The sun shone over their weary heads, bringing beads of sweat to their foreheads as they crossed the bridge of Ivádia. Not even the smallest young man is spared, neither women nor children. Everyone had his share of the work so long they were Mandrins. The hot, coarse grains of sand that had basked in the intense light of the sun were like hot coals from a furnace to their bare feet. Only the wind from the west gave them hope that the moon would soon defeat the sun and reclaim the sky. Isaias looked up at the sky, and the fading sunlight consumed his face and left him with no sight. He took a deep breath, and before he could think to pause, he heard a strong female voice behind him shout, "Go on, you fool!" He was startled by the trembling voice of the old witch who watched over all the mandrins crossing the bridge.He glanced at her face, and the grim expression on it made him move on against his will. His knee was almost to the point of collapsing. He had travelled such a long dis

The young woman in the maroon robe strode through the dimly lit corridor on the second floor of the castle. "Nika, sister," Amaia called to her from the doorway, just before she could take the turn that would lead her to her room. "Yes! Amaia, do you have news about my mother yet?" she asked, turning to speak to Amaia."I am afraid not, sister, your mother has asked for the cloak to be cast. The creatures, I hate to say it... but one of them is still out there and so we can not look for her," she said to Nika and she remained silent. She had last seen her mother at noon and since Lucia had come with a report about the Callibra and the Mandrins that had found it, she had not seen her again. She knew she was out there, somewhere, but she could not tell if she was all right."Where are the rest of them?" asked Nika, breaking the silence. She wanted to know where the other dragons had gone, because Amaia had confirmed to her that there was only one dragon out there. "I think they are

It was indeed a long night, but they were no longer humans. They no longer needed to light torches to go to a place as dark as this. Even though the moon was no longer visible in the sky, their eyes were now like natural torches that never burn out. They emitted green light, just like the gem Isaias held between his hind claws. The gem that the witches called "CALLIBRA". They could see the caves ahead of them. They were close and knew they would soon reach it. The closer they got to the cave, the more echoes they created with their wing beats. In the middle of the caves they descended and the sand under their wings pulled apart as the winds caught under their descending wings pushed them away. "Behold, the caves of Eflie," Dalmatius said, and silence flooded their midst as they tried to explore the caves and see if they were indeed safe. "We should go see them! We can not swear they have been empty all these years, because no one's been here in decades," Atticus suggested. There

CAVES OF EFLIE They all were outside, roaming in the midst of the cave - confused, and thinking about what had just happened. They had just lost Amyas —A man who Dalmatius considered a friend; he was his only friend. Isaias, his son, was sitting in a cave grieving over him at the moment. “We need answers! How long are we going to wait for him to stop behaving like a child?” Dominick said furiously and his eyes glare green. He was becoming impatient. He needed answers. How and why were they still locked in their dragon forms when Isaias and his father had shifted back to their human forms? “Yes! I think Dominick is right! We've all lost parents before. Some of us weren't even privileged to know our fathers. Why is he keeping us in the dark?” Catullus said, backing up Dominick's point. “Shut up, both of you!” Dalmatius yelled at them as he threw himself into the air and maintained a balance with the continuous flapping of his wings. “Have some sympathy! Have you completely lost y

CAVES OF EFLIE Isaias woke up to see himself laying in the cave, just like he slept off last night. He looked above his head and saw the Callibra —shining as bright as the first time they found it. He sat up and he could feel his entire body ache. He was having a difficult time telling which one's better —sleeping in the dirty Mandrin quarters, or sleeping on the hard, sharp sands of the cave. He got up to his feet and stretched a little. He yawned a couple of times as he walked out of his cave. “My first morning outside the mandrin quarters, and not forced to work,” He muttered. He walked into the cave next to his, which he believed Elvio slept in. “Elvio?” He whispered in shock of what he saw before him; Elvio was human again. He was lying naked in the cave. “Elvio, You... You're—” Elvio woke up and turned to him. He had no idea what was actually happening. He had just gained consciousness. “Iasias? Why are you up so early?” He asked, and Isaias’ mouth was still wide open.