Chapter 29 – A voice of change

The wall of adamant swallowed us.

The moment it did, the world was gone around us. I could see nothing only my body, not even the saddle beneath me or Seren's glittering scales. The shadow brushed along my scale like tinkling nails that tapped, tippity tap against my skin. It wrapped around my sleeves, snapping around my wrists.

Seren thrashed as she was laced tight, helpless and suspended in the air. Powerful muscles, rendered helpless as she struggled. A fly in a trap. Helpless.

"Lilia!" Seren called to me in the darkness. Through our panic laden bond, I felt her helplessness at being the weaker one. The one who wasn't the master of the skies.

Shadow laced around my waist, hoisted me clean into the air. Seren roared as my weight vanished from her back and her panic clawed into my mind, shredding at me. "I don't know if I am upside down or not."

The grip around my waist vanished and I screamed as I fell through the freezing air. I struck the sea and it felt nearly as strong as the earth. Black inky water swallowed me and sea-salt burned down my throat. I choked as I tried to wade in it, thrashing in a world where I could not see. Somewhere to my right or to my left, something far bigger crashed into the water.

"Seren!" I cried out.

She didn't answer me. I shivered violently in the water, thrashing as the ice crept through my fingers, my limbs. I knew I was miles from shore and even in my stubbornness, I would not make it before the cold consumed. And how would I carry Seren back if she could not fly or swim? I would have to find Seren and hope her warmth would stave off the frostbite and I could...tug on a horn and backpedal the miles back to shore.

"Seren?"

I pressed forward in the dark water, or was it backwards? I couldn't tell. Shadows slithered out of the way when I moved, moving inches from my skin to reveal a sliver of water. The dark watched my struggle, as the water logged my clothes and my furs began irons. How could Mariyl live in such cold water?

"Seren?"

The dark stirred, heaving like the breath of a great beast. Could the absence of the light somehow be living? A wave crashed over my head, water rushing down my open mouth. I choked and spluttered, my head breaking the surface for a moment until another wave rolled over me. In the wave, I tossed and turned, unsure what was up or down.

The sea was an enemy in itself, worse than the wall of adamant. That wall of darkness moved with intent, but the sea was there. A wall of water that cared nothing for the life it was going to snuff out as it rolled over me again and again, the water chasing air back down my throat. It was powerful and I was an inconsequential piece of driftwood amongst thousands of miles of water.

"Seren!"

Another swell broke over my head. Sea-salt burned in my nose. I hacked and spluttered, twisting and turning as the furs that had warmed me weighed me down like anchors. I cried out for Seren in the darkness, and somewhere, I heard her echoing call.

The darkness sighed as my head surfaced once more. Something colder than the water, colder than ice burned through my clothes as it wove around my arms and heaved me out of the water. The chains of shadow bit like knives and I barely swallowed down a sob at the razor bite of pain.

The darkness blinked at me.

I stared back.

Gone were the many settlements along the shore.

Gone was the burning fire of the lighthouse.

There was only darkness and the water churning beneath me. The dark had snuffed out the connection between Seren and I and I felt only a desolate emptiness in my head, echoing now without the second voice that warmed it. Hopelessness crept though my icy veins.

The darkness swelled again, heaving a great breath. My bones jarred, my jaw tensing as a deep voice echoed from within the darkness. The voice sounded older than time itself, grating like two mountains being scrapped together.

"Hello Lilia Merek."

The voice was behind me. In front of me.

Echoing inside my head.

"Where is Seren?"

"Tethered like you, but safe."

"You threw her out of the sky!"

I could only imagine her fear in the dark, her senses robbed and her mind severed from mine.

"Where is Seren? Where is she?"

"You feel that I am sentient, you know that I speak, but you do not ask who or what I am?"

"I will care when I find Seren."

"Humans care little for dragons. Tell me what you plan to steal from her, and I will make your death merciful and quick."

"I will steal nothing from her."

"Nothing." The darkness hissed and the chains around my arms tightened. "You dare lie to me, thief."

"I am not lying!" I cried out in pain.

"All humans lie. And steal. And maim and break. She is born of water, ice and rain. Her soul alights when a storm swells and rivers, lakes and the sea whisper to her kind. Her scales are coloured as they are to meld her into the sky, into the water that magic has naturally bound her to. And yet, human leather is bound to her. A human sits on her back." The voice thundered.

"Seren and I fly together." A snake of shadow curled around my throat, pulsing with rage.

"Why would a dragon debase herself by allowing a human on her back? You have broken her." Darkness slithered into my ears, into my head. I sobbed as it invaded my mind and I could do nothing to stop it. The coldness burned me and I felt the gross invasion of ancient evil rifling through my memories.

Bashkar's blades cutting my skin.

Tiny Seren peeping at me. How I protected her, how she protected me. Years' worth of memories run through in mere seconds. My dream for Seren to be able to fly amongst her own kind. Then, for other people to experience the incomparable joy of being able to fly with a dragon and share their mind.

Seren and I's grief at Beryl's death. Her fire lighting his funeral pyre.

The shadows paused.

"You love her. As much as a mere mortal could" It didn't wait for my answer.

It simply plucked it from my mind. "I felt your bond passing on a string of mine that I stretched far beyond the island and into the mainland. A connection forged by a magic I have never seen before. A human and dragon, flying together. A dragon who allows a human to sit upon her back. I have seen humans attempt to leash dragons, to tame them to allow them to fly, but a dragon cannot be tamed. They are not feral, they simply are. Any who have tried, have always died."

"Seren and I are different."

The darkness hummed and the cruel grip began to abate. "Yes. But you are still weak."

Though I was helpless, I could not bite my tongue. "You wound me."

The grip around my throat lessened. "Dragons are creatures of nature, of magic and of the natural world. There were once breeds across the mainland that honed in on fire or earth or air or water. If you are to be worthy of being a dragon's friend, or being her rider as you call it, you will have to become more. You must change."

"I have survived this far." Tear leaked out of the corners of my eyes. The shadows in my mind, little hissing snakes were a gross invasion. I felt violated, powerless. I had not even felt like this when Bashkar had sat me down to make art with my skin.

I was fighting, and yet, the darkness did not budge.

"I see all that you are, Lilia Merek. Every shadowed desire. Every past wish. The grief that weights heavy inside of your heart, the blood on your hands. I feel the blood in your veins, the air in your lungs. The phantom pain of wounds long healed. Just another body of blood, bones and brutality. All is inconsequential. Except for this..." The darkness flashed an image, in hues of blazing colour. The world from Seren's back, and in the skies around me, dragons baring Riders fanning out around me. "A dream that could keep dragons safe from loathsome hunters."

"Seren deserves to fly with other dragons."

"I have wished for dragons to be free for an age. I have lived through the years where we were hunted like common deer, hatchlings butchered and our scales layered on the armour of our killers. And though, vengeance has layered my mind, I knew that if I waited long enough, a better solution would turn up."

"Me?"

"A water born dragon and a human who love each other, who formed a bond that should never have existed, with a magic that only fate itself can fuse."

"You just threatened to kill me."

"If I wanted you dead, thief, I would shred your mind of all that it is."

"And just because you didn't kill me, I should just forgive you throwing me from the saddle, taking me from Seren...why?"

The darkness turned around me and in it, I caught the first glimpse of colour. Eyes, slitted and serpentine, in a burning jade flame. They stared down at me. "Because, even though I cannot form a bond of fate, I can aid you in other ways."

A breath washed over me.

"How?"

Next, underneath the eyes of burning jade, a great mouth of jagged teeth that were long than my body.

"I told you," The voice rolled through my ears, lingering like a fog inside my skull. "You need to change."

And like a puppet cut from the strings, I fell from the air and back into the dark water below.

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The freezing sea-water burned like fire.

The pain was immense and I screamed, choking in the sea-water. The grains of salt shredded at me. I kicked and struggle in the dark water, breaking the surface as it felt like my skin would sluice from my body. The shadowy darkness had vanished and the sky was a merle of dark clouds and navy .

Water held me down. Consumed me.

It was so cold.

I felt helpless. The darkness would gone, but seeing the light above was almost worse as the weight of my clothes dragged me down and the dark of the water began to close in around me.

I turned, eyes burning as I blinked.

In the water, sinking fast, I saw Seren.

Her wings trailed up, loose and uncontrolled. Sea water closed around her, muting the brilliant hue of her scales.

"Seren!"

I choked on sea water, reaching out to her in the dark.

Sea-salt burned my arm like fire. I couldn't help but scream and sea-water rushed down my throat. I choked and spasmed in the water, panic a wild-flame. I did not want to die like this, lost out at sea. I did not want a creature as beautiful as Seren to die like this.

That was my last wish before everything was lost to me.

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Water rushed through my thoughts.

Sea-salt burned in my veins and I knew I was alive the moment my consciousness returned as that pain consumed me. I was bundled in warm clothes and could hear the crackle of a fire. Low voices spoke around me.

Rain fell outside the caves, thundering across the stone. I felt the roll of millions of drops, like a hive along my skin. Water trickling through tiny cracks, spreading into the porous stone. Rain water trickling down dark hair, tickling the sharp point of a listening ear.

A wave washed through me and I reared, teeth gritting in pain.

Hands pushing at my shoulders.

"Lilia."

I struggled against the hands holding me down before a low growl rolled through the cave, bouncing off of the walls. My eyelids snapped open and I lurched into a sitting position, my chest heaving.

I was warm and yet... the cold burn of the sea lingered on my skin.

At the mouth of the cave, Seren stood watch. Great eyes glimmered as she stared into the cave. There were no words shared – just a mutual feeling of confusion. Great power had held us, had threatened me and now I felt...different.

Changed. Somehow.

"Lilia..." Luca was at my side, cautiously reaching for my arm. "How do you feel?"

Grey stoked the fire. The Sage was stirring a pot of something that smelled horrendous. Definitely his attempt to recreate one of Beryl's cures. The Lycan watched me, his eyes glimmering in the shadows of the caves and the firelight casting a glow against the harsh planes of his face.

"I feel...fine." Bruised. Achy.

"Seren brought you back and you were shivering and mumbling nonsense, sister." Ash pressed a cup of warm tea into my hands. "We were worried."

"Hmm." My lips twisted. I felt exhausted – as if I had climbed to the very peak of a mountain and back down at least thrice. "I must have looked bad to warrant your worry, brother."

"You were asleep for two days, Lilia." The Sage cast me a sharp look. "Seren spoke nothing of what happened."

"Is that true Seren?"

The dragon blinked, extending her slender neck up to examine the sky. "The storm is clearing."

"Seren..."

She peeked back into the cave, managing to make her serpentine face look contrite. "I was worried for you."

"...Seren..."

She snorted. "I didn't want to explain the image of a wall of black shadow. Or that it tore me from the skies. I especially don't want the Lycan to know that."

I bit back a laugh. "I will leave that out."

I returned my attention to the cave and the waiting ears. Because I was tired, I sat again on the bedroll and sipped at the tea that Ash had handed me. The warm liquid scratched at my salt burned throat. "We were flying over the sea and something attacked us."

"A creature from the water?" Aden asked. "We had problems with a Coinchenn years before, but those creatures rarely stir near land cities."

"No." A strange panic choked my throat at the memory. The wall of darkness, so vast and consuming. "A creature in the dark. Cold and powerful. It toyed with u – with me like I was some kind of child's doll."

"Did you see the creature?" Ailbrich was sitting now, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Eyes only. The creature eclipsed the light around me. It felt like ... being in the gullet of a beast. I was powerless and I knew it."

Warm, rough hands closed over mine. The Lycan had approached so silently while my mind's eye was caught in the image of darkness. Wild eyes, tumultuous like the sea, held mine.

Helpless. I was sick of it.

"But you are here now." He said softly.

"I imagine you could have better use of your hands, Lycan." Ash commented lightly. "I think Blue can hold her own drink."

The Lycan's jaw tensed, but he sat back.

Changed.

I said nothing more of the confusion that rolled inside of me, unable to voice the discontent inside of me. I felt different, but I couldn't put a name on it. I was different somehow and I couldn't explain it.

I was drawn back to the mouth of the cave, adamant that I would take watch. The Lycan would not sleep, obvious ruffled but he was silent and I soon forgot he was there. I stood beside Seren, staring out into the night and the passing storm. We would have to leave tomorrow. We had spent too long here in this cave, pinned down by the storm and my sudden turn. 

"I feel different."

"I know, Lilia." Seren stared out with me.

The rain, falling like soft mist now, was a symphony of water. I could sense it like another sense, my skin itchy and my mind tired. Changed.

I held out a hand to the rain and the drops fell onto my skin. As I stared, they began to move, trickling in towards the tattoo marked onto my palm. Rain droplets ran down my clothes, up from my trousers and collected in a gentle, swaying mass on the tattoo. The shape of a dragon's curling tail, marked in rain drops.

"Changed. It said I must change." I breathed. "Does that mean magic?"

"A dragon is magic. Perhaps now, as my rider, you are too."

I touched the bubble of water and it burst, trickling off my hands and onto the ground.

"Perhaps with practice?"

Seren nudged my shoulder. "Perhaps. Now sleep. I will keep watch. And your Lycan will not sleep tonight. I can smell the worry in his blood."

"You won't eat him?"

"I imagine he tastes rotten."

"Fine." I pressed a hand to her side. "We will talk in the morning."

I curled into my bedroll and the Lycan went to join Seren at the mouth of the cave. I waited, straining to hear any conversation between them but darkness soon leached into the corners of my mind.

And in that darkness, serpentine eyes of flaming jade watched

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Welcome back to Lilia's world! 

Tell me your thoughts, theories and conspiracies. 

What do you think attacked Seren and Lilia? 

Why do you think it released them?

What awaits Seren and Lilia now?

Until next time - Saoimarie.