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Shadow Seer

NATALIA

T he Realm of Shadows was a place of endless mystique, and still, my vision had never been clearer.

The Goddess had summoned me here to show me just how vivid and true the darkness was.

The shadows themselves were alive, always whispering, guiding my soul on a voyage of revelations.

I had grown fond of this mysterious place, despite the loneliness that ached within me. It was the price for knowledge.

The unending devotion to the mission of my rescue was something that warmed and cradled my heart. Not from my friends—not because they didn’t care, but what could they do? I was too far out of their reach, and besides that, they were afraid. Rightfully so. Dreamwalking was not for everyone; it was a perilous rite that the Goddess only intended for a small few.

No, it was not my friends who were desperately seeking me.

It was the mortal boy. The one who the world would one day know as the Star Crowned Prince.

Each night, Michael sifted through the layers of the Dream Realm, calling for me. He left no etheric stone unturned. He’d rooted through countless minds—rummaging through anyone’s that he thought I could be linked to. I was sorry he had had to see into the depraved subconscious of my father. I wished I could tell him that I heard him—I Saw him—and I appreciated his efforts, but it was unnecessary. I was exactly where I needed to be.

I was weightless here. Limitless.

Hovering cross-legged among dark smoke with my eyes closed, I Saw everything .

The plots and schemes being carried out by those trapped in the realm of light never ceased to amaze me. How dedicated they were to their own destruction.

I watched them now, sitting around their round table. The Fallen Council, as I liked to call them. Their meetings took place on a secret island outside of the city, inside a dreary stone castle.

Outside the floor-length glass wall, the ocean raged. Storm clouds roared. Floating candles provided pale illumination, just enough for me to see each face.

The head of the beast was no other than Aries Vanderbilt, of course. He was known to them as the Horned King. Such an unexpected mastermind, he was. To the Celestial Society, he played a character—one that not even I had picked up on. An arrogant High Lord with no real drive except to rule over the collective of “highborn” supernaturals. In a way, that was true. But it was only one side of the coin.

Now, surrounded by his Gold Masks, and the representatives for the Three Factions, he wore crown. The crown, made of blackened gold. An ancient relic with enigmatic sentience. Ornate and ominous, with its seven points, each bearing a different colored gemstone. From what I gathered, he could only wear it for a short time before it turned on him. At the end of each of his meetings, he’d be struggling, but he needed to wear it around them to maintain his right to power. They were like starving hyenas, just desperate to get a whiff of weakness from the lion that lorded over them.

There were two representatives for each of the Three Factions. Two Enlightened (mortals), two Underworlders, and two Celestials.

The first of the Enlightened was a man clad in a three-piece suit, with his black hair jelled back, his eyes hard and void of empathy. The gold watch on his wrist cost more than most mortals made in a year. Everyone here called him De Marco, which I assumed was either a last name or an alias. He was in charge of an underground trafficking ring. Prestigious business man by day, horrendous predator by night. Next to him was a man called Leon Mark, the head of some enormous, conglomerate technocrat company. He looked more like a mouse than a man, and I found him entirely unremarkable.

There was no surprise that the Head Chancellor of Veneficus, Aro, was the first Celestial representative. He had always been billowing with treacherous energy.

Beside him was a woman. I’d never seen her before outside of the shadows. Her golden hair was tied back, her eyes sharp and cunning. Three small moles clustered on her cheek in a curious triangle. She wore all white, her neck and wrists drenched in gold jewelry.

And then there was the Underworlders. Luc and Stella. Vampire energy was next to impossible to read, even for me, even with the assistance of shadows. They were masters in the art of being stoic. I found them especially interesting.

The Horned King and the chosen representatives sat at the round table. All thirteen of the Gold Masks stayed standing, looming in the shadows.

Such a curious dynamic. The Celestial Society was under the impression that the Gold Masks were of high stature. That they were the trusted members of an honorable council—the High Council . That their status and role were so prestigious that their identities needed to stay hidden. That couldn’t have been any further from the truth. They were little more than slaves, trapped under the weight of those grotesque metal masks that concealed the most ungodly of creatures. I had never once heard any of them speak during these meetings.

“Luc.” Aries Vanderbilt’s guttural voice boomed through the room. “You said you had new information.”

Luc grinned before he grabbed the golden chalice from in front of him and held it up. A Gold Mask promptly stepped forward and filled it with red wine. He sipped it casually, sweeping his two-toned colored eyes around the room. “Indeed.”

Aro scoffed darkly. “Well, get on with it, then.”

“The Morningstar girl has a dragon,” Luc said, his tone light.

The oxygen in the room seemed to vanish.

Everyone sitting at the table went rigid, their eyes gravitating to Aries, who appeared to be having a coronary embolism.

The dark crown on the High Lords head weighed it down, making his chin press closer to his chest. “What do you mean she has a dragon ? That’s impossible. I would have seen it in Sophia’s visions.”

Luc shrugged. “I can only tell you what I saw with my own eyes. We captured her and brought her to Rashira, who then ordered her to be killed. The dragon blundered down from the heavens to protect his bonded.”

“When was this?” Aries demanded.

“Only hours ago.”

The Celestial woman with the gold hair looked marveled. She leaned in, her chest rising and falling. “What color scales?”

Aries shot her a disdained look.

“Gold,” Luc supplied.

Aries flinched.

“And how big?” Aro asked slowly.

“The beast is slight in size,” Luc affirmed. “Not mountable yet.”

Aries relaxed a little, though his ram horns and his staff both sizzled.

“A dragon was never supposed to be part of the prophecy,” Aro muttered.

“Neither was the High Lord’s other son,” Stella griped. “He has murdered countless vampires in the last two months. You promised that my people would be safe after the Clash of Spirits. You framed the Darkbringer and the Morningstar to prevent a war between our kinds. Yet you do nothing to stop your son.”

“Jedidiah will be dealt with,” Aries vowed.

“When?” Stella demanded.

“Can we get back to the dragon?” De Marco growled. “The Morningstar girl is a problem. She killed one of my men last week, and has stolen one of my best girls. Now she has a dragon ? You order us to sit back and do nothing. You promise the prophecy will unfold on its own. But—”

“Are you questioning the prophecy, De Marco?” Aries challenged, his black eyes lit with fury. “I told you all that the Darkbringer and the Morningstar would find each other naturally. And they did, didn’t they?”

No one replied.

“Yes, they did,” Aries went on. “It is only a matter of time until their union solidifies and they plunge the world into darkness. It will happen, and the karma will be theirs. Then our new empire will rise! Magic, mortals, and monsters all united under our rule.”

“Under your rule,” Stella grumbled.

Before Aries could spew his wrath her way, the mortal man Leon spoke up. “I have plenty of drones powerful enough to take out the dragon. I can send them out tonight to find it. I can wipe it off the board before morning.”

“No!” the gold haired woman insisted. “The dragon cannot be harmed. Karma aside, a creature so rare and profound should be brought in and studied. Do you have the means to capture the beast alive, Leon?”

De Marco sneered. “It needs to be killed. A dragon back in this realm sets the scales out of balance.”

Aries looked between them. “The dragon should be captured. Once we have it, we can decide how to move forward. Leon, send out your drones. When you find it, alert me at once.”

Leon nodded.

“What of Rashira, then?” Aries asked begrudgingly, his gaze settling on Luc. “Is she finally dead?”

“I’m afraid not,” Luc said. “She escaped the dragon’s fury, but she is afraid. Paranoid. Her plotting is becoming irrational, and her people are losing faith. It’s only a matter of time before she falls.”

“Do what you can to speed up that process,” Aries ordered.

I watched them continue to bicker, the shadows whispering through my mind.

I decided I’d heard enough for now, and leaned out of the meeting, bringing myself back into the zero point.

I opened my eyes and breathed in the endless darkness around me, contemplating.

What an inversion , I thought. A Father determined to see all his younglings dead. He’d been so desperate to procreate, believing only descendants of his bloodline could bring about the end of this world. He wasn’t wrong, but he had no idea what was truly in store.

Earth, I had come to learn, was a playground realm. A world stage where immature, unruly powers fought for control. Both physical and nonphysical. Magic and mundane, and every monstrous thing in between. They obeyed Divine Law by the skin of their teeth, pushing or their agendas to happen without their direct influence.

When I looked into the future, the Goddess showed me darkness and fire.

Creatures falling from a void between the stars.

I Saw false kings reigning victorious. Monsters shedding their masks and glamours to walk in daylight, no longer having to hide.

But when all was lost, I Saw a great flash of light. It poured from the heavens and drenched the souls and the elements and everything that was other . Nothing could escape this light.

And from it, the silver rainbow was finally freed, and the stolen world was remembered.