Shades POV:

"AURORA!" I screamed, desperately trying to spot her below the water.

I dived under the surface and forced my eyes open but there was no sign of her anywhere. After using up all of the air that my lungs could hold, I pushed myself back above the water and screamed out in frustration.

"They couldn't have taken her," I said to myself shakily.

It was all my fault... they pulled her away from me because I wasn't strong enough to hold her.

Realising that I was no use to her dead, I swam as quickly as I could to the river bank, dodging a variety of humungous waves and dangerous currents along the way, and before they managed to claim all of my energy, I threw myself out of the water and pushed myself to my knees, coughing up the water that had threatened to consume my lungs.

I looked around in panic and ran my hand through my soaked hair, pushing it back out of my face as a small tear fell down my cheek. I stopped my body from shaking and got to my feet slowly, forcing myself to pace up and down the river bank in an effort to find her, but it was useless... the storm continued to rage and the waters continued to stir, preventing me from seeing anything.

I tilted my head up to the blackened clouds and screamed out as loudly as my sore lungs would allow, I searched every inch of the stormy sky longingly, praying that someone or something would come to help her... I would even accept help from Sebastian himself at this point, and as if my prayers were miraculously answered, something came.

A deafening roar filled the whole area, easily outshining the storms booming thunder and raging winds, a bolt of brilliant lightning struck brightly nearby, illuminating the gloomy skies for me to see the shadowy outline of a dragon.

The astonishing beast picked up tremendous speed and pointed itself straight for the deadly rivers surface, showing no sign of stopping. Just before it crashed into the forcefield I saw that it was Aurora's dragon Obsidian... he must have sensed that she was in danger!

A blinding light surrounded the area upon his contact with the forcefield, sending me crashing to the floor with my hands over my eyes. I reopened them to see that his whole body had disappeared below the surface of the water, making me wonder how deep its waters actually went.

I scrambled to the river bank and watched the water's surface in anticipation as tremendously long seconds ticked by, the water suddenly had become still and the air had become silent, leaving only the noise of my quickened heartbeat to reach my ears, adding to my growing anxiety.

After what seemed like forever, the dragon re-emerged with Aurora in his talons. He did a large circle around me before he swooped down low and dropped her onto the ground a few feet away from me.

I wasted no time and ran straight towards her, but as soon as Obsidian realised what I was doing, he landed gracefully next to her and stood protectively over her limp body, releasing a roar that shook the very ground that I ran on, sending me painfully to the ground with a loud thump.

I groaned out in pain and forced myself back onto my feet, this time making sure to take slower steps towards him.

"I'm not going to hurt her," I said quietly, not trusting the stability of my voice.

He bared his teeth at me and wrapped his wing over Aurora's body, I stared at him in confusion until I saw that his throat had begun to give off a faint glow, he was going to burn me.

"NO!" I shouted, holding both of my hands out in front of me "I would never do anything to harm her"I screamed, hoping that he could understand me, or at least my emotions.

He growled loudly and rose up to an impressively towering height... he still didn't trust me, but I suppose I couldn't blame him, I was meant to be protecting her... and look how that tuned out.

"I love her" I admitted barely audible.

Those three words were all it took, I don't know what made his lower his head and move out of the way, maybe it was that he could understand me, or maybe it was the emotions that surrounded my body when my confession left my lips, but none of it mattered right now.

I sprinted towards her and skidded the rest of the way on my knees, I immediately grabbed her head in my hands and checked her pulse... she was still alive but barely, if Obsidian didn't get to her when he did she would be dead.

"You have to wake up" I whispered, gently shaking her shoulders.

Although, it was expected that there was no immediate response, worry still managed to consume me. I shook her again and raked my brain for any information on how I could help her before I looked up helplessly to see Obsidian searching the skies suspiciously... something was coming.

"Come on Princess," I said with increasing urgency.

She stirred slightly and seemed to be fighting some sort of internal struggle, I grabbed her arm and rolled her onto her side so she could spit out any water that may have filled her lungs when a familiar conscious filled my mind. Foreign feelings of relief and happiness filled my mind making me realise that my dragon Incendro was close.

"Obsidian, what is it?" I shouted apprehensively, noticing his tense posture.

He hissed loudly and looked towards the river, Aurora instantly began to stir and release small fearful groans and pleas as her dragon moved towards the edge. Without warning, she bolted into an upright position and snapped open her fearful eyes.

"R- RUN" screamed Aurora after releasing a mouthful of water through a small chain of coughs.

My mouth gaped open in shock at her sudden awakening, I made a move to grab her arm but before I had the chance to hold her, her eyes rolled back as her body became limp once more. Before she could hit the floor, I grabbed ahold of her body and checked her pulse once more before I picked her up bridal style.

"Come on!" I screamed in the dragon's direction. "We have to go"

As soon as he looked towards me the air became dangerously icy, a thick fog started to build as a range of pained shouts and whispers invaded the stilled air, shadowy figures suddenly became visible but everything in my gut told me that they were not human and most definitely did not mean well, they moved unnaturally and seemed to cause a disturbance in the worlds natural functions... they were everything that I imagined death to look like, they grew tall and had deep grey soulless eyes, even the fog made them shrouds to make their paled, patchy skin.

"Incendro!" I called out towards the sky pleadingly.

Obsidian let out another ground shaking roar and turned his back to me as he began to fight the oncoming attackers, I nodded my head and sprinted across the lands with Aurora in my arms as fast as my body would allow, I looked back one more time to see Obsidian's large form disappear behind the fog.

A new, eviler air had now been born, and it was filled with the screams of the forsaken and the pained shrieks of a heroic dragon, his suffering pained me greatly but he was protecting his rider... he would continue to do so even if that meant sacrificing himself, and there was nothing that I could do to stop him or help him.

After what seemed like forever, Incendro came into view, igniting a flame of hope inside me. He quickly flew down to land in front of me and lowered his head to greet me. I wasted no time before I gently placed Aurora onto his back and vaulted up behind her.

"Avolar" I commanded.

Incendro sent me feelings of comfort before he leapt off the ground and climbed the air until he scored above the clouds... and with every flap of his thunderous wings, Obsidians battle cries grew quieter, leaving me clueless as to whether he was able to win his ill-fated battle.