It had been several weeks since they caught Rychus Loratyk in his plot to take out the monarchy. They were at the southern water temple, and Tranley had been poking and prodding them all since they had arrived.

“No one has ever been blessed twice by the same breed,” he said as he poked Kaden again. Every day he would say this. “You are remarkable. Visions, the darkness, and the voice of the matriarchs just bouncing around in that head of yours.”

“Yes, yes. I’m special.”

“Remarkable!” He said as his eyes shimmered.

Jaxtor was lounging on the couch. He lamented he hadn’t been there to see Loratyk get his comeuppance. Reese was lounging next to him, offering him snacks. The two bonded early in their stay, and Kaden wasn’t even the smallest bit surprised at that.

They had come to the temple to get instruction while they could. Kaden was such a new water user, he wasn’t that great at teaching the others the ways of the magic. Tranley had been so helpful to him originally. He thought it was the perfect place to go.

Sayori was looking through the wall of tombs, marveling at them. He watched as her finger would trail down a title before she moved on to the next. It was as if she was trying to memorize each of them as she went.

His companions were taking to the magical water training far better than he had. He wondered if it was because they had been already well versed in their own magics. Part of him was jealous of them, but he knew he didn’t need to be. So far, they had all proved that they would go to war with him. Of anyone, he trusted his companions.

“I still can’t believe you controlled the darkness like that,” said Jaxtor. “If there weren’t any witnesses, I’d have said you were lying.”

“It was like controlling a liquid,” Kaden said as he looked down at his hands, remembering the feeling of power that was surging through him at the time. “I think because it came from a water mage, that’s why that was possible.”

“Multiple blessings!” Tranley squealed. “To manipulate another person’s darkness like that is remarkable!”

Reese leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “So he’s like a super water mage, is what you’re saying?”

Tranley nodded, poked Kaden in the side again and said, “Remarkable.”

Sayori pulled out a book from a tall stack and they all started to sway. Tranley was quick to fix the tower, grab another book and swap it with the one she had in her hand. He then gave her three similarly colored ones on top of it. She laughed and shook her head as she carried her new prizes back toward the couch.

The door opened and Evonne and Eloise walked in. The two had bonded over healing magics and Evonne had showed promise with the skill. Kaden wasn’t surprised by it at all. Evonne was a kind soul, she would have been blessed for her compassion without the whole attack happening.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

They greeted them and together had a laugh about Jaxtor’s eating habits. Kaden finally felt safe. Ever since he had been blessed with magic, it felt as if he was one moment away from death. Several times, he thought it truly was the end for him.

He knew it was a false sense of security. The vision they all had said otherwise. Lord Loratyk’s ambitions were lofty, but he was only connected to the ambassador’s actions. All the House of the Serpent agents that had attacked there, aiming for the matriarchs, they had been acting separately from the ones in the water nation.

The vision of homes on fire, lava spewing from underground, seared his mind. The unnatural skies, the dragons crying out in pain. He knew the others had the same vision, knew it was lurking at the edges of their minds as well.

They would have to visit another realm soon. They had already sent the news back that they had been blessed in the water nation. He hoped it had been received well, considering all the news of an uprising and imprisoning a lord they also sent back. He wondered what the Lord Commander thought of everything.

A knock rapped on the door. All of their heads perked up as the door opened. Iratoi was standing there with a letter in her hands. It was no longer sealed. She shook her head and said, “Jaxtor won’t like this news.”

His interest peeked as he took a few long strides to meet her, trying to snatch the letter out of her hands.

“We got your orders in on where to send you four next.”

“Is it my home?” said Reese with a flip of his hand. “Father will be thrilled to hear what I’ve been up to.”

“Uh.” She looked at Sayori for an explanation. “No?”

“Shame. We’ll have to wait to see how much of a disappointment he still thinks I am.”

She gave a confused look to Evonne that time and she just shrugged in response. “Well, okay then. No. You’re going to have a lot of fun at this one.”

“Fun? Anything will be better than the mess that your realm has been,” said Reese as he slid into the sofa.

She raised her eyebrow at him and turned to look at Kaden instead. “You’re going to your first dragon games!”

“No,” said Jaxtor from the couch.

She grinned. “They are. The fire nation has invited them. They are hosting them this round, so they thought it would be a good place for the champions to visit on their pilgrimage.”

The color drained out of Evonne’s face. “We’re going to the fire nation next?”

Kaden didn’t know much of anything about the fire nation. All he knew was that someone hadn’t treated Evonne properly there. The Fire Ambassador Malfor was very kind and delicate with Evonne when they were in the citadel. He realized he didn’t know very much about his fire companion.

Or any of his companions. What they had talked about was so surface level. It had been just one fight after another. They hadn’t really had time to get to know each other on a deeper level. He trusted them to defend him, but he didn’t know anything about them. Hopefully, these dragon games would just require them to watch them and they could take the time to get to know each other on a better level.

“What are the dragon games?” He asked.

Jaxtor groaned. “Why are you such a country bumpkin?”

“The nation’s used to go to war, like all the time,” said Reese. “So to keep their aggressions controlled, the dragon games were formed.”

Sayori laughed. “That’s the proper way to put it. It’s basically just competitive games that rotate hosting each year. This year it’s the fire nation. It’ll be fun!”

Kaden smiled at that. Everything had been so tense. It would be nice to see a competitive game of athletes at their peak. Maybe the fire nation would be fun and not stressful.

“So when do we leave then?” Sayori said as she set her stack of books down.

Iratoi shook her head at them all. “Looks like in three days! Y’all better get ready!”