"...CRYOFANGS!?"

She whipped her head around at the sound of her name, and she not only saw the dead white orbs of her killer staring at her, she felt them pierce her soul as it tackled her to the floor.

Cryo felt her head spin as she made contact with the floor, cold black talons wrapping around her throat and gripping tightly, she gasped and tried desperately to get rid of the claws around her windpipe.

Spots were soon in her vision as Cryo fruitlessly gasped for oxygen; she remembered her dream, of when she used her tail spikes to kill one of these things, but her body felt tingly and heavy, and her tail she couldn't move as it was pinned to the floor.

Her chest began to hurt, her heart was slowing and her lungs screamed for air, she heard the gentle winds outside begin to scream, everything seemed so far away...

If I die, Nimbus will lose me, Eis will be alone again...

Don't worry, mother and father... I'll be there soon... She heard herself think, her eyes were about to flutter closed for the last time...

"CryoFangs..." She heard a voice speak inside her brain, "you must fight this... du bist das Licht!"

What...? She wondered blankly, distantly confused.

"I give you my Light, Eingeheiligt, defeat the darkness..."

She felt a surge of life pulse through her, her body began to tremble as the area around her heart began to burn and glow...

Everything from her past flew by her eyes in a dizzying haze, and as it all turned to black, she felt what she believed to be a flower of hope blooming in that hole in her heart; everything was aglow in white light...

"Ich bin das Licht!" Cryo exclaimed suddenly, the words flowing off her tongue like water, "ICH BIN DAS LICHT!"

Her body was on fire as the glow erupted all over her scales, which now had a wondrous iridescent sheen to them, a roar escaped her as her new-found power grew in strength.

CryoFangs was a beacon in the blackness as her Light burned away the being on top of her, it's screams tearing through her ears as it disintegrated, the library around her seemed to flicker as the thing died off.

Dead silence echoed through the room, Cryo felt the burn throughout her body die down as the Light receded back to the area over her thundering heart. She was sweating profusely, which was something that hardly ever happened to a HallowFrost, I guess it was... a bit too much... she thought with a weak laugh, laying her head back as she tried to relax.

She vaguely realized that the library was lit with moonlight pouring in from multiple skylights above her head.

"CryoFangs! Are you alright?" Eis cried, crouching down beside her as he caught her eye, her talons were trembling as he took one in his own, examining her closely. His crystal-white scales shimmered like lapis and starlight as he watched her. She gasped for air hungrily, wincing and lurching away as he gingerly brushed the bruises on her neck, which had become an ugly blackish-blue.

She was grateful he didn't ask again; rather be gave her some time to regain her wits and refill her lungs, her breaths were wheezy, yet she was glad to be alive.

What happened?

"I'm alright, I believe..." she said, feeling her headache slightly recede as Eis helped her to her feet, his eyes glancing at her bruises, and then they travelled downward, now staring at her heart.

She followed his gaze, gasping lightly at the soft glow that throbbed in-sync with her pulsing heart, "whoa..." she said, feeling as Eis gently pressed his talon to the spot; she went to back away, but her vision tunneled and she felt a flurry of things fly into her.

First, it was all of Eis' emotions flying through him. She felt his concern and the happiness that she was okay, the wonder at the newfound oddity surrounding the glow around Cryo's heart.

Next was a sudden onslaught of different thoughts pummeling hers, "is she alright? Why does my head feel so... light?" She heard him ask himself, her eyes widened.

And as the thoughts and emotions only grew louder and stronger, she pushed him away, her head pounding and her vision slightly blurred.

"What the heck just happened?" She asked to no one in particular, Eis blinked slowly and gave her a slightly baffled expression. "I felt your emotions, a-and I heard your thoughts... when you put your talon on my chest."

He furrowed his brow, "hmm... I wonder why? Maybe it's related to what I told you earlier? About me merging your consciousness with mine?"

She shrugged, "I have no idea... I just want to go to sleep..." CryoFangs heaved a huge yawn, rubbing her eyes as she thought over all that just conspired.

First: Eis pops up in my dreams after I'm attacked– I find him and he says that he ended up there by some weird power. He has a dream where I'm attacked, and as I'm about to die in the dark, I suddenly gain a crazy power that gets rid of the thing suffocating me...

What is going on here? Am I just exhausted and still asleep at home?

Cryo bit down on her tongue and inhaled sharply at the pain. Nope– she was most certainly awake!

"Well, we can come back here tomorrow... uhm, are you okay if I fly you back to your place? If you tell me where you came from, I can take you back."

She shook her head , "no, by the time we get back there, it'd be dawn... I'll stay here, I guess. Is there a spare bedroom in the Palace?" 

He nodded, "yes, actually, my parents had a room where the Royal Advisers used to sleep, and then there's their room, the rooms down in the dungeons, then mine... take your pick."

She sighed lightly, "the Royal Advisers room, please..."

He nodded quickly, beckoning her to follow him.

She sleepily followed him out of the library door, but not before her tired eyes landed on an arresting crystal pedestal in the middle of the library, a pristine silver sword lay upon it, the ocean-blue sapphires in the hilt shimmering oddly in the moonlight. The scabbard for the blade was sitting beside it.

As they left, Eis explained lightly, "you're actually going to be in the room right across from the library, the Advisers stayed in there so that, in case the Royals asked about something the Adviser didn't know too much about, that Dragon could come here and study. It was both quick and somewhat efficient!"

"Cool..." she yawned, he tsk-tsked jokingly, "come on, show a bit more 'awe' for my Palace, Snowflake!"

She huffed at his nickname for her, "I'm not a snowflake, Eis!"

"Whatever you say..." he chuckled quietly as his eyes twinkled playfully, she growled lowly with a tired annoyance and watched as he briskly opened the door, she stepped through the door and gazed around.

It was quite dark, but from what she could see from the light coming through the single window, there were, at most, four different beds, two on each side of the room.

There appeared to be another room that branched off from this one, but she didn't care too much about that right now. CryoFangs hastily started towards the first bed closest to her on the right side of the room, slipping into the chilled bowl and resting her head on the small stack of soft blankets piled behind her.

Eis came over to her, looking down upon her and giving a small smile, "I'll be sleeping in my room upstairs, if I wake up before you tomorrow morning, then I'll come wake you. Ok?"

"Fine... but first, before you go–"

She put her talons together and prayed: "please, ruler of the Heavens, hear me tonight. Please watch over me, Nimbus, and Eis and allow us some form of relief from all that has happened tonight. I hope you keep a watchful eye over us, and protect us from those... things."

Cryo saw the faint golden aura wrap around Eis, and he nodded in her direction, "thank you Cryo, goodnight." He said simply.

"Goodnight, Eis."

He swept off silently, shutting the door behind him and leaving CryoFangs in the dark.

She sighed heavily, gazing sleepily up at the dark ceiling, her eyelids dropping like rocks as she yawned.

Soon, she had fallen into the gentle grasp of a thankfully dreamless sleep, darkness sweeping her away.

She awoke to the feeling of someone poking her, and as she opened her eyes, CryoFangs quickly squeezed them shut as the sunlight pierced them.

"Morning, Cryo," she heard a male's voice say, her brain groggily remembering who the voice belonged to.

"Hey Eis..." she yawned, sitting up and slowly opening her eyes, finding the prince happily staring down at her, she hastily climbed out of bed and looked up at him.

"So... what now? Should we head to the library again and see what we can find?" She wondered, he shook his head.

"Not right off the bat, no. You should find something to eat, give yourself some time before we do that. Ok?" He advised, it was most likely a good idea, and she hadn't even realized just how hungry she was.

CryoFangs agreed with him, and as she headed for the outside world, Eis followed her. "You're going to hunt or fish, yeah?" She nodded. " May I... join you?"

He seemed eager to follow her, and having him as her companion was seemingly a bit better than having Nimbus chained to her tail. "Of course," she said.

They had spent an hour at the Bitterkill River, talking mostly about whatever came to mind as they caught Snow Minnows and Sleet Salmon from the River, eating most of their catch right as soon as they caught it.

CryoFangs was, surprisingly, happier than she'd been in a while, I guess that's to be expected when you've found another dragon of your kind after years of wondering, you've gotten away from the mundane, and you're actually having a good laugh when you're feeling hollow.

Prince Eis had made a few excellent puns whilst they were at the River, all of which had the dragoness howling with laughter, and once she was laughing, the prince couldn't help but laugh with her.

As soon as Cryo heard the prince's laugh, she knew it was a sound she wished to hear a thousand times again, music to her ears, if you will.

And with her belly full of fish, she was in quite a good mood as they left the river behind them. "Someone's feeling good, huh?" Eis commented with a smile, gliding up beside her.

"Why wouldn't I be? You're hilarious!" She beamed, he shrugged, "you really think so? I just came up with those on the spot, honestly. You have a wonderful laugh, and that smile is a sight I like to see on your face, it makes me happy that you're happy."

She blushed and looked away, feeling an odd feeling burst inside her belly. Joy? Nervousness? I'm not sure how to respond to him... she realized, looking to meet the prince's curious gaze again.

"I'm flattered, thank you." She said on-the-spot with a smile, he nodded quickly, "you're welcome."

As they flew in a temporary silence, she couldn't help but think to herself: he isn't at all like I thought he would be. The princes, princesses, and Royals I've read about have either been snooty, demanding, and rich, or snooty, demanding, rich, and stupid.

Instead, he's actually got a heart and a genuine smile on his face, he doesn't have a world revolving around power and riches, he cares about me and treats me like his equal...

Then again, he's been on his own for years, his parents' influences have probably been discarded and he is his own dragon now.

I wonder if he'd tell me what happened to them...

They were soon back within the protected walls of the HallowFrost Palace, the two making their way back to the library, and as they approached the closed door, Eis glanced at her.

"Are you ok?" He asked, she nodded. "Good, just checking."

The door opened slowly, she watched him peek his head in and look around warily, "I don't have the sour taste in the back of my throat, and it's not pitch black in here. It's ok to go in." He spoke confidently, striding into the room with CryoFangs behind him.

Upon entering the grand room, she felt her eyes flick towards the silver blade on the crystal pedestal. Some force unknown was tugging her towards the sword, as if it were an unsung melody that only she had the joy of hearing.

Prince Eis seemed to notice what she was looking at, he quietly approached her, "quite a nice blade, huh?" Said he, flicking a claw at the sword, his eyes gazing particularly at the oddly shimmering sapphires in the hilt.

She was quiet as she drew closer, noticing a small bronze plaque fused to the crystal pedestal, and as she gazed at it, she blinked to make sure she was reading it right:

"Here layeth upon this pedestal of memory: Shiverthorn's Smite."