As the doors opened I looked past the two towering princes into the throne room. The room was ginormous with golden walls expertly crafted. The floor looked to be made out of some polished stone, of what variety I couldn't tell you, but it glistened in the soft natural light that was coming from the elegantly carved windows. Along the walls, people in beautiful clothing stood as if they were in the middle of a meeting. Guards lined what I assumed was the walkway that led down to an elevated golden throne that sat on top of an altar where an old man sat in ceremonial armor.

The soft hum of talking came to an abrupt halt when everyone in the room heard the doors open, all of them looking towards our small little group.

"My sons." The man on the throne, who had to be Odin, greeted us. His voice was regal and carried across the room like distant thunder. "I see you have returned from your hunt."

The two princes in front of me nodded, and then they both simultaneously began to walk forward into the throne room, giving me no choice but to follow. We walked between the two rows of armed guards that stood as still as statues, all of their eyes trained on my every move.

My heart hammered in my chest, pounding against my rib cage. Blood roared through my ears, and I had to fight my tunnel vision. 'Come on.' I told myself, forcing my eyes to glance around the room, looking for exits, or weaknesses in the room. 'Think, look. You need a backup plan. Remain calm, don't get overwhelmed and look!'

But the more I looked the more I felt overwhelmed. Even though I worked under the king of Dakarus as a Dragon Rider I never really spent time in the castle. Instead, I spent the majority of my time outside in the wilderness, or the stables. If I was spending my time inside it would be because I was in class or in the dorm rooms where most of the young adult Dragon Riders lived. I didn't know the first thing about castles, or how to navigate them. The only way out I knew of was the way we came. Which was heavily guarded by armed guards who were all probably trained to fight since birth. I stood no chance.

I followed the princes down the room to the base of the throne, where they knelt and bowed to their father. I copied them, taking one knee and bowing my head to the floor. 'Act weak.' I told myself. 'You are a nobody, show the king that.'

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw both Thor and Loki lift their heads, but remained still. I wasn't sure if I should lift my head yet or not, so I kept it down, trying to look meek and worthless. I could feel the piercing eye of Odin on me, probably trying to figure out why his sons brought back a small, strangely dressed, girl.

"Explain," Odin ordered at last, and the two princes next to me rose while I remained on my knees.

Thor began to explain their trip from the beginning. Talking about how they began to track down a creature that was not from Midgard. He talked about how the last night there he and his friends chased after the creature intent on catching it. But when they were getting close Loki had called for backup. "Loki had insisted that this girl," Thor said, gesturing to me on the ground, "was more important than the supposed dragon we were chasing."

When Thor said that I could hear low chuckles coming from the people that lined the walls. They were probably Odin's court, I realized, now that I had time to think about them.

Odin then tuned to Loki. "More important?" Odin asked the dark prince, and to my absolute horror, he didn't sound upset or offended that Loki would think of me as important. Instead, he sounded curious.

"Yes All-Father." Loki agreed. "I found this woman in our campsite with a dragon."

Again I could hear faint laughter coming from the court behind us as Loki spoke. "A girl with a dragon." I heard the soft voices of unbelieving laughter.

If Loki or Odin heard them they paid them no mind, but continued with their conversation. "What did this dragon look like?" Odin asked curiously. Unlike the members of his court, he seemed to be taking what Loki said seriously. I wasn't sure if Odin trusted the dark prince, the god of lies, or if he too could feel my magic.

"It was small," Loki told the All-Father. "Around the size of a medium-sized dog, with green scales and yellow eyes."

More laughter from the court, but it quickly died out when they noticed the All Father's intense expression. I could feel him peering down at me as though I had done the most offensive thing known to man. Though all I was doing was kneeling at the throne. "It wasn't big?" The All Father asked Loki. "Or fierce looking?"

"No," Loki confirmed. "It was not big, and the only thing fierce about it was its attitude. It did not look like a monstrous creature from the fairytales we have all grown accustomed to."

"Stand her up," Odin ordered, and not a second later two big guards surged forward, gripping my shoulders tightly, forcing me onto my feet.

Both princes looked at me, shocked taking a step back. "Father," Thor said, confusion in his voice. "What is the meaning of this?"

Odin didn't answer Thor, nor did he spare a glance at Loki. No. All his attention was on me, and I didn't want it. "Take off her cloak and show me her left forearm," Odin ordered.

The guards that held me by my shoulders quickly and roughly tore my cloak away, revealing my black armor. They then took ahold of my left, unbloodied arm, unbuckling the armor there and cutting away at the undershirt. Once my bare skin could be seen they held my forearm out for the king to see.

On the inside of my left forearm was the silhouette of a Night Fury dragon in mid-flight. It was positioned in a way to make it look like the dragon was flying up my arm.

After the day Eclipse chose me and I got this mark I never really paid much mind to it. After all, every dragon rider had a mark like this. Except theirs would be of their own dragon. It was the mark of a dragon rider. A mark a dragon had chosen you as theirs.

And Odin knew that. Crap.

I looked up at Odin, and the once calm and collected king was now angry. Fuming at the sight of me. In his eye shined a mixture of absolute hatred and fear. "Take that thing to the dungeons." Odin barked, surprising everyone in the throne room at his sudden change of demeanor. "NOW!" He yelled when no one moved fast enough for his liking. Making the guards snap into action.

The two who already had ahold of me pinned my wrist together out in front of me while two more came over and snapped on some heavy handcuffs. The moment those handcuffs touched my skin I could feel them subduing my power. Dimming the fire that burned inside me, locking it away, making my power no more dangerous than an ember that was dying out in a heavy storm.

Once I was bound the guards forcefully dragged me off.

*

I was dragged deeper and deeper into the palace. Going down halls and stairs until I was beyond confused as to where we were. The one thing I noticed is that the deeper we went the more guards there were. After what felt like forever we entered a portion of the castle that was heavily locked and guarded. There were rows and rows of cells going on as far as I could see. Each one was blinding white and shielded off with some kind of golden energy forcefield. I tried to get my bearings but the guards didn't give me time to. They pulled me down one of the hallways that looked just like the rest.

As I was pulled along I could see the type of prisoners they kept down here. Each one a different species and each one more intimidating than the last. Even the people who looked like people and not some alien race looked scary with their scars, missing teeth, and bulging muscles. As we passed I realized each prison cell held around five to six prisoners.

'Am I going to be thrown into a cell with other people too?' I wondered nervously.

The guards then stopped abruptly. One unlocked my handcuffs, taking them back. Then I was not so gently thrown into a cell. I stumbled up the few stairs that led into the cell, landing on my knees with a thud. The hard unforgiving ground was painful, and I was sure that if I didn't have my armor on my knees would have been bruised from the impact.

I scrambled to my feet just in time to see the golden forcefield, that acted as a wall, rose, trapping me inside.

The guards looked over me once more, making sure my cell was properly locked, then walked away. Going back to whatever it was they were meant to be doing. As they walked down the hall of cells prisoners lunged at them as they passed. Banging their fists on the forcefield walls, yelling things that I couldn't understand.

The guards paid them no mind and soon they were gone.

"Look-y what we got here." A crackly voice sounded next to me making me jump. I looked and standing about six feet away from me, on the other side of the golden shimmering wall, was an old withered woman. Her grey hair was greasy and knotted. Her nose was big and hooked and crooked, looking like it had been broken a few times and then healed wrong. Her mouth was formed into a twisted smile, showing off her missing teeth. And her eyes, her eyes were pitch black, like coals that were sunken into her skull. "A pretty young fawn has been thrown our way."

Sizing up the old woman in the cell next to me. I decided that she looked like trouble and I was grateful for the wall that separated us. I didn't want to talk to her. I didn't want to talk to anyone here. So I turned away from her, taking a few steps to the golden wall that led out to the hallway. I placed my hand on the forcefield feeling the energy there. It was a mixture of magic and science. Not unlike the inventions we had back in Dakarus. Magic could be finicky, and it took up a lot of one's power to keep up. But if you combined it with a power source, like some form of electricity, it became much more reliable. Clearly, Asgard had figured that out as well.

Putting my palm flat against the forcefield I focused, calling up my power. The flame inside me began to burn brighter, warming my core up from the inside out, starting at my heart. I willed the power down, through my arm, all the way to my hand. I held it there, trying to burn the magic force but to no avail.

"That won't work fawn." The old woman crackled next to me. Apparently, she decided to call me fawn. Like I was some kind of helpless deer. It irked me. "Don't you think we have all tried to use our powers to escape? You are wasting your energy."

I took my hand down, letting go of my power. Glaring at the old lady I grumbled. "And what would you have me do? Wait here for someone to free me? I need to get out."

"We all want to get out." Her Laugh chilled me to my bones. This woman was no good.

"You may want to get out but I need to." I snapped. "I have no choice." Odin knew what I was. I could tell from his eye. If I didn't get out, if they managed to track down Dakarus before I had a chance to warn the king first, it would be bad. Like the world ending bad.

The woman laughed even harder at that. "Well, when you find a way make sure to let me know fawn."

I gave the woman one last glare before turning away, trying once again to burn my cell to the ground.