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Death is a natural occurrence; it is part of the cycle of life. No matter how badly one wishes to live forever, time catches up to all of us. It is how we live. Our choices define our lives and give them meaning, not just for ourselves but also for those close to us. Our decisions give others a reason to remember and love us for who we were.

--Dragon Proverb

Chapter Ten

I was brought into a cavernous room, big enough to fit a small crowd of dragons with unfolded wings. Last night Xithris--who I'm still not very fond of--appeared in the doorway of the place I was healing. He said I was to meet with the elders. Cyndrithil didn't look very surprised by this, almost as if he was expecting it.

I recalled Xithris saying he would be "back for real answers." Well, now he's back.

Ymithia and Cyndrithil sat on their haunches on either side of me. The dragons, who I assumed were the elders, kept their distance, inspecting me as if I was a creature they had never seen before. Occasionally, their eyes flicked away for a moment as if lost in thought before settling back on me with eyes that seemed to pierce my very soul.

Xithris, on the other hand, seemed anxious, his body constantly tensing and relaxing as if he couldn't wait to leave.

Looking back, it was just yesterday I accepted Ymithia and Cyndrithil as my parents--that word still felt weird on my tongue. Now, I sat here in front of several dragons who seemed to judge me just by looks. It made me feel like an ant: tiny, helpless, and weak compared to them.

Xithris stood in front of the elders, his body tensing once more before speaking to me.

"A few days ago, I asked a series of questions. Back then, you were medically paralyzed and unable to answer, though your heart revealed answers that were enough for the time being."

Must you bring that up again? I swear you're only here to torture me like my blood relatives.

"We are gathered today to hear your true answers. Understand, that if you do not answer honestly, you will be banished."

As he talked, he strode forward so that by his last word, he was nearly touching my snout with his own, his deep eyes pools of obsidian.

It was either tell them the truth or be banished and left on my own again. I doubted I could survive for long without Arlya's help. And without Ymithia to oversee the healing of my wing, I knew I wouldn't fly again. Although it wasn't just my wing, my entire body ached with every step. It was a struggle just to get here. Cyndrithil offered to carry me, but I declined.

As I was lost in thought, I hardly noticed Ymithia trembling. But her eyes burned with the power of a thousand suns--her body quivering in what seemed to be fury, not fear. In stark contrast, her mate stood utterly still, expectant.

"I understand." I regretted those words the second they left my lips. But the regret was quickly overtaken with a compulsive desire to speak the truth about everything I'd ever done: my hopes, my dreams--everything I'd experienced over the past couple of months threatened to burst from within me. But I restrained with every ounce of my will, refusing to spill what I wasn't ready to face here in front of my parents.

Xithris began. "What dark magic spell did you use, and why?"

The weight over my mind increased. It took everything in me not to shout the truth, my jaw muscles rattling against the restraint.

Ymithia looked down, her eyes expressing her will to console me, but she didn't.

"I used... an... enslavement spell," I bit out, taking time to concentrate on every word lest I spill something I didn't want to.

"Who did you use it on?" he asked.

The pressure increased. My shoulders and legs burned with exertion.

"A harpy..named Arlya."

"Why did you use it?"

The weight of his words pressed me against the floor. I clenched my jaw against the pressure.

"I didn't trust her... it was... an opportunity I took."

Cyndrithil's calm broke. A fury emanated from his body in ever-strengthening waves, he didn't look down at me, instead focusing solely on the elders. My head dipped low to the ground, gripped by shame. The scales of my belly brushed against the damp stone with every breath.

"Where did you learn dark magic?" his cold voice reached my dull ears.

"I found a book...in a dark cave full of spells." I lied. The book wasn't full of spells. It only housed a single enchantment. But that lie nearly tore me apart. My ears popped, and I thought my head would finally split open. I crashed into the ground in an invisible battle of will.

"Where is this book?" He cast a cool gaze downward like I was beneath him. Maybe I was.

"I don't know," I ground out. The strength it took just to say those simple words made me feel weaker than I had ever been, like a newborn hatchling. Even when Arlya first found me, I hadn't felt so helpless.

Through half-closed eyes, I saw the elders, watching me as if I was none of their concern, but on the far-left side, an elder stood with a devilish grin set on his snout, his eyes dark like storm clouds. A blink and it was gone.

"Had I imagined it?"

"Lastly," he leaned down his eyes, a pair of inky depths. "What is your relationship to the dragon trying to kill you?"

A tidal wave of memories washed over me. Torture, pain, hatred.

Fire surged through my body, and the pressure in my head seemed to respond to my anger. When the stress relieved, strength returned to my limbs. I locked eyes with Xithris, hoping he could feel the hatred burning in my own. I clenched my jaw, focusing on the pain it brought rather than the desire to spill my guts.

I refused to say anything in front of Ymithia and Cyndrithil. Perhaps it was because I didn't trust them--trust them not to look at me with disgust, to abandon me after hearing the truth. After all, my parents took one look at my egg and decided to kill me, so why wouldn't my new parents abandon me after discovering the truth? Or perhaps it could have been that I didn't want them to look at me with pity. I'd seen enough of that look from Arlya in the early days when she took care of me.

I would rather die than tell the truth in front of them!

Claws clicking on stone echoed through the large cavern, rattling the stalactites and stalagmites.

"Sorry to disturb your...whatever it is you are doing," a familiar female voice said.

Is that Furest?

"It would seem I need Ymithia and Cyndrithil's help with something." The dragon pointed her chin. "You two, come with me."

They didn't budge. A silent protest.

"Ymerc is in good hands. However, I have someone whose life is in danger, and I need some help taking care of them," she said, her voice giving no room for argument.

"Go, we need to wrap this up, and Furest needs your help. We will send Ymerc back with Xithris when everything is done," an elder said.

A moment of hesitation came before Ymithia and Cyndrithil got up and walked out with Furest leading the way.

Their anger left with them. I was left alone without support.

Once they were out of earshot, Xithris resumed his inquisition.

"What is your relation to the dragon trying to kill you?

"He is my father!" I roared.

The elders gasped in horror, though I didn't get to see their looks of horror. My eyes were clenched shut. I hated myself for telling them anything. Anger and shame rushed through my body, making me feel strong and helpless at the same time.

At once, as if I were being rewarded, the splitting pain in my head subsided, but with it came a fresh bout of shame. I was no longer struggling against an invisible force. Instead, I lie slumped on the floor in a pile of scales.

I had given them exactly what they wanted.

Whispers proceeded a wondrous, weightless rush before I came crashing back down into pitch darkness.

As we walked through the tunnels, I could feel their anger radiating off every individual scale. I lied when I said I needed their help. But after reading Ymerc's thoughts, I knew I had to do something quickly, so I intervened.

One of the elders had the power of truth, coercing one to spill the truth over everything. Still, it couldn't be done without acceptance, which Ymerc affirmed before the questioning started. But that power can kill a dragon if its mental strength is too great.

Why I was intervening so much for a tiny hatchling was unknown to me. Why I took the time to listen in on the conversation was beyond me. It was just something I felt had to be done.

I started to panic as I grasped for anything I could have them do. Cyndrithil didn't know anything about healing, but he did know his way around the mountain. Ymithia, though, knew just as much as me, so trying to find something they both could help me with was a challenge.

I was saved when we saw a dragon collapsed in the hallway, her scales a dark forest green. A few weeks ago, she had been significantly injured in a fight. The dark magic had seeped into her, causing all sorts of ailments. I thought she was getting better, but looking at her now, I was wrong.

"Ymithia, help me lift her. Cyndrithil, you're gonna carry her to her room. It's right next to Ymerc's!" I surveyed her scales as we took our positions.

"1...2...3!"

We heaved her upward while Cyndrithil dove under her, taking her weight as we gently let her go.

"Ymithia, stay with Cyndrithil. Make sure she doesn't fall off his back. I'm going ahead to prepare."

I gathered multiple herbs and poultices. Most of them would help ease the injured dragon's pain and buy us time to figure out why she regressed. I hoped it wasn't another case like Xithris. Unfortunately, my research, still in progress, had yet to yield results.

They were already there when I arrived. Ymithia was helping a convulsing Cythra off Cyndrithils back, his wing forming a makeshift ramp for Cythra to slide down. Ymithia moved her as slowly as possible so she could pin Cythra down and keep her from harming herself, which is precisely what I would have done.

"Ymithia, grab your mate and pin her down as much as possible. Turn her over on her side so she doesn't choke." I relayed my orders while I prepared herbs for her seizure, which would put her to sleep.

Cythra was still by the time I had finished, her heartbeat slowing to a faint thumping sound in my ears--far too quiet, even for her condition. There was something else here I hadn't caught before.

"Ymithia, full physical evaluation, stat. Cyndrithil, there is a room down the hall from here. Grab the purple flower," he didn't miss a beat before sprinting off.

The purple flower called Cafenia, when digested, acts as an accelerant. It speeds up the blood and heart rate. It was in grave danger of stopping at the rate it was going, and I refused to lose another dragon.

I reached out with thin tendrils of mana, circulating them through her veins, looking for anything magical that could be causing this. I didn't get very far before I was shoved out, a mental attack that had me nearly down on my stomach in pain. Just like Xithris.

Ymithia was in the middle of looking her over for any physical abnormalities when I stopped her.

"Ymithia, go grab Ymerc, now."

"What if he is still--"

"I don't care. The elders don't have that kind of power to stop you or anyone for that matter, now GO!"

She flinched before rushing off. I felt bad about yelling at her. However, if this was precisely like Xithris, she had less than an hour before she died, and right now, Ymerc was the only one who could save her. I just hoped whatever came over him before would do so again.

Cyndrithil came running in, a few Cafenia flowers grasped between his jaws. He spat them out on the floor. I totally understood. They tasted bitter beyond belief, like grapefruit.

The flower might buy her time, though I don't know how much, if any at all.

I recalled how nothing worked on Xithris, perhaps this time might be different, but I had to try something. I couldn't just sit here waiting for Ymithia to get back.

Last time with Xithris, I shoved all kinds of herbs down his throat. I didn't bother trying a more direct but dangerous approach.

"Ymithia, here's a learning opportunity. I'm gonna teach you some new magic. Pay attention."

I placed the herbs on Cythra's chest, directly above her heart. I was going to have her body absorb the flower straight into her bloodstream.

Coolness rushed through my body like a refreshing stream through my veins. I focused that feeling in my paw, then infused the herbs with the mana. The sensation of energy left my body and moved into the herbs. I applied slight pressure, and the flower soaked into her scales, directly into her blood right above her heart.

The power of the herb took effect almost instantaneously, her heartbeat growing in strength, but only slightly--far less than it should have considering the strength of Cafenia.

Quick clicks on the stone echoed down the hallway. Cyndrithil appeared, his breathing slightly elevated, Ymerc asleep on his back, curled up and looking like a sleeping puppy.

I wasn't sure what I expected when Ymerc arrived. Perhaps him glowing and saving Cythra like he did with Xithris. But he lay there. Motionless.

I lifted Ymerc's paw, practically begging him to do something, but there wasn't any guarantee he would know what to do. The only other difference was...last time it was night. Outside, the sun had just reached its peak. Cythra didn't have that long to wait, an hour at most.

"Ymithia, grab two others and tell them to do everything they can to keep her from dying. I will..."

She bolted off when I didn't finish. I knew what I had to do, but it was perilous. The question was, is my determination to save her stronger than my fear of death?

I focused instead on Cythra, her green scales starting to turn an ashen gray like Xithris's had. I ignored the new presence near the entrance, disappearing shortly afterwards.

I planned to tie her heart to mine. Unlike dark magic, this wouldn't result in death; however, it was technically still forbidden because of the danger.

In theory, her slow heart rate would be matched to my regular heartbeat using magic. The only problem was that if the thing causing her condition was magic, it could be transferred to me through that link, killing us both. And whatever was causing this was dark magic in nature. I was sure of that.

"Cyndrithil, tell Ymithia she is to take over while I'm incapacitated. If she thinks she isn't ready, tell her..."--I took a moment to think about the right words before I responded--"I believe in her." He nodded in understanding, but his eyes seemed distracted as if he was lost in thought.

The other healers would have to work around me. I had to be as close to her heart as possible for this to work.

With my paw now over her heart, I collected all my mana, setting some aside for later when I knew I would need it. Then, like before, I reached out with a thin wisp of mana, letting it connect to her heart before merging it with mine. Instantly I felt weak, my paw nearly dropping from her chest as my strength equalized hers before returning to normal. The magic killing her seemed to fight back for a moment before leaving us alone, which made me nearly lose the link.

***

Hours had passed, and my mana was nearly depleted. I had used up my reserve over an hour ago. I kept myself in the dark, shutting my eyes to relieve the strain on my body.

I heard Cyndrithil's and Ymithia's heartbeat, focusing on them for a mere moment lest I lose concentration. Cyndrithil assisted in whatever way he could, collecting different ingredients or lending her a helping paw. Though, most of the time, he kept an eye on Ymerc. Ymithia, I could tell by the beating of her heart, was starting to grow frantic. Running out of options would be my guess as to why.

Through a half-closed eye, I looked out the window. The sun was nearing the horizon. Only a little longer before night, and hopefully, Ymerc would save Cythra.

But after all this time, he hadn't woken up. I was sure the commotion of the healers would do so, but he was still sound asleep.

Long shadows were cast over the land as the sun touched the horizon. At last, the animals of the world returned to their dens and would soon welcome sleep. Ymithia moved about hastily, exhausting every option. Nothing she had done had any effect on the green dragon. She had dismissed the other healers hours ago. They looked raw and tired, and she didn't need them any longer.

She was surprised to hear Furest had put her in charge when she arrived hours ago. She didn't feel ready, but she took it head-on, testing her knowledge of everything she had learned. She hoped Furest was right and Ymerc would save the green dragon lying prone on the ground like he did with Xithris, but as the sky darkened, her hope was starting to run out. She knew Furest wouldn't last much longer.

Xithris stopped by a while ago, asking questions like "What's going on?" that she didn't have time to answer. Thankfully, Cyndrithil was here to do the talking for her. He had a better grasp of the situation than she thought. He must have been paying attention all these years, which only made her love him more.

Finally, as she tried her last option--an herb that stimulates the lungs--the sun sank below the horizon, casting darkness over the land. In the sun's absence, potted flowers hung along the walls offered their gentle, yellow light. Ymithia had the healers bring them here when they first arrived. The flowers emitted plenty of light and often came in handy when operations ran into the night. They used the same flowers when they operated on Ymerc in what felt like ages ago.

Furest broke the tie tethering her and the green dragon together, her body trembling from overuse of mana and an array of adverse symptoms. She needed rest now more than anything.

Her gaze drifted over to Ymerc, hope blazing like a wildfire in her eyes, willing him to wake up and save the green dragon. Her scales were no longer a dark, leafy green but that of volcanic ash, a mix of black and gray.

But her son did not stir from his slumber. Even Cyndrithil still maintained an expectant gaze. Still, he did not move. Furest tilted her snout, tears slowly sliding down her facial scales in thin rivulets. Ymithia could tell that the green dragon had mere moments to live. If Ymerc was going to do something, it had to be now.

"Please, save Cythra," Furest whispered. "I can't watch another dragon die before me."

Ymithia was no stranger to death. She had seen plenty of dragons die, their wounds far too grievous to heal in time. But she couldn't help but feel sad for a dragon she had only heard the name of moments ago, her heart crying out, her teeth clenching, begging for something to be done that would save Cythra. Cyndrithil looked to be in the same boat, his eyes starting to tear at the loss of one of his kind, even if they hadn't ever met.

Furest snapped her head up, drawing Ymithia's gaze away from Cythra, her tear-filled gaze resting on a now standing hatchling, Hope blazing in her eyes, bright and hot like dragon fire.

Ymerc's eyes closed, he strode forward, a small light emanating from his scales. This time, it was weaker than before, like the slight glow of phosphorescent algae. Placing a paw on Cythra, the light flowed through his foot and into her, healing the dark magic that took refuge in her heart. Her scales slowly returned to her usual dark green, unlike with Xithris, where it was instant.

Afterward, Ymerc pointed his snout towards Furest. A moment passed before Furest nodded her head as if a silent conversation had taken place, one Ymithia couldn't hear.

Cythra's heart nearly stopped when Ymerc moved, drawing my gaze away from the dying dragon. Just like with Xithris, he had saved her. But I wasn't expecting a voice to enter my mind.

"I heard your cry. Don't ask of me again for a long while," it said, its voice neither masculine nor feminine, but a mix of both. I nodded my head in understanding.

Ymerc returned quietly to his original position. His claws, which generally would have made noise, were silent as a corpse.

With my body relaxing, exhaustion took over, my mana completely drained for days to come. Severe fatigue was just one of the signs of overuse of mana. However, I didn't count on complete weakness in my limbs and wings. My wings fell to the ground, splayed open. Trying to get up, I found my legs wouldn't respond.

Looks like I'm staying here for a while.

"Ymithia, grab someone to look after Cythra for the night. I would, but I've lost all strength."

I barely heard her say, "Very well," before exhaustion claimed my body. I would likely be out for days, but I had no regrets.

I saved a life, and it was worth it.