'Things will never be normal again…'

Maya refused to accept defeat. Determined to help Elena, she searched for days, but found nothing. Once the trimester break ended, Maya returned to school.

After classes, she planned to consult the ancient dragon as a last resort to find a way to help Elena combat the sun. It was the only source she hadn't exhausted.

Meanwhile, Elena was sprawled on her bed, combing through every vampire book they could find. With her eyes closed, she was skimming through countless pages to find a clue about them appearing in daylight.

Expectedly, History had no record of such a thing.

All these useless details now committed to her memory... but she couldn't help it—every liquor bottle in their room had already been emptied.

Engulfed in discarded papers, she heard unfamiliar footsteps outside the door. They were heavier than Maya's, but moved with a sense of caution.

Since their room was the only one on the attic floor, she was immediately on high alert. It was too early for Maya to return.

Soundlessly, she moved to the door. A few soft knocks sounded, followed by a pause as if the person awaited a response. Elena wished to check through the peephole, but there was no way of doing that without burning her cornea. Safety of darkness was only confined to their room.

The person didn't wait long. She heard keys jingling, followed by an attempt to unlock the door. Panic surged through Elena, and she pressed her body against the door. Her mind raced—all she could think about was the incriminating mess of items scattered across the room that no one should see.

The door was now unlocked, but it wouldn't budge. Elena held firm.

Her strength far exceeded what her frame suggested. With her heels planted firmly on the floor and body braced against the door, she became an immovable barrier.

'Who is it?'

Elena briefly thought of trying to take a photo through the peephole, but her phone was out of her reach on the bed, while the door needed to be held shut.

The person on the other side wrestled with the lock, trying various keys in growing confusion and frustration. After several futile attempts, they finally gave up.

Elena stayed pressed against the door, listening to the retreating footsteps. Once she was certain they had left the floor, she rushed to hide all the books and scriptures they shouldn't be in possession of.

'Like that's your biggest concern…' the voice mocked.

If that person had managed to open the door, Elena would have been roasted alive, and Maya's secret would have been exposed. Frustration consumed her as she couldn't go out to the terrace on the other end to identify the person as they left the building.

Such simple things now stood in her way. Yet there was no remedy. All Elena could do was fantasize about murdering the Sun.

🜺🜺🜺🜺

January was exceptionally cold, yet there was no snow. None had fallen since Christmas Eve, and even then, it hadn't stuck to cover the ground. Maya found herself journeying to the spot outside the Walls—a place she had dreamed about countless times—where she first met the dragon.

This dragon was thousands of years old. If anyone knew about the possibilities, it had to be him. Yet, Maya was filled with fear. If the dragon appeared, there would be no mist to veil his threatening visage. He had instructed her to find him at Diverging Peaks, but the journey would take an entire day. She wasn't prepared for such a trip, or a climb.

Upon reaching her destination, she called for Anastasia's assistance, but received no response. Leo was present, but his tendency to glitch in and out of existence didn't instil much confidence. He was still supporting her, but would vanish without notice at times. His disapproving looks didn't help either.

However, Maya's main concern now was Elena.

She mumbled the Latin phrase from before, but to no avail. It didn't seem to be an incantation in itself.

Back then, Maya had been in a trance-like state, her mind open and vulnerable to outside influences. She recalled the sensation of draftiness in her thoughts. This mental openness must have been what allowed them to establish a mental connection.

So Maya relaxed and focused inwardly. Slowly, she imagined herself within herself, then opened the imaginary door and called to the dragon with her mind.

The call reached him.

'What is it, child?' the deep voice of the beast sounded in her head.

"I need your help," she said.

'Are you sure you are the one who needs my help?' the beast was wise.

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"I do. I need you to help me save my friend. I need her to help me save the world. I can't do it without her. She is crucial."

A menacing laugh echoed in her mind. From above came the deep, resonant flap of wings. With his enormous size, the beast could cover ten miles in a single wing beat. When he landed, the ground warped beneath his immense weight. Kholasol's appearance was truly terrifying.

"Is there a way to make a vampire immune to sunlight?" Maya inquired.

'Not a vampire. But your friend may have hope.'

Maya nearly jumped for joy. She didn't comprehend everything the beast said, as his manner of speaking often included details that made no sense to her. She dismissed it as a potential misinterpretation on her part.

"So, you will help me?"

'I will not.'

"Please."

'Have you considered if your friend truly wants help?'

"She needs help."

'If I assist, she will be ours.'

Maya's heart stuttered. "Ours? What does that mean? Whose?" Maya was confused.

'Come with me, child.' The dragon ignored her inquiries.

Maya was lost. She didn't understand a single thing, except that it could help her.

"Come where?"

Kholasol bowed, placing his head on the ground next to her, offering her his long neck.

'Does he want me to climb?'

Fighting the urge to flee in fear, Maya carefully approached. She attempted to climb, latching onto his thick, reptilian skin covered in scars. With considerable effort, she managed to position herself just behind his head and twisting horns, where she found the most secure handholds.

'Hold tight. If I hurt you, I will be punished,' he said, carefully standing upright.

Before she could wonder who would punish this ancient beast, the realization of what was about to happen froze her with fear. The dragon took a few steps before launching into the air, his enormous wings flapping powerfully. Within seconds, they soared high in the sky, enveloped by freezing cold air.

Maya clung desperately to the dragon, her terrified screams cutting through the frigid air. Dizziness overwhelmed her as the thin atmosphere made her light-headed. Just as she feared losing consciousness, they were suddenly back on solid ground.

Disoriented, she slid off him and surveyed her surroundings. They hovered above the clouds, just beneath a snow-covered mountain peak where the air was thin. Maya realized he had brought her to the Diverging Peaks. A small plateau extended to several cave entrances carved into the mountainside. In the distance stood another peak—deceptively close from afar, but in reality, separated by a vast expanse.

The view was breathtakingly spectacular. Beneath the clouds, the forest stretched to the horizon, with Amellan's bastions faintly visible in the distance atop a jutting outcrop. Ragged hills rolled across the landscape like tumultuous frozen waves. Maya noticed harvested crop fields that seemed extensive when standing among them, yet from this height were a mere speck on the endless canvas.

'You wish to save your friend…' Kholasol began, walking towards a cave entrance and lowering his head to gesture.

Maya followed. The cave was too small for the dragon, but she pressed on.

The inside was surprisingly well-established, showing clear signs that someone had lived here centuries ago. It resembled a witch's lair.

Sculpted by rock manipulation, there were crude furnishings in the dwelling. One wall had a potion-making station carved within, complete with dishes, pottery, and bottles of varying sizes. Alchemy symbols were etched everywhere, amidst shattered clay, glass, and porcelain.

A thick layer of dust and cobwebs revealed years of abandonment. Tattered fabric remnants fluttered in the breeze, while moss had overtaken the bedding. Books and notebooks lay scattered—their wisdom lost to time or claimed by rodents and insects that had turned their pages into nests. The dwelling appeared to have been abandoned suddenly and remained untouched for centuries.

This must have been Anastasia's lair that the Guardian of Prima was protecting. How odd it was to intrude on a space belonging to someone you call a friend, but that hadn't been touched by human hands for longer than your lifetime.

Maya went to check the books, but the writings had long been destroyed by exposure. Knowledge from a Prima Maga left to wither away… She wondered if it would have been preserved by witches if it weren't guarded by a frightening dragon. Could she be the first to touch this place since Anastasia's death?

The dragon peeked through the narrow cave entrance, its single amber eye gleaming in the dim light. Maya couldn't tell if the creature was curious or cautious.

"You allowed her writings to be destroyed like this…"

'Better for some things to be lost than fall into the wrong hands,' the dragon replied.

"I could've used it."

'Even your hands can be wrong.'

Heat flared in her chest, but she swallowed it. Getting angry wouldn't help. Still, the dragon's calm, beastly indifference gnawed at her patience. The creature served her, but held no reverence.

"So, how do I help my friend?"

'Have you reconsidered?'

"No. Why would I—? Can you help me or not?"

'There is a spell…'

"A spell…?" Maya repeated with a disheartened look at the weathered pieces of parchment scattered around like old autumn leaves. There were no spells there any longer.

'A small glass container, it should be,' Kholasol's deep voice resounded in her mind.

Maya's attention immediately snapped toward the old rack still housing an arrangement of vials and potion bottles. Some of them were still intact.

'Why did he call it a spell if it was in a bottle?' Maya thought with a hint of frustration. Perhaps understanding human terminology wasn't the old beast's forte.

She lined up the glass and crystal containers on the small working table, each one more disconcerting than the last. Most of them were made of roughly cut or blown glass, their contents obscured by layers of clinging dirt.

She began to question her actions. Was she truly desperate enough to give her best friend a potion that had been sitting untouched for five hundred years? Consumables had expiration dates—surely magical potions would follow the same rule.

Without the old dragon's guidance, Maya instinctively knew which one was the right potion. It was, predictably, the most revolting one of the collection.

The bottle was small, circular, with a wax-sealed cork adorned with alchemic symbols. She scraped away the stubborn dirt and cobwebs to reveal its contents and looked at it in disgust. Inside was a thick, tar-like sediment with a yellowish liquid residue.

'Now, for the price…' the dragon began.

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