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Eltairen stirs beside me, pulling me from sleep. I sit up with a yawn as she stretches and nuzzles my neck. “Mornin’,” I greet, smiling. She suddenly stops mid-stretch, her ears twitching. The room gets cold, very cold. I silently long for my previous form’s thick fur as I watch my breath turn to mist. Something starts pouring from the ceiling onto the bed near my feetpaws. The gathering liquid is jet black and glossy like ink. It starts to form a shape with distinct canine features. Two amethyst orbs appear where its eyes should be and it looks at me.

Pure magick gathers in the room, making my fur stand slightly on end. It’s a familiar feeling, because the same raw energy courses through my veins. I stop shivering as my blood heats, ready for spellcasting, but hold the spell when I realize that Tokala isn’t even growling. The shadow creature simply tilts its head curiously. Its mouth opens, and it starts speaking. “Blood and Magic, scarred and tragic. Fur and feather, alone but together. Seek the blight, aid the light, keep up the fight.”

The language is strange and ancient, but somehow, both Eltairen and I understand. The creature lowers its head respectfully and dissipates into black mist that vanishes. The room slowly warms again. “What the Hell was that?” Eltairen asks. I take a deep breath. “That,” I begin, “was the ShadowFey.”

We climb out of bed and prepare for the day ahead. “We’ll use today to prepare and plan. Maybe go shopping,” I say, pulling on my cloak and helping Eltairen with her armor. “The first stop will be the blacksmith. You’re gonna need some better armor, and a sword.” She nods as I finish tightening the straps of her chestplate. Dressed and packed, we leave the inn and head for the northern sector of the city. I lead the way, having been in Holme many times before. I stop in front of a building with black stone walls. A sign hanging from a wooden post above the red door reads “Feline Forge”. I give a hearty, loud knock on the door. It opens to reveal a tall female panther with sleek black fur. “Welcome to the Feline Forge,” she greets in a gruff, raspy voice, “Come inside, lemme warm up the forge.” She steps aside, holding open the door for us. She gives Tokala a scratch between the ears as he follows me and Eltairen inside.

“Heya, Valkhael. What can I do for ya today?” the smith asks. Eltairen’s eyes widen. “You two know each other?” she asks.

“I’d know that direwolf anywhere. Oh, my name’s Meridith.”

“This is Eltairen,” I introduce. “She needs a new set of armor and a sword.”

“Ah,” says Meridith. She turns to Eltairen. “What kind of sword ya lookin’ for?”

Eltairen thinks for a moment. “Longsword, dual edge, crescent crossguard.”

“My my, ya know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout. Good, makes my job easier. I’ve got some blanks over there. Go try ‘em out, find the one that balances just right.”

Eltairen walks over to the stand and starts trying out swords.

I walk closer to Meridith. “As for the armor, full set, no helm. She needs a set that won’t sacrifice maneuverability for protection. Also, custom materials.” I reach into Tokala’s saddle bag and produce two satchels. “Be careful with the black one. It’s got a very special material to enhance it further.”

She takes the satchels and sets them on a bench beside her.

Eltairen walks back with a sword in her hands. “This one.” She gives it to Meridith.

“Alright,” Meridith states. “Stop by tomorrow to pick up your order. Now, leave me to work.”

I nod and lead Eltairen and Tokala out. “Now,” I start, “off to the market. I need some materials for spellcasting and supplies for the journey.” She nods and follows me to the southern sector of the city.

By the time we’re done shopping, the sun is setting. We head back to the inn to plan and rest. “Okay,” I say once we’re in the room, “time for details.” Eltairen sits on the foot of the bed. I pull up a chair and sit across from her. “A ShadowFey is a powerful creature. It’s likely being held in a prison gem. That’s what we’re after. Though I can’t pinpoint its location, I know that it’s somewhere inside a stronghold in the forest surrounding the Dragonspine mountains.”

“A Dragon Knight stronghold?”

“Yeah. That’s why we need to be fast and quiet. Get in, get the gem, get out. There’s no way that just the two of us can take on an entire stronghold. Also, I won’t be able to cast spells when I’m near the gem. Powerful prison objects interrupt the flow of magick.”

“So, when are we leaving?”

“First thing tomorrow morning. But we’re gonna camp out in the forest until nightfall. That’s when we’ll strike. But for now, let’s get some rest.”

I help Eltairen remove her armor before we climb into bed. She presses her back to my chest and I wrap my arms around her waist. We fall asleep cuddled up to each other.

...

As my body sleeps, I let my soul wander. I travel to a magical home where all my bonded familiars are housed. Creatures of all types roam the halls. I see Dyahl and wave to him. He flies over and tilts his head. “Hey, Dyahl,” I greet, scratching under his chin. “I need to find Kymae. Do you know where she is?” He nods and starts flying. I follow him to a room down the hall. Inside lies a canine-like creature with grey striped black fur. The SpellStalker yawns and stirs, opening her sapphire eyes and looking at me. “Kymae, I need you and your pack soon. Could you gather them?” I ask politely. Kymae nods and rises. She walks out of the room, brushing against me like a cat.

I spend the rest of the time wandering around the home, checking on several things I have held here. Soon enough, I feel my soul being pulled, my body waking up.

...

I wake up to Eltairen nuzzling my chest. I smile at her and stretch. “Mornin’,” I greet, kissing the top of her snout. She yawns and sits up as I slide out of bed. My blood heats and I start chanting. I use a finger to trace a door that goes from the floor to above my head. After I’m done, a shadowy door appears. I open it and step into one of my demiplanes. Inside are several stands with complete sets of armor. I walk up to a stand that holds a full set of armor underneath a black sorcerer’s robe armored with sections of violet dragon scales.

After donning the set, I walk out of my demiplane. The shadow door vanishes behind me. Eltairen looks at my robe curiously, the armor hidden beneath. “Gather your armor, let’s go,” I tell her. She nods and stands, putting her armor in a leather backpack. Once she’s done, we walk out of the inn and head for Meridith’s shop.

Meridith greets us out front, her black fur dulled with soot. “C’mon,” she waves, heading inside. We follow her. As I step through the doorway, Dyahl appears on my shoulder. I touch the top of his head then touch my temple. “Kymae and her pack are ready,” he says through the telepathic connection. “Good. Did you find the scroll?” I ask him. The pseudodragon nods and reveals the rolled parchment wrapped in his tail. He hands it to me, and I place it in Tokala’s saddlebag before walking up to Eltairen and Meridith as Dyahl disappears.

The panther is showing Eltairen a beautiful longsword with a pearl white blade and a silver hilt with a crescent moon crossguard. She sheaths the blade and hands it to Eltairen. Next, the blacksmith produces a set of crimson and silver armor. She helps Eltairen don it.

The armor consists of a chestplate, a backplate, leg harnesses made to fit her digitigrade legs, vambraces for her forearms, and spaulders for her shoulders. The main pieces are covered in large crimson scales organized so it resembles a dragon’s natural armor. “Mithril and dragon scales,” I say, smiling at her. “Lightweight, but very durable.” She smiles back at me. I nod gratefully to Meridith and thank her. Eltairen and I climb onto Tokala’s saddle and we head out of Holme through the north gate.

My blood heats as I start casting the teleport spell. A violet ring appears in front of us, swirling with energy. Tokala runs through it, and we slip through space. He steps out of the ring onto a planar circle carved into a stone platform deep inside the forest surrounding the Dragonspine mountains. Eltairen winces and grabs her stomach. She slides off of the saddle, walks a distance away, and doubles over. I shake off the nausea, used to it by now.

I slide off of Tokala’s saddle and look for a durable stick. It doesn’t take long to find one that suits my needs. Eltairen comes back over and watches curiously as I etch my Summoner’s Circle into the dirt. Once I’m finished with the Circle, it glows violet. I hold an open hand out towards the Circle and start speaking. “I call to the light for the hunters, I call to the Wylds for the pack. Seek and find, pack of Kymae.” The Circle glows brighter, and a golden mist starts to gather inside. The mist starts to form shapes, and solidifies into four feral canines the size of wolves with black and grey fur, one larger than the rest. The Circle dims and vanishes as Kymae the SpellStalker looks up at me for her orders. I reach out my hand, palm facing the ground, and she touches her snout to it. After a moment, she pulls away and nods. She gives a look to the other members of her pack before the four SpellStalkers race off into the forest.

Eltairen gives me an awed look. “Were those...SpellStalkers?” she asks. I nod. “Yes. I sent them to scout for the stronghold,” I explain. “Now, sit.” I point to a spot across from me as I sit cross-legged on the forest floor. She follows suit, sitting a few feet away. “So, what do you know about magick and its manipulation?” I ask her. She ponders for a moment before saying “I know that magick exists as a raw element in the environment, and some are able to manipulate it in certain ways.”

“That’s a start. Magic energy in its purest form, magick, flows through the natural world like water through a creekbed. Much like water, it is formless and endless, always in a cycle. However, unlike water, magick is omnidirectional. Whereas water flows from one point to another, following the land, magick is unpredictable. The raw element that is unmanipulated magic energy has a tendency to gather around locations, creatures, or objects as the element is manipulated. Does this make sense?”

“Not really.”

“Sorry. Here’s an example. When a spellcaster casts a spell, magick is manipulated into the power needed for a spell.” I hold out my hand, letting a violet flame form and dance in my open palm. “In this case, I manipulated raw magick to form the flame. That raw magick is transformed into the flame itself. Since the flame is formed by manipulating magick, more raw magick will gather around me and the flame. By manipulating this gathering magick, I can manipulate the flame.” The flame flares in my palm, forming a softball sized orb. “More powerful spells require more magick to be manipulated. The more magick that is manipulated for a spell, the more raw magick that gathers around it and the caster.”

“Why…”

“Because, you were able to SoulStep. Islunaine is a type of magic that relies on internal magick. Internal magick is more potent than magick pulled from the environment. I’m going to teach you how to manipulate magick without casting a single spell, and how to use that magick in other ways.”

She tilts her head curiously as the flame flickers and vanishes from my palm.

“Close your eyes and focus.”

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“Imagine the energy inside you being inside a well. This well holds all of the magick held inside you. To use this energy, draw from the well, pulling out some of the energy, but not all. Never exhaust this well.” I can feel her energy rise, and raw magick starts to gather around her, buzzing in the air like electricity. “Feel the raw magick gather around you, like electricity in the air during a storm. Move your magick with it, forming a wall of raw magick around your body. Focus on how solid it feels, strong and unyielding.” A green aura gathers around Eltairen, becoming more and more solid. “But let it stay raw, as well. Let it adapt.” My blood heats as I inhale deeply, the Dragonbreath spell burning like fire in my lungs. I let it out, Eltairen’s eyes opening in shock as a jet of flame bursts from my maw and races toward her.

She raises her hands and yelps, but the flames engulf the green aura around her. When the spell finishes, none of the flames had pierced the aura around her. “What the Hell?” she shouts at me. I simply smile at her. “That’s how you summon shields without actually casting. The shields are only effective against offensive magic. But they’re efficient and effective when used correctly. It requires very little energy to hold a shield over yourself, but you have to be able to focus on only holding up that shield, or it will collapse. There are of course spells for shields, but those require more energy. Now, notice that the aura is still around you.”

She looks around at the green energy surrounding her.

“That energy can be manipulated in other ways besides shields. It can be used to heal yourself or even make other’s magic more powerful. Now, focus on me. Push your energy towards me.”

The green energy around Eltairen starts pushing towards me, until it surrounds me.

“By doing this, you can do the same thing for others. You could shield me, heal me, or let your magic fuel mine. Letting yours fuel mine is dangerous, as it could consume a lot of energy, but it could also help when my magic starts to fail.”

“What do you mean by fail?”

“My blood is raw magick. When I cast, it heats up. The more power I use, the more my blood heats. When my blood gets too hot, the magick inside me becomes difficult to manipulate, requiring me to use a lot more energy to cast spells. If I use too much energy like this, my blood could burn through my veins and destroy my body. That’s what happened back at Kuma.”

She winces. “Sounds painful. Let’s not let that happen.”

I nod. “Agreed. Now, we wait for Kymae and her pack to return then we’ll plan our next move.”

...

The sun is beginning to set by the time Kymae and her pack returns. Her eyes meet mine and she shares what she discovered through the telepathic bond that familiars and their summoner have. I nod once she’s finished. I give her another set of tasks and she nods and shares the information with her pack before the four SpellStalkers dissipate into golden mist and vanish.

I take a deep breath. “Alright. So, the stronghold is under heavy guard, heavier than normal. There was a meeting that took place at noon between several Knights that were high up in the Order. One of the SpellStalkers was able to infiltrate the meeting and eavesdrop. I’ll tell you about that after the mission. For now, we need to focus on tonight. Since there are some higher up Knights present, stealth is even more important. We cannot alert them, for reasons I shall reveal afterwards. But now we have two objectives: The prison gem that holds the ShadowFey wolf, and a satchel which holds a few items that will be incredibly helpful when we move forward with our plans. The gem is being held in a room on one of the lower floors. This is both good and bad. It’s good because attention will be on the higher ups in the upper floors. It’s bad because there’s only one way in, one way out: a set of stairs in the center of the ground floor. But the satchel is in the upper floors, in the planning room. That is really good, because the upper planning room is only used when one of the leaders visits. Another thing is that this has to be as clean as possible, but also unnoticeable. I have a prison gem that we’re going to put in that one’s place, holding a rather nasty creature that will only ever listen to me. There’s a reason for that, too. The good thing about the satchel is that the Knights have absolutely no idea what’s inside it. So we take the items, put some things of no consequence in their place, and that’s done.

“So, we’re going in through the dragon stables, which are empty because the forest is too thick for dragons to fly in. We stay in the shadows, stay out of sight, and get what we need to and nothing more.”

She nods as the sun fully sets. We sit in silence, checking equipment and mentally preparing as we wait for the last rays of light to fade. When they do, we look at each other and nod. I pull the hood of my robe over my head and start running. Eltairen follows closely behind while Tokala remains behind to guard our camp.

I run through the forest, my bare feetpaws as silent as the wind on the soft forest floor. My canine eyes are hardly affected by the non-existent light of the moonless night as I deftly leap over fallen logs and dodge pits. We soon come upon the stronghold, the large stone brick building surrounded by the thick forest. The Dragonspine mountains and the Forest of Fangs can be a dangerous place at night, as the Dragon Knights are soon to discover. The thick trees will be our advantage, as watchmen won’t be able to spot us approaching from the left side.

We sneak up to a stone overhang with several stalls, the unused dragon stables. Or, what should be the unused dragon stables. A single dragon with cobalt blue scales and large sky blue wings lays in one of the covered stalls. I give a silent glance to Eltairen and gesture for her to look closer. The dragon wears no saddle or armor, and has not yet lost the wild look in its steel grey eyes. I reach my hand over the locked door to its stall, palm facing the ground. It sniffs my hand curiously then nuzzles it. The cobalt dragon stands and walks as close as it can to me. “My my, you are a beauty,” I whisper in its ear in draconic, “I could free you, and you could wander the world. Or, you could join me. Not as a simple steed, but as an ally, a companion. Either way, I know you don’t want to remain here. If you choose to join me, follow my friend.” Dyahl appears on my shoulder and looks at the dragon.

I touch the padlock on the door to its stall. It clicks open and falls to the floor with a muffled thump. Dyahl scrambles down my arm and perches on the door. I give a nod to the dragon before crouching down. I motion for Eltairen to follow me as I walk through the door into the side of the stronghold.

We cling to the stone wall like shadows, staying just outside of the flickering arcane lighting cast by the lanterns spread throughout the hall. The lanterns each hold a flickering golden orb. Eltairen follows me closely as I sidle up to a doorway and peek inside. Two Knights are on the other side, keeping watch over the back entrance. But they are far away and their backs are turned. Behind them is the central room, a staircase that ascends to the landing of the floor above us, and another that descends to the floor below us. The descending stairs are much closer to the two Knights, but their attention is thankfully turned to the entrance. I look up and

notice that there are four Knights on the landing of the floor above us.

I hold up two fingers and face my palm away from me. Because of her training as a Knight of the old Order, Eltairen understands this. Then I point up, two fingers on each hand, palms facing each other. I crouch down and walk into the central room. I look to Eltairen and point up. Her eyes go wide and she tilts her head. My blood heats as I cast the illusion spell Invisibility. I touch her shoulder, and her body quickly becomes transparent, and then invisible. The same happens to me. I cast another spell, Truesight. Eltairen becomes visible to me, and I to her. Her body is enveloped in a white mist. I smile at her and stand up straight. I hold a finger to my lips and slowly start to creep up the stone steps. She follows, our bare feetpaws silent against the cold stone. We reach the second floor landing, stalking past the four guards to the ascending staircase beside the one we just walked up. We make our way to the fifth floor, where a hall with four doors greets us.

I lead her to the back left door and grab her wrist. The world becomes blurry as I cast Gaseous Form over both of us. Our bodies dissolve into white mist and we slip through the keyhole of the door, reappearing on the other side. The Invisibility breaks as we reform. I look around the war room.

A circular stone table sits in the center of the room. The walls on either side of the room hold books and scrolls of all kinds. In an empty section of a shelf sits a brown leather satchel. I motion for Eltairen to watch the door as I walk over to it. She crouches behind the table and keeps her eyes on the only door. I open the satchel without moving it. Inside are two pearl white crystals, a scroll with a violet ribbon, and a shining silver key. I snap my fingers, and an ornate oaken chest with golden hinges appears next to me. I open the lid and place the items carefully inside. I snap my fingers again, and the chest vanishes. I pull a small black glass vial from the pocket of my robe and set it inside the satchel. I nod to Eltairen before repeating the series of spells I used to get us into the room.

We stalk back down to the central room and walk to the descending staircase. I lead her down the stone steps into the lower room. Awaiting us is a hall with three iron doors. I smirk at their miscalculation and motion for Eltairen to stay back. I close my eyes and picture the room on the other side of the final door. I slip through space and appear on the other side of the door. A light mist rolls off my body as I walk to the pedestal on the other side of the room. On a stand at the top sits a dark amethyst gem. As I go near it, my head starts pounding, the flow of magick through my body interrupted. I pull an identical gem out of my robe and swap the two.

I nod to Eltairen as Kymae and her pack appear from the shadows and surround us. Their combined magic washes over us, and we sneak like shadows back out through the stables. The cobalt dragon is gone, leaving behind an empty stall and an open door. We race back through the dark forest to camp.

The dragon waits for us at camp. I smile and caress its--no, her--cheek. “Now,” I begin, sitting on the ground. Eltairen sits across from me. “When one of the SpellStalkers infiltrated the meeting, they learned of something. The five leaders of the Order of the Dragon are going to be meeting under the next full moon. That means that in half a month from now, all five leaders are going to be in one place. Also, a letter in the meeting room from one of the leaders to one of the higher ups at the stronghold revealed that the Grimm has been defeated. But they’re going to try to reincarnate it. So we have one chance to take down the Order of the Dragon once and for all.”

Eltairen thinks. “We’re going to need some serious help to take down all five leaders.”

I smile. “I just might know some people.”