"And are you sure you're okay with this? I don't want you being distracted on your first day," Sol watched Eclipse's reaction before sighing, "Fine, you can stay, Isaiah. Just try to stay out of the way. The last thing I need is for either of you to get hurt; the director would have my head."

Isaiah put his hands up defensively, "I'll stay out the way, I swear. Don't even worry about it. Pretend I'm not even here."

Sol spoke as if he didn't believe a word Isaiah just told him, "Right. I guess you can go take a seat over there," He pointed across the room where a chair was set against the wall. Isaiah shook his head before walking over and grabbing the chair. He brought it nearly into the center of the room before sitting down with a childish grin.

Sol just shook his head before turning back to Eclipse, "I've read over your file and I must say, I've never met someone like you before. Sure, I've seen some dragons in my time, but they've all been feral."

Eclipse didn't know how to respond so she awkwardly nodded her head. Sol clapped his hands, "Alright, show me what you can do."

"I thought you said you'd already read my file?"

"Yeah, but reading and seeing are two different things."

"What do you want me to show you exactly?" Eclipse asked slowly, not really wanting to be treated like a weapon for a very stupid reason.

"Let's start simple, I would like to see your dragon form."

She hesitated for a few moments before averting her eyes to the ground. Sol's gaze felt like it was burning a hole as he watched Eclipse intently. After a few moments, she started shifting into her dragon form. Sol took a few quick steps back as Eclipse continued to become larger. Eclipse refused to look up to meet either Sol's nor Isaiah's stare. She knew they were. How could they not? Eclipse was never really a self-conscious person before, but that changed quickly.

Gathering all her courage, she looked up but couldn't get her eyes to meet Sol's. She listened as Sol walked around her as she kept her eyes closed. She was being treated like an animal. As if she were being examined at a state fair, being judged for every possible imperfection.

After a few minutes, Sol told her that was enough and she quickly shifted back. She looked towards the ceiling and blinked her eyes to stop any tears from forming. She looked back towards Sol who was walking towards her with a slightly worried expression. Without any control, a void completely surrounded her. Her vision was filled with nothingness and there was no sound whatsoever. Her body temperature lowered significantly. It was calming; nearly making her forget about her situation. Nearly.

There was no sense of time in the void. Once she was completely calm, the void slowly retracted. She looked up towards where Isaiah was sitting, his expression was full of worry. She didn't mean to upset him, but it wasn't like she could control it. In fact, the reaction itself was because of Sol's actions. It was his fault. Without another glance, Eclipse stormed out of the room despite Sol's attempt to get her to stop. She could hear Sol walking behind her but also keeping his distance.

Isaiah on the other hand ran to catch up with her. He fell into step with her as she made her way to her room. She stepped inside and paused before turning around to see Isaiah standing in the hallway still, Sol stopped halfway down the hall in defeat. She fixed her gaze on Isaiah and sighed, "Are you coming or not?"

It took a moment before Isaiah entered the room and Eclipse closed the door. Isaiah looked over her, "Are you okay? What was that?"

She shrugged and all anger from before left her voice, "I'm fine. It was actually kind of nice."

His worry transformed into curiosity, "What was it like?"

"It's hard to explain. It's like nothing else existed. There was no light, sound, it was cold but it wasn't overpowering."

"That sounds absolutely terrifying."

Eclipse shook her head and laughed a bit, all previous tension leaving her, "It's much better than sensory overload. It's like going into a quiet room after being able to escape from a ball. At the party, there's so much going on from the sheer amount of people around. It's nice to get away from all that to just calm down and have a moment for yourself."

"I suppose that makes sense, but wouldn't a disco party or something be more stressful than a formal ball?" He tilted his head and his wolf ears followed suit.

"You wouldn't believe how stressful a ball can be. There's always so much pressure to be perfect and not make a mistake."

"You've been to one?"

She chuckled lightly, "Quite a few actually. Not as many as my sister though. She's always been more of a people person. Sadly I can't always skip out. My parents always told me to at least try to socialize with the rest of the kingdom. It's not like I didn't get out. I quite enjoyed getting out and about."

"Kingdom?"

"Yeah, the Ember Kingdom. It's one of several dragon kingdoms. My parents are the queen and king. Later, both my sister and I will rule side by side."

Isaiah paused as he thought over her words. Finally, he dropped and returned his gaze to her, "So that would make you a princess?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Yeah, but if my sister finds her partner, I won't need to fully run the kingdom with her. Of course I would still technically be a queen then and still have to make decisions."

He kept silent as he tried to wrap his head around this information. There was a knock on the white door. Isaiah glanced at the gray door wondering if he should leave or not, then decided against it and sat at the desk. A few moments later, Tiffany cautiously entered and shut the door behind her. She didn't move any closer, but instead, leaned against the wall and examined Eclipse. Eclipse couldn't even tell the woman was tense until her shoulders relaxed slightly.

She kept her voice low and calm as she spoke, "I heard what happened, are you okay?"

Eclipse completely ignored her question, "Do you know what happens here? What this is all for?"

Tiffany frowned, "It's so that y'all can learn to control your abilities. You displayed why you can't be out in public without the proper training."

She shook her head sadly. Not even the guards knew what was really going on. Well, at least not all of them. Perhaps a few did know but just didn't care. Maybe even a few of the prisoners knew, though she doubted it. Her sight became blurry as she was deep in thought. She refocused her gaze onto Tiffany and sighed at how naive she was. She opened her mouth to talk but Tiffany walked past her and sat on the sleeping mat before lying down, "Okay, continue."

Eclipse frowned at how at peace the woman looked despite knowing that she was about to receive news. Isaiah didn't look surprised in the slightest at Tiffany's action. Eclipse looked from Isaiah to Tiffany and then sighed, "Do you truly not know what's going on here?"

"Nope, enlighten me."

Eclipse wouldn't hold back. To get a point across, you have to be blunt. Without even thinking first, she blurted out, "They're using you and everyone else here for their own belief that humans shouldn't have as much power as they do. They want to control the world and don't care what they do. They're using you, Isaiah, me, anyone else here as weapons to the war they want to start."

Tiffany sat up and stared at Eclipse with widening eyes, "Hold up, I'm being used without my knowledge? That's messed up. And y'all are just kids. Alright, what's the plan?"

It was Eclipse's turn to be surprised. She hopped on board fast. Before she could explain the plan, the white door burst open and suddenly, there were at least five guns pointed at the three. A man walked through the group of armed soldiers and examined the faces in front of him one at a time.

Eclipse didn't recognise the man to begin with until she noticed his eyes. You have to be kidding me. Why wouldn't it be Cole? He had so many forms. Why can't he just choose one and stick with it?

He smirked at Eclipse before turning around. Before he walked out the room, he waved his hand and ordered the guards. , "Take them to solitary."

Isaiah jumped up from his seat, stood in front of Eclipse in a protective stance, and shouted, "No, this isn't right! You can't just use us as pawns in your game!"

Cole stopped in his tracks and turned around to look Isaiah up and down and scoffed, "He's no real use to us. If he causes any issues, just dispose of him."

He continued walking without even looking back. Isaiah took a step forward and the gerd raised their guns. Eclipse pulled him behind her and put up a void forcefield only moments before triggers were pulled and bullets came flying towards them. Tiffany was quick to join the two and yelled above the sound of gunfire, "What now?"

The sound of gunfire ceased and Eclipse expanded the void so that the only open space was behind them, "Change of plans, we leave now. They messed with the wrong people this time."

Eclipse grabbed the two's hands and pulled them into the void with her. She had no idea what would happen and at that point she was just hoping for the best. It was weird to be in the desolate abyss with other people, she could make out every fine detail about them simply because there was nothing that distracted her mind. She began to slightly panic at the sight of frost forming on the other's fingers. Without any control whatsoever, the void heated up around them slightly, just enough for the frost to start melting.

She had to get them out of there. Who knew how long the two of them could survive in such harsh conditions? With no light, heat, sound. If the temperature didn't kill them first, they could very well lose their sanity. Eclipse may not be an expert in either of their species, but she was sure it wasn't healthy for their senses to be limited with no solutions.

Suddenly, they were blinded with light as they began falling to the ground. Eclipse shifted into her dragon form and swiftly dove through the air so that she could catch the others before they plummeted to the ground. She spread her wings quickly as if she were skydiving to slow herself down. Tiffany was the first to land on Eclipse's back. Eclipse had to balance Tiffany so that she wouldn't fall off. When Isaiah crashed onto the back, he nearly fell off until Tiffany caught his upper arm.

Eclipse then glided to the ground, careful not to let either of them fall. As soon as they landed, Eclipse immediately knew where they were. Her eyes were drawn to the large hedge wall where Madi once defended her. A quick scanning of the area left Eclipse slightly relieved that it was clear. Once the two were off her back, she shifted back into her human form and did a more thorough search of their surroundings.

Isaiah and Tiffany huddled together to raise their body temperatures to a normal level. Eclipse looked over them in worry, "Are you guys okay? I didn't mean for either of you to get hurt."

Tiffany looked over Isaiah quickly and nodded her head, "I think we're fine. J-just have to get warmed up a bit. What happened?"

"I took us through a void and I guess it opened where I was subconsciously thinking about."

"W-what's that? I mean, what were you thinking?"

"I just want to be with my friends," Eclipse half lied, keeping the fact that she really just wanted to be with the two closest people in her life.

Tiffany raised a questioning eyebrow but didn't press for any more details. After finally being able to raise their body temperature enough, the other two looked around, their eyes drawn to the hedge wall.

Isaiah looked back at Eclipse with a slight grin, "Nice work back there, but umm, do you have some freaky plant powers too?"

Eclipse shook her head with a frown, "No, and it's not freaky. It was from a friend."

"Sorry about calling it weird. Now you have me thinking about your friends. Are they all dragons?"

"Most of them are. It's really my first time away from dragons. To be honest, I didn't know there were other species."

"What are they like?"

"Nearly everyone is kind. Although there are a few rogue dragons. My kingdom is a fairly large one with quite a few alliances. So believe me when I say this, that place is going down. No one messes with our kingdom."

Isaiah nodded in understanding and then asked what they were going to do now that they were out. Eclipse shifted back and gestured for the two to climb back on. They were soaring through the air again in a matter of seconds. Eclipse flew faster than she had ever done before but was careful to make sure that neither Isaiah nor Tiffany would fall off.

She slowed down as she descended and landed in front of Madi's little cabin. The two climbed off her back and wobbled as they tried to keep their balance. Eclipse shifted back and ran into the cabin fully expecting it to be empty. Instead, she saw a blur before something embraced her in a hug. Eclipse immediately knew it was Madi and she began crying, "I told you I would be back."

Madi backed away and scowled, "And yet you left me alone!"

Eclipse pulled her back into a hug and both of them calmed down.

"Stop! Who are you?" Eclipse heard Ash yelling and she stopped hugging Madi to see who he was yelling at. Tiffany was standing in front of Isaiah in a protective stance.

Eclipse put herself between the two groups, "It's okay. This is Isaiah and Tiffany," Eclipse then gestured to her other friends, "And this is Madi, Ash, and..."

Her voice trailed off as she didn't see Astrid anywhere. She started to panic until Madi grabbed her hand, "It's okay, she went out to meet up with your sister. Don't worry about her, she'll be fine," her voice cracked slightly as she looked Eclipse up and down, "Are you okay?"

Madi's worries only eased slightly at Eclipse's small head nod, "Are you sure? What happened?"

"It was more weird than anything now that I think about it. It was some group wanting to control the world. Well... at least to take the power away from humans."

"Where did I hear that before? Oh yeah, in plenty of movies. Anyways, what's the plan now?"

"I was hoping to talk to my mom and send the army out there."

Madi nodded in agreement even though she had no idea how powerful the army was. But they are dragons, they must be pretty powerful.

"Do you know how long until Astrid and the others return?" Eclipse asked, hopeful for a good response.

She heard exactly what she wanted from Ash who mocked a scientist, saying, "According to my calculations, they should be here at any moment. In the meantime, I suggest you get some rest. And I definitely won't take the time to raid the fridge." Madi turned sharply to him, "You've already eaten enough for a family of seven and you're still hungry? We don't even have anything left in the kitchen," she turned to the three, "but he's right. Try to get some rest before the others return."