One would think the security at a marriage reception at one of the highest noble houses would be stricter than Headmaster Taja at the Sisterhood. But, it was surprisingly easy to sneak in as a commoner, serving the nobility at Isadora Mirai’s ball. The ball for the elder sister that  I once shared a last name with had a new surname, just as I did. However, her surname rang with honor, while mine reeked of indefinite servitude.

It was quite easy to slip in. Under the veil of a servant girl, no one could recognize my face. Without a shadow of a doubt, I knew I could have snuck in even if veils weren’t required for the servants. My old family hadn’t seen me in eight years.

Celestine squirmed under my long dress “Shh! Stay still!” I hissed. “I let you come along, and no common girl would have a pet dragon. It would give me away in seconds.”

With a reverberating sigh, Celestine curled inside the pocket I had crafted into this dress. I could just imagine her rolling her violet eyes in contempt. That dragonling was smarter than half of my teachers.

“And now…” A man in the front of the room announced. It took me a few seconds to recognize him as Martin Mirai. My father. “Introducing the lady of the night, Isadora Amelie Esther, daughter of Mirai, newlywed to Augustus Eldrick Ilario of the house of Murphy!”

Izzy! My sister. No, my ex-sister. Still, I cared enough about her to sneak out and travel twenty miles on horseback to see her once again.

A woman entered through the hall, and the crowd split. Huh? Izzy? It couldn’t be… Her long hair floated behind her, wispy blonde strands adding to her angelic face. Bright blue eyes were her best feature, but tonight they looked… Vacant. Even from this distance, I could see the lack of emotion in Izzy’s eyes.

The man next to her wasn’t as old as I thought- he looked in his early twenties. His blonde hair was even lighter than Izzy’s, but trimmed close to his scalp. His shirt and trousers were laced with purple, the color of royalty. According to my research, he had been a member of the Guard and the king’s court. Izzy definitely married up.

I would have been married off, too. I would be here, by Izzy’s side. But, the fact that I can shoot fire from my hands prevents that.

“Something’s off about that guy,” I murmured, just loud enough for Celestine to pick it up. “His eyes seem… Seem like he’s planning something.”

It was the same look I got when I was planning mischief in the abbey. I knew the clever flame flickering in the eye better than anyone. Whenever I looked into the mirror, I could glimpse that quality about myself.

The happy couple (at least, I hoped they were) walked into the center of the room. A trio of musicians started to play. A young girl, who couldn’t be more than ten, stood in the middle of them. She opened her mouth wide. And she began to sing.

“Louisa?” I gasped.

“Shut up, you peasant,” a member of the Guard snapped from behind me. “This is not the moment to open your insolent mouth.”

I turned towards him and bowed my head in feigned apology. If only he knew who I was and what I could do! I adjusted the veil covering my face, agitated. I’m lucky that was just a small slip up, and thank the gods the Guard didn’t see my dragonling.

Louisa… Was that really her? Last time I saw her, she was a toddler. But, it was undeniably the little sister who probably would never remember me. After all, I was a girl who was burdened with magic.

Her voice was more beautiful and angelic then the last time I saw her. Louisa had been singing ever since she could utter the word ‘mama.’

It took me a few seconds to realize that tears had escaped my eyes and drifted down my cheeks.

“There was once a lullaby…” Louisa’s voice was all I could focus on.

I had to get out. Her voice was bringing back memories. Those memories I had tried to forget in the eight years since I went to the abbey to learn the trade of magic were coming back with a vengeance.

Keeping my head down, I sucked in my breath, refusing to let any sobs escape. Why had I come here? I was going to get a lecture back at the abbey, not to mention dish duty for the next month. I didn’t care who noticed the strange servant girl darting through the crowd.

“Foretelling the falling of the sky…” Louisa continued.

Celestine’s claws dug into my skin in order to keep her grip, and I was barely able to restrain a yelp. My tongue didn’t fare so well in that attempt.

“Only love would break destiny…”

The taste of blood from my teeth on my tongue seeped into my mouth.

“A love so precious to me…”

Almost out. Everyone was focused on Louisa, dolled up in a corset and rose colored dress.

“Fire will fall…”

I was at the servant’s door.

“And fate will call…”

I slammed the door behind me. I ran down the servant’s corridor until Louisa’s voice was but a faint memory.

That had been our favorite nursery rhyme, the one Izzy and I would always sing to her. That was her only memory of me, and just a wisp at that.

It was better than nothing at all.

“Ellie, stop crying,” I said aloud to myself. “CiCi, come on out.”

Celestine squirmed against my skin, popping out of my blouse. She scrambled onto my shoulder, wrapping her body around my neck.

“What an eventful night,” I sighed. “Hopefully, I can get back before the nuns notice I’m missing.”

Celestine murmured in agreement.

Stars sprinkled the indigo sky above as I exited the servants’ corridor. If I was an assassin, I would make easy pickings off of the chariot of false security that the nobility blindly ride. Yeah, like that would happen.

“So, it’s a mile walk to where I reined up Zahra,” I spoke aloud, talking to my dragonling. “What should we talk about?” Celestine squealed. I took off my veil and she proceeded to lick away my tears.

“Well, it could be worse. I could be common folk,” I sighed. I fingered the pendant of my necklace, well hidden under my simple dress. The ruby warmed to the touch of my fingers, pulsing with the magical energy coursing through my veins. “You know what they do to peasant mages, right?” I continued. “Lock ‘em up. Well, with chains. At least I’m only bound by the threat of dish duty at the abbey.”

Without a prior signal, Celestine began to whine. She jumped off my shoulder and bolted.

“CiCi! What’s gotten into you?”

Turning around, the dragonling dug her left forepaw into the ground. A wail that vaguely resembled a kitten trying to roar escaped her nostrils.

“Is something wrong?” Celestine jumped onto my shoulder and licked my cheek.

I heard it a heartbeat later. The clanking of armor and the stomping of horses’ hooves roared from the forest.

Celestine motioned her head upwards. Fear glistened in her eyes. Above me, a maple tree with a mess of branches stood tall. Twisting my head around, I saw torches in the distance. I didn’t have much time! With a grunt, I hoisted myself up into the tree. Celestine flapped her wings and lifted herself off the ground, half flying, half hopping, and ascended after me.

I cloaked myself between layers of leaves and prayed to the gods that I was hidden. It would be a long story as to why I was out of the abbey.

Speaking of the abbey, weren’t they coming from that direction? Great. Just great. One of the sisters must have noticed my absence and sent a search party. Most likely Sister Shona. The worrywart couldn’t stop fussing if her life depended on it.

Just a few seconds later, I could make out the faint crowing of deep voices. Something was off. Worry wasn’t conveyed in the voices. Something like… Fear? No. I’m horrible at sensing emotion… Is it hate? Yeah, a bit. No… Glory. Is that an emotion? Gosh, I ramble too much. No wonder I get in so much trouble at the abbey whenever I open my mouth. Stop, Ellie! Focus!

I sucked in my breath out of instinct as the strangers approached. The flames of the torches revealed streaks of silver in the night. Swords. My gut twisted. Something told me that this wasn’t one of the Guard’s troops out for a midnight patrol.

Celestine curled up against me. She was bristling, baring her teeth, her eyes widening with fear. That confirmed it. A dragon’s instincts are never wrong, even with one as young as mine.

As they approached, I realized it was a small group. Five horses, maybe twenty men.

Fire. Fire reveals so much. I should know, I’m a mage that can bend the substance to my will. And this time, the torches revealed splatters of blood on the clothing of these men. Hoods covered their faces, and cloaks sheltered their figures.

“Change is coming to this world, Silver.”

I focused on the one who was talking. The man was on a bay, a horse that was easily distinguished in the night.

“Tonight was just the first step,” a man on the ground agreed. He unsheathed his sword, and blood dripped from the ending. “The look on their faces… Even their magic couldn’t save them.”

Shivers. Cold, creeping hands shivered up my spine, conquering my mind with what that sentence contained. I must’ve heard them wrong. I must’ve. I’m not known for my good hearing; I’m known for my repetition of the word “what.”

Yeah, that was it. It had to be. I regained my senses, but by that time, the men had passed.

I looked at Celestine. Scales stood up on her back, quivering.

Jumping down from the branches, I broke into a run. Celestine kept my pace, trailing behind me.

Reaching my horse, Zahra, she whinnied. I hopped on the saddle, with Celestine slipping into the pouch I had custom made for her. I didn’t hesitate. Motivated by a kick in the ribs, Zahra bolted through the trees.

Smoke. The smell of it invaded my nose, wafting around me and. Zahra stopped cold. “Come on, girl!” I hissed. She shook her head. I guess the one thing all of my animal (also my only) friends have in common is my stubborness. “I don’t have time for this!” I dismounted and grabbed Celestine.

Through the treetops, I could see plumes of grey ash in the sky.

“This could mean anything!” I tried to convince myself. “It doesn’t mean…”

My foot hit something soft. I tripped, landing face first upon a dead body.

I recognized her, even though her face was soaked with blood from a headwound. Sister Amadea. She was a fellow student, a rare seer class of mage, who insulted me every chance she got.

Here she lay, blood still oozing from the wound. Her blue eyes stared up at me in a far too late plea for help.

“No…!” I scrambled up.

Before I even finished standing, Celestine bolted out of sight. “Hey! CiCi! Where’d you go?”

A cry of a dragon came from my left, followed by a muffled sob. There was a survivor.

“Hello?” I called out, caution infiltrating my voice.

“Help…” The voice was young and barely audible. The high pitch hurt my ears. Celestine’s cry accompanied it, much louder and traceable.

I traipsed through the undergrowth.

“No…” the voice whimpered. “Please!”

The gates to the abbey were slashed open by swords. Charred by fire, the structure of the training hall lay in ruins.  

Celestine howled.

“Coming!”

A faint silhouette of a human girl appeared. She was kneeling over a lump.

“Hello?”

The silhouette froze, and I could see the figure quivering in the darkness.

“It’s okay! I’m a Sister,” I called out.

The figure whimpered. “Don’t… Don’t hurt me…”

“My name is Ellie.” I approached her. “What’s your name?”

She murmured something that I couldn’t hear.

“Huh?”

“Nina.” Her voice trembled. I could barely make out the sounds.

“I’m a pyromage, okay? I’m going to give us a little light,” I cautioned. Holding out my palm, I closed my eyes and pictured the sensation of heat. A little flame danced on my hand, casting light on the situation.

The first thing I noticed was that the lump on the ground was a fallen Sister. Nina’s hand was drenched in blood, hovering over a stab wound in the Sister’s stomach.

Nina herself was small, but her curvy figure showed that she couldn’t be much younger then I was. She was in a lavender nightgown, torn and covered with crimson splashes from blood. Sweat rolled down her forehead. Her eyes were opened wide in fear and exhaustion. She was vaguely familiar, so she was most likely a new arrival at the abbey.

“Help me save her!” Nina pleaded.

“We need to get out of here. There’s nothing we can do.”

“I’m a healer! I can save her!”

As much as it made me cringe, I leaned down and checked for a pulse. “She’s gone.” I examined the body more closely. The blood had stopped flowing, with the open wounds glistening with a faint aura of magic, but it had little apparent effect.

Nina gasped in exhaustion as she fell back. “I can save her!”

Something occurred to me. “Nina, how long have you been at the abbey?”

“A… A week,” she murmured.

“Nina, I need you to listen very carefully. Someone attacked the abbey. We need to find other survivors and get to the closest town immediately.”

“No…” Tears slipped down Nina’s cheeks. “No survivors. Just me.”

“Are… Are you sure?” I whispered. I didn’t like anyone, but… Were they all dead?

Nina nodded. “They… They…”

“You can tell me what happened later. We need to get moving. I have a horse. And you met my dragonling, Celestine.”

Nina stood up shakily and looked into my eyes.

Her gaze. Her gaze, so empty, so ravaged, so destroyed. What had happened here?

“Uh…” I stammered. What was I supposed to say? “Nina, let’s head to Alkarai.”

She nodded. Before I knew it, her arms were wrapped around me.

“I searched everywhere, but all I saw... were the… You must be chosen by the gods…”

A warm liquid clung to my arms.

“Nina…” I grabbed her arm. “You’re hurt!”

“I tried but my magic didn’t work on me…” A gash dug deep into Nina’s left arm. Blood oozed out, and the scarlet liquid had leaked onto my cloak.

“Okay,” I said. “We need to get to Alkarai. Now. And we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

I helped Nina to Zahra and held her hand as she mounted the horse. I followed on after her.

“Can I pet your dragonling?” Nina asked. Celestine answered her by hopping into her lap.

As we trotted through the forest, I hoped I would wake up. This had to be a nightmare.

Magic. It was our blessing. It was our curse.