reason tax collection was successful was because of the threat of an army invasion. But a lone soldier without crown business could not count on his uniform ensuring his protection in Satellite.

It had been that way for generations, Satellite existing like an ugly stain tolerated only because it served as a kind of valve for any pressure inside the kingdom. Miscreants knew they could go to Satellite and blow off steam, and it wouldn't raise enough chaos to threaten the entire structure of Domino.

One night changed that.

The pressure built up too strong, exacerbated by rising tensions between neighboring kingdoms, and all it took was one unfortunate murder to undo a delicate balance. Among the gangs that had formed and fought to claim territory in Satellite, one leader's young daughter was killed, sparking a furious spate of revenge that spiraled out of control.

Culminating in a fire.

The scourge consumed everything, and all who fled were mercilessly, indiscriminately cut down by those waiting in the surroundings. By that time, all had been declared guilty, and there were to be no prisoners.

Yusei was ten years old that night, the night he saw his home burn. The night he watched a sword pierce through his father, as if his body was butter, even though Yusei had only ever known him to be big and strong. The night he heard his mother wail like he had never heard before—and then take the chance her husband had provided with his protection for her and Yusei to flee.

Yusei ran in a daze, his mother dragging him by the arm to keep up with her, occasionally wiping her eyes with her free hand. "Hurry, hurry!" she pleaded as they were chased into the woods. "Don't look back!" He felt like he was in a dream, a dream he knew was a dream. He was scared, but he knew he just had to wake up. He had dreamed of being chased before, and he always woke up, safe at home.

His conviction was shattered when he fell, tripped by a root he hadn't noticed quick enough to jump over. His weight stopped his mother like an anchor, and she turned to try to pull him to his feet. But a pursuer had already reached them.

Yusei froze where he was on the ground, his eyes wide as his mother jumped to put herself between him and the man. She held a kitchen knife toward him, pulled from the folds of her dress, and for a moment it was enough to make him pause. But the others would get there soon too, so all he had to do was wait for his smoky lungs to rest, and her threat would lose even its small power.

"Yusei," she called without turning her eyes from her opponent. "Go! Run!"

To Yusei, those words felt like a kick to his chest. "What? No!"

"Run!" she screamed. "Run all the way to Martha!"

"But mom—"

"Listen to me!" She gripped the knife with two hands and spread her feet to hold herself more firmly in place, all the while glaring forward as if she was speaking to the foul man ahead of her. "I'll follow as soon as I can, but you need to go. Now!"

Yusei's face broke as he looked at his mother's determined back. He didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave her. He couldn't help fearing that if he lost sight of her, he would never see her again—and he wouldn't even know what had happened to her. At least he had the closure of seeing his father die.

He didn't want his parents to sacrifice themselves for him, what kind of trade was it to save his life and lose theirs? He wanted to wrap his arms around her and declare he wouldn't let go, that he would stay with her no matter what. But she was being so brave, just like his father had been. He needed to be brave too.

So with a sob, he jumped to his feet and began to run, his eyes dried from the flames and smoke. And with as loud a voice as he could muster, he screamed, "I'll be waiting for you!" He screamed with all his heart, as if it was a spell that could guarantee she would come. But when he tried to cast it again, his voice came out weak and fractured. "I'll be waiting . . ."

And he ran, his skinny legs carrying him swiftly and deftly through the woods, which also became darker as the trees and brush thickened the farther in he got. His young, lithe body could move much easier through the tangled masses and crooked spaces, giving him the advantage over any of the men who would struggle to pass through after him. And he tried to keep his mind on that one piece of hope, while deliberately repressing the queasy feeling in his gut that for every step he took, his mother became a mile farther away.

Yusei's eyes opened slowly until they lazily drooped halfway. He blinked heavily while breathing in deep, and then forced his eyes open. It took a moment for his surroundings to come into focus, but when they did, he found himself in a cozy room, dust dancing in the light that streamed delicately through the window to his side. He didn't recognize the room and couldn't remember how he got there, but he was confused enough just being alive that for a minute he just soaked in the sensation.

His eyes wandered, and he noticed that the walls were a ruddy wood, decorated with vines of ivy curling and winding their way up from the floor to the ceiling. Tall shelves on the wall opposite him were full of books coated with a thin layer of dust. On every surface available were various sizes of vases, each with a different type of flower. He looked down to the bed and found himself covered in a quilt with fabrics cut into angular flower patterns. Opposite the window, the wall vibrated with the silhouettes of branches and leaves, and from beyond the window he could hear musical, high-pitched chirping.

Such a different scene from his nightmare. It helped ease the nausea he felt every time he woke from it, even after ten years.

He tried to think back to what had happened before he had been engulfed by those flames again. What was it he had he been doing again?

He started upon remembering the explosion, the blinding light and deafening boom, the sensation falling, and the . . . His hands hardened into stone fists as he gripped the blanket. He and Stardust had been falling straight toward the forest below. Yusei couldn't quite remember what the landing had felt like, everything was kind of blurry and dreamlike from that point.

Stardust.

Feeling suddenly anxious to know where his friend was, Yusei shot up to sit, but just as quickly, dizziness knocked him back down. His skull throbbed as if his pulse was a hammer, and he pushed against it with both hands to dull the pain. And at the same time his abdomen felt sore and weak, his throat dry, his whole body exhausted. He could have easily gone back to sleep.

But he pushed himself to stay awake. He couldn't feel safe enough in an unfamiliar place for that. He had to find out where he was, and hopefully in the process satisfy some bodily needs. So he rolled off his back and steadied himself by gripping the nearest post of the headboard as he slid to his feet. The more he moved, the harder his head pounded, but he pushed through it, breathing through gritted teeth. And as he stood with his head bent low, it occurred to him that his armor was gone, and he noticed that the shirt he wore was not his.

"Oh!"

Despite his head, Yusei whipped around to look. It bothered him that he hadn't heard footsteps, but maybe the blood rushing in his ears was the cause of that. His vision needed a second to unblur, and he easily recognized the girl when she came into focus. Her again? The one who had been so out of place when he found her in Neo Domino. She didn't seem out of place here, though. She stood at the open door, holding a pungent green bunch in her hands, her feet bare, and she seemed to be standing on the balls of her feet as she looked at him.

"You?" he mumbled, his voice somewhat slurred. His brow furrowed and he dropped back down to sit on the edge of the bed. As he bent forward to push on his aching head again, the girl set the herbs on the nearest small table and rushed to his side.

"Are you ok?" she asked gently.

That was the least important question on his mind. He groaned back, "Where am I?"

"You're in my home," she said with a voice that was mercifully soft to his ears.

"How did I get here?"

"Stardust carried you, and I led the way."

That opened the floodgates to so many more questions. But he was so tired, so instead of asking them all, he settled for, "What happened?"

She kept it simple. "I was here when I saw you two fall. I went to find you. When I got there, you were half dead. I managed to heal you, and then I gave Stardust an invitation to stay here for a while so you could rest."

Yusei rubbed his eyes hard with his fingertips. He felt so disoriented.

"Where's Stardust?"

"He's outside. I should let him know you woke up."

"Wait," he said, reaching out to grab her shoulder. "Take me to him." If he could see Stardust, that would at least give him some confirmation that it was ok for him to be there. He looked up into the girl's eyes to see her reaction. She seemed unsure.

"You don't look like you can stand," she observed slowly.

He didn't feel like it either, but he would. "I need to see him."

The girl let out a breath through her nose, then answered, "Ok, but stay here. I can have him come to the window to see you."

Instinctively Yusei shifted his gaze to the window. "Who else is here?"

"No one. It's just the three of us." The girl walked around to the other side of the bed to unlock and push open the window, allowing even more light to spill through. Yusei felt it like a stab to the back of his eyes and squinted hard. As he groaned, the girl came back to him and put a hand lightly on his shoulder. "You'll be ok," she said reassuringly. "Your body just needs some time."

He was going to try to look at her again, but before he got the chance, she was already dashing away, light as a deer. He took the minute while she was gone to nurse his eyes open—and remember. Aki, that had been her name. When the light didn't feel as harsh anymore, he heard a growl from behind him, which contrasted with the human voice in his head. "Yusei!" He looked up and saw a large shadow on the wall, which already filled him with relief, and he turned around to find Stardust there, his head turned sideways at the window to look inside.

"Stardust," he greeted with a large smile.

"You look good," the dragon said. "I mean, better than you did earlier."

"How bad did I look?"

"Well considering you had a whole big branch sticking out of you and blood gushing up like a fountain, I'd say you looked pretty damn bad. Like, you-were-this-close-to-dying-on-me bad."

"That bad, huh?"

"That bad."

Yusei supposed that meant Aki had been telling the truth. That was comforting. "Then I guess I should be grateful I only feel this bad," he said with a wry smirk that lurched into a grimace when he felt a stab in his side.

"You should," Stardust agreed. "You should be grateful to feel anything."

"Right. And I guess you're ok."

"Naturally." The dragon's imposing presence, with his razor teeth and solid gold eyes, belied the humor ringing in his psychic voice.

Then Yusei lowered his voice. "So that girl, she healed me?"

Stardust nodded. "She sure did. I haven't been that impressed in a long time."

That said something. It was only strange to Yusei that a witch who was apparently so impressive could also be so helpless and afraid, as she had been in the city. He didn't know what to make of that.

"Can I come in?"

Both of them looked to the door and saw Aki there again, this time carrying a wood tray by its black metal handles.

"It's your house, isn't it?" Stardust asked.

"Yeah, but this is Yusei's room."

Yusei felt a kind of wonder at that. When was the last time he had had a room that was his? He stared at Aki, forgetting to answer. And when he continued to stare at her, she shifted her weight back and forth on her feet and then said, "It's not much, but I thought you'd be hungry."

That stirred Yusei out of his stupor. "Yes. I mean, yes, come in, please. I am hungry." He normally wouldn't have been so forward in admitting it, but the fact was he felt quite starved.

Aki smiled and came walking lightly up to the bed and lay the tray there next to him. He looked down to see a basket with a full loaf of warm bread, a bowl of fresh fruit, a jar of syrup, a small plate with a cut of butter, a knife, and to top it off, a thin vase with a single white rose blooming from its mouth. The smell of it all made Yusei's mouth water and his stomach rumble.

"Oooo, breakfast in bed. Aren't you the pampered prince?" Stardust teased.

"Oooo, aren't you jealous?" Yusei bantered back without missing a beat.

Aki stood by with silent fascination.

Yusei put both hands on the bread to rip it open and get a bite the size of his fist, but before he stuffed himself, he looked to Aki. "Did you make all this?"

"Oh, um, yeah. Sorry if it's not as good as what you're used to. I don't really host and this is just what I know how to make so—"

"It looks great," he said to ease her. "Thank you."

She nodded bashfully, then jumped. "Water! I'll be right back!" And she raced out the door.

Yusei took that chance to jam nearly half the loaf into his mouth, and it was so fresh, so warm, it practically melted on his tongue with a rich, rustic flavor enhanced by several different herbs. He moaned and closed his eyes and found himself torn between filling his belly quickly and savoring the taste. Had bread ever tasted so good?

Aki reappeared with an empty cup and a pitcher full of water, which she placed on the table next to the bed. "Here," she said. "Just let me know when you need more."

Yusei nodded to hide that there was still a chunk of bread in his mouth, and only after he gulped it down did he say, "Thank you."

She nodded again, visibly awkward. "Um, well, I think I'll go . . . take care of some chores and things. Just let me know if you need anything. I'll be here. I'll bring you more to eat when you want. So, um, yeah, just let me know."

Based on how she had been received by the people of Neo Domino, he could believe she wasn't used to having guests. It made him want to make it easy for her. "I will."

"Liar," Stardust whispered into Yusei's head.

Yusei could only throw a sharp glance toward him as a retort.

"Ok, well. Um." She pointed to the door with her thumb. "Guess I'll . . . see you later."

"I'm sure I'll be here."

"Right," she said with a nervous laugh. And then not knowing how else to end things, she just turned around and walked out.

Yusei then showed enough restraint to first scrape butter and syrup onto the second half of the loaf before biting a big chunk out of it.

"Don't hold back now," Stardust said slyly.

"Shut up," Yusei mumbled, his words distorted by mushy bread.

"I mean it though. She made like, at least five loaves."

"She didn't make them all for me though, did she?"

"Well she didn't make them for me."

Yusei didn't say that he was pretty sure he was hungry enough to eat all of them—and even if he wasn't, if they all tasted this good, how could he resist? But it made him feel better to know that if he scarfed this one down, he could still have another to savor as it deserved.

In the rest of the house, Aki became a kind of busybody, seeing the house with new eyes that let her see all the things than needed to be straightened and cleaned. When it was just her, the loose arrangement of things was good enough, but these were guests. Her first ever guests. She felt like she had to get this right.

So she made the beds, freshened all the flower pots and vases, swept up all the dirt on the floor, tidied up papers that had been scattered about—some forgotten—and collected the magical gadgets her mentor had left around like a child with his toys. And all the while she kept an ear burning for any sound coming from Yusei's room that might signal her attendance was needed. Heaven forbid he try to get up and just collapse onto the floor.

After a few hours she was occupied with dusting the bookshelves in the sitting room, and in the midst of it she noticed movement from the corner of her eye. She glanced over to find Yusei limping into view, leaning hard against the wall to use it as his support. She dropped her duster and leapt across the room to reach him. "Do you need something?" she asked while taking his free arm with hers.

"No," he sighed. He was pale, breathing hard, and shaking. "I just . . . wanted to see how far I could get."

"Here, let me help you to the couch," she offered. It was only a few steps away, but Yusei let her have some of his weight so he could make the effort to get there. When they were close enough, he dropped down like an anchor into the center of the cushion and leaned his head back over the edge. Aki stood close by, waiting for some kind of inspiration of what she could do to help.

"I'm fine," he said with labored breath, because he could feel her concern from where he sat. "Just dizzy."

"I'm sorry." She wrang her hands with guilt. "I wish I knew how to use my magic for something like that."

"No." With visible effort, he pulled his head up from the back of the couch so he could look at her while sitting straight. "I can deal with it. Besides, you helped with something more important. If this is the side effect of being alive, I'll take it."

"Well, still," she said quietly. "I don't like seeing you like this."

"Listen," he said, reaching out to put a hand on her arm. It made her start, but she didn't pull away. "I want to say thank you. Really, thank you. I'm more grateful than I know how to say, and I owe you a huge debt."

Aki shook her head quickly. "No, I'm the one who had a debt first. Now we can say I've repaid you."

"What you did for me is way more than what I did. And you're still helping me now."

She looked away and sighed. "I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything. I don't like there being a price for kindness."

He looked at her sad eyes and thought he understood. "Mm. Yeah," he agreed with a low voice. "Especially when cruelty is so cheap."

She looked at him again, and for a moment they were just quiet, sharing a knowing gaze while soaking in their own private memories. Neither of them knew if the other would be comfortable if they were to sit next to each other, and they didn't ask, so Aki continued to stand.

"All right, we won't call it a debt," Yusei said softly, respecting the solemnity that had taken over the room. "We'll just say I hope I can show you kindness again in the future."

That made the sullen weight in her chest lighten, and she smiled at him. "Ok, I can agree to that." Then feeling bashful and awkward, she tried to come up with an excuse to stop staring at him. "Let me get you something," she said as she was already turning to go to the kitchen.

Yusei didn't protest, because he hoped she was bringing him more food, but also because that meant she was coming back. And she did, carrying another tray, which she set on the couch beside him after looking around for a place that made sense.

But Yusei stopped her before she could straighten. "Wait," he said, putting a hand on her wrist right as the tray touched the cushion. And this time he did ask. "Would you mind sitting with me for a bit?"

For a second her mouth was wordlessly open, but then she answered, "No, I don't mind."

So Yusei reached out to take the tray from her and move it from the couch to his lap, giving her room to sit. She took an inconspicuous deep breath and willed her heart to calm down as she slowly settled into the cushion, though with her back straight and tight.

Yusei was looking down at the tray, delighted to find another herbed loaf of bread and a pitcher of fresh juice.

"Sorry for all the bread," Aki said shyly. "It was the easiest thing to make a lot of on such short notice."

"No, I love it. It's really good," he insisted.

Aki looked down to her lap and smiled. "Well, I'll still try to make other things tomorrow. I've got lots of vegetables to roast."

"I'm sure they'll be great too."

She tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I guess you're already starting to show me that kindness now, huh?" Aki teased, trying to hide how warm and self-conscious she felt.

Yusei laughed. "No, this kind of kindness is too easy to count." He picked up the knife, and as he began to actually cut off a thick slice from the bread, he said, "Can I ask you something?"

Aki's fingers began to wriggle and flex on her thighs. "Sure."

Yusei picked up his slice with his fingertips spread around the crust. "What brought you to Neo Domino yesterday?"

Aki's nails dug through her dress and into her thighs. "Um . . ."

"Yeah, that's actually a good question!"

Aki whipped her head around to find the source of the voice that was not a voice, and quickly she and Yusei both caught sight of a large white head and a single gold eye looking in on them through a window.

"How long have you been there?" Yusei asked.

"Ohhh. Oh I'm sorry, was this little gathering here supposed to be private?"

"That's not why I asked. How did I not notice you?" he asked more to himself than anyone else.

"Beats me. Guess you were busy."

"Jeez," Yusei muttered without actually being annoyed.

"Aaaanyway, the city doesn't seem like a place you'd go to if you could avoid it," Stardust noted, turning the attention back to Aki, whose shoulders had bunched up tight.

"Yeahhh, you'd be right about that," she said as if she was admitting to something shameful. Yusei looked at her and observed her discomfort with curiosity while spreading butter onto his bread.

"Did something happen? I mean before all the stuff that Yusei told me about happened."

"Umm . . . sort of? Yes and no, but not really?"

"Sounds intriguing."

Aki blew out a loud breath and then patted her knees with both hands. "Ok. Well . . . I guess you could say, I had some kind of . . . premonition."

Yusei's mouth was too full for him to comment, so Stardust alone said, "Ohhh. It's been some time since I last heard of that happening."

Aki instantly perked up, the reluctance in her expression giving way to the brightness of hope. "So you believe in something like that?"

Stardust snorted. "Ob-viously. It happens. Granted, not very often, but it happens."

Aki seemed relieved just to have gotten that far. Yusei could see that it softened much of the tension in her shoulders. He inserted the last third of his slice into his mouth.

"I see," she sighed.

"So what kind of premonition was it?" the dragon asked, as Yusei knew he would. He wasn't a talkative man, but it was even easier to keep quiet when Stardust could do the talking.

Aki worked her jaw, the muscles in her face flexing visibly. "A nightmare." With some effort, she narrated in detail everything she had seen in her vision, describing it to convey how it had felt as well. And then she told her side of the story, how she had gone to the city in search of the mysterious boy because it felt like it was very important that she find him, and everything else until she caught up to the part that they knew—the part where she discovered the contraband and was herself discovered in turn.

Yusei had been holding the same half-empty cup of juice for several minutes, forgetting about it as he became more engrossed in her tale. When she finished, she said, "I can't explain why it felt so urgent that I go to Neo Domino, and it's not like I knew what to expect. It was just a feeling, and I followed it. Honestly, I was kind of hoping it would turn out to be just a nightmare with no meaning to it. But I don't think it is."

"Mmm, no," Stardust agreed, his humor replaced with a grave tone. "There have definitely been strange things happening lately. I've noticed a kind of turbulence in the flow of magic, and I can't tell what's causing it. And then you have that dragon and the one riding him who attacked us. It felt too targeted to be a random coincidence, and the worst-case scenario I can think of is that they are involved in the dragon-scale trade, connected to the dragon in your vision, and working with whatever big, bad enemy is behind the dark aura spreading around this area." Both Aki and Yusei could hear the hot snort he released from the other side of the window. "I guess it was too much to hope for things to actually get better. But I take personal offense against anyone threatening my homeland. I've protected it before, and I'll do it again."

With that declaration, Aki could feel the might of a dragon emanating from him again. When he spoke, it was easy to fall into the illusion that he was domestic. "What happened before?" she asked curiously. "When did you have to protect this place?"

Stardust thought briefly, then answered, "It was ten years ago now. When Yusei saved my life."

Chapter Text

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Yusei’s eyes were dry. The fire and ash had done their part from the outside, but inside he had simply run out of tears. And he had run himself out of strength in his legs. He had done as his mother bid for as long as he could, but his lungs were struggling, and when he was finally too shaky to stand, he crumpled to the ground. He rolled onto his back and just lay there breathing, his arms and legs stretched out as sweat raced down all the pores of his body like rain.

His whole body ached, especially his throbbing legs, which were getting heavier by the second. And every so often, between speedy breaths, he made a muffled, dry sob. But still, no tears.

He wanted to fall asleep, but he was in too much pain and his heart was beating too fast. He could only lie on his back and feel the world see-saw beneath him. He closed his eyes to try to ease the vertigo. He stayed like that until the nauseating thought came to him that he should try to hide. He opened his eyes and turned his head to put his cheek on the dirt. He wouldn’t be able to move far, so the bushes next to him would have to do.

Taking a few deep breaths, he flung himself to roll onto his stomach, and grunting as his body protested with even greater waves of pain, he crawled, dragging his deadweight legs with what strength was left in his arms, until he had made it under the thick brush that coated the ground. It wasn’t a bed, but to his exhausted and screaming muscles, it was paradise. He lay there, hugged by firm greenery and branches, and let himself relax.

He was vaguely aware that he had absolutely no idea where he was, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment. He was drained. He could tell he wouldn’t be able to move again for hours. And by the time he could, he would be even more hungry and thirsty than he was now. His stomach felt tiny inside him, shrunk by all his exertion, and his throat was dry. He couldn’t even be afraid anymore, not even in the dark, quiet, unfamiliar forest. He was too numb.

Against his closed eyelids, he saw replayed over and over again by his mind the blade erupting out of his father’s back, the blood as it spread across his shirt. The blood on the ground—and the bodies they came from. The fires that chewed on both, and the crusty grass beneath them, and the houses. The last look of his mother’s back.

Yusei swallowed, but it was a dry motion.

Then his body shivered. The night was cold, and lying still he could feel it settle against him. Just one more discomfort on top of all the rest. Maybe dying would have been better. This could have all been avoided if he had just stayed with his mom . . .

Could he even make it to Martha at the rate? She lived all the way in Domino City, the heart of the kingdom, while he was coming from the fringes. All alone. And he was realizing he could barely remember Martha’s face. Could he even find her if he managed to make it there?

He had never wanted to be comforted as much as he did right now. He wanted an adult to tell him it would be ok and to tell him they knew what to do in a situation like this. He wasn’t ready. He had thought he was. He had thought he had learned how to be strong, independent, resourceful, just like his parents wanted. He had fancied himself reliable and brave.

He was wrong.

He wasn’t ready to be on his own, not like this.

He wanted his life back. He wanted the mother who had taught him to read and write, taught him stories, taught him to love learning. He wanted his father, who had taught him so many things he could do with his hands and his mind working together. He had built so many things out of junk, impressing them both with his ability to see potential that no one else could imagine. He wanted to make them proud and see their smiles again. He wanted his mother to hug him and kiss him and call him “my little hero” like she always did. He wanted her to be his light in the gloom.

He wanted her to tell him again that he was so much like his father—his father who he admired: a dedicated, hardworking man full of love for his family and passion for his craft. The gloom didn’t seem to bother him: he was able to work for hours without losing focus, and Yusei never heard him complain about anything. He just wanted to teach Yusei, like an apprentice, until he could build anything and work with any material.

Oh . . . right. All those things he had made—both Yusei and his father—they would all be burned down with the house. Was there any evidence left of his life before now? He couldn’t quite wrap his head around it, the idea that his memories might be all he had.

“You know, of all the things I’ve built and all the things I’ve made, the thing I’m most proud of is Yusei.”

“It’s my favorite, too.”

He was willing to trade all those memories to get his parents back and be able to make new ones. He would trade their voices in his head to feel their arms around him again.

Then his ears twitched and he stiffened. Not too far off he heard footsteps and the rustle of leaves and branches as bodies moved through them—too many of them to be his mother. Forcing himself to breathe silently, he very slowly pushed a few leaves down to make a small window for his eye to peek through. It took a few more steps for two men to come into view. One was tall, thin, and long-limbed—and armed. The other was shorter and stocky, so his body pushed against much more of the trees around him as he moved.

“I’m not seeing anything,” the thickset one said.

“Yeah, me neither. But I’d rather keep looking around out here and leave the harder work to the others.”

“Heh, yeah, same. I can’t believe how hard it is to kill that thing. I even got a good stab right in its neck,” he said while poking into the side of his neck with a finger. “But basically woosh! It healed right up, like I never even touched it. Never seen one like that before.”

“Guess we just have to wait for it to die of hunger. Who knows how long that could take though . . . Well, at least we can drain out its magic in the meantime.”

“Mm. Man, can you imagine if it had scales? We’d be able to just pick them off, and then when it heals and grows them back, just pick ’em off again. It’d be an infinite supply!”

“Yeah, guess it was too good to work out that way. It’s slick as a sword.”

“And it’s got plates like armor on half its body.”

“Wonder what would happen if we tried pulling its teeth out.”

“Probably just turn to dust like any other piece of it we tear off.”

“Might be worth a try though.”

“Maybe. I’ll be happy to stand by and watch you stick a hand in its mouth.”

They continued leisurely as they chatted, and Yusei got a good look at one of their boots as they walked right by him. But they didn’t stop, and he could hear their voices get further away. He didn’t quite feel safe, but he at least let himself breathe a little more calmly.

And then he wondered what kind of beast they were talking about. They had mentioned it having magic, and that caught his interest. He had only encountered magic in the stories his mom had told him. It hurt his heart to hear that a magical creature was apparently being tortured by rogue bandits.

Yusei’s back ached from lying so stiff and still for so long. He began to roll so he could get out from under the bushes and stretch. But when we reached out a hand to hold himself up off the ground, his palm planted down on a dry, sharp thistle. He yelped before he could stop himself, but he gagged the rest of his pain back down his throat and went still, even with the prickly bulb stuck into his skin. He listened hard through the blood rushing in his ears, but he couldn’t hear any sign of the two men coming back.

After a long, torturing moment, he relaxed a little, then carefully pulled the thistle out and flicked it away. There were a few drops of blood in his hand where he had been pricked, so he pushed into the wounds with his opposite thumb to dull the sting.

But it was something else that distracted him from it.

With a rough yank, a hand lifted Yusei off the ground by the neck of his shirt and held him high enough for his feet to dangle in the air. The front of his shirt wrinkled tight around his throat, choking him, and he kicked his legs while grasping at the noose.

“The hell are you doing here?” The man didn’t sound like either of the other two. A third one had apparently snuck up on him from behind. “Ugh, you’re filthy. Oh. Waaaait. Yeah, I know. You came from Satellite, didn’t you? Heh, so a kid like you managed to escape all that fire, huh?”

Yusei just kept kicking and struggling. Even if he had wanted to answer back, the assault on his throat made it too difficult. He reached up with both hands to grasp the man’s fist to try to at least pull himself up off his shirt, if not pry it open and free himself. The stranger mercifully set him back on his feet, but then with a sharp strike, he hacked into Yusei’s neck with the side of his hand, sending him falling to the ground.

When Yusei came back to himself and opened his eyes, he found his hands tied behind him, his arms wrapped around an upright log sticking up out of the dirt. His head and neck still ached, and he very much wanted to rub the soreness. But his hands were set in place tight, so he could only helplessly flex his fingers.

He looked around from where he sat on the ground. By the light of a campfire, he could see he was in a small clearing inside the forest, along with some unsavory individuals, all armed with multiple and various weapons. Mostly blades, but also hammers and other bludgeoning tools.

Yusei recognized them. The red fabric tied around their left arms meant they were the gang that had set the fire. So he had ended up caught by them anyway, even after all that running, even after his mother’s urging. His disappointment felt heavy on his shoulders. Though, it did strike him as odd that he was alive. Their chaotic fires had made it seem like they weren’t interested in taking prisoners.

In any case, at the moment, they weren’t interested in him at all. The whole lot of them were looking together in the same direction, and Yusei followed their gaze. He had to turn his head hard over his shoulder to find what they were looking at.

And it was a dragon.

A whole, living, real dragon.

Yusei sucked in a breath. It was huge, its leathery skin whiter than a summerday cloud, and around it was a faint white glow, like the halo around the white moon. But it was unsteady, fluctuating between soft and imperceptible, like a weak candle compared to the campfire. Large plates of natural armor on its shoulders and breast shone silver-blue. Its wings were folded against its back like a cloak. When its lips rippled, he saw the jagged razors that could bite right through any of the men if given the chance.

Unfortunately, it was chained down and bolted to a large plank set on a dozen sturdy wheels. All the iron used in the trap glowed faintly with a green network of capillaries that all flowed to a single, heavy padlock, on which a black and green stone was set. Wherever the iron touched the dragon, thin fumes hissed up as the skin beneath eroded. But just as one layer burned away, a new layer was already knitting together, only to be burned away next under the acidic touch.

One chain was wrapped tight around the dragon’s snout, making it impossible for it to open its mouth. It could only growl in the depths of its long throat to express its pain and ire. Similarly, its wings, claws, and tail were also chained down to prevent most movement, save for the back-and-forth flick of its tail’s double-bladed tip. Yusei could see the chains tighten with every breath that expanded the dragon’s body and hear the vibration as the dragon groaned to itself. The creature seemed exhausted. Yusei wondered if that was another effect of the magicked chains or if the dragon had worn itself out from trying to break free.

“This sure was one tough sucker,” a man said, sounding like he had just come home from a hard day’s work. “I mean damn, ten whole men to get him? That’s crazy!”

“Twelve,” another corrected. “Ten to hit him with the magic bolt, and two to throw the net when he fell.”

“Right, right,” the first nodded.

“Kinda funny that we had to use his own magic against him like that.”

“Heh, yeah! Just do a little short-circuiting and tzzz they’re done!”

“It won’t be funny until we get enough money out of it to cover our losses.”

“Yeah, and we better. We can’t get anything off him to sell, so we just gotta hope those crystal balls can hold enough of the pure stuff when we start extracting.”

Then the man who had found Yusei glanced over his shoulder toward him. Yusei stiffened when their eyes met, but then the man turned back to his group. “Maybe we can make a little something selling the kid,” he suggested.

More eyes turned to peer at him. Yusei went stiff.

“Kinda skinny isn’t he?”

Then his skin went cold and he felt sweat begin to trickle down the back of his neck. When the man began to approach him, he straightened his back against the post and clenched his jaw. The man bent his knees until he was crouched low enough to have his eyes level with Yusei’s. He prodded Yusei’s shoulder with a finger. “Yeah, a scrawny thing like you wouldn’t go for much. You don’t get to eat much in Satellite, do you? Wonder how many times you had dirt for dinner.” He said it with a smirk, but Yusei refused to be provoked. He kept his lips tight and just glared back.

“Heh, look at you, acting cool and brave. I know you can run and hide, but what else can you do?”

The man reached behind to his belt and pulled out a knife. Yusei’s vision throbbed as his pulse beat inside his eyes. The man waved the knife tauntingly in front of Yusei’s face, showing teeth in his smirk. And then he set a knee down to the ground and reach around to cut the ropes around Yusei’s wrists. Yusei’s arms lurched forward and he looked up at the man suspiciously. But the man flipped the knife in his hand so he was holding the blade between his fingers and extending the hilt toward Yusei.

“Can you fight?”

Yusei eyed the knife, then looked into the man’s face.

“Are you even willing to try?”

Yusei worked his jaw, and then he swiped the knife from the man. He intended to quickly launch the blade into the man’s eye, but before he could even start the motion, the man already had his wrist in his hand.

“Guess you’re pretty quick,” he conceded before throwing Yusei by his wrist a meter away. Yusei’s face and arms got scuffed, but he didn’t waste the momentum and used it to jump onto his feet. Then like his mother, he gripped the hilt with both hands and faced his opponent directly. The man stood up leisurely and chuckled. Then he waved for Yusei to come.

“Show me what you’ve got. I’m ready.”

Yusei measured the man with his eyes and wondered if he could really do anything. He knew he was being toyed with, but if they underestimated him enough, maybe he could cause some damage. Even if it was just one of them, it might feel good to land a hit.

He didn’t think a straight attack would work, it would be too easy for the man to read. But what else could he do while being watched like that? He began to circle the man, who looked at him with the mildest curiosity. Then Yusei made his decision and darted forward. He made a move to strike at the man’s leg, and then when he began his counter move, Yusei darted sideways out of reach and where he could slice across the man’s side before darting back again, still holding the knife.

“Huh.” The man looked down to inspect the cut in his shirt and skin. He ran his fingertips over it and rubbed the blood that came away. “Well, I guess that’s not nothing.” He wiped the blood from his fingers onto his pants and then strode toward Yusei, unconcerned by the knife pointing at him. Yusei began to step backward, planning to use his back foot to launch forward again when the man was close enough.

When he did, the man simply caught Yusei’s wrist and yanked him up into the air as high as he could. Yusei grunted and began kicking, but the man was unmoving like a tree. Then he squeezed Yusei’s wrist harder and harder until he yelped and dropped the knife. “You probably could have made something of yourself,” the man said. “Bit of a shame. Oh well. Guess you’re just unlucky.”

The man swung Yusei into the post he had been tied to hard enough to knock the air from his lungs before letting him drop to the ground. Yusei coughed and gagged trying to breathe again, and then the man kicked him in the chest to roll him onto his back. Yusei coughed up into the air, and when he tried to roll onto his side, a boot stepped down onto his chest and applied enough pressure to hold him down.

Yusei instinctively gripped at the man’s ankle with both hands to try to push him off while he strained his neck, thrashing his head and legs.

“How many ribs do you think I can crack before you it kills you?” the man wondered while pushing down just a little harder.

Yusei hated it, but he couldn’t help but scream. It hurt, and he was afraid. He didn’t want to die—or at least, he didn’t want to die like this. It was too pathetic for him to bear. Through his scream he heard the dragon growl and the clinking of chains shifting, but the feeling of his bones squeezing his heart made it difficult for him to really notice.

“He-he-hey!” someone shouted with a laugh. “Check it out! I think maybe this big guy wants the kid for himself!”

“What?” another asked, like he had just heard something stupid.

“Yeah yeah! See him? I think he’s hungry!”

There were dubious sounds coming from some in the group, but a few took it as a challenge. “No he’s right! He’s definitely looking at the kid like he’s a snack.”

“How the hell can you tell something like that? With those creepy eyes?”

“Oh come on, you can’t tell? It’s obvious!”

“All right, if you’re so sure, let’s see.”

“Yeah! It’s a bet! We put the kid in front of him, and if he eats him, you owe me.”

“And if he doesn’t, you owe me.”

“Yo! Bring him over!” someone called.

The man stepping on Yusei sighed. “You guys are just gonna decide things on your own, huh?”

“You had your fun, now it’s our turn!”

Yusei looked up to see the man roll his eyes, but then the pressure on his chest was gone. He immediately sucked in a full breath, and when he felt a sting jolt his chest, he coughed and rolled onto his side before trying to breathe again, careful to keep his ribs from twinging too painfully.

And then his scalp burned as a hand took a fistful of his hair and yanked him up to his knees. Yusei screamed and then wheezed to get another breath. Then the man dropped his hair and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him into the waiting crowd and then the dragon beyond. Yusei flailed, but even with the sweat coating his skin, the man’s grip didn’t slip.

“Weren’t we starving the thing?” someone asked.

“Yeah, but come on, that kid’s not gonna do much for a dragon that big. He might as well eat a crumb.”

The man grabbed Yusei’s arm and twisted it up against his back while pulling on his hair to lift his face toward the dragon. “You ever seen a dragon, kid?” he asked close to Yusei’s ear. He hadn’t. He looked nervously into the eerie, pure gold eyes that stared back at him. No pupil or iris, just that solid gold dark against the luminescent white.

“One scale is worth more than you could ever make in your whole life,” the man continued, and the touch of his voice made Yusei’s skin prickle. “How about you see if you can get one off him before he bites you in half? If you do, I’ll let you go.” Yusei didn’t need to look to see the man’s cruel smile, he could hear it.

And he clenched his jaw.

“But, doesn’t anything we cut from him—oof!”

The man suddenly coughed as an elbow collided with his gut. Yusei didn’t need to hear the rest. He had already heard about the removed pieces turning to dust—and that this particular dragon didn’t even have scales anyway. He was just being toyed with again.

“Shouldn’t I get a knife for something like that?” Yusei muttered.

“Probably. Maybe you should have brought one with you from home. It’s not good to be unprepared. All right!” he shouted suddenly. “Is one of you gonna get those chains off his mouth or what?”

Three men jumped forward out of the group and carefully used some long hooks to roughly drag the chain looped around the dragon’s snout from a safe distance. When it was off, the dragon snapped dangerously, making the men jump backwards with a surprised shout. Yusei felt the snap of those teeth in his bones, and it made him sick.

The man holding him just laughed at his companions as they scrambled away. And then he said to Yusei, “All right, you’re up.” He shoved Yusei forward quick and hard, making him stumble down to all fours in the dirt. He was shaking from the combination of nausea, fear, and anger churning in his gut, and he slowly lifted his head. The dragon’s eyes were aimed intently on him, and Yusei stared back, mesmerized. There they were, two pitiful creatures, fellow captives with death right at their backs. Yusei’s heart bled for the dragon, but he couldn’t say how it felt about him.

Maybe it was looking forward to eating him.

But maybe he could convince it not to . . .

Yusei’s eyes shifted to the padlock, and all those years of learning from his father opened in his mind. The stone attached to it had an inhibition magic, which it conferred to the chains through its magnetic connection to the metal lock. Yusei knew that if he could remove the stone, the magic would stop flowing through the chains. It was the best idea he could think of—and it was thanks it to his father.

Yusei slowly stood up as the crowd chuckled and jeered behind him. Then he took a step toward the dragon, hoping his slow movement looked like hesitation to the humans watching him. To the dragon, he looked into those gold eyes, then flicked his own quickly to the lock and back, then again to the lock and back. I’ll help you, he mouthed, hoping that somehow the dragon could understand him.

The dragon made a slow blink, and Yusei felt his chest tighten. Did that mean what he hoped it meant?

He took a deep breath and stepped forward more.

“Hey kid!” someone called to his back. “Maybe see if you can pull a took out, huh?”

Yusei ignored him, though he was glad that they didn’t seem to see through his plan. He stepped closer and closer, and the dragon rustled its wings just slightly and flexed its muscles, causing the chains to bite into its body, but it merely winced while keeping its eyes hard on Yusei.

When he thought he was at a decent distance, Yusei took another deep, deep breath, then whispered, “Ok.” And he launched his whole body to the stone.

The men were right, he was skinny. And he was tired and aching. But he was also very, very desperate. With every muscled strained and reinforced by rage, he let out a wild shout and felt the stone, which was the size of his head, give under his force.

“Hey!” an unknown voice shouted.

“Hey get off that! Fuckin’ moron!”

Yusei heard the group start to rush toward him, but he kept pushing and rammed himself against the stone one—two times. And when the connection broke and the stone rolled away, Yusei fell with it.

And the dragon rose.

A roar, a chorus of screams, a gust of wind, an explosion as chains broke and the pieces hit against the surrounding trees with enough force to shatter them. Yusei heard everything at once and covered the back of his head with both arms while burying his face in the dirt. The men were running away now, screaming at each other to grab weapons, and to go, go, go!!! Yusei heard the wings flap and the air whoosh through the forest as he felt it bluster against his back and through his loose, torn shirt. He felt his body shiver not from the chill but from the unearthly vocals of the dragon’s outcry, a ghastly sound like nails scraping against metal sinking into his bones overlapped with a hoarse rasp. And he heard the plank and its many wheels break right next to him as the dragon pounded its claws down through the wood.

That made Yusei whip his head up, feeling an urgent need to run out of the way. But just as he was about to bolt, the dragon stepped over him. Yusei looked up to see the dragon’s belly hover above him as the dragon stood, its tail winding around in a serpentine motion. Yusei looked up and marveled as the dragon’s body expanded with a deep breath, and then he saw a blinding silver stream collide with the ground hard enough to form a crater. And as the light kept streaming, it cut a line through the ground toward the camp and decimated everything it touched. Every cart, every box, every weapon, every man. Once consumed by the light, only steam and ash were left. Yusei crouched beneath the dragon with his eyes closed tight and his hands pressed against his ears to save them from the enormous roar accompanying the light.

Eventually the annihilation ended, the light and roar both fading when there was nothing left of the enemy. The dragon then snorted, satisfied. When Yusei tentatively removed his hands and opened his eyes, he saw the dragon’s head peering at him from a long neck twisted down to its belly.

Yusei froze and stared. And while he was occupied with the dragon’s eyes, he felt a poke against his back and jumped with a yelp. The double-blade on the dragon’s tail was right next to him, and it waved. To Yusei, it seemed like an invitation, like someone calling to him with a curling finger. He looked back to the dragon’s eyes, which blinked slowly, and then back to the tail. He reached out a hand—slowly—and touched the sleek blade. He looked over his shoulder to the dragon’s eyes, and then used both his arms to hug the smooth part where the blade became a tail.

Then the dragon pulled Yusei out from underneath him and off the ground before lifting him up enough to stand on his feet. And then the dragon pulled up its neck and looked at Yusei from over its back. It blinked again, and then Yusei felt the tail wrap around his torso in a loop. That was when he first thought something might not be right, but before he could say anything, the dragon bent all four legs, spread its wings, and launched up. Yusei had just enough time to hug the tail again tight with both arms before the ground was dozens of meters below his feet.

With his cheek pressed hard against the sleek skin, he dared to peek his eyes open just a fraction, and he could see the forest whizzing by in a blur. It was still more than he could hear, which was nothing but the wind whistling against his ears. The dragon’s wings beat the air hard enough to make the trees below shake while its speed made the cold air rush against Yusei’s body—and he was glad that the dragon’s tail gripped him just as firmly as he gripped back.

But even though he felt secure, he was also fairly uncomfortable, so he was happy when the flight came to an end. The dragon had chosen a rocky ledge overlooking a stream surrounded by soft, green grass. It first landed on the ledge to give its wings enough space to flex and fold, then it crawled down to the space below, holding Yusei carefully in the air above its back. As the dragon made itself comfortable, folding its legs under its body, it lowered its tail and slowly released Yusei from its loop. Yusei found himself standing in front of the dragon, once again facing its golden eyes as they stared at each other. He could see the tail flicking about like a cat’s from the corner of his eye, but with the dragon staring at him so intently, he couldn’t bring himself to look anywhere else.

“Thank you.”

The male voice echoed in Yusei’s head. It didn’t reach him through his ears, it had simply appeared there between them. He jumped and his eyes went wide.

“I hate to admit it, but, you saved my life.”

Yusei stared with mouth open and reached up to rub his temple. “. . . Is that you?”

“Were you expecting someone else?”

“No, I just meant . . . I didn’t know you could talk. Like that.”

“Hm. Well, I guess you’re pretty young. I would have thought humans would teach their kids at least that much though.”

“I’ve heard stories,” Yusei said defensively, not of himself but of the parents who had educated him. “My mom told me. I know some things.”

The dragon eyed him, and Yusei was suddenly very aware of how he looked: ragged, dirty, and obviously poor. He wouldn’t be surprised if the dragon assumed he was an ignorant churl. “And not just about dragons,” he insisted. “I know a lot about magic too.”

The dragon seemed to accept this. “Mm. So I saw. I’m glad. And not just for that, but because you’re so brave and tough. You showing up must mean I’m pretty lucky.”

Hearing that gave Yusei the first warm glow in his heart he had felt since the fires started.

“I was thinking the same thing about you.”

The dragon laughed. “Of course you were. It’s me.”

Yusei marveled at how the dragon looked so healthy now. He couldn’t see a mark on him, no bruise or magic burn or anything. “So, what happened?” he asked curiously. “How’d they catch you?”

That turned the dragon’s pride into a scowl. “I just underestimated them. A mistake I’ll make sure to never repeat.”

“They said they shorted-circuit your magic,” Yusei remembered, his student brain seeking information to learn.

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s something they can only do with a device made by a witch. And if I ever find a witch that’s handing out magic to hunters, I’ll eat them slowly. Piece by piece.”

Yusei felt goosebumps prickle his skin as that growl vibrated down his spine.

“How about you?” the dragon then asked. “How’d they catch you?”

Yusei’s eyes dropped and he looked away. “Well . . . First they burned down my village,” he said, his voice heavy. “Then while we were trying to get out, they killed my parents. I ran, but then they found me where I was hiding.”

The dragon lifted his neck as high as it would reach. He remembered seeing smoke after rising into the air. He looked for it again and found the cloud hanging above an area of the forest in the distance. It seemed so small from where he was. Calm and harmless. How deceptive.

He looked back down to the child and felt a kind of kinship with him. Humans had hunted him and his family down, just like they had done to himself and his kind, destroying so much and so many lives in the process. His tail flickered back and forth as steam seeped from his nostrils.

After a long moment he asked, “So, does that mean you’re alone?”

Yusei felt the weight of those words slam against his chest. Alone. Yes, alone. And by definition, an orphan. He reached a hand up and pressed the palm against the pain bruising his heart.

“I . . .”

He tried to speak, but his voice broke. Instead he dropped to his knees. His chest got tighter and tighter until he could barely breathe. Pressure built up in his head, and his whole face got hot. His lips trembled, and then the ground below him blurred.

“It’s ok to cry,” his mother’s voice cooed in his head, though it sounded like he was hearing her from underwater. “Even heroes cry sometimes.”

His mouth opened, but his voice only came out as a creak. Tears starting rolling fast down from his eyes to his nose, where they then dripped down into the grass. He clenched his teeth hard, but that couldn’t stop his voice from jumping out of his tight lungs in weak sobs.

“If you have to cry, then cry,” she continued, and he could feel her ghost holding him in her arms and rocking him back and forth. “Just make sure you do something more than that when you have to, ok?”

His whole body ached and shook. He felt like he would break apart, like whatever force was holding him together would soon run out and he would simply crumble like soft gravel. He didn’t like how it felt. He had never liked how it felt to cry, but this was the worst, and the tolerance he had built up throughout his life for pain couldn’t stand up this much. This wasn’t a bruise from a fall or a scrape from a fistfight or an insult from a bully that he could brush off without so much as a wince. This was so much bigger and cut so much deeper.

“I don’t want to cry,” he heard the echoes of his own voice sniffle back. “I want to be so strong I won’t cry!”

His mother pat his head with a patient smile. “Well, maybe you can be so strong that won’t feel like crying over most things, but don’t get so hard you can’t feel anything at all.”

He didn’t want to feel. He didn’t want to feel this pain. He didn’t want to feel this loss. But he couldn’t deny that he had lost something precious, and he thought that maybe if he didn’t let himself feel this pain, he would be disrespecting the parents it represented. If he loved them so much, didn’t that make them worth crying for?

Even if he argued with himself about it, there was no holding it back. He would either survive the flood surging through him, or it really would crush him with a weight his body and heart couldn’t withstand.

The dragon watched him. He recognized that heartbreak. He was well-familiar with it. And he knew there was nothing anyone could do about it. So he just sat there, still and quiet, to let it run its course. Such a shame that the one decent human he knew should come to know grief like this, and at such a young age.

After some time—the dragon didn’t measure, he was ancient and patient—the boy’s sobs had quieted to sniffling. He looked up at the dragon with red, swollen eyes and said in a mangled voice, “I don’t understand.” He meant it to mean that there were so many things he could understand. He had been taught so much and figured out even more through his own experimenting. So much about the world made sense once you knew the mechanics. It was satisfying, even beautiful in a way to see all the pieces work together. But this? This was ugly and senseless.

“Why?” he moaned. “Why do people kill?” He wondered more than that: Why were people cruel? Why did they destroy? Why did they take so much and feel no remorse? But he couldn’t quite control his voice enough to speak it all aloud.

As he wiped his wet and dirty face with both hands, he felt a small wind brush against him and a darkness surround him. He looked up to find the dragon’s wings set in a protective circle around him and the dragon’s head bowed low toward him.

“That’s something even I still don’t know,” the dragon answered sadly.

Yusei felt heavy. Even if he was done crying, he wanted to just lie down. But he knew better than that. He felt his parents still urging him, encouraging him to keep going, to keep finding the potential in everything he encountered. And he tried to latch onto that. Yusei was now like the discards he found abandoned on his scrounging adventures: where others would look at him and see dirty, useless junk, Yusei would find potential, a place, a purpose.

The dragon didn’t see him as junk. Despite his calm demeanor, inside he was burning, and he had decided: he wasn’t going to abandon this child. And not just because he owed him back, but because this one was a good one. He couldn’t let it go to waste, not if there was to be any hope for humans. One day, they might get wiped out in a storm of revenge by the surviving dragons, which wouldn’t be much of a tragedy, but the dragon remembered the days when humans and dragons had co-existed, and some part of him was nostalgic enough to wish for them to return. Maybe he could at least keep this one around and make sure he grew up right.

“What do you want to do now?” the dragon asked.

The boy thought for a moment. As he did, he remembered the day he had first seen his parents cry. It had been the middle of the night, and he had crept to their room, wanting to crawl into bed with them. But he came to a halt outside their door when he heard their muffled voices. He peeked through a crack in the door and saw them, holding each other, comforting each other as they each shed their own tears. It had shaken him. It was the most jarring thing he had ever experienced before now. It was the first time his parents had become real people to him and not just unshakable pillars he looked up to with awe.

He still didn’t know why they had been crying. He had never asked. He had even tried to forget it. But he didn’t want to forget anything about them anymore. He wanted to carry them with him and make them proud.

He looked into the dragon’s eyes. “I want to get stronger.”

“For what?”

“So I won’t cry anymore!” his younger self insisted.

But no, this was so much bigger than him.

“So I can help people. So I can stop bad people from hurting others.”

So no one has to cry anymore.

The dragon smiled, but from the outside it looked like a threatening show of teeth. Yusei didn’t flinch. “Ah, so you want to be a hero, huh?”

“My little hero . . .”

Yusei clenched his jaw and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Mmm. All right, let’s see what we can do about that.”

“We?”

“Of course. You don’t think you’d make it very far without me, do you?”

“Well, no, but . . . I didn’t think—”

“Do you want me to leave you alone?”

“NO!”

“Heh, good. That’s that, then. Except for introductions. I’ll go first. My name’s Stardust. What’s yours?”

Yusei’s heart raced as he said, “I’m Yusei. Yusei Fudo.”

***

Aki was worried. It had been days, and there wasn’t much time left before her mentor would return from his trip. He wasn’t fond of people, so she had a feeling he wouldn’t like coming home to find unfamiliar guests. Ideally the knight and his dragon would leave soon and she would have enough time to clean up and erase all evidence of their stay, and toward that end, she tried to keep up with what she could in the meantime to save herself from a giant task later.

By now, Yusei was strong enough to walk without staggering anymore. Stardust was always close by, keeping a cautious eye and ear out for any sign of approaching humans. She had told him that no one had ever come there in all the years she had lived in the forest, but the dragon refused to relax. So Aki let him do as he would.

In the open air, she picked up wet sheets one by one from her wicker basket, flapped them out, and then laid them over a rope to dry. Not far off, sitting on a rock, Yusei worked polishing his armor. Or at least the pieces he had been able to repair himself. Some were so beat up they would have to be remade from scratch.

Crow was going to be thrilled about that.

Yusei smiled to himself, already able to hear his friend’s exaggerated voice squawking in his head. Yusei held an arm plate up to glint in the sun while inspecting it with one eye, and then he continued polishing.

After Aki had finished filling her ropes with clean laundry, she picked up her empty basket to take it back into the house. But she paused and looked back to the dragon, who was staring off with his neck held high, and then to the knight, who by then was polishing his sword. She kept watching as he stood up and gave it a few testing swings. She heard the whoosh from where she stood as it sliced the air. Then he switched to a slower exercise, carefully drawing curved lines in front of him with a precision Aki didn’t quite understand. She could only observe his motions as he stood with his feet spread apart and his knees bent, keeping him steady and firmly in place. He had both hands on the hilt but set so that they didn’t touch.

When she realized she was observing such details because she was staring, she shook herself out of it and went inside to return her basket to its place. But she could help returning outside. Yusei was sitting down again, checking the balance of his sword by holding it up flat with two fingers. She walked up to him as he concentrated, but his senses were keen enough again that he noticed her long before she arrived.

“Would I be bothering you if I asked you something?”

“Not at all,” he answered, taking his sword by the hilt again to run a gloved finger lightly over the edge of the blade.

“What made you want to be a knight?”

Yusei paused and looked up from his sword to her. For such a seemingly simple question, she looked anxious.

“Why do you ask?”

“I guess because you don’t really fit the image I had of what a knight was like.”

“What do you think knights are like?”

“Well, to put it bluntly, power-hungry bullies who like having the authority to kill as they please and say it’s in the name of the king.”

Yusei stared at her with a sober expression. “There might be some like that,” he admitted. “That wasn’t my reason though.”

“What was?”

“I wanted to protect people. I wanted to help those who need it and prevent as much suffering as I could.”

“‘People,’” she repeated softly.

“I don’t just mean humans,” he clarified. “I mean anyone facing an injustice. Human. Dragon. Witch.” He said the last part quietly while looking earnestly into her eyes.

She couldn’t hold that gaze for too long. She looked away. “But doesn’t protecting humans put the others in danger?”

“I don’t judge anyone by their race,” he declared. “Not all humans are cruel. And some cruel beliefs just need to be unlearned. I see each person for who they are and work with that.”

Then she asked softly, “Have you ever killed someone?”

He paused, but without shrinking from the truth, he answered directly. “Yes.”

“How did it feel?”

He sat very still. “It feels like a shame. Every time. So many things could have gone differently to avoid it. And sometimes I wonder if I could have done anything differently.”

“But you would have been fighting a bad guy, right? So don’t you think they deserved it?”

Yusei sighed. “I think it’s too much of a responsibility for me to decide who deserves to die. I want to help people live, and live better. Killing is the last resort, and I never enjoy it.”

“But don’t you get angry when people hurt others? How can you not think the world would be better without them?”

Yusei looked into her eyes, which were insistent and pained.

“Maybe it would,” he admitted. “But, I’d like to think the world can also be better if people get the chance to change. I don’t want to blow out lives like a candle, I want to help people shine brighter.”

Aki worked her jaw. “That’s a pretty thing to say,” she murmured. “But maybe some people are too hurt to accept living with those who hurt them.”

Yusei thought to that day in the forest. If Stardust hadn’t already obliterated all those men, he couldn’t say for sure he would be satisfied to see them still alive.

“You’re probably right,” he agreed. Then he shook his head. “No, I’m sure you’re right.”

“So how else can you give justice to someone like that?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted again. “But I hope I can find out some day.”

Yusei wasn’t so naïve to think that no one was beyond hope. He knew there were people so twisted and corrupted that they would never be able to change their ways. They would never choose the path of redemption, nor ever be worthy of forgiveness. They were beyond the transformative touch of compassion and too proud to concede to someone else’s view. But he wanted to believe there were fewer of those people than it seemed, including the people who felt too wounded to forgive those who repented. Including himself.

“Why?” she asked after a moment of silence. “Why does that matter so much to you?”

He sat forward with his knees on his elbows and his fingers pressed together. He stared at nothing, just an empty space straight ahead, thinking.

“I guess because . . . I see value in every life. There are some people in this world I love, some I simply know, and some I’ll never meet. But we’re all connected. And even the people I don’t know are loved by someone and have those they love. It hurts to lose something you love. When I see others feel that hurt, I remember how it feels as well. And there’s no need for it. I feel connected to people by their pain, but it would be so much better to feel connected by joy. And there’s every reason to work for a world like that. So that’s what I do.”

Aki also stared off into space to think. He was a beautiful idealist, and she felt a doleful weight in her chest as her pessimism made it impossible to believe such a world was possible.

“You must have a lot of stamina,” she said, trying to maintain the positive note he had ended on.

He looked at her curiously. “Well, I do get a lot of exercise.”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, I meant stamina in your heart. You would have to have a lot to be able to keep thinking that way after seeing so much out there.”

“Ah,” Yusei replied with a smile. “Maybe I’m just stubborn.”

“Oh you definitely are,” Stardust quipped without turning his head. “You’re so stubborn you don’t even die when a normal person would.”

“I won’t apologize for that.”

“I didn’t say it was a flaw. I was just confirming the truth.”

Yusei snorted a laugh.

Aki smiled too, grateful for the change of pace, and joined in. “And stubborn enough to keep working even when you still need time to recover.”

“I’m feeling fine though,” Yusei insisted. “I’m not good at doing nothing.”

“I can believe that.”

He picked up his sword and stabbed it straight into the ground so he could lean on it, then tilted his head up to look at the clear midday sky. “It’s nice here. It seems like a peaceful place to live.”

“It is.”

“Do you ever get lonely, living by yourself?”

“Oh . . . Well, the thing is . . . I actually don’t live alone.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, tugging at her fingers. “This is my mentor’s house, really. He lets me live with him so we can both be safe. He’s just been out on a trip. He does that sometimes. He’ll be gone for days or weeks, sometimes longer, and I’ll stay to take care of things here. But I don’t get lonely then. The garden and the forest have enough life in it to keep me company.”

Yusei cast his eyes over the abundant flowers bursting with color around the cottage. He couldn’t see them the way Aki did, shining with light flowing through their green arteries. He was blind to their magic, but he knew enough about it to understand that it was there and that a witch like Aki would resonate with it.

“That’s good,” he said. “I’d hate to think of you here alone and sad.”

A small heat rose to her face and she looked away, but with a smile.

“When will your mentor be back?”

“I’m not sure, but I imagine within the next few days. It really depends on how long it takes him to finish whatever it is he’s doing, but when he left he said it should only take him three weeks. And that was just about three weeks ago.”

“I see. In that case, we should probably get going. I don’t want to impose on him.”

To be honest, Aki was relieved he felt that way. She didn’t want to have to explain everything to her mentor if she could avoid it. It would just make everything easier to not have to go over the whole long story with him, and that way she could keep the secret to herself. But she also felt a kind of ache at the thought of Yusei leaving. She swallowed when her throat got too tight for her to speak.

Yusei stood up from the rock and looked straight toward her. “Thank you. Again. For all your hospitality and care. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate you, Aki.”

While Aki was feeling her whole head get hot, Stardust added, “And thanks for saving his life!”

Yusei rolled his eyes. “Don’t say it like I forgot.”

“Well how am I supposed to know if you didn’t mention it?”

“Could you maybe be quiet for just a minute?” Yusei bantered, looking over his shoulder.

“Fine, fine. Go on, keep talking like I’m not here and can’t hear everything you say.”

Yusei looked back to Aki with a smile and rolled his eyes. Sorry, he mouthed to her, and she giggled. It’s fine, she mouthed back. Then he held out a hand to her. She looked at it, brows rising. “May I?” he asked.

She was so flustered she almost couldn’t think of a reply. “No—I mean yes. Yes,” she said quickly, reaching her hand out to meet his. He took hold and gave her hand a squeeze.

“I hope you know you have a friend out there,” he said while looking into her eyes. “Two if you feel like counting him.” She laughed after he gestured toward the dragon with a flick of his head. “And if you need anything, even just some company, I’ll be there for you.”

She bit her bottom lip and forced herself to not look away, even though her shy heart sorely wanted to. “And if you ever need some peace and a place to rest, you’re always welcome back here.”

He nodded, smiling. “Deal.” He squeezed her hand once more, and that was it.

He helped her tidy up the house while collecting his few belongings, putting on the parts of his armor that could still function and tying the rest into a bundle he would give to Crow. And then Aki stood in the garden to watch Yusei mount onto Stardust’s shoulders. He waved at her. She waved back. Then the gusts from Stardust’s flapping wings rustled her dress and the flowers around her, and as they rose up through the clearing in the trees, she felt her heart sink.

She was alone again, but it felt different from the times her mentor left. Maybe because she knew he would always come back. Maybe because Yusei was . . . special, somehow. Not just because he was friends with a dragon, but special to her. In particular.

Maybe.

But it also seemed likely that she would never see either of them again. It was a short-lived but beautiful friendship, and she would hold it close to her heart for the rest of her life.

She sat on the grass under a tall pine tree and laid down, and the flowers leaned toward her for gentle kisses against her body and face. Staring up, she began to wonder about so many things. Yusei was a knight with no magic, but he was determined to change the world. His ideal was enough to motivate him to fight, even with all the odds against him. Meanwhile here she was, isolating herself from the world when she had enough magic to heal people from the brink of death. But she lacked that motivation that Yusei had in abundance. She lacked his hope and his optimism. Perhaps she even lacked his ability to love. Maybe she was too afraid, too angry for that.

But he stirred something in her. Some kind of desire. Some kind of wonder.

What if . . . ?

She lifted a hand and waved her fingers, and more buds rose from the earth and sprouted into full blooming flowers. One flower rose right into the palm of her hand and she stroked it gently with her thumb. She could do such beautiful things with ease.

And she could also kill.

She had killed.

It was better to be alone. The humans were right to fear her. This kept them both safe.

She wondered what Yusei would have said if she had told him. He said when he killed, it was a last resort. He only killed when he couldn’t think of any other way to protect someone else. She hadn’t killed for anything noble like that. It had been ugly. Terrible. Unforgiveable.

There were too many unforgiveable things in this world. Some because they were too heinous, and some because there was no one who could offer the forgiveness.

Aki carried the weight of both.

Not even her mentor had forgiven her. He had simply said it wasn’t necessary and had taken her in to teach her more ways to use—and control—her magic. To turn it from a curse into a skill. But secretly, Aki wanted forgiveness. And secretly, she believed she didn’t deserve it. So she lived without it and let her mentor take over her life. It was easier to live when he thought for her. Without him, she thought painful things.

A witch himself, he could understand her and teach her things about magic that no one else could. His natural abilities weren’t as powerful as hers, but still, he knew how to control his magic and how to explain it in a way that she could understand. And he believed in her potential and encouraged her like no one else did—like no human wanted to.

Her success with Yusei was proof that his guidance had been effective. He was a good mentor. She owed him so much. But she wasn’t sure she could learn how to live a satisfying life from him. At least, that hadn’t been his priority so far. He focused on developing her skills, but without ever discussing a purpose to put them toward. Did he even have one in mind? Or was he teaching her magic for magic’s sake? She wasn’t sure. But maybe she could ask him when he got home . . .

Her body and senses began to tingle. She went stiff, then quickly sat up. She knew these vibrations. She smiled as she jumped to her feet. There, she could see a figure approaching through the trees, and she dashed to meet it.

“Sayer!” she greeted loudly, waving her whole arm. “You’re back!”

Chapter Text

"Betrayal is common for men without a conscience." - Toba Beta

"You're back earlier than I expected," Aki noted as Sayer opened the creaking front door.

"Don't tell me you're disappointed," he replied with mock offense before laying all his heavy luggage on the floor.

"No no!" She waved both her hands quickly. "I was just wondering what brought you back so soon."

She said that, but inside she was a sigh of pure relief. Had he returned just a few hours before now, Sayer would have found an official knight of the kingdom—complete with his armor and weapon—taking refuge in his home and a dragon taller than two of their cottage stacked together standing like a sentry in the garden. As much as she knew her mentor felt a kind of awe for the beasts, she also knew he didn't like surprises. Whether being greeted by an unknown dragon would be more of a delight or a disturbance for him, Aki didn't want to take the risk to find out.

"Does it mean that your trip went well, or . . . ?"

"Or was it an utter failure? Yes, unfortunately."

"Oh, what happened?"

"I was gone mostly to receive some items I had ordered. But they were never delivered as promised. I can only assume something went wrong with the people I had arranged to transport them."

"Do you think they stole it?"

"No, I highly doubt that," he said confidently. "Actually, I was hearing rumors that some magical items were confiscated recently, and that probably includes the crystals I wanted. Well, I'm not surprised the royalty would want to claim anything magical they come across for themselves," he said with a bitter sting and then muttered to himself, "Selfish, greedy thieves."

Aki didn't know the full details of why Sayer hated the king—and by association, anyone close to him or inside his castle—but she knew enough to believe his reasons were valid. She was even ready to hate the king herself on his behalf.

"What I want to know is what happened," he continued. "Are the king's soldiers doing even more thorough inspections on people's cargo so they can declare anything shiny they find unauthorized and seize it?" He scoffed with disgust. "Probably. I guess I'll have to take even more precautions if I'm ever going to get a delivery again."

Aki wasn't sure what else to say except, "I'm sorry."

Sayer shrugged. "That's the way they are. I just have to keep outsmarting them."

"Right," she agreed with a nod.

"And it wasn't a complete waste of time. I did get something from all my trouble."

"Oh?" Aki asked excitedly as Sayer reached into his backpack, and she stepped closer to get a better look at the gloves he pulled out. At first they just looked like a pair of normal, dark leather gloves, but when he started to put them on, she saw that on their back sides were several half-spheres of crystallized stone embedded into the leather, five smaller ones over the knuckles and a sixth larger one centered on the back of each hand. To her eyes they were clearly magical, but she couldn't say what kind of power they granted the wearer.

"I got these in a trade for an old manual I had with me. I had it memorized anyway so it was worth the deal. I've been able to practice a bit with them already," Sayer explained while flexing his gloved fingers. "They're a bit difficult, so I'm going to have to work with them more to really get the hang of it. But I'll do that in between my study hours."

Aki knew what he meant by that. "You spend so much time with that book," she said admiringly.

"It's fascinating," he answered with hungry eyes. "Definitely the most interesting book I've ever read."

"Are you learning a lot of useful things from it?" She asked because he didn't tell her much about it, and she assumed that if it had valuable information for witches like them, he would share it with her. He was her mentor after all. So if he wasn't telling her, what was he gaining from it?

"Maybe, maybe not. At the very least it's fueling my curiosity. Whether what it says is useful depends on if I ever meet a dragon. And you know how likely that is."

For a moment Aki went stiff, wondering if this was a hint that he was, in fact, aware of the dragon that had been here, and that he was giving her a chance to speak up first. But, no, that had to just be paranoia. How could he know? . . . . . But what if he did?

"And even if you did defy the odds and meet a dragon, there's still the high likelihood that it'll kill you. Not that I blame them. If I was a dragon, I know I'd kill any humans I met. Hell, I'd go straight to the castle and burn the whole thing down."

Aki could tell by his face that he was being serious. But then he sighed to lighten the mood.

"Oh well. But anyway, how about you? How have you been?"

"Uhhhh," she said, giving herself a delay to think of an answer. "Good, I guess. It was pretty quiet around here so, you know, I worked in the garden, cleaned the house, practiced magic. The usual."

"That so?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Hm."

"What?" she asked, unnerved by his skepticism.

"Well, I thought you might know something about something odd I saw on the way here."

"What's that?"

"I was coming through the forest, and not too far from here there's a huge crater I've never seen before. It looked like something massive fell and landed there, and it wiped out all the trees right around it. I would think whatever happened, you would have been able to hear it from here."

He looked at her expectantly, and Aki felt her heart pound in response.

"Well, there was one night I heard something loud, but I thought it was thunder, so I didn't give it much thought."

"Hm." He looked at her, and she could feel herself cracking under the pressure of his gaze. She didn't know if he knew she was lying, but there was enough of a possibility that her guilt surged.

"Ok, ok!" she said, breaking. "That's not true. I know what happened. I'm sorry, it's just it's a long crazy story and I didn't want it to turn into a whole big thing and I was worried you'd be mad if you knew so I was going to just pretend it never happened."

"You can tell me anything," he said reassuringly. "I'm here to help you, you know. What kind of mentor does it make me if you think you have to hide things from me?"

"I didn't want to hide anything from you," she insisted, feeling hot and ashamed. "I just . . . thought it would be easier that way." It sounded pitiful to her own ears, and she was embarrassed that she had been afraid of Sayer instead of eager to share with him.

"Ah, I see. Well, what happens when you only do what's easy?" he asked with a smile.

And like a trigger, his question released the lesson from her memory in a flash. "You don't grow," she recited.

"Exactly. So come on, I've been on my feet all day. Let's sit down and you can tell me the whole long, crazy story."

Aki sighed with relief and nodded. "Ok. I'll get you something to drink too."

"Thank you."

She went to the kitchen and then brought him back a pitcher full of freshly squeezed juice and a cup, placing it on the table in front of his favorite chair—which he had carved himself with magic years ago. She sat across from him in a chair so padded she sank into the cushion, but she liked it that way. She pulled her legs up and crossed them, and then rested her folded her hands on her ankles. She took a deep breath to relax and thought of how to begin. Sayer poured his juice and drank patiently from the cup.

"So . . . a few nights ago"—Only a few nights? It felt like a month!—"I had a nightmare. Someone was calling out to me, and I knew they were in the city, so I went there to find them. When I got inside, I found that it was an injured boy. Well, 'boy'. He was about my age, maybe a little older. I didn't recognize him, but I wanted to help him. But I couldn't, the dream wouldn't let me get close to him. And then this huge"—she gestured with her arms spread wide in the air—"dragon appeared from the sky and attacked him. After that I woke up, and I knew it wasn't just a dream. And I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I ended up . . . well," she said, her quick tale suddenly turning into slow hesitation. "I . . . went to Domino."

She paused, expecting a reaction. She raised her shoulders anxiously. Across from her, Sayer leaned forward in his seat.

"You went to Domino," he repeated.

She nodded. "Yeah . . ."

"By yourself."

Another nod. "Yeah."

He was quiet, and she knew he was staring at her, even though she couldn't bring herself to look up at him. Eventually he sighed, and she could tell he wasn't thrilled.

"Well, you seem to have made it back in one piece," he noted. "I'm glad for that. So, what happened?"

She looked up, her heart swelling with joyful relief that he didn't say anything harsh to reprimand her.

"I wore the cape," she added quickly to reassure him. The cape had a magical property to it that hid its and her own magic from easy detection, which was useful in a city where magic was an object of voracious desire. "And I got there early in the morning, so the markets were just getting started. I spent a few hours just wandering around looking for any sign that something was wrong, or for the boy I saw. But I wasn't finding anything, so I thought maybe it was too soon for anything to happen. So I was about to go home, but then I happened to come across these crates that were giving off strong magic, and it turned out they were full of dragon scales," she said emphatically with disdain.

Sayer looked at her with an intense gaze. "Dragon scales," he repeated slowly. "How horrible."

Aki nodded. "I know! I can't believe there are people out there hunting and killing dragons! It's sick!" Not to mention illegal, but that was the least of the problem.

Sayer nodded once, slowly. "Yes."

With how much Sayer admired dragons, Aki knew he must be fuming, so furious he could barely speak. She continued, "And then the ones who had the crates saw me near them, and I panicked. I ran, and that just made them chase me, and then even more people joined them, and I was scared they would catch me, I really felt like I was running for my life." She explained this in the hope that it would make him sympathetic and convey to him that she had learned her lesson about leaving home.

Sayer was still watching her intently, holding very still and gripping his hands together tightly.

"But then, I was saved. By the boy from my dream! He came out of nowhere and fought the men to stop them! He even knocked both of them out completely."

"Hmm. I guess that means he wasn't injured like you saw in the dream."

"No, not at all. He was perfectly fine and healthy. And . . . a knight."

Sayer didn't frown, but Aki believed that was because he didn't want to interrupt her story. "A knight, huh?" he said simply.

She nodded. "Yes. And he said he had been after people involved in the dragon scale trade for a while."

"Is that so?" Sayer scoffed quietly. "Probably wants the magic for himself. Or for the king."

"Well, actually," Aki countered slowly, somewhat uncomfortable challenging her mentor. "He wants to stop the dragon hunts. He thinks it's wrong. He's not after the magic at all."

He raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure of that?"

"Well," she said very slowly, then took a deep breath. "We were able to talk for a little bit before I came home, and . . . he's friends with a dragon."

Sayer didn't react at first. Aki waited for him to understand what she had said.

"What?" he asked after a moment.

"Yeah!" Aki agreed, agreeing that it was something amazing to learn. "Apparently they've been friends for a long time, too!"

Sayer's lips twitched and his jaw flexed. "Hmm." Aki also noticed that he was squeezing his hands very hard. Hearing about a dragon must be making him very excited—or maybe jealous that someone else could be so close to one and not him.

"So anyway, that same night, I heard something loud and I came outside, and I saw two dragons flying over the forest. They were fighting each other! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen! And then they both got injured, and one fell and the other flew away. The one that fell landed in the forest and made the crater you found. And I went to it—of course I did, right? How could I not? So I found it, and it was healing itself! It was amazing! So the dragon was alive and fine, but there was a human with him. He had actually been riding the dragon the whole time. And it turned out to be the same knight that had helped me! And he was injured really badly from the fall. Really, he was close to dying. Just like I had seen."

"Hm." Sayer made the thoughtful noise and gently rubbed his chin.

"I guess that means the dragon that attacked him is the one I saw, but . . ." She frowned, unconvinced. "That doesn't seem quite right, so I don't know."

"I see. And what happened to the knight?"

Aki's face brightened. "I healed him!" she said excitedly. "Oh, I wish you could have seen it! I was so proud of myself. I wasn't sure I could do it at first, but I did! I mean, he was hurt so bad, I didn't know if my magic was good enough to heal something that serious. But I did it!" She was grinning as wide as she could. "And of course, I have to thank you for that, because you're such a good teacher."

Sayer gave a forced smile that looked like he had just swallowed some horrible cooking but was trying to be polite. Aki tried not to be too disappointed that his feelings about the dragon kept him from celebrating with her. "Well done," he said stiffly.

It made Aki's heart sink, and her enthusiasm waned down to a small smile. "Thank you. After that, they stayed here for a few days to let the knight recover, since he needed lots of rest."

"Here?" he repeated sharply.

That made Aki's whole body go stiff.

"Umm, yeah," she said in a small voice, feeling like she was admitting to a crime. "I'm sorry. It's just that he saved me, you know? I wanted to help him in return. And, I don't know, I thought I could trust him."

"He's a knight," he said in a flat, strained voice. "And I'm an exile, remember? What do you think would have happened if he had seen me?"

Aki pushed her back against the cushion behind her. "Well, I meant to make sure they left before you got back," she explained weakly. "I know how much you hate Domino, and I know it's dangerous. And I thought even if you did come home, you would get to see a dragon."

Sayer took a very slow, deep breath and ran his hands down over his face. Then with his eyes closed, he pressed his palms together and leaned his lips against the edge of his straightened fingers. Aki sat tense, thinking that now the reprimand was coming.

But he sat for a minute in silence, keeping his thoughts to himself behind his closed eyes. It made Aki so anxious she couldn't even raise her voice to apologize.

He took another loud, slow breath and exhaled through his nose. "I see," he murmured, then opened his eyes. "I see."

Aki opened her mouth and stammered, "I . . . I'm sorry. For . . . everything."

"No," he said, lowering his hands and rising to his feet. "You don't need to apologize."

"But . . . I did some reckless things, and I didn't have your permission for anything. I'm sorry."

Sayer's tight expression finally loosened into a smile she had never seen him wear before. He didn't seem happy, he seemed to be laughing at a cruel joke. "You couldn't help it," he said in a voice of mock compassion. "It was fate. And no one can resist fate."

Aki suddenly felt an uneasiness spread through her veins like ice.

Sayer raised a hand so that the crystals faced her, and as he clenched it into a fist, the crystals began to shine, filling the dim room with such light Aki had to raise her arm to shield her closed eyes.

"Thank you, Aki," she heard her mentor say in that twisted sneer she had never heard from him before. "I'm so glad you told me the truth."

Yusei and Stardust were taking their time as they continued their long flight over the Black Forest. Their priority was to find the mysterious dragon, though they had no clues to follow. They couldn't even say what direction it had left in since they had both been too busy falling to notice.

And besides, days had passed since then. But Stardust hadn't even found any traces when he had gone patrolling the area around Aki's home while Yusei was still recovering. Both human and dragon scoured the forest with their eyes, but with a dull doubt weighing in their minds. Even so, neither of them wanted to admit it was futile to search, because what else could they do?

"Maybe he's lying dead somewhere," Stardust muttered without really believing it. He just didn't like the gloomy silence. "Would serve him right."

"It wouldn't be much help though," Yusei countered. They wouldn't learn much from a dead dragon.

"What do you mean? If he's dead, he can't make any more attacks! That seems pretty helpful to me." Now he was just bantering to lift the mood. And Yusei was willing to join him, even though he kept his eyes strictly on the scenery below.

"In the short-term, sure," he agreed. "But there has to be more to it than just one dragon."

"Well there was the human riding him."

"Even more than that. I mean . . . something bigger." The back of his mind was working to solve a puzzle that he didn't know the picture of and didn't yet have all the pieces for.

And Stardust knew him well enough that he could guess, "You're trying to connect it to the dragon scales and the magic shifts, aren't you?"

"Can you be sure they're not connected?"

"No, but I probably don't have your imagination to make that leap just yet."

"It just . . . feels like there's something there," Yusei murmured to himself. A dragon attacking them out of nowhere. A massive amount of dragon scales appearing in the heart of the city. A change in the sensation of magic, like a bizarre change in climate. And then of course, the vision Aki had seen in her dream. He wanted to make them fit together. Maybe it was intuition or simply his own quirk that wanted to find logic in everything, but either way, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Maybe. I'm still stuck on the fact that he attacked us! I didn't even recognize the guy, who does he think he is just shooting at me like that? What did I ever do to him?"

Yusei couldn't help thinking that the answer to that question was an important piece of the puzzle. Or maybe he just really hoped it was.

"Well if we manage to find him and he isn't dead, we can ask him."

"If he isn't dead, I'm going to ask him how the hell he survived getting hit by my blast. I put a lot of force into it, his feathers shouldn't have been able to protect him!"

"And while we're at it, let's ask him his name, favorite color, and ideal date."

"Don't make me eat you."

Yusei just smirked to himself. Then looking up and around, he saw a clearing in the trees ahead. "Let's go over there," he said. "To that lake. You can take a break and I'll look around."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Stardust replied with snark.

As the dragon began a steady descent, Yusei swept his eyes over the whole horizon, twisting to make sure he got a good look behind as well. Nothing. Just a peaceful, clear day. It seemed he had been lucky enough to land near a witch who was able and willing to save his life, but perhaps not lucky enough to come across any sign that could lead to the dragon.

Stardust landed gently by the lake, the wind from his flapping wings shaking the nearby trees. Yusei slid down the dragon's sleek shoulder and landed on his feet with his knees bent. It was his usual method, but this time a vague dizziness struck him, and he had to bend down further and place a hand on the ground to keep steady. He took some deep breaths while his head hung, and after a moment it subsided. He raised his head slowly and then stood, grateful that it hadn't been worse.

And then his hand drifted to his abdomen. There was nothing there, the memory of his injury only existed in his head. But he could remember how warm Aki's magic had felt, even though he had been practically unconscious at the time.

Lucky. He had been incredibly lucky.

Some might say there was more to it than that. Destiny, or something of the sort. But destiny didn't sit right with Yusei. True, destiny provided a logic to the world. A force called destiny meant that everything that happened fit together in a purposeful way. But that also meant that destiny was cruel, and Yusei couldn't bring himself to believe that a force that great would allow—or in fact, predetermine—so many tragedies to happen. No, people's choices had to mean something. People's efforts had to mean something. He believed that with all his heart.

If a force like destiny or fate existed, Yusei could only accept that it stood on equal footing with the people it affected. It could set the stage and create openings, but it couldn't control the outcomes. So maybe, just maybe, luck or fate had made him fall near Aki's house, but it was Aki who had chosen to heal him. And Yusei refused to believe that any greater power would condemn her to face the wrath of a hostile society full of fear and hatred toward witches. It was too much of a waste of her potential and her kindness.

And it was a shame he would probably never see her again.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and dropped his hand from his stomach.

"Hey Yusei," Stardust called. Yusei turned to see the dragon peering into the lake, his long neck craned as far as he could get it over the surface. "I noticed on the way down . . . I can see some unnatural depressions down there in the lake's floor. Big ones."

Yusei stepped up next to Stardust's foot at the edge of the lake. His eyes weren't equipped to see through the water as well as the dragon's, so he mostly just saw the rippling reflection of the sunlight on the surface. "So what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that damn dragon landed in the lake after he took off." He turned his head all around and bared his teeth. "And then somehow just disappeared."

"Disappeared, huh," Yusei mused, holding his chin.

"Something like that. There's no other sign of him here at all. Seriously, who the hell is this guy?" Stardust snarled. "What is he?"

Aki was frozen in her seat, her heart beating hummingbird-fast as her whole body went numb and cold. She peeked open an eye and saw the vague shadow of his figure through the light.

"What . . . ?" she murmured in a shaky voice. What was he doing? Why did he seem so . . . different? Waves of a disturbing, dark energy wafted from him and splashed against her, getting bigger and bigger each pulse. Her mind had gone blank. Her breath was shallow. She didn't understand. She didn't understand.

"Poor little girl," Sayer called to her, and the sneer she could hear on his face twisted in her heart like a knife. "I almost feel sorry for you."

She finally found her voice. "What are you saying?"

"Oh, there's so much I could tell you. It might even be funny to see the look on your face if I did."

Anger started to mingle with Aki's confusion. He sounded so horrible, mocking her in such a callous voice. And with that dark aura radiating from him, she didn't recognize him anymore.

"You want to see my face?" she screamed, feeling hot. She threw her arms down at the same time that she jumped off her chair, and the floorboards and walls and windows all broke apart as thick roots rammed through from all sides. Glass shards, wood splinters, stone rubble, and furniture flew in a storm as the roots all aimed toward Sayer. They moved fast as arrows, but Sayer didn't flinch, not even when they were a mere inch from vulnerable neck—where they came to a sudden halt. He stood where he was, wearing a confident smile as he stared at Aki, who was glaring hard back at him, now that the light was blocked by the roots.

They stood at a standstill like that for a long moment, until all the debris had settled and the room went quiet. And then Sayer lowered his hand, the light from the glove dimming until the crystals were dormant once again. Aki's shoulders went tight, every muscle in her body wound up and ready to spring.

And then Sayer burst into laughter.

Aki blinked, her mind wiped blank again.

Sayer gasped for breath between laughs and pressed a palm against his forehead. "You're face! Haha! You fell for it, you really fell for it!"

Aki couldn't relax. To her alert hears, his laughter sounded wrong. Something about it didn't ring genuine, and it made her skin prickle with goosebumps. But she told herself it must be the panic. Maybe she was overreacting. She didn't understand why Sayer would pull a prank like this, but it was Sayer.

Slowly, the roots began to withdraw from their threatening positions, sliding back out through the broken walls and down into the ground beneath the fractured floor. As Sayer continued to laugh, Aki forced out a weak laugh of her own.

"Yeah," she agreed hesitantly. "I guess I did."

Sayer slapped his knee as few times as the roots shrank smaller and smaller. "Oh, that was good!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded, feeling freer now to berate him. "You scared me! What the hell kind of joke is that?" And since when did he make jokes, anyway?

"Sorry," he said, finally catching is breath. "I just thought I'd do a little test."

"A test?" The last of the roots disappeared, and sunlight streaked through the open walls thick as curtains. "What the hell kind of test—"

Aki stumbled backwards.

She was about to fall into her chair behind her, but a bubble of light grew from her chest, where she had just been struck by a sudden white bolt, until it enveloped her whole body and held her upright. The light had come too fast for her to react, and now she was paralyzed as the orb gently lifted her from the ground.

Her head hung back and her limbs spread as if she was floating on the surface of a lake, and she watched the light swirl around her, felt it pass through her, unable to struggle. It didn't hurt, but that would have been better. Instead, she felt it leech something from her, something more precious than blood and flesh. She opened her mouth, but only a strangled whisper came out.

No . . .

Her fingers twitched. Her lips trembled. And still, all she could do was whimper weakly.

No . . . !

The light sucked on her, and she felt the drain as clearly as needles in her veins. The world around her grew darker, quieter, more still, like the sun was setting on her senses.

Help me, she pleaded, calling to her companions of the heart, the faithful plants who always heeded her will.

But they didn't come.

Please, please, she begged, her eyes growing wet. Because she knew. She knew. She could feel it.

She could feel that she didn't feel it. Not anymore.

Her heartbeat was getting slower, her mind foggier. She needed air.

Please, she thought with one last gasp. And one small shoot responded. It crept up, green and silky, through the splinters under her hovering body, and rose until it touched the wispy white orb. It was enough to at least disrupt the flow of its energy and deflect it from swirling around Aki to instead fly upward, bursting through the planks and thatch of the roof, which then rained down over the room.

Aki dropped, free from the spell, and her green sprout died beneath her weight.

.

Sayer staggered until he fell to one knee, gasping and wheezing loudly. His skin bulged with throbbing veins and nerves while his body trembled, steam rising from his hunched shoulders and the length of his robe. His hands burned with small fires, and as he kept struggling for breath, he pat them together until the flames went out.

"Stupid . . . girl," he heaved. How dare she put up a fight. He had been waiting for this day. For years. The time for his harvest had come, and all his preparations had gone perfectly. She trusted him, relied on him, adored him. He had saved her, after all.

He laughed thinking about it.

Yes, he was her savior. She owed him everything, and now she could consider that debt repaid. He had gotten what he needed from her.

He had put so much time and effort into making sure this extraction went well. He had been saving her for this, teaching her so that her power would grow, and keeping her hidden and locked away as a secret stash of magic he could take when the moment was right.

He reached up and gripped the amulet strung around his neck, the one he had worn constantly ever since he met her. The truth had been in front of her eyes all this time—the truth of that day, sealed inside the crystal—and she had never known, never even suspected.

Well, that was how it should be. He had stolen it from her, after all, and in its place, he had given her a different story. He had impressed even himself by how well he had managed to replace her memories. He had never noticed any breakdown over the years in the magic he had used, and even now, what he had created was still knit seamlessly inside her head.

To her, he was a noble who had fallen from grace, unjustly exiled by the king, with no one and nothing in the world left except her, the little girl he had rescued to be his apprentice in magic. And well, some of that was true. But now that he had her magic, the girl herself meant nothing. He had plenty besides her. He had ambitions. He had . . . plans.

He tried to get up, but his joints weren't ready for his weight, and he dropped down again. He had known absorbing magic was a risk, but things weren't going as smoothly as he had expected. He had to move quickly. He had to make sure nothing interfered with his plans.

He had enough strength to look up. Aki was lying on the shattered floor, and she was breathing, even if weakly. So she had survived. Well, he couldn't hold that against her too much. If he had taken that last drop of magic in her that was keeping her alive, it probably would have gone past his limit, killing him. So fine, he would let her keep it. It wouldn't do her any good anyway.

His breath was getting smoother. He could feel himself adapting as all her magic integrated with his own. Soon the magic would help him heal and he would be good as new. Better than new. He looked down to the gloves he wore, which had not been damaged by the fire, and flexed his fingers. He was alive thanks to them. It would have been worth it to pay so much more than he had given for them, but the one who had sold them had had no idea what they were. Lucky for him.

He grinned as he turned his hand to see the crystals, which looked like glass filled with white smoke stirring around on a soft breeze. With these, he didn't even need dragon scales anymore.

He looked up across the room one more time, the mockery in his heart contorting his face into a pitiless smile. "You may be stupid, but you really proved yourself useful. So thank you again," he taunted, and then spoke her name with the thrust of an insult. "Aki."

Stardust and Yusei both turned their heads toward the mountains, their attention snatched by a column of light when it suddenly ripped through the sky. They watched in amazement as it shone like lightning and as the nearby clouds began to spin around it in concentric circles.

"That's Aki's house," Yusei murmured as he pointed on the map in his head where the light seemed to touch the ground. He was too afraid to guess what was happening. His impulse only told him to go.

And in time with his mind, Stardust pushed himself against the ground, allowing Yusei to jump back up onto his shoulders. As he got his grip and footing set, Yusei watched the column fade—which it did from top to bottom, as if sinking into the ground.

"What the hell kind of magic was that?" Yusei asked as his friend flapped his strong wings and got them off the ground.

"I can't say for sure," Stardust answered. "But it made me shiver from here."

Yusei felt his heart freeze and he gripped hard on Stardust's cartilage spikes. "Do you think it was the dragon?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. But, I don't know."

"How fast can you get there?"

"We're about to find out."

Aki lay, her grip on consciousness fragile. The room seemed to spin, and the floor beneath her felt like undulating waves. She breathed slow through parted lips, and when she blinked, her eyelids had to work to open again halfway. She was vaguely aware of what she could see and hear, but she was too exhausted to understand any of it.

Sayer, meanwhile, had gathered enough of his strength that he could finally stand again, though his legs shook and his knees threatened to soften at any moment. He wondered how much longer it would take for the absorption to complete. He leaned against a table that was turned on its side and caught his breath again. He was sweating, his long hair sticking to his face and neck. He was ready to get out of this wreck of a house, and when he did, Aki would be left alone, too weak to move, lying there until she starved to death.

Not his problem. He had more important things to take care of.

But his time to collect himself was cut short. His ears twitched when they caught the distant echo of a roar. A dragon. Possibly that dragon. With that knight. And it was coming closer. To be safe, he had to assume they had noticed the surge of magic and were on their way to investigate. Sayer ground his teeth. If only he was strong enough to face them right now . . . He clenched his fist. Another day. He could be patient enough for that.

With great effort and a loud grunt, he lurched from the table and limped to his study room so he could grab the book from his desk and his cape—the one like Aki's that concealed his magic from view. A rare and, more importantly, useful tool. He scrambled out, tripping and stumbling along the way as his knees protested against the sudden work he put them to. But he was determined, and he moved as quickly as he could, even as he had to pick up the book several times after it fell from his shaking hands.

By the time the dragon landed, he was thankfully inside the forest, and he dropped to his belly and crawled under some thick bushes, hugging the book to his chest. He watched from his position, breathing hard again. But he was confident that if he stayed still, not even the dragon would notice him. Their senses were good, but they weren't precise.

The moment he saw the dragon he knew. There was no forgetting or mistaking that dragon. And then from its back, he saw a figure jump off. Ah, there he was. Sayer frowned, unamused by the cosmic irony. So, that insufferable little boy had actually become a knight, and that dragon was still his friend. And he had been saved from the brink of death by his own little witch. What a fairy tale.

Sayer scoffed. If that boy was the hero, then that made him the villain. Well fine, they could call him the villain of the story, he didn't care. Their version wouldn't matter for much longer anyway. Soon enough, he would be the one telling all the tales.

He gripped the edge of his book tightly, and its vibrations reassured him.

To Yusei's eyes, the house was demolished. To Stardust's, the magic veil that had hidden the house was gone. Yusei dropped to his feet and raced to the wreckage.

"Aki!" he shouted. When he got closer, his boots crushed glass shards and crunched dry wood and gravel. "Aki! Aki!" He looked around, and nothing looked like it had that morning. The walls and ceiling were all collapsed, the floor ripped to tatters, furniture and decorations knocked down. Yusei had to tread carefully over leaning planks to move from room to room, and as he did, he kept calling, "Aki! Are you here?"

He made it to the center where the living room had once been, and behind another fallen wall he finally found her, lying on her face, scorched and bent like a discarded doll.

"AKI!"

He leapt over the obstacles and dropped to her side so he could lift her gently and roll her into his arms. He was able to breathe again when he saw she was still alive, but his relief was short and fragile. She was alive, but for how much longer?

"Aki," he called again, brushing her dirty bangs from her face. "Can you hear me?" He pressed his hand against her cheek and stared at her anxiously, his chest tight. She didn't respond.

"Aki. Aki." He shook her as he cradled her shoulders in his arm. From outside, Stardust stood by, tense and silent. Yusei rubbed his thumb against her cheek, and then moved his hand to hers and picked it up. "Aki," he called, his voice strained. He squeezed her hand. "Please, wake up."

I can't heal you, he lamented, apologizing in his heart.

After a moment, he felt her hand twitch inside his. He saw her eyes do the same.

"Aki!"

She exhaled softly, and her eyes opened just a sliver.

Yusei gasped in delight. "Aki! Aki it's me! It's Yusei!"

"Yuuu . . ."

She was so tired. So tired. It was nice of him to come, but could he let her sleep? Just a little longer . . .

"Poor little girl . . . I almost feel sorry for you."

Aki's heart lurched with nausea. That voice. It squeezed her chest and forced the pressure into her skull. Her stomach churned. Her dry throat stung with acid. Sayer . . . How could he . . . ?

"Say . . ."

"Yes! Yes, it's Yusei. Aki, I'm here."

Aki's eyes opened a little more, and though her drowsiness made her vision blurry, she could make out the black of his hair and the blue of his eyes. She could feel his arm supporting her under her shoulders and his hand holding hers. She could hear the earnestness in his voice.

It was too much. All of it was too much. She just wanted to cry. Her face broke as she looked up at him.

"What happened?" he asked.

But she couldn't answer. Her lips trembled as tears slid down her temples and into her hair.

"Who did this?"

Sayer. She couldn't say it, but the truth rang clear to her. Sayer. Sayer did this. Sayer attacked her, nearly killed her, stole her . . . her magic.

She tried to swallow the thick lump in her throat, but it was so dry and tight. Yusei was holding her so gently, but she could feel Sayer's betrayal strangling her as it also stabbed her heart. She rolled her head until she could press her face into the knight's shoulder. It was the only movement she could make, and also the only one that could bring any modicum of comfort. She wished she could fold herself up and hide in the safety of his hands.

Take me away from here, she pleaded wordlessly. Away from this place full of her humiliating trust and deceitful peace. All her happy memories had been spoiled sour, as ruined as the house around her—as ruined as she herself was. Her voice creaked past the lump in an aching sob.

Yusei's chest hurt. He squeezed her hand and leaned down closer to her ear. "I've got you," he said, and it came out like a promise. "I'll take you somewhere safe." With that, Aki seemed to calm into sleep, and not wanting to disturb her, he moved slowly. He let go of her hand so he could slide his arm under her legs, and he lifted her up easily. Carefully, he carried her through the rubble until they were outside. He looked around to make sure there was nothing dangerous in sight, and then looked up to Stardust.

"Let's get out of here."

Instead of answering, the dragon was surprisingly quiet for a moment, and Yusei realized he was staring at Aki. "What?" he asked.

The dragon exuded a rare aura of genuine sorrow. "Listen, kid . . ." But he stopped himself and just pressed his belly down to the ground to let Yusei get on, while holding Aki sitting upright in front of him. Yusei let him keep his thoughts to himself for now, and just focused on keeping Aki steady as they rose up. And for his part, Stardust flew gently, so as not to jostle his passengers.

.

When Aki opened her eyes again, she was lying on her back, facing up to the sky. She felt a little stronger than before, at least enough that she could move again, though her body was still heavy with exhaustion. She slowly sat up, and as she did, she felt a hand suddenly supporting her back. She turned to see Yusei at her side, kneeling so they were eye to eye.

"How are you?" he asked quietly.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Tired." It hurt to speak, and she realized how dry her throat was. "Thirsty."

"I'll get you some water."

She nodded her thanks, and he hesitantly removed his hand from her back. When he saw she could hold herself up, he went to the lake and scooped up some water in the bowl of his shoulder armor. He brought it to her and she drank gratefully. When she finished, she handed him back his armor.

"I'll get more."

She nodded again, and then turned to follow him with her eyes. And that led her to see Stardust standing by the lake. And seeing him now, it hit her. It really, finally hit her.

The dragon could see every minute shift in her expression as her eyes widened, her mouth opened, and her lungs filled with a deep gasp of horror. But she couldn't see him, not as she used to, not as he was.

With her throat freshly dampened, her voice came out easier. At first it was low, but then she looked around to the forest, and it came out again stronger. She scrambled to her hands and knees and grabbed at the grass under her. She pulled it up and the blades blew away, dull and lifeless. Her breath quickened and she pushed herself up and stumbled on weak legs to a patch of flowers a few steps away and dropped down. She cradled the light pink blossoms in her palms and searched them desperately, running her hands down their stems and lightly rubbing the leaves between her fingers.

Nothing. She couldn't see it. She couldn't see the magic.

"No," she moaned. She dropped her hands to the ground and brushed them through the dirt as if looking for something she had lost. But the earth was dark to her, dark and still, the bright streams of life she was so used to sensing hidden from her. She tried to reach out with more than her hands, but she couldn't find that limb. It was as if it had been amputated. She couldn't resonate with the earth. She couldn't call on it to grow a seedling, let alone any of the enormous roots that had come to protect her.

"No no no no no!" she moaned again, breathing hard, heart racing in a panic while also growing heavy with agony.

She focused. She focused hard. Come, she willed. Please come. Come to me. Come, come! Grow! Bloom!

A speck of dirt shook, and before her wriggled up a tiny clover, its three leaves unfurling until they were open enough to wilt. Aki's shoulders rose and fell with her deep breaths.

"Nooooo," she wailed, shaking. She looked down at her dirty hands. Then she pressed her palms against her eyes and began to rock back and forth. "AaaaAAAAA!" The more her voice came out, the easier it was able to push through her. "AAaaaaAAAAAAA!"

Her fingers raked through her hair as she pushed her hands up. Her mouth hung open and she rocked until her forehead was against the dirt.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Yusei stood behind her, his armor dropped and forgotten as he stared down at her curved back. He didn't know what to do.

"Listen," Stardust had sighed when he had laid Aki down to sleep. "I don't know what happened, but Aki . . . her magic is . . . it's gone."

"Gone?" Yusei repeated. The dragon nodded solemnly, and Yusei could tell by his tone that Stardust wasn't playing. "How is that possible?"

"We won't really know until she can tell us . . ."

Paralyzed by helplessness, Yusei could only watch as Aki raised her head and wailed to the sky, which was just as silent as the earth. She brought her fists down against the dirt a few times and then pushed herself up, but after only two steps she crumpled back down. She bent over as she pressed her hand against her heart and clawed into her chest, her voice a cry of inconsolable grief.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYY?" she screamed. Then she began to dig into the dirt. She lifted piles of it in her cupped hands and then watched it pour out between them. It was so dark, so empty. She looked around, her red face painted with dirt and tears. To her, the forest had become a barren desert, and the dragon a mere glow. He was a bright dragon, true, his skin emitting a moonlight aura, but that was a brightness on the outside. To Aki, he had always shined from the inside, a galaxy of shooting stars spinning and circulating through his body. But not anymore.

The sun was setting, casting its light against the mountains in an ethereal display of rays above their outline, and the clouds darkened from white to pink, orange, red, and purple. Their beauty felt like a mockery. Aki bared her teeth, sucked in a deep breath, and screamed again, scouring her throat raw until she doubled over and sobbed to the ground.

"Why?" she asked before dropping onto her side. "Why?" She pressed her hands over her face and curled her body, then whimpered, "Give it back."

Give back her magic. Give back her life. Give back her soul.

Now that she had finally worn herself out, Yusei dared to approach her. He knelt down at her back and put a hand lightly on her shoulder. She flinched and pulled her hands from her face so she could look up at him. She worried he might ask her more questions, which she still wouldn't be able to answer.

Instead he said in a hushed voice, "I'm so sorry."

Aki felt another sob push up from her lungs, but she swallowed it. She slowly rolled onto her hands and knees and straightened so she could face him. He looked at her, into her swollen red eyes.

"If I hadn't left," he continued, the guilt and apology clear to her ears.

She closed her eyes and bit down on the inside of her lips. And then she let herself fall forward into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her eyes into his shoulder. Yusei in turn wrapped his arms around her body and held her firmly.

And as he felt her still shaking against him, his heart burned with a flame strong enough to purify his muscles and will into steel. He was ready to hunt whoever had done this to the ends of the earth. He wanted justice. No, he wanted to bring justice. And whether that was a righteous and noble desire or not, in that moment, he wasn't sure.

And in his anger, he forgot to care.

The knighthood in his heart that valued self-control and honor and virtue was pushed aside by the force of his sheer hatred for undeserved suffering. Maybe hatred was a poisonous emotion, but it was what fueled his conviction when he could rein it in under his control. And though he wanted to create a world that was equally just to all, he was human, and he couldn't help that his passions flared when someone he cared about was made a victim.

He held her tight, feeling his attachment to her grow.

"I'm sorry," he murmured again. "I shouldn't have left."

Aki could only shake her head. Neither of them could have known what would happen. And even if he had been there, maybe he would have gotten hurt too. Maybe Sayer would have been strong enough to attack all of them.

"I won't leave you again," he said—making another promise. "I'll help you. I swear."

Aki's answer was to grip the back of his shirt with both hands and nod. She didn't know if there was anything he could do to help, but she desperately wanted to not be alone, and he was the only one she had it in her heart to trust.

"Will you come with me?"

Aki slowly pushed herself up from his shoulder and reached up with her hands to wipe her eyes. Her fingers and face were still dirty, but at least she could see and look into his eyes. His hands were on her shoulders now, and she liked how firm and confident they felt against her exhausted body. She swallowed.

"I've lost my home," she said, voice raw and weak, "and I've got nothing else left."

Yusei tried not to let it show on his face how much her sad smile pained him.

Her lips trembled, and as tears lined her despairing eyes, she gave her answer. "If you'll let me, I'll go with you anywhere—anywhere in the world."

Chapter Text

“We never meet ordinary people in our lives.” - C.S. Lewis

“Hey Stardust, I’ve been wondering.” A young Yusei sat on a patch of green grass, leaning back on his arms and enjoying the nice weather. His friend was curled next to him doing the same, though he was ready to enjoy his favorite sport too.

“No, I can’t fly you all the way to a star.”

Yusei turned his head and scrunched his face. “What? No, that’s not—”

“Why yes, I am the most beautiful dragon in existence.”

“What are you even—”

“Well, if you must know, I’ll admit that one thing I do like about humans is some of their music. But just some.”

Yusei stared at Stardust with a look. Stardust stared back feigning innocence.

“Are you done?”

“What? Oh, was that not what you were wondering about?”

“Not this time, no.”

“I see. All right, what were you wondering?”

“I was wondering how old are you?”

“Is that so? Well how old do you think I am?”

“I don’t know, probably eight.”

“You mean, eight centuries, right?”

“No, just eight years.” Yusei smirked.

“What in the world makes you think that?”

He shrugged. “You’re annoying, like a little brother.”

“You listen here, kid,” Stardust said pointedly, getting low to the ground and tapping with his claw. “I don’t know how old you are, but I guarantee I’m older than you.”

“Ok, so then . . . twelve?”

“Who’s the annoying one here again?”

“Hey, you’re the one who didn’t want to just tell me.”

Stardust huffed. “You’re so young you probably think thirty years is ancient.”

“Does that mean you’re thirty?”

“No. And I’m not ancient, either!”

“Then what are you?”

“Three hundred and fifty.”

“Centuries?”

“Years!”

“Ohhhhh, I see! So is that young or old for a dragon?”

“We can live more than a thousand years. You do the math.”

“Gotcha. So how long does it take for a dragon to start looking and feeling old?”

“Ha,” Stardust scoffed. “We’re not like you. We don’t break down over the years. We’re in our prime until very, very close to the end.”

“So you’ll still be this annoying even when you’re a great-great-great grandpa, huh?”

“You’re just disappointed you won’t get to keep experiencing the joy of my company for that long.”

Yusei just nodded, feeling relaxed and smiling to himself. To be honest, that was a disappointing thought, but he wasn’t going to give Stardust the satisfaction of hearing it out loud. The time since their grand meeting could be counted in weeks, and thanks to this dragon, Yusei was able to smile and laugh even after that . . . incident.

He could even find moments and spaces of peace. Today, they were sitting along a river surrounded by lush greenery, the wild bushes full of berries and the trees of small fruits that Yusei had become more familiar with as he experimented to feed himself. The darker colored berries were easily his favorites. Mushrooms were proving a challenge, and he often had to ask Stardust for advice on whether certain varieties were edible or not. Some needed to be cooked first, but the ones he could eat raw were acceptable. It at least saved him the trouble of preparing a fire. He was learning, and eager student that he was, he was even enjoying developing his skill as a scavenger.

At first, Stardust had offered to take him to the city, so he could find that “Martha” he was supposed to look for. But Yusei had been reluctant.

“If I went there, I feel like I’d always be waiting for . . . for mom to come.” And that meant every day would be tinged with disappointment. He knew she wouldn’t come, but his heart would still be waiting, just as he had promised. He didn’t want to live like that. If he stayed out here, with Stardust, he could have a completely different life. He could learn and see so much more, and every day would be an adventure. There was no doubt in his mind. “I’d rather be with you.”

Stardust had been hoping for that. He had just wanted to make sure he had done his due diligence in giving the boy a choice. Not that he had it in him to be a parent, he just . . . was enjoying having some company for once. And anyway, the kid didn’t seem to need much care-taking. He was mature, smart, capable. Stardust was mostly teaching him things—about dragons, or the world, or history. And maybe preventing a few disasters here and there. Like that time Yusei had been exploring the forest and found a large hole under a pine tree that he just had to stick his head inside. Stardust had just managed to yank the kid out with his teeth before the resident badger had scratched his face off.

Dragons were by nature solitary creatures. They didn’t travel in packs or form societies where they lived. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy companionship and company with the right individuals. And the more Stardust got to know the kid, the more he felt a kind of kinship with him.

And once the awe had worn off, Yusei felt a similar familiarity with the dragon as well. Now, when he asked Stardust questions, it wasn’t with a tone of amazement, it was with his usual insatiable curiosity, that of a boy who wanted to collect as much knowledge as his energetic brain could hold.

“Hey Stardust, are other dragons all like you?”

“How do you mean?”

Hiding his mischievous smile, he clarified, “Do they talk a lot?”

“Excuse you, I don’t talk that much!”

“Oh, my mistake.”

“That’s right. You just don’t talk much. Everyone talks a lot compared to you.”

“I say enough!” Yusei protested. “I say as much as I need to say.”

“That’s exactly my point.”

“We’ve gotten off topic.”

“And who’s fault is that?”

Banter was the only way to poke the kid into a conversation, otherwise he tended to keep to himself unless he had a question. And Stardust had realized pretty quickly that their back-and-forths were delightfully fun for him.

“Never mind. What I meant was, do all dragons want peace like you do?”

“Hmm,” he sighed. “Well, I don’t know every dragon out there, but I know there are . . . differences of opinion among us.”

“Why would a dragon not want peace?”

“Well . . . mostly it’s because they don’t like humans.”

“They don’t like any humans?”

“I doubt they’re putting that much thought into it. They’re not going around testing each individual human, they’re just grouping all of you into one general lump and leaving it at that.”

“Oh.”

“That’s not the way I feel about it, but I can understand where they’re coming from. Plenty of humans do things that make them, well, hard to trust and hard to like.”

“Mm,” was Yusei’s soft agreement. And then after a moment of thought, he asked, “What about dragons? Are there any bad ones?”

“That’s a big question. But in any case, dragons aren’t angels. We’ve got our own personalities. And maybe some of us are nicer, and calmer, and more open-minded than others. Whether any of us are bad or good probably depends on who you ask.”

“Well, if anyone asks me, I think you’re good.”

“Aw, thanks. And if anyone asks me, I’ll say you’re just all right.”

“Hey!”

While Stardust made a guttural chuckle, he flicked his tail against Yusei’s back, causing him to let out a vibration that could almost be called a laugh.

“I take it back, you’re not good.”

“You’re right, I’m great.”

Yusei decided to leave it at that and just rolled his eyes to balance out his weary smile. Then he laid down onto his back and folded his arms under his head. Stardust flexed his wings, which were much wider than his slim body, so they always cast a shadow no matter what position he was in. Yusei liked that. He liked lying down to sleep in that shadow. It gave him the certainty that Stardust was close, and that made him feel safe and at ease. It wasn’t like being held in his parents’ arms, but nothing could be. Still, he was grateful to have someone he could trust, someone who had the effect of lifting his spirits and clearing his heart when they were close.

Each day and night Yusei lived with Stardust, the more certain he became that he would never be able to part from him. Even when he was ready to interact with humans again, he would still need Stardust. Part of him wondered if Stardust’s magic was rubbing against him and granting him a sense of peace, but he wanted to believe it was a product of the bond between them. After all, his parents had made him feel safe and relaxed as well and they hadn’t had any magic.

At some point, Yusei felt himself being nudged awake.

“Hey! Yusei! Wake up.”

Yusei moaned groggily and rubbed his eyes. “What?”

“Something’s wrong,” Stardust said, sounding disturbed. “Do you feel these vibrations?”

Hearing that tone quickly put Yusei on alert. “No, I don’t feel anything.”

“Really? I’m not talking about magical vibrations. These are in the ground. You really don’t feel these?”

Yusei frowned to the ground he sat on. He closed his eyes and pressed his hands harder into the dirt. “No,” he confirmed after a moment. “Is it bad?”

“I don’t know. It’s not an earthquake, but . . .”

“Should we take a look?”

“Only from a safe distance. You ready?”

“Yeah.”

Stardust lowered his long neck against the ground and Yusei jumped to mount himself at the dragon’s shoulders. By now he was quite adept at it. Stardust rose to stand on his hind legs and then launched himself into the air with one leap and a forceful flap of his broad wings. The treetops were quickly below them, and Stardust flew up the side of a large hill.

When they were high enough to see the other side, the dense forest trees became a sun-scorched canvas stretching all down the slope and through the valley below. Two massive waves of dust rose from opposing directions, each following the at the heels of an army marching toward the other to the sound of trumpets. To Yusei’s eyes, they were almost mirror images: each had straight rows of horses, foot soldiers, halberds, and banners. The only difference was the red theme of one and the blue theme of the other.

Yusei’s mouth hung as he watched the dust roll and the armies inch closer across their parched battlefield.

“Hm, looks like Domino and Arachnos are finally going to war,” Stardust mused. “I had a feeling it was only a matter of time until that happened.”

“What changed?” Yusei wondered.

“I don’t know. They don’t send me newsletters.”

“You don’t seem very concerned.”

“Well, it’s not like it’s got much to do with me.”

“How? You live here, don’t you?”

“A technicality. I can live anywhere.”

“Doesn’t it bother you though?” Yusei persisted.

“What, war? I mean, I guess. But that’s humans for you.”

“But what if we could stop it?”

“Kid, war is way bigger than just you and me. It’s bigger than even a battle like this one. It’s a whole mess of politics and such.”

“Ok, but what if we could stop this?”

“Would that really change anything?”

“Yes! We could stop all these people from dying!”

“For now. They’ll just end up marching into a different battle later.”

“Then we stop that one too!”

Stardust sighed. “You keep saying ‘we’.”

“That’s because you’re the dragon. You’re the one who has the power to stop them.”

“Ok, I think you’re overestimating me just a little.”

“I think you’re under-estimating yourself.”

“I mean, I could probably make them stop if I blasted them, but I don’t think that’s what you’re going for.”

“No, I was thinking more like, land between them and scare them enough to make them stop, maybe even run away or something.”

“Oh brilliant.”

“It’s what I would do if I was a dragon!”

“If you were a dragon, you’d know better than to get involved.”

“No. I’d want to get involved. How else are dragons and humans supposed to live together again if dragons keep staying away?”

“You do understand why we decided to get away from humans, right?”

“Yeah, and things are still bad! Leaving didn’t fix anything. If we want things to get better, we have to do something!”

Stardust sighed. “Aren’t you ambitious.”

Yusei just gripped tighter on Stardust’s spikes, a reflex of his determination. Stardust sighed again.

“You don’t see any problem at all with diving nose first into the middle of two armies about to knock the absolute shit out of each other?”

“I can’t stand to just sit here and watch.”

“I can just fly us somewhere else.”

“Stardust.”

The dragon groaned, though from his long throat it sounded like a rumble of thunder. “Kid. Let’s say we do it, just swoop in and save the damn day. You really think I’m interested in just hopping from battlefield to battlefield until they just give up trying to have a war?”

“I was actually thinking from here, we could go straight to the king and talk to him about it.”

Stardust turned his head enough to look at the boy perched on his shoulders. “Did you really just say that?”

“What?”

“Incredible. You think it’ll be that simple?”

“I have no idea what it’ll be. But it’ll be better than doing nothing.”

“So you say.”

“Stardust, please?”

The dragon groaned again and shook his head. This was a reckless and impulsive idea that he was sure would lead to nothing. But you know? What the hell. He liked the kid. He had a good heart, which was why he had been willing to keep him around in the first place. Stardust even admired his visionary thinking. That was the gift of youth that had not yet been jaded by the disappointments of reality. He was still at an age where he could dream big. Stardust didn’t want to be the one to take that away from him.

“All right, listen,” he said forcefully. “We’re gonna play this smart. If it looks like they’re going to be trouble or they try to attack us, that’s it. Fun’s over. I’m pulling out. End of story. Got it?”

Stardust felt Yusei’s hands twist as they squeezed his spikes and his whole body shake with excitement. “Yes! Got it!”

Stardust let out one more sigh. “All right, fine. Fine. Let’s do this.” He oriented himself in the air, and then gave a massive flap of his wings, setting him off like an arrow toward the shrinking center of the battlefield. The sound of thousands of feet marching in time got louder, and then they were washed out by an earsplitting roar. That alone brought the armies to a sudden halt as they looked up, but Stardust didn’t stop there. He took in a deep breath and then heaved a blue fire from his wide, open jaw.

The fire hit the ground with an explosive force, and he used it to carve the field in half, separating the armies by a wide, steaming gorge. Even if the soldiers had still been intending to march on, which they certainly weren’t, the horses had been too rattled to rein back under control and were breaking the formations with their ruckus. Some of the soldiers in their panic raised their bows and fired at Stardust, though they were quickly told to stop by everyone else around them.

“Do you want to piss it off?” Yusei could imagine them saying as he watched the dusty commotion. To his eyes, they looked like swarms of ants jumbling in confusion and distress. The scene looked so small from this height.

From below, however, the chaos was much more palpable. Commander Ushio of King Rex’s army had never seen anything like it. His worst fear was that somehow, the dragon had become an ally of Arachnos, but he dismissed the thought. That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. (If it was, he reasoned, it would have simply wiped out his men directly rather than merely appear to frighten them.)

He heard the eerie sound of the dragon’s roar ripple over his body and shake his bones. He didn’t like being afraid, and to push against the feeling—and prove to everyone else that he wasn’t—he drew his sword and pointed it to the sky with a haughty air.

“Oi! Dragon!” he shouted. “What in the king’s name do you think you’re doing, huh?!”

Stardust didn’t hear him. However loud his voice might have been, it was weak in the sea of noise erupting from the field. Now that he had caused a stall, Stardust took a minute to study the scene below him. With his keen eyes, he scrutinized each army in a search for those soldiers who looked to be in charge. He made his judgment based on the greater elaboration of their armor and the way they carried themselves with more grandeur than the rest.

Just as Stardust studied them, Ushio studied the dragon and wondered why it was hovering in the same spot for so long. He didn’t know what to make of it, or of that intense gaze. It made him anxious, but he hid it under a brash posture.

He was about to shout again, but stopped himself when the dragon made a sudden movement, flapping and folding its wings so it dropped down, down, down. All the soldiers braced themselves for it to land and flaunt its power at their level.

And then Ushio found himself being yanked from his saddle, his torso caught in the metallic grip of the dragon’s claw. His free legs kicked and dangled as he struggled, but not even his sword could scratch the talons or armored skin around him.

“HEY!” he shouted wildly as he hacked at the claw and leg. But the dragon gave no sign of noticing him. And eventually he was so disoriented by the speed of their movement and the harsh winds stinging his eyes that he wasn’t sure trying to get free was safer. He could barely see anything through his tight squint, but he could feel the motion as the dragon made a few circles in the air and then swooped down again, making his stomach flip.

Then he heard another protesting shout and peeked with one eye to see that in the dragon’s opposite claw, another man was caught, this one tall, muscular, tan, and bald.

“Devak!” he shouted in surprise. Devak, his counterpart among the enemy’s ranks, a general of the Arachnos army.

His shout was met with a vicious scowl. “What?”

“Ha! It got you too, huh?”

“What the hell are you so happy about?”

At that point, Stardust roared again, hoping to either shut them up or drown them out. But then he also released another blast from deep in his chest, this time less of a fire and more of a sonic boom that cratered the field at the center of its impact and felled all the soldiers with the force of its reverberations. Not even those in the back of the formations could remain on their feet as most men were knocked back into the bodies standing right behind them.

“We’ll see if they get the message,” Stardust said—in that telepathic way that only Yusei could hear.

Yusei just nodded as he looked over Stardust’s shoulder, hopeful that they had caused enough of a disturbance to postpone the battle.

“All right, that was the easy part,” Stardust continued as the men still struggled and shouted—both to him and to each other. “Next comes the diplomacy.”

Yusei nodded again. “Right.”

“Arachnos first?”

Another nod.

So Stardust set his eyes on the destination, and with his wing power, the flight was quick and straight. He was noticed just before the arrival by guards lining the walls of the castle and those on the ground by the gate. They raised their voices in alarm at the sight of him, and even more when they realized one of their great generals was being carried in his grip.

Stardust landed heavily with a thump on his hind legs at the castle entrance, the wind from his wings forcing the men to brace themselves or else fall to their backs. Stardust stretched his wings to their full width and then folded them as a sign that he wasn’t there to be aggressive. All of the guards then formed a semicircle in front of him, their halberds pointed toward him, and those on the wall raised their bows in a similar aim.

“You idiots!” Devak hollered with red-faced anger. “I’m right here! Put your damn weapons down or I’ll kill you myself when I get the chance!”

With that, all the soldiers nervously and hesitantly lowered their weapons.

And then Stardust spoke. Out loud.

“I’m here to see your king,” he announced flatly.

The soldiers all gasped and buzzed with each other while Yusei asked from behind, “You can talk-talk?”

“Oh, did I not mention that?” Stardust asked through his usual method.

“No.”

“Hm. Must have slipped my mind.”

“I’ll bet.”

“What is going on?” boomed a new voice, and all eyes moved up to find the king standing on the wall right above the closed gate.

“Your Majesty!” Devak gasped, alarmed to see him standing in the open and embarrassed to be seen himself in such a sorry state. “I—”

“Hush,” Stardust growled sternly. He looked to the king, who he could stand at eye-level with thanks to his stature. “So, you’re the king around here, right? King Rudger, if I remember correctly?”

The king had a tight expression as he looked back into Stardust’s solid gold eye. He seemed uncertain what to make of the situation, but realized he couldn’t just stand there silently. “That’s right.”

“Good. Wonderful. Now listen, I’m here because I’ve got some serious questions for you, and if you’ll do me the favor of giving me answers, I promise I won’t hurt a single person here. Is that acceptable?”

Having no real choice, the king nodded stiffly. “Yes, I will answer your questions.”

“Lovely. Now, first and foremost, please explain to me why in the celestial spheres are you working up so much trouble with this nonsense war?”

“Nonsense?” the king repeated with an insulted sting. “I am trying to protect my people and my land.”

“Right,” Stardust grumbled cynically. “Because wars never have any casualties or consequences.”

“Listen, dragon. I have run out of options. My brother has shown a flagrant disregard for some of our pacts, and he has even launched false accusations at me. He is the one who has been building up a pretext to declare war, do you expect me to do nothing?”

“You liar!”

Ushio’s protest came out hot and fierce, and all eyes turned to see his flustered face. “Don’t you play the victim here. You’re the one who ordered an assassination on King Rex!” He kicked his loose legs again as Stardust held him tight and shook his fist threateningly.

Rudger lifted his broad shoulders defiantly and frowned. “Don’t you act as if you know the truth! I have never desired conflict with my brother, and I never ordered any assassination.”

“You’re lying!” Ushio was fuming in a rage. “I saw the evidence! That assassin had a dagger with an Arachnos crest engraved in the hilt, and a letter with your seal on it! And anyway, you’ve been trying to take land from Domino for years!”

Rudger narrowed his eyes and his nostrils flared, but he maintained his composure. “Clearly you have no interest in hearing any version of things other than what you already believe. But,” he said, shifting his eyes back to Stardust, “the dragon knows I speak the truth. Isn’t that so?”

Stardust paused to look hard at Rudger, who faced him confidently. “Well, you’re not telling any lies,” he confirmed, to Ushio’s surprise. “But. You’re also hiding some of the truth.”

Rudger’s lips twitched, the only movement in his stone-like stance. Neither king nor dragon blinked as they stared at each other in a silence that spread tension through the whole audience. Finally, the king gave his answer, in a soft voice meant for only the dragon.

“What I haven’t told you is not a matter to be shared with the public.”

Ushio whipped his head toward Devak. “Hey! What’d he say?”

“None of your business!” Devak snapped back, not revealing that he too had not heard.

“I see,” Stardust said slowly. “Then I suppose we need to get a little more cozy before we can move forward, yes?”

“Are you inviting yourself inside?” Rudger asked.

“Not quite. I’m inviting you to come with me to Domino. And you can’t decline. Hey, Yusei,” he called, turning his head. “Make some room. Mister King here is going to be joining you.”

“Huh? Who’s Yusei?” Ushio asked, craning his head up. At that point, Yusei leaned over the side of Stardust’s neck and waved to the two generals caught in Stardust’s claws. Ushio’s jaw dropped “Haaaa!?! There’s a kid up there?”

“How long has he been there?” Devak demanded. They had all been so distracted by their condition that they hadn’t noticed the boy perched tight against the dragon’s shoulders.

“May I ask who this boy is?” Rudger asked politely. To his eyes, this boy Yusei looked a bit worse for wear. He had scrapes on his skin and dirt in his hair, and the overall appearance of a youth raised in the wild. Rudger might have thought him feral, except the intelligence in his eyes was undeniable, and he was wearing manmade clothing that, however unkempt it was, seemed to fit him well enough.

“He’s a lot of things,” Stardust replied. “But ask him yourself. It’ll give you something to do on the way.”

Rudger’s eyes held Yusei’s, and for a long moment he just stood in thought. Guards and advisors approached him from both sides, urging him not to go, but he barely heard them. This was too intriguing. If such an extraordinary thing was going to occur, who was he to reject it?

“Very well,” he agreed, provoking gasps from his men.

“Sire!”

Rudger finally turned his eyes to the men lined up to his right and raised a curious brow. “Which one of you is willing to look this dragon in the eye and refuse it?”

At that, they all shrank, casting nervous glances in every direction except toward either their king or the dragon. Satisfied by this response, Rudger returned his eyes to the dragon, who declared, “Fantastic. Then it looks like we’re all ready.”

Rudger realized quickly that he liked flying. Even while clinging to the smooth neck in a somewhat precarious position, the thrill of gliding high through the air and being able to look down over his domain gave him a rousing sensation of power. In contrast, the boy seemed at ease, as if he was merely riding atop a horse and traversing the land as usual. Despite the dragon’s suggestion, Rudger had not engaged the boy in conversation—their positions made such a feat too awkward, and the boy himself seemed unbothered by the silence.

When he wasn’t snatching curious glances of the boy from over his shoulder, Rudger was busy admiring the view of the forest and all its diverse foliage, the villages spread out among large and uncultivated fields, the thin dirt paths that connected them and the larger, more established roads that led to the city. Within those places, some of the people could be seen going about their lives, though to Rudger’s eyes they were hardly people, more like colorful specks, and their horses and wagons little bugs moving at a slow and leisurely pace, as if the war had no bearing on them whatsoever. Such a marvel how different citizens in the same country could be experiencing such different lives.

It was a surreal image to behold, and humbling to see how beautiful and fragile it was. Within the thick, stone walls of his castle, he could feel safe, but all this land, all these people were vulnerable. Safe for now, perhaps, but one wave of soldiers could devastate it all. And as thrilling as power could be, it was entirely conditional, dependent on his ability to protect those whom he had power over. Being a king of a graveyard meant nothing, so he hoped that this dragon’s interference was a blessing sent from above to prevent the catastrophe of war.

Eventually Stardust crossed the border between Arachnos and Domino, and from there it wasn’t much longer for him to reach the heart of that kingdom. There was no way the castle could have known he was coming, and yet the archers lining the outer walls were prepared to welcome him with a swarm of flying arrows. He swerved and flew higher, but some managed to pierce and graze him, and he felt their touch like a hot brand. His growl haunted the castle with its reverberating choir of tones, but the assault continued.

“How annoying,” Stardust muttered privately to Yusei.

“Are you ok?” Yusei asked, and Rudger was so preoccupied he didn’t hear.

“I guess. But those arrows have magic in them. And it’s a little more tricky right now trying to make sure none of you get hit.”

Yusei clenched his jaw, not wanting his friend to get hurt. But then he heard the dragon snort daringly and a laugh strike sharply in his head.

“These guys sure are full of themselves. I’ll show them who they’re dealing with!”

Hearing that his friend was taking this as a challenge and not an excuse for pulling out—as he had earlier warned—gave Yusei some hope. If Stardust had truly felt in danger, he wouldn’t sound so sportive.

“Hey Ushio!” Devak shouted. “Tell your people to stop shooting at us, will you?”

“‘Us’? They can shoot at you as much as they want for all I care!”

“You worthless piece of shit!”

“Hush, children,” Stardust snarled, and then made his decisive move. At the next volley of arrows, Stardust flapped his wings hard enough to scatter them all with the wind, and then he sped through that opening over the wall and up to the main castle doors. As the people within the keep shouted and scrambled to get out of the dragon’s way, Stardust tossed both Ushio and Devak into the few packs of soldiers who were brave—or stupid—enough to come toward him, their weapons raised. Each man landed in the bellies of the front soldiers, and the force knocked them all to the ground, giving Stardust a chance to let loose a roar to the sky powerful enough to shake the castle stones.

“Don’t move!” he boomed. “And if you shoot at me one more time, I will eat you!”

Everyone complied, soldiers and castle residents alike, holding their place where they stood. The soldiers all looked at each other, waiting for someone to give a command—someone else besides the dragon, a superior whose lead they were trained to follow.

As they all wavered nervously, Stardust lifted one of his now empty claws and held it up to his neck to let Rudger grab hold. He lowered the king to the ground himself while Yusei stayed in place on his shoulders. Which was fine. As long as he stayed there, Stardust could launch out at any moment if he needed to.

“Where’s that king of yours?” he asked to the anxious crowd. “I’ve got business with him.”

No one seemed certain what to do or say. His answer was silent, awkward glances, until Ushio finally got back to his feet. “Hey!” he shouted in his aggressive manner. “Someone go find the king and tell him the situation!”

Murmurs suddenly rose from the soldiers, questions like, “Isn’t that Commander Ushio?” and “Did he come here with that dragon?”

“NOW!”

All the soldiers jumped and some even began to rush toward the castle, though with cautious glances at the dragon for confirmation that movement was acceptable.

Then came another voice. “No need for that.”

All eyes turned to find the silver-haired king stepping out onto the high balcony over the front doors of the castle, taking in the scene with a firmly cool gaze. Stardust wasn’t struck by his composure nearly as much as he was by the king’s garish crown. It was unnecessarily large, rich in gold, and lined with jewels that were definitely not ordinary. The nimbus of magic emanating from it made Stardust’s hackles rise and his lips part to reveal his teeth.

“Your Majesty!” Ushio stuttered, snapping into a salute and then a flustered bow.

“Hello, brother,” Rudger greeted, looking up to Rex with a cool gaze that mirrored his.

“Hmm. I see you have brought an interesting companion with you.”

“No,” Stardust interjected. “I brought him.”

Rex looked at the dragon curiously. “I see. And what, exactly, has brought you here?”

“Business.”

“So I heard. What kind of business?”

“Diplomatic business.”

“Hmm. And who do you come here to represent in this diplomacy?”

“Everyone who’s going to have to deal with the aftermath of this damn war you two are eager to start.”

“I am eager to start no war,” Rex said, too smoothly for Stardust’s liking. “But I cannot abide an assassination attempt, not even by my own brother.”

“Oh, well, then good thing your brother had nothing to do with that.”

Rex raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Then why do I have his assassin locked up in my dungeon?”

“You’ve got someone down there,” Stardust conceded, reading in his heart that that much was true, “but it’s no one your brother here hired.”

Rex shifted his steely eyes from the dragon to his brother, who stood below watching him with a firm expression. After a moment he said, “Let’s say for just a moment that I believe you.” His eyes moved back to the dragon. “What then?”

“Then we all sit down and have a nice long chat to sort this mess out and come to some kind of agreement that keeps you from trampling the whole damn country and then setting it on fire.”

“Hm.” Rex held his hands together behind his straight back and stood still, his face unreadable. The entire population of the castle seemed to hold their breath as they waited. Then Rex raised out one hand. “Well, you’ve come all this way. How can I refuse to at least hear you out?”

To be honest, Rex gave Stardust a creepy sensation under his skin, and that only made him think that maybe keeping an eye on him was a good idea after all.

“The only problem is,” Rex continued, “I don’t believe our doors are big enough to let you in.”

“Oh, that’s no problem at all,” Stardust answered dismissively. “I can just listen in from a window. This one here is the one who really wanted to talk to you.”

“Hm?”

With that, Yusei hopped off of Stardust’s shoulders, revealing himself to the king who had not been able to see him from behind Stardust’s neck.

“Oh? And who might you be?” Rex asked.

“My name is Yusei. I’m from Satellite.”

Disapproving murmurs quickly spread through the people, and Stardust brought them to a sudden halt with his glaring eyes and rumbling growl.

“Satellite,” Rex repeated thoughtfully. “You’re a long way from home, then.”

“Maybe you haven’t heard, but Satellite was completely burned down some weeks ago.”

“Hm,” Rex said, looking into the face of the dirty but dignified boy. “A tragedy.”

Yusei frowned but kept his anger to a simmer. It was a tragedy, despite the insincerity of the king’s tone.

“And you wanted to speak with me?” Rex continued when Yusei stayed silent.

Yusei nodded. “Yes.”

The murmurs were quieter this time, but no less disapproving. Yusei ignored them and kept his gaze firmly directed up to the king.

“Hm. Well, as I said, you’ve come all this way. I will meet with you—the three of you. Please, bring my brother and Yusei to the throne room.” With his command given, Rex turned to enter the door behind him, confident that someone would jump to carry out his will.

Yusei looked up to Stardust, who made a motion like a shrug. “All right kid, let’s see how this goes.”

Yusei nodded, and then a soldier appeared before him, announcing that he would guide King Rudger and the boy inside.

“Hey,” Stardust called to him, causing the man to jump. “Where’s a good window I can join from?”

After receiving his directions, Stardust began a gentle drift from the castle doors around to another side while Rudger and Yusei followed their guide, both with backs straight and a stride of determination. When they arrived in the spacious throne room, Rex dismissed the guide and had him shut the great doors behind him, leaving the three humans alone and the dragon peeking in through an open window—so tall it was nearly floor-to-ceiling—while clinging to the outer stones with all four claws.

“So, if I understand the dragon correctly,” Rex began, facing the others with his hands latched against his back, “the story here begins with you.” Rex was twice Yusei’s height, but that didn’t seem to impress the boy. He looked up into Rex’s eyes with no hint of intimidation, as if the two were in fact equals.

“I only want to prevent what happened to Satellite from happening to the rest of Domino—and Arachnos,” he added with a look towards Rudger. “Whatever conflicts there are between you two, I want to resolve them so that no one has to die.”

“That’s a pretty sentiment,” Rex said blandly, and Yusei couldn’t be sure if he was serious or mocking. “But sometimes that is unavoidable.”

“You say that, but you’re not the ones out there in battle. You’re not the ones risking your lives even though the fight is between you. How is that fair? How is that just?”

“We are kings,” Rex answered simply. “It is the role of our soldiers to fight for us.”

“And who are you that they should die for you?” Yusei retorted. His tone wasn’t disrespectful, merely blunt. Neither Rex nor Rudger could respond quickly to such a bizarre question, and Yusei was able to continue. “Do they fight for you because they love you, or do they fight for the idea of a king? There are ideas I would fight for, but a king isn’t one of them.”

“And what would you fight for?” Rex could have easily dismissed the audacious child who spoke out of place, but he was intrigued, if for no other reason than he seemed to be familiar with a dragon.

“Justice,” Yusei answered without hesitation. “And peace. So that everyone can be happy.”

Rex’s lips cracked into a small smile. “I see.”

“I know you don’t take me seriously. But that’s why I’m here. That’s why I asked Stardust to try to stop this war. I don’t want to see all the suffering it will cause.”

The brothers both stared at Yusei’s earnest face until the voice of the dragon appeared again. “Yeah, and let me just make one think abundantly clear,” he said tartly. “I would much rather do things the easy way and just solve all this nonsense by biting off both your heads. I don’t think armies go to war if they don’t have a king to fight for. I’m only going through all this extra trouble because this stubborn little kid thinks we can solve problems without violence. So you can either prove that he's naïve and we move on to my way of doing things, or you can stick to the current method and prove that I’m a hardened cynic.”

Rex shifted his gaze to Rudger, who did the same.

“Well, brother,” Rex said with a mock invitation. “Can we solve our differences? Or are you still, right here and now, seeking an opportunity to kill me?”

“I have never wanted to kill you, brother,” Rudger countered. “I don’t know who it is you have captured. However, I do know that you have stolen something from me.”

A silence fell on the room as the brother kings stared motionless at each other. The air between them was so intense Yusei wondered if they were speaking to each other the same way he did with Stardust.

“And is that worth going to war for?” Rex finally asked quietly, though still with a provocative edge.

“Depending on how you intend to use it,” Rudger responded with a hard voice, “yes.”

Rex made a small half-smile. “Don’t you trust me?”

“You make it very difficult.”

“And what would make it easier for you?”

“It would help if, in general, you weren’t so secretive. And if you would return the book to me.”

Stardust’s great heart bungeed down into his stomach as an image flashed into his mind. The book. He saw it as their minds both summoned it in their own. And it was that book.

He blew a steamy breath through the window, ruffling the luxurious fabric of the kings’ robes. “Actually,” he interjected, his voice low and dark like an ominous storm cloud, “I think you should give it to me.”

The three humans all looked toward the window. Rex’s lips went thin and tight.

“Well,” he began slowly, “I can appreciate why you would think that. However, I acquired it through great pains, and I cannot part with such a valuable tool. I believe it can serve as . . . an equalizer, should any of your kind turn against us.”

Stardust bared his teeth and steam hissed out from the sides of his jaw. “You think of us as bloodthirsty, savage beasts?” he demanded.

“Certainly not,” Rex denied calmly. “But it would only take one of you to level this castle if the whim occurred, and I don’t much like the idea of living in constant fear of that possibility.”

“That book is sacred,” Stardust snarled. “And you have no right to it.” Not only because if he had it, that meant it had been stolen from its resting place, but because these were humans. They should not have in their possession any magic, let alone magic that ancient and powerful. And Stardust had a suspicion that it was related to the fact that the weapons Rex’s soldiers had were clearly enchanted, if the sting he had felt from the arrows was any indication.

Rex stared into the dragon’s accusing eyes with stoic composure, and it was clear he was thinking carefully as he chose his next words. Rudger stood by, waiting to see what excuse he would come up it.

“I will concede that it is a significant relic for your kind. However, you have been keeping it hidden for who knows how long, while I intend to put it to use. And I think, regardless of origins, that grants me the right to it now.”

Stardust seethed, his lips peeled back and a growl vibrating through his exposed teeth. Had the window not been too small for him to squeeze through, Rex’s head would have been in danger of being bitten clean off his shoulders.

“You’re not using it to defend yourself, as you say,” Rudger countered, speaking up. “That’s clear enough from the crown you flaunt on your head.”

Rex kept his face tightly controlled, revealing nothing in his eyes.

Stardust also stamped down his anger. There was still the possibility of accomplishing something here, but if he blew up now, the attempt at diplomacy would end, and the war could spiral out of control into something far, far worse.

“Let me give you some advice, from an outsider’s perspective,” the dragon murmured. “This land, and everyone in it, has a chance to thrive. I know many dragons are cynical when it comes to humans, but I’m still willing and able to hope. As of right now, my kind simply wants to keep our distance from you, but should you start something that even smells of a threat, I can promise you that they will not stay away for very long.”

Rex’s hands tightened their grip behind his back, and his temples twitched as he clenched his jaw. Subtle movements, but easy enough to discern against his statuesque stance.

“We have no intention of letting you corrupt the land,” Stardust continued. “You may build your castles and cities and kingdoms, but we live longer than most of your buildings stand. To us, this land is more our home than it is yours, and we will protect it from harm.”

Rex’s shoulders never sagged. He held them straight at all times, and they seemed broad enough that Yusei could have sat comfortably on one. “Let’s say,” he began—again, slowly and carefully—“that I gave it to you. Do you have anything to offer as a replacement?”

“You don’t need a replacement,” Stardust said, keeping the thought to himself that he was not interested in giving humans magic. “If you don’t cause trouble, dragons will not bring trouble to you.”

“And what if I want an advantage against attacks from men?”

Stardust resisted the urge to groan in disgust. Humans. Always thinking about conflict. Why couldn’t they just live their own lives without disturbing anyone or anything else? The ego such small, weak creatures could have was astounding.

“Then call for me,” he answered when he was ready to be serious again.

“You?”

As the kings looked to Stardust curiously, Yusei’s eyes went wide under his high brows. “You?” his face asked on its own.

“Yes, me. And I don’t mean to say that I’ll fight on your behalf,” he clarified. “You already admitted that one of my kind could level your castle. Well I’m one of my kind. If I show up, I’m sure I can persuade everyone to calm down and go back home.”

Rex closed his eyes and turned to take a few slow paces away so he could think to himself. His tight hands were visible to the others, and they could see his shoulders rise with his deep breath. A dark cloud shifted around his body, though only the dragon’s eyes could perceive it.

Stardust hummed to himself, though to the humans it sounded like an echo of thunder across the hills. “What is this struggle I see in you?” he asked pointedly.

Rex turned halfway to look at him, his face finally showing a crease of emotion. His brow furrowed, his lips frowned, his nose wrinkled in disgust. And then his lips peeled back much like Stardust’s, showing his teeth.

“No,” he murmured darkly. “It’s mine.” Stardust saw the cloud around him grow darker and more agitated. “I’ve earned it.” As Rex completed his turn to face to dragon, his voice went deeper and small veins began to crawl at the edges of his face. “And I won’t let it go!”

Then it wasn’t just a cloud of dark thoughts swishing around him: Stardust saw a bulb of magic ignite behind Rex’s back in one of his hands. Well, at least it was the king who had failed at their diplomacy.

From the window, he sucked in a deep breath and warned into Yusei’s mind, “Get down.” As the king pulled out his weaponized hand, Yusei dropped flat against the ground and Stardust erupted with a roar that sent Rex flying backward all the way to the wall. Rudger too was knocked aside, but Stardust wasn’t giving him much thought. Some of the tiles in the floor broke out of place while iron candle stands toppled sideways and heavy tapestries shook wildly against the walls.

Rex looked up when the roar stopped. The dragon was glaring at him, his nostrils steaming, and Rex’s magic had been snuffed out. He was defenseless, caught at a disadvantage now that his surprise attack had failed, and even worse, he realized that somehow, he had become paralyzed.

Yusei dared to lift his face from the floor and looked across the great room toward Rex, who sat crumpled against the far wall, his head leaning back and his eyes shining above parted lips. Rudger too pushed himself up off his back and looked to his brother, and the expression Rex wore was so foreign to him that he froze. Rex had the look of a mystic enraptured in some vision, his steely eyes polished bright into wonder.

Yusei twisted his neck to catch a glimpse of Stardust, and that allowed him to see his friend reach one claw through the window. He then noticed a trail of liquid shadow stream into the center of his talons, and he twisted his neck again to follow it to the source, which appeared to be Rex. The shadow began its journey across the room from the air around his body, and when the last of it was drained out, Yusei followed the tail with his eyes all the way to Stardust’s claw, where it had all accumulated into a writhing miasma. The dragon opened his mouth and spat out a sharp, blue flame, which immediately engulfed the darkness and caused it to erupt into a sparkling display of tiny fragments, all of which faded before reaching the ground.

Rex’s eyes returned to normal, and as he blinked, he raised a hand to his face without seeming conscious of the action. He touched his cheek, and it was only when he looked down to his fingertips that he seemed to realize a few stray tears had slipped from his eyes.

Yusei and Rudger both looked at him with some caution, but Rudger dared to approach him. “Rex?” he called as his brother began to rise slowly to his feet. “Are you all right?”

Rex reached his full height, and his face became clearer to Rudger as he got closer. It was much smoother now, the bulging veins and deep creases from earlier gone, giving Rex a much calmer appearance, as opposed to the tightly controlled stoicism he usually carried himself with.

First he met his brother’s eyes, and Rudger was taken aback by the gleam he saw. It had been some time since he had felt a genuine brotherly affection from Rex, as he did now. Then Rex shifted his gaze to the window across the room, but his answer was for Rudger. “I feel refreshed,” he said reassuringly, and even his voice sounded different, like all the tension had eased out and he was almost sighing with relief.

“Well, all that magic you had built up was practically toxic to you,” Stardust snorted.

“Hm,” Rex responded thoughtfully. “So I see.”

“You’re lucky you were still in a condition to have it removed.”

“Mm. And I must also count myself fortunate that you were willing to remove it.”

“This time. You go meddling in magic again and I might not be so inclined to give you another chance.”

Rex smiled graciously. “I will keep that in mind.”

Stardust could read that Rex’s aura was indeed clear and his emotions steady and honest. So at least for now Stardust could trust that he no longer had any corrupted thoughts and intentions. He responded with another snort of approval.

“And I will return the book to you,” Rex added, raising his hand over his heart and giving the dragon a humble and apologetic bow. After raising his head again, he asked, “Can I still count on your assistance should this kingdom face a threat?”

Behind him, Stardust’s tail was flicking back and forth. “You can,” he confirmed, hiding his awe at how smoothly this was all going—overall. He didn’t want to give the impression that this wasn’t perfectly under his wise control.

Then Rex turned to his brother. “Do you have any objections?”

Rudger let loose a laugh. “No, I do not. I will not stand in the way of a dragon and his precious heirloom, despite all my curiosity. I would rather they take it back than for it to remain a temptation for us.” He turned to Stardust as well. “May I also request your assistance, should Arachnos ever be threatened?”

Stardust snorted. “I hardly recognize that there is a border between you. To me, there is just one land, and I will protect it.”

Rudger smiled wryly. “Fair enough.”

Rex then turned bodily to face his brother and clasped his hands behind his back. “Rudger,” he said softly. “I have no excuse for what came over me. Thinking of what I have done, and what I almost did to you . . . I must apologize. I was not myself, but the damage was very real. If you would be willing, I would very much like for us to become brothers again, along with our kingdoms. Allies as close as family, as it should be.”

Rex reached out a hopeful hand, and Rudger looked down at it. At first there was a tense silence as Rudger seemed to merely consider it, but then he looked up into Rex’s eyes and grinned, and disregarding his brother’s hand, he reached out with both arms and embraced him, clapping his hand hard against Rex’s broad back.

“As it should be, yes,” he agreed. “I would very much like to forget the conflicts that came between us.”

“That’s fine, but don’t forget anything I said!” Stardust interjected.

The brothers turned in unison to look at him. “How could we possibly forget any word spoken to us by a dragon?” Rex asked with a smirk.

“Hm! Well, I do make a strong impression.”

“Truly.”

Stardust finally looked down to Yusei, who was standing on his feet now, his eyes shining and his smile beaming up toward him. Stardust could read the joy in his aura, as well as his overwhelming gratitude. “I knew you could do it!” his heart celebrated.

Stardust wasn’t one to forego a boost to his ego, but seeing Yusei standing there, no longer surrounded by untamed forest but in the middle of human civilization, brought a dampening weight to his vanity. He lifted his eyes from Yusei back to Rex.

“One more thing,” he said.

“And what might that be?” Rex asked.

Stardust nodded to Yusei, gesturing to him with his long snout. “That kid’s village was completely burned down,” he reminded. “He’s got no home, but he’s looking for a woman named Martha who lives here. I’d like you to help him find her.”

As he spoke, Yusei’s joy transformed into wide-eyed panic. Before Rex could even agree, he shouted, “No!” Despite his small body, his voice came out loud enough to fill the hall. “No no no! I didn’t say I wanted to leave you yet!”

Stardust looked down at him and ruffled his wings. “But kid, we’re here. You got what you wanted. Isn’t it time you get back to a human life?”

Yusei stubbornly shook his head. “I like living with you! Why are you trying to get rid of me all of a sudden?”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” Stardust protested. “I’m trying to think about what’s best for you.”

“Well why don’t you ask me what I think is best for me!?”

“Because you’re a kid. Kids always want things that aren’t good for them.”

“Are you saying you’re not good for me?”

“No,” Stardust groaned. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just saying there are some things I can’t do for you, and maybe humans would be better for that.”

“But you can teach me so many things that no one else can!”

“There’s more to life than just learning. You want to change the world, right?”

“Yeah . . .”

“Then you should probably be part of it, right? You gotta make connections, make a reputation for yourself. You can’t solve everything by just swooping in out of nowhere and playing hero.”

“But that’s exactly what we just did!”

“And now everything’s totally fixed, right?” Stardust asked sarcastically. “We got two brothers to get along, and now the world is set right? Not every problem out there is the big explosive kind that you can stop in a single moment. There are a lot of problems that are deep and wide-spread, and not one instance is going to fix it. So if you want to change the world, you’re going to have to get real involved and dirty because there are a lot of ugly roots out there and it’s going to take you a long time to yank them out, one by one, wherever you find them.”

Yusei stared up at Stardust, tears in his eyes, his brow furrowed, and his lips set in a hard frown.

“Think you’re up for that?” Stardust asked when Yusei was too clamped up to speak.

Yusei quickly raised an arm and wiped his eyes with the back of his wrist. Then still frowning at Stardust, though now his lips were trembling, he said, “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Stardust didn’t either, honestly. But with these events, Yusei had actually made him feel hope, real hope. So he wanted Yusei to get what he needed to accomplish as much good as he could. If it was just a matter of traveling and being together, Stardust wouldn’t have been so insistent. But now he believed the little kid might actually grow up to be a hero, and he didn’t want to hold him back.

“It’s not goodbye-goodbye,” Stardust said reassuringly. “I’m not leaving you forever.”

Yusei’s frown lessened. “You mean that?”

“Do I ever lie?”

“Yes.”

“No! I don’t lie. I joke, but I don’t lie. And I’m not joking right now. Here,” he said, reaching through the window with one arm and extending an open claw. Yusei peered into Stardust’s palm and found a pendant in the shape of a fang waiting for him. “Take it.”

Curiously, Yusei stepped forward and picked it up, admiring his first gift from Stardust. “Thank you,” he said softly.

“You can use it to call me,” Stardust explained.

Yusei’s eyes snapped upward. “Really?”

“I’m still not joking.”

“How do I use it?” Yusei asked excitedly.

“Just hold it and say my name. No matter where I am, I’ll hear you.”

“Wow.”

“Don’t go using it every fifteen minutes though,” Stardust warned. “I want you to live your life, and anyway I’m not a dog. So just call for me when you really need me.”

Yusei looked at the fang he held tenderly in his palm, and then he curled his fingers around it and pressed his fist to his heart. “All right,” he agreed solemnly. “But when I’m ready, when I’m strong enough, will you take me with you again? I don’t want to change the world by myself. I want us to do it together.”

Stardust pulled his lips back into a sharp-toothed grin. “Kid, I wouldn’t miss the chance to do that with you, not for anything.”

And then Yusei was smiling again, feeling reassured and hopeful again. Behind him, the two kings were watching with deep fascination. When it seemed that the matter between them had been settled, Rex spoke up. “I would certainly like to be of any assistance I can to Yusei, beginning with finding this Martha, and anything more beyond that.”

“And maybe we could ask for your assistance with one more thing as well?” Rudger added.

“Oh? What else can I do for you?” Stardust asked curiously.

“Well, Rex still has that assassin sitting in prison. I think it would do a lot of good to clear up the mystery of who he is. If you could speak to him and discern the truth . . .”

“Ah, right, yes,” Stardust said, remembering that piece of the whole ordeal. “Well, I can’t say I’m not curious myself. Sure, let’s find out what this attempted murderer is up to.”

After agreeing to make an official announcement of the reconciliation and end to the war after they had gotten the information they sought, Rex summoned Ushio and gave him the task of bringing the prisoner to the throne room where they would be waiting. In that empty moment, Yusei turned to Stardust.

“Hey, I’ve been wondering.”

“Not again.”

“Shush,” Yusei snapped to keep the dragon from derailing with more jests. “And yes. I was wondering how you can know if someone is lying?”

“It’s nothing special,” Stardust answered, making his half of the conversation private inside Yusei’s head. “I just can. Like being able to see color. Wait, you can see color, right?”

“You know I can.”

“Ah yes, right, right,” Stardust said, exaggerating just to poke under Yusei’s skin. The boy just pursed his lips, pretending that he wasn’t amused.

“So what does it look like to you?” he asked after a moment.

“Hmm. Ok, so you know how sometimes you can see light? I mean like, actual beams of light, like when they come through a window or stretch over a mountain when the sun is behind it?”

Yusei nodded.

“Ok, well it’s kind of like that. People have that kind of aura around them, and it’s kind of shiny and translucent, and pretty subtle most of the time, really. But depending on what’s going on inside your head, the aura can shift and change color. It’ll start vibrating or spinning, or cloud up so it’s more like smoke than light. Someone who has a clear heart will have a clear, shiny aura, and someone who has bad intentions will look like they’re inside a little black fire. And then on top of that, of course, I can take a look at people’s actual thoughts.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Mm, I guess, if you’re not used to it,” Stardust said flippantly.

“What does my aura look like?”

“Very shiny and colorless. So kind of boring, but in a good way. It’s pretty rare to see one that clear.”

Yusei grinned at this news.

“Hopefully you can keep it that way.”

“I will!” Yusei vowed enthusiastically.

“I’ll let you know.” Stardust definitely intended to keep an eye on it as Yusei grew. “By the way, did you know humans who have a strong enough aura can even get a special kind of magic?”

“Really?”

“Mm. It’s possible.”

“Wow.”

“Might not want to spread that around though. Don’t want to make people look at you different for that.”

Yusei nodded.

And at that point, the doors to the throne room opened, and in came Ushio and another guard, pulling the prisoner inside between them. Yusei was rather surprised to see he was fairly young. Yusei had expected a grown man like the kings, but this man wasn’t that much older than himself, most likely a late teen, maybe as much as twenty. He was tall, thin, and showed the wear of being kept locked away beneath the ground. His burgundy hair fell down his neck just past his shoulders, and his bangs hung long and were brushed to cover the whole right side of his face. And even seeing only one of his green eyes, Yusei observed an intense hatred in his gaze as he looked to the kings standing ahead.

Though when he noticed there was a dragon poking its head through an open window, his bloodlust ebbed to make room for the startled jump of his brows.

“You have a dragon?” he blurted.

“No one has a dragon,” Stardust retorted indignantly. “I’m here of my own free will, thank you very much.”

The young man’s eyes also caught Yusei’s, and though he stood out as a strange feature in the castle, he was the least of the prisoner’s concerns.

“We have a question for you now,” Rudger said in his commanding deep voice.

He snapped his eyes back to the kings, and just as quickly as it had left, his malicious scowl returned. “What?” he snapped.

“Why did you attempt to kill my brother?” Rudger asked, frowning into the young man’s vicious glare.

“I was just doing what I was told, like a good soldier.”

“And who told you to do it?”

“I don’t know. But he had the letter and the dagger, so I didn’t argue.”

“Why not?”

The young man visibly ground his teeth. Then he muttered, “I didn’t have a choice. It was either kill or be killed.”

Stardust watched closely, and he could tell the man’s words were littered with half-truths and evasions. Both Rudger and Rex looked to him for his assessment, and he answered their look with, “Keep asking questions.”

“Why is that dragon here?” the man demanded.

“He is here to assist with this interrogation,” Rex answered calmly.

“I’ll help too!” Ushio offered zealously. “I can beat the truth out of him.”

The young man snarled, “You disgusting savage. You’re only good at violence, aren’t you?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Rex said before Ushio could strike back.

“Why do you have such strong, personal feelings toward my brother?” Rudger asked, speaking next. “I can see it plainly on your face that this was not a simple case of following orders.”

The young man bared his teeth and he seethed out a hiss. “Because he,” he started, but then turned his eyes to Rex directly. “Because you—you left me on my own! I needed you and you left me with nothing!”

Both Rex and Rudger frowned curiously, and then Rex asked, “Do I know you?”

The young man scoffed and spat onto the floor. “That’s a king for you. Why would you bother to remember me when it’s so much easier to just throw me out and not trouble yourself?”

“I would remember throwing you out if I had,” Rex replied said sternly. “Who are you?”

“My name is Divine! I’m from a noble family! I’ve been here with my parents many times, long before I got tossed in that dungeon. But my parents are dead now.” He made that announcement with an accusatory snarl. “They were killed while we were all riding home together. I managed to make it home by myself, and I thought maybe I’d be able to keep living my life. I could just take my father’s place and become the new lord. But then my own uncle tried to kill me too! And it turned out he had hired those men to attack our carriage. Then when he saw I was still alive, he was going to make it look like I’d committed suicide and then claim the inheritance!”

Divine made another noise of contempt in his throat.

“We got into a fight before he got the chance, and I managed to push him out a window. He died when he hit the ground.” Divine made a cruel, crooked smile. “Serves him right. But at the time I was scared no one would believe me, and that the whole rest of my family would work to frame me, so I ran away. I didn’t have any other home to go to, so I came here.” He sneered toward Rex. “I thought, surely our good king who treated my parents like friends would offer me aid in my time of need.”

Rex looked at him with a grim expression. It made Divine’s ferocity grow.

“But when I got here, none of the guards would listen to me! They laughed at me, rejected me, hit me! Seeing my parents murdered in front of me was . . . unbearable. But, I will never forget how humiliated I was, and how betrayed I felt. When I looked up over the wall and saw that you were there, watching from a window and doing nothing—” Divine exhaled a breath so hot it should have steamed. “—I knew I hated you more than anything and anyone in the world. My uncle was just petty and greedy. But you. You’re supposed to be so noble and just. What a joke!”

Now that he was speaking so freely, Rex and Rudger felt truth in his voice. But they looked to Stardust to get his confirmation on the story.

“He’s telling the truth,” Stardust said solemnly.

“I see,” Rex said softly.

“It’s a shame you had to go through that,” Stardust said sympathetically. “If you had had the chance, you could have learned to put your magic to good use.”

“Magic?” Ushio burst out nervously. “Wait, are you saying he’s a witch?”

Divine sniffed at Ushio with a mocking expression.

“Yes,” Stardust said. “Not a particularly strong one, but one nonetheless.”

Ushio’s lips went tight as he tried to hide how nervous he suddenly was. Rex, in contrast, walked with a smooth gait and calm expression to stand closer to Divine. “I was wrong,” he said softly. “I do know you. And I remember your parents. I am deeply sorry to know what happened to them. If I hadn’t had my mind corrupted and my heart hardened, I would have learned of it much sooner, and I would have sought you out to help you. Divine, I am truly, truly sorry that I failed you.”

Divine’s entire being shook. He looked up at the king, bewildered. This was not the same man he had almost killed.

At that time, he had managed to get the blade mere inches from Rex’s back, but Rex had moved with inhuman reflexes and grabbed his wrist to halt its motion. Divine had found himself eye-to-eye with the king, and in those steely eyes he had encountered a terrifying darkness that summoned shivers down his spine like demons. Where had that terror gone? Was it hiding somewhere where Divine couldn’t see it anymore?

But even if it was masquerading behind that remorseful, compassionate face, why wasn’t the dragon revealing it to be a lie? Was this all some great trick being pulled against him? It had to be some kind of trick. How else could he explain such a dramatic change? The evil was lurking somewhere, and Divine wouldn’t be deceived again.

“What good is that now?” he muttered, looking away from those gray eyes. He didn’t want an apology. He wanted his parents back. His life back.

Or revenge.

Rex looked down at the bound man with a heavy heart. It was true. However sorry he was, it wasn’t worth much of anything. He sighed a long, quiet sigh.

“Rex, what now?” Rudger asked. “What do we do?”

By law, anyone who attempted to kill the king was sentenced to death. But Rex’s conscience would not abide that. He could empathize too much with Divine to blame him for his hatred. He looked down to Divine. “You still hate me, don’t you?”

Divine snapped his eyes back to Rex, and though his face didn’t burn as hot as it had before, he still couldn’t look at Rex without his brow crushing down with a smoldering fury. “Yes,” he muttered.

Rex nodded knowingly and clasped his hands behind his back. He couldn’t blame him for that. But he also believed that that hatred would lead him to more attempts on his life, possibly more successful ones. He couldn’t execute Divine, but he also couldn’t take the risk of freeing him. He turned to his brother. “Exile, I believe.”

“Exile?” Ushio’s jaw dropped. “But, he tried to kill you!”

Rex ignored him. “From both Domino and Arachnos. And we will focus on finding the ones who sent him.”

“Hm.” Rudger held his brother’s steady gaze for a moment and read his resolve there, and then nodded. “All right. I accept your judgment.”

Yusei watched the whole scene play out, captivated. It was so clear to him how similar his and Divine’s tragedies were, and yet the lives they had led since were so different. Yusei wondered what he would have done, how he would have felt if he had found out that it had been the king who had ordered his village burned. Would he be looking at Rex with the same loathing that Divine did now? Would his aura still be as clear as Stardust said it was? How much of who a person was depended on such fragile details beyond their control?

Upon hearing his sentence, Divine’s eyes wandered to the boy standing close to the window where the dragon lurked. He still had no idea who he was or why he was there. Seeing as how he was free, standing in the heart of the castle despite his dirty clothes, and familiar with the dragon, Divine instantly assumed he was some child blessed by fortune to rise above his circumstances far beyond what any peasant dreamed. That was just how his luck seemed to be: of course he would fall from the grace and fortune he was born with, fail in his goals, and face the mockery of fate as it put in front of him a boy whose life was the shining opposite of his own. What else could it possibly be? Divine’s lip curled just thinking it, and his heart churned with instant hatred.

“You know what I just realized?” Stardust said thoughtfully.

Rex responded. “What is that?”

“I kind of just left those two armies on the battlefield with no commander and no orders. I have no idea what they’re up to right now.”

“Hm. Well, maybe you could be so kind as to pay them a visit and let them know to come home.”

“Yeah, sure, I can do that.”

“You have my thanks.”

“And you have mine for taking care of Yusei.”

“Of course. I’ll have Ushio comb the city for Martha.”

While Ushio’s chest was suddenly puffed up at hearing his name spoken by his king, Divine wrinkled his nose with private contempt. So, the kid was blessed, receiving aid from the king no less. How could fate mock him so cruelly?

“And when you have a chance to return,” Rex added, “I will have the book ready to give to you.”

“Can I ask what kind of book you’ve been talking about?” Yusei asked.

“I’ll tell you more about it sometime,” Stardust promised. “But to put it simply, it’s a source of ancient, pure magic. It’s the only one because it’s not so much what’s written inside it that contains the magic, it’s the thing itself.”

“We call if The Book of Dragons,” Rex said.

“Very creative,” Stardust said to Yusei alone. “We don’t call it that. It’s just our book.”

“Ah,” Yusei said, as if he was responding to Rex. Then to Stardust he said, “I’d definitely like to hear more about it!”

“Sure. I better head off though. I want to make sure those soldiers aren’t making a mess.”

“Right. Well it seems like there are some final matters to take care of,” Rex said to the room, then clasped a hand on Rudger’s shoulder. “Shall we greet our people and share the news?”

Rudger smiled and nodded. “I’m looking forward to it.”

While the brothers attended to their political matters, Yusei turned to Stardust and placed a hand on his metallic cheek. “I’ll miss you,” he said softly.

And for once, Stardust didn’t play. “Yeah,” he said in Yusei’s head. “I’ll miss you too. But remember kid, this isn’t goodbye.”

Yusei sniffled back the sting in his nose and nodded. He had been feeling a tremble in his chest and in his lips since hearing the mention of Martha again. “Right.” Again, he squeezed the fang he had been gifted. He wondered if maybe he could use it to just . . . talk to Stardust, not necessarily call for him. It would be nice to be able to at least hear his voice sometimes . . . “And I’ll work hard so we can be a team again.”

“I believe in you.”

Yusei smiled, and then Stardust shifted. He had been gripping to the castle stones for some time, and he was ready to get back in the air. He flexed his wings and gave them a few testing flaps.

“Well,” he said, not really knowing how to close their scene. “Until next time.”

“Yeah.” Yusei nodded. “Until next time.”

Thinking that was good enough, Stardust pushed himself off the castle and flapped his wings hard to get him out into the open air. Yusei leaned out the open window, feeling the dragon’s wind rustle his hair and chill his face, and kept watching his friend as he got higher and smaller. He so wanted to be back on the dragon’s shoulders and feel the air racing against his body as they soared together, but he held on to that promise. Until next time. For now, he watched the dragon’s wings leave a trail of glitter in the air behind him, lighting up the blue sky with stars, determined to make his future shine that beautifully too.

Chapter Text

“Sometimes the people closest to you betray you, and your home isn’t a place you can be happy anymore.” – Kristin Cast

Stardust flew over the woods in grim silence. Yusei too carried a heavy silence with him on Stardust’s back, his jaw set tight and his lips pressed thin. Compared to his misery, Aki was light in his arms. She was sitting sideways to accommodate her dress, and she had fallen asleep leaning into his torso during the flight, lulled to sleep by the wind and her own exhaustion—and the security of his arms as he held her upright within them. He rested his chin on her head as well to keep it from drooping, and with eyes fixed ahead, he stared at the city walls that were growing closer.

He could see the city, but his mind was too absorbed to think on it. Those walls were large enough to hold an entire royal city, but not nearly large enough to hold the anger that kept him hot against the wind’s chill. Nor his own regret for leaving her, for not coming back fast enough. Nor his contempt for the cruelty given to her in exchange for her trust. Nor his frustration at being unable to return what was stolen. He felt like a thousand tight and wretched knots being pulled tighter and tighter, and with no way to get release.

His vision kept flashing red and dark when his mind turned to the one who had done this. This mentor that had deceived and manipulated Aki into speaking of him with such respect and gratitude. As far as Yusei was concerned, that man was deceiving everyone with the appearance of a human when in truth, he was something else.

He was a monster.

Yusei ground his teeth. The noble knight in his heart was transforming into the ferocious monster slayer that came out in times like these. Some people needed to be saved from others. Some needed to be saved from circumstances. Some needed to be saved from themselves. Monsters were those who couldn’t be saved, who had been completely taken over by the vile corruptions in their hearts and were beyond redemption.

Unforgivable.

By the time Stardust was gliding over the walls, the sky had become a dusky lilac. Some people had noticed the dragon approaching and were peeking out from windows or stepping onto their balconies to watch him fly overhead. Though by now they were familiar with him from his visits, a dragon was still a dragon, and everyone was interested in that rarity. Especially one as beautiful as Stardust, he thought, his vanity flattered by the attention—though not so much today.

The city itself, however, was not their destination. He flew right over it, aiming toward a small town sparsely populated in the open fields nearby. He passed over a few lone houses before he landed in a garden wide enough to accommodate his open wings, one next to a very large and humble wooden house. From all three stories, small faces were pressed against window glass, mouths and eyes wide with smiles upon seeing his arrival. Stardust didn’t put on a show of flare as he normally would in front of the awestruck children. Instead he focused on landing gently for the sake of his passengers.

While looking toward the house, Yusei felt Aki shift and heard her soft voice, though she didn’t open her eyes. He thought she might be on the brink of waking, so he tested her.

“Aki,” he murmured by her ear. “We’re here.”

Aki heard him and dragged her mind out of sleep enough to open her eyes. She didn’t feel the wind anymore, but Yusei’s arms were still firm around her body. The air smelled different here, and ahead of her was a house she didn’t know. She turned her head just a little. Yusei had one arm around her shoulders and the other hand held her legs in place.

“Are you ready to get down?”

Aki didn’t feel ready for anything except to lie down for a hundred years, staring into space. But she answered him with a nod.

“Ok. I’ve got you.”

He pulled his hand from her legs and instead slipped it under her knees so he could pick her up across both arms. She instinctively reached up with her own to wrap them around his neck and bury her face against his shoulder. Yusei easily maneuvered himself on Stardust’s shoulders and slid off. He landed on his feet with knees bent, then stood up straight and carried Aki across the open meadow all the way to the front door.

By then, some of the children had made their way outside and were running up excitedly to Stardust. Aki peeked up from Yusei’s shoulder and regretted it. Seeing Stardust now only hurt. He should be so much brighter than he looked. The world itself should be lit up and sparkling with the flow of magic—even in the dark of night. Those lights were gone, and they had taken the light in her heart as well. She put her eyes back on Yusei’s shoulder.

“You’ll be safe here,” Yusei said quietly. “I promise.”

She just nodded without lifting her eyes. Yusei left it at that.

The door was left open by the children, so Yusei was able to cross the threshold without assistance. And there to meet him, approaching through the entrance hallway, was a middle-aged woman, her skin brown and her black hair set in thick dreadlocks that framed her motherly face. She wore a modest dress that gave her the air of a nun and covered the whole of her stout body. She looked at the new arrivals with concern in her gray eyes.

“I’d like to say it’s nice to see you, Yusei,” she said before he eyes drifted to Aki and her battered appearance. “But that can wait.”

Yusei nodded. “I’m sorry to just burst in on you.”

She waved at him dismissively. “You can come and go as you please in your own home.”

Yusei managed to smile, but it was small and weak. “Thanks Martha. I need your help.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Come on.” She waved him in further, and more little children peek at him from around corners, looking curiously at the unfamiliar person he was carrying and giving each other questioning glances. Yusei kept his eyes straight ahead as he followed Martha to an empty room where he could lay Aki down on a bed. She let go of Yusei’s neck reluctantly, but once she was on the bed she went limp and just stared up to the ceiling. She didn’t move and didn’t notice when Yusei pulled a blanket up to her shoulders, nor when Martha shooed away a group of children who had gathered at the door to peek inside from around the frame.

To Yusei she felt light, but to herself, Aki’s body felt heavy with exhaustion. In contrast, her mind was speeding through a stormcloud of thoughts as fast as lightning. She felt like such a fool. How could she have gone so long never feeling anything off about Sayer? Surely there had been signs. Had she missed them out of naïveté? Had she ignored them, explained them away to fit her own image of him? She wanted to replay her whole life with him and pinpoint everything she should have noticed.

But what good would that do now? It wouldn’t turn back time. It wouldn’t heal her wounded trust. It wouldn’t get her magic back. Could anything? Could she? On her own? Or was this . . . would this last forever? Could she live like that? Could she accept a life like this? Who should she blame? Sayer? Or herself? Sayer because he did it, he tricked her, ravaged her. Herself because she had been tricked, and too weak to protect herself.

Pathetic. She felt so pathetic. To be used, abandoned, rendered weaker and more helpless than she already was. How could she have been so stupid and weak as to let this happen? How could she stand living knowing she was this pathetic?

But what had her life been anyway? Had she been planning to live forever alone in a forest with Sayer? Was that all? Just a peaceful existence to herself? Maybe some power in the universe had decided that wasn’t good enough. Maybe Sayer had been allowed to take her magic because he had something better to do with it than she had been on the path to. She felt so small and small-minded. If she had been more ambitious, more adventurous, maybe she could have become stronger, found a purpose that would have led her away from Sayer before he could have ruined her. It was her fault.

It was Sayer’s fault. He was the one who chose to do it. But it was her fault too. She should have been better. She should have been so much better. And now it was too late.

As she stared up at the ceiling, tears slipped silently from the corner of her eyes and down her temples. She didn’t blink, so they fell smoothly, uninterrupted. She didn’t notice when Martha and Yusei left and closed the door.

The living room was more open space than furniture, and what it was furnished with was well-used, but also well-maintained. Martha didn’t have much money—or much funding—so she found practical and creative ways to make things last and to make sure the children she took in were comfortable. Yusei knew how hard she worked—and how much she cared. She had been a mother to children before he had met her and continued to mother new children after he had left.

Martha sat down in her usual padded chair while Yusei sat on the edge of a couch with his elbows on his knees.

“Thank you,” he said with a heavy, tired voice. It meant a lot that he could rely on Martha even now when he was living on his own.

“It’s nothing. I’m glad you know you can come here when you need to.”

While staring at the floor, he nodded.

Martha knew his solemn silence meant he had a lot on his mind. He had been that way even as a child. She folded her hands in her lap. “So who is she?” she asked patiently.

“Aki.”

“And who is Aki to you?”

Yusei’s hands were hanging from his wrists, but then he grabbed one with the other and squeezed. “A friend.” He clenched his jaw and swallowed. “She saved my life.”

“Oh really?”

He nodded to the floor again.

“How did she do that?”

He squeezed his hand tighter.

“She healed me. I was going to die, but she healed my wounds until they were nothing. It was amazing magic.”

“Magic?” Matha repeated, leaning forward suddenly. She whispered, “She’s a witch?”

Yusei clenched his teeth hard and furrowed his brow. He breathed deeply through his nose. “She was,” he answered tightly. “Her magic is gone. Her mentor stole it.”

“Oh.”

“He almost killed her.”

Martha observed Yusei closely, his tense muscles, his angry downward frown, his tight grip on his own hand. “Did you stop him?”

Yusei closed his eyes and shook his head. “No. I wasn’t there. And I found her when it was too late. He was already gone. I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything.”

She could hear the frustration in his voice. “But you brought her here. And she’s alive, so you can still help her.”

Yusei sighed. “I don’t know if I can get her magic back. But. I swear I’m going to find that man. Maybe I can force him to give it back. Or at least, I can . . .” The knight inside wanted to say “bring him to justice,” but the monster slayer wanted to say “give her a bit of revenge.”

“I know you’ll do what you can,” Matha said.

Yusei nodded.

“And I’ll do what I can,” she added. “That’s why you brought her here, right?”

“Yeah. She doesn’t have anything or anyone else.”

“Hmm,” she sighed compassionately. “Poor girl.”

Yusei frowned hard. “She doesn’t deserve this. She’s a good person. I should have been able to stop it.”

Martha sighed again and stood up so she could cross over to the couch and sit next to him. She put a hand on his arm. “Don’t blame yourself. I know it’s hard, and I know you’re hurting, but it’s not your fault. You’re only responsible for your own choices. It’s only the fault of the one who hurt her.”

“I wish I could have stopped it.”

“I know.” Martha put her arm around his shoulders for a side embrace. “It always hurts to see someone you care about suffer. But I know you’ll find something you can do for her now.”

“I just don’t know if it’ll be enough.”

Martha was quiet and just let Yusei be her little boy again. There was no fixing his mood right now. It was too raw.

“No, there’s no way to know that,” she agreed. “But give it your all anyway.” She moved her hand from his shoulder to his cheek and pulled him in so she could plant a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll go get a bed ready for you.” She stood up and pat his head before walking past. Yusei finally lifted his eyes from the floor to watch her back. When she disappeared around a corner he looked at his hands, and then he lifted them to rub his eyes and then form a thoughtful temple against his face.

Aki rolled onto her side and pulled the blanket tight around her shoulders. She breathed in deeply and thought the air didn’t smell right. Her eyes opened a little, not yet ready to open all the way. It was enough to see a color she didn’t recognize. This wasn’t her bed. And the lighting in the room was different. She lifted her head enough to take a look around until her confusion was replaced by the memory of arriving in this new house. She worked to sit up and rubbed her eyes until they were clear of sleep. She pushed the blanket off and slid her legs off the bed and lazily pushed herself onto her feet. When she was about to stretch her arms, she looked up—and then jumped backward, landing on the bed. There was someone else there in the room.

She realized quickly enough that it was Yusei. He was sitting at a table, his arms folded on the surface and his forehead resting on top. She could see his shoulders rising and falling slowly, and seeing that he had no reaction to her surprise, she assumed he was asleep.

She crept over to him, tiptoeing lightly so she made no noise. He still didn’t show signs of noticing her, and she didn’t want to disturb his rest. She tiptoed across the room to the door and very slowly, very carefully opened it. Through the window she made, she could see some children playing on the floor in the living room with pebbles of some kind. She didn’t recognize the game, but they were very excited about it. The oldest one shushed the group every time they raised their voices.

Aki instinctively found herself nervous at the sight of so many people. Her shoulders tensed and she watched them closely as if she needed to calculate an escape just in case. But then she remembered she was like them now. They didn’t need to be afraid of her for being a witch, so she didn’t need to be afraid of their fear. Though that didn’t improve her mood. Her shoulders sank with her heart.

Then one girl in the living room happened to glance toward Aki’s door and saw her standing there in the opening. The girl quickly pointed and shouted, “Look!” Aki jumped, startled by the sudden attention, and as all eyes turned to her, her stomach knotted and she had the urge to slam the door shut. One little boy jumped up from the floor and ran from the room shouting, “Martha! Martha!” The little girl also got up from the floor, leaving the pebbles as they were, and bounded over to stand on the other side of Aki’s door, looking up at her through the opening.

Aki wasn’t familiar with children, so she stayed quiet and stared back. She guessed the little girl was about five. Beyond that, the most she could say was that the girl was pretty.

“Hi!” she greeted brightly. “What’s your name?”

Aki met the girl’s smile with a nervous one of her own. “Um . . . Aki. And you?”

Before she could hear the little girl’s answer, Aki felt a weight appear on her shoulder and jumped with a loud gasp.

“Sorry!” Yusei said quickly, stepping backward and raising his hands innocently. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

Aki forced out a weak laugh. “It’s ok. I’m surprised I didn’t hear you.”

“Guess we’re both used to being quiet.”

“Yeah . . .”

The little girl watched curiously through the door as Yusei and Aki avoided meeting each other’s eyes. Eventually Yusei asked, sounding apologetic, “How are you?”

Aki pressed her arms across her torso and folded her shoulders forward. “Well . . .”

Yusei shook his head. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Bad question.”

“No, it’s fine. I . . . I appreciate you.”

Yusei looked utterly miserable at being shown gratitude. Aki didn’t know what to say to make him feel better. She didn’t know what to say or do to make herself feel better either. Not really. But she did have a few needs that could be attended to.

“I am hungry,” she offered as she pushed her arms into her aching stomach. “And I could use a bath.”

Yusei nodded. “I’ll show you the kitchen.” He opened the door to find several children had gathered there along with the first little girl, and they all jumped back to give him and Aki space to walk out. Aki followed him through the living room and into another that had a large table that could seat more than fifteen. Martha was in the kitchen next to it, stirring a large pot over a fire.

“Well hello there,” she greeted noticing their arrival. Martha hung the ladle and met Aki by grabbing one of her hands with both of hers. “I’m Martha. Yusei told me a little about you. I’m so sorry for your loss. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need.”

Aki didn’t know what exactly Martha knew about her or what Yusei had said about her “loss”, and she didn’t feel like getting into any details. So she just said, “Thank you.”

“You must be hungry. You’ve slept the whole day,” Martha said, which was a surprise to Aki. “Here, sit down and I’ll bring you something.” Martha guided Aki to one of the chairs at the table and then returned to her pot. Yusei sat down at the table too, across from Aki, and after a moment Martha set a bowl of hot soup in front of Aki, and the fragrant steam rising from it made her mouth water. “Eat as much as you want,” Martha said encouragingly.

“Thank you,” Aki said again, and then blew on her first spoonful until it was cooled enough to put in her mouth.

“You too,” Martha said, putting a similar bowl in front of Yusei. “I haven’t seen you eat all day either.”

Yusei didn’t deny it. He took the spoon she offered and began to absently stir his soup.

“And all of you!” she said lastly, turning toward all the little faces peeking into the dining room from the hallway. “I know you’ve eaten. Let those two be so they can have their dinner.”

“We won’t bother them!” one little boy promised. “So is it ok, Yusei-nii-san? Can we come in?”

Aki watched Yusei give them all a smile and nod, and then watched the children all rush in and crowd around him. It was fascinating to see the intimidating knight so adored by small children. Aki gathered that none of them were related, since they didn’t look alike and certainly didn’t look like Martha. But they still seemed close and warm like a family. Aki focused on her soup and easing her aching stomach so that she didn’t feel awkwardly out of place among them.

Martha also offered her bread and fruit to accompany the soup, and she politely accepted. She wished she could have enjoyed the food more, but mostly it was just weight to fill her empty stomach with. After dinner, Martha prepared a bath for Aki and left her alone to soak in the water. Though had she had only just woken up, now that her stomach was full, Aki felt ready to go back to bed. But since she was there, she stayed in the comfort of the water for a time to clear her mind—or at least try to.

When it was obvious that feeling clean wasn’t going to make her feel refreshed, she dried off and put on the clean clothes Martha had given her, since her own dress was quite torn. She moved slowly, feeling no energy and no need to rush anyway. She made her way back to her room and went to the window to look out at the night. She also noticed there was a small pot on the window sill with a seedling sprouting out of the soil. She hesitated, then wrapped her hands around the pot and sought out the roots with her senses. She began to sweat from the focus, but the seedling only shivered. Aki let out a breath and bowed her head.

Then came a knock at the door and she looked over her shoulder.

“Aki?”

It was Yusei’s voice, so she went to meet him. “Hi,” she said softly when their eyes met through the opening.

“Hi,” he said back. “Can I . . . Can I come in?”

“Oh, yes.” She stepped back and opened the door further to grant him entry. He stepped in and then closed the door quietly behind him. For a moment they both just stood in the center of the room, glancing around in every direction as they waited for something to happen. Finally it was Aki who asked, “Do you want to sit?”

“Um, sure.”

Aki sat down first on the bed, and Yusei followed, sitting down with enough space between them to fit another person. Aki waited again, thinking now it was Yusei’s turn to contribute something. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and holding his hands together. “I’m sorry,” he said after a long silence. “I can’t think of the right thing to say.”

Aki pulled her legs up to hug them. “There might not be a right thing to say.”

He sighed. “Yeah. I just . . . I guess I just want you to know . . . I hate that this happened to you. And I want to make it right. If there’s anything I can do, I swear I’ll do it. I won’t leave you alone, I promise.”

He was finally looking at her firmly, and she looked back. His promise wasn’t as confident as before. This time when he said it, he sounded uncertain and apologetic. Aki felt numb inside, but she was able to give him a sad smile. “Yusei, listen,” she said quietly. “I know you feel guilty because of what happened, but I mean it when I say I don’t want you to. I don’t blame you for anything, so please don’t put that burden on yourself.”

Yusei opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, and instead he sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you needed to cheer me up. This isn’t about how I’m feeling. You’re the one . . .” He drifted off. He didn’t want to say aloud unnecessary things. They both knew what he meant.

“You don’t need to try to cheer me up either,” she said, her voice hushed but heavy. Yusei looked at her, and she could feel the weight of his guilt in his gaze. Well, if they were both going to be relentlessly miserable, she might as well say what was on her mind. “To be honest, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to live without magic. I don’t know how to be around people. I don’t know what to do with myself. If I try to imagine a future where I’m like this forever, I see nothing. And I feel so many things. I’m scared, and angry, and frustrated, and sad, and I feel like a complete idiot. But at the same time I somehow feel empty, like all the life has been sucked out of me and I’m just . . . empty. Nothing.” Her eyes drifted to the seedling on the windowsill, draped in moonlight.

Yusei followed her gaze to the plant and could guess what she felt to see it. “Is there any way to get your magic back?”

“Well, Sayer could give it back,” she answered dully.

                —Ah, Sayer. So that was his name.—

“That would be the best way. It’s also possible balance could be restored naturally and I could gain magic over time by absorbing it from the earth. But there’s no guarantee of that, and that process could be so slow that I wouldn’t live long enough to get back nearly as much magic as I had before.” She grimaced. “And then there’s the option of what Sayer did: find a large source of magic and steal it. But even if that wasn’t despicable, it’s dangerous. There could be an incompatibility that tears your body apart, or it could just be too much magic and overwhelm your body. Sayer was able to do it because he had a crystal that helped him bear it.”

Yusei hadn’t known that. He knew some principles of magic, but he hadn’t been in a position to learn too many specifics and details.

“Is there anything Stardust could do? Could he, maybe, give you some of his magic?”

Aki shook her head. “I doubt it. Our magic doesn’t seem very similar, so I doubt I would be compatible with him in that way. And anyway, I don’t want to take his magic. It would weaken him. With all the dangers right now, he needs to be as strong as possible.”

Yusei stared out the window as he sat still in thought. And then very quietly, he asked, “What would happen if he died?” Aki looked at him, but Yusei kept his gaze ahead. “Would your magic come back to you then?”

Aki stared at him, and in that pause he turned to meet her eyes. “I don’t know,” she answered just as quietly. “Maybe. Or it could go out with his. I don’t think there are records of this kind of thing happening.”

Yusei sighed. “I wish I hadn’t left you alone.”

“This would have happened eventually,” she said with a dull tone. “It seems he had been planning to do it from the beginning. He was just waiting for the right moment. And apparently the right moment was when he found out I had brought you and Stardust home.”

Yusei wondered why, but instead he asked, “What can you tell me about him? I want to find him. I want to try to get your magic back from him.”

It hurt Yusei to see in her eyes that though she appreciated his sentiment, she didn’t seem confident that he could do it. To be honest, he wasn’t confident either, but he wanted his resolve to mean something. He wanted her to believe he could rather than humor him with a wan smile.

“Well, he told me he had been exiled from Domino, so that was why he had to stay hidden.”

“Exiled? Why?”

“His story was that he had reported corruption in the palace and the king didn’t like it. He had been a noble before, but after that happened, he hated the king, and now he hates anything and everything associated with him—nobles, knights, the castle, everything. I don’t know how true the rest of what he told me is, but I can tell that his hatred is real.”

“Hm.” Yusei couldn’t recall hearing about anyone exiled for reporting corruption. Unless it had happened more than ten years ago, before he had met Rex and become a citizen involved in the workings of Domino. “And what does he look like?”

Aki was still hugging her bent legs when she started rocking back and forth slightly. “I’d say he’s tall. The top of my head only reaches his shoulder. I think he’s around thirty. He has green eyes, and his hair is a kind of dirty red color. It’s about shoulder-length, and some of it covers his right eye.”

Yusei could feel his mind working as she spoke, like a librarian speeding through thousands of records and catalogues in search of something that was teasingly just beyond recall. But then he hit upon it, and the sought memory flashed in his mind, freshly dusted though a little warped with time.

A young man—a prisoner. His face hot with fury. Teeth bared and gnashing. Shouting. At the king. The details were hazy, but Yusei thought the descriptions could match. The age seemed about right, and the more he thought about it, he did remember that he had been exiled rather than executed—which would have been a fitting sentence for someone who had attempted to kill the king, who he apparently hated. And he had been a witch too. So many things seemed to fit. He just couldn’t remember what the prisoner’s name had been.

“Do you know anything else about him?”

Aki let out a long, slow breath through her nose as she looked down to her bare feet. “I don’t think I could tell you much about his past. I didn’t really ask him about it. I just focused on our own life and learning the things he taught me about magic.” That made her wince. She didn’t like being reminded of how stupidly she had been living. “I guess that’s why it was so easy for him to fool me.”

Yusei wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know if there were any words that could help. After a heavy pause he said, “You’re not a fool for trusting him. He took care of you when you didn’t have anyone else. It’s only natural that you would get attached to him. And I’m sure he put a lot of effort into making sure you never suspected him.”

Aki pressed her mouth against her knees and hugged her legs tighter. She didn’t want to reject his attempts at consolation, but the truth was it didn’t help. She didn’t respond and just stared past her feet to the floor.

Yusei responded to her silence with more silence and left it at that. For a while they just sat there in the quiet, dark room, each one staring down and feeling lost. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable, it was just sad. Yusei lifted his eyes up to the window to look out to the sky. The moon was too high for him to see, but he could at least see the light it cast down from beyond the window frame.

When he was thinking maybe he should just leave her for now, she spoke, nailing him in place. “You know,” she murmured, “it just feels ironic. I spent most of my life being afraid of normal humans, and then it was another witch who actually hurt me. I guess I forgot that people can hurt their own kind, no matter what they are.”

Yusei nodded. “Yeah,” he sighed. “I imagine he’ll end up hurting a lot of people from here on.”

Aki turned her head to look at him. “And you want to stop him, don’t you, oh noble knight.”

Yusei looked at her as well and nodded resolutely. “I do. And if I know more about him, I’ll have a better idea of what I’m looking for.”

Aki shook her head. “You know he’s dangerous. He could kill you. Easily.”

“I can’t let that stop me.”

She sighed. “You’re not scared of anything, are you?”

“It’s not that I’m not scared. I’m just willing to do what I have to do anyway.”

“Why are you the one who has to stop him?”

“Because I think I can. I have Stardust, and other resources. And I’m ready. And because he hurt you. Just for that, I can’t leave him alone.”

Aki looked at him, her heart aching and lip trembling. Then she shook her head. “What if he hurts you? What if something happens because you got involved in my problem?”

“It’s not just your problem,” Yusei insisted. “He must have taken your magic for a reason, right? You said he was probably planning to do it for a long time now, which would mean he has something in mind to do with that extra power. I have to protect the people who could be his next victims.”

Aki looked down and then pressed her forehead against her knees to hide her face. She knew how strongly he felt about that, but she was so used to not caring about humans that it hadn’t occurred to her to do so now. But she could remember how good it had felt to heal Yusei, and how excited she had been at the thought of being able to do more magic like that. There had been a spark in her that had wanted to help others. But even if she had still felt that spark now, she didn’t have that power anymore. She didn’t even have the choice to put her skill to use or not.

She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to think about other people and her relationship with them, or what it could have been.

“Do you know,” Yusei started, leaning slightly toward Aki, “or, do you have any idea what he might be up to? Or where he might have gone?”

She shook her head while keeping her forehead on her knees.

Yusei’s heart sank and his shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to bother you, not when you’re . . .” He was going to say “dealing with so much,” but that didn’t seem to quite cover it.

Aki shook her head again. “You’re not bothering me. It’s everything else that is.”

Yusei kept looking at her from the side, at her buried face and folded body. She looked like she wanted to disappear. He wanted to reach out, but he stopped himself. With a soft and doubtful voice, he asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“I don’t know,” she answered in a whisper. “I’m sorry. I feel like I don’t know anything.”

“No, it’s all right. I understand.”

“I want to help you.” Her voice cracked as she said it. It was true. He was the only one she truly wanted to help. “But I can’t do anything. Not anymore.”

“That’s not true.” He finally reached out then, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve lived with him for years. You know things, even if you don’t think you do. Maybe nothing about him stood out obviously, but you know his habits and patterns. You know the things about him that are familiar to you. That’s something. I can start something with that.”

Aki turned her head just enough to see him from the corner of her eye. Then she lifted her head and put her chin on top of her knee to think. “Well,” she said slowly after a minute, “he worked in trade. That was how he made money. He’d buy something and then find someone else who would buy it for even more. He’d read all the time and when he had a book memorized, he’d sell that too. He bought and studied all sorts of magical items and practiced new spells all the time. He was devoted to all the work he did. He even taught me a lot. Not everything. Some things he learned he kept to himself, but I just assumed that was because those things were too advanced for me. Now I’m not so sure.”

“And you don’t know if he was studying magic for any specific goal?”

“Well, he never told me if he had a goal. If I had to guess, I would say it might have something to do with getting back at the king for exiling him. But that’s just a guess, and I don’t know how he would want to go about doing it.”

“And what about the timing? Do you have any idea why he chose now to do this?”

Aki caught a wrinkle of her dress between her fingers and rubbed it back and forth. “Not really. We were sitting in the living room talking. He asked about what I’d been doing while he was gone, and eventually I told him everything about finding you and healing you and bringing you and Stardust home. That was when he started acting strange, when I told him about Stardust. He’s always been fascinated by dragons, but that’s nothing unusual. I don’t know why telling him about a knight and a dragon that had already come and gone would mean anything to him.”

Yusei didn’t know either. His mind was spinning trying to put pieces together, but again, there was too much missing to make the connections.

“Did he teach you about dragons?” he asked, thinking that maybe learning what kind of information he valued about dragons could be a clue.

“A little. Not in depth. It seemed like he focused more on teaching me practical things I could do that would help me in daily life, or in emergencies. I don’t think he expected knowing a lot about dragons would be useful to me. But he definitely studied them a lot for himself. Especially this one book. After he got it, he became obsessed with it. He was reading it every chance he got.”

“What kind of book was it?”

“I’m not sure, he never had me look at it. I just know it was about dragons.”

A book about dragons . . .

“Oh and apparently it’s written in a way that only witches can read. Humans with no magic wouldn’t be able to. So that’s pretty unusual.”

Yusei’s head throbbed as his pulse got heavy and fast. “Where is that book?” he asked, restraining the sudden urgency in his voice as best he could.

Aki looked at him curiously, wondering why he would want to know. “Well, he kept it in his study. So it might still be there—in all the rubble. Though, I’d guess he probably took it with him when he left. I can’t imagine him just leaving it behind.”

His throbbing head made the room sway. Oh, shit.

“What’s wrong?” Aki asked, noticing his sickly expression.

Yusei had been staring into space as his mind began to run through all sorts of scenarios, none of them good. He forced his eyes to focus out of it and onto Aki. “I think this might be worse than I thought.”

“Why?”

“If that book is what I think it is . . .”

“What do you think it is?” she pressed.

Yusei looked at her while taking a deep breath. “Listen,” he said seriously, “this isn’t common knowledge, so don’t talk about it with anyone else, ok?”

She nodded and leaned toward him intently. She didn’t bother to say she had no one else to tell. Even if she did, if he was sharing a secret with her, she would keep it for him.

“Ok. There’s a book that belongs to dragons. It’s important to them. Really important. It’s got all kinds of information about dragons and magic, secret knowledge that could cause a lot of problems in the wrong hands. It’s supposed to be kept in a safe place that only dragons can find, but it’s been taken from there before. If that’s the book Sayer has, then it must have been taken again.”

“What makes you think it’s that book?” Aki asked curiously. Nervously.

“Well, it’s a book that someone who wants to gain power and who is fascinated by dragons would be obsessed with. And I need to assume the worst so I don’t underprepare.”

“If this book is so dangerous, how are you supposed to fight him when he has it?”

“I’ll come up with something,” he said flatly. “But I need to act quickly. The best thing I can probably do is get to him before he makes any more big moves.”

Aki worried for him. Why did the one person she felt like she could trust have to be so recklessly brave?

“He must be powerful and resourceful already,” Yusei continued, thinking out loud, “if he managed to find the book and steal it without the dragons noticing.”

“He didn’t find it,” Aki corrected. “A woman gave it to him.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.” Aki shook her head. “That was all he said when he brought it home. That a woman came to him directly and gave it to him. He didn’t know her either, but since he was so excited to have the book, he didn’t seem too bothered by it.”

Yusei’s brow furrowed. He didn’t know what to do with this strange new information. So he focused on things he thought Aki might be able to provide. “Can I ask you one more thing?”

“Yes, of course.”

“How exactly did you end up living with him, anyway?” He asked because if they assumed that Sayer had been planning to steal her magic from the beginning, there might be a clue to something in the story of how he found her.

But after hearing his question, Aki’s eyes dimmed and she went very still. She didn’t say anything for a moment and then she bit down on her bottom lip.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a sensitive tone.

At that, Aki released her legs and stretched them out so she could rise to her feet and walk to the window, keeping her back to him. He stayed where he was to respect her desire for distance, and he watched her as she hugged herself, gripping her arms tightly.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly without turning. “I’ve been afraid of telling you since we met.”

Yusei stood up but didn’t approach. “You can tell me anything. I can handle it.”

Aki’s breath was choppy when she inhaled, like she was on the edge of crying. She exhaled it out slowly, fogging the window. And then still without turning, she started, “He found me after . . .” She swallowed. “After I killed my parents.” Her shoulders rose and tightened and he could see her nails dig into her arms. “I didn’t mean to, I just lost control. But that doesn’t matter. I still killed them. And no one was going to accept me after that, so I was relieved when Sayer said he would take me in.”

Yusei let a solemn silence hang in the air for a moment. It was a heavy thing to hear, and he wanted to reassure her. But there was a nagging in his mind. “How did he find you?”

Aki also paused, creating a thoughtful silence until she was ready to answer. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It was just happening, there was fire everywhere, the whole house was burning, but it’s the smell of their bodies that I remember the clearest. And I couldn’t stop it. I wasn’t even that young. I was thirteen, maybe fourteen, but even then I couldn’t control my magic well. But then Sayer showed up, and he was able to stop the fire. Then he took me with him before the whole town could hunt me down.”

Yusei felt for her, but he couldn’t stop thinking. “But, why was he there?”

Aki shook her head. “I don’t know. I never asked.” Aki winced as she felt her head begin to ache. She kept digging into the memory. “I think at some point I just assumed he had been there for a trade deal. That was the main reason he left the house.” She kept thinking, wondering if maybe he had said something after their meeting. What exactly had he said to her? She couldn’t quite recall, she just remembered feeling so relieved and reassured to have someone accept her.

But, had he been carrying anything? Some kind of item he might have bought along the way?

She felt a stabbing sensation in her temples and raised her fingers to massage it. She closed her eyes, but it didn’t help. Everything stayed so fuzzy. Well, it had been some years ago, five or six. It wasn’t surprising that the details would have rubbed away. But she didn’t understand why trying to remember caused such a striking headache.

“What’s wrong?” Yusei asked when she bowed her head and groaned. He came up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“My head,” she said tightly. “It hurts all of a sudden.”

“Here, relax a little.” He took her gently by the arm and guided her back to the bed where she could lie down. “Do you need anything? Water?”

Aki shook her head and breathed slowly. “No, it’ll pass. I’m sorry, I’m not being very helpful.”

Yusei sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and put his hand on her forehead while she continued massaging her temples. “Don’t worry about that. You’re still exhausted.”

“But you’re in a hurry.”

“I don’t want to pressure you. You’ve already been through enough.” Too much, he corrected to himself.

Hearing that, a tragic laugh bubbled up from Aki’s chest. “You know,” she said, and Yusei could hear the tears in her fragile voice, “I always wondered if it was ok for me to live so happy and carefree like I was with Sayer. I always thought, surely I don’t deserve this. Surely I’ll get judgment for what I did. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is what I get for . . .”

Yusei didn’t hold back. He leaned over her and put both hands on her cheeks. “Don’t think like that.” Aki opened her eyes and a tear slid out of each. Her breath caught at seeing Yusei’s eyes right above hers. “The world doesn’t work like that. This didn’t happen to you because you’re a bad person or because of anything wrong you may have done. You’re not a bad person. Things you can’t control are not your fault.”

Aki’s lips trembled hard. “But it was still me. It was my magic. If I hadn’t been a witch, they wouldn’t have died.”

“That’s not your fault. You didn’t choose to be a witch, and you didn’t choose to kill anyone. It was just a horrible accident. You don’t deserve to suffer for it. And there’s no great force out there that’s dealing out judgments. Things are too inconsistent for that to make sense. Call it bad luck if you have to, just don’t tell yourself this is what you deserve.”

Aki sniffled, and when she blinked, more tears fell from the corner of her eyes. “I thought you’d be scared of me if I told you.”

Yusei laughed. “Weren’t you the one who said nothing scares me?”

Aki chuckled weakly. “I guess I was. But you know, I’m special.” She didn’t know how she could manage to be playful. Yusei was just irresistible that way, she supposed.

“You are,” Yusei agreed. She didn’t know what to say to that, or what to do with that kind smile he poured down on her. Even if she didn’t deserve her suffering, she had no idea how she could deserve something as good as him.

Yusei then withdrew his hands from her face. “I need to talk to Stardust,” he said. “Will you be ok by yourself for a while?”

She nodded. “Yeah. My head’s already feeling a little better.”

“Ok. I’ll just be outside, so if you need anything . . .”

She nodded again. “I got it. Thank you.”

He got up and went to the door. Honestly, Aki didn’t like to see him go. But there was a whole kingdom out there beyond the four walls of this room, and she couldn’t keep him from caring about it. And she had to remember that Stardust was out there too, and even for a dragon like him, Sayer could be a threat. If nothing else, Aki didn’t want anything to happen to him.

And Yusei similarly thought that he had to warn Stardust and get his opinion. He looked one more time at Aki before closing the door behind him, and he told himself he had to make sure Sayer’s damage ended here.

Stardust had left soon after dropping Yusei and Aki off at their destination. He liked humans in a theoretical way, but in reality he found himself more comfortable by himself than among too many of them. So it took him a little while to come back when he heard Yusei call for him.

Even after all these years, Yusei still wore the pendant Stardust had given him as a child—almost religiously. He didn’t dare take it off, not only because it was a precious gift, but because it gave him comfort to know his friend was always reachable. He just had to take it out from under his shirt and say Stardust’s name, then wait, as he did now.

He saw Stardust’s light in the dark before he could make out his shape, but he flew fast enough that once he was in sight it was a matter of seconds before he landed in the empty meadow. Yusei had a feeling some of the children who were staying up past their bedtime would notice the dragon and be looking out the window right now, but as long as they couldn’t hear anything, Yusei didn’t mind. Martha was the mother around here, not him.

“So, how are things?” Stardust asked with genuine concern.

Yusei took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Oh,” Stardust said before Yusei even spoke. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Yusei shook his head. “Aki told me some things. Things you need to hear.”

“Oh.”

Yusei tried to make the story he had put together from Aki as coherent as he could and explained his conclusion about the book Sayer seemed to have. Stardust’s reaction was to involuntarily dig his talons into the dirt.

“Celestial spheres,” Stardust hissed. “I swore I put it somewhere more secure than this.”

“So you think it’s possible it’s that book?”

“I do, yeah. The things I’ve been feeling lately give me the impression of some big, powerful magic, and our book would definitely fit that.”

“I was hoping you might have another explanation.”

“I wish I did. But it makes sense. I don’t like it, but it makes sense.”

“If I had any idea where Sayer was, I’d say let’s go after him. But I don’t have a clue, so I’m thinking we need to go straight to Jack.”

“Yeah. I agree. And I may need to get in touch with Archfiend, especially if we don’t find Sayer before things get even worse.”

“You think he’d help?”

“If our book is involved? Yes.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“If you say so. But don’t get too much at ease. I won’t feel good about this until I get our book back.”

“Right.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

Yusei nodded and mounted quickly. As Stardust flapped his wings, launching hard into the air, the wind he created shook the windows of the house, including Aki’s, which rattled in front of her face as she stood watching the dragon take off in a great rush.

From Martha’s house, the royal city was visible in the distance, framed by the mountain range behind it. The castle was easiest to see because, by design, it was built at the top of a hill while the rest of the city coated the slopes and lower surroundings within the thick walls. From its lofty height, it was meant to inspire awe from those looking up to it, while those at the top could look down at their subjects—and fancy themselves gods in their heaven—or keep an eye out for enemies who might approach from any direction.

In the darkness, the guards in the castle towers would certainly be able to see Stardust approaching by his glow, and Yusei hoped they would announce it to either Rex or Jack before they arrived, saving them some precious time.

He had been thinking too far ahead.

Stardust dodged just in time to avoid a sudden ray of magic aimed at him from the forest below. He had sensed the energy of it in the split second before it almost grazed his wing, which didn’t make sense. Surely he would have been able to sense the source of it long before that. Both he and Yusei looked down and saw the feathered black dragon, and only then did Stardust feel the energy of its presence.

“How the hell do you do that!?” Stardust roared while swerving through the air so as to not be an easy target.

While Stardust was occupied with the dragon’s inexplicable ability to make itself undetectable, Yusei was more interested in the silver-haired rider on its back. Who are you? he wondered while clinging tight to Stardust, whose slippery movements jostled him.

“Guess we have to turn around now,” Stardust muttered as another bright beam came crackling past his neck and over the city walls. Leading an enemy right into Neo Domino wasn’t an option.

“There’s a clearing,” Yusei said, looking to the western forests just beyond the walls. “If we can get him to land there, maybe we can make sure he doesn’t get away again.”

“Right,” Stardust agreed, then made the bold move of darting straight toward the other dragon just as it started to screech out another blast. He circled around the green light as he drew closer, and then he rammed right into the dragon’s torso, knocking it backward and off balance. While it flapped its wings to right itself, Stardust kept flying straight—toward the clearing. When he could hover above it, he turned and launched his own bright blue blast from his open jaws. He wasn’t expecting the attack to hit, he just wanted to taunt the dragon into chasing him. While Stardust’s blue magic faded harmlessly in the distant and empty sky, the black dragon came toward him in a wide arc. Stardust spun to keep facing it and pulled back to lure to it in closer toward the clearing.

It seemed to be working, but just to be sure, Stardust pushed himself up higher with mighty thrusts of his wings. The black dragon began to follow, but when it was in range, Stardust spun himself to give his tail a strong enough momentum to strike the dragon’s face like a hammer at the end of a whip. The dragon screeched and fell, and Stardust darted down to follow him right into the clearing.

At that rate, the dragon was going to land back-first on the ground, crushing its rider. The dragon seemed aware of that too, because it spun, taking the risk of showing its rider to Stardust for the chance to land on its pincer-like legs. Stardust didn’t care either way, as long as he could catch the dragon on the ground. Stardust was about to tackle the dragon, landing right into him like a comet, but the dragon had managed to turn and face him. It didn’t have time to release another blast, but it did meet Stardust head-on.

The impact of their bodies jarred Yusei, but he kept his place on Stardust’s shoulders. From there, it was hard for him to keep track of what happened, but he could tell it involved teeth and claws, not unlike a ferocious dog fight. Stardust again used his tail like a whip and a bludgeon, while the black dragon used its prong limbs to swipe and stab. Even in the midst of vicious battle, both dragons took care to protect their riders.

Then Stardust took advantage of his human-like arms and grabbed the black dragon by its long neck and wrestled it to the ground. At that moment, the rider jumped off and dashed away without looking back. Stardust didn’t blame him, but it bothered him that the human didn’t seem to even care that his partner was in danger. Angered, Stardust snarled and drew up his magic from within his chest. When he was ready to fire, he jumped up into the air, giving the black dragon time to cover itself with its wings. Stardust’s blue light crashed against the dragon like a torrent until he ran out of breath. When he was done, the shiny, metallic feathers of the dragon’s wings were scorched and smoking.

Seeing the dragon’s weakened condition, Yusei jumped off of Stardust’s back to chase the other rider, who hadn’t gone far, only to the edge of the clearing to watch his partner take the attack alone. Yusei frowned as he pulled his sword up from the sheath on his back and spun it a few times in his hand as he approached.

“You ready to tell me who the hell you are?”

Stardust landed back on the ground to guard the dragon, and making no sign that he was distressed by the turn of events, the rider simply turned and ran into the forest.

“HEY!”

Yusei sprinted into a determined pursuit. He wasn’t going to let him get away again. And he knew how to run through a forest, so he would have the advantage there.

He didn’t make it to the trees.

He didn’t trip so much as something grabbed him by the leg, making him fall before he knew what had happened. He was quick to try to get up, but by then his sword-carrying wrist was caught as well. Then the other. His eyes went wide when he realized it was roots that were ensnaring him, bursting from the ground with precision like living traps. They wound up his legs and arms and strapped around his waist and torso, getting thicker as they grew until he was thoroughly bound in place.

He intuited what this was, and his mind made all the necessary leaps to catch up.

This was Aki’s magic. But Aki didn’t have her magic. Sayer had Aki’s magic. Therefore:

This was Sayer.

As Yusei struggled, the roots clamped down tighter, squeezing into his flesh, while brambles began to rise up and snake up along the roots to pinch thorns into Yusei’s skin as well. Shit!

Then he saw a bright light fill the clearing from behind him. Despite the thorns that had climbed to his neck, and despite how it was so bright he had to shut his eyes, he turned toward it. Blinded, he couldn’t help but cry out, “STARDUST!” in the hopes that he would get a response that might help him understand what was happening.

Then the light died down, and as Yusei opened his eyes, the black dragon launched into the air. Yusei’s skin stung against the thorns as he looked up to watch it ascend higher and higher. “Stardust, go after him!” he shouted. “Don’t worry about me! Just go!”

He had raised his voice as loud as he could, but he got no response, and Stardust didn’t give chase. Yusei looked down.

“STARDUST!”

Yusei began struggling again in earnest, ignoring the deep stings and the blood running from the wounds. His friend was frozen, caught in a sphere of light with his jaws wide open and silent. Yusei could just make out the tremors in Stardust’s body as he struggled against his paralysis, but the most he could do was make his talons twitch. Yusei tugged as hard as he could to try to rip the roots out of the ground, but his efforts only made the thorns sink in deeper. He screamed in pain and frenzy, waiting for his adrenaline to give him the strength he needed.

“STARDUST!” he screamed again to encourage himself. He had to get to his friend. That sphere of light scared him. It was beautiful, swirling with misty light like breath on a winter’s morning, but disturbing. And then the light began to swirl around Stardust faster until the clearing filled with a strong, spiraling wind that blew dirt and debris up from the ground.

All the flying detritus scratched against Yusei’s face and eyes, and he had to duck his head to the side to avoid it. When he could open his eyes safely, he found himself looking at a figure standing at the edge of the clearing, opposite from where the dragon rider had run. It was a tall man draped in a thick cloak, and Yusei knew. He just knew. He bared his clenched teeth as he continued his futile struggle.

Sayer didn’t seem to even notice him, though if he was controlling the roots anchoring him down, then he knew Yusei was there. He just wasn’t of any concern. That stung as much as the thorns. He watched and screamed as Sayer held out a single hand toward Stardust, the glove he wore on it shining faintly. And though Yusei couldn’t see his face beneath his hood, Sayer’s eyes shone unnaturally bright.

Feeling the heat building in his chest, head, and belly, Yusei heaved out steaming breaths until he screamed, “SAAYEEEER!!!”

That got him one brief glance from the figure, which only confirmed what Yusei already knew. But then Sayer’s eyes flicked back to Stardust, and Yusei turned back in fear to see the state of his friend. By then, Stardust wasn’t frozen in place anymore. Instead he was slumped on the ground, as if he had lost even the energy to stand. He was moaning too, pitifully, in a way that, to Yusei, sounded like the weak gasps from a deathbed. That thought froze his burning heart, making him sick.

“He almost killed her.”

He had said that about Aki. What if he would have to say something worse about Stardust? He didn’t understand how one witch could handle absorbing all the magic a dragon contained, but Yusei wasn’t hopeful that Sayer’s attempt would backfire. Things weren’t working in his favor so far. He had to change the odds himself.

His sword would be too bulky to use with his hands constrained as they were, but he could maneuver them around enough to pull out the dagger at his belt. Under normal circumstances, he would have been more confident in his accuracy, even from this distance, but he was stressed and had limited movement, so he filled the hole where his confidence should be with desperate hope.

Sayer wasn’t looking at him, so he used his left hand to cut through some of the roots holding his right. When he had loosened their strength enough, he took the dagger into his right hand, set his eyes on his target, and threw. With the slack he had gained, he had been able to send the dagger flying straight and true, and because Sayer wasn’t paying attention, he didn’t notice the blade until it had pierced straight through his forearm. His yelp of pain gave Yusei some small satisfaction, as did watching Sayer fold up his arm and stare in amazement at the dagger caught in the flesh of his arm, fresh blood soaking his sleeve.

Yusei hoped that would be enough, and just as he turned to check, Stardust was already sucking in air, and then he heaved out a spray of blue flames. Sayer dodged the second attack after pulling the dagger out and tossing it away with an irritated grunt. The sphere around Stardust quickly faded, the wind dying and the light dimming until it dissolved completely. When it was gone, Sayer gasped and bent over on all fours, his limbs shaking. Stardust also collapsed to the ground, and from his entire body smoke began to rise, quickly becoming so thick Yusei couldn’t see him through it.

Then the other rider reappeared, running through the clearing to Sayer’s side to help him up. Yusei strained to hear what they said to each other, but the pain lighting up his whole body and mind made it difficult to focus. The most he was able to make out was Sayer calling the dragon rider “Kiryu”.

From above, a new wind blew into the clearing, and the black dragon descended down and lowered itself enough that Kiryu and Sayer could climb onto its back.

Yusei grit it teeth. No!

He struggled but quickly stopped. He had reached his limit. The pain was too much and he couldn’t force himself to endure more, especially so futilely.

They can’t get away!

But they were. They were going to get away so easily, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Then out of the blue, his mind popped with a detail that had been filed away so deep in his memory that it had taken until now for his inner librarian to find it. He heaved his breaths loudly, half growling as he bore the pain of the thorns, and when the dragon flapped its wings to lift itself from the ground, Yusei sucked in one full breath and screamed as hard as he could.

“DIVINE!!!!!!!!”

From the dragon’s back, Sayer turned to look at him. Yes, that was it. That had been the name of that young man, the one he had seen brought to face the judgment of two kings. And now Yusei was sure it was the name of the monster before him.

The black dragon continued its ascent, flapping its scorched wings despite its fatigue and wounds, until it was carrying its passenger high above the forest and out of Yusei’s sight beyond the canopy. It was then that all the roots and brambles went slack, then withered until they broke into crumbles and dry flakes that fell softly from his body. Yusei groaned with the relief of release, the thorns no longer piercing into his body. But the wounds still remained and he felt them throbbing deep in his arms, legs, and torso. But he didn’t have time to rest. He pushed himself up, pushed himself through the pain, and began to limp toward the large mass of smoke in the center of the clearing. It started to thin, and Yusei was troubled that he still couldn’t see Stardust even when he should.

He hurried, hobbling on weak legs until he was there. And instead of Stardust, the smoke had faded to reveal a young man lying on the ground, unconscious, and naked, save for the long—long—white hair draped lazily across his body. Yusei didn’t recognize him.

No. No, that wasn’t it. He felt the truth before his mind pulled the coherent thoughts together. The face was unfamiliar, but he did know this person.

Yusei got close enough that when he dropped to his knees, he was right next to the man and placed a hand on his bare shoulder. “Hey,” he croaked as he gave him a gentle shake—and part of him was surprised that he could actually touch him, that he was real and not an illusion. After a moment the man began to rouse and slowly opened his eyes.

Yes, he knew those eyes. Eyes gold like a king’s crown.

Though now they were centered in human whites and carried dilated pupils within. Yusei stared down into those eyes with his mouth hanging, unable to speak. The man struggled to sit up, and he craned his neck to look around, his nose wrinkled. Then he looked at Yusei and blinked several times, his whole face creased with confusion.

“Yusei . . . you’re bigger.”

Yusei shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

“Yes you are,” he insisted, then he pointed a finger. “Just look at—”

He came to a sudden halt and froze, his eyes caught by the sight of his hand. Yusei watched his face as he stared at that hand, stared as the fingers rose, wiggled, flexed, and as the wrist twisted left and right—all under his control.

He raised his other hand and looked down into his open palms. He flexed all ten fingers. Then he raised those fingers to his face and pushed against the soft flesh of the forehead, nose, cheeks, jaw, and ears he found there. From the ears the fingers trailed down some of the length of the hair, gripped a lock and pulled it in front of his eyes. He examined it by pulling it apart into single strands. Then he followed the rest of the length with his eyes and found it piled heavily across his lap and bare legs.

For a moment he just kept staring. Yusei stared too, holding his breath and waiting for the man—for Stardust—to react. But for a long, silent minute, the not-so-dragon-like dragon stared at his feet with a wide-eyed, blank expression. Then he wiggled his toes. And then he slowly turned his wide eyes back to Yusei, who braced himself in case his friend might start to panic and wail.

Instead, Stardust only had one thing to say, and it came out in a slow, lamenting groan.

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

“Adventures are never fun while you are living them.” - C.S. Lewis

It felt like déjà vu, looking up into the sky as she did, her eyes following the swift and dynamic flight of the white dragon away from the attacks of the black. But then the scene began to depart from what she had witnessed before: Instead of a great burst and then a fall, the two dragons flew so low to the ground that Aki lost sight of them. The castle spiers and the wall obscured her view, but it looked like they had flown beyond the royal city. After that, only the light of their battle could be seen as colorful flashes in the sky. It made Aki wring her hands. Watching the battle was tense, but not being able to watch it was somehow more stressful.

Eventually, the lights dimmed, and she waited, holding her breath. Then came movement, and she saw the black dragon rise up into view. Its movements were choppy, hinting at its injuries, but it managed to fly away—another repeat. What had happened this time? The distance was too far for Aki to run and meet Stardust and Yusei again, so she stood waiting for a sign of their return.

But the white dragon did not appear, even after an unbearable amount of time.

“Come on,” she murmured as she came to close to bruising her own hands from the force of her squeezing. “Come on . . .”

With nothing to go on, she began to imagine the worst, which only made her anxiety grow into panic. Oh no, oh shit, ohhh shit! Something happened. Something’s definitely happened!

Unable to stand still, she raced through the house to Martha’s room and burst through without knocking. “Martha!” she cried, and she ran so hard into the room she knocked into the bed before she could stop. Martha jolted awake. Mother that she was, she was used to waking up suddenly to the sound of children seeking comfort from nightmares. “What is it?” she said while reaching out in the dark, and she was surprised to find it was Aki instead of one of her youngest.

“Martha!” Aki cried again, taking Martha’s hand tightly in both of hers. “It’s Yusei!”

Martha’s attention instantly sharpened, which was good because Aki then began to speak very fast, describing what she had just witnessed—as well as what she had not, which was the more worrying part. Martha, too, felt anxious, but her motherly nature made her hold it in and present a strong, calm demeanor for the sake of her child. She put a hand on Aki’s shoulder and looked into the girl’s eyes.

“Listen, you have every reason to be worried, but I need you to think for a moment, all right?”

Aki stayed quiet with desperate hope that Martha would provide the reassurance she needed.

“If they were that far away, there’s no way to reach them anytime soon. You can’t run all the way there, and we don’t have any horses.”

“I can’t just sit still and wait—!”

“No, listen,” Martha said sternly to stop Aki’s outburst. “We’re not just going to wait. I’m going to send a message to someone who can find out what’s going on better than we can.”

“A message?” Aki repeated skeptically.

“Come, I’ll show you.”

Aki followed close to Martha’s back as the woman led her outside to a coop full of pigeons. Martha left them alone, though, and went to a separate coop from which she pulled out a falcon on her outstretched arm. She presented the sharp bird to Aki with some pride. “This guy will get there faster than either of us could.”

Aki stared, momentarily intrigued by the beautiful creature, as Martha scrawled a quick note on a piece of paper. She then rolled it up and tied it to the falcon’s leg before calling it back onto her arm. “You know where to go,” she murmured while giving it a smooth stroke and then a slice of meat out of a pouch in her apron. The falcon gulped it down, and then Martha swung her arm up to give it momentum as it stretched out its wings and began its flight.

“Who’s the message for?” Aki asked as they both watched the falcon get smaller and smaller.

“Another one of my grown sons,” Martha said. “He’s the one who trains the birds, but that’s more of a hobby for him. He works in the city.” She looked to Aki. “He’s reliable. As soon as he knows something, he’ll let us know.”

Aki turned her eyes back to the sky. She could no longer see the falcon, but as always, the castle was the clearest thing in sight. Now with nothing to do, Aki found herself wringing her hands again and bouncing on her feet impatiently. She wanted to run. She felt like she could have run twice as fast as the falcon, even though she knew that couldn’t be true.

But what really hurt was remembering that, even if she could have arrived at Yusei’s side in an instant, if he was injured, she wouldn’t be of much help to him. Not this time. It hurt that a bird was more helpful than herself.

Not wanting to resent it, she prayed even greater speed upon it.

Crow dropped facedown onto his bed, exhausted. Despite his youth and strength, his long hours working in the forge took their toll. But he kind of liked it: It made him feel like he had done an honest day’s work. And there was the added benefit of making more money that way, which was important if he wanted to keep Zora’s complaints about late rent payments at bay, which he very much did.

And honestly, he genuinely did enjoy the work, so it was easy to keep going once he had started. And sleep was always so sweet at the end of a long day. He could almost taste it as it sank into his bones the instant he was off his feet.

Screams shook it away just as quickly. He blinked rapidly and rolled off his bed so he could jump out the door. His eyes went up right away, because he had heard the unmistakable roar of dragons. He was greeted with the white light of Stardust as his magic streamed through the sky toward an unfamiliar enemy. The light was blinding, and he had to raise an arm over his head to shield against it, but he kept squinting because couldn’t bring himself to stop looking. Stardust moved so fast that he couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw Yusei on the dragon’s shoulders, as he often was.

Gradually as the battle continued, Stardust drew the other away from the city and to the other side of the wall, which caused some relief in the screaming crowds who had also come outside, but even with the immediate danger seemingly gone, they continued to buzz loudly.

“Did you see that?”

“They were so close!”

“Why were they fighting?”

“What was that black dragon?”

“Where did they go? Will they come back?”

No one had answers, of course, only anxious questions. Crow kept his mouth shut because otherwise he would have snapped at them all, “Do any of you care about the knight? He’s the one right there where they action is! Maybe spare a thought for him while you’re freaking out!” He hissed through his clenched teeth. They probably had been too distracted by the dragons to even notice the small human with them. Well, whatever. Yusei wasn’t their friend. He was just their literal knight in shining armor.

Then the crowd raised their voices again as the sky filled with ominous glows. Mothers hugged their children and husbands gripped their wives as they looked to the lights. Crow stood alone, eyes wide open as he took in the sight and wondered, just like the rest, What’s going on?

When the lights went out, Crow could see the shape of the black dragon entering the sky and flying away, which on its own was a relief. But then there was no sign of Stardust, and for Crow, that cancelled out the relief of seeing the enemy leave. He waited, chest tight with a held breath, and ground his teeth. Where was Stardust?

Shit, Crow thought. Is he hurt? Is Yusei stuck out there? Is he hurt too? Shit!

All his exhaustion from earlier was gone. Wide awake and bubbling like boiling water, he decided in a snap to go check for himself. He looked back to his room and made a loud whistle with his thumb and finger in his mouth. Within seconds, a glossy black crow came flying out the door he had left open. He still didn’t think to close it, and instead he started running before the bird had even made it to his shoulder. The bird flew at his side as he ran, and he could feel people staring at him as he raced by. Some even called out to him, asking where he was going or if he knew something, but he ignored them.

It didn’t take him long to reach the city gate, and the guards stationed there when he arrived didn’t make him stop before he passed through the arch and kept running over the bridge to the other side of the shallow canyon. When he got closer to the forest, he turned his head toward his companion.

“Gale, go up and tell me if you see anything!”

The crow squawked once and then flapped its wings, directing itself upward. They entered the forest’s border, and Crow ran in the general direction he thought the dragons had gone in while occasionally looking up to see his crow flying above the trees. They were going uphill, so Crow was heaving by the time he heard his crow squawk and fly ahead.

“Yes!” he huffed with a heavy breath and then pushed himself to stay close behind. After a moment, the crow began to circle the air above a clearing behind a dense thicket. Crow had to come to a stop and explore the barrier in search of an easy way through. He growled at the brush when he couldn’t find one.

“Oi!” he called into the dark. “Yusei! You there?”

He heard voices on the other side, and not wanting to let some shrubbery beat him, he pushed his way through by force, ignoring the scrapes and scratches the brambles gave him. He made it to the other side with a determined growl, and the moonlight allowed him to see what was there.

“Yusei!”

He dashed forward as the crow descended, now that Crow had arrived. Yusei was in bad shape: his arms and toro were exposed, making it easy to see that his body was covered in streaks of blood seeping from deep scratches and piercings. But he didn’t seem to be worried about himself. Instead, he was sitting in the grass with someone Crow didn’t recognize—and if Crow had ever seen him before, he would have remembered, if for no other reason than the man’s ridiculously long white hair. In that moment, though, he was also noticeably naked, except for a torn and bloody shirt tied around his waist.

Somewhat embarrassed by the sight, Crow quickly looked away, to anywhere and everywhere else, and it suddenly occurred to him that he didn’t see Stardust at all. Which was strange not just because the dragon should be there, but because he should be the easiest thing to see, with as big and bright as his body was.

“Crow!”

Crow’s attention was called back to Yusei, and when his eyes met his friend’s, he could tell that Yusei was relieved to see him. That got Crow moving, and feeling good about his decision to come.

“Yusei!” he called back as he ran, the crow’s talons digging into his shoulder in an effort to stay upright. Crow dropped down to the grass and put a hand on Yusei’s bare arm. “What the hell happened? Are you ok? Shit, look at all this blood. Shit! Where’s Stardust? And who’s this? Who are you? Are you ok?”

Crow’s attention flitted as he let loose a frantic stream of questions. Yusei’s relief turned to exhaustion and he sighed.

“Can I tell you on the way out of here?”

“Can you walk like this?”

Yusei looked down at his own skin, and though the wounds were quite gruesome, his expression didn’t change. He just looked tired. “Yeah.”

Crow frowned, but he figured arguing would be a waste of time. For one, because Yusei was going to insist on walking anyway, whether he could or not, and for two, because just sitting around wasn’t going to make him heal any faster. So Crow sighed too.

“Fine. Come on, then.” He leaned in and got Yusei’s arm around his neck so he could bear some of Yusei’s weight as they all got to their feet. With Yusei’s arm invading its space, the crow jumped off Crow’s shoulder and flew above the trio as they made their way to the city gate.

The black dragon’s whole body shook from exhaustion as it labored to breathe, and fresh blood kept seeping from its wounds to coat its black feathers. But it kept flying. They were getting close. The ruins of an ancient, empty tower stood in the distance, and the only other noticeable feature near it was a freshwater stream. The dragon’s breaths got more ragged as it pushed on, and when it finally reached the base of the tower, it could only collapse, sending both passengers to the ground with an ungraceful thump.

Kiryu recovered first and darted to Divine’s side. The witch was stiff and trembling, breathing fast as a scalding heat flowed through his veins, making them press visibly—and brightly—against his skin. He focused on breathing. He just had to keep breathing. He could get through this, he told himself. He didn’t know how long it would take to recover—it would certainly take longer than it had with Aki’s magic—but he would make it. He would absolutely make it.

The thought made him giggle through the pain. He had done it. He had taken a dragon’s power. He could feel it bulging inside him, pushing at the edges of his tiny body, looking for room. It just needed time to adapt. They both needed time to adapt to each other. And all the pain would be worth it.

He had no control over his laughter, and to Kiryu he seemed to be coming unhinged. “Sayer?” he called tentatively. He reached out and touched his shoulder, and even to Kiryu he felt hot. “Are you . . . ok?”

Divine took in deeper breaths to try to steady himself. “I’ll be fine,” he said hoarsely. He could already feel the dragon’s ability to heal itself working on his arm, where the knight’s arrow had pierced him. It was a shame the knight was still alive—and the dragon—but he had rendered them both harmless. With his new power, neither was a threat, and he could just kill them when next they met.

That thought made him grin through a grimace.

“Can you walk?” Kiryu asked.

Divine hissed through his teeth. “No, not yet.” He could barely move at all. He needed to just focus on breathing. Concentrate on getting cool air in his lungs to take away some of the heat.

“Then . . . what do I do?”

“Nothing. Just leave me here for now.”

Kiryu didn’t like that idea, but instead of arguing, he stayed by Divine’s side and watched him breathe. Then after a minute he said, “So . . . can I ask you something?”

“What?” Divine asked without opening his eyes.

“What was that name that knight called you back there?”

Kiryu saw Divine’s face twitch, but he attributed it to his pain. “I have no idea.”

“But, you turned around when he said it.” Again, Divine’s brow twitched, but most parts of his body were twitching too, so Kiryu didn’t make anything of it.

“Because I thought it was strange, too. He was screaming at me, so why did he call me that? I looked out of some impulse.”

“I . . . see.”

“Does it bother you that much?”

“No, no. Never mind. It doesn’t matter.”

“You know, Kiryu,” Divine said in between breaths, and then with great effort he reached out one hand and put it on Kiryu’s arm. “You did well today.”

That quickly got Kiryu’s mind off the knight. “Really?”

“Yes. You’ve been invaluable. And I am impressed by your bravery, and how twice now you’ve managed to get away without a scratch. I owe you great thanks.”

Kiryu put a hand on top of Divine’s. “Thank you, Sayer. It means a lot for you to say that. But I’m just grateful to be of some help. I owe you everything. You’re the reason I’m here.”

Divine cracked a smile. “True. Now, you had better take care of the dragon. He’s been troublesome, but once this magic is completely grafted into me, controlling him will be easy.”

“Great. Though, I was also wondering . . . How are you even able to do this? I mean, that’s a lot of magic, how can you hold all of it in your body without bursting? And how can you keep it after you use it?”

Divine let his next breath out slowly, like a teacher dealing with a too-eager student. “All right,” he said slowly, giving in to the temptation to flaunt his knowledge. “Well, as you know, the very physical body of a witch, or really, any magic being, is designed to produce magic. But what is the true source of that magic?”

Kiryu frowned in thought. “I don’t know.”

Divine had to pause to take a few more breaths as a sudden spike of heat washed through him. It settled after a moment, and as he felt sweat slide down his face, he continued his explanation.

“Well, I’ll give you a simple comparison. Our body is able to generate heat, right? But where does it get that heat from? The answer is: from the environment. We take in food, and that food turns into heat and strength in our body. We don’t eat heat, but we produce it anyway. And so it is with magic. There is an energy outside of us in the earth, and the body of a witch is designed to take in that energy and create magic from it. Human bodies do not have that ability, and so they cannot make or use magic. Just like how a fish can breathe water but a human cannot, it is a matter of the body’s design.”

“But then, why is there such a wide variety of magic that witches and other things have, if they all get it from the same source?”

“I suppose that is where the comparison breaks. I guess you could, at least, say that witches and other beings have different metabolisms. Some witches have a high metabolism and can therefore use greater and stronger amounts of magic. And dragons by nature have a higher metabolism than any witch could. Beyond that, I suppose you could say variations in how a being’s magic manifests are simply a unique thing, like a person’s face or voice. I can’t tell you why my face is exactly what it is, I just know that it is. I don’t know why that dragon’s magic manifests as self-healing or white light, it just does.”

“Huh . . . I didn’t know any of that.”

Divine chuckled. “Well, most witches don’t, I would guess. But I like to read. A lot.”

Kiryu did know that. “So, what about all that magic? How can you still be alive?”

“You mean besides my strong will?”

“That helps?”

Divine chuckled again. It was as much laughter as he could manage in his condition. “Who knows? I’d like to think so. But mostly, it’s because I have these”—he raised a hand just enough to bring Kiryu’s attention to his glove—“and a special technique. Right now, my body isn’t just working to absorb this magic, it’s adapting and changing, and becoming more efficient at using the energy from my environment. So, you could say I’m increasing my metabolism to be far greater than what it could ever be naturally. I’ll be able to use more magic, and more powerful magic, without reaching a limit, because I’ll always be able to draw more fuel into myself before I run out.”

“Wow,” Kiryu murmured. Divine looked to be in terrible pain, excruciating pain, but he could still speak so calmly and coherently. He truly was amazing. And he certainly did have a strong will: even if it didn’t help him absorb the magic, it had to keep him sane and focused through an ordeal that could break anyone else. Kiryu was pretty sure he didn’t have what it took to put himself through that pain.

“And what’s more,” Divine added with a smile made crooked by his pain, “I’ll even gain the unique quality of the dragon’s magic once I’ve got it completely absorbed. The self-healing power will be grafted into me as if it was always mine.”

“That’ll be useful.”

“Oh yes, undoubtedly. I’ll be powerful . . . and indestructible.”

Kiryu stared down at Divine’s face, the veins there bulging and squirming like living things, the blood inside still brimming with light like smelting iron. His brow was knit tight and his teeth were clenched, but he was still smiling. In the face of Divine’s heat, Kiryu felt a chill in his spine.

“Not even a dragon will be equal to me,” Divine whispered hungrily. “I will surpass . . . everything.”

“Then,” Kiryu said slowly, “will you . . . even need me anymore?”

With effort, Divine opened his eyes enough to look up at Kiryu. “You will always be welcome at my side. I won’t abandon you after everything you’ve done for me. And I’ll reward you in the end, with anything you want.”

Kiryu put a hand lightly on Divine’s chest. His heart was racing, and the heat from his body felt hot as a fire’s glow. “I’ll keep doing my best. For you.”

No matter how long she stared into the dark, no light or flying figures appeared. After sending the falcon off on its trip, Martha had gone back inside—she would still have a lot of work to do in the morning, so she needed her sleep—and left Aki to wait for its return. Which was just as well, because Aki would not have been able to do anything else.

For a while Aki had stayed on her feet, because she couldn’t imagine sitting still. After pacing for a while, she stood in place while rapidly bouncing her heels. Then she went back to pacing. Then she finally sat on the grass—a familiar and comfortable place for her—and tapped the ground with her hands and toes. She was too anxious to hum to herself, so she only had her quiet tension for company.

She tried to calm herself with controlled breathing, but her heart wouldn’t stop pounding. She had no sense of how much time had passed, but she was both sharply alert and exhausted. Waiting was torture. She would have rather been running this whole time, even if it was just as fruitless. But someone needed to be ready to receive the message when it came, so she couldn’t abandon her post.

She didn’t realize that she had begun to scrape into the dirt with her nails as she stared up to the city. The sensation of it fed her unconscious with the comfort of familiarity, and it gave her body a rhythmic outlet for her nervous energy. And then suddenly she froze, sucking in a quick breath and leaning forward. She stared harder, eyes wide and brows high. Was that . . . ? Was it really?

She held her breath until she was sure, really really sure. And when she was, she jumped—and stumbled—and scrambled up to her feet so she could run forward, waving both arms over her head. The falcon didn’t need her help finding its way back, but she couldn’t contain herself.

It came closer and closer, and then flew over Aki’s head. She turned and chased after it back to the aviary where it landed on a sturdy perch. When it was set in place, Aki grabbed at the paper tied to its leg, her hands clumsy and shaking. The bird made an impatient noise, and Aki reached into her pocket and unceremoniously dropped a pile of thinly sliced meat for the bird to eat before going back to opening the note. The bird squawked irritably but then jumped down to the ground to eat. Aki didn’t notice.

“Please, please, be alive, be all right,” she prayed before unfolding the last fold to see what was written inside.

Crow didn’t blame the guards for stopping the three of them when they got to the bridge. Yusei was a bloody mess and the third man was . . . an unusual sight. But Crow also didn’t blame Yusei for putting a stop to their interrogation with a sharp look.

“Hey, isn’t that Yusei?” one of them asked to the others.

“Yeah, it is,” Crow answered for them. “The Yusei. So can I get him home and patch him up? Please?”

Yusei maintained his silence—he had spoken enough on the way there, and now he was ready to get somewhere to sit down—and the guards took in the sight of his bloody skin and wounds with new eyes. “Oh, shit, yes. Yes! Please, come in.”

“Thanks,” Crow said, and the sharpness in Yusei’s face softened just a little as he gave them a nod of gratitude. Crow focused on trudging forward with Yusei’s weight so he wouldn’t be too interested in the shushed murmuring the guards kept among themselves.

By then, the streets were empty, the people apparently confident enough that the danger was gone to go inside and to bed. Crow was grateful for that. It made getting back to his place a little easier without gawkers and gossipers and any other interruptions. Crow found his door still open, which he hoped meant Zora hadn’t seen him leave it like that. She would have shut it if she had, and then given him a piece of her mind later.

Once they took their first step in, the crow perched in Crow’s orange hair began flapping its wings and squawking. Crow’s hands were full holding Yusei’s arm around his shoulders, so he couldn’t grab the bird. But he saw why it was reacting when he looked inside and saw the falcon he had given to Martha waiting for him on his bed.

“Sirocco!”

The falcon rustled its wings in greeting. Crow carried Yusei to the bed where he helped him finally sit, only for Yusei to drop onto his back.

“Oi, you ok?”

“Fine,” Yusei said with his eyes closed and gave Crow a small wave.

Crow had doubts, but he hoped Yusei would tell him if he really felt like he was at death’s door. So he took a minute to give Sirocco some attention. If Martha had sent him, then something was urgent. He untied the note from the bird’s leg and read.

Crow, I’m sure from over there you saw Stardust fighting earlier. Yusei was staying with me before he took off for that fight, and he hasn’t come back yet. Please look for him and tell me how he is when you find him. Martha

Crow laughed. “One step ahead of you,” he murmured to her. And since he knew how Yusei and Stardust were now, he supposed he should answer her. He looked to Yusei, who was still lying on his back, his legs bent around the bed and his feet on the ground. “I’m gonna get some water boiling,” he said, and Yusei managed a grunt in response.

Once he had the fire going under his big pot full of water, Crow took a minute to write a note.

Martha, I got Yusei. The situation is . . . complicated. To sum up: Yusei’s hurt, but I’m gonna clean him up as best I can. Stardust isn’t hurt but . . . well I don’t really know how to put it. Anyway, they’re alive, and I’m sure you’ll see them again soon. Crow

He got the note folded up small and tied it securely to Sirocco’s leg. “One sec,” he said, giving the bird a pat on the head. He grabbed a sliver of meat from a container and brought it back to the bird, who swallowed it greedily. “There you go. Ok, come on.” He called Sirocco to his arm and carried him outside while stroking the soft spot under his beak. “Right. Aaaally-oop!” Crow launched Sirocco into the air with a soft swing of his arm, and he watched him take off into the dark.

When he came back inside, the water was still warming up, so he went to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of wine. Crow didn’t have much time to drink, but he was grateful for that now since it meant he still had the bottle lying around. He uncorked it as he walked to the bed.

“Oi, Yusei, can you sit up?”

Yusei groaned, but then he slowly complied. Crow put a hand against his back and helped him up. “Hold out your arms,” Crow said, and Yusei did so without a word. They both knew it would sting, so Crow didn’t give him that warning. Yusei just waited, and so Crow let the wine pour carefully out over the puncture wounds all over Yusei’s arms. Yusei grimaced but held still and quiet.

“Bloody ash, Yusei. This looks horrible.”

“It looks worse than it is,” Yusei said in a tight voice.

Again, Crow frowned with doubt. “If you say so.” After he had poured the last of the wine down Yusei’s bare back, he got up to get the linen bandages he had stashed in a drawer. He came back and did the best he could to clean off the blood with a cloth dampened in the hot water before wrapping him up. With wounds all over Yusei’s body, Crow had just barely enough to get them all covered.

“That feel all right?”

Yusei rubbed a hand along one of his bandaged arms, and when nothing came loose, he nodded. “It’s good.”

“All right. I think that’s all I can do for now. Except I’ll get some clothes for you and . . .” Crow looked to the front door, which was still open. Standing several paces out into the night was the pale man that Crow knew in his head was Stardust, but he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it.

“Thanks.”

“Sure thing.” Crow got up and pulled out the loosest of his clothes he could find, since both his guests were taller than he was. He gave one tunic to Yusei and then left the others out for Stardust to take when he was ready. It seemed he needed some alone time, and apparently wearing nothing didn’t bother him. Well, he was a dragon, perhaps that wasn’t too surprising. And it was the middle of night so there shouldn’t be anyone out to see him.

“Think you can sleep?” Crow asked.

“Definitely.”

“Ok. I need to sleep too. I’ve got work tomorrow you know.”

Yusei smiled. “Don’t let me get in your way.”

“Believe me, I won’t. We slept in the same bed plenty of times when we were kids, it won’t be a problem now.” He did only have the one, and he wasn’t going to make Yusei sleep on the floor.

Yusei just smiled until Crow started feeling bashful. Eventually he said, “Crow, thank you.”

“Huh? What for?”

“Everything.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything special. You’re my bro.”

Yusei nodded his agreement on that point. “How did you find us?”

Crow pointed to the black crow set on a perch sticking out of the wall. “He was my eyes, isn’t that right, Gale?” The bird squawked. “I mean, I saw what happened up there,” he added, pointing to the sky through the ceiling, “and I saw where you headed after that, so you weren’t really that hard to find.”

“Ah. Well, I’m glad.”

“Yeah, me too. And Martha will be too when she gets my note.”

“Mm. Thanks.”

“Do you want me to find you a ride back to her place tomorrow?”

Yusei shook his head. “No, not yet. I need to see Jack first. The sooner the better.”

“Promise me you’ll sleep first.”

Yusei laughed. “The only reason I’m not headed there now is because I need to.”

“Well good. Oh and, what about . . . I mean, there’s enough room for us, but trying to fit . . .” It took some effort, but he finally brought himself to say it. “Stardust in with us might be a squeeze.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Crow jumped at the sudden appearance of Stardust at the doorframe. “I’ll be fine sleeping on the ground.”

Crow was secretly relieved. “All right. I got some clothes for you there,” he said, pointing.

Stardust gave the folded clothing a forlorn look and said with a dull voice, “Thank you.”

Crow squirmed uncomfortably, then asked to break the silence, “So, um . . . do you think . . . will you be able to . . . turn back? Eventually?” He hoped the answer would lighten the mood at least a little. And he noticed Yusei had his attention aimed curiously at Stardust.

“Hard to say,” Stardust said without a change in expression. “I’m not entirely sure why I became like this in the first place.”

“Oh.”

Stardust looked down to his fleshy hands and flexed his fingers, and the sight of them just seemed to depress him. “I mean,” he continued, musing out loud, “Divine used the same spell on me that he did on Aki. And like with her, he didn’t finish, which is why I’m still alive. But this . . . change. It’s . . .”

Stardust looked down on his weak limbs with a wrinkled nose, which Yusei interpreted as confusion. “Maybe it was something Divine did,” he suggested. “A spell or something.”

Stardust shook his head. “No, it’s not that.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because I would be able to feel his magic working on me. But I don’t feel anything of him in this.”

“But . . . Aki lost her sense of magic after . . . So maybe you can’t feel it because of that?”

“No, I can tell,” Stardust said firmly. “And anyway, I’m a dragon, I’m made of magic. If I didn’t have any left, I wouldn’t be standing here. I’ve still got a little left, even if it’s just enough to keep me alive.”

Crow looked between the two of them as they both struggled to come up with an explanation. “Ok,” Yusei said, since he had no proof against Stardust’s point. “And I take it you’ve never heard of anything like that happening before?”

Stardust pursed his lips to the side—which made Crow think he was adapting to human gestures quickly enough, but he kept that observation to himself. “Well, I haven’t heard of anyone ever trying to drain a dragon’s magic, so . . .”

Yusei rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t an expert in the details of magic, so he just had to accept what the resident expert told him. And if Stardust didn’t know, then there was no reason to think he could come up with an answer.

Stardust looked down to his hands again, which he flexed again and then gripped into fists. He stared hard at them with his human eyes—colored a very inhuman gold—for a long moment, and as the seconds passed, his fists got tighter and tighter until his whole arms were shaking with the strain.

“I’ll kill him,” he whispered, and Yusei could hear the faint remnant of his dragon’s breath in it, hot and steaming. “That little . . . fucking . . . I’ll kill him. I’ll bite his whole head off, I swear.”

Yusei had gone very still. He stared at Stardust with a sudden chill on his skin. Stardust’s teeth were bared, and he could see how sharp his canines were. The dragon’s mouth may have shrunk down to the size of a human’s, but Yusei could imagine him ripping through Divine’s neck with those fangs if given the chance. And the fact that Stardust seemed furious enough to actually do it made Yusei’s stomach drop. It was . . . almost scary. And he wasn’t sure he preferred it to the despair he had had to face in Aki.

Then Stardust snapped his burning eyes up to Yusei. “You want to too, right?”

“Bite his head off?”

“Kill him.”

Yusei felt a jolt seeing Stardust brush his joke aside so forcefully. He met Stardust’s gaze as steadily as he could and tightened his hands into fists on his knees. He couldn’t say he didn’t, but he wasn’t ready to admit it so freely yet. “I want to make him fix everything.”

Stardust seethed through his clenched teeth, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he breathed hard a few times, his teeth making each inhale and exhale loud as a hard gust. “Right,” he finally hissed. “He’s fucked things up, and he’s fucked with the wrong dragon. I’ll make him pay. I’ll make him give me back my wings, my tail, everything. And then I’ll make—him—pay.”

Stardust’s bare shoulders heaved up and down with his hard breathing. Yusei couldn’t move as he stared at this new Stardust. Even on the night they had made their fateful escape together, Stardust hadn’t seemed this angry. And yet, it clashed with his diminished appearance. Had he still been a dragon, Yusei was sure his heart would be trembling in true awe and fear. But as it was, he was just a tall, lanky, naked man wrapped in an absurd amount of hair, looking more like a spectacle than a true threat.

Crow rubbed his eyes wearily. “Look,” he said, “you guys have been through a lot, and I’ve got the gist of it, but I don’t think I can take in any more right now. So, can we maybe just go to bed?”

Stardust shot Crow a sharp look, still seething with his murderous thoughts. While it made Crow a bit nervous, it didn’t strike paralyzing fear into his heart, and that was a truly depressing realization for the dragon. He unclenched his fists and looked over to the clothes that had been provided for him. “Fine,” he mumbled. And as he came over to snatch the bundle, Yusei watched him closely. The chill he had felt ebbed slightly at seeing Stardust’s vexed sulking. Stardust had always had more vibrant emotions than Yusei, and he would hate to hear it, but being able to see them so clearly on his face felt . . . right. It suited him.

It was everything else about it that was strange. Because the things about him that before were fortified by his power were now left bare, and he was beginning to seem more vulnerable. More . . . human.

The air in Domino shook with more than just the usual morning life. Shoppers and shopkeepers alike buzzed with the story of the dragons and their mysterious night battle. Neighbors old and young conjectured and debated over the details. And the longer they went without answers or a satisfying conclusion—none had seen the dragons emerge again since they flew out of sight across the wall—the more restless they became.

Crow heard many of the worries and received some of the questions as he worked. Despite falling asleep so late, he had woken up like clockwork at the break of dawn. He had been groggy and exhausted, but there was nothing to do but work through it. But all the talk of the dragons meant Crow couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Yusei had still been asleep next to him when he woke, he was glad to see, though his face was flustered and damp. He had touched Yusei’s forehead and felt the fever, but besides confirming it, there wasn’t much he could do. So he had gone to Zora, who lived in the main house a short way from the small apartment he rented.

“Hey Zora, do you have anything that can help with a fever?”

“Of course I do,” she said with a snipped tone. She didn’t like having her morning interrupted before she had enjoyed her personal blend of tea.

Crow kept his manner reined in—he was used to her treatment, but that didn’t mean he liked it—and said, “Oh good. Because Yusei’s staying with me right now and he’s kind of—”

“Yusei?” Zora gasped, her tight face brightening. “He’s here?”

Crow tried not to grumble. He had been counting on her jumping at the opportunity to help Yusei. But still. “Yeah, and he’s got a pretty bad fever, so—”

“I’ll take care of it,” she said quickly, setting her tea down without a second thought. He watched her turn to rustle through some cabinets and let the relief sink in. Zora had run an herb and spice shop with her husband for ages before he died, and now she handled it alone. She was an encyclopedia of plants and their uses—medicinal, culinary, and otherwise—which made her a handy person to have around in a time like this. And because she doted on Yusei so much, like he was her favorite grandson, he didn’t even have to say please and thank you. She wasn’t doing him any favors.

As she was gathering jars and tools, she looked over her shoulder to Crow. “Don’t you have work to get to?”

Crow ground his teeth behind his smile. “Yeah, I was just about to head that way.” Zora gave him a curt nod and then took one last look in the cabinet before shutting it. “Right,” Crow said as he turned to the door, “I’ll leave it to you.”

Zora just set her armful of supplies down on the table and shooed him away with a wave. Crow didn’t let his face fall until he had his back to her, and he didn’t sigh until he was outside. That woman. It wasn’t fair. From the very beginning she had treated him like some reckless, immature son. But he worked hard and did his best to be responsible, so why couldn’t she cut him some slack? Well, she was strict, but he had to admit she was always reliable and always helped him out when he needed it. If she actually didn’t like him, she could have always just kicked him out. So maybe beneath that prickly exterior she did care for him.

It occurred to Crow when he was halfway to his forge that he had forgot to mention to Zora the other guest he had, the one lying curled up on the floor. Well, at least he wasn’t naked anymore. And Crow didn’t have time to go back. He just sighed and figured he would explain him later if he needed to. Really he hoped Yusei would get the chance to, because Zora would accept it better if it came from him.

Crow waved to another customer as she took her completed order—a rather tedious job involving chainmail repair, but it had paid well—and then sat down to wipe the sweat from his brow. It was still morning, though he had already been at work for hours. He thought about taking a quick break to go buy something to eat, since he now had quite a heavy bag of coins to his name. And he was relieved to think confidently that he could rely on Zora to feed Yusei in his place, which would save him a few of those coins.

Aki had been so relieved to read that Yusei was alive that she had fallen to her knees and burst into sudden tears. She hadn’t realized she had been that close to the edge until the note had knocked her over, and for a minute she had hugged it to her heart and whispered a stream of thanks.

She had been surprisingly quick to fall asleep after that. Apparently the stress and strain had exhausted her without her noticing. She woke to the lively sound of a dozen children eating breakfast and the light of mid-morning pouring through her window. Since none of the children knew the situation, Aki made an effort to look normal as she walked past them and into the kitchen to find Martha.

“Aki! Good morning,” Martha greeted, putting on the same mask.

“Good morning,” Aki agreed, and quietly slipped the note to her. Martha took it while looking over Aki’s shoulder to the rowdy dining table, and then snuck a peek down. She let loose a sigh and then handed the note back to Aki, since her hands were still busy with work.

“So how are you?” she asked while preparing a plate of food for Aki.

“Well . . . I guess I’m all right,” Aki answered hesitantly.

“But you’re still worried,” Martha guessed.

Aki nodded.

Martha nodded too, knowingly, then handed Aki her plate. “Listen,” she said softly as Aki accepted it, “if you really want to, I can help you get to him.”

Aki’s brows rose. “Really?”

Martha nodded. “I can’t go with you, but I’ll let you take Sirocco. He’ll show you the way. And then you can send me another note with more details. Crow’s is rather cryptic.”

Aki gripped the plate anxiously. The idea of going to the city—again—caused a visceral reaction in her whole body, but there was no denying that she very much wanted to see Yusei. After a moment she asked, “Do you have a hood or something I can wear to cover my hair?”

Martha looked at her curiously. “Is there something wrong with your hair?”

“Well, it just . . . makes me stand out, I think . . . And the last time I was there I kind of . . . drew a little too much attention to myself. I’d rather not be recognized.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, I can get you something. So go sit down and eat. I’ll get a few things ready for you.”

Aki’s body shook with her nerves, but she also felt a sincere gratitude that made her smile. “Thank you.” Martha smiled too and patted Aki on her shoulder. Then they both moved to leave the kitchen, but then Aki paused. “Wait. Who’s Sirocco?”

Stardust was the last to wake out of everyone. Before he opened his eyes, he yawned wide and loud and rolled onto his back to stretch his limbs—which, while short compared to his usual size, were long for his new body. And he noticed that his body ached, which was a strange sensation for him. Apparently human anatomy wasn’t well-suited to sleeping on the floor. He frowned, irritated.

“Well I’ll say,” he heard an unfamiliar voice say. “I was wondering if you’d ever wake up.” Stardust opened his eyes and rolled his head back until he could see the bed and the two figures sitting on it—albeit upside down. The old woman with her gray hair tied back into a tight bun was looking at him with a pinched expression. “I’ve never even seen a cat sleep as long as you.”

“Go easy on him,” Yusei asked of her while sitting back against a tall pile of pillows. “He had a rough night.”

“I doubt it was as rough as yours,” the woman said sympathetically while putting a hand on his shoulder.

Stardust instantly disliked the woman. What the hell did she know? He pushed himself to sit up and began to stretch even more to try to work the ache away.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Yusei said quietly.

The woman just sighed. “Well, in any case.” Stardust refused to look at her and just continued to stretch with his back to her. “Let’s see, you’ve got your tea, your balm and fresh bandages, your breakfast, can I get anything else for you? More pillows? Oh, I’ll get you a fresh cloth.”

As she took the damp cloth from his forehead, Yusei said reassuringly, “You’ve already helped so much Zora, I don’t want to be any more of a burden on you—”

“Nonsense,” Zora tutted with a wave of her hand and then dipped the cloth into a bowl of cool water. “It’s my pleasure to offer you whatever hospitality I can.” As she wrung the cloth tight to drain out the excess water, Stardust assumed she was just a patriotic fan of knights. He was on his feet and stretching side to side when Zora returned to Yusei to put the folded cloth back on his forehead.

“Well, I’m grateful,” Yusei said. “Thank you. Really.”

“Of course. Well if you’re sure you don’t need anything else, I’ll leave you to rest. But if you think of anything, send that one to me,” she said, gesturing toward Stardust, “and have him tell me.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Zora looked down on him with the eyes of a doting grandmother. “Rest up. I’ll bring you lunch later.” With that, she walked out without a word to Stardust, who only followed her with a sideways look. When she had closed the door, Yusei finally relaxed his head back into the pillows and Stardust went to join him on the bed.

“Who’s that?”

“Zora,” Yusei said with eyes closed. “She’s a friend of Martha’s, and Crow’s landlady.”

“Huh. She seems to like you.”

Yusei made a subtle motion that was probably meant to be a shrug. “She thinks I’m a good role model.” What he didn’t say was that she wished Crow was more like him.

Stardust huffed and crossed his arms. “Well, I guess as long as she’s helping you out . . .” He tapped a finger against his arm and then asked, “What did you tell her about me, anyway?”

Yusei exhaled a long breath. “I didn’t tell her who you are,” he said firstly. “I thought you wouldn’t like too many people knowing you look like that.”

Stardust kept his back straight, but he couldn’t help making a relieved face. At least Yusei’s eyes were closed as he did. “So who does she think I am?”

“A friend.”

“Hm. Simple enough. Do I have a name?”

That was when Yusei smirked, making him look like he was having an amusing dream. “Dusty.”

Stardust choked. “You . . . you didn’t.”

Yusei made that not-quite-a-shrug motion again. “I was on the spot,” he explained. “I had to think quick.”

Stardust huffed again and bounced his foot irritably. “Well, whatever.” Yusei didn’t say anything after that, and Stardust finally took a moment to appreciate how tired his friend must be to still be lying down. The knight couldn’t stand just lazing about, which meant Divine’s torture had really worn him out. “So . . . you’ll be all right, right?”

Yusei nodded. “Yeah. Zora said it’s a lot of damage, but nothing fatal. I’m just beat up.”

“Well . . . good,” Stardust said, since he couldn’t think of anything else. With that, the little house filled with their silence. Crow’s apartment was less a house and more a large room with designated areas: The center was the main living space, against the wall opposite the front door was the bed, to the left of the front door was the tiny kitchen, and to the right was a large multipurpose table. Not much, but enough for one young man who spent most of his time at work anyway.

Stardust couldn’t help but resent how big it felt to him now. Normally, the apartment would not have been big enough to hold him. His wings alone would have spanned wider than the walls, but his human body could spread out wide and comfortably anywhere within them. Everything looked so different from a human perspective. While he had slipped into thought, he had begun to absently comb through the new hair he had draped over one shoulder. He had never had hair before, but his new fingers seemed to like the feel of it.

When he finally realized what he was doing, he jerked his fingers out of the hair. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Yusei’s eyes were still closed. He didn’t know if he was sleeping or just resting, but either way Stardust didn’t want to bother him. So he looked around the apartment until he found Yusei’s collection of weapons and quietly stood to approach it. He paused before his first step to pick up the pool of hair that had collected at his feet so he could carry it with him. It was a tripping hazard otherwise.

He kneeled down on the floor and reached out to pull Yusei’s dagger from its sheath. He collected a lock of hair in his hand while holding the dagger with the other and stretched it out in front of him. He pressed the edge of the dagger against the hair and played around with different measurements: This long? This long? How about this long?

When he had decided on which length to go with, he raised the blade and then brought it down sharply. To his surprise, the dagger didn’t slice through the hair, not a single strand. Instead, his hair seemed to catch it like a net, as if the dagger was dull as a fish. Stardust examined the dagger, and when he confirmed that it was, in fact, dangerously sharp, he tried again. He cut and cut and cut, and even stabbed at the stubborn lock, but no matter how much pressure he used, his hair would not break. It was flexible like hair, but resilient and unbreakable . . . like a dragon scale.

He made one more attempt by isolating a single strand and wrapping it around the dagger. But even then, no amount of tugging was enough to force the blade through the hair. He let loose a growl.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” he muttered before dropping the dagger and letting his head hang. He sighed and rolled to sit with his back against the wall and legs bent, the hair hanging loosely over his shoulder and bundled like a pet in his lap. He stared down at it with a kind of hollow feeling. “Now what?”

He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, and once again his hands began to comb through the length of his hair as if of their own volition. Normally, he would have been outside and free to fly around. He didn’t feel like going outside anymore. It would be too overwhelming to be surrounded by a world that felt far too big. If he just sat here with his eyes closed, maybe he could not think about it, at least for a while.

~

Hours passed. Stardust didn’t notice in his meditation, and Yusei was still asleep. When a knock sounded against the door, only Stardust stirred. It had been too tentative to wake the knight from his deep sleep. Stardust opened his eyes and wrinkled his nose. That woman had come back as she had promised, with Yusei’s lunch. He decided he would eat it himself rather than wake Yusei.

He pushed himself up—only to groan and hobble. His body was aching again. Apparently sitting on the floor for too long was also not an activity his human body liked. What the hell was it good for, then? Grumbling to himself, he moved stiffly across the room and opened the door just a little.

It wasn’t Zora.

“Hi, um, Crow?” the young woman greeted, hazarding a guess.

“Aki?” Stardust greeted back with surprise.

“Oh, you know me?”

“Of course I—wait, I’m not Crow.”

“Oh? Then . . . Is this Crow’s house, at least?”

Stardust noted the same falcon from last night was perched on Aki’s shoulder, and that Aki’s hair was completely bundled up in tight wrappings that kept any of the red from showing.

“Yeah. Come in.” He opened the door all the way to grant her entry, and as she took his offer, he asked, “Did you come here from Martha’s?”

“Yes.” The falcon jumped off Aki’s shoulder and landed on one of the many perches Crow had set up around the room, but Aki didn’t seem to notice. Her attention was drawn instantly and completely to the bed ahead of her. As Stardust closed the door, he saw Aki’s shoulder rise stiffly at the sight of him bandaged and sleeping, then relax with relief to confirm that he was, in fact, alive. He could tell by her shaking that she probably wanted to run to him, but she held back so he could keep sleeping undisturbed.

Making that decision, she turned back to Stardust. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name. Are you a friend of Crow’s?”

“Uh, I guess? They say a friend of a friend is my friend, right?”

Aki just blinked and tilted her head. It seemed to him that she was only just now taking note of his unique appearance, with his unmanageably long hair, which was so white it was somewhat translucent, and his gold irises. He didn’t know Aki was also noting his high cheekbones, straight nose, and even lips, and deciding that he was quite beautiful.

“Are you . . . a friend of Yusei’s?” she guessed again.

He finally sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Aki . . . It’s me.” He put his hand down and looked her in the eye. “Stardust.”

Aki didn’t move. She was frozen as if she didn’t even know what to think or say in response to such a claim and was waiting for more information before she could react. But as she stared at him, really stared and let the color of his eyes sink in, her own eyes grew a little wider. And then her lips tried to form words.

“Wha . . . Ho . . . Bu . . .”

Stardust shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know either. The two of us got into a fight with Divine, and he ended up like that, and I ended up like this.”

Aki’s brow scrunched. “What did he do to you?”

“He . . .” Stardust’s hands snapped into sudden fists as the fury flared back in his gut. “He took my magic,” he hissed.

Aki’s hands rose to her mouth as she sucked in a horrified breath. “No,” she whispered. “And is that how . . . ?”

Stardust ground his teeth. “Well I certainly didn’t choose to become this.” He wrinkled his nose. “I should be grateful he didn’t have enough time to kill me, but I’m not in the mood for silver linings.”

“I’m so sorry,” she breathed, and he knew she was. He knew how deeply she understood his sense of loss and violation.

“Yeah. Me too. But he hasn’t just gone and pissed me off. Now that he’s got my magic, he’s even more of a threat than before. So there’s that, which just makes things even worse.”

“Right.” Aki looked over her shoulder again to Yusei, who seemed unresponsive to their conversation.

“He wants to go talk to Jack and Rex as soon as he can,” Stardust said. “To warn them.”

“Will they be able to do anything?”

Stardust grabbed a lock of hair and began to wind it absently around his wrist. “I don’t know.”

Aki expected as much. But, it would be better to let them know and give them a chance to try something rather than let them get blindsided.

“How long has he been asleep?” she asked softly, still looking at Yusei.

“Most of the day, as far as I know. I saw him eat breakfast, but aside from that, I’ve only seen him sleeping since we went to bed last night.”

Aki crossed the room to the bed, her footsteps as soft and silent as always, and stopped one pace from the bedside. She took in the sight of Yusei’s arm and torso wrapped in bandages, which were showing small signs of blood seeping through from the wounds, and his face lined with scratches. She could gather from her observations that Divine had most likely used her magic against Yusei, summoning thorns the length of her thumb. She hated the thought. And she hated that she couldn’t make up for it by healing him again.

She stepped closer and held her hands together tightly as she looked down at him. He seemed to be sleeping well, so at least his pain wasn’t so bad it kept him up. She noticed a tray set with tea that had gone cold and a mortar holding an herbal paste. She assumed Crow had taken care to salve and bandage Yusei’s wounds, but even so, they had to still be deep and painful.

Aki chewed her bottom lip, then sat down on the edge next to him. She reached out tentatively with both hands, doubt and fear making her hesitate, while hope and prayer pushed her forward. She spread her hands against his torso and leaned in with her eyes closed. She focused. She focused more than as if her own life depended on it, because Yusei was more important than that. And though she wasn’t sure if it was an illusion or real, eventually she saw faint, fuzzy lights in the void. Wispy like a phantom, but familiar.

She reached out to those lights, and at first it felt like reaching for stars hidden behind clouds, but she kept trying. And every so often, her own faint light touched one of the other faint lights, and she received a response. Just a tiny shake, but enough to cause a reaction. She reached and reached, stretching and straining for each light she could make out, asking for its cooperation.

Until suddenly a new dark took over, and the next thing she knew she was looking up into Stardust’s face as he hovered over her. The room was spinning around her, and even the floor under her back seemed to undulate and rock like a raft in a storm. She heaved for breath as her heart beat furiously in her chest and her face dripped with sweat, and she quickly had to close her eyes again.

“Aki! Aki!” She felt Stardust helplessly tap her cheek with his fingers and shake her shoulder. “Come on, get it together!”

“I’m . . . fine,” she whispered between breaths.

“This does not count as fine!”

“I’ll be . . . fine,” she whispered instead.

“Celestial spheres,” he hissed, which made Aki smile. She had heard people say “bloody ash” before, which she knew was a reference to the savage genocide of Satellite, when it had been burned to the ground and its ash had soaked up the blood of its people. It was a terrible tragedy, but since it hadn’t affected most people in Domino, they had turned it into a common profanity. It wouldn’t hurt anyone’s sensibilities, after all.

But Stardust was different, and whether that was because he was sensitive to Yusei’s past or because he simply preferred his own way, she liked his version.

“Just . . . need rest,” she assured him, or at least tried to.

“You better. I have no idea what I’m doing here.”

Aki was too tired to say, “I know,” so she just smiled.

“And anyway,” Stardust continued. “Did you do magic?”

“I . . . think so?” She still couldn’t open her eyes because she was still riding the waves of vertigo, which were also making her nauseous, so she couldn’t check for herself. “I . . . tried. Did it . . . work?”

“Well,” she heard him say before his presence beside her weakened for a moment. Then he returned to her side on the floor. “The scratches on his face are gone at least. I’d have to take off his bandages to see anything else.”

Aki bubbled with a teary laugh. She had done it. She had done . . . something. She didn’t know how much, but it was something. She felt the tears slip out from under her closed eyelids, and a few minutes later she had escaped the nausea through sleep.

Yusei opened his eyes and felt surprisingly better than he had expected. He felt bad for doubting Zora’s medicine. The room was full of the evening dark, but there was a fire going in the little stove that lit the apartment up enough for him to see Crow working in the kitchen, Stardust sitting at the table, and to his surprise, Aki standing behind his chair and brushing his long hair.

“Aki?”

All eyes turned to him upon hearing his voice, and the three answered him together, Aki’s “Yusei!” swallowing Crow’s “Hey!” and Stardust’s “Good morning!” Aki dropped Stardust’s hair and rushed to him, but stopped herself just short of grabbing his hand. “How are you feeling?”

Still leaning against the stack of pillows, Yusei looked up into Aki’s earnest eyes. “Pretty good, considering. How long have you been here?”

“Just since this afternoon. I headed this way after breakfast.”

“By yourself?”

“Yes. Well, Martha gave me a guide, so . . .”

“Hey Yusei,” Stardust said, coming up to Aki’s side. “That Zora woman wanted to know when you woke up so she could feed you and refresh your bandages. Should I go tell her?” He looked somewhat annoyed to be reduced to messenger boy, but there was also a spark of relief to see Yusei doing well.

“In a minute,” Yusei said, then turned his eyes back to Aki. “Are you all right?”

“What? Yes, why?”

Yusei wasn’t entirely sure why, he had simply felt compelled to ask. “No reason.”

She laid a hand on his, and for a moment they just soaked in the comfort of being at each other’s side again.

“So uh . . . you two,” Crow asked, one hand on his hip and the other pointing a ladle back and forth between them. “Is there something I should know?”

“Like what?” Yusei asked.

“I mean like . . . are you two . . . you know . . . ugh! Yusei I’m asking you if you have a girlfriend.”

Yusei’s brows rose, but only because he didn’t understand Crow’s frustration. “Well, she’s my friend, and she’s a girl.”

“You know what I mean!”

“I’m kind of in the middle of a major apocalyptic-level crisis right now, so my relationship status hasn’t really been forefront in my mind.”

“That sounds like a ‘no but we haven’t made anything official yet’ to me.”

“Why’re you so interested?” Stardust asked. “Do you want Aki to be your girlfriend?”

“What? No,” he insisted bashfully, and then realizing his blunder, added quickly with his eyes to Aki, “I mean! You’re pretty! For real, I mean like, really pretty. I’m not saying I don’t like you or anything, but we only just met, you know? If we got to know each other better then maybe I’d—I mean!” By that time his face was burnt and he ended with a glare toward Stardust.

Aki was just too stunned by the whole thing to know what to say. It was true, she and Crow had only just met. He wasn’t a tall man, especially compared to Yusei and Stardust, and he had curious orange hair that he kept tied with a bandana, forcing it to stand up straight from his head. And unlike Yusei, he seemed quite loud and energetic. Which wasn’t a bad thing, it was just . . . not was she was used to.

“What’s that look for? I just asked a question,” Stardust teased.

“Shut up! Go get Zora, why don’t you?”

“Aki’s not done with my hair yet.”

“Who cares about your hair? Tie it in a knot around your neck or something.”

“Listen, if I’m going to have hair, I want it to at least be presentable. I’m not going to just slap it into some half-baked style like some people.”

“You got a problem with my hair?”

“Why would you assume I’m talking about you?” Stardust said in that tone that meant he was definitely talking about him.

“If you tell me where to find her, I’ll go see Zora.” Simply wanting the chain of the conversation to break, Aki made a sudden change of subject. The three guys looked at her.

“No, don’t let him off the hook,” Crow insisted, pointing his ladle accusingly.

“It’s fine, really.”

“No, really,” Crow said. “Zora doesn’t even know you yet.”

“I could just introduce myself,” Aki said weakly, doubting the truth of her own words. Meeting new people still wasn’t a comfortable idea.

“Oh I’ll go,” Stardust sighed loudly, and he put a fist against his chest. “It’s my assigned duty, after all. I won’t let it be said of me that I am derelict in my duties.”

Not wanting to cause delay, Crow said nothing more and turned back to stirring the pot he was heating.

“Let me wrap up your hair then,” Aki offered. “And I’ll braid it properly when you get back.”

“You have my most sincere gratitude,” Stardust said with an exaggerated flourish before taking her hand and laying on it a gentle kiss, like a prince meeting a princess. He smirked at Crow’s back, which was stiff and determinedly turned away from him. He then went to the door and made a grand wave. “I shall return as soon as I can.”

Crow scoffed through his teeth when he was finally gone. “Weirdo.”

Aki was still so baffled by the whole thing that she forgot to mention anything substantive to Yusei, so the rest of the evening was spent just trying to undo the strange mood in the room. Stardust returned with Zora as Crow was pouring his own dinner into a bowl, and she carried with her a basket full of more supplies. She was surprised to see yet another guest in the room, but was quick to take a liking to her. Aki also had quite an encyclopedic knowledge of plants, so from the beginning their conversations were the passionate and specific type only experts could engage in.

While Zora refreshed all of Yusei’s dressings and set out the dinner she had prepared for him on the bed, Aki did as promised and knit Stardust’s freshly brushed hair into a neat braid that kept it off the ground. She had never braided such long hair before. She had braided her own a little when she was much younger and had longer hair, but despite her lack of experience, she had done a pretty good job, if she did say so herself. And Stardust too seemed pleased with the result.

“Yusei, you have got to be the fastest healer I’ve ever met,” Zora said while finishing her work with the fresh bandages. “Even with my recipe, I wouldn’t have expected you to look this good yet. But your wounds are really closing fast.” She gave him a great, approving smile and pat the back of his hand. “Must because you’re so strong and healthy.”

Stardust gave Aki a silent look, and she returned it with eyes of silent wonder. Her throat got tight, but she swallowed until it loosened up.

None of the exchange went unnoticed by Yusei.

Before she went back to her own house, Zora insisted that Aki must come with her. She wouldn’t allow Aki to share a room with three men, not when she could give Aki a nice, comfortable room all to herself.

“So, what was that about earlier?” Yusei asked when he was left with just Stardust and Crow.

“What was what about?”

“Between you and Aki.”

“Oh don’t worry,” Stardust said with a teasing smile. “I’m not trying to steal her from you. It was just a little kiss on the hand.”

“Not that,” Yusei said flatly. “I mean that look, when Zora was wrapping me up.”

Stardust couldn’t hide that he understood Yusei’s meaning, and he couldn’t think of a good way to turn it into a joke. “Ah. That.”

“Yeah. That. What was it?”

“I didn’t know you saw.”

“I did.” He held an even, expectant gaze with Stardust. And Stardust realized that the more he delayed, the more conspiratorial the situation would seem.

“All right, all right,” he said, yielding. “It’s not like I’m trying to hide anything from you. I was just thinking maybe she should be the one to explain, since I don’t really have all the details.”

“Explain what?”

Stardust’s hands absently wandered to the braid, which he had draped over his shoulder, and began to stroke it lightly. “That she was able to heal you—just a little bit. With magic.”

“What?” both Yusei and Crow said together, though for different reasons.

“She can use magic?” Crow asked with wide eyes, then whispered, “She’s a witch?”

Yusei looked at Crow, then at Stardust. “What did you all talk about while I was asleep?”

“Well we didn’t exactly share deep dark secrets,” Stardust said, crossing his arms defensively. “She didn’t bring it up, so I didn’t either.”

“Wait, you knew?”

Yusei sighed. “Yes, I knew. And yes, she’s a witch.”

“Bloody ash!”

“Is there a problem with that?” Yusei asked pointedly, which made Crow feel suddenly very awkward.

“Well, no, but . . . I just wouldn’t have guessed, that’s all.”

“Still want her to be your girlfriend?” Stardust asked with mischief.

“Will you stop?”

“Oh good, you didn’t say no. So you’re not a complete bigot.”

“I’m not a bigot! I don’t care if she’s a witch! She seems nice, and if Yusei says she’s ok, then she’s ok in my book too!”

“But how did she do it?” Yusei asked, looking at Stardust.

“Huh? I thought you said she’s a witch.”

“She is,” Stardust clarified, since Yusei was too focused to get distracted anymore. “But Divine took her magic, like he did mine.”

“Oh. Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Exactly, so . . .” Yusei pressed again.

“So I don’t know.” Stardust made a helpless shrug and held out his hands. “I asked her, but all she said was she just focused really really hard and was able to see little teeny-tiny slivers of magic and connect with them.” He emphasized by squeezing his fingertips together into a tiny hole he held up to one eye. “It took a lot out of her to do it, but she managed to do a bit of healing—if what that woman Zora said is any indication.”

Yusei’s hands lightly brushed down his torso. “She still has some magic?” he murmured.

“Maybe. Kind of looks that way. Or maybe she was able to get a little bit back since . . . it happened.”

“It can come back?”

“I can only guess at this point. I don’t know anything for sure.”

“And I know even less,” Crow said, interjecting. “And I’m tired, so I’m understanding less too.”

“We can talk more tomorrow,” Yusei said, both to reassure Crow and to form a contract with Stardust.

“Right,” Stardust agreed. “Now, can I please have some of those pillows? I don’t think I can sleep another night on this floor.”

Aki did the best she could to avoid bringing up the topic of magic while discussing plants with Zora. But up until that point, the lively energy inside them had always been a fundamental element of their character to her, so it was tricky skirting around it.

Even so, she somehow managed to make it through without revealing anything to Zora. The woman was already starting to treat her like a daughter, and as burned as she felt by Divine’s betrayal, the hunger in her heart for affection was too much to fight. She wanted Zora to like her. So she allowed herself to accept Zora’s attention, but kept up her defenses so as to avoid her guaranteed revulsion should she find out the truth.

Even stripped of her magic, a human would consider an ex-witch still tainted, still a witch.

But though she craved it, Aki wasn’t sure it was right to accept Zora’s maternal attention. Not just because she was hiding something that would disgust the woman, but because she had lost the right to such a thing the day she had killed her own parents.

Hadn’t she?

Some part of her still believed so, but to explain her hesitation to Zora would mean to reveal the truth, and Aki was too tired to handle being chased out of the city again. So she walked the fine line between guilt and fear as lithely as she could and played at being human for a night.

The next day, Crow again went to work, and Stardust was left with nothing to do, which made him irritable, restless, and talkative, especially since Yusei was awake. In the morning, Aki and Zora came together with the fresh supplies and food for Yusei, and while Zora took care of cleaning and dressing, Aki collected all the old and used materials to be cleaned or disposed of as needed.

“I want to talk to you when you get a chance,” Yusei said to her.

“Oh, sure,” Aki agreed curiously.

“You can talk when I’m done here,” Zora said. “Just a few more minutes.” She looked over to Aki. “I was going to see if you wanted to help me at the shop, but that’s up to you. Take your time.”

When Zora was done and Yusei was left alone on the bed with his plate of breakfast, Aki came to his side and sat beside him. Stardust was sitting at the table, bored and stroking his sleek braid.

“Ok, I’m here,” she announced.

Yusei reached out with a hand and took hold of hers. “I heard from Stardust,” he said softly. “You used magic?”

“He didn’t hear it from me,” Stardust corrected. “He cornered me and asked.”

“You were hardly cornered.”

“Yusei, if you just look at someone, they’re as good as cornered.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ve got a very . . . strong gaze. Captivating, you could say.”

Yusei stared blankly at Stardust, and after not making sense of him, he turned back to Aki. “Do you have some of your magic back?”

“I mean,” she hesitated, “I don’t really know. If I do, it’s not much. Like a tiny drop.”

“But, that’s more than what you had, right?”

“Maybe. Probably. It could have been so deep inside me I just couldn’t find it until then. But I don’t know.”

She knew he was trying to look for hope in their situation, and she would have very much liked to find some too, but she feared disappointment too much. She changed the subject. “How are you feeling today?”

“Fine.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Aki looked away and bit her bottom lip. Then she took a deep breath and looked to him. “I can try again.”

Yusei’s brows rose just slightly. She had been so quick to shift away from the topic, and now she had whipped them right back.

“Seriously?” Stardust asked, turning in his seat. “You fainted last time!”

“You what?”

Aki shook her head and waved the objections away. “I know. But Yusei needs to heal. Fast. These salves can only do so much. With magic, I can undo the damage rather than just speed up the recovery. And . . . if I can do it, I want to. I want to do something. And if I can use magic . . .” She stopped when she felt a sudden clenching in her chest and throat. She swallowed.

Yusei understood. As well as a human who had never used magic could understand, at least. He put his hand on hers. “All right. If you feel that strongly about it, I won’t stop you. Just, be careful, ok? Don’t hurt yourself. Not for my sake.”

Aki smiled, grateful for his understanding. She nodded. “I will.”

Despite her saying that, Stardust got up from his chair and came to stand beside her, and made it seem like he was just there to observe and not to catch her if she fell again. Aki closed her eyes and laid her hands on Yusei’s bandaged abdomen. She breathed slow and deep and focused. Both Yusei and Stardust watched, keeping a careful silence as they held completely still.

Just like the first time, Aki had to work to find any trace of magic. It was like straining her eyes in the dark to make out the shapes of distant shadows, or straining her ears to hear a single bell toll from miles away. Her sense of magic was weak and the object of her search faint. By the time she caught her first glimpse of a wisp, her skin had broken into a sweat. She wasn’t aware of it, but both Stardust and Yusei were. But since she wasn’t showing any signs of danger yet, they didn’t interrupt.

And eventually Yusei could feel the effect. Like tiny pinpricks, he felt the soothing warmth well up in some of the punctures in his flesh. He also felt sweat drip from Aki’s nose onto his stomach. But she kept going, and the pinpricks jumped all over his body, from his torso to his arms to his legs, one at a time, light and sweet. He couldn’t tell how much his wounds were healing as they were hidden under the bandages, but he could tell they were tingling.

Minutes went by, and then finally Aki shuddered, and her stonelike meditation broke into a sudden freefall as she tipped sideways. Had Stardust not been there, she would have hit the ground. But this time, he caught her, and instead of laying her on the floor, he picked her up and laid her on top of the bed next to Yusei. Now that he understood how uncomfortable the floor was, he didn’t want to consign her to that fate.

“Is she all right?” Yusei asked urgently.

“She looks like last time,” Stardust noted. “Which I guess means she will be.”

Yusei still stared at her with high alert, wanting to notice any change in her that might occur. After a minute, her eyes fluttered open and she groaned.

“Aki, are you all right?” he asked again.

She began to breathe heavily, forcing the air in deep and slow, and she closed her eyes. “Yeah,” she breathed. “Just . . . a little . . . nauseous.”

“Yeah, this is basically like last time,” Stardust confirmed.

“How . . . are you?” she asked through labored breathing.

Yusei hadn’t thought to check. “I feel fine. Good, I mean. I could feel it working.”

Aki smiled, but it was shaky. “Good,” she whispered. “That’s good.”

“Yeah,” Yusei agreed before reaching out to wipe some strands caught in the sweat on her face. “You’re amazing.”

She opened her eyes at that—halfway, at least—and looked up at him. For a few breaths she didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. Then she closed her eyes again. “I’m tired.”

“Go to sleep then,” he said softly.

She wasn’t in much of a condition to argue, so she made a weak nod and relaxed against the bed. Yusei couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment she crossed the border into sleep, but within minutes she was deep inside. He leaned back and curiously picked at the bandaged on his stomach until he could peel some of them back. He ran his fingertips over the bare skin, and admired Aki’s work. Because what had been a deep gash had shrunk to the depth of a fingernail.

“Sun and moon,” Stardust murmured while taking a peek as well. “I can’t believe she could do that much!”

Yusei put the bandages, which were still sticky with salve, back in place. He assumed Zora didn’t know about Aki, and he didn’t want to bring up any unnecessary conversations with her. He decided he would convince her to leave the bandages he had alone for a while, and that he would head to the castle before she had a chance to insist.

He looked at Aki again. She was sleeping quite soundly, and he thought to himself, if she was going to go through that much trouble and effort to patch him up, he damn well better make good on his promise to save the kingdom. He hated the thought of all her work being in vain.

By the evening, Aki was back to normal. She had spent the rest of her waking day in the apartment, and she was surprised to note how Stardust filled all the silences Yusei left—and with such ease. And on top of that, Yusei didn’t seem bothered by the noise. She would have thought so much chatter would grate on his nerves, but perhaps she was wrong.

When Zora came with dinner, Yusei insisted that Zora didn’t need to redo his bandages, and when she saw that there were no blood stains on them, she agreed, but not without protesting that it was no trouble for her to do it. Zora invited Aki to eat with her in her house, and Aki said she would when Yusei was done so she could bring his plate back with her.

“Well aren’t you a dear,” Zora said kindly. “So thoughtful. So helpful.”

Crow instinctively interpreted this as a jab at himself, but said nothing. Aki smiled and said, “I’ll see you in a bit!”

Zora left the group, and when she was gone, Aki moved Yusei’s food aside. “I won’t go for as long as I did before,” she promised. Yusei nodded, and with Crow and Stardust standing on either side—Crow with an especially curious interest—she put her hands on Yusei’s torso and repeated her process.

Yusei and Stardust both kept track of the time, intending to break her concentration long before she reached the limit of the previous sessions. Crow wasn’t sure what he was supposed to see, but as far as he could tell the only thing happening was Aki breaking into a hard sweat. He kept waiting for something, anything that looked like it could be magic, until at some point, Yusei and Stardust both nodded at each other. Crow just stood by as they grabbed her from either side and wrested her out of her trance.

She opened her eyes, and though she wobbled slightly, she was able to maintain her balance. She breathed hard and wiped her face with both hands. “How was that?” she asked without needing to pause between words.

“It felt good,” Yusei said.

“Let me see.”

Aki realized a second later what she was asking and looked away in embarrassment.

“Here,” Yusei said without seeming to notice or comprehend her fluster. He pulled at the bandages again and sat up to unwrap his torso completely. All four of them looked closely to admire how smooth his skin was becoming. The wounds had become not so much punctures as shallow pokes that had just barely broken the skin.

“I’ll be damned,” Crow said in awe. “That’s gotta be the craziest, awesomest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Stardust coughed. “You remember I’m a dragon, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Crow waved at him dismissively, which made Stardust cross his arms and wrinkle his nose at Crow before looking away in a pout.

Aki, for her part, smiled shyly. “Well, it’s kind of a miracle I can even do this much.”

“As far as miracles go, it’s a pretty impressive one! And handy!”

Aki tucked some of her hair behind her ear and stood up. To her relief, Stardust again filled the space with his chatter. While Crow willingly bantered with him, Yusei ate from the plate in his lap in silence.

When he was done, Aki took the plate. “Well, I better get this back to Zora.”

“See you in the morning,” Yusei said.

“Right. Early.”

He nodded. “As early as you can manage.”

Aki nodded back. They had made their plan together: Before Zora could come to feed and dress him, Yusei, Stardust, Aki, and Crow would all go to the castle together. Which meant Aki would have to sneak out past Zora while she was drinking her early morning tea. But with her silent footsteps, Yusei didn’t think that would be too hard.

Though he had agreed to come, Crow was not excited to meet with the prince. He had done so once before with Yusei, and it hadn’t exactly given him a favorable impression. And to his credit, Yusei had never tried to argue him out of that. The prince was his friend, but he could understand if someone wasn’t a fan. Prince notwithstanding, Yusei had made it clear he wanted Crow to come. And, well, if Yusei wanted him there, Crow would go. It was a chance for him to join his brother on one of his knightly adventures in person, and not just as a spirit forged into the heart of his sword.

And, well, if things went sour and this Divine guy did manage to do . . . whatever dastardly thing he was planning to do with all that stolen magic, then this might be his last chance to do so. He would kick himself in his final moments if the end of the world came and he was still sweating over the fire in his forge. He at least tried to think of it in such a lighthearted jest, because if he got too serious about it, he would admit that he was afraid.

He had always looked up to Yusei, even when they were children, because despite being the same age, Yusei always seemed so far ahead of him in everything. Side by side, Yusei was clearly smarter, stronger, a better fighter, even a better peace-bringer. And of course, he had an incomparable, indefatigable sense of duty.

Crow felt a strong sense of protectiveness over Martha, all her children, and even Zora. But Yusei’s heart spanned the whole kingdom, and to Crow that just seemed exhausting. He didn’t know how Yusei could handle it. The knight was always willing to put himself at great risk if it meant even potentially saving someone else. Crow wasn’t that saintly. But even now, he felt like Yusei was a shining idol he should strive to emulate, and considering the threat, he felt somewhat guilty that he didn’t feel the instinct to save the kingdom.

He just wanted to help his friend. His brother. And maybe prove he could measure up to something. No, he wasn’t a knight, and he couldn’t handle a sword like Yusei could. But he had his own way of doing things. Personally, he was inclined toward the axe as a weapon of choice, and he was proud enough to claim he had become quite the expert axman. It was also a handy tool to have around, and he had a liking for anything handy.

He wasn’t sure what he could do to help out, but since he was going, he had no choice but to figure it out along the way.

And though he would never have said so, he didn’t want to look cowardly in front of Aki. And he hoped that putting on a brave face would motivate his heart to catch up.

The plan went smoothly. Aki arrived at Crow’s door before the dawn had become sunrise, and her hair was once again tucked inside the wrapping that Martha had given her. Crow, Yusei, and Stardust were already up and ready to go, Yusei with his sword and dagger strapped on and Stardust with his braid hanging loosely against his back. They took off together, leaving a note behind on the bed for Zora to find.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the castle entrance since the morning was still quiet and the roads empty, and things only went faster from there. The guards began hollering when Yusei was close enough to be recognizable, and he and his attendants were rushed in—like he had been expected.

When they reached the throne room, King Rex and Jack were already there, looking like they had rushed to dress. He supposed royalty wasn’t used to getting up with the sun and had jumped to meet him upon being alerted of his arrival. Even so, they didn’t look bothered by the early hour. Rather, they looked like they had been waiting for him for some time.

“Well finally!” Jack said first the instant he saw Yusei. When the four arrivals walked in, the guards leading them closed the massive doors behind them, leaving them to go the rest of the way themselves. Jack looked down on them with a peevish face and arms crossed as they walked across the long blue rug that led from the entrance to the throne dais. “What took you so long?”

Yusei raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

“Those dragons had their big show for us three nights ago! We’ve been waiting for you this whole time.”

“Ah. I wasn’t aware,” Yusei said unapologetically. “But I’ve been meaning to meet with you myself, so here I am.”

“Yes,” Rex noted, his eyes passing over the three extra faces.

Before the king could say anything else, Yusei said flatly, “They’re with me because they need to know everything, too.” The implication was that even if Rex ordered them out, he would simply repeat anything that was said here to them later, so Rex might as well streamline things and let them stay.

Rex caught his meaning and made a small sound in his throat. “Hm. Very well. Come. We need to talk.”

He didn’t waste time asking for introductions, and Yusei didn’t offer any. Instead, Rex simply turned to guide them all into a room behind the thrones. There was no one else with them in the throne room, but the space was so grand and large that it didn’t feel private enough.

“Still wearing that crown, huh?” Stardust whispered into Yusei’s ear before they reached the steps of the dais. It wasn’t as easy or convenient as slipping his thoughts directly and privately into Yusei’s head, but it got the job done. Yusei didn’t reply but gave Stardust a brief smirk. Because Rex’s crown was the same as when he first saw it years ago: big, gold, and gaudily bejeweled. His robes weren’t any different either: rich velvet trimmed with thick, soft fur.

Stardust thought the whole thing pompous nonsense. What good was a robe or a crown or expensive clothes? They didn’t protect from anything. Even without his fangs and talons, he could rip through any of that fancy fabric. Dragon scales were much more impressive than anything this king could possibly wear.

The room Rex led them too was small and secure with a table that could seat four comfortably and no windows. He was the first to sit, and Jack took the seat to his right. Rex folded his hands on the table and looked up to Yusei with his steely eyes. Yusei was reminded that Rex’s face alone was enough to command a room—or an army—and how much that crown detracted from the respect and authority he exuded. At least in his opinion. But the upper class had always had an aesthetic taste he didn’t understand.

“I’ll stand,” Yusei said, not wanting to exclude two of his party from the table.

Rex let a few beats pass in silence without a blink, then answered, “As you wish.” Then his eyes flickered sideways to land right on Stardust. Since he had never found Rex intimidating, meeting him in the eye was nothing spectacular, and unlike most others, he didn’t have the impulse to bow his head or lower his gaze. Rex considered him for a long moment, during which Stardust stared back, merely wondering what the hell was going through the guy’s mind.

“Do I have something on my face?” Stardust finally snapped.

Rex made no response, but Jack barked back, “You’re gonna have a bruise if you don’t show some respect!”

Stardust gave Jack a dismissive look and raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t see or hear the dragon come with you,” Rex noted to Yusei. Then turning his attention back to Stardust, he lifted his hands from the table and leaned forward on his elbows. “Could that possibly be because it’s you?”

Stardust’s brows jumped halfway up his forehead while Jack sputtered, “Say what?”

Rex eyed Stardust with a steady, perceptive gaze. “How do you figure?” Stardust asked.

“Well, the eyes are a hint, but it’s just . . . you. You feel familiar.”

“Should I be honored?”

“If you’d like.”

“Wait, you’re serious?” Jack asked loudly. “You’re him?”

“I have a name, Jack-ass,” Stardust snapped.

“What’d you call me?”

“I’ve never seen you take this form before,” Rex said, ignoring everything else. “What changed?”

Stardust stiffened. Beside him, Yusei’s mental gears were churning, and his brow furrowed. “You don’t seem that surprised about it.”

“Well, you do know I had my hands on a certain book for a while. I should know a thing or two about dragons.”

Yusei’s brow only furrowed more with confusion. “What exactly do you know?”

Rex’s eyes held onto Yusei, then flicked to Stardust, who he noticed was looking increasingly uncomfortable, and then back to Yusei. Rex lowered his hands back down to the table. “I know that dragons can change their appearance to look like a human,” he answered matter-of-factly. “Did you?”

Yusei blinked at Rex, and then slowly turned his head to look at Stardust. He didn’t have to say anything for Stardust to understand the question on his face, and Stardust didn’t need to say anything for Yusei to read the answer on his.

“Wait, for real?” Crow asked. “I never heard of that.”

“Well, it isn’t common knowledge,” Rex explained. “But I’m surprised that this is the first you’ve heard of it.”

“Me too,” Yusei said with a pointed look toward Stardust.

Stardust winced. “Look, I’m sorry, ok? I’m sorry. It’s not exactly something I’m excited about or proud of. If things were going my way I would have never . . .” He gestured helplessly to his body.

“You’re that ashamed to look human, are you?” Yusei didn’t have to raise his voice to sound accusing.

“I’m not . . . Ok look!” Stardust cried, throwing his hands up defensively. “It’s not like I think humans are gross or that being human is something shameful. It’s just not me, ok? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a dog but would you want to wake up as one someday?”

“You think of us as dogs?”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it!” Stardust pointed a sharp finger at Yusei. “I’m saying you don’t think of yourself as a dog. You’d feel wrong in a dog’s body. That’s how I feel! I’m not over here crying, ‘Oh how horrible, I’m stuck in this icky body, how embarrassing!’ I’m pissed off that I was forced to become something that doesn’t feel right!”

Stardust looked at Yusei with eyes pleading for him to understand. Yusei stared back, and for the first time, Yusei’s mind was quiet to him. His face was equally unreadable, leaving Stardust trembling in suspense. The rest of the room was silent as well, out of respect.

Finally Yusei spoke.

“You didn’t have to hide it from me.”

His voice was hushed, and somehow that made Stardust feel even more guilty. He had gone and started shouting to prove his point, but now he felt like a child throwing a tantrum to a disappointed parent. It would have been better if Yusei had been mad, but instead he seemed . . . hurt.

And really, Yusei was being generous. Stardust hadn’t just hidden the truth from Yusei, he had lied. The fact that Yusei was holding in his feelings rather than lashing him with them added a fear of abandonment to his guilt. Yusei was withdrawing from him, and it was his own fault.

“I didn’t mean . . . I just . . . I’m sorry.” Stardust ended his flailing for words with sagging shoulders. He felt deflated.

“It’s fine. We have more important things to worry about.”

Stardust winced again, because from Yusei’s clipped tone he had a feeling it wasn’t fine.

“True,” Rex agreed. “We have reason to believe that the book has been stolen. Again.”

Yusei nodded. “It has.”

While Jack asked, “How do you know?” Rex nodded gravely, accepting Yusei’s confirmation without question.

“Because we’ve seen Divine holding it. How did you know?”

Jack smirked. He was always thrilled to have any lead over Yusei. “You’re not the only one with a magical friend.” Yusei just stared and waited, and to hide how annoyed he was that Yusei seemed so unimpressed, Jack raised his chin and called to the back door of the room, “Carly! Come in!”

All eyes turned as the door opened timidly, and a girl’s face poked through at an angle, her long black hair falling loosely. She made a shy, nervous smile and poked a few fingers past the door in a wave, and then slowly came in further, straightening until she was completely inside. She shut the door behind her and then took cautious steps to the table to stand in the space between Rex and Jack. She raised a hand in greeting to the others.

“Hi,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“This is Carly,” Jack said as introduction, holding a hand as if she was a piece of art on display. “You could say she’s kind of the resident witch.”

“You have a witch here?” Aki said, her voice soft with utter surprise.

“Don’t worry!” Cary said quickly, waving both hands. “I won’t hurt anyone, I promise! I’m not dangerous! Really!”

Aki was too stunned to speak, and as she stared at Carly with her mouth open, Crow said to reassure her, “Well I mean, I wouldn’t expect the king to be sitting all comfy next to a witch if he didn’t feel safe around you.”

“Yes! Yes, exactly!” Carly nodded vigorously. “I’m here to help, that’s all!”

Crow took a moment to pass a glance between Carly and Aki, then murmured to himself, “I feel like the common knowledge about witches needs a serious update.”

“What makes you say that?” Rex asked, his curious and intelligent eyes also glancing to Aki before returning to Crow.

Not realizing the king had been paying him any attention, Crow’s shoulder’s stiffened. “Uh, well, uh.” He looked away from both Rex and Aki and scratched the back of his head. “I mean, you’ve got a witch right here, so . . . I mean . . . they can’t be all that bad and scary like they say, right?”

Rex kept his eyes on Crow, with a steady gaze that made it obvious he knew Crow was hiding something—and more than that, that he could probably guess what that something was.

“Anyway,” Jack said loudly, showing no interest in Crow. “Carly, tell Yusei what you told us.”

“Right!” she answered quickly. “Ok. So, my ability is mainly clairvoyance, and usually I have to use cards as a way to channel it. And it’s usually simple things, you know? Like, will my mom be happy if I buy her this necklace, or, how many times will I trip today, or, will it go really badly if I accept this invitation to a dance party because I’ll spill wine on the host’s shirt and embarrass my dad again—”

She came to an abrupt halt, remembering where she was, and coughed into her fist. “Ahem. Things like that. But recently it’s been different. I’ve been having horrible nightmares. The same nightmare, over and over. In it I see a woman—she’s tall with blond hair down to her ankles, someone I’ve never seen anywhere else. And she’s carrying a large book, which I can tell is really important and valuable. And then I see a huuuuge dragon.” She emphasized this point by stretching out her arms as far as they could go. “It’s big and black and scary, and it’s completely destroying the kingdom. Just ravaging it. Smashing things and blowing fire on everything!”

She made another elaborate gesture with her arms to get her point across. As most were watching her animated description, they didn’t see Aki’s eyes widen and her shoulders rise.

“I realized this wasn’t a normal dream, so I told Prince Jack about it, and His Highness, and they both thought it might be the Book of Dragons I saw. And then we saw the dragons fighting above the city, and that got me really rattled because, well, you can imagine.”

Yusei made a quick glance toward Aki before saying, “Yeah, I can imagine.”

At that point, Rex was observing every movement of Yusei and his party closely, his eyes aimed keenly over his hands as he leaned on his propped arms. Finally he said, “I know I’ve met this one at least once before.” He gestured toward Crow. “The blacksmith.”

Crow’s eyes bulged as he basked in the honor of being recognized by the king himself, but Rex’s attention had already turned from him to Aki.

“But I’m afraid I am not familiar with you.”

Yusei stepped in quickly. “Do you need to be?”

Rex raised a questioning eyebrow at this intervention, but Yusei looked unintimidated. As always. And then Aki put a hand on his shoulder, and he turned his head to look at her.

“It’s ok,” she said softly. “Thank you, but I think I’ll be more helpful if I can speak freely.”

Yusei gave her a long look, and then accepted her decision. “All right.”

She nodded and stepped forward to face Rex. “My name is Aki,” she began. “When I was young, Divine took me in because I had nowhere else to go. He became my mentor, and I lived with him for years, up until only some days ago, when he . . .”

She paused, needing to take a deep breath. When she was steady again, she continued.

“I am . . . I’m a witch.” Her voice was a mixture of pride, sorrow, and worry. “But Divine stole my magic from me so he can use it himself. That was why he took me in to begin with. He used me. He trained me to make my magic stronger, and then he took it. And left me.”

She said it more for her own sake than for the king’s. She needed to remind herself of those blunt facts, because sometimes the hurt of his betrayal led her to miss her old, happy life with him rather than resent him more. She needed to snap herself out of that.

“I see,” Rex said calmly. “My condolences. I am sorry for your loss.”

Aki didn’t know how sincere he was, but she didn’t need anything from him, so it didn’t matter. She turned her eyes to Carly, who now looked just as stunned to see her as Aki had been to meet Carly. “And that woman you described, I know Divine got the book from someone like that. But neither of us knew her. She just showed up out of nowhere and gave it to him.”

“Ohhh,” Carly said in wonder. “So she’s a real person! Oh no, wait, does that mean the dragon I saw is real too?”

“I don’t know,” Aki said. “But I saw the same dragon in a dream too. Huge and terrible, and destroying everything, killing everyone.”

“You have clairvoyance too?” Carly asked excitedly, suddenly leaning over the table between the two royals.

“Well, maybe. But it was really just that one time. My main magic manifested in plants.”

“Ohhh, that’s so interesting! I wonder what made you have the vision then,” Carly wondered aloud. “Hmm. Maybe because the situation is just that big so it’s causing ripples in the world’s magic and we feel the effects when it touches us.”

Aki blinked. She was just newly acquainted with this Carly, but that was still a surprisingly coherent and astute thing to say compared to her apparent clumsiness. “Yeah, maybe,” she agreed.

“Well. Obviously our goal is to avoid any such disasters,” Rex said, and his calm manner made it seem like it wouldn’t be the biggest challenge any of them had ever experienced.

“Obviously,” Yusei agreed.

“So, along with you, Jack has suggested adding more . . . brute force, the kind our army can’t compare to. And I agree that having two dragons on our side would be some comfort.”

There was a sudden tension in the air around the four visitors, which Rex sensed immediately.

“Is there a problem?”

“Um,” Stardust said reluctantly while grabbing at his braid so he could squeeze it in his hand. “Well, the thing is . . . Divine kind of . . . stole my magic too. Most of it.”

Rex held still, though his composure was slightly chipped by the disappointment in his eyes. Jack was not so contained.

“What?” he thundered when Stardust’s words had finally sunk in.

“It happened after the fight everyone saw. I was about to beat the shit out of that black-feather guy, and then Divine showed up, and bam!” He clapped his hands. “Next thing I know I’m caught in his spell feeling my whole life and soul get sucked out of me.”

“I see,” Rex said. “And is that why . . .” He gestured toward Stardust with one hand. “This happened?”

“I mean . . .” Stardust snuck one guilty glance to Yusei, but the knight wasn’t even looking at him. Stardust grabbed at his braid again. “Maybe. Probably. I could have just shrunk into a tiny dragon, but . . . I don’t know, I guess my body freaked out and decided this was the best way to preserve whatever was left of me. I’m really not sure, and that’s the truth.” He snuck another glance to Yusei.

“So you’re useless now, is what you’re saying.”

Stardust snapped his eyes toward Jack and bared his teeth. “I can still kick your little bitchy Jack-ass.”

Jack jumped onto his feet so fast his chair fell backwards. “Wanna bet?”

“Hush.”

Everyone turned toward Rex, who was sitting with a deeply contemplative expression. Jack and Stardust shot searing glares at one another, both of them signaling with their eyes that they were lucky there was a table between them.

“This is an . . . unfortunate disadvantage,” Rex noted. “But, it can’t be helped.” He set his hands on the table and gracefully rose from his chair. Behind him, Carly was shaking nervously, still worried about the animosity between the prince and the ex-dragon. “It just means we have no choice but to reach out to Archfiend.”

Stardust made a pained expression and then hissed under his breath. “Shit.”

Jack noticed and burst out a single, harsh laugh. “Ha! Yeah, that’s right. Time to bring a real dragon into this fight!”

Chapter Text

“A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

Jack didn’t say out loud how his idea had one major risk to it: If Archfiend not only decided to refuse to help but that being contacted was an irritating nuisance, then some or all of them might end up dead before the real battle had even begun. Jack and Archfiend weren’t best friends or anything, not like Yusei and Stardust. The dragon had just taking a liking to the prince. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t a recluse who liked to be left alone.

So it was just a matter of luck whether they found him in a good mood or not. But Jack didn’t like to rely on luck. He preferred to bet everything on his own strength and perseverance. He wouldn’t be intimidated. Even if Archfiend did answer his call in a foul mood, he would simply power through until the dragon came to see things his way. He was Jack. To-be-king-one-day Jack. He would show weakness in front of no one.

He thought these things over and over to himself as he waited, arms crossed, fingers and toes tapping. Carly was doing her best, but working with crystals was not her strength, so it would take her some time to get the right flow between herself and the crystal that could reach Archfiend.

Aki was still reeling as she watched the scene of a king and prince stand by as a witch attempted magic in front of them. It ran counter to every dire warning she had held close to her heart since she was a young child. Humans feared magic because they couldn’t use it or understand it, which made them hate it—and those who could use it against them. But neither the royals nor Carly seemed afraid of each other. And there was no time for Aki to ask for an explanation, so she could only watch and stew in her confusion and resentment. Why was this witch allowed to live safely and happily in luxury, while she had hidden away in fear? It wasn’t fair.

What Aki didn’t know was the more nuanced politics of magic and power. It was fairly well-known among the noble class that a witch could manifest seemingly at random in a family line. It was rare, but always a possibility, one they had to be prepared for. Because if a noble child exhibited signs of magical ability, then they were obligated to present that child to the king to become his dedicated servant. It was a sign of loyalty. If a noble was found to have hidden a witch child, then it was assumed they intended to use the child’s magic in an act of rebellion, and measures would be taken against such treason.

No noble was willing to take that risk. And so when Carly had been very young and began to present her first signs of magic, her parents had brought her to Rex. She had then been given the best education the kingdom had to offer so that she could be suitable to serve and be useful to the king. And that was the way of things. The king had a much tighter rein over the nobles, who were much closer to him socially. They were easy to monitor, and thus their secrets were hard to keep from him. Even without magic, he had the power to command their obedience to his will.

Among the rest of the people, however, witches were not a class set apart to serve the king. They were aberrations, curses, bad omens. To those who didn’t know better, magic was the cause of war and chaos. A whole village would band together and risk their lives to kill a witch, because even if the witch managed to kill some of them in the fight, they were sure to win by their numbers, and that was how they kept peace and safety. The king didn’t have the resources to find or control every witch in the kingdom, and certainly not to command absolute compliance from every citizen in Domino, so it was simply easier to let the commoner witches hide or die. A waste of magic, to be sure, but he was a busy man.

Carly had her own problems. While the king and prince trusted her to be loyal to the kingdom, mean rumors traveled around the castle on the wings of gossip. The most embarrassing was that she had used her magic to charm Prince Jack into an infatuation with her. Embarrassing because she didn’t even have that kind of magic, which made her feel like the Carly of the rumors was more skilled than herself, and because she wanted the prince to be charmed by her. She didn’t think a good defense for herself was that she wasn’t doing that kind of magic, but if she could she would, so she just left it alone.

Besides, what was she going to do? Ask Prince Jack to stop spending so much time with her because people were getting the wrong idea? Absolutely not. She had been granted a gift by the universe, who was she to deny it? Being a witch had given her the opportunity to have so much time with him, because her rank alone would not have been enough. Unless the prince had happened to spot her and feel love at first sight and invite her to meet with him over and over and over in a dazzling ritual of courting until he was finally ready to propose in front of everyone, down on one knee as the crowds gasped around them . . .

She could dream. She probably shouldn’t, it got her worked up into a fluster. But she could.

As things stood, she wasn’t exactly sure what Prince Jack thought of her. He seemed kind enough, but she couldn’t tell if she was just projecting her own crush when she thought maybe he was flirting, or if it was real. And if she made a fool of herself by confessing to him with the expectation that he would admit he returned her feelings, only for him to say he didn’t, their time together would never be the same. Maybe he would even stop meeting with her so much, or at all. She couldn’t bear that. It was better to be uncertain and keeping being with him than to take the risk. Or so she told herself, even as she agonized on the inside.

Yes, Carly had great troubles.

But she kept her focus while she worked. She and all the rest were in a kind of library, its shelves packed with books, its walls colored with a variety of maps and charts—of the kingdom, the earth, the sea, the stars—the desks and tables littered with tools whose purpose wasn’t entirely clear. Among the esoteric materials, what stood out the most was a marble stand in the center of the room, on top of which was a crystal ball roughly the size of a pumpkin. The concave top held the crystal safely balanced, and the bulky base was heavy and wide enough to hold the whole column steady.

Carly stood next to it, her hands held on either side of the ball, curved against its aura, her shoulders hunched in concentration. She even swirled her hands around as if fine-tuning and searching for the signal at every angle. Aki watched with some frustration, because if she had been at her normal capacity, it would have been an easy task to see and control the flow of magic. Even in her current state, she could still see faint glints of energy within the crystal, and seeing how much Carly struggled made her shake with the urge to step in and do it for her. She kept her agitated hands busy by grabbing at her dress.

“Almost there,” Carly said, her voice strained with effort. Jack and Aki were both watching her with fierce intensity, while Yusei glanced at each of them from the corner of his eye. He still wasn’t looking at Stardust, but he could feel the tension in his aura easily enough. “Almost there . . .”

Finally the crystal began to emit a soft light, beginning in its center and growing until it reached out into the air, washing past Carly’s hands. Then the clear light began to cloud and shimmer until the ball looked less like glass and more like a smoky pearl. Everyone leaned in and watched the crystal change, waiting for something to appear in the cloud. Eventually there was a brief flash of crimson, but it was gone before it could form a shape. Carly frowned and made a grumbling sound deep in her throat, then worked her hands through the crystal’s light even more. The cloud began to grow thin, and through it a shape began to become clear: massive wings, broad armored shoulders, and a head adorned with three curved horns.

“There!”

Jack leapt from his station to the ball, on the opposite side of Carly, and shouted with his face right in the light, “Oi! Your precious Book of Dragons has been stolen! It’s a shit situation. Big threat, lots of danger. So come meet with me. You’re needed.”

Jack stared into the crystal to look for a sign that his message had been received. The shape was dim, but he could just make out a pair of eyes light up a fiery orange before it all faded into the opaque cloud. At that point, Carly let her hold on the crystal’s magic go, and the cloud dissipated until the crystal was clear as glass once more, the soft morning light passing through it from the narrow window.

“Hey, Yusei,” Crow whispered. “Is it all right to boss a dragon around like that?”

Yusei shrugged. “It’s Jack. How else is he going to talk to it?”

“Well, you don’t seem worried,” Crow noted. “I guess I’ll take some comfort in that.”

“If you really want to feel reassured,” Stardust said, “you should know that Arch will take the Book being stolen seriously. So he’ll probably hold off from frying anyone until he gets all the details.”

“Oh yeah. I’m completely reassured now.”

“If you want, you have some time to escape,” Stardust suggested. “He’s not too close, so we’ll be waiting a bit before he gets here.”

Night had fallen. Archfiend still had not arrived, and Crow had not fled. After a sumptuous dinner, the quality of which he and Aki had never experienced before, all the guests were guided into their accommodations. Aki was convinced her single bedroom was bigger than the whole cottage she had shared with Divine. It stunned her speechless to be given such a space. The bed alone was too much. Its size dwarfed her, the sheets were unbelievably soft, and the blankets were stitched with elaborate designs she couldn’t imagine having the patience to sew.

The wide space gave her plenty of room to think. Earlier, once all the work had been done, Carly had been eager to meet Aki more properly and discuss “witchy things”. It was in the course of that long conversation that Aki had learned Carly had poor vision—ironic for a witch whose main ability was to see visions of the future. The present moment was always a literal blur to her, and no attempt to fix her eyesight had borne results. Aki felt like she could relate. One way or another, neither she nor Carly could clearly see the world as it truly was.

Stardust too was consumed by his current state. He had been all day. Because any time he had nothing else to do, he sank into self-pity. He was so weak. So weak! These arms, these legs, these flimsy nails, this skin—they were all so soft! He poked at the skin and watched in dismay as his flesh moved easily under the pressure. He scratched at it, and even with the dull edge of his fingernail it turn red. So, so weak.

And his teeth. They were so dull and fragile. Even the remnants of his fangs were pitifully weak compared to what he was used to. These little pearls would break if he bit too hard on a bone, they would be useless when it was time to bite off a head or two. And his stamina. He might as well be bedridden. As a dragon he could soar all day without ever feeling fatigue. But like this, he couldn’t even run for half an hour without collapsing out of breath.

And walking. Oh, walking. He didn’t know how anyone could stand it. Walking was so slow! So agonizingly slow! And boring! And it cost too much time. It should not take so long to get from one place to another. Did humans even realize how sad it was that they moved so slow? And did they realize how weak their eyes were? And all their other senses too? He felt like he could barely see. The world had shrunk for him, and distances that he would have been able to view clearly became blurs, no matter how hard he focused. And smells weren’t as strong, and sounds weren’t as clear. Everything just seemed fuzzier.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it. He couldn’t stop comparing what he was to what he should be. He looked down at the long braid as he both stroked and squeezed it and resented that it wasn’t the tail he had lost. It was no weapon. It wasn’t even a limb he could make use of. It was just a loose, flimsy rope that served no purpose but to annoy him. And he was already plenty annoyed. He was frustrated. So frustrated he didn’t know which to do first: scream, punch something, or cry.

He hated it. He hated it so much. He hated it passionately, with all his tiny human heart. But he couldn’t even complain to Yusei about it, because he didn’t have the courage to approach him. And even if he did complain, he had a feeling that would only make it worse.

But he wanted Yusei to understand! Surely Yusei could understand his suffering! Who would choose to be human when they could be a dragon? Surely Yusei could understand that. Maybe it was harsh, but it was true. Why should Yusei be offended? Stardust was the one who had been truly wronged here! How did a small thing like not mentioning a human form compare to being violated by an evil witch? Stardust hadn’t been hiding it maliciously, it just never seemed like an important detail. Why would he have ever told Yusei he could make himself look human when he had never had the intention to do so? Even from a very young age, Stardust had seen no reason to ever transform. He thought about it so rarely he had even been able to go years at a time having forgotten it. Yusei should be able to understand! Yusei should understand how miserable it felt to be weak! Yusei should be able to show him some sympathy!

Though he was embarrassed to be seen like this by Archfiend, he hoped that at least the dragon could show the appropriate response. Archfiend would understand. Archfiend, who was all about might and power, would understand how deplorable—distressing—traumatic it was to be reduced to a human.

Yusei noticed that Stardust was avoiding him. He had a few guesses why, and he decided to leave him be. Stardust wasn’t a child, no matter how much he acted like one sometimes, and Yusei wasn’t in the mood to coddle him. If Stardust wanted to be alone to sulk, Yusei would give him the time and space, and hopefully by the time he needed to focus, he would be ready.

And he didn’t give it more thought than that.

Instead, he spent his day working. He spoke with Jack and Rex to go over in more detail everything they all knew about Divine and everything Yusei had experienced of him and the black dragon. It wasn’t enough to figure out what Divine’s ultimate goal was, but the discussion at least made them all feel like they were doing something productive.

When there was finally nothing more to add, Yusei took a walk around the castle grounds to think. The movement of his feet helped his mind to move too, but he just couldn’t paint the bigger picture with the pieces he had. Too much was still missing. Divine . . . He was stealing magic, trying to become more powerful, but for what? What was he planning? Agitation assaulted Yusei, like an itch that couldn’t be scratched. He hated not knowing. It felt like walking blindly through the dark, desperate for a light to reveal what he couldn’t see.

And he knew it was futile to keep thinking about it. The answers wouldn’t come to him out of nowhere just because he wanted them. He needed to think about something else, something that wouldn’t make him feel stuck. He spent a good portion of the afternoon cleaning his armor and weapons. It was a familiar ritual that gave him a rhythm to focus on. When he was done, he sat holding his sword longways across his palms and stared down on the shining metal. The sword had always been reliable, but there was no denying that now, it wasn’t enough. The enemy he faced now wasn’t one a sword alone could defeat. But he was a swordsman. He didn’t have another weapon or skill that he could use instead. He stared and thought.

And then he was standing outside Aki’s door. He hesitated for just a moment, then knocked. “Yes?” he heard Aki call from inside as she came to greet her visitor. “It’s me,” he announced just before she opened the door.

“Hi,” she greeted, seeming happily surprised to see him.

“Hi.”

“Are you ok?” she asked first. “You’ve seemed really . . . intense today.”

“Intense?”

“I mean like, deep in thought.”

“Ah. Yeah.”

He didn’t expand on that at first, so Aki offered, “So . . . did you want to come in?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t.” She stepped aside to give him room, and he thanked her quietly as he entered. She closed the door behind him.

“I was thinking,” he said after a moment.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And I had a thought.” He pulled out his sword and held it as if presenting it to her as a gift, flat against his palms. “Do you think it would be possible to maybe put magic in this? I don’t have any magic of my own, but if I’m going to fight Divine, I imagine having some that I can use would help.”

Aki’s brows rose slightly, and then she looked down at the sword. Magic at its most dense state took the form of a crystal, but it existed in other natural sources too, like stone and ore. The refinement process reduced the magic in the natural material if it didn’t specifically treat the magic. When Aki worked her herbs and flowers into medicine, she could treat the magic in them to make it more potent. When a blacksmith, like Crow, refined iron into a sword, the natural magic was often purified out. But that didn’t mean more couldn’t be put back in, as an enchantment.

Aki reached up with one hand and lightly brushed her fingertips along the length of the sword. “It’s possible,” she said softly.

He was watching her closely, and he guessed her next thought. “But . . . ?”

She looked up from the sword to him. “But? No, no ‘but’.”

“You don’t seem a hundred percent sure, though.”

“Well, I was just thinking I’m sorry I can’t be the one to help.”

That was why he had hesitated to come to her. He wanted to rely on her knowledge, but he had worried that wouldn’t be enough to outweigh her feeling of weakness.

“Carly might be able to,” she added, forcing herself to not let her guilt show. “I can help you find her if—”

She stopped when Yusei took the sword by just one hand and reached the other out to touch her wrist. She looked down to his hand, then up to his eyes.

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“What? No, I’m not upset.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, and Aki knew he was right. They didn’t need to argue about it, and she didn’t need to admit it. She simply didn’t say anything else either.

“Is it something you can’t do because you don’t know how, or because you don’t have enough magic?”

Aki dropped her gaze down to the sword Yusei held at his side. “I don’t have enough. And I still can’t see the flow of magic very clearly, so it would be more of a struggle because of that.”

Yusei lifted the sword back up to lay across his open palms between them. “Crow made this sword, you know.”

Aki nodded. “Yes. He did a beautiful job.”

Yusei nodded. “He put a lot of himself into it. I can feel him supporting me when I hold it.” He looked into her eyes meaningfully. “I feel like, no matter what amount of magic you can manage, it would be stronger just because it’s you. I’d rather feel your support with me than anyone else’s. That was why I came to you, even though Carly is here.” He looked down from her eyes to the sword. “But I don’t want you to strain yourself if you think it would be too much for you. It was just an idea from my own way of thinking. We don’t have to do it that way.”

Aki reached out a hand and laid it on top of the blade so it was pressed between their palms. “No, I like your way of thinking,” she said softly. “I don’t know how much I can do, but I want to do whatever I can. I just hope it’ll actually be enough to help.”

“It will.”

She looked at him. “You say that like you know.”

“I have faith. In you, and myself. You do what you can, and I’ll make the most of it.”

Aki grabbed a fistful of her skirt with her free hand and squeezed it hard at her thigh. She didn’t have the same conviction he did, but seeing it in his eyes made her want to live up to his expectations. Determination vibrated in her chest. “Ok then.”

At dawn, without any warning or announcement, Archfiend finally arrived. He landed in the palace gardens, startling the guards out of their nightwatch peace. Archfiend paid them no mind as they scrambled to give him more space and rushed to inform the king. He busied himself with scanning the surroundings, since it had been some time since his last visit.

Humans were funny. They built such large, grand castles to compensate for their own tiny stature, and yet even such fortresses were no match against his might. It only made the prince’s pride more amusing, which was his good fortune, because if Archfiend had not had his sense of humor, the dragon might have found his human insolence offensive.

Archfiend was curious to see how much Jack had grown since they first met. Back then, he had been a child, but humans aged quickly. Even just ten years could turn a child into an almost completely different person.

Archfiend had been in his cave, apparently well-hidden and camouflaged in the dark, because the young prince had entered without any hesitation or realization that he was there. Jack had even run all the way up to Archfiend, thinking his rocklike body was part of the cave wall he could turn his back to safely. Archfiend didn’t rustle, because he was curious enough to just watch as a gang of angry, shouting children came running in as well, apparently chasing the prince. But even though the prince had been running and was alone against the others, he turned to face them with sword in hand, seeming ready to fight them in his chosen battlefield.

Archfiend wasn’t interested in watching children fight—and certainly not in his own home, uninvited. So when Jack let out a fierce shout, like a war cry before his first strike, Archfiend joined him. His roar filled the cave, the echoes amplifying its power a dozen times each second, and all the children were knocked to the ground. The prince’s enemies then added their own screams, but within the dragon’s roar they were barely audible, and as quickly as they could they all scrambled to their feet and fought each other to be the first one out.

Archfiend found it curious that the prince himself had not made any attempt to run, though he thought perhaps he had been frozen in fear. He seemed to be wrong when he ended his roar and the prince stood up to face him with a hard look. Archfiend could recognize it as the face of a boy determined to not be afraid, even though he most definitely was. He was shaking, but forcing himself to stand tall and still. There was no purpose to it except to maintain his own pride, but to Archfiend, that in itself was admirable. Surpassing one’s fear took strength, after all.

And Archfiend had a good idea that he incited great fear in humans, perhaps more so than others of his kind. Many times, humans had cried out “Demon! Demon!” at the sight of him. Archfiend gathered that demons were some kind of human folklore, manifestations of evil or something of the sort. And he somehow resembled them, with his short, rounded muzzle, his black and red scales like molten lava topped by plates of armor across his chest, his bright yellow eyes, his three horns and long talons hard as metal, and his sturdy wings with horns protruding from the top.

Personally, Archfiend didn’t understand what about any of his features seemed related to evil, but if it made him seem more fearsome and powerful in the eyes of humans, he wasn’t going to complain. And knowing that he was so terrifying made the prince’s courage even more worthy of recognition.

“Standing tall for a dignified death, are you?” he asked while extending his bulky neck to get closer to the boy.

Jack then stiffened his shoulders and raised his chin high while looking straight into Archfiend’s face. “I’m a prince!” he declared. “I’ll never be weak in front of anyone!”

“Hmm, a prince, huh?” Archfiend said while tapping a talon on the rocky ground.

“That’s right!” he said proudly. “My father is King Rex, King of Domino! And I’m Jack, Prince of Domino!”

“I see,” he said thoughtfully, still tapping the ground. “Well Jack, Prince of Domino, you seem to have wandered into my cave.”

“I didn’t know you were in here.”

“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t.”

“Are you going to kill me for something like that? When you let those others go?”

“Does that sound unfair to you?”

“Yes! It sounds horribly, ridiculously unfair!”

He had to hand it to the kid. He seemed pretty comfortable arguing his point with a dragon, instead of collapsing into tears and begging to be spared. This was probably the first human he had been able to start a conversation with in ages.

“Why should I be fair when I have all the power to make my own rules and do whatever I want?”

Jack crossed his arms and seemed to really put some thought into it. “Well,” he said slowly after a long, drawn-out silence. “I guess . . . you don’t have to,” he admitted reluctantly.

“An honest answer,” Archfiend noted with approval. “All right, let me ask you this, Prince. You’re going to be king someday, right?”

“That’s right,” he answered, putting his hands on his hips and sounding like the pride of his entire bloodline rested on his shoulders.

“All right. And kings have all the power in their little kingdom’s, right?”

“That’s right.”

“So, when you’re king, are you going to do things fairly? Or will you just do whatever you want with your power?”

Jack looked down and crossed his arms again, going back into thought. It wasn’t as long as the first time though, and after just a moment he looked up with his answer.

“Both!”

Archfiend was admittedly intrigued.

“Both? And how do you plan to do that?”

“I’m going to be fair, because it’s what I want to do! No one’s going to make me do anything, I’m deciding for myself that that’s how I want it to be!”

Archfiend stared at the little prince and tapped his talon. “And why do you want to be fair?”

“Because I don’t have to be unfair to get what I want!” Jack boasted, pounding a fist against his chest. “I don’t need to cheat or anything! I can play by all the rules and still be better than anyone! Other people can even cheat against me and I’ll still win! There’s no pride in doing things unfairly! Being unfair is basically admitting you’re not good enough! So I won’t let anyone get away with being unfair!”

Archfiend considered him, and then his lips pulled back into a grin. “I see,” he said through his sharp teeth. “So if you were me, and I were you, what would you do?”

Jack’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know. It depends on what you want.”

“Hmm, that’s a good point. All right, let’s say I want to be left alone and discourage other people from wandering too close.”

“Hmm.” Jack tightened his crossed arms and tapped his foot. When he had his answer, he said, “I’d tell you to get out and use your influence as a prince to spread word that this area is dangerous and people should stay away!”

“Oh? And how would you make sure that’s what I do? What if I decide to go gather up some dragon hunters and come back to kill you?”

“I wouldn’t do that!”

Even Archfiend was surprised by the ferocity of Jack’s denial. It made him too slow to speak up before Jack continued.

“Don’t even suggest that I would!”

“And why wouldn’t you?” Archfiend asked, now genuinely curious.

“Killing isn’t a sport! I only want to kill people who really deserve it! And anyway, it’s not fair to just barge into people’s homes and take them by surprise. If I wanted to kill you, I’d want it to be in a duel to the death that has rules that we both agree on. That’s the right way to do it!”

Archfiend found himself with a bubbling sensation in his stomach, and eventually it made its way to his lungs and he began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Jack demanded.

“Nothing,” Archfiend said. “I was just thinking that having company every now and then isn’t so bad.” Jack looked confused, but Archfiend just waved a giant claw to show he didn’t need to understand. Then he stretched his wings and rustled his broad shoulders. “All right, Jack, Prince of Domino. In gratitude for the entertainment you’ve given me, I’ll do as you suggested.” He said this despite having always had the intention of letting him walk out alive and well. “So go on and warn people to stay away from here. But for you, I’ll extend an invitation. If you feel like coming back and giving me more entertainment, I won’t eat you. Probably. Depending on my mood.”

“Your mood?” Jack said incredulously. “So you’re saying I can come back, but also it could be dangerous if I do?”

“Well it’s not like I want you to get so cozy around me you come strolling by all the time. I need my alone time, you know.”

“I don’t have time to come here every day!” Jack huffed indignantly. “And who’d want to visit you that much anyway, huh? What makes you think you’re that interesting? I need my alone time too!”

Archfiend’s teeth were still showing in his grin. “That’s good then. Whenever you're ready to take the risk, I’ll be here. Take your time coming up with the courage.”

“I’m not scared!” Jack insisted, puffing out his chest. “And I’m only going to keep getting stronger! You’ll see!”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it.”

Even after they had met again, Archfiend still wouldn’t have gone so far as to say he thought of Jack as a friend. The prince was more a subject of interest. But considering his solitary lifestyle, that was the closest anyone had gotten. And Jack had done as promised: he had helped spur rumors that the area around Archfiend’s cave was dangerous (which were supported by the boys who had chased him there and been scared away), and over the years he came to visit sparingly: enough to not lose touch, but not too much that he became a pest.

And this was only one of a very few times that Archfiend had ever come to the castle. Usually it had always been Jack who had made the journey to visit him. And this was definitely the first time that any of their visits had seemed . . . urgent.

It didn’t take long for Jack to emerge from the castle’s shadow, followed by a band of other humans Archfiend didn’t recognize but who were obviously not mere soldiers. There was a young knight, another young man whose occupation Archfiend couldn’t guess, two young women, and a man with braided white hair that even Archfiend could recognize was unusually long. But more than that, as Archfiend observed him during his approach, he could feel his faint, but familiar aura.

“You sure took your time,” Jack huffed.

Archfiend ignored him—partly because he knew it would annoy the prince, but also partly because he was so struck he couldn’t focus on anything else. “Stardust?” he asked incredulously when he finally realized. “Is that you?”

“Hey!” Jack barked, but both Archfiend and Stardust pretended to not notice.

“In the flesh,” he sighed, holding his hands out in helpless presentation of his new self.

Archfiend let out a cackle, but then he leaned in closer and narrowed his eyes. “But what’s wrong with you? I can only just barely make out your aura.”

“Oh, you know, just the longest and worst story of my life.”

“It’s why I called you here,” Jack said loudly.

Archfiend finally turned his attention to Jack. “Oh! Hey, I didn’t see you there.”

Jack frowned and showed some of his teeth in irritation. “Then maybe you’re too airheaded to be of any use!”

Archfiend leaned in so close that his face was less than an arm’s length from Jack. “You sure seem extra wound-up today. Why don’t you go eat some breakfast and maybe you’ll calm down.”

“You little bastard.”

“Jack, Jack,” Archfiend chided, “I’m a much bigger bastard than you’ll ever be.”

“Oh I don’t know,” Stardust countered, “I think he can give you some healthy competition.”

“Kisama!”

Stardust met Jack’s snarl with a mere sideways glance before he began to calmly stroke his braid.

“Stardust had his magic stolen,” Yusei said matter-of-factly to break the tangent. “Along with the Book of Dragons.” Archfiend then turned his eyes to the knight with sudden sobriety. Having gained the dragon’s attention, Yusei continued, “A witch named Divine is going around building up his magic by stealing from others, like Stardust, and Aki”—he gestured to her, since she was right next to him—“who’s also a witch. We don’t know what his plan is, but he’s dangerous. And we should assume that the more time passes, the stronger he gets. He could be trying to steal more magic from more dragons right now.”

Yusei wasn’t paying him any notice, but Jack was shooting him a hard frown. Once again, he had been plowed over, when he had been the one to summon Archfiend in the first place! And he was the prince, dammit! People should be giving all their attention to him.

Archfiend turned to Stardust, seeking confirmation with his gaze alone. Stardust answered him with a nod.

“Well,” he said in a voice low and simmering, “that is definitely something that needs addressing.”

“Does that mean you’ll help?” Stardust asked.

“I can hardly just leave this alone. A rogue witch trying to surpass us? Stealing from us? It’s unacceptable. I need to put him in his place.”

“Ok, yes, I agree,” Stardust began tentatively, since he could feel the fires of his spirit flare, kindled by indignation, “but you’ll work with us to come up with a plan, right? It’d be dangerous to go alone. You could end up like me.”

Archfiend snorted. “Impossible. Witches are just humans with a little extra flavor, and I’d never be beaten by a human.”

Stardust’s own spirit flared. “You think if he was just a regular human, he’d be able to get the best of me?”

“Perhaps not. But Stardust—and I mean no offense—you and I are on different levels. Just because he’s stronger than you doesn’t mean he has a chance against me.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Stardust whispered to his shaking fist, so softly only Yusei could hear him. Then he raised his chin defiantly. “You know what? Fine. Go give it a try. Personally I can’t wait to see how small you look when you come crawling back on soft hands and knees.”

Yusei closed his eyes and bowed his head into his palm.

“Oh? You think I’m as small as you in that form?” Archfiend asked while flexing his broad wings.

“You wanna know what I think? I’m picturing a little runt, ‘bout this high.” He held his palm flatly horizontal against the bottom of his breastbone. “Someone I could kick across this whole damn courtyard. And an ugly face. The kind that’s good for punching.”

“Ha! You think those arms you’ve got there are any good for punching? Here, let me show you what a strong human looks like!”

With that, Archfiend’s body began to glow like metal in a forge, erasing all his features into a singular red-hot shine. And like hot metal, it began to bend and ooze, morphing his shape as it shrank. Though by the time he stopped shrinking, he was still taller than Jack. His body sucked in his wings to lay against his back. His tail and horns withdrew until they were no more. His claws dulled and softened. When the transformation was complete, the light faded, bringing back the color and features of his form.

Before the group stood a tall man whose muscles pressed visibly against his clothes, which were the same red and black of his dragon scales. Draped over his shoulders was a heavy cloak with fur trim at the neck. His hair was short and stood up on its ends except for one patch that fell against the center of his forehead. His face was hard with a strong jaw, chiseled cheeks, and thick eyebrows. He looked like a man wild enough to wrestle bears and lift boulders, but cultured enough to have a sense of class and fashion.

He crossed his arms triumphantly and looked down at Stardust with a half-grin.

Stardust met his eyes while also folding his arms. He sniffed and frowned. “I knew it. Ugly.”

Archfiend chuckled. “I can accept that. I won’t fight you for the title of prettiest.”

“Pretty?”

Stardust began to stomp forward but stumbled to a halt when Yusei suddenly grabbed his braid to hold him in place.

“Guys. Focus.”

Stardust was so stunned that Yusei actually spoke to him that he was, for the moment, rendered speechless.

Archfiend turned his fire-red eyes to Yusei. “Oh,” he said as realization dawned on him. “You’re the stray Stardust adopted.”

“I’m not his dad,” Stardust countered, while behind him Yusei merely answered, “That’s right.” Which also caught Stardust so off guard he faltered.

“What’s your name?”

“Yusei.”

“Yusei. You’ve got a strong look to you,” he said approvingly. “Not sure how you managed that hanging out with this guy.” Archfiend cast another teasing smirk toward Stardust.

“He’s helped me build up my fortitude.”

As Archfiend laughed, Stardust looked over his shoulder, and Yusei met his eyes with a straight and steady gaze. He was still so unreadable. Stardust couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all behind that serious expression, so he could only assume Yusei was still angry with him. He couldn’t talk to him like he wanted to—alone, privately—but he wanted to show at least some good faith while he had the chance, even if it was in front of a crowd.

Stardust turned back to face Archfiend. “Well anyway, now that you’re finally here, I need to tell you something. All of you.” By then Yusei had released Stardust’s braid, so he pulled it over his shoulder and self-consciously scratched at the bare skin of his neck. “So . . . back when I took the Book from here, I didn’t just put it back in the temple. I . . . entrusted it to someone. In the Crimson Wood.”

“The Crimson Wood?” Archfiend repeated incredulously. “Why would you leave it so close?”

“It’s not close by human standards. And besides, no one ever goes there, human or witch.”

That was true enough. It was not a hospitable, let alone habitable place. The animals were sparse, the fruit was inedible, the water was bitter. The trees had such thick, craggy foliage that it was dark beneath the canopy even during the day, which alone made travel difficult, but the ground was so cluttered with treacherous roots that every blind step carried the risk of falling—perhaps into an open mouth in the earth that would swallow a body hole. Such imaginings were spurred by the secretions from which the forest earned its name: thick, syrupy, and red, it oozed down the bark of the trees until it soaked into the ground. The bleeding trees and their surrounding stains unnerved people enough that they avoided it by miles.

“But you just said you gave it to someone who is there,” Jack pointed out.

“I did. That someone just isn’t human. It’s a spirit that guards a sacred place in the wood.” He looked up—suppressing his annoyance—at Archfiend. “If I go back, I can find out what happened.”

“I see,” Archfiend said slowly. “And you want me to take you there.”

“No, I want to be able to fly there myself,” Stardust corrected testily. “But since I can’t, I am coming to the logical conclusion that you are the fastest and best alternative.”

“That is true,” Archfiend agreed. “Though I’m not like you, you know. I don’t really care to carry humans on my back.”

“I’m not human!”

Stardust had snapped out his protest before he realized what he had said. He fumbled to think of something to say to fix it, but Archfiend spoke first.

“All right, all right.” He held up a placating hand. “No need to be so sensitive.”

“I’m not—” Stardust stopped and corrected. “I’m dealing.”

“Are you? You seem pretty stressed ou—”

“Are you gonna take me or not?”

Archfiend relented and sighed while setting his hands on his hips. “Fine. If the Book’s been stolen, might be worth it to see the one it was stolen from.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll go too,” Yusei said.

Archfiend held up a commanding hand. “No you won’t. Didn’t you hear me? I’m not a passenger cart. I’ll take this guy, but that’s where I draw the line.”

Yusei looked up into Archfiend’s fire-eyes with his own firm gaze, and for a moment they stood measuring each other’s resolve. Finally Yusei conceded, though somehow when he did it, he didn’t sound like he had lost anything. “Fine.”

Archfiend crossed his arms. “We’ll get what we need and come back to share information. What are you going to be doing while we’re gone?” he asked to the remaining group, but with a particular eye toward Jack.

“Just go already,” Jack barked. “If we do anything you need to know about, we’ll tell you when you get back.”

“Hm, all right. If this witch shows up in the meantime, I’ll avenge your death, Prince of Domino.”

“Ha! Like I need you to do that. Listen, you’d better hurry up and get back or I’ll have his head on a pike before you even get a chance to fight!”

“Ha! If he’s weak enough for you to beat, then I didn’t even need to come in the first place!”

Jack opened his mouth, but a deafening whistle filled the courtyard, bringing the banter to a halt as most covered their ears.

“Guys,” Yusei said flatly after patting Crow appreciatively on the shoulder. Crow nodded and took his fingers out of his mouth. “Can we please. Focus.”

In the muted light of the cloud-covered sun, the green beneath Archfiend slid by with deceptive calm. In contrast, Archfiend could tell Stardust was in a sullen mood. They weren’t the kind of acquaintances who could have a heart-to-heart though, so Archfiend didn’t try to dig that deep. Stardust, for his part, was taking in the new perspective and realizing that this was what it felt like for Yusei to ride on his own shoulders. He might have thought it was a nice break from doing all the work if he hadn’t been wishing hard to be able to fly for himself again.

“So,” Archfiend opened conversationally. “Since we’ve got some time to kill, is there anything else I need to know about this witch?”

“Probably,” Stardust answered while peering down over the field, which would soon turn into forest.

“Care to share?”

“What kinds of thing do you want to know?”

“The important things, obviously. What kinds of powers and skills does he have?”

“I doubt I know everything he can do.”

“Obviously. If you did, you’d have an actual plan already.”

“No one asked for your criticism.”

“You asked for my help, so you get both.”

“You wouldn’t have come up with anything better.”

“Come on now, don’t be so sensitive.”

“I’m not sensitive! You’d annoy anyone.”

“That’s no way to talk to your senior.”

“You’re barely two hundred years older than me, get a grip.”

“You think you’ll make it to my age at this rate? You’re hanging out with humans too much, it’s making you lose your edge.”

“Don’t get it twisted! This isn't happening because of humans. This is all because of one witch, all right? One. I’ve got plenty of edge, and I’ll be just fine once I get my magic back.”

“Don’t you mean when I get your magic back for you?”

“No. You won’t be able to beat him by yourself.”

“But you still need me, right?”

Stardust sighed with an eyeroll. “You just want to make sure we owe you something.”

“That’s only fair, isn’t it? I’m going out of my way here.”

“You do remember this is a problem for all of us, right? You’re doing yourself a favor getting involved now rather than later.”

“All right, sure. But I’m still waiting for you to give me some more details. Don’t you want me to be prepared when I finally meet this guy?”

Stardust sighed again, and then he complied, recounting as much as he could about their encounters with Divine and the information they had gathered so far about him.

“Hmm, I knew humans could be dramatic,” Archfiend mused, “but it sounds like this guy is overreacting just a bit.”

“Whaaat?” Stardust countered sarcastically. “You’re saying you don’t think wiping out an entire species is a reasonable, proportionate response to being mistreated by one king ten years ago?”

“It’s a bit much, but I’ll acknowledge he has an admirable amount of motivation.”

“Let’s not go out of our way to find things to praise him for.”

“It’s only honorable to acknowledge the strengths of your opponent.”

“There’s nothing honora—Wait! There!” Stardust quickly pointed while leaning over Archfiend’s shoulder. “That tree! Take us down there.”

“All right.” Archfiend began to spiral downward to reach the destination gradually, which was a grand oak tree standing tall above its surrounding neighbors, its thick, sprawling leaves the color of blood, its trunk and branches twisted painfully. Not even the sun could brighten it, as the light seemed to disappear in the dark colors.

Archfiend maneuvered his bulk carefully so as to not rustle the leaves too much. Just as his hind talons touched the soil, Stardust leapt down from his shoulders. His white hair caught the thin streams of light that passed through the canopy and reflected them with a glimmer, giving him an ethereal air within the murky wood. Stardust quickly jumped along the gnarly roots to get closer to the tree, putting his long legs to use for speed and balance. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “Akakiryu!”

The leaves seemed to shiver for miles in response to his call, and the trees seemed to groan. Stardust kept his stance steady and his eyes set on the trunk of the crimson oak. The slight shifts of the leaves made the sunlight and its shine in Stardust’s hair dance.

“Akakiryu,” he called again. “It’s me.”

The roots trembled under his feet, and then slowly a knot in the trunk split and opened, revealing a large, yellow eye. Then came a sound of something coiling around the tree, rubbing against the bark, and as it got louder, a figure began to appear, pale and transparent at first, and gradually growing more vivid. Stardust looked up at the long serpentine flame winding around the tree, one end a long muzzle and fiery gold eyes, the other end a tail too long to be fully in view above the ground. Despite its burning appearance, it did not emit heat, nor did the tree it clung to catch fire from the constant red waves coursing down its body.

But like a flame, the dragon was never completely opaque, and Stardust could still see the tree through its eyes as the dragon peered closely into his.

“Stardust?” The dragon’s mouth merely opened, and a chorus of voices spoke at once.

“Yes,” Stardust answered with a nod.

“You’re different.”

“I’m aware, believe me,” he muttered tightly. “I’m here about the Book.”

Akakiryu’s body wrapped tighter around the tree, each coil of flames sliding closer together. “Yes, I’ve been expecting you.”

“What happened?” Stardust demanded. “Do you have any idea what all is going on right now? You were supposed to protect the Book, and now there’s a witch running around with it causing all sorts of problems!”

Akakiryu stared with the patience of an ancient being, its eyes calm even as its body rushed like red rapids. “It was stolen from me,” it explained.

“How?”

“The woman was clever. Skilled. I have a feeling she was . . . meant to take it.”

“What? Why? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve never met a witch as powerful as her.” The gold flames of the dragon’s eyes licked at the red flames of its face.

Not another one, Stardust thought painfully. “Who? Who is she?”

“Her name is Sherry LeBlanc.” The name meant nothing to Stardust, but that didn’t make him feel any better. “She came from the Red Nova valley. When she arrived, she said she wanted the Book. I said she couldn't have it. We fought. But no matter how strong my attacks, I could not break her magic. We might have been evenly matched if she had tried to attack me back, but she kept her shields up. I couldn’t touch her. When I realized that, she showed me a vial, and what just one drop of the poison it holds can do. It dried up one tree so thoroughly, and so quickly, that within seconds the leaves all died and fell, and the black wood turned ashy and soft. She said if I didn’t give her the Book, she would kill my tree.”

Stardust felt his chest go tight. The audacity of a mere witch to threaten Akakiryu . . . and to be capable enough to win . . . Akakiryu wasn’t like himself and Archfiend. They were beasts composed of many things, magic just one part, like blood and water. Akakiryu was pure magic. It had sprung from the earth fully formed, its existence directly tied to the crimson oak, its purpose to protect the Crimson Wood and all the magic within. Nothing could take priority over that purpose, not even the Book of Dragons.

“I’m sorry,” Akakiryu said. “I let her take it.”

Stardust ground his teeth for a moment. “It would have been better to destroy it.”

“She would have killed me for that, too.”

“She could have killed you anyway! What made you think you could trust her?”

“I could not destroy the Book,” Akakiryu insisted. “Its legacy is too great.”

“Its legacy won’t mean anything if Divine kills us all!”

“You are afraid of this witch.”

“You’re damn right I’m afraid! Look what he did to me! To me! And he’s got our Book! He’s dangerous and I’m useless!”

Stardust’s breath seethed through his grinding teeth. The trees whispered around him, and Archfiend’s tail swished lightly across the brush and debris.

“There is no need to despair.”

“Who’s despairing?” Stardust snapped. “I’m pissed off and frustrated! I’m not despairing!”

“Hm, my apologies. I am glad you have not given up. There is still time.”

“How much time?”

“That I cannot say for sure. But the man you fear is still preparing. He cannot achieve his goals yet, and his sights are not set on you. He is looking higher.”

“What do you mean?”

“He seeks not just power. He wants to become divine.”

“Is that even possible?” Stardust wouldn’t have thought so before, but the witch had consumed so much magic that his body should not have been able to handle—and survived. He was starting to doubt the limits of impossible.

“It may be—but only briefly. It will not be possible for him to touch the sun for long. If he does reach that high, he will certainly fall as well.”

Stardust wanted to take comfort in that, but there was no telling how much damage Divine could cause before that happened. By the time his ruin came—assuming Akakiryu was right—he could have already scorched the earth and every living thing in it.

“Well,” Stardust muttered, “I’d rather beat his ass back down before he gets too far up.”

The tower ruins hung over Divine, casting a long shadow over him as he sat in thought.

He had gotten so far. He was actually doing it, accomplishing the dreams he had been harboring for years. He was surpassing any magic known or attempted by any other witch. He was becoming truly great, legendary, getting closer and closer . . .

And at the same time, farther and farther away—too far from the point of no return to even consider another possibility. Not that he ever had before, but it was easy to stay focused when the atrocities he expected to commit were still hypothetical. It was real now. What was done was done. There was no undoing it, no changing his mind. He could only move forward, and now at any cost. After already committing the unforgivable, there was no reason to hold back. There was no point in being half-heartedly unredeemable.

He slowly turned the pages of the large book that lay open on the floor next to him. The movement made him grimace, pain bulging in his arms like a hundred breaks in the bones. But he no longer feared being overwhelmed by it. His body had gained the capacity to withstand this much.

At least for now, and as long as he had the glove. It held the magic for him and released it slowly so he didn’t have to consume it all at once. He could absorb a little at a time, and only after he had adapted to the new amount would he start to take in more.

It stretched him, constantly, like exercise without rest. Every second he felt the pressure, and there was nothing else he could do to ease the process. He just had to endure, and wait.

And as he waited, he thought about the changes happening in his body. As he had learned from physiology texts, witches generally used less than one tenth of their true potential. When not using magic, their bodies carried a store of it in their bodies, and after they used magic, they replenished their store from outside sources. The air they breathed, the food they ate, the material they touched—anything that carried an essence of natural energy converted into magic.

This organic process involved small amounts, but a witch’s body could adapt if more than the normal loads entered the process. The body had the infrastructure to manage a certain amount of excess magic, at least for a short amount of time. But it put a strain on the body if a witch deliberately overloaded themselves too much. There were records of witches dying from the practice.

But none of that had deterred Divine. He had believed he could do better, and now he had proved himself correct. When he focused on the pain, he imagined he could feel each miniscule shift in the fibers of his body as they adjusted to accommodate the expanding stores of magic.

 Surpassing his limits—that was his destiny. If that woman was to be believed. When she had handed him the Book, she had said it was in the service of fate, and that should he accept it, he would accomplish things no one else ever had. He would claim victory, taste satisfaction, bask in glory, and look down from heights never before reached.

How could he turn that down? But before he took the Book, the woman had asked if he would still make that choice if he knew it meant he would die young. Would his victory be worth it if he wouldn’t live long enough to fully enjoy his legacy?

The answer was easy enough. What wouldn’t be worth achieving his victory? He couldn’t bear the thought of living a long life if he never reached his goals, if he merely struggled and struggled and in the end still had nothing to show for it.

And now he couldn’t stop thinking about going even further than he himself had imagined. He had one dragon’s magic, and another dragon under his control, but he could do more. He didn’t like the idea of needing to rely on the dragon. Other variables like that were a risk. The more he could do for himself, the better. And that meant expanding his body even more, pushing it to every new limit, even breaking it so he could put it back together, stronger and better.

Nothing was too grotesque or too taboo. In fact, now, the more outrageous something seemed, the more appealing it became. Who else would test the most disturbing possibilities if not him? Who else was so obsessed to throw everything else away for the sake of knowledge and power?

His philosophy books also came to mind. One theory was that magic originally came from heaven—that is, from the stars. From an astronomy book, Divine had learned that there were points on the earth where the sky was perfectly reflected on the earth’s soil, during the summer and winter solstices. The stars of the great constellations had twin “stars” hidden in the ground, in bodies of water, in the bellies of volcanoes and the hearts of mountains. These “stars” were actually enormous crystals, resting in their hidden cradles across the continents. They were pure magic, formed by the pressure of their environment solidifying the energy that coursed through the earth.

And one such crystal was right here in Neo Domino, set below the castle.

Divine had no doubt that King Rex had been studying it over the years, but Divine was going to put him to shame. No matter how much the king knew, no one was more capable than Divine of harnessing its massive power. And how sweet it would be to bring the king to ruin in the heart of his own home.

The dragons were back before the day had ended, Stardust giving the report to their inner circle and Archfiend happy to let him. He wasn’t as interested in having a whole party involved in the affair, but voicing his opinion would cause more trouble than it was worth, so he just hung back quietly, wondering how much longer it would be before he could battle this witch and get back to his cave.

“The Red Nova isn’t that far,” Jack noted. “Maybe we can find this Sherry there.”

“Why would we want to go looking for her?” Crow asked. “She sounds dangerous! Don’t we have enough to deal with already?”

“She’s just one witch,” Jack countered. “If we can’t beat her then there’d be no point trying to fight the other one!”

“Ok but why?”

“Information! She gave the Book to Divine, and I want to know why. What does she know? And besides, I’m not going to let her get away with giving an enemy of my kingdom such a dangerous weapon!”

Crow couldn’t look Jack in the eye after that. He looked away and muttered to himself, “I can’t tell if you’re brave or just crazy stupid.”

Jack was already jumping ahead, paying Crow no mind. “We can get there quick enough by horse. I’ll be generous and lend you some—if you’re not too scared to come,” he added tauntingly.

Yusei ignored the attitude and nodded. “Thanks.”

“I’ll fly ahead,” Archfiend said.

“Fine, do what you want.”

“Looking like a human wouldn’t fool the witch anyway. She’d be able to tell what I am by my aura, so I might as well—”

“I already said do what you want,” Jack snapped. “That’s just one less horse I need to worry about. Can the rest of you even ride?”

Yusei just nodded. Stardust crossed his arms. “When would I have ever ridden a horse before?”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Then ride with Yusei.”

Stardust’s shoulders snapped tight, and he deliberately didn’t look in Yusei’s direction. “I can ride by myself! How hard can it be?”

“Hmph,” Jack snorted, then turned to Aki. “And you?”

She nodded. “I’ve ridden before.” True, it hadn’t been since her parents were still alive and had taught her, but she thought she could remember well enough to follow. In any case, she didn’t want to be left behind.

“And you?” Jack asked last to Crow.

Crow squared his shoulders. “Yes, I can ride a damn horse!”

Jack looked down his nose at Crow, but said nothing.

From there, the rest of the evening was spent on preparations. While Carly was offering Aki her choice of dress from Carly’s own wardrobe, Jack was having Yusei fitted into a set of armor that was more suited to long travels by horse. Lighter and not as complete in its coverage, it would make the ride easier and be enough to protect from simple attacks. Against a witch, not so much, but he wouldn’t have felt right without it.

When Yusei returned to his room, he found Crow waiting for him at the door. Crow lifted a hand in greeting. “Hey, you got a minute?”

“Yeah, sure.”

They went inside and Yusei closed the door behind him. “So,” Crow said slowly, and Yusei noticed the way Crow was avoiding looking him in the eye. “I was thinking and . . . I mean, I’m just a blacksmith, you know? So, I mean, it’s not like I’m much use in a fight, so . . . I was thinking maybe it’d be better if I didn’t go with you guys. I mean, I’ve got work to do and all, and I’d just get in your way, so . . .”

“That’s fine,” Yusei said. “You don’t need a reason. It’s your choice.”

“I just . . . ! I don’t want you to think I’m a coward, is all . . .”

“I’d never think that.”

Crow looked into Yusei’s eyes, but he wasn’t as reassured by his friend’s straightforward and honest expression as he wanted to be. Even if Yusei didn’t think it, Crow . . .

He scratched his head and tried to push it out of his mind. “I can work on your armor while you’re gone. Get it all freshed up and upgraded for you.”

Yusei nodded. “Thanks.” He stepped forward and put a hand on Crow’s shoulder. “But just so you know, you wouldn’t be in the way. I know you can fight.”

“Heh, not as good as you.”

“Only because you don’t do it for a living. You’d be on a different level if you had to train every day.”

That wasn’t true. Yusei had been good at fighting before he became a knight. But he was a good friend for believing it.

“Well, be sure to fill me in later.”

“Right.”

Stardust didn’t have much to prepare, so he found himself wandering until he stopped to eavesdrop on an argument between Jack and Rex. His ears weren’t as strong as they used to be, so he couldn’t make out everything they said, but their annoyance with each other was clear. He assumed Rex didn’t want Jack to go find the witch Sherry. Perhaps it had to do with Jack being an only child: if the worst happened, Rex wouldn’t have a direct heir anymore. Jack didn’t seem to take his father’s concerns too seriously. Normally such silly drama wouldn’t have interested Stardust, but he welcomed the distraction.

“Stardust.”

Hearing someone call him broke his concentration, and he looked up from the door he had his ear pressed against to see Archfiend approaching him. The corridors were grand, but with Archfiend’s size they seemed to shrink around him, and his candlelight eyes shone ominously in the dark.

“What?” Stardust asked, taking a step away from the door.

“I want to talk to you.”

“What about?”

“Can we go outside first?”

Stardust gave Archfiend a look, then shrugged his shoulders. They might as well move, he thought, before the royal duo found them right outside in the hall. So Archfiend carried Stardust up to the tallest spire where they could speak in private.

“All right,” Stardust said as his braid swung loose in a breeze. “What’s on your mind?”

Archfiend crouched on all fours, his body curving around the conical top and his tail wrapped around the spire. “I was thinking . . . that perhaps, you should be prepared for the possibility that, even if you do manage to get your magic back, you might not return to your true form again.”

Stardust’s jaw clenched hard. He stared into the dragon’s black face, framed by his three horns, and felt a heat spread through his chest like poison. “And what makes you think that?” he asked through his teeth.

“It’s just a suspicion I have.”

Stardust’s vision flashed red. “If you’ve got something to say come out and fucking say it.”

Archfiend gave Stardust a measured look, then leaned into Stardust’s ire. “All right, I’ll say it. I think you’re too proud.”

Stardust wrinkled his nose contemptuously. “Ha! I don’t want to hear that from you!”

“Our prides are different. You don't want to accept that you have any vulnerabilities. That’s why you hate looking like that. It means you have to acknowledge a part of yourself you can’t stand.”

“I don’t see you jumping to turn human!”

“I don’t deny that I can. And I’m not disgusted by it—like you.”

“I’m not disguste—”

“Yes you are. You think I can’t tell? You want to believe you’re invincible so badly. You want to be the hero, maybe even a god. And the very idea that you could be small and soft and weak makes you sick.”

Stardust’s fingers itched to strike. He wanted his talons back. He seethed hard for a moment, then took in a deep breath before blustering, “Well so what?!? I thought you of all people would be able to understand! You love being strong, why would you ever want to put on a human skin?”

“It has its uses. And there’s no reason you can’t train and be strong as a human, too.”

“Humans are nothing compared to dragons!”

Archfiend stared at Stardust and let those words hang in the air for a moment. “And here I thought you liked humans.”

Stardust worked his jaw. “Just because I like them doesn’t mean I want to be one.”

“No, you want to be admired by them. You want to fly high above them and blind them with how stunning you are.”

Stardust’s teeth showed in his snarl. “And you don’t?”

Archfiend gave Stardust a very serious look. “No. I don’t care about that.”

“You liar! Why would you want to be strong if you don’t want people to acknowledge how strong you are?”

“My strength isn’t for show. What do you think I am, a performer? I’m happiest when people don’t even know I exist. I like building strength because of what it means I can do.”

“You think I’m not strong enough to do anything?”

“I think you’ve only cared about having enough strength to beat opponents who were obviously weaker than you. You’ve never had to challenge yourself before when you play around with humans. But now you’ve got a real test in front of you and it showed you your limits, and now you have to deal with that. You’re moping around wishing you could go back to being a god among humans. You want to run away from real challenges. You like being a dragon because it’s easy. But I don’t think you’ll be able to go back. I think until you deal with this complex you have, it’ll hold you back from now on. Getting your magic back won’t undo the damage that’s been done inside. You’ll always be disgusted with yourself until you can accept that this is part of you and not something you can pretend away.”

Stardust’s nostrils flared with his slow, deep breathing. “What makes you so fucking wise?”

“It’s just natural,” Archfiend said matter-of-factly. “Ignoring your weaknesses keeps you weak. You have to target your weaknesses to become stronger.”

“And how the hell am I supposed to make any of this strong?” he demanded, pulling at his braid, his stretchy lips, and patting his arm and stomach. “Huh??”

“Do you think that knight of yours is weak?”

Stardust clenched his jaw so hard he thought his teeth might break. “It’s not the same as having wings and claws and a tail.”

“No, but complaining about it isn’t going to bring them back. You can only work with what you have. Humans seem to be good at that, don’t you think? They’ve gone and done things we wouldn’t bother to because we’re so self-sufficient. But because they’re weak physically, they get creative. Because they know what their weaknesses are, they can compensate for them, or even surpass their limits if they push hard enough. That’s one thing I take inspiration from. If I ever think I’ve become as strong as I can be, I find a way to challenge myself and push past that.”

Stardust looked away, his nose scrunched. “Well good for fucking you,” he muttered.

“Look, if you still need some time to wallow in self-pity and get it out of your system—”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Could you grow up a little? Blazes, I thought you’d have matured some since I last saw you, especially after becoming a dad and all.”

“I’m not Yusei’s starblessed dad!”

“Maybe he should be yours.”

“Hey! I’m the one always protecting him! I’m the one who can sacrifice myself for him!”

“You think what you do is sacrifice?”

“I literally take damage so he doesn’t have to!”

“Yeah, but that’s because you know you’ll recover. You don’t have to risk or lose anything. Like I said, you like being a dragon because it’s easy.”

Stardust very much wanted to punch Archfiend in the face and fly away. His whole body shook with the yearning. Instead, all he could do was turn away from the dragon and scream with all the feeble might of his human lungs, and then smash his fist against the shingles lining the spire. It hurt, but it also felt good. He heaved his breath hard enough for his shoulders to rise and fall.

Archfiend watched him calmly, and when Stardust finally met his eyes again with a fierce glare, he said, “I want you to get your magic back. I just also want to see you reach your full potential—and surpass it.” It was a shame to see such a beautiful and strong dragon go to waste, satisfied with mediocrity. Even if it made Stardust hate him, Archfiend wanted to stoke his fire, get him riled and motivated. And there was no better—perhaps no other—time than now.

It hadn’t been hard for Yusei to hear what the dragons said. After his parting words with Crow (who had wanted to sneak out as soon as possible so he wouldn’t have to take any flak from Jack), he had gone up the nearest tower to get a good view of the sky. Then Archfiend had landed on a nearby spire with Stardust in tow. He could have left, but curiosity had gotten the better of him. Stardust wasn’t saying much to him after all, so it seemed like an opportunity to hear his thoughts.

He hadn’t been too surprised to hear any of the harsh words Stardust had spat out with such contempt. He had gathered as much the first time. He just hadn’t realized before how deep his feelings ran. Yusei had thought they were partners. A team. To Yusei, they had been on a true adventure to seek the means of justice. But to Stardust, all the work they had done together was more like a game, one he enjoyed only because he could always win.

And that hurt.

But it was better to know the truth. Yusei didn’t like the idea of lies tainting his friendships, no matter how comforting they might be. And it wasn’t as if Yusei couldn’t understand Stardust’s feelings: his anger and frustration were reasonable, just like Yusei’s disappointment was. Yusei wasn’t interested in chastising or weaponizing his own feelings against Stardust. Yusei may feel stung, but sincerely, he did want to help Stardust take back what had been stolen. He wanted the dragon to be restored. And maybe, hopefully, when the opportunity came after that, they could really talk, when the heat was gone and their minds were clear.

It was easier to wait for that when Archfiend was there to say what Yusei held back.

Dawn was just barely turning pink when the team set off for Red Nova. They made their way through the city streets and out the gates quickly enough with no one around to block their path. From the gates, they rode in the direction of Arachnos. To get there, they would cross woods, fields, and a long river at the border. The easiest way to the other side was the Daedalus bridge, which had been built specifically when the two kingdoms had united, a monument to the war’s end.

Aki rode in silence, focusing on holding steady on the horse as a distraction from her agitated thoughts. She just couldn’t shake the fear that Divine could attack at any moment, from any direction. For all they knew, he was watching them right now. But however close he might be, she wouldn’t be able to sense him. With her mind on edge, her body was stiff, and as the ride went on, her muscles got more and more tired.

She also stared down at her horse’s neck to avoid looking out at her surroundings. She might have felt better keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of Divine, but that would also mean seeing the world in her blindness. She didn’t want to see it like that. She didn’t want to get used to it. So she just watched the horse bob its head up and down with its steps.

They rode the whole day until they reached the fourth gate of Arachnos City. It was dark by then and they were ready to find an inn. Like Aki, Yusei too was on edge. Even in the pleasant glow and warmth of the inn’s dining hall, Yusei felt too exposed and vulnerable. He couldn’t stop himself from checking each face with a quick glance and measuring the potential danger of every other guest. Inns hadn’t always been places of peace and rest in his experience. Even now, despite his companions, he could not help anticipating a party of four or more cretins to ambush him.

He would win, of course, but he didn’t want to deal with the bruises and fractures that sometimes came with such uneven fights.

After the innkeeper directed them upstairs to their rooms, Yusei walked up slowly, feeling a heat on his back that wasn’t from the fireplace. He paused on one step and turned to look over the banister. Everyone below seemed occupied in their own business. He trusted his instincts, but he didn’t have enough to go on, so he continued his way cautiously up the stairs.

When his back was turned, a pair of dark blue eyes shifted to watch him.

Jack smirked triumphantly. Their travels had been easy and uninterrupted, and no one they had passed had recognized him. As much as he liked fame, there were some benefits to not showing himself in public. But it did bother him how much attention Stardust seemed to garner. Ladies would look at his long silky hair with admiration, while some men would scoff. Stardust would look them in the eye, flip his thick braid behind his shoulder, and sneer, “Jealous.”

The next morning, they set out again. Red Nova was getting closer, and soon they reached the edge of the wood that poured right into the center of the valley.

“Aki,” Yusei called as he pulled up next to her. She looked up from her horse. “Stay close to me.”

Her brows rose for a moment, but then she nodded.

“Now that we’re here, Archfiend should meet up with us soon,” Jack said.

“Right,” Yusei agreed.

The woods of Red Nova were dense and lush with growth, and at the bottom of the valley a clear waterfall sparkled with a rainbow in its mist. They rode to the edge of the river to let the horses drink and rest. Aki let the cool air from the waterfall brush over her face while Yusei took stock of the surroundings. The trees were light brown and their leaves were broader than those at home. But more importantly, he couldn’t see any obvious places that an enemy could be hiding in wait, especially with the sun directly overhead.

They waited for some time, wondering when Archfiend would appear, while Stardust stretched his legs and washed his face, Yusei kept his ears trained. The space was quiet, but that meant it should be easier to hear someone approaching from farther away. He wondered if the witch Sherry already knew they were there. According to Stardust’s report, Sherry was a young woman with long blond hair and green eyes. He darted his eyes around, looking for anything that might hint at that description.

Eventually he pulled his sword out of the sheath on his back and walked over to a tree. He sat down at its base and began to polish the blade, though he kept his gaze up. His ears twitched when he heard Aki’s light footsteps coming up beside him. He looked up at her and she stopped.

“Can I sit?”

He relaxed his shoulders and slid his feet across the grass so his legs lay straight. “Sure.”

She came to the tree and sat with her back against the trunk, her legs bent and her arms wrapped around them. “You seem tense.”

“I am.”

“Ah.”

He let his sword rest across his thighs, but even with his head leaning against the tree, he didn’t look at ease.

“Do you think she’ll attack us?”

“I don’t know, but I have to assume she might.”

“Mm.” Aki looked up. The valley was deep enough that she could see the top of the slope over the riverside trees. She felt guilty, not being able to help at all by detecting Sherry, but she didn’t want to distract Yusei with that, so she kept it to herself.

“If we’re lucky, Archfiend will get here first,” Yusei said.

“Mm,” Aki answered with a half-hearted nod.

Yusei looked at her curiously. “What is it?”

“What?”

“I thought something was bothering you.”

“Oh. No, not really. Archfiend just . . . he’s not like Stardust. He’s more . . . intimidating.”

“Mm, I know what you mean. Does he scare you?”

“Well . . . actually . . . it’s more like . . . I’m jealous of him.”

“You want to be intimidating?”

“To other people,” she clarified. “I wish I gave off an aura like his so people would rather run away from me than try to kill me.”

“Those don’t have to be the only two options.”

“It’s not just that, though. He just . . . exudes strength. Effortlessly. And confidence. He moves like he doesn’t have to worry about anything, and he can do whatever he wants, and no one can bother him.”

Yusei could understand how to her, that sounded like freedom. He nodded. “You’re right. He does.”

“Are he and Stardust friends?”

Yusei looked up into the foliage overhead and tapped his blade in thought. “I’m not sure, honestly.”

“Oh.”

“But, he seems good for him,” Yusei mused. “Like bitter medicine.”

Aki tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

Yusei sighed. “Some things I’m just not the right person for. Some things he needs to hear from another dragon.”

“Huh.”

Yusei gave Aki a sideways smirk. “He’s stubborn, and bratty, and vain, but I trust him. I’m sure he’ll grow from this.”

Aki folded her arms on the tops of her knees. “Do you really believe it, or do you just want to?”

Yusei gave her a questioning look.

“Sorry!” Aki said quickly, realizing she had spoken without thinking. “I didn’t mean to say that.” She didn’t mean to suggest doubt toward Stardust. He and Yusei were the only ones she felt comfortable with. She just couldn’t help feeling a twinge in her heart at the idea of trust. She looked away and said, “I know Stardust isn’t like Divine.”

Yusei reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “I won’t tell you what to do or how to feel,” he reassured, “I’ll just say I hope you don’t go the rest of your life afraid to trust anyone again.”

“I wouldn’t have to worry about that if I was stronger.”

“Even Archfiend needs help sometimes.”

“Yeah, but no one would be stupid enough to betray him. That’s why he can rely on others. For me, it’s a risk.”

Yusei shifted his sword so he could bend one leg up and rest his elbow on his knee. “You don’t have to take that risk alone.”

She turned to look at him. She liked hearing it, but it wouldn’t feel real until they were on the other side of this . . . adventure. She couldn’t even picture meeting new people until the looming threat of annihilation was gone, and that still didn’t seem like a certainty. It was like hearing him tell her a nice fairy tale with an unrealistic happy ending.

But she still smiled, because he was just that way, and she liked it. And then Yusei shut his eyes. And he began to lean toward her. Aki’s heart shot up into her skull where it burst like lightning. She panicked and leaned backward, raising her arms between them. Yusei kept leaning—and then he drooped against her arms. Aki found herself holding up his whole weight, which included his armor, and she struggled to push him back up.

“Yu . . . sei,” she grunted. “What are you . . . ?”

He didn’t respond.

“Yusei? Yusei! What’s wrong?” She pushed him, but his head only bobbed limply. “Yusei!” Aki looked around, and went cold when she saw Stardust lying in the grass, his head against a moss-coated stone. Jack was sitting under a tree, his head drooping forward uncomfortably. Aki’s body began to shiver and her breathing grew shallow and rapid.

“Yusei,” she whispered, pleading. “Yusei, wake up, wake up!” She pushed and pushed, but Yusei was dead weight. “Shit. Shit shit!” Aki’s pulse was in her ears. As gently as she could, she guided Yusei’s body down to the ground. When she was out from under his weight, she moved slowly and warily, crouching on her feet and looking around for the source.

This was definitely the work of magic. She couldn’t sense it, but she knew.

“Ohhhhhh shit shit shit,” she whispered to herself, panicking. Why did it have to be her still awake? The most useless of the lot!

“I see,” came an unfamiliar voice. Aki spun around and found a woman—young, but older than herself—walking out from behind the tree. Her hair was blond and second in length only to Stardust’s. She looked at Aki over crossed arms with eyes as pure green as Yusei’s were blue. Fear squeezed Aki’s heart tight.

“So they brought a woman along, did they? Guess I should have used a different magic.” She looked down at the sleeping Yusei, then shrugged. “Well, whatever. I’ll just ask you then: what are you doing in my garden?”

Chapter Text

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” - Edith Wharton

Aki swallowed nervously. Her stomach had dropped and her palms were sweating. Her heart raced but she forced her breathing to stay slow. With Yusei asleep and Sherry standing tall and confident, Aki felt more alone than ever. Aki stared at Sherry with the tension of a cornered cat, while Sherry stared back, her long violet dress and square shoulders giving her an air of cool elegance.

The silence between them stretched out to a very long minute, until Sherry crossed her arms and raised one brow. “Well?”

Aki’s panic made her head swim. She could barely think of an answer let alone control her tongue enough to speak. But she knew she had to. With no way to fight, the only hope was to save herself and the others with words. And she was the only one left who could try. The pressure made her nauseous.

“We . . .” she began, but then she had to take a deep breath to keep down the nausea.

Sherry let out a loud breath and then waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Just go.”

After pushing the nausea down, her heart jumped up to her throat. She froze and blinked in confusion, then glanced briefly to Yusei.

“If you’re worried about them, don’t be,” Sherry said, reading Aki’s thoughts. “I’m not going to hurt them or anything.”

Aki’s fingers flexed. “How can I believe that?”

Sherry raised a brow again at Aki’s accusing tone. “What exactly do you think I am? I’m not so unreasonable that I kill people just for trespassing.”

At that, Aki’s whole body prickled and her hands clenched into fists. “But you’re apparently unreasonable enough to hand a book full of powerful magic over to a cruel, lying, evil piece of shit witch who’s probably going to use it to murder everyone.” Her words came out hot and fast. Her anger at Divine’s betrayal made it feel good to curse him. Anger felt better than sorrow, pain, or shame. Divine was stronger because he had taken advantage of her, but he was going to grow stronger still because this woman had done something outrageous of her own will. Any pain Divine had caused Aki or her friends was partly her fault, and that made it easier to be angry at her, too.

And anger felt better than fear.

Sherry continued staring at Aki with a cool, summer-green gaze, though now she lifted her chin slightly and looked at Aki with more scrutiny. “I see. So it’s you.”

Aki again went still with confusion. “Do you know me?”

“I know of you,” Sherry clarified, then gestured vaguely to Yusei before her and the two behind. “The lot of you. I saw that you would come.”

“You saw,” Aki repeated quietly. Aki connected the few dots she had and guessed Sherry had been given a vision—one more mundane than she herself had received earlier.

“Yes. I saw some people would come asking questions about Divine. That would be you, right?”

Aki clenched her jaw and nodded.

Sherry closed her eyes and sighed, then waved again as if to shoo away a fly. “Well I don’t have much to tell you. The only time I ever met with him was to give him the book. We have nothing to do with each other besides that.”

Aki clenched her teeth harder as she drew a deep breath in through her nose. “That seems like a pretty important thing to have between you.”

Sherry gave Aki a sarcastic look. “And what makes you say that?”

“Because he’s going to kill a lot of people,” Aki slowly, emphasizing and enunciating clearly every other word. “This isn’t something inconsequential! You didn’t just bump shoulders one day in the street and that’s it! You handed him magic he’s going to use to cause a ton of harm and damage! You can’t just brush that off like it’s got nothing to do with you! Why the hell would you give it to him?”

She felt her anger crash against her skull like rolling waves. She wanted to scream, “Do you know what he did to me?? How dare you give him more power! How fucking dare you!”

Sherry’s expression had changed to one of boredom. When Aki had finished, Sherry rolled her eyes, making Aki squeeze her fists so tight they shook. “Why do I owe you anything, explanation or otherwise?”

Aki’s lips curled back, revealing her gnashing teeth. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you don’t have a conscience. If you don’t feel guilty for giving him what he needs to ruin even more lives, then there’s no reason for you to owe me anything. I just wish I still had my magic so I could pay you what you deserve.”

Sherry’s face showed some sign of anger, her nose wrinkling just slightly, and for a moment the two witches just glared at each other. Then Sherry muttered, “You don’t know anything.”

“I know enough to say you’re either stupid or evil.”

Sherry let out a steaming breath through her lips. “You don’t get to judge me when you’re so ignorant,” she seethed, clearly restraining herself.

Aki began to think that maybe Sherry believed she didn’t owe anyone an explanation, but she might want to give one out of her own pride. So she needled some more. “I can judge you all I want! You’re the reason Divine’s out there growing into an even bigger threat than he already was! What else does anyone need to know?”

“Don’t come into my garden and throw insults at me!”

“Well maybe don’t go handing magic books to sick, twisted bastards!”

“You don’t have any idea what would happen if I hadn’t!”

Aki’s face twisted with incredulity. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe none of the horrible shit he’s done??”

Sherry closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose. “I hate people,” Aki heard her mutter to herself before opening her eyes again. “All right, listen, you,” she said with a sneer. “If it were up to me, I’d never leave these woods. It’s quiet here, and usually no one comes barging in to bother me. But you know what? I’ve got this problem called prophecy, all right? It’s a condition where destiny pokes me in the skull and says, ‘Here’s a thing for you to do, now go do it, or something really really bad will happen.’ And you know what? Sometimes that thing I need to do is hand a sick, twisted bastard an ancient book of magic. And I do it. I do it, and then I come back home, and enjoy my peace and quiet until the next prophecy strikes. You don’t like what I do? Take it up with the higher power.”

Aki’s eyes scrunched and she shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. How could not giving Divine the book make things worse? Or,” she added with a chill sinking in her core, “are you saying your ‘destiny’ is on Divine’s side?”

“I said the point was to avoid something worse,” Sherry said testily.

“I can’t really see how things could be worse.”

“Stop making your lack of imagination my problem.”

“Hey, listen! I can imagine all sorts of ways the situation could be better. I can imagine all sorts of ways the bad thing could have been avoided without causing all this bad shit. Your ‘destiny’ is the one without imagination!”

Sherry rolled her eyes again and threw her hands up in exasperation. “Well I don’t know what to tell you. Even if you’re right, it is what it is. Your complaining isn’t going to change anything.”

Aki hissed a sharp breath through her teeth. “Fine. But we’re trying to change things now. That’s why we came here. If you know anything about Divine’s plans or where he is—”

“I already told you I don’t know anything.”

“Destiny told you to give him the Book of Dragons and nothing else? Seriously? Nothing at all?”

Sherry stared Aki down, looking low on patience, but Aki had nothing else. All she could do was persist. Eventually Sherry clicked her tongue and huffed. “All right, you want to hear what I was told?”

“Yes!” Aki groaned.

Sherry snorted, then said tauntingly, “Fine. Let me know if this helps you any.”

Aki didn’t know what that meant, but if she was going to share something, it would give them more than they had, and they desperately needed more.

“Oh and one more thing,” Sherry added, after realizing that if this witch wanted something this badly from her, she could put a price on it.

“What?” Aki asked apprehensively.

“After I tell you, you have to leave. Got it? And don’t come bothering me again. None of you.”

Aki set her jaw firmly and nodded. “Fine.”

“Make sure to tell them. This first time was a warning.”

“I got it. It’s not like we were excited to come in the first place.”

Sherry stared at Aki until she was satisfied, then rolled her shoulders and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and raised her arms straight out in front of her, palms up. Aki thought she could see light appear behind Sherry’s eyelids, but it was hard to tell for sure. Then Sherry began to move her hands in slow, fluid motions.

“Take care, thirsty man.

What you crave calls for blood.

Pursue your desire,

or bury and leave it to rot.

Should you choose to ascend,

your wings will carry you high,

to limits unreached and sights unseen

but to the ground you will fall again.

Flee him with the crystal heart,

he is one but also many.

What you have stolen he shall receive.

The past echoes and rhymes with the present,

ambition shall compose the future.”

Aki listened closely and committed the words to memory, despite how incomprehensible they were. They raised more questions than they answered, but it was all she would get from this place.

 Sherry crossed her arms. “Well, there you have it. That’s what I was told, and what I told him.”

Aki worked her jaw, trying to hide her disappointment. It didn’t feel like they had time for puzzles. “I see.”

“Yes. Now, time for you to get going.”

Aki clenched her hands. That cool, indifferent expression Sherry wore infuriated her. “How can you be so calm about all this?” she demanded.

Sherry sighed a groan. “I told you. I only do what my prophecies tell me to do. I’m just a vessel to carry out tasks. Beyond that, I’m not involved in anything. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t even do as much as I do. I don’t care about good or bad, saving lives or taking them, healing or destruction. I’m not on anyone’s side, I’m not a judge, I’m just an invisible hand guiding things to follow the path they’re supposed to take. That’s it. Maybe witches like you have the luxury—or the burden—of caring about things, but that’s not what my role or my magic is for.”

Aki wrinkled her nose as if Sherry’s explanation carried a foul stench. “Sounds to me like you’re not a person. You don’t get to think or act for yourself. That sure is a convenient way to pretend like your hands are clean.”

“Being clean or dirty is only something you think about. And believing that you can act and think for yourself is a convenient way to pretend like something bigger than yourself isn’t at play.”

Aki scoffed. “I don’t know what it is that’s feeding you prophecies, and you can call it destiny if you want, but I’m not going to believe that everything I do or that anyone else does is pre-determined. I’m not going to believe that all of this”—she threw up her arms in a gesture to encompass the whole world—“is just scripted theater that some invisible force is directing.”

She didn’t want to believe it, because then what would be the point? What would be the point of living, of feeling like your choices were real if they actually weren’t? What a cruel farce that would make existence. It was too tragic. And she couldn’t stand the rage she would have to feel if she knew that what Divine had done to her was not only his decision, but the decision of destiny. How could anyone stand to live when something that great and powerful could be against you?

Sherry sighed like she was dealing with a tiresome child. “Believe whatever you want, just go.”

“What about us?” Aki asked suddenly.

Sherry’s brow furrowed. “What about you?”

“You got a prophecy about Divine, and how you needed to give him the Book. What about us? Did you get any prophecy that says if we beat him? I mean, we should, right? It would definitely be really bad if we don’t. If not giving him the Book would be bad, then giving it to him must mean it ends well for us, right? Somehow?” Her words came spilling out fast and frantic, and when they were done her chest was tight.

Sherry eyed her for a moment, then noted, “You’re afraid.”

Aki huffed in exasperation. “Of course I’m afraid! Obviously! And angry. And frustrated. And . . .” She looked away, ashamed to be so vulnerable and weak, and ashamed to admit it to an enemy—if not an active one, then a passive one. She looked sideways to Yusei, and seeing him too so vulnerable, lying there asleep with no defense protecting him, the hope and perseverance he exuded dried up. “I feel lost,” she said quietly. “Like no matter how much we try, there’s no way we can win. It’s inevitable we’ll fail. How can we beat him? But at the same time, how can we not try? What else is there to do? But what’s the point of trying if my heart isn’t really in the fight? What can I do with no power and no hope?”

She hadn’t meant to say so much. But it was easier to say it to Yusei when he couldn’t hear her. She didn’t want to discourage him—or disappoint him—with her pessimism, and she didn’t want him to answer her by saying, “If you feel that strongly, you don’t have to come.” Because she did want to be there, with him, especially if the end of everything was coming. But she still wanted to get that truth off her chest.

Sherry didn’t have anything mean in her heart to respond with. The witch’s feelings were reasonable, given the situation. But it had nothing to do with Sherry. She crossed her arms loosely. “No, I haven’t received any prophecy about what comes next. And if you’re asking me to give you one, I’m not a fortune-teller. I’m an oracle.” She spoke softly, so as not to provoke while also stating an inconvenient truth. The witch’s reaction was deflated shoulders and a sigh.

“Figures,” she murmured without looking up at Sherry.

Without any stake, Sherry felt like she was seeing the witch at a distance. She could understand her disappointment, but she felt nothing for her. There was no point in having any partiality when her role was only to serve destiny, not the pawns on the board. Better to be cool and detached than to get emotionally involved.

And then came the usual sensation.

Aki finally resigned herself to the failure of this trip and decided she might as well get everyone back out of the woods. She looked up, but instead of finding Sherry watching her with her arms crossed, she was staring into space, her eyes wide and clouded white, arms hanging loose at her sides. It made Aki a little nervous. She didn’t know what to do, so she just stood there, waiting. It was creepy how still Sherry stood, and how she kept staring with eyes like white marble without blinking for so long.

After what felt like far too long, Sherry eyelids fluttered. The color began to come back to her irises just before she dropped her head into both hands, and she began to massage her forehead. “Nice timing,” she muttered sarcastically, and massaged her temples for another moment. Then she opened her eyes—which were back to a shining green—and shot Aki an annoyed look.

Annoyed herself, Aki demanded, “What?”

Sherry huffed a hard sigh and crossed her arms. “Looks like I’m supposed to give you something after all.”

Aki’s brows jumped. “Really?”

Sherry gave Aki a look, which Aki took to mean, “Of course, really. Why would I have said that if it wasn’t true?”

Aki ignored the attitude. “What is it?”

Sherry tapped on her arm with her fingers for a moment before answering. “I saw a dragon. Standing next to you.”

Aki’s excitement waned. “You mean, Archfiend?”

“No,” she said sharply. “A dragon named Black Rose.”

Aki’s lips parted in wonder. A rose dragon? She liked the sound of that. It made her feel suddenly cozy.

“Don’t get too excited,” Sherry warned. “She’ll most likely try to kill you the instant she sees you.”

The coziness turned cold. “But, then why would she be standing next to me in your vision?”

Sherry shrugged. “It’s just a possibility. You’ll have to make it happen yourself. Which won’t be easy.”

“Why?”

“Because,” Sherry said matter-of-factly, “Black Rose hates humans.”

Aki faltered, incredulous. “Then how am I supposed to convince her to help us?”

“I don’t know. I just know it’s possible, and that I’m supposed to tell you so you can try, apparently.”

“Well . . . just how possible is it? One in ten? One in a million?”

Sherry shrugged again. “I really have no idea.”

“Then it might not even be worth it if the odds of winning her over are as bad as winning against Divine!”

“That’s your decision to make,” Sherry said, staring at Aki, daring her to argue any further.

Aki stared back, not wanting to be weak against a mere gaze. “All right. Well thanks for the information.”

“I didn’t do anything for your sake.”

Aki hissed to herself. “Yeah, I got that. I just thought I’d be polite.”

“I’d rather you just leave.”

“Fine, but what about the others?”

Sherry turned on her heel and began to walk back in the direction she had come from. “Take them with you.”

“What? How?” she demanded, taking steps to follow after Sherry. “You think I can carry—” One more step and she rebounded unexpectedly, as if she had collided with a wall. Stunned, she put her hands up and pushed forward through the air until her palms came into contact with something solid. She pushed harder, but it was set firmly in place. She looked up to watch Sherry getting farther away, becoming obscured by the trees the deeper into the forest she went. Aki knocked on the barrier with the side of her fist and called out, but Sherry ignored her.

Aki growled to herself.

But her irritation was swept away when she heard a mild groan. She spun around to the sound of rustling leaves and darted back to the tree, where Yusei was beginning to stir. She dropped down on her knees beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. He seemed sluggish, lacking his usual sharp and clear alertness, since it took him a moment to register her touch and presence. He blinked a few times until his vision focused and he could look up at her.

“You’re all right,” she breathed with relief.

His brow furrowed. “What happened?” He pushed himself upright and rubbed his head.

“Um,” she said slowly, then looked over her shoulder to the river. “Hang on, let me check on Stardust.” She didn’t want to have to go through the story more than once, so she got to her feet and found both Stardust and Jack looking around with confused expressions as well. She went to Stardust first.

“Are you ok?” she asked, one knee on the ground.

“Yeah?” he answered while checking the sky. “I guess? I don’t remember falling asleep though, it’s weird.”

“Yeah,” Aki said, drawing the word out hesitantly. “Listen, I’ve got something to tell all of you. Can you come over with me?”

Stardust gave her an odd look but agreed. “Sure.”

They grabbed Jack on the way and soon the four were under the tree together. Aki took a deep breath and collected her thoughts into a clear narrative. “Ok, so, what happened was . . .” She described her interaction with Sherry and the first prophecy she had shared—and the warning that they should leave, quickly. Then she finished with the advice that Black Rose could possibly become an ally as well.

“I’m sorry, what?” Stardust blurted. “Black Rose? Are you kidding?”

“How could I be kidding? I’ve never even heard of her until now.”

“I’m just saying! There’s no way she would help. Not in a million years!”

“I’m just telling you what Sherry told me.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“However bad you think it is, it’s worse.” Stardust shook his head. “She’ll kill you as soon as look at you.”

“Sherry said as much.”

“Then why would she even suggest going to her?”

“She didn’t, really,” Aki clarified. “She said there’s some possibility that she could join us. She never actually said what we should or shouldn’t do.” She wasn’t that helpful.

Stardust snorted.

“I’m not scared of some dragon,” Jack boasted, seeming already intent on going to find Black Rose.

Stardust waved a hand dismissively. “Yes, yes, you’re very brave. Now let’s be serious.”

“I am serious!”

Stardust ignored him. “The only way Black Rose will even listen to anything we have to say is if I or Arch talk to her. But even if she does listen, I don’t know what we could say to convince her. She’d probably like the sound of Divine wiping out humanity.”

“Why?” Yusei asked.

Just when Stardust’s eyes met with Yusei’s, a sudden sound of rushing winds diverted their attention, and as the trees around them swayed and their leaves rustled, Archfiend landed with a great thump in the clearing by the river. Stardust was the first to his feet.

“Well you sure took your sweet time!”

Archfiend’s wings folded in toward his back. “I’ve been here for ages,” he retorted. “Where in blazes have you been?”

Stardust opened his mouth, then realized Sherry must have used some magic to hide them from each other. He let out a breath instead of a snide remark. “Never mind. Did you find anything?”

“No. Nothing. And you?”

“Yeah,” Stardust said, pleased to have had more success than Archfiend. “Turns out our next best bet is Black Rose.”

Archfiend gave him an intrigued look. “Really,” he said slowly.

“That’s what the witch herself said.”

“And by witch, you mean the woman Sherry, yes? Not this one?” he clarified, pointing to Aki.

Stardust reassured himself that there was no way Archfiend could know that Aki was the one who had told him everything, and said, “Yes, obviously.”

“Well they’re both witches, aren’t they?”

“Apparently Sherry calls herself an ‘oracle’,” Aki offered.

“I see.”

“So yeah, that’s what the oracle said.”

“Well then,” Archfiend said while rubbing two talons together, “I’m eager to hear your plan for meeting with her.”

“What plan?” Jack huffed. “Just tell me where she is and I’ll go find her.”

While Stardust rolled his eyes, Archfiend cracked a toothy smirk. “Be advised, Jack, Prince of Domino: Black Rose will not find you as amusing as I do. Your bluster will not endear you to her.”

“She lives in the Black Forest,” Stardust said. “She’s got her own special area lovingly called the Black Garden. It’s sectioned off by a creepy nightmare barrier she made herself to keep others out.”

“So why does she hate humans?” Yusei asked, reviving his previous question.

Stardust thought he felt an accusation in Yusei’s tone, like Yusei was also implying he wanted to know why Stardust hated being human—but that was just his own imagination. He looked away from Yusei’s direct gaze. “I don’t actually know. It’s just common knowledge that she does.”

“Might make it difficult to know the right thing to say,” Archfiend mused. “But, I guess that can’t be helped.”

“You don’t seem very worried about any of this,” Stardust noted with some annoyance.

Archfiend shrugged. “Well, even if she doesn’t help us, we’ve still got me.”

While Archfiend laughed, Stardust exhaled like he was embarrassed to be associated with him. “You and Jack, I swear.”

From there, they decided to cut their travel time by taking routes that went straight through the more wild lands rather than the main roads that curved gently through the easier terrains. But even then, their destination was too far to arrive before nightfall. They decided to camp in an untouched field so no one could sneak up on them or have places to hide. And the weather was pleasant enough that they didn’t need shelter. So they lay under the open sky, surrounded by quiet and darkness and accompanied by the stars, spread above them in brilliant displays. It should have been a comforting view, looking up to their ethereal colors and gleams, but there was just too much weighing on their minds.

Yusei was the first to wake at the first peak of dawn. He let the others sleep for a little longer as he stared at the horizon, watching faint light paint the sky with color. Aki was the second to wake, as early mornings were normal for her, though having a horizon to see the dawn was not. Before, she could only see the sky overhead from within the forest. She wished she could enjoy it more.

Stardust and Jack woke with some encouragement, and by the time the sun was crowning against the distant hills, they were on their horses once again. Eventually they were back in the Black Forest, but it still took hours to maneuver through the clusters of trees, shrubs, and other growths, which grew gradually more dense the deeper in they got. So dense they eventually had to leave their horses behind in the last space they were able to fit. As they wound their way forward, choosing the paths of least resistance they could find, Aki soaked in the atmosphere. She had recognized some of the forest in the beginning, having lived inside it for years, but these parts were unfamiliar. Not too surprising, really: the Black Forest was enormous, and this area did not seem friendly to travelers or wanderers. If she had somehow managed to make it this far from home, she would not have been inclined to push through, as they all did now.

But eventually, their push came to a halt. The forest, which had been merely difficult, abruptly became a treacherous wall of black trees knotted so tightly together that it would be easier to try climbing over it than squeezing in between. Large thorns protruded from the angrily twisted bodies, whose bark was thick and bulging, and rather than leaves, the canopy consisted of matted branches, spiking around each other like spears and arrows. Even the earth around the trees’ roots was noticeably darker than the rest of the forest, as if the barrier sucked all color from anything nearby.

Feeling a kind of haunting curiosity, Aki stepped forward without thinking, moving on her toes as she often did, and reached out a hand to touch one of the trees woven into the barrier. The bark was rough against her palm, full of deep cracks and sharp flakes. She wished she could feel its flow, its life, its character. She ran her hand gently down, feeling the coarse texture scrape her skin, and when she pulled her hand away, she rubbed her fingertips together and looked down at her palm. Then she looked back up. It was obvious the wall had been structured by magic, the trees manipulated to wind and bend into such unnatural configurations. It seemed almost like torture, similar to the sight of bodies and heads impaled on pikes at the gates of a cruel king’s castle. She wondered, if she could feel these trees, would they be crying?

“All right, now what?” Jack asked, stepping up to the wall himself and examining the spaces between the trees. He slipped his hand inside one opening experimentally, and he pushed it in deeper until his forearm got stuck halfway. He pulled it out with an irritated growl and put his eye up to the opening. “I can’t see a damn thing! It’s just trees!”

“That’s the point,” Stardust said to himself. He stood back, his arms crossed as he thought. He looked up to the black, bare canopy, figuring that the only way to get to the other side would be to fly over. But considering just how uninviting Black Rose had made her home, she would probably be even less kind to unexpected visitors than he had first imagined.

Then Jack did the most Jack-like thing and, with a loud “hmph!” pulled his sword from its sheath with every intention of hacking into the black bark. Stardust, Yusei, and Aki all reacted in their own way: the dragon shouted, “You idiot!”, the knight cautioned, “Jack, wait,” and the witch pleaded, “Don’t!” Archfiend merely chuckled, watching from behind with his arms crossed.

“What’s your problem?” Jack demanded. “We came all this way and you’re going to let something like this stop us?”

“You can’t just go chopping your way into Black Rose’s home!”

“Come on now, Star,” Archfiend countered with an amused smirk. “Let him give it a try.”

Stardust gave Archfiend an incredulous look, while Jack said defiantly, “I don’t need any of your permission!” Stardust turned around just in time to see Jack swing his sword. The blade hit its target, but even with his strength and the fine sharpness of the sword, it just barely nicked the bark. As Jack hissed his irritation, the tree—and all the others directly tangled with it—began to wriggle, then writhe, clustering closer together while brambles from the undergrowth slithered and swarmed toward his feet, their thorns bared as threatening as venomous fangs.

“What the—”

“Look out!”

Jack had raised his sword in the face of the black thorns, but Aki could tell the threat was too much, so she tackled him, hard enough that they both fell to the ground. From his back, Jack could see that the whole swarm had struck together at the place where he had been standing, crisscrossing with each other in the air. Had he still been there, he assuredly would have been skewered by some of them. Even if he had been fast enough to slice them all in one sweeping blow, his sword would not have been strong enough. He curled his lip.

“Are you ok?” Yusei asked, appearing beside him. But instead of speaking to Jack, Yusei was reaching out a hand to the witch who lay on top of him.

“Yeah,” Aki said with a nod and accepted his offer. As Yusei pulled her up, she looked down to Jack. “Are you?”

He hmphed again. “Of course. And I would have been fine without you.” He shot a look to Yusei, but the knight wasn’t even looking at him, which only annoyed him more. When no one offered him a hand to refuse, he curled his lip and pushed himself up on his own. After a moment of bobbing in the air, ready and waiting for another chance, the brambles withdrew from their failed attack and slithered backward to nestle close among the trees.

“Well that was fun,” Archfiend said before rolling his shoulders and bending his neck from side to side to give it a good stretch. “All right Star, let’s go. We’re up next.”

“What?”

Archfiend already had a hand gripped on Stardust’s arm by the time he tried to take a step back. “We’re going in,” Archfiend explained.

“Why ‘we’? What if she thinks I’m human?” Stardust tried to tug his arm back, but Archfiend didn’t let go.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to introduce you properly.”

“Arch, I swear, if she rips me apart, I’ll kill you.”

Archfiend’s sharp teeth shone in a wicked smirk. “With that kind of spunk, you’ll be fine.”

In the middle of Stardust’s grumbling sigh, Yusei stepped up beside the two. “Excuse me.” Both dragons turned their heads toward him, but he was looking up at Archfiend. “Mind if I have a word with Stardust first?”

Stardust’s stomach dropped, and for a brief moment he was ready to dive into the Black Garden just to avoid whatever awkwardness would crinkle the air between him and Yusei.

Archfiend probably knew that, but it only made him tighten his grip on Stardust’s arm so he couldn’t escape. He smiled and nodded to Yusei. “Don’t mind at all.”

And then Yusei and Stardust’s eyes met, and Stardust knew he couldn’t get out of it. He worked his jaw while Yusei said, “It won’t take long.”

Stardust looked down at Archfiend’s hand then up to his face. “I don’t think you’re invited.”

Archfiend chuckled and released Stardust’s arm, who yanked it back before walking away from everyone, choosing the spot where he and Yusei could chat. Yusei nodded to Archfiend before following Stardust. When they had gone far enough that their words would be muffled by distance and intervening foliage, Yusei said, “Here’s fine.”

Stardust stopped, stiffened his shoulders, then turned around to face Yusei properly. His hands suddenly felt very heavy and misplaced. “So, what’s up?”

“We’re friends, right?”

Stardust felt a jolt at the sudden question. “Uh . . . yeah? I mean, aren’t we?”

“I’ve always thought so.”

“Ok . . . . good.”

“We can say anything to each other, and be honest. Right?”

“Uh . . . right . . .”

“Right. So listen. I get it. Ok? Really, I get it. You think being a human makes you weak, and that’s frustrating. And I’ll give you that compared to dragons, yeah, we are weak. I don’t want you to think I can’t appreciate what you’re going through.”

Stardust felt a tentative comfort at those words, but he couldn’t let it reassure him too much, because it felt like the sugar before the bitter medicine. He held on to his tension.

“But . . .”

Ah. And there it was. Stardust clenched his teeth together in anticipation.

“That’s not the part that bothers me.”

And there. He admitted he was bothered. He really was holding onto to some anger and resentment behind that stoic face, and now he was finally going to hand it to him. Stardust had the urge to put his hands over his ears and warble.

“It’s not even the part that you’re so open about how much you hate this in front of me, since we’re friends and all.”

Stardust really wanted to do something with his hands, but at the same time he felt too frozen in place to attempt it. He couldn’t even bring himself to reach for his braid.

“It’s that it feels like you have an underlying disgust for humans beyond just feeling weaker than you’re used to being. And I’m just curious how you’re going to talk to Black Rose about helping us if you think so little of us.”

“I don’t!” Stardust insisted with heat in his face and chest. “I told you I don’t! I like humans! I’m just not comfortable being one!”

“Because you like being on top, right?” Yusei said flatly. “You like humans because we look up to you. We’re impressed by you. We admire you in ways that other dragons don’t. To you, being human means being dethroned.”

Stardust clenched his teeth so hard he thought his whole jaw might break. Part of him wanted to have the honest conversation, but his pride flared up with resistance. “Why do you want to talk about this now? We don’t have time for this! What, do you think this is the last chance you have because you think I really am going to die in there?”

Yusei didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink. He just stared hard into Stardust’s eyes. “When Black Rose tells you she hates humans, what are you going to say to her?” He crossed his arms. “Are you going to agree with her?”

“NO!” Stardust shouted while swinging an angry, exasperated fist into the nearest tree. “Blessed eclipse, Yusei, listen to me! I don’t! Hate! Humans!”

“Do you like us for anything besides how much we admire you? Is there anything good or valuable about us in our own right?”

Stardust shook. “Even if I can make a list, you think I can use it to convince Black Rose to give a shit?” Yusei looked as solid in front of Stardust as he did in front of any enemy, which made Stardust know the knight was not going to back down. He felt desperation rising. “Seriously, what do you want from me?”

“I want you to be honest and tell me how you really feel.”

“Why would I be friends with you if I didn’t like humans?”

“You keep trying to make me infer how you feel with evidence. Why can’t you just come out and say it?”

“Well you seem to have come to your own conclusions anyway!”

“I’m inviting you to change my mind.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Stardust said snidely, knowing he should be better but unable to help himself. “I guess I’m just not in the best mood to be defending myself right now, what with all the stress and issues I’m dealing with! And maybe I’m just a little ticked off that my supposed friend is taking precious time out of our mission to come out an accuse me right in the middle of—”

WHACK!

Stardust staggered, blinded and in pain. In the course of his sarcastic gestures, he had made himself open to a punch to his left cheek, which Yusei had thrown quick as a dart and hard as a hammer. Stardust tripped over the treacherously uneven ground and fell right on his ass.

“Will you grow the fuck up?”

Stardust looked up at Yusei, whose composure had finally snapped, while rubbing his throbbing cheek. It was rather startling to see such anger directed at him from Yusei’s cool blue eyes, even more so than it was to feel pain radiate across his skin, bones, teeth, and even up to his eye.

“I’m not your enemy! I’m not here to judge you or attack you or whatever you think I’m doing! I just want to have an honest-to-god conversation with you, but you keep pulling away from me! We’ve known each other forever by now, what’s it going to take for you to see me as your partner and an equal? I’m not a kid anymore, I can handle your issues. Even if you told me straight up you think humans are disgusting, I wouldn’t just reject you and walk away. I wouldn’t give up on you like that. But you aren’t even giving us a chance to work through anything when you keep brushing me off! Are we friends or are we not?”

Stardust looked up, bewildered, into Yusei’s demanding gaze.

“And don’t think that even when you get your powers back I’m just going to pretend like none of this happened,” Yusei continued. “We’re not going to be able to go back to the way things were without clearing up the air. Being a dragon again isn’t going to fix what’s really broken here.”

Stardust gnashed his teeth and looked away. Keeping a hand on his swelling cheek he pushed himself up to his feet. He was taller than Yusei, but he felt so much smaller. He began to realize how much bigger of a person Yusei had always been than him, but he had been able to compensate enough with his sheer physical size that he hadn’t really thought about it. But the knowledge had always been there, a little kernel tucked away in the back of his mind. Now it had burst open, fully grown into the realization of how dwarfed he was compared to Yusei.

And even if Yusei could understand his feelings, even if he had to say it to reach the other side of this rift, admitting it was too painful—for his pride and his heart. He couldn’t joke his way through something that deep. He cursed Divine once again. If only that witch hadn’t stolen from him, he and Yusei could still be . . .

He avoided Yusei’s eyes, and while massaging a gentle circle into his cheek, he mumbled, “Are things really . . . broken?” He couldn’t bring himself to ask less vaguely than that. Fortunately for him, Yusei had an eye for connecting pieces into place.

“Maybe not broken, but they need some repair and maintenance. Like anything. Like my sword and armor.” Stardust had been cracked open by his loss. Damaged. And the mess that had spilled out of him had spoiled important things around him, including his bond with Yusei. Stardust was too precious for Yusei to throw away, but there were going to have to be changes now. Even Yusei’s image of Stardust that he held in his mind needed fine-tuning, to accommodate the new sides he had been exposed to.

Stardust let out a single dry, heavy laugh. “Sounds like work.”

“I’d like to think it’s worth it.”

Stardust felt a sting in his chest. It seemed like Yusei was getting the better deal out of it. Stardust was a dragon, he had a lot to offer in terms of power and prestige, but strip all that away, and was he really worth anything as a friend? He was proud, whiny, selfish, immature. Without his magic, did he have any qualities to balance all that out? Such were his honest thoughts, but again, he was too proud and embarrassed to admit it.

“That’s because you’re a workaholic.”

“You’re partly to blame for that, you know,” Yusei said, crossing his arms and cocking an eyebrow. “You were always telling me to keep growing, get stronger, try harder, push past my limits. I took that to heart.”

“Yeah, I guess I did say all that, didn’t I?” Stardust said with a weak smile, remembering fondly the days back then when his knight was young.

“You did. Did you mean it?”

Stardust turned to look Yusei in the eye. “What?”

“Did you mean it,” Yusei repeated, as if Stardust simply hadn’t heard the words.

“Of course I did, why would you ask me that?”

“Because if you think so little of humans, why would you encourage me so much?”

“Yusei,” Stardust groaned. But Yusei just kept looking at him expectantly. Stardust sighed and rubbed his face with both hands before rubbing down so hard the skin pulled away from his eyes. He let go so it snapped back into place. “Look, I’ll . . . figure out a way to say all the . . . things I’ve got going on in here,” he said, tapping his head. “I just can’t right now. It’s complicated and . . . hard. But listen, I swear, I always wanted to encourage you. I wanted to see you grow and get stronger. I wanted to see how far you could go. Everything between us was real. It was always real.”

Even saying that much made him feel all twisted up inside. Sincerity was not an easy or comfortable thing for him. He had to force himself not to grimace.

And Yusei could tell it was awkward for the dragon, who had always preferred to keep the mood light. That was enough for him to accept for now. Stardust had always been a solid foundation for him, keeping him steady and even building him up. If a dragon could believe in him, then he could believe in himself. To him, Stardust had been an idol. And it was a milestone in maturity to witness one’s idol fall. It hurt to see the one he had relied on for strength and encouragement be so petty. But he guessed it would hurt Stardust to hear that more than it would help, so he held onto it in his heart.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Yusei said as thanks.

Stardust worked his jaw, still feeling the awkward twisting and tingling in his body. He looked over, and thankfully he couldn’t see any of the others, as all the trees and shrubs blocked them from view. It made him feel a little better at least about adding something more. He rubbed his hands against his legs and thought how nice it would have been to have pockets he could shove his hands into.

“And listen . . .” he began slowly, with a long pause. Yusei waited patiently. Stardust went to cross his arms, but it didn’t feel right, so instead he opted to grab his braid and twist it between his hands. “I always thought . . . no matter how strong you got . . . I’d still always be able to protect you. I’d always be bigger and stronger than anyone you could ever face. And I’d always heal, so I wouldn’t even have to hesitate. I could just step in anytime like a trump card and everything would be good. But now . . .” He frowned at his braid as he strained it into a hard twist. “Who can I protect like this? What good am I? Like this, you’re stronger than me.” His voice got progressively quieter until it was barely a murmur. “You don’t really need me.”

Hearing such a thing caught Yusei so off guard his voice tripped in his throat before he could speak. “I don’t even know where to begin with that,” he said, shaking his head. “Just . . . Of course I need you. You’re family.”

Stardust wound his braid around one hand, released it, then wound it again. The motion helped him keep himself together.

“I don’t care how strong you are or what you look like. You’re still Stardust. You’re important to me. Not just because you can protect me when I need you, not even primarily because of that. It’s because you’re you and because we have a bond between us.”

Stardust was still staring down at his braid, which was now wound around each hand with a segment stretched between. “Yeah,” Stardust sighed glumly, “but . . . I don’t really know who I am without . . . if I can’t . . .” He brought his hands together and apart, making the rope of hair loose and taut, loose and taut.

“Then you’re not giving yourself enough credit. There’s more to you than just being a dragon. You just haven’t thought about it enough to realize that.”

Yusei was right. Being the lone dragon among humans had always been enough of a defining trait for Stardust. Maybe that was why he felt so lost and broken without it. “I don’t like thinking too much,” he muttered while managing to crack a small smirk.

Yusei gladly returned it. “I know. But maybe you could give it another try.”

Stardust sighed. “Jeez. You want me to think and do work? You’re pretty demanding, you know.”

“Good thing I’m so charismatic, huh?”

“What? Says who?”

Yusei just smiled, then gestured with his head toward the black wall. “Come on, you’ve got a date to get to.”

Stardust groaned. “I still don’t see why I have to go when I’m going to be the third wheel.”

When they got back to the group, Aki was the first to ask, “Stardust! What happened?”

Stardust reflexively raised a hand to his cheek. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you ready now?” Archfiend asked.

“He’s ready,” Yusei answered.

“Gee, thanks.”

Archfiend laughed then went molten, growing and morphing until he hardened back into his dragon form. He held out an open claw to Stardust. “All right, shall we? Don’t want to keep our date waiting, right?”

Stardust went stiff at Archfiend’s hint that he had heard everything. Of course he did, him and his dragon ears. Stardust hissed through his teeth at Archfiend’s smirk then tried to roll the annoyance off his back. “Didn’t take you to be the gentleman type.”

Archfiend unceremoniously grabbed Stardust by his waist and lifted him up to his shoulder. “I can be charming when I need to be.”

Stardust latched on to Archfiend’s long neck and muttered, “All the charm you have probably isn’t going to cut it.”

Once they were above the excessively tall boundary, they could see the garden inside, which may as well have been a whole other world. Archfiend glided downward quietly and carefully, keeping his senses sharp for signs of Black Rose, while Stardust lost himself in marveling at the vibrant bursts of color so dramatically contrasted against the black thorns. When Archfiend landed, Stardust slid off him to the ground so he could twist and turn on his feet. The green of the grass and leaves saturated the background, while flowers of every color gleamed like candy on display wherever his eyes could land. The inner side of the wall was also a lively green, coated thoroughly by rose bushes all the way to the peak. Most of the roses were various shades of red and pink, others white, still others purple, and all bloomed full and silky soft, drops of dew still cool on their petals.

Beyond just the flowers, the trees carried exotic fruits with their own striking colors and shapes, while on the ground crystals from the size of a fingernail to a hefty gourd lay scattered about, each emitting a soft glow that matched its color. Stardust didn’t realize his mouth was open as he gawked, even though he could taste the fragrances of the place mingling on his tongue. It didn’t seem so much a garden as a paradise.

Then came its guardian beast.

They felt her arrival before they saw her. First was the shocking gust of wind that poured down on them from above the trees, then came the screech that shook their bones through their ears. And then a boom trembled under their feet when dragon landed among them, her body feathered with blood-red petals, her wings spread wide and neck stretched tall as she gave another deafening screech toward the sky. Stardust pressed hard enough on his ears to nearly crush his own skull while Archfiend held firm with all four claws set on the ground.

After a moment, Black Rose’s screech came to a merciful end, and she lowered her gaze down to her two intruders, her plumage raised ferociously, giving her the look of a bird protecting her nest. Even more worrisome, though, were the thick vines that came creeping out from around her feet to wave like sentient whips at the ready.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, her gold eyes bright and menacing. She punctuated her question with a few threatening cracks of her vines on the ground, which stirred up a burst of leaves, grass, and petals. “Coming into my home however you please? Do you want to die?”

“Not today, no,” Archfiend answered lightly while being careful not to make any suspicious movements.

That must be his “charm”, Stardust thought, feeling a drop of sweat trickle down his neck.

“Then you better get out,” Black Rose suggested, thrashing the ground with another round from her vines. Stardust wasn’t sure, but he thought he could see the thorns along the lengths of those vines grow.

“Listen, we really hate to disturb you,” Archfiend said, slowly raising his front claws to gesture that he meant to harm. “But maybe you can give us just one minute before you start killing anyone so we can tell you something important.”

Black Rose eyed Archfiend sharply. The two were of similar size while differing in shape: where Archfiend was lean and hard, Black Rose was a flower in full bloom, her black body hidden beneath a thick coat of petals, save for her throat and long, thorned tail. After a measuring look, Black Rose lowered her weapons just enough to show she would grant Archfiend’s request. “You have until I lose my patience.”

Archfiend nodded. “Then here’s the short of it: a witch has stolen our Book, and he’s using it to get more magic. A lot of magic. Mostly by stealing it, including from dragons. So we’re trying to get some help to take him out.”

Black Rose kept staring at Archfiend, and then when he had finished, she shifted her gaze down to Stardust. He could feel the weight of her stare and the prickle it set down his back.

“I assume you are one of those he has stolen from,” she said.

Stardust nodded, relieved she could tell he wasn’t human. “Unfortunately.”

“Indeed.” She flapped her wings lightly and shook her head, causing the long ropes of red petals that hung from her mane to fly. “To be bested by a human,” she snarled, “truly a disgrace against a dragon’s pride and honor.”

Stardust bit on the inside of his cheeks to keep from snapping back with an unhelpful retort. And yet again, he wondered, Why am I even here?

“I’m sure we’d all agree it’s not something we’d want to go through,” Archfiend said conversationally. “So maybe you might consider helping us? Just this one time?”

Black Rose cocked her head to look at Archfiend closely with one eye. “You seem to know me, since you came here specifically to find me. But I don’t know you.”

“Ah. Right. Sorry. I don’t get out much either,” Archfiend laughed. Stardust felt his heart divide into his skull and stomach. He hoped Archfiend’s charm wouldn’t backfire. “I’m Archfiend, and this is Stardust. You, of course, have a pretty widespread reputation.”

“Hm. Do I now,” Black Rose said flatly, seemingly uninterested in such a detail.

She’s also the closest one around, Stardust thought, but that probably wouldn’t help either.

“I know it’s troublesome, but the sooner we get rid of this guy, before he gets too powerful, the faster and easier it’ll be.”

Black Rose snorted hotly, her breath rustling the nearest tree hard enough that several leaves came loose. “It just disgusts me to think of a human holding our Book,” she muttered. “And using it against us. The audacity. Humans really are the lowest of all creatures.” Her tail waved behind her, the sharp thorns brushing dangerously close to more trees.

“They certainly have an unmatched capacity for cruelty,” Archfiend agreed as though they were discussing the weather. Then his body went bright, and like wet clay being shaped, he shrunk and morphed until he had assumed his human persona. He looked at one of his hands as he flexed it. “Ironic how something so small can be so destructive.”

“Do you enjoy being at their level?” Black Rose asked accusingly.

“Only sometimes, when I’m in the mood,” Archfiend answered nonchalantly. Then he slapped an arm around Stardust’s shoulders and tugged him close. “But my buddy Stardust is going through a hard time right now, I just thought I’d show some solidarity. I’m sure he’s feeling like the odd man out.”

Stardust could feel heat rising from his head. And whose fault is that??

Black Rose sniffed. Ruffled her petals like feathers. Then she raised her wings up and bowed her head behind them. For a moment she sat as a bulb, then it seemed like a breeze brushed over her as her petals shook, until they all blew away. Standing in the dragon’s place was a regal lady, her black hair long and wavy, her head adorned with a crown of pale green leaves. Her hazel eyes were framed by long lashes and sat above high cheekbones and full lips. Her crimson dress reached past her feet to the earth while the top lay wide around her bare shoulders. She held her head high, making it easy to see the black lace collar strapped around her long neck. Her face was equally beautiful and fierce, captivating and intimidating. When she set her hands on her hips, her wide bell sleeves fell open at her sides.

“You have quite the audacity yourself, expecting me to make you comfortable in my home.” None of her dragon petals remained by the time she finished, having dissolved before reaching the ground.

“I would never be so bold,” Archfiend reassured smoothly. “Rather, we’re honored to be treated to such hospitality.”

Black Rose hmphed and crossed her arms. Stardust couldn’t tell what she thought of Archfiend. She wasn’t stoically unreadable like Yusei, but she had a constant scowl that confused him when she chose to accommodate them.

“So, let’s say I agreed to help. What exactly are you asking me to do?”

Stardust couldn’t believe she would even entertain the hypothetical, though her tone didn’t make him believe she was actually close to joining them. She was just probing.

Archfiend, still with one arm draped around Stardust’s shoulders, rubbed his chin with his free hand. “Well, first of all, we need to find the witch. He’s gone missing for the moment. Then when we find him, killing him is certainly an option.”

Black Rose finally showed the first hint of a smile since their arrival, the corners of her lips flickering upward. “Mmm, I do like the idea of a chance to kill a human,” she mused.

“Just the one though,” Stardust clarified quickly, earning him a harsh frown from Black Rose.

“Stardust,” she said slowly, as if tasting the syllables of his name. “That’s right, I’ve heard of you. You’re friends with humans.” Her nose wrinkled, and Stardust could feel her disdain thick as syrup.

“One human,” he corrected. “Or, maybe two. But that’s it!”

Black Rose curled her lip and hissed contemptuously. “How repulsive.”

“You don’t know them,” Stardust countered reflexively.

“They’re human. That’s all I need to know.”

“You know they’re not all the same, right?” He could feel his snark returning—and the warning pinch of Archfiend’s nail into his arm.

Black Rose bared her teeth, revealing canines that grew visibly sharper. “You have the nerve to say that when one of them stole your pride?”

“It was just the one! I’m not going to blame what he did on the rest of them!”

“I can’t stand to even look at you,” she spat. “Human-lover, defending them like a dog.”

Stardust bristled and snapped his hands into fists. “Look,” he said with great restraint, “how I feel about humans has nothing to do with anything. We’re talking about one witch that we really need to find. And if you can’t stand to look at me, then you can just help us locate him and we’ll get out of your sight.”

Stardust didn’t turn to look, but he could feel Archfiend’s incredulous eyes burning into his cheek. Maybe Stardust had spoiled their chance to have her join them, but at the moment, he didn’t care. She raised her chin, assessing him with her burning eyes. While he was at least six inches taller than her, she had enough power in her glare to dwarf the most confident of men, but he didn’t shrink. Maybe that earned him enough credit for her to accept his terms.

She clicked her tongue and scoffed, but set her hands on her hips and said, “All right, fine. You want me to locate this witch? I’ll find him. And then we’re done. You come back here ever again, and you won’t get any more hospitality from me.”

Concealing any disappointment under easy conversation, Archfiend smiled. “Duly noted. We really do appreciate your generosity.”

Black Rose gave Archfiend a haughty look, hmphed, then used both hands to flip her bulky hair off her back. “So, a witch. A two-legged meatsack of magic.” At the same time that she craned her neck backward and raised her arms straight in front of her, fingers aimed sharply, her body began to glow like the many crystals rooted in the ground. In answer to her light, the nearby trees rustled, releasing clouds of dust-like lights which then began to spiral around them. From the flowers came more lights, no bigger than specks, that rose and gathered in the air around Black Rose to circle her in a dozen rings. By all the illumination, the fine details in her dress became clear, and down the length of her hair emerged small buds that bloomed into red roses.

With eyes closed to the sky, she began to wave her hands, as if weaving a symphony only she could hear. For a minute, Stardust and Archfiend watched, transfixed by the smooth grace of her conduct and the form of her unique magic. And then, there! She struck her arm suddenly to the right, one finger pointing while all the specks of light flowed into a string that spiraled around her arm then into the air from her fingertip. Stardust and Archfiend watched as the string extended onward, getting higher and higher to the tops of trees and out of sight. The string was thin and faint, like spider’s silk, but it held strong even after Black Rose lowered her arms and the trees reabsorbed their own lights.

The roses in Black Rose’s hair reversed their bloom and the buds sank out of sight. She opened her eyes and put one hand on her hip. “There, follow that trail and you’ll reach your witch. I’ve latched it directly to him, so even if he moves from his current location, he’ll still be your destination.”

Stardust was conflicted: he couldn’t help being awed and impressed, but he was too soured to want to give her any praise. So he stayed quiet. Archfiend, in contrast, showed no qualms giving his thanks. “I can’t even begin to say how helpful this is. I wish I could do something in return besides simply never bother you again.”

Whether he was being sincere or simply employing his charm, Black Rose seemed to have something in mind. “Well, before you go, answer me one thing.”

Archfiend smiled obligingly. “Of course.”

“I was able to sense his magic,” she said, only deigning to acknowledge Stardust with a flick of her chin, “but there was another magic within him that felt . . . like mine.” She frowned, clearly displeased. “Who did he steal it from?”

“Ah,” Archfiend said with a single nod. “I don’t know her well, but that would be another witch. She’s a friend of this one’s favorite human. Her name’s Aki, right?” he asked, looking to Stardust.

“Yeah,” was all Stardust answered.

Black Rose was quiet in thought, not looking at either dragon for a moment. Then she snorted and shook her head. “All right, we’re done here.” With that declaration, she shooed them away with a wave. Archfiend gave her a bow from the waist before stepping back so he could have enough room to transform. When he had set Stardust on his shoulder, Black Rose watched as they rose into the air—and then didn’t follow the trail she had given them. That irked her, but then she got the suspicion that maybe they had to retrieve something first. She looked to the wall and directed her senses through the many roots living in the earth in that direction.

And she felt it.

It was faint, weak, just like Stardust, but unmistakable all the same. The witch, and her magic that was obscenely similar to Black Rose’s own—whatever small trace of it still remained. Black Rose’s nose wrinkled unconsciously before she broke the connection. How unpleasant. She didn’t want to share anything with humans. Even in the small flesh she wore now, she didn’t feel human. Rather, her form seemed the standard and humans simply pale, weak knockoffs. Incomparable. Unnecessary. Why did humans even need to exist when dragons already wore such skin, and better?

She scoffed and turned on her feet quickly enough that her hair swung. The points of her sleek crystal heels poked the soft earth as she glided through the flowerbeds, until she bent her knees to crouch low next to a particularly large and bright crystal. It was light turquoise in color and transparent as water, and its aura cast the green grass around it with a bluish hue. Black Rose reached down and stroked the smooth surface affectionately, her hand creating streaks in the light.

“I’m sorry, Fair,” she murmured softly with a bitter smile. “I’m having those thoughts you dislike so much.” She let her eyes relax into a stare at the turquoise light dancing around her dark hand as it slid back and forth, back and forth, gently across the crystal. Her bottom lip began to tremble, but she bit into it to make it stop. Her hand went still and she took a deep breath. The light was so calming she could have fallen into it, like a pool to drown in. She stroked the crystal with her thumb and whispered, “I’d give anything to hear you lecture me again.”

Chapter Text

“I’m not crying because of you; you’re not worth it. I’m crying because my delusion of who you were was shattered by the truth of who you are.” – Steve Maraboli

Archfiend flew silently following the string of light, all the tiny specks that formed it so close together it was impossible to see them individually, even as evening fell and the light grew brighter by contrast. Archfiend flew just above so that the trail was between himself and the treetops, and kept himself at a pace that those below on horseback could keep up with. Some part of him was annoyed by having to be so deliberately slow, but he could restrain that part and perform as a member of the team. He was much easier to follow than the tiny lights that, to those on the ground, were dim enough to be almost completely swallowed by the sun.

Each person wondered to themselves what they might find at the end of the trail, fearing that Divine would be fully recovered and waiting to annihilate them when they were close enough for his magic to reach. Perhaps the feathered dragon would be there as well, ready to feast on any carcasses it helped create. The thought made hearts race, and Aki spent much of the ride squeezing the hilt of a dagger she had borrowed, willing her adrenaline to make it useful in her inexperienced hands, should it come to that.

They didn’t have much of a plan, or much functional information to plan around. They were charging in with only the sense that they had to, that it was them or nothing. Aki replayed in her head what they had agreed upon before setting off.

“Divine will be able to feel us coming,” Stardust said to the group, “without a doubt, so let’s not have any false hopes that we can take him by surprise. The best we can do is attack quickly. So Archfiend should attack as soon as he’s got a shot.”

“Happily,” Archfiend nodded.

“However, if the feathered dragon and other knight show up, go for them instead.”

“If you say so.”

“You’re the best match we have for another dragon at the moment.”

“I know. I didn’t disagree.”

Stardust kept his sigh short then continued, “The rest of us are going to have to focus on targeting Divine’s weaknesses. Which is probably going to mean taking him out in a physical fight rather than trying to match him magic with magic.”

“I’m definitely a superior swordsman,” Jack said with his shoulders pulled back.

“No doubt,” Stardust said, though his tone was unimpressed. “The trick is getting close enough to stick a sword in him. And since subtlety isn’t exactly your trademark, you’ll have to work with Yusei to distract Divine and make an opening for one of you to get to him. Ideally without getting hit yourselves.”

Jack and Yusei both turned to look at each other at the same time, eyes meeting with companionable cooperation. They understood each other well enough to be able to play off each other in an improvised battle.

“Anything you want me to do?” Aki asked.

Stardust frowned, apologetically, before basically admitting he hadn’t come up with anything yet. “Stay close to me.”

Heart heavy, she nodded. Stardust was volunteering to protect her so Yusei could focus on his own task. She couldn’t think of anything better either.

“What do we aim for to kill him?” Yusei asked.

“The head,” Stardust answered. “Cut it off, nice and clean. Or, I mean, if things get messy that’s fine too. As long as it comes off. That’s the only way.”

“You seem pretty sure about that,” Jack noted.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Have you dealt with overpowered witches before?”

“No. But his abundance of magic could keep him alive even if you damage his heart. Don’t take that risk.”

It wasn’t a detailed plan, but it was the best they could do under the circumstances. Aki still didn’t know if she was going to play any role in this beyond stay out of the way, but she squeezed the dagger until she had to wipe the sweat from her palm off on her leg. The simple weapon felt foreign to her, and she longed for the familiar warm flow to return in full force to her fingers instead. For much of the trek she had kept her eyes closed, relying on the horse to follow the others for her. It was easier to focus on breathing in the dark. She wasn’t hearing much over the pounding of her heart, and the forest was dense enough that there wasn’t much to see anyway, so she just tried to keep calm and not let her attention get too split. She decided the best thing she could do was to see if there was any bit of magic she could sense or control, and she felt for it in the brief interludes separating her spurts of anxiety. But she had poured so much of her energy into preparing Yusei’s sword that she was too worn out to exercise that sense again just yet. But she preferred the fruitless effort to the fruitless worrying, so she kept at it.

Until.

She flung the darkness away at the sound of an enormous roar, snapping her eyes open and looking up in time with all the others toward Archfiend, whose chest was expanding and lighting up from inside with the molten magic he was preparing for an attack. The creases in his armored body became the brightest sight as magic bulged against his ribs, so much so that those below had to squint against it. And then Archfiend released, and a fierce stream of white lava shot from his wide jaws toward an enemy they couldn’t see beyond the canopy, but who they could hear screeching in the distance.

“Shit,” Stardust muttered. “We couldn’t be so lucky.” He had apparently been hoping they could find Divine alone. But the feathered dragon’s presence, by his own planning, meant Divine was their target. And with their eyes still pointed upward, they were able to see the last shuddering breath of their guiding light as it flickered once, twice, thrice, then feebly vanished in the purple sunset. They had arrived, and they were on their own now.

Aki’s ears roared with her pulse and she once again squeezed the dagger while clenching her teeth. Divine was close, he had to be. They were almost to him. It was about to start. For Archfiend, it was already starting. Were they ready? Aki felt unsteady on her seat, but hoped that was just because she wasn’t a soldier. She wasn’t trained for battle. She looked to Yusei and Jack, hoping to see them built with confidence that would reassure her.

Instead, her eyes were drawn to the trees ahead, where a cloaked figure stood at the precipice where the forest ended and a peak overlooking a valley began. Her heart lurched, and she felt the skipped beat as a crashing wave in her head.

“Welcome,” he greeted with false grace, raising one hand as if inviting guests into his home.

“Ha, thanks for coming out to meet us!”

While Aki’s body froze, Yusei and Jack lunged off their horses and drew their swords with expert agility, wasting no time to burst into a run. Neither prince nor knight looked back, leaving Aki to watch from the back of her horse as they raced unhesitatingly forward. She felt disembodied, like she was watching a dream, and it was only when Stardust called to her that she remembered herself.

“Aki! The horses!”

She blinked until she was back inside herself and slid from her own horse to help him guide Yusei’s and Jack’s to a tree to be tied. As she fumbled with the ropes, she kept glancing sideways, more afraid of missing something important than of seeing something horrible.

Yusei could understand well enough that Divine appearing in front of them meant he likely had a plan, but with Jack at his side, he couldn’t afford to be overly cautious, otherwise Jack would be left running headfirst on his own. So he ran, and before they got too close, Divine ran too, turning and dashing down the steep slope to reach the valley. Yusei couldn’t stop, he could only try to think ahead faster. What was Divine doing, and how could Yusei use it against him to give Jack an opening?

By now the sun was behind the mountains, leaving the clouds murky and the sky dimly lit, but still too bright for the moon to shine. It was a dull spectator above the valley, watching as Yusei and Jack ran down the slope in the hopes of catching up before Divine could turn to face them. But he had had too much of a head start. Divine reached the bottom of the slope and dove to the ground, reaching to catch himself with both hands. The instant his palms were against the grassy earth, a tangible pulse pushed out from each hand into the ground, causing a thousand roots to burst up in rows, fast as lightning strikes, those nearest his pursuers snatching them and lifting them from the ground before swinging and hurling them through the air.

With Yusei and Jack momentarily delayed, Divine got back to his feet and raced further into the valley. When he had enough room, he turned to face the slope and knelt so he was able to put his hands to the ground again. This time the roots bubbled up from the earth in a circle around him, forming a thick, prickly wall that threatened to skewer anyone who got too close, the thorns moving like sentient guards.

Yusei and Jack both recovered quickly, having maneuvered in their flight to land as well as they could on their feet, and continued their pursuit. As he got closer, Yusei could see through the many slim openings in Divine’s wall that he was holding up above his head a large pendant that emitted an eerie green light.

From the top of the slope, where she now stood, Aki could see it too. She recognized it as the one Divine always wore—the family heirloom he had treated with care all the years she had known him—and felt her stomach sink. She couldn’t help but assume now that what she knew about it was also a lie, so what was it really?

She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to know, so she panicked when he began to move.

Oh no, what now? What now??

From where she stood, Yusei and Jack seemed to be moving so slowly, even though they were running as fast as they could. They weren’t going to catch up. As Aki took in her next breath, Divine formed a tight grip around the green stone, and as she exhaled, he threw it down, a violent grin on his face, so that it shattered against the large rock embedded in the ground beneath his feet. Before Aki’s breath was out, she was already unconscious, her body left to fall.

Fortunately Stardust was at least standing beside her, and upon noticing her knees folding beneath her, responded with a reflex that made him catch her.

“Aki!” he called in surprise, his eyes moving quickly back and forth between her unresponsive face and Divine in his growing fortress. Yusei and Jack were close enough now that the wall was releasing whips to strike at them, and roots were shooting up near their feet, threatening to either catch or stab.

While dodging and hacking, Yusei wondered what the effect of breaking the pendant was. He braced himself for something, but from what he could see, there was nothing new to fight or defend against. There was just the gleefully cruel grin he could make out through the spaces between the brambles. Unsure what to make of it, Yusei just kept going, keeping his feet light as he dove between the thrusts and slashes from the wall, trying to figure out a way he might get through it. When one of the whiplike branches caught his sword and wound around it, threatening to yank it from his hands, Yusei proved too strong. He kept his grip tight and put the weight of his whole body to use until he had cut through the robust wood.

“Was that a dud?” Jack taunted while also dancing with the wall, his movements relying more on meeting the strikes head on with deadly force than dodging.

“Not at all,” Divine answered smoothly, his hands now clasped behind his back, relaxed as he simply enjoyed the show playing out for him.

“Really? Cause I don’t think these guys are getting any stronger,” Jack said before hacking a particularly thick branch with one powerful swing.

“They’re enough to handle you,” Divine taunted back. “I’m just waiting for you to realize.”

Yusei frowned, keeping enough attention on the fight to keep from getting hit while setting some portion of his focus on trying to figure out the pendant’s effect. He wasn’t noticing anything, but the way Divine’s eyes tracked him in particular as opposed to Jack concerned him. What was Divine waiting for?

Minute by minute the sky grew darker as the sunken sun went deeper and deeper into its nightly realm. The vicious thorns and Divine’s matching grin were left illuminated by the growing light of the moon and the continuing bursts of magic as Archfiend’s fight against the feathered dragon carried on. Under the flashes of white, red, and green, Divine’s face became various masks of jagged shadows and devilish hues, like a stage for different characters to play one by one, while his eyes held steady, directly on Yusei, following him like a hallway painting.

We can’t do this forever, Yusei thought, wondering how much longer he and Jack could keep going, which was the amount of time they had left to make a decisive move. Yusei stayed focused on slicing his endless opponents, not letting the way the brambles of the wall swayed and gnarled disturb him. He parried a swinging branch, chopped another coming from the other side, ducked as two branches crossed like spears above his head. The he lunged forward as roots attempted to grab his ankles and thrust his sword into the wall, scraping brambles and thorns until they tightened so hard around the sword the movement was halted. Yusei could see through the keyhole spaces and to the inside, see Divine still staring, his green eyes hungry and amused. Before another rising branch could whip at him, Yusei put a foot against a patch of the brambles without thorns and pushed until his sword was free and he was launched backward several steps through the air. He landed on his toes and parried three more strikes before spinning to give him the momentum he needed to swing and cut down all three branches at once.

It was then that he happened to notice something at the top of the slope they had come from and took a moment to look again. It was Stardust, for some reason, with one knee on the ground and Aki lying over it as he held her upright with both arms. Yusei had to parry another sudden attack, but when the branch was cut and he had jumped to avoid another root, he looked again. He couldn’t help his concern. What had happened? Was Aki ok? He didn’t have time to ask. As soon as he took a breath he had to turn back to the fight and block another strike, the sound of wood hitting metal ringing in his ears. Suddenly impatient, Yusei chopped the branch mercilessly and ran straight toward the wall, finding Divine’s eyes through the spaces once again.

“What did you do?” he demanded.

And seeing that Yusei had finally become aware, Divine’s smile grew, the green light of the feathered dragon’s magic giving it a grotesque distortion.

“Survive if you want to find out.”

Yusei snarled, baring his teeth at Divine, and then brought the sword down. If he had been in a mind to pay closer attention, he would have noticed the faint pink glow of his blade, but instead he only noticed how easily the sword cut through the whole thing, as if the wood had become water. The wall split in two, the branches even turning away as if to flee the blade, giving Yusei plenty of opening that he could step through and reach Divine with one lunge.

He was encouraged to see Divine’s smile fall away. The witch had apparently not expected this. Not that Yusei had either, but he was ready to jump at an opportunity without questioning it. He raised his sword with both hands in preparation for a thrust aimed right for Divine’s throat, his eyes so keen in that moment of focus he could see the tendons when Divine swallowed. Everything else fell away, and there was nothing but Yusei, his sword, and his target. He bent his knees.

And he was nearly knocked off balance when Jack suddenly appeared, back to Yusei’s back, thrusting up his sword to block the oncoming swing of another, the clash ringing dangerously close to Yusei’s ear. Yusei twisted around to see Jack taking a swing at the new arrival, and realized that apparently this time the feathered dragon was riderless.

Kiryu blocked Jack’s swing with his sword, but Jack was stronger, and the force was enough to send Kiryu stumbling back a few steps.

“You’re welcome!” Jack snapped over his shoulder before chasing after him.

When Yusei turned back to Divine, it was only to see that the wall was repairing itself, the broken brambles withering and falling as new ones grew quickly in their place, sealing up the opening he had made. He ground his teeth. He brought up the sword, holding it before him with both hands, and then lunged forward, ready to slice the wall open once more. The sword felt more resistance this time, the branches not giving way so easily again, but they still broke under the brute strength Yusei put into his downward swing. His sword hit the ground with a jarring thunk, and he raised it again for another swing. This time he came from the opposite angle so that the brambles between the two slices fell, separated from the rest, leaving a wide V-shaped hole for Yusei to pass through.

But when he looked, Divine wasn’t there. Another opening—one not made by force but by the brambles willingly spreading apart—was there on the opposite side of the wall, and Yusei could see past it that Divine was already running away.

“Dammit!” Yusei hissed before leaping through his opening, across the inner space, and out through Divine’s exit, and chased after the witch with long strides. Every now and then he had to veer off the straight path when he saw the ground bubble and a new root burst up to attack. They were few enough now that they were fairly easy to dodge and didn’t hinder Yusei’s pursuit too much. He could keep his eye on Divine’s back and didn’t lose track even when he dove back into the forest. The density of the trees even worked to slow Divine down, forcing him to maneuver his way around the trees and undergrowth, and only by the light of his gloves since the canopy was too thick for the moonlight to penetrate.

That same light made him easy to see, and Yusei followed him relentlessly, navigating the trees easily enough and simply trampling or jumping over the bushes when they were in his way. Divine was so tantalizing close, and in terms of stamina Yusei was surely stronger. Yusei could run faster for longer than Divine could, so in a simple cat and mouse hunt, Yusei would win.

But then Divine shoved his gloves into his robes, hiding their light and himself. Yusei had to slow, not only to keep from running into the next tree but to try to keep track of Divine by sound. He used his ears to seek out the witch’s breathing and footsteps against the brush. He couldn’t hear movement, which told him Divine was staying in place, so Yusei proceeded carefully, holding out one hand to find the trees with each step. He wondered how close he could get before Divine decided to start moving again.

And then his stomach dropped when he remembered that Divine could so easily just attack him with more roots and branches. Maybe Divine would be able to use such attacks even in the total dark. He didn’t know, and it made Yusei all the more anxious to cut the source down before he could find out. His palm came up against a sturdy trunk, and he knew to curve left around it with his next step.

His foot was still lowering to the ground when FSH! a bolt shot at him, cutting through the darkness with a lightning flash. Yusei brought his sword up with the speed of a reflex, catching the magic on his blade while ducking, the impact creating tiny fireworks above his head. By the magic’s flash and the second appearance of his blade’s pink glow, he could see Divine again, still in the same spot, one of his hands extended toward Yusei as if giving a king’s proclamation. The weight of Divine’s frown went beyond mere annoyance, he eyed Yusei’s sword with deep scorn. Yusei offered Aki a prayer of thanks before launching at Divine by the pink illumination.

Eyes growing wide with searing anger, Divine pointed his hand at Yusei and released another bolt of magic, but Yusei was too prepared. He swerved out of its path while bringing up the sword, and by the time Divine had a moment to finally panic, Yusei was already swinging, and blade met flesh.

The only reason it didn’t cut all the way through Divine’s throat was because he had brought up both gloved hands and caught the sword halfway into his windpipe, his blood instantly gushing over the blade and down his neck, into his cloak. His teeth clenched as Yusei kept pushing, trying to power his way through the rest of Divine’s neck. It wouldn’t be long before Divine would be too weak to oppose him. Yusei could already imagine the victory, Divine’s eyes fading and hands faltering, the sword slipping through and casting an arc of blood through the air. It was so close, so close. Yusei stared hard at Divine, watching his eyes unflinchingly, waiting for the moment the balance between their strengths tilted.

Divine’s hands began to shake and his clenched teeth were darkening with blood, some of it dripping over his lips. Yusei squeezed the hilt and on his exhale drove harder, using his ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, any part of him that could add more force.

Divine must have realized he couldn’t win this contest, so he suddenly tightened his grip on the blade and dropped, pulling Yusei to the ground with him. Before he could land on his back, the tip of the blade pierced into the ground, and Divine was able to use both feet to kick Yusei up and over his head. It was nothing Yusei couldn’t handle, but it bought Divine just enough time to yank his head sideways and free of the blade, causing even more blood to spurt and gush from the wound. Divine cupped it with one hand while using the other to help him scramble to his feet.

Yusei, his hands still gripping the sword, twisted in the air and landed on his toes, then pulled the sword up and free and darted forward, ready to thrust the whole blade through Divine’s back and nail him to a nearby tree. What made it somewhat difficult to get a good aim was Divine’s erratic stumbling, but that also meant he was slow enough to easily catch up to. Yusei decided he could just finish the job from behind and raised the sword. Then Divine tripped, and upon landing on his knee he twisted and shot another bolt of magic from his hand, which Yusei paused to dodge.

Divine then put the free hand on the ground, and several roots wriggled up to tie around Yusei’s ankles. Compared to before, these were flimsy, and Yusei could simply uproot them by yanking each foot up hard enough. He shook them off, showing that they were no threat to him, but he could tell Divine was just buying time. There was a faint light under the hand he had pressed against his throat, and the flow of blood through his fingers was slowing down.

Oh no you don’t, Yusei thought, and with the sword’s pink glow lighting the way, he stepped toward Divine and thrust his sword through the witch’s chest. The sound Divine made was a sickly gurgle as blood bubbled up his throat and over his teeth. Yusei put his foot on Divine’s shoulder and pushed him down onto his back. Now he had Divine in a position where he could drive his sword down into Divine’s throat. He yanked his sword up out of Divine’s chest, the stain of blood there already thick and spreading. Had he been one for torture, Yusei would have delayed the final blow by first cutting off each of Divine’s gloved hands, then his legs at the knees, then disemboweled him in an inelegant surgery. But all he wanted was to bring this to an end.

He held the sword before him, pointed downward, both hands on the hilt, eyes aimed on his target.

He thrust down.

Divine knocked the blade off course by swinging both arms together into it. Yusei hissed, annoyed, as he stumbled one step off balance, and then Divine swung his legs too, knocking against Yusei’s and sending him to the ground on his knees. Yusei caught himself with one hand, unwilling to release the sword completely, but then Divine was on top of him, and Yusei could feel the sticky wet of blood as it dripped from Divine’s neck onto his face. Yusei reached to grab Divine’s hair with both hands, thinking maybe he could simply rip the head off with brute strength, and at the same time Divine pressed his hands onto Yusei’s eyes, one palm over each.

Yusei started to yank, and two green lights burst into his eyes.

He couldn’t help the scream that came from his throat. It felt as if two spears had stabbed right through the back of his skull and set off little explosions in his eye sockets. He also couldn’t help suddenly letting go of Divine and instinctively rolling to try to escape his hands. And apparently Divine was all too ready to let him. Yusei felt Divine’s weight lift from him and he tried to rise on his first foot, but he quickly collapsed again. As he caught himself on one hand, the other rose to press against the painful throbbing of one eye.

He shouted, a sound of pain and disorientation storming in his throat, as he stumbled and failed to get to his feet. He gave up and stayed on his knees, pressing the heels of both palms into his eyes, trying to bring the throbbing to stillness and suffocate the fire he felt burning them from inside. The pain there wasn’t contained just in his eyes, though it made him able to feel the entire contour of his eyeballs. It radiated throughout his skull, smashing against it like overlapping ripples.

Each breath he took in was ragged, like the first gasp of a man nearly drowned. Each exhale was hard, his voice coming out rough with each, like the roar of a wounded lion. He kept pushing against his eyes, waiting for the pain to naturally die down. He couldn’t tell at first if it was, and while his palms covered his eyes, his nails began to dig into his scalp.

He couldn’t control himself enough to speak, but the thought that kept repeating in his mind was Stop, stop, make it stop, make it stop! He was half tempted to pry his eyes out just to separate himself from their pain.

Off to the side, Divine finally had a chance to sit and breathe. He kept a close eye on Yusei as the knight struggled and shouted, and smiled as he felt the magic in him continue its work. The wound in his neck especially was stitching back together, magic working like a skilled, invisible tailor repairing a fine garment. The gash in his chest was also closing, and beneath the skin all the bones, muscles, and sinews were reversing their injuries, returning to the previous, clean state.

It was happening fast too, now that he wasn’t distracted by the need to defend himself against more attacks. Divine managed to laugh, a quiet, creaky thing. The blood was being drawn out of his throat and lungs to go back inside his veins, so breathing was becoming easier. If he was healing this fast already, when he reached his full potential, no wound would last more than a few seconds! He laughed again, excited, almost delirious with delight.

The knight’s pain was louder though, and Divine watched him with growing ease. Yes, this was how it should be. Divine was not someone to be defeated by a lowly, disgusting human. The notion of coming so close to being killed by Yusei was enough to turn his smile into a sneer.

“Who do you think you are?” he murmured before licking his lips. The blood there could go back to his insides from his tongue. “Getting cocky with me. You’re nothing.” He spat contemptuously toward the knight, who was bowed in pain and in no condition to hear anything Divine had to say. Divine snorted and, feeling his strength returning, rose to his feet before straightening his cloak at his shoulders and dusting off the forest debris it had caught from the ground.

He was now tall enough to look down on Yusei, lifting his nose as he did. At first it was enough to simply watch the knight wrestle against his pain and cry out in agony as his knees shuffled against the dirt, but the more he thought about the way Yusei had looked at him, his blue eyes hard and confident as he pushed his sword through Divine’s neck, the hotter his chest became. He couldn’t leave such arrogance alone. How dare a knight with no magic believe he could kill him!

(Already Divine could ignore the fact that he nearly had. Such a detail didn’t matter.)

The bitter rage made Divine breathe faster, his nostrils flaring with his hot breath, and he strode toward Yusei. Then baring his teeth his lifted one foot, and then kicked as hard as he could into Yusei’s side.

Yusei gagged and rolled onto his side from the force, then kept rolling until he could try to get up again from his knees, coughing.

“Are you listening to me?” he demanded before landing another blow into Yusei’s stomach, causing him to gag again. As Yusei staggered sideways, his balance broken, he fell onto his side, leaving him wide open for Divine to kick once more.

“Is this getting—”

Kick to the stomach, nauseous gag.

“—through—”

Kick and gag.

“—your head?”

Kick and gag.

“HUH??”

Kick and gag. Yusei rolled away, desperate for air, but Divine only changed his target, kicking his boot soundly against Yusei’s head, sending him sprawling to the ground with a shout. He watched with another laugh as Yusei wobbled in his attempt to lift up on one hand while cradling his beaten stomach with his arm.

“You think you’re so strong and righteous, don’t you?” he jeered. “Playing good little guard dog for the king. Disgusting.”

Yusei hacked and gasped for breath, and Divine began to wonder if the knight could even hear him through his pain and addled brain. Divine dropped to one knee and grabbed Yusei by the hair with both hands, giving him a sharp jerk.

“Listen!” he demanded, glaring at Yusei ferociously. “You don’t make the world better. Just look at you. You can’t. And you actually think you’re the good guy, don’t you? But you’re not!” He shook Yusei’s head again, spitting the word out like venom through clenched teeth. “You’re useless. Worthless. Worse than worthless. You’re just part of it all, keeping it alive, keeping all the gilded rot in place.”

Yusei’s face was scrunched, his eyes shut tight, his teeth bared, his hot breath a conduit for agonized groans. Divine wanted to burn him. He wanted the heat of his hatred to rise up like a dragon flame and melt the skin right off the knight’s face. Instead he moved one hand to grip a handful of hair on the back of Yusei’s head and then pulled his free hand back in a fist.

“You disgusting!”

His fist flew straight, colliding with the bone just under Yusei’s eye.

“Piece!”

He pulled it back, then thrust it forward, knuckles bashing the other side.

“Of shit!”

Back, and hit, right against Yusei’s teeth.

“I hate you! I hate everything you stand for!”

His arm came back, and he swung at an angle, hitting Yusei’s cheek hard enough to turn his head.

“Everything!”

He couldn’t help it. He paused his shouting to simply punch Yusei’s cheek three more times. Yusei’s head wobbled loosely and hung to the side, but he was still clinging to consciousness, still groaning. Divine wondered if he could even think in this state. He wanted his scorn to pierce through the knight’s mental fog. He wanted Yusei to understand in his soul that he had lost, that he had lost to hatred and power, that all the honor and hope Yusei carried himself with had come up short against the sheer determination and will that burned in Divine’s seething heart. He wanted Yusei to know and despair before the final blow struck him from the world.

“You can’t beat me! None of you can! You should be grateful you won’t live to see how I kill the others. You thought you saved Aki? You only made it possible for me to destroy her twice.”

He then gripped Yusei’s throat with both hands and shook him again.

“Are you fucking listening to me?!?” he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth onto Yusei’s face. “Listen to me you self-righteous”—shake—“boot-licking”—shake—“scum!”

Yusei’s head flopped flimsily, but he still had the strength to try to lift it. Not that he could, but he tried. Divine could feel Yusei’s pulse against his hands and hear the wheezing as Yusei struggled for air, and all he could think was how furious it made him that the knight wouldn’t open his eyes. Divine longed to see the knight’s agony there, his heart pounded for it.

For a moment Divine just held Yusei, the knight’s neck sinewy in his hands, and waited, panting, willing Yusei to lift his head and look at him.

Then Yusei took in one deep breath, and with a slurred voice he groaned, “Shut up.” Divine’s eyes went wide, sucking in a breath at the same time that his whole body went hot, consumed by a sudden conflagration of outrage. The knight had the audacity to sound annoyed. In his condition! Divine gnashed his teeth and hissed out a breath. Tempted to break Yusei’s neck, Divine gripped it tight and then slammed it down, hitting Yusei’s head against the dirt.

“Fine,” he muttered. “You don’t have to hear me talk anymore.” Divine stood, the glow of his gloves illuminating a sphere around him and allowing him to find Yusei’s sword. He reached down and picked it up with one hand. Only then did he realize how heavy it actually was—the knight’s ease with it had made it seem deceptively light. Divine had to use both hands to lift it steadily, which only irked him more, but he calmed himself with the reminder that it didn’t matter. What was the strength to wield a sword compared to all the magic he could use against it? He scoffed in order to smile.

When he turned back to Yusei, he was already rolled over to one side and trying to push himself up. Damn him. Such a weak mortal had no right to be so persistent. Divine strode back to him, and just as Yusei was straightening up on his knees, Divine pressed his sole into Yusei’s back and pushed him forward onto his hands. Then he kicked him in his side to knock him down. Yusei hit the ground with a sharp cry, like a beaten animal, and then Divine planted one foot on Yusei’s chest while bringing the sword up, pointed threateningly at Yusei’s heart.

“Who do you want to meet you in the afterlife first? Aki, or the dragon?” he asked, fitting in one last taunt.

Yusei grabbed Divine’s ankle with both hands, ignoring the question and only struggling to push Divine’s foot away. Divine accepted this and scoffed.

“Well, never mind. I’ll kill them both soon enough.”

He lifted the sword so he could bring it down hard and fast.

Thunk!

“AAAGGH!”

Divine screamed, and as he arched backwards against the sudden sharp pain in his shoulder, he dropped the sword sideways.

“Yusei!” Jack shouted while racing toward him, leaping over bushes and swerving around trees like he was running a mere obstacle course. Divine turned, noting the dagger sticking out of his back with one glance and letting out a strained growl of frustration. He quickly bent to grab the sword and press a hand to the earth, but when he looked toward Jack again he heard the whoosh at the same moment he felt the sharp pain already pierce into his eye. His head reared back with the impact of another dagger impaling him, this one going so deep he felt the tip against the back of his skull. He bellowed a horribly cry and fell onto his back as blood flowed down his cheek.

“Yusei!” Jack shouted again, seeking a response to determine how much life his friend still had in him. Yusei could only manage a soft groan, one Jack probably couldn’t even hear.

“DAMN YOU!” Divine roared, his frustration boiling over, outpacing the pain. As he jumped to his feet he gracelessly yanked the dagger from his eye, sending a splash of blood outward and scraping painfully against the bone in his brow. He threw the dagger with an offended growl down to the ground and looked up with his single eye, his shoulders heaving up and down as he seethed. It was clear from a single moment’s calculation that Jack would be on him in just a few seconds, given his pace, and with Divine’s magic hindered now by two deep injuries, he couldn’t risk getting into a fight with another swordsman. He would only admit to himself that he had gotten lucky against Yusei, he wouldn’t count on getting lucky again.

So before the prince could reach him and interfere, he turned, snapping his fingers as he darted into a run.

“Coward!” Jack hollered as just a few paces in front of Divine the air ripped open, forming a flat, upright, floating circle that shimmered with swirling shades of silver.

“Strategist!” Divine corrected before leaping into the circle. And when the last of his heel was through the silver portal, it zipped close, the rip in the air coming seamlessly back together. Divine was gone.

Jack came to a halt right at the point of Divine’s departure and swung one of the swords he carried—his own—with a loud curse, slicing through the space the witch no longer occupied and chopping the end of his blade into the ground.

“Shit dammit shit!” he shouted into the darkness, which was much more thorough now without Divine’s gloves to provide any light. He gave the sword another single-handed swing, as the other hand was carrying the sword of his previous opponent, and beat the earth again. “Rotting! Pits! Of hell!” He let himself indulge his anger for a moment, but then after another fierce growl, he remembered something important.

“Shit. Yusei!”

He turned and looked to where he remembered seeing Yusei last and shuffled closely, holding the swords pointed in directions that hopefully made them less dangerous.

“Where are you?” he called, putting each foot out testingly before taking an actual step. Yusei had to be close. His hint was a rough exhale that wasn’t quite a groan but was more than just a sigh. Jack took one step toward it, and the next brought his foot against the solid weight of Yusei’s torso. Jack quickly sheathed his own sword and knelt down beside his friend.

“Yusei. You alive?” he asked, reaching down with his free hand to get a sense of Yusei’s condition. He patted first Yusei’s stomach, then up his shoulder, then followed his neck to put his hand in front of Yusei’s mouth. Yusei’s breath was strong, even if it sounded painful.

“For now,” he answered as he tried to raise his head, then let it drop with a thud and a groan.

“Are you bleeding?” Jack asked, exploring Yusei’s invisible body for open wounds.

“Nothing serious,” he croaked before trying again to pull himself up to sit. His face scrunched hard and he groaned through his bared teeth, but with enough effort he managed to at least prop himself on his elbows. “Just some”—cough, cough—“bruises I’ll be feeling for a while.”

“Don’t tell me he actually beat the shit out of you,” Jack said incredulously, realizing how much pain Yusei was in.

“All right, I won’t,” Yusei replied before rolling onto one elbow to try to get to his feet—slowly—from his knees.

“Unbelievable.”

Yusei coughed and took a moment to rub his sore belly. “Where’s my sword?”

Jack huffed, still fuming over Divine’s escape. “I’ll find it.” It had to be close, Divine had dropped it in this very spot. And though Yusei was clearly injured, Jack felt he didn’t have to worry over him since he was already getting to his feet, so he focused more on how annoyed he was. If Divine had chosen to run, that meant he had actually been afraid of losing to Jack. There had been a chance, a real chance! Jack hissed another curse to himself as his searching hand came into contact with the pommel of Yusei’s sword. He reached and grabbed the hilt to pick it up. Behind him, Yusei was breathing hard and groaning under his breath every now and then.

While he let Yusei stand for a moment to catch his breath and wait for the dizziness to pass, he felt around for his dagger as well. It had landed close to the sword, so he was able to grab it and feel the sticky gore that had covered it from reaching its target. Jack smirked with satisfaction at remembering the sight of his throw landing bullseye accurate right in Divine’s eye. Take that, fucker, he thought before standing up.

“Can you walk?” he asked, finding Yusei based on the sound of his breathing.

If Jack squinted, he could make out Yusei’s outline in the darkness, and he could see Yusei rub both hands against his face, specifically massaging his eyes with his fingertips.

“Guess we’ll see.”

“He almost killed you, you know.”

“Yeah. Lucky for me,” Yusei said while gently rubbing his neck, “he was very slow about it.”

Jack nudged Yusei before handing over the sword. Yusei found it with his hand and Jack released it into Yusei’s grip. As Yusei sheathed it, Jack asked, “He didn’t happen to tell you everything he was planning and where we could find him next, did he?”

“Sadly, my luck didn’t go that far.”

Jack huffed. “Well fine. Then we’re no better off than we were before getting here.”

Maybe, but that didn’t mean they weren’t worse off. Yusei suddenly went tense.

“Aki,” he said, remembering. “Is she ok?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said indignantly. “I was too busy rushing after you.”

“We need to get back,” Yusei declared, putting a hand out in the darkness to find and avoid the nearest obstacle.

Jack grumbled to himself before grabbing Yusei by his arm and pulling him in the right direction, which was only visible because of a few specks of moonlight seeping through the cracks farther away.

“Fine, but where’s my damn thank you? I lost a good knife there!”

Yusei’s face was too bruised for anything more than a wince, but the smile was in his voice when he answered, “Thank you, oh noble prince, for deigning to save a lowly subject such as myself.”

“I’m going to kick your ass my goddamn self.”

From where he still knelt, holding Aki securely with both arms, Stardust could see all the brambles, vines, and thorny roots suddenly lose their strength, shriveling up dry and fragile before crumbling and disintegrating to ash, releasing the valley from their violent occupation. His heart sighed as the tension washed from his body, a smile spreading across his face. He had been put in an even more vulnerable position than he had expected, unable to participate in the fight in any other way than protecting Aki. While most of Divine’s army had been tasked with chasing Yusei and Jack, he had been able to spare a few roots to send up the slope toward Stardust.

He looked down at his tortured arms, marred by gashes and strips of skin peeled away from the rest. As far as shields went, they weren’t the most useful, but they were all he had. He examined the damage, hating how easily he could be injured, how slow he was to heal. He had just enough magic in him that the blood had stopped flowing, but the wounds were still there, bright and garish, evidence of his weakness.

But when he shifted his eyes from the ripped flesh to Aki, who lay undisturbed and untouched, he got a small feeling that maybe it had been worth it. He could have died, putting himself in front so that the thorns grabbed and lashed at him instead of her, but he had done it. When he thought back, he didn’t remember ever considering, not for one moment, leaving her unprotected. He remembered the pain for sure, and cursing himself for being so soft, but he had been prepared to take all the pain into himself for as long as he could last.

He allowed himself one moment to smile with just a weak flash of pride. He had managed to survive and even protect. As low of a bar as that was, as pathetic as it seemed to celebrate surpassing it, he felt it. He felt a swell rise in his chest and a sting in the back of his eyes as tears prickled there. Even someone as feeble as him could have honor, whatever that was worth in the end.

He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out while dropping his head back, just at the moment Archfiend roared from above and a massive body smashed into the center of the valley with an epic boom! shaking the earth even from where Stardust sat. It made his head snap to attention and his back go straight, instinctively hugging Aki closer as his eyes went wide. Under the moonlight Stardust could see Archfiend swoop down, flap his wings to turn himself upright just before crashing, and then land slowly on his hind legs, steam pouring from the sides of his mouth. His teeth were easy to see as the molten light in his throat illuminated them from behind, as was the satisfied smile he wore while prowling even closer to his prey.

By then the feathered dragon could only shudder, its strained attempts to lift its wings and claws unsuccessful. Archfiend leaned his long neck forward to examine the enemy, his wings spread wide to exaggerate his size in victory, and made sure that it was debilitated enough to no longer be a threat. The dragon didn’t even have the energy to look at Archfiend with contempt. It merely heaved for breath and lay in exhaustion.

Which was just as well, because while Archfiend was posing with power, there was no mistaking from Stardust’s view that he was feeling the wear of battle. His legs weren’t as firm as before, and there was a subtle tremor in his wings. Stardust imagined he would welcome a break. Even so, Archfiend was still mighty and fierce, and Stardust felt envy rear its head inside his chest.

I was always a match for him, he thought bitterly, then looked away. His eyes found the body of Jack’s opponent, which he had left lying in the valley after knocking him unconscious. Apparently Jack hadn’t had enough patience to see their fight through to the end after seeing Yusei chase their true target into the forest. And apparently Jack had hit him in a good spot with his pommel because Kiryu had not stirred since. Stardust’s eyes shifted then to the forest across the valley, wondering what had taken place in the darkness there. The thorns withering meant Divine was no longer around to fuel them with his magic, but that alone didn’t answer all of Stardust’s questions. He strained in his seat, waiting, willing Yusei and Jack to appear soon.

When they didn’t appear right away, he distracted himself by looking down. Aki still wasn’t stirring. It was obviously not a natural sleep since none of the jostling, screaming, or magical booming had roused her. He took comfort in knowing she was still alive, her breathing steady and rhythmic, but whatever Divine had done to her through that pendant was powerful. Even knowing it was futile, he called out to her.

“Aki?” he asked, shaking her by one shoulder. “Hey, can you hear me?”

He felt dumb saying the words out loud, but he couldn’t bear to just sit and wait in silence. He gave her another shake, but his answer was the same. He sighed hard and looked up again. And thankfully, this time he could see movement from the other side. He instantly brightened with a deep breath. Arriving at the edge of the forest was Jack, supporting a limping Yusei who had one arm slung over Jack’s hunched shoulders. Jack had Yusei’s wrist gripped tight as they walked together, steps matching to keep them side by side.

“Thank the stars,” he breathed, relief flooding down his body so hard he drooped. And then excitement got him up again, and in one step he lifted Aki across both arms and began running down the slope to meet the two humans in the valley. He was so thrilled to see them alive he had forgotten how tired and wrecked he was, but with gravity pulling on him he couldn’t stop. His legs could barely keep up with their own momentum and he nearly toppled over a few times before reaching the bottom. By then he was out of breath and half-regretting the wild decision, because now his battered arms were shaking and stinging under Aki’s weight, threatening to drop her. But he was too determined to let a little thing like his arms being nearly sawed off to overwhelm his honor. He clenched his teeth, sucking in a deep breath, and lifted her with a grunt. The touch of her dress against his open wounds stung like a bitch, but he kept his voice down behind gritted teeth and moved forward, this time with more labor in each step.

He took a somewhat curved path to avoid getting too close to Archfiend and the feathered dragon, and he imagined from Archfiend’s perspective the two parties looked agonizingly slow in their progress toward each other from opposite ends of the valley, but there was no helping that. When they were close enough for Stardust’s tired, breathy voice to carry, he called out, a gasping inhale breaking the question in half, “You two . . . ok?”

Jack hitched Yusei a little higher, since Yusei’s weight kept dragging him down after a dozen limping steps, then answered, “For the most part. I’m fine at least. You?”

“How’s Aki?” Yusei asked quickly.

Stardust looked down to her as they each took their final steps to arrive face to face with each other. “I really don’t know. She’s not hurt or anything as far as I can tell, just unconscious. What happened with Divine?”

“Little bitch got away,” Jack muttered contemptuously. “And took one of my good daggers with him. Rotting thief.”

Stardust chose not to retort that Jack surely had plenty of good daggers available to him back at the castle and instead let a grim line overtake his lips. “I see.”

“And Archfiend?” Yusei asked.

Stardust turned his head toward the two dragons. “I’d say he’s pretty proud of himself. We’ll probably get an earful later of him bragging.”

“So he beat the other dragon?”

Stardust turned his eye curiously toward Yusei. “Yeah,” he said oddly.

Yusei wasn’t even looking toward the dragons, which weren’t far from them. He was just staring blankly ahead past Stardust. Stardust flicked his eyes toward Jack in a silent question. Jack looked back at him with just a raised eyebrow.

“How’d you find us?” Yusei then asked.

Stardust’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t see as well as you used to.”

“Right,” Stardust agreed slowly. “But my eyes aren’t that bad.”

“It’s pitch black in here,” Yusei said as if he was pointing out something obvious.

Stardust felt a lurch in his chest and quickly shifted his eyes to Jack. Jack did the same. The two stared at each other for a moment, gripped by the same sinking unease.

Yusei’s brow furrowed at the sound of their silence, but his eyes continued to stare aimlessly, latched onto nothing. Stardust knelt to lay Aki gently on the ground before stepping right in front of Yusei and putting his face in front of his, their noses mere inches apart. Stardust looked directly into Yusei’s eyes, but Yusei’s didn’t seem to register him. Stardust lifted a hand a waved it right in front of Yusei’s eyes, but there was no sign that he noticed the movement.

Stardust stepped back, feeling something cold plummet in his stomach and start to spread. He looked to Jack, heart pounding. “What happened?”

Jack shook his head, face showing bewilderment. “I don’t know, I didn’t see the whole thing.”

“What?” Yusei asked, confused by the sudden change in topic.

Stardust was breathing rapidly. He looked to Yusei, who was now casting his gaze around, as if trying to find what they might be talking about. With wide eyes Stardust swallowed stiffly. He shook his head. “No,” he murmured. “No, come on. Don’t do this. Don’t do this.”

“What?” Yusei demanded, straightening up as best he could next to Jack. “What’s happening?”

“Yusei,” Stardust called, suddenly reaching out with both hands and grabbing Yusei’s face, pulling him so that he could guide Yusei’s gaze directly into his own. “Come on. Tell me you’re fucking with us. Tell me this is a fucking joke.”

Yusei’s brow furrowed hard, and Stardust could see the genuine confusion there as well as the not-quite-right angle of his gaze that didn’t quite meet Stardust’s eyes. Stardust’s hands trembled.

“What joke?” Yusei asked.

Stardust’s hands slipped slowly away from Yusei’s face and shook in the air. “Oh stars,” he whispered.

Jack’s distress manifested as anger, and he pulled his arm from around Yusei’s waist to grab his hair and yank his head back. “Are you telling me you can’t see the whole goddamn moon?”

Stardust stared at Yusei as his eyes were forced to look up. The moon above was nearly full, its body rounded and white, its light so vast the whole valley was clearly visible even with its colors muted. Yusei’s face was clear too, and Stardust could see the change happen there, the minute shifts as Yusei’s expression lost its confusion and gained in its place a horrified realization. Slowly, Yusei raised his free hand from his side and, hesitantly at first, touched the corner of his eye with his fingertip. Then he traced the bottom of his eyelid, then pushed up against it.

“We’re not in the forest anymore?” he asked, his voice hushed, as if he was afraid of the question.

While Stardust was too stunned to give the witty retort he might have—that no, they were only in deep shit—Jack pushed out with his whole chest a vehement “No.” His anger was growing, and it came out sounding like he was angry at Yusei for not knowing something so simple. “No we’re not!”

Jack then suddenly turned to Stardust, still gripping Yusei by the hair. “This is temporary, right?” he demanded.

While Yusei just kept staring up at what, to him, was nothing, Stardust floundered, raising his hands and shaking his head. “I don’t know!”

“The witch!” Jack shouted, his eyes doubling in size upon remembering her. “She can heal him, right?”

Stardust just raised his hands even more dramatically. “I don’t know!”

Jack was already looking down at the sleeping Aki just behind Stardust. “What’s wrong with her anyway? How long til she wakes up?”

“I don’t know!” Stardust shouted, agonized, upset more with himself for not knowing what to do than with Jack for his persistence.

“Well what do you fucking know?” Jack shouted back even louder.

Beside him, Yusei only raised his hand up to cover his eye, keeping the other open to the sky. The addition of his palm made no difference in the view.

Stardust raised both hands and pressed the heels against his forehead. “Moon and stars,” he murmured under his breath. He said it to keep from admitting that the only thing he knew right in that moment was that he couldn’t handle this.

Divine’s next step found him sprinting into the middle of the garden—the one right in the heart of the palace. The air had ripped open with the same silver shimmer as in the forest, calling the attention of every nearby guard who had been jolted to alert by its sudden appearance. Within seconds, Divine was the target of dozens of crossbows. The air sealed closed behind him, the silver light vanishing, and Divine proceeded without acknowledging any of the threatening arrows.

“Halt! Who are you?” several guards shouted at him.

Divine only reached around to his back with a painful growl and yanked the dagger caught there out. Blood instantly gushed down his back, but he paid it no mind. It would all return to its proper place soon.

“Drop your weapon!” more guards demanded.

Divine barked out a laugh he couldn’t possibly contain. “You think this is my weapon?” he asked, though he didn’t raise his voice, because he didn’t care if they heard him or not. He looked up at the guards lined along the castle walls in front of him. He still only had one working eye, but the other was already in the process of healing, Divine able to feel every stitch of the nerves and muscles taking place inside the eyeball. Such a fascinating sensation.

Divine tossed the dagger over his shoulder, and then slowly raised his hands while lowering himself to his knees. He looked around to all the guards who surrounded him, and once he had their positions mapped out, he slammed his hands against the ground. Instantly roots shot up from the dirt and snatched every guard by their ankles. In the midst of their surprise, the roots then jerked them sideways, sweeping them off their feet so they fell hard to the ground, where swarms of more roots quickly burst up and wrapped each guard so thoroughly they could barely wriggle within their bindings.

Divine laughed at the sound of their muffled voices as they all struggled in vain against their cocoons, and he rose back to his feet. The obstacles taken care of, he swept across the garden toward the castle door, which he opened for himself with the help of a few summoned roots. By their strength, the doors were crushed, like ships in the tentacles of a kraken, and after Divine walked through the debris, the roots replaced the broken door by weaving together into an impenetrable wall.

Using magic like this split his energy, slowing down the healing in his eye and back, but it was worth it to prevent the guards from causing even more damage. At this time of night, the castle was lit by candle fire, that of the chandeliers and the sconces lining the walls. There was already a rush of new guards from inside coming to meet him, and with an annoyed sigh he summoned vines from his barrier to shoot out from behind him and ensnare them all. He could feel blood trickle down his back—less than his wound would warrant for a human, but still, enough to remind him that the wound was still open—as the vines reeled in the whole lot, guards crying in surprise before vines wrapped around their heads and faces, gagging them between their teeth. The wall grew in bulk as it swallowed two dozen guards, trapping them at odd angles around each other with limbs fiercely bound. There would be no escaping as long as Divine was able to feed life into the wood.

His path cleared, Divine moved ahead, single-minded in his search. Not wanting to get distracted, he prowled the castle in corners and empty shadows, peering around to make sure he could get to each next room unseen. He had to pause more than once and press himself tight against a wall as another wave of guards hustled on the other side, hurrying toward the main entrance. Divine didn’t have time to be amused or wish he could be there to see all the horrified faces when they found what sight was waiting for them there. He had to keep searching.

But damn the castle for being so big and labyrinthine! He had hoped he could find the passageway or staircase he needed within minutes, but after sneaking his way into dead ends and mundane closets, he felt his body tremble with irritation. Was he going to have to sneak around all night? Hide in rafters during the day then come out to lurk in the dark again? For a week? His wounds were fully healed by the time he slipped his way into the enormous throne room, its many wall hangings lining each side leading from the entrance to the dais, and a long carpet drawing a direct line through the middle of the stone floor.

The room seemed to echo with silence, swallowing all sound in its massiveness, so that Divine’s ears rang. His tentative footsteps barely reached the volume of a whisper as he crept forward along the carpet, looking around carefully for any sign of movement. The room was illuminated only by the many streams of moonlight that poured in through the tall windows along one of the side walls, casting a silvery hue over everything. The only thing Divine could catch from the corner of his eye was the movement of his own shadow, elongated to his side by the angle of the incoming light. He ignored it and began to cut directly forward toward the dais. Knowing the king, he would want to keep something this important close to himself, somewhere only he would be allowed. Which made his throne a candidate worth checking.

Then from behind that very throne emerged a figure. The dais was outside the reach of the windows, so at first it was merely dark to Divine’s eyes. But seeing how familiar the figure was with the throne, caressing it from the side to the top with one hand, Divine’s instinct guessed before he was even consciously aware of it.

“And what brings you here at this late hour?” Rex asked, stepping forward so that his hand slowly fell away from the throne. He brought it up to the small of his back, where his other was already waiting, and he clasped his hands together as he came to a stop at the top of the dais stairs, looking ahead to Divine with sharp eyes.

Divine stopped as well, having reached halfway into the room, and took in the sight of the king. Divine remembered him well, and not much had changed in the years since he had last seen him, just that his gray hair, which he still kept bound in a neat ponytail, was longer.

Divine was at first surprised to be greeted by the king himself—and alone at that—but after a moment of thought he could only smile. Despite Rex’s imposing gaze, there was no arguing who had the true power here. Divine brought up a hand, and the air above his palm suddenly ignited with a blue flame.

“Luck, apparently,” he answered.

Rex stood in his place, back tall and erect as always, and frowned at the witch. While Rex was unchanged in ten years, Divine had acquired some new features. Most prominent was the strange cracks around his right eye, giving his face the surreal look of a window that had been hit with a rock. Light escaped through those jagged cracks, like his skin was merely a wrapping around something hollow and bright. Every now and then a tiny spark fluttered out of one, though they lasted less than a second in the outside air.

“Come to thank me for sparing your life all those years ago?” Rex asked calmly, as if there was no threat, as if he was inviting a visitor inside for tea. What surprised him was the witch’s reaction to such a minor jab. By the light of his handheld flame, Rex saw fury distort Divine’s face, his lips peeling back with savage bloodlust and the luminescent cracks fizzling with more flying sparks.

“I’ll thank you to fucking die!”

Divine reeled his hand back and then slung it forward, unleashing the flame into a streaming blaze aimed straight for Rex. The king didn’t flinch, and before the fire reached him, a soldier dove in between, holding up a shield for the attack to strike instead. Rather than being diverted from the center to the edges, the shield absorbed the flame into itself, swallowing the blue and turning red-hot in the process. When the flow ran out, the shield absorbed the last of it, leaving the shield bright and steaming. The soldier lowered it, revealing Ushio’s stern face. He looked Divine straight in the eye, and Divine scoffed contemptuously.

“I knew it,” he hissed. “You’re still playing with magic, aren’t you?”

Neither Rex nor Ushio offered an answer, and Rex was placid as ever, looking down at Divine with the pride of someone who feels no obligation to anyone else.

Divine curled his lip, then spat sharply on the ground.

“You dare disrespect this place?” Ushio growled.

“I have no respect for any of you, and certainly not your gaudy castle!” Divine raised an accusing finger and hateful eyes toward Rex “You lie and lie and lie and you think you can get away with it because you’re not accountable to anyone. But starting now, you’re accountable to me!”

Rex raised a single eyebrow, adding a hint of curiosity to his otherwise unimpressed demeanor.

Ushio, in contrast, looked about to hurl insults, but he was stopped by the sound of footsteps approaching—numerous and fast. Divine scowled. More guards. He didn’t know if these were a fresh batch or the ones he had caught. It was possible his distance from the front doors had weakened his connection to the brambles there, he hadn’t been paying enough attention to know for sure. Either way, the mouth of the throne room soon welcomed in a platoon of soldiers, who split into two streams as they ran in to surround Divine.

He watched them swarm and turn to point their weapons at him. Divine cast a glance to the dais and saw Rex observing him, Ushio still ahead with shield at the ready. Divine curled his lip.

“I see you have no problem sacrificing any number of lives for yourself, even the ones most loyal to you.”

Rex didn’t even seem tempted to respond. He merely watched, as if he was only mildly interested in something as inconsequential as whatever Divine might do or say. Determined to ruffle him, Divine turned back to the soldiers, who were in a complete ring around him, staying below the steps of the dais where Ushio and Rex stood. He raised his hand first to the soldiers by the windows, and from his upright palm burst a blinding jet of silver. The first soldiers the light hit went instantly flying backward, the most unlucky of them crashing through the windows to freefall in the air.

Rex had clearly not equipped these common foot soldiers with enchanted armor.

The force was so strong that Divine had to extend one leg back while bending the other forward to keep from being pushed himself. At the same time, he swept his arm in an arc to blast as many soldiers as he could before they had a chance to react. He pivoted on his front foot by sweeping his back foot in a similar arc, and soon he had hit every soldier at least once.

But he wanted the message to really sink in.

So Divine gritted his teeth and summoned up even more power, putting one hand behind the other as the silver light took on a bluish tint and widened in diameter. Had he been a dragon’s weight, it would have been easier to handle, but he wasn’t here to be delicate. In the second, opposite sweep of the room, he sent the light pounding up and down the walls and across the floor. Dust and debris flew. Chunks of wall fell into the next room, leaving major holes in the stone. The wall hangings caught fire. The floor erupted into jagged stones and boulders. None of the windows survived. Divine was starting to enjoy himself, feeling powerful, feeling like he was finally making his point.

But when he looked back to the dais, Rex was gone.

Outrage spilled onto his face as wide eyes and bared teeth. Instantly he cut the flow, giving relief to the room, which was now in ruin, but it was impossible to celebrate the symbolic victory when Rex wasn’t there to see him gloat.

There was only one direction he could have gone, and with all the soldiers either dead or maimed, in no condition to hinder him, Divine darted into a run toward the dais to find him. He bounded up the steps three at a time, then past the throne, through the curtain the separated the front stage from the back, through the entryway of a private hall lit by sconces so small it still felt more dark than light. But it was enough that Divine could see at the end of the hall Ushio rushing away, Rex in front of him.

As Divine sucked in a deep breath, he pushed both hands out in front of him, one palm pressed against the back of the other, and on the exhale he released a blue stream of light that took up the entire volume of the hallway. Floor, ceiling, and walls were all scorched as they bulged outward under the pressure, stones fissuring, the sound just barely cutting through the enormous roar of the magic. Divine lost sight of his prey in the light, but he kept running ahead, certain he would catch up now. Despite the brightness, he only had to squint a little against it. The harder part was keeping his balance as his footing came up against jagged crevices and rifts in the floor. But his determination held him upright with each near-stumble, and soon he found himself out of the hallway and in another room.

Divine didn’t bother looking around, though even if he had, the room’s purpose was hard to determine, since the light had billowed from the entryway and scoured over its contents. The only thing still safe was Ushio and Rex, who stood in the center, Ushio holding the shield up protectively. Only when Divine reached the room did he drop his hands, ending the stream. Again, Ushio’s shield blazed like metal in a forge, and whatever light it didn’t absorb slid over the edge at a harmless angle, leaving both men unscathed.

Divine came to a stop, panting, mere paces from Rex, who looked over Ushio’s shoulder to him. While Rex regarded Divine with a mixture of curious and scrutinizing consideration, Ushio seemed single-minded in his mission to stand firm between his king and enemy. Divine paid him no mind and also looked past him to only Rex.

“Don’t think that shield is enough to protect you,” Divine warned. “I have ways around it.”

Rex raised a single brow. “Then to what do I owe the pleasure of this discussion, if you can strike me whenever you please?”

Divine hissed through his teeth, then said ominously, “I know what you’re hiding. And I know it’s under this castle.”

It was subtle, but there was a tic at the corner of Rex’s lips. The tiniest chink in his steely expression. It made Divine smile.

“What I want to know is where the door is,” he continued. “Though, even if you don’t tell me now, I can just kill you and tear the whole castle down. I’ll get what I want then.”

“Hmm,” Divine hummed thoughtfully. “You don’t seem to be offering any incentive for me to help you.”

Divine laughed then. “You know, you’re right,” he said, as if figuring out a joke a step behind everyone else. “I’m not. I don’t have any to offer.” His amused smile grew into something wilder. “Actually, I think I’d rather just kill you and smash this castle to pieces anyway.” He concentrated his power into one hand, and then he raked it upward through the air from his side, the force of the magic so great he had to strain as if lifting his own bodyweight with one arm. And then the roots burst through, sending more rocks of the floor flying as dozens and dozens of them swarmed around Ushio, instantly ensnaring him and prying his shield away. While most of the army mummified him in their winding grasp, the others crushed the shield with a spiteful twist, then hurled it across the room and against the opposite wall.

While the roots lifted Ushio up and out of the way, Divine stared at Rex with glee, his smile spreading the full width of his face. He put his hands out again, one bolstered by the other, and braced himself for the force his next blast would push against him. The light was just beginning to flow into his palm when Rex’s crown responded with a glow of its own.

Divine’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t ease. Then Rex removed his cloak with one sweeping motion, all the more impressive because even bare, his shoulders were exceptionally broad and strong. And then his iron eyes lit up, giving him the look of a prophet possessed by a heavenly vision as light literally crowned him and filled him from within.

And Divine felt an impact, a kind of pulse burst out from Rex and wash against him, like a deep tremor not only in the air but in the very fabric of existence. Upon feeling that impact, Divine lost his connection with his body. He could no longer feel it, no longer control it, no longer sense anything around it. Though his body stood as it was, Divine’s consciousness was somewhere else, as if pushed over a cliff and into an incomprehensible darkness.

His only sensation was of being awake, but there was nothing for him to latch onto, no sense of time or place, of up or down, of himself—only the dark. Was he falling? Floating in space? He couldn’t tell. He couldn’t even tell if he was breathing anymore.

Rex. What had he done? What had he done?!

Divine suddenly felt a change. He was no longer placeless, or shapeless: a floor appeared beneath him, and against it he could feel the form of his body reemerge. Using his hands and knees, he pushed himself up to his feet, and once he was standing, he was able to see one thing: his own reflection in the glassy surface beneath his feet. There was no reason for him to be able to see such a thing, since the darkness around him was otherwise still total. But there he was, looking down at himself in crisp, clear color. He moved, and watched the reflection match him. He noticed he could also see himself, his feet against those of his counterpart, his legs, his hands in front of him. He looked around, but there was still nothing else with him, so he looked down again, and his reflection was there, looking up.

“What do you think?” came a voice, and Divine whipped around to find Rex standing there, arms crossed, the glow from his crown and eyes gone but not the supreme confidence of his posture.

Divine looked back at him with a sneer.

“I think you just proved me right,” he snapped. “You’re definitely using magic.”

Rex simply shrugged, a light gesture for his strong shoulders. “I don’t appreciate you barging into my home and spouting out secrets I’ve managed to keep hidden for so long.”

“Your secrets won’t mean anything when you’re dead.”

Rex raised one brow.

“You still believe you can kill me? Truly?”

“Ha!” Divine scoffed, then lifted his hands as he had before the darkness. But even though he reached out to summon the magic into his palm, he didn’t feel the warmth or the weight. He didn’t feel anything. Nothing responded to his will as it should have. After several seconds of calling and straining and still feeling nothing in response, Divine finally felt a twinge of panic.

And across from him, Rex watched patiently, waiting for realization to dawn upon his enthusiastic opponent.

Rex’s confidence only made Divine try harder. He breathed in deep, trying to reach past his lungs into a central core of himself, deeper than his body, for a pure source of his magic. He reached and searched, demanding that something answer him, answer him! But he was left stranded, abandoned by his power, holding his hands like hoses whose wells had run dry.

Divine began to shake, both in panic and rage.

“What did you do?” he demanded.

There was another tic at Rex’s lips, but this time it was the suppression of an amused smile. Rex was too proud to let anything disrupt his composed, regal expression.

“I’ve disarmed and contained a dangerous threat,” he answered.

Divine exhaled a seething hiss through clenched teeth.

“I swear I’ll kill you.”

“I invite you to try,” Rex replied smoothly. “Though, in here, you’ll have to do so without magic.”

Divine’s face screwed into incredulity. “So, what, you want to fight me, fist to fist?”

Rex shrugged again. “It’s up to you. If you’d rather not, I could just leave you here.”

Divine hated how Rex was obviously enjoying the turn of events. He clenched his hands into fists and ground his teeth, staring into Rex’s steel eyes and knowing that the king was amused behind that placid face.

“Are you hesitating?” Rex asked, and this time when he shrugged, it was with conscious awareness of how big his frame was compared to Divine’s. “Where’s all your bravado gone?”

Divine hated himself for taking a step back when Rex took a step forward. But he couldn’t help his instinct. There was no denying his disadvantage in a contest of physical strength. Even though he couldn’t say for sure if they were even physical right now. Hadn’t he been pushed out of his body somehow? This was some kind of spiritual or psychic state they were in. But still, as things stood, he felt physical again, and with that came the urge for self-preservation.

“And you have gall to threaten me?” Rex said, a tint of a sneer edging his tone. “What a pathetic, weak child you are, hiding behind bluster with no real strength of your own. You think my guard’s shield is my true defense? No no no. I am my own defense. I just delegate that work to others. I have more important matters to attend to, after all.”

With that, Rex reached up with both hands and removed the crown that had always seemed permanently attached to his head and set it down by his feet, and then he began to roll the sleeve of one arm neatly off his wrist. “That you would come to me with such great threats and arrogance without knowing even this much about me, it’s an insult,” he said as he worked, then switched to the other sleeve. “I find I can’t simply forgive that. This is no longer your choice. It’s what I want.”

Divine felt his whole body vibrate under the predator-gaze of the king, whose eyes pierced into him. There was no hesitation in Rex’s steps as he came forward, a lion striding toward a harmless mouse, and Divine knew there was no getting out of this.

When Rex threw his first punch, Divine could only rely on his reflexes to dodge. His one hope was that maybe against Rex’s strength, his own slim body could move more easily and avoid the brute attacks. But this hope was dashed along with his cheek when Rex’s third punch landed squarely on its target. Divine stumbled sideways, pain shooting through his skull and throbbing in the point of impact. But he didn’t have time to dwell because Rex was right on top of him, throwing another punch upward into his stomach. The force lifted Divine off his feet and sent him flying back several paces before landing on his back, breathless. He rolled to the side, expecting a kick—just the kind he had landed against Yusei—but instead, Rex grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him as if he weighed nothing. Divine instinctively began to kick in the air, but Rex’s grip was too strong for the jostling to break.

Then he felt the motion of Rex drawing back, and then in the next instant he was flying again, but his trip was short. Just when he felt the air brush against his face, he had already smashed nose-first into the ground. At first he only felt the shock, then the pain felt like his entire skull splitting open and turning inside out. He tasted blood as high as his eyes and down his throat, and he felt so jarred he couldn’t figure out how to move his body. He wanted to roll, but he couldn’t concentrate enough to make it happen.

But then he felt his body move on its own.

No, not on its own. A hand was pulling him up again by the neck, pulling him up out of the pool of fluids that had gushed from his broken face. When he breathed, it was through a mouthful of blood and possibly chipped teeth.

This time, when Rex threw him, it was for a distance, but he could barely feel the air or his body in space because he was just so disoriented. Then his shoulder hit the ground and he rolled several times across the floor, the motion nauseating and confusing him even more. But still, more than anything was the agony throbbing in his face, the wet, hot, stabbing pain digging deep into his nose and cheeks and bouncing around his whole skull. He couldn’t even open his eyes anymore, it was too sickening and painful.

When he came to a stop he tried to retie the connection between his will and his body, starting with a hand, just one hand. He tried to wiggle his fingers, and even though he managed it, he couldn’t quite tell where his hand was in relation to the rest of him.

Then before he knew it, he felt a nudge on his side and was rolled over onto his back, which sent blood streaming down his throat, giving him the sensation of drowning. But then a force pulled him upright by the collar of his shirt, and the blood began to pour over his lips and chin instead of down his insides. He was dizzy, the room was spinning, carrying him with it, and his head lolled loosely on his neck. He could barely tell that Rex was squatting over his legs, staring into his battered face, his own impassive and unimpressed. Divine mostly feared the next blow, feared the pain it would bring, feared death.

“I’m not a violent man,” Rex said, as if starting an intimate conversation. “I doubt you’ll believe me, but even now, I’m not enjoying this. Not really. This isn’t fun, only necessary for my satisfaction. I would rather we had resolved this differently.”

Divine’s ears were ringing. He heard the words, but they were muffled, and it took him twice as long to process as it did for Rex to speak. When he did understand what Rex said, he was in too much pain all over his body to have room for rage. He couldn’t even take pleasure in knowing that, as he gargled and sputtered, some of his blood splattered against Rex’s face.

Not that the king reacted. He let it color his face without as much as a flinch or grimace.

“I should have made sure you were taken care of back then,” he continued, musing on his past. “But, as they say, we all make mistakes. I suppose this is just my second chance to make it right.”

Divine could agree, he had made a mistake too, not killing Rex the instant he had a chance. He regretted every delay he had allowed. It felt so stupid in hindsight. As did tossing the dagger he had pulled from his back. If he only had it with him now, he could use it to cut Rex’s infuriating tongue, turning the prince’s weapon against his father.

In his disorientation, though, he wasn’t entirely sure he had tossed it. His sense of the past and present were all jumbled, making a confusing mess of his memories. He remembered—or maybe he merely reasoned—that he must have pulled the dagger from his back, because otherwise it would still be there. He was quite sure, at least, that it wasn’t. So where was it now? Had he pulled it out in the forest? In the castle? Had he had time before the guards starting firing arrows at him? He couldn’t remember the sequence, anything could have happened at any time. And in that jumble, his wishes and memories fused, and he began to believe that maybe he had actually kept the dagger. Maybe rather than toss it so carelessly, he had actually slipped it inside his cloak. Maybe he could be so lucky—so prophetic—as to think it could be useful to him.

“I don’t plan to kill you just this moment,” Rex continued, his tone some mix of authority and mercy. “I’ll keep you here for the time being. Consider it a prison made especially for you.”

Divine wriggled his fingers again, and then slowly—painfully—moved his arm and reached toward his hip.

“I’ll give you credit for your skill. It’s a shame you had to turn against me. The things we could have accomplished if you had pledged your service to me. Such a waste.”

And there, manifested by a miracle—or, more rightly to say, by his own self-projection forming what he believed should be true—was the dagger, held by his belt. Divine could have cried, if his forehead wasn’t pounding and swelling to the size of a house.

“Well, it is what it is,” Rex finished, resigned to his loss.

And sensing that he was about to leave him, Divine forced himself to cough forcefully, sending mouthfuls of blood directly into Rex’s face, some even into his eyes. When Divine felt the slight shift of Rex’s body as he turned to wipe the blood, he put every iota of focus and strength he had into drawing the dagger and plunging it forward into Rex’s chest.

Both men went still. Divine could feel blood seep against his fingers, which were right against Rex’s body, and after a few seconds, Rex coughed, and Divine heard the sound of blood splattering against the floor. Divine then yanked the dagger out, took a deep breath, and plunged it back in with an animal howl. Rex made a quiet grunt, but Divine was too desperate to care how entertaining the scene was. He only wanted to win.

Rex made a few more grunts as Divine panted, feeling close to toppling over as he swayed, his head ten times heavier on his weak neck.

“I told you,” he managed to whisper, “I’d kill you.”

He pulled out the dagger and one more time, blindly, thrust the dagger forward. He felt the friction of blade against meat and the bump when the hilt met rib. Then Divine put both his hands on Rex’s chest and with a hard grunt, pushed the king aside. His large body was heavy, and Rex was able to catch himself on one bent arm without falling completely. But it gave Divine enough room to twist and place both hands on the floor.

With one spark of clarity in the dizziness, Divine wondered: he was cut off from his own magic in this place, but what if he could find the thread of Rex’s magic, the one that had brought them both here? He breathed hard, blood and saliva oozing down his slack jaw to the floor, and with eyes closed he searched. Not with his hands but with his witch’s sense, casting it out like a net to find a single fish in a lake. He spread and shifted it, searching and searching until, ah! There! He felt the energy that could only be magic and clung to it for dear life.

And then he followed it, letting it guide him back to where he knew he truly was. As his sense of reality returned, the glassy floor began to fracture, cracks spreading outward from where he crouched. As the cracks grew longer and deeper, Divine felt the breaks in his face ease, the pounding and pain fading away like a thin mist drying under the sun. Finally the whole darkness shattered, tiny shards scattering in every direction, revealing the room in the castle where they had last been. Rather than come to rest on the floor, the shimmering pieces all disappeared, and Divine found himself on his feet.

He was still holding his hands out in preparation to send a beam of light toward Rex, and not giving him the gift of any more delays, he summoned his rage and released it as a burst of silver-blue light. Rex too was only just reorienting with his body, and without Ushio, the light collided with his chest, sending him backwards across the whole room until his back smashed into the stone wall. His head was knocked back as well, and the impact sent his crown falling. Upon hitting the floor, several of the jewels embedded into the gold band dislodged and jumped away.

Divine, satisfied with his bullseye hit, ended the stream and crossed the room as Rex slid limply to the ground. Divine paused when his step brought his foot right next to a particularly magnificent gem, cut so finely and with so many facets that it caught any light that touched it. He reached down and picked it up, holding it above his eyes and turning it. It had a marvelous glitter, even in the dim lighting. But more than that, he felt the power in it, a thrumming energy that he clearly recognized as magic.

A smile crept across his face. He had just found what he was looking for.

He turned his eyes back to the king, who was still conscious, a testament to his physical strength to survive such a blow. But Divine was done with games. He stepped up to Rex’s feet as he watched the king struggle to straighten upright where he sat, and with pitiless murder in his eyes, he held up one gloved hand.

“Burn,” was all he said before the dragon fire burst out, blue and hot, and consumed the king. Divine didn’t blink against the heat. His green eyes took in the blurred image of Rex’s body shrinking as in seconds the fire reduced his flesh to scorched bones. When he ended it, what remained was black and smoking, looking dangerously close to crumbling under any pressure. Divine was tempted to be the one to disintegrate the bones as well, but he decided to leave them as a memento. So he stepped aside and came close to the wall.

He didn’t have the dagger anymore, not in reality, so instead he summoned one of the roots that still infested the room and used one of its thorns to cut open his finger. Then with his blood, he wrote:

Bow to your king now

He smirked as the cut healed seamlessly, contempt radiating heavily from his whole being. Then gripping the jewel tight in his hand, he turned and strode from the room, his head high. He made his way alone through the broken hallway, back to the demolished throne room. He stood at the edge of the dais and looked down to the array of corpses, all still lying in their awkward angles.

And there was quiet here. Death lay calmly in the bed destruction had made, and Divine could finally take a moment to breathe.

But he wasn’t done.

There were more guards in this castle, they just hadn’t found their way here yet. He would be proactive and take measures to make sure they never did. As he had done earlier, he concentrated all his power into his hands, both this time, and as if trying to lift a body, he bent his knees and raked his fingers upward through the air. The ground beneath him quaked, and when his magic reached the threshold, what remained of the stone floor was pushed aside as an army of roots erupted from below, spilling upward like snakes under his charm.

He then sent them slithering through the whole of the castle to hunt each and every person still living within the grounds. And in the process, they overtook the walls, clinging to every side and ceiling, digging smaller offshoots into the creases between stones to hook themselves in place, until the castle was overlaid with a massive living net, ready to catch anyone who might dare to trespass.

When it was done, Divine dropped to one knee, panting, trembling, and sweating profusely. He felt the strain on his body, his heart pounding to keep up with his exertion. He couldn’t yet speak, but he could release a laugh broken by gasps for air.

This. This was what he had known Aki was capable of. And maybe she could have reached it someday, if he had ever been interested in teaching her. But he had never wanted her to know. That would have made her too dangerous, too uncontrollable even for him. It was enough to simply stimulate her emotions, which would feed the magic and give it strength. He would be the one to wield it and mold it into technique.

If he could go back and try again, he would go about it differently though. Because his attempts to evoke within her passionate feelings had resulted in her hating—more than anything else—herself. Which was not a useful target, it turned out. Counterproductive, even, inhibiting the growth of her power rather than fostering it. He hadn’t accounted for that possibility, and that was his mistake.

But it was done. He had her power now, and he would cultivate it, push it as far as it could go, and he imagined that would be very, very far.

He looked down to the jewel, sweat dripping into his eyes and down his nose. He wiped his face with a sleeve and then pushed himself to his feet. The castle was his now. No one could get in his way. He lifted the jewel and squeezed, letting the thrum of energy there speak to him.

Ah, it was close. Very close.

In this very room.

He turned. Rex’s throne was right behind him, and he felt a sister vibration coming from it. Not directly from it. As he stepped closer, he found it came from the foot of the throne, the stone just where Rex’s feet would rest as he sat. Divine kneeled and kissed the jewel against it.

From beneath the stone he heard creaking and shifting, and then the stone rose up from the ground, pivoting in an arc to reveal a staircase spiraling downward. No wonder that particular stone had been so big. It was hiding an entryway that needed to fit Rex’s girth.

Feeling excitement spur him on, Divine jumped to his feet and raced down the stairs, spiraling until he landed in a passageway leading in one direction. He followed it, letting his gloves light the way. The air was stale and cool, and the walls had a thin film of grime. The atmosphere was thick with solitude, with undisturbed secrets. Divine raced forward, desire making his legs feel heavy and awkward.

But finally he arrived at a door, and after holding the jewel up, it responded by pushing open on its own, the rust on the hinges creaking sharply in his ears. He panted, shoulders rising and falling with each breath, and when there was just enough space for him to squeeze through, he didn’t wait for the door to finish opening. He jumped into the next room, only to yelp and throw up his arms.

The light that flared in greeting was too bright for him to face, and he curled away in surprise. Very slowly he turned back, peeking through just a sliver in one eye from behind both arms. The light streamed past, threatening to overwhelm his eyes, but he waited and tested, opening and closing his eyes carefully, squinting against the rays that slipped between and around his arms, until finally he could keep his eyes halfway open as long as he looked sideways toward the blocked light.

He could see the room he was in then, which was small, the ceiling almost reachable if he raised his arms as high as they could go, and the stones were not smoothed as those that formed the castle walls were. And in the center of the room, embedded halfway into the ground, was the largest crystal he had ever seen. It was spherical, the surface unpolished, the top nearly touching the ceiling and wide enough it would take at least five of Divine with arms stretched to wrap around it.

His pulse raced.

He knew it. All this time, he knew it!

Gradually the light softened, allowing him to open his eyes more and finally lower his arms, and he could see it clearly, emitting a living light that whirled and pulsed within. He drew closer, and feeling a hum in his whole body, he placed both hands against the surface. It was like touching music, feeling the thrum of thousands and thousands of chords lick against his body and spirit, singing to him of raw magic in its most pure form. It came directly from the earth, not distilled through another life like a dragon or witch, not chiseled into a particular type like plant or fire. This was a well of potential without limits, magic that could become anything, do anything.

Divine could have fallen into a daze, so mesmerized was he by the sensation of so much power stirring against his palms. But he remembered himself and pulled his hands away to take off his cloak. Around his shoulders were straps that kept the dragons’ book tied snuggly against his back. He carefully shrugged and pulled them off until he held the book with both hands, and despite himself, kneeled to lay it reverently on the floor. This book and this crystal, these were the tools he would use to accomplish everything. He felt compelled to handle them some respect.

The only thing left was to await the proper time, which would come in just a few days. When all this magic of the earth aligned with the sun of the summer solstice, it would herald his ultimate transcendence.

From his knee he looked up at the crystal, whose light seemed like many streams swimming together inside a smoky mirror. It danced in his eyes, over his face, against the walls of the tight room. All his desires were now cradled in a throne of awe as he drank it in, feeling like he was standing at the mountaintop and looking down over the beauty of Eden below. It was all so real now, finally coming together, just as he had planned, just as he had been striving for all these years.

He reached out with both hands again and called to the magic. It answered him by flowing into his hands and through his body, playfully, lightly, and even just that was enough to make his body tremble. He called to it more, inviting it to come in deeper, fill him further. And he felt it answer him, growing thicker, heavier, spilling into him not to sing but to saturate. He felt its power strain his body as he contained it, and when he had all he could take, he pried his hands away.

The crystal shuddered like distant lightning, then returned to a gentle whirl of light, though its color changed: what had started off pearly white shifted to stormy gray then a muted blue.

Divine leaned his head back and breathed in deeply, feeling more alive than he ever had. He basked in his achievement, and grinned, anticipating his true glory.

But after a moment of that, he began to think. Perhaps being overly cautious was better than being carelessly confident. That had almost cost him already, he wasn’t going to risk anything anymore. Any why skimp on a show of power when he had such an unlimited supply? There was no need to hold back against anyone, even tiny little insects like the knight and prince.

He put his hands on the stone again and murmured an incantation in an ancient language, one of many he had learned from his arcane studies but had not had the means necessary to test. Figures like ghosts and shadows began to seep into view as if from another realm, their shape vaguely humanoid but with unnerving proportions. A dozen of them, featureless, composed of only a uniformly black translucence, formed a ring around him and instinctively bent down to one knee toward him.

Seeing his new servants and their uncontested loyalty, Divine smiled.

“Let no one but me enter the castle,” he commanded. “Anyone who even comes close to the threshold, kill them.”

The shades bowed their heads low, then in whispering flight flooded together through the air toward the open door and exited like a stream. He watched them go with satisfaction. These were servants he could rely on, trust. They had no motives of their own, unlike humans. These beings existed only to fulfill his will for them. Which of course made them infinitely better than any other companion or soldier.

He knelt down and with a delicate touch brushed the cover of the dragons’ book. He was going to make history soon. The only question was, would anyone be left when he was done to record it?

He laughed to himself.

Well, what did it matter? What would any history matter when he was in control of the present and future?

Smoke billowed thick around Aki, making it hard to see and breathe. But she knew where she was. Her house. Her house was on fire.

As were her parents.

When she coughed and squinted against the sting in her eyes, she could see them, right in front of her. She was reaching toward them, one hand stretched out. But she knew her desperation wasn’t enough. She was too small, too weak, too helpless.

She couldn’t save them.

She could only watch. Watch as their skin dissolved, eaten by flame, revealing angry red tissue beneath. Their mouths were open, their screams coalescing with the roar of demonfire burning the wood house with gusto. Their hair was fast to go. Their faces seemed to melt and shrivel at the same time.

She remained untouched, though. Not even her clothes felt the lick of a flame. The only threat to her was the smoke that scratched her throat and irritated her eyes, making it easy for her to simply stand there and watch the horror she had brought upon her home.

She should have died. She should have died. She should have burned away with the rest.

The memory throbbed with the guilt, a suffocating weight in her soul from which she could never find relief. For years it had burdened her in the day, and then haunted her in her dreams, filling her nights with flame and repeating hopelessness. The only reason she bore the weight was because someone had saved her and promised he could give her the chance to atone.

She had given her life to Divine that day, entrusting him with her power, devoting herself to her craft so that someday, she could be skilled enough to make up for the lives she ended.

And of course, she would let Divine decide the price for such a sin. He was wise, he would know such things.

That had been her truth for years, Divine’s guidance her only source of courage to keep living.

So she was confused at first when her truth shifted before her eyes.

She was in the house again, but it wasn’t just herself and her parents there. Now there was a witch, and he was holding a hand toward her parents. His long fingers moved, and in response, thin green threads cinched around her parents, holding them in place as the fire consumed them.

Aki watched, again, but this time she was hurt as well, the smoke sucking away her strength and consciousness, the fire making the air painfully hot. Her skin felt violently red even without a direct touch of flame. She reached out, coughing and crying, but she couldn’t reach her parents. And even if she could have, she struggled to think of anything she could do. They were already being eaten alive by the fire, and there was the witch and his strange trap making it impossible for them to escape on their own.

They tried. They certainly tried, jerking and twisting and thrashing against the threads, but the magic was too elastic to break and too tight to be moved. In their pain they screamed, but at one point Aki’s father looked directly to her and shrieked, “RUN!” It was the only word he could control his voice enough to say. Run! Escape! Save yourself!

But she couldn’t. She was stuck in place too, not by any magic or trap, but by her own horror, and her weakness as the heat and smoke sapped her strength away. She wondered whether she would fall asleep first or if she too would feel the flames take her flesh.

When the witch turned his attention to her, she was too worn out to be afraid. When he picked her up, she was too weak to struggle. When he took her from the house, she couldn’t scream and call out to her parents—who probably wouldn’t have heard her anyway, having gone crisp on the outside. When he set her down, his soft coos did not reassure her, and she cried, both because her eyes were trying to clear away the smoke and because her whole heart was crushed. When the roof crumbled and caved into the house, she felt pummeled by nausea, imagining how it fell right on top of her parents.

The witch reached into a pocket and pulled out a pendant of green glass, its gold rims carved with an elaborate filigree design. He held it up close to his lips and murmured a language Aki didn’t recognize, and the glass responded by lighting up, quick as a struck match. He then turned it away from himself and pushed it toward her, and suddenly she felt the light reach into her eyes, then go deeper, deeper than just her physical self, but all the way into her mind, perhaps even her soul. And it changed something there, or at least it had the first time. But now she could see beneath the magic to the original, which had now been restored.

Aki opened her eyes.

Not as the child she was expecting, ready to start her new life with the man who had ‘rescued’ her. She remembered the life she had already lived since then, but it was colored different now. A shade of sickness that made her stomach turn and her chest squeeze. She didn’t know whether she was going vomit or sob, or if the two would coalesce.

Her face broke as she looked up, apparently lying on her back outside. The pastel shades of the sky signaled dawn, but it was wasted on her. She couldn’t appreciate the soft pink of the clouds or the lovely spectrum of orange through purple at the eastern end of the sky. She only felt the heavy sick wrapping a hand around her core.

All this time. All this time.

Her lips trembled violently and the sky blurred behind thick tears that rose and then fell into her temples, only to be followed by more. She fought the urge to sob for as long as she could, but eventually she ran out of breath, and when she sucked air in she couldn’t control the leap her voice made out from deep within her chest.

All this time, it had been Divine. He had killed her parents, and then replaced that truth with a lie that would poison her endlessly with self-loathing. All the weight, all the guilt, all the hate she had carried, she had been so burdened for so long, had believed she would bear it the rest of her life, and it was all for nothing. For a lie.

Her escaped sob had caught Stardust’s attention. He had been sitting close by, his clothes torn and bloody though he himself was once again healthy and whole. He jumped to her side, going on all fours to look down into her face.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” he asked quickly, his eyes earnest with concern.

At first she shook her head, but then reconsidered and nodded, and then feeling too overwhelmed and confused she shook her head again with a groan.

“Talk to me, what’s wrong?” he asked, desperate to find a way to help.

She sucked in a breath, made choppy by the stranglehold her emotions had on her chest.

“He lied,” she whispered. “It was him.” She couldn’t say much else for a minute, and instead she just pressed her palms against her eyes and breathed deeply to calm down. But it was hard. She wanted to scream. She wanted to wail. She wanted to mourn her parents properly, now that she knew she didn’t have to prostrate herself to their memory in guilt.

And she wanted to murder Divine, the sickness in her stomach gradually churning into a flame of hatred hotter than those that had burned her home. It was easier to sit up when she felt the strength of anger rather than the weight of sorrow. She noticed then she had a cloak draped over her, a makeshift blanket in the cool of the night.

“He lied to me,” she said again, this time with her voice and with full vehemence, and the tears in her eyes were hot. “He made me believe . . . so I would trust him.” Her hands gripped the cloak and turned into fists with the fabric inside. She ground her teeth until her jaws hurt and then she seethed, “He’s evil.”

She turned to Stardust and considered him, and seeing the evidence of battle in his clothes, she suddenly remembered.

“What happened?” she asked quickly, her brows rising. “I don’t remember anything!”

Stardust sighed slowly. He looked like he didn’t know where to start.

“Is everyone ok?” she asked, hoping at least for a simple answer to a simple question.

But Stardust’s expression only darkened, his mouth taking on a grim downturn.

“Oh god,” she murmured, her heart dropping. “What happened?” This time, she asked with fear, dreading to hear the answer.

“It's . . . Yusei,” he said slowly, reluctantly.

Aki gasped. “Oh god,” she said again, voice rising, threatening to crack as she felt a fresh squeeze on her chest. “What happened?”

“He fought Divine,” Stardust explained, “one on one. And . . . well.”

“Is he dead?” she demanded, unable to bear the suspense.

“No, no, he’s alive,” he said. “But . . . he’s . . .” Stardust sighed, shaking his head, and rubbed his forehead. “Sorry,” he said before Aki could plead with him to just say it. “I’m trying.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. And then he forced himself to look Aki in the eye, and Aki could sense by the gravity in his expression that Stardust needed to hear it himself just as much as she did.

“Divine struck him with some magic during their fight, and now . . .” He swallowed, clenching his jaw for just a moment before he finally said, “And now he can’t see.”

Aki stared at him. She understood the words, but it seemed so unreal she couldn’t feel anything at first. It was like hearing a story about some unimportant character. It couldn’t be Yusei. Yusei was too untouchable for something like that.

“He can’t see?” she repeated, feeling the horror just beyond the shield of disbelief protecting her for one last moment.

Stardust shook his head. “No. Not at all. He’s . . . Aki, he’s completely blind.”

It was Stardust’s turn now to look like he might cry, his jaw set tight and his face scrunched. And as Aki took in the sight, she felt the last remaining shreds of her disbelief fade and the horror swarm in.