hostly starlight pierced through the foggy clouds like warriors battling in the dead of night. A heavy fog cloaked the sky as winds stirred and drifted between the swelling waves, whispering the chant of a forgotten lullaby.

It all seemed like a scene scratched from a fairytale. But reality had never come with mercy.

In the far distance, I heard the batting of powerful wings, the sound reaching my ears like a far away cry. A screech shot through the thin air, shattering the pleasant silence. And like the candle burning in the dark, his fire glowed, illuminating the darkness bracing the sky.

The beast flew fast and precise, launching rapidly as though he had fallen from the highest heavens. His fire growled as it came closer, washing my eyes with smoldering amber.

Eyes, the color of scintillating gold, locked with mine. And I waited. Waited until I felt the warmth of his fire kissing my skin, shielding it from the nippiness of the autumn night. Waited until the vigorous wingbeats were nothing but feeble swings.

The Phoenix flared his feathers before wrapping himself around me, mantling me in a warm cocoon. His head leaned on my shoulder, his eyes still staring at my soul.

"Have you found it?" I asked, stroking Téors's plumes.

''No, my queen. This beast has looked through the piles of earth and the skies, but its magic was not found. Are thou sure thou wish to disobey the Court Leader's command?''

''I have given the king my word; I can't allow myself to let him slip away. Ramos will understand in the end.''

''But it is he who had hidden the Book of Astazan. Should he--'' Téors's words died in the passing breeze as he lifted his head, his eyes keen on the cliff posing above our head. ''Fire of the Wild,'' he said in a voice that was breezing air and clacking flames as one.

The shadows moved.

Like a ripple in blackness, a figure emerged, his cloak billowing until the winds swept his hood back. He jumped, landing straight on the sabulous shore, the sand muffling the impact.

His eyes glowed under the moonlight like a raging ocean, deep and mesmerizing. And like the shadows he was, he played it well, following us with no hint of a sound, his soul never alarming my magic.

"I knew you were planning for something the moment I saw you sneaking out the castle,'' admitted Leon, his gloved right hand--the glove a rough leather he always wore when polishing his arsenal--reaching for my bird's fire. He stroked it, the flickering amber gowing to his fingers. ''Ramos has the book until he sees it fit. Planning on stealing it?"

"Something like that," I replied, head tilting and leaning on Téors's. "It has been three weeks since we came back from the Norm and my father is still waiting for me. So, planning on helping?"

For a moment, I stared into his eyes. For a moment, I begged he would see through my soul like he always did. Begged he would understand.

He did. Because the way his stares intensified, the way his eyes turned from gleaming mischief to a heavy seriousness, told me as much. He knew there was something more to it, knew that the paleness bleaching my skin the last few days was not because of sickness like I told my maids.

He left Téors, his hand sliding from his fires to my shoulder. "What is happening? What do you know?"

"When the sun dies, the Armedes bearing its symbol follows--"

"And the sun is getting weak," Leon finished for me, daring to say the words that cut my heart like knives ripping my lungs.

I barely nodded in confirmation to his words. The Shadow trailed his eyes from my face to the Phoenix perched on my back. ''Where have you looked?"

''My magic has scoured lands and seas, but the book's essence was never detected.''

''It is not inside the castle's walls, either,'' I stated, fiddling with loose ends.

''Hidden it is, buried in where our magic does not see, nor reach.''

His words rang between us and time stopped for the snippet of a moment. Realization washed me with such hardness it felt like I had been thrown from the skies and into a sea of ice-cold water. The answer was so clear, yet buried deep in mist and dirt, shielding it from the looking eyes.

And as Leon's eyes bore into mine, blue and green locked together, I knew he caught it as fast as I did.

"Siltheres."

Téors screeched, his voice echoing in the blankness of my mind. ''Then see the Dragon of the Highs, for he might well be the eye guarding the tome. But before I leave, I shall warn thee: beware the darkness brewing in the south.''

With that, the bird charged into the firmament, exploding into gold and amber dust, washing the stars with its brightness.

My eyes drifted from the mythical beast to the Shadow standing alongside, his face hard and chiseled. But there was softness in his eyes, the sort of tenderness only given to me.

He would help me because he understood the pain and the dread that had been misting my thoughts. Because he was familiar with falling asleep every night, wishing we could change the past that had taken everything from us. But most important, he apprehended my will because he would give this world and everything in it to have Estelle back. To have the family he had watched crumble in front of his eyes.

"Ramos has left before twilight and is most likely to come back after sunrise. If we don't start searching for the spell that opens the gate now, we'll miss our chance.''

''Leon.'' His name evaded my lips as the faintest of whispers, merging with the hums of the stirring zephyrs. His hand brushed my cheek, his thumb stroking it gently, providing gentle warmth. Warmth that was more than needed and pleasant, erasing the fear biting at my heart.

His lips curved a slight smile before he turned towards the castle, leading the way.

''Let's go.''

From one page to the other, my eyes skimmed, running through the litany of words. Spilled ink on paper was the sole thing that greeted my eyesight, slipping darkness in the tiniest of hope I was clutching to. Nothing. There was nothing but endless studies and rambles, but no spell that could open the gate behind the thrones.

Unholy fear settled in, building fast and strong. Father's sleeping face flashed in front of my mind as I rummaged in Ramos's and my heart clenched harder. I was losing him; the weakening, bleeding sun was the clearest indication. Each sunset, it bled as it drowned in the sea. Each night, I stared at it from the balcony of my rooms, observing how it turned bloodier every single time.

It was like watching him die in front of my eyes.

Rising from my kneeling position, my cloak and night dress twisted and crumpled under my legs, I turned to stare at Leon.

The reflection of his eyes on glass met mine before he turned, his fingers tapping the mirror with a constant, slow beat. "Did you find anything?''

"Nothing at all.''

''I thought so. Come closer,'' he demanded, his attention returning to the mirror pinned on the wall.

For the moment, I stood still, staring absent-mindedly at our reflection. Whatever he saw on this piece of glass, I didn't know.

"What is it?'' I asked, the thread of both hope and patience I still had running thin. The night wasn't young when Téors arrived, and it wasn't getting any as the seconds trickled with dreadful speed.

"Ramos has this mindset of his, ever since I knew him as a kid, which defines his entire actions. The eyes can be blinded by the darkest of stones and not the brightest of gold, he used to say.'' Fire blared from his fingertips, swirling around the glass. '' He never was a complex mind, perhaps it is the complete opposite.''

''We looked through books and studies where we assumed he would hide the spell because their knowledge is the gold. But we never peered past what he made us see.''

Leon smiled as I caught what he meant before flicking his wrist. Fire burst at his fingertips.

He was right, I knew that much. Ramos's strength remained in his simplicity. He was all of a scheming mind, an expert in the game he played. But I was learning that game, too, and Leon had mastered it far ago

Because wherever the fire traced, the glass vanished, leaving behind sculpted words. Like the drop of the curtain, the Shadow's flame erased that blindness, exposing wide and clear lines and lines of forgotten chants.

It didn't take me much to spot the intended words, Ramos's voice echoing in my head along with the memory of when he first opened the door. But with that memory came more dread than excitement, because I knew that, with looking for the book, I breached one of his most important commands. He wouldn't be angry or mad, he never did. But he would be disappointed. And deep down, I feared what I would meet in his eyes, and feared it more because I knew it wouldn't be much different from when we told him about Blake.

I had lied, but never did I regret it.

Memorizing the spell by heart, Leon and I disappeared out of Ramos's room and down the dark corridors, merging with the dancing shadows.

The silence shrouding the castle was deafening, and I didn't know if it was a good or bad thing. Whatever step we took, it echoed with pained groans, making my heart flinch.

Leon led the way, like always, knowing my home better than I did. Guiding me through narrow corridors, we made it to the throne room without being seen by the guards who still had no clue who I was.

With fast strides, I crossed the distance separating me from the thrones. Standing still in front of the heavily adorned wall behind them, I allowed the words to slip by their own, humming in the vastness of the space with gentleness.

'' Calena mios denar ti, azaver tormos valer, pir lá medelos traven.''

As I recited the chant over and over--the words an ancient sorcery that slipped smoothly from my tongue--a light was born. Tearing the wall to shreds, it knocked it down. And by the time my lips sealed once again the gate was already dressed with its vigorous brightness. With as much as turning to stare at Leon, I stepped forward, my heart and mind well determinate.

The familiar haze of whiteness cloaked us once again, devouring the entire world we had stepped into. And in the close distance, a well-known figure laid.

His eyes were open, yellow chartreuse irises staring at us with unwavering steadiness. They glowed as he stood and what was kin to a smile traced that scaly mouth.

He took heavy strides, making the ground groan under his weight. His wings spread, humongous and majestic and undoubtedly powerful.

"Thou have finally come, child of light.'' Siltheres' voice rumbled with a deep echo, filling the entire realm curtaining us. The fire in his crevice only burnt brighter, the flicker of flames cast dancing light on his shiny scale.

I stepped closer and he lowered his head until it fell in my outstretched hands. I stroked his scales, feeling their cool hardness. He was still intimidating still capable of shaking a continent with a single roar, but I wasn't afraid like the first time I saw him.

He nuzzled his head, lowering it furthermore until it was in the crook of my neck, his breaths so hot I wondered if they could burn my clothes and the skin beneath it if he as much as blew a but harder.

I kept rubbing, hands running up and down his massive, heavy head, not finding it in myself to push away the sudden affection he showed. He didn't do this last time, barely acknowledged me as though he was drowsy from his hibernation. I didn't mind it though, the nuzzling and soft growling against my skin.

I smiled.

"It's been a while since we last saw each other," I murmured and his ears twitched at the sound of my voice.

'It has.' His only reply echoing in my head. I stroked longer, gentler, slower, and he rumbled. "Thou are afraid," my dragon noted as he pulled back, body half lowering so he could see both leon and me well.

I forced the smile to stay even when my cheeks fell numb and my lips dry and heavy. "He's leaving." And so was my dream of knowing what a family was.

"He is, I fear. I watched him weaken every day, waiting for thee to seek me, to look for the solution. It was not right to call thee, to give thee the remedy. Thou had to come by thine own."

"How long, Siltheres?" There it was, the heaviest question I ever asked. The one that was stones and ashes and fire in my mouth as I uttered every letter.

"Days at most, hours at least."

My knees almost buckled under my weight, my world almost collapsed. No. The whiteness was already swaying and blurring in my vision as I fought to add, "I am here now."

"Thou are."

Siltheres walked back to his dais, his massive size and verdant color coming as a fierce contrast to the engulfing whiteness. Guided, we followed the dragon's every movement in the seemingly endless brightness, my eyes running occasionally on the embossed landscaped that seemed to jut out with each thud of his massive feet and pointy claws on the hard ground.

The beast led us to the spot where we had first brought him back from his slumber--an impressive rounded dais raised with twelve stairs that was immense in size, easily capable of hosting eighty standing men. Nothing had changed since that day, nothing but the fact that the platform was no longer immaculately white.

Because where was supposed to be only white was traced with crimson the Mark of Aether. And I knew well from how my magic hummed and my heart thumped that the blood smearing the ground was the same Ramos made me spill. The same that was swallowed down to waken Siltheres. My blood.

'The moment the gate has taken you to Mienus Elayas the symbol was drawn back. An order of the Gods and a vow to protect. Until the day I shall perish, the Mark shall be graved on this ground as much as on my soul.'

He stood on the uprisen floor, neon

lights emerging from under his claws. The earth underneath him seemed to vanish in mist and dust, and as he retreated there was no more soil. There was nothing but a crater. And the sleeping book.

Leon crouched, his hands reaching for the tome. But he never had the time to grasp it. As soon as he tried to reach it, the Book of Astazan was carried by arms of air, wafting its way to mines.

Enclosing it with a firm grip, I sat on the edge of the dais, conscious of how the void filled itself, with Leon and Siltheres alongside.

Totem against totem, the symbols shimmered, casting a soft, golden halo around us.

The leather yawned as it flipped, the artifact heavy weighting on my lap as the pages flipped one after the other. Glowing dust was swept of the papers, tickling my nose before the movements ceased and the book opened. But nothing greeted my eyes. Nothing but blank, rusty papers.

For an instant, my heart sank with shocking speed and my throat went dry. And before trepidation and fear could firmly lay their grip on my soul, Siltheres' words came with a soothing warmth.

''The book is infinite, Celestia. A single tome cannot contain all information. To reach what thou seek, thou shall order it to reveal.''

So I did, ordering it with a spell of my creation.

''I am the Redeemer, bringer of salvation.

And in fate I am a believer, so to my eyes, show solution.''

The book woke, brightness bursting from it, bringing it back to life. Light glided on the pages, kissing the blank papers, leaving trails of ink. And as fast as it came, the light vanished, unveiling to my eyes long lines written in the Ancient Tongue. I read and read until both my eyes and brain burned, the knowledge weighting on my soul.

Awareness was the key to all locks, but discovering the existence of an entire world was more fearsome than fascinating. Because one line could save, and the other could destroy.

My eyes stopped skimming, and for the shortest of moments, my heart missed its beat as I stared at the lines sprawled under my eyes. Because every curved letter in those lines contained the cure to father's curse.

Overwhelming joy bloomed in my heart, threatening to tear my lungs apart.

"We found it," I whispered with a breathless voice, anticipation burning in my veins as hope lost bits of its gloom.

"Found what, Celestia?"

But that moment was short lived.

And I froze. For the sake of all the heavens, my body turned to stone at that familiar voice resonated in the vastness of the place.

With too much pain than to restrain, I turned. Only to be greeted by Ramos's wise eyes.

And he was not pleased.

Small help-tips:

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The Windfall of Valor

The Windfal of Valor'