Chapter 23

Twenty-Three

It felt like Kaida was on a fluffy cloud, basking in the warm sun’s direct light, yet it was dark all around her as if she was inside of a windowless room. She tried to open her eyes, but they felt as though they weighed a thousand pounds. Kaida tried to tell herself to just roll over and get on her feet, to will her eyes to open, but no movement came. Just like her eyes, her body felt like it was made of stone; too heavy to move in any way on her own.

Her heart rate quickened at the thought of being paralyzed. Kaida wasn’t too sure of how this could have happened. She tried to think of what she was doing before she fell asleep, but it went blank inside of her mind when she tried. Next, she attempted to open her mouth to call out to anyone to help her, but that wasn’t even something she seemed to be able to do. Breathing became difficult as her mind raced with possibilities. Not knowing where she was, how she got there, or even how she was turned into a motionless pile of flesh had her mind spiraling out of control.

Did Enzo come back and curse me for being dragonless? Or worse… am I dead? Am I just waiting for the Great Dragon to determine my fate in the afterlife?

A pair of bright purple eyes came into view. Kaida remembered these eyes. They were the same ones from the dream she experienced the other night. Was this the Great Dragon? It’s not like any person alive would know and would have been able to prepare her for this. There were tales of what the Great Dragon looked like, but no one had come back from the dead to be able to tell her this was what to expect if she would ever die and meet their powerful entity.

The eyes grew larger and clearer like they were coming closer into view. There were purple scales around it, a deeper shade that reminded her of the crystal amethyst. The power that caressed Kaida felt welcoming, like an embrace from her mother. Kaida sighed in contentment as the heaviness upon her lessened once she felt the power wrap around her completely. She sighed a breath of relief that she was able to wiggle her fingers and her toes again.

Our time is coming.

Who are you? Kaida asked the voice.

We will break this hold on our power and rise to who we are meant to be.

“Kaida? Sweetie? Wake up.”

Kaida heard the voice and slowly pried her eyes open. After several attempts, she managed to keep them open long enough to comprehend what was going on. With quite a few blinks, Kaida’s vision shifted from blurry to normal. It didn’t take her long to recognize that she was in her room. Standing above her was Adrien, wearing a smile with hidden relief. Kaida turned her head a little more to see Azulia sitting on a small stool a few feet behind Adrien, Remy leaning on the wall by the door, and Sundrei in the corner. Azulia gave Kaida a bright smile when she realized that Kaida was looking at her.

“You gave us a fright there for a second. We thought we were going to lose you.”

“What happened? Why does everywhere hurt right now?” Kaida groaned, pain searing through her as she tried to roll onto her side.

Adrien rushed to put her arms out to keep Kaida in place, “easy now. You took a lot of damage while fighting the boys.”

“I fought the boys? Am I stupid?”

The words truly made no sense to Kaida. Not once in her life did she ever agree to something as dangerous as fighting four powerful dragons at once. That was suicide, especially for someone in her predicament.

“Yeah, like a badass. No one I know would fight those assholes all at once. I’m shocked you survived,” Remy cheered, clearly impressed.

“I still don’t get it. Why would I fight them? I have no magic or a dragon to do so. Was I trying to get myself killed?”

“You don’t have any memory of agreeing to train with them to bring out your dragon?”

Kaida thought about it for a moment. She tried to think of anything that happened before she woke up here, but the last thing she remembered was seeing Beckett in Azulia’s store.

“No.”

“Well, you did. Beckett explained that it was to, possibly, get your dragon to emerge. Something about it would make your dragon want to protect you against them,” Adrien explained.

“I am going to assume due to the trauma she endured that her mind is just blocking out the fight,” Azulia mentioned in a concerned tone.

Kaida wasn’t sure how to really go from there, so she asked the next question she needed answered instead.“So, why did I end up here?”

Remy sneered, “Well, probably like you said. You tried to fight them with no magic or strength, and they were who they are and gave it their all instead of going easy on you.”

“Beckett said they did go easy on her. She just wasn’t able to defend herself in any way, so…”

“So, she is now in her bed and has fought for her life the last two days while you injected her with potions and cast healing spells on her almost constantly so she didn’t die.” Remy spewed in an annoyed tone.

Azulia shook her head at the Lycan, “Beck isn’t like the other three. He actually cares about Kaida. Not to mention, if those four wanted her dead, she would be. We’ve been around long enough to know that already.”

“I’ve been asleep for two days?” Kaida was dumbfounded at that information.

“Uh… yeah… Your body needed to heal from the trauma of the damage done by the magic. Was that the first time you had ever engaged in any kind of battle?”

Kaida looked up at the ceiling. She hated that the answer was yes. Every part of her wished that she was trained to fight instead of pampered. Maybe it would have convinced my dragon that I was worthy of her, and she would have shown up if I had been trained as a warrior.

“Well, now that you are awake, let’s get your body moving. We do not need loss of circulation. Let’s also get some food into you. You’re not fully healed, just enough to bring you out of that coma.”

Adrien and Remy assisted her by wrapping her arms over their shoulders. Once Kaida was on her feet, she felt a little dizzy, and her knees wobbled as she tried to take another step. Adrien told her to take a couple of deep breaths to help steady her. Kaida felt a spark of something inside of her chest and a warmth spread through her body. The power she felt course through her renewed the strength in her limbs, and she was able to stand up straight without any help, resulting in the girls all looking at each other and then back at Kaida.

“What?”

“You didn’t feel that?” Remy questioned as she scanned Kaida’s body as if she was waiting for something to jump out at her.

“Feel what?”

“Your dragon, Sweetie. She just healed you. I’m not even sure how she was able to in this capacity. Healing a body is one thing; all shifters can do that but over a few hours. This was instant.”

Kaida looked around the room and tried to understand each girl’s reaction, “Is that a good thing?”

“Hell yeah. It means your dragon is freaking powerful. You might be able to knock those damn crowns from the Four’s heads. Which I so need to witness.”

Kaida smiled at Remy’s answer. The Lycan’s attitude was what Kaida loved about her the most. She may have had a mouth on her, but something told Kaida that Remy could back that up if she needed to. Unlike Kaida.

I feel as vulnerable as a baby. I need to get better at this whole being a warrior thing.

When they got to the kitchen, Kaida’s stomach growled so loud that it almost sounded like a dragon. Azulia snorted at the sound, and Remy growled back at it. Then the Lycan told Azulia that she needed to get to cooking before Kaida’s stomach shifted and ate them all. Between Azulia and Adrien, within thirty minutes there were mounds of eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, and sausage to feed half the island. Kaida was amazed at Adrien’s magic being able to replicate the food to create the amount with less work.

As Kaida scarfed down two plates of everything, she thought she would taste the difference, but it all tasted as it should. The pancakes were fluffy and sweet, the sausage was savory with a bite of pepper, the eggs were scrambled perfectly, and Kaida tasted the milk that was used to mix them up, and the bacon was the perfect blend of salty and savory and just crispy enough to give her a satisfying crunch. When she was finished, her stomach felt so full that she sat back in her chair and took a few deep breaths.

“How is magically replicated food that damn good?”

Adrien chuckled, “Because the base of what I replicated was good. Thankfully, Azulia and I were taught how to cook growing up. We didn’t have others cooking for us.”

Kaida curled her lip at the remark, “Excuse me, but was that a dig at me?”

“More like a dig at you, me, and Sundrei,” Remy sneered but then smiled at Adrien to know it was a joke.

“It’s not really a dig. I’m sorry it came off that way. I just lived a very different life.” Adrien looked at Kaida, and Kaida gave her a warm smile. Hoping that it would convey that she wouldn’t mind Adrien telling her story. Adrien nodded like she understood the unspoken words in Kaida’s smile. “I am the daughter of the High Priestess and Priest. I come from a long line of Witches who were all named that rank within our coven. With expectations of running the coven someday with my mate, I had to master everything: every magical spell inside every book in our library. Thankfully, the Lunar Goddess blessed me with the power and capabilities to be able to do it. My older sister… not so much. Originally she was to take over, but her power was not of the same caliber as mine. She was ten years older, and I came to be because my parents knew she wouldn’t be able to take their place. Worst of all, her mate rejected her for being too weak. He sent her here… and then killed her because their bond was too strong, and he couldn’t move on. He is now the Priest of a rival coven. And his younger brother… is my mate.”

Kaida gasped. She didn’t expect that at all. “The ones that are trying to open a portal to the Dark Dimension?”

“Yep. They wanted me out of the way just so they could. I just need to figure out where my artifact is, and then I can stop them. They need a Blood Moon to accomplish opening one. I have three months to map out what I need to do.”

“If there is anything I can ever do, let me know. You’ve helped me so much since I was dropped here. Anything you need, I’ll do it.”

Adrien smiled at her, “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You know what you can do? Get that dragon of yours to come out all the way. Then Adrien can ride on your back! You singe anyone who stands in your way, Adrien gets her artifact, and then you both bring those suckers down!” Remy cheered her idea as she pumped her fist in the air.

The other girls rallied behind her, making Kaida giggle. Well, almost everyone. Sundrei sat in a corner away from everyone as she stared out the window. Kaida leaned just enough to see what she could be looking at and realized that Sundrei was looking toward her kingdom. Clearly, the Vampyre missed her home. Kaida knew nothing of her and wished she knew the story of how she ended up here.

Maybe I should see if she would like to hang out sometime, just us two. Maybe she isn’t as close with the others as I originally thought, and she could use an actual friend.