He could feel their raw power. They swarmed, coming together, then broke apart—a dangerous dance.
One was a shimmering white, purer than snow or ivory. When the sun hit it, it shined. A voice whispered in his head.
Lariana.
Next, one of so many colors, he couldn’t pick one—pinks, purples, and shades of red and blue.
Amonora.
A red dragon shot flames from its mouth and roared.
A blue dragon dove into a lake beneath them.
A green dragon flew close to the treetops and landed onto the earth, hitting a boulder with its tail and breaking it to pieces.
Finally, a grey dragon flew fast, sending winds that were strong enough to send Trevan to the ground.
They had to be the four elemental male dragons. Trevan had never heard their names, and no one whispered those names to him now.
As he tried to stand, something walked toward him, making the ground shake. This one was the biggest, towering high and was blacker than the void. It looked down on him and growled.
Kristanya.
He moved to his knees and bowed. He knew what to do.
Yes. I accept you, the dragons, as my gods, if you will have me. Please have me. I have not known peace in my life, no place I truly loved. Not until I was accepted by your people. I would like to remain. I would do anything to remain among them.
He didn’t look up. The black dragon sniffed him, then roared.
He woke up screaming, sweat covering his body. He was still naked on the floor, with Luykas over him.
“You’re awake! That’s never happened before. I’m so sorry.” Luykas stopped, his mouth dropping open, but Trevan didn’t understand.
“I saw them,” he whispered. “I didn’t really know if they were real because the Elvasi don’t…don’t put much stock in the gods anymore, but I saw them.”
“The Elvasi gods?” Luykas asked, frowning. “That—”
“No. Dragons,” he whispered.
Luykas’ eyes went wide. Slowly, he reached out to get something and held it above Trevan’s face.
Trevan looked in the little mirror and saw his eyes first. The pale gold was now framed in Andinna black, not white. He had a soft rose-gold tatua covering his face, not the harsh black of an Andinna or the bright color of a mutt. It didn’t matter. It was there.
They had irrevocably changed him. There was no going back.
“Everyone is having dreams and visions of the gods now, I guess,” Luykas muttered. “Don’t go on any fucking quests. This is getting really annoying, and I fucking need you around.”
Trevan laughed. He laughed until he cried as Luykas rubbed his back.
“Let it out,” the Andinna whispered. “You’re one of us now. You belong with us.”
Trevan nodded wordlessly.
For the first time in centuries—he belonged.
43
Mave
Mave tried to protect herself from the bitter cold as she climbed. She tried to keep a schedule to count the days she walked and climbed. She tried to make progress.
And it all fell apart.
She knew she got to eight before they began to blur together. She knew the sun still rose and set, but the storm was so thick, she had no way of really understanding when. She collapsed and fell asleep on day eleven. When she woke up, she had no concept of how much time had passed. She was only grateful to still be alive.
One of Mave’s major problems was how long it was taking. She had no idea why it was taking her days, maybe even weeks, to get up the mountain. It was never-ending with no light at the end of the tunnel. She only continued on the best path she could find, heading upwards. Time was slipping away from her, but she kept moving as much as she could.
She found a break in the storm and took her chance to jog. It helped warm her body, increasing her heart rate just enough to pump blood where it needed to be pumped. She didn’t go so long or hard to break a sweat, an easy way to get ice underneath her layers of clothing, but it was enough.
It wasn’t long after that when she found a cliff she had to scale—a deadly trap. It stretched around the mountain out of sight and was so tall, she couldn’t see the top, though that was thanks to the storm. She only had ten or so feet of visibility at the best of times.
I could try to find another way but…
Looking around, there was only snow, both smooth and mounds. Mave dug through the snow of one mound and found what she thought